At any point in time, there are so many stories at play behind the scenes in politics in India that whenever I say or write something about anything that is going on, my immediate feeling is that I am probably wrong because I might not even be knowing whats actually going on.
With what is going on between the forces facing the government, at present the face of which is Baba Ramdev, and the mighty Government of India, who had to use physical force against the modern Yoga guru, I really can't say who is right and who is wrong, but what I do wonder is how can this man fluster this government so much? Especially this government who's hallmark in office has been secrecy and obscurity in its words and actions.
This time, I feel the CON'gress led government is very conveniently again using the bogey of "Hindu nationalism" or this obscure phrase called "Saffron terror" to again hide from its responsibility towards the people of the country who have been braying for them to be tough against corruption in the country. The irony is this - how can the most corrupt entity that rules this country take action against its own?
Corruption again, is a very broad word, but I think what is shocking in today's India is the relative ease with which so many big politicians and businesspersons have been able to get away from the long arm of the law, and all we are left with is scapegoats like Raja and Kalmadi. It is not that people's anger has not been able to manifest itself into action. Congress has been losing allies and elections in a lot of places, with the first to go many years ago in Lalu Yadav. The DMK relationship is the latest to sour, and it looks like this one is probably going to sour for good. In politics, nobody wants to partner with a has been, and with the way JJ routed Karunanidhi and his party, it basically paved the way for a lot of things to happen, such as Karunanidhi's daughter going to jail and now the Marans under the spotlight for corruption. JJ had already set her sights on the financial might of the DMK and the Marans, and is already on the offensive by planning to nationalize cable tv distribution in Tamil Nadu, which till now was effectively controlled by a Maran company.
When everything seems lost, the best thing to do for a good politician is to change the subject. Thus when some people, who may happen to be saffron wearing yoga teaching public figures or khadi wearing social workers or whoever, say that the government must do something on corruption, and give the country some details on the bank accounts of India's politicians and business people, the good politician will basically give it a communal flair and say that they are driven by their Hindu fanaticism.
So as seasoned politicians, the Gandhi minions in the Congress were told that they have crap on them, and they first, refused that they have any crap on them, accused the accuser of having a hidden agenda in telling them that they got crap on them, and then successfully turned around and accused the accuser of having crap on them as well.
Without going into whether Baba Ramdev is right or wrong, or what his or the government's intentions are, I just want to talk about these examples of propaganda that the Indian English media is so good at. Of course, since Baba Ramdev wears saffron, he is quickly painted a rabid Hindu nationalist, and the the Congress mouthpiece NDTV led national media goes all out on showing the communal angle. However, very few television crews actually covered the meeting of Baba Ramdev with Father Dominic and Imam Bukhari when they visited his rally and one of them even hugged him. For all the countless hours that the television crews were buzzing around like flies, apparently just during that meeting they found a pile of dung more smelly to crowd around.
But to any innocent mind who is trying to make sense of the whole situation, the issue gets muddled. Is it merely about calling for action against corruption? No doubt it has taken a much more political, and unfortunately religious turn, but like I said, obfuscating the real issue in question is what seasoned politicians do.
I've come across many people who say that they don't like the Congress, but that they hate the RSS, Modi, etc etc and go into this rant that at least the Congress is not that! So yeah, they want the Congress to pay, but they are not in favor of such "Hindutva forces" coming into power. I am such a rookie that I don't even know what Hindutva forces mean! If a Muslim leader had led the protests, then what kind of political wranglings and media reportings would we be seeing? I actually wish that somebody would be involved who the media and the government couldn't spin into being "communal".
Theres a lot going on in India these days, and it'll be interesting to see what happens. Not just interesting to see, but perhaps even to be a part of! There is one assumption i've been noticing in every political discourse or analysis of events - "public memory is short and they will forget everything." I wonder if this assumption will also go the real estate way. Let us hope it does.
With what is going on between the forces facing the government, at present the face of which is Baba Ramdev, and the mighty Government of India, who had to use physical force against the modern Yoga guru, I really can't say who is right and who is wrong, but what I do wonder is how can this man fluster this government so much? Especially this government who's hallmark in office has been secrecy and obscurity in its words and actions.
This time, I feel the CON'gress led government is very conveniently again using the bogey of "Hindu nationalism" or this obscure phrase called "Saffron terror" to again hide from its responsibility towards the people of the country who have been braying for them to be tough against corruption in the country. The irony is this - how can the most corrupt entity that rules this country take action against its own?
Corruption again, is a very broad word, but I think what is shocking in today's India is the relative ease with which so many big politicians and businesspersons have been able to get away from the long arm of the law, and all we are left with is scapegoats like Raja and Kalmadi. It is not that people's anger has not been able to manifest itself into action. Congress has been losing allies and elections in a lot of places, with the first to go many years ago in Lalu Yadav. The DMK relationship is the latest to sour, and it looks like this one is probably going to sour for good. In politics, nobody wants to partner with a has been, and with the way JJ routed Karunanidhi and his party, it basically paved the way for a lot of things to happen, such as Karunanidhi's daughter going to jail and now the Marans under the spotlight for corruption. JJ had already set her sights on the financial might of the DMK and the Marans, and is already on the offensive by planning to nationalize cable tv distribution in Tamil Nadu, which till now was effectively controlled by a Maran company.
When everything seems lost, the best thing to do for a good politician is to change the subject. Thus when some people, who may happen to be saffron wearing yoga teaching public figures or khadi wearing social workers or whoever, say that the government must do something on corruption, and give the country some details on the bank accounts of India's politicians and business people, the good politician will basically give it a communal flair and say that they are driven by their Hindu fanaticism.
So as seasoned politicians, the Gandhi minions in the Congress were told that they have crap on them, and they first, refused that they have any crap on them, accused the accuser of having a hidden agenda in telling them that they got crap on them, and then successfully turned around and accused the accuser of having crap on them as well.
Without going into whether Baba Ramdev is right or wrong, or what his or the government's intentions are, I just want to talk about these examples of propaganda that the Indian English media is so good at. Of course, since Baba Ramdev wears saffron, he is quickly painted a rabid Hindu nationalist, and the the Congress mouthpiece NDTV led national media goes all out on showing the communal angle. However, very few television crews actually covered the meeting of Baba Ramdev with Father Dominic and Imam Bukhari when they visited his rally and one of them even hugged him. For all the countless hours that the television crews were buzzing around like flies, apparently just during that meeting they found a pile of dung more smelly to crowd around.
But to any innocent mind who is trying to make sense of the whole situation, the issue gets muddled. Is it merely about calling for action against corruption? No doubt it has taken a much more political, and unfortunately religious turn, but like I said, obfuscating the real issue in question is what seasoned politicians do.
I've come across many people who say that they don't like the Congress, but that they hate the RSS, Modi, etc etc and go into this rant that at least the Congress is not that! So yeah, they want the Congress to pay, but they are not in favor of such "Hindutva forces" coming into power. I am such a rookie that I don't even know what Hindutva forces mean! If a Muslim leader had led the protests, then what kind of political wranglings and media reportings would we be seeing? I actually wish that somebody would be involved who the media and the government couldn't spin into being "communal".
Theres a lot going on in India these days, and it'll be interesting to see what happens. Not just interesting to see, but perhaps even to be a part of! There is one assumption i've been noticing in every political discourse or analysis of events - "public memory is short and they will forget everything." I wonder if this assumption will also go the real estate way. Let us hope it does.
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