Throwing a shoe – and reminding us about crimes 25 years ago
One of the most oft used phrases in contemporary Indian politics is secularism – as in “we are a secular front and they are a non-secular front”. The phrase secular was meant to differentiate between those parties that were pro-minorities and respected the secular constitution of our country and those that allegedly (according to the secular parties) did not!
The BJP has been very successfully demonized by the Congress, Left and other ‘secular’ parties in recent years – especially post Godhra – assisted in part by its own actions, conduct and unconvincing answers to questions that were posed to it. I actually think, going into these elections the BJP political space had been squeezed by forcing it into this non-secular, anti-minority space –made worse by the alleged oratory skills of Varun Gandhi.
However, recent events have put a spotlight on the ‘secular’ parties – the Congress and its friends – Hate speeches of Varun Gandhi have been matched by hate speeches by Cong ally Lalu Prasad, Andhra Pradesh Cong President Srinivas and Imran Kidwai! Also, Jarnail Singh and his shoe have woken us all from our slumber and reminded us of the crimes committed 25 years ago, in our Nations Capital against the Sikh community – at a time when there was no Television coverage and media as we know it today - a crime for which in Chidambaram’s words “not enough people have been punished”. There are many such political crimes Meerut, Bhagalpur in our history that remain unpunished and have unfortunately been consigned to the seemingly deep dustbins of our history by all our short memories.
These elections, I think all of us should be telling Political parties that espouse values of secularism to walk the talk and not get taken by the “we are good and they are bad” nonsense that gets tossed around and unfortunately blindly accepted by too many of us. The fact is all our Political parties have stained pasts and blood on their hands! These elections must force our political leaders to help break us from this past of political violence and crime! For the sake of the many innocent lives lost and traumatized, let Maya Kodnani, Jagdish Tytler and Sajan Kumar and their cohorts be tried fairly and fully – and then we can say as a nation we have come to terms at least a little with our past sins! Can we get there? And focus our debate/agenda be about the real challenges and questions that face us? Will we be able to ever do that?
33 Responses to “Throwing a shoe – and reminding us about crimes 25 years ago”
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Anshul Tewari on April 10th, 2009
I agree Rajeev, There is a thin line between ethics and hooliganism which seems to have been crossed. I don’t understand that why are political parties blaming each other rather than reaching out to us and letting us know what they will do for us?
Rajeev on April 10th, 2009
because its what they do best…distract us from the main issues - that of their performance and real challenges facing us.! we must not fall into this trap and we must set the agenda for their discussion rather than them setting the agenda for our thought ! thats the challenge for all of us anshul!
Saju on April 10th, 2009
Rajeev,
I appreciate and support your initiative. It is indeed heartening to see honest people like you taking the lead in bettering the system.
As someone who watched all that was unfolding as public outrage post 26/11, I always believed it will wither out in a few weeks time. It did, though there were positives as you mentioned in about the debate in Parliament.
The reason for me to be pessimistic was that there were not enough Individuals who had the Moral authority who could channel the public sentiments into a movement and fan it to become big enough so as to influence any societal change. We are missing the likes of Gandhiji and Patel, who the Society believed to be genuine and submitted itself to them during the Freedom Struggle. I cannot see anyone who has the potential to do this when I look around.
Hope this becomes a movement of substance and will be able to make a difference. Keep up the good work.
One suggestion. It is difficult to find the link to post a comment here. May be you have a look at them
nalini ranjan on April 11th, 2009
I read your blog about what views you have on what was framed as “shoe-cide” by the media. We as a part of so called largest democracy have no say in upper house because of lack of interest shown by the politicians in putting forth problems of commoners in the upper house. Politicians worry about their personal success more their constituency. I know there are exceptions, but exceptions are always very less.
There was a case of shoe victim M.P. again, when a school teacher lost his temper and did what is not expected from our citizen.
If incidents like this continues to happen then youth will loose its interest in politics and less number of educated people will join politics.
Prevention is better than cure, it proper time now when people like you step up and take measures against it, so that it is never repeated and our country looses its face value at global level.
satya on April 11th, 2009
Bhagalpur culprits are punished.
