Strip our BAHU and send her home: Indian Culture!!!

Edvige Antonia Albina Màino came to India as lover of Rajeev Gandhi along with a return ticket to Italy; her father was sure that her exotic love affair will be overwhelmed by the reality in India. The skeptical Antonia showed her first sign of steel in her when she did not choose to use the return ticket, instead chose to turn Sonia Gandhi for ever; still she was holding on to her passport.

Many conspiracy theorists like, Subramnyam Swamy mischievously use it to portray her as a spy.

But, such jokes apart, the reality must be lying with the fact that Rajeev was never considered as a political material by Indira; and he was flying mostly on international route on Maharaja as a Pilot. So, naturally for Sonia it would have been easy to dream to settle in Europe than to turn a widow in India. 

As time went by, Sonia became the duaghter-in-law (BAHU) and mother to two kids. But still she held on to her passport, that means she was holding on to her name Edvige Antonia Albina Màino too. 

Is that a big deal? 

Many independent ladies hold on to their family names and such instances are numerous. So, it was not an unusual act by that standard. What was important was that she never had to use the return ticket her orthodox Catholic father wished her to use. She was turning out to be a perfect “BAHU” in Indian sense leaving in a joint family with Sanjay and Menaka. 

It was until the death of Sanjay, the political heir apparent of Indira, the joint family could live together. As Indira wanted to fill her vacuum with Rajeev, the model turn “BAHU” Menaka felt insecure and she chose to leave the family for ever in a very controversial situation. 

Anyone should be able to conclude that Sonia proved to be quite a “BAHU” in contrast to Menka who was an Indian by birth and culture.

As, Sonia became more sure about her hubby’s political stake in Congress, she decided to detach her last Italian connection by dumping Italian passport and having an Indian one. That means, in 1983, Edvige Antonia Albina Màino officially became Sonia Gandhi, an Indian citizen. 

If Menaka had lost her husband, Sonia who had already lost Italian connection, as would fate decide, had to lose her best friend and mother-in-law Indira and then her reason to be an Indian, Rajeev.

Look at the comparison, Menka left Gandhi family even born as an Indian, but with these murderous tragedies, Sonia chose to remain a Gandhi family member. Any meek hearted would have escaped India, but no, she showed her steely resolve of an Indian BAHU.

Imagine if Indira can be killed and Rajeev can be turned into pieces, what was Sonia? She fought that constant threat surrounding her family; and still she remained a GANDHI. 

Remember, she was a vulnerable Gandhi till 1997, when she decided that she can not ignore the state of Congress for which she has lost everything. By doing, that she yet again proved what an  Indian BAHU must do for her family. 

She fought against a male dominated political race for the post of the Party President in Indian National Congress by winning 98% of votes. With that legitimacy, Sonia did not look behind. Since, she has emerged as the most powerful politician in India. Her renunciation of the PM post of the republic of India was both a stamp of Indian ethos and political sagacity.  

Like a Bahu, she has faced everything and never shown any inclination to ESCAPE like another BAHU Menaka did. One is from Italy, another is from India, but they reacted differently to similar situations.

So, when a BAHU has performed her lifelong duties towards her Sasural, how can some outsiders call for her to be sent back to Italy without clothes? Is this Indian culture? 

Muslim appeasement; is there anything like that?

I was in the middle of a discussion in a forum, suddenly one guy expressed his anguish about his situation. He was heartbroken and agitated that a 13 year girl of a doctor couple can be so judgmental about his political preference!

So, what was the judgment passed that so agitated the guy called, Riyaz?

The judgment said, “Because you are a Muslim, so you support Congress.”  

This judgment from a 13 year old from an educated family really rattled Riyaz. Probably, he wanted to know

Or he may be angry for not finding the effect of the so called Appeasement for his community that this girl was pointing to; instead what he got was SACHHAR COMMITTEE REPORT.

So, Riyaz has more reasons to feel upset with the false reasoning. But, then he heard that there are two perspectives of appeasement;

• Economic & social
• Political

As the theory of economic & social appeasement was debunked by the Sacha committee report. a new bogye emerged: Muslim community has been exploited as a vote bank through Political Appeasement. OK…fair enough; that is at least a good home work on the part of the HINDUTVA forces. Even, Riyaz also conceded that he feels that congress has tried to APPEASE them at times. 

