Sunday, May 17, 2009

Squint is better than blind, but it is the blind that won!

It is an unfortunate day. Not just for the millions who voted against the UPA, the Third Front, the Fourth Front, etc. For all the people who consider India their home and want to see it safe, secure, stable, and prosperous.

India has voted UPA back to power, and this time with even bigger mandate. Not that UPA's victory was unexpected. Nobody really expected NDA to win a majority anyway. The general expectation was that UPA and NDA would be very close, and who formed the next government would depend solely on who was better at horse-trade. There was an outside chance of a situation emerging where a maniac like Mayawati would bargain and beat everybody to the PM's chair. That scared the hell out of me! Thank God that it didn't happen.

I am really disappointed that the people thought Congress was the better bet than BJP. I hope these results won't prove too costly for India. Congress has ruled India for 50 years, and everybody knows the kind of progress we have made in those 50 years. And people still vote for that same party. BJP did so much better under Vajpayee and still it was voted out at the end of its term. How do you explain this!?

I accept that BJP was partly responsible for losing it this time. And it was not totally Congress' win -- others' loss was Congress' gain as was seen in UP, Bihar and West Bengal. And now that Congress has been backed by Muslims, you will see the game of appeasement go up a few notches! Congress and the other socialist jokers have already redefined secularism -- and it is only going to get worse now.

Manmohan Singh may be a decent, well-educated, and even well-meaning guy. But I don't want people like him to lead my country. What I want is a strong and patriotic person who doesn't hesitate to show his spine in defense of his country and his countrymen. What we have now is a person who is nothing more than a brilliant but mute loyalist of Sonia Gandhi. Given a choice between national and Sonia interests, he will choose Sonia's any day. If that is not true, I'm sure I am not the only one still waiting for him to prove me wrong. As if to show his loyalty (and maybe his desire to continue as PM?), one of the first few things he uttered as soon as he realized that UPA would form the next government was that he would be "delighted to have Rahul Gandhi in my cabinet." I am sure he meant "honored".

So, would Rahul Gandhi join the cabinet? As what? Of course, any portfolio would be his for the taking, but what would it be, I wonder. Something that doesn't expose him to controversy but keep him in the limelight, I guess. I hope it is not as big as a Deputy PM! You never know with these Congresswallahs --Manmohan Singh might suddenly "retire because of health reasons" and all the MPs might "request" Rahul Gandhi to save the nation by ascending the throne! After all, Manmohan Singh was only keeping it warm for him all these years. Oh well, I guess we Indians deserve this!

One really good thing in the middle of such disappointing news is that blackmailers like Laloo, Paswan and Mulayam have been kicked really hard in their back side (note that I didn't say they have been taught a lesson -- because they will never learn!). Another good thing is that the Left have been spat at. As long as the Communists are close to power, the possibility of them gifting a part of India, if not the whole, to China is never dim. And then, the final good news, great news in fact, is that Mayawati has been cut to size. I used to have nightmares of her becoming PM -- with the way Indian politics work, it was always going to be a possibility. Just look back at how Deve Gowda became our PM not too long ago!

By the way, aren't these Electronic Voting Machines supposed to be error-proof? Then what's up with the "Lost, Lost, and Won!" result of P. Chidambaram's Shivaganga seat? It does sound fishy! So, you mean these machines can be manipulated? In that case, it makes me wonder, did UPA manage to find a chink in these machines that others couldn't? I hope not!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

You said that Vajpayee rule was better than 50 years of congress rule. Agreed. But was it better than 5 year of Manmohan's rule. The answer is no.

Vajpayee was all about "India Shining" and urban india and the middle class. Manmohan is about loan waiver, NREGA and Bharat Nirman. BJP policies are liked only by the middle class who anyways don't vote. This is the reason why BJP got booted out.

As to Rahul Gandhi joining the government I believe he won't join the government. Not in the next three years.

P Chidambram lost and won not because of EVM but because of postal ballots. The margin was so less that postal ballot had to be counted and they are counted manually,