The Mad Hatter on April 11th, 2009
Good point. It’s rather difficult to talk about a “secular” party these days since most parties seek to get the right combination of caste or religion based vote-banks on their side. We have to choose on parameters other than the claimed “secular” badge of honour.
Bsk777 on April 11th, 2009
I personally don’t think the hurling of a shoe is that much of an act of violence or aggression. Having to live with corruption is submitting to an act of aggression, even though there is no physical violence evident, and having to live in fear of speaking up is also oppression. The majority of India lives today under one of these atrocities.
India is constantly being aggressed upon by its politicians and being oppressed by its own people’s fear of standing up. There are no “innocent civilians” since we have long since crossed the line between innocence and ignorance and warmly embraced the latter.
A few of us who think the politicians have gone far enough, unfortunately, have chosen absolutely violent means like terrorism, but then, even that comes from ignorance.
I think the India we have today is one we richly deserve. We do not deserve any better for we haven’t worked for a better India, collectively. We have not invested ourselves enough in any sort of democratic process that can bring about real change.
If that process is to start now, it must first start with losing a few of our illusions - that we are a great country, that we have tremendous ability, and that the political system is the ONLY reason for us being held back.
Reality is - we’re a confused lot, really really selfish in our outlook, with an inherited history and culture that we did nothing to get, and willing to hawk it for an extra few rupees. Our politicians are merely symptoms of what is wrong with us.
Yashwanth on April 11th, 2009
Hi Rajeev,
I think we need a major overhaul of our constitution which does not allow anyone with any sort of a criminal record to contest. Judicial reform should follow, where the emphasis is on justice in a certain time frame.
You are absolutely right when you say we are a confused lot, but we are more divided than confused, which has only resulted in more exploitation.
We are a young democracy, while we are a carbon dated civilization, we thrive on hero worship, a fact duly demonstrated in our cricket frenzy. We have always looked upon that single person who can lift us from our misery. I think, this attitude has to change. We need to believe that we are that person.
While the middle class has been a biggest factor for India’s ( and to a large extent America’s)progress, there needs to be more participation by the middle class in the nation building process - It could be through more political participation, military participation, volunteering.
While all political parties focus their energies on their crucial vote banks, they also bank upon a large section of the middle class not voting.
This election has been positive since a large no of independents are contesting, they might not win, but they will ensure that the aam aadmi’s voice reaches the lok sabha, in one way or the other.
Change cannot happen overnight just like how it took us 400 years to be independent from the british raj, but it took 1 person to ignite the fire, it also took 1 person to get us that independence.
Perhaps, this election is seeing a lot of such sparks, be it the shoe throwing incident or the number of independents fighting elections, it all adds up and gives the middle class enough reason to come out and vote for the right person.
moumi moola on April 11th, 2009
Our Fundamental Right to Freedom of Religon states that a goverment being “secular” means, being separate of religon.This would basically mean that no goverment in power can cater to or appease demands of one particular community following a certain religon.
My question is that then how do political parties vying to form a goverment activly position themselves to be pro a certain community?
To change, as all agree is of utmost importance. But to implement this change seems practically impossible.Logically one would try to create legislation, but any law to be passed needs to be done by these very same politcians.
How does one then, address this issue which in my mind is India’s biggest problem and threat to India as a harmonious and progressive nation?
Rajeev on April 12th, 2009
moumi: youve raised a very interesting dichotomy in how we are organized constitutionally…! Our constitution prescribes that our Government and Executive have to be secular..ie the institutions of the state must be secular and not show bias or discrimination for or against any community..thats whats great about our constitution compared to lets say Pakistan or Bangladesh etc.. this discussion of secularism that we are having today is about political parties and their cutting and dividing the electorate along communal and caste lines to create political space for themselves.. and most particularly this trend of some of them casting themselves as secular and demonizing the others as non secular..! theres nothing in the constitution that prevents this ..and unfortunately this demonizing or typing is taking over the democratic debate - helped by a media who like headlines and controversy and therefore the real debates on the real challenges for our country hardly get any visibility ! there are no good guys or bad guys in this secular non-secular debate ..there are average and bad grades that can be awarded..but we ought to move on from here and talk about the other issues…
Rajeev on April 12th, 2009
yashwanth- i agree with ur points..except for this point about waiting another 400 years for change
and waiting for 1 person to ligh the fire..thats exactly what i think we are doing ..which is waiting for an external catalyst for change and to in a way revolt against the current situation..unfortunately that outside catalyst isnt coming and will never come..the catalyst i think we need is a 100 million indians ..all agreed on the need for change ..and all agreed on the kind and direction of change..thats what we need to do…note that i added the direction of change..its not enough saying we want change..but we should set the agenda for the political leadership .i agree with u that this election marks the first step (hopefully!) the sparks are there, embers hv been lit, its about taking it and making it a full fledged movement..that lasts till the next election! i hope all the indepedents will get together after the elections and form a permanent sustainable movement to do exactly what you suggest and get the aam aadmis voice to delhi and force a change in the direction and content of political debate/agenda..pls keep writing in and stay in touch!
