Congress Now Fighting Terrorism For Us?

Afzal Guru and Ajmal Kasab hanged within 80 days! I don’t know what’s more amusing; them being hanged or how gleefully we Indians have lapped this up.

Where did the Congress suddenly get these balls from? Until a few days ago, this very party running the government was ordering lathi charges on citizens. It sat twiddling its thumbs while the youth demanded justice for the gang rape victim. The Congress sat on its huge ass since 2009 while the Indian economy almost hit rock bottom. Policy paralysis was talked about daily in newspapers. The government failed to bring about a consensus on retail FDI, GST and other policies which should have been implemented long ago. CWG, the telecom spectrum, coal mine allocation... all these scams and more came to light when the Congress was in power since 2009. Mamata Banerjee dumped the Congress, Mayawati’s support was listed by dropping CBI investigations against her; there was no respite from the Naxalite issue either. Instead, the Congress went around trying to implement Section 144 and banning books which they claimed hurt religious sentiment. Pakistani soldiers beheading Indians was also publicized in the media to distract the Indian population from the Delhi gang rape issue. It was easier to make Pakistan look the villain and shift focus from a matter we called our government to action on. Did that party really find the guts to hang terrorists; something which wasn’t done since 12 years?

Kasab & Afzal Guru hanged?

The biggest terrorists are Congress party leaders themselves. In this article, I’ve pointed out how twisted and malicious Sonia Ghandi is. The news of the terrorists being hanged is a political gimmick. Just like the Americans claiming to have killed Bin Laden and buried his body at sea. So fucking predictable! Why would the Indian government have the terrorists hanged and burn their bodies in a hush – hush manner? Wouldn’t they want to display the dead bodies to showcase what they’ve done? Isn’t that normal human tendency? In my opinion, the jailed terrorists have not being hanged. They are alive and well; probably moved to secret location. The government merely wants to earn some brownie points from us citizens ahead of the 2014 elections.

The Congress has repeatedly violated my motherland in this stint. True, other parties have done and will do the same. But when awareness has increased, why must we behave like we used to a decade ago? The Congress needs a jolt like one they got when they lost out to the BJP. They must realize that they can’t take their power for granted. The jolt in 1996 was enough to galvanize them to action when they came to power in 2004. Our GDP grew substantially and people started predicting India’s bright future. Where are we now?

One thing is certain – I’m not voting for the Congress this time. Fuck that, I’ve never voted for them. Instead, I vote for some independent party worker who will be more passionate about development in my area. We need to show politicians that they cannot live their lives battling accusations of corruption, allow crime to continue and try to distract us from core matters by focusing on petty ones. We expect them to provide us a secure environment – economically and personally. What are you going to do?

image: Courtesy Google Images

The Week That Was...

The week from 1^st to 7^th May, 2011 was quite an eventful one in context of happenings across the world. The killing of Osama bin Laden, Sony’s CEO Howard Stringer apologizing for the hacking of Playstations and offering $1 million per user in remuneration, more 2G scam revelations coming to light, the BSE rallying up and down, etc. were some of the events that occurred. We’ll focus on a few that really made the headlines in morning papers.

Osama bin Laden was reported dead on late Sunday evening. US Navy SEALS infiltrated into his Pakistan quarters and successfully killed him. This was timed perfectly to occur just before Obama begins his election campaign. Bin Laden wasn’t brought back to the US like Saddam Hussain and electrocuted on the chair! Instead, he was shot in the head and his remains buried at sea. A bit too convenient, it seems. And was bin Laden really responsible for 9/11? The documentary Zeitgeist proves otherwise; more so that it was an inside job. Also, the bin Ladens were especially close to George Bush Snr. and managed to get a lot of favours from Bush Jnr. right after 9/11. That is not to say that the news may not be true, but I have my reservations. What the news has done, though, is that it has spread a lot of euphoria amongst US countrymen. That, and additional jobs created, have increased Obama’s popularity drastically. He has almost reserved a stint for himself at the White House for the next few years. He can afford to spend nothing for his election campaign and still be a major contender for the position of President of the United States.

For the 9^th time this fiscal year, the RBI increased interest rates; this time by 50 bps. This, they declared, was one of the key measures in controlling inflation in India, though it was not investor friendly. This policy, along with possibilities of a global economic recovery, led to the SENSEX dropping for 9 successive sessions before rising on Friday. A lot of people also lost money invested in silver as it lost its shine by almost 30% in this week alone. Experts cite the reduction in imports into China as the main reason for this slide in not only silver, but other commodities also. This might encourage those investors to enter the stock market and possibly help it rally upwards in the near future. Crude also dropped to below $100 a barrel after long. This could spell good news for India and other countries as the prices of fuel may now not rise as sharply as expected. Also, a reduction in dependant palm oil and other raw material could reduce input costs and margin pressures for many industries. Also, reduction in edible and cooking oil could lead to control in food prices and positively impact inflation. That being said, all we can do is wait and watch if the Indian government proactively takes some more measures to benefit the common man.

Kanimozhi has finally been named in the CBI chargesheet and was presented in court this week. She looked extremely tense, bordering on tears. Ram Jethmalani defended her staunchly in court saying she claims her main fault is she is Karunanidhi’s daughter and hence she is being targeted though she had nothing to do with the 2G scam, and that it was all Raja’s fault. She now wants to be granted bail on the grounds that she is a woman. Strange... she did not think of all this when she was one of the main perpetrators in the 2G scam, something the evidence accumulated by the CBI clearly shows. It is amusing how Kalmadi, Sheila Dixit, Kanimozhi and other politicians amass all the wealth when they can, but blame the entire world when they are exposed. Anyway, I am sure I speak for most people when I say that I hope justice is dished out to all those guilty, man or woman.

Of course, I have not mentioned the Royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. The who’s who of the world were present, and the paparazzi ensured the high profile wedding was covered from all angles; attendees, fashion, celebrations, etc. I didn’t follow it to be able to write a lot about it, though.

We didn’t have only one headline repeated over and over again this week, though the media were more than keen on constantly covering the death of Bin Laden. So the world did see highs and lows this week, and it was fun. It’s a pity such weeks do not come often to keep us interested and thinking. Now, the consequences of the events that have unfolded remain to be seen. Hopefully they will be positive; the world has witnessed too much bad news in the past few months.