Goa Friends of BJP Event

After Lucknow on Saturday (April 4), our next stop is Goa!

Attendance is open to all. We hope to see you there.

March 31, 2009 | Filed Under Events | 31 Comments 

ADVANI: MAZBOOT NETA

Advaniji speaks about the journey of his life.

“It is a journey that has not yet ended. From the age of fourteen and a half years till now, only one duty has defined the purpose of my life: to serve my Motherland. During the course of fulfilling this duty, my devotion, sincerity and commitment to my own cause and ideals have been tested many times, especially when I have faced any adversity in my life. I can say, with both humility and contentment, that I have not been found wanting in the eyes of my own conscience. Errors of judgement, I have committed many. I have also erred in the execution of my tasks. But I have never indulged in scheming or acts of opportunism for self-promotion nor have I compromised on my core principles for personal comfort or gains. I have stood my ground for the sake of self-respect and for what I believed was in the larger interest of the nation, even when doing so carried obvious risks. Whether I had to spend long stints in prison, as happened during the Emergency, or had to face a false charge of corruption in the Hawala case, or was labelled as a ‘Hindu hardliner’ for my role in the Ayodhya movement, or when I was misunderstood and castigated for having betrayed my ideology after my visit to Pakistan, I have followed the call of my conscience and stood firm. Besides fortifying my self-belief, it has given me happiness and imparted meaning to my life.”

 

March 31, 2009 | Filed Under Memoirs - L K Advani | 16 Comments 

A Wake-up Call for BJP Central Leadership

by Sushil Harlanka

I am writing this based on feedback from a LARGE number of the middle class which we are proposing to target. The BJP Central Leadership must give due cognisance to all these and react with suitable responses to all of them. They feel that what BJP is proposing is all rhetoric, lacks susbstance and does not exude confidence. They have to do more, much more.

They will have to give specific facts and figures about what they have done:-

1) How they have fared in the states under their rule, i.e. how they have been different from others, in terms of Growth achieved, poverty alleviation, infrastructure implementation. etc. In other words, merely claiming these without facts and figures,emperical figures are not going to impress anyone;

2) What steps have been taken by them in their states to sustain economic growth, to ensure there is no joblessness, particularly since Central assisstance is going to be far from reach, if at all accessible;

3) How they are tackling the menace of TERROR THREATS in their own states;

To cut a long story short, the Central Leadership will have to give quantitative details, on the steps it is going to take towards the following:-

1)INFRASTRUCTURE—-The only way to sustain an achievable growth in the economy is to spend on QUALITY INFRASTRUCTURE, because the other two (2) Contibutors to the GDP e.g.Export and Agriculture are highly vulnerable and erratic, not necessarily in our Control or not necessarily likely to perform the way we may have liked.

Therefore the only other sector that remains is Infrastructure. This not only directly spurs the economy but also provides a big boost to employment, which again adds to the spending power and helps the economy.It is also politically correct to talk about generating employment,which is a major political issue today.

2)BUDGET—- It is widely felt that the annual budget rolled out by the Finance Minister in the LOK SABHA has little meaning to most people. If instead it was presented in a manner which all people including the common man could easily understand and identify oneself with it, if he could be made to see what he has given, where he has given and how he has given and how his this contribution added to the particular KITTY and then how this KITTY has gone on to be spent on such and such project, in such and such manner, which again he can identify with. This will then generate a feeling of participation and will then improve COMPLIANCE. Better compliance means better revenue, therefore better spending and so on.

3)TERROR—- It is the most sensitive subject today. More and more events are falling a prey to this CANCER.First the IPL and now the Davis Cup Tennis match between India and Australia is in jeopardy. Leave all this aside. People are on their tenter hooks with regard to their and their near dear ones’ safety.I think BJP will have to very, very clearly spell out what it proposes to do, which will instill a sense of safety in the minds of the people. Somethoing which will send a message across to all that they are going to be safe and not any more vulnerable. The think tank will have to do somenthing very. very concrete, forceful and convincing to rassure the people. This is getting more and more critical with every passing day and the TALIBAN almost at our doorstep. I STRONGLY FEEL IF THIS IS DONE CONVINCINGLY OUR JOB IS DONE. NOTHING WILL WORK BETTER.

