India Votes - and How!

Ref AlephNull #308

[Sonia refuses to be PM]

Just another Italian opera.

Already Lalloo and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha have declared that they will withdraw their support if Sonia is not the PM.

More drama to prove that Indians TRULY want a foreigner to be their PM.

Frauk # 307,

It seems the rumours are true after all.
Sonia as a person perhaps has her feet firmly planted on ground to make such a decision despite the sycophant party workers threatening suicide. I think she recognises her experience and expertise lies not in politics. If anything, her husband`s assasination would have prompted her to believe that no matter how much boot-licking, Gandhi worshipping your party workers are, who are hell bent upon proving that you are the best leader for the country, it does not qualify you to become head of state w/o any political experience. At the same time, time will tell us, if she infuses a more democratic culture in the party by allowing senior leaders to take charge of now defunct congress culutre. There`s a great element of luck too, which favoured her in this election. It was the anti-incumbency factor and the ``india shining`` campaign on the poor of india that did the trick. Many people blame the hindi belt for congress` reversal of fortune, but a look at the numbers will tell you that congress is mostly third in UP, Bihar etc. It`s in Delhi, AP and other places that the hero-worshipping of congress culutre has shown its effect.

On Manmohan Singh, what can i say but be just plain glad and thrilled if he were to become PM. I`ll truly consider ``India shining`` if a minority becomes PM and sets a precedent that its abilities that matter for such a position. My only concern is that he`s no conniving politician, and may require good advisors around him to tackle cheap ploitics and politicians (biggest of all being his own party workers).

I think, rest of the reaction has been shown by the stock market just today.

Adios

//...Sonia refuses to be PM ..//

If she pulls off this one - she will be the greatest leader and politician India has ever produced. Like I said before - this lady is not power-hungry and by this single action - she would save her nation from a lot of troubles and make sure a place for her in history.

Bravo!!

Breaking news:

Sonia refuses to be PM

I don’t know at this stage what her reasons are, but she may just have done her adopted country the greatest favour she could ever bestow; and for this I must thank her with the most heartfelt sincerity.

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All,
Just curious what would your reaction be if Sonia stepped aside and let Manmohan Singh become PM as suggested by all the new rumors. I am interested in your reactions to her as a person and to Manmohan Singh becoming PM

Regards,

Faruk

ref: TEN stupid reasons why BJP got the Boot....

Number 8: shouldn`t have believed such Elitist Arrogant crap....``I think the poor in India don`t mind if they remain poor as long as no one else progresses, but in the last few years, they have seen the middle classes doing better, and they can`t take that.``

AlephNull #297 One does not need to be a constitutional expert to know that there is no legal compulsion for parliamentarians to show up. I am not talking legalities here. After an election, a responsible political party would seek to bring the nation together, not split it up as the BJP is doing - with the BJP president threatening to start a nation wide campaign to overthrow the results of the election.

As for me not being qualified to speak out on these matters and the remaining personal attacks, that is the kind of a statement to be expected from you, you burnt up little man.

Re : nb # 298
“ I think the poor in India don`t mind if they remain poor as long as no one else progresses, but in the last few years, they have seen the middle classes doing better, and they can`t take that. Hum to doobenge sanam, tujhko bhi saath le doobenge....”

What if they voted just for a seat at the table, nothing more nothing less …..



Faruk

Ref rsridhar #271

[What i am saying is that politicians can never afford to neglect the poor and get away with this. Where was the incentive for the poor to vote for the BJP? Should they have voted for the BJP because some people believe that eventually the prosperity will trickle down to the masses and this is just the beginning of a great time for India?]

The monsoon failed in the South and we have incumbent parties thrown out in all four Southern states. The monsoon was good in the North and the incumbents including Laloo and Mayawati did well. What do you want the government to do: make rain?

[I do feel bad that economy is suffering but i think BJP and its brass must take the blame. Just imagine if the BJP had given some hope to the masses that the economic reforms will benefit them. But it did not. Its focus was all on the middle class. The soaps to the NRIs, the Pravaasi Sammelans, Gosh! What a wasted opportunity.]

A 3-day affair called Pravaasi Sammelan to attract the NRI crowd to INVEST in India and you call that a waste? How about Mayawati`s birthday party costing crores? That would be good governance according to you.

I am not surprised at your logic. After all, you grew up in the North. Score another one for environment over genes.

