India decides on Congress led UPA

India decides on Congress led UPA – is it a default, surprise or strategy?

Knowing very well, this post is a tad too early; the largest democracy of the world has thrown up very decisive results for Congress and its allies. These results are particularly sweet for Congress and its first family. They had a lot of personal stakes in these elections. State after state the Congress party had to get accustomed to coming of Rahul Gandhi. Be is going alone in Bihar & UP, Punjab candidates list, being projected as the main campaigner of the Congress.

People of India have voted for stability in these tough economic and security related environment. A point which should not be missed out is results are now moving away from the multi party poll pori to a bi-polar polarity around Congress and BJP.

These results are a surprise even to Congress party; they were confident that they would be a single largest block but never expected such a decisive mandate not just for the party but also for the Congress first family. With all the caveats that the Congress led UPA might and will fall short of simple majority, it is still a massive victory for Congress and its allies.

The writing was there for BJP and more importantly Left parties who wanted to do back seat driving by forming the 3rd front government. The following reasons in my opinion led to Congress victory:

1. BJP’s short sighted attempt to make this election a presidential form of election and by making personal remarks on Dr Singh calling him a “nikhama” and weak Prime Minister
Indian has answered convincingly that Dr.Singh’s contribution to India in the last 20yrs has been leaps and bounds compared to any other political and non political person. The underlying current here that I picked up from NTDV is Congress has got better support from urban India, which was more a BJP constituency. This is again to do with Dr. Singh’s projection as PM. What is also important to understand is, there is a clear line of responsibility between Sonia Gandhi and Dr. Singh that of strengthening the party and running the government.
2. RTI, NREGA have been a massive hit in those states where it has been utilized properly
It is to the credit of the Congress party and its mangers for driving hard the point that these were their policies. In short a better marketing and branding exercise
3. The 3rd front myth has been busted
Be it in Bengal, Kerala, UP, Bihar – people have gone for National parties or national alliances and it’s a matter of coincidence that Congress and its allies have made the most of this. Especially the sweep in Kerala and West Bengal West Bengal can itself be a very interesting case to discuss, may b later though.
4. Rahul Gandhi being the youth icon
Rahul Gandhi, Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Omar Abddulla any day would be better in capture the attention of the new voters and the young minds compared to the likes of Advani, Modi, Mayawati, or the Left.
5. Emergence of Rahul Gandhi
He took some strategic decisions rather forced them on Congress. Be is going alone in UP & Bihar, but also was the star campaigner for the Congress. Now I will be accused for being a sycophant, but the fact of the matter is people have seen him trying hard to make the difference and though shy he comes across as natural when he speaks. In UP one can clearly see the hard work of Rahul Gandhi and Congress, their campaign has been around “Bring Congress for development in UP” and largely this has resonated with the people. BJP, BSP and SP have all taken their core voters for a ride and this election has seen the Upper caste Brahmins and Muslims coming back for the first time after 1989.
6. DMK and SP holding roughly to their position this accounts for roughly 50seats
It was expected that AIADMK would sweep elections in TN and SP would be decimated the benefit would either go to BSP or BJP.

Debunking The New Indian Express article on Rahul Gandhi's education controvesy contd..

Also it is important to understand Cambridge University awards their degree as Master of Philosophy and the award certificate does not contain any subject. The subject that one has done his or her Maasters is detailed in the transcripts. Also it is a fact that Rahul Gandhi studied Economics as a subject part of his Masters degree which was adminstered by the School of Developmental Studies. I dont see any wrong in Rahaul Gandhi claiming to have a Masters in Development Studies and Economics - the economics subject could be his interest/specilisation in the larger context of Development Studies. It is common in countries like UK and US where one gets to choose subjects they want to pursue as part of their interest in conjunction with their Mster degree. Hence i dont see why an issue at all in the first place.

Debunking The New Indian Express article on Rahul Gandhi's education controvesy

In the last week or so there The New Indian Express has carried out couple of articles carried hitting out on Rahul Gandhi saying his educational qualification given to EC in his nomination affidavit as wrong and also making insinuations against his potential qualities as a political leader and potential future PM of India. The same story has been carried by various blogs (Youthcurry and Offstumped are a couple to name).

I am surprised and shocked by the nature of the article appeared in The New Indian Express, may be it has served its purpose of hyping issues and a gimmick to attain instant celebrity status.

Fundamentally there are many loopholes in the article and the assertions made by the bloggers and the journalist from The New Indian Express. When I contacted one of the blogger, she had clearly not done her homework, she replied to me saying "in her judgment she felt it was factually correct and hence carried the article" in pursuit of truth.

