Buck Stops Here?

The 33^rd President of America was Harry Truman and in his presidential office in his table he has a sign which was written, “The Buck Stops Here”- taking responsibility for his country.

A month ago, A. Raja former telecom minister and main accused in the 2G Scam, named and incriminated the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

A question has arisen whether the Prime Minister should be implicated and held accountable for the Scam as he is the head of the cabinet.

The action and conduct of the Cabinet members is held accountable by the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister and his Cabinet is held accountable by the Parliament. The responsibilities of every Cabinet portfolio is looked over by the Parliament. Considering the actions of the A. Raja as a Telecom Minister was not questioned or found suspicious of the PM is question is being asked by many. In reply to this the Prime Minister and his office (PMO) has denied knowing of the A. Raja’s action and that he had also managed to deceive them.

Whatever it may be, the Prime Minister is responsible for every Cabinet member’s action and has the power to review their actions. The questions to be asked is whether he should be not be charged for accountability of his Cabinet. Whether he should be forgiven for his ignorance?

In my personal opinion whatever it may be the Prime Minister should not be implicated, because simply before anyone can realize he will become a scapegoat for Indian society and every form of corruption will be blamed on him.

India?

What is India? A country, which is truly a country that has unity within diversity?

The people of South India, believe that they are related to the people of Central India. The people of North-East India believe that the people of North India are their brothers. A country where all the States celebrate Independence Day together. A country where across the State, the national flag is raised up on Independence Day and all the national heroes that are learnt in the school books are remembered. A country where all the people unite to see the Indian cricket team win.

Is this India?

The South Indian States one will find that when you try to communicate to them in Hindi or English they refuse to help and do not reply inspite of maybe... knowing either of the languages. Kashmir is a State where over half the Indian army is present there with arbitrary rights and they are there to protect the rights of the citizens of India. A country where minority communities are killed by State sponsored violence.

Could this also be India?

A greater thinker once said that countries are imaginary.

Perhaps imaginary lines that are needed. Where a number of the people just imagine, they just believe they are truly all related, they are all brothers and sisters, while some do not feel the spirit.

Could this also be what India is?

Is India just imagined?

What, if States had a chance to separate today? What would happen?

There is a possibility of Kashmir and the States of North-East grasping their freedom. But there is also the real threat of Pakistan, occupying Kashmir and the real threat of China occupying the States of North-East. It is a real threat, because that is what is happening in this present world, they are slowly encouraging and encroached upon these States.

In my personal opinion, India is imagined, but very, very much necessary inspite of its flaws.

Rahul Gandhi, the Future

On Sunday, 19^th June Rahul Gandhi turned 41 years old. It won’t be long before he will take over the reins of Congress. Already a section of the Congress is rumbling for Rahul Gandhi to take over PM Manmohan Singh. TOI quotedCongress general secretary Digvijay Singh saying, “It’s time Rahul becomes PM”. However one must question this persons leadership ability.

On Sunday I visited the Church for my morning mass. After that finished I left to Church only to see a group of people distributing chocolates at the gate of my Church in celebration of Rahul Gandhi’s birthday. The problem I had with this was that they were not the only people at the gate. There was a group of beggars at the gate to. Ironic, isn’t it? I would rather have them celebrate his birthday by helping those beggars. Do I want this man to become the Prime Minister in near future?

Rahul Gandhi also needs to learn to be honest, the public is getting smarter every year. His stunt at Bhatta Parsaul village in Uttar Pradesh, where he made a shocking statement that women were being raped and farmers being killed for protesting against an acquisition of land for an Expressway. He even showed a site which was supposed to be a graveyard of bodies. However soon enough after a forensic team was bought in, these claims were found to be false. Media persons went to the village and found that Rahul’s Gandhi’s claims were false.

It is possible that Rahul Gandhi tried what his grandmother, Indira Gandhi pulled off in the late 1970 when she rode into a Blechi village on an elephant and highlighted the Central Government’s insensitivities to the atrocities on the Dalits and was a major reason for a victory as the next PM again. However the public is smarter that it was in 1970s and such tatics will not work.

There is no doubt that that the Gandhi family has made great contributions to the country of India and it has produced great leaders such as Nehru and Indira Gandhi. However Rahul lacks the experience to make a change in the current political scenario.

The Chinese Aggression

The recent news of the proposed dam to be built in China which will affect the river Brahmaputra in India is a cause of concern to Indians. China’s aggression has been there for a long time and it has been relentless. It’s most evident aggression is as it slowly as it encroaches upon the Indian land.

