The dark clouds just got a bit darker…
A few weeks ago, I wrote about how my hopes had been raised�(see “Silver lining to dark clouds…?“) by some of the new political groupings/parties that have been formed recently � Paritran, Bharat Punarnirman Dal, Loksatta, Bharat Uday Mission amongst others.
I also wrote how I was going to make an attempt at contacting them to get their views on some of the more pressing issues facing India today.
Well I did just that and unfortunately I have to re-assess my initial optimism�
My first attempt was to contact the representatives via the web or email addresses mentioned on their website. I was not too hopefully but given that the groups mainly comprise educated young professionals I expected at least a 50% response rate.
And what was it actually? Zero � that is right � zero�Not one of the representatives responded to my email � and not one bothered to even acknowledge receipt.
Now call me old-fashioned but I do believe that there is no point in rushing into things if you have no idea what to do next or are unable to cope. Each of these parties have nice web pages and contact information but what�s the point when even a simple email gets no acknowledgement much less a response?
I understand that all these young leaders of tomorrow have better things to do (and probably receive hundreds of emails everyday � but are they not aware of things like automated acknowledgement of emails? And how many of their potential supporters (and voters) might they be alienating by this non-responsiveness?
Anyways, the next plan of action is to fall back on the old-fashioned instrument � the telephone � (actually a mobile phone, to be more precise).
Early next week, I will try and establish contact with the representatives to get their opinions on my questions�Hopefully a response over a phone call would be easier than via email.
In the meantime, if any of you are personally involved in these organisations or know someone who is, please introduce them to me or ask them to respond to these questions�
The first step to raising political consciousness is public awareness. These parties are not doing anyone any good by being un-responsive or slow�
More soon�watch this space
****************
For those of you who may be interested, here is a copy of the email I sent to these parties:
Dear�
I have been following with great interest your recent initiatives and I whole-heartedly applaud you in your mission of offering us an alternative to established parties in whom most of us have lost faith.
I have previously commented on the current, dismal state of political affairs in India and like you, am convinced that there must be a better alternative.
Unfortunately my present situation does not allow me to participate (or contribute) more actively to your cause but I do hope that someday I will be with you in your objectives.
In the meantime, I am considering a series on my blog which would have interviews with some of the newer, younger political groups and I would like you to be profiled on that as well.
With that in mind, could you please take some time to respond to the following questions? Alternatively please suggest a date/time (weekend preferred) and I will set up a call so that we can speak on the phone (I will then transcribe the responses).
Look forward to hearing from you,
Jai Hind.
B Shantanu
- What is your stance towards economic reforms?
- What is your position on campaign finance? Corruption in elections/ vote-rigging?
- What are your views on reservations in education, jobs, promotions, private sector
- �– Reservations on the basis of caste, religion, socio-economic measures?
- What is your position with regards to hot-pursuit across the border?
o�Views on sanctions against Pakistan? - Views on taxes � should there be an infrastructure tax?
- Views on the parallel economy: how do you see the problem and who would you deal with it?
- Views on �criminalization� of politics and views on banning people with criminal convictions from standing for elections
- Barring people convicted for corruption and/or mis-use of public finds from standing up for elections?
FINALLY, in your view, what is the single biggest problem in Indian politics today? Is it Corruption? Criminalization? Lack of competence? Fragmentation of electoral base � along casteist, religious, regional lines? Something else?
None of these questions have easy answers and I appreciate that there may not be enough time to go into these in detail�however, I would still appreciate responses from you�
I wish you all the success in your endeavours and you will always have my support in your activities.
Image Courtesy: TravelAdventures.org
Dear Shri Shantanu,
At the outset, let me confess that I am a silent (of course, till now!) admirer of your writings. I really appreciate your good efforts and wish you godspeed in your endeavours.
Regarding your expectation from these neo political outfits (for that matter, any), I am not as optimistic as you seem to be. My reasons are as follows.