Some of the glaring omissions in the article and the post are as follows:

1. Firstly how did this journalist get hold of the marks sheet of Rahul Gandhi. Under the UK data protection act it can’t be accessed by 3rd party unless there is a formal consent from the candidate in question. This immediately puts a suspicion on the credibility of the cited document.

2. Level and grade of education is not a criterion for serving the people, but what is more important is the intent to serve the people, and I don’t see any wrong in Rahul Gandhi's approach to it. There is no correlation between quality of education and type of leadership. Also there is no academic research which can throw any light regards to such an assertion.

3. India is much more than the cozy confines of our offices where we sit out and belt out such articles. Different regions of India have different issues. Rahul Gandhi is rightly traveling across the country to understand these problems. Like many big names in Indian politics he is treading in their path to understand the issues first hand. Again I don’t see any fault in his approach of traveling across India to understand the problems - this is single most important agenda for any politician to come face to face with ground realities.

4. Political leadership is all about making decisions - education is helpful, but clearly how much one scores in a subject is not a yardstick for ones performance as a political leadership. If all top rank holders in India in various fields would have been half as successful in understanding the complex problems of India and doing something for it then i am sure we could have seen a more mature political leadership. I am afraid there is no proof or can be no correlation between the education qualification and intent to serve. Hence the argument on Rahul scoring less marks in a subject and hence your assertion he cant be good politician is absurd.

5. Casting doubts and slagging a famous surname of India politics, and in doing so you are misleading the youth of the current generation who lap up even things which are untrue. Hence I would suggest exercising some caution. Being a journalist one is vested with enormous power to shape the thought process of countless readers of the newspaper - hence with great power there should also be a sense of responsibility. Which I am afraid I have not seen in the article. At the least you could have put a disclaimer at the end of your article.

6. Why is that all these articles appear only during election time - I do suspect a malicious intent!!!
Either he is in a hurry to make name and draw attention by making insinuations on Rahul Gandhi or plainly want to increase his newspaper circulation - either way not ethical.

I have been over the last few days trying to address this issue on various blogs who have lapped up your article as true. The amount of damage that the article has caused Rahul Gandhi is enormous. The least the journalist in question and the new paper group could do is make an unconditional apology to Rahul Gandhi.

I have now spoken to the communications office of Cambridge University and they have confirmed to me that Rahul Gandhi did indeed pass in the year 1994 -1995 as claimed in his affidavit to Election Commission.

The real issue here which I want to draw attention to is about ethical reporting be it in the mainstream print and digital medium or the blogspace. I am all for accountability in politics and the need to ask some Str8 and hard questions to our politicians, but the issue I have is in the pretext of asking Str8 questions, one should not make insinuations and character assassination. Person in question is immaterial.

Internet as a medium is very powerful in this age and day of technology and increasingly the urban population have taken to off stream media like blogs as a source of information based on which they shape and frame their opinions. Hence give this great power, it is at least reasonable to exercise some caution and responsibility before we write or in this case make insinuations.

Frustration renews vigiour to reach ones goals

Is Indian polity accountable, i am sure most would agree with me its not. But has not stopped me and neither will it stop others like me to make a contribution for the better of our polity. Blaming lack of accountability on politicians and their chamchas may be a easy, but are we helping the cause that we are fighting for - i guess no.

Few weeks back i wrote a lengthy email but yet a relevant one as for as Congress party is concerned in Karnataka. Rather than going through why i am taking so much pains to talk about congress, lets assumei am one of its ardent supporters. My email detailed about the state of affairs in karnataka congress party and given that the loksabha elections are around the corner - my observations and understanding the people and their mood in rural and urban karnataka, i felt were important to be relayed to Congress party president.

I started off by sending an email to Madam Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Sachin Pilot and others...but in vain, no one even bothered to acknowledge my email let alone look into it and see if it made sense. My beleif that i can make the voice heard made me call up the congress leadership but would it matter anything to them, exactly you gussed it they thought i was a fool or a naive to think my email can make a difference. But the eternal optimist in me kept trying until i found Sachin Pilot's secrecatry and Madam Gandhi's home office manager.

Sachin Pilot's secretary initially lived upto the expectation of being a young modern MPs assistant by asking me to email him and did all the talk of arranging a telecon with Mr.Pilot - and even after two weeks when i called him, he gave a balant lie that Mr.Pilot was out of town and hence he could not put up my email to him, when the very same day Mr.Pilot spoke to a NDTV journalist at the Congress office in Delhi.

Sonia Gandhi's home office manager was very courteous and explained his difficulty and his remit not to interfere on political matters and asked me to contact Ahmed Patel.

