The neo-populist class, and its failures!

The results are in, and the country has moved on to budget season as the ruling coalition itself moves into damage control mode. This has certainly been an opportune time for the masses to exercise their vote of confidence, or the lack of it, in the policies of the Congress-led UPA II. Thrashed in Punjab, where it was expected to win, and where nobody gave the SAD-BJP alliance a shot at bucking the trend of anti-incumbency. Humiliated in Goa, where the mining scam has brought IIT Bombay-educated Manohar Parikkar back to the CM's post. It eked out a narrow victory in Uttarakhand, where it should have done far better and rode to power with single-handed majority. Finally, to put a punctuation mark on 3 years of floundering policy-making and disastrous in-house management, it came a distant fourth in Uttar Pradesh, a state where it showed signs of recovery in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. In my home constituency of Jhansi, which has elected a current member of the central cabinet convincingly in the last two parliamentary elections, the Congress finished a distant fourth!

While the Congress has been facing a lot of flak over its dismal showing in what has been termed as a semi-final to the 2014 elections, comments of Digvijay Singh & co. notwithstanding, the real dangers of its brand of politics have only just started to surface. Firstly, a rejection of Rahul Gandhi as the future leader of the party should be seen in conjunction with the so-called triumphs of the UPA government that he has been peddling for the last two years. MNREGA is a sloth that is slowly becoming ungovernable, as complaints about middlemen and lack of accountability are piling up. Claims of Aadhaar and direct cash transfers as the anathema to lower-level corruption are all hollow words, until and unless backed up by results on the ground. Of course, the less said about the Congress party's commitment to the Jan Lokpal bill, the better! Secondly, the Congress lost in states where it is not the leading member of its alliance, or does not have an alliance at all. That alone bodes ill for the future of UPA as a progressive entity, as the party becomes more susceptible to exploitation at the hands of regional parties, in order to last its five year term. Who would have thought that after winning a total of 206 seats, the Congress party would be blackmailed by the likes of Mamata Banerjee and shamed by Raja and co. Thirdly, nowhere else is the importance of a commander-in-chief more apparent than the current central government. While Dr. Manmohan Singh has settled into his pantomime routine, excited souls left and right have been chiming in with irresponsible words that harm the government's image more than they help it. Salman Khurshid's remarks about reservation for Muslims in the OBC quota is the most clear example of appeasement to the core. The drama over the hasty adjournment of the Rajya Sabha on the last day of the winter season, in order to save face in a house where the UPA is way short of majority, hasn't been erased from the memory of those who care yet, and there is already a contentious debate on the Rail budget on the anvil. 

The opposition clearly left with demonstrable gains from these assembly elections. IF midterm polls were to happen next month, it doesn't take a genius to predict that the UPA would continue to suffer the backlash of 3 years of misrule unless things are expedited to a correction course. The idea that populism can win you elections has clearly failed the Congress in these elections, because this is simply not the 1970's anymore. The voters can see right through the manifesto these days, which would explain why a vote for the Samajwadi Party in UP was more anti-BSP than pro-SP, for it is understood that the element of muscle power is blended into the core of the SP's ideology. Let's hope that the government at least gives it a shot, rather than protect its feathers till it's time to step in front of the country again in 2 years. 

PS: Sachin Tendulkar has etched his name into the record books forever, and so has Shakib Al Hasan by the virtue of being the bowler who delivered the historic ball. Here is a look back at what is most likely to be Sachin's finest overseas ODI innings. 

Hardly a time to celebrate

Deepawali is almost here. The pompous festival of wealth and prosperity, which forces even the poorest of the poor to give a token service to goddess Lakshmi in lieu of happiness in the future, brings with itself scenes of jubilation and rejoice. Masses throng to banks and jewelers in hordes and a shopping frenzy grips the entire nation. Like every diwali, this too shall pass. The after-effects of 3 days of gluttonous celebrations will be felt by a few, but the country will go back to normal very soon. Except that this might not be the best time to let laissez faire get in our way of pondering over where exactly India stands right now. 

In terms of polity, fractures abound in the ruling and the opposition camp. Team Anna has severely dented the chances of the UPA, with the most recent bypoll rout suggesting that the public has had enough of its tardy response to corruption. The prime minister has firmly retrenched himself to the background, and all promises of being 'more communicative' to the nation in future appear shallow. The two senior-most ministers are engaged in a power struggle of sorts, and it almost appears like the UPA II is just hoping to making it to the finish line at this time, even though that appears to become harder every passing day. Achievements like the world's cheapest tablet 'Aakash', developed specifically to aid India's growing advancement in IT by rearing a new generation of internet-savvy youth, are outnumbered by blunders like the still tied-up defense procurement issues as well the Air India saga. Not to mention that the hyper-active HRD minister is all set to toy with perhaps the last remaining indigenous brands, the IITs. On the opposition side, an octogenarian is visiting parts of the country exposing the ruling coalition's dubious record on corruption, when two of BJP's own chief ministers were recently fired from their jobs on corruption charges. Talk about charity beginning at home! 

