Champions Trophy Vs Congress Atrophy!

We're talking about cricket here, from the point of view of Indian cricket; but mixing it with politics isn't something that was never heard of! We published here kind of a rant post during the disastrous down under India tour which was so, not primarily because of the run-less performances of the stalwarts, but also because of the politics of selection and clout. The heavyweights naturally cannot be disposed of easily which is why they figure in the Team for Champions Trophy-2025 too. 

Leaders and politicians spend a helluva lot of time announcing the CM or PM faces as the case may be. Similarly, the cricket mandarins and selectors have managed to announce the squad only after more than ten days of serial huddles. This is typically political! Isn't this? 

Now, Congress--the oldest national political party of the country--is in the throes of deadly atrophy! So much so that quite a few parties of the Alliance which was formed recently, have threatened to abandon Congress while one or two have already decided to fight the elections on their own. Why? Because Congress is still being run by the old guards, in their seventies to nineties, as per their whims or no-scruples and thus effectively preventing young blood to get into the body, apart from the so-called dynastic clout. 

You see the point now? The Team India squad is the 'cricket' example of the heavyweight politics where many meritorious youngsters cannot ever manage to get into the body. Experts justify this by citing the difference between the red and the white ball cricket. But basically, they don't have the balls to protest enough! 

Politics runs through everything--let it be elections of any kind, governments, bureaucracy, sports or even family homes. With the billions lurking everywhere, Indian cricket thus has the biggest stakes for all who do politics and love to influence and rule!  

Fight Against Corruption: One of the Crusaders Arrested Under Corruption Charges!

In the previous post here, I said that in spite of the near-certainty of a ‘walkover’ for the Modi Government the General Elections-2024 could still be no less than a cricket thriller! And, like many of the opposition leaders who have been relentlessly accusing the Government of India of ‘vindictive politics’ I too hereby stay ‘vindicated’! Ha! Ha! The momentous day of 21^st March, 2024 started with the central government freezing the accounts of the Congress party leaving it almost penniless for the looming election expenses and ended (not really!) with the arrest of the three-time Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal from his official residence around 9 o’clock in the night on corruption charges relating to the Delhi Liquor Scam that started in 2021-22 leading to the arrests of several leaders of Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). CM Kejriwal has been skipping summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) since November last year. After he refused the 9^th summons, the ED, acting upon the alleged evidence provided by a supposed stakeholder in the Scam (bribes for favors) and the subsequent refusal of the Delhi High Court to provide legal protection against arrest to Kejriwal, descended on the CM residence and arrested him following house-search, questioning and seizure of some documents. High drama continued throughout the night as the police and the rapid action forces deployed in front of the CM residence in anticipation had to disperse the huge congregation of AAP supporters who blocked the road to the ED office by dragging away many male and female supporters to the waiting buses.

Incidentally, Arvind Kejriwal was one of the most prominent disciples of Anna Hazare who launched a mass agitation against corruption in 2011 in the streets of capital Delhi, and Kejriwal finally allegedly betrayed his guru-mentor to fulfil his pre-determined political ambitions. Therefore, it’s not surprising that the anti-corruption crusader Anna has come out with support for the arrest along with a lot of lament and sadness. The AAP contested Delhi Assembly Elections in 2013 becoming the second single largest party after BJP, and eventually formed the government in association with Congress (ironical indeed, because the fight-against-corruption movement was directed against the then ruling Congress coalition UPA-2 only), and Kejriwal realizing his cherished of becoming the Chief Minister. However, just after 49 days he ‘ran away’ from the government and joined the streets to where he thought he belonged. Delhi came under President’s Rule for around a year, and in the Assembly Elections of 2015 the AAP secured a landslide of 67 seats out of 70, and Kejriwal became CM for the second time. His party won another landslide in 2020, securing 62 out of 70 with AK becoming CM for the third time. Since 2014 when the BJP-led NDA government came into power and began its reign from capital Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal has been breathing down its back in the same capital. Therefore, it’s no surprise too that the NDA Government wants AK and his AAP out of the way, come what may, many BJP leaders having labelled his as the ‘Kingpin of the Scam’!

Even as the massive AAP protests that erupted last night began to envelope the whole country today and its top leaders began getting arrested or detained, almost all of the INDIA Bloc parties and their leaders came out voicing strong support, slamming the central government for the ‘murder of democracy’ and also some of them joining Kejriwal’s party in the streets. Two main points emerge during this dramatic unfolding which, I think, seem a bit tricky and even dangerous.

First, the AAP has been maintaining that Kejriwal refused the summons for nine times, because all in the party feared that the CM could get arrested which they claimed to be the sole objective of the NDA Government. In the previous post I raised the question as to why opposition leaders like AK try to escape from the ED instead of facing the challenge and proving them innocent! While insisting on this supposed strategy last night one AAP spokesperson got mocked at as the grinning news channel anchor asked her if she were happy to be proved finally! As the spokesperson struggled with her answer, I switched the channel as the ‘affiliation’ of the anchor was rather too clear for me! I switched on another channel where I thought at least one of the anchors was only ‘partially affiliated’! the point being that such a strategy could prove to be very tricky for the party.

Second and most significantly, AAP leaders have been maintaining since last night that Kejriwal would go on working as CM from jail as he is not being convicted yet. This is just not right, irrespective of any precedents or not. This could only land the party in deeper trouble legally and it could also trigger a public outcry. There is no dearth of examples of criminal politicians operating from jails to which we don’t normally react favorably.

There could be a possible third point to emerge out the two: that Arvind Kejriwal is being regarded as the ‘sole face’ of the party which lends much credence to the media charge that Kejriwal doesn’t trust any of his associates, either in the cabinet or in the party folds. And therefore, with Kejriwal in jail, there’d be no leader at all to fit into his chair. Then, what about the crucial campaigning in the coming weeks? Who will lead the party? Besides, in a hypothetical situation, when Kejriwal manages to becomes the Prime Minister of India who would fill the CM chair, provided the AAP keeps on winning the assembly elections too! More seriously, this ‘sole face’ situation might very well lead to a logical dissolution of the AAP Government resulting in another round of President’s Rule in Delhi.

