Gujarat Elections – 2012

The month of December saw the elections that the whole country had been waiting for the whole year – Gujarat Elections, there was also a sideshow in Himachal Pradesh (no offence meant to Himachali brothers), but more on that later.

The battle lines were drawn, the Sangh Parivar, BJP and a substantial chunk of the upwardly mobile middle class in India, were looking forward to a validation of their faith in a man they regarded as India’s Saviour – Mr. Narendra Modi. The stakes were high, a three-peat performance or hat-trick of victories for Mr. Modi was being seen as an essential proof of his hold on the state of Gujarat and as such a confirmation of his being the Indian Right’s answer to dislodging the beleaguered UPA government from the Centre.

The opposition, on the other hand, made up chiefly by the Indian National Congress (INC) was essentially trying to cause an upset in Gujarat, so as to take the wind out of Mr. Modi’s sails and stymie his promotion to National Politics at Delhi by ensuring his sphere of influence remains limited to Gujarat. In that context, upset in the state election was being defined as Not a Victory for INC, but;

·         limiting Mr. Modi to less seats than what he won in 2007 (117 seats) ;and /or

·         less than 2/3 seats to Mr. Modi

The Campaign

As happens in these majorly awaited elections there were lots of sub-plots in the story, a few of these were:

·         Rebellion by Keshubhai Patel

One of the most important communities in Gujarat is the Patel community. There are three subgroups within this community; Leuva, Kadva and Koli. The community forms 15-20% of the state’s population. Keshubhai Patel was an ex-chief minister of Gujarat who ruled the state from 1995-2001 (with a small break in between), arguably the tallest leader in the state BJP, till Narendra Modi was brought in to replace him as Chief Minister in 2001.

Post being removed from the Chief Minister’s post, Mr. Patel along with a few other leaders like Gordhan Zadaphia (Home Minister during the 2002 riots) and a section of the Sangh Parivar which was bristling at being sidelined by Narendra Modi, formed a party called Gujarat Parivartan Party.

The party was hoping to capitalise on Mr. Keshubhai Patel’s pull on the Leuva Patel community constituting 8% of the electorate themselves and reportedly able to influence 40 out of the 182 seats. This was expected to dent the BJP’s vote share and provide a fillip to chances of the INC in Gujarat.

·         Defection by Narhari Amin

As has been seen in many elections, there were a lot of misgivings in the INC rank and file with respect to allotment of seats and tickets. At the eve of the election Mr. Narhari Amin a strong local leader of the INC defected to the BJP. As a result the, INC already facing bleak prospects in the state, had to further face in-fighting and rebellion.

·         Electoral Campaign

o    BJP

Mr. Modi’s campaign was a month long yatra, in true BJP tradition. It was called Vivekananda Yuva Vikas Yatra, with Mr. Modi aiming to cover each of the 182 constituencies in the state. The campaign was also full of technological innovations like “3D” speeches wherein the image of Mr. Modi was projected at various places simultaneously. The message of the campaign was clear in projecting Mr. Modi as the sole vote-catcher for the BJP, with everything from ticket distribution, to alliances, to campaign strategy was being directed from the Chief Ministers Office.

o   INC

The INC campaign was unique, in the sense that the Gandhi family was not as prominent in the campaign as would have been expected in a straight fight between the BJP and INC. The campaign also included an ad campaign, the face of which was “Tulika”, a Gujarati actress and most of the campaigning was done by local leaders like Arjun Modvadia the chief of the state unit.

The attempt was to localise the election to by neutralising the BJP’s attempt to
play it up as a straight fight between Mr. Rahul Gandhi and Mr. Modi, a sort of prelims for the final round in 2014.

Another very peculiar strategy that was adopted by the top-leadership of the INC was to avoid any sort of personal attacks on Mr. Modi, unlike the earlier “maut ka saudagar” comment by Mrs. Gandhi in 2007. In addition, another omission from the campaign was a sort of reticence to mention the riots in Godhra.

It was a strategy to not personally target Mr. Modi and avoid polarising the electorate on larger issues.

