A question about Obama

TNR literary critic Leon Wieseltier raises this (compelling?) question about Obama:

Didn't anybody see Newsweek's cover? It consisted in a close-up of Obama praying, or in an attitude of prayer--his head on his clasped hands, his eyes closed, his brow gently furrowed by faith--a head shot by Memling. "What He Believes," intoned the caption above his holy ear. This devotional portrait marked another stage in the transformation of Newsweek into Commonweal, though in this instance religious credulity was accompanied by political credulity. Why is the religiosity of Barack Obama less deserving of liberal distaste than the religiosity of George W. Bush? I mean, Jesus is Jesus. (emphasis added)

We can ask the same question to those who're railing against Sushma Swaraj.

Sushma Swaraj may be onto something

It is lamentable that Sushma Swaraj's recent remarks have raised such a ruckus even among otherwise decent people. And I am not talking about the uppity 'seculars' obviously, who have a bone in this partisan wrangle. Anything that can distract from the Manmohan Singh and Sonia's UPA's all-round failure in delivering governance, and worst halting the mass slaughter of Indians by jihadi terrorists.

Swaraj's statement have been labelled "presposterous" by those who, till date, refuse to accept the culpability of Islamic terrorists in 9/11. Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, is the perennial scapegoat, otherwise it's the good ol' Jews with dreams of world domination who are to blame.

The calumny of 4000 Jews on mass leave on that unfortunate day still persists. Read a systematic refutation of that rumor on Slate.com. Here's a comprehensive list of the "9/11 Heroes." You can find a fair share of Friedmans, Goldbergs, Silversteins and Rosenthals over there. Despite this evidence the calumny refuses to die.

Anyway, what Sushma says, namely, the govt. i.e., the UPA might have a dirty hand in the recent bomb blasts is eminently possible. The dirty tricks dept. of UPA has proven itself adept at going to any lengths possible for power.

Has the Congress promoted terrorism before? Check. Has the Congress bribed MPs to remain in power? Twice at least. So, Check! Has the Congress subverted constitution through underhanded means? Recent state govts. in Jharkhand, Goa, Bihar and Karnataka stand testimony. Check.

What is there that Congress has not done for power? It even cashed in on its assassinated Prime Ministers, and never fails to remind us about that.

It still refuses to pin down the blame of the Godhra train bombings on the fundamentalists Ghanchi muslims. By the popular 'secular' theory of self-combustion the passengers set themselves on fire apparently. No question is raised as to why no one from the surrounding slums, heavily populated by the Ghanchi Muslims no less, did come or even attempt to rescue those caught in the fire. Perhaps they got a wind of the mass suicide planned by the Hindu passengers and refused to interfere with their plans. It is altogether different matter that most initial reports were blaming it on a molested local (read, Muslim) girl, feud with a Muslim vendor on station or some such purported incident.

The plots changed and the 'seculars' ultimately rested with the most convenient self-combustion theory.

But the Congress penchant for libels and conspiracy theories is not limited to few incidents. Sonia Gandhi roared "Maut ke Saudagar" in Bollywood-style during Gujarat's assembly elections and ended up defeating her own party. Did that raise hackles among the liberals, journos or self-styled "concerned citizens"? Apart from a grim acceptance of its contribution to their defeat in the elections, not a pipsqueak was heard from anyone. The charges are unproven; not a case has been filed; yet the sinistrous campaign of slander against the individual continues unabated.

Not one secularist has registered shame over the endless repetition of those unsubstantiated charges.

That's not all however. The secularists, psecs whatever you wish to call them, invariably take pleasure in abusing not few individuals but an entire party and its related organization of reaping electoral harvest from communal killings. Even the scale of such violence doesn't deter them from leveling such charges. A few vulgar ones among the 'seculars' have gone a step further and slandered the entire middle-class or state populace for its vote.

A certain joke usually made by the secularists is that there are no riots during BJP rule because the rioters themselves are the govt. The underlying assumption being the BJP leaders indulge in communal killings for political purposes.

That such dark humor, at the expense of the hapless dead souls, is considered mundane by petulant seculars, Congressis included, tells you the hollowness of their synthetic outrage.

Cold-blooded Congress leaders indeed are behind these blasts. It won't be wrong to say that they are in and for these blasts. The persistent picture of grimacing Congressis tells me that Sushma Swaraj may indeed be onto something when she hauls them for the terrorists attacks. Bravo Sushma. You go girl!

It's Deja Vu all over again

One of Yogi Berra's immortal quotes has to be invoked to express the melancholic atmosphere in the aftermath of the serial terrorist attacks, first in Bangalore and now in Gujarat. It is Deja Vu all over again.

