Lamp Posts in Parliament! 'Party Whip' keeps SHEEP in line!

In 1951, at the height of it's popularity with Nehru at the helm, the slogan for Congress was that "even a Lamp-Post bearing the Congress ticket should be elected."

Unfortunately, in today's parliament we only have LAMP-POSTs - Insignificant MPs, who get elected in the name of the party and then herded like sheep in the parliament - using Party Whip.

Is this the democracy we hoped for...should we try to change this ….read on…..

In 1951 - Did the slogan mean that being on a ‘Congress Ticket’ was enough to be a good MP or they didn’t care whether MP candidate was good or bad?

It seems Pandit Nehru did care about the Credibility & Competence of an MP, because he had MPs in his cabinet from across the parties (not just the Congress MPs) based on their competence & credibility.

Unfortunately today's political parties have taken that 1951 slogan literally. Political parties today use their MPs as dud lamp-posts which have no bulb and spread no light.

Once in a while if there are aberrations and MPs act as per their conviction & conscience - they are reprimanded or even shown the door. Meaning, if any lamp post chooses to use the bulb and starts spreading the light - party leadership pulls the main plug - to keep the lamp post there - just standing - dark.

The recent case in point would be that of Mr. Dinesh Trivedi - MP from TMC who was briefly made Railway Minister to be unceremoniously removed Ms by Mamata Banerjii, because in preparing the rail budget – he used his own judgment and conviction and did not follow her agenda.

How can we have a vibrant democracy when all knowledge, intelligence & competence is expected to reside with party leadership and MPs are mere sheep to be herded in parliament and made to VOTE as per the whims and fancies of the party bosses using PARTY WHIP. 

This is plain UNDEMOCRATIC!

Such control of party leadership using Party Whip leads to situations where a party which voted YES on an issue, when in power, suddenly does a volte face and votes NO, once in opposition - with MPs having no say to follow their conscience or constituency, as they would be fired if they defied PARTY WHIP.

Will this happen in any other functional democracy - In US, Congressman & Senators are free to vote as per their conviction and opinion of their constituency on any and every issue.

Their own parties have to work hard to convince the Senators/Congressmen to vote along the party line - but no one can be forced using a Party Whip.

Given that our average Indian MP is just a SHEEP, herded by the party bosses using party whip (as the name suggests), he/she has no importance or credibility in the eyes of the voter. No wonder we end up getting political family scions, corrupt & criminal of our society as our MPs.

Is this the DEMOCRACY our forefathers fought so hard for?

Having been elected by lakhs of voters - our MP's credentials and competence should be of great importance & significance to the voters & the constituency.

Hence we must strive to break this WHIP monopoly of party bosses by fielding Committed & Credible leaders of our Society as our MP Candidates. Existing parties will not allow this, as the party bosses won’t let go of the control.

New Political Formations – like Nav Bharat (www.nav-bharat.org)  - are attempting this and we must support them.

Party Centric Polity is Ruining INDIA!

Both Congress & BJP are loosing the plot on leadership - The First Post article (below) symbolizes the rot in PARTY CENTRIC Indian Polity. 

The 'Weeping Oldies' of Congress who were supposedly traumatized by YUVRAJ's emotional speech provided a comic relief. Last time they all cried was when Sonia Ji decided to let go of PM post. One really wonders as to how these politicians have sold their soul and are bereft of any self-respect to behave like such helpless sycophants.

However, the larger question is, whether our country is safe in the hands of such politicians? The answer seems NO!

Rahul is far from being a successful leader to rescue the congress given his repeated electoral failures and lack of interest in matters of national concern & importance. The YOUTH LEADER was hiding when nation was burning during recent anti-corruption and gang-rape agitations.

Many Congress politicians would have better credentials & more experience than Rahul, but why is it that only a GANDHI is looked upon to save the Congress.

The reason is our PARTY CENTRIC politics. This system is designed to have only family, sycophants and incompetent grow in party ranks, just to ensure that there is no challenge to the dynasty and the leaders, who hang around with vice like grip on the party till they are no more.

Tickets are given not to the MOST QUALIFIED & BEST SUITED candidate, but to those who are pliant and will pose no challenge.

Even after winning their seats, our MPs are like a herd of SHEEP who look at their leader's face to decide whether to shout or raise their hands to vote in the parliament. The party whip has effectively killed the democracy in India and has filled our parliament with ROBOTs who sing & dance to the tunes of their dear leaders.

If all the wisdom and knowledge resides only with the PARTY LEADER, why do we do this 5 Yearly farce of electing these MPs, wasting so much money and creating a big show of pseudo democracy.

Our constitution wasn't designed for this farce. Till Mrs Indira Gandhi got it amended. India's first & subsequent Cabinets were comprised of Ministers, who were the MPs from the parties with diverse view points and ideologies. Prime Minister (like the US President) chose his Cabinet based on the competence of the MPs not based on their parties. This way he could get best of the Parliamentarians to do the Ministerial job. Parties and individual MPs supported or opposed bills and motions based on their respective constituency views & ideologies.

Those parliamentary debates were a pleasure to watch. The committed & capable of society entered politics as they wanted to serve the nation and had freedom to express their views & raise the issues in the Parliament without worrying about party whips.

Today's parliament is devoid of the wisdom of individual MPs. Excellent Parliamentarians rot because they are not pliant to the party bosses. Party is run like a personal fiefdom of party leaders who treat their MPs like underage kids. I am witness to the situations where MPs have made extraordinary efforts to even get an appointment with their Presidents/Leaders, forget about raising issues in Parliament. Most don't get to speak even once in 5 years.

We pose our faith in democracy & elect our MPs. We expect them to use their experience, knowledge and best judgement to debate & decide on various policies, issues and legislate, but in the reality it is just few party bosses who have hijacked our democracy.

Ours is a Failed Democracy and Inefficient Monarchy - Mrs Sonia Gandhi passes on the Congress throne to her yet to be proven son and RSS forces Mr. Nitin Gadkari, who has had less than glorious first term, on to the BJP as President.

Long live DEMOCRATIC (?) India!

http://www.firstpost.com/politics/congress-and-bjp-are-both-losing-the-plot-on-leadership-595806.html

Nav Bharat will alter electoral dynamics in India

Nav Bharat will alter electoral dynamics

With a plethora of elections looming on the horizon, citizen initiatives to bring transparency, accountability and most important, get good, clean people capable of delivery and good governance elected, is gaining traction. Political Action Committees (PACs) which will raise money - substantial amounts at that if the US example is an indicator - are being formed to aid the process. Nav Bharat is a national PAC that's been recently formed. The inaugural fundraiser by the PAC's Bangalore arm held on Saturday evening was attended by the creme de la creme of Bangalore, who listened to Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Mohandas Pai, RK Misra and K Jairaj on the need for a political action initiative. RK Misra spoke to TOI on Nav Bharat's plans. Excerpts:

What role will Nav Bharat play in Indian politics?

