Indian Politics.............In Need Of Total Sanctification

Indian Politics, at present, is in a complete turmoil. The UPA Government is finding it real hard to strengthen its political base and proving its majority at the Centre. The UPA, after winning the trust vote, is faced with crucial problems, with the allies demanding one thing or the other every single day. For instance, Mr. Shibu Soren, unsatisfied with the treatment from the Congress party when his demands were not granted, pulled out of the alliance. He wanted to become the Chief Minister of Jharkhand or at least the Coal Minister and he also had other demands which were bluntly refused by our strong and idealist Prime Minister. Manmohan Singh, in this respect, has truly brought forth his staunch image as a Prime Minister which stands in strong contrast with the image, formerly created before the public eye. The people and the media blatantly criticized his status as a Prime Minister which was thought of as a dummy in front of the countrymen. Mrs. Sonia Gandhi was thought of as the real hands pulling the strings behind him. However, certain decisions taken by Mr.Singh regarding the Nuke Deal and the highly publicised “Trust Vote” have recreated his image as an orthodox decision-maker before the world. An Economist by profession in the past, Mr. Singh has been able to conduct the procedure involved with the advancement of Nuke Deal talks, very smoothly and effectively with the help of the party Chair Person Mrs. Sonia Gandhi and also our Foreign Minister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, who is an excellent tactician and strategist. He has also proved the majority at the Centre and won the "Trust Vote" thereby enhancing the confidence of the public for his Party, in spite of severe opposition from NDA followed by the Left which was further followed by strong criticism from Mr. Lal Krishna Advani, who never hesitated to call him futile and ineffective.

The politicians of our country need to realize that politics has become a totally polluted arena infested with criminals and opportunists. The young people no longer feel inclined to join politics and bring about a revolution in the country just because politics now abound with people who are illiterate and yet dream of becoming Ministers of the nation and run the country merely with the help of muscle-power and money-power. I would like to bring forth the instance of the Dalit Queen Mayawati in this respect, who in spite of being consistently pursued by the CBI for her incalculable list of illegal properties, has expressed her wish to become India's Prime Minister in the near future and she has even planned to erect a third-front in opposition to the NDA and UPA Alliances with the help of smaller regional parties like the Left which command greater influence in states like Bengal, Kerela and some of the North-Eastern States, Mr. Chandra Babu Naidu’s party, Mr. H.D. Deve Gouda’s party and some others. Her wild dreams seem to scare us Indians!! Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav, in this context, expressed a similar wish while delivering his sermon at the Trust Vote session, which definitely provided a source of comic relief for the other ministers at the otherwise dull and monotonous session. I would earnestly request these respected and esteemed politicians to refrain from frightening us, the innocent citizens of India who would otherwise flee and settle elsewhere!! Finally, how can we ignore Mr. Shibu Soren, who had been spending his time in jail on charges of murder and yet never gave up his desperate ambitions to regain his position as the Chief Minister of Jharkhand, thereby re-establishing his sole supremacy and status over the Central Government? He once openly admitted that he would support any of UPA or NDA, whichever granted him greater benefits. He believes in getting his demands met merely by threatening the Centre of withdrawing his support at any moment he feels necessary. Unfortunately this is the current status of Indian Politics where politicians are constantly fighting among themselves, splitting into smaller and smaller parties instead of organizing into a single strong opposition against the ruling party.

If the current situation carries on for decades to come, there is no doubt about a million parties fighting in the country after three or four decades, for sheer gain of supremacy and power at the Centre. This is a more dangerous problem than Global Warming!! This way, progress of the nation comes to standstill and political fights gain greater attention from the people, the media and of course our esteemed leaders of the nation, with our nation’s destiny fading into the dark. I believe that elections should be contested between two major parties of the country, there should be a healthy fight, no rigging committed by the party-cadres at the voting venues and finally the party emerging as victor at the end of elections should swear to work for the country’s development and a better future. Of course, the opposition should present their differences from time to time supported by logic and reasons and the ruling party should pay heed to their views and patiently review their opinion. This way, co-operation from both parties leads to better functioning of the nation and of course greater advancement in the days to come, in all spheres. Existence of multiple parties only lead to chaos and disorder, corruption, entry of ineligible people into the political arena just for sheer lust of power, money and fame bearing no fruits of development for the country. A dual party system is better because it ensures fair-play at all levels of country politics, harmony and order in the country. People can cast their precious votes on the basis of various developmental works conducted by the leaders of both parties, without coming under the influence of any goons hired by party leaders to prove their muscle-power or any temptations offered by either party. This will encourage healthy competition among the party leaders and they will get motivated to work more and more for the public life betterment. Foul-play and corruption can thus be eradicated; the Gen-Y will be inspired by the works of the leaders and join in the mission to bring about a revolution in the political arena.

