BJP Future - 4

08-01-2006, 12:22 AM

Are people happy with INC performance in AP or India?

ramana · (This post was last modified: 08-01-2006, 02:13 AM by ramana.)

Depends on who you ask. If they had direct benefit then they are supporters. But there is general resentment about the price rise and the lack of action for the Mumbai train blasts. The elite are now having field day with the mole stuff.

**acharya** · 08-01-2006, 04:05 AM

QUOTE(ramana @ Jul 31 2006, 06:49 AM)The failure analysis of the last elections shows that NDA lost power due to the collapseof TD in AP. Hence AP is crucial for INC to retain and a lot of effort is underway to ensure that.
It is another matter that TD thinks it lost power due to its 'alliance' with BJP and has now drifted to its commie friends. Right now TD is in doldrums but made some showing in the ZP elecions in Telengana. If it can hurt INC chances in Telengana and reduce the Lok Sabha seats even in alliance with the commies the NDA/BJP return is possible.
[right][snapback]54904[/snapback][/right]


So looks like we have some hope here.
But there is some groups which is changing the perception of the parties and people
using the media and propaganda.

ramana · 08-02-2006, 07:24 PM

The speed with which the media is turning the mole story from national security to a political charade is a reflection of how vulnerable the UPA is on the issue of spying by US. Instead of calling for the UPA to investigate the game is to make JS name the spy which obviously he cannot as he doesnt know. The purpose of including the letter in his book is to point out that the US knew all along Indian nuke test plans and was working to scupper them and later claimed that they were misled by NDA. THis aspect is totally lost now. And the more damaging item is that MMS said in the RS that JS still thknks that the current PMO has moles.

08-03-2006, 05:03 AM

Jaswant raised some valid question. I don't understand why MMS is shying away. They way media and MMS is behaving is not only disgusting but it seems they are hiding something.
PM should name mole: Jaswant SinghQUOTE "I wanted to caution the prime minister about the similar situations that are prevailing as they did in 1995, which led to the abandonment of our nuclear test. Now it is for Manmohan Singh to come out with the name. I am sure if they (government) conduct an honest inquiry, we can get the name out," Jaswant Singh said in an interview to Aaj Tak.

The senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader said it was up to the prime minister to say if there was no leak in 1995 and to explain why the nuclear test was abandoned then after all the preparations were completed. 

Asked why he wanted an answer from Dr Singh and why he was shying away from naming the spy in the PMO, Jaswant Singh said, "It is not for me to give the name, I have asked the Prime Minister to answer. Was he (Manmohan Singh, the then finance minister) in favour of the nuclear test in 1995?"

"He was a senior minister in the cabinet, was he in favour of the test or opposed to it? And if he did not oppose the test, then what role did he play," he asked.

Explaining how the current situation was similar to that in 1995, he said, "The whole Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty clause talks about constant surveillance. An officer in the US embassy is sent back. The Research and Analysis Wing is being compromised. There have been cracks in the R&D facilities. The National Security Advisor says that militants have infiltrated the defence forces and militants could target our nuclear installations."

May be MMS himself is a mole.

08-04-2006, 01:40 AM

QUOTENo political untouchability on national issues: LeftÂ 
Pioneer.com
Santanu Banerjee | New Delhi
Provoked by the prime ministerial threat that any joint move with the BJP on the issue of a statement or resolution on the Indo-US nuclear deal would presage the end of the UPA Government, the Left has decided to make a major shift in its stand.

The four Left parties have decided to make their stand on forcing the UPA Government over the nuclear deal politically more flexible by breaking the barrier of "untouchability on BJP".

The shift, which might even surprise the Congress, comes in the wake of the Prime Minister talking tough with a delegation of Left leaders and warning them of serious political consequence if they formed any joint venture with the BJP on the nuclear deal.

"We made our stand very clear that in Parliament when a national issue, like, the Indo-US nuclear deal is discussed it cannot be done in isolation. All parties are expected to participate in the debate in whatever shape - a resolution or statement - it comes from the Government," a top Left leader told The Pioneer.

