Who is likely to be India’s next Prime Minister? – Cast your vote

The one person not on your list of potential PMs but should be at the very top is Arun Shourie. Here is a man, who is not a career politician, yet proved himself to be an able administrator. Through his books, escpecially on historians and our reservation policies etc., has shown himself to be an independent thinker who can actually understand and analyze a problem and seek coherent solutions. He is also a man not tainted by issues like the gujarat riots and masjid/mandir conflicts etc. He also shows through his writings that he understands that in a democracy, the Law is King and the law must be upheld at all times. In a democracy, especially a secular democracy there can only be one standard that is applicable to all citizens.

I just found this email circulating on a yahoo group I subscribe to.

I am not sure of validity of the content. Leaving it to Shantanu’s discretion to publish on his blog.

Thanks,

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Comparison between Two Resume’s — Chief Executives of Pakistan & India

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Chief Executive of India

Title: Prime Minister
Name: Dr Manmohan Singh

EDUCATION /Qualification:
1950: Stood first in BA (Hons), Economics, Panjab University, Chandigarh ,
1952; Stood first in MA (Economics), Panjab University , Chandigarh,
1954; Wright’s Prize for distinguished performance at St John’s College,Cambridge,
1955 and 1957; Wrenbury scholar, University of Cambridge ,
1957; DPhil (Oxford), DLitt (Honoris Causa); PhD thesis on India’s export competitiveness

Working Experience [Teaching]
Professor (Senior lecturer, Economics, 1957-59;
Reader, Economics, 1959-63;
Professor, Economics, Panjab University, Chandigarh, 1963-65;
Professor, International Trade, Delhi School of Economics,Universit y of Delhi , 1969-71;
Honorary professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University,New Delhi, 1976 and Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi,1996 and Civil Servant

Working Experience [INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNMENTS] :
1966: Economic Affairs Officer
1966-69: Chief, financing for trade section, UNCTAD
1972-74: Deputy for India in IMF Committee of Twenty on International Monetary Reform
1977-79: Indian delegation to Aid-India Consortium Meetings
1980-82: Indo-Soviet joint planning group meeting
1982: Indo-Soviet monitoring group meeting
1993: Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting Cyprus 1993: Human Rights World Conference, Vienna

Working Experience [Government Positions]:
1971-72: Economic advisor, ministry of foreign trade
1972-76: Chief economic advisor, ministry of finance
1976-80: – Director, Reserve Bank of India; Director, Industrial Development Bank of India;
– Alternate governor for India , Board of governors , Asian Development Bank;
– Alternate governor for India, Board of governors, IBRD
– November 1976 – April 1980: Secretary, ministry of finance (Department of economic affairs);
– Member, finance, Atomic Energy Commission ; Member,finance, Space Commission
April 1980 – September 15, 1982: Member-secretary, Planning Commission
1980-83: Chairman, India Committee of the Indo-Japan joint study committee
September 16, 1982 – January 14 , 1985: Governor, Reserve Bank of India.
1982-85: Alternate Governor for India, Board of governors, International Monetary Fund
1983-84: Member, economic advisory council to the Prime Minister
1985: President, Indian Economic Association
January 15 , 1985 – July 31, 1987: Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission
August 1, 1987 – November 10, 1990: Secretary-general and commissioner, south commission, Geneva
December 10 , 1990 – March 14, 1991: Advisor to the Prime Minister on economic affairs
March 15, 1991 – June 20, 1991: Chairman, UGC
June 21, 1991 – May 15, 1996: Union finance minister
October 1991: Elected to Rajya Sabha from Assam on Congress ticket
June 1995: Re-elected to Rajya Sabha
1996 onwards: Member, Consultative Committee for the ministry of finance
August 1, 1996 – December 4 , 1997: Chairman, Parliamentary standing committee on commerce
March 21, 1998 onwards: Leader of the Opposition, Rajya Sabha
June 5, 1998 onwards: Member, committee on finance
August 13, 1998 onwards: Member, committee on rules
Aug 1998-2001: Member, committee of privileges 2000 onwards: Member,
executive committee, Indian parliamentary group
June 2001: Re-elected to Rajya Sabha
Aug 2001 onwards: Member, general purposes committee
2004: Prime Minister of India

BOOKS:
India’s Export Trends and Prospects for Self-Sustained Growth -Clarendon Press, Oxford University , 1964;
also published a large number of articles in various economic journals .

ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
Adam Smith Prize , University of Cambridge, 1956
Padma Vibhushan , 1987
Euro money Award, Finance Minister of the Year, 1993;
Asia money Award, Finance Minister of the Year for Asia , 1993 and 1994

Chief Executive of Pakistan

Title: President of Pakistan
Name: Asif Ali Zardari

EDUCATION /Qualification:
High School from Cadet College Petaro
Details of higher formal education not known; Claims graduation from London but not available to be verified. As per some account. His official biography says he attended a commercial college called Pedinton School . But a search of tertiary educational institutions in London showed no such school.

Working Experience:
Early days: Working at the family owned Bambino Cinema at Karachi . Some accuse Mr Zardari of small-time ticket frauds to steal money from the family business.
Up till 1987 (marriage to the future Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto): No record.
1988 to date: While no official record of any business exists, Mr Zardari is widely believed to be one of the (if not the) richest man in Pakistan . An unofficial list of family owned businesses, property and accounts exists but the completeness of the same cannot be verified. Mr Zardari has however been involved in various national and international cases relating to his businesses. The most significant European cases are a Swiss money-laundering inquiry and a British civil cases.

Working Experience [Politics]:
1988-1990: Husband of the Prime Minister
1993–1996: Minister of Environment during his wife’s second term as the Prime Minister
Un till 1999: Senator 30 December 2007: Appointed himself as the co-chairman of the PPP, along with his son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari

September 9, 2008: Zardari was elected president of Pakistan . Sworn in by Abdul Hameed Dogar, whose position as the Chief Justice of Pakistan remains a contested issue by an overwhelming majority of the Pakistani legal fraternity.

Working Experience [Other]:
Other experience of Mr Zardari includes his widely believed but not proven involvement in
– Several murders – most famously of his brother in law, possibly his wife
– Wrapping a bomb to the leg of a famous UK businessman to ask for money
– Embezzlement & looting of Billions of Pakistan’s wealth

BOOKS:
None on record

ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
Marrying the then future and now ex (RIP) Prime Minister of Pakistan
Only serving politician to have spent 10 years in Jail
Told the US VP Candidate that she is “gorgeous” and said : “Now I know why the whole of America is crazy about you”. When the photographers asked the two to keep shaking hands, he replied : ” If he insists, I might hug you”. This was one day after the President delivered an emotional speech at the UN in new York waiving a photograph of his deceased wife only months after the murder of his wife.

@Hemant. That is probably because everyone knows who will be PM if the Congress Party wins . The Congress party list of PM for the next 100 years is MMS, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Priyanka’s kids, Priyanka’s grandkids, Priyanka’s great-grand kids–you get the picture.

If the BJP wins, we will probably have Advani, followed by some other old guy waiting around.

My husband sometimes says (facetiously I hope) that the masses are asses. Keeping in mind that we have had some of the worst terrorist attacks during this congress rule along with an economy that is slowly sinking, my guess is that the people of India will not remember all this and will vote for the Congress. It probably won’t have a simple majority and we are in for another coalition government. As to why Sonia Gandhi and the Congress party will still want to form a government, listening to some of her speeches, I think that Sonia Gandhi is something of a megalomaniac –she always talks about the need to save secular India and how the Gandhi family and the congress party alone can do it. She rarely ever talks about good governance or national security or the need to make India richer or address our various developmental issues.

I feel that if there is a coalition government, the communist party which probably won’t do too well on its own, might continue to be an ally of the Congress because after all, it is better to be in power, than out of it.

If the BJP does not win, it has only itself to blame. It will have managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Even when presented with major national security issues and economic problems, here is a party which did not have a single coherent, articulation of what it would do differently.

That is the point. If the BJP is putting forth its plans and the public is not getting the message because the media is blanking it out, it is as good as not putting forth anything. Most of us rely on the mainstream media. Few Indians have access to the range of viewpoints available on blogs and independent online newspapers. What is stopping the BJP with its massive organization from running a news organization or having a TV channel dedicated to its point of view. Even third rate regional parties like DMK and AIADMK have their own news channels–i.e SUN TV and SUN NEWS( run by Karunanidhi’s nephews which exclusively reports the DMK point of view) and Jaya TV which belongs to Jayalalitha.

Both the RSS and VHP organizations which are supposed to provide grassroot support for the BJP haven’t woken up the the importance of being media savvy.

The only way the BJP can capture the interest of the public, especially the youth, is by projecting an image of competence and glamour. That means getting more young, smart, ariculate people on board who become the public face of the BJP. Yes Arun Shourie, Arun Jaitley are smart etc. but they can hardly be considered young unless compared to Advani. Where is the next generation of leaders?

