Bonded Legislators

Congress party is hell-bent on taking one misstep after another. It has now made its W.Bengal legislators 'voluntarily' decide to give an undertaking on 'stamped' paper that they will not air any views against the party headed by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

Is their forced loyalty restricted to the Gandhis? Are the Gandhis party's leaders for life? Is not the party insulting its members by seeking a pledge of loyalty? Is this any different from the practice of bonded labour?

The pledge is possibly restraint of trade affecting the legislator's right to  cross the floor whenever his / her conscience dictates so! This undertaking given by morally deficient legislators which is anyway legally unenforceable reflects the political bankruptcy of the GOP.

Digvijaya Singh created a flutter by seeking a major surgery in the party. He has now clarified that a major surgery is not what people take it to be. It does not mean excising any part of the party. Rather it means extending an invitation to former Congress people to come home. In India 2016, words do not mean what they are supposed to mean. This makes political life simple. You can say anything and get away with it.

How did AIADMK win?

Jayalalithaa was under a serious handicap. There was no second line leadership even to address political meetings to enthuse the voters. Her mobility was severely affected by her ill-health. Stalin had toured virtually every nook and corner of the state to seek people's support and all his meetings were largely attended. Karunanidhi desperately desired to become chief minister for just one more time. M.K.Alagiri had been effectively silenced so that he could not create domestic trouble for the party. Final word in Jayalalithaa's corruption case was not yet said by the Supreme Court and therefore this was creating a lot of tension for her. Anti-incumbency was looming large.

Despite all these challenges, how did she make it?

She acted smart both tactically and strategically. She released AIADMK's manifesto only after DMK had released its and this ensured that no item of interest to the public was left out. She out-freebied the DMK. She insisted on the same symbol for her allies also. So, the Two Leaves was fluttering everywhere. This certainly was a better tactic than having the Rising Sun in some places and the Hand etc. in other places. There was no diffusion of propaganda for the AIADMK.

Strategically, Jayalalithaa took care of interests of the poor. Amma canteen was deservedly a roaring success in sustaining her popularity. DMK's allegations of corruption did not stick because the pot was calling the kettle black. Cash for votes was a game both parties indulged in. If the DMK cries foul on this score, it is only sour-grapism. However, DMK's and particularly Stalin's relentless campaign deserves appreciation.

Brain-dead Congress

Reacting to the dismal performance of the Congress party in the recent general elections in five states, Shashi Tharoor says,

"The time for introspection is now past. Time for action has come…It is time to move and it is time to make some visible changes that the world and the country can see because for a couple of years after 2014, the process for consideration, reflection, introspection and so on has been taking place. It is now time for the leadership to draw on the conclusion from their introspection and take necessary action.” 

Digvijaya Singh laments, “Today’s results disappointing but not unexpected. We have done enough introspection. Shouldn’t we go for a major surgery?” 

Action? Major surgery? In any political party, the leadership is supposed to be the brain. If the brain is dead, can the patient be revived? Unlike for a human being, the brain of a political party can be replaced. When the brain is dead, it serves no purpose to indulge in transplant of kidney or heart to revive the patient.

If the party is not willing / able / ready to free itself from the toxic clutches of the Gandhi family, the Congress will soon become a thing of the past. Didi rightly said that Rahul Gandhi is Modi's USP !

Subramanian Swamy on Raghuram Rajan

Subramanian Swamy's contention that Raghuram Rajan is acting against our economic interests and therefore he must not be reappointed as RBI Governor is plainly over the top. Swamy has taken exception to Rajan not obliging the interests of ministers and industrialists by resisting their pressure to reduce interest rates.

Contrarily, Rajan deserves to be commended for his steadfastness in tackling inflation. Swamy's argument that reduced interest rates are not inflationary will have few takers. Economics being an inexact science, there is plenty of room for contradictory views. But it is illogical and discourteous to pillory the RBI Governor for his logical actions.

Rajan is an eminent monetary economist. He knows what he is doing. Swamy questions Rajan's retention of Green Card and proffers that as proof that the latter is out to scuttle India's economic progress. This is a strange argument emanating from a pathological hatred for the person.

Rajan would be happy to get back to teaching at Chicago or wherever his proven merit takes him. Unseating him from RBI will be an unjustifiable loss for India. We don't need a sycophant as RBI Governor if that is what Swamy desires.

