It's Raining 'parties' in India

It’s Raining parties in India! Literally! I was searching for some poll-related data in Election commission’s website when I stumbled upon this. We have around 60 parties recognized by the commission! 60 parties!! But this data is highly contradicting the Bihar election result given in this page. http://www.indian-elections.com/assembly-elections/bihar/re-election-result-05.html

Some 80 parties contested the poll there! Only in Bihar!

And look at this. This is just a list of General Lok sabha Election Resluts 2004.

http://www.indian-elections.com/resultsupdate/

Around 300 parties listed! All over India. But the real figure is way above this. Some in the region of 1000 +.

It seems everyday s new party is born. Look at Kerala’s veteran congress leader K. Karunakaran. He revolted against the state leadership about the inclusion of HIS SON & DAUGHTER in the cabinet and / or some plum posting for them. They contested the last state elections and failed miserably. So he split from Congress and formed a new party called Democratic Indira Congress (DIC). What about Bal Thakeray, once the roaring tiger of Maharashtra, now facing an exodus from his party. Those who chose to leave him were giving the same reason. Inefficient and partial running of the party.

Not forgetting Deve Gouda, Devilal, Scindia Family, Gandhi Family. They all have their sons and daughters following in their footsteps and one time or the other faced the revolt because of this.

In the quest to survive at any cost, and install their offsprings at the helm, these ‘chanakyas’ of Indian politics defy all logic and succumb to the inevitable.

Another instance is if a leader is expelled from a party for any reason, be it corruption, or even conspiracy against state, they immediately float a new party. Lots of examples for that too. These self-anointed demy-gods claims to have a broad voter base support and by hook or crook they get elected.

Any way India is getting richer everyday in terms of number of political parties. The election commission is already struggling to assign symbols to all of them. And these guys are struggling to find alphabets to distinguish themselves from their former party since they all want the same name. Try some of these names

Kerala Congress (M) – Mani Group – Now bringing his son to the top and revolt started already

Kerala Congress (J) - Joseph

Kerala Congress (B) – Balakrishna Pillai His son is already an MLA

Kerala Congress (J) – Jacob Group

Kerala Congress (P) – P.C.Thomas

All are State parties of Kerala!

Let’s hope they stop at 26. Upto Z.

And these!

Dravida Munnetra Kazhakam - DMK

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam - AIDMK

All India Dravida munnetra Kazhakam – AIDMK

Pattali Makkal Katchi – PMK

Lots of namesakes? There is more. How About Telugu Desham Party X 3? TDP. NTRTDP & ATDP? It’s mind boggling.

Can’t you see now that it’s raining ‘parties’ in INDIA?

Mera Bharat Mahan!!!

Afghan Butchers

Another innocent has been butchered in the name of Holy War. The recent slaying of an Indian, a Boarder Roads Organization (BRO) Driver, Ramankutty Maniyappan was murdered in Afghanistan by the barbaric forces of a hideous, cowardly unit called Taliban. What was the provocation to kill an innocent, low-profile victim? They haven’t got a publicity or terror mileage by this most un-Islamic act. And the killing was not Taliban-like. They have executed him in a hurry. They don’t even bother about contacting the embassy and demanding his ransom. So what was the intent behind the kidnapping? No news about the other Afghans who were kidnapped along with him.

The chronology of the incident;

Kidnapped on 19^th Nov 2005 afternoon

Same day evening an unidentified caller claimed that Mr. Kutty is kidnapped by Taliban.

20^th Nov 2005. A press release purportedly from Taliban states that If BRO doesn’t stop the work and leave Afghanistan, he will be executed.

22^nd Nov 2005. A message reached press that Mr. Kutty has been shot dead.

23^rd Nov 2005. His body recovered. The throat was slit.

In any of the stage, they haven’t made a demand directly to the Embassy or Government. This raises a few questions.