"National issues of such sensitive and far-reaching implication cannot be discussed in isolation. We cannot isolate the BJP," CPI general secretary AB Bardhan said.

"Don't forget that in Parliament everyone, including the BJP, participates in all-important business." 

Incidentally, briefing the media after the Polit Bureau meeting on Sunday, on a similar question, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat had said the "Government must tell all-political parties in Parliament all about the deal so that Parliament can set parameters of such agreements."

The shift of stand on Thursday came to notice when CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP Sitaram Yechury and BJP's Sushma Swaraj almost led a coordinated campaign asking the UPA Government to pass a resolution on the Indo-US nuclear deal.

"It is foolish to talk about whether BJP participates or any other party, let us not forget, it is a national issue and whoever talks on divisive lines is trying to trivialise a very, very important issue,'' said a CPI(M) leader.

According to sources, the central CPI leadership on Thursday censured the party's parliamentary leader Gurudas Dasgupta for creating such a division by saying that the party will have no truck with the BJP on this issue.

Revolutionary Socialist Party leader Aboni Roy was equally vocal. "On such issues which must be discussed by all political parties, why Prime Minister should feel a full-House discussion will bring down the Government unless, it has something to fudge?''

"It is a national issue, and we cannot set a ban on any political party on a consensus," Roy told The Pioneer.

According to political observers, the Left shift of stand comes as a reaction to Prime Minister and Pranab Mukherjee trying to force the hand of the Left on the nuclear issue under "threat."

Incidentally, last week the Left even reconciled to the idea of giving up its insistence on a resolution to accommodate the Congress pressure. But repeated threats from Congress quarters have forced the Left to give it back to Manmohan Singh.

Congress is behaving like a dictator or Stalin force.
Do they know meaning of democracy? Why they are shying away from discussion?

08-07-2006, 03:30 AM

Is Ajoy Bose a commie???? Interesting artcile in pioneer

QUOTE Singh-song goes life

Ajoy Bose

One wonders why there are such tall tales being told by our politicians, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing ---- Two non-issues with little contemporary relevance hijacked the Monsoon session of Parliament last week, and may do so again. Interestingly, both concern former Foreign Ministers famous for their exaggerated sense of self-importance. It is a sad commentary on today's political scenario that the controversies raging around this pair of superannuated windbags have been allowed to push aside far more genuine problems and challenges facing the nation.

First came the ridiculous hullabaloo arising out of Mr Jaswant Singh's verbal acrobatics on the alleged mole in former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao's office. The veteran BJP leader, who also leads the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, succeeded in confusing everyone in the House and deeply embarrassed his own party by persisting with a farfetched story about moles and leaked nuclear secrets that ultimately went nowhere. Even by the dubious standards of irresponsible behaviour set by our politicians, Mr Jaswant Singh's performance in the past fortnight will be difficult to surpass.

All those familiar with Mr Jaswant Singh know his penchant for bombastic phrases and general incoherence, painfully evident in his new book. But even they were not prepared for the veteran leader to actually send to the Prime Minister and also table in Parliament, an absurd document purportedly recording the exchange of top secret information on the Rao Government's nuclear plans between two senior US officials, whose authenticity was palpably in doubt. Not only did the two officials flatly deny the letter but the document itself was full of spelling and grammatical errors. Not surprisingly, Mr Jaswant Singh's claim that this was his clinching proof of a mole in the PMO became an absolute farce.


Worse, he tied himself up in knots by repeatedly contradicting himself on the mole story. After making a mysterious reference to the mole in his book along with excerpts from the controversial letter, he overreached himself by making wild charges in pre-publication publicity frenzy. Challenged by the Prime Minister to prove his allegations, he first blustered, and then tried to cover up before finally confessing that he did not have a clue about the mole. Of course, as per standard practice by political leaders, the BJP leader blamed the entire fiasco on misreporting by the media!