1) Borrowing the gist of a Malayalam saying, we may be rest assured that all the politico groups (proposed or established) are there for gain-power and pelf and nothing else matters to them.
2) Even if their motto seems to have some distant semblance to service, it is just incidental and that too selective (only to help the point 1 mentioned above)
3) They never give clear-cut, straight forward and honest reactions to any serious issue. Even if they give (under duress), it would be vague, with double meaning and mostly opportunistic.
Still, it is our duty to give them the benefit of doubt before ignoring them.
And finally, who or which party is there in this holy land, who understand the frustration, the sense of helplessness & impotency, and the sad plight of my religion that is HINDUISM?
I am sorry for taking up a lot of your space.
With Prayers
Dr. P.E.S.Kartha, Bangalore
Dear Dr Kartha,
First of all, thank you for your kind words and encouragement. It is the support of loyal readers like you that gives me the energy and enthusiasm to keep going.
Secondly, I broadly agree with all that you say…but as you have mentioned – “it is our duty to give them the benefit of doubt before ignoring them”.
And yes, I too despair at times, thinking about the plight of our homeland and great nation…But we must not give up…
We need to keep our hopes alive…together we can make it happen.
And do not worry about taking up space at all – this is a blog for all of us – not just me.
Jai Hind, Jai Bharat.
Hey Shantanu,
Saw your comment on my blog. I am sorry that you had such an experience while trying to contact them. I was able to get through them pretty soon. Anyways write more if you want to talk to me at mishranurag@gmail.com
Anurag
Message from Ravi Kishore:
Thanks for the message. I understand the kind of impression / feelings people tend to develop when there is no proper response to a query from our end. Right now the ways to discuss stuff with us are (in the priority order)
1. Come down to where we are, sit with us, and lets talk things over lunch/dinner leisurely.
2. Call us LATE NIGHT preferably and we can speak for about 10 mins. My number is XXXXXXX. (I’m a teacher and many times I wont be able to take the call during the day. If I have a class early next morning, I sleep by 1am max. Usually not awake after that)
3. Contact any OTHER ACTIVE volunteers of state units like Maharashtra. Should expect a reply but takes time.
Also, it’ll take sometime for us to put an FAQ section on our site. Our resources are still STRICTLY limited. The more someone expects things from us, it only means the more we are in need of his/her help in many ways.
Regards,
Ravi Kishore.
Thanks Anurag.
I have just sent you an email to follow up. Appreciate your help.
I have deleted Ravi Kishore’s number from the comment to protect his privacy. If any reader would like to contact Ravi Kishore, please let me know.
Dear Mr. Shantanu,
I understand how bad you feel, if you didn’t get any response for your questions or complaints. This problem is faced by every general public in India because of lack of importance to communicate. I have a paper published at http://vinay1340.wordpress.com/ and some excerpts on importance communication are given here:
Easy accessibility of a Lok Sevak is also very important for the healthy democracy. The author was reported that villagers make many trips to Tahsil or district head quarter to meet an officer to get their work done. This is basically because sometimes officers are busy in meeting or on leave or even absent without notice. This costs a villager a lot. There are many people in village who leave on daily income and if they loose that in making round for an officer to meet, you can imagine what would be their feeling. Only a person who has this experience can only realize. To avoid this, accessibility of an officer should be made certain. It must be ensured that there is always a customer service representative at each and every office controlled by government to hear the grievances of a customer and act on that. Also, this is the age of telecommuting. It should be made sure that an officer, minister, governor or elected public representative is easily accessible by e-mail, fax or telephone. He should make sure that each and very phone call is answered or each and every e-mail or fax is responded well. If a lok-sevak is too busy, his/her public relation representative should manage the telecommuting messages and should make sure for an appointment for telecommunication.
