Mamata Banerjee’s statement that court orders can be bought has evoked various reactions, most of them against her. Her statement was taken in the context of West Bengal Human Rights Commission slapping a fine of 50,000 rupees for the arrest of a professor who had sent her cartoons through e-mail. Her critics said her statement was unacceptable and irresponsible; she was dictatorial, intolerant and does not have a sense of humour.
Tag: Indian Politics
Corruption in India and China
In India project costs go up and the final figure is many times of that of original figure. The original figure for Commonwealth Games 2010 was around 160 crore rupees. It went up and up and final figure was around 1,02,000 crore rupees. Shunglu committee reports were suppressed. Nobody was punished for swindling. In Olympics 2008 China won 51 gold and many silver and bronze medals, India won one gold and two bronze. The gold medal was largely due to private effort. The medals India wins in any Olympics can be counted on fingers of one hand.
Akhilesh Yadav and name change
Akhilesh Yadav has done what no Indian politician has done. He changed the names that were changed by Mayawati and reverted to former names. Mayawati had changed the names of Amethi, Hathras, Kanpur Dehat, Shamli, Sambhal, Kashganj, Hapur and King George Medical University to Chhatrapati Sahuji Maharaj Nagar, Mahamaya Nagar, Jyotiba Phule Nagar, Ramabai Nagar, Prabudhanagar, Bheemnagar, Kanshiram Nagar, Panchasheelnagar and Chhatrapati Sahuji Maharaj Medical University. Now they are once again Amethi, Hathras, Kanpur Dehat, Shamli, Sambhal, Kashganj, Hapur and King George Medical University.
President Pranab
Pranab Mukherjee is the president of India. He could not become prime minister, even caretaker prime minister, home minister and missed becoming president in 2007. There was suspense about his candidature. When during Congress Working Committee meeting he proposed authorising Congress president to nominate candidates for president and vice president he seemed out of equation. Mamata Banerjee and Mulayam Singh Yadav said they did not want him or Hamid Ansari and proposed A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, Manmohan Singh and Somnath Chatterjee. It seemed all over for Pranab Mukherjee but Mulayam Singh Yadav turned around and supported him. JD(U) and Shiv Sena supported Pranab Mukherjee. There was split in Left Front. CPI(M) supported him. CPI abstained. At the end Mamata Banerjee also supported him.
Pranab versus Purno
Pranab Mukherjee and Purno Albert Sangma are the two candidates for president of India. When UPA announced Pranab as its candidate some journalists said he will get 82% of votes, Purno will get 6%. NDA and Left Front had not decided on candidates, CPI had said it will oppose Congress candidate, many other parties had not declared their support to any candidate. The journalists added NDA and Left Front votes to Pranab. Instead of being objective they behaved like Pranab’s cheerleaders.
AITA and politicians
The role of politicians in the controversy surrounding the selection of tennis players for London Olympics has not been debated much. The debate has been mostly about players and AITA.
AITA selectors picked Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupati for men’s doubles. Mahesh refused. He should have been banned for life for refusing to play for Indian and asked to refund the amount spent on him. That would have sent a message to all players that AITA will not tolerate players dictating terms to AITA. AITA did not do that. They selected Rohan Bopanna. Rohan also refused. Mahesh and Rohan wanted to play as a pair and said two teams could be sent.
Presidential candidates
On 12/6/2012 Election Commission announced the dates for presidential election. Strange are the ways of Election Commission. They announce elections for Legislative Assemblies six months before the expiry of the term and club various state elections together though announcement before 40 days is enough and clubbing elections together is not necessary and right. In case of presidential election the law provides for announcement 60 days before the expiry of the term and Election Commission announced the dates 43 days before the expiry of the term. Soon there will be vacancy of vice president but Election Commission has not clubbed together elections of president and vice president. S. Y. Qureshi was CEC when 60 days were left i.e., on 25/5/2012. He should have announced the election but did not do so and retired on 10/6/2012. Perhaps he was waiting for Congress to announce its candidate. On 11/6/2012 V. S. Sampath became CEC and next day at 5.30 p.m. he announced the election.
MPs and Air India
Our MPs forget they are representatives of people and not their lords and masters. They demand privileges they do not deserve. Their demand for red beacons atop their cars in Delhi was rejected by Sonia Gandhi. Now comes the news that demand for special treatment of MPs made through House Committee of Lok Sabha is accepted by Air India and Airports Authority of India. A committee member said MPs are not even provided minimum basic facilities.
Petrol price hike
On 22/5/2012 Budget Session of Parliament ended and UPA 2 celebrated its third anniversary. Till 1998 there was no tradition of a government celebrating its anniversary. Governments headed by Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Morarji Desai, Rajiv Gandhi and Narasimha Rao did not celebrate their anniversaries. Other governments lasted less than a year. The tradition began in 1999 when NDA government headed by BJP’s Atal Behari Vajpayee celebrated its first anniversary. For BJP it was a great achievement. Their government in 1996 had fallen within 15 days.
Indian lootocracy
India, besides being a mobocracy and quotocracy, is a lootocracy. People in power and those who can influence people in power through bribes and other means loot the country. Politicians want to loot the country even after they lose power. When there is criticism of politicians some say “Don’t criticize politicians. All are not bad. There are some good politicians.†After some demands for privileges by former speakers Purno Albert Sangma and Somnath Chatterjee it seems no good politician is left.