Prince V/s Prince

So, finally warrior took the bride in a style which even Chopra's and Johar's would find hard to match. Media is filled with the news from Royal Wedding and magic kiss. However I'm waiting for a media report comparing Rahul Gandhi and Prince Williams, I know only likes of "AAJ Tak" and "India TV" (It should change its name anyway) has the guts to do it.

To support such a report there is no dearth of so called leaders comparing their "beloved" leader with the prince and judging their own prince better than the one far away, one the basis that their prince is democratic.

I don't find this idea of democracy romantic anyway because its been used by politicians for their own purposes. They send Kalmadi and Raja to jail, whilst their leaders roam free, its no different to what happened in 26/11 case. Kasab is in jail, while the likes of Hafiz saeed are roaming free.

Rahul Gandhi has talked a lot about his desire to clean the system, but I don't know how much he has done to fulfil his desire. after him being in parliament for more than seven years, corruption graph is only going up, with the cases like CWG, 2G and Adarsh. He is accepting resignation's, sending few to jail but he has done nothing to recover the lost money, which ultimately means that raja will be able to enjoy his 3000 crore's without any trouble, so as kalmadi.

Latest incident of PAC meeting just reflects how congress thinks and works, they sacked their chairman because he dared to speak against Gandhi's and a prime minister who knows nothing. This is just a reflecting of anarchic and corrupt mindset of congress.

If it continues, I don't think days are far when India will have a democratic dictatorship that too in the name of Gandhi .....what an irony.

Any which ways I can't remember a "leader" after Bose and Sardar Patel, All those who "tried" and failed to lead this country were followers, no wonder we are still developing and sadly those who are supposed to know the state of their country are boasting its somewhat useless GDP growth figures. 

Boom Boom

Lot is happening in Af-Pak region. Top Pakistan officials are visiting Washington one after another, first to visit was none other than Prez, followed by Army chief, ISI Chief, Prime Minister and now foreign sec. These visits were returned by Gen Mullen, US Top Post Candidate John McCain and many more. despite such a high level of continued interaction US-Pakistan relations are only heading south. Gen Mullen criticized Pakistan for its alleged links and support to terrorist operatives in Afghanistan, retaliated by none other than Pakistan army chief accusing US for tarnishing its image and claimed that Pakistan is doing the needful. 

On the other hand India is getting ready for a "Summer-e- Kashmir", as has been happening for past three years, separatist made mountain out of the mole or to say made mountain out of thin air. Prolonged violence in the form of stone pelting by protesters has troubled rulers. However both opposition and ruling party has failed to contain it, such campaigns initially had the PDP, the opposition party's support. Having seen the uncontrollable violence PDP has silently backed out, largely due to the fear of being accused of unable to control its own child. 

ISI in the backdrop of continued Indian Army's pressure and sharply falling figure of active militants in valley had vehemently supported this campaign. In fact its a cheaper and far better option for them to support such a campaign compared to armed militancy. firstly because of increasing global pressure and changing scenario and secondly lack of resources on its part. Paying someone INR 300 for throwing stones for a day is not at all a bad deal for them as its far cheaper compared to supporting militant base, with higher returns. ISI has been able to keep valley boiling for continued period of more than four months, which enabled it to get large international press. 

Such protests enabled ISI backed propaganda machinery to talk about so called oppression of Muslims in Kashmir. However they cannot continue with it, as people energy to support such movements will soon finish. As these are the only four months when they can earn for their rest of the year, and these are the most crucial four months for them considering academic session. These four months have the highest footfall of tourists in valley, which is the livelihood of majority. 

Government of India, knowing it well that these movements will thin out soon, did not bothered much about it, and to prevent it from happening again arrested those who are leading such movements. Now, it is for people of Kashmir to decide what they wish to do. They can choose between a peaceful money making season or can disrupt normal life of million other to raise a political issue which they cannot solve. In my view it would be better for people to leave a highly political issue to politicians and concentrate on making lives better. 

Coming back to the main issue Pakistan is running out of options, it does not have the ability to face India unless it wish to have a complete destruction inside its own borders. It cannot continue with its current policy of infiltration in Kashmir, because it has large number of trained terrorists, but is unable to support them.

Sadly Kashmir cannot be resolved unless all regional powers which includes India, Pakistan, China along with Russia, USA and to some extent United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and Iran nods to do so. However thanx to the great game in the region its not as easy as it may appear to be. In the name of Pakistan China has an ally which provides it much needed space to counter USA in the region and to balance India. Russia on the other hand does not wish to let USA rule in Asia. Iran won't like a large American base in Afghanistan, but it cannot afford Taliban returning to the power either. This is not just, list of conflict of interest is longer than this brain can compute. 

Not so new

Call it Shell out of the blue or adventurous diplomacy, India and China will resume high level military contacts. As the saying goes "If you are consistent in diplomacy you are a fool". Break in ties stopped paying dividend hence tie revival. None of these two sides expects any change in heart of another and both will continue to suspect each other. India worries about ring of pearls and China curses Iron curtain. India has problems with Sino-Pakistani ties and China has got problems with every second nation on earth. Indian ties with countries like Japan, South Korea, Australia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand, Mongolia, Turkmenistan etc. are causing a lot of trouble to China, and that is understandable.

