Baba Ramdev - the bloody Indian

Baba Ramdev

All the news channels aired the news for hours in full blast when Aruncahal MP, Ninong Ering, called Baba Ramdev 'bloody Indian' and called him names for speaking against corrupt politicians.

It made hot news, and juicy too, for news channels. They had one set of visuals that they could play ad nauseum, a defensive response from Congress [to which Ering  belongs] spokesman and angry reaction from BJP guys. For some channels, it was a godsend as there was no big crime or scandal that day except the abduction of one of Orissa’s Collectors by Maoists [and the latter had already been milked for many hours]. Channels added how Ninong Ering’s calling Baba  'bloody Indian' showed his anti-India feelings and some channels even put more and more juicy words in his mouth to prove that.

I think, we should not read too much into Ninong Ering’s comment against Baba as far as 'bloody Indian' goes. For the people in the north-eastern parts of India, an angry outburst against an outsider would often invite such racial remarks, as much as from a south Indian against Punjabis of the north or from a north Indian against Madrasis of the south. Such expletives are not uncommon in other countries and do not mean too much.

What, to my mind, is more exceptionable is the overall conduct of the Congress Member of Parliament and his anger when Baba called upon the audience to rise against corruption in politics. Baba is going from place to place awakening people against corruption in public life, in addition to popularizing yoga among masses. This is not suiting many including corrupt politicians, jhola-doctors, militants...

You can argue against a yogi coming to politics, and there is no guarantee that if he becomes a political power centre tomorrow, the power will not go into his head and he would still be the messiah that he is supposed to be. His strong dislike to things foreign also does not look too practical. He has also not been able to take with him people from all religions though over time many leaders from other communities are supporting him.

Yet, what Baba Ramdev is doing right now - giving messages of good conduct - needs public support. We know that without strong public protests, no government is going to clean itself because of vested interests, inertia and inherent weaknesses of governance systems. And, without a preacher with mass appeal, it is very difficult to rid society of age-old social evils and bad hygienic practices such as female foeticide, dowry, communalism, intolerance, personal uncleanliness, witchcraft and so on. So, if we want India to rise as a society, we need to support Baba and condemn the outrageous conduct of powerful people with vested interest in corruption – and the MP is one of them. 

flag at Lal Chowk: brinkmanship BJP style

BJP's anger is understandable, so is its frustration. But it is doing itself little good by the tokenism called flag hoisting at Lal Chowk on the Republic Day. It is good that terrorists have so far ignored the provocation, and the government is being firm.

What BJP wants to score with this act is to show itself in the bold nationalist frame - and it feels it will give the party some lost ground. The party perhaps feels that stopping it or allowing it to succeed, both will make BJP a champion of Indianism and show Congress as a weak party afraid to take on terrorism for fear of losing Muslim votes [since terrorists in this part of the country belong to Muslim religion and the UPA has been dilly-dallying hanging Afzal Guru, the terrorist sentenced to death in Parliament bombing case].

And what BJP is most likely to gain is a self goal if it does not listen to sanity now. Till now, BJP yatra has been peaceful and it has achieved its purpose in a limited sense. BJP must now take a high moral ground and call off hoisting of tricolour at Lal Chowk in Srinagar.It should listen to its ally, Nitish and saner voices within the party, if there are any. It must recognise that politically too, stretching the issue will only hurt its own interest because -

• Its core constituency of nationalist Indian is thinning in spread as well as in intensity of ferver. The upwardly mobile, neo-urban and moderate among the 'patriots' may not like it if the issue goes out of hand;
• The focus of BJP's fight on corruption and price-rise will get severely dilutes as it will lose space to Kashmir, it will alienate other opposition parties presently with BJP in fighting corruption, it will take away the energy and focus within BJP from more pressing issues;
• Kashmir, at least at present, is not a bigger issue than price-rise and corruption -- the twin issues on which the ruling UPA is on back foot. Raising Kashmir will only allow the UPA to breathe comfortably without giving BJP any political dividend;
• It will also alienate its allies like Nitish, and make other regional parties avoid it during the coming assembly and later general elections.

If BJP is really serious about India, India News Today would advise it to focus on price-rise and corruption, and also put its own house in order in Karnataka. Be bold there, not in Kashmir, where peace is getting a faltering chance again.

You can see all BJP related posts here.

rahul's rss - simi parallel: will it pay?

The implication of Rahul’s remarks is much more political than just brushing off RSS as a ‘fanatical and fundamentalist’ organisation. In his scheme of things, he must bring back Muslims to the Congress fold; Muslims have long been supposed to be voting rather collectively in favour of Congress. Going by this logic, feelers to them are supposed to give it the winning edge to Congress candidates that converts vote-share into seats since non-Muslims are too divided to be alienated by such feelers.

Two observations here.
One, this type of comparison seems within limits of democracy: no un-parliamentary language used, no allegations other than an explainable parallel with an organisation linked to terror. It must have been in his mind that RSS functionaries’ links with Malegaon bomb-blast case would give him the necessary proof too.
Two, the linking of RSS with SIMI might cost Congress more than it might benefit it in terms of electoral gains. For a large number of followers of RSS, this organisation is a committed nationalistic organisation that has helped in fight against the British during the freedom struggle, and has been helping the society with education, relief and other charitable work. So, their hurt feelings might help in branding Rahul as an immature, uncouth politician if not anti-Hindu.

ayodhya judgement: a quick, early comment

Though not many are surfing my blog and I am too small a guy to have a voice of consequence, I must respond to the verdict of Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court. The judgement is just out and the way the judges have given the verdict, they have really done justice to the issue. Perhaps no judgement could have been better than this. In fact, now the people of India can use this judgement to bury the hatchet for ever, not move the Supreme Court and create a marvelous multi-religious complex at Babri Masjit site.

The essence of the judgement is:No issues on the birthplace of Hindus.

• One third of the land goes to Hindus.
• One third goes to Muslims.

The gist of the judgement is available at: http://www.rjbm.nic.in/

an humble independence day wish

I wish happy independence day to all Indians. Why, also to all Pakistanis who celebrated their independence day yesterday.

How good it would have been if India and Pakistan could really 'celebrate' this day like birthday of twin brothers. No big brother, no small brother.

How good it would have been if India would be celebrating it for being a vibrant and truly genuine democracy... for a truly fair society... for being a happy nation.

We have lost a lot of time, but we have not lost all. We have succeeded in many areas. Can we expect that in the coming days we will be able to increase our positives much faster than our negatives? I doubt, but I do wish.

So, wish you all a happy independence day.