Meanwhile:
GOVINDACHARYA PRINT EMAIL
<b>Govindacharya announces return to politics</b>
NEW DELHI, NOV 18 (PTI)
RSS ideologue and former BJP leader Govindacharya has announced his return to active politics, declaring that he would launch his political front next year.
"It is time for the nationalist forces to pitch in. The two major conglomerates in Indian politics have become pro-rich, pro-minority and pro-foreign. I will announce the the formation of political front on the occasion of Makar Sakranti," said the former BJP general secretary, who severed ties with the party during the Vajpayee regime following his famous statement of calling Vajpayee a "mask" and Advani the "real face" of BJP.
Govindacharya, a patron of RSS Swadeshi movement, had restricted himself to academic activities since he left the party.
On being asked if he had plans to join the Bhartiya Janshakti Party formed by his protege Uma Bharti, the former MP Chief Minister, he said, "BJS is of course an option but we are looking forward for a bigger platform of nationalist forces to strengthen nationalist politics in the country".
"The challenges faced by the society today are three-fold -- combating terrorism, maintaining social harmony and providing a pro-poor governance," he added.
"There is a political space vacant in the country today and that is one of the reasons for me to join active politics again," he said.
On his stand on the Malegaon blast probe, Govindacharya said it was a time for "deep thinking".
While BJP has been busily wooing and courting Jayalalitha for a long time, she seems to have been shunning Advani and his BJP.
She is perhaps reckoning that having communists as partners instead of BJP would bring her more votes and even get the Congress on her side so she could do the same trick that Karunanidhi did last time viz. shut the opponent out of the parliament.
This way she can also get all that karunanidhi got in this parliament i.e. maximum number of ministerial berths and also the veto power. In the the minority parliament she may even have a shot at becoming the PM! All these options could be lost if she aligns with the BJP, I suppose.
Sensing this the BJP is wooing Tamil actor Rajnikant the recluctant Hamlet!
In Andhra suddenly the political field is crowded with parties with mass following and the BJP is unfortunately not one of them. Promising Telengana in 90 days is not going to benefit the BJP.
So, once again the BJP has to be content with MPs coming from Karnataka only from the south.
In the Eastern States that include Orissa and in the Western State of Maharashtra and in Panjab and Haryana and Bihar the BJP has to share seats with the allies and with the Congress. If the BJP gets just over a quater of seats from these contentious states I won't be surprised.
<b>Ambani brothers shake hands at Advani's residence</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->NEW DELHI: It was a rare moment. Estranged Ambani brothers Anil and Mukesh shook hands at a meeting of leading industrialists with Leader of Opposition L K Advani at which BJP firmly pitched itself as the government in waiting and promised to restore confidence in India's growth story if voted to office.Â
The presence of both the Ambani brothers was significant and perhaps in sync with the turnout of industry bigwigs who came to hear Advani and offer their views and prescriptions on the financial crisis.<b> The industry presence lent credence to BJP's bid to present itself as the shadow government ready to set right the economy. </b>
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Ambanis's empire and is seen as possibly the only person who can get the brothers to bury the hatchet.
Advani's invites included Sunil Mittal, Rahul Bajaj, Venu Srinivsan, Shashi Ruia, Subhash Chandra, G M Rao, Baba Kalyani, J P Gaur, Sajjan Jindal Ficci's Rajeev Chandrasekhar. Noticeable absentees Ratan Tata and N R Narayana Murthy were said to be travelling.
<b>Advani in his outreach to industry seems to have taken a leaf out of the Barack Obama campaign </b>.
The Democrat contender gathered academics and business figures like Warren Buffet, Larry Summers and Paul Volcker to help frame his policy response on issues including the financial crisis -- unlike rival John McCain, he did not commit himself to an early position on the economic situation.
Advani main message to the gathering was that BJP was "willing and able" to tackle the economic challenge.<b> "The question asked of me is what will our first priority be. I say it will be restore confidence in India's growth story as it was when NDA was in power at the Centre," he said.</b>
He made no direct comment on the Manmohan Singh government, but stressed that "indigenous factors" in the slowdown could not be ignored.
<b>The impressive turnout at Advani's meeting came after two successful meetings Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi had with industry in Mumbai and Delhi, and can be cited by the saffron faithfuls as reflective of business's assessment of BJP prospects. </b>
BJP's effort to position itself as front-runner will see the party convene similar interactions with trade unions and agricultural business as well as farm representatives in the coming weeks. The party feels that it can drive home the message that the government's response to the slowdown has been halting and piecemeal.
BJP said it would move swiftly to dispel an atmosphere of insecurity and pessimism. There was a deepening sense of fear, uncertainty and a lack of confidence amongst the poor as well as middle classes which the BJP wanted to address and was keen to listen to what industry had to say, said party insiders. "This is part of a learning experience for the party and we found many points of convergence," said a senior BJP leader.
<b>Advani was assisted by former ministers Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie and Jaswant Singh alongwith RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy and former Delhi Lt Gov Vijai Kapoor </b>at the interaction where the consensus seemed to be that there could no one-size-fits-all solution to the financial crisis which needed a sector-wise approach. The BJP offered that if there were specific projects in states ruled by it that needed to be speedened up, it would do so.
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BJP needs new blood that understands and can capture the modern youth. It needs to create a strategy to win the hearts of the young. Volunteers who can work at the grass roots are needed.