The Jaswant Singh farce has been now replaced with the equally trivial controversy about Mr Natwar Singh and the Oil-for-Food scandal that has once again erupted after leaks in the media on the Pathak Commission report. Despite the huge public clamour about Mr Natwar Singh helping his son and his friends to get oil coupons from the Saddam regime in Iraq, it is difficult to understand how this violated any law. After all, it is normal practice for parents to use their connections to advance the interests of their progeny within legal parameters.

In this particular case, Mr Natwar Singh did not even occupy any public office when he used his contacts. Clearly, he himself is above any kind of prosecution while the only charges that his son and business associates may face relate to the tax they should have paid for foreign remittances received. The real 'crime' committed by the Congress leader and long time retainer of the Gandhi family was that he kept his party supremo Sonia Gandhi in the dark YEAH RIGHT!!!], which of course becomes a matter of party indiscipline concerning the Congress alone not Parliament or public.

Mr Natwar Singh compounded his problems with 10, Janpath by belligerent denial of the expose that suddenly came in the shape of the Volcker Report. His subsequent removal from the Cabinet has to be seen in the light of his problems with his party boss and not because he had committed a major crime. Unfortunately, such is the competition between political parties over who can occupy the moral high ground, the UPA Government has already spent vast amounts of public money on the Dayal mission across the world to collect material on Volcker report, as well as on the Pathak Commission, on what should have been dismissed with a disciplinary action by the party high command.

The problem is that although everyone in Parliament knows that the current controversies raging around the two Singhs are quite needless and inconsequential, it suits the political agendas of different parties and groups. For instance, the Jaswant Singh mole controversy was extremely handy to the Congress which used it to deflect the heat it was facing from united onslaught on the nuclear deal with US by the Right and Left. Similarly, the BJP, watching with increasing panic as the noose tightened around Mr Jaswant Singh's neck, quickly jumped on the Natwar Singh bandwagon to push the Congress back on the defensive.[Yeah, thank god for Pathak commision report leak!]

Such political charades that create a lot of noise about things that don't really matter are becoming a routine ploy of both the ruling coalition as well as the Opposition. It is this cynical approach of the political class as a whole to parliamentary democracy that has become the main obstacle to tackling the real issues.

08-07-2006, 06:02 AM

Ajoy Bose is commie. he failed to identify national security issue. Jaswant is not a political issue but a PMO action is a national issue. Media failed to ask Congress Party or PMO, How US came to know about Indiaâs nuclear test and why during Raoâs days India abandon test? There was a mole, why Ajoy is trying to fool readers and protecting or promoting Congress Party and Queen Sonia.

Why Natwar or Congress Party act in not illegal or anti national?

Ajoy Bose is singing Communist line where comrade promotes their own agenda and family. For Ajoy, this behaviour is acceptable, not to any nationalist Indian.

ramana · 08-07-2006, 08:47 PM

The Indian aam janaata is still not yet out of the feudal age. Hence after abolishing the princely families, the INC handlers built up the aura of the Rajiv Gandhi family as the new royals. This is what is being accomplished by the repeated sheilding of the family despite many misdeeds- Bofors etc. etc.

So for true democracy or modernity to prevail in India this aura or sheen has to be removed from the RG family.

ramana · 08-07-2006, 10:07 PM

Op-Ed in DNA.com

QUOTENeedlessly rebellious
Jyotirmaya Sharma
Monday, August 07, 2006Â 21:42 IST
There is an uncanny similarity between Natwar Singh and Jaswant Singh. Apart from their claims to minor royal lineage, they are both distinguished by a style that can best be described as sanctimonious, long-winded and self-righteous. They have no mass base politically and have depended on the largesse of their leaders or parties to prop up their political fortunes. Both are political lightweights, who now are creating news that is best described as making a mountain out of a molehill.

