Rahul Gandhi - BJP's Dark Horse

Anti-corruption was a major plank of BJP's 2014 election pitch. It suited BJP's election agenda to speak openly against Congress scams. The strong anti-Congress sentiment due to 55 years of misrule also helped BJP to achieve record victories in 2014 and 2019.

Modi's rise to centre-stage increased hopes of nationalists that finally justice will be delivered. The suffering of common Indians will be redeemed and a new age will begin. Unfortunately it was not to be so ..

The party seems least bothered about bringing back black money stashed abroad. On corruption, it has not taken any definitive action against frauds perpetrated during the UPA era. In fact, the BJP government is exhibiting a high degree of indifference towards Congress scams. This particular attitude of the party is baffling to say the least, however, it does have a reason.

Easy picking that BJP has missed

In 2015, on Dr Swamy's complaint about Rahul Gandhi's British citizenship, parliament's ethics committee was ordered to investigate the matter. The ethics committee, headed by LK Advani, sought Rahul's response on the citizenship issue, however, his reply was ambiguous.

The ethics committee didn't take any action beyond this and comfortably sat on the issue. In 2017, Dr Swamy filed a written complaint on the same issue with MHA (then under Rajnath Singh). Despite the complaint, BJP’s response on the issue has been slack. 

Dr Swamy's written complaint consists of documentary evidence that proves Rahul Gandhi as a British citizen. As per Article 9 of the constitution, dual citizenship holders are not permitted to hold a public office and therefore, Rahul Gandhi's LS membership can be easily revoked. Nonetheless, he continues to be an LS member.

For corruption cases, BJP government hides its ‘INTENT’ under the garb of existing challenges in the judicial system. However, in Rahul Gandhi's citizenship case, BJP has lost face because the concerned issue doesn’t require judicial intervention. BJP is least bothered about the citizenship row, rather it is happy if Rahul Gandhi is the opposition. Why?

The answer is simple: 

Rahul Gandhi, as opposition, trivializes any form of credible criticism of the government. His mere presence helps BJP to escape responsibility for its actions. This is a win-win situation for BJP because it will facilitate Modi to rule for 10-15 years without accountability. However, it's a ‘Raw Deal’ for common people because they have to bear the burden of BJP’s mediocre performance.

Dear BJP, why shy away from taking Dr Swamy's help?

Dr Swamy is one political figure who stands tall among BJP's current leadership. Without holding a position, Dr Swamy has been lethal against enemies of the nation. He is an intellectual giant having knowledge across diverse subjects such as economics, law, foreign affairs, defense etc.

Despite his capabilities and contributions, BJP leadership has shied away from taking his help. BJP's current behaviour towards Dr Swamy has also perplexed many nationalists. Because his ideas and knowledge are significantly potent for nation's development.

In an environment when the govt is seriously strained to tackle Border issues, Covid-19 threat, internal anti-national elements and economy, it makes more sense for PM Modi to utilise Dr Swamy's talent.

With increasing belligerence of neighbors such as China, Pak & Nepal, growing Covid cases, mindless opposition to CAA and negative GDP growth, the govt is fighting multiple battles on different fronts. However, BJP's current cabinet has been mediocre in its performance and seems incapable of handling multiple level crisis.

The current environment is a tipping point for BJP, wherein, one more trigger can cause an unexpected downfall. The party needs to take radical measures to restore public confidence, else it will witness more pain in the future. 

BJP leadership needs to shed it's insecurities and place trust in Dr Swamy for the betterment of the nation. Any reluctance in this matter will delay the progress of the country.

BJP must Investigate SP Mookerjee's mysterious death

Shyama Prasad Mookerjee was a staunch nationalist and was a Minister in Nehru's cabinet. Later, SP Mookerjee left Congress due to ideological differences with Nehru. He created a nationalist party which came to be known as Bhartiya Jan Sangh (BJS). 

Although many Congress nationalists were aware about Nehru's treacherous ways, it was the undemocratic introduction of article 370 that pushed SP Mookerjee away from Congress. 

He was a fierce opponent of Article 370 and travelled across country to raise awareness among masses. His relentless campaign against article 370 created fear among Nehru and Sheikh Abdullah. 

Both Nehru and Abdullah perceived SP Mookerjee as a political thorn in their eyes and wanted to suppress his movement. Apart from the cousins, late Arun Jaitley's father-in-law, GL Dogra was highly critical of SP Mookerjee's views on article 370. He was a devoted follower of Sheikh Abdullah and a staunch Nehruvian. 