While the problem with the Congress is that it is the prisoner of dynasty clique, the problem of the BJP is also equally a prisoner. In this case it is like that of the communists who are guided by seniority rights. What is the big idea of projecting Advani as the PM, who was great in his own time but a spent force now and has least appeal to the youngsters? Whoever can deny that he could not incite enthusiasm among the masses as Modi could do?
By projecting Advani the BJP could be slipping in its chances to come to power assertively. How many more of tiresome years of struggle to survive for the Hindus all because of seniority rights of cliques and coteries?
11-23-2008, 12:40 AM (This post was last modified: 11-23-2008, 01:51 AM by shamu.)
Sometimes I have felt that it is better to have elderly leaders because they have long memory and experience. We had a young leader like Rajiv Gandhi and that was a disaster, he could not foresee the repurcussions of some of the decisions he made. Great leaders India had were PVNR and ABV and both were very old.
Young leaders are very high risk takers and that can be suicidal at times.
11-23-2008, 11:20 AM (This post was last modified: 11-23-2008, 11:31 AM by Husky.)
Pandyan,
You're an adult and therefore capable of self-governance.
I've read some of your other posts and know that your English is very good (as far as I can be a judge of good English, that is...).
You have on other occasions shown that you can express yourself quite well in English without introducing uncouth language.
Your choice of username handle shows that good taste is not a stranger to you.
You are obviously far from stupid as I have seen you make sensible statements.
<b>Now *why* are you throwing those natural advantages away</b> with the occasional statements such as the last one above filled with foul language? You must know that as an adult, if you want to be taken seriously in anything you say, you cannot ever resort to foul language. It is an activity that demeans only your own person (because degraded speech degrades thought and conduct) and which repels others, to the extent that they'll be avoiding even sensible remarks you may make in the future.
Men express themselves either through action or sensible statements. Foul language is not included in that list. And it is <i>unattractive in the extreme</i>.
You have it in you to be better than this.
If you will, consider removing the highly tasteless statement (or replacing it with an expressful stinging satire - a la Cyrano - if you still feel like venting the frustration). Because the mods will edit out foul parts anyway. It is better to improve of one's own accord than to be forced to change against one's will. The first shows good judgement and the latter none.
<b>Disclaimer:</b> nothing I said above may be used against me.
In Indian political situation where goondas prowl with ease, can BJP (and we) do something a la DailyKos in the USA? Kos had taken upon himself to elect as many Democrats as possible in the nation. There were similar minded folks, and they blogged. They instilled confidence and motivation into other bloggers and members. They in turn went out to do the volunteer work. They donated money, they went and canvassed. Eventually Obama won.
I sincerely doubt if the Indian political parties have any cash pressure. So what does BJP lack? It wants to come to power, alright. But what does it give to people for them to vote? People in Kanpur wouldn't vote on the same issue as people in Vishakapatanam. But BJP needs to still work each constituency towards a national goal.
Unlike in the USA, Abortion, Creationsim or separation of Church and State do not matter.
BJP needs to reinvent itself. It has to get its own media. It has to devise a strategy to win.
Offstumped is a little pro-BJP blog. Nowhere comparable to Kos in quantity, but a step in the right direction. There are others, loosely linked. Need to knit them together better...
Persuading someone to vote requires an appeal to that person's logic or emotion. BJP needs to devise policies that will provide these appeals. For example, the young hip generation can watch with ease movies churned out from bollywood, tollywood, kollywood and hollywood; they like modernism, the education, the present environment to earn money and enjoy life. They think all religions are equal. So BJP does not appeal to them. Neither does the Left.
BJP has to devise a national strategy, and implement it state by state. If they don't have it now, they should aim it for at least 2014. Work at grass roots level is called for.
A long time ago, BJP's USP was - what it was not. Over time even this distinction faded and they just became any other political party. They keep running after demographics they will <b>never</b> get, and in the process distancing the only chance/demographics they can get/can have, but falling out of their reach. Bottomline: As SwamyG says, they have to reinvent themselves.
Now, what is their vision? and how do they plan to get us there? Advani really doesn't inspire anyone.
If Advani steps aside, and BJP is able to put Modi as the PM candidate, will he win? The ghosts of Godhra will haunt him. How will BJP tackle that. They need to have a playbook with several options.
There seems to be a pecking order even in BJP and Modi will have to wait couple hundred years before current dinosaurs become extinct. Meanwhile the young crowd will be swooned by the Rahul-Pilot-Dutt type youngsters.
As an youngster I was enamored by Rajiv Gandhi. I liked a young, modern, foreign educated, charming man. A man who was forced into politics and assumed he was all goody-goody. His push towards technology all appealed to me.
There are going to be several urban youths looking at all these young ones.
Is Rane's son any good? Maybe BJP should pick him up into their camp.
Regarding RG's educatoin: At that time all I knew was he had gone to "foreign" to get educated - did not even know if he had completed it or dropped out. Those things did not matter
I am not endorsing (or un-endorsing!!) anything said therein, but food for thought...also read comments
[right][snapback]91730[/snapback][/right]
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I like one of the comments under the above url as follows:
I like this article. Advani is a dead horse. He can't take us anywhere. Modi is the target of islamists and secular urchins. There is going to be a hung parliament again when the next election takes place. We should focus on Dr.Subramanian Swamy a Hindu advocate but non-BJP. Anbu
