India Votes - and How!

Tahmed32 #28

{{This demonstrates a lack of respect for the constitutional process and a lack of respect for the will of the majority.}}

Sahib, you are completely befuddled. I fear that you have no idea what a constitution is; unsurprising given the way your country’s ‘constitution’ has been amended on a daily basis at a dictator’s whims.

Lack of respect for constitutional process or democratic outcomes would have been shown if Vajpayee and his cabinet had not smartly turned in their resignations to President Kalam; if they had declared a State of Emergency, as one of our Prime Ministers did 29 years ago; if they had gotten India’s equivalent of your 111 Brigade to arrest the politicians of the Congress and other parties’ and immure them in the Red Fort; etc. There is no protocol, let alone legal or constitutional, requirement, that individual members of parliament attend the Prime Minister’s swearing-in ceremony. Vajpayee as outgoing Prime Minister will attend.

The supreme irony of having an admirer of el Dictator Musharraf deliver a pompous sermon on democratic propriety no doubt also escapes you.

{{If Vajpayee wants to retain his place in history as a statesman, he would condemn the clowns like Advani and co. for their irresponsible behavior and resign from the party.}}

Yes, I see it all clearly now – Atal Behari Vajpayee, at the end of five decades in India’s public life, quivering in his dhoti because Tahmed the great savant and supreme arbiter has threatened him with the loss of his place in history as a statesman.

rsridhar,I don`t get what you expected Vajpayee to do about healthcare. In an earlier post, I talked about how things were 8 and 10 years ago under Congress rule. They did nothing at all. The expense per patient per day in hospitals in MP in 1992 or 94 was 9 paise. Yes, that`s not a typo! I can understand it if illiterate people expect instant results, but you should know how long it takes to fix a health system.
My grandmother in Calcutta has had problems with the water supply for years on end, remember they`ve had a Marxist state government for 27 years. And you expect this government to settle the water problem in Chennai?

I wonder, if the issue of independence had been put to the electorate in 1947, how would they have voted?
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....

#293 by concerned1 on May 17, 2004 11:04pm PT

[why do you think there was no media coverage/condemnation of the TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao (allied with congress) when he openly declared that `The Krishna river will flow full of blood. The Musiri in Hyderabad will flow full of blood. We have guts`, etc? ]

The TRS chief K. Chandrashekhar Rao has been at the forefront of a virulently anti-Andhra campaign in the hope of carving a separate Telangana from Andhra Pradesh. It receives huge funds from overseas Telanganaites and also businessmen who simply cannot compete with their Andhraite counterparts.

Not just threatening to spill blood in the Krishna and Musi rivers, he has also threatened to drive out each and every settler from the eastern regions of AP. And the Congress entered into an alliance with this party on the promise that should it come into power, the demand for Telangana would be considered.

Either way, the state is going to suffer. If the Congress refuses to create Telangana, there will be large-scale violence prompting the corporates and multinationals that only recently moved into Hyderabad to relocate. If it does, then there will be mass migration, the likes of which India hasn`t seen since the partition.

sadna,

why do you think there was no media coverage/condemnation of the TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao (allied with congress) when he openly declared that `The Krishna river will flow full of blood. The Musiri in Hyderabad will flow full of blood. We have guts`, etc?

UNDERMINING THE ELECTION VERDICT:

BJP and it`s allies have to tread very carefully about contending Sonia`s right to rule. While making Sonia`s origins and reminding voters of the choice they made is a right political move, it should be in moderation and they should not be seen as undermining the choice of people.

Rightly or Wrongly, Indians have made their choice. And NDA should respect it and let the Cong+ to form the government. They should take these issues to people next time they have a chance.

Making this a big issue and holding nation seige to this not only undermines the democratic process but history proves, in India, that it is never rewarded. Congress victory, in the next elections, is almost garunteed if BJP does this.

Moreover, it makes enormous political sense to let the new coalition fall under it`s own weight of ideological inconsistency, anti reform policies (under the influence of Left) and more importantly anti-Hindu policies. That way, they have a better chance of decisively regaining power at the Center next time.