As the last reports came in, the first sitting CM to be arrested ever in India has been produced in a Delhi court where arguments from both sides are going on. The ED has asked for a 10-day custody. Earlier, the AAP withdrew its petition from the Supreme Court, because as he was arrested under the stringent Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) a bail would be most unlikely to be granted, and there are his colleagues including his deputy languishing still in the Delhi jails. Anyway, more twists and turns are only to be expected in the coming days, just like in a suspense thriller!

General Elections-2024: The Bonds of the Indian Electorate!

By all available indicators, trends and analysis the Bhartiya Janata Party(BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA)—more precisely the Modi Government—is all set to perform a rare hattrick of coming-back-to-power in the 18^th Lok Sabha or General Elecitons-2024 that starts on 19^th April and stretches like IPL all the way to 1^st June when the 7^th phase of voting is scheduled with the counting of results scheduled on 4^th June. A host of media reports/opinion polls, analysis by poll experts/psephologists, the confidence of the ruling BJP in achieving a 400+ tally of seats for its alliance, the NDA’s already achieved hattrick of winning three Assembly Elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh in 2023, a divided opposition despite the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance or the INDIA bloc of 27 political parties, and of course, the bonds of an endearing Indian electorate all point to this prediction which is fast becoming a certainty like a walkover before the match even began. The BJP on its own won 282 in 2014, 303 in 2019 and now they predict a tally of 350 seats. Even if they fail to reach 350, they seem almost sure to secure something around 300, and if they do so, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the first ever political leader of India to have achieved a single-party-majority three times in a row—meaning a resounding hattrick on all possible fronts.

The bonds of the Indian electorate seem to be growing warmer and warmer for their beloved leaders and the party, despite the Supreme Court striking down the Electoral Bonds Scheme. Some cynics point out that the vote shares in the previous two General Elections don’t quite bring out the maturing of the bonds of the electorate, because they say that the BJP’s vote share was just around 31% in 2014 and although it increased significantly to nearly 38% in 2019 it’s still lowly in view of the nearly 48% vote share achieved by the Indian National Congress or simply the Congress in 1957 under Jawaharlal Nehru. However, they miss on two points: first, the NDA has been marching along well securing about 45% vote share in the last elections and that since the beginning of ‘coalition politics’ from 1989 onwards the BJP’s achievement of 38% vote share is phenomenal.

The second point needs a little more elaboration. Vote shares are never a sound indicator if the bonds were warm or warmer. Vote shares don’t straightaway translate into winning more and more seats simply thanks to the fact that many candidates of both ruling and opposition parties have been winning seats by the slightest of vote margins which is a confirmed trend of modern poll and political times and that with the emergence of the regional parties there have been too many parties in the fray, sharing/splitting the pie. But on the other hand, the BJP candidates that won by large margins securing more than 50% vote shares of the constituencies concerned have increased from 136 in 2014 to 224 in 2019, and as per the available indicators this figure is set to get bigger this time. Cynics again counter this by saying that in the case of opposition candidates too, the number of wins securing more than 50% of the votes has increased from 64 in 2014 to 117 in 2019 which is more than that of the BJP in percentage terms. However, with the ruling alliance winning over many candidates/factions/parties across the Indian states to its fold quite a few of the erstwhile popular opposition candidates can turn to popular ruling candidates this time.

How big a challenge is the INDIA bloc? Well, even as the marginalization of Congress continues unabated and many parties having expressed their unwillingness either to partner with to share seats with it, the Bloc has been finding it hard to weather the storm keeping its flock together. Besides, most of the parties in the Bloc are extremely self-interested with the big few among them trying to promote their own prime ministerial candidates. And most significantly, they say an absolute ‘no’ to any leader from the Congress, particularly, Rahul Gandhi, emerging as a PM candidate. This is only natural: how could anyone earthily expect leaders like Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, Akhilesh Yadav among others agree to having Rahul Gandhi or even Mallikarjun Kharge as their leader should they make it to the Lok Sabha? Then the exodus from the Congress, including very senior leaders continues unabated too. Thus the possibility of the Bloc having a unanimous PM candidate remains a mirage. And, to counter a basically personality-driven party the challengers will have to find a unanimous leader—sooner than later. Not to speak of the ideologies involved. The opposition parties are united only in one issue: that the central agencies have been let loose on them with the express political aim of demoralizing or deactivating them. However, the point remains as to why such ‘vindicated’ leaders like Kejriwal are not facing up to the challenge by confronting the agencies and proving their innocence! To be on a little positive side, the Bloc of late has indeed been making some headway in the South and parts of the East and the West.

Having said all this it must be taken into consideration that the sense of overconfidence is not at all healthy under any circumstances. It would be an insult to the elections of the biggest democracy of the world by presuming it to be a foregone conclusion. One particularly should not forget the surprise loss of the visionary leader-statesman-poet-former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2004 when his BJP’s victory was almost a foregone conclusion. The Indian elections are still immensely capable of throwing up surprises, despite all the odds. No doubt, the development story, the growth of Hindu nationalistic patriotism or jingoism, the scintillating Ram Mandir & the dream of Ram Rajya, successes in foreign policy and so on are definitely making the bonds of the electorate get warmer. But on the other hand, some of the bonds could get somewhat adversely affected too by the termination of the Electoral Bonds, the handling of the farmers’ agitation, the promulgation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) just before the elections, taking the celebrated corrupt leaders of all time liberally into the party fold, the unabashed use of the central agencies and other issues. Besides, the BJP or the NDA still remains entirely Modi-centric. A personality-driven wave need not be repetitive all the time. So then, General Elections-2024 could still be no less than a cricket thriller! Get set and Vote!

