Congress Undemocratic Ideology - 4

[Capt M Kumar]

Thus, while all Prime Ministers of the proverbial Regency period — and these include Rao and the present incumbent — are answerable for all their actions, the monarchical Prime Ministers are above all scrutiny. Rao can be blamed for the events leading up to the demolition of the Babri shrine in Ayodhya but it just won’t do to extend the responsibility to the man who overturned the Shah Bano verdict and ensured the opening of the locks of the disputed place of worship. Manmohan Singh can be blamed for policies that contributed to the steep rate of inflation but it is the height of impertinence to suggest that the Congress president’s programme of profligate spending had anything to do with the mess in public finances. Sonia Gandhi, as we have seen, is never wrong; at best she is occasionally ‘misled’.



Today, Manmohan Singh is basking in the thrill of political longevity and enjoying the public rewards of personal integrity. He would do well to live for the present. The Congress’ own history won’t be so kind to his record. Like Rao, he is destined to be the fall guy because the Queen and her family can do no wrong. http://www.dailypioneer.com/276258/Manmo...l-guy.html

[BlessedAgni]

http://www.hvk.org/articles/1197/0041.html



Nehru: India's last English PM! - The Observer



D P Sinha ()

12 November 1997

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Title: Nehru: India's last English PM!

Author: D P Sinha

Publication: The Observer

Date: November 12, 1997



In a passing moment of emotional weakness, Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of Independent India, shared a deep secret with the then American diplomat John Galbraith, who said: "It did not especially surprise me, when once in a relaxed' moment he (Nehru) said - well, you know I am the last Englishman to rule in India".



To believe this is difficult. Is it possible that India's first Prime Minister, a man who defiantly challenged the British rule, belligerently criticised its policies and went to jail again and again, could claim to be an Englishmen? And that, too, with an unmistakable stamp of pride. An irony indeed!



The developmental patterns of any person and what direction these patterns will unfold are pretty much determined during a person's childhood and early youth. Take the example of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, former Prime Minister of Pakistan. Bhutto's anti-Hindu psychology first evolved in his adolescence. At 17, he wrote to Muhammed Ali Jinnah: "Muslims should realise that the Hindus can never and will never unite with us, they are the deadliest enemies of our Koran and Prophet..."



Young Jawaharlal Nehru wrote to his father from England: "Indians were bound to have self-government but ... not before a few aeons of geological time! This may mean anything between a few million years and wholly incomprehensive period. The chief difficulty was the want of education and some million generations will be required to educate them (Indians) up to the colonial standard".



This letter written at the age of 21 clearly establishes the fact that young Jawaharlal was deeply aware of the 'supremacy' of the British, and, all his life, suffered from pangs of inferiority in relation to the white rulers.



In his court trial of 1922, Nehru himself stated: "Less than ten years, I returned from England after a long stay there ... I had imbibed most of prejudices of Harrow and Cambridge and in my likes and dislikes I was perhaps more an Englishman than an Indian. I looked upon the world almost from a Englishman's stand point ... as much prejudiced in favour of England and the English as it was possible for a Englishman to be".



The independence movement in India did witness a sartorial change in Nehru, but not of heart. Like a first love, Nehru's romance with the English and all that is English continued to influence his heart and mind and manifested itself at the slightest opportunity. In the year 1946 as Prime Minister of the interim government, Nehru embarked on his flight resplendent in traditional Indian attire - sherwani, chooridar and 'Gandhi-cap'. But, Nehru arrived in England every inch an English, gentleman, fitted out in tweeds, tie, hat and a smoking cigar in his hand. This journey had somehow transformed the humble son of India into a dashing gallant with his clothes dictated by prevailing tastes, Savoir-faire demeanor, a native returning home. By the time Nehru reached the British Isles, he had himself become British. He did let go of his Park Avenue acquired wardrobe only after his actions were criticised back home in the print media.



Discarding his English outfit was easy enough. But, Nehru remained to the core an awestruck admirer of the English quintessence. According to B R Nanda, "In the Indian Constituent Assembly, he threw his weight in favour of Parliamentary democracy on the British model and as Prime Minister, did all he could to evolve traditions conforming to established practices in Britain".



After years of slavery, when people revolt, a nation is reborn. The prime mission of the new government is nation building. Such government is infused with revolutionary vigour and intellectual boldness. It dares to lay down its own agenda which may be entirely different from that of the now expelled rulers.