Nav Bharat is a national political action initiative to help committed and capable leaders of our society win and represent us in municipalities, assemblies and Parliament.

People are losing faith in our parliamentary democracy. Nav Bharat will engage the disenchanted voter by fielding credible candidates, focusing on issues and executing a transparent electoral campaign. It will provide voters with an alternative to traditional electoral process where candidate selection is opaque and voter mobilization techniques questionable.

Will Nav Bharat function like the powerful US PACs?

As opposed to US PACs, which are mostly pressure and support groups, Nav Bharat will directly engage in the electoral process by fielding and supporting candidates. In our country, electoral malpractices are rampant due to non-transparent campaign finance and dynastic politics. Nav Bharat's objective is to bring accountability and credibility to the electoral process. To that objective, we will engage both in advocacy as well as direct participation in the electoral process.

Will you be supporting political parties or individuals?

A. Nav Bharat's focus is on credible and capable candidates. We are working to see that our candidates win and bring about the desired improvements in governance. Nav Bharat will facilitate the formation of a new party or support an existing party which subscribes to our good governance agenda and transparency objectives.

Are there restrictions in India on how much an individual can contribute to a PAC?

Indian political donation laws are among the most generous. People can donate any amount to political parties and they get tax credit for their contribution. Then, there are political trusts to which people can contribute for political parties. Systems and laws for clean and transparent campaign finance already exist; we just need to follow them.

Given there's a limit to how much a candidate can officially spend in an election, and it's well-known that candidates need to spend in multiples of that, how will you ensure that the PAC's money will make a difference?

Electoral expenditure limits are not unreasonable. It's the electoral malpractices of buying the party ticket and then inducing voters and supporters, which costs candidates huge sums of money. Nav Bharat's voter will vote based on issues and the credibility of the candidate, not the inducement. Hence, we don't need astronomical sums of money to fight elections.

How much control will Nav Bharat want to have on the policy/politics of the candidate it backs?

Nav Bharat will be answerable to its voters and supporters. Hence, it's imperative that the candidate and party subscribe to the agenda of Nav Bharat.

How much does Nav Bharat intend to raise all-India and in Bangalore?

Nav Bharat will raise sufficient monies in a transparent manner as per the Election Commission guidelines. However, our resource mobilization is not limited to financial contribution alone. We will engage and help candidates with electoral strategy, campaign management, message and communication as well as voter mobilization. We'll alter electoral dynamics.

Do you see more such PACs emerging in the country?

Yes. Nav Bharat is working nationally and encouraging individual cities to put together their own PACs. Recently, Bangalore established B-PAC, which is focused on political and governance agenda for Bangalore. Similar initiatives are under way in Mumbai, NCR, Pune, Lucknow, Kanpur, Nagpur, Goa and many other places. Nav Bharat will coordinate closely with PACs across the country.

Read Times of India Interview here....

Bangalore Requires Administrative Autonomy!

Bangalore Requires Administrative Autonomy!  Times of India - R K Mishra Jul 29, 2012, 02.15AM 

Expecting much from a lame duck government which has barely eight months left would be akin to living in a make-believe world. Given that the CM, though a good man, owes his post to his caste and blessings of an ex-CM, we cannot expect much from the current government. Every single government in the past 15 years has willfully ignored the interests of Bangalore and destroyed 'Brand Bangalore'. They have succeeded in killing the golden goose of Karnataka. We need to save Bangalore from caste politics of Karnataka and incompetent politicians.

1. Break the current monstrous and unmanageable BBMP into five independent municipal corporations with their own mayors with a five-year term. Each zone will be manageable in size, self-sufficient in resources with revenue collection from their own industrial clusters.

2. Merge utility agencies like Bescom and BWWSB with these municipal corporations. This will ensure efficiency, accountability and better service quality. Bescom and BWWSB are singularly responsible for haphazard digging of Bangalore roads and messy storm water drain network. They have no planning and maintenance coordination with BBMP. There's no reason to carry on with these administrative fiefdoms. No major city in the world has such a structure.

3. Establish Metropolitan Planning Committee (MPC) as mandated in the 74th Amendment to the Constitution and dismantle BDA. A mega city like Bangalore needs a centralized planning agency like National Capital Region. MPC should be the sole statutory planning agency responsible for planned development of entire BMRDA area including five proposed municipal corporations. BDA has miserably failed in its role as a planning authority.

4. Establish independent Bangalore Infrastructure Development Corporation (BIDC). The city urgently needs more than Rs 50,000 crore of investment to meet the basic infrastructure needs. Neither the state government nor BBMP has resources or ability to raise funds from the market. Infrastructure development, planned and approved by MPC, should be implemented by BIDC by raising funds from the market borrowings, government grants, JNNURM funds, multilateral lending agencies & municipal bonds. Repayment should be from municipal tax revenues, infrastructure user fees and state's budgetary allocations.

5. None of the above will happen with current political parties interested only in milking Bangalore. While Karnataka benefits from Bangalore -- with just 15% of the population, Bangalore contributes 60% to state's GDP, it gets very little in return. Broken roads, open sewers, extended power cuts and dry water taps. Corruption and poor governance have sucked the life out of this beautiful city once the showpiece of India's growth story.

This must change! Bangalore should get an autonomous administrative region status outside the clutches of state government. None of the three existing political parties have Bangalore's interest at heart. Bangalore voters must recognize this. The city needs a new political party with a development agenda to Save Bangalore.

(The writer is member, ABIDEe)

My Loyalty is to my Conscience & My Nation!

R K Misra is a member of the ABIDe task force for Bengaluru and urban reforms campaigner. He's a card holding member of the BJP. And yet, here he is supporting a Loksatta candidate, Ashwin Mahesh, in the coming Sunday's Graduate constituency election. This support is part of his online campaign Bangalore28 that he has started on Facebook. Bangalore28 is a campaign to field ‘good candidates' for Bangalore's 28 MLC and MLA seats for the 2013 elections. He feels this will in turn impact the 2014 national elections. Citizen Matters asked RK (as he's popularly known) some hard questions on his campaign and his political aspirations.