A lok Sevak should never think he/she is not there to take a call of public or serve the public. Most of the lok sevaks think this way and that is not good for UP. If a lok-sevak thinks like that, he/she is not fit for the job or office and he/she should quit. There are a lot of there in queue to pick up his/her job. In several such cases the author has observed that even public relation officers or secretaries in the offices of lok sevaks are trained to deny the accessibility of lok sevaks. They make excuses like lok sevak is in bathroom or eating or in a meeting or resting or sleeping or so on so forth. This is very dangerous for a democratic state and such an act must be avoided. If a lok sevak is available, he/she should be made accessible by his/her supporting officials to general public. Supporting staff should help in providing the accessibility rather than denying it. This could be achieved by political will and by casting intelligently the valuable vote.
The first and foremost duty of a lok-sevak must be to provide quality services to his/her customers. It should be ensured that public get due respect and their complaints or requests are addressed properly and sorted out in specified time period responsibly. If a person’s request takes longer than specified time to resolve, he/she should be communicated time to time in a proper manner so that he/she couldn’t run around the officials and waste money and time. His/her records must be maintained and should be easily available, if he/she needs status on his/her request. Author remembers an instance here. One villager of UP had applied for handicapped benefit to respective office of her district head quarter. She didn’t receive any correspondence on her application in six months. She again visited to the office and asked about the status of her application. The office clerk said there was no such application, write and submit new one. That poor villager didn’t have any option but to file again. This story ran many years and still she is in the hope that she might get her benefit due one day or some day an angel will come to her help and solve her problem. If she would have paid money to corrupt officials, her case could have been resolved, but she didn’t do so. If we evolve a system where each and every complaint is taken care of in a pre-defined manner, we may be able to provide efficient quality service to public. If even an individual complaints against an officer for his/her wrongful deeds, the system should investigate against the officer and take action without fail and should communicate to individual about the action.
would appreciate, if you could provide me the contact info of BPD topnotch. I also trying to contact them, but I couldn’t succeed.
Thanks & Regards,
Vinaya
I agree with Mr. Singh.
Other than investigation, there should be a law for Lok sevaks and many others who holds higher posts in Govt. jobs and public offices, that those who have failed to meet visiotors during his/her office hours must get back to visitors (who have left note or anything) after they arrive in office. Plus those who have failed to do so must be compensated with what ever it requires to do so.
They should be required (even a clerk) to go through cumpolsary training, in which they must be taught how to act and serve people respectfully.
Govt. offices needs badly this kind of training.
Sorry in above post I meant visitors should be compensated for their time, money and energy they spent to visit offices without their work done.
i do agree with Mr Shantanu initial frustration in not getting a timely response…
things are already in such a state of advanced decay that we cant waste time on procedure and formalities…
its high time we unite the fragmented Hindu society which will comprise like minded and dynamic sould who have had enough…
lets not waste time on petty brouhaha… lets get on with the main task and acheive our main goal
Vinaya, Indian and Dr Surya,
The non-responsiveness of the bureaucracy flourishes because of the lethargy and non-responsiveness of our political leaders….
Why would “babus” and government officials respond to anything in time and with courtesy when they see their political masters treat everyone with contempt and arrogance?
Unfortunately the mind/attitude-change for public service that is required (lok-seva) is simply missing in our government as well as the political leadership…
What will it take to change? Probably a revolution…or a thousand people with enough zeal, passion and energy to change things…
When will that happen? I have no idea but I am not giving up hope…
Jai Hind, Jai Bharat.
Vinaya,
I am still trying to get in touch with representatives of Bharat Punarnirman Dal.
Once I am able to speak to someone, I will ask their permission to pass on their contact details to you.
Thanks.
Dear Dr. Surya, I don’t understand your main task and goal. How one can achieve a goal without working in that direction and repairing the system. We need to work on changing the system and muster support to achieve the goal.
Dear Mr. Shantanu, I agree with your comments but we should not wait but contribute in correcting the system, and I appreciate you for doing that. Also, thanks for letting me know the status about contacting the BPD. I am not sure, if this party may also follow the same suite of others in future. But let us support them to see the result.