The Result

It was BJP all the way. The BJP almost repeated its performance in 2007 (117 seats) by winning 115 seats as opposed to 61 seats by the INC. It was a landslide to say the least.

The INC suffered losses of a few heavyweights like Arjun Modhwadia and Leader of Opposition Shaktisinh Gohil, whereas the GPP flopped big time by winning only 2 seats. All the grand plans of the opposition to use the GPP to play spoiler and thereby spring a surprise in this key election came to nought.

Impact of the Gujarat and HP Elections

·         The clamour within the BJP for the projection of Mr. Modi as PM started, with Ms. Smriti Irani stating her endorsement in his favour on the day of the election result. Now, more than a month after the victory, even more leaders have stated their preference for Mr. Modi as PM, like Mr. Yashwant Sinha etc.

o   However, the same is not as easy as it looks as the dissenting voices within the NDA have already started speaking up with the Shiv Sena asking for Ms. Sushma Swaraj as the PM candidate. So the BJP is in for interesting times!

·    The INC has a clear task set out for it, its Gujarat strategy is in tatters. Can it find a credible strategy to unseat Mr. Modi from Gujarat? Actually, it’s not only Mr. Modi, Gujarat has been a BJP stronghold for close to 17 years. For, those interested in trivia, the INC still holds the record for the most seats ever won in a state election in Gujarat, in the state elections of 1985, the INC won 149 seats out of 182! A record that still stands, but thereafter it has been a BJP story.

·         The INC won the election in Himachal Pradesh; the INC leaders attached a great importance to this victory, and one could dismiss the logic entirely, because, while Mr. Virbhadra Singh might have won the election in a superb singlehanded effort (also it may be noted that HP is known for electing alternate governments every election), it also showed that there was no uniform anti-INC wave in the country, inspite of 2012 being one of the worst years the INC had to endure.

Some other thoughts

I have always wondered, about elections and strong leaders, when they steam roll opposition, how the opposition would feel, what motivates the opposition to still turn up and fight an election against a seemingly insurmountable opponent.

Even in a seemingly one-sided election, the vote shares are worth analysing. Now, the Election Commission of India website does not provide an overall report yet on the Gujarat Election 2012, from a lot of other websites, the vote share I got was as following:

·         BJP:48-52%

·         INC: ~ 40%

·         Others – 8-12%

Now, vote share percentages in India by itself do not mean a lot, due to the first past the post system. Therefore, one might see, two parties with seemingly similar vote shares with very different seats.

However, the point I am trying to make at a larger level is general in nature, that on a consolidated basis for every voter that votes for the winner there is another voter who votes against the party. This is what motivates political parties to assiduously woo particular castes and sub-castes as the correct combination of different groups engineered through defections; alliances and rebel candidates can make all the difference in an Indian Election!!

December 14-21

The Constitution (117th Amendment) Bill, 2012 (Quota in Promotions Bill)

It seems to be the season for legislation. Post the passing of the Bill to allow FDI in Multi Brand Retail and the prime role played by Ms. Mayawati in ensuring its passage; it was time for the UPA to help Ms. Mayawati in the passage of the Quota-in-promotions bill.

Now this bill is interesting since it allows for a quota in promotions for SC and ST in Givernment Service. Considering the beneficiaries of the proposed bill are the target constituency of Ms. Mayawati, it was not surprising to see her promote the passage of the bill aggressively.

In fact some would say that the support for the FDI in Multi Brand retail was contingent on the Government helping the safe passage of this bill. However, this would be a very simplistic assumption if you consider that the bill was passed with a two thirds majority in the Rajya Sabha. Of the 245 members in the Rajya Sabha, the bill was passed by 194 members.

The most vocal opponents of the bill was the Samajwadi Party whose core vote bank consists of Muslims and OBC’s; the one’s most likely to be affected by the passing of this bill. But the opposition is not towards quota but the fact that there core-constituency is currently not taken care of with a Promotions quota of its own.

However, since this series was written with a view on 2014 elections, it is clear from the voting of all major parties that none of them want to antagonize any vote bank by being known to publicly anti-quota. Even though, state units of both the BJP and INC in UP have expressed grave reservations to this bill according to media reports.