Welcome Madam President: Draupadi Murmu Elected India’s 15th President!

Draupadi Murmu, a tribal BJP leader from the state of Odisha, has been elected as the 15^thPresident of India after she had secured more than 51% of the votes in the third round of counting that started today morning. Even as more rounds of counting still remain the final election announcement becomes a mere formality. Draupadi Murmu belongs to the Santhal tribe of India and thus becomes the first ever Scheduled Tribe person to become the President of India. And she is only the second woman President of the country after Pratibha Patil, the 12^thPresident during 2007-2012. Madam Murmu was born on 20^th June, 1958 in a village of Mayurbhanj district of Odisha. Both her father and her grandfather were village headmen (Sarpanch), and so in a way, she’d been associated with public life from her childhood. She had served in the profession of teaching and initially also worked as a clerk in the state irrigation department. In her personal life she had to face a series of tragedies—losing her husband in 2014, then both her sons and a brother in a span of four years. Madam Murmu then sought spiritual solace by joining the Brahma Kumaris and her daughter for family.

 

Draupadi Murmu joined the BJP in 1997 and served two terms as a minister in the state cabinet of Odisha when Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was having a coalition government with the BJP in the state. In 2015 she was appointed the Governor of Jharkhand, an eastern state of India with a major chunk of tribal population and she was the first ever lady Governor of the state. As the outgoing President of India Ram Nath Kovind was to complete his term this year, the BJP nominated Madam Murmu as the Presidential candidate for their ruling National Democratic Alliance. The announcement was strategically a masterstroke as no political party in India in the right frame of mind could afford to reject or vote against a woman tribal candidate. The move thus divided the opposition ranks effectively and ensured a landslide for Draupadi Murmu with the combined opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha, a former BJP stalwart and now a TMC leader, left only watching from the sidelines.  

 

Celebrations all across the country are in full swing, with a rich unfolding of the Santali and other tribal folk dances, distribution of sweets and bursting of crackers. Particularly for Odisha, a very joyous occasion indeed with the first ever person from the state becoming the country’s President. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already visited the Delhi residence of Draupadi Murmu and officially congratulated her. There’s been a lot of speculation and debates going on in the Indian media about the ruling alliance’s political masterstroke and if the new President is in fact going to be just a rubber stamp. All such politicking should be left out at this historic moment as the first ever tribal lady of the country is going to be sworn in as the 15^th President of India. No doubt, Draupadi Murmu will have many challenges waiting for her in a country where the tribal inhabitants are still looked down upon and the atrocities on them and on the tribal women still being daily occurrences in various parts of the country. We extend our best wishes for the First Lady (not as the President’s wife, but as the President herself) and wish her a very successful five-year career.

The Twisted Maharashtra Climax: Triumph or Loss of Face for BJP?

If the national ruling party BJP, through the bizarre turns and twists of the tale, wants the citizens of the country, irrespective of being their supporters or not, to believe that the party was not behind what unfolded in Maharashtra over the last 9 days the party leadership is under a delusion and totally on the wrong track; because everybody has been getting used to their games over the last few years, from Arunachal Pradesh to Goa. It had been a forgone conclusion that the waiting-in-queue former Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis was set to become the CM after a lapse of two and half years, till the last few hours in the afternoon of Thursday, the 30^th of June 2022 when the rebel group leader Eknath Shinde arrived in Mumbai to talk and negotiate with Fadnavis for the formation of the new government, still leaving his 49 or 50 supporters behind in Goa. As per the script both the leaders met the Governor and staked their claims. Again as per the script the oath-taking ceremony was to be held on Friday, the 1^st of July 2022. However, things bizarre started happening very fast after that.

 

First, the swearing-in ceremony for the formation of the new government was advanced to 7pm today itself, that is say, at least the swearing-in of the new CM. And then, in a joint press conference addressed by Shinde and Fadnavis the latter dropped the bombshell that the new CM was going to be Eknath Shinde, and not himself as was widely expected in media circles.  Fadnavis went on to say that the state BJP would not even be a part of the government, only extending his party’s support to Shinde’s faction from outside.  That announcement left everyone in utter disbelief and it was speculated that the BJP, in fact, wanted to oust the Thackeray family from active politics while still claiming the legacy of Balasaheb Thackeray and to show that they’d not been hungry for power at all, not at all having any part to play in the split in Shiv Sena. It was also speculated that Fadnavis wanted to become the kingmaker or the remote control to monopolize the Hindutva space in the state.

 

In another twist just before the oath-taking ceremony Devendra Fadnavis announced that they’d in fact be a part of the new government and that he’d be the new Deputy Chief Minister. This announcement was supposedly made at the directions of the BJP high command in Delhi. And accordingly, the swearing-in ceremony was organized with Shinde taking the oath as the new CM and Fadnavis as the Deputy CM.

 

While the earlier speculations we mentioned could still be valid the question arises as to why the mighty BJP should allow the party to demote itself to a secondary position. Could it be due to factors of compulsion? Because, the only hope of the BJP to recapture power depends entirely on that faction of 49 legislators supporting Shinde who claims to be the real Shiv Sena and should they decide to go back to the Thackeray fold later the BJP would again be out of power. This makes the alliance as unholy as the earlier one looking at a volatile future ahead. So far the defectors have been kept safely away from the hub of politics, but they will have to come back to take oath, join the government and run it.

 

Another question that arises is that if the BJP is agreeable to giving away the post of the CM to Shiv Sena why they didn’t do it in 2019 which would’ve prevented the entire political drama to unleash ceaselessly in the following two and half years and would’ve ensured a BJP CM for at least two and half years seamlessly. Such questions raise the doubt that the BJP has in fact suffered a loss of face under pressing compulsions. One BJP national spokesperson has stoutly justified the move saying that their party is committed to ending family rule in politics across the country; well, that can be too tall a promise. Besides, a long battle lies ahead of Shinde’s faction to fight for the original party symbol and to appropriate the Balasaheb legacy at the same time. On the other hand, the NCP stalwart Sharad Pawar is not going to sit idle and watch the games as a spectator. Only the future can tell on how solid grounds the new alliance stands at the moment.