RK believes in clean politics. Pic courtesy: rkmisra.in

Your Bangalore28 campaign is attracting people who are in politics to change Bangalore and the country. But will a Facebook-based, feel-good campaign produce real political change on the ground during elections?

Facebook and other mediums of communication are no substitute for ground campaign with one-on-one connect and we are doing intensive voter connect programmes. However, we must realise that voter profile in India has changed dramatically. Young adults between the age of 18-30 years constitute almost 50% of Indian voters. These voters are technology savvy and connected. Power of social networking and endorsement is immense. In recent elections young voters have been seen exchanging notes on election & candidates on social networking sites. They proudly displayed their inked fingers after they cast their votes.

We will use the technology as well as on the ground campaign to reach out to the youth, educated professionals and middle class voters who have been neglected by mainstream political parties as they can not relate to these voters. Mainstream political parties are in for a shock in 2013 elections.

As a result of Bangalore28, even if good people come forward for next year's assembly elections, how will they find the money to promote themselves and become known as credible alternatives? MLA elections are fought with so much money.

We will reach out to the independent minded and socially conscious voters who can not be influenced by caste, religion and money. We will focus on transparent campaign finance, issue based politics and credible candidates. We would field candidates whom people can believe in. This will be an antidote to money and muscle politics.

We will use several methods to raise funds in a transparent manner from a large number of contributors. People are more than happy to contribute for good politics and credible candidate. Currently most of the election campaign money is spent in buying votes. Since we we won't be using these malpractices, our financial needs will be modest and well within the limits prescribed by the Election Commission.

You are a BJP party member and yet you are supporting Ashwin Mahesh of Lok Satta for the MLC seat in the graduates constituency race. Does your party not care? Will they not suspend you?

I believe that good candidate is the fundamental building block of a transparent and mature democracy. Unfortunately our democracy isn't transparent. Few people, mostly unelected, decide on the candidates and the voter is left with no choice. Unlike many other democracies, we do not have a primary system which allows party cadre to choose on best suitable candidate to fight the election.

My loyalty is to my conscience and my nation. I find Ashwin Mahesh a better candidate and that's what matters to me. I do not care for the consequences as I have moral conviction to stand by my decision.

Will you run for MLA next year from Bangalore? You are well known and respected in the city as a reform-minded and pragmatic individual.

Currently I am focussing on fielding good candidates for 28 MLA seats in Bangalore and five other cities in Karnataka in the next year's assembly elections. I will make a suitable decision for myself at the right time.⊕

Interview by - Subramaniam Vincent (Citizen Matters)

Getting things DONE!

HURDLES in getting Public Utilities, even at your own cost, in Bangalore?

Here is an interesting episode, worth sharing with you folks. This may be helpful, if you are trying something similar.

Here it is - I got a request from Local Area Residents of Whitefield in Bangalore, to try with the BBMP/BMTC to install TWO Bus Shelters in downtown Whitefield.

Neither of the above agencies had funds allocated for this. So a PPP model was found & work started. Soon local Corporator came calling as to how work has begun in his area without his BLESSINGS. Once he realized that I was instrumental in getting it started, he softened the tone but got the work stopped nonetheless. His men shooed away the workers & shouted at the officials. Once he realized that all the paper work is in order, he simply used strong arm tactics to stall the work.

The residents again met me and wanted a solution. In the meantime, another organization (socio-political) got involved saying that if RK is doing the GOOD WORK and all the Paper Work is in order, how can the corporator stop it. They argued that the Corporator could get it done himself, if he so wished. Logic was rational but the Corporator didn't budge.

I called all the parties to my office but to no avail. Finally this socio-political organization mobilized 10-20 of it's members & residents of the area, they stayed at the site day & night, requesting workers not to go home till the work was completed. They also organized food, water & shelter for workers who worked continuously over 2-3 days to complete the work. Corporator tried hard to stop it, rang officers but work got done.

Now, both the Bus Shelters have been operating without any trouble and 'THANK YOU' notes from residents have been pouring.

When I narrated this incident to some friends yesterday, they asked me to share this & other such incidents with larger audience to make others realize the potential of 'Collective Will & Common Good'. Hence this post.
***********************************************************

Moral of the story -
Getting things DONE in Public Domain in this country isn't going to be easy. Our so called representatives, leaders and at times even officers won't let you do it. But if PEOPLE are with you, you will succeed.

To be in Public Life - You must win the confidence of the PEOPLE. It will take years of continuous & consistent efforts to win people's trust, but that is the most powerful weapon to win against vested interests.

I will share other similar experiences in coming days.
RK

Urban India is craving for Good Candidates & Value Based Politics - Mission 2014!

While in UP, I had the opportunity to meet & discuss with many people from different walks of life. Most educated people, specially young professionals, felt the need for a new political platform, where focus is on identifying & fielding GOOD Candidates. Most parties in these elections have fallen back on time tested Formula of fielding a supposedly WINNABLE candidate irrespective of his credentials or abilities. Since they didn't want to abstain from exercising their franchise, people were forced to choose from among the candidates who have criminal & corrupt antecedents. Some symbolic EDUCATED professionals were also fielded, mainly in the cities by SP & other parties but majority of these were sons & daughters of tainted politicians & bureaucrats. Nonetheless people were exited about these EDUCATED candidates. Their logic was that parents of these candidates have made enough money so hopefully educated kids will focus on the governance. SAD, but people live on hope in absence of credible options. Cities seem to be ready & looking forward to a NEW POLITICAL PLATFORM....to provide VALUE BASED POLITICS.....with GOOD CANDIDATES...That should be Mission 2014!

Bengaluru Industry in doldrums: ABIDe member | Deccan Chronicle

Bengaluru Industry in doldrums: ABIDe member | Deccan Chronicle

2012 - Will Bangalore be Better Off, Infrastructure-Wise!