Further, importantly, this amendment would override Article 335 of the Constitution:

Article 335 of the Constitution states that the claims of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have to be balanced with maintaining efficiency in administration.  (http://www.prsindia.org/billtrack/constitution-one-hundred-seventeenth-amendment-bill-2012--2462/)

Now, it would be interesting to note what happens in the Lok Sabha, where the SP has a lot more seats to try and block the passage of this bill. Further it would be interesting to note what the other parties depending on substantial OBC votes like RJD and JD(U) do?

The Great Game – General Election 2014 – November 2012

The great game for the biggest prize in India, politically, the “gaddi” at New Delhi post the proposed elections in 2014 has begun.  This series would try and examine and analyse key political events till then to provide some perspective on the political alignments and re-alignments that would impact the formation of the next government.

Winter Session 2012

FDI in Retail

December 1-7

The winter session of parliament has begun in earnest and as in the last session, the opposition has not allowed the parliament to function, primarily on account of the government’s decision to not put the “FDI in Retail” decision to vote.

The government’s contention being that, since it is an executive decision it need not be ratified by vote in Parliament; politically of course the key risk is a major embarrassment to the government if the vote is defeated. What makes the government unsure is the fact that, key allies like Mulayam Singh Yadav of the SP have stated on record their opposition to the bill and the DMK also is not entirely happy with the proposal. Considering, how dependent the Government is on the support of these two allies, it might choose a disrupted Winter Session rather than a vote where the outcome is uncertain.

December 7-14

In a major victory for the UPA-II, the FDI in multi brand retail bill was passed by both Houses of Parliament. There were exciting debates in both houses, with the Governments chances in Lok Sabha bolstered by walkouts by SP and BSP (while protesting the policy) that helped it to win a majority among the members present and voting.

As part of the debates, the Leader of the Opposition, Mrs. Sushma Swaraj made a pointed remark about Ms. Mayawati of the BSP to the effect that, when Ms. Mayawati needs support on bills of interest to her she doesn’t mind canvassing support from the BJP, however, when it suits her she accuses them (BJP) on being communal. She further went on to allege that both the SP and BSP play ball with the UPA on account of pressure exerted on them by way of intensifying CBI investigations into various cases filed against them as and when they want their support.

This led to an interesting scene during the vote in the Rajya Sabha, with Ms. Mayawati completely changing her party’s position during the vote in the Lok Sabha. In her speech she took serious exception to the BJP’s leader of the Lok Sabha stating that the BSP was helping the UPA due the CBI’s influence and going on to state instances when she felt the CBI was wrongly used against her (Mayawati) during the NDA regime. Stating such comments as an insult to her party she went on to support FDI in Multi Brand Retail thereby giving a major fillip to the Government and helping them win the day.

Notes

·         The motion saw some high quality speeches in both houses of Parliament namely from Mr. Arun Jaitley, Mr. Murli Manohar Joshi, Ms. Sushma Swaraj and Mr. Mulayam Singh.

·         It’s interesting that parties can oppose a motion but chose to walk out instead of recording their opposition by voting against the motion. There should be some amendment to this rule in my opinion

The Disastrous Tour of the Indian Cricket Team to England!

For the longest time, ever since I can remember i.e. 1994-95, the complaint has been that India does not have fast bowlers. In the 1996 tour to England also, we used to play two spinners in the side, the seamers being a very ineffective Paras Mhambrey and I think Srinath. So the issue is not new.

But since 2003, we had arguably one of the greatest batting line ups' the world has ever seen and might ever see. I think cumulatively the Indian batting line up used to have close to 50,000 test runs between them, which I guess must be a historic record.

As a result we used avoid abject humiliation on tours abroad as used to happen during the 1990’s, resulting in creditable drawn series in Australia and South Africa, and victories in West Indies (2006) and England (2007) and New Zealand (2009). These impressive away victories and invincibility at home took us to the top of the ranking.