 

In any case, it’s become a struggle for sheer survival as far as Uddhav and Aaditya Thackeray and their loyalists are concerned. They still have the support of about 16 legislators and a few of the Members of Parliament, and enjoy grass-root support in the metro of Mumbai. But the real test scenario is set to unfold in rural Maharashtra and other districts of the state. They should stop crying hoarse about their own people deserting them, and instead should fight it out in all corners of the state.

Uddhav Thackeray Resigns, Celebrations in the State BJP Camp!

Ahead of the trust vote ordered by the Supreme Court that is to be carried out on the floor of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly by 5pm on Thursday, the30^thJune 2022 Uddhav Thackeray has resigned from the post of Chief Minister on his Facebook Live address at 9.30pm today which was taken live on the television news channels across the country. The emotions of Uddhav Thackeray hardly mattered now as his resignation signified the end of his government and the trust vote tomorrow has become redundant. He has also resigned from his elected post of the Maharashtra Legislative Council. What had been billed as the ideal opposition alliance for the country to counter the growth of BJP the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has come to an end too. News of the formation of a new government led by the former CM Devendra Fadnavis is circulating at the moment with some news channels predicting a new government on July 1, 2022. The Governor, after accepting Uddhav’s resignation officially, may invite the single largest party which is BJP to form a new government and prove their majority later or the BJP with the Shiv Sena rebels may visit the Governor to stake claims. Uddhav’s resignation letter was in the process of being handed over to the Governor as the last reports came in.

 

Meanwhile, the holidaying Shiv Sena rebels (now claimed to be 49 including a few independents) along with their leader Eknath Shinde had been shifted from Guwahati to another luxury resort in Goa in the evening today and they are likely to return to Mumbai early morning tomorrow to have discussions or negotiations with the BJP first and then picking up on the government formation process. It’s almost certain that Fadnavis will be the new CM, waiting for more than two and half years. It can called a quirk of nature that the Shiv Sena left the pre-poll alliance with the BJP on the CM post issue, demanding a rotational CM for half of the five-year term each; and in around two and half years only the Uddhav government has fallen.

 

The state BJP has been celebrating in their Mumbai party office with Devendra Fadnavis present and being served with sweets. There are actually three cheers for them: first, they’ve avenged the betrayal of the Shiv Sena in 2019; second, they’ve successfully engineered the biggest split ever in Shiv Sena ranks thus somewhat clearing the way to become the only Hindutva party in the state; and third, they’ve achieved a most significant victory in the run-up to the General Elections in 2024 by recapturing the state with the financial capital of the country. Although Eknath Shinde wants to retain his faction’s identity as the real Shiv Sena it’s going to be a long legal battle to do so. The Shiv Sena earlier made it very clear that they’d never allow the legacy of Balasaheb Thackeray to be taken away from them. How long would Shiv Sean exist with the isolation of the Thackeray family is also to be seen in the coming days.

 

There have been protests against the ‘traitor’ rebel MLAs and counter demonstrations in support of Shinde across the state in the last few days which made the Governor order the state police to ensure safety of the rebels once they come back to Mumbai. Interestingly, the pleas for and against disqualification of 16 rebel MLAs as demanded by Shiv Sena is pending with the Supreme Court with a hearing scheduled on 12^thJuly. The apex Court came into the scenario as there’s been no Speaker in the assembly and the Deputy Speaker in charge is qualified to handle the matters relating to issues of disqualification and ordering a no-confidence motion.

(PS: The Final Twist! As on the afternoon of 30.06.2022, former BJP CM Devendra Fadnavis has declared the Shiv Sena rebel group leader Eknath Shinde as the next CM of Maharashtra!! This move has surprised one and all. Is it aimed at finishing off the traditional Thackeray family led Shiv Sena? It'll take time for a much clearer picture.)

Maharashtra Political Thriller: A Shiv Sena without the Thackerays?

We’ve been liberally treated with political thrillers like that is happening in Maharashtra at the moment across the country since the last few years, thanks to the aggressive power-politics of the national ruling dispensation (BJP) which fittingly matches its aggressive Hindutva nationalism. However, the present game has been inevitable since the year 2019 when Shiv Sena (SS) parted ways with the BJP after jointly fighting and winning the assembly elections, and after a landslide victory for the alliance in 2014, on the CM post issue, and forming a coalition government Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (Maharashtra Development Front or MVA) with the Congress and the nationalist Congress (NCP). For the last two and half years the state BJP has been a grumpy lot, alleging a great betrayal by the SS and wanting desperately to avenge it; in fact, they’d tried at least three times to derail the coalition so far. This last one, even though the party has continued to be in denial about any involvement, has proved to be the biggest coup within the Sena in history, threatening to finally dislodge the Uddhav Thackeray led MVA government.

 

The most definitive parameter of such political thrillers, the hotel-resort politics, is very much there in this too: first the dissident MLAs (Member of Legislative Assembly) led by Eknath Shinde, one of the senior-most and loyalist leaders of the Shiv Sena, were lodged in a five-star resort in Surat, a city in the BJP-ruled state of Gujarat, and then shifted unexpectedly at the dead of the same night to a five-star venue in Guwahati, of course, the capital of another BJP-ruled state of Assam with one of the most prominently aggressive national BJP leaders, Himanta Biswa Sarma, being the Chief Minister there. Dissident leader Eknath Shinde reportedly moved in there with around 30 supporting Sena MLAs which has increased to 42 (total of 46 including independent MLAs), as claimed by him on the morning of 23^rd June, 2022, for which he’d provided video proof too.