Yashwanth on April 12th, 2009
Hi Rajeev, I just gave a historical reference and did not suggest that we wait for another 400 years or 1 person to start the fire. Actually it took us 400 years simply cos it took us so long to get united. It might become true if we dont realize that we have the power to change things around us, if not the world.
I do hope all the independents do get together, but a more important desired byproduct is that, the great indian middle class gets more politically vocal, socially aware and more inclusive in their approach towards the civil society. I hope to see an end to the ” chalta hai” , ” What can i do” attitude.
While the bottom portion of the pyramid struggles to meet daily needs, that its easy to get trapped in a certain vicious cycle which requires them to get exploited to meet certain needs.
How do we break this chain ? Education, Once quality education becomes accessible to a vast section of the vulnerable class, they get empowered and start demanding more. I think most political parties realize this and are scared of a day when they cannot exploit a large population of the country.
A testimonial to such thinking is Mulayam singhs manifesto of banning English and computers in the country and making innocent gullible people believe that they are social evils and India does not need them ? Its shocking and a dispecable effort to make people believe that computers create unemployment.Who can tell them that English has literally been one of the major factors responsible for this nation’s growth ? Computers have not taken away jobs, but have given millions a new life.
It would be interesting to see what happens once elections are over, I am optimistic because today there are more number of people who want to do something for the country than yesterday and I believe tomorrow there will be more.
It is heartening and encouraging to see you share your views and respond, Thank you for setting an example.
The Comic Project on April 12th, 2009
@moumi makes a very good point about “secular” and when we go by that definition, all our politicians are going against the constitution. But there is no one to hold them accountable. All political parties are playing to the gallery and like you rightly say, distract us.
Change has become some kind of a mantra when we have no idea what we need. For some, running water is change and for others, DTH. Unlike 20 years ago when V.P Singh rode into power on an anti-corruption plank, none of the parties have a clear agenda and everyone has dirty hands. There is servility on one side and desperation on the other and both are lousy options.
The shoe throwing was an act of frustration and anger but also an act of impatience.
And we will need more of that impatience (not the shoe throwing)
- Impatience with courts taking years to hear cases (why do courts need so many vacation days, why not work like any bank or private/public company)
- Impatience with investigating authorities taking forever to investigate (why don’t we ask questions when someone is released on bail or when a case is not in front of courts within .. 6 months)
- Impatience with politicians willing to bend the rules to suit their purpose (why does the outrage against Varun Gandhi or Jagdish Tytler take so much time to materialize and have to be manufactured, where is the system where people have a say in the candidate’s fate pre-election)
- And most of all, impatience with ourselves - for accepting the ills of the political parties we support because they seemingly support some lofty goal without intending to ever getting us there, or provide a reason to be proud of, when the next ride to work could be our last one.
That’s also where idealism kicks in, necessitating a fundamental change in attitude that idealism is fine, that impracticality isn’t always bad. the only way we will see some urgency is if the party that’s voted into power is forced out in a year or two - that is what will see people get impatient. Hoping for that at least, or this will be just another 26/11 drum being beaten for the nth time.
arvind on April 12th, 2009
I agree with Rajeev that ‘Throwing a shoe’ is not the end of angriness. Everybody is expressing their annoyance in regard to our political system but no one is talking about development and reforms in all categories such as education, health policy, judiciary system, inflation index reform. There is so much issue that can be discussed on the Indian economy but not a single word from our politicians. Each and everybody in the political environment are playing big drama in great Indian democracy. We know we want big change in India but we can’t find such great party or great leader in India who can give change to nation so I think now we need new party, new people, and new leadership for country.
