LinkedIn: Not A Forum For Political Discussion?

During the course of publishing a post on LinkedIn on current affairs concerning India I had come across quite a few reactions and comments that made me a little inquisitive. Since the post involved a kind of political behaviour rampant in India and some issues regarding international diplomacy the discussion thus ensued veered towards politics. And yes, there came comments from different members or non-members vociferating that LinkedIn was not the right forum for politics.

Now, almost all will agree that LinkedIn is not a job portal notwithstanding the fact that a lot of HRD managers and recruiters regularly use this as a place for talent hunt. More truthfully, most of the members here are already employed—looking naturally for greener pastures. There are many commentators on LinkedIn who say that not having a profile here is a cardinal sin or even suicide in today’s times—no matter if you are employed or not. Therefore it is also agreed that this networking place is crucial for all across all sectors of the economy of the world. It is also likely to be agreed upon that LinkedIn is not Facebook, because in the latter only family albums are mostly appreciated and not views or articles or links.

LinkedIn is quintessentially meant for professionals. Now, the word ‘professional’ basically comes from ‘profession’ or the type and nature of work one is doing. In that sense everybody is a professional in his or her field that may range from business/marketing to filmmaking/media/writing. There is some scope for disagreement here concerning who is rightfully considered a ‘professional’, because the modern-day usage of the term signifies people who are expert, innovative and ruthless strategists. By this definition some get unfortunately excluded leading to separate terms like Army men, Policemen, Bureaucrats, Lawyers, Doctors, Journalists, Vendors and the like. It is not right at all not to call all these people professionals. However, the moot point here is that nowhere in this networking hub you find any bar on entry of anyone practising any profession. All people ranging across all professions have thus the right of entry and to express their opinions or give inputs about their expertise on their specific fields on this forum.

You find a whole lot of groups too in LinkedIn on various subjects of interests, and experts say that formation of groups indicates higher levels of maturity among members. Groups on movies discuss even film reviews while groups on books discuss literature or highlight book releases. So it is either already there or hugely possible that a group of media personnel is also formed giving a layman’s analysis of political developments leading to a most productive discussion. Would this forum restrict such activities as not ‘right’ for the forum?

As a terrific innovation LinkedIn also offers you to write and publish your posts here and the Pulse may very well put you in a highly interactive platform, making you famous for your writings alone. Now, members of various professions would obviously write about their fields of expertise, and therefore, you must expect a wide variety in the type and nature of posts. Personally speaking, I was delighted having this platform and started writing on all fields of my interests. Of course, most of my writings on subjects like Cricket or Sports, Humor, Fiction, Movies or so on got totally ignored. Okay no problem in that, but nobody objected to such content as not being right for the forum. More interestingly, my few posts on content that involved current affairs and bits of politicking earned maximum views.

I would like to put in perspective, therefore, why politics is being singled out and considered as anathema for LinkedIn. When one lives in one’s country one cannot ignore political developments of that country or for that matter international events too, because only we talk of the global economy. God forbid, in the event of wars or extreme tensions breaking out involving several countries all professions or professionals of those countries would be severely impacted irrespective of whether it is business/marketing or anything else.

As an afterthought, there is no disclaimer or anything of that sort on the website of LinkedIn discouraging or barring entry of politicians into its fold! 

Test Cricket: Skipper Virat Kohli Hopes For India!

Virat Kohli recently made it clear that he should never be compared with legendary Sachin Tendulkar, but it must be said that after Tendulkar he seems to be the main Indian contender to make or break records. In 48 Tests so far Virat hit 13 centuries including a double ton and 12 half centuries having a batting average of above 45. In 2012 Virat was made vice-captain of the Indian test team and since then he had been in the reckoning for the skipper’s post consistently with one of the most outstanding Indian skippers Mahendra Singh Dhoni having both cricketing and non-cricketing ups and downs.

However, Virat Kohli’s entry as India’s Test captain was quite dramatic. First, he was named captain for the Adelaide match against Australia in December, 2014 as Dhoni pulled out due to an injury. He made two centuries in the two innings in that match and nearly pulled in off in favor of India.  Virat showed his positive frame of mind by going for an outright win instead of laboring for a draw. He became the fourth Indian to make a ton on test debut as captain. His second innings century was hailed by Australian commentators as the finest fourth innings performance ever witnessed by them. After the two losses in the series came the dramatic twist—MS Dhoni retired suddenly as Test captain and left his team in the lurch down under.

Virat Kohli was then formally announced as Indian Test skipper from the Sydney test in January, 2015. He hit 147 in the first innings of that match and became the first batsman in Test cricket to hit three centuries in his first three innings as test captain. The Sydney test ended in a draw.

