Dear Rahul,
When India is poised to switch over to the next orbit in socio-economic revolution, a plain vanilla political opportunism in farmers' agitation at Bhatta Parsaul can't qualify you to become the prime minister of this country. For that you should think beyond the contemporary political think-tank. Your solidarity with the victims of Bhatta Parsaul and empathy for the poor farmer families who lost their members in a protest against state apathy may temporarily yield some brownie points for you in politics, but in long run these political activism will never transform you to a world-class leader that billion plus Indians are eagerly waiting for.
Previously, you also visited Niyamagiri in Odisha to solace the poor tribals and also promised them to fight for their cause. I am not sure whether justice has been delivered to them. And there are numerous incidents when you have shown your genuine interest to reach out to masses and listen to their grievances, that way you have unquestionably proved yourself a leader of the masses, but will that suffice to catapult you to the top job of this country? You are not just another Indian political leader who at best can only aspire for a cabinet berth at the centre in his life time, you are different from the herd. You represent the collective aspirations of millions of youth who dream an India the next superpower in global economy, an India where the fruits of democracy are not restricted to few millions but every citizen of this country gets empowered to lead a life with dignity, an India where a flawed tradition, however deep routed, can't overpower the fundamental rights of any citizen, an India where justice will never be denied.
India is struggling with diverse socio-economic issues. Even after 64 years of independence, millions of people are dying of hunger, millions of children are exploited as child labourers, thousands of farmers are taking suicidal route to escape from the state apathy, and on the contrary, the ruling class is basking under the glory of India shinning, an irony that always narrates the sordid state of our development, a development which is partisan, non-inclusive, and unsustainable. For last 64 years we have been tinkering with the symptomatic treatment of a malaise, which could have an otherwise sure-shot preventive therapy. We wait for a problem to happen and then act partially to suppress it, rather than eradicate it from the root. How long India can afford to bleed on these pernicious ideologies?
Rahul, it's time now for you to take a stand beyond myriads of political limitations. India can't be ruled within the ambit of party ideologies. As a youth leader, you must ensure that the most bright and deserving young leaders join you to embark on a mission to transform India from an emerging economy to a world superpower in every dimension. And a last thought, you shouldn't be “ashamed of to be an Indian” by noticing one grave incidence of state apathy, rather you must ensure that every citizen with self conviction can say “I am proud to be an Indian” and for that you must act now to deliver justice to the victims of state atrocities.
Sincerely,
An honest Indian
Showing posts with label State Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label State Politics. Show all posts
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
The ugly face of land grabbing
The war of land acquisition for industrialization among poor farmers and state agencies or corporate houses simmers everywhere, from hinterland to heartland of cities. From Dhinkia (Odisha) to Singur (West Bengal) to Greater Noida (UP), the woes of farmers have never been addressed, rather state authorities have flaunted their might through engaging law enforcement agencies to suppress peaceful protests. In most cases, the protesters face the brutality of state power as a result many innocent farmers meet their tragic end, but the ugly war of land grabbing fashionably turns into maximum political opportunism. The opposition political leaders of all shades show their pretentious support to the victims just to grab the media attention and when the same parties come to power behave equally unabashedly in the same manner. When will the political hypocrisy take the least importance while mediating for the issues universal in nature? When will the states and the centre stop becoming the agents of corporate houses? When will the true spirit of sustainable development take off in this country? When will the poor farmers across India get justice for their constitutional rights? When will the nexus between government agencies and corporate houses be legally renounced? There are many unanswered questions though pop in the minds of people, the government shows its usual reluctance to address them.
Irrespective of India's economic growth in the post liberalization era, the hiatus between poor and rich has conspicuously grown further. In the name of SEZs, IT parks, real estate projects, and heavy industries, the state governments and corporate houses in tandem prefer farm lands to be acquired first essentially for two reasons: first, it's bit easier to dupe poor farmers, and second, the corporate houses find it quite easy to immediately start their projects, as they don't have to invest a lot on land filling and building connecting roads from the highways and expressways to the project location. Thus, the corporate houses give kickbacks to government agencies to act on their behalf. So what happens then is an unending saga of exploitation by state agencies. The state authorities purchase lands at a rate eligible for farm land and in turn sell it to corporate houses with lower to medium margins, but again the selling price falls far below the rate of industrial land. Eventually, the corporate houses receive all the benefits out of this illegal transactions.
Now the moot question is how long the state agencies will exploit the poor people? The manner in which farm lands are getting their ways into the land bank of corporate houses, few decades down the line India will face serious shortage of farm produces and the ever growing inflation in food grain and vegetable prices will touch the sky. The time is not too far from today when we will carry bag full of cash to buy half a basket vegetables. This is the time for serious introspection. We need a stringent bill on land acquisition for industrial purpose. India can't afford to loose any amount of farm lands for lopsided industrial development given the rising population. Development which is not sustainable is worse than underdevelopment. Is anybody listening?
