Is there a Govt in Maharashtra?

ShivSena has done what is does best..rabble rousing. In a frantic move to steal thunder away from MNS, Uddhav has gone a 180 degree shift. Though initially started with speeches on development politics, soon shifted gears after biting dust in the loksabha and assembly polls. SRK had just expressed an opinion that in IPL, we should have "bought" Pakistani players, a notion that even the home minister of the land share, and so do millions of Indians. That was it...just expressed a "view" and Sena went on a rampage. God knows what would have happened if Knight Riders had actually taken any Pak player!! No right thinking India can deny that it was not cricket that we called them and then didnot take them. If we had plans of not taking them anyways, we better had not called them. What happened was indecency!! The winner of T20 world cup didnot expect this. But this sane argument aside, even if for arument sake we assume that whatever SRK said was wrong, does it give the Sena the right to take resort to this abominable brand of politics? Who gave them the ownership? Certainly not the people of Maharashtra. Sena had been rejected by the Marathi manoos in the polls. They should be gracious enough to accept the people's verdict. But thats expecting too much from this pro-fascist party. Despite being a disposable, dispensable and rejected political force in Maharashtra, the T factory doesnot get it. I also get irritated when the pictoral of tiger is associated with this dark force. They should best be compared with jackals. An aging patriarch of this anti-national party, who couldnot hold his family together speaks as a self proclaimed guardian of Marathi pride. He, his family and party are the greatest blots in Marathi history. He has taken a vow not to shave until his party comes back to power. With this brand, it never can and he has to die with the length of his beard touching his toes.
This issue is not about a SRK movie. I am not the greatest fan of SRK on earth. But that hardly matters. Even if it was a Rakhi Sawant movie, I would have been equally anguished and irate. This issue questions the very idea of India - her multi-linguistic thread, multi-cultural assets and the fundamental rights of freedom of speech and expression that is given to every citizen by the Constitution of the country. It does not allow a space for spitting venom as the Sena does.
The bigger question involves the government of Maharashtra. Though the Chief Minister, voiced warnings and platitudes alike, it didnot comfort the general public. It seems, unfortunately, the people have greater faith in the competency of ShivSena to create problems than on the administrative power of the government to crush the disturbances. Clearly a lack of political will on the part of the government. If a government wants, it can deal with such matters sternly. If the government cannot crush intra-state vandals, lumpens and goons then how can it be trusted to counter anti-socials, mafias or terrorists?

India offers an olive branch to Pakistan

Indian foreign policy seems to be too good to be fathomed by lesser mortals. Say for example, our policy towards Pakistan. Since the ghastly 26/11 incidence, the whos who of central government, have been talking in a single voice, that we wouldnot talk to Pakistan unless we get proper assurance from them that soil of Pak wouldnot be allowed to be used for anti-India activities. In a rare show of consistency, we walked the talk for fourteen months. But then something ethereal happened!! The Indian premier thought that we should be talking to Pakistan as there is no other way out and unilaterally offered to resume dialogue at the foreign secretary level. Little that he realize that it would send a message that India is keen in resuming "composite dialogue" which contradicts her long taken (and right) stand. But thats not the only irony. Just seventy two hours before Dr Singh proposed this, his Pakistani counterpart Mr Geelani had gone public saying that he couldnot give any assurance that Pakistani soil wouldnot be used to launch attack on India and Pakistani militants held the largest anti-India rally in POK splitting venom onto India. Dr Singh couldnot find a better time for talks!! Why are we wasting public money over these futile exercises? Is the time ripe for talks? If yes, why we didnot talk earlier? Why we stopped talking after 26/11 and resuming it now? What has Pakistan done in this one year that they deserved this bail-out? Once hot once cold foreign policy leads us nowhere. Its time for self-reflection why we donot have friends in our neighbours. India should place faith in the axiom "Survival of the fittest".

Mumbai belongs to...

Its high time the political parties, which think the general people of India are idiots, are taught a lesson. Look at Shiv-Sena. Very conveniently raising and dropping the issue of Marathi manoos. Came into existence keeping the Samyukta Maharashtra issue to the fore, then for four decades did nothing noteworthy for its constituency except organizing some vandalism and uncivil acts, which I donot think made any Marathi proud. Look at achievement: was voted to power only once for 5 years, that too as a coalition, after four decades of its inception. The reign saw the true picture. Except rechristening the city from Bombay to Mumbai, one has to grope to find any other noted achievement. One more decade has passed by and the people keep on rejecting it in ballot. But who cares? The patriarch of Matoshree has an over-estimation on his quality. He thinks he is the self-proclaimed guardian of Marathis. The person who cannot hold his family and party together, imagines to hold the Marathi issue. What a fallacy!! But the greater disappointment is with the Congress. Its baffling to see the party not coming down heavily on a party which swears by hatred, hooliganism and everything the constitution of the land bars from. Both these parties have failed the people of Maharashtra. Shiv Sena by its indecent, uncivilized, autocratic ways and Congress by its ambivalence to take a stand, mouthing only platitudes. The irony is Thackerey is himself a migrant to the city and investigation must happen for his property - how the cartoonist turned politician earned so much when he was away from power for most of his life. Just to rack up old issues to mend dwindling political base, one cannot do acts of constitutional blasphemy at his will. Mukesh Ambani, Sachin Tendulkar, Big B, SRK are national jewels, not a rejected and dispensable force like the Sena. Wondering why do they not get the message and the verdict of the people. The fact that people donot want them, is lost on them or they are too unabashed. To deal with them, we need a strong leader who will pay them back in the same coin. For now it seems Congress is too coy to react.

Amitabh as Brand Ambassador for Gujarat

Amitabh Bachchan seems to be so overwhelmingly charmed by the dynamism of Mr Modi that he proactively offered to be the brand ambassador for the state of Gujarat. Its a new fashion in India. States being treated as "brand", is something new as a concept. Even before this, Big B tried his hand as a brand ambassador for UP. I think even Mulayam or Amar Singh wont say that it was of immense help. It would be interesting to watch what impact does it cause for Gujarat. However, this gesture of Big B has already raised eyebrows in the "secular" side of the divide. How could the most iconic persona side with someone accused of using goverment machinery for riots, which physically wiped out Modi's religious and political opponents? I think, without any attempt to absolve Modi, no goverment in the world is free from sins - Nehru carried the blot of Chinese incursion, Indira Gandhi has the blot of emergency and Operation Blue Star (a huge political disaster), Rajiv suffered historical admonishment due to anti-Sikh 1984 riots, Rao government held responsible for the collapse of Babri Masjid and so on. So the point is no single party can have "holier than thou" attitude if looked honestly at the mirror. But the bigger point is, what good would Big B be to Gujarat. Industrialists donot pour in money based on who the brand ambassador is, they only keep the policies of the state, labor condition and ROI feasibility under consideration. And I donot know how well does Big B even know about the realities of Gujarat. Surely, there is a difference between being the brand ambassador of Reid-n-Taylor and that of a state. Just pondering on what metrics will his success in his new role be measured!!