Natwar Singh and Jaswant Singh also exemplify the state of political parties in India. Natwar's party, the Congress, has long functioned on the principle of âposition for loyaltyâ. The large influx of bureaucrats and technocrats in the party in the 1970s and the 1980s was a symptom of its increasing alienation from grassroots politics and of its shrinking mass base. With the exception of Mani Shankar Iyer, most of these entrants were given Rajya Sabha seats. Natwar Singh remains, till recently, the most loyal embodiment of, well, loyalty, and the archetypal family retainer.

Just like in Roman times, when manumissioned slaves often resorted to writing learned texts on freedom, Natwar Singh, too, has chosen to show that he is his own man. This sudden burst of selfhood and agency has come a bit late in the day, especially after he has been accused of misusing his position within the Congress to help his son's friends. Little did he realise that the Congress is monotheistic in its recognition of the primacy of only The Son, and loyalty doesn't allow you to enter the extended family.

Despite all that has been written about Natwar's alleged complicity in writing letters of introduction for his son's friends, this is a simple case of a self-important individual handing out patronage. That this was done on Congress party letterhead seems to be the issue. Also, given the remarkable likeness public figures in India share with the blind king in the Mahabharata, Natwar must now support his son and his less than straight friends, not because he thinks they are right, but because he must prove that blood is thicker than unctuous loyalty.

The Congress finds itself in a bind. It rewarded Natwar for years of unquestioning loyalty, made him the foreign minister when the UPA came to power in 2004, and now has unceremoniously dumped him. The idea behind all this is really the one that impelled great scientists like Copernicus, namely, saving the phenomena and its appearance.
For the Congress, the only thing that it needs to save is the almost mystical name and persona of Sonia Gandhi. More than any other time in its history, Sonia is Congress and the Congress is Sonia. Natwar Singh has sought to challenge this very assumption.

Natwar has also been misled by the support from sources such as the Samajwadi Party, TDP and the AIADMK. These parties have no use of Natwar other than using him to target Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh. Having appended his name to the privilege motion against the Prime Minister, Natwar Singh has not only burnt his bridges with the Congress but has also opened himself to becoming a pawn in a murky game of political brinkmanship. His detractors, who blame him for being a pawn in the oil-for-money scam, will now see him as a pawn in another equally sordid game.

Ideally, Natwar Singh ought to have gracefully accepted the findings of the Pathak Report. After all, it only implicates him for writing three letters that led to a larger scam. Going by press reports, the Report has clearly stated that neither he nor his son have taken money or are directly involved in any shady deal. In this sense, he stands sufficiently exonerated.

Ambition incommensurate with talent is the bane of politics in India. Natwar Singh is a victim of this incurable affliction. When he was secretary general of the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Delhi in the 1980s, a junior IFS officer dared to confine Natwar's profile to a single sentence â âMr Natwar Singh was a career diplomatâ. An irate Natwar sent back the brochure with a correction. He described himself as a career diplomat, who read, wrote, and whose moments of reading and writing were interspersed with moments of silent reflection.

Natwar Singh ought to be doing this now, especially the silence and reflection bit. But since the Mahabharata and the Gita have figured in this article earlier, it ought to end with a quote from the Gita. Natwar would do well to look at the sixth verse of the sixth chapter, which suggests that the self is the greatest friend of the self and the self is the greatest enemy of the self; there is no friend or enemy beyond the self, and hence, know thyself.

The writer is a commentator on political issues.

08-08-2006, 05:19 PM

I agree with this author totally. I loved the grand vision shown by Vajpayee (Infrastructure/National highways) and even his thoughts on River linking. Ever since their defeat, they are nothing but patehtic. They whine, fight amongst themselves, rake up useless issues. They had a chance to kill this anti-national, anti-hindu government purely on the basis of price rise, terrorism, internal/external security, Quattrochi issue and Volcker report.

I am totally apalled at their conduct. Show some positive thinking. FIght the evil UPA with grit and determination.

