The Daily Observer http://observer.blogsome.com Commentary on politics, culture and more... Note: We observe daily, but we post whenever we feel like it. Thu, 20 Aug 2009 01:46:56 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=1.5.1-alpha en Jaswant-Jinnah-Jeopardy http://observer.blogsome.com/2009/08/20/jaswant-jinnah-jeopardy/ http://observer.blogsome.com/2009/08/20/jaswant-jinnah-jeopardy/#comments Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:39:29 +0000 AS-Chakra politics, India http://observer.blogsome.com/2009/08/20/jaswant-jinnah-jeopardy/ The "Party with a Difference" has shown that it has become a debate-stifling, party that tolerates no differences. By expelling Jaswant Singh, an intelligent patriot whose service to the country has been immeasurable, it has shown its preference for dogma over critical thinking. Jaswant Singh is one of the very few, if not only, politicians [...]

]]> The "Party with a Difference" has shown that it has become a debate-stifling, party that tolerates no differences. By expelling Jaswant Singh, an intelligent patriot whose service to the country has been immeasurable, it has shown its preference for dogma over critical thinking. Jaswant Singh is one of the very few, if not only, politicians to have held all the top portfolios (Finance, Defence, External Affairs) except for Home in independent India. He was instrumental in guiding India’s rise as a global power during his tenure in the government. He is probably the only BJP leader in its top echelons who has actively served in India’s army and fought for it.

Are the party’s leaders so blinded by their ‘ideology’ that they fail to see the larger potential agenda behind Jaswant’s praise of Jinnah? For peace to exist between India and Pakistan on India’s terms, it is crucial that Pakistanis do not feel that India wants to conquer them. By continuously denigrating Jinnah, Indian politicains have effectively been saying that they do not believe in Pakistan’s legitimacy. Re-evaluation of the role of Pakistan’s founder can actually help ease Indo-Pak relations. Prior to the 1940’s, it is accepted by many that Jinnah did play a positive role in the evolution of  Indian nationalism. To demonise his subsequent actions without an attempt to understand the motivation behind them serves no good.

 

In general, robust debate and re-examination of history always leads to a better understanding of the past, which leads to a better understanding of the present.Jaswant in no way implied that his views on Jinnah had anything to do with the BJP. Most BJP leaders who were party to the decision to expel him probably haven’t even read his book. Have they even quoted any passage from his book which could be seen as damaging to Sardar Patel’s repution? I doubt it.

It truly is a sad day for Indian politics when the main opposition party shows it is lacking in intellectual vigor and that ideological rigidity triumphs over  long term national interests.

]]> http://observer.blogsome.com/2009/08/20/jaswant-jinnah-jeopardy/feed/ Who is to blame ? http://observer.blogsome.com/2008/11/30/who-is-to-blame/ http://observer.blogsome.com/2008/11/30/who-is-to-blame/#comments Sun, 30 Nov 2008 08:20:01 +0000 Chow politics, India http://observer.blogsome.com/2008/11/30/who-is-to-blame/    Who is to blame? I asked myself, this question several times the past three days. I am talking about the horrific acts of meaningless violence that took place in Mumbai this week. I couldn’t come up with a clear answer on who is to be blamed for these attacks. Of course, This group of [...]

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Who is to blame? I asked myself, this question several times the past three days. I am talking about the horrific acts of meaningless violence that took place in Mumbai this week. I couldn’t come up with a clear answer on who is to be blamed for these attacks. Of course, This group of weak minded and misguided youth, who were devoid of any basic human emotion and displayed such a display of shameless contempt for human life including their own , they need to be blamed for this atrocity. The next logical step is to blame the organization that they belong to , the people that trained them, the people that funded them, the country that sheltered them and helped them to carry on this act.

By the country that helped and sheltered these terrorists, I mean Pakistan. I blame them for this and more terrorist acts that were carried out in India and around the world in the past few years.“But we have no hand in this terrorist act”, the leaders of Pakistan might say. The fact remains that, Pakistan actively allows for these terrorist organizations to thrive in its territory. They allow for the “charitable funds” collected around the world, to find their way to buy weapons and train these terrorists. They allow for their state intelligence agency to procure and share the intelligence that is used to carry out a terror activity in India. Once a terrorist attack is complete, they offer five star accommodations to the perpetrators and facilitators of such act (case and point : Dawood Ibrahim ). Pakistan does everything that it can do, short of stamping its official seal of approval to encourage these heinous activities. So, I blame Pakistan and the terrorist organizations and terrorists that it harbors for this attack. But is that all?