It was a moment of shame for the Indian citizens when a MP at the trust vote session openly displayed a bagful of notes before the speaker, Mr. Somnath Chatterjee, to prove the horse-trading conducted within the parties behind the public-eye. The world watched our disgrace and infamy but it was not enough to stir the politicians who went on throwing mud on one another. In this case, I would not take any side because I never conducted any sting-operation on those dishonest politicians and hence can never get hold of the true story required to bring allegation on any side. The motherland’s humiliation before the world embarrasses me just like any other Indian.

Its high time the youth of the nation should arise and join in the revolution. A complete catharsis of Indian Politics is required in order to save our country from the people who are no less precarious than the terrorists, creating mass destruction in our country. Role-models are required to mark the beginning of a revolution. Young leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Sachin Pilot, Jyotraditya Scindia, Milind Deora and Omar Abdullah has not yet acquired the status of national icons and gathered the spotlight from the media. But with experience they can bring about a change because they have it in them…..they are the representatives of the Gen-Y. We the people have to keep faith in them and with time they will prove their potential. Rahul Gandhi is already creating ripples in the media, though its not yet clear whether much of the attraction he has garnered is due to the Gandhi tag behind his name or his works at Amethy.I am sure he will prove to be an able son of his father in near time. However his sibling, Priyanka Gandhi Vadhera has intentionally withdrawn into her shell, the reasons of which are unknown (may be to bring her brother into the limelight!). But I think she should actively participate in politics and join her brother, thereby adding greater honour to her father’s title. Mrs. Gandhi, undoubtedly, is training her son well, who is assumed to take the baton from her mother in near time and who knows might contest the race in future for the Prime Ministerial position.

Moral of the story: We need more and more honest, educated and young blood in politics…..more and more young leaders. Important issues like poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, technological advancement can be dealt well by the fresh blood, no doubt………at least they can be presumed to deal the situation better than their aged predecessors. They lack experience no doubt but at least we should give them a chance to show their work on the national platform .It can’t be worse than it is now. (Perhaps they can explain the people better the need to conduct the Nuke Deal because the Leftists like Mr. Prakash Karat are misleading the people, out of sheer ego and self-interests….who knows he too might posses a secret desire to usurp the much coveted Prime Minister’s throne!!So I request Mr. Karat to enlighten us about his real motives instead of keeping the media people guessing and creating a veil of mystery as to what he actually desires….whether he supports the NDA or UPA or the volatile, so-called Third Front which might disappear any moment considering their leader Mayawati’s fickle-minded attitude to support any side which suits her interest well.)The spark required to initiate the commencement of the struggle has already begun……..its no less in importance than the 62 year old struggle for independence from British rule ,fought by our ancestors. The cleansing process should begin from the grass-root level to ensure complete elimination of corruption at all levels. We should now toil hard to justify the blood-shed of our fore-fathers else the term ‘independence’ will lose its significance. We would be in no better situation than we were years earlier, captivated under the British rule. Independence runs parallel to advancement .So let’s not wait for someone else to push us, its definitely no ordeal to shed our sweat for our motherland (after all we don’t need to shed our blood like our ancestors which was definitely much excruciating and painful!!) …….let’s bring about a change together. WE TOGETHER CAN MAKE OUR NATION PROUD!!WE CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN!!