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http://www.indianexpress.com/story/10104.html

Party whining
Pratap Bhanu Mehta
Natwar episode shows again BJP in opposition is stuck with nay-saying

Pratap Bhanu Mehta
Related Stories

Expansion and division gamesState of vacuum in times of terrorWill India ever have a Buffet?Being middle class is ok Dear Prime Minister

It is often said that Indian political parties engage in vote bank politics. But the conduct of opposition parties suggests the reverse. Rather than think about how to ideologically reposition, organisationally rejuvenate, and stitch together a new social coalition, parties out of power fall into a kind of torpid languor. The guiding assumption becomes this: rather than run after the electoral bus, keep standing where you are and hope the bus stops where you are. The Congress was like this in opposition, and it was only a wafer-thin mathematical alchemy that propelled it to power.

The only lesson the BJP has learnt from the last election was this: loiter around and your chance will come. Its response to the failure of âIndia Shiningâ is party whining. The waiting game is corrosive: it breeds laziness and creeping boredom, always a fatal combination. Nothing exemplifies this more than the BJPâs parliamentary strategy. It is dissipating itself in peripheral issues like the privilege motions against the prime minister. Politically it would have been better to let the Congress be hoist with its own petard and let the law run its course, rather than call for a privilege motion that will pay no dividends. Having given the Congress an opportunity to deflect attention from politically potent issues, the BJP would be better off in the long run if it stuck to a high-minded focus on policy rather than create bedlam centred on personalities. In doing so it is enhancing the suspicion that as a party it has nothing to say on important issues any more.

The BJPâs ideological reinvention was never going to be easy. While the BJP may jettison Jaswant Singh for his inscrutable handling of the mole affair, it would be a loss if it jettisoned his larger message. How did the BJP manage to so decisively transform India? Even for those of us for whom the BJPâs potential for spreading the insidious poison of communalism remains a serious concern, this question is worth asking. Jaswant Singh gave a sense of what a credible ideological reinvention of the BJP might have looked like: liberal in economics, capable of a steep learning curve in some areas of governance like infrastructure, and committed to integrating India into the global economy as quickly as possible. In an odd sort of way it was the first government in the last two decades to be supremely confident about Indiaâs prospects. The party that thrived on the politics of anxiety left office with an India less anxious about its place in the world. Shedding its virulent anti-minority strain was always going to be a challenge. But the BJP knew that it had to evolve out of this kind of politics for two reasons: the compulsions of coalition politics and the fact that this plank can be used as mobilising strategy only episodically.

Jaswant Singhâs observations on Gujarat are too tepid for the enormity of the crimes committed there, but his underlying aspiration is more plausible: community should not be the axis of the distribution of rights and privilege; the politics of community balancing is always an unstable equilibrium that creates divisions rather than real benefits. While in some sections the BJPâs anti-minorityism is over-determined, it could have evolved into the more principled line: not that those minorities are pampered (this is its own hate propaganda) but that the state needs to evolve to a point where the distinction between communities becomes irrelevant to the determination of rights. The BJP underestimates the potency of this stand, if it can be carried with conviction and not marred by hate. The irony is that while Vajpayee, Jaswant Singh and Advani have tried to ensure that they evolve, they curiously abandoned any concern for the partyâs evolution.

Where should the BJP go? The most obvious plank of its strategy has to be the platitude: first hold on to what you have through governance, a lesson at least the Madhya Pradesh government is unwilling to learn. Second, the current equations of caste politics put it at a disadvantage; its only hope, as in the past, is to break the mould rather than conform to it. In short, Rajnath Singhâs short-term objectives in UP will not do BJPâs long-term goals any favour. Third, voters respond to parties that are seen to be filling an ideological and leadership vacuum, rather than those that exacerbate it through a politics of nay-saying. It may be time for the party to think out of the box and take up positions beyond its usual cliches.

