Lessons for BJP

Seattle, after 188 days of miserable weather, is sunny and warm and I’ve been immersed in Indian elections on Indian Channels. Being a US citizen, and having been away for a very long time, my interest in India may sound academic or voyeuristic, but its neither. It’s affection, it’s love. So even if I am not voting I am wishing India well, and my allegiance isn’t with a political party or ideology it’s with India and the Indian.

And my first impression of BJP on TV was dull, dreary, pedantic, morose, unshaven, unpleasant guys, and then morbid, fear mongers after watching the “bhai ho” advertisements.

So the first lesson for BJP: smile, shave and be pleasant

• Don’t sound pompous – talking like normal people do is okay – no need to sound like Hindi scholars
• Connect with the masses at grassroots level
• Don’t try to scare people into voting for you
• Define yourself – what does a Hindu party mean -

1. does it mean a minority hating group of guys who will spend national resources on Hindu festivals? If that’s the case you’re not my guys because I do not wish to hate or kill people carrying last names different than my kin, nor do I want you in my private prayer religious space – so if you are that then you are deranged deluded fools because no one in the connected Google MTv world will vote in a Hindu version of Bin-Laden.
2. however if you are an organization that will abolish reservation that bars Hindu’s from equal access to opportunity, will introduce Uniform Civil Code so that the law is of the land not religion and allow Indians to buy land in Kashmir then I would like to wave your flag because then you are making India an equal playing field for the Hindus
3. what does a lower caste, marginal farmer, share cropper Hindu mean to a Hindu Party – for almost a 1000 years of recorded history Hindus have been oppressed by Hindu kings, landlords, money lenders, religious heads, denied dignity and denied knowledge, our culprits being the chief practitioners of our faith. So while we ponder the Muslim atrocities – all real and all documented – we need our own moral rectitude, so what does a poor, lower caste Hindu mean to the BJP?

 

Growing up in Punjab I saw RSS camps (shakhaas) but never any milk of human kindness type of actions helping poor Hindus. In small towns before the days of sewers Jamadars carried human excrement in baskets on their heads, and Sant Fateh Singh’s followers brandished spears and swords demanding Punjabi Sooba – and RSS/ Jan Sangh were quite absent from either countering the Punjabi Sooba or doing something to uplift the Jamadars. The pattern remained the same – throwing stones, breaking windows protesting this and that but not protecting a single Hindu when Bhindranwale went on a murder spree, so the thing is you talk about being a Hindu party but you do not help Hindus, which is ludicrous.

Dalits found their voice in Samajwadi Party and then Bahujan Samaj Party because BJP abdicated all responsibility towards the marginalized rural poor Hindus, while carrying the reputation of being a party of urban traders and small businessmen. So in a country where many people live in villages that disconnect between the Hindu party and the poor Hindu resonates loudly.

If there were 1 single act of redemption and reinvention for BJP then that single act has to be service to the masses at the village level.

Breaking the Masjid was symbolic of pent up anger of a 1000 years but hunger and human needs are not symbolic. People need hope, health, food, education, water, peace and instead of developing an agenda to deliver those you are still stuck in blame games and fear mongering.

So to summarize:

• Be positive
• Be pleasant
• Be clear about your identity and aspirations
• Be nice – after millenniums of atrocities Hindus need to be nice to other Hindus and help erase dogmas like Swami Dayanand did.
• Be modern – recruit educated, rational, young people into your cadres lest you become obsolete because of being obstinately obtusely irrelevant.

Congratulations Rahul Gandhi

The courage to go alone in UP, the 100,000 kilometers of campaigning, the “mitti kha loonga” speech, the ballsy brainy admission that the Congress Party needs to connect with India at grassroots level and is an organization needing a face lift are hallmarks of a leader – and instead of retaliating with vitriol to the oppositions’ vituperative you gave your campaign a positive upbeat image making your opponents look dreary, scary, grumpy, pedantic, petty, hate mongers.

Congratulations Mr. Gandhi for a very classy campaign.

Indian 66%

66% of Indian population is under 35 – www.youthportal.gov.in/statistics/demographicdetails.htm

So why is that not reflected in the candidates contesting current elections? I mean why isn’t the ideology or the idealism of youth – hope, change, ambition, courage and things like that – reflected in the current crop of contenders who still carry dynastic lineages, criminal records, hate filled communally divisive ideas, negligible track records of holding down a job, and some of who are about dead?

If Indian youth pretending being Harold Robbin’s Americans on Page 3, or pretending being the MTv ghetto American, or that unique mix of English speaking-kurta/ jeans wearing doing nothing talking a lot Indian becomes worthwhile by doing something about India, and that might entail risk to comfort, health and maybe life, but then heroes are those who take risks, not flaunt their nothingness on page 3, then this 66% would be something to be proud of, to repose faith in as leaders leading India out of scary bad times sometime in this century.