Irrespective of India's economic growth in the post liberalization era, the hiatus between poor and rich has conspicuously grown further. In the name of SEZs, IT parks, real estate projects, and heavy industries, the state governments and corporate houses in tandem prefer farm lands to be acquired first essentially for two reasons: first, it's bit easier to dupe poor farmers, and second, the corporate houses find it quite easy to immediately start their projects, as they don't have to invest a lot on land filling and building connecting roads from the highways and expressways to the project location. Thus, the corporate houses give kickbacks to government agencies to act on their behalf. So what happens then is an unending saga of exploitation by state agencies. The state authorities purchase lands at a rate eligible for farm land and in turn sell it to corporate houses with lower to medium margins, but again the selling price falls far below the rate of industrial land. Eventually, the corporate houses receive all the benefits out of this illegal transactions.
Now the moot question is how long the state agencies will exploit the poor people? The manner in which farm lands are getting their ways into the land bank of corporate houses, few decades down the line India will face serious shortage of farm produces and the ever growing inflation in food grain and vegetable prices will touch the sky. The time is not too far from today when we will carry bag full of cash to buy half a basket vegetables. This is the time for serious introspection. We need a stringent bill on land acquisition for industrial purpose. India can't afford to loose any amount of farm lands for lopsided industrial development given the rising population. Development which is not sustainable is worse than underdevelopment. Is anybody listening?
Saturday, March 26, 2011
An introspective period for the Congress
Everything is not hunkydory in the current hot political space of India. The ruling party is literally battered by a series of corruption scandals, many have been unfolded internally and many are peeping out of the holes of WikiLeaks, and the most astounding fact aligned to these trails of corruption is the support of Congress in the UPA alliance in betraying the trusts of a billion plus people and forcing this great nation to a state of despair. The shimmering political instability due to the furore over wide-ranging corruptions, coupled with idiosyncratic disillusioned coalition partners, has tightened the noose around this government. There are many reasons to the evolving political turmoil that has bugged the UPA in general, and the Congress party in specific. If we can remember the history of Congress, as the frequented ruling party at the Centre, it's quite conspicuous that the last three coalition governments led by Congress including the current one have been involved in large-scale corruptions. That said it also doesn't suffice the sanctity or integrity of the Congress as a political party either led by Indira or Rajiv. India has been a silent observer of highhandedness of this party at different points of history including the internal emergency during 1975.
The coalition government, as initiated by the then VP Singh, the crusader of political corruption in India, has lost its true sense. Now it's more dangerous a political option to govern the largest democracy of the world with whims and fancies of regional parties which in every now and then gamble the political decisions in difficult times, whether it's civil nuclear bill or any other bill. The recent government, despite being headed by an honest, intellectual, wise statesman like Dr. Manmohan Singh, has revealed the wildest dark zones of coalition politics. Instead the cognizance of many political offenses happening under his nose, he stands helpless and stoic, for the simple reason that he has to follow his coalition dharma. And the irony is that despite all corruption charges against various UPA coalition partners, he still manages to share a mysterious smile that reveals much of his expression than what he intends to hide from public. That's his eternal magnanimous character to stay cool and keep a blind eye to the political rampage stirred by the coalition partners, and perhaps that's his most preserved strength, which has impressed Sonia Gandhi for last two elections and compelled her to choose him the right candidate as the prime minister. At least, he understands the reality, and has also experienced it many times, that he, being the prime minister of the largest democratic country, is still not an elected representative of people. What could be more exciting than this? But the Congress party will never accrue any long term benefit as Sonia Gandhi aspires a smooth dynastic power transition to Rahul Gandhi in the next election. It seems, as the current political equations are brewing up, Rahul will be the most unfortunate scion of Congress losing a golden chance to rule this nation.
