Shameful politics of succession in Indian Democracy

When you hear the chants of 'YS Jagan, Next CM' at the burial of YSR instead of 'YSR Amar Rahe', you cannot but feel sorry. 

The proposal by the elected legislative members of the Congress party to anoint the son of YSR as his successor to carry his legacy minutes after the crash site is found and even before the body is retrieved is a shame to Indian culture and Indian democracy. 

Of course, Dynasty politics has been in the culture of Congress party since the days of Nehru, with 3 generations becoming party chiefs and as a result the Prime Minister of the country. In fact, Rajiv Gandhi with zero direct political experience was sworn in as Prime Minister when Indira Gandhi was assassinated even before she was cremated. Such is the sycophancy prevalent in the Congress.

After Rajiv Gandhi's death, his wife Sonia Gandhi was reluctant to enter politics and as a result a Senior and experienced leader PV Narasimha Rao has lead the country for 5 years and proved to be one of the best PMs the country had and has sown seeds for the current economic resurgence of India. The congress culture is so pitiful that, when he died years later, the leaders did not care enough to give him a proper send off.  But of course, the 100 year old party couldn't bring itself together with out a Gandhi (but not a Gandhi) to dig itself out of the drain. Even now, it is an open secret that the current PM Manmohan Singh, another successful PM, is just keeping the seat warm for the prince Rahul Gandhi. I have greater respect for Sonia and Rahul for working hard for the party and still staying out of power than the entire sycophantic Congress machinery. 

Though this kind of succession politics is identified with Congress for about 40 - 50 years, unfortunately this culture has now spread to almost every party. Even the parties with strong idealogical foundations such as DMK is being transfered to Karunanidhi's son Stalin, Hindu/ Maratha Nationalist Shivsena is being handed to second generation of Thackereys, even the Jammu and Kashmir which is mired by years of militancy has no qualms with Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba. Orissa has Patnaiks, Karnataka has Devegowda's son, Andhra has NTRs family, KCRs son and nephew, you can list pages of such cases that happened in the last two decades. I have to give credit to two notable exceptions, the BJP and the communist parties. 

This practice has become so mainstream and mindset of the Indian population has become so tuned to it, if all the stray polls in the television in the past couple of days, the population honestly seems to believe that YS Jagan is the rightful heir to the King YSR's throne!! 

Torture.. hmmm!!

I won't go into technicalities of what is considered as torture. Based on the time and space given to this, you'd think US is torturing detainees on a large scale. But it seems they have done this to all of 'three' people. Very prominent and high profile suspects. They are not even POWs of a military conflict and do not belong to or owned by any country to apply the treaties from Geneva conventions (knowledge from Wikipedia ;)).  

Trying to prosecute people trying to protect the country while the country is still waging wars that kill, injure for life, displace and scar millions of innocent people can only be the highest form of hypocrisies. 

 


PrajaRajyam's Identity?


What does Praja Rajyam Party stand for??

Every political party needs to have an ideology and identity to begin with. And for succeeding in electoral politics, this ideology needs to have emotional impact. Historically, you can see this in a number of examples, where political parties succeeded.

Take TeluguDesam, it started as a flag bearer for Telugu Pride, when there was no respect for elected Congress leaders from the state. BJP, it represented Hindu nationalism when Rajiv Gandhi succumbed to vote bank politics with a pseudo secular agenda to catapult itself from 2 parliament seats in '84 to 89 in '89. Take Telangana Rashtra Samiti for a separate Telangana state, BSP for Dalit Empowerment and so on.

All these parties have an identity with a strong ideological cause. It doesn't matter if they end up as any other vanilla flavor political party once they have created this voter base. 

But the problem with Praja Rajyam is that it has a very mixed and confused message on what it stands for. 