The BJP was the first ruling party comfortable with capitalism. But if it were a little more imaginative it could have appropriate a lot of the space the Left is occupying by mounting a critique of the crony capitalism that the pro-poor Congress is engaged in. An integrated tax structure and unified market was Jaswant Singhâs great idea. While the BJP initiated the rather ill thought through idea of special economic zones, it is still not too late for it to oppose the creeping granting of arbitrary diwani rights to private companies over land that might over time be as significant in scale as granting rights to the East India Company. As the CPM in Bengal has realised, with the growth of capitalism, land is going to be the axis around which social conflicts revolve. The best hope for a political party is to combine a consistent pro-capitalist line with a consistent anti-crony capitalist line. This will bring into the BJPâs ambit a constituency it has so far neglected: small to medium landowners, whose interface with capitalism is going to be the next big structural and political challenge.

Instead of opposing for the sake of opposing, the BJP would do well to hone in on its core message: liberal in economics, strong on national security, a generosity that is commensurate with its aspirations for India, an attempt to detach citizenship from community identity, and an ability to deliver at the level of the states. Forget the petulant glee that comes from targeting personalities, make your message on inflation, roads, power, etc more visible. In UP the BJP finds itself in the same dilemma that the Congress did: facing oblivion. But the solution for both parties in UP may be an unorthodox one: demand a much-needed further break-up of the state and hope that its politics can be transformed for ever. Perhaps it might be too much to expect a leopard to change its spots, but this leopard has no option.

08-13-2006, 05:50 AM

Ind should attack Pak : BJP
Source: PTI. Image Source: AFP

Panaji, Aug 12: The BJP today demanded that India attack Pakistan and Bangladesh " to dismantle terrorist centres" in these countries.

"I demand that after taking the international community into confidence, India attack Pakistan to dismantle terrorist centres," BJP President Rajnath Singh told reporters here.

"Not only Pakistan but Bangladesh should also be attacked where terrorist centres are operating," he added.

Refusing to name any specific international body, Singh said international support should be garnered before such attacks.

Â© Copyright 2006 PTI. All rights reserved.

08-13-2006, 06:05 AM

QUOTEThe BJP today demanded that India attack Pakistan and Bangladesh " to dismantle terrorist centres" in these countries.

We carried ourselves hoarse on this issue when NDA was in power after Kargil, Khandar hijacking, Godhra, Akashdharm, Kaulchak, Parliament attack, Chattisporag, Nadismarg etc, etc etc..

And why would anyone (least of all UPA) today listen to these guys today? Nobody's dismantling terroists centers in TSP - live with it, figure ways around it. Can even US, that practically bankrolls TSP, get a crook like that Pearle killer or Dawood extradited?

Indian politicans need to walk the talk first.

08-13-2006, 08:02 AM

NDA's "Aar aur Paar" fizzeled within 10 mins. That brought downfall of NDA.

08-13-2006, 06:18 PM

<img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='mad.gif' /> QUOTETo
The Editor
The Statesman
New Delhi
Sir
Apropos your report on Rajnath Singh's suggestions we attack Pak and Bangladesh
Mr Singh is preposterous in his imagination. Plain mischievous and hollow rhetoric has become an endemic disease with our politicians who take turns to fire salvoes in suggesting pure outlandish ideas so long as they have no commitment to carry these out. Conceding Rajnath's background as a simple village school teacher and his total ignorance of geopolitical matters , he is at least expected to update himself on military issues before opening his mouthÂ andÂ making himself a laughing stock specially in countries whose support he may have in his mind , which are likely to be none. There are so many party underlingsÂ he could have consulted who have a military background. Rajnath must know that it was hisÂ party which was caught pants down when Musharraf mounted his adventure in Kargil. This was a gifted opportunity to have taken the battle into the enemy camp across the LOC without international fuss and reversed history as was shaped by the adroit adversary who came to the Rashtrapati Bhawan and took a General salute too. Nothing gave a jab in the arms of 'terrorism' than the two events. One the handing over of Salahuddin the LeT leader by Jaswant SinghÂ and our halting at the LOC Kargil because the BJP was dishonest in its commitment,Â more interested in using this forÂ domestic politicalÂ mileageÂ while taking orders from the Americans. Rajnath's plea that BajpaiÂ was depending upon promise from Musharraf to stop trans border infiltration is sheer passing the buck to the adversary . You don't run governments and wars on benevolence of your enemies . Rajnath must also care to learn the dissheveled state of our military which is incapable of eeven mobilising effectively let alone take on two fronts in a sub continental war. The habitul and untethered cheating of own people by such off the cuff suggestions from politians mustÂ be treated with utmost alarm on which the media must itself act responsibly
maj gen aps chauhan (rtd)