 

As per the anti-defection law Shinde needs to ensure the support of at least 37 MLAs which is two-thirds of the 55 SS MLAs in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly after the 2019 assembly elections. With apparently more than the required number the dissidents can now avoid disqualification and vote for the BJP in case of a no-confidence motion or in terms of showing the numbers to the Governor of Maharashtra to stake claim for the formation of a new Government with the BJP, the traditional partner of the SS on the basic Hindutva issue till 2019. Buoyed by this support Shinde has been claiming to be the leader of the ‘actual’ Shiv Sena, wanting to retain its identity at any cost. So, now we’re faced with a situation of a Shiv Sena without the Thackeray family whereas it was the legendary Balasaheb Thackeray, father of the present CM Uddhav Thackeray, who founded this party on 19^th June, 1966 in the interests of protecting the rights of the local Marathi population of the state.

 

Emotions ran high last evening, the 22^nd of June 2022, when Uddhav Thackeray, a gentleman-politician as always, made an address in social media appealing to all his MLAs to tell him face-to-face if they wanted him to resign that he said he was ready to do anytime, instead of conspiring behind his back. He added that his becoming the Chief Minister was only accidental which is actually true as the coalition partners wouldn’t have agreed to a non-Thackeray for the post. He also threw a kind of bait to Shinde, asking if they could ensure a new Chief Minister from his party only in the new scenario. In a further confirmation of his intentions Uddhav, found to be COVID positive in the morning, along with his family vacated his official CM residence Varsha late evening the same day, and moved to his family home Matoshree, around 9 km away. And we’d witnessed a spontaneous burst of love and support throughout his short journey home with thousands of Shiv Sainiks (Sena workers) and supporters accosting the traditional Sena leader and his bright promising minister-son Aaditya Thackeray on the streets of Mumbai. In my experience of over three decades this could only be only the second occasion of a spontaneous mass outburst of loyalty for a Thackeray, than during the days when Balasaheb lay seriously ill at Matoshree and eventually passed away in 2012.

 

Perhaps, somewhat nonplused by those emotional proceedings Eknath Shinde shied away from his intended press conference in Guwahati last evening, and instead shot off an ‘emotional’ letter to Uddhav this morning alleging a saga of sheer neglect to the SS loyalists by his coalition government that consistently preferred those of Congress and NCP only. However, despite the charged emotional drama MLAs kept on defecting from the Uddhav group and flying over to Guwahati, at times accompanied by BJP leaders.

 

The main spokesperson of the SS, Sanjay Raut has been saying repeatedly that the CM was not going to resign and that once the ‘imprisoned’ flock of MLAs returns to Mumbai it’d be an entirely different scenario as he has claimed to have been in touch with at least twenty dissident MLAs. He has also said that the traditional supporters of the SS have reiterated their binding faith in the Thackerays, have called the Sena dissidents as ‘traitors’ and have warned that they’d defeat them in the next assembly elections. All these claims and counter-claims about the numbers make this abundantly clear that this political thriller is far from over at the moment. Coincidentally, the 80-year-old Governor of Maharashtra has been in a hospital after being proved COVID positive.

 

Eknath Shinde has made it clear that his fight is to save the SS from this ‘unnatural’ coalition and to reunite the party with its traditional Hindutva partner BJP. Therefore, basically, Shinde wants to be the leader of the ‘actual’ or the breakaway faction of the Shiv Sena, and does not want to merge with the BJP. If he’d like to be considered for the post of the new CM, the BJP is extremely unlikely to agree to that with the dislodged former CM Devendra Fadnavis waiting patiently for over two and half years. Further, the Election Commission has to come into the scenario later as to which faction is going to have the right to continue using the old party symbol. Whatever be the future proceedings of this number-game, now apparently not at all in favor of Uddhav Thackeray, a Shiv Sena without the Thackeray family is not a concept that’d have acceptance from the larger Marathi people of the state.

Disturbing Times: Renewed Madness and the Vicious Circle of the Absurd!

Photo: phrases.org.uk

The Pandemic, at best, seemed only to have kept the madness of the modern age in a tight leash as long as it raged, creating a mortal fear over the whole of humankind. So, once the humans had discovered enough protection against it and succeeded in keeping it at bay, the modern-day madness seems to have come back with renewed vigor—to get back what they’ve lost over the last two years in real quick time. We can hardly pinpoint anyone to put the blame squarely on; because it’s affected almost every section or individual of the society. Coming to India, once the COVID-19 restrictions were completely lifted life’s started becoming more than normal. From the daily wage-earners and the vendors to the topmost business tycoons—almost everyone started showing extreme hurry to get back what they lost. The local admin authorities, also full of human beings only, joined in too; even the most discreet procedures were thrown out of the window. Tragedies, conflicts, absurdities and so on began unfolding very fast, peaking in the last few days while also giving the virus one more chance to come back.

 

Caught perhaps in a pandemic-induced mad frame of mind the new government in Punjab, the CM being a popular artiste, suddenly withdrew the security cover given to one of the state’s most popular singers who had been under threat from different gangs for various reasons. And tragically, the very next day, singer Sidhu Moose Wala was brutally gunned down in his car by gangsters chasing him in another car. Moose Wala was just 28 and had all the prime future ahead of him. To add to his there’s been a string of targeted murders of locals and non-local citizens in Jammu and Kashmir by terrorists whom the experts describe as micro-level operators or a kind of hybrid terrorism. Greatly disturbing tragedies, anyway.

 

As we mentioned at the beginning, even the minimum public safety measures were thrown away, almost everywhere in the country. And another tragedy happened. Kolkata’s humid heat is known to all who’ve experienced it. The 31^st of May 2022 was one such humid day when the heat was sweaty and unbearable even inside homes, under the whirring ceiling fans or even the struggling ACs. And, on that very day a popular playback singer in Hindi and in several south Indian and other languages, Krishnakumar Kunnath (famous as KK) was invited by local organizers in Kolkata to perform in the gloomy evening in one of the city’s premiere auditoriums, Nazrul Mancha.

