This is a classic example of how much we, the people of India, put our hopes on the politicians and VIPs to save our lives.

IBN Live reports: (bold emphasis by me)

Politician and actor Chiranjeevi was almost electrocuted when electrical wires bust into flames over his head while he was campaigning for municipal elections in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

Residents say the dangling wires have been a major threat for several days now and hope that at least this incident would make the authorities sit up and notice.

And such hope is nothing new in our country. People wait for a visit from an ex-President, a national party leader or a minister from the center to visit their place to get a road built/repaired properly. People wait for a party meeting to happen to ensure that they do not lose power in their rural area at least during the meeting time. And such visits do make an effect, though it is short-lived. Then we wait for another visit by our kind politicians/leaders/officials.

There is a YouTube video doing the rounds through emails in these days. Featured in the video is an English speech by P K Sreemathi, Kerala’s Minister of Health. The clip shows her struggling to speak in English and it was taken off a political satire programme broadcasted in Manorama News channel. The video is quite popular now and everybody is making fun of the level of softskills of our ministers.

I do agree that the politicians should learn how to speak in fluent English as there is no other language that they can use these days to communicate their opinion nationally and internationally. When they can’t speak on their own, they should at least attempt to read a written speech in such seminars or conferences just to avoid any embarrassment to themselves or to the people whom they represent. Here the minister has been made a point of ridicule, but I wonder how many of our local politicians/ministers of all parties actually know how to speak good English. Show me one, please (and exclude Shashi Tharoor for now).

English has become an important language to communicate in these days and times, but the reason for such ridiculing of the minister is our obsession with the English language. Though not many of us speak good English, we want the person next to us to speak good English or we make fun of them. Even “good English” has become a farce term these days as some people consider British English to be superior and most of the soft skills sessions in the IT and ITES or other corporate industries now ask people to unlearn the British English and learn it in the American way.

And if our media makes so much fun of a state minister, what would they do about a President if he speaks bad English or doesn’t speak English at all? Search “Sarkozy English Speech” in Google and see how the French president speaks in English. But French are proud of their own language and culture so they worry very little about this. But we celebrate/worship people like Ranjini Haridas who has made Manglish a fashion signature and keeps killing the language as the lead anchor in a popular television show.

Then what about the Malayalam media? How many people in the Malayalam television media know how to speak good English? How many of them can pronounce the English words right? I have seen in many instances where the interviewer struggles to speak English in our television channels.

And what about the rest of us, if I may ask? We are the people who can’t even rightly pronounce “audio” or “auditorium”. Just take a look at the people who work in the so-called elite service sectors, including IT. Most of them speak funny English, leave alone grammar. I remember attending an interview in a company that has offices in USA and North India, and the HR person spoke funny English and was struggling to find the right words. Are those the guys who represents a multi-national company?

So I think before we start making fun of an old lady (I doubt if the media would care a hoot if she belonged to Congress party), we, the young guns, should at least take a look at ourselves and ponder over the matter. I think Sreemathi teacher spoke better English than an average Malayalee. But my advice for her is to at least have a written speech next time.

A few weeks back, the (Twitter) Minister of State Shashi Tharoor was in the news for his remarks on “Cattle Class” and “Holy Cows”. The supporters of Shashi Tharoor were quick to respond and to point out how we Indians do not understand the pun of English language or can’t take a joke for its humor sense. The good part of the whole incident is that people like me, who are neither well versed in the English language nor familiar with the phrases related to Air travel, could learn a new word – “Cattle Class“.

Shashi Tharoor’s aide(s) went a step ahead during this incident. They kept re-tweeting the supportive (only supportive) Tweets, indicating how we Indians have run out of (English) humor. Now on to the story – A Mumbai based journalist started a fake Twitter account (clearly mentioning that it is THE FAKE twitter account) of Shashi Tharoor and started tweeting political satire. No vulgar language, no insult per say. But those who saw humor in the use of Holy Cows did not quite understand what the word Satire meant. They contacted Twitter HQ and got the account suspended.

Techgirl writes:

On Oct 6, I started a Twitter account ‘Shashi Tharoor Fake’. The bio in this Twitter account had the word satire and the front page even linked to my satire blog techgirltalk.blogspot.com.

My Twitter account Shashi Tharoor Fake, started on Oct 6, has built up about 100 followers. Even the United Nations Information Centre was following me. By Oct 23, Shashi Tharoor’s team had contacted Twitter in USA to suspend my account.