Amritbir Kaur on April 12th, 2009
A very meaningful post! What I believe is that ‘Secularism’ is not just a theoretical concept, but it should be adopted as a ‘way of life’. We all need to be secular in our thinking and our actions will be moulded the same way automatically.
Moreover, we are all in the habit of blaming either the government or the politicians for the wrongs being done. We forget to introspect ourselves. While voting we often do not weigh the attributes of the candidate - his qualities are not given the appropriate weightage. We are influenced by other factors.
Let us all pledge to shun the external influences in these elections. The youth need to wake up as they can help a lot in bringing about the desired awareness.
Let us all contribute our bit, remember every drop counts.
Rajeev on April 12th, 2009
yashwanth: i think the days of chalta hai are slowly but surely coming to an end..the middle class, the educated are already in this political debate..and political parties are aware of this already…and are responding but not respondng to one cohesive clear agenda..for that this so group of middle class needs to start agreeing on what it is we want from our political leadership ..and not just complaining about potholes and things like that…politicians and parties love to engage at that level of simple issues..instead we have to engage as a group on the big issues of governance reforms, creating apolitical institutions etc..etc.. i share your optimism as well about the future..but am impatient about the speed or lack thereof…the issue u raise about mulayam singhs manifesto..ive covered in a blog..that we must measure political parties like the congress by the company they keep..thats as important!
shrutipant85 on April 13th, 2009
throwing a shoe on someone whether an elite or a normal citizen is an abusive show of illiteracy.so we should not black spot our country’s pride.
cranand on April 13th, 2009
Hi Rajeev,
With due respects, I felt your explanation of “how the secularism-term is being misused” stops short of painting the full picture. As a nation we seem to have a massive confusion between the words “attack” and “retaliation”. Post-Godhra acrimony towards Muslims was not a knee-jerk reaction from Hindus. It represents a Hindu anger after centuries of patient tolerance of aggressive religions, giving a small vent to the accumulated frustration over centuries of being a large whale being bitten often by sharks for nibbles.
At your levels of deep reflection Sir, I am sure you are also not ok with taking up the anti-sikh riots and the post-Godhra acrimony in the same breath and matching them.
I agree that BJP is no “saint” party (with goondas and land sharks in the Karnataka cabinet). But its top leadership is anytime a more mature one than that of the selfish Congress party. The BJP won’t sell the nation for muslim votes.
Since ‘democracy’ is but a less-optimal solution to avoid the risk of a non-benevolent dictator, we need to be able to make up our minds to cast our votes to the best “available” party. As rgds putting the nation first, I feel no other issue today is as relevant and important, and BJP seems to promise just that.
Anand!
Yashwanth on April 13th, 2009
How can we ensure speed and rigor when we have no say in the entire decision making process, be it at a legislative assembly level or at a MP level.
Village panchayats are probably the most active group in terms of participation in the decision making process, since it includes all stake holders, more importantly, since the body is physically present and is easily accessible to the public.
In a larger geography, the MLA / MP is invisible and cannot be reached by the ordinary citizen.
How can we ensure that our voices are heard when the person we elect does not lend an ear or make himself / herself accessible ?
If you ask me whats the most important issue affecting me today - Its reservation, but almost all political parties choose to be pro reservation since it fits well within their manifesto of vote bank politics. This is probably echoed by most in my generation, but it hardly finds a voice.
I am not against the principle of reservation, but I am against using it for political mileage and using it without logic.
Dont you think, There should be an end date for reservation based on caste / religion ?It could be 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, but we need to see an end date. This would make the govt accountable to revamp the primary education system, secondary education system,in the country and bring it to a respectable level. Reservation should also be restricted to a certain no of generations, giving the beneficiaries enough opportunities and time overcome the historical social injustice.
Its hard to believe that our govt schools which were once centers of academic excellence are in such a bad state the people are scared to get their kids admitted to a govt school, most people choose to pay through their nose to get children admitted to expensive private schools.