Before the party was announced, they organized a number of discussions with the lawyers, doctors, IT and other educated classes and recruited people who are not career politicians. By all accounts it appeared that they are headed to work on an Lok Satta like agenda with clean politics with a slogan of change. This goes very well with Chiranjeevi's image as a clean and fresh person who is entering the political arena to serve with out selfish motives. He has done many movies with social causes and is running a charitable trust that promotes blood and eye donations. His association with organizations helping blind and handicapped people adds to this image. And he also used his fan base to do some social service and changed the way these fan clubs behave to a good extent. The tag line that was later chosen 'Premae Lakshyam, Sevae Margam' also suits well for his image and his supposed vision of running a clean government with compassion. It all seemed right. 

But the party is announced as an organization that would fight for social justice (Samajika Nyayam). It appeared that they are just trying to imitate the success of BSP in UP. This does not go with the image that Chiru has developed for 30 years.  He was not associated in any way with the causes of BCs. Even the initial team he assembled hardly had any BC leader. After this, the party started recruiting hard core politicians from other parties and carry a lot of baggage. Chiru continued to push the message of 'Change' after filling up the party with career politicians.  

When the candidates for the Assembly are announced, the fan clubs who stood behind him for ever,  the cadre that was built so far, the educated class that was looking forward to his entry and the clean non political team he assembled - got disillusioned and started leaving the party, some silently and some making a lot of noise. Those leaving the party and the accusations of taking money for nominations (thanks also to the coverage by media keen to break him) hurt the party beyond recovery. 

Now the party having received a major setback in the elections, didn't seem to realize this major branding mistake. Despite some borrowed leaders leaving the party, the remaining bunch is going forward with the stated purpose of 'Social Justice/ BC Party'. But actions doesn't follow the stated goal. But the small agitations the party has conducted also have nothing to do with their 'Social Justice' brand. Chiru continues to make efforts to present himself as a clean politician (which I believe he is) and not as a representative of BC cause. 

If PRP wants to succeed, it either has to own up to its mistakes and fashion itself as the party of Change pointing the corruption and the incompetence in system. Which I would love to see.

OR, go full force as a BC party demanding reservations in everything, crying injustice every time a BC is involved, no matter the truth. In which case they might have better chances for success, but it will make me sadder.  

If they do neither, just pray to their SUN god for some miracle. 








Prajarajyam??

It's been a few months since the elections are held, but the state of the PrajaRajyam seems to be as uncertain as it could be. It is good that the career politicians have started leaving PRP and getting back to their homes (??). Sure, PRP has done some dharnas against the rise of prices, but where is the follow up? Sure, the party has done district wise reviews of their performance in the elections. But, I do not see them coming up with the right reasons for their failure. More troublesome is that, they are not even acting on the reasons they came up for their failure. 

Even if we assume that Chiru is working hard for his assembly sessions and on reviving the party, he is doing a very bad job in sending the message to the people. For a common man who views the world through the eyes of Media, PRP has done a horrible job in marketing itself. And even worse at protecting from smear campaigns against it. If the current media is sold out and have their own agendas, be with the people and force them to cover you. 

For what ever reasons, people were unsure in the last elections if Chiru is capable of delivering, but 17% gave the benefit of doubt. Now if he doesn't deliver for Tirupati at the least, all the doubts will be removed. Chiru would have trouble retaining his own Tirupati in the next election if he does not spend a week every month in his constituency and produce some demonstrable results. 

Music and Emotions - My Take

RGV in his recent post he wrote about the effect of background scores in the movies and his experiences with music in movies. 

http://rgvzoomin.com/2009/07/25/the-psychological-aspect-of-background-music/

This takes me back to a discussion I had  with one of my roommates  (non Desi) back in Oakland about what makes music effect our emotions. Is it something that is hard wired in our genes or is it some thing that is learned and our brain is trained over the years. 

I think it is a learned emotion. Whenever I hear 'Sare Jaha Se Achcha', 'Vandemataram' and 'Jana gana mana', some kind of patriotic fervor captures me. Whenever I hear 'Suprabhatam' or 'Jai Jagadeesh Hare', I will be a peace. The popular telugu movie dance numbers like 'Bangaru Kodi Petta' or 'Chikubuku Raile' makes me tap my feet. I wouldn't think some one from an alien culture would feel the same emotions. It's not the specific numbers, but the emotions become associated with the instruments, the ragas, the vocals associated with the numbers that had impacted our emotions. 