But Jawaharlal Nehru did not conceive of independent India's new fledged government as an insurrectionary government with all its inherent potential. The anti-Hindu policy is another heirloom from the white rulers which the Nehru government wholeheartedly followed.



In August 1947, Dr Rajendra Prasad, who was the chairman of the Constituent Assembly wrote to Nehru about cow slaughter and the fact that a majority of Hindu sentiments run high against the cow slaughter.



Jawaharlal Nehru responded that he is well aware of the Hindu sentimentality and, yet he would much rather resign from the prime ministerial position than bow before it.



The man who can derive pleasure from the weakening and fragmenting of the Hindu society can hardly be a Hindu himself. Disclaiming his Hindu identity, Nehru declared that by education he was an Englishman, by culture a Muslim and by accident of birth, a Hindu. It is a mere throw of the dice that he was born to a Hindu couple, otherwise he had no undertaking with the Hindus.



Albeit, it is a different matter that to remain the beloved Prime Minister of a Hindu majority electorate, Nehru stuck to his Brahmanical title 'Pandit' pretty much in the same way as he stuck to the Gandhi cap on his bald head: Both lending him validity and at the same time functioning as tools to hoodwink Hindu masses. It was the same exigency that compelled him to accept anti-cow slaughter as one of the Directive Principles of our Constitution.



Two questions can be asked here. First, that if Nehru was such an ardent fan of the British life-style, why did he, in the first place, participate in a movement against the British? Secondly, what made him such a British enthusiast?



Jawaharlal Nehru was an ambitious father's ultra ambitious son. He had a dream. A dream of leading an independent India as its very first Prime Minister. To make his dreams a reality Nehru did what was the need of the hour. He opposed the British rule, even went to jail.



Yet throughout all this, at a deep, more personal level, Nehru continued to experience a humbling respect and love for the British culture. Upon analysis of Jawaharlal Nehru's behaviour it is clear that to him there was no apparent conflict between love for all things English and an active struggle against the English.



For a deeper understanding we need to go back further. In the early years of 19th century, in East India Company, there was a debate on the education policy for Indians.



While some believed that Indians should be formally instructed in their native language of Sanskrit and Persian, the public instructions committee headed by Lord Macaulay recommended that Indians should be taught in the western traditions and the medium of instruction should be English. Macaulay wrote that the aim of English education is "to create a class who would act as interpreters between us and the millions we govern, a class of Indians in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals and in intellect".



East India Company adopted Macaulay's suggestions and teaching in English language began in India.



Merely hundred years later, India was abound with 'black British' who were only by 'blood and colour' Indians.



Apart from their 'blood and colour' nothing in them remained Indian. No wonder this breed of Indians feel such pride in calling themselves 'English'.

[Guest]

[url="http://www.hindustantimes.com/US-advises-India-not-to-pressurise-Dow-Govt-makes-stand-clear/H1-Article1-588626.aspx"]US advises India not to pressurise Dow; Govt makes stand clear[/url]

The matter came to light after a TimesNow report on a purported e-mail from US Deputy National Security Advisor Micheal Froman to India's Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montel Singh Ahluwalia on the issue of Dow Chemicals.



[color="#FF0000"]"While I've got you we are hearing a lot of noise about the Dow Chemicals issue. I trust that you are monitoring it carefully," Froman reportedly wrote in the e-mail when the plan panel deputy chief asked for his support for World Bank loans.[/color]



"I am not familiar with all the details but I think we want to avoid developments which put chilling effect on our investment relationship," the e-mail went on to add, clearly seeking to link India's request at World Bank with the Bhopal gas disaster.



Twenty-five years ago, on the night of Dec 2-3, 1984, at least 3,500 people were killed instantly and thousands more later after a deadly gas leaked from the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal.



Union Carbide was subsequently acquired by Dow Chemicals.



Ahluwalia had sought Forman's help saying India had hit the limit set at the World Bank which will force it to cut its credit line to New Delhi drastically, unless the limit is relaxed.



He requested the official to speak with his colleagues at the US Treasury.



Reacting to this exchange, the top Indian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Ahluwalia had already explained he was not connected in any manner with the process being followed on the Bhopal disaster case, including Anderson's extradition.

Gaddar delivered what he was supposed to his malik .