Infomercial Gurus

Somethings defy commonsense – India’s obsession with Gurus is one of those. Superstition in this day and age being the other.

Bombay Stock Exchange listed Aastha Broadcasting Network (AABR.BO) calls itself “India’s No. 1 socio-spiritual-cultural television channel”. I found yesterday that it charges 5,000 Pounds (they do not bill in dollars) per month for the 30 minute time slot.

So these cats in saffron and white robes and saris with their beatific smiles and gobbledygook doctrine pay to be on TV, which is fantastic for Aastha since other TV networks have to pay for content instead of being paid to broadcast content.

Aastha wagered that Indians are Guru obsessed and launched a channel selling airtime to Gurus wanting to get into Indian heads. And that it gets away with 5,000 Pounds per month per Guru shows it’s right.

But why would Indians spend their leisure hours of life watching those who pay to speak on television? Those men and women would obviously want to recoup their investment by fleecing viewers for money.

These Gurus are TV hawkers. And how credible are Infomercials anyway? Infomercials from juicers to home gyms aren’t taken seriously, so how can meditation and salvation sellers on TV be taken seriously?

India, was starting your day with the daily horoscope on TV and the local Newspaper not enough that the day has to end with Guru Infomercials?

Is 2009 not the year that you would shed your ignorant Guru worshipping, astrologer believing ways? If not, then when? Or will you forever be the ignorant race of the self proclaimed wise?

To Mr. Obama

Dear Mr. Obama What took you so long to get to the White House? I guess I am wishing you were born earlier and live forever.

For years we’ve been raped and exploited by Wall Street and their ilk who promised us that if they took away our jobs and gave them to the Chinese and the Indians we would get better paying jobs and somehow become rich and happy with those countries becoming prosperous. So first they took away manufacturing jobs, then service jobs, and as India and China prospered we became poor, living off credit cards.

All along we were told that if we did not lose our jobs our companies would not be able to compete. Compete with who? And, why should we care if those companies are competitive or not if we don’t have the incomes to buy their products or save our homes. And we were also told that if we kept the jobs here and now are being told that if you take away the tax breaks for shifting work to Bangalore these companies might relocate elsewhere.

Mr. President let these companies leave for wherever they wish to go. They are only using America and Americans as a place and people to sell to. They do not wish to pay taxes, they do not wish to employ Americans, so why should we buy their products? Let’s send them away so we can rebuild our factories with American workers and give those companies a shot to sell in America which care about Americans and America.

God Bless you for trying to protect Buffalo from Bangalore – your and my enemies will try to thwart all efforts to bring American jobs back but please fight on as the Messiah of the people in the spirit of Gandhi and Mandela.

In this battle the Gandhi battle tactics that defeated Imperialism then will help defeat the modern Wall Street Imperialism – strategy of creating jobs and cooperatives at local level to create products and services to be consumed locally, creating self sufficiency and bypassing the large corporate distributors, processors and retailers.

Though it’s taken you so long I am grateful that you’re finally here as a hope of our liberation . Thank you for delivering your promises, thank you for battling real monsters in these 100 days, and thank you for showing the world that power doesn’t mean arrogance and excess.

You are the best thing that has happened to America – and we all are with you to make Buffalo prosperous again, and those who have that great affinity to award business and opportunities to Bangalore, those prophets of doom predicting doom if America protects itself it will destroy itself, can move to Bangalore.

God Bless America and Mr. President God Bless your family and you.

Indian Elections

Its human being mortified. Its human feeling frustrated. Its frustratingly mortifying being Indian if it means sharing some social, intellectual, value system DNA with badly spoken, bad intentioned men and women campaigning for another stab at power of stabbing India and Indians in the face.

Spastic press – excited like Indian press is – talking loud and fast, but not pressing politicians to abdicate vituperative of divide and hate platforms and no political party promising stemming violence, minimizing illiteracy, bringing clean water and safety to the poor makes me not ashamed to say I don’t feel proud of being Indian.

Child murdered

Shanno was always in danger. If her gender was detected pre-birth she might have been aborted. If she survived the beating that killed her she would’ve endured recurring groping in city buses and other forms of sexual harassment in public places. And then would come the possible danger of being burnt alive or if lucky getting away with just being derided for lack of dowry. Shanno Khan was murdered by her teacher for failing to memorize and recite the English alphabet. In her school classroom her head was banged on the desk and then she was made to stand in the blazing Delhi summer sun for 2 hours by her teacher.