March 31, 2009 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 10 Comments 

Left or Right, Stick Together for Powers Might

by Sharraryu Aroskar

Amazing isn’t it…

My apartment friends and me used to play this game called “Sakhli”. Sakhli in Marathi means a chain. With one person running around touching the members in play and one touch would mean the person being touched got added to the human chain. The person that was touched first owns the responsibility to form a chain in next run of the game. The players not in the chain yet try hard to remain un-touched by the chain till the end and take huge pride in being declared as winners. We used to play all kind of tactics to avoid being touched. That being a play ground may be 5000 to 6000 sq ft in area, everyone knew that sooner or later every player would be a part of that chain.

You will be amazed to read what reminded me of the outdoor sport we used to play as young school students. I was watching some news channel covering the formation of “Third front”. I have no clue why they call it the third front. With local parties blackmailing the national ones like fishes mocking at the fishermen in the boat, I think there are around hundred fronts that are going to play a role in these elections. Even a party with one MP elected in the whole nation can get into the “mandwali” business post elections. Leaving away the post election scenario and coming back to the third of the hundreds of existing, I think it’s a business of touch and go.

BJP in 2000 experimented with the pre-poll coalition or alliance strategy based on common ideologies on which other parties in the country stood. I think it was a strategic decision taken by proactive leadership. Small local parties are a reality in India. It was so in 2000 as well. BJP had sensed that no single party in the country can have more than 272 votes on its own. A coalition was imperative. BJP held hands with parties that could help the nation gain its lost momentum on issues that needed the most attention. Foreign policy, information technology, laws against terrorism are a few to name. Since these are issues concerning every Indian any sensible party who was willing to accept the leadership of Mr. Vajpayee and for whom secularism was not anti Hinduism, was a good choice. With Mr. Vajpayee as a catalyst, BJP went ahead to make trust worthy friends to form the NDA.

At that point in time, Congress had two options to go head with, a similar hand holding strategy or mock the BJP for one. Congress chose later. It was an obvious choice at that point in time. In my understanding, after leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel , Lal Bahadur Shashtri etc. Congress faced a dearth of ideology as it chose family hierarchy over genuine merit. Had the Congress held right hands then there would have been a deeper ideological existence in the party. With lack of an ideological understanding of its own, it was difficult for the congress to hold hands pre-election as a reaction to BJP strategy. What if they held wrong hands? What if the hands they held don’t perform in the elections? They will have to break the chain, fall on face and make new bonds. In short it would have been a little shameful in front of the nation. The Congress thus chose to mock BJP strategy of forming a coalition and tried to portray itself as a “ideological” party that can run the elections on its own might. Needless to say, the Congress in the 13th Lok Sabha elections fell on face. I think their words pre election stood against them to form a post poll alliance. Even as an opposition they opposed policies under the name of secularism. When there was nothing “non-secular” about POTA or removing unnecessary reservations in the country. In 2004 Congress held whatever hands it could the surprise was the LEFT and Samajwadi party. None had anything common to the Congress in type except for wanting power at the center.

With left hand in a wrong one, there was nothing that was going to go right as far as the policies were concerned. No new policies were formed. The government survived on dividends of the already existing policies and then the lack of proactive behavior and American fall out wiped of all the make up on the UPA government. Now with nowhere to go in the 2009 election on its own, the Left to me looks like a child wanting to play “Sakhli”. It’s going on touching every party known in each and every Indian state. If the touch turns gold, the party is entangled in the chain. The LEFT is known for its socialist ideology. None of the parties that have joined hands with the CPI and CPM so far look to me sharing it. I was shocked when Chandra Babu Naidu joined the third front. Either the nation is heading in a direction that nothing but right and I am not able to make sense of it or everybody is coming to the LEFT because no one has a direction to the RIGHT. I am sure the third front will capture a share of voters that would have voted for local parties that UPA or NDA have no Alliance with. With NDA and UPA fighting the elections I see a deem chance that the LEFT will win. But I also see a possibility of the “THIRD FRONT” breaking up when parties that once held the third front hand run hither thither to join the power at the center.