SP Mookerjee decided to visit J&K to oppose the undeclared balkanisation of India. During his visit to J&K, he was arrested by Police in Kathua and detained without trial. Vajpayee, as a journalist, had accompanied SP Mookerjee, however, he had escaped from the scene of arrest due to unknown reasons. 

On June 23 1953, SP Mookerjee died under mysterious circumstances while he was under detention of J&K police. Later, heart attack was given as a reason for his death.

It is clear that Nehru and Abdullah conspired to eliminate SP Mookerjee because he was igniting nationalistic sentiment on article 370 and emerging as a strong opposition to Congress. However, the role of other collaborators can't be ignored.

A thorough investigation into SP Mookerjee's death must be conducted to uncover truth for public knowledge. This will be an ideal tribute to his sacrifice for the integrity of country.

Does BJP really care about Anti-corruption?

Past

I still vividly remember the political environment from 2011 onwards when Congress was facing heat due to various corruption cases. During that time, many UPA scams erupted like a wild volcano. There was 2G scam, Coalgate, Agusta Westland chopper deal, CWG scam, Irrigation scam, Aircel-Maxis scam and many others. Congress was just not able to handle the heat generated due to these cases. 

Those days, Dr Swamy's legal activism created a pressure cooker situation for Congress. Apart from court activism, Dr Swamy's barbs at Congress worsened the situation for dynasts. His witty comments and cryptic messages created furore amongst nationalists. Dr Swamy actually dug out the entire history of Sonia Gandhi and placed it in public domain. Dr Swamy’s brutal exposure of Rahul Gandhi’s debilitated political acumen caused irreversible damage to his career. The blow was so lethal that the last scion of dynasty became a subject of mockery in India's political environment.

Especially from 2011 to 2013, Dr Swamy was all over the Indian political space. His interviews, public speeches, court battles, TV debates and Twitter interactions became a rage among the youth of India. The masses were waking up to a new reality as Dr Swamy’s ideas received grand reception. During the same time period, the leader of opposition from BJP was virtually sleeping over Congress scams. For all practical purposes, Congress didn't face meaningful criticism from BJP leaders like Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and Advani. As a result, Congress could easily introduce many anti-Hindu acts during its tenure.

Dr Swamy's activism precipitated public anger to reach disproportionate levels. As a result, the public started baying for the end of Congress through slogans such as ‘Congress Mukt Bharat’. This sentiment manifested in the 2014 LS elections when Congress was comprehensively defeated by BJP. 

BJPs LS victory in 2014 was climactic because for the first time, Congress had bitten dust so badly. The expectations were high that Modi will usher in a golden era for India. His power-packed speeches exposing Congress (using Dr Swamy's anti-corruption fight) and 15 year track record as Gujarat CM made him look promising. However, this victory turned out to be anti-climax.

Present

After six years, BJP government has failed to deliver justice in corruption cases. Honest officers are shunted out or given non-serious responsibilities. For example, Mr Ashok Khemka, who exposed Vadra's land dealings in Haryana, is consistently transferred from one place to another. ED officer Rajeshwar Singh was hounded on fictitious grounds because he was seriously investigating Chidambaram's role in the Aircel-Maxis scam. Instead of promoting these officers, the govt suppressed their nationalistic endeavors. 

Moreover, crooked officers were promoted because of their affinity with a system that thrives on corruption. These pliable officers are like a double edged sword because their loyalty shifts according to the party in power. They are efficient agents of match fixing among political opponents.  

BJP effectively used investigating agencies prior to state elections and indulged in sporadic investigations just to gain electoral advantage over other parties. On the other hand, non-election time has been relatively peaceful for BJP's opponents. This is a happy agreement between BJP and Congress.

The party with a difference has adopted Congress template of governance to consolidate its hold across the country. Horse-trading, political blackmail, importing Congressmen and usurping control of state governments through unethical means have become common action points for BJP.

Amidst all this, the goal of ‘Corruption free India’ is dumped into the store room of BJP office. The rot continues to spread with the tacit support of political leaders having no desire to contain and reverse the alarming trend.

It is a misfortune of the country that nationalist agenda, so vigorously built by Dr Swamy, was first hijacked and then willfully diluted by opportunists. 

- Gaurav Bhatia

Emotions and Political Atyachaar!!

In a nation battered with lost pride due to 1,000 year of invasions and loot, being emotional is normal. However, emotions shall not camouflage logic and reality in a manner that distorts vision. Emotional Indians who perceived Congress to be largely responsible for the freedom movement, gave thumping victories to the party till 1990. However, our country suffered a great deal due to 55 years of Congress rule. Only after significant miseries, our electorate realised about Congress misdeeds.