Bangalore 2012 – Will we be better off, Infrastructure wise!! Though there has been lot of visioning & planning exercises but Bangalore has not delivered on any major infrastructure project in over a decade. There have only been mega plans with unrealistic budgets, corruption charges, protests & court cases. Consequently, Bangalore are loosing confidence in our government’s ability to solve perennial infrastructure problems of traffic jams, erratic water supply & power outages. So what can we realistically expect to achieve in 2012, as far as infrastructure is concerned? With the opening of Reach-1 between Baiyapanahalli & Cricket Stadium (6.7 km), Namma Metro seems to have picked up steam & 2012 should see the opening of Reach-2 from Leprosy Hospital to Mysore Road (6.4 km) & Reach-3 from Sampige Road to Yeshwanthpur (5.1 km). With the cabinet approval of Phase-2, Namma Metro seems to be on surer footing.
Another major infrastructure project which has realistic chance of completion in 2012, is “Signal Free Outer Ring Road”, the 31 Km stretch from Silk Board to Hebbal Junction. The first phase, launched in October 2008 at a cost of Rs. 93.94 Crore by BDA, included flyovers at Agara and Iblur Junctions. This work was completed in 2011. Second phase was launched in June 2009 covering 8 junctions at a total estimated cost of Rs 333.68 Crores. This work is expected to be completed in 2012, providing signal free ride on ORR between Silk Board & Hebbal, a major relief for South-East Bangalore & IT Corridor. Airport access has been a major concern. BDA is planning “East Side Airport Access Corridor” from Chandapura (on Hosur Road) to BIAL via Gunjur & Budhigere. This project needs to be expedited. Bellary road elevated corridor should also be completed in 2012, giving easy access to the airport.
As far as BBMP is concerned, it has failed to deliver on it’s promises. The assurance of new BBMP commissioner to complete languishing projects should see the completion of much delayed underpasses at Kadirenahalli, Tagore Circle and CNR Rao Circle. BBMP should focus on much needed pedestrian infrastructure, parking facilities & solid waste management instead of planning large infrastructure projects, which it can’t deliver.
Lakes & Water bodies, which were once source of drinking water, have all but died. In 2009 BDA took up the revival of 12 lakes costing Rs 105 Crores. Work on 10 of these lakes is nearing completion. The BDA will take up additional 29 lakes this year but the work isn’t expected be completed in 2012. However, two largest lakes, Varhur & Bellandur, remain highly polluted with sewage & chemicals. If rejuvenated, these could be used to supply brown water to industries in EAST Bangalore. BDA was entrusted with Bellandur Lake Rejuvenation, but is unlikely to be completed in 2012.

BWSSB has ambitious plans of supplying 500MLD of Cauvery water to Bangalore in 2012 from it’s Cauvery 4th stage scheme. Work is well under progress & we hope that BWSSB will deliver on it’s promise However what will not happen in 2012 includes, never ending traffic snarls at major Arterial Roads of Bangalore. Proposed 12 Signal Free Arterial Road Corridors are languishing. 5 of these 12, which were entrusted to BDA have seen some progress but the remaining 7 with BBMP haven’t progressed. These 12 Arterial Road Corridors are crucial to ease traffic congestion in Bangalore & the government should expedite their completion through BDA or KRDCL. So, while there is plenty to look forward to in 2012, Bangalore’s infrastructure will remain woefully inadequate unless state government takes a holistic approach & provides for necessary financial support. Brand Bangalore has taken a major hit. Our new Chief Minister has an opportunity to make a mark & leave his legacy by making Bangalore’s Infrastructure a priority, which will also give electoral dividends in 2013. Will he rise to occasion? We hope & believe that he will!

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-12/bangalore/30619463_1_bda-bellandur-lakes

I was an MP not so long ago & I Loved those 6 Years!

nAn Interesting blog by Pritish Nandy........

Everyone called me sir, not because of my age but because I was an MP.

And even though I never travelled anywhere by train during those years, I reveled in the fact that I could have gone anywhere I liked, on any train, first class with a bogey reserved for my family.

Whenever I flew, there were always people around to pick up my baggage, not because I was travelling business class but because I was an MP.

And yes, whenever I wrote to any Government officer to help someone in need, it was done. No, not because I was a journalist but because I was an MP.

The job had many perquisites, apart from the tax free wage of Rs 4,000. Then the wages were suddenly quadrupled to Rs 16,000, with office expenses of Rs 20,000 and a constituency allowance of Rs 20,000 thrown in. I could borrow interest free money to buy a car, get my petrol paid, make as many free phone calls as I wanted. My home came free. So did the furniture, the electricity, the water, the gardeners, the plants. There were also allowances to wash curtains and sofa covers and a rather funny allowance of Rs 1,000 per day to attend Parliament, which I always thought was an MP's job in the first place! And, oh yes, we also got Rs 1 Crore a year (now enhanced to Rs 2 Crore) to spend on our constituencies. More enterprising MPs enjoyed many more perquisites best left to your imagination. While I was embarrassed at being vastly overpaid for the job I was doing, they kept demanding more.

Today, out of 543 MPs in Lok Sabha, 315 are Crorepatis. That's 60%. 43 out of the 54 newly elected Rajya Sabha MPs are also millionaires. Their average declared assets are over Rs 25 Crore each. That's an awfully wealthy lot of people in whose hands we have vested our destiny.

The assets of your average Lok Sabha MP have grown from Rs 1.86 Crore in the last house to Rs 5.33 Crore. That's 200% more. And, as we all know, not all our MPs are known to always declare all their assets. Much of these exist in a colour not recognised by our tax laws. That's fine, I guess. Being an MP gives you certain immunities, not all of them meant to be discussed in a public forum.

If you think it pays to be in the ruling party, you are dead right: 7 out of 10 MPs from the Congress are Crorepatis. The BJP have 5. MPs from some of the smaller parties like SAD, TRS and JD (Secular) are all Crorepatis while the NCP, DMK, RLD, BSP, Shiv Sena, National Conference and Samajwadi Party have more Crorepatis than the 60% average.

Only the CPM and the Trinamool, the two Bengal based parties, don't field Crorepatis. The CPM has 1 correlate out of 16 MPs; the Trinamool has 7 out of 19. This shows in the state-wise average. West Bengal and Kerala have few correlate MPs while Punjab and Delhi have only correlate MPs and Haryana narrowly misses out on this distinction with one MP, poor guy, who's not a correlate.

Do MPs become richer in office? Sure they do. Statistics show that the average assets of 304 MPs who contested in 2004 and then re-contested last year grew 300%. And, yes, we're only talking about declared assets here.

But then, we can't complain. We are the ones who vote for the rich. Over 33% of those with assets above Rs 5 Crore won the last elections while 99.5% of those with assets below Rs 10 lakhs lost! Apart from West Bengal and the North East, every other state voted for correlate MPs. Haryana grabbed first place with its average MP worth Rs 18 Crore. Andhra is not far behind at 16.