 

Reports, dismissed as rumors, say the hall was more than packed as there were no restrictions on controlling entry of the extra hundreds of avid audiences, and that the AC was not functioning properly which is not surprising because we find the ACs getting weaker as the attendees get more and more on various occasions. The singer was seen wiping his sweat away and complaining to the organizers frequently. But, as a professional and for the success of the glamour event, he sang for nearly three hours. Then he felt uneasy complaining of chest pain. Surprisingly, he was taken to his hotel, instead of rushing him to the nearest hospital out of sheer common sense. KK collapsed in his hotel room and was declared dead on finally arriving in a hospital. KK, only 53, died of a heart attack as per the postmortem report. But was there nothing that could’ve triggered it in a person who had no previous history of heart problems?

 

Also perhaps severely affected by the post-pandemic madness, one advertising agency in Mumbai released ads on a male deodorant that directly promote the gang-rape theme even as there’ve been reports of rapes and gang-rapes taking place all over the country almost daily. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has promptly suspended the ads ordering those to be taken out of air everywhere. However, the question remains as to how those horrid ads passed layers and layers of the approval procedures. Or perhaps, it clearly pandered to the ‘tastes’ of a great majority of the stakeholders concerned. The same madness to recover what was lost by hook or by crook.

 

As the latest to happen to the continuing saga of greatly disturbing proceedings, one lady spokesperson of the ruling party (BJP) made some adverse remarks to Prophet Muhammad on a public platform yesterday. One more major communal riot unfolded on the streets of Kanpur as a result. The BJP, obviously concerned by the reactions of Qatar and the greater Arab world, suspended her along with one more male spokesperson for giving provocative speeches. The lady said later that she didn’t intend to hurt anyone’s sentiments; she was only pained by the alleged insults to ‘her Lord Shiva’. The other complained of serious threats to his life.

 

And then, the absurd of the absurd! A party that came to power on the strength of its aggressive Hindu nationalism and being condemned as a communal party all the time, the BJP is now accused by some of appeasing the Islamists! Well, we believe in one God or one Creator who may have various forms as per the beliefs of various other religions. We advise people, irrespective of to whatever extent they are being driven by the post-pandemic madness, to desist from fighting for ‘your God’ and ‘our God’ which can only bring us all to the brink, the world making a full circle, probably heading for the End.

 

The megastar Salman Khan today has received a letter threating death to him and his father Salim Khan in the ‘Moose Wala’ way. This could be another ‘vicious circle’ of the singer’s murder involving various probable gangsters of an unknown quantity. While in the US, apart from the mad shootings, there was report of a security issue with President Biden even as the Russian invasion of Ukraine has crossed hundred days.

Lord Shiva Dwells In Your Heart And Home Always!

Lord Shiva is believed to be the most powerful God in the Hindu Trinity with Brahma and Vishnu. Lord Shiva is described as a destroyer and also a recreator and transformer. He is also referred to as Mahadeva or Maheshwar—the Great God. In his benevolent form he lives like a simple householder with his family of other Hindu Gods and Goddesses and spends His time in Kailash with the simplicity of an ascetic. But when He is angry, he becomes the Destroyer in which form he can obliterate demons, impurities in human minds and even the whole world. He is everywhere like any other omnipotent and omnipresent God. You can find Him in your heart, in the environs of your home and do your prayers accordingly; and if you want to worship Him in the form of an idol you can install a Shivling or Shiva Linga, the mark or sign or symbol of Lord Shiva, in your home or visit a temple or a shrine or a place of worship even under a big tree that are found almost in every locality in India. There are even artistic priests available in the country who can come to your home, create a perfect idol of Shivling in clay and do a most gratifying Puja for you. You absolutely need not launch yourself in a journey of finding and discovering Him.

 

History is a process of evolution and change. Mother Earth keeps on changing through wars, conflicts, rivalries, reforms and recreation in an endless cycle. Mother Earth belongs to the whole of humankind, and not to any particular section of it. Since evolution has been the eternal cycle human discoveries and inventions definitely mark the progress of humankind. In modern times archaeological surveys lead to priceless discoveries of civilizations, scriptures and monuments. Such priceless assets add to our knowledge and should ideally be preserved in museums and research institutions. Such discoveries should never ever lead to disputes or quarrels over the rights of ownership as we just said Mother Earth belongs to all. Petty quarrels make Lord Shiva very angry and we’ve been watching the devastation caused by Mother Nature in the recent decades, and mind you, the Shakti or the energy of Lord Shiva’s better half Parvati or Durga or Kali gets channelized through the Lord only.

 

Throughout history many of the kings or emperors, irrespective of their religions, had either done a lot of good or did a lot of evil deeds and acts of destructions. Many invaders coming from various regions of the world ravaged and savaged our countries on many occasions leaving a trail of pain and suffering; however, the next rulers repaired again, and therefore, the process goes on. We cannot bring those to court for doing wrongs over the centuries, neither can we reward those benevolent ones in public events. But we can do indeed learn, gather knowledge and follow the good ideals.

 

We should consider ourselves very lucky to be living in a modern and digital world of today where everything is at our fingertips. We can even find our beloved gods and goddesses in our handy devices and sing or listen to prayers, either alone with oneself or with others, within them. If we find something objectionable or we disagree with something/someone we can always exchange our views openly in a peaceful and a virtually-built environment, instead of breaking out in open physical conflicts that definitely anger the divine powers, Mother Earth and Mother Nature. The best option is to go on enhancing our Gyan or wisdom rather than be vapid about it.

