The great Indian political circus @ Jharkhand

There have been few instances of political opportunism in India but nothing could match what’s happening in Jharakhand at present moment. Last closest incident which comes to mind was the opportunism and chaos which prevailed in Karnataka when former PM H D Deve Gowda and his son H D Kumaraswamy held the state to their ransom by playing all tricks to keep them in the power. A same scenario is happening here in Jharkhand. Shibu Soren, known more for his notoriety than his work, has done anything and almost everything to keep himself in power. It is no hidden secret that there have been several charges levelled against him but that doesn’t stop Congress or BJP to align with him to fulfil their selfish agenda.

The entire episode started with Shibu Soren voting with the congress in one of the bills passed in the parliament. This resulted in the anger of BJP, ally of JMM in the state. To make the matter worse the new president of BJP, Nitin Nadkari, in haste, decided to sever ties with JMM in the state. Now both congress and BJP knows that they cannot form a government in Jharkhand without the support of JMM, which has given them the role of King Maker in the state. After realising its mistake BJP tried to salvage the coalition by deciding on some power sharing formula with half the tenure having a chief Minister from BJP and other half under the tenure of JMM’s chief minister. But with the kind of opportunist political party JMM is they realised this was not in their benefit especially the kind of power they possess. So now once again Shibu Soren has decided that he is not going to resign and will complete his tenure.

This political circus involving three parties JMM, Congress and BJP is there for a quite a long time in Jharkhand and now needs some serious mending. I hope the people of the state would make sure they won't select political opportunist parties to power. But having said that it's really difficult to identify who is and who is not.

Australianism

John Arlott had written about it in 1948 at the end of a successful tour of England by Don Bradman's men. ""Australianism," wrote Arlott, "means single-minded determination to win - to win within the laws but, if necessary, to the last limit within them. It means where the 'impossible' is within the realm of what the human body can do, there are Australians who believe that they can do it - and who have succeeded often enough to make us wonder if anything is impossible to them. It means they have never lost a match - particularly a Test match - until the last run is scored or their last wicket down."

On why Ajmal kasab should be given death penalty

Finally today, after a year and half, Ajmal Kasab, main accused in 26/11 attack, was convicted in all the 86 charges levelled against him by a court. Inspite of such a delayed judgement, people of this country are relieved that atleast judgement has come. Now icing on the cake would be to give death penalty to Ajmal Kasab. Many would argue against it but then I have my own justification for demanding such a stern punishment.

1. There are costs involved in keeping terrorist alive. Costs like legal fees, police personnel, providing extra security, creation of bullet proof cell, etc. According to one estimate it has cost around Rs 44 Crore (Rs 8.5 L/per day) for providing security and keeping Ajmal alive. And if not given death sentence, then the expenses of holding him up in custody. So instead of wasting so much money it can be utilised elsewhere.
2. Main charges Ajmal has been accused of

· Murder of 7 people (Highest punishment - Death)

· Abetting murder of 159 people

· Conspiracy

· Under Unlawful Activities Prohibition Act for terrorism

· For being part of the banned Lashkar e Taiba

· Wrongful confinement of victims

· Kidnapping

· Under the Explosives Act

· Under the Explosives Substances Act

· Under the Arms Act

· Under the Railways Act

· Under the Customs Act

· Robbery

So you wouldn’t want a person accused of such charges to be walking alive.

3. Think of people whose family members, relatives are being killed or injured during 26/11 incident. Ask the family members and they will tell you why.
4. Think of the morale of the police force and army personnel who give their life fighting such terrorists.
5. With already India having a tough time fighting naxals, it will be boost to all the anti-Indian activities.
6. Above all, if Ajmal Kasab is not given death sentence then it will send a signal to Pakistan (and rest of the world) that India is a soft state. And this could be very damaging for India.

I feel these are valid enough reasons for him to be given death penalty. Now lets wait for the judgement, which would be out tomorrow.

Indian Political League

How would you describe a country’s neta who are busy discussing IPL in cricket over important issues like Dantewada massacre, discussion on budget, sensitive issues like phone tapping, price rises and many more? This is the sorry state of affair which is being witnessed by millions of people in the country. It has been an eventful fortnight in India. It started with worst internal crisis at Dantewada when 76 CRPF men were massacred by Naxals. And around same time Mr Lalit Modi Tweeted which resulted in Shashi Tharoor losing his ministership. Then the case of phone tapping in which government had tapped phone of some influential leaders in this country. But then instead of having a meaningful discussion and taking tough measures against Naxals, Indian politicians choose to discuss IPL and put Dantewada at back burner. When some of them tried to discuss phone tapping issues, then they were asked to keep shut. It was the trio of Yadav clan (Lalu, Mulayam and Sharad) who were vocal in raising IPL issues and stalling the parliament for such irrelevant issues like IPL when there were far more burnings issues at hand. It is high time Indian politicians realise that they are being selected by people not to make mockery of democracy by discussing such petty issues , instead they should discuss things which are far more relevant and make our democracy stronger.