2S
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Archive for regional
October 30, 2007 at 8:47 pm · Filed under politics, regional
I thought ‘JD(S)’ stands for ‘Janata Dal (Secular)’. Oops, it turns out - that’s the wrong expansion. The accurate one is: ‘Just Doing the State’.
Yes. They really are doing us all.
When H D Kumaraswamy took the hot-seat in February 2006, we were slightly surprised, weren’t we? I mean, here’s a son rising against the father, and while Gowda Sr. quietly mumbled his discomfort at the BJP alliance, the son makes a promise to the people of a state.
Only to break it, rather unsurprisingly, a year and a half later.
If the son is the icing, big-daddy Gowda is the cherry on the cake of cunning politics. They say looks are deceptive - in his case, they’re mindboggling. He comes across as a person who would struggle to rule an acre in Kanakhpura, and he actually went on to become the Prime Minister of the Nation. But beneath that expressionless face, beyond that plain-vanilla raagi-hittu diet, there is something about the man that stands out. And it’s quite evident.
Too bad for him it’s his lust for power, an omen of which is the recent influence on the son to halt the power-transfer, which left a power-erect Yediyurrappa who had to suddenly go limp, forced to retreat as a result of what the BJP famously overtitled ‘the betrayal’.
And just like your local Bangalore rickwaala would take a shocking U-turn from under your nose without any indication, the JD(S) have come back wanting to support the BJP. It’s like divorcing a woman, and when you realise you aren’t getting any action at night, and you go back to her, ‘will you marry me?’
But even the women would have better sense. However - The Brainless Janata Party (or the BJP) - who were actually in the middle of their election campaign, agreed immediately, as if they are a powerlust-starved entity and not a party responsible for the welfare of the people.
Had Yediyurappa really gotten this hard?
The trigger for the JD(S) thrusting into reverse gear, undeniably, ought to be the actions of a certain rebel JD(S) leader who goes by the name of M P Prakash. I’ll forgive you for going ‘M P who?’ as it’s usually the Gowda household that hogs all the limelight. Prakash - himself an accomplished and respected leader - who enjoys a following even within the Kumarasamy camp, went on spawning his own thread in alliance with the Congress. Prakash also enjoys more support from a dominant Lingayat community, and the window of opportunity to go on and become the CM in a Congress alliance would’ve sent Godwa’s panic-o-meter running.
And somehow, base-Gowda has come out tops again, with the majority.
When will the leaders realise that this a promise they make to their people, and not a game of musical-chairs?
Anyway, here we are back to square one.
- - -
It is no secret that the mean-supreme Gowda’s eyes remain shut more often than not. So, it seems appropriate that while the party is led by namma Kumbhakarna, typing JD(S) on MSN Messenger yields this:
October 15, 2007 at 11:57 pm · Filed under debates, regional
At least 11 pilgrims were trampled to death and 15 injured on Sunday in a stampede on a narrow path leading to the famous Mahakali temple atop Pavagadh Hill on a day when an unprecedented six lakh devouts turned up. This is what the Superintendent of Police Dipankar Trivedi had to say:
The flow of devotees this time was unprecedented. We were expecting two lakh pilgrims but more than six lakh turned up
Unprece-what?
Okay, we Indians really don’t know how to queue up. Agreed. But, pray tell me, how does the government manage a logistical feat such as the elections, or the Kumbh Mela and the works, and they can’t handle this? Something’s wrong somewhere.
A bit of analysis into the report revealed something - Chief Minister, Narendra Modi. No wonder.
Luckily for him and unluckily for the country, this issue has been eclipsed by the Ludhiana blast.
October 3, 2007 at 8:44 pm · Filed under politics, regional
Move over, Russell Peters. You have stiff competition from within India.
Meet Rajnath Singh - the president of the BJP - India’s latest addition to stand-up comedy. Because, of late, he’s been saying some funny-ass shit.
For instance, he has an absurd requirement - Sonia Gandhi should drop the surname. Why? Because Gandhi’s political vision was Ram Rajya, and while I wonder how ‘Ram’ can be drafted into ‘political’ ideology, Rajnath’s theory is straightforward: Gandhi believed in Ram, you don’t, so don’t use his surname.
It got me thinking. Rajnath who again? Oh, right - Singh. Now, going by that, Bhagat Singh believed in Atheism. Rajnath, obviously, doesn’t. But he still has the surname. Weird. Either Rajnath turns to Atheism - I know a few friends who’d be glad to show you the light - or you set an example for Sonia and drop the surname. Something more appropriate to your ideas and agenda. Like, er, Godse, perhaps?
Rajnath Godse.
Hmm. How does it sound to you?
But that isn’t where it all ends. He goes on to make this crappy statement.
If Lord Ram did not exist, then it means the preachings of Gandhiji were all wrong. The Congress president has Gandhi in her surname. Her children also carry Gandhi surnames. Then I think they should reconsider.
Reconsider? He thinks they picked the surname? Right, so the kids were born, and little Rahul and Priyanka, one fine day were left in awe of their History lesson, so they went up to mommy dearest and were like, ‘Mummy? We want Gandhi in our surname. Thank you.’
Mr. Singh, for the record - what Gandhi preached was what he believed. You and me are absolutely nobody to decide whether his belief was factual or fictional. And before I’m stabbed, Gandhi talked about non-violence. About Hindu-Muslim unity. Your ‘party’ - which is actually a ‘legitimate’ front for right-wing Hindus like the VHP and the RSS to slaughter the ‘minority’ - is far from establishing Hindu-Muslim unity. Another quick reality check - who assassinated Gandhi? The Congress or the RSS? And, Mr. Singh, can you honestly (or even dishonestly) deny that the RSS and the BJP aren’t pals?