For those readers who are in Mumbai and Pune, here is an Invitation to Meet Arun Jaitley at “Friends of BJP” launch in Mumbai and Pune on February 28 (This Saturday).

Spread the word.

Feb 28 Interaction Meetings with Arun Jaitley in Mumbai and Pune

Advaniji’s praise for BJP’s Online Volunteers

http://www.lkadvani.in/eng/content/view/767/402/

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5+5 Ways You Can Make A Difference

http://friendsofbjp.org/2009/02/20/55-ways-you-can-help/

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More info from the founders of “Friends of BJP” here:

http://emergic.org/2009/02/23/friends-of-bjp/

@Esh: First of all, doing constructive projects to help Indians does not require joining or supporting a political party. There are plenty of projects to get involved in. One of my favorites is the Ekalvidyalaya programs to start schools in Tribal areas.

Secondly, you are assuming that the BJP did something for the country last time it was in power. Let us examine its record. Here was a party that basically got to power through Hindu votes by promising a uniform civil code, removing special status to Kashmir and protecting the Hindu society including building a Ram Temple in Ayodhya. Exactly which of these did it achieve?

Not only did it leave a legacy of pandering to the pundits and purveyors of globalization which has not only cost many Indian jobs but has left our agricultural sector and our food security vulnerable to multinational corporations like Monsanto which seek to destroy our traditional agricultural practices and own patents on our plants.

In the realm of protecting our Bharitya Sanskriti we had a minister who regularly went after fashion show contestants etc. but thought that foreign direct investment into our national media will be a good move. What is the net result? We have, in the name of free speech, allowed people who have no national ties to control our news media. Not only that, the bulk of the funding comes from sources which have loyalites to other religions and cultures. For example, Rupert Murdoch a fundamentalist evangelical Christian from Autralia controls the Star Networks as well as Vijay TV etc. Now the BJP is upset that none of the news channels presents its point of view.

The BJP apparently doesn’t realize (along with many Indians) that there is a fundamental difference between liberalization and globalization.

Thirdly, by mishandling the Gujarat riots and the Khandahar hijack, it has muddied its reputation. Let us face it. One cannot show strength if one is wringing one’s hands during critical events.

Now one can say that the Congress is no better. That is true, but the Congress has something that the BJP doesn’t have–it has the support of religious minorities. The BJP doesn’t and unless it can reach out to all Hindus and make a case that not only is it better than the Congress, but the very best party available, it won’t be able to win a majority. To do that it has to start with never–yes NEVER compromising on principles and always upholding the law, because in a democracy the law has to be king.

@Haripriya,

I appreciate your affection for Ekal Vidyalas, I think it is a great project. I support it too.

Please remember BJP was not in power, NDA was. BJP did not even have 200 seats then. BJP is still saying that if they get 2/3rds of the seats (because that is how many seats they need to change the constitution) they WILL do all that as those things are their core ideology. I have heard many Hindus saying this, why hasn’t BJP done what it has in its ideology. Again please remember it was a NDA govt, NOT BJP, they have to be bound to the Common Minimum Program of the coalition.

I dont know what you mean by mishandling Kadahar hijack. How would you have handled it? Do you have a better solution? Lives of 250 Indians vs. 3 pigs. I would go for 250 Indians any day. I think any sensible person would have done that.

Sure BJP has done some mistakes when it was ruling with NDA. But give me a break, it was their first govt ever. Why do people demand cent percent goodness, efficiency, productivity from BJP and even if they fall back a little they are said to be as bad as congress. I dont see people demanding the same exacting standards of conduct from Congress. Why? Give BJP more chances to show what they really can do.

You should visit http://friendsofbjp.org/ to get a better perspective.

http://aajtak.intoday.in/index.php?option=com_magazine&opt=section&sectionid=1&secid=84&Itemid=1&videoid=7896

Lalu Prasad; I will be a PM one day!

“Kalyan Hi Kalyan”!

Interest of the state before personal ambition is very crucial. Which is often lacking amongs many politicians.

Jai Hind!

At this situation its better to be BJP in power that to Advani , only thing is that they should not take Ramar temple issue in hand and create another confusion… they need to take better decision over Pakistan terrorist (even if they washed out pakistan like what US did over Afghan is gud), Sri Lankan Tamil issues.. and joining the rivers which they owed earlier.
Lets wait and see……

You missed the most important one, that is our own Smt Mayavati. Mayavati have the maximum chance to be PM, more chance than MM and Advani. Let she gets the 55-60 seats and see.