What about the Indian Government? No, I am not suggesting that these attacks might be some crazy conspiracy hatched by the Indian administration. But, I want to ask, what was done to stop these attacks? What was done to secure the people that put them in power ? The current UPA government took office on May 22, 2004. Since then there were 18 major terrorist attacks on Indian soil. 18 terrorist acts in 54 months. Here is the list :


2004 August : 6 killed in car blasts in the city of Mumbai.


2005 October : 60 killed in three bomb blasts that occurred in busy markets of New Delhi


2006 March : 20 killed in bomb blasts in the train station and a temple in Varanasi.

2006 July : 187 killed in the bomb blasts on commuter trains in Mumbai.

2006 September: 40 killed in the bomb blasts in the town of Malegaon.


2007 February : 70 killed in fire bombing of Pakistan bound Friendship express.

2007 May : 11 killed in a bomb blast in Hyderabad.

2007 August : 40 killed in bomb blasts in Hyderabad.

2007 October : 2 killed in a blast at Ajmer Sharif shrine in Ajmer.

2007 November: 15 killed in bombings in various cities of Uttar Pradesh.


2008 May : 65 killed in bomb blasts in Jaipur.

2008 July : 8 bombs go off in Bangalore.

2008 July : 50 killed in bomb blasts in Ahmedabad.

2008 September : 25 killed in Bomb blasts in New Delhi.

2008 September: 80 killed in bomb blasts in Malegaon

2008 October : 20 killed in bomb blasts in Imphal.

2008 October : 80 killed in bomb attacks in Assam.

2008 November: 200 killed in gunmen attacks in Mumbai.


I see a trend here. Every year the terrorist acts went unanswered, it emboldened the terrorists. The number of terrorist acts that were carried out in India multiplied year by year since 2004. The Indian response after most of these bombings is more or less the same- “we blame the external forces that are encouraging the terrorist acts in India. We will endure these attacks……” Lot of words were said after these 18 bombings, not a single solid action was taken to check the terrorist activity in India. The politicians in charge continue to play vote bank politics, too complacent and too incompetent to protect the people who trusted them to protect them – What a shame!.


So I ask again , Should the Indian Government be blamed ? I think so.


What about the people who not only voted for such an incompetent and weak government into power in India but, continue to tolerate it ? Are they to be blamed ?

]]> http://observer.blogsome.com/2008/11/30/who-is-to-blame/feed/ EndGame! http://observer.blogsome.com/2008/11/02/endgame/ http://observer.blogsome.com/2008/11/02/endgame/#comments Sun, 02 Nov 2008 13:43:39 +0000 AS-Chakra politics,US http://observer.blogsome.com/2008/11/02/endgame/ Less than three days are left before the presidential election, and what a tense few days it will be for all political junkies!As of today, most major polls are indicating that the race will be close, although Barack does have the upper  hand.In terms of poll results at the state level, things are going so [...]

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Less than three days are left before the presidential election, and what a tense few days it will be for all political junkies!
As of today, most major polls are indicating that the race will be close, although Barack does have the upper  hand.
In terms of poll results at the state level, things are going so good for Barack that it almost seems unreal! Who could imagine a few years ago that a man of African descent, and that too a Democrat, would have a chance at winning not one, but two southern states, Virginia and North Carolina.

Senator McCain is a good person, and was a really good presidential candidate in 2000. Out of the Republican pack this year, he was probably the best candidate as well. Having said that, his candidacy this year has exposed his weaksnesses as a potential president. Previously extremely popular amongst independents and Democrats, his pick of Sarah Palin was the first mistake he made, giving many the impression that he places politics above the country.

Although Sarah initially generated a lot of excitement, it soon became clear that as of now, she does not have the intellectual depth or understanding of issues to make a competent president should McCain be elected and something happen to him. It is beyond understanding why she could not name any newspapers or magazines she read to Katie Couric. By picking Sarah, McCain hoped  to kill two birds with one stone, did not make any headway on one bird (Hillary Supporters), did kill one bird (managed to increase his support among religious conservatives) but totally allowed another bird to escape (support of independents and intellectual conservatives). Another mistake was his decision to suspend his campaign for the financial crisis…it exposed him as a reactive, not proactive or steady, person, and somewhat of a hypocrite as well, since he did remain in the public eye and hence did not really suspend his
campaign.

Senator Obama, in contrast, has shown himself to be a person with vision and steadfastness, not allowing day to day changes in the news cycle to control or distract him. He has been able to turn crises into opportunity (his speech on race after the Wright scandal being an example). His opponents try to smear him with the ultraliberal tag, but he has shown the ability to stand upto populist tendencies when he opposed the repeal of the gasoline tax when both Hillary and McCain supported it during the summer when gas was expensive.Barack’s choice of Biden was not necessarily big on style but had some substance to it.

However, the election is still two days away. Polls notwithstanding, anything could happen, McCain could very well lead a successful turnaround. Polls have been proven to be wrong in the past (India, 2004, UK, 1992) and surprises can always happen. In politics, it ain’t over till it’s over.