Politics and Family

Karunanidhi (M.K) has sacrificed the lives of 3 innocent civilians for his ‘poles apart’ sons to recoincile. All this happened because of a poll result published in a daily, owned by his nephews, predicting his successor.

At the first place, India is not a monarchy where the successor is chosen from the ‘royal’ family. India, atlest going by the constitution is still a democracy.Secondly, M.K has not done any good to the people all this 50 years he has been in office for the daily to conduct a poll to predict a worthy successor. Thirdly all the members listed in the poll where only kins of M.K. This explains the situation present in this state. M.K and his family members have been ‘ruling’ this state except few gaps where the situation is not any better.Now with M.K ageing, the tussle for the party leadership has come out in the open.The contenders included his two sons and his daughter and his grandnephew. Only in this state do we have family in politics to such an extent(except Congress where the difference is that there are only 2 contenders for top post – Rahul and Priyanka). M.K is credited as the first one to begin involving his sons in politics, giving them top post in the state machinery. Never did other earlier leaders bring their family nor such was there any tussle for the party leadership when the leaders died. Even when Annadorai and E.V Ramasamy (periyar to outside world) died, the reins were taken over smoothly by others. This is the first occasion where such an event has immediately triggered violence. What is more alarming is that this has happened when M.K is still there. What may happen after his death may be beyond imagination. Such is the way M.K has brought up his power thirsty sons.

While all this has been happening, it is Dayanidhi Maran who evokes sympathy. In spite of distancing himself from his brother’s TV network, he has been compelled to put his papers. Maran’s removal from cabinet and the way the grand celebration of M.K took place when all these were happening shows M.K in a much poorer light. Maran did not participate in the event. Whether he voluntarily opted out or was forced to skip is debatable.

Finally, it was a poll conducted among the public and not party members. It is only the party people that will select M.K’s successor(thats what we believe) and not the public.If the party men had realized this, no violence would have occurred. Its high time the politicians of the state behave, take actions and decisions sensibly

Rahul 'UP' Gandhi

Well well well. He was expected to make his presence a little earlier but now he has made it. Rahul Gandhi – the youth star the congress is banking upon to salvage its pride in its elections has joined the bandwagon of politicians courting controversy. Congress has always tried to win over the Hindi heartland consisting mainly of UP to maintain a lead over other parties and to establish its rule in the centre. Hence it has always projected its prime ministerial candidate as one ‘for the UP’, be it Rajiv Gandhi or at present – Rahul Gandhi. But, in the case of Rahul Gandhi, one needs to accept that it has failed miserably. Further rubbing salts onto its wounds, Rahul has stirred the hornet’s nest by claiming that it was his family that was responsible for the independence of India and the creation of Bangladesh.

If it was his family that had got independence for India, then what about the cases of other freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives to set India free? Were they all dummy? I think Rahul bunked his history classes while in school. Someone should enlighten him on the history of India before Congress and others make him a prominent contender for the prime ministerial berth.

Commenting on Bangladesh’s independence and Indira Gandhi’s tactics to attract votes at a time when governments of India and Pakistan are pursuing a peace process shows his immaturity in politics. Rahul needs to learn more. This is only his first tenure as MP and banking on his slender shoulders is a clear fact that Congress does not have anyone to attract the masses. Rahul needs to work more before he his offered the prime ministerial berth.

To all those people who heard his speech about child education in the parliament, these controversies are a real shocker. He is still young and can learn a lot. But with no proper guidance inside the congress, he may very well succumb to the pressures and become a mediocre politician. He is the star among the next generation politicians and hope he does not become ‘just one of those many politicians‘.

Indian Public

Indians in general are a happy bunch of people. India was ranked as the nation having fourth happiest population in the world in a survey conducted sometime back (We didn’t beat Aus even in this but we beat Bangladesh). We get satisfied easily and have fewer expectations. This may be our boon as well as a bane. A normal Indian gets easily elated when he gets a good cup of coffee in the morning. That would make the day for him. Buses at correct time, the weekend or even leaving office before time would make our people happy with a sense of achievement. But, this also means the normal Indian has very less expectations of him and does not aspire for greater heights. No wonder corrupt politicians are ruling the roost in this country. Same mindset applies to even commodities bought by our people. Indians prefer goods that come with ‘free’ packages. ‘Buy 1 and get another free’ is the best business tactic adopted to boost the sales here.