On the other hand India is not new to the Sino-Pakistan love duet. What worries New Delhi is the reports confirming Chinese troops in POK. Which feels like Pakistan has outsourced its security to China. Although China has Gawadar-Karakoram link to save but positioning its troops near LOC, might create doubts in New Delhi for obvious reasons. Only future can tell if its a stopgap agreement between two countries as Pakistani defence lies thin in the view of current anti-terror operations in the country which has consumed a large part of Pakistan armies resources. Reports of Chinese cozying-up Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh has already troubled GOI in past and has forced it to take actions. Whether its Hambantota Port or Chittagong port, direct investment made by Government of China has always troubled policy makers in New Delhi.

Similarly, Indo-US nuclear deal and thriving defence ties between two countries could not find any takers in Beijing. Revival of defence ties and regular large scale military exercises has only worried Chinese leadership. Given the large scale presence of US forces in Asia, and continued US support to Taiwan has poured more chilly in Sino-Indian relations.

There is no dearth of people pro and anti Chinese Activists/Bureaucrats/ Politicians in India, very much similar to China. However it should be understood that these two countries with huge population cannot resist each other for too long, as it will only harm both. However easy it may appear, but it is not easy for both the nations to keep their apprehensions aside, the only way forward is to keep borders silent, resolve disputes as soon as possible and strengthen economic ties which includes eliminating trade imbalance and improving people to people contact which is extremely poor right now. 

Vishwashakti?

Six decades ago this very country was cheering full of optimism and joy, it was ready to put up a show the world has never seen before. Although it was licking its wounds caused by partition and communal divide, but it was optimistic. India and people of India were optimistic, were eager to work for their nation and were willing to do something. Few would have realized that this very country of their own, will become an example for the world, a case study for "How not to grow".

A lot had happened in years prior to the dawn of so-called 21st century, India had survived several attacks on its sovereignty it survived its own diversity for which people had predicted that India will fall due to its own weight, India survived its own people and politics. But At the midnight hours of 14th August when the world was sleeping and India was awake, at the moment of tryst with its destiny, India didn't thought of merely surviving.

No one realized as when a country which is known for its demeanour turned into a country full of people hungry for money and power. Be it the ruling class or the executive no one made any concessions when it came to digest public funds, this very culture gave birth to a demon which is now threatening the unity and integrity of the country. This demon of corruption became so large that Supreme Court suggested making corruption legal. Millions of those who deals with the "Great Indian Executive class" are aware that it’s all legal. Against the laws of physics your file doesn't moves or goes up unless you putt weight on it, greater the weight higher the speed.

Everything that is related to the Government has a fixed rate, few would have realized as how money paid to some clerk in some random office goes to those who are ruling this country while many have questioned why they don't act? Answer is simple a portion of what I paid to the clerk will go to his superior and superior commanding many such clerks will transfer a portion to his superior and so on, building the great pyramid of corruption. This is a great bazar where everything is one sale, and it has been demonstrated recently.

The great show of India's pride, common wealth games, made headlines and were live example of this indigenous pyramid, followed by the mother of all scams "spectrum- Ghotala" as known in general. But, the most discouraging and shocking was the Aadarsh, a Building in Mumbai, whose residents were India's topmost military commanders, bureaucrats and politicians was built on land allotted for war widows, and sadly not even a single flat went to those who deserved it. Following it many such scams from different parts of the country emerged and vanished in headlines. Earlier Armed forces were considered as an island in the midst of "ocean of corruption". Now, we have lost that island too.

India is a cricket crazy country, to the extent that it is termed as a religion in the country, it helped people to forget their worries, it gave them a reason to cheer, a moment of joy and a reason to become Indian sadly though. It overshadowed every other game in the country and it covered everything that matters. No matter how big a scam is, people are more than happy to forget it, if India wins a match.

Well, now when somehow 21st century has arrived at our doorstep and India has crossed one billion+20 mark, people got a new mantra, emerging India. I don't understand why they don't understand that a country with so much of natural resources and market, has to emerge and there is no great deal about it. 

So with world’s second largest population we have world’s fifth largest economy, what's the big deal in it. If we had provided a humble life to every Indian we would have been in a much better position.

 I find it hard to see a true success story, despite being a population of more than a billion we import high end electronics and military grade software's from a country smaller and far less populated than Mumbai. No one even realizes that we just lost some of the finest men and women just because of our inaction.

sad story is not that India failed to develop and realize its dreams, but that Life has lost its value. No one really cares for people dying and kids crying on streets. We have become so indifferent to such inhuman treatment to our own countrymen that we don't even realize that they too are humans.

Lal-Batti culture has encroached so deep that we feel proud if we are successful in insulting someone and prove ourselves somewhat better. As a dear friend of mine said "This country is growing because of aspiration and hard work of individuals", I would say the day those individuals started feeling the burden of other countrymen they are carrying, there will be anarchy, and this county will fall.

I'll be painted as a traitor if I say that Maoists are patriots, which certainly they are not, but there was a time when they were, later on their leaders started enjoying power and money sent to them by foreign governments interested in destabilizing India through their 1000 wounds policy, but one should not forget that they do have a mass support and that is the only reason that they are still surviving and thriving.

Reason for their survival is our negligence, we know everything about useless facts of cricket, we know everything about cinema, but we as an Indian are not interested in what matters. This is shameful.

Are we a world power and more importantly can we be a world power, where half of the country is ages behind the rest half, where people are busy fighting in the name of language, religion and region. Where we still finds it hard to stand as a country, where name of one state is next to slang for others, where those who are entrusted to be fair became power brokers.

How we are going to reach their, if at all........?

 (26/02/2011)