Friday, February 15, 2013
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Shoddy to say the least
Narendra Modi in Delhi
I was eagerly waiting for this piece from Salil Tripati.
Salil's criticism of the speech is its lack of originality. Seriously dude! have you ever heard an Indian politician present a vision for India. And here is guy who made the attempt and you criticize him.
The behavior of some ABVP students was pretty bad. But Modi could not have coordinated or controlled that.
Anyway, it all boils down to this. Salil cannot believe that a reasonable share of the Indian population is considering Modi ad a possible candidate. That just kills him - something that you see in people like Bill O Reilly in US. These people are very smart and provide very good analysis as long as it fits their narrative. However once it slips out of the narrative they come up with ridiculous critiques.
I am not a fan of Modi. But i did like his speech. It was bold and first instance of an Indian politician admitting we want a smaller but efficient government. That is belief too. But i still am concerned about Modi. His is a cult approach. He never gave credit to anybody else for anything. That bothers me.
Let us see how things pan out in the next elections.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Trained to kill
Navy SEAL who killed bin Laden breaks his silence
But untrained to survive a normal life. I mean you would think its the other way. There should be pension for these folks. I mean common. The guy who killed Laden is scared to make ends meet. Doesn't sound fair to me.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Friday, February 08, 2013
Another article
Indian media houses have started warming up to the national prominence of Modi by putting up pieces that criticize his claims. No problems there.
Another piece here!
I only wish the media houses did the same with Rahul Gandhi's achevement claims. Oh sorry, I forgot he has done nothing to even claim. There seems to be a bias against Modi - well he is that kind of a guy - but throuigh vetting of everybody needs to be the principles behind journalism not your intrinsic biases!
Ramachandra Guha chimes in
on Modi here.
He claims Modi becoming the PM is bad because of his authoritative nature. He compares him To Indira Gandhi who stifled any opposition in the country and party. This might be true. In his speech at SRCC, he talked about HIM only HIM. It was impressive and motivational for sure. However, it still felt that He was the one who did it all. I am not saying that his approach might not work for India. I am worried if does not listen to other people, in a diverse country like ours it will be very hard.
Now, comapre him to Rahul Gandhi who gave an "emotional" speech after being "elected" as the Congress Vice-President. It was a speech full of instructions on how power is poison and corrupts people. Here is a leader who comes from a party that has ruled India for 90% of the time since indepdence. Now, he claims power corrupts. Simple hilarious. His solution more governement. Government will solve you problems just like they did in the last 8 years. Basically, whether you see it or not, Rahul Gandhi will continue the status quo. I would rather have an authoritarian (not dictator, because we still have elections) man with vision at the head of the government then a "directionless" status-quo head. But, of course, we are getting ahead of ourselves here. There is the small matter of elections!
Thursday, February 07, 2013
Tuesday, February 05, 2013
Monday, February 04, 2013
So true!
Finally, there is a visible communal polarization happening across the country. Unlike in the 1980s and 1990s, it is not being inspired by Hindutva ideological forces. Instead, the pressure is coming from an upsurge of fringe Muslim groups, which in a bid to unseat the moderate elements are playing a radical Islam card. Recent events relating to Akbaruddin Owaisi and fringe groups in Tamil Nadu bear this out. Overt attempts by political parties such as the Samajwadi Party and the Congress to pacify these groups through policy interventions has only further reinforced the polarization; once again, these interventions have created, at least in the minds of some Hindu voters, the feeling that they are being persecuted. Modi’s visible Hindutva credentials only make him the perfect candidate to tap such sentiment.