Been there, done nothing, and being there again! The rigor mortis afflicting Indian society symptomatically shows up in that people are so dejected that no one even asks for action against the terrorists anymore. What the ayatollahs of secularism will prescribe is entirely predictable--candle burning events, appealing calm, acting where options are already exhausted and further action can only be a dead end as in intelligence reforms etc.

Trudging the garden path of appeasement has brought us here, and there's fat chance that a different course will be adopted or even allowed to be thought of to fend this minatory violence.

Those who are dead are already gone, so why harass those who are alive, and let's move on. That is pretty much the gist of what the ruling class will offer. They don't care whether you live or die as long as their dear lives remain unaffected. The question is do you care for your life? If yes, how much? At least to go and vote?! I don't think so.

The state of New Hampshire has as its official motto: Live Free or Die; very brave words. It appears that Indians have resigned to the singular fate of 'Live like a Slave or Die', since freedom is clearly unaffordable. Else there won't be talk of economics everytime someone advocates action.

Whatever, the clear winner in this war are the jihadi terrorists. Their enemy is even unwilling to mull action against them, leave alone taking one. Such a thorough victory! Hats off to their grit and determination. Really. I mean it.

Memo about the Bangalore blasts

CPI(M) General Secretary, Prakash Karat, and several that-which-can't-be-named groups had warned that the nuclear deal is not good for the country. Barely has the deal been sorta approved by the parliament do we get this. This goes to show the prescience of Communists and that-which-can't-be-named groups. They may not say it but I doubt it is 'I told you so' that's on their minds.

It might be a disturbing pointer towards the ascendancy of reactionary forces in Karnataka since the assembly elections.

It also reflects poorly on part of foreign agencies that are provoking misguided youths within the country. Proper training would've ensured more effective blasts. Perhaps the global recession is hurting foreign agencies--or, the fake currency shortage might be to blame.

It could be a case of adulterated TNT or some such explosive, too. Hopefully high-quality RDX would be preferred henceforth.

Anyway, Bangaloreans should maintain calm, not play into the hands of communal forces, and wait till the investigations are over. It is highly irresponsible to blame any group before the conclusion of official investigation.

As for the state, well, it can form another agency to tackle terrorism and shore up intelligence operation. But the real solution lies in addressing the root cause, such as reversing the nuclear deal and not forging an alliance with Israel or USA.

And oh btw, my heart goes out to the injured Bangaloreans and those that are now deceased.

The confidence vote might be the beginning of the end of Congress

With Manmohan Singh cruising through the confidence vote the nuclear deal is a given. In an indicator of an apparent thumbs up from the American establishment, Washington Post has an editorial today: India's Outstretched Hands.

It understandably has gushing praise for Manmohan, and exhorts the American Congress to ensure passage for the deal even if a special session has to be held.

But, on balance, it is in the United States' interest, and Congress should find the time to say yes -- in a lame-duck session after the November election, if necessary.

The Americans seem to have doubts about the deal--or so they show off--just as we do. The underlying premise of this deal is the strategic cooperation between India and USA, and the containment of mutual threat from Mr. Karat's Shangri La.

The severe downside is the limitations on our own strategic weapons program and, forgive my cynicism but, our relegation to a second-class status by mutual connivance between USA and China. The latter is the worst that this deal could bring upon us.

Someday a future Indian PM, and it could be Narendra Modi or Mayawati, who knows, will have to decide to give a go-ahead for the test eventually, and wiggle out of this deal. The responsibility of Prime Ministers after Manmohan Singh is to ensure that such an eventuality occurs with minimal repercussions for India. I hope someone in our establishment is planning for that.

What I find more interesting are the probabilities for domestic politics. This deal marks the demise of Congress as a national force for several reasons. Whether its good or bad is debatable--e.g., a Congress without the dynasty may not be bad, but such a Congress party cannot and does not exist as we know it. You can always blame my prejudices for such a conclusion, and that's fair, but I hope that you'll read ahead.

The existence of any political party is predicated upon a support base which has to be derived in turn from a significant chunk of national populace. Unless such a base forms a critical mass the party might as well exist on paper. The Congress won the vote but it lost its base. After the demise of Soviet Union, Congress has been a pivot for not-necessarily-national groups. It thrived on support from Muslims, and Harijans.

With Mayawati emerging on the national scene the Dalit base has deserted the party. Why vote for a patron when you've your own, is what the Harijans probably told themselves in UP and will keep reminding themselves across the country. And that's perfectly normal.