[ramana]

Blog Comments on UPA2 inner workings



Hearsay- New GrapevineVenture

[ramana]

Op-EdPioneer, 30 Aug 2010

EDITS | Monday, August 30, 2010 | Email | Print | | Back





The curse of Sisyphus



Balbir Punj



Manmohan Singh may be the third longest-serving Prime Minister but that means little for India which faces a crisis of leadership



What is the reason behind the hoopla over Mr Manmohan Singh becoming the third longest-serving Prime Minister after Jawaharlal Nehru and Mrs Indira Gandhi, overtaking Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s record of years in office? Is there any doubt that Mr Singh has been in office but without any real power all these years? Despite the number of years as Prime Minister to his credit, Mr Singh, as Mr HD Deve Gowda, will be no more than a mere footnote in India’s political history.



The daily exposé by the media of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption in projects related to the Commonwealth Games only emphasises the shocking truth — no one is in control of the Government today. The Prime Minister, of course, pretends to be far away from — and above — the mess that has come to prevail.



Bushfires rage around us. The Kashmir Valley is once again in turmoil. Pakistan-sponsored jihadis are fortifying their stronghold in Kerala with the Marxist Chief Minister admitting that their intention is to Islamise the State. A third of India’s districts are now virtually under the control of Maoist insurgents.



Analysts are surprised that as Prime Minister of the country, Mr Singh is yet to utter a single word on these crises. Of course, the traditional Red Fort speech and his address to the people of the Kashmir Valley have been exceptions. But where his leadership is most needed — that is, in Parliament — he is disquietingly silent. For all Government initiatives and statements, the Congress looks at Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.



Negotiations with the Opposition on sensitive issues like the nuclear civil liability Bill, recording of caste in Census and the fiasco over the Commonwealth Games preparations have been handled by Mr Mukherjee. The nation hears from the Prime Minister only at events to launch books and other such occasions of no national consequence.



Meanwhile, the media provides more and more coverage to the Congress’s heir apparent. On the occasion of the UPA2 Government completing one year in office, the only major question at Mr Singh’s Press conference was on the Prime Minister-in-waiting. That the question was asked and the answer was a total confession shows where lies real power.



If the ruling party itself is sending a message to the nation to ignore the man occupying the Prime Minister’s office, why blame the people for giving the lowest marks to Mr Singh, as they did in a recent country-wide survey conducted by a national weekly? It is no wonder that the Congress keeps Mr Singh confined to the Rajya Sabha and makes no move to get him elected to the Lok Sabha, since that would strengthen his authority and stature.



The result of the diarchy in the ruling party is that the Union Government is seen as losing its grip on national affairs. In dealing with terrorism and Pakistan, we have recently witnessed the sorry spectacle of Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi snubbing his Indian counterpart and Mr SM Krishna accepting it in humble submission. The Prime Minister, meanwhile, seems to have been extending an olive branch to what is universally considered a weak civilian Government in Islamabad.



Notwithstanding New Delhi’s claims that Washington, DC has been rolling out the red carpet for our Prime Minister whenever he visits the American capital, Mr Singh does not seem to carry any clout with the Obama Administration. The US President has signed a law authorising a steep increase in fees for H1 B and L1 visas, thereby dealing a heavy blow to our IT and IT-enabled services industry.



Even a cursory look at headlines in the American media would show that the major focus of the Obama Administration is on West Asia, AfPak policy, tensions between China and South Korea and Japan, and North Korea with its nuclear-tipped missiles.



The absence of a determined leadership in New Delhi is clearly witnessed in the failure to break the vicious cycle of stone-pelting and police firing in Srinagar and elsewhere in the Kashmir Valley. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah seems to have lost the battle even before it began; the protesters are indifferent to his appeals for peace and legislators, including those from the Congress, appear to have no control over the people who elected them.



When a majority of the people in the Valley, who may not be supporting the stone-pelting separatists, see their Government lacking in leadership, they are bound to lapse into silence or let the separatists take charge of the situation. That is at the heart of the crisis there.



Ironically, the Congress is reluctant to learn from its own history. In the 1960s, when the Prophet’s holy relic kept at the Hazratbal shrine in Srinagar went missing, the then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, swiftly moved into action, deploying both political and administrative skills. The relic was found and peace restored; mischief was nipped in the bud.



The UPA2 Government presents a picture of a deep schism within. The recent tiff between the Union Minister for Finance and the Union Minister for Railways on how to deal with the Maoists is typical of the confusion and discord that prevail in the Government. This is further underscored by the spat between Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh.



