Politics Of Corruption: The Elliptical Embrace!

While with his crusader mentor he was a dedicated and committed worker-activist trying to root out corruption from the face of India. His principles were then in the right place as he was fondly called the right hand of his mentor. However, he had another quality—ambition, and that too was very principled. He perhaps thought that eradicating corruption was a huge task as long as one had to fight a formidable system set in place over the years by corrupt governments. Therefore he thought that the only way to fight corruption effectively had to be from within. He had to have a political entity to enter the system and fight it. And from that moment his ambition took over command keeping principles in abeyance. He left his mentor high and dry and formed a new political party. Rest is history.

Quick-fix developments and growing evidence over the last three years tend to show that Dehli Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) could be the first ever political party in the country to be able to learn the secrets of politics in the shortest possible period of time. AAP has tasted, experimented and executed all forms of politics during this period and showed an exemplary acumen in handling-manipulating-exploiting conditions, even converting non-political conditions into rampant politics. In this light, Kejriwal’s latest antic of embracing Bihar’s Lalu Prasad Yadav in the swearing-in ceremony of the new government led by Nitish Kumar is just one more example of practical politics. In fact, AAP has already clarified that the embrace was only a courteous gesture and that AAP is for Nitish only and never for Lalu.

Maybe for the common people it still stinks. The common people enthusiastically lapped up the idea of a corruption-free society and joined the movement by Anna Hazare en masse. They did not mind when Kejriwal took up the fight politically deserting Anna. They brought him into power allowing his even to compromise to form a ‘common people’ government. They brought him again into power with an unprecedented mandate, forgiving him his ‘compulsion’ to run away from governance in his first chance. And then all his ‘antics’ continued to be on display with his own ‘fighters’ deserting his party or being thrown out unceremoniously. And now, embracing a symbol of corruption and non-performance in full public view, and raising their hands in victory seems maybe little too much for the forgiving public. Furthermore, this is the same personality whom he criticized earlier for being corrupt. Experts say there are no absolutes in politics, but saner politicians or parties need to think twice before being part of an unholy alliance where ‘development’ is absent and only ‘ambition’ is present overwhelmingly. Unfortunately, this is what is happening at the moment with the ‘holy’ aim of thwarting a so-called communal party or alliance.

What is Bihar’s gain from its super-hyped assembly elections? Well, they only gained Nitish who has been a performer for the state. However, facts reveal that Nitish performed better when being part of an alliance with the BJP. Now, with a non-performing but very powerful ally it is bound to be uphill for Nitish to even govern. Lalu Prasad Yadav has the most potent controls in his hands in the forms of his son as Deputy Chief Minister, his other comrades as ministers and a caste-laden government to boot. Plus of course, the Congress—a party totally bankrupt of ideas and just trying to survive on ‘excuses’ provided unawares by some anti-social elements. Even then, the Bihar example is encouraging everyone in opposition to the present government across India to come up with grand alliances of corrupt, non-performing, opportunistic, rejected, degenerate and divisive political entities just to keep the BJP led NDA out. They protest against alleged ‘polarization’ of the country and encourage caste politics even getting close to supporting terrorists just to score points against the present government.

If keeping the BJP out is their idea of having a 'united India'  God help us all. 

The IPL Verdict: Operation Clean-Up Indian Cricket!

July 14, 2015, a very important day for Indian Cricket. On the one hand the forcibly-constituted second-string Team India has crushed Zimbabwe 3-0 in the ODI Series being played in Zimbabwe. On the other the Supreme Court appointed Justice Lodha Committee delivered a historic and ruthless verdict on the IPL Spot Fixing scam. Operation Clean-Up Indian cricket has begun with a big bang. In these pages we have always opposed the sleazy cricket in the garb of the Indian Premier League (IPL) tracking all the important developments including the Supreme Court of India coming into the picture taking on the corrupt practices both in the tournament and in the Indian cricket board, BCCI. Now the IPL is in the worst crisis ever. Now, we stand vindicated, we say now…scrap the IPL.