In his less than two years tenure as Captain Virat Kohli won 10 out of 17 test matches played so far having the best winning rate as compared to other Indian captains. Although this is far too short a period for that it may still hold a lot of promise for future considering his performances, strategy and aggression. He had two away series—in Sri Lanka and in West Indies and two domestic series—against South Africa and New Zealand and, a one-off Test against Bangladesh that ended in a draw. India under his leadership broke the jinx of never winning a Test Series in Sri Lanka by winning 2-1 in 2015 and this year won 2-0 against the West Indies. In his two domestic series India beat South Africa 3-0 with one match drawn in 2015 and whitewashed New Zealand 3-0 this year. In the recently concluded Test series against New Zealand Kohli also became the first Indian skipper to hit a double ton in the third and final Test in Indore. However, his string of domestic Test victories has been marred by the controversy of providing tailor-made spinning tracks to the host team.  On his series win against New Zealand Virat dismissed the controversy by defending his spinners, R Ashwin and R Jadeja, as two of the best spinners of the world who utilized the conditions much more than the opposition.

The acid tests for Virat Kohli as skipper would be the away Test series, particularly in Australia, England and South Africa, in near future. However, with his extraordinary batting prowess, his strategically positive leadership and all the cricketing years left in him Virat Kohli may well usher India into a new era of winning more and losing less matches in the years to come. The unique record of his big individual scores almost always translating into wins for his team could also augur well for Team India.  

India: Something’s Not Right!

When you log in to your Gmail account and it is not working properly then Google promptly tells you ‘Something’s not right’! It keeps on popping up till order is restored. I think Google should consider adding this tag to ‘India’ whenever any reference is made to this country! However ruefully, you must admit such a necessity particularly after what you’ve witnessed recently over the most successful Surgical Strikes executed by India on Pakistan.  

I thought at least the anti-terror sentiment was universal, but not in this country. For some people of this country terrorists are also human beings and therefore their ‘human rights’ are of paramount importance. These same people don’t utter a word about ‘human rights’ when soldiers and cops are slaughtered brutally, but in case of all kinds of criminals they become extremely vocal. They consider doing or saying anything under the sun as their ‘democratic right’. There have been so many instances in recent times in India when such people openly supported terrorists just by way of trying to assert their democratic right. Great thing about India is that such condemnable acts are being tolerated. And, these are the people who condemn our society or country as intolerant. This peace-loving land called India tries to keep on the peace & dialogue track despite all odds and even at the cost of being labelled as ‘soft’, particularly in view of ceaseless ceasefire violations and killings of Indian soldiers by Pakistan. When evidently Pakistan sponsored terrorists killed 19 soldiers at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir, India said enough was enough and acted tough which was completely unexpected for our neighbouring country.

Like they did earlier in Myanmar, India, with the Indian Army, executed the tremendously effective Surgical Strikes in Pakistan occupied Kashmir on the wee hours of 29^th September, 2016, eliminating around 40 terrorists preparing to infiltrate into India along with a few Pak army personnel. The sheer unexpectedness of the act almost paralyzed Pakistan, unable even to give a reaction initially. However, as is usual, they got into their time-tested ‘denial mode’ and dismissed it as just another skirmish, a violation by India this time, across the Line of Control. It was not at all difficult to guess the turmoil in their mind—how could India do it! And, how desperate they possibly were to get the video of the Indian strategic strike!

And then, our terror-friendly great ‘democratic’ leaders got into the act of helping out Pakistan. They asked the Indian Government to prove the Surgical Strike! They asked the Government to make the Surgical Strike video public! Any layman would know that such videos should never get released in public obviously for strategic internal security and defence reasons. One political leader went to the extent of calling it a fake! Who are they actually—terrorists in disguise or plain simple traitors or political strategists of the lowest order?  What right they have to discredit the sentinels on our border and the brave soldiers who fight relentlessly, defying increment weather, only to protect our country and us? What India failed to do over the decades this government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi finally achieved it through strategically fool-proof planning with the Army, and therefore, along with the brave soldiers the ruling government has to get some of the credit. Are these political leaders, just because they are in opposition, so naive as not to understand this simple fact? They should also have the knowledge of distinguishing a weak government from a strong government.

Positively speaking, even after this ridiculous aftermath of the Surgical Strike the Indian Government is going strongly ahead to isolate Pakistan and neutralising their terrorists constantly trying to infiltrate and do brutal attacks on Indian soil. Yes, if something’s not right then it should be set ‘right’ pretty soon. The menace of terror emanating mostly from Pakistan should be eradicated completely, only then the common people of both India and Pakistan will feel safe. More surgical strikes should be planned and executed till the last terrorist is neutralised. Further, when something’s not right between two countries nobody should ever expect normal things to go on as if nothing’s the matter. Terror must be rooted out, come what may, come what some people would say. A strong government can always accomplish that. Jai Hind!