Interesting times ahead - 3

Why do I think that BJP had done a bit of match fixing quite before
the Trust vote? Am I alone in thinking so? Though nowhere near the
vastly experience Congress which has never lost a trust vote in
History, the BJP is no kindergarten kid when it comes to trust vote
politics. And with the anti-incumbency factor brewing, it would not
have taken much out of them to convince a few small-time parties by
cash or kind to vote against the UPA.

Whether it was out of ethics or out of sheer strategy is anyone's
guess, but it was quite obvious that this time around BJP did not
go all-out to pull down the UPA Government.
The following were possibly on the minds of BJP strategists:
1) Pulling down the Government now may have given the Congress a
wave of sympathy and they might have campaigned ' We wanted
power for you and our fuse was pulled' all over the country.
2) Inflation is at an all-time high and is not expected to abate
any time soon. This is not the best time for BJP to win an election
and take up the reins.
3) In the last year UPA is expected to introduce lot of reforms
and these could be an attacking point for BJP as generally reforms
always make a good campaign subject as anti-aam admi
4) Last but not the least BJP may have had some genuine pressure
from US and its proxy agencies like World Bank threatening dire
consequences in case the BJP pulls the Government for the Nuclear
deal and later assumes power.

For the next one year I am very interested about what our gold
medal economist PM comes up with in the next one year now that he
doesn't have the Left to burden him.

Interesting Times Ahead - Part 2

Over the last few years just when we were getting back a wee bit of
confidence on the Indian Judiciary, through a few really Landmark
verdicts and stiff resistance to some issues(read Reservation),
the ugly head has started rearing again.

Just till a few weeks back the Sahara group were in all sorts of legal
deadlocks. But just wait and watch now as one by one all of these
are slowly solved, postponed or just conveniently forgotten.

This is just probably the first of them:

http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=582807

Similarly now that Mayawati has quit the Government, the CBI seems
to be suddenly in such an instantaneous love affair with her

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/We-have-enough-proof-to-prosecute-Mayawati-CBI/333983/

Of course all of us can guess why all these days the 'evidence' was sleeping.
But again, the CBI has, is and will always be our best stand-up comedy machine.

Interesting Times Ahead - Part 1

The Congress has atlast done what it should have done ages ago. Its alliance with the Left was always rocky, but more importantly very unproductive.
'Choosing to be an atheist is like choosing immobility as a means of transportation' says 'The life of Pi' on atheism(need not be my opinion on Atheism).I feel this quote would be more appropriate for India's current political and economic predicament.

India for the last 4 years was always putting 2 steps forward and then 3 steps back. Caught in a quagmire between the global pushes and pulls of globalisation on one hand and the Left's outdated approach to economics and society on the other we were practically helping no one's cause. Our foreign affairs situation has become more of a joke with all our neighbours some way or the other capitulating to the mighty red dragon.

For a more detailed critique(or rather slamming) of the Left read Sagharika Ghosh's post at

http://www.ibnlive.com/blogs/sagarikaghose/223/51800/red-letter-day.html

As indicated in the post above, now that the Left is no longer with the Congress, they will become the next favourite hunting prey for CN IBN after the poor old BJP.

Coming back to the topic, now that the Left has been done with thanks to 'timely' help from the SP(don't ask me about the mysterious situation of the case on the Sahara Group) the next challenge ahead of the Congress will be to come safely out of the Confidence motion. The reason i am expecting eagerly for all this is i am somehow convinced that if Congress comes through after all this mess, there will be atleast a few good reforms in the pipeline for the next year.Most of these would have been kept in cold storage out of fear for the Left's opposition.

I of course agree that time is running out and even if the Confidence motion is overcome, there is just one year left, but then something is better than nothing and sometimes a few months is enough to atleast put up a decent foundation in place.