08-14-2006, 12:35 AM

QUOTELearn from Gujarat 
The Pioneer Edit Desk
Modi shows why he's CM No. 1 ---- The Gujarat floods sent a shiver down the spine of the national economy. Production in the State's industrial belts was down to minimum and the export market was hit hard. The oil fields were shut for three days, putting a squeeze on retail outlets. The brunt of the crisis was felt by consumers of natural gas because production of this important energy source for industry had to be virtually stopped. There were power outages in the State and beyond - even all the way to Delhi - because gas-fired turbines ground to a halt. But, in spite of all the adversities, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi displayed remarkable grit and sense of urgency in coming to grips with the natural disaster. Unlike other Chief Ministers and Central Ministers who make ritual helicopter flights over flood-hit areas - as if the sight of flying machines is enough to mitigate people's problems - Mr Modi travelled by road and mingled incognito with the people to manage the crisis over five days. He summarily dismissed the unfounded charge made by the Congress that Surat, the worst affected town, was a "man-made tragedy" not with words but by giving precedence to service over petty politics. Then, there was deliberate disinformation spread about the State Government releasing water from the Ukai dam earlier than necessary. Such accusations are not new. It is virtually impossible for administrations to time the opening of the sluice gates to a nicety considering the fact that what one is dealing with is the force of nature. In any case, the argument proferred by Mr Modi's critics does not stand because there was not a single death reported in Surat. The Chief Minister personally supervised the relief operations and ensured that officials and self-serving minor politicians did not interfere with higher authority. Usually, VIP visits during relief operations cause needless diversion of resources. Mr Modi, on the other hand, has shown how other States and their leaders must handle such natural calamities.. He shunned rhetoric and concentrated on rescue operations, one of which saved the lives of 350 children. He has established yet again what it takes to be regarded as the best Chief Minister in the country.

What, on the other hand, did Mr Modi's critics do? Congress president Sonia Gandhi, accompanied by Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, tried their best to cash in on people's misery. The look of anxiety on Mr Mukherjee's face, it seems, was triggered by the lack of crowds to greet his supreme leader. Feeling snubbed by an indifferent public, the Centre has released a paltry Rs 350 crore for Gujarat which Mr Modi has rightly described as insignificant and insulting. The Congress has still not realised that playing politics with disaster aid does not pay in the long run. Partisan federalism, especially in times of natural calamities, is revealing of the Congress's deeper mindset. The people of Gujarat ware watching.

Rajesh,
Media is after Modi. And they can't resist. Compare Gujarat handling of Flood with Maharastra or even Bihar.
Its time, media should go to hell for good.

08-15-2006, 08:28 PM

<img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/clap.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='clap.gif' /> BJP not happy with PM's speech
Source: PTI.

New Delhi, Aug 15: The Opposition BJP, which has launched an offensive on the government over the Pathak Authority report, today voiced dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Independence Day speech, insisting it fell short of addressing corruption in public life.

Senior BJP leader L K Advani, whose party advocates re-introduction of a POTA-type law in the country, told reporters that he did not find any satisfactory response from the Prime Minister to the scourge of terrorism.

"The speech was lacking in respect of addressing corruption and terrorism," he remarked after a flag-hoisting ceremony at his residence here.

Advani also flayed the government over the report of the Pathak authority, which has indicted former External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh but has exonerated the ruling Congress from charges of being an illegal beneficiary of Iraqi oil contracts.

In his comments separately, senior BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi insisted the Prime Minister sent out no tough message to Pakistan for its alleged support to terror.

"Instead, the speech reflected the UPA's soft approach on terrorism," Naqvi said.