Shashi Tharoor’s aides never emailed me to ask for clarification. Till today, Twitter has not given me an explanation on why I am locked out. Perhaps, if they had emailed me before cutting me out, this article would never have seen light of the day. Hell hath no fury like a female satirist scorned.

And she does not forget to mention that she is “a big fan of Shashi Tharoor” and “our country and polity needs such capable people“. But what about the people who are not his “fans” or who does not think so much about him? What if such people do political satire? Would that be an even greater crime?

The Varkala Murder case (in Kerala State) and the Police relating it to a Dalit organization have once again exposed the mindset of mainstream media, mainstream Left and extreme Right. The interesting thing is that the Left and Right (CPM and Shiv Sena) allegedly join hands along with Police to hunt down the Dalits in this case. Journalist BRP Bhaskar who has had a chance to visit the Dalit colonies in Varkala writes:

This FB friend voiced two other criticisms about the video, which was taken by a member of the fact-finding team. One is that there are no men in sight. The other is that the women refer to RSS, not Shiv Sena. The answer is simple. No men are in the video because they are all in police custody or hiding to avoid arrest and torture. The women mention RSS because they lack the sophistication needed to distinguish between different elements of Hindutva. [...]

[...]The major media institutions did not cover the Commission’s visit to Varkala, although they had prior knowledge about it. That, however, did not inhibit them from playing up the statements critical of the Commission’s visit. There was nothing to indicate that they had sought the Commission’s response to the allegations. Incidentally, Malayala Manorama and Mathrubhumi which have consistently ignored the police’s month-long Dalit hunt, found time to pursue the appearance of mysterious white drawings at the site of Sivaprasad’s cremation.

Also read: Chengara / Varkala : Beware of the Dalit – Insight Young Voices

For you, to think about.

Ms Sonia Gandhi’s trip to Mumbai, accompanied by SPG, meant that the first three rows of the economy seating area were not available to regular passengers. Mr Gandhi’s train journey to Ludhiana required 200 policemen each to be deployed at New Delhi and Ludhiana stations. In spite of that, the security risk was not fully averted as there was stone pelting on the return journey. Also, there can be little justification for the 77-year old foreign minister S M Krishna to undertake a four-day visit to Belarus and Turkmenistan on a commercial carrier. [via]

I think there are too many politicians who are concerned about our Minister of State Shashi Tharoor. He looks handsome even at this age, has worked in the UN, has a huge celebrity image among the urban youth of India which not many politicians enjoy, is rich and stays in a 5 star hotel. These are reasons enough for the majority of politicians (including the ones from his own party) to be jealous of him. And as the first “Twitter Minister” of India, he has been making news too.

Congress party says that Shashi Tharoor made a derogatory statement about the economy class of India, calling it the “Cattle Class”. Thanks to Tharoor, I have learned a new word that is used to refer to the economy class in the airlines. But it seems like not everybody has taken the effort to learn the word. The Congress has come in open against it’s own MoS, accusing him of insulting the economy class and that leaves me a bit curious. The attack was vicious and over nothing and they even went ahead and said that the High Command would decide if it should ask Tharoor to step down from the minister-ship!

It is amusing, because it was Kanchan Gupata, the editor of pro-BJP newspaper Pioneer, that used the term first on his question to Shashi Tharoor, but the Congress party is against it’s own minister! I wonder why. Is it because they thought that the “Holy Cows” reference was to the G family? Or is it it because the entire Congress clan is not so happy with the popular image that Shashi Tharoor enjoys so that they wanted to do something about him? We all know that the Congress wants no other celebrity in it’s fold except the ones from Gandhi family. And the G family has been in the news all over with its recent austerity drive, though it’s making it expensive to keep them austere.

And now the loyal servant has bowed down before the Queen. He said sorry. Her Majesty , the Prince and their loyal servants should be happy now.

The police force in Kerala has been often subjected to criticism because of the politicians and their unholy alliances with criminals. As always, a majority of the police force are allegedly trying to please their political matters and justice is a far gone concept in their eyes. Various political parties and the politicians have used police to play to their tunes and made them do ‘things’. Many of these dirty inside stories have come out in open by the people who committed the crime (according to the order of the superiors), like in the case of the murder of Varghese, a radical leftist leader of 70’s. The period of Emergency has shown us the power of police-politcian nexus. This was the time when the Rajan case rocked Kerala and Rajan is still “missing”. K Karunakaran, the then home minister of Congress, was infamous for using the police force to serve his political needs.

