After the BJP was re-routed in General Elections 2009 there appeared a consensus among the supporters that nothing short of a reinvention is required to not just stem the slide but to remain relevant enough in India's political landscape. Everyone seemed to have a prescription for it. After taking flak from both supporters and detractors and all and sundry as well, the party went into an introspection mode amidst expectations of reemerging as just more than an old wine in a new bottle. The party was literally forced to go back to the drawing board. For the party that once thought of itself as a replacement of Congress, the difference in level of confidence they had on themselves and the voting public had on them turned out to be wider than the worst case scenario they had imagined. However, after apparently spending some time at the drawing boards the party seems to have reemerged. So where does the BJP stands today?
The converted would like to point towards the developments of the last few months during which BJP appears to have improved their popularity also reflected in some state level elections notably Bihar vis a vis Congress that is still reeling under a series of scams and failures that allegedly involve some of the biggest heists ever, involving mind numbing figures and all round failure at governance and leadership leading to near paralysis in dealing with issues of maoists, separatists, telangana, inflation, ministers turning their ministries into virtual ATMs...you name it.
But the ones not yet converted have a point when they say that the party's turnaround seems to be more due to Congress doing everything wrong rather than BJP itself doing anything right to write home about. The decisiveness in dealing with state level differences earlier displayed in Uttarakhand and Rajasthan seems to have petered out in Karnataka, the change at the top level was limited to appointment of new leaders of the houses and the President, and barring may be a couple of spokespersons like N Seetharaman, no new faces have emerged at the central level, so do we really have a new party under a new leadership or do we more or less have the same old wine? we may not be required to wait till 2014 to get a definitive answer to the question as more challenging state elections to be held can themselves provide an answer, but then we can always wait till all doubts are laid to rest anyway.
(Picture courtesy daylife.com)
The news of a recent recruitment rally conducted by the Armed Forces in the Ganderbal area of J&K that witnessed a huge response where around 9000 young men braved sleet and snow to appear for the test has evoked interesting reactions from the observers including on twitter ranging from the disinterested ones calling it a "No big deal" to the ecstatic. Whatever be our reactions, they obviously need jobs and the need to address this issue post haste can not be over emphasized. Much would depend upon how the govt reacts to it.
The obvious knee jerk reaction in such a scenario especially in disturbed areas in India has traditionally been to create more govt jobs or at least declare intentions of doing so and give an impression of doing ones best to solve the unemployment problem. IMO it's time we changed our approach to solving this problem. Here are some alternatives to consider if not done already:
Ignite entrepreneurial spirit in the state and help them create jobs by themselves. Create special economic zones wherever possible, like Jammu to begin with, make available micro finance to them, give them tax breaks. With time big ticket investments would follow. Facilitate their participation in trade fairs across the world and help create a demand for their produce. Make permanent exhibition grounds for them in Delhi and Mumbai to make it convenient for big ticket buyers. Build container terminals and tune their logistics with global practice.
Start the damn railway up to wherever possible and reduce their logistics cost to help them remain competitive even in faraway markets. Use the railway for purely logistics if safety is a concern.
And finally implement all of these in all the states!
(Picture courtesy Washington Post)
Dangerous doesn't even begin to describe an idea that leads to or suggests India's balkanization. Am i being paranoid? Yes, and i think if we are not paranoid about it, we will keep suffering crazies suggesting it off and on like Goebbels in important discourses as well.
India does have freedom of expression although much of this freedom is available only in limited forums mostly apart from the so called mainstream. The mainstream media on the other hand tries hard to put on a facade of allowing space to even non conforming points of views even if it is only for those views that fits "their" mold of a dissenting voice.
So we are supposed to give a sympathetic ear to these non conforming points of views and also accept their victory in these make belief "debates". We are frequently made to read in the mainstream newspapers, magazines and hear them on prime time tv debates - their contention that it's good for humanity's sake to concede to Separatists in Kashmir, Maoists in the rest of India and some others of their pet subjects. It's high time we debated the consequences of the "ideas" that these liberals want us to toy with.
Do they seriously think that conceding to Separatists and Maoists will not have a domino effect in the rest of India least of all North East? will they be there to somehow "magically" prevent that from happening. What happened in Darjeeling after Telangana was promised is just an indicator. And when that happens what will happen to "democracy" in the balkanized states? When India divided into three parts after independence the other two came on the verge of being failed states ruled by tin pot dictators, if not became one. What will happen to the Armed Forces? Will all states get their piece and start settling out inter state disputes which exists even today with it? Will China and Pakistan be able to resist the temptation of fishing in troubled waters, like China trying to annex at least the North East while it can, and Pakistan trying to annex some of it's own to add to it's "strategic depth"?
Being unreasonably paranoid may not be the best attitude but dangerous ideas need to be emphatically refuted to prevent reinforcement of whatever agenda driven world-view being pushed by some. What do you think about it?
(Picture courtesy Economic Times)