Dont you think we need to see a Religion free / Caste free system, which treats everyone as being equal and at the same time reward hardwork and merit.
I might have deviated from the thread here, but I would like to know what can be done to make our voices heard ?
Navneet on April 13th, 2009
Respected MP Sab,
You will write/blog about Elections 2009 for next 4 weeks. So how are you different from the Neta who turns up at our doorstep at election time (Inspite of the fact that u are from the upper house – this seems no different from election canvassing for BJP -during whose tenure you got nominated)? Although the very idea that an MP is interacting with citizens so freely is highly commendable, why can’t it be a permanent channel? Can you please find at least ten minutes per day to interact; else you are just confirming that this was just an election gimmick
nawaz shariff on April 13th, 2009
sir, my name is nawaz i am an indian first then a muslim.
sir i was always wanting to put my feelings to a learned person of your stature. sir my age is 35 my aspiration was to support a party which will regonise minority.sir when i mean minority i am not communal i am sheer talking about percentage.i have forgoten babri masjid what i rember was the golden quardilateral project of Mr vajpaee. i also remember that during the period of nda there was communal harmony except gujrath. what modi did and what tytler did i dont find any diffrence today everone is conveniantely taking about tytler.
sir today i admire few young member of parliment who are capabel of runnig ths country as visionaries and you are one among them.
sir belive in me a month back i had made up my mind to vote for bjp because i felt a change was required. but after varun gandhi episode my whole thinking has changed. he talks i quote” abt cutting hands and sending back to pakistan bla bla” sir after such a damaging statement my so called prime minister aspirant Mr L.K.Advani endorses varun gandhi speech. pls let me know what will i feel as an indian muslim. do we need such communal hatrate among us that we openly do a talibanising act.
sir last i wanted a leader like you to condem varun gandhi but unfortunately you were mute on this issue.
pls pls take my inputs as a true feeling and geninue liking for Mr.Rajeev chandrashekar.
Dr.G.Srinivasan on April 14th, 2009
All the people who have participated here should go back to the drawing table and see what was done and where is the state. Now the situation with the country is that one of the major politicial parties is accusing the other of communal and the other party in return calling them pseudo secular.The reason for this is the words that have been inserted into the constitution Secular,Socialist, democracy republic of all the words the supreme ideology was democracy.Power to people– to begin with the constitution was a pot pourri of all the major constitutions of the world– a westminster type of representative democracy, yet a republic (For which UK isolated us), secularism which was illdefined,Socialism which was inserted after so many years by non other than the dictator Indira Gandhi.Now let us examine the wings of this so called democracy The executive –the president was made subservient to PM by Indira Gandhi –VV Giri– signed and made president subservient to PM,The judiciary — the judicial appointments have been questioned a long time ago–, their judgments and leanings many time suggest a tilt towards the government — at the sametime saddled with a huge backlog of cases making it inefficient and ineffective– this judiciary will fast track a rape of a German girl — whereas thousands and thousands of rape cases are pending!!!Next comes the PM’s office –Manmohan Singh had accepted the post of PM on the “Request of” Sonia Gandhi an extra constitutional authority .Was it for a short period or for a whole term? Why did he not contest an election for a whole term? Now the second elections have come and still he is the PM candidate but does not contest the election!!!! This too by the AICC Chairperson!!!So the obvious loyalty of the PM lies with AICC president again an extra constitutional authority.So is the country destined to be ruled by extra constitutional people? Take the case of CEC–TN Seshan showed us how important this post is!!!They have neutralized this with two more deputy and slowly brought their own man despite a lot of charges against him dating back to his earlier days in service.SC did not take the obvious view that he could be partisan!!! So turn back and see what had happened to the constitution? All the organs were subservient — democracies wings were clipped– Jatayu killed by Ravana and Sita was abducted– Constitution killed and democracy abducted.Tomorrow anybody can walk into the PM’s office through backdoor– the front door will always remain closed.
