CATTLE CLASS VS TWITTER

Tharoor's offence :
"Tell us minister, next time you travel to Kerala, will it be cattle class?" His reply: "Absolutely, in cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows."
Congress is no different from other political parties which indulges in 'lip service' to democratic values. Freedom of speech and personal opinion should not be compromised for party politics.
Inability to appreciate basic humour involved in Shashi's twitter remarks is disturbing for other decent Indians who may be contemplating joining politics for service to the nation rather than for vested personal interest.
The tone and vocabulary used by Jayanthi Natarajan as Congress spokesperson (to reprimand Shashi Tharoor), sounds more like a Mynamar General rather than of a political party in democratic India?
Most Indians will support Shashi's sense of humour and dignified international exposure rather than petty minded one dimension thinking of hard core political pretenders, for whom retaining the status-quo by maintaining (or increasing) the 'cattle class' generates political dividends as 'holy cows'.
May be Shashi should reconsider his honest decision to serve the country which expects devaluing his value systems and inclusive modern attitude with a contemporary out look?
Sorry Shashi, Indian political space is not for decent successful meritorious individuals!!
Majority of our politicians do not know the difference between "Twitter" and "Cattle Class" any way!!

AUSTERITY CLASS

The politics of farce being played out by the Congress party is an insult to the common man.
‘Vote Bank’ politics appears to take ever deeper plunge into falsehood as evidenced by the recent well publicized ‘AUSTERITY CLASS’ travel plans being indulged in by Congress (wo)men. Sonia takes a seat in economy class and her “Rahul Baba” travels by train – not to mention the desire by all and sundry group of sycophants to follow the leader(s)!!
The sudden rush to be seen in economy class, may be a good omen for airlines struggling to fill their air crafts – because more business/first class seats become available for genuine “CLASS” passengers rather than the “RIFF RAFF CLASS” travelling at the cost of the tax payer!!
Pranab Babu the “Bhodrolok” Minister of Finance has of course not revealed the savings expected to be released for more pressing demands on the kitty under his care!!
The ostensible logic behind shedding crocodile tears is the looming drought and the need to empathize with the “Aam Aadmi” – the more real strategy behind this symbolism is it offers photo-ops which may convert into votes in the upcoming State elections??

TRIBUTE

The tragic end caused by an unfortunate chopper crash yesterday (2nd September) closes Dr. Yeduguri Sandinti Rajasekhara Reddy’s, more popularly known as YSR, successful and eventful political journey achieved by sheer hard work and charisma.
The untimely death of this sprightly Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh will be a game changing event in the political canvass of the State and in New Delhi.

An achiever and committed person brought much needed sense of discipline in public life while ensuring tight control over the team he led for result oriented governance. He brought freshness in the dreaded corridors of government that ails our system. An uncompromising task master has suddenly left a huge vacuum.
Facts and figures available in the public domain of achievements under his able leadership should be made compulsory ‘case study’ for all other politicians to drive home the point that ‘public service’ without ‘private greed’ is very much possible with focus and desire to be inclusive. The thumping victory in the recent Assembly and Lok Sabha elections also proved that political dividends can be generated by honesty of purpose minus manipulation.
YSR brand of politics and governance can be made the basis of reforms in our mostly rotten political frame work.
MHSRIP.

KANDAHAR REVISITED

Revival of political storm over the 1999 ‘terrorists-for-passengers’ swap and the role played by various individuals in their official capacity is a disgusting commentary on the dirt and rubbish that we rely on for our safety. Falsification and intrigue determines important decisions of the nation by incompetent self centered group of office bearers.
It is indeed a sad reflection on the quality of governance that even when lives of innocent ordinary citizens of the country are at stake, our politicians holding important portfolios, are swayed by personal image and party politics in taking important national decisions which essentially calls for non-partisan evaluation of facts for protection of citizens and national interest.
The poor attempt by BJP and Advani (‘tough on terrorism’ stance) to hide behind a cloak of deceit and half truths, not only exposes the poor strategies (poll centric) that have horribly misfired, more importantly it destroys the minimum basic moral uprightness that the citizens expect from persons who are in positions to decide their fate.
The attempts by apparently qualified educated party men to defend falsification and liars by engaging in semantics purely to maintain personal interest is not only pathetic but an insult to the public who can see through their unconvincing arguments. Thanks to the electronic media that 'body language' comes into play when these 'serial liars' stand naked for all to see?
The 'dog eats dog' attitude of the ruling coalition and other political parties to extract full political mileage by fishing in BJP’s troubles, in an attempt to divert from more pressing issues of governance is also not encouraging.
It is pertinent that in the ongoing drama none of our politicians have mentioned the sensibilities and anguish of the trapped passengers and their dear ones along with the country at large during the 7 days ordeal which started 9 years ago.
We need a change of mindset to govern the affairs of India in a more robust and efficient manner. Management has to be the primary criteria rather than politics and image building.