08-16-2006, 09:45 PM

<img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/b_woot.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='b_woot.gif' /> Advani, the sole BJP leader in RSS film
[ 16 Aug, 2006 1711hrs ISTPTI ]
RSS Feeds| SMS NEWS to 8888 for latest updates
NEW DELHI: Barely seven months after he quit as BJP president over a row with the Sangh for his comments on Pakistan's founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah, party leader L K Advani has appeared as a commentator in a film on core RSS ideology of Hindutva and Akhand Bharat.
"In the 20th century, the Sangh's was the biggest movement of nation-building," he says in the film on the life of the late RSS leader Guru Golwalkar.
The film, screened to a packed auditorium here last evening, shows no other BJP leader as a commentator on Sangh ideology and history.
RSS leaders K C Sudarshan, who had last year suggested both Vajpayee and Advani were too old to lead the BJP, and Mohan Bhagwat also appear in the video documentary as commentators.
The film, a 90-minute biography of Golwalkar, recounts what Sangh leaders call selective attacks against Hindus during the Partition and conflicts with Pakistan and China.
In his comments shown in the film, Sudarshan insists the Sangh leadership told RSS activists to defend Hindus from attacks when the subcontinent was divided into India and Pakistan.
Replete with references to Hindus and Hindutva, the documentary also carries footage of former Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi.
In the video, directed by former BJP MP and TV actor Nitish Bhardwaj who played Lord Krishna in the serial "Mahabharata", Advani credits Golwalkar with spreading the Sangh base in the country.

08-20-2006, 11:46 PM

BJP to finalise poll strategies for Punjab, UP & Uttaranchal 
Rajeev Ranjan Roy | New Delhi _ pioneer.com
Come September 7 and the BJP's national executive would meet in Dehradun to give final touches to the party's strategies for the poll-bound States of Uttaranchal, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.
A decision on the deadline for the party's organisational polls in all the States would also be taken during the three-day meet concluding on September 9.

The party is being seen as a potential contender to wrest power in Uttaranchal and Punjab, where the BJP is an ally of Shiromani Akali Dal-Badal. In the last poll, the BJP lost power to the Congress in the two States.

However, in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP has a lot at stake. Though the State is seen as politically sandwiched between the of Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party (SP) and Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the BJP leaders feel that they would emerge as a key player in the State. Since BJP president Rajnath Singh hails from UP, the party strategists are unlikely to leave anything unturned to regain the lost support base in the country's politically crucial State.

"A comprehensive and broad strategy for the poll-bound States would certainly be discussed at the national executive meeting. One entire session will be allocated for discussion on the poll-related issues. From the selection of candidates to the State unit chiefs, all such issues would be discussed," a senior BJP leader said.

The issue of 'winnability' is also likely to come up in the meeting. In May 2006 national executive meeting, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had strongly raised the point of winning the election a la the Communists. Vajpayee had candidly underlined the need of efforts to retain power in the States where the party was in power. 

On the organisational front, the meeting would take stock of the membership drive having been carried out in all the States. The BJP- ruled States would also submit the reports, detailing the implementation of the programmes and policies as promised in the election manifestoes.

Former Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani in his remarks in the last national executive meeting had underlined the need to target the youth between the age group of 20 and 35 by responding to their expectations. 

"According to Asian Development Bank, 60-70 per cent of India's population is in the 20-35 years' age group. No other country has so massive a youth component. This section has very high expectations from the BJP. While framing policy, we must never forget this section," Advani had said.

08-28-2006, 09:30 PM

BJP to make 'Vande Mataram' mandatoryQUOTE"The country feels betrayed by the Congress-led government's yet another appeasement policy by rescinding their earlier decision of compulsory recitation of the national song in all educational institutions," said Singh.

The party is in power in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh has already announced that singing of the song will be mandatory in all educational institutions of the state, including madrassas.

The BJP chief has directed all its state units to recite Vande Mataram at state and district headquarters of the party Sep 7 to mark the centenary of the song's recitation at the Indian National Congress' Calcutta Session.

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