Ref veeresh #269

[Harimau 238 - yes Sir, I know it is a series of sprints . . . but have you seen the sheer number of our own people who put obstacles?]

When the entire world is doing something different than India -- and they are prospering when India is not -- it should be time to question whether we are doing the right thing.

I have always held that India is a laboratory where one could test new things to make them not fool-proof, not idiot-proof but fcukup-proof. Our election results show exactly how Indians can fcuk-up a good thing. Not that we will fix it. Other countries will learn from it and fix it for themselves while we continue to screw up.

Ref rsridhar #270

[Gujjubania,
In Bihar, minorities are safe. They do not get killed like they are in Gujarat. The first thing is to be a humane society that respects law, pays taxes, and respects other`s life and property. Let Indians get there first. I think Bihar is slowly moving in that direction.]

In Tamil Nadu, the last riots against Dalits were under the DMK. Under Jayalalitha, there has been no killings of Dalits. The people of Tamil Nadu have voted for the DMK and its allies. Does that mean the people of Tamil Nadu want to go on a killing rampage against the Dalits?

As to a ``humane society that respects laws, pays taxes and respects other`s life and property``, if you think Bihar is an example of that, you ought to have your head examined.

Ref rsridhar #273

[re: Sonia being a PM
This is from the Outlook:
http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20040524&fname=Cover+Story+%28F%29&sid=17

``Foreigner Is An Alien Concept
BJP xenophobia is only recent, foreigners have been a part of our country`s political past ..]

This is pure bullcrap.

When Chandragupta married a Greek princess, Chandilya made sure that the children from that marriage would not succeed Chandragupta. And they did not.

As recently as 1915, the Raja of Pudukkottai (for those of you who have no understanding of history: take a look at a pre-1947 map of India. Pudukkottai in in Tamil Nadu would be marked as a princely state) when he married an Australian was forced to abdicate the throne and his nephew was installed as the new Raja by the British upon the demand of the people of Pudukkottai. The Raja accepted a cash settlement and moved out of India with his Australian wife and their son.

Quoting the examples of Annie Besant, Alan Octavian Hume and Mother Teresa is again a non-sequitur. None of them wanted to RULE India.

Ref nb #298

[rsridhar,I don`t get what you expected Vajpayee to do about healthcare.]

RSridhar would be squealing like a stuck pig if we had a law in India saying that all medical graduates will have to spend 2 years in a Primary Health Center in return for their medical education.

If that were the law, the Primary Health Centers would be fully staffed with doctors.

Bur RSridhar wants to have his cake and eat it too.

I would like to hear him squealing when he finds out that he has to return to India at the end of his J visa or spend 5 years in rural Kentucky or on an Indian reservation in Arizona if he wants a green card.

It would be interesting to see if he returns to India at all and that too to a rural area to serve the underserved poor for whom he is shedding so many tears on Chowk.

Sadna #243

Re. Tavleen Singh’s column Why Signora Sonia as PM? , I am very glad it was written and would not dismiss it in a cavalier fashion. Tavleen Singh is level-headed, has a consistent record of weighing her words, and is to be taken more seriously than rabble-rousers like Rajeev Srinivasan and Varsha Bhosle. I found the content of her article on the money. Ms. Singh is not herself threatening or approving of violence. It would be extremely foolish to be blind to the likelihood that Sonia Gandhi’s ascension is going to be extremely polarizing, in the worst possible way.

In exchange for all the acrimony, we are going to get as India’s Prime Minister someone who can still only read prepared statements, cannot handle a free-flowing interview or press-conference, has to defer to ‘subordinates’ to answer the most elementary questions, has given little sign in eight years in public life that she has any vision for India or any grasp of the issues facing India. It is not as though people have not been asking questions either. It is normally expected of the leader of the parliamentary opposition that he or she would be forthcoming with opinions on all major issues as they develop. That has not been the case with Sonia and it is something for which she herself must be faulted quite as much as all those journalists who’ve let her get away with it so far.

Nasah #various

Nasah sahib, I recall that you’ve been ranting for years about Vajpayee’s supposed role as the mukhota. The current situation is replete with ironies, one of which is that you are going to get as Pradhan Mantri a mukhota to end all mukhotas. I wonder who will be the face behind the mask – Ambika Soni? Arjun Singh? Pranab Mukherjee? Will they take turns?