It’s however interesting to see parties like CPI and CPM that were so far known to have an ideological structure to its existence succumbing to “Congressionalisation” of Indian politics. Come what may votes is all what matters to them. Age old policies like reservation, minority favoritism, still have a place in Congress manifesto. Development and abolition of poverty are words only to be printed and spoken during election speeches. The rest is about being in power for 5 years and attempting to do so year after year.

I really don’t know if it’s the actions of some parties or lack of credible actions on the part of others that makes me think on who is the feasible option now. UPA to me is out of question. I don’t think the minority and reservation vote bank politics with lack of ideology is going to take my nation anywhere but back. I don’t support the LEFT ideology of share the wealth to all. Words fall short but unnecessary reservation to non deserving or dividing the nation based on minority politics impairs a group sharing wealth on no basis can impair the nation.

Jai Hind!

(The author is working with a well known Sales & Marketing strategic consulting firm in Pune. She has an under-grad in Computer Science from Mumbai University and Masters from Texas A&M University, USA)

March 31, 2009 | Filed Under Contributions | 2 Comments 

The Most Neglected Minority of India

by Sudipto Das

The word ‘minority’ is a major word in Indian politics. It’s used as strong ammunition to topple or establish governments. Not alone the politicians, the media also enjoy a special satisfaction to use this word in different forms to establish their responsibility towards the society. So the question is who or what is a minority. In India the most acceptable and popular explanation of minority is the Muslim population. Everyone forgets that the Persis, Buddhists, Jains, Zorastrians, Bahais and even the Christians are more logical candidates to be represented as minority. Well, they are indeed minority in official sense, but whenever you bump across this term in any news channel or newspaper it’s very likely that they are referring to the Muslims.

The very fact that the politicians and the media refer to the large Muslim population as minority is derogatory to the Muslims. The so-called secularism ceases to exist when a so-called secular party claims to be the brethren of the so-called minorities, the Muslims. I deny accepting that Muslims are minority in India. They are ‘major’ as much as any one else in India is in the socio-cultural ethos of Indianness.

Well, so who’s the minority? What does minority mean? The dictionary gives many meanings. But only the Kashmiri Pandits in Kashmir know what’s minority, The Hindus in Bangladesh and Pakistan know what’s minority and the educated middle class in India know what is minority. At least the Kashmiri Pandits have some consolation that the media writes vociferously about their plights and different governments at least claim to work for a solution for their plights.

But who writes about the plights of educated middle class? They constitute the majority of the tax-payers. They are the only class who has to keep aside a part of their income to enrich the nation’s fund, which is supposed to be used for betterment activities, which in turn is supposed to benefit them. Well, nothing is free in this world, so they have agreed to live with the fact that they have to pay for the road they use, the civic amenities they use etc etc. They don’t mind. They have never raised a voice against this. They have never asked whether their taxes are utilized properly. Even they have never objected to the fact that only they have to bear the cost of any development in the country whereas the vast majority is exempted on the ground of being economically weaker. They never take it otherwise. They truly believe in the well being of the countrymen.

It’s the middle class who, more than the politicians sympathize with the plights of the millions of financially challenged people and try, whatever possible within their limited capabilities, to do something for them. It’s the middle class who create organizations like CRY, donate handsomely for the victims of earthquakes or drought, help the family of the lady who works in their home and do many other small things voluntarily. They try their best to do something for the society.

The middle class also does one more thing, which perhaps not all in India do. They dream for a better India. Also they want to grow in life. But no one ever thought of their aspirations. No political party ever represented them. Nobody ever asked them about their likes and dislikes. The ‘upper’ class doesn’t have to bother about anything, and the ‘lower’ class has the whole political people to supposedly bother for them. But, stuck in the middle, who do the educated middle class have to bother for them apart from themselves alone? They are the greatest taboo in Indian politics. Anyone trying to do something for them is termed as pro-rich and non-populist. Everyone speaks of uplifting the lower class and stagnating them in the middle-class. Can’t the middle class also have an aspiration to move up?

Of late they were very happy reaping the benefits of the recent economic reforms. They have indeed moved up in the economic ladder. At the same time they have also resulted in enhancing the economy of the people around them. Starting from the people who drive auto-rickshaws to the old lady who sells flowers from door to door in Gurgaon, Bangalore, Noida, Pune, Hyderabad, Bombay and many other places have been benefited by the sudden increase in spending capacity of the middle class. They felt good that they and also the people around them were really moving towards a better life.

