Just in case anybody is in any doubt...

This is what our future(possibly) MP has to say....

In an interview with the Hindustan Times... Sanjay Dutt had this to say...

Did your wife convince you to get into politics?

Manyataji takes the decisions in the kitchen.. aaj biryani banegi ya phir kabab or chicken. That’s where she rules. In other matters I decide what’s to be done. Yes, she’s my wife, so it’s obvious that I’ll always discuss everything with her.. like every other husband and wife.

Full Interview here.

I know a lot of you will probably ask me, why Sanjay Dutt again? Well, no reason, just saw this and felt like sharing, for a laugh! Ekta Kapoor must be clapping!

UP - A Haven for crooks?

I have been following the election drama in the news channels and all possible online newspapers and am seeing a pattern here..

Every crook that is entering politics seems to be getting a ticket from UP! Thank about it, Sanjay Dutt, who has lived all his life in Mumbai, suddenly realizes that he has 'roots' in Lucknow, calls it his 'second home'????



Azharuddin, somebody who could not even play sports with honesty has jumped in the fray - originally from Hyderabad, is now going to contest from Moradabad, UP! Wonder what roots he found there? I am sure they will think up something!!



And not to mention, Varun Gandhi - he probably has more of 'roots' in Pilibhit, as that was his mother's constituency.. As for whether, there is any other reason, he could be allotted that constituency - is anybody's guess!!


So what is it about UP, that seems to be attract every crook in town? Is it because the masses have been kept mired in illiteracy, casteism and regressive traditions, to ensure that they are easily swayed by our 'leaders'?? While I am not denying that every region has it's share of crooked politicians, I just wonder if it would have been so easy for Sanjay Dutt to go and contest in a place like, say, Bengal?

Isn't it, also not more than a little ironic, that the 2 states that send the maximum number of MPs to the Lok Sabha, seems to have the dirtiest politicians??

Indian Politics - Will we ever change?

Do any of our political parties stand for anything at all? Apart from trying their best to get to the PM's post - by hook or crook, of course?

Just as I was ranting about the fact that BJP is not even considering replacing Varun Gandhi as a candidate, I just came across this article about how Sikh groups 'have expressed displeasure over Congress' decision to nominate Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar for the Lok Sabha
elections from Delhi, alleging that they were yet to get a clean chit in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case'.

It is amazing to see the audacity with which our political parties select candidates.. Why? Why are they so unconcerned? Why are they so confidently fielding candidates who have offended/capability of offending so many sections of people? And this is just 2 examples.. I am sure that if we dig in, we will find lots more of these kinds of candidates.. Is it because they are 'that' sure of victory or is it because they want to appeal to the most extreme sections of the society?

I remember, in 2005 how David Blunkett, then a minister in the British Govt was forced to resign due to corruption charges against him. We found the charges against him so tame, we were sure that if he were in India - these small bits of corruption would not even have been noticed! It was huge case and the media had hounded him a lot. Finally, he was made to resign. I remember wondering, if would we see this happening in India? Corruption, criminal charges, hate speeches , religious inciting, caste based divisions- these have become the norm in India - I guess, I should say, a 'mandatory' requirement for a politician! When and how will all this change - or will it ever change?

Amid all this, one piece of good news is that Mallika Sarabhai is contesting as an Independent from Gandhinagar! This totally made my day. The fact that she has decided to contest as an independant, makes it all the more special and my respect for her has increased tremendously. Surely, any party would be delighted to have her, and that might have made it all the more easy for her to win - but she has taken the high road. She is in it, 'to win' , but is also making an important point about how each and every party in India today is not in politics for 'public service' but for 'self service'!

I certainly hope she wins and that seeing her - many more capable people enter Indian politics.. With campaing like Jaago Re - This time, hopefully the youth will awaken, the middle class will go out to vote and slowly but surely, the rot in the system will get rooted out!

Let's say NO to criminals in politics!

Barack Obama is now the 44th President of the United States of America. I know, I know, you are all probably bored of Barack Obama posts - but I just had to say this....

For the past few months, we had been looking for Barack Obama in India and we have analysed all our current crop of politicians to try and find an Obama amongst us! What I feel is, instead of trying to find an Obama amongst us - we need to first get rid of criminals contesting our elections. Goofy Mumma is trying to start a campaign where in we try and ensure the likes of Sanjay Dutt and other convicted criminals are never be allowed to contest elections in India. If you believe in this, please join in, please read her article here. We can all make a difference, in our own little ways.