She was 11 years old:

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=CinemaSectionPage&id=2ebdc9eb-06fc-43f5-8275-12ce124612a3&Headline=Girl+dies+after+punishment+in+

Shiela Dikshit – the elected head of Delhi – came on TV, solemn faced and spouting philosophic, moral questions like, “..did she deserve to be treated like this..” instead of uni vocally banning corporeal punishment in schools. Mrs. Dikshit has been elected for her 3rd term, credited with building roads and overpasses, while murder, rape and molestations go on unhampered in her City-State – not that roads and overpasses are not important, but human dignity and life are more important, which somehow don’t factor on any Indian election manifesto.

Since this isn’t the first child killed in India and since this isn’t the first time that the Politicians have failed to rally around the cause of banning corporeal punishment in schools; and making violence against children (at least in schools) punishable by dismissal and mandatory jail terms we Indians can either decide to abort girls before they are born so that our baby girls do not risk the Shanno fate, or we can bash heads of the politicians against their desks and then make them stand in Delhi summer sun, or we can take a moment of silence for Shanno and then boot out the callous lawmakers and start a new India in which human life and decency are measures of Shining India.

Islam in Action

If there is truth in truism that actions speak louder than words then the proof of Islam in Action could be in Rachel Abrams’ April 16th post based on actual news reports from Saudi Arabia:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2009/04/rape_and_honor_in_saudi_arabia.asp

How long will the world’s simply naive, or evilly stupid convince themselves and the world that this is a religion of beauty, piety and poetry when murder, rape and suppression are daily expressions of Islam?

Until “Hadeeths“; “Fatwas”; “Death to Kafirs” and the doctrine of “Nizam-e-Mustafa” are exorcised from their “faith” Muslims professing peace and love, in truth, are, and will be practicing a book that sanctions rape and statutory rape by “marrying” children, and murder, in the name of God.

Neither Rachel nor the Weekly Standard are Hindus or members of the “Sangh Parivaar”. They are clear eyed Americans seeing what Islam is doing to women and children, which the Hindu Intelligentsia and the Indian Press refuse or fail to see.

No more Wall Street down my throat

As if enough wasn’t enough AIG paid billions to Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch etc. settling it’s debt in full. Why was the debt not discounted since we the tax payers are paying for the survival of this corrupt institution made of enemies of American people is beyond my comprehension.

Ethics amongst thieves I guess?

To avoid all assumptions of complicity or softness towards rapacious big business Mr. Obama should remove Neel Kashkari from his position, after all his former firm did receive a very fat chunk of money from the bailout funds given to AIG. Was Neel aware of how our money was going to go to his former firm and friends? Or not? Why take chances of a wolf in an aviary?

In this government there should not be any Wall Street loyalists, only American loyalists. That would prove that Goldman Sachs and Wall Street do not own 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and our conscience.

And on the subject of Wall Street why doesn’t Citi bank get it that this isn’t the time to spend millions on new Executive suites? I guess greed of thieves?

Americans with blinders on blunder along

The current economic situation is directly linked to the loss of jobs to foreign nations, which is directly correlated to the reduction in the number of small American business which has directly decimated large chunks of American middle class.

When I came to the USA there were thriving small businesses on thriving Main Streets of thriving small cities. Then the big box stores opened and destroyed smaller hardware stores and nurseries by flying in roses from Columbia and tools from China, and large video store chains ate up mom n’ pop video stores, and gigantic grocery stores killed smaller butcher and fresh produce stores. And all the displaced people were not absorbed by technology companies – many went from being secure Americans to mired in debt Americans.

Now we have a chance now that we have a President who seems to have a heart and the balls to do something about America and Americans. And that chance is to create small businesses which made us the richest people on earth – not funky, weird stuff like MLM but real businesses like fruit stands, egg ranches, jam and jelly factories, clothing companies (American Apparel proves it can be done profitably in America).

It’s time to reinvent the economy by being directly involved in it by creating businesses and jobs. Like dinosaurs died current Wall Street business model will perish too because it is anti people, anti American, its a model which makes health-care costs soar, destroys American middle class and jobs, and makes most American poor by making a few Speculator Americans rich.

It’s time we anufacture what we can buy and it’s time we boycott those who do not sell Made in America. In a Nation where Consumer spending accounts for 72% of the economic activity WE THE AMERICANS have a huge clout. Let’s wield that clout now. Let’s make things here and lets buy what’s made here and let’s bankrupt those who are against us.

And it’s time we took off our blinders and stopped blundering and instead rebuild the nation with the courage and enterprise with it was originally built. We are the free and the brave so now let’s create an economy in which we are not the slaves but the owners.