Indians are equally an emotional lot. They pull down the houses of cricketers when they fail to play well. And they are the ones who celebrate India’s victory against a lowly Bermuda with crackers at 3 in the morning. These are the same people who catapulted Dhoni to fame in a short time and these are the same people who broke into his house when he failed in a single inning. These are the people who made a star out of Sania Mirza and the ones to criticize her time and again for her failure. With a huge population, everything gets blown out of proportion and gets over-rated, including the sensex.

India’s strength is her population. All nations have now become wary of India’ power and it is only a matter of time before India becomes a major force to reckon with. The only barrier to progress is the corrupt politicians who use the caste to kindle violence to gain political mileage. With much better streamlining among our people the result can be achieved in a substantially lower span of time.

P.S.

Link to the survey on the degree of happiness of Indian population
http://in.rediff.com/money/2005/oct/05happy.htm

No parking

Haphazard parking of vehicles in front of gates is one of those irritating acts. It was a relief when few firms came up with ‘No parking‘ boards to be hung up on gates. It had a dual purpose, serving us as well as the firm, cutting short on their advertising expenditure. The fact that they themselves hung them without bothering us also added to our joy. With only a few educated people reading and understanding that, there were lesser vehicles outside the gates providing us a little breather. But this was only short lived. The next morning, the number of boards doubled. And within a week, the number had increased alarmingly to ten. After a week, there was no space for any other board to be hung. That was all we could tolerate and decided to remove them all except one, so that it could serve the purpose. Now came the next problem of choice - which one to have and finally we settled for the most clean board. All these were only for a few days as the entire cycle started once again with more boards. And now I am contemplating to hang a ‘No ‘no parking’’ board to keep them all away.

Whats in a name??

Being in Tamilnadu I wonder whether people would call politicians in their states by their original names. Here you have people calling Karunanidhi as 'Kalaignar' , Stalin as 'Thalapathi' ,Jayalalitha as 'Amma', Ramadoss as 'Maruthuvar Ayya' and many more. This is one of the worst example of politician-worship. They haven't done anything to the people and are worthy to be called by such names. With Ramadoss being called as 'Ayya', Anbumani, his son, the Union Health Minister, who is not even an elected representative is referres as 'Chinna Ayya'. Atleast the others have some political experiance but Anbumani, who became a minister due to his father's outfit cannot be described by that name at all. This is pure politician- worship were the lower rung party cadres, deeply influenced and brain-washed by their speeches, are even ready to give their lives or take others' too.

One such ugly incident is the 'Dharmapuri bus accident' where some AIADMK workers, upset over Jayalalitha's arrest, set a bus on fire killing three women and injuring many more. This was certainly not the first and in all probablities will not be the last. The people, mesmerised by these politician's speeches, blindly 'worship' them and go to any extent in doing things to show their loyalty. Only when these people are enlightened about the politicians will they give up this culture of addressing them by these names. Until then more incidents like the bus accidents will continue.

A ruffian called Ramadoss

Pattali Makkal Katchi or PMK is yet another political outfit among the millions in the country. As with others, they haven't done anything to the people that requires special mention. Its founder Ramadoss publicised his outfit as one for the welfare of 'Vanniyars' and his party is also part of the UPA government at the centre.

Some of the recent acheivements of PMK and its founder include
1. Threatening Reliance and other such retail outlets to stop their food markets coming up in the city
2. Preventing the government from establishing SEZ.
3. Forcing governments to bring in reservation in private sectors.
4. Making politics out of cheap things and preventing one's right in many activities.
5. When nothing listed above is happening, he would be staging dharna all around the state in the name of Tamil.

While the centre is trying to bring in more foreign capital and investments in the country, the PMK founder is trying the upset the calculations of everyone. The reason given is that the local vendors would be affected. Though his argument is valid, its not entirely true. Reliance and others cannot set their outlets at all places. And they are no fools to setup their shops at all places. Worst, he has actually given deadlines for these firms to close their outlets.