Then, he should not have felt bad about the JUDGEMENT of the 13 year old; why then was he agitated? 

People say, truth hurts, but if you are not Mahatma BUDH, then it can happen that LIE can also hurt. So, I thought let us probe this further as Riyaz is no Mahatma Budh, was it a TRUTH or a LIE that had rattled Riyaz? 

To find an answer to this question, we have to look at several aspects of appeasement:

• Reasons for appeasement
• What are the appeasements?
• Is appeasement only limited to Muslims?

Reason for Appeasement

After exhausting all my thinking caps, the only reason of appeasement, that can be crystallized, is to appease Muslims to win vote. If that is the argument then it has the weakest leg to stand on with this simple fact based on basic counting skills:

What are the Appeasements?

The proponents of appeasement will come up with the following usual suspects when ever there is a debate. They are:

Article 370: Is it an appeasement based on religion?

We have similar arrangements in north-east too, you can read about Nagaland. Kashmir was a special case as it was absorbed after it signed an instrument of access with conditions. India is simply respecting that treaty. We signed that treaty with a HINDU king.

So, can we cerebrally link this is to appeasement of MUSLIMS?

Common Civil code: This is the biggest handle for the proponents of appeasement. Some time, I also think that this should be done without realizing how exactly this can be done.

Was Hindu code bill in any way a blue print of how a common civil code should look like? It is far from that. It was just an attempt to REFORM archaic Hindu laws where male were allowed to POLYGAMY, and female was never considered as members of a family (They were having no right on family property). In that back-drop reformist Hindu leaders thought it to be pertinent to amend the Hindu personal law.  

Indian constitution celebrates diversity, then how come UNIFORMITY through common civil code will be able to do justice to DIVERSITY.

I think, the reason why HINDUTVA forces are crying for Common Civil Code is not that they believe in it, rather they think they have lost out to the Muslim male in enjoying POLYGAMY.  

Haj quota: Any practicing Muslim would proclaim that enjoying a HAJ to Mecca on Govt. largess is morally not on sound footing. So to say that by extending Haj quota to Muslims, the Govt. has own over the Muslims will be wrong. I think Haj is an enterprise where Indian Airlines earn a lot of money, it actually does not help those who go for the pilgrimage. If this is appeasement, then shortly I am going to provide you proof how Hindu temples are being funded by Govt.

Shah Bano Case: A Supreme court judgment, directing the husband of 60 year old Shah Bano to provide her with maintenance after divorce, was reversed by the Parliament. This act by the then Congress govt. is considered as the single most credible example of Appeasement of Muslims.  Subsequently, the law was amended as per the Muslim Personal law.

How can this be an appeasement? Was there a common civil code in place to apply IPC uniformly on all the religious groups? There is none. So, for SC to pass this order was beyond their jurisdiction.

The remit of SC is to see if an existing laws are implemented, not to frame new law. 

So, the Govt. of the day just intervened to set things right; it was not an attempt to appease Muslims. 

Is appeasement only limited to Muslims?

Many of us think that Govt. funds Muslim religious activity by providing Haj subsidy. If that is unfair, then what is this? 

Rs212-crore Budget of Jagannath Temple for 2014-15

This headline in Indian Express talks about Odisha Govt. making an allocation of Rs. 96.33 crore to supplement the annual temple budget of 212 core for the year 2014-15.

Then, what about the money the tourism department spends around religious places throughout India?

So, are we really logical while making the case for APPEASEMENT of MUSLIMS?

The fact is India’s pluralism is a NEGATION of Pakistan’s two nation theory. Even this theory was supported by Savarkar and the foremost ideologue of RSS, GOLWALKAR. 

India at its birth made promise to itself to uphold democracy and pluralism or secularism at the same time. This is a tough balancing act for;

AND

This juggling act by the Govt.of India can at times looks like an attempt to appeasement, while this really is the duty the Govt. has to discharge. 

