Italy to New Delhi

They said, if Indira Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi hadn’t died, Rajiv Gandhi would never had entered politics ; had Rajiv Gandhi not entered politics, he would never have been assassinated, and if Rajiv Gandhi had not been assassinated, a gracious woman by the named Edvige Antonia Albina Maino, better known to a billion Indians as Sonia Gandhi, would never have been draped in an austere saree, travelling a few hundred miles, shaking hands with a few lakh people, trying to carry forward a political legacy.

Q : Who would have ever dared to imagine, an ordinary girl, born to an unknown Italian contractor, in a little Italian village, would go on to become the most powerful personality in the world’s largest populace?

A : Destiny said it.

Today, as we Indians stand in awe of an Afro- American President, chant the litany of the victory of the unlikely, we fail to realize that instead of feeling the need for a ‘few thousand Obamas’, we’d do ourselves a world of good, if we take the trouble to appreciate the contribution of this woman to the country and ask for a few Sonia Gandhi’s than a few thousand brawn-over-brain Presidents.

A lot of us today attempt to write-off the existence of Sonia Gandhi, taking resort to a baseless argument of her foreign nationality. What we do not see is an Italian woman, who at the most critical juncture of her family’s legacy, took on the mantle, of something she never was fascinated about, and became an Indian, more Indian than any born modern Indian. How can we forget those famous eye-glasses, at the funeral of her young husband, which so easily hid her grief? It was that early did she realize and accept that the grief of the Gandhi family was more public domain than a family dinner table thing. How can we forget the most dramatic election turn-arounds, at a time where the odds were stacked up in favor of a lethal drubbing? How can we forget her response to her ‘inner voice’? How can we forget, that a bahu, who was more than content to be a house maker, was thrown into a fiasco due to dynastic catastrophe?

Whatever criticisms one may level against Sonia Gandhi, one cannot discredit her for maintaining a balance in 2 coalition governments, involving regional lobbying, irrational idealism, personal propaganda and above-all, attempts to de-throne the queen.

Having regard to the sensibilities of the Indians I am fully aware that a major cross-section of typical Indians consider Sonia Gandhi as a topic of verbal maligning, for no conceivable reason. Even the most cynical view could accuse her of either being politically immature (overly disparaging view) or being overly trustful (realistically lenient). It is only the latter that was manifested in her act of relying on the support of a U.P. leader, who at the ceremonious occasion of her being sworn in, unceremoniously back-stabbed her, to deny her the pinnacle of Indian democratic supremacy.

If this was her biggest political mistake, it was arguably her last too. Since then, she has walked the political tight-rope with precision and perfection, hardly setting a foot wrong. Be it managing the ineffectual P.V. Narasimha Rao, who did every possible thing to annihilate the Congress, willfully or through gross political mis-calculation, or resisting the revolt of Congress’ most powerful trio – Sharad Pawar, P.A. Sangma and Tariq Anwar, or giving up the chance to become Prime Minister, to a trusted man, with a spotless image or responding with impeccable political proficiency to the ‘office-of-profit’ furor. In any of these situations, she came out exuding grace, level-headedness, calmness and the maturity to dodge dodgy situations.

Before we have even realized, she has prepared the ground for the Gandhi family’s favorite grandson – Rahul Gandhi, to walk in to the seat of Prime Minister, when time deems it fit. Perhaps her son, before ranting the need for a few thousand Obama’s in the country, should have taken the time to look within the corners of his house, to see a leader, par excellence, who for almost a decade has worked tirelessly, to put a beleaguered Indian National Congress, in a position of political envy, from where, there is no perceivable threat from either the communal BJP or the pandemonium-stricken Rightists or the irrationally egoistic Leftists.

The success of Sonia Gandhi at the helm of the ruling party can be attributed to the inclusiveness of her decision-making and more importantly her decisiveness in crucial situation, which was seen in her snapping ties with the preposterous and regressive Communists during the nuclear deal saga.

