Showing posts with label BJP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BJP. Show all posts

Monday, March 25, 2013

Fare the Well, Dear Mr. Governor

Amidst recurring controversies regarding Governors serving The Political Interests of The Centre, A debate to either Abolish or Relook The Constitutional position of The Governor is The need of The Hour.

The position of the Governor which was conceptualised by the founding fathers of India’s constitution to provide for an independent and impartial post which would rise above partisan interests and raise his conscientious voice in the event of a crisis or conflict in a state, has unfortunately disappointed us on more occasions than one. Recurring controversies of Governors being seen working in a partial manner and even dubbed as “political agents” has dampened the integrity of the post and calls for an urgent need for reforms of the highest order to protect the larger national interest of fair governance. The question here is whether it is time for India to totally abolish the post of Governor or not.

While one might believe that the current turmoil in Karnataka has led us to prompt this debate, one look in the recent past reveals cases where Governors of states in both the UPA and NDA regimes have not only acted partially; they have also tried to overrule the electoral mandate. Apart from the recent furore created by the BJP in the case of H R Bharadwaj and E S L Narasimhan, serving governors of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, former governors of Bihar and Jharkhand Buta Singh and Syed Sibte Razi also came under immense scrutiny after having invited a party in minority to form a government, thereby obstructing the NDA to come to power. During the NDA regime too, there was the case of Arunachal Pradesh where the Governor played a very dubious role in the formulation of the government after Gegong Apang switched sides.

According to senior political expert Subrot Kamal Dutta, “The past 20 years have seen people with political background being nominated to the Governor’s post, which has definitely declined its dignity. Even the Supreme Court has come down heavily on the Centre over the conduct of the Bihar and Jharkhand governors in the past. The post of the Governor has to be apolitical, and only people with relevant judicial and constitutional experience should be nominated. Impetus has to be on each individual to keep the post as apolitical as possible.” Taking a fair view on the ongoing turmoil in Karnataka, one could contest that Governor Bharadwaj was only carrying out his duties by acting to ensure that an individual under scanner for alleged acts of corruption to the tune of Rs.5 billion does not stay at the helm of affairs. After all, the constitution legally provides for the Governor to act against corruption, which is what Bharadwaj did. Even if we were to believe that his actions were not influenced by the Congress, his stand invited the ire of the BJP who blamed Bharadwaj of acting hastily only to divert the nation’s attention from reports of the CWG and 2G scams that the UPA was reeling under. Either way, the Governor’s actions, even if justified, stand to lose credibility on account of political gimmicks, the kinds unlikely to end anytime soon.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

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Saturday, January 5, 2013

Success begot...

Sharad Gupta investigates what led to the failure of BJP and what is stopping it from being a success

The BJP is undergoing the biggest-ever churning in its 25-years of existence. While the party is yet to officially start a serious analysis of its overwhelming rout in 2009 general elections, discontent has surfaced in many quarters within the party. Its much hyped up image of a party with a difference has failed and failed miserably to click with the voters and the discontent is evident in every quarter of the party. What is strange and more discouraging is that this time its not the small fries but stalwarts like Jaswant Singh, Yashwant Sinha, Dr.Murli Manohar Joshi and Arun Shourie, who have questioned the party’s electoral strategy and handling of post-election results situation. Their contention is that those responsible for the party’s electoral debacle, instead of being punished, have been rewarded.

Indeed, success has many fathers while failure has none. Its also true that while CPI, CPM or even the BSP and SP have done some introspection of their defeat, the BJP leadership hasn’t undertaken any such exercise. BJP’s national executive committee meeting scheduled for June 20-21, too, is likely to be a hogwash. “Brushing issues under the carpet would lead to more disastrous situation. Until we address the issues, how would we resolve them,’’ says a senior leader from Madhya Pradesh.

So far, the BJP has received flak for misguided electoral strategy, lack of ideological focus and absence of a cohesive leadership. The party had been showered with lavish praises only five months ago for retaining power in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The BJP has done extremely well again in Karnataka and Chhattisgarh but, no one in the party has bothered to pick up the positives and try to implement popular programmes in other states. And the result is in front for everyone to see - even for the party leadership which continues to believe that not much has been lost .