Brouhaha over Inflation: In whose courtyard the ball should lie, center or state?

They call congress the harbinger of predatory INFLATION. To some extent this is correct, because out of the 67 years of independent India, Congress has to manage Indian finances for 55 years at center.

So, let us have a look at the inflationary rend in Indian economy since late 50's. 

Image: Inflation Trend

But same can not be said about Congress and the states. Since independence, the states have not tolerated the Congress party as the center has.  There are big states like TN and WB where Congress is not in power for the last 40 years or so. There are other states like UP and Bihar where Congress is not in power since late 80s. And then there are states like Gujarat where congress is not in power since mid-90's. 

So, to put all the blame at the door of the center will be not fair when

is not a central game all together. Though RBI has kept the money minting right to itself, the production and demand are played in the sates, rather than center. Import and export has bearing on inflation too, which is controlled by the center, but we will see how in those fronts the UPA has no luck for the last 8/9 years. Here is a basic Demand-Supply curve, which determines the price elasticity. 

Image: Demand-Supply curve: Determines Price

Let’s examine this by considering the components which contribute to the inflation figures. 

Image: Inflation Basket

Now let’s see what has been the contribution of food and fuel to the inflationary trend in India since 1998. Because as per the figure above, it is clear than Food and Fuel makes roughly 57% of the WholeSale Price Index (WPI) in India. This is not a constant feature, but the contribution of these two are at the fore front in  the back-breaking inflationary trend in India for some years now. 

The following image depicts the impact of these two items in the WholeSale basket on the inflation. As you can make out till 2004, fuel did have the largest impact on the inflation, whereas the trend becomes more equal since 2005-06. That means food inflation had a sobering impact on the overall inflation during the NDA regime. 

Image: Food and Fuel Contribution to Inflation

So, can we conclude that NDA managed the food inflation quite well or there was a worldwide trend that saved the day for the NDA? For this we have to see what was the story of the world in those NDA days!

The following image will help you find the worldwide food price index since 90s. Look at the trend from 1998 to 2004. There is clear food price stability during the NDA regime throughout the world. So, this also has to be captured in the context of Indian inflation story too. Since, 2004, there is a substantial northward movement in the graph. So, this explains that NDA has no magic bullet to curb the food inflation. 

Image: Worldwide Food Price Trend

Now, look at the fuel pricing since 2000. Till 2003 the international fuel price was stable. Since then it has increased with fierce pace. As you know India 

So, the impact of price inflation due to fuel is quite substantial. NDA was lucky that it has quite a stable fuel import bill to manage. UPA was clearly at the receiving end with no fault of its own. How can we say so? 

Let's see the fuel pricing trend since 2000.

Image: Worldwide Fuel Price Trend

Let’s look at the world commodity price index. As you can make out clearly that the NDA was lucky and the UPA had bad luck on this front too. Manufactured good depends on the commodity and what ever price inflation they had was due to this. 

                                        

                                                Image: Worldwide Commodity Price Trend

Now, coming back to decide whose court the inflation ball should finally be thrown in; the state or the center, let us examine through pure logic. 

Where do the consumption happen and who do produce? 

Some harp on a point that the UPA hoarded grain in godown, which has jacked up the price. That is a weak argument for the simple reason that the FCI procures only rice and wheat, which does not make a big impact on food pricing. Food price has inflated due to a healthy surge in the consumption pattern in rural and urban India in the favor of meat based or protein rich food articles.  There are

Clearly people are eating more protein based food. This is good news, isn’t it?