But no, this is not enough for our MPs. It's not enough that they are rich, infinitely richer than those who they represent, and every term makes them even richer. It's not enough that they openly perpetuate their families in power. It's not enough that all their vulgar indulgences and more are paid for by you and me through backbreaking taxes. It's not enough that the number of days they actually work in Parliament are barely 60 in a year. The rest of the time goes in squabbling and ranting. Now they want a 500%pay hike and perquisites quadrupled. The Government, to buy peace, has already agreed to a 300% raise but that's not good enough for our MPs. They want more, much more.

And no, I'm not even mentioning that 150 MPs elected last year have criminal cases against them, with 73 serious, very serious cases ranging from rape to murder.

Do you really think these people deserve to earn 104 times what the average Indian does.

Vijaender Takhan vijaender.takhan@gmai…

30 D

Lokpal to Electoral Politics-Let's Treat The Disease not The Symptoms!

As expected, Political class has hoodwinked Civil Society once again. They brought a Lokpal which they wanted - A Toothless Tiger.

I have been of the view all along & have told this in person to Team Anna too - Lokpal is no RTI. Political Class will never let it happen. Though some opposition parties paid a lip services to Team Anna, just to get some political mileage but in the end they don't want or rather can't risk an effective Lokpal.

Corruption is embedded in our Political & Electoral system where Civil Society, an euphemism for Middle Class, has stopped mattering. We brought it upon ourselves, but now is the time to change it. Here is why & how of it?

The defeat of NDA in 2004 had convinced political class that "India Shining", a middle class focused electoral theme, does not translate into votes. Consequently UPA ignored the governance & scuttled NDA era economic reforms, instead focusing on appeasing the poor & marginalized through welfare schemes and subsidies. In absence of reforms, discretion and cronyism ruled, leading to massive corruption in a semi-liberalized Indian economy. Common man suffered & was rendered helpless.

Came along Anna. Millions across the nation supported Anna's movement against corruption. Success of Anna campaign conclusively busted the MYTH, purported by political class, that "Middle class is self-centered and is indifferent to the social & national concerns". Anna movement gave people a credible platform with a hope of change and they responded.

This uprising was against the political class in general, though some opposition parties would like to wishfully believe that this angst was against UPA or Congress. Hence, it was comical to see political leaders gleefully sharing the dais with Anna at Jantar Mantar, hoping to convert the photo opportunity into vote bank arithmetic. Political parties are playing an opportunistic game, trying to ride Anna bandwagon, with no intent of bringing a systemic reforms in the current political system. The fear is that, by aligning or seeming to align with some political parties, Anna movement will loose it's credibility & effectiveness.People are looking for a fundamental change in the way our political parties & electoral systems are run. One law or bill will not bring out the desired systemic change.

Current political system is designed to be corrupt and inefficient. Political parties raise legitimate & illegitimate electoral funding from corporates & businessmen who subsequently dictate the policies of the government. With funding in place, political parties do not involve electorate in deciding the candidates unlike the primary system of USA. If the candidates are not up to the mark, which is usually the case, educated middle class chooses to abstain as they aren't involved or invested in the selection of the candidate.

Coming to candidates, many are forced or choose to buy their party ticket & later they buy their way to the electoral victory. They recover their electoral expenses & much more, through corrupt means. Even a good candidate, having been elected, has no voice of his own to represent his electorate in an assembly or the parliament. He is herded by party syndicates & whipped to vote as per opportunistic political arithmetic dictated by the party. Any dissent leads to disqualification.

This party focused & business funded political system has inherent flaws and is poised for a change. The political awakening through Anna movement presents once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take power from political parties & hand it over to the electorate. In this era of coalition politics, where TMC or DMK with less than 20 MPs control the UPA government, we need no more than 40 MPs, elected on a common platform without the help of the current party system, to change the political discourse of this nation.

Can this happen? Yes, It is imminently possible. We should create a common platform, identify and field 100 credible candidates who have spent years in public life but are loath to enter the current political system. Indian middle class has learned to communicate & organize itself through new age communication tools as is evident throughout Anna campaign. Volunteers & paid office bearers should manage the electoral campaign of these candidates. Campaign funding should be crowd sourced to avoid dependence on few money bags.

If 30 out of 100 win, political parties will be forced to rethink their political & electoral strategy. We have to prove that electoral victory can be achieved by non-corrupt means. No one likes to be corrupt, specially in the age of Lokayukta & Lokpal, but today's electoral system hinges on corruption. By showing the way through a non-corrupt electoral system, parties will be forced to adapt. After all they are the masters of guessing the popular mood!

Is Corruption the only way in Public Life?

There is anecdotal evidence that if there is no corruption, India’s GDP will add 3% to it’s annual growth rate & poverty will be a thing of the past in just 5 years.

Let’s not drool over these impossibilities as corruption is not going be removed completely from our country & society, but the larger question beckons –
Is Corruption the Only Way of being in Public Life?

Corruption is all pervasive in our society & daily lives.

Poor are forced to pay officials to get their entitlements but the same poor takes bribe money to pledge his vote. May be his poverty can be his excuse to take money for vote?

Middle class is forced to pay bribe for everything from driving license to land registration but he doesn’t think twice before bribing an official to get a plan sanctioned for an extra floor in his house or getting his house tax reduced. What is his excuse?

The Rich have resources & influence to get their job done bribing or otherwise & they march ahead to their destination of success without caring for the means used to reach there. Don’t care is their excuse?

An official uses the familiar excuse of being forced to collect the bribe to pay the higher-ups in officialdom and politicians. Helplessness is his excuse?

But how about politicians? Who forces them to be corrupt?

I have asked this awkward question to many of my politician friends, some of them sitting MLAs & MPs. First they are shocked to hear such a blunt question as they don’t expect this issue to be spoken about in open. But slowly they open up and start blaming the system, primarily the elections. They lament about the large sums of money they need to spend to buy their ticket from their respective parties and huge election expenses including the money & liquor to secure the votes of poor & slum dwellers.

But, is election the only reason that they are corrupt?
Aren’t there honest politicians? In fact, there are many honest politicians & they win their seats without bribing the party or the voters. Yes, their numbers are few.

The real reason for a politician to be corrupt is his greed, like any other human being.
Politics is their profession & the only means to make money. No doubt, they work hard to get votes and many are sincere too. But most politicians have no other qualification or work experience. Most never had a job nor did they earn money from any business or profession. In fact most ended up in politics as they couldn’t study or get employment. Politics is their only source of money & they need a lot of it. They can’t make it any other way but being corrupt as there is no legitimate way of making money in the profession of politics. Expecting them to live like saints in a materialistic society may be possible but not practical.

