I ought to have done a little twirl. Don’t feel like it. The curry was rather good.
How I wish I were one of those politicians saying, “Let us get the full tally and then I shall tell you…” No full tally required. It is the Congress. Pop one more kofta ball.
From what I gather the Congress has got this kind of vote after 18 years. It can go it alone. I only hope it does. I am tired of coalition politics that are totally based on numbers.
Nitish Kumar says he will give support only if Bihar is given special status. What? Why? And here we complain about Kashmir.
Home Minister P.Chidambaram lost by 3,555 votes in his constituency Sivaganga. He is sulking and has asked for a repoll. I don’t know why. He will continue to be the Congress party’s nice guy with preppy accent. I was, however, surprised to hear experts say that the loss was because he was not in touch with his people. Then the margin should have been greater, right? But I am not an expert, so I can just dig into my vegetable pulao and watch them play.
Ram Vilas Paswan who thought he could be the prime minister lost; he lost his own seat forget the showing of his party. Yet, he is happy that the secular forces won. Oh yeah. These secular forces will now to talk to Imams, sadhus, bishops.
In god’s own country, Kerala, the former UN Under Secretary General Shashi Tharoor went around Thiruvananthapuram yesterday even before the poll results were out and started tearing his posters. He said:
“This is a beautiful city. I don’t want to disfigure the walls with pictures of politicians after the elections. I want to set a model by removing the posters."
He has won by a large margin.
I suspect the Congress will pamper him. Instead, he should be treated like Sam Pitroda. For those who came in late – or were just born too late – Rajiv Gandhi had invited this expat techie to India and the process of the 21st century might have been a bit pat, but he is responsible for a lot of the communication revolution in the country. If you find PCO booths in the remotest towns, you know who to thank. Time for me to take a large chunk of malai rose barfi.
Why did the BJP lose? Because it is its own worst enemy. It wasn’t a consolidated battle. This time some smart types decided to play Modi against Advani. Two power centres are fine if one handles the remote control, not if both want to be visible leaders.
Now that psephologists will do their final analysis, I only hope:
- We are done with anchors picking out chunks from their touch screen monitors and juggling them around.
- Varun Gandhi takes sanyas.
- Uma Bharti gives up sanyas.
- The Congress builds the Ram Mandir. Seriously. Then Modi can go around on lecture tours to say how he made Gujarat so prosperous. If Mumbai’s dabbawallas can become IIM speakers and be honoured at Buckingham Palace, then so can he.
AND
- I don’t have to hear that Jai Ho song again.
Switched off the TV set and unfurled the foil of the chocolate bar. Lindt’s Excellence With a Touch of Sea Salt. Dark, slightly bitter, slightly salty…
Just like this precious irony:
Caption in TOI...GUARDING DEMOCRACY: A policewoman guards a locked room with EVMs inside, in Jaipur on Friday
The moment I saw this picture this morning in the paper....I said ..Man ..thats one pretty Cop....
ReplyDeleteThis is also a landmark day, a guy my age will be prime minister soon ...jesus ...I am that old ...I need a drink :(
bad news for the "hand kashmir over to pakistan" crowd..
ReplyDeleteSeparatist loses election in IHK
SRINAGAR: Sajjad Ghani Lone, Indian-held Kashmir’s (IHK) first separatist leader to contest Indian elections since a revolt broke out in the region two decades ago, lost polls, results showed on Saturday. The vote was part of India’s general election, won nationally by the ruling Congress-led alliance. Lone, who opposes Indian rule in IHK and defied a long-standing separatist policy of boycotting elections, said he wanted to take Kashmir’s ‘freedom’ struggle to parliament in New Delhi. He said there was a need to change strategy after last year’s IHK state election, which saw a turnout of more than 60 percent despite the boycott. “Fighting elections is a change of strategy and not ideology,” Lone told reporters. Lone, 42, who led some of the massive anti-Indian demonstrations in Kashmir last year, contested the election in Baramulla in north Kashmir. He walked out of Kashmir’s main separatist alliance, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, after his father, senior separatist leader Abdul Ghani Lone, was assassinated by unidentified gunmen in 2002. IHK’s ruling pro-India coalition partners, the regional National Conference party and Congress, were leading on five of the six seats. reuters
I followed your blog for interesting ideas otherwise all same circus.What do you think about Mamatadi and her new power??
ReplyDeleteManish:
ReplyDeleteIndeed, she is...why do you think TOI placed that picture prominently?
Talking of old and drinks, you know the ones that age well are the best, don't you?
Arjun:
Colour me chocked, as you would say...Here you are talking about bad news for the "hand kashmir over to pakistan" crowd.." and you reproduce a story from Reuters that does used the term "IHK"; it is not like this bit of news was not in the Indian papers. Traitor!
KB:
Thanks...I am a bit confused about Mamta Banerjee; she may have defeated the Left in W. Bengal but what are the ramifications of the industrialisation? Will the Congress go along with all of it? She is a tough cookie and may be even more problematic than the Left.