 

We should also shift our focus on how to further the all-round progress of our country in all fields of activity. We’ve seen how the Pandemic nearly destroyed us; how the economies have been hit; how the inflation is becoming uncontrollable; how the gas cylinder prices have shot up beyond the 1k mark and the fuel prices have crossed the 100+ mark, still rising; how the unemployment has been becoming a scourge; and what has been happening to our neighboring country Sri Lanka. We have much to ponder upon while keeping our prayers pure and within ourselves. Besides, should we go on with our relentless hunts/quests/pleas to overburden our courts that have already been reeling under extreme pressure?

Congress: The Most Unearthly Enigma On Earth As Prashant Kishor Fails Again!

In the digitalized modern world, every device has either to be updated regularly or discarded entirely for a new one to keep the user relevant to the times. If the old device continues to be used in total disregard to the warnings the user becomes useless and almost a nuisance to the society and the other users. In such a state-of-the-art setup the Indian National Congress (INC or simply the Congress) seems to be the only device…sorry…a national political party, that steadfastly refuses to be updated, showing an unearthly disdain to change in pace with the times. It has done nothing after losing promising young firebrand leaders like Jyotiraditya Scindia and others; it has done nothing after its 23 top leaders, famously forming the G-23, separated themselves from the party asking for reforms and structural changes; it has done nothing to change the leadership even after losing elections again and again since 2014; and it has done nothing even after the celebrated poll-strategist Prashant Kishor who had brought the Mamata Banerjee government back to power in West Bengal with an incredible majority last year came forward willingly to help the beleaguered monolith two times in two years.

 

Why is the oldest national political party of the largest democracy of the world so inimical to change? Well, it cannot possibly part with the Gandhi leadership, such is its devotion to the family. They, the staunch loyalists, say no other Congress leader can replace the Gandhis because they say further that only the Gandhis still possess a pan-India presence and recognition. They don’t seem to see that the Congress is gone in the North East; it’s gone to in the East too; it’s gone in the North except for somehow sticking on in Rajasthan, it’s gone in the Central region except for so far surviving in Chhattisgarh; it’s gone in the West but for being the smallest partner in the Maharashtra coalition government; and it’s gone in the South too. So, where is Gandhis’ India?

 

The Gandhi family cannot be blamed entirely for the sordid episodes of resisting change, because on several occasions Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi offered to resign and allow other senior leaders to take over the reins. However, the regressive loyalists refused to budge on each occasion, beseeching them like the slaves of the British to continue. They, at any cost, want to keep Rahul Gandhi as the Congress’s Prime Ministerial candidate as if for eternity. The G-23 was formed to bring in the much-required changes in leadership and in the overall structure. But the loyalists continued to advise Sonia Gandhi to thwart what they call the dissidents.

 

The opposition unity in the country has been suffering because of this change-resisting enigma of a party. The opposition parties, as we’ve mentioned many times in earlier pieces, fully understand that a real united opposition in India cannot be formed leaving out the oldest party of the country as the INC will contest anyway on its own all its traditional seats come what may and thus split the votes in favor of the ruling party. They neither can take the Congress in with them due to the risk of losing a huge chunk of the seats that happened in Bihar, be it in the assembly or the general elections. Most importantly, with the emergence of promising national leaders like Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal, the obsession of Rahul Gandhi as the united opposition Prime Ministerial candidate has also become an obsolete enigma.

 

The IPAC wizard Prashant Kishor definitely understands these realities and therefore perhaps, he has kept on trying to guide the Congress to become an effective opposition partner with parties like the TMC, the AAP, the TRS and so on. He tried last year and failed. After the victory of Mamata’s TMC in 2021 where the Congress was avoided as an alliance partner Prashant Kishor gave the issue another more serious try. Several rounds of discussions between Sonia along with Congress stalwarts and Prashant Kishor had taken place in Delhi in the past few days. And it failed again with both the would-be collaborators parting ways on Tuesday, the 26^th of April 2022, amicably as reported.

 

Here again, obviously, the regressive changing-resisting loyalists have to be blamed squarely for this failure. They must have thought that if Prashant Kishor, the kind of poll revolutionary he is, becomes an independent consultant he’d surely ask for revolutionary changes in the party’s structure and leadership to which they cannot agree at any cost. Therefore, they must have advised Sonia Gandhi to offer Kishor to be a part of Congress by joining the Empowered Action Group to strategize jointly for the General Elections of 2024. And Prashant Kishor declined, true to his role as the most-wanted independent political strategist.

A line from a famous Hindi song in the melodious voice of Kishore Kumar from the critically acclaimed Rajesh Khanna-starrer movie Amar Prem (1972), directed by Shakti Samanta with music my Rahul Dev Burman and lyrics by Anand Bakshi, comes to the mind that says, ‘…majhi jo nao duboiye, usey kaun bachaye…’ (when the boatman sinks his boat who can save him?)!

The Essence Of Hanuman Chalisa And Azaan!

Hanuman Chalisa is a collection of forty verses (chalis in Hindi means the number 40) except for two Doha or couplets in the beginning and one Doha at the end, in praise of Lord Hanuman who apart from being the exemplary devotee or Bhakta of Lord Ram is also regarded as an incarnation of Shiva and so, is recognized as a God. The scripture of Hanuman Chalisa is authored by Tulsidas (1497/1532—1623), the famous Bhakti poet-saint of the 16^th century India, renowned for composing the Ramcharitmanas (Lake of the deeds of Rama), retelling of the epic Ramayana. Ramcharitmanas is a monumental poetic creation because of the fact that Tulsidas composed it in the Awadhi or Oudhi language that is taken as a dialect of Hindi and thus taking the epic to the huge arena of the common Indians; Sanskrit scriptures are understood mostly by the scholars of that language. Hanuman Chalisa is also composed in Awadhi.