Here is a data point to make some more sense:

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/coimbatore/Rising-protein-demand-in-rural-areas-fuelling-inflation/articleshow/16913183.cms

There are some critics who harp on the inflationary trend for rice and wheat. Yes, they are to some extent right when they package it with the allegation that FCI is hoarding these two. It is true that the rice and wheat pricing has been adjusted upward three times from its stagnant 2004 level through MSP to:

• Incentivise production of rice and wheat; otherwise what the RICH Indians would eat, MONEY?
• Encourage farmers to stick to farming by coming close to the cost of production
• Put more money in the hands of the farmer and thereby in the rural economy
• Adjust the deformity of costing between the manufactured and the farm products

So, what Manmohan could have grown in his 7 Race course backyard that Modi, Jaya, Naveen, Nitish, Badal’s, Raman, and Mamu of MP failed to grow? What was there performance of these states in curbing food price at the state level? You can see for yourself:

Image: Statewise Inflationary Trend

Was Gujrat, WB, Odisha, MP or TN selling Onion at Rs. 20.00 when restless in Delhi were buying at Rs. 80.00? Search for that answer and when you get it, do tell me?

Source:

http://www.newindianexpress.com/business/news/Inflation-Driven-by-Primary-Articles-Care/2014/03/03/article2086909.ece       

India’s Arab Spring; A recipe for disaster

This was supposed to be the biggest change in the Arab world till date; at least this was what was widely believed, reported and opinionated on all form of media.  But if you have a cursory look at the Wikipedia page on this subject, you will find that most of the countries are going through a horrible time. There are either civil war going on like Yemen and Syria or military has taken over (in the form of direct military intervention or temporary interim Govt.) in rest of the countries in Arab as I write. The Arab Spring has turned out to be the harshest Arab summer.  Why?

The Arab spring was attributed to the young and the restless. The world saw in them revolutionaries with strong shoulders for the future. They were bundle of energy.

But, they turned out to be just a bundle of energy without any purpose; even if they had purpose they filed to see the larger picture. The picture that is so important to build a country. Building country was for them a fast food recipe; can we blame them for that? The revolution they headed was one Fast food outcome; it happened with sudden burst of rage among the youth, an assembly of people with a Chow mein like interdependence of purpose, and a violent mix of emotions on the simmering SQAURES.

But, when the actual work was asked to be done, they failed to:

•  Modify their rage in to enthusiasm of positivity to usher in a better future
• Recognize the each varied aspirations of each strands entangled in the Chow mein of protest
• Understand that a constant state of anger will only make you blind to the actual issues at hand

Source: Economist

Let’s focus our interest on the subject. All these things are happening in India, but democratically; thanks to our Indian DNA. But you scratch it, you would find a similar:

• Rage among the youth about their so called unfulfilled
• Interdependence among varied forces to create an environment of seething anger without any  basis

So, our Arab Spring is being fought on social media, office cubicle and each such place where we have some place to occupy and talk glibly. The supporters of India’s Arab Spring are constantly resorting to high pitched propagation of at least two different strands:

1. Certain Development Model that they believe exists at least in Gujarat. So, they shout in unison that India should follow that model unequivocally.
2. My way is highway

Anything coming in their way is brushed aside with a common argument emanating from both the strands; what have you done in the last 60 years, Babajiki Thullu?

When you pick each stand to examine closely, you find:

One: Follow Gujarat without knowing what kind of model that is; has it really:

·         Grown in terms of GDP better than the other states?

·         Reached the benefit of growth (Whatever it has) to the bottom of the pyramid?

·         Reduced poverty better than the other states?

·         Managed to improve social sector indices such as Health, nutrition, education, child mortality and male-female ratio

Two: You cannot question us because we are new to politics, and you have committed mistake to

be doing this for far too long. But, should not they be questioned for their:

•         Opportunistic move, which made Delhi, their first tryst with governance, a guinea pig?
•          Insistence that they are learning and they are making this excuse far too frequently
•          Attempt of resorting to theatrics when India needs serious player to tackle its issues

The India’s Arab Spring is spearheaded by these forces; one relies heavily on lie, and the other on unrealistic ideas, which they themselves have been found to be trampling upon. An interesting convergence between the two has also been reported in a recent survey. It says that a third of Kejri fans want to see Modi as their PM. So, this interdependence of diverse forces in disturbing the India story in the name of challenging the status quo is a destructive trend in our polity today.