SEZ or Special Economic Zones were planned to capitalise the boon in the IT market that has been happening for quite some years now. Ramadoss and his party, part of the ruling coalition in Tamilnadu, started agitating against the DMK government in setting up this SEZ and as a result, dropped the SEZ plan as this would lead to the DMK government losing power. Its an irony that Ramadoss, who once and even now 'famous' for his lumberjack activities is voicing his opinion on cultivable lands.

Reservation in private sectors is atrocious breach of one's right in choosing their employees. Ramadoss, once again wants jobs reserved for the so called minorities and once again it won't reach the real minorities. Reservation on economic front is acceptable because people from economically backward class need support from the government and others, for them to prosper. Ironically only the Rajasthan government has reserved seats for the economically backward people.

Making politics out of cheap things is Ramadoss' forte. He does that with aplomb attracting the attention of the masses and kindling his partymen's emotions against trivial and insignificant things and blowing them out of proportion. He forced Kamalhasan to change the title of his film. This is curbing an artiste's freedom to name a film. He ran into most of the cinema stars and abused actresses. He bashed the cinema people and warned them not to enter politics. At all times, Ramadoss is seen imposing his own autocratic laws on people with the help of his party. Any opnion that is voiced against such rules is met with violence.

When all this things are not happening, I am sure Ramadoss would be organizing dharnas in the name of Tamil. He does that at the cost of the other languages like Hindi and English.He forces people to have name boards of their shops only in Tamil. He wants people to name their wards in pure Tamil while he names his grandchildren in a different way. He lets his son(Union Health Minister) to wear garbs which according to him is an insult to Tamil tradition and there are many more that i haven't mentioned. He tends to forget that this IT boom is partly because of our English speaking skills.

Ramadoss was just an example. There are many more in other states. India will never shine until these kind of politicians are in power.

Reservations

I suppose that the only place where you find everything in the country reserved for the so called minorities who are actually in majority is India. You have government policies of reserving seats to candidates based on their race and not on their marks and pride itself as secular. In states like Tamilnadu, its even worse as the 'minorities' take more than 60% of seats available irrespective of the field. The most alarming thing about these reservations are that
1. They dont really cater to the minority people like the scheduled tribes who need that for their upliftment
2. Meritorious people from the 'majority' group don't get their due as its reserved for lesser mortals due to goverment policies

These are essentially vote bank politics. Political parties in India, promise reservations to maintain their vote-bank and hence resort to such policies. Imagine when people without proper qualifications become doctors and pilots due to reservations. I would suggest these politicians to utilise services from such kind of people. I do not intend to insult the people getting their seats or got their seats through reservation nor am i claiming that these people are unfit, but, my ire is only over the government and its policies.

In a state like Tamilnadu, the various governments have been clinging onto this policy and the present quota suggested by the centre had already been in practice here. No wonder there was any real opposition from this place while the whole of North India was burning with rage over the goverment's announcement. Only the BJP raised slight opposition to this, but soon it was also threatened by the vote bank politics and hence gave up. Such is the plight of the systen in India.

In government offices. promotions are not based on your qualification but on your caste. Most people in the top management of offices get thei posts due to this biased policy of reservation. Again i don't intend to offend them, but its only that they've got some favoritism by the government's policies. And now this politician called Ramadoss who formed a outfit which is purely based on its race, wants reservation in private sectors too. What do we call this??

Parthasarathy

Let me get started with my own name. The name 'Parthasarathy' refers to Lord Krishna as he was the charioteer of Arjuna in the Mahabharatha war. Here 'Partha' refers to Arjuna. I dunno this but in Triplicane, I am sure every third person you run into would be a Parthasarathy. Thats mainly due to the fact that the famous temple of Sri Parthasarathy Swamy is situated in Triplicane. Speaking of temple, this temple is a splendid one overlooking the Bay of Bengal which is just a stone's throw away from the temple. This is one of the 108 holy shrines or 'divyadesam' as people call it, sung by three of the twelve 'Alwars' of 'Srivaishnavism'.