 

As we mentioned Hanuman Chalisa is a collection of forty chaupais (four-line-stanza verses) or devotional hymns or stotra in praise of Lord Hanuman. The verses describe the half-monkey God Hanuman as a staunch Bhakta of Lord Ram, a man of strength, courage and wisdom and a man without desire. As most citizens of the world know that Hanuman is one of the central characters of Ramayana, he is always in the service of Rama and doing everything possible for him to eradicate evil without expecting rewards. He is also regarded in India as a deity of Sankat Mochan, that is recuing humans from all crises and obstacles. Reciting Hanuman Chalisa is believed to help humans to overcome all such obstacles, realize one’s wishes and progressing in the path to liberation from all adversities or afflictions, finally achieving Moksha.

 

The Hanuman Chalisa booklet, apart from being readable to all knowing the Devanagari script are available in various Indian languages plus the numerous music albums. One CD sung by the reputed Indian singer Hariharan has reportedly achieved more than 2 billion views. Millions of Indians recite the Chalisa daily, anytime or any number of times they desire, at homes and even while on the move. The easily recognizable booklet in Awadhi is there in our home too. My wife reads it whenever she feels the need, almost daily at least once. And she sits in seclusion to read it, and reads it silently so that it does not disturb me or others present, irrespective of we being believers or non-believers. At times she reads it silently, sitting in the car as I drive on peacefully.  

 

The basic mantra about hymns or stotra or mantra is that the recitation of these means a prayer and a prayer done in the mind is said to be the best as it helps the praying person concentrate and visualize his/her favorite deity. In fact, it amounts to meditation which is very much recommended in our stress-filled times and it opens the road to spiritualism. Of course, all people may not or are not spiritually inclined and they want the reverberations of the hymns influence and inspire them. No issues here too. They can very easily recite it aloud at homes or even while in public transport, and they can also listen to loud recorded recitations or singing in their music systems within their four walls or even inside any temple that holds such prayers. The fact of the matter is that reciting Hanuman Chalisa is absolutely a personal choice, open to all willing ones, and therefore, it doesn’t at all need public amplification.

 

The Islamic custom of the Adhan (in Arabic) or Azaan (in many other languages) is slightly different. The Azaan is in fact means an announcement to call the devotees to the prayers to be held in the minarets or in the mosques. Not deterred by the Sunni and Shia differences over the practice, the muezzin or the person who makes the announcement recites the Islamic call to prayers. The ritual of Adhan has been in practice since the times of Prophet Muhammad (570 AD—632 AD) who approximately at the age of forty got his first revelation from God and that led to him to finally found the Islamic religion based on one God or monotheism, combining all the teachings of Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and other prophets. Prophet Muhammad, believed to be the last prophet sent by God, transformed the whole of Arabia religiously, socially and even economically through his preaching. The verses of his revelations received from God led to the compilation and creation of Quran, the finest scripture in Arabic.

 

Prayers, thus, were central to the Prophet’s preaching and teachings in order to attract more and more followers. Azaan started as a response; it is not clear if he himself started this or appointed his main follower to start making the calls. Anyway, to catch the attention of the followers and inspire them to come to the prayers Prophet Muhammad needed public announcements. The loudspeakers came only in the first part of the 20^th century. Of course, other mechanical devices like the bells, the drums and the horns were available; but Muhammad preferred only to use his own strong voice or the voice of the muezzin for that purpose.

 

However, when the loudspeakers were invented in the 1930s the Muslim countries started using those and fitted the devices in the minarets and the mosques, mostly as a show of strength of their faith rather than devotion. It is believed that Azaan or prayers need to be done five times a day for devout Muslim, and thus in many countries including the Muslim-majority ones the loudspeakers slowly started becoming a nuisance in terms of noise pollution. Over the decades we’ve seen restrictions imposed on the use of loudspeakers and the imposition of decibel limits becoming a common practice in may countries including Saudi Arabia.

 

 In India the loudspeakers for Azaan began to be used only from the 1970s and as the country’s Constitution had declared India as a socialist secular democratic republic all religious practices, festivals and rituals have been allowed in all their ritualistic grandeur. But in the past decade we’ve seen selective protests fueled obviously by the growth of aggressive majority nationalism and fundamentalism of various forms. The present controversy raging, unfortunately, throughout the country is nothing but practices of religion-based politics and growing intolerance—one making the other more and more intolerant in a vicious circle.

 

We had earlier argued that chanting Hanuman Chalisa silently or loudly is a personal choice with nothing to do with public announcements. We can express similar feelings about Azaan too. In modern digital times, it’s just not possible for the educated and working Muslims to offer prayers five times a day, that too at a public place of worship. In whole of my service career, I’ve seen my Muslim colleagues and friends offering Namaz only on the Friday afternoons, at the mosque nearby or in office itself, silently. I’ve also seen numerous passengers in train journeys doing Namaz quietly, putting a piece of cloth on the floor in-between the berths, without disturbing anyone. Therefore, I’d say Azaan or Namaz or any kind of Islamic prayers are getting increasingly influenced by personal choices. To call it anti-Islamic would be another form of fundamentalist intolerance.

 

You are right when you object to the noise of the loudspeakers, particularly keeping in mind the differently abled and the patients in general. But you cannot be selective about your protests or you cannot try to right a wrong with another wrong. If you ask, righteously so, for a ban on the loudspeakers in public places to prevent noise pollution which is indeed a growing menace it has to be a blanket ban, covering all kinds of religious-cultural events/festivals/rituals taking place twelve month a year in our country. And, you hardly hear religious chanting of hymns or stotra on the mikes, you only hear film songs and even disco songs so that the devoteescan dance too.

 

This kind of hypocrisy and the growing politicization cum commercialization of religions must stop. High time to adopt a new modern religion of making the religion a matter of personal choice; preferably in the innermost corners of your excellent and powerful mind or within the four-walls of your homes or within the four-walls of any place of worship. The Pandemic nearly accomplished this; but unfortunately, humankind hates to learn from even disasters.