This was evident when I was listening to some of the melodies by Indian female singers like Lata, Asha, Chitra and the likes whom we consider to have very soothing and melodious voices, my non desi roommate found them to be shrill and harsh. May because our emotions are shaped by some of their older songs which might have become memorable for a number of reasons including the instrumentation, the lyrics, the movies they were part or any other reason. 

It works the other way to, I for once can not appreciate the hard rock and find it cacophonous and disturbing, while an old colleague of mine listens to the music while at work and claims it makes him productive.

To be sure, there is some music that encompasses cultures, but I think it might be because of the sharing and borrowing of these elements across the cultures. I am now a big fan of Eminem's rap music, but would it have happened with out Baba Sehgal or Rahman's 'Peta Rap'? Or would I have liked Lionel Richie (I know :) ) without the listening to his tunes in the memorable 'Maine Pyar Kiya' ? 

Would a piece of music bring in the same emotions to people who are brought up in different countries and cultures if they are listening to a new kind of music alien to all of them?

Indian Television Conglomerates/ Networks

INX Network
9x
9xm
News X

Network 18 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network18#Network_TV_Channels
CNN IBN
IBN 7
CNBC Awaaz
CNBC TV18
IBN Lokmat
MTV India
Nick India
VH1 India
Colors
Home shop 18
SUN Network http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Network#Channels
Sun TV Tamil Entertainment Channel KTV Tamil Movie ChannelSun Music Tamil Music ChannelSun News Tamil News ChannelChutti TV Tamil Kids ChannelAdithya TV Tamil Comedy ChannelComedy Thirai Tamil Comedy Channel(DTH)Udaya TV Kannada Entertainment Channel Udaya Movies Kannada Movie ChannelU 2 Kannada Music ChannelUdaya Varthegalu Kannada Documentary ChannelChintu TV Kannada Kids ChannelUshe TV Kannada Comedy ChannelHaasya Tere Kannada Comedy Channel(DTH)Gemini TV Telugu Entertainment Channel Teja TV Telugu Movie ChannelGemini Music Telugu Music ChannelGemini News Telugu News ChannelGCV Telugu Comedy Channelkushi tv Telugu Kids ChannelNavulla Tera Telugu Commedy Channel(DTH)Surya TV Malayalam Entertainment Channel Kiran TV Malayalam Music ChannelKochu TV Malayalam Kids ChannelChiri Thirai Malayalam Comedy Channel(DTH)
ETV 2
ETV Bangla
ETV Bihar
ETV Gujarati
ETV Kannada
ETV Madhya Pradesh
ETV Marathi
ETV Odia
ETV Rajasthan
ETV Urdu
ETV Uttar Pradesh

ZEE http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zee_Network#Channels
Zee TV - Hindi General Entertainment Channel and Flagship stationZee Next - New Hindi General Entertainment ChannelZee Cinema - Hindi Movie ChannelZing - Hindi Music ChannelZee Sports - A Sports ChannelTEN Sports - 50% in the Sports ChannelZee Premiere - Hindi New Movie ChannelZee Action - Hindi Action Movie ChannelZee Classic - Hindi Old Movie ChannelZee Smile - Hindi Comedy ChannelZee Jagran - Hindi Religious ChannelZee Trendz - A Fashion ChannelZee Café - English General Entertainment ChannelZee Studio - English Movie ChannelZee Aflam - Hindi Movie Channel with Arabic SubtitlesZee News - Hindi News ChannelZee Business - Hindi Business ChannelZee Telugu - Telugu General Entertainment ChannelZee 24 Ghantalu - Telugu News ChannelZee Bangla - Bengali General Entertainment ChannelZee Kannada - Kannada General Entertainment ChannelZee Marathi - Marathi General Entertainment ChannelZee Tamil - Tamil General Entertainment ChannelZee 24 Taas - Marathi news channel24 Ghanta - Bengali news channel
ASIANET PLUS
Channel [V]
ESPN
Sitara
STAR ANANDA
STAR CRICKET
STAR GOLD
STAR JALSHA
STAR MAJHA
STAR MOVIES
STAR NEWS
STAR ONE
STAR PRAVAH
STAR SPORTS
STAR UTSAV
STAR World
Suvarna Kannada entertainment channel.
VIJAY Tamil entertainment channel.
NDTV http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NDTV#NDTV_Channels
NDTV 24x7
NDTV India
NDTV Profit
NDTV Imagine
NDTV Imagine Showbiz
NDTV Lumiere
NDTV Good Times
NDTV MetroNation
NDTV Arabia
ACTVE Cooking