The erudition of Sonia Gandhi in her decision to let Manmohan Singh take up the position of Prime Minister and be the de facto Prime Minister to save BJP leaders the ignominy of shaving their heads and sleeping on the ground, speaks volumes of how clinical she is in dismissing baseless opposition, without allowing it to gain unwanted political mileage.

Like all politicians, she may have been indicted in controversies, but none of them were controversial enough to dent her image. Be it the Bofors Scam or the Swiss Bank A/c’s controversy, in either case, the one’s orchestrating the maligning ended up red-faced.

Though she may not appear to be tailor made for the straight-jacket of the typical Indian politician, this is precisely that endears her to masses and makes her a tough nut to crack for her rivals. Though a reluctant politician she is, a MASS LEADER she surely is!

BARACK OBAMA - THE LAST NAIL IN THE COFFIN

A time comes, but comes seldom in history, when someone from a race of people, trampled upon and abused, stigmatized and suppressed rises to the pinnacle of the epitome of universal dominance. Perhaps, the USP of the epic saga is the irony and paradox this victory of democracy, in the purest connotation of the term, has created - a BLACK in the WHITE HOUSE.

If the usage of the term USP has caught your attention, it was intended. Its hilarious to observe around you that people who have not even an iota of knowledge about American politics are hobnobbing ‘Barack Obama’ as if it were divine words of a litany. In fact, such has been the brilliance of his team that Obama has been projected as the Messiah who will bail this world out with his bailouts. Nonetheless, what is even more perplexing is the fact that a person whose economic ideals are almost socialist is hailed as a saviour, when the socialist economy was the biggest failure ever.

There is no contention to the fact that Barack Obama has talked himself into the White House. Just in case, anyone of us is bowled over by his oratory prowess, we shouldn’t forget the fact that Adolf Hitler, the name the world dreads, was a great speaker too. If it is an effort involving great intellect to draw an inference from this simile, then maybe this analogy would simplify it – ‘there’s always more than what meets the eye!’

All through his campaign, Mr. Obama has stressed on the concept of stimulus packages, tax reliefs and bailouts and thereby creating millions of jobs and affordable housing. With due regard to his unwavering beliefs, I fear he has it got it all backwards. Mr. Obama is attempting to defy the fundamental premise of this universe – ‘Only the fit survive.’

All the measures Mr. Obama suggests are devoid of rationale. What logic underlies the act of taking ahead something that is the inherent cause of the present economic pandemonium? The very act of trying to artificially stimulate the economy has today spread like venom in the economy, that has poisoned the very lifeblood of the economy – CASH. The turmoil we are facing is the magnified version of a fundamental problem – the paucity of cash in the system.

The question everyone is asking is - “How did this happen overnight?” With no disrespect to their ignorance, the sub-prime crisis is not an overnight volcanic eruption, but a foreseen consequence of a series of actions. And if the mess hasn’t reached its climax, we have one Barack Obama, who will take it to the peak, to the pinnacle standing atop which we would be staring in awe at the annihilation and extermination of the economy. I am aware of the fact I must have already irked the ire of the Obama disciples, but I care no less.

Before impulsively declaring me an outcast, maybe you could spare a few minutes to understand why I see Obama no different than Bush and asking you for a few of your minutes is by no means callous.

For decades (after the end of pure capitalism, i.e the Ronald Reagan era), the USA has been manipulating prices to encourage homeownership and "steer" the economy (which is the focus of Barack Obama – to create affordable houses). To "incentivize" the Americans to buy a house, it made mortgage payments tax deductible, largely exempted homes from capital gains taxes, and created institutions like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with government-guaranteed debt leading to artificially low mortgage rates and the illusion that the financial instruments created by bundling them are low risk; government-licensed rating agencies, which gave AAA ratings to mortgage-backed securities, creating a false sense of confidence; deposit insurance and the “too big to fail” doctrine, whose bailout promises have created huge distortions in incentives and risk-taking throughout the financial system. After the stock market tumbled in 2001 and 2002, Washington established a policy of artificially low interest rates that created the illusion of cheap credit; leery of the stock market, and looking for someplace else to put all this easy money, Americans began buying homes in droves.