The Muslims have abandoned the Congress ship for entirely different reasons; but for lack of critical numbers will have to look for an ally that will carry their agenda. With her large base in the heartland, limited national perspective, and primary interests in domestic power ,Mayawati fits the bill. Other casteists parties and regional parties, which essentially are casteist again, see an opportunity in this ready arithmetic that Mayawati brings them. In a Pavlovian response they will naturally coalesce around Behenji.

There's that old Hindi saying that two swords cannot exist in the same scabbard(Ek myaan mein doa talwar...etc).

If Congress and Maywati have claims over essentially the same voting group, then someone will've to give. And that's not Mayawati. Who else then but Congress? Where else can it replenish its dwindling votebank from?

Over the years, endless opinion pieces have tirelessly peddled the idea of how Congress alone represents the shoshit samaj, but Mayawati has blasted this myth to the trashcan of history. For good.

Congress is too compromised to represent legitimate nationalist desires. It is devoid of voice and agenda to channel the residual desires. What then should it represent? Why should it exist?

Today, Congress has no answer to this crucial existential dilemma. It can barely stand in the heartland without crutches of regional castelords.

What then is its future if not interminable decline and eventual demise?!

The nuke deal might inadvertenly signal a new path for India in more than one way.

Munawar Hussain spoketh the unspoken

With the talk about the confidence vote up in the air some unspoken truths are being heard loud and clear. Marxist party member M K Pandhe "communalized" the foreign policy first and now an ultra-secular MP of the 'secular' Samajwadi Party, one thorough gentleman (secular to boot at that) named Munawar Hussain has spoken the truth.

In his own words: "The (nuke)deal is anti-Muslim and we are against it more so because it is being promoted by the US, which is an anti-Muslim country." Maybe he has just let the proverbial cat out of the bag.

Though it is not strange anymore, neither is it alarming, but yet a 'communal' concern, that being, how easy it has become to oppose this deal without citing its cons in reference to India, without inviting any contempt from the public. It is as if all this obnoxious behavior is taken for granted and justified under the pretext of 'chalta hai' attitude.

Whatever the case maybe, it is heartening that secular shenanigans are precipitously umbling out of the closet. What's more, the confidence vote may not have any bearing on the nuclear deal after all.

Believe it or Not

Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, a radical fundamentalist Muslim organization, is "launching" a new front--they are dime a dozen anyway--to “thwart the Indo-US nuclear deal and oppose designs of US Imperialism.”

It further tells us that “a national alliance of anti-imperialist movement is the need of the hour,” and that the “secular dispensation under Manmohan Singh has sacrificed democratic aspirations on the altar of nuclear agreement.”

It urges the hallowed "'aam admi' to teach “every imperial agent” a lesson in the next election."

Now, this is rich coming from the paladins of Islamic imperialism as it does. The bucaneers of world Islamism are willing to sacrifice a 'secular' govt. for the benefit of their brethern in Palestine, Afghanistan and, of course, Iraq. Whether it is due to the severe thrashing received by their cohorts is debatable, but this development portends ill and is along the lines that we've now come to expect from these groups.

In keeping with taqiyah they have even managed to couch their opposition in 'secular' terms(forgive the pun).

It can be dismissed as fond hope but hopefully some secularists will notice the priorities of the Islamists and communists at least now. Just to put it in words, those priorities lay outside the periphery of cartographic India. Sorry, I didn't want to use jingoistic terms like nation, borders etc. This is an era of global citizenship afterall.

Curiously, I don't see any secularistwits pointing out to their soon-to-be ex secular foelows the irony of siding with 'communal' BJP. Perhaps they are still grappling with the heresy that Manmohan has addled the anti-imperialist party of Indira and Rajiv Gandhi with. Rajiv was berating American invasion during the Gulf war, even pleading on behalf of Saddam Hussein. During those heady days the newspapers and news bulletins (those were glory days of Doordarshan) were stuffed with encomiums of Saddam and his formidable Republican guards. Of course the Scuds proved to be duds and the battered secularists snooped back into woodwork.

What to say of Indira Ghandi: she single-handedly tied India to the Soviet guillotine ,wasting an entire generation of Indians at the altar of quixotic socialism The sloth and corruption that seeped into national bloodstream haunts us to this day, two decades after Indira's death. For that party to turn around and shake hands with the arch imperialist USA is quite something, even if done in a highly opportunistic manner, at the twilight of UPA dispensation.

We sure live in strange times.

Back from hiatus

Blogging here resumes after some hiatus. Thanks for your patience.