However in typical "Don't fix it till it’s broke" style, nobody planned for a future post the Big three. What happened to the great Australian side was there for everybody to see, but we chose to ignore it. Also, I do not have access to relevant statistics, but the contribution of Zaheer Khan and Virender Sehwag to Indian victories was immense to say the least.

But like all castles, where defences are not strengthened from time to time, a really focused assault can breach the walls and that is what has happened on the Tour to England. This English attack while good, is being made to look legendary by our pathetic display and that baby faced little Stuart Broad has earned himself the fairly impressive moniker of "The Enforcer" based on his exploits in this series.

The reasons for the defeat in England have been discussed endlessly. In my opinion some of the reasons were just bad luck and some pointed to a deeper malaise in our system.

1. Injury Management: It was public knowledge that Zaheer, Gambhir and Sehwag were all carrying injuries. What is the quality of the medical staff that gives the go ahead to play when it is plain to see that the recovery is not complete and in many cases feigned?

2. Test Squad: Where is the pool of players who have to be ready to play for India at a moments’ notice. Tremlett got injured, was replaced by a stronger Bresnan with Onions on standby. R. P. Singh on the other hand, not his fault by the way, looked out of shape and unfit.

3. Bad Luck: However, like all other incidents, this defeat is not as bad as it looks. In the first two test matches, India played creditably, but for a few sessions it could have gone either way. At two nil however, it became abject surrender because by then we had depleted our resources and the skipper was forced to be defensive whereas if he had the full strength squad we could have tried to force our way through tough situations. In retrospect, the following events had had huge consequences for India:

· the injury to Zaheer in the first session

· the controversial Stuart Broad Hattrick

The way forward for Indian Cricket

1. Structural Change:

a. Since a lot of the improvements to Indian cricket have brought or rather imported from the football leagues of Europe. We should also try and copy their team management structures. A coach is in charge of the immediate playing squad, in addition to the coach there is also a Director of Football, who is in a consultative position with responsibilities for new player scouting, signing and an overall strategic blueprint for longer term achievements. These could be somebody like an Anil Kumble or Saurav Ganguly for the Indian Team

b. A few changes have been suggested by Anil Kumble which include lowering time limit for retired players to be eligible for selection. Which would again make recently retired greats like Kumble and Ganguly play a part in management of Indian Cricket sooner rather than later

2. Commission of Enquiry: Don Argus was asked by the Cricket Australia to probe into the loss of Australia in the Ashes series and Ken Schofield was appointed by the England and Wales Cricket Board with a similar brief when England lost. Due to recent successes of the Team, we did not need such endeavours, however now there is need for a strategic review and a new blueprint to regain the No. 1 Test status.

3. Contract for Fast Bowlers: David “Bumble” Lloyd made a brilliant point in commentary, fast bowlers a rare commodity in modern cricket should be remunerated more handsomely than batsmen. Objective criteria should be defined for identifying a “fast” bowler and an increment based system combining performance and availability should be created to encourage fast bowlers e.g. Base Contract of 2 times a Batsman + impressive incentive for playing 90% of all tests played in a year + Good Performance incentive.

To put it simply more kids should want to be a Fast Bowler, the toughest job in cricket!

4. Replacement for the BIG THREE: However tough it is to imagine, there is soon going to come a day when Tendulkar, Laxman and Dravid will not be available and then what? We have to identify our replacements and blood them as soon as possible. For example on the upcoming tour of the Windies, as soon as we get an early lead in the series, the middle order for the remaining tests should consist of Kohli, Pujara and Rohit Sharma (names are indicative)

5. Future Tours Program: We realise we are not good away from home; however there is never a serious attempt to solve this problem. One of the most important ways to do that is to tour their more often. Australian cricket great Steve Waugh dubbed India as the final frontier; an analysis of the Border Gavaskar Trophy would highlight what I am trying to prove. Since the Border Gavaskar Trophy began in 1996-97, we have had Nine Test Series, of which only THREE have been played in Australia (1999-00, 2003-04 and 2007-08). With such planning it is inconceivable that our players would ever graduate to becoming experts in Australian conditions simply because learning from each series would never get institutionalised as the next tour would be so many years later that the team constitution would have changed substantially. The new test squad should for the next three to four years keep touring S. Africa, Australia and England. I understand this is easier said than done because the Future Tours Program is planned years in advance, however, this could be one of the instances where the BCCI could use its clout in a manner that benefits Indian Cricket in future.