After a long time, the politicians-police nexus is back to discussion again with the murder of Paul M George, scion of Muthoot group. The case has rocked Kerala and the actions of the police in this case have been put to criticism by the media. The media criticism says that the Communist Home minister and his son have alleged links with the two criminals who were traveling with Paul in his car and supposedly have a major role in the murder and the police is trying to protect them. Asianet News channel has done an investigation to show that the S-shaped knife which the police exhibited before the media and said was used for the murder, was actually made by a blacksmith on order of the police. The blacksmith is now “hiding”. The interesting thing is that the Muthoot family has not yet talked in open about the case, which itself is suspicious.

The whole issue has raised concerns about the security of common man in Kerala. The rulers and the police who are supposed to ensure a peaceful life for the citizens are forming alliances with criminals. The police has so much enthusiasm in insulting the common man for a petty case or even for an inquiry, but see how they bend themselves before their political masters and their criminal right hands. What security does a common man have in such a situation?

Also it is funny to see that the politicians are trying to reap over the whole issue. Congress and BJP alike. Even though the popular belief is that the criminals roam around freely during the Communist regime than any other regime, we cannot ignore the fact that every single political party has their own set of goons in the name of party workers. And Congress may need to revisit the history to see how their own leaders have used police for their own goals. BJP, well, we all know how the police was used by them in other states. As for Communists, there is a saying in Malayalam – aNayaan pOvunna thee aaLi katthum. So shine as long as you can, because you will be blown off in the wind in a very short while.

(Image courtesy: Internet)

The BJP seems to be in a serious state of confusion after the Lok Sabha poll results. The party is confused whether to stick harder on to the Hindutva ideology or should rather upgrade themselves to a centrist identity. Add to this the internal conflicts and the occassional warnings from the Parivar. And now comes the most embarassing event to the party – a book by it’s senior leader Jaswant Singh, praising Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

Personally, I would like to congratulate Jaswant Singh for he tried to see things through a centrist glass which even the so-called secularists in Congress wouldn’t dare to do. Even though I do not get why Jaswant Singh gives a clean chit to Jinnah (I believe Jinnah is “equally” responsible for partition and can’t be acquitted of that), but some authors have noted that Nehru and Patel (and their hunger for power) were equally responsible for partition and even Gandhi was saddened of their attitude. “Freedom at Midnight”, written by Larry Collins and Dominic Lapiere, has detailed on this and the events lead to partition.

From what I read about the book, this should have been an opportunity for the BJP leaders to attack the Congress party and it’s iconic leaders. An oppportunity to use Jinnah as a political tool to claim that the Congress party was equally responsible for partition. However the saffron masters chose the opposite way and expelled Jaswant Singh from the party.

This decision to expel Jaswant Singh from the party gives us just one message – the usual one – that BJP was, is and always will remain as a fundamentalist party and there is no scope for them to upgrade according to the times. It has been proven that it is the hardliners who have a say in the party. According to the news reports the people who played behind Jaswant Singh’s expel from the party are Murli Manohar Joshi, Vinay Katiyar and Narnedra Modi. For BJP and RSS, who always keep on talking about “Akhanda Bharath”, can’t put two Hindu leaders (even if they are from the rival Congress party) on the same plane as a Muslim to hold responsibility of partition.

But there are some questions we need to raise about Jaswant Singh. Is he playing wise by playing a political victim? Is this book an indication of his future political plans? Did he just become secular and a free-thinker all in a sudden? Where was he when his party and it’s Parivar was spreading hatred and violence in the name of religon? The way I see it is that Jaswanth Singh wanted a break from politics or at least he wanted to separate himself from the party. He played and played it wise. Now his publishers will sell more copies of his book and he can start touring the world with his book.

The remaining question is, what is the Congress party’s stand on this? Why are they silent?

(Image courtesy: Indian Express)

From K Elangovan, a candidate who fought in the last Lok Sabha elections (and failed when the results came out):

“I get very angry when I hear politicians making silly promises,” said the independent candidate from the dominantly middle class South Chennai constituency. “Getting to the Lok Sabha is like being sent to the Constituent Assembly. Did Constituent Assembly members promise roads and drains?”

Added the articulate 47-year-old: “The Lok Sabha is where MPs will talk about Kashmir, about nuclear deal, about terrorism… They will make laws for the country. They may get elected from constituency A or B but they represent and work for the entire nation.