Decisive leadership is the need of the hour. But what we see today is a weak Government whose word is not taken seriously by anybody. Everybody knows that the Prime Minister lacks authority and hence cannot decide for the Government he heads. It’s a pity that the nation must suffer the crisis of leadership in so helpless a manner.



(punjbalbir@gmail.com)

[Guest]

^^^ Nah.. MMS is a US mole, nothing else. Rumor has it that he visits churches in Delhi as well. Check his daughters, one of them is an ACLU type.

[Guest]

Highly unlikely that Sonia has cancer. Cancer treatment is not a trivial thing - It is long drawn and the physical effects are evident.

What is more likely is what Subramanium Swamy was saying about her counting payments to the right people in London. Seems Ottavio and the entire Maino clan were there.

[Guest]

May be included more people in Swiss account. Common Wealth games and without tender defense contracts gave them money load to loot.

[ramana]

Chandigarh Tribune which is so far away from Hyd reports that on the one year anniversary of YSR's death, the AP congress is split vertically with the son YSJ staying away from the official ceremonies to mark the death anniversary. The CM too stays away due to ill health. So all that are left are hangers on and sychophants.

[Guest]

Anniversary is for those, who had are rightful owner of part of purse, which is now no where to find. How they will get back that money which is parked all over the world?

[ramana]

More reports backing the politicsparty leak that there is sever infighting in INC.



From Pioneer, 8 Sept., 2010

PM undermined by parlour games

September 08, 2010 10:02:33 PM



Swapan Dasgupta



The week that marked the unanimous re-appointment of Sonia Gandhi as Congress president for the fourth consecutive occasion (on two previous occasions there was at least a contrived contest) should have also been the moment for the party to put its best foot forward. Whether it is — her political acumen or just plain good luck — Sonia has succeeded in extricating the Congress from the depths to which it had sunk in 1996 and restoring it to the status of a ruling party, albeit in coalition. Congress members, therefore, owe her a deep measure of gratitude. They should also be obliged to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for giving the party an acceptable, non-contentious face that proved so appealing to voters in 2009.



The irony is that this happy occasion, marked by characteristic display of sycophancy, was simultaneously marred by some deeply negative publicity. Some of it had to do with the Government's colossal ineptitude: The ongoing fiasco of the Commonwealth Games and the Supreme Court's anger over the criminal mismanagement of food stocks being two obvious examples. In private, Congress circles are speculating over who will take over from Sheila Dikshit after the final planeload of athletes has departed from Delhi.



But far more significant were the sharp attacks on Home Minister P Chidambaram and Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal by senior members of the Congress and the Government's failure to negotiate the passage of the Educational Tribunals Bill and Enemy Properties Bill through the Rajya Sabha.



Chidambaram, for example, was put on the mat by Janardhan Dwivedi and Digvijay Singh over the use of the term ‘saffron terror'. This is not because the two Congress functionaries have suddenly developed an acute awareness of Hindu or BJP sensitivities, but because just about any stick was deemed legitimate as long as it gave Chidambaram a good thrashing. The same logic, it would seem, was behind Keshava Rao's outburst against Sibal in the Rajya Sabha. The whisper in the political grapevine is that a third Cabinet Minister is also in line for a public beating by members of his own party and that his time will come, pretty soon.



The overall impression that came through was that the Congress was pulling in different directions and that the Government was completely lacking in direction.



It's an impression that is proving difficult to shake off. In Andhra Pradesh, the late YS Rajasekhara Reddy's son Jagan continues to defy Sonia's displeasure over his display of political independence. What should alarm the party leadership is the fact that two years after his father's tragic death, Jagan is still able to sustain his defiance that is just short of rebellion.



In Delhi, Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh may well be on the cusp of becoming an alternative pole of NGO attraction — Sonia remains their main patron saint, courtesy her accommodation of jholawallah concerns through the National Advisory Council. What is significant, however, is the extent to which his actions were targeted at the Prime Minister's agenda. The manner in which Ramesh used his unilateral action against the Vedanta aluminium plant in Kalahandi to obfuscate his spiteful sabotage of the Posco project — the single largest FDI investment in the country — was characteristically clever. But apart from giving Rahul Gandhi an opportunity to be photographed with some grateful tribals and settling some old scores with Naveen Patnaik, the Posco decision was also a well-aimed blow at the Prime Minister. The PMO had, after all, been monitoring the progress of the Posco project on a weekly basis and had never remotely indicated to the Odisha Government that something was amiss.