1. Was this kidnap & murder really done by Taliban? They are known to be barbaric and throat-slitting is their proven method of killing their victims (Remember journalist Daniel Pearl). But they set a time frame to meet their demand and wait until then. In this case it was no so.
2. As per the Government statements, they haven’t received any demands from Taliban. But a section of the press reported that the Government is in fact got it and are discussing it. But the Government never acknowledged it.
3. If the collective effort of Indian and Afghan Governments failed to locate or even establish contact with kidnappers then what about the security of others working there?
4. Could this be a handiwork of other elements? There could be a lot of reasons. Professional and personal reasons. In a country as anarchist and as lawless as Afghanistan, killing a low-rung person like him is a walk in the park. And they easily put the blame on Taliban.

May you guys stamp me with a “conspiracy-theorist” but thinking more about it, I am in great confusion. Or someone please answer the following queries.

1. What Taliban will gain from murdering a low-profile man like him? Daniel Pearl was a high profile journalist and whole of the world was shocked but that killing.
2. Why there was no demand for Ransom? (provided the government is not lying)
3. Why there was no time frame set to BRO’s leaving Afghanistan?
4. Why he was murdered even before the government or authorities to discuss the purported demand and killed him within 48 hours of capture?

Whatever the conclusion, two small children and a mother become orphans overnight. The picture of a wailing two-year old not knowing why his mother and brother are crying will forever haunt me. The senseless loss of a life and the consequences it cause can not be compensated with a job and 10 lakh rupees. Steps must be taken to ensure that it doesn’t happen again. Find the real culprits and, don’t hang them. Just cut their throats. Let them know the pain when the last breath escaping through the slit-open throat.

PS: Opposition Leader of Kerala, Mr. Achutanandan blames CM Oommen Chandy for this incident. Had he been the CM, what could have he done within 48 hours? Poor fellow clutching to the last straws before he is drowned by the Pinarai Group.

Kushboo; The scapegoat of Tamilnadu

Actress Kushboo is in a real mess. She has committed a heinous crime by speaking her mind out. And Suhasini, the famous south actress and director wife of famous director Mani Ratnam also made to eat humble pie for her remarks supporting Kushboo. What’s the big issue? Kushboo publicly stated that pre-marital sex is not a sin, but a reality and no man should expect his spouse to be virgin. Well, not verbatim but in this meaning. It was more than enough for the moral police to charge her with everything except murder and drag her to the court. While some of the courts dismissed the petitions as baseless, some courts thought otherwise. So as it is, she is fighting a (losing?) battle. All by herself.

She was just speaking the plain truth and these could have used to make the hugely innocent and unknowing people to become aware about the perils of un-protected sex and sexual education. Instead they chose to ignore the issue and make her pay for her openness.

Let us check some startling statistics.

In India, the HIV/AIDS epidemic is assuming catastrophic proportions. In fact India is on the verge of breaking the 1% of total population barrier. It must have already but as you know the statistics regarding AIDS/HIV is very vague. The stigma and discrimination attached to this disease is stopping people from going in for check-ups and confirming. And they keep on spreading it to unsuspecting partners

Check the following figures;

NATIONAL AIDS CONTROL PROGRAMME, INDIA
AIDS CASES IN INDIA (Reported to NACO)
(As on 31^st July, 2005)

S. No. State/UT AIDS Cases 1 Andhra Pradesh 12349 2 Assam 225 3 Arunachal Pradesh 0 4 A & N Islands 33 5 Bihar 155 6 Chattisgarh 0 7 Chandigarh (UT) 1260 8 Delhi 970 9 Daman & Diu 1 10 Dadra & Nagar Haveli 0 11 Goa 567 12 Gujarat 5636 13 Haryana 486 14 Himachal Pradesh 252 15 Jharkhand 0 16 Jammu & Kashmir 2 17 Karnataka 2896 18 Kerala 1769 19 Lakshadweep 0 20 Madhya Pradesh 1396 21 Maharashtra 13747 22 Orissa 467 23 Nagaland 736 24 Manipur 2866 25 Mizoram 106 26 Meghalaya 8 27 Pondicherry 302 28 Punjab 292 29 Rajasthan 1153 30 Sikkim 8 31 Tamilnadu 52036 32 Tripura 5 33 Uttranchal 0 34 Uttar Pradesh 1383 35 West Bengal 2397 36 A,bad Mun.Corp. 621 37 Chennai M.C. 0 38 Mumbai M.C 7484 Total: 111608

Tamilnadu has the highest cases reported this year!

