India Votes - and How!

I thought that I had gotten over this, but I would be lying if I siad it did not bother me if Sonia became the PM.

Asfand #64,

How are ``Namaskar`` and ``chakra`` and 3 headed lion symbol (actually 4 headed but you don`t see the fourth one) Hindu? You seem to be finding Hindu symbols everywhere.

Paracha

India HAS changed since you last visited twenty years ago, and capitalism is doing very well there too...you really should have gone over along with that Junoon dude at least to see what is happening.


You are fighting old battles my friend.

Naqashbandi

~~and from a religious perspective the Roman Catholic Sonia is at least Ahle Kitab and much closer to Islam than the pagans of the BJP.~~

You know a few weeks ago you said that you wouldnt mind living in India. How the hell would you fit into Indian society expressing caveman Jahil ignorance like that?

A lot of my foreign friends ask me why so many British Pakistanis are going to Israel and blowing themselves up and plotting to blow up London and joining up with Al-Qaeda...I reckon the reason is because of educated bigots like you....IDIOT

Bongdongs #2 ``which industrialist in his right mind will invest in a `public private partnership``` ?
BMW & SAIL ? [1] NTPC & Alstom ? [2] IPCL & General Electic Plastics ?[3] Indian Oil & Mobil ?[4]
Bongdongs #10 ``it`s www.bharat-rakshak.com``.
Pedant. Worse, you`re an incorrect pedant. www.bharatrakshak.com
Re gender & sexuality: I think that Marxist tools are overly centric to labour as the primary marker and pivot around which society is constructed. They have this blind spot where issues such as gender are concerned.
Re: what I`m attached to. : Another article, sweetie...
Re: finger on the red button: well, it disturbs me that the red button exists at all, dear. And please take a look at the Constitution[5] and tell me where it says that she is disqualified from holding the post of Prime Minister. She`s a freakin Indian citizen. Deal with it.
Re: ``no loans by imf/world bank to India in the last decade[6]: .5bn dollars in 1997.
Re: what does IMF have to do with divestment?: Check out the ``millennium development goals``[7] of the world bank. As recommendations by a lender who`s got hundreds of billions of dollars of our debt in it`s books, they carry a LOT of weight.
Re: ONGC stake sale: I`ll get back to you on that one. Count on it.
Harimau #6 ``The last time the Indian Government neglected the Armed Forces, India ended up losing 14,000 square miles of territory in Aksai Chin.``
Get a new line. During Rajiv & Narasimha`s rule, defence spending, instead of bloating every year as is the norm these days, was kept steady. This was termed ``neglect`` by service chiefs who wanted more clout and more toys for their boys. Haven`t lost any more territory since then have we ? And don`t tell me that we used only the arms that we bought post the NDA government coming to power to fight the Kargil war. Bofors, anyone ?
``... think that N. Ram is god.``
Actually, I`ve personally and with aggressive intent elbowed N. Ram in the groin. In my personal experience the man is quite autocratic and pompous. But he does happen to edit one of the few newspapers in India. Please don`t tell me you think that the rag called the Times of India is one.
``Left parties are anti-national``
If anything, the left parties are too fond of the nation state.
Nb#13
Yes, Indira ruled India like an empress. She is the reason for a number of India`s ills. A very close member of my family was in the civil service and was posted to her PMO, so I`ve heard horror stories about her and Sanjay G which never made it to the press. But how does the G family ``still treat india like it`s fiefdom`` ? They might, in the future, but post rajiv what have they done in that fashion at all ? *curious* And I`m quite proud to be a Hindu myself, if you care to believe me. And if the markets fall, I don`t lose my job. And people working in the public sector don`t automatically lose theirs either. Frankly, with 98.84% of Indian families not involved in the stock market, I think that there are issues of far greater relevance.
Temporal #15
Thank you, I`m really proud as well. And you`re not the only dreamer here :)
AlephNull #16
``is this creature for real?``
yup. I`m freddy and I`m at a nightmare near you.
Rozaiba #19
Yeah, it`s a bit weird, isn`t it, Govinda being elected. I`m a bit sheepish and nonplussed about that. But on the other hand, Sunil Dutt has been serving his constituency well for the past 6 terms.... And on the ``other`` hand we have Dharam bhai & shotgun as well. It`s not like these were worldclass statesmen when they first stood for elections either.
Stuka #28
I take your predictions with a pinch of salt.