Hence, expecting current set of PROFESSIONAL POLITICIANS to become clean & reform the system is not going to happen. While tough laws against corruption will be a deterrent, they won’t root out the corruption from public life.

We need, as in other developed countries, Professionals, who have succeeded in their respective jobs, careers & businesses, to enter public life. They need to work for their community, city & state. They need to spend years working for common man to get the acceptability & recognition. Many do, some as activists & others as thinkers or NGOs. But most of them shy away from entering political fray for fear of unknown & murky world of politics. From among these, we need to identify & promote public figures who should eventually represent us in assemblies & parliament.

Let’s hope that this momentum against corruption leads us to think differently & engage in the matters of public interest & produce “Professionals as Politicians” instead of current “Professional Politicians”.

RK Misra

Transformation call rings in Village Sonari

Transforming India One Village at a Time


Sonari, 60 km from Lucknow, was like any other Indian village. And so were its youth. With practically no employment avenues available locally, boys and girls, despite having basic education, would chase their job dream by filling countless number of forms with little success and while away their time in narrow bylanes of the village. Things, however, changed four months ago when Lead India winner RK Misra, who hails from the village, started efforts to set up UP's first rural call centre.

Misra, ex-IITian , has launched the project with the cooperation of a Bangalore-based private firm, Rural Shores.

A group of 33 boys and girls, most of them intermediate pass outs, are getting computer training . By next month, they would begin getting procedural training for a project involving data entry for a political organization. These younsters will be trained & employed at Sonari by a company which has set up 10 such BPOs in the villages of Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan , Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.

Nitin Sharma, company's regional marketing manager, said: "The villagges youths have surprised us. They have immense potential .'' He said the youths will undergo a six week training before being recruited . During thee training, they will be given aa stipend off Rs 2,500.

The project has motivated these young - sters and brought a smile on their faces. Eighteen-year-old Mukesh Kumar paddles all the way from his village Haripalpur to reach Sonari every morning for computer class. "I had seen the computer only in shops in Lucknow but never touched them,'' Mukesh said, his eyes glued to the monitor and fingers swiftly tabbing on the keyboard. Twenty-year-old Mamta Gupta, who is pursuing graduation, feels the call centre will bring a positivee transformation in her life. "I'll can live here with my parents and also do the job,'' saaid Mamta, a resident of village Sita-Ki-Rasoi , sit uated about 5km m from Sonari.

"One needs to und erstand that even small earning holds significance for villagers" said RK Misra. "Even low but a consistent salary can change the life of rural youth here, that's what we mean by rural empowerment'' he said. But the star was not easy. The bbiggest constraint was availability of power. Sonari rarely received power for more than three to five hours everyday. At times, Sonari would be without electricity for a week or even a month. So, how would computers function under such situation.

The solution came from Gram OOrja, a Pune-based company. Gram OOrja installed solar panels on the roof-top of a two-storyed building. The panels charge 120 batteries, each of 6 volts, connected to the main UPS. But this only provides an 11-hour power backup.

Rural Shores has also installed a radio wave tower for the internet facility, which has a speed of two megabytes per second. However, company officials said the speed may not be enough for a larger workforce at the BPO. The only option then is to get the connectivity through an optical fibre.

Earlier, Misra had successfully experimented with a community dairy project on this one acre land. Villagers were given membership of the dairy where they could sell their milk produce. The dairy and the building, where the BPO is set up, will functions from the same large premises.

Next on the agenda is agriculture. "Villagers need to be convinced that conventional farming does not bring huge returns. They need to grow cash crops like banana, potato, peppermint and medicinal plants like Satawar and Artemisia,'' Misra said.

The Great Disconnect - Civil Society & Political Class

Middle India - The Educated Urban Middle Class, accused of usurping more than it's fair share of the shining India & cynical towards politics, has largely been ignored by the political class. Politicians scornfully ridicule Middle India for it’s self-centric obsession & scant regard for the democratic institutions.

The failure of Middle India focused "India Shining" campaign of NDA in 2004 & effectiveness of NREGA & farm loan waivers to bring UPA back to the power in 2009 has given credence to this political belief that courting rural & poor India will yield political dividends where as Middle India can be left to fend for itself & suffer the bad governance.

Given this indifference by Middle India, which has the ability & intelligence to question, political class & bureaucracy were running amok. Corruption reached unimaginable proportions.

While ambivalent to politics, this loot by politicians & bureaucrats made middle India restless. Unfortunately, having no leverage with the political class, this resentment of Middle India remained limited to TV debates & drawing room discussions.

Along came Anna, the man with no baggage & clean image. The same middle India, which had been written off by the politicians, came out in hundreds of thousands to the utter shock & disbelief of the political class. They have no clue as to how to handle this new beast. With general elections 3 years away, unless UPA does further bungling, they are hoping that storm will blow over & they will carry on with their business of politics as usual.

Hopefully this time it will be different. This agitation has brought people from different walks of life on a common platform. With mass media, Face Book & Twitter, Middle India has learned to communicate & organize itself, which it lacked earlier.

New leaders are emerging from this movement who will TRULY represent their electorate & not be held hostage to party affiliations & whips. They will be of independent thinking who will listen to their conscience & will stand by their electorate.

Current 200+ urban Lok Sabha seats will increase in number with rapid urbanization & Middle India will become relevant again, politically.

As Mahatma Gandhi Said - "Initially they will ignore you, then they will laugh at you, then they will fight with you & finally you will win". To Middle India - It is our time & it is our battle to win. Let's march ahead.

It is Emergency like situation!

Arresting Anna Hazare & other Anti-Corruption protesters was undemocratic & reminded us of the days of emergency, though UPA has officially not declared the emergency yet.

In 1975, government headed by Mrs Indira Gandhi was under pressure from JP Movement, when Allahabad High Court invalidated the election of Mrs Indira Gandhi. This was the last straw. When Government saw it'spolicies & position untenable, they resorted to the imposition Emergency, the black spot on our democracy.

Current UPA governement, which is mired in corruption charges, feels the same presseure in Anna's anti-corruption movement. The argument of law & order given by the central government is hollow at best. Arresting Anna is an act of sheer desperation by UPA.

The logic that once a bill is placed in Parliament, public has no right to protest is ridiculus & wrong in law. Public has all the right to voice it's concern & give it's suggestion at any stage of law formulation.

The very fact that government has overruled the suggestions given by the civil society members of the drafting committee is the reason behind this protest. Now asking that since the bill is already in the parliament, hence you should not protest, is beyond comprehension. If a wrong & ineffective bill is being tabled in parliament, should people not protest. The current Lokpal Bill being considered by standing committe of the parliamnet is toothless & will do little to curb corruption.

