Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Yet Another Congress Sepoy (YACS)

The Hindu : Opinion / Leader Page Articles : The Congress party’s last chance
It must be recalled that in the early decades after Independence, the concept of a social democratic political alternative to the Jana Sangh representing an axis of landlords and big capital and to the Communist Party of India had caught the public imagination, enabling the Congress and its various splinters to wield considerable political influence over the decades.

What gibberish! The Congress was the heavyweight political party for a long time after independence. Jana Sangh and CPI hardly had any political presence. Peoples' love affair with Congress was not a result of seeking alternatives to some non-descript parties.
Part of the carefully structured reinvention of the Congress party as a social democratic formation offering a “third way” was the declared interest in a new foreign policy paradigm. This included restoring cordiality with Pakistan, taking new steps forward with China, but more significantly engaging the United States, increasing the strategic content of the relationship, of which the nuclear deal is a prominent element.

Congress brought India to its knees through its socialistic policies and it never had any pretensions about democratic traditions. Talking of "carefully structured reinvention", why not elaborate on the groundbreaking non-alignment policy and its relevance in Congress' newly found approach. Malini has nothing to say about this. Instead she talks about how Congress has restored relationships with Pakistan and US. Poor BJP used to get blamed for building relationships with Pakistan and US. The Leftists went to the extent of calling BJP a US ally. But Malini credits Congress for building the relationships and appreciates it.
That the nuclear deal rather than any other issue of equal import such as inflation and rising prices became the breaking point between the Congress and the Left parties was not surprising.

Why is it not surprising, is it because these two parties are unscrupulous, opportunistic crooks. And why is Malini not concerned that the Congress, instead of worrying about inflation and its impact on aam aadmi, is concentrating its efforts on nuclear deal.
The marked inability of the Congress to stake out a position for itself in the public discourse, despite its high-profile leaders, Dr. Singh and Ms Gandhi, charismatic figures who have caught the public imagination in different ways, testifies to the intrinsic weakness of its organisational structure.

Dr.Singh who? When did he become a charismatic figure? Is he not the one with the lowest ever popularity ratings for a PM? Public imagination, my foot. Malini is letting her imagination run wild.
It is clear that the present leaders of the Congress party, Dr. Singh and Ms Gandhi, have an ambitious political and economic vision. While the spectacle of inflation and rising prices might present a sharp challenge to the proposition that it is possible to pursue policies that stress both growth and equity, it is evident that the two leaders are unwavering in their conviction that reforms and distributive justice can go hand in hand.

It is "clear" only to Malini, who is clearly hallucinating. How about listing the economic reforms done under the ambitious Dr.Singh's regime. Ok, how about listing one economic reform. Try writing novels instead, Malini. All those drugs and hallucinations might come in handy then.
Unless the Congress party becomes more realistic in terms of its engagement with other centrist political forces, shedding its own notions of its traditional hegemony in certain States, particularly U.P., it will not be possible to recapture the political space it has yielded to extremist forces, particularly of the Right.

Apart from giving labels to parties as centrist and extremist, is there on single valid point in the article why congress must be revived? What achievements has it got to its credit? It moved away from its foreign policy of non-alignment and is following the path shown by BJP. It stalled all economic reforms and introduced populist measures. The economy is on a topple, farmer suicides are at all time high, terrorism is rampant, and inflation is touching record highs every week. Once again, why revive the congress, Malini, if it is no good for the country? Your bank records might tell the story.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Chindu journalists might be in a dilemma -- they can't criticize the congress because that would help BJP and they can never criticize their CPM bosses. In these interesting times, they must be confused what to write what not to write -- they must be smoking different things hoping to get some revelations for an interesting "story" -- and here's the result! This dilemma leads to frustration and as one epxects Neena gas vents it here on BJP

I guess the Chindu journos will have to keep smoking at least until the next general elections. This must be fun time for us here in the CBCNN; Looking forward to reading more fiction from our "eminent" gas venting machines :-)

Dirt Digger said...

HF,
In an attempt to provide original solutions to all the problem, Malini Parthasarathy attempts to revive the carcass of a party known as the Congress. Problem is barring about 5 states the Congress has lost its relevance. It does have the ability to be a king-maker given that any party with more than 20 MPs can have visions of providing a PM.
The hallucination about Jana Sangh and CPI leading the country is laughable and shows Malini's ignorance of political reality.

Anonymous said...

N Ram fuming at Sagarika Ghose saying her program is a propaganda for the nuclear deal! -- see the videos in this page. Text doesn't give the full picture--see videos 2, 3 and 4 and find out yourself how uncivil our boss is!

It seems, the Chief had announced previously that "the nuclear deal is dead"; when asked what he thinks now, he started fuming !

Anonymous said...

>> find out yourself how uncivil our boss is!

That dude frothing at the mouth is nothing new. The lefties world over think it is their right to be rude and uncivil. Watch the other uncouth speaker of LS. It is anyway good for Ghost to get some of that.

as for real people, who gives a s*it to the deal, or to the UPA, or to the lefties.

Gandaragolaka said...

Not sure if this gem has yet appeared in the chindu. But read on.. Bhadrakumar strikes again.

http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/jul/09mkb.htm

Anonymous said...

Hi Friends,
Met LiC in Delhi Airport yesterday night (8/9/08).Is he there for any funny mission with the anti India parties(left)

Anonymous said...

LiC must be there in Delhi to discuss with Karat et al how exactly Chindu should spin all political stories related to UPA and the deal such that no damage is done to CPM

Anonymous said...

"I pity the PM because he has made a huge blunder and compromised the relationship without any forethought. The cost that he is going to pay for this present arrangement is going to be extremely high.

The present political developments are bad for the Congress and the BJP will be the major gainer out of this episode."
-----------------------------

Ominous and threatening declaration by the Chief! He seems to make a last ditch desperate attempt by trying to scare the Congress party, by raising the BJP bogey. Pity the boss.

Anonymous said...

India's nuclear agreement with IAEA has loopholes

By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer 18 minutes ago

India's agreement with the U.N. atomic watchdog agency contains restrictions that could limit international oversight of its civilian nuclear program, according to a confidential document obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.

The accord is meant to open the way for India to do business with a group of 45 states that export nuclear fuel and technology, but the deal first has to be approved by the 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Much of the 23-page document is in line with similar agreements the IAEA has with other countries. But a key clause appears to call into question the effectiveness of any IAEA effort to ensure India's civilian nuclear activities do not aid its military's atomic weapons program.

The draft says India "may take corrective measures to ensure uninterrupted operation of its civilian nuclear reactors in the event of disruption of foreign fuel supplies."

While ambiguous, the phrasing appears to open the door for India to end IAEA oversight of some facilities, potentially allowing it to shift those sites from manufacturing fuel for atomic reactors that generate electricity to the production of fissile material usable in warheads.

In addition, an annex supposed to list the nuclear facilities that India is prepared to put under IAEA supervision is blank, essentially meaning the IAEA's board members are being asked to approve an agreement without knowing what it will apply to.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080709/ap_on_re_as/nuclear_india

Hindu Fundamentalist said...

the ap article is quite interesting. consider the two parties who are keen to get the deal through - usa and manmoron singh who was accused of being a cia mole. usa is definitely driven by self-interests. come to think of it, manmoron is also driven by his own self interests while putting the country at stake. the original agreement had stifling conditions. these were highlighted by brahma chellany and various others. the new draft is not made public yet. the secrecy shrouding the deal makes it hard to pass a judgment.