6. The IPL: There is a tendency to blame all ills on the IPL, I disagree, it is a good place to spot exciting stroke makers. However, it’s format is such that Bowlers do not have a say, and hence our best should be excused. One has to commend the way in which a few of the best Australian and English players avoid the IPL to concentrate on Tests. It is very hard to see this happen in India, primarily as this is a marquee event of the BCCI and the Indian players would hence have to play, however a commission of enquiry such as one suggested earlier may recommend that Indian Test Squad bowlers be excused and compensated for their absence from the league. One very important change is that the special prices that Indian players command should be linked to Test caps and not One day selection !

7. Ban the Champions League: No explanantion required. Stupidest tournament in the World.

8. New Bowlers are Precious: Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma, RP Singh, Ashish Nehra, S. Sreesanth and Munaf Patel, all the names mentioned here have been touted as the next big thing at some point or the other. They all start out as raw pace bowlers and within a season or two end up being military medium at best. I am not an expert and hence do not know why, what is beguiling is that even the experts do not know why? In my opinion they cut down pace to retain their fitness for the unending cricket that India plays. This is why the Test Squad bowlers should be exempt from IPL and Champions League so as to have an off season like players of yore!

Very soon Varun Aaron, Deepak Chahar and Unadkat will graduate to the big league... please let us treat them on par with some dynastic offspring of politicians!

Conclusion: My endeavour here has been to point out, in the most rational manner possible, some of my thoughts post a most harrowing series in England. It is not intended to be critical in any manner. Over the past 48 months, this team has taken us on a joyride, that I for one never thought was possible. All through school in the 1990’s I have followed the team from one disappointment to another, always flattering to deceive. Hence, the past four years have been almost like an illusion, the 2007 T20 cup, 2011 World Cup and rise to No. 1 test status. It has almost been too good to be true.

Also, we must realise that the Indian Cricket Team has never been a great cricket team. We have 110 test victories (97 if we exclude Zimbabwe and Bangladesh), in contrast Ricky Ponting has a 100 Test Victories. Thus I would like to state, that what has been achieved by this team was monumental. Probably it was a freak team, looking back we might wish that some of these gladiators should have come one after another... Sachin, Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag, Dhoni, Zaheer, Kumble, Harbhajan....this is almost an embarrassment of riches. Right there in those names we have 1000 test wickets and more than 40,000 test runs. Incredible!!

But I hope for the generations that come, that we are able to go to greater heights. Because simply put, on a lazy weekend there is no greater pastime than watching an Indian team slowly grind out worthy opponents on a dustbowl in Motera!

Cheers!

Of Dog Poo…Falling Ceilings and the curse of the Commonwealth Games

The nineteenth Commonwealth Games is scheduled to be held in New Delhi, India, from October 3-14, 2010. It has generated a lot of news and almost all of it has been negative. In fact some of the news has been so downright depressing, that a lot of us would be wondering whether it would be good if this event were to not happen by any chance. As I write this, the official website of the games (http://www.cwgdelhi2010.org/?q=sports) says there are “10 Days, 22 Hours, 25 Mins and 14 secs” to go till the inauguration.

Why was this event important?

I write this in the past tense, because now there is little chance of these games doing anything positive for India’s reputation. There are those of us who might question the impact or the relevance or the importance of successfully hosting these games on India’s reputation if any?

There is a concept in western societies’ called “Debutante’ Balls/Cotillion Balls” or “Coming-Out” parties. It originally was an event where a young lady from an aristocratic/upper class family makes her social debut and signifies that she is ready for marriage.

The 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games was India’s “Coming-Out Party”.

For the better part of the 63 years that India has been free, the impression that the world has of us was a poor, impoverished, hungry and unsuccessful nation. It was a nation of snakes and snakes charmers! It was in the image of the poor naked child, his belly bloated due to malnutrition and his face covered in swarms of flies. It was in the kind of stuff shown in the “Slum Dog Millionaire”. Remember how indignant we all felt, how angry we were at Danny Boyle for reinforcing age-old western stereotypes of India.