Unfortunately, political narrative even today is dependent on emotions instead of governance & performance. Citizens are mere tools for electoral victories as they can be triggered with sentiments. This may be ideal for politicians, however, it doesn’t augur well for our nation. 

Politicians love to dramatize situations and tragedies. Exploiting mass feelings for personal benefits is a common phenomenon. In the face of negative public sentiment, unfortunate incidents become an opportunity for building a positive sentiment. Every crisis or tragedy is an image building exercise, while planning, detailing, objectives and strategies take a backseat. Rhetoric takes precedence over ground realities because winning elections is the only motive.

Elections have their own festival feeling for politicians. Grand rallies in small towns, Large hoardings across cities, Full page advertisements in print media, along with tall promises, 24/7 mud-slinging on TV channels and fallacious predictions of psephologists. People attend large rallies to listen and watch the sheer oratory and theatrics of politicians, hoping and wishing it to be true. Hope pushes people to vote and elect leaders. Hope is an antidote to real problems of citizens and in this sense, it has become a mirage. In reality, people don’t elect leaders, they elect HOPE.

Citizens have developed sharp differences resulting in strong likes and dislikes over crucial matters, which are perceived from a political lens. This results in heated debates, endless discussions and disinformation campaigns on different media platforms. Truth and reasoning has no place among citizens divided by sentiments. As a result, seeking accountability to build pressure and improve performance doesn’t seem to be a concern.

Social media platforms have also played a role in aggravating the sentiments of common citizens. Although SM platforms started out well for raising awareness among citizens, they now seem to be losing neutrality. Censoring and shadow banning of fact based hard-hitting content have become routine matters. On the contrary, these platforms have struggled to put a check on propaganda and fake news which dominate the mind-space of SM users. Increased propensity of users to accept information/news at face value has subdued reality. 

A mature electorate, which doesn’t get swayed by emotions while being focused on facts and performance, will usher a brighter future for the country, else, it will always be 'Emotions and Political Atyachaar'.

India's Awakening

India's Awakening

British empire inflicted irreparable scars on our civilization. The wounds are so deep that even after 71 years of independence, we are struggling to come to terms with our true identity as an Indian. 

The Britishers thrived not only on dividing our society in the name of religion and castes, but also fanning hatred amongst each other. This simplified their governance and helped them appear superior over us (the native Indians).

Besides societal damages, Britishers killed our flourishing agricultural sector and handicrafts industry. They imposed a flawed education system where the medium of instruction was a foreign language. 

Gurukul system of education was banished and made to look unscientific. Indians were forced to opt for British education system and those who could not cope with it, were branded as illiterates (Gawars).

Britishers established an administrative system that suited their financial objectives. It helped them to conduct organised loot of India's financial wealth through exploitation of natural resources and manpower.

A system of control that introduced harsh policies to punish Indians for non-compliance. It eliminated any chance of progress in our society. 

At the time of Independence, the govt adopted the same system. Our so called swadeshi govt allowed it to flourish and spread across the country. 

Even today, Indians are subjugated to the same British legacy that it left in 1947. Barring few exceptional decisions (such as abrogation of Article 370), we are following a defective system, which is unfriendly towards the natives.

It has facilitated organized loot, division of society and fostered inferiority syndrome amongst Indians. A full scale surgery is the need of the hour.

-- Gaurav Bhatia

What caused Shiv Sena to split from BJP

I am not a Shiv Sena empathiser nor do I approve of its recent alignment with NCP-Con to form govt in Maharashtra. In my view, SS-BJP alliance would have been the most fruitful alignment for Maharashtrians.

It is now a thing of past as SS-NCP-Con are set to form govt in the state.  However, this is not an encouraging sign for Hindutva as BJP-SS parted ways in an un-amicable way which has furthered the distrust among them.

If we analyse the root cause of current situation, we will be able to identify the reasons that widened the gap. Was it BJP that forced SS out or was it SS that cut out BJP?

To begin with, after 2014 victory, BJP miscalculated it's existing equation with SS and erred in decision-making that irritated SS leadership. For example, facilitating a secret understanding with NCP in 2014 assembly elections but later allying with SS to retain power in the state. 

BJP appointed Suresh Prabhu as railway minister, which pricked SS. Prior to Nov 2014, Suresh Prabhu was an elite member of Shiv Sena. 

SS minister, Anil Desai, was ridiculed which pushed him to return from airport without attending the swearing in ceremony of third cabinet expansion. Lastly, awarding Padma Vibhushan to Sharad Pawar, a known adversary of SS was like a nail in the coffin. 

Continuous humiliation of Shiv Sena forced it to take a more aggressive stand against BJP, which further soured the relations.