New Year

Dear All,

I wish you, your family, your relatives, all your friends, a very happy and prosperous New Year !!

I hope the coming year is eventful, brings you joy, happiness, satisfaction and content !

Democracy - the Indian way !

I don’t often mention Indian politics on my blog. Not that I am not political, on the contrary, I am strongly political in my views. But when it comes to India, there are so many things to develop upon than politics, that too at the state level.

Much has been said about Indian democracy, said to be one of the world’s biggest and vibrant one. In India, democracy might be what it is defined in dictionaries, but not what it is envisaged as. Some time ago, when Economist termed Indian democracy as patchy, many people didn’t agree. I can’t see why, and the present case in point, one of the Western states of India- Gujarat. It is ruled by the worst person living - leader of the state BJP (a Hindu rightwing party).

Those who don’t know about Narendra Modi or his party BJP would not be able to understand my hatred for him. But he and his party were ruling Gujarat in 2002 - when about 2000 people were massacred.

The immediate reason for writing about him is this excellent article, carried again in Economist. I would just quote the lines from that article

“AS A cheerleader for the emerging India, a giant democracy with—at last—an economy to match, Narendra Modi is a disgrace.”

With the ongoing elections in Gujarat, Modi is again trying to keep his job. I have had only few Gujarati friends, so I don’t exactly understand the Gujarati mindset that elected him with absolute majority in 2002. The Economist article further mentions,

“Its last election, later in 2002, gave Mr Modi a thumping majority, biggest in those districts where the bloodshed was worst.”

The line above totally describes the voting pattern in 2002 elections of Gujarat and the following gives some hint about the average person who casts his/her vote in Gujarat.

“Meanwhile, few commentators have dwelt on the poll's most depressing aspect: Congress's own careful reluctance to mention the 2002 massacre—let alone Mr Modi's alleged part in it. This makes electoral sense. Attacking Mr Modi for failing to protect Muslims might remind Gujaratis why they used to like him so much.”

I don’t trust much the election predictions, not even those made by psephologist. If Narendra Modi gets to keep his job then I guess average voter of Gujarat will have lot of explaining to do.

Few even go so far to suggest that one day this hated person will become the Prime Minister of India. If this happens then the only thing I could do is to give away my Indian citizenship. It would be better than hanging my head in shame for the democracy, which would be India.

The world of politics

In just over a week’s time, the world has seen two major political outcomes, both of which were unexpected to say the least. Spread across two continents, this new development in both the countries is a pleasant surprise for the majority world opinion.

In Venezuela, the infallible Hugo Chavez ultimately had his defeat at the polls. Not only him, but many across the world were certain that Chavez’s plan are going to be reality in Venezuela. If Chavez respects the referendum then it is certain that he would be president only till the end of his second six year term in 2013. His dreams to rule Venezuela for an indefinite term came to a shattering end. So did his policies to turn Venezuela into a socialistic heaven. Though with just 1.4% of vote, the citizens of Venezuela did tell him loud and clear that they still consider the plural constitution of the country paramount to any person.

The next pleasant surprise came in yesterday from Russia. In an unexpected move, Russian president Putin announced his support for Dmitry Medvedev as the next president. Buoyed by the comprehensive victory of Putin’s party in the recent parliamentary election, it was certain that whomever he chooses will be the next president. The surprise in his choice is that he has chosen a pro-business leader over the other candidates, who were from KGB and security agencies. Among all of them, Medvedev, a law graduate and current Chairman of Gazprom would be most acceptable to the western world. Medvedev would still be someone through which Putin can maintain his hold over Kremlin, but this would have been the case with any of his successor. Atleast, with Medvedev, we can be sure of Russia’s economic progress, which will also augur well for the world in large. Though, he was at the forefront of the Russia’s gas supply controversy with Ukraine on the New Year eve of 2006, he has largely presented himself as the votary of economic liberalization and foreign investment.

Collectively, these two political developments are good news going into holiday season. (Yeah, I do believe in capitalism)