But then they find that the majority of the political world is envying them. All the so-called non-populist reforms, which had actually created hopes for them after a very long time, are vindicated. They are indeed feeling helpless. But they can’t say anything or affect any change because they are a minority. Their number of votes will merely do any change to the total electoral poll count. They have to be just mute spectators to what’s happening around him and accept whatever the ‘majority’ (of the political class) thrust upon them.

The only capital of the middle class is their education. This education refrain them from staying in darkness. They know what is good and what is bad. They like good people around them. They want to be governed by good educated, cultured and decent people. They feel satisfied if they see that their hard earned money is spent properly in creating good world-class infrastructure across the country. It’s only they who really understand the importance of good foreign policies. It’s they who appreciate India’s slow and steady race towards becoming a global player. But what if they don’t see all these? Nothing. Yes, they are indeed a minority, a very unconventional and lone minority in the middle of an alienated, ignorant and adversely manipulated crowd.

(Sudipto’s blog is at http://sudiptounplugged.blogspot.com/).

March 31, 2009 | Filed Under Contributions | 10 Comments 

Arun Jaitley Video Clips from Delhi

Here are a few video clips from Arun Jaitley’s talk in Delhi:

March 30, 2009 | Filed Under Events | 20 Comments 

Congress Manifesto: High on Style, Low on Substance

by Sudheendra Kulkarni

When it comes to manifestos of political parties, a section of the intelligentsia and the media exhibits a dismissive tendency that riles political activists like me. A major national daily last week called manifesto-making nothing but a “cut-and-paste” job. This tendency is symptomatic of a larger habit of the chatterati sneering from the comfort of their well-furnished drawing rooms at all political parties, indeed at the political process in general. The reality is quite otherwise. Most political parties, especially those with a national perspective, have begun taking policy issues—and, by extension, manifesto preparation—far more seriously than before.Now it is the turn of the media to take manifestos more seriously and catalyse a widespread public debate, x-raying both their specific assurances and their overarching visions. The performance of parties in power, especially, has to be scrutinised closely. At the same time, the assurances of those making a bid for power also have to be subjected to rigorous examination from the point of view of commitment, feasibility and their earlier track record. A debate of this kind will make political parties more accountable, the electorate more well-informed, and India’s democracy more enriched.

The Congress manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections 2009, which was released last week, has escaped a serious scrutiny in the media. The one thing to be said in its favour is that it is very well written. It has made up in style what it largely lacks in substance. It is excessive on self-congratulation but certainly not shoddy in its architecture. On substantive matters, however, it fails the test of satisfying a searching mind. Look at the points on which the Congress manifesto is silent. There is not a word in it on fighting corruption. It’s as if in the assessment of the Congress leadership, the problem does not exist at all. Not surprising since the party’s track record of five years in Government shows that it took no steps to fight corruption. The war against corruption requires personal conviction, moral courage and political authority. Sadly, these were not the qualities that Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh demonstrated during his five years in office. To his credit, not even his worst critics questioned his integrity in financial matters. However, by allowing blatant misuse of institutions to let Ottavio Quattarocchi, the Italian wheeler-dealer who was the prime accused in the Bofors scandal, go scot-free, he made it known that fighting corruption was not on his personal agenda. Any remnant of moral authority that he had in this matter evaporated when he permitted the cash-for- votes scandal to be enacted last year to purchase the allegiance of opposition MPs just to keep his government afloat after the Left parties withdrew their support to it.The Congress’s silence on this issue is especially regrettable since none other than Rajiv Gandhi (whose name appears six times in a laudatory manner in the manifesto) had lamented, in his initial idealistic years in office, that only 15 paise out of every rupee sanctioned by the Central government for various anti-poverty schemes reached the end beneficiary. He said so in 1985. Has the situation changed for the better in the past 24 years? Only last month, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India censured the UPA government for improper accounts on Rs 51,000 crore earmarked for various anti-poverty schemes, including the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. The NREGS is a good programme and the UPA government deserves credit for launching it. However, it would have received greater encomiums if it had strengthened, in cooperation with state governments, the delivery mechanism for various development schemes.