The other argument that Parliament has the authority to legislate & civil society has no role is also ridiculus. There is a feeling among common citizens that our elected representatives have failed in framing effective anti-corruption laws & governance policies.

People's tolerance & patience is wearing thin. With scams galore, people are loosing faith in government's ability to tackle corruption. Hence they have taken it upon themselves to ensure that this bill is strong & effective against corrution.

There is an all round failure of governance. Many of our ministers & MPs are lodged in jails on corruption charges. Under these circumstances it is natural for people to feel betrayed by their elected representatives. They feel that their MPs may represent them electorally but their ethos are not being represented by current political class. To me it seems the begining of an end to current ways of money & muscle politics. Anna movement has galvanized concerned citizens & educated middle class, which has found a credible leader & worthy cause to rally behind. Nation's mood has changed but unfortunately political class is still refusing to see the writing on the wall. Sooner they do, better for us all.

Morality of Anti Corruption Movement - Is this the Fight to Finish ?

As the saying goes, any struggle with a strong Moral Imperative is bound to succeed.

When Mahatma Gandhi took on almighty British, he had conviction of morality & power of truth on his side. Whole nation was united & finally British had to leave. "Freedom from British" had a strong moral narrative & Gandhi ji was a perfect messenger of this narrative.

In today's India, divided & being exploited on social, economic & cultural ideologies, Anti-Corruption happens to be one such strong & unifying moral narrative, which evokes strong righteous sentiment among the masses. It has a convincing moral imperative which will help us to sustain this FIGHT, hopefully to the FINISH.

Like Mahatma Gandhi, in Anna Hazare we have a Man, who has the moral authority to lead this struggle & unite the nation in this fight against modern day colonizers - The corrupt Politicians, Bureaucrats & Industrialists, who have a formed a nexus & exercise a vice like grip on our psyche & life.

We, the common man, feel helpless as we see high & mighty indulge in brazen corruption & getting away without being punished. Laws have been made to suit these rulers, as was the case with the British, and we the ruled suffer in silence.

It is no surprise that leaders like Sonia Gandhi, whose writ runs large in Congress, has chosen not to act against corrupt who have brazenly looted this nation & siphoned off the loot to tax heavens for decades. We also haven't heard from the next generation LEADER of Congress on the issue of corruption. Karnataka fiasco has toppled the BJP from the moral high ground they occupied on corruption.

UPA government's tenure has undoubtedly been the MOST CORRUPT. UPA has made no sincere efforts to investigate & punish the culprits who have looted the nation. Look at Hasan Ali Khan, no action was taken by UPA for 3 years. In fact the officials who had unearthed the scam, were shown the door. CWG probe is stalled as Kalmadi has threatened to spill the beans and drag high & mighty along with him. Similarly government shielded A Raja as long as it could.

The collusion & complicity of UPA leaders in corruption is obvious. Even Swiss Ambassador has categorically said that Government of India did not ask for the details of those who have kept illegal & criminal money in Swiss Bank Accounts. We may wonder why? The reason is simple, "The Thief won't Police itself".

Finally it was COMMON Citizens like Lawyer Shanti Bhushan & Dr. Subramanyam Swamy, who filed criminal cases against powerful politicians & Supreme Court forced the hand of disgraced UPA regime to act against their corrupt colleagues.

But how long & how often can we expect citizens & judiciary to do the job of executive & legislature. The UPA government has systematically corrupted & misused the institutions like CVC & CBI, who are supposed to fight the corruption & punish the corrupt.

Sensing the nation's mood & anger, UPA is making another eyewash attempt to introduce LOKPAL BILL, which has no teeth. It can't PUNISH, only RECOMMEND. It needs permission from Politicians to Probe other POLITICIANS. It can't PROBE Prime Minister, who like our current PM may always pretend to be unaware of the CORRUPT PRACTICES of his government & cabinet colleagues. This LOKPAL BILL is a FARCE.

Proactive Citizens & Judiciary have shown to the nation that if we unite, we can defeat the Corrupt system. JAN LOKPAL Movement of Civil Society, spearheaded by Sri Anna Hazare, has a MORAL IMPERATIVE to unite & galvanize nation's conscience to get rid of this monster called CORRUPTION. While odds may seem unfavorable now, but they were unfavorable when Gandhi Ji started in 1920. Finally British left!

So lets join hands in this Anti-Corruption Drive & make it a FIGHT to FINISH!

21st March - The-Week-Gone-By - Japan Tragedy & Lessons for India

I was at Lucknow airport, when I saw some news flash on TV about Japan. Having lived in Japan for 8 years, with many close friends, I was keen to know the details, but had to board a flight. Reaching Bangalore late in the night, I got to know of the massive earthquake & resulting Tsunami (A Japanese word).

Over last one week, a lot has been seen & said about "Quiet Stoicism & Resilience of Japanese People", who have braved this tragedy which is unprecedented in scale & consequences.

Japanese are most prepared of any nation, in fact the Only nation, with most sophisticated 'Early Warning System for Earthquake & Tsunami'. In fact I used to work in a Building called Kajima Intelligent Building, which was designed to withstand earthquake of this magnitude. Because of such high level of engineering & preparedness, Japan managed to limit the loss of life despite such massive Earthquake & Tsunami.

However, Nuclear Disaster has exposed the limits of man made engineering to tame & effectively use this massive source of energy, Nuclear Energy. Radioactive Elements have been all around us, in their natural form. But nature has taken care & kept them hidden miles below in earth's crust under layers of rocks to save humans from harmful effects of radiation. We, humans, have unleashed this destructive power of nature by digging & deploying these Radio Active Substances for Bombs (Hiroshima/Nagasaki) & our energy needs.

Questions are now being asked by Japanese themselves as to why Japan, the only country which suffered Nuclear Holocaust, did not look at alternate & renewable energy sources. Was there a hidden agenda or pure shortsightedness?

After all Japan, which supplies most efficient solar panels to the world, could have researched & deployed SOLAR ENERGY. Japan also sits on Geothermal Minefield, with hot springs all around, which could have been used for GEOTHERMAL ENERGY, like Iceland does. Japan could have gone for WIND ENERGY by placing Wind Turbines in Seas surrounding Japan like Denmark does or even harnessed Tidal Wave Energy.

A research & deployment by Japan of all these Renewable Energy sources could have not only benefited Japan, but our planet as a whole. Japan had technical prowess & economic wherewithal to research & deploy these options. But Nuclear option was pursued by Japan, despite huge opposition from Japanese public, because of heavy handed sales push by USA.