One possible reason why Congress stalwarts are engaging in these self-destructive parlour games is the belief that there is no worthwhile Opposition left in the country and that whatever the shenanigans a victory in the 2014 election is a foregone conclusion. The alternative explanation that democracy has returned to the Congress is too far-fetched to warrant serious consideration.



However, it is well-known that politicians are loath to take too many chances, especially given the fact that each year witnesses some election or the other. So, what could explain this sudden rise in individualism in the Congress and the Government? Why are the Government and the Prime Minister being steadily undermined on a host of issues, including internal security and economic policy?



Darbar watchers whisper that the fourth term to Sonia is an eyewash and that the UPA chairperson has actually lessened her involvement as the watchdog of the Government. Her interests, it is said, are confined to advocating the causes of her favourite NGOs, particularly those involving a heavier burden of Government expenditure.



Since the happenings inside 10 Janpath are covered by unwritten clauses of the Official Secrets Act, it is impossible to be certain about Sonia's strategic withdrawal. Nor is there any compelling evidence to suggest that the heir apparent has moved beyond making anodyne comments about the youth and the poor and is preparing to regain family control over Race Course Road.



Why, therefore, is the Congress so utterly hell bent on undermining its own Government and making the Prime Minister seem so utterly feeble? This is the mystery the pundits need to solve. From a distance, it looks utterly inexplicable.

PC thought he could make a grab for the post MMS scenario by bolstering his secular credentials. He was bashed by the party retainers to ensure he doesnt get oo high fro hir brithces.



Sibal was getting too much popularity with his education reforms. Again needed to be reminded the son also rises. However this was administered in the Rajya Sabha!



RG might not make patent moves to assert control.

[ramana]

One more from Chandan Mitra of Pioneer.

Manmohan Singh's last lap?

September 08, 2010 10:16:37 PM



Chandan Mitra



Delhi's grapevine says the sudden drift in governance that we are witnessing has been engineered to pave the way for Rahul Gandhi's early accession to the throne



Even as the Congress celebrates the unopposed ‘re-election’ of Ms Sonia Gandhi for yet another term as party president, it is somewhat paradoxical that the Government she controls (and Mr Manmohan Singh nominally heads) has run into its roughest patch. This is ironic because during the first five years of this dyarchy there was a sense of purpose and cohesion the Congress demonstrated despite commanding only 145 members in the Lok Sabha and facing constant harassment from the Left. But now with 206 Lok Sabha MPs, no Left to bother with and loads of CBI dossiers with which to whip Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav and Ms Mayawati into submission whenever needed, the Government, however, is in a drift — often talking and working at cross-purposes, indecisive and without a sense of direction.



I am sure readers would immediately recall enough examples of this drift without my having to list them. What happened in the Rajya Sabha on August 31, last day of the Monsoon Session (in which I was privileged to participate) was probably the most incredible example of a Government under siege not just from without, but most significantly from within. The fact that the next day, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister sought to drape Congress MP Keshava Rao’s rebellion against Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal with the cloak of “inner-party democracy” reveals the extent of the party bureaucracy’s bewilderment. Later the same evening, old sparring partners P Chidambaram and Digvijay Singh were back in the ring for another bout of fencing — this time over the use of the term ‘saffron terror’.



So, embarrassed spokespersons can only seek recourse in extolling the virtues of legitimate inner-party dissent. They have difficulty saying this with a straight face because the concept of inner-party democracy is patently alien to the Congress, which has alternately prospered and withered under the tutelage of the same family since independence. Was it mere coincidence that two efficient but standoffish Ministers — Mr Chidambaram and Mr Sibal — bore the brunt of Congress MPs’ wrath? Some would like to believe that given Mr Keshava Rao’s stature in the organisation hierarchy and consequent access to 10 Janpath, the rebellion must have been staged in the confidence that no adverse consequences would follow. And they didn’t.



After all, the High Command is not averse to administering periodic doses of ego-deflating pills to keep in check Ministers whose approval ratings have been high in the public perception. This has long been the ruling dynasty’s way of keeping everyone on tenterhooks. Mrs Indira Gandhi used this tactic to devastating effect and her daughter-in-law seems to have mastered the skill to perfection.