The second problem on which the Congress maintains a conspiratorial silence in its manifesto is the massive influx of infiltrators from Bangladesh. It has reached such alarming proportions, especially in Assam, that the Supreme Court has described it as “external aggression” and urged the central government to take effective and urgent steps. Dr Singh has been a member of the Rajya Sabha from Assam for the past 18 years. The fact that the Congress manifesto does not even pay lip service to saving Assam from this menace means either that Dr Singh believes that the problem doesn’t exist or that his lips are sealed on account of his party’s votebank politics.

Another regrettable feature of the Congress manifesto is its promise to introduce religion-based reservations for minorities (read Muslims) in government employment and education. True, a large section of Muslims are victims of poverty and backwardness. But does the solution to this problem lie in reservations, that too on the ground of religion? The proposed policy won’t benefit Muslims much, but it certainly will solidify minority and majority identities and further widen the divide between the two. Indeed, this could embolden those who have been demanding, for a long time, proportionate representation in the Parliament and state legislatures. Why not, instead, work for a national consensus on reservations on the basis of the economic criteria for all communities while retaining the existing quota benefits for SCs and STs?

India’s experience with the quota system has clearly driven home an important truth, which the political class has so far not been able to grasp with courage. That truth is: quotas alone are not a panacea. Be it for the minority or majority communities, or even for the SCs and STs themselves, our country has to look beyond reservations. A different approach to affirmative action, rooted in a radically different model of socio-economic development and strongly aligned to a vision of “justice for all but discrimination against none”, is needed. Not even a hint of it is visible in the Congress manifesto.

(This article was first published in the Indian Express on March 29, 2009.)

March 30, 2009 | Filed Under Sudheendra Kulkarni | 11 Comments 

Change Bhagwat Ke Sangh

by Swapan Dasgupta

There is often a striking mismatch between how the media paints an event and how the actors in the drama perceive it. The appointment of Mohan Bhagwat as the new Sarsanghachalak of the RSS was viewed by many through the prism of factional alignments in the BJP. In view of the ongoing General Election campaign and the political importance of the BJP this was, perhaps, predictable. Viewed from the perspective of the RSS headquarters in Nagpur, however, electoral politics didn’t enter the calculations.

The RSS has traditionally viewed politics as a necessary but disagreeable facet of national life — one purist equated politics to the toilet in the house. From its perspective, the regeneration of India cannot be brought about by politics but only through the spread of worthwhile values in civil society. As an institution, the RSS has invariably chosen to sidestep the murky world of politics — though it has not always succeeded. Bhagwat’s elevation to the top position may have incidental political fallout, but it was not premised on politics. It centred on the creation of an ethical, nationalist leadership with tentacles in all walks of life.

The issue that is foremost in the mind of the RSS —which Bhagwat alluded to in his first public address after assuming charge — is the challenge of “modernity.” To a very large extent, the organisational and ideological priorities of the RSS were determined and moulded by an India that existed prior to the post-1991 economic transformation. The daily shakhas, with its blend of physical fitness, fun and some food for thought, held a great attraction in an unhurried world. In small towns and closely-knit mohallas, parents were happy to send their sons to the shakhas because the atmosphere was wholesome. In the absence of too many distractions and other leisure opportunities, the shakhas became a centre of community bonding.

The emergence of a fiercely competitive world and the mushrooming of leisure opportunities have dented some of the austere assumptions that defined the RSS till the 1990s. The RSS is still perceived as one of the most important load-bearing pillars of what can loosely be called the Hindutva movement. However, this has not been accompanied by a corresponding increase in the importance of the shakhas. The difficulties faced by the RSS are also a consequence of a fierce political-media onslaught that has painted the entire brotherhood as a secretive, backward-looking bunch of monsters committed to harassing non-Hindus.

There is an additional paradox. The Hindutva movement touched a political nerve of Middle India during the Ayodhya movement. Since the mid-1990s, however, the importance of Hindutva as a political rallying point has steadily declined. Yet, ironically, the importance of Hindutva as a social and even religious phenomenon has increased quite dramatically. The spread of “evangelical Hindutva” centred on modern gurus, yoga and TV discourses has kept pace with the modernisation of India. There is a new symbolism and even a modern iconography of the new Hindutva which is sharply removed from the symbols of the RSS.