But eventually the venomous high of artificial credit wore off, and the soaring housing prices plummeted, sparking the financial crisis. What was Washington's response? It ramped up its price manipulation policy, injecting a new round of "easy money" antidote. The Bush administration doled out "stimulus" cheques, the Treasury began funneling billions into banks, and the Fed started frantically slashing interest rates which left the housing market in utter pandemonium. Many homes built for the current population has sent prices spiraling downward and millions of homeowners, stuck with mortgages they can't afford and houses they can't unload, are facing foreclosure. This was followed by what we are now witnessing – “bailouts” i.e aimlessly using billions of tax-payers money to save financial institution the road to the grave.

What Mr. Obama intends to do is to take this irrationality to a new level. Merely pumping in billions of dollars is not a panacea to the cash-strapped economy. The black-hole that has been created is as many times difficult to plug as it was easy to create. The only solution to this problem is to allow the basic premise of economic reality prevail and take its own course. Let the basic elements of demand and supply of money determine the interest rates. Such market determined rates reflect reality. Let us be candid enough to accept the fact that a person who cannot afford housing ought to live on the streets. By lowering interest rates and allowing principal repayments as deductible expenses, by contravening the basic tenets of income, you are by no way elevating that person’s standard of living, but giving him an illusion of what is not true. Illusions, though far better than reality, do not last for too long, and this illusion of ‘cheap and affordable’ housing was no exception. It takes no great accounting and financial dexterity to understand the fact that, where a bank is lending money at an interest rate below inflation its basically waving a red cloth in front of an angry bull and hoping the bull will kiss it.

If today, we are likening the present scenario to the Great Depression, the causes thereof are similar. There is sufficient, conclusive and compelling evidence that it was the Fed and other government policies that were responsible for the crash and the inability of the economy to recover, the prescribed “solution” yet remains, the government to exert even more control.

The only panacea to this turmoil is the Laissez-Faire – PURE CAPITALISM. Let the fit survive and the rest die. Let’s recreate the Ronald Reagan era again and see a “new morning in America.” The ideals of capitalism are fair and square, rational and logical, justified and true, unconditional and universal – “the moment government pokes its filthy nose into business and tries to push through the most ignominious and squalid ideology of SOCIAL WELFARE, disaster ensues.” It is the prerogative of the government to take care of the people, and not business. No bank should be compelled to extend discounted credit; no builder should be coerced to allow cheap housing!

And if it didn’t end just there, Mr. Obama has set foot on the fast track to destruction by proposing a new scheme of pure stupidity – deciding a cap on the remunerations and emoluments of CEO’s! It just completely beats all principles of logic. It takes no great dexterity that the President has miserably failed to establish the relation between a successful company and its CEO! More often than not, it’s the higher executive that draws the lines between a successful company and a failure. Someone like Steve Jobs or Arun Sarin should by no means be made to suffer at the hands of such a barbaric policy! When the CEO loses, the company loses. When the company loses, the shareholders lose. The shareholders are the people, who have already lost enough.

Stop Obama! Stop the savage before he runs riot! Explain to him that “wealth cannot be multiplied by dividing it.”

Narendra Modi – The merchant of death

Q : Define Narendra Modi

A: A leader who, after being subjected to a malicious and prolonged campaign of vilification, has been able to impress even his critics with his determination, single-minded focus, integrity and a wide array of achievements in a relatively short time.

(Source : L.K. Advani)

Disclaimer : I do not intend to intend to appeal to the irrational communal mindset of staunch Narendra Modi disciples.

Since I shall be launching one of my highly passionate tirades at an iconic figure, I felt it that much apt to have cleared the air at the onset. Despite my efforts to pacify a brainwashed and indoctrinated mob, I am very aware that I shall not fall even an iota short of irking the ire of many, but I care no less.