So sex is not a forbidden fruit here any more! As per NACO statistics more than 85% are infected by sexual transmission. But don’t be scared yet! What you are seeing the just the tip of iceberg. The real mountain is under water, hidden from your eyes.

The need of the hour is to educate people about the perils of this and do some serious work to prevent it’s further spreading. But these people seems to be enveloped in some false issues like Tamil Pride and petty stuff like that. In any other state Kushboo could become a AIDS spokesperson and the government would jump to have her on the AIDS awareness programs considering her enormous fan following. Remember, once these same Tamilians built a temple for her.

We should admit that India is indeed changing. The veiled and sex-is-taboo girl is already banished to the pages of history. And why not? It is not in any society’s interest to keep females chained to the tradition and discipline. When men can not adhere to these rules, how can you expect your woman to be?

The last but not least. Watch any of these Tamil Channels for Film songs, and serials. There you can see scantily clad females dancing with their Heroes and these very people enjoy and watch it. What can you call it except hypocrisy? What they say is not what they speak for. Just double standard male chauvinistic mentality. It’s time that every one take a real view at the grim situation and work in unison. If you keep clinging to your beliefs and hope for the best, one day the catastrophic wind that is brewing right under your nose, called AIDS, will blow away you with it’s sheer power and then there won’t be any time to make amends. So rally behind people who are seeing the reality instead of crucifying them.

Next Step Backward

Our “apostle of poor “ Medhaji once again is on the war path. Bad boy Mr. Vilasrao declared war against the illegal slums and Medhaji jumped into the fray once again. What to do? She wanted peace and at this age want to go to the Himalayas and spend the rest of her life in solitude. But the poor creature is dragged into the fighting path by the social imbalance and the cruelty towards poor, rivers and you name it. If she leave the scene who is there to save the poor? Mr. Deshmukh’s bad boys will raze their shanties and they will once again be homeless.

Who am I kidding with? Myself. Poor me. What a joke these slum demolitions become. Our International Airport desperately need the space and the Airport Authority of India (AAI) have enough space. The only problem is that some encroachers, read Slum Lords, have illegally built shanties and now thousands of poor immigrants and sons-of-soil resides there. Without rehabilitating them, no new development is possible.

Camera pan to Bandra. To the banks of Mahim Creek. A few years back it was full of mangroves, and nothing else. Today, the west of Mahim’s side is full of shanties. No one saw this? Now they also can claim that they reside there for the last 5 years and fall in this pre-2000 category. They can show the records too. In India making fake documents are like making sandwiches. Easy, available everywhere.

So our poor Medhaji is there to fight for the slum dwellers. And some of the activists told the media that they “will oppose the move to demolish the building. If there’s repercussions, so be it”. Now we can see lathi-charges, close-ups of demolished slums and weeping women, and the omni present local MLA. His dirty smile filling the TV screen. One such MLA stopped the demolition drive of his own CM in Kurla.

So there is a lot of saviors for the poor “aam aadmi”. Now tell me who is there for the city? We envision our city to be the next shanghai. Yes. But how? There are thousands of people coming to Mumbai everyday. If they all decided to erect a shanty at ever available inch, how can we be Shanghai? Leave Shanghai, how can we be Mumbai? Yes this problem has a humane face. True. But did you ever thought of the plight of those who, Every day, commutes from Virar to church gate & back? The un-potable water they drink? Do you want to save these slums at the expense of them? The money and land which the city desperately needs is stuck. And petty political games of some small time goons have stopped bigger plans. Medha Patkar, your intentions are very clear. As recently declared, you too wanted to join the politics. Why? If you are a good activist, why should you join politics? Is it the money or power that politics offer?

Oh yeah. I forgot. India needs leaders like you. The efficient, effervescent leaders who can take the nation to next step. Next step Backward.