Leaving you with this to think about.. While, we do not have an Obama, let's, at the very least, try and get the criminals out of our political system.
- Do we want to be lead by an ex-drug addict who also happens convicted criminal?
- Do we want to be lead by people who's party MLA's kill people for party funds?
- Do we want to be lead by people who are accused of not taking action (and even supporting) in riots - be it 2002, 1984 or any other riots?
- Do we want to be lead by criminals?

While we do not have an Obama yet - who knows, if politcs stops being a 'dirty word', if politcs stops being a place for making easy money, if polititicians are made accountable - may be, just may be - we might get our own Obama.

Hope, is what Obama signifies , for me, and hope is what I have - when I say 'NO' to criminals in politics!

When it comes to holding political office - lets adopt the policy of 'Guilty until proven innocent'!


Edited to add : I am adding the link to Lok Satta - from Sagarone's comment - http://www.loksatta.org/.

Manju sent me this link - http://news.indiamart.com/news-analysis/indian-polity-crimin-10043.html
'In a blow to persons with criminal antecedents, the Election Commission has directed the Bihar Government to delete from the Electoral Rolls the names of persons against whom non-bailable arrest warrants have remained unexecuted for more than six months. About ten thousand people will lose the right to vote and the consequent right to stand for election as a result. The immediate impact of the Election Commission decision will be seen in the coming Bihar Assembly elections as many people with criminal records will not be able to take part in the polls.'

What's in a name?

Sanjay Dutt's , by now infamous, interview, got me started on this post. He had a message 'to all girls who hang on to their parents’ surname'. I find it, very difficult to understand how people can give such statements - even more so when they are planning to stand for public office. Or may be it is all to show how deeply he and his 'homemaker' wife is steeped in 'Bharatiya Sanskriti'!

Anyways, this reminded me of one of my close friend's 6 year old daughter who came home from school one day and told her, 'Mamma, you are not part of my family!'. On further questioning, it came out, that she was taught, in school, that everybody in a family, shares a common surname! And since her mother had a different surname - she must not be part of the family :) I was a little surprised at that point in time, that in a London school, this was told to the kids and that no parent objected!


Either way, I feel this expectation of a woman having to change her surname to her husband's very unfair. Isn't is sad that a woman has to change her identity and assume a different one once she gets married? Then again, if the woman is working, there are so many documents involved, passports, email ids - why go through all that hassle? But again, there are communities, where even a girl's first name is changed after marriage! So a surname is probably still a better option.

Again, it is a global phenomenon, isn't it? Wasn't Hillary Clinton and Cherie Blair given grief , because they held on to their maiden names?

I really do not know what to make of this whole issue - apart from one thing - I find it very objectionable when people condemn women for not changing their surnames or commend them for doing so. To me, it is a personal choice, and it should be a woman's decision whether or not to take up her husband's name. Beyond that - it's nobody's business!

Thank God for our Supreme Court!

In the midst of all the charges of corruption that are levelled against our government machinery - our Supreme Court always seems to hold its ground..

SC pulls up CBI for flip-flop in Mulayam case

Apparently, the SC has pulled up the CBI for ' its flip flop over its decision to change its stand in the disproportionate assets case against former Uttar Pradesh
Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, the Supreme Court' on Monday said it would not like the agency to become an instrument of the government.'

I really feel proud that our country - despite all the corrupt politicians and bureaucracy, still has a supreme court which is so strong.

A Vote for Democracy

I had been watching the analysis of the Jammu and Kashmir election results on NDTV and for the first time, that I recall - I actually felt good while watching something about Kashmir.

The verdict, which has been hailed by the Prime Minister as ' A Vote for Democracy' definitely felt good. For the first time, polls in Jammu and Kashmir have been virtually violence-free and non-coercive. It was an election where people ignored the boycott called by the separatist movement and came out in decisive numbers to vote. And vote they did! A 60.5% voter turnout!
To add to everything, the National Conference emerged as the single largest party, with the pro-separatist PDP, not faring as well.

Though it would be very premature to call this an 'end to the separatists movement' in Kashmir, lets hope, that this is a kind of landmark, a turning point for the Jammu and Kashmir region. It has been hailed as a sign of trust by the J&K voters in the Indian democratic system.There are people argueing that the voters' have voted for governance and development, keeping autonomy out of the elections. Even if that maybe so - if the voter turnout was this high - surely, it is an indication that they felt that their vote would amount to something, that the democratic system in India, with all its problems - is still democratic, that people's voices will be heard. That, itself, if you ask me, is a huge triumph for India.

The true test would be for the newly elected government to show that they live up to the voters' expectations. I am hoping that this is the first step towards outing the separatist movement in Kashmir.

To Convert or not to Convert?