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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Thursday, October 18, 2012

Many feast to manifesto!!!

The disconnect between reality and manifestos continues...

April 11, 2009: Samajwadi Party (SP) released its ‘concave’ election manifesto. The party promises to remove computers, ban English education, ban machineries in agriculture and also put a ban on share trading. What the party forgot is that it is the service sector that is the largest contributor to GDP and the largest employer as well. And the most noteworthy point is that the service sector is only able to churn out such huge revenues because of English and IT services. If by any chance this dream of SP is realised, then India may not only see drop in foreign revenues but a huge increase in unemployment rate as well. Ironically for these anti-English campaigners, let us remind them that even their website that caters to huge vote bank is written in English itself!

Congress also stressed on economic policies that will aim to achieve inclusive growth and low inflation if voted back to power. Ironically Congress is promising to do something they could have done in last five years. Given the current fiscal and economic condition, the whole manifesto seems more like a fairy tale. The BJP is also not far behind in this vote-luring exercise, and it seems that they are determined about not learning from past mistakes. Or else why on the earth would they promise to rebuild Ram temple and promote hinduvta even when this theme has been counter productive in fetching votes for them? Surprisingly, not even a single party’s manifesto talked about the current economic condition and how would they tackle the same. It seems that amidst their political fights they have found economic matter to be too light to find space in their manifesto.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
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Wednesday, August 29, 2012

SADO MASOCHISM: QURESHI & KRISHNA ...

You got it right. When it comes to the impossible task of dealing with Pakistan, a hack can always fall back upon a dictionary full of clichés and yet have room for some of the more tired ones. The one I have stumbled upon this time gives a slightly wicked twist to that old one about hoping for the best. When it comes to Pakistan, it is high time (another damn cliché!) that India hopes for the worse and is prepared for the worst. The real reason for this conclusion is based upon another old one: those who forget history are condemned to repeat it. And yes, we in India are on the verge of repeating history in a manner that will only confuse, befuddle and eventually humiliate the nation.

Look at what happened recently in Islamabad when the former Chief Minister of Karnataka and former Governor of Maharashtra and current Foreign Minister S.M Krishna was holding ‘peace’ talks with his Pakistani counterpart S.M Qureshi. I still fail to understand how the word ‘peace’ is so badly misused and rammed into the agenda of talks between India and Pakistan. I mean, both you and I know that the real chances of peace (at least if you interpret the word honestly) between India and Pakistan are more remote than Rahul Gandhi joining the BJP – as long as the existing ruling establishment in Pakistan rules the roost (another damn cliché!). What happened in Islamabad was predictable, if you know your history. The Foreign Minister of Pakistan was least interested in ‘peace’; his agenda was to play to the gallery (oops, another one!) – a gallery that seats the ruling military establishment and its principal strategic ally, the group of Jehadi outfits whose declared aim is the destruction of India. Semantics about whether Qureshi broke diplomatic protocol and niceties and whether Krishna should have given a fitting reply are useless; the problem is, we persist with the vain hope that Pakistan might one day stop giving two hoots about niceties when it comes to India.

The second decade of the 21st century looks ominously similar to the last decade of the 20th century when the retreating Soviet Union left a vacuum in Afghanistan. It is a matter of time before American and NATO forces will do something similar in this decade. In both cases, the ruling military establishment of Pakistan had, and has, strong and credible reasons to be convinced that its policy of forging a strategic alliance with the Jehadis is paying spectacular dividends. Despite tall talk from America and feigned bluster from the generals in Islamabad, the fact of the matter is that Pakistan has never severed its ties with Jehadi groups even after 9/11.

And now, when the generals in Islamabad sense an opportunity to once again acquire strategic depth in Afghanistan a la the 1990s, it makes no sense for them to stop mollycoddling the Jehadis, particularly the ones that are most viciously disposed towards India. So please stop nursing silly notions of our neighbour actually dispensing justice and punishing those guilty of 26/11. In fact, they will be rewarded.


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