Ignore the Nehraa-Maino clan loteras, promote our own Bharatiya. Sickular media dumps Nehra-Maino clan news and we keep parroting it. If we want to get rid of these loteras, then we have to promote our own and built our own self-respect.

*** COMMENT EDITED ***

Now that ….has chosen Navin Chawla as chief election commissioner, do we really need to believe there will be fair elections? May Lord Krishna save us all.

*** NOTE by MODERATOR ***

@ Harapriya: Pl. avoid labels and insinuations…especially in view of recent developments around defamation, liability etc. Hope you understand. Thanks.

@ All: Pl. be careful with your choice of words… Thanks.

Excerpts from Harsh Gupta’s 10-point agenda for BJP:

http://retributions.nationalinterest.in/guest-post-a-10-point-agenda-for-bjp/

1. On governance the BJP must support, as a principle, smaller states and more power to local governments.

2. On national security, the BJP must support higher and more targeted defense expenditures with an increased portion going to capital acquisitions in lieu of a “leaner and meaner” defense force. Intelligence gathering and counter-terrorism must be de-linked with any religion.

3. On foreign policy, the BJP must acknowledge its mistaken posturing on the nuclear deal. More aggressive diplomacy to contain terrorism within Pakistan, and to solve the border dispute with China must be pursued. Free trade agreements must be pursued vigorously, and protectionist grandstanding at WTO rounds must be avoided. Per-capita carbon equity must continue to be the defining principle in climate change negotiations

4. On Kashmir, the BJP must explain how it is in favor of more fiscal autonomy for J&K (and indeed all states) but not Article 370 – which artificially reduces investment flows and people-to-people contacts between Kashmir and rest of India. Those who support the article in the name of Indian Muslims insult them by questioning their patriotism, and score a strategic self-goal.

5. On the broader economy issue, the BJP must vocally support privatization of PSUs, profit or loss making, to help reduce the national debt which has boomed during the Congress mis-rule. De-licensing of higher education must be supported so that the youth can get a more productive education. Retail must also be liberalized so that the farmers can get higher prices for their produce, and the consumers face lower costs. The price of petroleum products must be deregulated, and the poor must be compensated during price rises with direct cash transfers.

6. On social spending, the BJP must include another option within NREGA – get half of that daily wage without working so long as all your children are vaccinated and enroled in some school. This step (along with introduction of a national ID smart card) should be taken to reduce corruption and misrepresentation in local ledgers, and to make sure that rural infrastructure can be created separately and in a capital-intensive way if required.

7. On education, the BJP must advocate the direct funding of all below-poverty-line families to send their children to any school of their choice – public or private, religious or secular.

8. On reservations, the BJP must support it in government-financed institutions, but must call for a 20 year sunset clause because reforms in primary and secondary education through both increased expenditures and (above-mentioned) school choice will gradually but significantly reduce inequities in primary and secondary education access, as has happened in other countries.

9. On universal civil code, the BJP must support first simplifying and making inexpensive the court/civil marriage procedures, and then make them the default option rather than the religious one. If both the spouses want a religious marriage, that should still be allowed so long as it is registered.

10. On the Ram temple issue, the BJP must end confusion and continue with the position that it will respect the opinion of the courts. Similarly, the BJP must strongly and unambiguously denounce any violence by any of its fringe members against women and minorities.One can be a proud Hindu without being intolerant and fundamentalist. In fact, the latter negate Hinduism.

http://www.pluggd.in/politics/election-2009-bjp-open-source-unlimited-voip-it-vision-3848/

First time an Indian political party has decided to talk technology as part of an election manifesto. That technology is a 21st century imperative for development is finally being acknowledged that too by a PM candidate in his 80s! Changing voter demographics are no doubt spurring this but this kind of thinking is indeed welcome. Implementation of course another matter like in all election promises but then let’s applaud the pioneering effort in this case…

@J. Varghese

Are you sure about personal ambition? He cannot have any ambitions. One family is fulfilling their ambition from stayig behind the P.M. I feel he is a care taker of Nehru dynasty.

Dr Manmohan Singh is the best of all the candidates. He is highly educated, sincere,world renounced and capable to do the job once again.

bjp have good chance rule tamil nadu after 10years first state karnataka 2nd tamil nadu 3rd kerala and last andhra pradesh in south india.

DR HARI NAWAL,

> Dr Manmohan Singh is the best of all the candidates. He is highly educated, sincere,world renounced and capable to do the job once again.

But is he man enough not to be remote controlled by u know who?
But is he man enough to win an election ?

bjp only guard for all hindus around world.