After two weeks of calling Mr.Patel's home - as he works mostly from there, i got through to one of his assistants Mr.Pandya, who asked me to call either on monday or after 10pm on saturday 31st Jan 2009. Would i call, you guess it i still did, the dreamer and optimist in me made me do it.

When i called at 10pm and asked for Mr. Patel, his assistants picked the phone and after hearing my name they just put it on hold for 30mins when i could hear them laughing and joking about a guy living in UK and wanting to talk to shaeb who is the Right hand man of Soniaji- their words were "He should be a fool and making all types of sidy remarks". The pride in me put the phone down and here i am ranting about it.

Would all this hurt me or affect my dreams or optimism, certainly not. They have indeed given me the requsite motivation levels to make my point more effectively and to do this, i guess becoming a politican is important, as what use of if they dont listen to their people even if it for their good.

The convinction in me to become a politician has not only got a relevant motivation, but its also a challenge to prove to these politicians and their babus that if one forgets the people they will have to forget leading them.

Its strange how we have let politicians rule us, rather than electing the right politicians who can represent us. We need politicians with vision and compassion. Either there can be two types of leaders one who will lead from the front and other who will take everyone along with him/her.
Rather than blaming the politicians for all the ills, lets blame ourselfs and corect our past mistakes by making the right choices.

Well, i felt good ranting here, in this vast unknown world wide web, where on one cares about the other and yet they are with you if you sing the right tunes.

Seeyou all, let me call Mr.Ahmed Patel's home office again.

Open letter to Congress Leadership

Dear Mrs Gandhi,

Sub: State of affairs in Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee

I take this opportunity to introduce myself as Ashwin Kumaraswamy - citzen of India, currently living and working in UK as an Investment Manager.

Knowing very well and fully aware, that my emails might not reach you in person for various reasons, the eternal optimist in me has prompted to write this email to you to discuss few political and developmental issues.

I need not go overboard in trying to prove my loyalty to the party or Nehru- Gandhi family - the very reason i am writing this email and have written letters on various ocassions to Madam Gandhi from 2002 is an indication that i have the best interests of India and Congress party.My hope that this would reach you is based on an acknowledgement i receieved from your office that it would bring this email to your notice. But I still hope this email would reach you in person.

Let me now get to the issue which i want to raise and i am very concerned abaout.
Comming straight to the issue that has concerned me and that which can be averted to save Congress party in Karnataka.
1. RV Deshpande and DK Shivakumar have been made incharge of the congress party in Karnataka state - a decision which could potentially boomerang unless havaing proper checks and balances - this is not a mere statement. This comes from my experience of travelling across karnataka (urban and rural to understand the people and their issues).
2. Though the party has leaders like Kharge, Siddramaiah, Krishna, Moily, Oscar Fernandes and others - but apart from Siddaramiah and to an extent Krishna the others have absolutelu no acceptance across Karnataka (DK Shivakaumar is an exception, but i would put him togther with Krishna).
3. Party needs a image make over if it has to do well in the coming Loksaba elections, given the money power used by BJP along with the caste card played by Yeddyurappa - Congress party needs to rediscover itself.

It would be foolishness to think caste does not play a role in politics and so is money, but this can be countered by having leaders who can cut across caste lines and also who can speak to people in their own different ways by capturing their imagination.For this to happen the party needs to identify core group of people who can take that responsibility (this does involve managing expectations, but that needs to be done). As of today, i dont see any leader barring Siddaramiah (egostic and would hold the party to ransosm like he did in the recently concluded by elections), Krishna/DK Shivakumar (DK needs to have a image makeover in terms of management style as he is perceived to be very rough and people would immediately associate him to be leader of a local rough men), who could help the party. But this leaves the regions of Shimoga, Mangalore, Karwar (we have now sidelined Ms.Alva for airing what is the fact that Congress leaders do seel tickets, not that she held sway over the region. Also i am sorry to say the issue she raised has lots of merit atleast Karnataka is concerned - l dont want to take names and neither do i have the proof to back my claims, but does one need a proof to prove glaring fact? There are a lot of power brokers without genuine mass base in the party who command far more respect from the party leadership thana they deserve, to add to this neither are they real mass leaders) and North Karnataka. Looking at the caste combination here and crowd pulling capabilities there is no one in Congress who could do this work - hence the reason Congress lost the assembly elections and will be the reason for Congress to do badly in the upcomming loksabha election if not rectified.

