Dear All: It is my great pleasure to publish this guest post by Marie-Lou Fernandes IPS , former DCP, Mumbai City, a good friend and above all, a concerned fellow citizen.  Marie-Lou had an illustrious career before she ran foul of the powers-that-be (no points for guessing why) . I hope to carry an interview with her in one of the future posts. For now, read her thoughts on why good governance matters – even in India (emphasis added).
*** Good Governance Matters, In India by Marie-Lou Fernandes ***
There is a …

These “inconvenient questions” have been pending in my drafts folder for a while now…I was reminded of them after reading a recent article by Sh Ram Jethmalani. I hope the “Youth Icon/Messiah/Hope/Pride” etc etc finds a few minutes to answer/ respond to some of them…But first, some context (emphasis added)
Seeking votes in favour of party nominee…the Congress’ youth icon (said), “I have got better experience of politics than those who travel in air-conditioned vehicles; do not eat the food of commoners and do not live the life of a common …

The list is growing…Two months ago, I wrote a brief note on what was common to Kathlal and Shashi Tharoor…In the note, I said:
I’m cheering the BJP win in Kathlal for the same reason I was pleased about Shashi Tharoor’s win in Thiruvananthapuram.
Both mark a break from “politics-as-usual” and offer hope for those of us working towards breaking the stranglehold of caste, religion and vote-bank politics in India. 

Today, Nitish Kumar led NDA alliance in Bihar joins this list that signals a break from “poliitics-as-usual”. This has to be good …

…comes the news that almost half of the candidates* standing for the Assembly elections in Bihar * have pending criminal cases against them…

Worse, “Several of these criminal charges are serious charges, like Murder, Criminal Intimidation, assault, wrongful restraint, etc.”
Some of the more “note-worthy” candidates include Rajesh Kumar Raushan urf Babloo Deo (RJD) who has “7 charges related to Attempt to murder (IPC Section-307)” against him;  Shankar Singh (LJP)  with “17 charges related to Attempt to murder (IPC Section-307) and 12 charges related to Murder (IPC Section-302) against him and Manoranjan …

This post was triggered by two unrelated links I read last weekend.  The first: Is Sonia Above Questioning? by Sh Rajinder Puri from which this brief excerpt:
…The BJP has taken up the secret Indian Swiss bank money issue. Does it seriously contemplate recovering the money? Or is it just a poll gimmick?
…Are they political opportunists? Do they or don’t they really intend to deliver results on the Swiss money? If the BJP is serious about fighting corruption there is no dearth of issues. Take one glaring example.
On August 15, 2006 …

…in other words, some light weekend reading.
*** Excerpts from a recent interview of Nafisa Ali ***

Why have you rejoined the Congress?
Because that’s my party.
…
Why do you say that your decision to join the SP was ‘a mistake’?
I took a step which, if I was rational and calm, I would never have taken. I went against my principles. I made a mistake because I didn’t have political backing and the support I needed at that time.
Did you join the SP because you wanted a seat at any cost?
It’s not about …

This is a sequel to Sanjay’s earlier post: Secular Harit Desh.
In this short post, Sanjay draws our attention to a couple of interesting developments that – in his view – are likely to have a profound impact on Indian society and politics. Please read on…
1] PFI and Muslims in South India: The Muslims in South India are organizing themselves (inspired no doubt by similar efforts by Christian organizations) along with dalits, tribals, religious and cultural minorities under the banner Popular Front of India (which is a federation of a clutch …

Thanks to Sanjay for woving this guest post around a recent column by M J Akbar that left me aghast.
*** “Secular Harit Desh” by Sanjay ***
MJ Akbar, the celebrity journalist, editor (Sunday and Telegraph), author, commentator and columnist has for some time now taken pains to present the Muslim liberal point of view.
He was editor of the very popular but now defunct Sunday magazine in the 1980s where one of his claims to fame was in pioneering incredibly cloying sycophantic pieces on Rajiv Gandhi  (Mani Shankar Aiyer was a notable …

Thanks to Krishen-ji for alerting me to this news-item…Christian pick on Congress poll list from which, a brief excerpt (emphasis mine):
…For the first time, a major Christian body has asked a political party to give poll nominations to candidates from the community, and the party has obliged.
The All India Christian Council, a conglomerate of all Christian denominations, wrote to Sonia Gandhi a few weeks ago requesting tickets for Christians in the Maharashtra Assembly elections.
The Congress has accepted two of the council’s nine nominees, both political lightweights. Janet D’Souza has been …

Recap from yesterday:
The serious questions being asked include:

If the polling was not even complete how could “votes polled” data be available for all but 47 of the 8071 candidates?
If EVM’s were secure with DEO/district collectors, and elections were not even held in many constituencies, how was the data for 8023 candidates or all but 47 of the 8071 candidates available to the ECI on files downloaded between these dates?

…If this is a Mistake, Why No Clarifications from the ECI?
Read on:
On the 6th of May Anupam and Prof Nalapat asked …