- Avkrishna

//...In the absence of good governance, poor can turn to any source that offers hope: even communists....//

Yes - Laloo was re-elected third time. And That`s for ``good governance`` too.

Wake up!!

Sonia is still holds her italian passport - it seems. You don`t see a problem with your Prime Minister being citizen of another country? It`s just common sense. You can`t grasp that - good luck to you.

mohar11 #282
Yes, the media doesnot care, it is better to focus on a starlet`s midriff. The opposition doesnot care, they prefer to threaten `ugly nationalism`, after all it is much better to kill people and rape women to make a point. This strategy `sells` better as concerned1 says, particularly to NRI supporters. I get it.

Number 9. shouldn`t have said : ``my face not photogenic enough``?

Anyway can anyone comment on the veracity of this commentary on Naidu and Vision 2020:

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/foreignaffairs/comment/0,11538,1219046,00.html

rshridhar..

you are amazing.!! are minorties safe in bihar?? my god, no one is safe. try and pay a visit and you will know what i mean.

and you are talking like a communist. agreed nda failed to deliver it to the poor, but pray tell me what is the answer. are u saying we should go back to days when everyone was poor because there was hardly any wealth? yes, the wealth created should be utilised for poverty alleviation, but what should be the modus operandi? is opposing free enterprise and exit of govt from the market not the right direction? the communist model has failed all over the world and you are harping on that. it is very sad.

you are talkign exactly like the people who say that building roads benefits only the rich because they have the vehilcles. some MPs actually campaigned on this plank and actually won. if this is the attitude, india will go down as is happening now.

nasah: The most stupid thing BJP is doing is RIGHT NOW, after the elections: they are showing their true fascist colors by refusing to attend the swearing in ceremony. This demonstrates a lack of respect for the constitutional process and a lack of respect for the will of the majority. The petty mindedness behind their vicious attacks on Sonia Gandhi on account of her race was bad enough. If Vajpayee wants to retain his place in history as a statesman, he would condemn the clowns like Advani and co. for their irresponsible behavior and resign from the party. Otherwise, he will be tainted along with them for not speaking out. He still has time to do that before the swearing in, and I hope he does that.

re: this article from SA Tribune
http://www.satribune.com/archives/may16_22_04/P1_arun1.htm
``Why Vajpayee Failed to Fool the Nation`s Poor

By Arun Rajnath

NEW DELHI: A quack administered some kind of a medicine through an injection into the tongue of a patient. The patient did not feel good, and collapsed. Later, he died and was cremated unceremoniously. In terms of legal vocabulary it is a clear case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

This is the picture of Atal Behari Vajpayee’s parliamentary constituency, Lucknow, from where he got elected four times In a remote village of Lalganj of the same Lucknow, this incident silently occurred. Nobody paid attention to it. The nation was compelled to ‘feel good’ as the Government of India had spent – and various media had received – Rs4,000 million of tax payers money to tell us how good we felt during Mr. Vajpayee’s regime as prime minister.

Despite Government of India’s claim of ‘India Shining’, and ‘Feel Good’ factor, no infrastructural development is visible in villages. As far as medical facility is concerned, 30 per cent of the Indian rural population has absolutely no facility even for common ailments. This population is literally compelled to depend upon quacks, rural herbal medicines, mumbo jumbo treatment, witchcraft and witch doctors.

Atal Behari Vajpayee’s government claimed to have provided medical facilities to 80 per cent of the rural population. This was a stark lie. What is the reality? Figures of the Primary Health Department itself presents a picture contrary to the government claims.

It was envisaged in the ninth five-year plan to open one primary health center for every 30,000 people in plain areas and every 20,000 population in hilly, tribal, desolate and inaccessible areas. At present there is only one primary health center functioning in every 27 villages in plain areas. Population of one village of the plain area is approximately 8,000 to 15,000.

Similarly in hilly, tribal, desolate and inaccessible regions, there is only one primary health center for nine to 12 villages. Each village has an average population of 5,000 to 8,000.