UTV http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UTV_Software_Communications#Broadcasting
Bindass
Bindass Movies
UTVi
UTV Movies
UTV World Movies

NTV
NTV Telugu
Vanitha TV
Bhakti TV

India... Hmmm!!

It has been 10 days since I arrived at Vijayawada, after cleaning up my base in SF Bay Area to making a permanent move back to India. I've been away from home for about 12 years now, 8 of them abroad. For days leading to my departure and few days after, I was expecting the big move to hit me and either make me feel excited about the new opportunity or feel dejected with some kind of buyer's remorse. But, the hit never came. I continue to feel nothing. It feels just like any other day.

I am glad.. that Chiru lost!!


Yes.. I supported him because he is a honest person who want to serve his people.

But, I'm happy that his party's politics didn't work. I hope he would now stay with the people and create a grass roots movement with a clear agenda and conviction and not rely on his charm or caste equations or political calculations.

Oversight and Regulation!!


Oversight is like Highway Patrol - Sit on the pavement at a random location with your radar gun. This requires very few resources and works really well.

Regulation is like TSA - manually scanning every person and carry on baggage before letting a person into a flight. This is a tremendous strain on resources and slows down everything costing time and money.

Even in the freest of markets, there is a need for checks and balances. There are areas where Govt. has to use oversight and there might be areas where Govt. should regulate. But it is important to use the right tools for each situation and avoid choking the economy. We can only hope the right calls are being made.

Now... I am confused!!

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c
Harry Truman Was Not a War Criminal
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes
Economic CrisisPolitical Humor


I never can understand where the line is drawn...

the same Pro-Life people who goes all the way to extend Terry Schiavo's life, defend going to war in Iraq, which would obviously cost lifes...

the same Pro-Rights people who goes all the way to condemn torture of a few captured terrorists, support troops to Afghan and support a decision to use a nuclear weapon...

Daily Show's hidden agenda??

Daily Show covered France and Sweden and in a very positive light, in a span of one week. Is this a coincidence? OR Are they trying to influence their viewers in support of Obama's administration plans for increased regulation, employment benefits and other European style policies?

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c
The Stockholm Syndrome
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes
Economic CrisisFirst 100 Days


The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c
The Stockholm Syndrome Pt. 2
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes
Economic CrisisFirst 100 Days


The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c
Christine Lagarde
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes
Economic CrisisFirst 100 Days

Obama - 21st century Nehru?


Closing Guantanamo Bay.
Releasing Torture Memos and potentially trying the people who approved them.
Banning secret CIA prisons.
Allowing travel and remittances to Cuba.
Appeasing Muslim Nations.
Talking to Anti American communist regimes.
Proposing to back off of Missile Shield plans in eastern europe to trade for Russian help talking to Iran.
Ignoring Israel Lobby.
Accepting American responsibility for anti americanism across the world and almost openly disowning 50 years of American foreign policy.

These are the things that you would expect to hear from liberals on the streets of SF and Berkeley. Or hollywood and media personalities.

Talking morals is one thing and acting on them as a President is another. It feels like Obama strongly believes that American policies are responsible for the current state of the world. He seems to believe from the heart that world can be ONE and we can all be friends. It's almost unreal.