I am sure this is very well known to you - given the situation, my suggestion is get back some of the leaders to Congress fold and give prominence to some party faithfuls. One such person is Bangarappa (each time he has left congress, he has damaged it in karnataka, he might not have done good to himself, but he has damaged party prospects) - he could cover the regions of Mangalore, Karwar, Udupi, Davengere. But the North Karnataka region where lingayats dominate and muslims have a sizeable population there is no leader. Hence here we should project a new face in the party or get some new face to help build the bridge. Self styled and leaders whom you have given prominence like Kharge, Dharm Singh - have literally no mass appeal and also across Karnataka people dont accept these two leaders for various reasons (i can give many a reasons - but let us assume they dont have the acceptance, else they would have helped congress come to power in that region).

My suggestions and thoughts on leaders Congress should get into its fold to have even a remotely descent showing in the upcomming loksabha elections would be:

1. S Bangarappa - may have lost the recent assembly elections in Karnataka, but the man is a maverick, he has the audacity to tell the people that they were wrong in electing or not electing him. Also he has a band of dedicated followers who will work with him, cutting across party lines. He can rejuvnate the party in the Karwar, Shimoga, Mangalore, Udupi, Davengere and Koppal belt. He does not have any expectations now, he understands he is on the last leg of his political career, he just wants to cap it off with a high by defeating BJP and taking a sweet revenge on Yeddyurappa and his former proteges.
2. Party needs a Muslim leader of significance - the only one i see with any stature is Jaffer Sherrif, but i guess he is a sort of spent force in the state. But this can be revived by giving him some responsibility.
3. As for the lingayat community - there is no leader in the party to command the respect the same way Yeddyurappa, hence we need to break this down into a group of people who the responsibility can be entrusted for every district. Likes of H K Patil, M P Prakash would work provided they are given due importance in decision making. Along with HK Patil, MP Prakash - Kharge and Dharm Singh could serve the party in their pocket boroughs of Gulbarga. This still leaves Bijapur, Bagalkot, Belgaum still up for grabs so is Hubli.
4. A T Ramaswamy - he could help the party in the urban areas, as during the JDS-BJP tenure, he did a wonderful job in unearthing the land mafia in bangalore - an ex-congress man was pushed to join JDS when he was not given ticket to contest 2004 elections. Probabaly the only honest politician in karnataka in letter and spirits. Who could do wonders in Hassan Dist and urban areas. He has never been behind any posts nor is he power hungry, he would work for Congress in terms of fresh face as well as one the people can connect to because of his simplicity. He is not corrupt and would not let corrupt practices go un-checked. There is a healthy competition to get him on board by BJP and JDS is trying hard to retain him. He is the only person who can give back to Gowda and yet get patted by him for being upfront and correct in his judgement, a very rare breed of politician.
5. Bring new and fresh faces, who are articulate, and yet connect to the people and give them tickets to contest.
Thus congress can slavage to a descent prospect in the coming Loksabha elections.

Else Congress would find it very difficult to win in Bangalore South, Bangalore North, Bellary, Davengere, Shimoga, Udupi-Chikamangalur, Mangalore, Hubli, Belgaum, Bagalkot, Bijapur, Hassan, Raichur, Koppal, Mysore, Mangalore, Tumkur, Chitradurga, for sure and the rest is up for grabs with good competition.
Today there are no seats in Karnataka, where one can say it is a safe Congress seat. Bellary was squandered to BJP by the corrupt congress politicians.

Please consider my genuine and humble suggestion and have a look at the KPCC and make the necessary changes that would help the party.

I would not expect anything from writing this post, but again the optimisim in me, has made me do this, not expecting any results as Lord Krishna say "Do your duties and leave the fruits of the hardwork to the almighty god". I have made an effort to bring my concerns to the notice of Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Ahmed Patel and Sachin Pilot - but you all know how things work in India, there is handly any accountability even on receiving my emails, and faxes.

I sometimes wonder, if i am stupid in writing this post knowing very well it does not and will not serve any purpose, but the satisifaction in me that i did my best will keep my spirits up and hopefully it would lead me to join Indian polity sooner than later. Afterall failures is the stepping stone for success.

Thanks & Kind Regards
Ashwin

Congress party decline in Karnataka

If one looks at the political history of Karnataka, it has been synonymous with how Congress party has travelled its after independence political history. Congress was the party people associated with and were proud to serve in even though crores of its followers did not enjoy the benefits of political power, because they felt the movement was more important than the momentarliy political power which was in the clutches of few power brokers.