The proposed dam is a cause of concern because it involves a lot of fertile delta’s which are used a farmland and depend on the River Brahmaputra for irrigation. However the question arises on what can the Indian government do about it?

The Red Dragon has grown very powerful economically and militarily. What cards do they hold against the Chinese?

The Indian Foreign ministry can lodge a formal protest against the Chinese Government on issue of their aggression. The second possibility is that it can take direct action, hang the diplomacy lines on a line to dry and go to war.

However there are problems with these two options. One is that a formal complaint has and continues to be a wash over with no action taken place and the complaints being ignored. Another is the Red Dragon power. The Chinese military is a force to be reckoned with and because of its modernization it may even be stronger than the Indian military force.

So what can India do?

Well, it can try with as much persuasion and evidence reveal the Chinese aggression to international world. Other than that the Indian Government has reached a stale mate.

Election

Mamata Banerjee has finally taken down the Left bastion in West Bengal. She has given up her Minister post at the Centre level and has become the Chief Minister. Mamata Banerjee’s victory does lift my eye brows a little to give a cause of concern. While West Bengal may not have been able to give the public everything that it wanted, many people do not realize the development that Left government has done. The Left government had managed to take the political development of villages to the third phase, which most States cannot boast of. This means that the villages have reached the highest level where autonomy and decision making has been given to them. However communication and transfer of funds to the villages have failed. Mamata Banerjee is a cause of concern to me because of she seems to be one who is all talk but will not deliver. For one, she is willing to give the Singur land back to the Tatas. This is the same land that she fought tooth and nail to take back from the Government, and now that she is no longer the opposition.

In Tamil Nadu J. Jayalalitha has become Chief Minister for the third time. Her party AIDMK has taken over from the DMK who has lost because of the 2G scam at the Centre which is leading back to them. J. Jayalalitha has been a long time activist and will be a boon for Tamil Nadu, and it is a break from the patriarchal control of the dynastical M Karunanidhi.

Osama's Death and my belief

The death of Osama Bin Ladin does not definitely mean the death of an idea and death of an organization. Ideas as such as Jihad and organizations such as Taliban and Al-Quida will live on.

There a certain confusion surrounding the death of Osama and on this I have certain beliefs.

For one I believe that Osama was killed some time ago. It just seemed politically, military and strategically right to announce it now. Strategically when the US has pulled out of Iraq and is pushing to come out of Afghanistan. Politically the time seen right and Obama’s ratings are up above 50%.

Second was the strike it self. There is no doubt that Osama was living in Pakistan. With Afghanistan over run with western soldiers and continuous strike on top Al-Quida and Taliban leaders, Pakistan was a better option with a corrupt ISI and a major part of the country under Taliban. The strike itself was the usual drone bombing. US navy seals were sent in. I believe that Osama was not killed in a firefight and was captured and killed in an execution style with a bullet in the head. For obvious reasons that man could not be allowed to live and could not be given a trail.

If given a trail this man will inspire so many bombing and bloodshed throughout the world. Hence he needed to die.

However with the announcement of his death one thing is for sure, the Al-Quida are at deaths door.

Where is Libya Going?

Libya state is one of concern all around the world. With the western intervention in the Libya’s civil strife, it only begs to answer a question of what are the West motives. The world still has a lot of countries that are in need of intervention, where the larger public is oppressed and is under dictatorship for a long time. The Jasmine Revolution across the Arab countries sent waves across the world. It all started at Sudan and spread like wild fire across the world. To qualify Libya as part of the Jasmine revolution would be difficult because of two reasons. One is that it is not a peaceful revolution and the other is that it has not been started by the larger public, but a group of dissident public officials and politicians.

The West intervention on one level is welcomed, but it questions the motives of the West. It is good to see an international intervention is a civil strife where a group of people are fighting against the dictatorship and that for once the world does not stand at the sidelines to see what goes down and instead takes action, for a just cause.

Still there is a doubt that the West is doing it for the oil and the other resource that have to exploit in Libya. If a puppet government comes up, it will not bode well with the people. If, after this conflict is over and the rebels emerge victorious, and the West put too much influence over the new government, then it will not bode well with the people.

If things to not bode well for the public we will see a repeat of the Iraq. Iraq, where the Taliban had no presence at all, but after the American invasion came that all changed. The public became dissatisfied with the way things were going, and the Taliban offered them a chance to fight back. The same thing cannot happen in Libya.

It would add only the world problems.