Thus, beware of the recipe that is being cooked. The real work of disturbing the status quo has been: 

• RTI - Information is knowledge
• ADHAR - Identification is first step to empowerment 
• Telecom revolution - Information flow at lowest cost
• Tribal land right - Recognizing the right to land
• Rural road connectivity - Connecting India to Bharat
• Rural wage appreciation - Appreciating your contribution in building India
• Infrastructure development in power, road, metro, airport and education sector - Bharat nirman

So, why bring in a spring that has utterly been destructive elsewhere?   Do we need a spring at all? We need a balance of all the seasons. 

A Gandhi admirer, a group of Feku bhakt, and a Kejri crazy: Who is your PM CANDIDATE?

This is political season in India and anywhere you go, you will find for yourself a perfect set-up to engage into political tu-tu-main-main of varied range; from high intellectual fact based arguments to a high pitched Arnab style brouhaha to obfuscate gullible masses, for which the hard hitting conscious keeper Justice Katju has little respect.

So, how can be my office in Hyderabad, the center of the Andhra’s heated political slugfest, be kept away from such political IPL.

Our office has a close resemblance to such a set up.  We have a Gandhi Admirer in the writer i.e. me; a group of Modi Bhakts, a Kejri crazy, and few fence sitters. This is how one day a discussion unfolded.

Feku Bhakt A: PT, do you think Rahul has a chance against Modi?

(Meanwhile, other Modi Bhkat’s are alerted; one among them has also donated for the Rs. 2500 crore statue of the Congress stalwart Sardar Patel. They are looking at my direction with a feeling of victory. )

PT: I think, Congress always has a great chance against BJP. We are a national party; BJP is limited to few states. So….

Feku Bhakt A: But, I asked about Modi and Rahul, are you scared of Modi?

(The Kejri crazy joined the discussion; it seems he was enjoying the growing warmth in our bay. )

Kejri Crazy: It is no more a Rahul and Modi fight; Modi is threatened by Kejri.

PT: There he comes the eternal “Running away man” after his latest short stint as Delhi CM; a great doer. J

By the way, we are not scared of Modi; Modi is scared of losing. We have lost power in future and won Indian people back with our inevitability in running this country. As our leader says; there is nothing to be fearful about, individually and as a party we have seen it all.

And by the way, Rahul is not our PM candidate. We will decide after election, if we have number.

Feku Bhakta A: Ohoo….Ohooo….you are not answering my question. Why are you afraid of making Rahul as the candidate?

Kejri Crazy: PT, these are all tall talks.

PT: I answered your question; neither Rahul nor Congress is fearful about Modi; we are not fighting our first general election.

• We fought Britishers when you ran away
• We fought each single election after independence
• We lost some and won some

Whereas, you guys are nervous after what happened in 2004 and 2009. You know this is your last chance. You guys are so fearful that you are trying hard to hide that BJP is fighting this election 2014, don’t you? Don’t you think, election should be fought between political parties?

Kejri crazy: All these are B*** S***. Political parties have ruined this country. We need a new system. 

PT: Hold on, you should be reminded that you have a political symbol and you fought election, and governed a city state; it is a different thing that you ran away from there in 49 days. J

Kejri crazy: Bakwash…..

Feku Bhakta B: But, you have Rahul on all posters!!!

PT: Yes, we have. Raul is the campaign committee chief. (When Soniaji did not taken over.) So, he has to be the face of our campaign, should not he?

Feku Bhakta A: But in the USA, you have debates between candidates!!!

Kejri crazy: Yes…if there will be a debate, our Kejri will sweep…

PT: Yeh, that is what he is capable of, sweeping. J By the way, if you have read civics in school, then you should not be drawing parallel between the USA and India. Have you guys passed civics paper? J

Kejri crazy and Feku Bhakts: Grrrrr…. (Did not say, but thinking loud; we are engineers.)

PT: USA has a separate system i.e. presidential form of govt. and we have a different system, parliamentary from of govt. So, our elected MPs in Parliament decide who will be the PM. Do you want me to teach you Civics? J

Kejri crazy and Feku Bhakts: Kahwash….we will change the system…congress always comes up with these nonsense…B*** S***.  Let’s go for lunch.

It was time for the lunch, so the floor was cleared in no time with each one thinking to be victorious in the debate. This is the state of intellect…. J