“If they start talking about roads and drains and such like, then why have state legislatures? Why have municipal bodies? Instead of explaining to the people what parliament is meant to do, political leaders from top to bottom, from Sharad Pawar to Jayalalitha, have made MPs municipal corporators.” [via Bhupinder]

And then from the website of Shashi Tharoor, who has won in the last Lok Sabha elections:

If we do things right, Thiruvananthapuram could easily become known across India as our equivalent of Boston or Cambridge in America — an education capital for the region, attracting students from beyond our state. I will work to the best of my ability to this end.

Today, when it rains, our principal streets are flooded and traffic disrupted. Potholes are common, bus shelters almost non-existent. Drinking water is erratic and power-cuts are a daily occurrence. Such basic facilities must be upgraded and I will work in partnership with the municipal authorities to bring state-of-the-art thinking to Thiruvananthapuram to resolve such problems without delay. In addition I will support the preservation of the great heritage buildings of the city and also fight to save its environment by supporting measures for the “greening” of the city and its suburbs.

as MP I would work to ensure that such activity results in minimal disruption of the daily lives of the residents of the city. Why can’t processions be obliged to march in single file on the side of the road, rather than occupying the entire carriageway? Why can’t megaphones and loudspeakers be restricted to specific areas and times? Why should agitators be allowed to paralyze the lives, work, and travel of ordinary people going about their business?

Let us check back after a year or a couple of years to see which of these two gets it right.

The verdict is coming out and it’s definitely embarrassing the BJP and co. The people of India have decided to vote against the BJP and their communal propaganda. This instills my faith in the secular ethos of our country. The BJP thought that their regular Ram Mandir mantra would save them, but the citizens of India have decided to call a spade a spade. And they voted for Congress and UPA. The weakest leader (L K Advani) who got into a mass campaign (online and offline) and projected himself as the strong prime minister has tasted the defeat. In the hearts of the people, Manmohan Singh has become the King. This election is a victory of Manmohan Singh as a leader.

In Kerala, the victory is not something that the Congress can be proud of. The victory of Congress actually credits to the failure of the Communist party and it’s government. The votes for Congress does NOT show the support for Congress, but the people wanted to show that they are against Pinarayi Vijayan’s corporate Communist party and their communal politics. The Muslim votes did not show up in support of Abdul Nassar Madani and it gives him and Pinarayi a clean blow on their politics. Malayalis have proved it again that it is not the communal politics that’s going to win. Take Ernakulam for example. Sindhu Joy, the Communist candidate, had projected herself to be a loyal Christian candidate – she sang Christian devotional songs during her campaign and what not – but it could not save her. Similarly, the Madani factor did not help the Communists to gain Muslim votes. So I see this election as the success of the secular ethos of the country (not forgetting the Church’s mandate against CPM, but the politically aware Christians were already fed up with the Communist politics anyway).

I see this election in Kerala as the victory of the CM V S Achuthanandan. And the victory of people in Moolampilly and Chengara who fought against the corporate Communists. The Communist party has to understand that it has to stay with the ordinary people or else they loses their base. The CPM candidates who have had an impression on people won, like M B Rajesh in Palakkad and Biju in Alathur. This shows that people do not want Pinarayi Vijayan’s communist party in power. And the CM Achuthanandan also has to undersyand that his soft plays are not going to win his fraction any votes.

Nationally, this is just the beginning of the end of BJP as a national party. Clearly, their communal cards are not working as the thinking new generation is not favoring them. The BJP had thought that the urban youth would stay with them, but they also have been thinking and voting against them. In an NDTV discussion today, an RSS leader said that the BJP does not have to be apologetic for their ideology, but he doesn’t understand that it is the same ideology that the people of India have chosen to ignore. No more communal cards, even after 26/11. People entrusts Manmohan Singh as the prime minister even after the massive campaigns against him by BJP. People have realized that Singh is better than the old man Advani.

I wish Congress all the best and I hope that they would take action on the ordinary people’s problems. I hope they would do something in the cases like Dr. Binayak Sen’s. I hope they would talk in favor of the people misplaced in the name of development. But in a political scene of India where Congress is just a lesser evil, one can only hope that they would stand for the human rights in the country. Congress already has the reputation of the rich man’s party. And I am slightly hoping that they would change themselves to suit the common man’s interest.