Today, like how Congress cant form government on its own at the centre, in karnataka it cant dream of comming to power for the next 15yrs or so. This is not a mere statement, but based on my observations and travelling in urban and rural Karnataka on my every holiday. There are few glaring examples which can easily tell the story. Bellary a congress bastion today a fortress of BJP, oops the Reddy brothers of the mining fame, Mangalore - whose people are known for their business and political acumen has not seen a Congress MP for 15 odd yrs, Bangalore South, which is the most educated constituency in Karnataka has not seen a Congress MP since mid 1990s. Are these the only examples, i would say No, the upcomming loksabha elections would be a reality check to congress party in karnataka because - it is at its weakest position for the last 60yrs.

Comming to my observations on whay Congress has lost its pre-eminence position in karnataka polity:
1. Lack of genuine mass leaders - today congress party in karnataka is in the clutches of power brokers, sychopants and inefficcient leaders whose only claim to pecking order is their proximity to 10 Janapath.
Leaders like Moily, Poojary, Deshpande, Kharge, Dharm Singh, Ugrappa, Munniyappa - none are mass leaders, it would be difficult for them to wiwn elections on their own without the Congress symbol, may be barring kharge because of the caste factor.
2. Power brokers running the show in Congress - Ministers like Munniyappa are hardly known for their work in their own constituencies and whay more can one expects from such MPs as ministers. Someone like Moily for all the hardwork he puts in, he is ineffective, because he spends more time on scuppering others chances to fame just to remain in limelight.
3. Neither populist nor efficient - those leaders like Moily, Kharge, Dharm Singh, Deshpande, Krishna who have occupied every possible political power in the state, have shown lack of skills in understanding the needs and requirements of the people. Krishna during his tenure claimed to fame the software industry success was due to his policies, but he has forgotten that it was Verendra patil, Bangarappa regimes which laid the baisc foundation.
4. Egoistic leadership - politicians like Siddramaiah, Krishna, DK Shivakumar, though have an appeal and to an extent mass base, want everything the party can give in one go, but how much have they delivered to the party success?? highly questionable. The antics of Siddaramaiah during the recently concluded by elections was a slap on the face for congress leadership. Unlike Bangarappa none of these leaders have the audacity or the conviction to be daring and go to the people for their every actions. Each time Bangarappa (no doubt was egoistic, this is because of self pride in his capabilities and his pride against those sychophats in Congress like Moily, Poojary and others) went outside Congress he harmed it more than Congress could recover. Did anyone even ponder why Bangarappa did this to congress thrice?? The answer is No, because inefficient state leaders in Congress were just happy to get rid of populist and mass leader and his exit eventually made competition comparitively less to grab the attention of central leadership.
5. No place for dedicated and honest politicians in Congress peking order - HK Patil, MP Prakash are few to mention, but the most glaring omission was when Congress could not hold on to gems like A T ramaswamy, who later joined JD(S) and did a very laudable job of helping bangaloreans against the land mafia as chairman of bangalore land encorachment enquiry committee.
6. Congress becoming irrelevant in Karnataka in many constituencies - sandwiched between the Vokaliga strong JD(S) and Lingayat, Brahmin dominant BJP.
Today, no community would support Congress barring the OBCs to an extent, hence Congress is trying hard to placate Siddaramiah (Kuruba factor), but the question is, how many constituencies can Kuruba factor work and it would be foolish to think, Kurubas would vote for congress in every constituency because of Siddaramiah.
Whereas JD(S) is strong in districts like Hassan, Mysore, Mandya, Tumkur - predominantly the south karnataka belt or popularly known as the Mysore belt. and BJP is strong is Bangalore, Mangalore, Chikamangalur, Bellary, Bidar, Belgaum, Davengere, Karwar, Bagalkot, Dharwad, Hubli, Kodagu, Haveri, Gadag.
That leaves the rest of karnataka where congres and the others will fight for victory. Today there is no consitituency in karnataka which can be said as a congress bastion based on current political scenario.

If its not enough Congress has been have a lot of infighting off late between different groups of leadership of whom many dont have a mass following. If one looks at the Siddaramiah fiasco, and the delay in taking Bangarappa to Congress fold just to placate the large egos of spineless leaders in congress who cant deliver anything to party success likes Moily, Poojary, Deshpande, Munniyappa and others. The answer is written very clearly if the Congres does not get its act together, it has the face the political wilderness in comming days.

I am afraid if the Congress leadership doesnot see this, it would be the last of Congress we would hear for atleast the next decade or so in karnataka. Is it an opportunity or new and young leadership to mushroom, might be - but having observed Congress very closely in its highs and lows - i doubt it will learn the lesson. They lost UP, Bihar, Gujrat earlier and now we can potrentially add Karnataka to the list.