Sans the superstars the second-string Indian team played freely in Zimbabwe under the ‘no-choice’ skipper Ajinkya Rahane. They have built up big partnerships that the main team was found lacking in recent matches; several key batsmen hit centuries and what is important stayed on for the team’s interest that many superstars of the main team could not do; they have pulled the team out of tricky and dangerous situations especially in the first and the third one day internationals winning both matches whereas as found recently under the same situations the main team would have given up meekly; without pondering over the ability or the lack of it of the opposition they have batted, bowled and fielded with determination winning finally in style. For the first time Stuart Binny got the opportunity to showcase his all-round abilities. He was in the World Cup-2015 team, but was hardly utilized. Within a few days the new team grouped well and delivered. And what about the superstars? They forced out the ‘rest’ because they were IPL-weary. Now, most of them find that they have no IPL teams to play for.

The sensational IPL Verdict has banned two major franchises—Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR)—from the IPL for two years. The axe fell on these two teams due to their two key officials—Gurunath Meiyappan of CSK and Raj Kundra of RR—who were found guilty of being involved in heavy betting. Despite their obvious complicity no action was ever taken against them by the concerned franchisee or the BCCI. Meiyappan and Kundra are banned for life from all cricket activities and from all cricket matters relating to the BCCI. Crucial evidence in this regard was submitted by the Mudgal Committee last year.

Question marks are also on the current one-day skipper MS Dhoni who also leads the CSK as to what he disclosed or hid from the Mudgal committee. He was found to be in close coordination with Meiyappan, the CEO of the franchisee, in all matters related to CSK. The shadow of doubt on him and several other star cricketers are bound to continue till further disclosure. Three players of RR were arrested for spot fixing and with the co-owner Raj Kundra also implicated nobody in the franchisee bothered to examine or take action. This is not the end of justice being done; this is just the beginning of operation clean-up Indian cricket. More is bound to follow with the Lodha committee set to take up the corruption and lack of transparency in the BCCI next.

And what about N Srinivasan? His team gone, his company Indian Cements debarred from any business with the BCCI and his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan banned for life. However, well known for his craze for power, N Srinivasan will not step down or resign from his ICC Chairmanship or other cricket posts. Questions will be raised again on his role, but the great cricket-czar is still looking for options expressing his disappointment at the ‘unfair’ verdict. One thing is sure though, Indian Cricket cannot be the same after today.

Humor: Politics Of The K Kind!

“Ki…ki…ki…ki…ki…!”

“Don’t try that on me, ok? I’m not at all afraid of you!”

“Ki…ki…ki…ki…ki…Kiran!”

“How you convinced the Congress to support its bitter foes ever I don’t know. But never try such tricks on us now. No way! You’ve seen it from the very beginning.”

“How could you do this to me?”

“It is the result of what you have been doing all the time.”

“We had the same mentor, same ideals and fought for the same noble cause.”

“And you left the same mentor high and dry, used him for your relentless ambitions at all possible levels—local, regional, national and international.”

“You cannot deny my basic objective—cleaning the system from within. I was so committed and tried my best.”

“And so you ran away from running the government. Being the ruling leader you still sat and slept on the streets to carry on what goddamn objectives I could hardly understand.”

“You must understand why. ‘Central’ circumstances forced me to do so.  I had no options. I had to make sure that the Bill was passed. No Bill left me only with chills…and I fell sick also as you know. My commitment…” 

“You also must understand that in a democracy things take time to shape up and finally happen. You made full use of democratic traditions for our mentor’s movement and then sacrificed the same for your next national ambitions. You cheated the very people you wanted to give a clean and corruption-free system.”

“Don’t be so cruel, ki…ki..ki… And don’t be so overconfident too. You had your share too and now you’ve done the same thing that I did so early and with so much vision and foresight.”