Thanks & Regards,
Vinaya
Dear Vinaya,
Im not criticising anyone in particular… just crying out aloud….
just being written about in certian websites wudnt make these new paties viable…
we need smart educated young leaders agreed…. they also need to be supported agreed…. but at the risk of sounding critical let me add we need people who can garner cheap publicity like lalloo yadav and karunanidhi….. we shud rebutt and engage theese corrupt leaders on ddebates and expose their double speak…. its easier said than done …. but such political novices can never survive with support from just IITians and IIM students…. even the shameless communists have a broader support base amongst IIM cadre than these new political leaders…
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/politics/04_2007/iitians-political-dream-goes-bust-37688.html
New Delhi: It was a dream that was realised to bring about a “positive” change in Indian polity.
But a group of IITians, it seems, weren’t equipped enough to carry forward the burden of expectations.
Lok Paritran, the political party formed by a group of ex-IITians in 2005 witnessed a vertical split just ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.
The breakaway faction is called Bharat Punarnirman Dal (BPD) and will take on Lok Paritran head on in the UP poll field.
The LPP has said the split is unfortunate and has alleged political conspiracy. He also said BPD – formed by some ex-IIT Kanpur students – was “misguiding media and innocent party supporters.”
The party also alleged that BPD working committee has illegitimately held the ownership of LPP’s online community on Orkut.
However, party officials maintain the party will go and contest UP polls and is finalising candidates of Lucknow and Allahabad in next few days.
“We will contest the elections in the fifth, sixth and seventh phases in UP despite contemptuous act of spreading rumours against the party by some former party members, who have formed BPD,” national president L P Tanmay Rajpurohit was quoted as saying.
LPP was founded in 2005 and became a registered political party in February 2006 and enjoyed had got a tremendous response in Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.
Rajesh – thanks for the link.
As I had mentioned on my blog, I am still having great difficulty in contacting Lok Paritrana. By contrast, I have been able to speak with several members of BPD relatively easily (as well as Bharat Uday Mission)…this may be symptomatic of something deeper.
If any reader knows a way to get hold of Tanmaya (or others), please let me know…It is truly a shame because Tanmaya used to be very accessible up until a few months before (I have spoken to him once).
its sad that viruses spread fast. when lok paritran contested the tamil nadu elections we went door to door canvassing for them ( though we wernt members of lok paritran) we thought lok paritran would be a viable alternative to the sick pseudo secular parties. though they dint get a tremendous response in tamil nadu elections as mentioned above, they managed to make their presence felt in the murky waters of tamil nadu politics which is dominated by goons and criminals.
sadly lok partran seems to have vanished from tamilnadu. a party becomes more viable only after elections. they shud have used the many oppurtunities they had…
they could have captured media glare and press coverage if they had used the student support and they could have organised a mass rally against karunanidhi and his reservations policy.
unlike what has been made out in the press, karunanidhi is very unpopular atealst in chennai belt. the reservation issue is emotive yes in south arcot and souther belts but in chennai on an average you find more people disgusted with reservation politics of DMK and ADMK. the Lok Paritan could have used many oppurtunities given my DMK to rubbish the Karunanidhi regime in public. Only with such public stunts can a party get popularity in a state like tamilnadu. Just sitting in IIT rooms and sending emails can tap only 2% of the populace.
Lok Paritran has been a disappointment so far.
Having said this its important that we all extend support to this fledgling outfit in the face of new threats. Its disgusting that some ex lok paritran guys have gangaed up against the parent party in UP elections. This is how we shoot ourselves in our foot and allow the enemy to win…
the next we would hear is mayavati becoming the UP Chief Minister…. What a shame…..
Cant we bury our differences for a common goal? Is it so difficult?
Shantanu,
I had Santhanagopalan Vasudevs number… and he was on daily contact with Tanmay… if you want i can give you his number
Surya,
Yes – please email me his number. I know he is in contact with Tanmaya.