But some political pundits have another take on the recent drift in UPA2 and I think they might be right no matter how sinister it may sound. It is being increasingly said that leaders have begun jockeying for the post-Manmohan and in a sense post-Sonia era. With Rahul Gandhi’s mounting visibility, carefully calibrated by fawning sections of the media, Congress bigwigs know it is a matter of time before the heir-apparent takes direct charge.



Interestingly, it was observed that most uncharacteristically, the Prime Minister sat through all five hours of the Nuclear Liability Bill debate in the Rajya Sabha. Congress MPs later complained they couldn’t even take coffee breaks because it would have been improper to gad off while he sat on impassively. From this unusual action it has been deduced by many that Mr Manmohan Singh is in the final stage of repaying his debt to Washington on the nuclear issue. Having pushed the flawed civil nuclear agreement through in 2008, the final consecration had to be completed with the signing of the nuclear liability Bill. The final shape of the legislation may have been viciously criticised by Americans but even they concede that some law is better than no law.



Anyway, the larger point that emerges from the Prime Minister’s prolonged presence in the Upper House only during the nuclear Bill debate is that he has neither any interest nor authority to handle subjects other than this one pet obsession. So now that the nuclear deal process is complete, Mr Manmohan Singh may prefer to walk into the sunset once US President Barack Obama’s visit happens in early November.



Proponents of this prognosis believe that 2011 or latest 2012 will be the year of transition, when the prince waiting in the wings will finally be anointed king. After all he is not exactly young any more; at 40 his father had already become Prime Minister. Some believe that a political crisis may be deliberately stirred so that a fresh election has to be called to legitimise Mr Rahul Gandhi’s ascendancy since his mother apparently believes electoral endorsement is what’s kept the dynasty going. Congress strategists have calculated that if an election is held within the next 12 to 18 months, with Mr Rahul Gandhi projected as Prime Minister, the party will win a majority on its own. This could be a case of hopeless self-delusion, but many close associates of the prince are said to be getting impatient with the long wait. After all 2014 is almost four years away and Rahul would be a middle-aged man by then, shorn of his boyish charm and matrimonial eligibility!



I cannot vouch for this complex formulation that presages impending palace intrigue. But it does seem that some seniors in the party are already positioning themselves for such an eventuality — Mr Digvijay Singh for one. Ever since he visited Azamgarh to empathise with the families of Batla House inmates (all suspected terrorists), the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister has been consistently making jholawallah-type noises befitting NGO honchos rather than a veteran politician of his stature. Significantly, he has also steadily targeted Mr Chidambaram who is clearly doing his best to uphold the dignity and power of the Indian state. This is a philosophy jholawallahs abhor.



If you have ever had the misfortune to read any of Arundhati Roy’s rambling rants that periodically appear in Outlook, you would know that dilution and eventual dissolution of the Indian state is the objective desired by the mother of India’s anarchist movement. Her followers may be less articulate but share the same conviction. As I see it, Rahul is building a jholawallah team around himself, some inherited from his mother’s National Advisory Council, which now acts as a super-Cabinet, and the rest drawn from tech-savvy bleeding hearts from across the globe, potential British Labour Party leader David Miliband included.



That probably explains the calculated and nuanced distancing by many Congress leaders from the Manmohan Singh regime; that is why they don’t think it’s important to listen to him any more. If that is indeed so, I would rather have Mr Rahul Gandhi take over right now than permit his ambitious cohorts to inject chaos and disorder in governance so that they can herald the Crown Prince’s arrival into South Block as the knight in shining armour destined to ‘rescue’ India from drift. Who knows, maybe Ms Sonia Gandhi will time her ‘voluntary retirement’ to coincide with that so daughter Priyanka begins a long stint as Congress president!

[ramana]

X-Post...

I do not know the right thread but putting it here as this is a pointer to the future of leadership



PM remarks on Nehru irked Sonia

The recent remarks by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on the country's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru appear to have rubbed 10 Janpath the wrong way, if party sources are to be believed.



Making things worse, a number of Union ministers, MPs and All India Congress Committee functionaries are reportedly upset at the manner in which Dr Singh -- at the media interaction with print media editors -- has tried to project himself a better administrator and manager than Nehru and even Indira Gandhi.

Another overtly emphatic statement by the prime minister stating, "I am not retiring" has become a matter of intense speculation in the Congress circles, particularly since this was the second time that Dr Singh made the assertion.



Sources say the statement does not spell good news for the prime minister and is being seen as his way of putting at rest speculation of his disconnect with Sonia Gandhi and reports that he may well be on the way out.