US companies like GE had been ahead in the Nuclear Game and were looking at virgin markets, with huge energy appetite. GE supplied most Nuclear Plants to Japan, including the troubled Fukushima plant.

GE is a leading Nuclear Power Plant Vendor in the world now, which will be supplying Nuclear Power Plants to India too.

There has been NO NEW NUCLEAR PLANT IN THE USA from 1996 due to radiation concerns & huge cost. Hence US Companies are desperately lobbying to sell ABROAD. INDIA was egged on by Nuclear Lobby in the USA and we sign NUCLEAR PACT with USA. We took this as a GIFT from Uncle Sam & proudly joined "The Nuclear Club". This access to Nuclear Technology in itself is OK, but my fear is, Whether India is capable of taming this NUCLEAR BEAST with unimaginable Destructive Power, given our careless attitude, lackluster R&D & corrupt systems.

REAL COST OF NUCLEAR POWER - Nuclear Power is not just the Very Expensive Power but also has the Most Destructive Potential. Can a country like India afford this, both from monetary & risk management perspective.

Another fear is "Too Many Foreign Vendors with no Local Expertise". We have GIFTED First 4 Mega Nuclear Power Plants to US, France & Russia with all using different & some even unproven technologies & operational procedures. Will we be able to manage this diversity & risk, given that we have capped the liability of the supplier to a pittance & operator in our own NPCL, a PSU, with limited expertise of only Indigenous Reactors.

After Japan tragedy, India, like China, Germany & many other nations, should STOP, take a hard & close look at various options, evaluate safety issues & choose the RIGHT WAY FORWARD to ensure our ENERGY SECURITY.

JAPAN incident is an eye opener and as they say - We should not waste any opportunity which arises out of a Tragedy. Hope our politicians & bureaucrats will not let the country down. This nation should fear the worst in the hands of corrupt & inept Netas & Babus.

Federalization of Indian Politics - The Contrast of "Federal BJP" & "Imperial Congress" ruled States

THE WEEK THAT WASN'T - My weekly Blah Blah on issues concerning the nation..ENJOY!
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The week gone by was politically very significant in many ways. Political outcomes in 4 major states - Maharashtra, Bihar, Karnataka & Andhra may not seem very significant at the outset, but they are telling a much deeper story of changing POLITICAL GOVERNANCE AGENDA as to how 2 NATIONAL POLITICAL PARTIES are managing affairs of their STATE UNITs - Federal of BJP vs Imperial of Congress ....Read on....

While Nitish Kumar kept his CM's post by delivering on development & good governance agenda with a landslide electoral victory in Bihar, Karnataka CM, BS Yedyurappa, kept his seat by hoodwinking BJP central leadership.

On the other hand, in Andhra Pradesh, CM Rosaiah resigned & "High Command" appointed Kiran Kumar Reddy, to deliver on High Command's wish of countering YSR's legacy and his son's ambitions. Another "High Command" mandated change happened in Congress ruled Maharashtra, with Ashok Chavan shown the door, without even a whisper of dissent.

So here is the CONTRAST - BJP/NDA ruled States have STATE LEADERs running the SHOW & winning the elections, while Congress CMs are meekly following & delivering on High Command's wish.

So which model of governance is better for INDIA, FEDERAL style of BJP or IMPERIAL style of Congress.

Let's dig little deeper into the reasons for the emergence of these two opposing trends -

In Bihar, neither JD(U) nor BJP national leaders were relevant in this election. It was a Nitish show all the way. His image as a hard working CM of a development oriented government was the winning factor. Similarly, BJP state unit, under Sushil Modi, dictated the rules of the game to BJP's central leadership.

Similarly in Karnataka, BJP's central leadership, despite it's best efforts, could not persuade BSY to resign. He almost became a rebel, openly defying the leadership & finally keeping the CM's post. The reason for his confidence & defiance was simple - he had single handedly won the elections in Karnataka for BJP. BSY didn't need nor did central leaders of BJP have much appeal among the voters in Karnataka.

So, it is clear that if central leadership is not providing any electoral dividend, it is unlikely that state leadership is going to follow their diktat.

In case of BJP, gone are the days of "Atal Bihari Vajpayee & LK Advani" who had national appeal and were vote winners for the party. Today's central leadership of BJP is Delhi Centric with no grass root appeal. They are busy fighting among themselves for their territory & influence in Delhi's corridors of Power.

In absence of TOWERING NATIONAL LEADERs, STATE leaders are forced to think & fend for themselves to fight & win elections.

Which is not a bad thing after all, as this gives State Leadership a political dividend and an opportunity to run their states in a manner & policy, which will keep them in power & get them re-elected. They work hard & deliver on governance as they don't have to worry about HIGH COMMAND appointed puppet CM.

Modi in Gujarat, Shivaraj Singh in MP & Raman Singh in Chhattisgarh fought & got reelected on their own merit & development agenda, without much help from central leadership. This works well both for state leadership & people of the state, as CM comes back to power & people get good governance.

UNFORTUNATELY for CONGRESS, Gandhi family still has national face recognition & vote appeal.

Congress, over the years, has systematically worked to sideline any leader who was even remotely going to challenge Gandhis in appeal & popularity. This might have been smart strategy by Congress to keep "GANDHI Family" in-charge, but it has played havoc with Congress Ruled States & it's state leadership.

No Congress CM can be ambitious nor can he invest in his own political capital by doing good work as (s)he is unsure of his tenure as CM. He can't even take the credit for doing good work or winning the state election, as that honor is reserved ONLY for High Command. Congress CM is an appointed DUKE of the Royalty (High Command), not a LEADER of his people/state.

This explains the sorry state of affairs in Congress ruled states with no committed leadership or defined development agenda. Every CM is on a tight leash, serving his term at the mercy of High Command. He can't think long term nor can he invest into his own political capital.

However, there is one benefit of Congress style of High Command culture. You do not have CMs telling you to mind your own business like BSY did to BJP leadership. Ashok Chavan, followed the High Command's diktat like an obedient party worker as he owes his survival & stature as a politician, to Party High Command.

So which of the TWO political governance styles is better for our COUNTRY - "Federal structure of BJP" or the "Imperial culture of Congress"?

My Vote is for "FEDERAL" as it benefits people of the STATE as leadership invests into policies & governance agenda to get back to the power on their own merit.

Of course there are people like MAYAWATI - Federal & Imperial, All in One :).

RK