CHIRPING SPARROW

The mostly invisible heavy price that we pay in the name of development and creature comforts makes us oblivious to simple things that silently disappear without replacement.
How many of us are aware that sparrows are gradually becoming extinct from most of our urban/semi urban areas?
It has been established by experts that the unrestricted expansion of telecommunication networks for mobile phones has destructively affected the reproductive cycle of the innocent sparrow – a bird that we took for granted around us, may be even a decade ago.
This morning drove to Bangalore airport to see off Tina for her Mumbai flight. As we were walking back to the car park – spotted a solitary sparrow within the public foyer area of the massive steel and glass facade and a whole range of emotions welled up!!
The bird kept moving and chirping within touching distance (wish had a camera handy) displaying its normal characteristics of ‘no fear’ in human surroundings. Remained glued at the spot till it flew off to another area. Isn't this a sad and unfortunate reflection on human beings?
We have systematically managed to alter the simple bird’s DNA in our quest to remain connected on a 24/7 basis BUT have got disconnected from nature’s scheme of things. The tragedy of this experience is the fact that the bird has not altered its character and has remained in its original format to remind us of our not so distant past.
May be we need to slow down and divert our attention to respect the original balance in nature to avoid the disasters towards which we seem to be moving and a solitary bird’s appearance is the wake up call to care for our Earth.

DICTATORSHIP OF DEMOCRACY

Jaswant banned from BJP then Jaswant’s book banned from Gujarat?
Two disturbing dictatorial arbitrary decisions thrust upon citizens of a democratic country disregarding basic tenets of equity and commonly accepted norms of justice.
India appears to be hurtling like an unguided missile towards intolerance and undemocratic actions by petty minded individuals who do not deserve to be in positions of power. Power corrupts and absolute power destroys.
Tolerance has been the binding force which has kept our vast country together in spite of inherent variety that is mind boggling.
Unity in diversity is the guiding principle that the world envies when looking at India. We are likely to loose this respect if the current trend is allowed to continue.
Need for reforms and clipping of unregulated power in the hands of few self seeking politicians is becoming increasingly important to save the nation from spiraling out of orbit.
Contrary to democratic criteria, the basic structure of our democratic freedom is being attacked in the guise of appeasement of minority views.

SHALLOW LEADERSHIP

Ever since their unexpected poor performance at the country wide polls earlier this year, BJP – the only political party with a national presence, capable of functioning as an effective opposition in our parliamentary form of governance, appears to be stumbling from one episode to another, similar to the mind less serials telecast on our DTH channels.
Soon after the public spat between Rajasthan’s leadership and the party president, the latest dramatic incident, being expulsion of Jaswant Singh, an ex-Minister and a senior leader for expressing his personal views in a recently published book.
The obvious contradictions in this action of the party are difficult to reconcile and appears to be knee-jerk reaction to hard line ‘Hindutva’ pressure from the RSS – in spite of the usual labored denials by BJP.
The official statement issued by the Party President (incompetent record so far), on the one hand disclaims the contents of the book by attributing them as ‘personal views of the writer’ and in the same breadth expels the writer from the party, thereby establishing a nexus between the party and the writer? This is the most stupid logic of managing the affairs of an organization expected to contribute towards healthy democratic practices. Distinction between the party and the individual is essential for freedom of thought and growth of democratic benchmarks.
The poor quality of leadership displayed by most political parties is disturbing for the ever growing importance of India as a nation. The growing prestige of Indian presence in the community of nations can be jeopardized by the shortage of statesmanship essential to retain the momentum we now enjoy.
Political ideology takes precedence over national interest in decisions taken by many of the party chiefs who portray themselves as ‘Leaders’. Complete lack of perspective and the convenience of shallow ‘vote bank politics’ dominates most party actions.
Qualitative reforms along with nationalistic approach must guide politicians rather than ‘ego trips’ and vested petty interests.