But a quote from the prime minister which appears to have been underplayed by the media and which could be the most damaging was related to Rahul Gandhi. During his interaction, When Dr Singh was asked to react to Rahul Gandhi "spreading his wings and moving beyond the Youth Congress", he first laughed and then replied, "In politics, there is competition and everybody is looking for this chair."



Was the prime minister clearly indicating that Rahul was now eyeing his chair and he was looking at him as his immediate competitor. Interesting question, particularly if the comment is read with his definitive assertion, "I am not retiring".

paging Rudradev - In one of the Paki threads, I wrote that MMS is now powerful than Rajmata. Here is another pointer <img src='http://www.india-forum.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

[Guest]

Appointed PM had tasted power of this kursi.

Now fun will start. <img src='http://www.india-forum.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

[Guest]

My take - MMS and Chidu efectively closed all gaps and paths for Rahul baba from becoming PM. Otherwise Sonia would never have made such an outburst against Jagan. But she may eat the insult-pie and make Jagan as AP CM. The game inside INC is do whatever but not allow the Gandhis to the chair. PVNR seems to have instilled certain confidence to older Congmen.

[Guest]

One has to look at the US angle also. If the US is happy with MMS, it will be challenging for Sonia to dump MMS. One will have look at US mouthpieces in the Indian media to know what the US is thinking.



There have been multiple articles against MMS in rediff in the last few days. Seems like a concerted campaign against him.The politcsparty guy also seems to be getting information fed by family loyalist in Congress.

[Guest]

[quote name='kharavela' date='12 September 2010 - 04:21 AM' timestamp='1284282813' post='108261']

One has to look at the US angle also. If the US is happy with MMS, it will be challenging for Sonia to dump MMS. One will have look at US mouthpieces in the Indian media to know what the US is thinking.



There have been multiple articles against MMS in rediff in the last few days. Seems like a concerted campaign against him.The politcsparty guy also seems to be getting information fed by family loyalist in Congress.

[/quote]



Absolutely. US has certain limitations. MMS's closeness to US is being handled by the babus and Army very well. Examples being FM's foreign visit being spoiled by Pillai types. Army chiefs and top Home and Foreing affairs babus meeting privately and following a certain patterns in spoiling the US-MMS mood and the way liability bill is passed.



So in summary - (a) Gandhis are being checkmated by INC's internal politics so far. ( b ) MMS-US line is being handled by Army and babus.



However, we should not conclude that the nation is safe as there may be battles that could be lost. If Lucknow bench gives a perfect decision on Ayodhya things will change for better from all aspects. Pray to Ram!!!

[Guest]

However, we should not conclude that the nation is safe as there may be battles that could be lost. If Lucknow bench gives a perfect decision on Ayodhya things will change for better from all aspects. Pray to Ram!!!

I have serious concerns, it may go against Hindu, just to appease Islamist (Global trend).

[Guest]

Mudy ji,



It is possible. Let us assume the decision will go in favor of Muslims. Then per the trends that are happening in UPA-2, Chidu and MMS will go overboard and remove the existing Ram structure and say there is never a character called as Ram. They may competitively say let us rebuild the Mosque for the Mullahs. The competetion looks like as though they are taking on SP and other Left who pamper to Mullahs. In reality they are actually pissing off Gandhis.



Say Gandhis stop MMS+Chidu from the above design. Mulayam types will take over such a line and recent gain of mullah votes will go void again.



Rahul can be PM only if INC revives in Hindi heartland. All the INC folks in Hindi land are unemployed and they are trying to get couple of forward castes+mullahs together into INC. Ayodhya is a red line for a lot of Hindus in Hindi heartland and they may get mullahs but not a drop from Hindus. The Dalits are lost too. How will it help the Gandhis? Added to this see the woes added by declaration of Telangana which they are going to lose either to Jagan or to TDP. Again this is the padmavyuh that is created by UPA-2 against Gandhis. US also is for MMS and that is also a killer for Gandhis.



Off cource if the Gandhis hold the EVMs they can do wonders <img src='http://www.india-forum.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />



If the judgement goes in favor of Hindus then also they are screwed. We don't need to even write the events that will happen. Just rewind back to glorious 90s.

[ramana]

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Very interesting article on MMS:

Besides luck, Dr Singh had an unthreatening personality

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is an honourable man, squeaky clean financially, though many of his foes and former associates questioned his intellectual honesty due to his capacity to rationalise socialist controls and market freedoms depending on the exigencies of the situation at hand.