“Wow!...Look Kejri! Your whole philosophy has always been negative. Within your party you did only negative things, offended your loyal supporters and made them leave the ideals and the party. You talk about my step now! Do you know what stuff I have been made of? I have decades of experience in admin, management and social activism too. I know how to work and how to get work done…”

“Bragging is not so healthy, milady. Nothing can take away the fact that you’ve joined one of the same groups that we’ve been opposing tooth and nail together. You’ve done what you’ve done. Take that for sure.”

“You see…things have changed a lot since then. Now we have a leader who is both inspiring and even spiritual. He is the future; he is the visionary for our country. We need stable governments in every corner to help him succeed. He has convinced me to take my social activism to a different level, and now I will have the opportunity to serve people directly…”

“Okay…okay. But just don’t write me off as yet. You see there is a natural progression in the graph of success for any historic personality. What I’ve done so far is not that insignificant. I ruled over for 49 days…maybe next time I will achieve the milestone of 100 days…and maybe next time…”

“You’ll never change, my historic visionary! The anarchist in you will never allow you to see reason and logic. You’ve termed us as the ‘sinking ship’ while hardly understanding the obvious fact that you’ve already started you journey of going down and down…”

“Enough, milady, enough! See you on the battleground!”

“Oh sure! This time we are going to teach how to be reasonable.”

“Mention not! People know me what stuff I am made of and they will never tolerate any humiliation meted out to me.”

“Count first how many of you party-men and supporters are going to remain with you. Then talk…”

“Mention not!”

Politics Of Corruption: AAP Wants Kejriwal To Be CM Again!

Arvind Kejriwal's ambitions were rooted to the popularity and the national appeal of the anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare. Utilizing his proximity to Anna he formed his own political entity Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and  decided it was time to part ways with his 'mentor' as the great idealistic campaigner never wanted to have anything to do with political parties. When Kejriwal was given a stunning mandate by the people in Delhi he took it as a verdict for his party and his ambitions partially fulfilled Kejriwal and his party indulged in all sorts of politicking that any political party is capable of. He did not want to accept that people in fact wanted a corruption free government and voted for a government that could ensure a solution for this burning issue of the Indian way of life. With power and popularity peaking Kejriwal did all possible under the sun to create and maintain the hype around him. 

Like a person possessed by ambition Kejriwal looked ahead to further his success after the Delhi Assembly poll. He kept his sight on the coming Lok Sabha Elections and thought a person like him could not possibly waste his time being a mere Chief Minister while the post of the Prime Minister seemed to beckon to him constantly. His AAP had already decided to contest in 400 out of the 543 Lok Sabha seats. Therefore Kejriwal decided to quit as Chief Minister and after 49 days in power let his government fall citing a whole lot of flimsy reasons. He conveniently forgot that his party betrayed his voters absolutely and made the fatal mistake of taking voters for granted. He even did not like the idea of the BJP trying to form a government in his place and so moved the Supreme Court seeking immediate dissolution of the Delhi Assembly. 

We have already told you what happened in the General Elections-2014. Apart from Kejriwal losing to Narendra Modi in Varanasi his AAP fared miserably everywhere except for the state Punjab where it managed to get 4 seats. In Delhi AAP could not get a single seat coming second to the winning BJP candidates in only three constituencies while coming on top only in 10 Assembly segments out of a total of 70 segments. People of Delhi rejected AAP in no uncertain terms and like the national trend brought in the BJP in all of the 7 seats of Delhi. At the moment Arvind Kejriwal and his party have nothing to do to stay on in media limelight. 