Additionally, there is a new, assertive patriotism in the country. The public discourse, particularly the English media discourse, may be overwhelmed by secularist cosmopolitanism but Indians have simultaneously become more aware of their Indian and Hindu identities. The Indian flag is far more visible today than was the case two decades or so ago. Indians today feel a greater pride in being Indian than during the shortage economy era. In the diaspora, this has translated into Hindu pride and even Hindu activism. Yet, and this is another paradox, the rise of a fiercely patriotic Indian hasn’t necessarily seen a corresponding strengthening of Indian nationalism — at least not politically. Narendra Modi may be the exception. The Gujarat Chief Minister has grafted the energies of a modern society on a Sangh tradition. This is an experience waiting to be more widely emulated.

As the head of India’s foremost Hindu movement, these are some of the challenges before Bhagwat. How can the RSS connect more effectively with the new India? How can the movement incorporate change without losing sight of its core values?

In many ways, Bhagwat is ideally placed to tackle the challenges of the 21st century. As general secretary of the organisation during the tenure of K S Sudarshan, he has formidable organisational experience and familiarity with the entire country. This is coupled by ideological rigour.

Having interacted with Bhagwat on at least six different occasions, I have been struck by the fact that his firm commitment to the RSS ideology is not coupled with dogmatism. Unlike some RSS functionaries who are trapped in an insular mutt culture — the Sangh is their entire world — Bhagwat seems acutely aware that the Hindu movement runs on many parallel tracks and, sometimes, on different assumptions. It is this recognition of plurality — an essential facet of the Hindu inheritance — that sets him apart from those who want the Hindu movement to be modelled along Leninist lines — the hegemonic role of the Sangh. In the coming days, I see the RSS under Bhagwat retreating from micro-management of its fraternal organisations and according great space for a varied articulation of Hindutva. Naturally, this will have a bearing on the future orientation of the BJP. As the head of the parivar, Bhagwat’s responsibility is to both guide and ensure that the different streams are in broad harmony.

The challenges before Bhagwat are daunting. This is not because either the Sangh or the Hindutva movement is in crisis but because the opportunities presented by the new, assertive India haven’t been fully realised. How the Sangh chief negotiates his way through these multiple openings and reaches out to the whole of India will be keenly scrutinised in the coming years.

(This article was first published in The Pioneer on March 29, 2009.)

March 30, 2009 | Filed Under Swapan Dasgupta | 5 Comments 

Lucknow Friends of BJP Event

Friends of BJP is coming to UP!

Attendance is open to all. We hope to see you there.

March 29, 2009 | Filed Under Events | 33 Comments 

Birth of BJP

In this excerpt, Advaniji tells us about the formation of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

“The two-day national convention on 5-6 April 1980 added another invigorating emotion-that of determination. Over 3,500 delegates assembled at Delhi’s Ferozeshah Kotla ground and resolved, on 6 April, to form a new political organisation called the Bharatiya Janata Party. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was elected its first President and I, along with Sikandar Bakht and Suraj Bhan, was given the responsibility of General Secretary. As we embarked upon a new phase in our political journey, an unforgettable milestone came in the form of the BJP’s first plenary session in Bombay on 28-30 December 1980. Nearly 50,000 delegates congregated under a specially erected tent at a sprawling open ground near Bandra Reclamation adjoining the Arabian Sea. The venue was appropriately called ‘Samata Nagar’ to underscore the BJP’s commitment to social and economic equality. The plenary session of the party’s National Council was marked by a display of overflowing enthusiasm, confidence and determination on the part of both the leaders and the delegates. In a short period since the formation of the BJP in April, as many as twenty-five lakh new members had been enrolled and party units had been set up in practically every state in India. All the newspapers in the country took note of the historic significance of the Bombay session of the BJP. I must make a special mention here of what Janardan Thakur, who was then the Editor of Onlooker weekly, wrote: ‘I have just returned from the BJP session in Bombay with one certainty: Atal Bihari Vajpayee will, sooner or later, become the country’s Prime Minister. I am not saying he may, I am saying he will. Mine is not a prediction based on stars, for I am not an astrologer. It’s a prediction based on a close hard look at the man and his party. Vajpayee leads the party of the future. Both have blossomed’”.

March 29, 2009 | Filed Under Memoirs - L K Advani | 4 Comments 

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