As an economic bureaucrat, he rose fast to become a full secretary to the government, due to his ingrained habit of keeping on the right side of ministerial and administrative bosses.



A former teacher at the Delhi School of Economics, he left his peers in the academic world far behind, attaining new heights, first in the bureaucratic hierarchy and later in the political world.



Aside from a stroke of immense good fortune, Dr Singh clearly had certain other characteristics, which facilitated his rise to the prime minister's post.



The most notable trait in his mental make-up, which played a vital role in his rise to the top is his ability to convince his interlocutors about his lack of ambition, his self-effacement.



That was why Congress President Sonia Gandhi singled him out for the prime minister's post in preference to far more clued-up practitioners of realpolitik like Pranab Mukherjee and Arjun Singh to relatively younger leaders like P Chidambaram.



Thus, the image of a non-politician politician has served Dr Singh's cause rather well.



Admittedly, he carried that image of a non-politician with him to the prime minister's office.



So, even as he sits in the prime ministerial 'gaddi', the dirty job of mustering the numbers in Parliament so that the government can win the vote on the nuclear deal, or using the Central Bureau of Investigation to soften up hard-core politicians like Lalu Prasad and Mulayam Singh, or exploiting gubernatorial offices to sack inconvenient governments or to install convenient ones, is left to professional politicians in the Congress party.



The latest: The blame for appointing a tainted bureaucrat as the Central Vigilance Commissioner is not put on 'Teflon' Singh.



Thus, whatever the situation, our man always succeeds in giving the impression that he did not soil his hands in the dirty business that is everyday, pragmatic party politics.



is always above the fray, always innocent.



Why is one psychoanalysing Manmohan Singh, and why now?



Well, the prime minister's interaction with a group of editors last Monday has caused most Delhi politicos to turn into amateur mind readers.



Though the media has surprisingly sought to downplay the import of his remarks, senior politicians, especially in the ruling Congress party, are engrossed in dissecting his each word to espy Dr Singh's real intentions.



There are even hints that 10, Janpath's establishment has not taken kindly to his far-from-innocent remarks, especially when he is known to weigh his words most carefully and is not given to empty talk.



Therefore, the dynasty loyalists have taken umbrage at the fact that Dr Singh failed to make a public gesture of volunteering to step down in favour of the crown prince.



Remember that in his first and only formal press conference during the United Progressive Alliance's second term three months ago, he countered a suggestion from a reporter about retiring.



'No, I am not quitting. I have a job to do and I am committed to do it,' was his response.



Ideally, the sycophantic lot that finds admittance to the sanctum sanctorum at 10, Janpath would have liked him to say that he was always willing -- at this very moment -- to make way for Rahul Gandhi.



Now the courtiers complain that Dr Singh was so ungrateful that he refused to acknowledge the existence of the prime minister-in-waiting and blame it on the usual politics of intrigue and subterfuge that informs internal Congress dynamics.



Three months later, Dr Singh seems to have excelled himself, comparing self, albeit by implication, to the totem of the 'family' and, again by implication, coming out trumps.



In the process, he exonerated himself of any blame for his government's monumental failures.



.......



Significantly, he omitted the name of the one prime minister who had pulled him out of retirement and made him finance minister and, thus set him up on the journey to the prime minister's office.



That prime minister's name is P V Narasimha Rao.



Rao has not got his due either from the Congress dynasty or from Dr Singh who, at least, ought to have known better than to allow the momentous contribution of his benefactor to go unacknowledged.



Since his meeting with the editors, Congressmen have buttonholed journalists to find out Dr Singh's 'exact words' in order to read the import of his remarks and to fathom his game plan for the future. No, one is not exaggerating.



There is a great deficit of trust between the prime minister and the Sonia Gandhi-led party, a major reason for the UPA-II government's non-performance.



Now, contrary to the general impression that he is a mild-mannered man devoid of any personal ambition, there are those who are convinced that behind that goody-goody exterior lurks a calculating man plotting carefully each move in order to emerge on top of every situation.



Looking at his long career graph, beginning with an adviser's post in the commerce ministry back in the late 1960s to the office of the prime minister, quite a few observers suspect him of being not all that innocent, nay, of being mealy-mouthed and clever.



As a senior Congress leader said, "He is clever at hiding his cleverness."

read it all...