Thanks a lot,
Everything must be done to stop these divisions between LP and BPD .They have lot of things in common. Both Party Founders are Young Patriotic IITians , Both are highly educated , talented , polite and committed to cause of Nation.They have left their lucrative jobs in USA and came to India to serve Bharatmata.
They are sons of soil. LP has done good in South and BPD is rocking in North. They can make an alliance of Youth Politicians .
Lok Paritran , Bharat Punarnirman Dal , Bharat Udai Mission , Bhumi , Lok Satta , Bharat Vichar Manch , Brashtachar Virodhi Morcha , Yuva, Madhya Bharat Navyuvak Sangha and all other youth political organisations and NGOs can ally together and form an Umbrella Organisation like
” India Development Council ” or ” India Development Organisation” and can cooperation well for mutual benefits. They can discuss and finally agree to support each other. There are more than 500 MP seats and 1000’s of MLA , MLC seats.They can form a common agenda which will include ,
1) Strong & Powerful Nation
2) Anti Corruption
3) Pro Development
4) United Society
5) Patriotism
and other issuses in Nation’s Interest.
They can agree to work for a CMP ” Common Minimum Program”. That is Nation comes first.
In country like India where obver 50 % population is young , they can change political scenario of India.
There may be some differences between the leaders but they are educated , they came talk and have a dialogue to unite .Their hard and honest efforts together can only give them a victory. It will be a win win situation for both of them.
Nationalist Vote Bank which used to support BJP , Shiv Sena , NDA is already disillusioned with NDA politics of appeasement and deviation from National Agenda.People have no choice , They cannot vote BJP led NDA which betrayed Hindu Society. They also can’t vote to Italian Sonia Maino led UPA. Third front doesn’t exist.
So this is the right time to enter into Indian Politics. Right time for ” Yuva Kranti”.
Top Leaders like Sri Tanmay, Sri Santhanagopalan Vasudev , Sri Hemchandran , Sri Ravi Kishore , Sri Ajit Shukla , Sir Mayur Patil are deeply committed to cause of Nation.They have inspired hope in Indian Youth. All these likeminded Patriots can ally together to capture power. Hindi Speaking States like UP , Bihar, Delhi , Gujarat, Rajastan, MP , Haryana , Uttarakhand will give good response to these Youth Patriotic Parties.
Either they can form an alliance or they can merge with Lok Paritran because Lok Paritran was founded by Sri Tanmay who left Silicon Valley Luxury to come and serve Bharatvarsha.He took an initiative and he started the revolution, so instead of forming BPD , Bhumi , BM ,etc , We should just merge or ally with Lok Paritran and stand with them.
Atleast they have courage to leave family , jobs , comfort and have choosen the rugged roads of Indian Politics.
Another blogger ” Polite Indian” alleged that Sri Ajit Shukla left Lok Paritran and formed Bharat Punarnirman Dal because Sir Tanmay is Pro Hindu and want to establish ” Hindu Raj”.
So what’s wrong in that ????
India is country which rightfully belongs to Hindus. Inspite of the fact that Hindus ( including Sikhs , Buddhists , Jains , Parsees) forms majority ( 75 % ) of India’s population , They are treated like second grade citizens.
Every Political Party from Congress , SP , CPI , CPM , BSP , NCP , etc are busy appeasing Muslims .Even BJP / Shivsena also tried to appease muslims which backfired on them.
So Sri Tanmay led Lok Paritran is the only option left for majority community of India.
Lok Paritran has zeal to deliver the Right Rule to India.
As an Indian , I urge All Youth Politicos to ally together and work for Mother India.
Naresh,
You have some good thoughts here. Look out for my update on this later today…
Thanks
Open letter to Ravi Kishore/Ajit Shukla,
It was nice to hear you.