So then in a party meet top leaders some members of AAP mooted a proposal that Kejriwal try form a government in Delhi again and naturally take over as Chief Minister. Kejriwal was also present in the meeting and reportedly did not comment. Around twenty AAP members were in favor of this and they represent a typical political behavior. They cannot afford to stay starved of political power and clout, and so would like to grab that by hook or by crook. The so-called anti-corruption activists have come a full ironic circle now. What they are doing or trying to do now is moral corruption and India Against Corruption must take note of this. The Fight Against Corruption must now be directed against the very people who took advantage of the movement to grab political power and not having their plate full would like to devour some more. 

And to whose support they are looking for now? After receiving an overwhelming public mandate BJP would have no business of supporting some opportunists, and the party had already stated that it was for fresh elections in Delhi. Are they then looking forward to getting support again from Congress--a party so utterly rejected and bitterly dejected? Fittingly AAP got snubbed from Congress too as the party said clearly that it did not want to support again and would like to have fresh elections despite its present miserable condition. Kejriwal blossomed his political career by attacking the Congress endlessly and now he must pay heed to the same party when it tells him that he has no moral authority to try form a government in Delhi again. Anna Hazare was dead right when almost two years back he set some essential qualifications for a person wanting to fight corruption.

PS: AAP tweeted later today that some media are resorting to spreading rumors and that there was no question of forming a government again in Delhi because AAP wanted reelection in the first place.  Well, it will definitely prevent loss of sleep for many AAP loyalists! For the moment, of course! 

IPL Spot Fixing: Supreme Court Stumps Srinivasan! Resign Or Face Action!

We wrote in this site on June 2, 2013: “…the millions of Indian cricket fans must take up this issue and decide the next course of action. They must do enough to take the issue to the Supreme Court of India and believe in the apex court to deliver the final and lasting justice. They also must realize the immensity of the cowardly silence still maintained by cricket legends and former greats of this country and adopt their stand on cricket at large clearly.” (Read The Full Post)

And the day of justice has arrived. Today, the Supreme Court of India has described N Srinivasan, the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), as ‘filthy’ and ‘nauseating’ while asking as to why he “sticking to his chair”. The Court asked Srinivasan to resign so as to enable an independent probe into the dirty IPL Spot Fixing case and held that if he failed to resign within forty eight hours the Court would take action and issue proper order. The Supreme Court had appointed the Mudgal Committee to look into the matter and the Committee submitted its report on 10^thFebruary, 2014.

We wrote on 11^th February, 2014: “One police officer from Tamil Nadu is believed to have deposed before the Committee and made some startling revelations casting doubt on Dhoni for his possible involvement in fixing an IPL match between CSK (Chennai Super Kings) captained by him and Rajasthan Royals teams…More crucially the Committee has implicated Gurunath Meiyappan for being involved in betting and passing information about his team. The Committee also confirms him to be an official of CSK, if not the owner. He is the son-in-law of BCCI President N Srinivasan. And who is Dhoni? Answers are not hard to find in this dirty saga of money, corruption and greed. Maybe Dhoni is still considered to be king like many of his team on slow and flat subcontinental pitches. The Mudgal Report also names six Indian cricketers apparently involved in match fixing and a reputed one of them is still a part of the current Indian team. The Report has a sealed envelope too that will be opened…” (Read The Full Post)

The Supreme Court bench said that the sealed envelope contained very serious allegations and the bench decided against opening it in public. The Bench will resume the hearing on Thursday, the 27^thof March and will most probably take action if Srinivasan does not quit his post till then. The fate of the ‘reputed’ cricketer still in Team India playing the ICC World Twenty20 presently in Bangladesh is likely to be sealed too by that mysterious sealed envelope. The countdown has started for arguably the most powerful man in international cricket.

He defied every possible authority of the country, he defied the media and he defied the saner voices in his own Board. Now what would he do with his money power and clout? A day of reckoning inevitably comes for every sinner of this world. Already cricketers and BCCI members have put pressure on him to resign saying that Supreme Court verdict must be honored. Officially, the obsessively and endlessly greedy President maintains absolute silence, so deos the BCCI and the even the International Cricket Council (ICC) which was penetrated by the Srinivasan clout again and again.