According to the government files, at present 22,842 primary health centers are running. But more than half of them lack doctors, medicines, first aid, and even furniture. In all districts of the state—Dehradoon, Haridwar, Uttarkashi, Almora, Nainital, Pithoragarh, Chamauli, Champawat, Bageshwar and Udham Singh Nagar there is not a single neurosurgeon in district hospitals. Trekkers and rock-climbers visit here from all parts of the world, but with minimum medical facility and maximum risk.

In eight states of India—Meghalaya, Tripura, Andman, Nicobar islands, Daman Div, Lakshdeev, Pondicherry and rural regions of Delhi, there is no surgeon in hospitals. Almost in all the rural regions of Indian states, there is not a single pediatrician. Moreover, there are 4,567 medical vacancies in rural hospitals yet to be filled.

Things are at the worst in the obstetrician department of rural hospitals. In the country, only 22,842 rural hospitals have obstetricians. In the year 1995, the Government of India chalked out a plan to create placements for obstetricians, mid-wives and other para-medics in rural hospitals, but the plan has yet to be implemented.

The death-rate of rural pregnant women is rising day by day as they yet do not have timely access to city hospitals due to lack of transportation and costly medication in private nursing-homes. Apart from this, anemia, excessive blood-discharge, unsafe abortion and unhealthy delivery are also responsible for the high death-rate. And this chiefly happens due to lack of timely treatment or primary medical aid.

The ‘feel-good’ factor is confined to four to five per cent people only. According to some local media persons, a man lived in a remote village of Jayas in Sultanpur district of Uttar Pradesh. His wife was suffering from cancer, but due to lack of adequate medical facility in rural and town area, the disease could not be timely diagnosed. The man also had no money for the treatment. He mortgaged a piece of land, and took her wife to the Sanjay Gandhi Hospital in Lucknow. Doctors advised for 10-15 rounds of chemotherapy which would cost him about Rs 300,000 or more.

He tried to meet and urge Mr. Vajpayee’s sidekicks Lalji Tandon and Shiv Kumar Parikh for financial help, but nothing came about. He says that Mr. Vajpayee’s men did not care for him because he belonged to Sonia Gandhi’s constituency. But congressmen also refused to listen to his requests. He came to Delhi with a local leader to meet Mrs. Gandhi’s Amethi secretary ‘Sharmaji’ in his office situated at Mrs. Gandhi’s right-hand-man Satish Sharma’s residence at Pt. Pant Road, New Delhi. But he had to go back.

At last, he left his wife at the mercy of fate. His wife recently died, unattended, uncured, untreated.

No newspaper or television channels reported this or such incidents. No ‘national’ media journalists ever cover such rural cases, but the Lakme India Fashion Week recently held in New Delhi for a full seven days was fully covered. Over 400 (accredited plus daily pass holders) media men covered it. Between them, they produced in one count, some 400,000 words in print. Also, over 1,000 minutes in television coverage. Some 800 hours of TV/video footage must have been shot, and photo-journalists of various colorful newspapers and magazines must have used 10,000 rolls of film.

This in a country where less than 0.2 per cent of the population flaunts designer clothes and where per capita consumption of textiles in 2003 at 17 meters was way below the world average. And this was a fashion show where, ironically, fashion models represented the half-naked population of India through exposing their cadaverous bodies on the ramp. This was the fashion show which drew more journalists than buyers.

This was Atal Behari Vajpayee’s ‘India Shining’ where people die of lack of medical treatment, but fashion models have all medical facilities to keep their bodies in shape.``
Sridhar

if it will help -- go and get a piece pf paper and write down TEN not so stupid things the BJP could have done not to lose the election..... for example number 10...

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10. not call the election 6 months earlier?

#264 jang
``Perhaps in the interest of the nation, natinalist bjp should support the sonia govt from outside under the condition that they keep the commies/sp/rjd out. can this work?``
If this is tried, I am pretty sure this would confuse the whiners no end and they would end up giving full majority to the commies in next elections.

Gujjubania:

Please do not despair. It is a blessing that commies are not joining, as will not get to exrtact the pound of flesh. Who knows, BJP may be step in later and provide the most stable national unity government with Congress, if the government wobbles because of commies pulling out their support.