The evidences are clear now. Rahul Gandhi's down-to-earth personality and hardwork haven't even charmed the states across India. Over these years the Congress has lost contacts with the states, and if the regional political upsurges are any denominator of current power matrix, it's quite evident that the next Parliament elections will be disastrous for the Congress. The major states including UP, Bihar, Gujrat, West Bengal, Odisha, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu are either ruled by a regional party or BJP. UP most of the times was ruled by Congress; however, in last two decades, the regional parties took control of the state politics. So, if we seriously analyze the political dynamics of India, the mushrooming regional parties in reality have understood the pains of state citizens, and hence their continued success is an indicative of drastic failure of central parties like Congress and BJP. If anybody in the Congress could seriously understand the importance of state political leadership was none other that Rajiv Gandhi. His unfortunate demise was a turning point in the political aggressiveness of the Congress. And the post-Rajiv Congress party has been absolutely directionless, nonstrategic, and tactless. Both Sonia and Rahul have failed to understand the gravity of reorganization of the party at the state level. Sonia's selection of Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister for consecutive terms was a grave mistake, especially in the lights political standpoints. Though Sonia's fear of losing her leadership control over the party could have been imminent given an alternative to Manmohan Singh, but her worst fear has yet to come, when Rahul will be betrayed by Indian voters in the next election. Though I don't vouch for any senior leadership in Congress for the post of Prime Minister, Rahul Gandhi could have been the best bet at least for the 2009 elections, despite his naive and immature stint in politics. Moving away from this option was the grandest mistake executed by Sonia Gandhi, maybe due to fear for some unknown reasons, but those were necessarily irrational. In India, and exclusively in political race, the charisma of any dynasty has been highly effective. If Rahul could have been the Prime Minister, he would have immense power not only in drawing policies effective for state levels, but also could have helped reorganizing the state leadership for the Congress party. The so called grassroots development and especially state concerns have been sidelined by the Centre in last two elections. Being just a remote control of power, Sonia Gandhi has under-weighed the serious reasons in political game, which could bring in devastating results in the next Parliament elections. Still she has time for course correction to evade the imminent danger, if at all she wishes to do. Are you listening, Sonia Ji?
The coalition government, as initiated by the then VP Singh, the crusader of political corruption in India, has lost its true sense. Now it's more dangerous a political option to govern the largest democracy of the world with whims and fancies of regional parties which in every now and then gamble the political decisions in difficult times, whether it's civil nuclear bill or any other bill. The recent government, despite being headed by an honest, intellectual, wise statesman like Dr. Manmohan Singh, has revealed the wildest dark zones of coalition politics. Instead the cognizance of many political offenses happening under his nose, he stands helpless and stoic, for the simple reason that he has to follow his coalition dharma. And the irony is that despite all corruption charges against various UPA coalition partners, he still manages to share a mysterious smile that reveals much of his expression than what he intends to hide from public. That's his eternal magnanimous character to stay cool and keep a blind eye to the political rampage stirred by the coalition partners, and perhaps that's his most preserved strength, which has impressed Sonia Gandhi for last two elections and compelled her to choose him the right candidate as the prime minister. At least, he understands the reality, and has also experienced it many times, that he, being the prime minister of the largest democratic country, is still not an elected representative of people. What could be more exciting than this? But the Congress party will never accrue any long term benefit as Sonia Gandhi aspires a smooth dynastic power transition to Rahul Gandhi in the next election. It seems, as the current political equations are brewing up, Rahul will be the most unfortunate scion of Congress losing a golden chance to rule this nation.
The evidences are clear now. Rahul Gandhi's down-to-earth personality and hardwork haven't even charmed the states across India. Over these years the Congress has lost contacts with the states, and if the regional political upsurges are any denominator of current power matrix, it's quite evident that the next Parliament elections will be disastrous for the Congress. The major states including UP, Bihar, Gujrat, West Bengal, Odisha, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu are either ruled by a regional party or BJP. UP most of the times was ruled by Congress; however, in last two decades, the regional parties took control of the state politics. So, if we seriously analyze the political dynamics of India, the mushrooming regional parties in reality have understood the pains of state citizens, and hence their continued success is an indicative of drastic failure of central parties like Congress and BJP. If anybody in the Congress could seriously understand the importance of state political leadership was none other that Rajiv Gandhi. His unfortunate demise was a turning point in the political aggressiveness of the Congress. And the post-Rajiv Congress party has been absolutely directionless, nonstrategic, and tactless. Both Sonia and Rahul have failed to understand the gravity of reorganization of the party at the state level. Sonia's selection of Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister for consecutive terms was a grave mistake, especially in the lights political standpoints. Though Sonia's fear of losing her leadership control over the party could have been imminent given an alternative to Manmohan Singh, but her worst fear has yet to come, when Rahul will be betrayed by Indian voters in the next election. Though I don't vouch for any senior leadership in Congress for the post of Prime Minister, Rahul Gandhi could have been the best bet at least for the 2009 elections, despite his naive and immature stint in politics. Moving away from this option was the grandest mistake executed by Sonia Gandhi, maybe due to fear for some unknown reasons, but those were necessarily irrational. In India, and exclusively in political race, the charisma of any dynasty has been highly effective. If Rahul could have been the Prime Minister, he would have immense power not only in drawing policies effective for state levels, but also could have helped reorganizing the state leadership for the Congress party. The so called grassroots development and especially state concerns have been sidelined by the Centre in last two elections. Being just a remote control of power, Sonia Gandhi has under-weighed the serious reasons in political game, which could bring in devastating results in the next Parliament elections. Still she has time for course correction to evade the imminent danger, if at all she wishes to do. Are you listening, Sonia Ji?
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