The issues which plague our country's economic development are getting severe every passing day. FDI inflows have sunk to unimaginable lows, inflation is showing no signs of easing, and petrol is actually costlier than liquor. The power sector is reeling under the unintentionally comical tug-of-war between the competing ministries. The incendiary T-issue is raging again, with AP bearing the brunt of the central government's dilly-dallying on the issue. Investor confidence is understandably at a low, and why should it not be? Policy paralysis is the graveyard of business expansion. None of these issues are unmanageable, unless the government chooses to overlook the glaring omissions in it's list of priorities. As the aspirational nature of India's youth firmly establishes itself to the forefront, the political class will have to answer sooner or later. One can only imagine that true bliss is around the corner. 

PS: It is not as if we have nothing to look forward to. The inaugural Indian grand prix is only a fortnight away. Here's the interactive track map in the words of Mark Webber himself.

A game of thrones, or picking bare bones

Every time I check one of my trusted sources of information about my mother land, scandalous updates flash out like one of those dumb characters in 'Jersey shore'. Sadly, and believe me, I say this with great regret, it feels that somehow Indian political space has been morphed into a shady version of the Mahabharata since I shifted base. This is not to shunt out any objections that Indian politics was never sane in the first place - there is a reason why young men and women don't want to enter politics despite the steady flow of popularity and property it offers. It has undergone more than a cosmetic change in the last 3 months, ever since Anna and his activist troupe managed to make the hapless UPA II government eat crow and accede control of parliamentary traditions. The murmurs have turned into scowls, the game of one-upmanship has become so crafty that some of the contenders we have might want to try and turn it into a legitimate sport. In other words, we are entering an era of 10 Caesars and 100 Brutus'. 

Politics has long been an art of pretense, where you are expected to belie expectations, and abetted by such shameless pandering of your minions, have to show that you exemplify the core of all human ethos. The agenda is therefore narrow, and more often than not, opaque to popular aspirations of the electoral college. Our leaders seem to be holding strong to the adage. In circumstances where the economy is stagnating, the rupee is sinking to a fresh low everyday (much to the joy of desis desiring to make a killing when they exchange dollars back home), and reform is stuck at the gate, all eyes have turned to a general election which is still 3 years away. I watch the madness unfold everyday in America, where politicians out-compete each other to who can be more mundane, and spout rhetoric like a vending machine at Starbucks. To be fair to them, the presidential election is an year away and show(wo)manship helps. But 3 years!

Chdamabram and Mukherjee have been so detrimental to each other's cause that one of them might as well join the opposition benches in the parliament. While there skirmishes over appointments to secretary posts and the handling of home affairs has been well documented in the past, fresh muck has been unearthed. Turns out that Pranabda wants to give Dr. Subramaniam Swamy a shot in the arm by suggesting that Shri Chidambaram should've seen the 2G scam coming when he was the finance minister in the erstwhile UPA I government. Not to start a debate here, but apparently even Mrs. Gandhi didn't see it coming, and we all know that if anybody knows anything in our country, she does. With Rahul baba failing to work his magic in the recently concluded assembly elections, and his series of gaffes which have turned him in to a fodder for the 24x7 media (remember the parliamentary speech on the Jan Lokpal bill?), the congress might score a self-goal if he were to contest for the post of PM in 2014. So journeymen like Mr. Mukherjee and a certain Mr. Digvijay Singh can sniff their chance. On the other side of the fence, Advaniji is set to unleash another of his dreaded Rath yatras upon us. Considering how the NDA suffered an embarrassing defeat in 2009 when he was the prime ministerial candidate, he should've taken his cue and retired to the background. But old habits die hard, more so if they involve traveling across the country in a motorized vehicle and comparing it to a chariot marshaled by Lord Krishna himself. It's time for Gen-next to take over, not Gen-ex to still parade shamelessly. 

But why should I care? 3 years is a long time, and I have full faith in our media that by then, the character assassinations would be as complete as India's whitewash at the hands of the English.

PS: I posted a REM video last week, and today they announced the end of their glorious 31 years together as a band. I hope the same fate doesn't bequeath this group.