Re: Congress won only on the basis of caste: ummm wow. So Gujarat, amma`s high handedness, thousands of farmer suicides in Andhra, the insulting rhetoric of ``India shining`` had nothing to do with it ? What about Mumbai ? Why did the congress win there ? If they had won on the basis of casteist appeals then they should have won earlier, right ? Or you`ve made a massive analysis of congress manifesto etc and have found that only in this election have they made casteist appeals and in `99 they were totally caste-agnostic ? Simplistic, I`d say.
Sadna #29, Ralph #41, stuka #53
You guys aren`t Nobel Laureates in Economics are you ? Didn`t think so. A certain Amartya Sen is, however, and he would rather the defense budget, yes, THAT holy cow was reduced.[8] I`d say[9] that a defense budget this bloated in a country with people dying starvation deaths is obscene obscene obscene. And now we want a freakin manned moon mission at who knows how many crores ? Not for any scientific reason but because Chiniyon ne to antariksh mein chini bheji... haemin to chandramaa mein bhejna padega. Oh, and read an article on ``Lies in the name of security``[10] while you`re at it.
Kaurasach #30
Maharana #31
Yes, they`re responsible for terrible atrocities like `84, the NE problem, the entire lost decade of Punjab, the shameful storming of the golden temple. My happiness stems from the my belief that between the BJP/RSS/VHP/BD and the Cong & it`s allies (who are no vestal virgins either), the Congress is by far the lesser of the two evils.
By MBZIsphahani #32
``Watch out where the huskies go, and don`t you eat that yellow snow``... Frank Zappa
Dost-Mittar #37
``I do not know how much the Marxists are attached to the idea of a nation state.``
North Korea? That`s a commie state gone totally mad. Stark cuckoo mad with it`s fetish of the motherland.
``why should any Indian, or a Pakistani for that matter, give a damn about what you say or think, since you do not have the interest of the nation at heart?``
I share a certain cultural, emotional and social history with people from India, and to a diminishing degree, with people from Pakistan, other neighbouring countries, the rest of South Asia, Asia and the whole world. I speak from the standpoint of what I think are human values, which is why I feel comfortable enough to comment on the policies of the country which I inhabit. I`m actually far more uncomfortable with the politics and society of Pakistan but I have not got enough knowledge about it to start commenting with any amount of confidence on it. Fortunately for me, human values have started to trump the hate towards Pakistan and the fetish of the nation state that has been embedded into my mind right from childhood. When I cry over the loss of a human being or feel thrilled at amity between bitter foes, those emotions and feelings are impelled by my human values, not by any obscene calculus of ``cost and benefit`` that the nation state tries to pass off as morals.
Oh, and dost-mittar... I really like your writing.
Mumbaikar #47 Thanks for the link da :)
Concerned1 #58 Your implication that poverty is the poor`s fault - that the ones who remain poor do so because they were not amongst those who ``worked hard`` is callous in the extreme.
Gujjubania #60 I fart in the general direction of the SENSEX. It`s mother was a hamster and it`s father smelt of elderberries.
Plats8 #62
Things more important than economic reforms ? Clean drinking water for every Indian. Food. Housing. Employment. Free healthcare and education. Do you think that economic reforms are the grund norm, the fount from which all these will flow ? Take a look at Argentina, Chile, Russia, Georgia... oh, and while you`re at it, compare our rank on the HDI to that of Cuba.
Jang #65 I love your acronym. PSMWUMC. Lots of em around here on chowk :)
Harimau #67 ``no one can now stop the RSS. The BJP was the only one who could``. Sounds like blackmail to me. Vote for the bjp because otherwise their mutant relation the RSS will do the dirty on you.

Since so many people have wondered publicly what I am if I`m not a commie, I`m an anarchist. Find out more about anarchism (which does NOT mean chaos and disorder) here[11]. Here`s ``The Need for Anarchism``[12] and this is a text that, broadly, covers what I want to say about the nation state:

The nation-state, a western model imposed upon the world, is basically of military origin. Not astonishingly, one of its main achievements has been the various wars it has fought in the name of democracy and Enlightenment. After the industrial revolution, the nation-state has moreover embodied the interests of industrial development and its promoters, thus significantly contributing to Western expansion, colonization, and environmental and cultural destruction. After having actively contributed to current globalization, the nation-state appears, for the first time in history, challenged in its very essence by this very globalization.[13]