I was reading through the comments in one of IHM's posts when I started to comment and then realised that I wanted to do a post instead!

We have heard a lot of justification of the violence in Orissa by the VHP/Bajrang Dal activists on the basis of avenging 'proselytisation'. I cannot understand how we can do anything but condemn it wholeheartedly. There can be justification whatsoever.

Firstly, Conversion is no crime in India - despite the efforts of the Sangh Parivar to make forced conversion a crime. 'Forcible converison' , to me is a term which is hugely ambiguous. In a secular democracy like India - how can we even think of having a law like this? If our citizens do not have the right to convert to any religion, to live in any way that suits them - what is the meaning of the democracy we live in? If India becomes a state where we are told what religion to follow, or when I can or not convert - I would much rather emigrate.

Secondly, if the missionaries are successful in converting the lower caste Hindus to Christainity - there is a reason for it. My father used to recount to me , how badly the lower castes used to be treated. He tells me of how even the shadow of a lower caste to fall on one of the higher castes was considered defilement! So they had to move away when my dad and his family approached. And then, magically when they converted - they could come into our living rooms! How fair is that? And why would any person not prefer that?

The caste system had reached such levels that to convert must have been a huge relief. And yes, if the Christian missionaries gave them incentives - what was wrong? When we could not give them the dignity, the respect - is it any surprise that they went where they got a lot more? Can you blame them, if they found respect in the society, education subsidised for their children, after converting? All this without violence! Just by promising and delivering social upliftment.


Thirdly, for all the efforts spent in the carnage in Orissa - would it not have served everyone better if these groups had looked inwards and tried to make changes to the system, so that people are less likely to be tempted by conversion? How about starting good quality schools ? Hospitals? Trying to do what can be done to abolish the caste system? Obviously, the last point is not an easy one - but if every person tried - I am sure it could happen? My granddads - on both sides, believed in it strongly - so none of my parents and their siblings have the caste in their names.. Having said that - I am not so sure 'de-recognizing' castes will work in reality- with the reservation system that we have in place. We have to make people want to convert/or stay a Hindu - force is no way to go. But surely, we can try - instead of killing and raping innocent people!

Fourthly, how can VHP/Bajrang Dal consider themselves as the representatives of Hindus? I am proud to be a Hindu but these acts have really made me ashamed. It is sad that Hinduism , which is actually a way of life, is being defiled by these people. Since we are 'born' Hindus, we do not have any 'baptism' to make us Hindus - how can re-conversion mean anything? Surely, a true representative of Hinduism, should be above all this? As a Hindu, I do not go to temples, do not believe in most of the rituals, do not undertake any fasts, do not wear any symbols of my religion - does that make me any less Hindu? If this continues, very soon, I will be told that I am a 'non-believer' or maybe I would have to 're-convert'?

Forcibly stopping conversions or forcing people to 'reconvert' is just as bad(worse actually) than forced conversions. I just hope people rise above all this and all of us condemn such horrible, horrible acts of violence. As long as there are even a small segment of people who try to justify this - these fringe elements will continue to wreck havoc. We have to collectively show that these fringe elements who assume that they speak for us - have NO support from us.

Security and the Indian Politician..

My husband and I was discussing about how over-protected the Indian Politician is, when he mentioned reading the article in Times of India which actually gives the statistics..

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3786239.cms

It was such a shocking read, that for a nation of 1 billion people, they actually have budgeted less than for the security for the political class. It is not just shocking but also disgusting! These heavily protected people - all with the money, that we pay as tax-payers, give little thought to the people who they supposedly represent. It is such a sad state of affairs that the corruption has reached such a point where it could actually cause physical harm to the people of India. I also read somewhere that Black Cat protection, for certain politicians, were actually negotiation points for providing support during confidence votes. It just shows the degree to which our political system has degenerated.
The only thing I hope for, is that, this is indeed, the turning point and the people's anger propels forward a new face to Indian politics.

We can do it!

Almost everybody I speak to , or I read about, is talking about 'clean politics', 'new leadership' , 'change the system','clean up politics'...

As I was reading through various blogs, I remembered that a group of IITians had created a new political party. So I decided to google and find out what happened to it.

The website for this party is http://www.lok-paritran.org/. From the look of it, they certainly look like they really want to make a change. Seeing their qualifications and the fact that they have certainly abandoned highly lucrative careers - they probably mean it. For me, it is enough to see some faces that different, for haven't we been voting for the same bunch of politicians(or their families) for ages - isn't it time to try giving others a chance. I certainly hope, we get to see more of these types of political parties - full of young people with a vision... and who knows, we might even find our vey own Obama...

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