Narendra Modi is perhaps independent India’s most influential Chief Minister any state has ever had, and an administrator like none. At least that what the SANGH PARIVAR and the other proponents of HINDUTVA would claim. When one talks of Narendra Modi, one generally visualizes a politician who won an election, ensuing a communal riot, by a landslide majority, on a campaign supported by laurels of Gujarat’s infrastructure and economic progress, which he later went on term a “referendum on his rule.”

Beyond this façade lies a destructive personality (maheshwar – a simile for the followers who understand the HINDUTVA language), driven by fanatic communal ideas and religious hatred.

Wise men have said “there is always more than what meets the eye”, and Narendra Modi is no exception to it. Despite his attempts to project himself as a politician primarily involved in the development and progress of Gujarat, there is an unmistakable and undeniable truth, that this savage is guilty of culpable homicide and genocide. However vehement be the protest, the protestors deep within their scruples are aware that their icon is a mass murderer. In case one analyzes even the manipulated official statistics of the Godhra riots, one would effortlessly infer that the Muslim community was irrationally massacred and harassed. The Human Rights Watch aptly described the communal fiasco as the failure of the Indian government (then led by the HINDUTVA driven BJP) to address the resulting humanitarian condition of people, the "overwhelming majority of them Muslim," who fled their homes for relief camps in the aftermath of the events; as well as the Gujarat state administration for engaging in a cover-up of the state's role in the massacres.

The simple question that Mr. Narendra Modi ought to answer in candid words is, “when the Banerjee committee clearly called the Godhra train tragedy ‘an accident’, how did Mr, Narendra Modi and his Hindutva indoctrinated accomplice, Mr. Giriraj Kishor (leader of VHP) come to conceive that the incident was ’pre-planned?’

According to HRW in its widely-quoted report, mobs of thousands, dressed in saffron scarves and khaki shorts - and armed with swords, sophisticated explosives, and gas cylinders, were guided by voter lists and printouts of addresses of Muslim-owned properties, information obtained from the local municipal administration. The horrifying tribulations inflicted on the Muslim community peaked after the Bilkis Bano case, where fourteen members of Bilkis Bano's family including her two-month old daughter were killed in a mob attack near Chapparwad village in Dahod district. Seven women including Bilkis Bano, then five months pregnant, were raped.

If Mr. Narendra Modi is the person he makes himself to be, then by today, all the accused should have been convicted and prosecuted under the most stringent laws. However, we are millennia away from such an eventuality. There is compelling and credible evidence that of lack of intervention by the Gujarat police who often watched the events taking place and took no action against the attacks on Muslims and their property, and the police force leading rioting mobs aiming and firing at every Muslim who got in the way, or instead of offering assistance led the victims directly into the hands of their killers. Calls for assistance to the police, fire brigades, and even ambulance services generally proved futile. And if all these accusations still haven’t jolted the Modi supporters to reality, then the admission by the Intelligence Bureau that the deployment of army troops was deliberately delayed by the State and the Central Government would do much good.

To further exterminate the existence of the Muslim community, the Gujarat administration went to the heinous extent of turning a blind eye and a deaf ear on the economic boycott of the Muslim community, propagated by the Hindu fundamentalists.

In the ensuing political aftermath, the Gujarat administration transferred several senior police officers who had taken active measures to contain and investigate violent attacks to administrative positions. The then Gujarat Intelligence Chief admitted that the state government issued "unconstitutional directives", with officials asking him to kill Muslims involved in rioting or disrupting a Hindu religious event.

And for all those who live in a world of illusion, I implore to their nascent senses to wake up and see for themselves that Narendra Modi’s style of governance is something the Nazis would pride themselves in. His style is to isolate an easily identifiable group and to then portray it as the enemy. Adolf Hitler did this to turn Germans against the Jews. My question to indoctrinated Hiundutva minds is – if Hilter was inhuman, how is Narendra Modi not? Why should he not be tried for offences of culpable homicide and genocide?