Do we need a second constitution ? Yes not in the form of amendments but in the form of rewriting the whole constitution and give rebirth to democracy.This time with the approval of all the people !!!We will put it for a referendum and all important matters will be put before people in the form referendum!!!!We will take back the power from Sonia gandhi who has usurped the power and from Congress party– Was Gandhi right in saying “Congress party has served its purpose of freeing india from British .It should be dismantled” Did he have the vision that sixty years after the so called freedom the freedomitself will be hijacked ? Who is Sonia to nominate a PM for lifetime ?
Gautam Nandi on April 14th, 2009
The present Constitution has become a burden and cannot serve the purpose of governance any more. The concepts and thoughts enshrined by the founding fathers have all been effectively hijacked and diluted to serve personal vested interest at the cost of the nation.
Democarcy entails rule of ‘Majority’ but regionalism and petty small issues has turned it up side down where by the ‘Minority’ wields more power on the fate of the nation through power hungry vote bank politics totally divorced from national interests.
The big question that begs an urgent answer is how can the common citizen initiate the change before it is too late and we become multiple Indias governed by progressively corrupt individuals who draw strength from ‘tunnel vision’ of INDIA?
Rajeev on April 14th, 2009
dear nawaz: im an indian first and then a hindu ..so you and i and many others around this country feel the same way - that we are indians first and everything else next.
let me first say that i had condemned and will always condemn all forms of hate statements on grounds of religion…ive publicly condemned varun of bjp, imran kidwai and srinivas of congress ! so i was definitely not mute..! I subscribe to the fundamental belief that India is for all Indians..and thats a non negotiable issues. Since you raise the issue of Modi vs Tytler, i believe theres a difference here.. The controversy about Tytler is that the Government was using the CBI to exonerate him ! Thats not the case with Modi, where the Supreme court SIT is examing the investigation of the 2002 riots and at least one member of his cabinet Maya Kodnani is under detention and prosecution.
I wrote this in my blog ..and i am repeating here. There are no parties that are innocent in acts of violence. But what we need is for Parties to face upto it, allow impartial prosecution of the accused without trying to sweep it under the carpet like was attempted in the Tytler fiasco.! Nawaz, i worry that there are too many in politics today who make condemning the entire objective of politics - condemning this and condemning that.. and while we all should condemn whats wrong, we should also suggest ways to heal and move forward! The future of India depends on its destitution, poverty, hunger for its millions to be eradicated at least over the next decade or two. For that we have to get over this period in our history, convict the accused and move on to build a better, safer India for all Indians..sorry if that sounds like a speech but thats what i feel.!
Taranfx on April 14th, 2009
Nice..
Indian govenment needs a shoe.. I thought only PC needs to BOOT
lol
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TJ on April 15th, 2009
Jarnail Singh did a copycat. Hard to believe that it was as spontaneous an act as that of his Iraqi counterpart. The Gandhian way would have been to present Chiddu a garland of shoes.Nevertheless Jarnail Singh achieved a purpose he never dreamed of. Tytler and Sajjan were dropped as party candidates. Some palliative to the Sikh psyche and more importantly to the Sikh constituency with the elections drawing near. The issue is one of justice and justice delayed by 25 years is justice denied. There can be no justice when the CBI is “owned” by the Govt….and decided to give a clean chit to Tytler. Our countrymen have learnt a lesson from many instances in the past. The best way to get justice is to politicise INJUSTICE. Bravo Jarnail Singh !
बालसुब्रमण्यम on April 15th, 2009
आपने एक बहुत प्रासंगिक मुद्दा उठाया है।
लेकिन जब तक हमारे देश में नवास शरीफ जैसे लोग हैं, मैं आशावादी हूं।
मेरा अंदाजा है कि इस चुनाव में बहुत ही महत्वपूर्ण नतीजे आनेवाले हैं। दोनों ही प्रमुख पार्टियां भाजपा और कांग्रेस धूल चाटनेवाली हैं।
इन दोनों को छोड़ दिया जाए, तो बाकी सब पार्टियां मुख्यतः सेक्युलर ही हैं। शिव सेना आदि तो भाजपा के ही क्लोन हैं।
अब देखिए, समाजवादी पार्टी, बहुजन समाजवादी पार्टी, राष्ट्रीय जनता दल, डीएमके, एडीएमके, साम्यावादी दलें, आदि कहां धर्म के आधार पर वोट मांगती हैं?
