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 …

A few weeks ago, during my last visit to Bharat, I met Anupam Saraph, Pune’s Chief Information Commissioner. I was introduced to Anupam via a chain triggered by Barun Mitra.
I was keen to meet him, especially as his profile seemed to be very very intriguing.  Anupam and I met on a rainy evening at ShivSagar restaurant (the best coffee for its price in Pune, I think!) and it was only around 10pm that I realised we had been talking for 3 hours!
What Anupam told me that day was unbelievable…So I …

Fascinating excerpts from “Dems, You Gotta Have Heart” by Drew Westen, written almost two years ago (emphasis mine):
*** Excerpts Begin ***
To understand why Democrats have had such a hard time winning the White House, consider two scenes from last week’s CNN/YouTube debate. First, Sen. Chris Dodd offered a highly precise response to a question about energy: “The 50-mile-per-gallon standard is something I’ve advocated by 2017.” Then former senator John Edwards told a moving story about a man who couldn’t speak for 50 years because of a severe cleft palate: “For …

Dear All: I am reproducing below an internal communication from a BJP member who has requested anonymity.  Pl. read on.
***  “BJP and The Art of Lie-Cycle Maintenance”  ***
The rise & resurgence  of India is inevitable. It is going to happen ! The challenge is not in making it happen. The challenge is how soon can we make it happen. The challenge is in minimizing the volumes and masses of blood and sweat that we are going to shed during the journey. BJP is not an end in itself or for that matter its …

Comment # 131:
@Ashwin, I agree, let us wait for 15 months (not 5 yrs) to see how Raul really is as a politician cause I feel that will the the time when he will be installed in the front end of the government.
I find your selection of words, to describe Raul, very funny and more NDTV/CNNIBN type when you say “Rahul has been media shy and more measured when he is asked to give instant comments on issues…”
That is the hypocrisy I hate most! Different yardsticks for different people?
Comment by …

As I was clearing my backlog of articles from past few weeks, I chanced upon this interview of Digvijay Singh by Karan Thapar.
Read the excerpts against the backdrop of events leading up to the elections and the 2009 mandate to Congress (I)…and you will see why I chose the title of the post.
*** Excerpts from Devil’s Advocate: Digvijay on what if Cong loses ***
Karan Thapar: The revelation that your government has withdrawn the red corner notice against the Bofors scam accused Ottavio Quattrocchi, is an embarrassment. What justification you can …

I write this post as someone who wishes well to the BJP – a party from whom I have high expectations. It is essentially a compilation of key points culled from various articles, analyses, emails and comments following the party’s dismal performance in the 15th Lok Sabha elections.
Since I have never been trained to be a writer, the form of expression that comes naturally to me – after more than two decades in the “real word” – is a “summary of key points”. This is what the post …

Start the weekend with this provocative piece by Atany Dey. A brief excerpt from Whistling in the Dark about the Future:
Gurcharan Das writes in the Times of India (10th May) that “The Future Belongs to India.” That’s his argument which I suppose he made in a debate in London on the proposition that “the future belongs to India, not China.” I understand perfectly the need for such an argument because I too feel a lot of distress when I compare what China has achieved relative to India and have to …

Anil Bairwal of ADR released their “Updated Analysis of Lok Sabha MPs” – Criminal, Financial,Educational Background yesterday in which I found this nugget of information:

Total number of crorepati MPs in the present Lok Sabha – 300

I realise being a crorepati is no big deal in India today (e.g. read India home to fastest growing number of millionaires) but still…
Sadly, ADR’s report reveals in spite of all the talk about “change” and clean, value-based politics, the BJP has the maximum number of MPs having criminal cases against them – 43 (out …

*** India decides on Congress led UPA – is it a default, surprise or strategy? ***
Guest Post by Ashwin Kumaraswamy
Knowing very well, this post is a tad too early; the largest democracy of the world has thrown up very decisive results for Congress and its allies. These results are particularly sweet for Congress and its first family. They had a lot of personal stakes in these elections. State after state the Congress party had to get accustomed to coming of Rahul Gandhi. Be is going alone in Bihar & UP, …

Hurried post starting with some highlights from the results/early indications of 2009 Lok Sabha polls.
Left’s nationwide tally might be reduced to 25, scripts worst performance in West Bengal
Lok Janshakti Party supremo and Union Minister Ramvilas Paswan trails behind nearest ruling JD(U) rival and former chief minister Ramsunder Das . Sad considering Paswan’s earlier record of win by the largest margin in history of Indian elections.
Shashi Tharoor wins in Thiruvananthapuram. This is good news (in spite of my ideological differences with Sh Tharoor)
The BSP was the only party to have contested …

This post was prompted by an exchange sometime ago on the Freedom Team of India google groups on the subject of “minority protection“.
As we get into the final stages of 2009 Lok Sabha elections, this is an attempt at dissecting this controversial topic and to examine how established political parties have dealt with this touchy subject. I would like to start off with this comment from Sanjeev Sabhlok, in response to points made during the discussion. He wrote (emphasis added):
All of us, each of us, is a minority of one.
Step …

Over the course of last few days, I came across two separate mentions regarding Indian media and the on-going elections. Both of them had a very disturbing underlying theme – which was – we cannot trust our media any more. We cannot rely on them to be unbiased, impartial and committed to the democratic processes.
Everything you read about the candidates, their utterances, their actions must be taken with a pinch of salt….for the truth may not be what it seems to be.
For the hardcore sceptics amongst you, this will hardly …

Start this weekend with P Sainath at his best on Celeb crusades & the death of politics. A very brief excerpt:
The Lok Sabha constituencies of Mumbai averaged over 60 per cent voting between 1957 and 1977….
The barrage of celebrity propaganda to “get out there to vote” had an impact in Mumbai. Voting fell by 6 per cent….In Mumbai, voting was 41.41 per cent this time around as compared to 47.15 per cent in 2004.
Corporate media’s cutest efforts failed to arrest a decline in voting percentage. Nor did corporate-sponsored events and NGO …

Start the weekend by reading Why these elections may become a referendum on Modi  
Next, read The Acorn on Liberal Nationalism
Here is why entrepreneur, technologist and investor Rajesh Jain changed tack from technology to politics
…and finally, an extraordinary account of evangelist preacher Angus Buchan’s Mighty Men’s Conference.
If you missed last weekend, here is the link: W’end Links: Israel, Terrorist Windfall and a “make-believe world”
Enjoy the weekend. Stay healthy. keep smiling.
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