I am not sure if the world can be one. But it is probably worth trying. But it sure takes more than 8 years Obama potentially has and lot more grit and determination to continue these policies. Every country has it's own priorities and politics and will not turn the page because America wants to. I hope Obama has at least an 8 year plan and the political will to continue even in the case of major crises.

PS: Nehru apparently believed in such ideals, trusted UN and considered Chinese his brothers, ended up conceding half of Kashmir to Pakistan and China, allowed chinese to occupy tibet.

Random Thought!!

Is Obama going to end up on a coin or a bill?

Random Thought!!

I see some people saying torture doesn't work.
Would torture be OK if it works?

Flexibility in Ethics??

War on Drugs is a failure -> Legalize Marijuana
Abstinence doesn't work -> Provide condoms to Kids
Can't stop piracy on the web -> Music should be free

I guess if enough people are doing - wrong becomes right!!

Desi CIO and CTO for Obama's Administration!!

Do not know if these appointments has any significance at all for India, but it is interesting nonetheless to have two Indian descent people in key roles in Technology!

Aneesh Paul Chopra - CTO
Chopra serves as Virginia’s Secretary of Technology. He leads the Commonwealth’s strategy to effectively leverage technology in government reform, to promote Virginia’s innovation agenda, and to foster technology-related economic development. Previously, he worked as Managing Director with the Advisory Board Company, leading the firm’s Financial Leadership Council and the Working Council for Health Plan Executives.

Vivek Kundra, Federal Chief Information Officer
Vivek Kundra formerly served in Mayor Fenty's cabinet as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for the District of Columbia, responsible for technology operations and strategy for 86 agencies. He has been recognized among the top 25 CTO's in the country and as the 2008 IT Executive of the Year for his pioneering work to drive transparency, engage citizens and lower the cost of government operations. Kundra is also recognized for his leadership in public safety communications, cyber security and IT portfolio management. Before Kundra came to the District, Governor Timothy M. Kaine appointed him Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Technology for the Commonwealth of Virginia, the first dual cabinet role in the state's history. Kundra's diverse record also includes technology and public policy experience in private industry and academia. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia's Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership and holds a MS in Information Technology from the University of Maryland.

High Speed Show Off???



Obama unveils a 'Strategic Plan' for the high speed rail future in US. Fantastic.

"Imagine whisking through towns at speeds over 100 miles an hour, walking only a few steps to public transportation, and ending up just blocks from your destination. Imagine what a great project that would be to rebuild America."

When you hear Obama saying these lines, you sure would be excited as hell and start dreaming about the day you step on to one of these trains in San Francisco Transbay Terminal. So I was all excited about the plan and digged in a bit to check the dates when I can start riding in one of those machines. There is nothing!!! The plan boasts of $8 Billion allocated to project in the Stimulus. What a joke!!

Just the line from 'SF to LA' has been in plans for ages and state is struggling to find the $40 Billion it costs according to the current estimates. Just one line from SF to LA. The plan doesn't even mention the total cost of this vision, forget about how they plan to raise the money. Check out the strategic plan here - http://www.fra.dot.gov/us/content/31

This takes me back to one of the line that got me excited from his 'Not State of the Union' speech, that they already identified $2 Trillion in spending cuts. Which turned out to be nothing more than the savings for not continuing the 'Surge' in Iraq.

I still like a lot of things that he is saying in his speeches, at the face value, but am afraid to dig in, for it may just be another farce.

Movies to Watch this Summer!

May 21 - Terminator Salvation
May 29 - UP
Jun 24 - Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Jul 01 - Ice Age: Dawn of Dinosaurs
Aug 07 - GI Joe: The Rise of the Cobra
Aug 21 - Inglorious Basterds

What is the future of TV?

I suspect Television Sets would just become screens for 'Set-top' boxes. And set-top boxes would become next battle ground for OS wars after mobile phones. Apple TV, MS IPTV/ Xbox, Sony PS3, Google Android and probably some new players would compete to come up with easy to use software that delivers content and information (through widgets?) ondemand with unique advertising models and innovative controllers that goes with the software.