Since the liberalization of the Indian economy in 1992, the country has made a lot of progress. I am not going to repeat all the facts, but you know them (4^th Largest Economy in PPP terms, 8% economic growth, Fastest growing telecom market, XYZ Billionaires) etc. This was a new India, Strong (Nuclear Power), Successful and Rich (Economy etc), ready to take its rightful place in the pantheon of great nations.

So how were the Commonwealth Games going to achieve this?

Since time immemorial ‘empires’ have used the staging of grand events or impressive spectacles as statements of their strength, their wealth, a display of resources at their disposal. The purpose being, to leave participants at these events gaping with awe at the sheer scale at which the event was being held. These are massive public relations’ events which embellish the planets perception of the host nation. It is an acknowledged fact that hosting events of this magnitude represents a major challenge in terms of planning and execution (7000 participants from 71 countries). In many ways it is like an exclusive club; nuclear powers, satellite launcher’s, manned space missions, moon landings etc.

These games in Delhi were a precursor to a strong bid for the Olympics, the ‘holy grail’ of sporting spectacles. But the events that have transpired over the past two months have left the perception of our nation in shambles. In fact in one fell swoop, the reputation that we were assiduously building over the past two decades, of a 21^st century super power has been seriously dented.

In the on-going race with China, about who is and will be the pre-eminent Asian superpower, these games had a certain symbolic value and that is now completely ruined. The comparisons have already started, recent articles in western newspapers have already started comparing the current state of Delhi and these games to that of Beijing and the Olympic Games in 2008. The contrast in the way they refer to China’s ability (awe mixed with fear) and India’s attempt (sympathy) is striking. This article sums it up (http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/an-indian-experience-will-make-us-forever-richer-20100923-15nqr.html), come to India for the “Joy”, the “peace”, the “inner satisfaction”, the “experience”… in other words, the ‘poor’ buggers are trying their best, don’t give them such a tough time please!

This condescending attitude is what we were trying to change, once and forever. You see, great nation’s nay empires will always have problems. There will always be insurrections, independence movements, unsatisfied communities, but these would be just challenges, that they would have to meet while simultaneously getting on with business. A Commonwealth Games, held minus any attack or any glitches would have been a slap in the face of people who hold doubts about India’s abilities to surmount her problems.

The Issues:

Delay:

Cursory glance of the Delhi Commonwealth Games website throws up some interesting facts:

• Games awarded for Delhi – November 2003
• Infrastructure Co-ordination Committee set up – February 2005

That’s a delay of 15 months to set up the nodal committee, and by the way the committee had to co-ordinate between the following organizations DDA, SAI, NDMC and PWD. This is a combination of state and central government authorities, always a recipe for disaster.

However, this excuse gets a bit diluted considering both the central and state governments were under the same party. Further press releases show that the intent was there, for example a press release dated May 19, 2009, gives us an idea of what the completion targets were like:

• All competition venues except cycling and Rugby 7s – December 2009
• Games village – March 1, 2010

Safe to say, we overestimated grossly! Compare this to other nations:

China has handed over the entire Asian Games Town for the Asian games in Guangzhou city, two months ahead of schedule and Poland has completed its main facility in Poznan for the Euro 2012, a full two years ahead of schedule!

Cost overrun

A report prepared by the India chapter of Housing and Land Rights Network, an arm of the Habitat International, estimated that the Official Cost of holding these games has gone up 525% since the city won the bid. (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Commonwealth-Games-cost-up-1575-since-bid-NGO-audit/articleshow/5928237.cms)

• In 2003, the Bid document estimated the cost at Rs. 1,899 crore
• March 24, 2010, the CWG stated that the overall expenditure incurred would be Rs. 10,000 crore!

Cost escalation, attributed to infrastructure, accommodation, catering, opening and closing ceremonies, Queen's baton relay, rent for office of the organizing committee, communications, technology, risk management-insurance and volunteers amongst others.