In fact, just in case you claim to be ignorant about your own party’s doings, the RSS use the BJP for their political activities, the same way the Americans use their fake wars for the oil. So, seriously, just hush up.
Not that the Congress is India’s best party - they haven’t handled the Sethu Samudhram cleverly - but never mind.
Rajnath Singh also had this to say about the whole Lord Ram fiasco.
Neither British rulers nor Mughal emperors questioned the existence of Lord Ram. But this government is doing it. They are doing what even Aurangazeb and Clive had not done.
Naw, all ‘Clivey’ did was turn a whole nation and her people into slaves for the Brits. And all ‘Zeb did was reward anyone who converted to Islam, in a country that had prided itself on religious harmony and cultural diversity. No big shit, really, eh Rajnath?
Right, you do have some class leaders - Mr. Vajpayee comes to mind - but if you’re going to make personal attacks on random people (sorry, Sonia, but in the context, you are a random person) using the BJP’s name - you’re being silly.
To his credit, the bloke noted that the country cannot progress by ignoring its key agricultural sector. True. I’m not a big fan of those who lick the West’s rear, and Mr. Singh would do well to focus on issues of national importance than a mere surname of a woman.
Back to my initial point on comedy. There is, however, one key differentiator between Mr. Peters and Mr. Singh.
Russell occasionally does makes sense.
September 5, 2007 at 12:40 am · Filed under business, debates, politics, regional
Islam prohibits usury.
It instructs all its followers to stay away from taking or giving any form of interest. Now interest, of course, is one of the basic foundations of banking. Which is why I flinch with disgust every single time I come across the paradoxical term - ‘Islamic Banking’. The whole idea behind prohibiting interest is to ensure that the borrower does not get taxed or punished. But with concepts like Murabaha, a customer faces an extra payment anyway. So what’s the deal?
For those who are new to Murabaha, it’s a typical Islamic banking product, as far as Shariah-compliance goes. Murabaha involves the bank purchasing a commodity at the market-value and then selling it to the customer at a higher price than the market-value. Instead of interest in a traditional loan, the bank makes a profit with the difference of the purchase value. Vehicle murabaha’s are a common sight in Islamic banks around the world. A simple example - you can’t afford a brand new Swift for 4.5 lakhs, so the bank purchases it at 4 and sells it to you at 5. The vehicle is under their ownership until you complete the installments.
But guess what? You end up paying 50k more. And that’s what it really is - a tweaked loophole, something that some folks are trying to exploit.
Islamic Banking has had its share of success in Arab nations, with many banks opening an Islamic branch and some even starting their own Islamic bank. The Middle East Bank in Dubai recently underwent a ‘conversion’ to Emirates Islamic Bank under the Emirates Banking Group. It’s being both - adopted and accepted.
But I don’t see something like that happening in this nation. For one, I haven’t seen the Muslim community unite and speak against usury in contemporary India. I’ve known many Muslims who invest in mutual funds, shares and traditional non-Shariah compliant banking products. Most Muslims in India who would go on to bank tend to think with a secular starting point. The government has done a decent job of separating the religion from an average Indian’s daily life, and most Muslims are already accustomed to getting through their day with their own adjustments as far as the faith is concerned. So, the first challenge would be to get the Muslim population of India to cross over to Shariah-compliant banking products, and they would have to cite the teachings from Islam’s core to bring about the change.
But hey, the bigger challenge would be to keep them on. Tax, if anything, is a killer in the nation and I don’t see how a Shariah-compliant banking product can offer tax-benefits to people who invest in it. This would, in all probability, take a serious hit on the Islamic banks in terms of popularity when everyone figure out that they don’t get much tax benefits anyway. Only the devout, who follow the Book to the T, would end up being loyal customers to an Islamic bank. And that’s a small number - hardly enough to sustain the operations of a financial institution.
There are one-off incidents, but on the whole, Muslims in India have managed to co-exist very well with their Hindu and Christian counterparts. Barring the Shiv Sena and the Godhra incidents, newer governments have done their bit to enforce that the Muslim community do not feel like a minority, even as the media might paint a different image. As we move towards religious harmony, setting up Islamic banks and enforcing it on the people not only threatens to divide the customers of India’s banking industry today, but it also gives right-wing Hindu extremists and the likes of the Sena a whisker of an opportunity to speak up against this, sparking more communal violence.
Islamic Banking might just make those extremist idiots look like smart-alecks. We don’t want that, do we?
It would be best if existing retail banks offer Islamic products within their current schemes and carry out their ledger-separation, overlooked by a Shariah authority, who can certify that the profit is indeed separated. Besides, it offers a more legitimate front - the Sena would have to think twice before attacking at a larger and more ‘legitimate’ organization like ICICI, Stancy, HDFC or HSBC.
We’d rather focus on the scams and bribery and give the common man his due. And work on the tax - it burns a landmine in the pocket.
August 2, 2007 at 12:17 pm · Filed under regional
What kind of family leaves a psychiatric patient - who is still undergoing treatment - all alone with her children? And the horrific outcome: she nearly turns the Hooghly into a necropolis, flinging her own child into the river and killing her. If it wasn’t for the pedestrians around, there could have easily been more.
Looks like it isn’t only G-Mall that needs higher railings.