I am trying hard to pursue some reforms in UP for the benefits of the general public and have contacted many leaders of various parties for this purpose. Based on the meetings with some of them, I finally realized that most of them are there for their welfare and not for the state’s welfare. They didn’t have any interest in businesses of UP to change it, but their only interest and aim is to earn the money by any means (hook or crook). Based on the conversation of the head of the various parties, I concluded that they want to implement the policies that will suit for their aim and them to grab the power. The sad thing is that only that kind of people has charisma to pull the crowd and has influence on most of the village public in UP. I have been tired of with my efforts with these leaders. Only few are there who really care but they aren’t so influential. We desperately need crowd puller people who believe in “To Give and Not to Take” and can easily motivate the villagers. Most of the public who can decide the fate of a government live in villages and these leaders grab power because they are able to easily manipulate the villagers. Based on my research, I found that the main issue/concern which stalls the development in UP and elsewhere in India is corruption and we need a motto: “Bhrastachar Mitao, UP Bachao” (remove the corruption, save the UP).
I came to know about your party via newspapers and various internet websites. I found it really enthusiastic and think that this is the platform for which I was looking for and where I could be of any help. I am in US for a long time but I have made up my mind to move to UP and add something in improving the conditions of underprivileged UPaites.
I would appreciate, if you could let me know, if I could be any help for the BPD or can become a working committee member. Are there any criteria for this?
Looking forward to hearing you soon.
Thanks & Regards,
Vinaya
Naresh and Vinaya,
Have a look at my latest post:
http://hindudharma.wordpress.com/2007/04/13/bpd-bm-lp-light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel/
I look forward to your thoughts and comments
Shantanu,
Sorry for the belated response. I had to travel abroad for some urgent official work. So wasnt able to get back earlier.
I used to regularly call Santhanagopalan Vasudev during TN Elections 2006. His number was XXXXX. Dunno if it still works. Hope you get Tanmayas number from Gopal.
Hope this helps however belated.
Thanks Surya. I will try him on this number (edited for reasons of privacy).
Respected Mr.B Shantanu,
My name is Mahesh Pramod Patil, Representing BPD- Maharashtra. As or VP , Ravi Kishore said we are quite short of resources because of the UP elections. Anyways i wont be giving any excuses henceforth on the partys behalf. For any queries related our party or the party members, i will surely answer it. And more than that it will be great if any time you are in Mumbai or Pune can personaly like to meet you and address your quieries. Lots of things and first hand issues can be discussed my email address: mayur5000@hotmail.com and cell#09320009697
Regards,
Mahesh Pramod Patil
National Working Committee – Member
Bharat Punarnirman Dal
+91-932-000-9697
what happened to the BPD or LP in UP elections?”
Mahesh: Thanks and I shall get in touch with you soon.
Energy: Thanks for asking. Please have a look at my latest post.
Hello everyone,
My contact details are –
Email – geeta_gokhale@yahoo.com
[response rate – 1 day ]
Cell – 9881198925
Geeta Gokhale
Bharat Punarnirman Dal
http://www.bharatpunarnirman.org
Mahesh,
Thanks for the update. I have moved your comment to my latest post – where it would be more appropriate.
Hi!
Can we begin a discussion on “Who do we vote”!
The more one follows the TV shows, news and newspapers, it feels so sad that some of these obnoxious guys would still end up winning over one of them and their confidence angers.
Can we start a round of discussion on “who do we vote”! As vote we have to! But, our votes must speak of our frustrations and the fact that we seriously want some alternative!
Subha: VERY good point!
I am actually working on a pilot project with a bunch of very smart and dedicated guys who are trying to cook up software that would allow us to discuss and debate the candidates by each constituency (against the background of an interactive map of India)
What you are suggesting can be easily do-able on this platform…I am expecting to get an update by Monday…If you and others have not heard about this by Wednesday (8th Apr), please feel free to remind me…
Thanks.
Shantanu, A gentle reminder for a post/discussion on Articles 49(0) and 17C. I heard on NDTV Vinod Dua live program that some voters of Dharavi, Mumbai have exercised this option and are planning to do it this time as well.
I think a discussion for people like me will be very helpful. I have not idea on how to exercise this, what is the difference between the two..etc.
More importantly, when should we exercise this…
Thanks,