India's future at Olympics...........Looking Ahead Into Future

India's future at the world's grand and huge sporting event "Olympics" seems fading into the dark but for the three medalists winning a gold and two bronze medals ,thereby saving India's dignity and honour at the international podium. It was only for the "shooting star" Abhinav Bindra that we got to hear our national anthem for the first time at the Beijing Olympics in front of the worldwide audience, bearing witness to the moment of pride and glory of our nation. Wrestler Sushil Kumar and boxer Vijender Kumar had also played a big role in enhancing the glory of the country, when they received their bronze medals for their respective events. However sadly, none of these incidents provide reason enough for the Indian Government to awake from its deep slumber and promote these less glamorous games in the country. India never realized the importance of Olympics which comes every four years and is viewed by nations across the globe, unlike countries like USA, China and the other super-power nations. China, the emerging super-power, has already proved its importance to the world by presenting before the world an extravaganza of an opening ceremony and also proving its sporting talent by winning medals in nearly all events. The number of medals won by China is escalating everyday in the tally-chart and there is no doubt about it that it will defeat its arch-rival USA by a huge margin in near time. China is a shinning example of a nation which has risen from ashes and is now reaching for the stars, overnight. But the merit of its hard work behind this huge success at the Beijing Olympics cannot be lessened a bit. The country has worked hard and so did the athletes in order to prove a point to the worldwide spectators. They have shown us that they can no longer be looked down upon by any nation including the big-brother USA, which controls the global economy to a large extent. They have said it to the world that they are self-sufficient in all spheres.....be it technology or be it sports. This is the fruit of mutual hard work of the government and the athletes, who won medals for their nation and has increased the country's dignity in front of the global audience, who could only stare and watch their enthralling performance at each and every sporting event.Now to talk about our country where athletes are not provided any support by the government be it monetary or be it providing proper coaches, physios and mental-conditioners etc., a failure was guaranteed even before the start of the "Olympics" .People never expected an Abhinav Bindra to win a gold or a Vijender to win a bronze. The media too was not interested in covering these comparitively less glamorous sports stars prior to their Olympics exploits. Overnight, the attitude of the country has undergone a 180 degrees phase shift. Governments and private organizations are swooning over their glory and the media is also not far behind in this race. Each and every day we are getting to hear of a certain amount of money rewarded to these "Overnight Stars" .Photos of Abhinav, Sushil and Vijender are published in the cover pages of the leading dailies of the country with the sports officials hovering around them and sharing the spotlight and definitely the credit for such victories!!!I doubt where these people were when they were genuinely needed to support these athletes during their days of struggle. The media is now going gaga about their daily activities starting from morning till mid-night but where were they when they were really needed to bring the cause of these struggling athletes to the public eye.Actually, in India, only two things sell.........one is Bollywood and the other is Cricket. These are the only two spheres which have successfully carried our nation's name to the world...........this is what the media believes and hence we find the news dailies covered with gossips and every tit-bit trivial news about Cricket Stars like Mahi and Yuvraj and their ever-changing love interests and romantic adventures with the tinsel town beauties rather the Bollywood glamour girls and of course the Bollywod actors, be it a B-grade or a C-grade actor, like Rakhi Sawant slapping her boyfriend or Shilpa Shetty winning a "Big Brother”. We never get to know how a Saina Nehwal's father is knocking on the doors of the sports officials to get her some sponsors or any other less glamorous and lesser known athlete's parents cutting down on their expenses to nurture him/her. Most of the athletes belong to the remote villages of Haryana and Punjab and come from middle class, lower middle class or even poor families. They are in genuine need of support from the Government and the media but unfortunately, these are trivial issues in the eyes of the media houses. Abhinav's father, an industrialist, could nurture his son well and provide him with all the necessities required for an expensive sport like shooting but what about people having potential but no money??The Lakshmi Mittal foundation has come forward to promote these sportspersons but what about the Government??Is it there only to share the credits of the athletes after they win a medal??It is high time India should rise and take notice of these sports which are played at Olympics and participated and viewed by worldwide nations. Cricket is an entertaining sport and has definitely being doing well in the country and abroad and no doubt, BCCI has played a crucial role in strengthening the foundation of this game in the country and outside the nation too. But other games should also be promoted and provided for because cricket is played by a handful of nations compared to Olympics, where every country participates and the world wide media covers this sporting extravaganza. Winning ten World Cups in cricket can probably equal to winning a gold medal at Olympics. If India has to command respect and honour in front of the global population, it should improve the infrastructure of the various Olympics sports instead of only looking up to cricket for commanding world wide recognition. The Government has to have faith in our athletes, train them well and support them so that we can do even better in the future years to come at the Olympics. Otherwise ,we could lose all those stars who at this moment might be struggling to get the Government's attention and practising under some local coach in some remote village of the country. We don't want to lose the superstars of tomorrow who could probably write the name of our country in golden letters on international platform. We don't want to lose them just because they are not financially equipped or lacking proper training to compete at international level. We don't want any more mothers like Sushil Kumar's to starve in order to nurture a wrestling champ. Let us come forward and believe in ourselves. We can take India to the world.........the day would not be far when India will be shinning at the international podium and the world will stare at her with reverence and dignity .Lets start preparing our athletes from this moment on, so that we can produce a dozen Abhinavs who would fetch us golds at all international sporting events and make our country proud. India will someday rule the world.........The tricolour will fly high on the global pedestal and "Jana Gana Mana............" will echo from all corners of the world. WE CAN DO IT!!!!