Justice will be ensured now. The guilty will be punished. Indian Cricket and the BCCI have to come clean and be accountable from now onwards.  A very important day for the fight against corruption, greed and degeneration. Jai Ho!  

Darbari Politics: Arvind Kejriwal Resigns And The Untouchables!

He made absolute fools of all in this wonderfully rule-breaking country of ours including this writer. This writer, inspired so foolishly at the prospect of an ‘honest’ government coming to rule the capital, called upon him not to go overboard. But enough political knowledge was necessary to understand the reality that he wanted to go overboard all the time so that he could blissfully avoid governance, go back to the streets and start anew his blame-game kind of  ‘darbari’ politics. Arvind Kejriwal, the 48-day old Chief Minister of Delhi, resigned tonight because it had been his game plan to climax his departure with the Jan Lokpal Bill (Peoples’ Ombudsman Bill against corruption which is stronger than the Lokpal Bill already passed by the Indian Parliament). Alas! Thanks to all his drama and brinkmanship he proved himself to be as good and shrewd a politician like others we are always used to. Like the others he too holds the common man in a fittingly unhealthy contempt with the ‘common’ attributes: That common people have their brains not at the right places; that they have short-term memory; that they are very emotional and eternally vulnerable; that they can be fooled again, again and again and that a use and throw policy is the perfect choice to deal with the common man. His supporters gathered at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Headquarters tonight in Delhi looked like an unholy pack of zombies unseeing, shouting and following blindly.

Arvind Kejriwal first tried the Janata Darbarsmeaning public courts. He got scared in the very first and gave up the idea fearing for his dear life. Then he shielded his openly guilty minister, Somnath Bharati, passing on the blame to the central Home ministry and lamenting the fact that he did not have control over the Delhi Police. He created anarchy in the capital leading his supporters in the streets and even spending a full night with them in the streets. He got very ill, so he got scared again and called a truce having some understanding with the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Delhi. About that time he started talking about his ultimate weapon of populism that is Jan Lokpal Bill and made it clear that he would resign if the Bill is not passed by the Delhi Assembly. In the meantime he protested against a natural gas price hike and lodged FIRs against two Government of India ministers and a business tycoon. He wanted to introduce the Jan Lokpal Bill in Delhi Assembly today totally disregarding the law and the constitution and despite LG advising him that since there is already a central legislation on that issue certain rules had to be followed or else the Bill could not be introduced. Kejriwal also wanted to have his Assembly session in the open stadium to which the LG said a clear no. Luckily he did not resign then and there. He could have waited a few more days to challenge the said laws in courts or could have followed the rules to properly introduce the Bill. And he resigned not even bothering about the much touted FIRs or his other promises to common people.

He proves another point that this writer has mentioned in these pages often. Anybody fighting corruption suddenly becomes the noblest soul, totally self-insulated, in this country and if someone complains against him/her it is a conspiracy naturally involving the rival political parties. From Baba Ramdev to a bureaucrat or policeman or lawyer or anyone attains this status of the Untouchable the moment s/he joins the fight against corruption. This is more similar to a dip in holy Ganga and cleansing yourself of all sins instantly.  Therefore, presently in our wonderfully rule-breaking country you can, immaterial if you are corrupt or not, just join the fight against corruption and attain the status of The Untouchable instantly. 

Now, the great AAP leader would start campaigning for the General Elections in his beloved streets and would continue blaming the Congress or BJP or any other rival party. Tonight he already started by putting the blame squarely on Congress and BJP for not supporting the Jan Lokpal Bill. For once these two national parties tonight are shouting rather righteously that they do always support the Jan Lokpal Bill, but did not support the way it was brought on the floor.

Arvind Kejriwal, being a ‘common’ man himself, must never underestimate the power of the common man! The common man is not always a fool and s/he can bounce back totally overturning the AAP cart. Amen!