Added on May 26th: Rajan may even be happy if his term is not extended because the dollar value of rupee is likely to drop drastically when the FCNR deposits brought in because of Rajan's concessions when he assumed office are maturing in September and a large quantum of dollars is expected to exit the country. If Rajan stays, his ingenuity will be tested. However, he may have a trick or two up his sleeves. Swamy has thrown a googly accusing the Governor of protecting Chidambaram's son from consequences of his violation of foreign exchange guidelines. This is an allegation that cannot be dismissed lightly.

Democratic Dividend

The state of J and K is permanently on the boil because of militant terrorism. The state of TamilNadu reaches boiling point due to electoral terrorism of J and K every five years. Verbal abuses are thrown about with nonchalant abandon, reputations already fragile are ripped apart and voter inebriation touches a new high.

To perform my constitutional duty and to exercise my citizenry rights, I went to the polling booth with a lot of enthusiasm. (Scorching sun and cloudy skies alternated during the day. Was it nature’s way of bemoaning the alternate misrules of the Rising Sun and the Two Leaves? There were intermittent showers too, as predicted by weathermen. Is weather easier to predict than election results?) After the polling was over, I conducted the most scientific exit-poll ever done. Statisticians say that the more scientific the poll, the smaller the sample requirement to maintain the same confidence interval. In my eagerness for innovation, I simply interchanged the if-then sequence and concluded that the smaller the sample size, the more scientific and unbiased the survey. So, I arrived at the least possible sample size namely unity. Principles of scientific survey dictate that the sample should be representative of the population. So, I chose the one who is as confused and clueless as the countless voters. I chose myself. The exit poll results are ready though I am forbidden by the strictly enforced rules of the Election Commission to announce this.

Everybody is saying that every voter in TamilNadu has been paid by both the leading Dravidian parties as a gesture of goodwill. I was wondering why the same goodwill was not extended to me. I got enlightened in the polling booth. My name was not in the voter list. (Political parties are very shrewd: why waste money on a non-voter?) When the list was getting updated a couple of years ago, I had informed the updating official that my mother was no more. Instead of removing my mother’s name from the voters’ list , the intelligent officer struck off my name convinced that I was an embarrassingly  transparent  citizen and therefore not deserving of the ‘democratic dividend ‘(being paid by the political parties under the cash-for-votes scheme) of participating in the electoral process. (Rs.570 crore was seized by EC officials in just one incident. It is no solace to know that the amount is only a legitimate transfer from one currency chest to another. What is revealing is the suspicion of the Election Commission. Political morality in TamilNadu has got into such a bottomless pit that the EC could readily entertain such a suspicion.)

Since I was denied the privilege of voting, I do not have a burdened conscience. Whichever Thuggish party comes to power, I am not to be blamed. I feel free. Freedom always comes at a price. The price is ineligibility for ‘democratic dividend’. I understand that a voter who has not been provided the democratic dividend by the candidates can lodge a complaint with the Election Commission. (Shouldn’t rules follow the practice?) Long live our Democracy!

Obama on listening to opponents

Very sensible indeed:

"I don't think it's a secret that I disagree with many of the policies of Dr. Rice and the previous administration. But the notion that this community or this country would be better served by not hearing a former secretary of state or not hearing what she had to say — I believe that's misguided," Obama said. "I don't think that's how democracy works best, when we're not even willing to listen to each other."

He added:

If you disagree with somebody, bring them in and ask them tough questions. Hold their feet to the fire, make them defend their positions. ... Don't be scared to take somebody on. Don't feel like you got to shut your ears off because you're too fragile and somebody might offend your sensibilities. Go at them if they're not making any sense.

Oops ! What a blunder !

The Hindu reports,

"The FBI of the U.S. was also roped in to determine the nature of poison and despite the delay, the Bureau was able to pinpoint the name of the poison that was found in her body. But since August 2015, till today, the Delhi Police has been dragging its feet even on elementary steps necessary in criminal investigative procedures such as custodial death of Shashi Tharoor and others,” Mr. Swamy said in the letter dated May 12."

Mr.Swamy, this is too bad. Do you want to eliminate Tharoor?

Added on May 15: The Hindu has since corrected 'custodial death' to 'custodial investigation'.