1 http://www.sail.co.in/about/about.htm
2 http://www.ntpc.co.in/aboutus/jointventures.shtml
3 http://www.ipcl.co.in/cportal/VirtualPageView.jsp?page_id=8
4 http://www.iocl.com/ourcompany_cohistory.asp
5 http://parliamentofindia.nic.in/const/const.html
6 http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:
20016928~menuPK:34465~pagePK:64003015~piPK:64003012~theSitePK:4607,00.html
7 http://lnweb18.worldbank.org/SAR/sa.nsf/Attachments/tes/$File/prrpt.pdf
8 http://www.rediff.com/news/1999/jul/17sen.htm
9 http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/BC04Df02.html
10 http://www.indiatogether.org/2003/sep/fah-infsecure.htm
11 http://www.anarchismfaq.org/
12 http://site.www.umb.edu/faculty/salzman_g/Anarch/Ned4Anar.htm
13 http://www.social-ecology.org/article.php?story=20031014164324408

I presume that you are refering to the what happened during the Cauvery water dispute with Tamil Nadu..Well, I leave it upto the Supreme Court to enforce the law and punish him if he was guilty. I like what he has accomplished in Karnataka. I would like to see him in the center.

The people of India have indeed spoken. There is nothing you can do about it. Feel free to b-i-t-c-h, moan and whine about the election result..if that makes you feel better, that is your prerogative. I prefer to wait and see and in the meanwhile will keep a positive attitude about the future.

Aha_Shark #80
Do I have to be a Nobel laureate to ask your highness questions?

What happens when all the money you take from defence and put into potable water, housing and food finishes?

punjabizulu -- theologically speaking i am right--christians are much closer to muslims than hindus are. but in all seriousness i wouldnt mind living in some parts of india...after all 150 million plus of my brethren live there...and apart from on chowk i get on with all sorts of indians in real life very well...;-)

Aha_Snark #80

{{what I am if I`m not a commie, I`m an anarchist}}

An anarchist in a Hobbesian world? Good luck to you.

#80,

You guys aren`t Nobel Laureates in Economics are you ? Didn`t think so. A certain Amartya Sen is, however, and he would rather the defense budget, yes, THAT holy cow was reduced.[8] I`d say[9] that a defense budget this bloated in a country with people dying starvation deaths is obscene obscene obscene. And now we want a freakin manned moon mission at who knows how many crores ? Not for any scientific reason but because Chiniyon ne to antariksh mein chini bheji... haemin to chandramaa mein bhejna padega. Oh, and read an article on ``Lies in the name of security``[10] while you`re at it.

You mean to say until everybody has been yanked out of poverty India should do nothing else?

#80,

You guys aren`t Nobel Laureates in Economics are you ? Didn`t think so. A certain Amartya Sen is, however, and he would rather the defense budget, yes, THAT holy cow was reduced.[8] I`d say[9] that a defense budget this bloated in a country with people dying starvation deaths is obscene obscene obscene. And now we want a freakin manned moon mission at who knows how many crores ? Not for any scientific reason but because Chiniyon ne to antariksh mein chini bheji... haemin to chandramaa mein bhejna padega. Oh, and read an article on ``Lies in the name of security``[10] while you`re at it.

You mean to say until everybody has been yanked out of poverty India should do nothing else?

#80,

You seem very aggressive and very sure of yourself. Why?

The first act of the new AP government:

Free electricity to farmers

Various interacts #:

It is despicable how educated Indians can stoop so low and resort to personal attacks on Sonia Gandhi about her origins....

Foreign born Indians can become the heads of state in India. That`s a law. If someone has problems with it, they better work towards changing it. Not attact a person...

Majority voted for her and her party... Accept it...

- Avkrishnabbb

An interesting colour map of the fractured national verdict:

Parliamentary Elections 2004: All-India Snapshot

A necessary corrective for anyone claiming a national mandate for the Kaangress, let alone the Left.

What a sight to see Indian democracy working to kick the right-wing BJP out of power. It appears that the blinding shine used by the ruling elite to divert attention of people from real issues doesn’t last long. As we remember, the most brilliantly shining thing in Pakistan was Nawaz Sharif’s head. These days a similar shine is coming from General (retired?) Pervez Musharraf’s medals. *Hint* *Hint* Maybe a day will come when collective wills of the people in South Asia (and rest of the world) will actually become the God and the king and the law.