I will not delve into the corruption allegations that have been made with respect to these games, but we all remember some of the more outrageous ones like leasing of treadmills for Rs. 10 lakhs, Chairs for Rs. 8,000 and refrigerators for Rs. 42,000 etc. In addition to these were the allegations of nepotism in the awarding of these contracts.

Suffice to say that these allegations did not surprise us much and in most cases elicited not outrage but a chuckle instead, because as far as scams go, this is a minor one! You know there was a tradition in India earlier, work was not done till bribes were paid and post that everything would move swiftly. But, we are now coming to an alarming stage where even corruption and ‘greasing of palms’ is not enough to get the job done, and that is just unacceptable!

Bumbling Leaders

Any one seen Lalit Bhanot’s, “Their standard is different from your standard, my standard, his standard, our standard. So we have to upgrade to their standard” comment? If you haven’t..you can see it here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q7ZAek0Yg8). It is beyond depressing. It is a pain to see these guys playing pass- the-parcel on national television. We are a very forgiving nation, all they need to say is sorry we screwed up, but we’ll ensure that we remedy the faults. Actually it is too comical to event comment on.

Learning

There is only one thing that comes to my mind; however you feel about it, nothing happens in India if the correct person is not backing a project. For all Mr. Kalmadi’s political clout or connection, with all due respect he is a political lightweight.

Contrast this to the 1982 Asian Games in Delhi, which was considered a resounding success, the person in charge of that was Mr. Rajiv Gandhi. Therefore if such events are to be held in future, then, if the nation is under a Congress Government, it should always be someone like Mr. Rahul Gandhi/ Mr. Pranab Mukherjee/ Mr. Manmohan Singh or if under a BJP government, then Mr. Arun Jaitley/ Ms. Sushma Swaraj/ Mr. Narendra Modi

Essentially the point being made is a big event should always be under the direct oversight of a very strong political leader. Wherein if there is a failure, it would affect their political reputation and that is an eventuality that would never come to pass. It is imperative for the government to fire on all cylinders and there be no instances of friendly fire, for example, Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar stating publicly that the games are a colossal failure and that he wishes they fail, does no one any favors.

In my opinion there has been a very evident political sabotage of these events by detractors of Mr. Kalmadi and he was not able to prevent that from happening. The required closing of ranks within an administration, where there is a shared and collective effort to make something succeed under all odds was sorely missing.

Summary

Claims of “India Everywhere” (Davos 2006) and “India Shining” have been proved hollow. What we have lost is an amazing opportunity to gain much needed credibility that we are a nation that delivers.

While I hope and pray that I have jumped the gun by writing this, that our innate ability for “Jugaad” would see us through at the last minute. The question that we really need to answer is that are we finally ready to shed our past baggage and emerge as a nation that can face its destiny, whether we are as good as our word or whether we are still a nation that should just shut up and concentrate on feeding our poor, educating our children, saving our female child and reducing our poverty before trying to make any grand international statements!

Purpose of this Blog

I have been toying with the idea of writing a blog for a while and it is a testimony to my efficiency that my first entry comes ~ 5 months since i created this blog.

I am sure everybody has a reason to write a blog and mine is as follows: This is an era of instant news, where events make news, they are discussed there and then and are subsequently consigned to the dustbin once there is a new "Breaking News". Events are seldom discussed threadbare, no one has the time take an argument to a logical conclusion.

All anchors go, "Tell us right now and right here on 'XYZ channel' the solution to the Naxal Problem !".

The absurdity of such an approach to events of critical importance to our nation's future left me baffled and i was always unsatisfied with the lack of analysis in the discussions that surrounded the said event.

I also felt that all publications/channels these days are in the grip of celebrity culture, mirroring in my opinion, the media in the UK. I love Bollywood, but resent the fact that it has invaded all aspect of life today. Things came to a head with the complete take over of another of my key interests...Indian cricket. What happens as a result is that there is a trivialisation of important events and vice versa.

I feel strongly about the marginalisation of important events and the lack of discussion about the same and thought about writing a blog to put forth my views on such events and enter into meaningful discussions with other like minded people.