आसार यही हैं कि ये ही सब मिलकर अगली सरकार बनाएंगे। इनसे मुझे बड़ी आशाएं हैं।
आपका ब्लोग मुझे अच्छा लगा। आजकल राजनेता भी आधुनिक माध्यमों का उपयोग करके लोगों से जुड़ने की कोशिश कर रहे हैं। यह बहुत अच्छी बात है। इस प्रयास को जारी रखें।
jp on April 15th, 2009
I had lot of respect for you, seen a completely different kind of approach from you which was very refreshing, but all that got shattered when I got a mail from you endorsing for support for the BJP candidate Ananth Kumar from Bangalore South. I need not have to say much about Ananth Kumar as his story keeps appearing in Bangalore press every now and then including his fight with BSY. By strengthening BJP and by supporting Ananth Kumar , the only thing we can expect is more communal divide in Bangalore and the entire country. BJP is trying to get votes by dividing people on communal lines and you are openly supporting such a party.
Rajeev on April 15th, 2009
im disappointed that your views on me were shattered by my endorsement of Ananthkumar! in a democracy we can still agree on a number of things about india and politics whilst we disagree about our choice of our leaders! my support for ananthkumar is a very reasoned one and my email to you wouldve cleared shared my logic and reasoning for the same. my choice was not based on a whim or fancy or friendship but a strong belief that having him as my MP would help me transform bangalore in the next 3 years. Thats my view and I wouldnt impose it on anyone but would definitely like you and everyone to understand it with an open mind! on the issue of communal lines, i am not those who subscribe to the theory of demonizing one party to the benefit of others. like i mentioned in my blog, for too many years and for far too long in the history of our democracy, votes have been garnered by Political parties not because of what they offer in the positive in areas of governance and development, rather by creating demons and paranois among their vote banks..its my hope that slowly and surely we will break out of that rut..! thanks for writing in and hope that u will continue to engage despite our disagreement on the issue of who is best for Bangalore SOuth !
gv sreedhar on April 17th, 2009
The word “Secular” conceptually has every thing to do with “religion” but contextually has varying connotations to practically all political parties. Each of them boasts of correctness of their principles and practice. Like the word “terrorism” means different things for different groups though follow same practice & procedures to kill. Elements of cast, tribe and communities of different denominations over crowd the larger aspects of Secularism. It is difficult to discuss this through a blog. But surely it cannot be let go as it is today. The Congress is guilty of using this term to create many colored groups of vote banks for long and was its fodder all along to remain seated in chairs of power. No longer will this old trick work exclusively in favor of Congress. Excluding the regional parties, all other 3rd, 4th etc forces/fronts are claiming their version of “secularity” as the purest. This term “secular” requires re-defining by Elders in the Parliament during the next session. Until & unless we rein in our Judiciary and the Investigating/Prosecuting Agencies talking of upholding essentials of rights of Citizen as enshrined in the Constitution and elaborated in Law of the Land is futile. These aspects Governance require most immediate attention of Parliamentarians who are not just successful politicians but have potentials of an upcoming Statesman. Idea of forming a group of Independent MPs and who proceed with execution of life giving surgery to ‘India that is Bharat’ is the need of the time. Surely young bloods amongst MPs of both houses should group together to segregate those blood stained MPs/MLAs through out the Country & educate/convince political big wigs to Cleanse their party so as to prepare better deck for the next dance of Democracy.
Indian Television Media News on April 18th, 2009
Throwing shoe now become a fashion. Rajeev’s blog is too good. Keep it up. Nice to read all the posts.
ankit on April 24th, 2009
Dear Rajeev,
I am so Glad I finally clicked on this advertisement which keeps bothering me on my Facebook page. An extremely balanced and AWARE personality comes across from your well-written writing. Additionally, I am so very glad to read from a person who has the ability to READ-BETWEEN-THE-LINES and LISTEN-BETWEEN-THE-SPEECHES.
Please keep up the Good Work and keep on engaging more Upper Middle Class to Vote (FOR CHANGE). I am trying to do the same thing in Delhi North but at a very low scale. I hope I can improve upon my effort in my life to come.
Ankit, 26
P.S: I would call it a CAM Blog (Couldn’t Agree More)