Greenwoods for the GDP

A very distant Left Liberal chachu (and I can't stress enough the importance of the word 'very') happened to remark how India was going to the dogs with a 23.9% YoY GDP contraction in Jun 2020. With all the bravado he could bring in while unable to hide the glee of India doing badly, he proclaimed how the  Titanic was sinking while Bhaktagan were busy playing the music. Having had a long experience now interacting with Left Liberals, I have been convinced that the only way to reach their minds is through green chutney demos and nothing else has even a remote chance of working. I subtly shifted the discussion from one black swan event (COVID-19 of 2019-2020) to another, i.e. the 2008 Global Financial crisis. I then took the discussion to this Left Liberal chachu being laid off in early 2009 because of the crisis and went on to remark how my dear chachu faced a record -90% YoY fall in his income for CY2009 having been unemployed for most of the year. The poor chap kept trying to defend himself all along offering one explanation or the other sharing terms like 'Act of God', 'External factors', 'company limitations', 'trying times for financial sector' etc etc. I stuck to my guns for a long time and finally he uttered the words I was patiently waiting for nearly twenty minutes, "Chaitanya, I was not working for 10 months of the year! How do you expect growth! Infact, there is going to be a contraction!". "Exactly!", I smiled! "The country was not working for some months, Chachu", I said and walked away praying he wouldn't miss the Greenwoods for the GDP!

Devil is in the Demand

In times of great trouble, more often than not, I have found that returning to nature & her laws can provide man with the requisite guidance to navigate choppy waters and ferocious winds. We are completing nearly two months of a differently regulated lock-down and we once again stand at an interesting junction that demands us to redefine our priorities and re-balance between immediate risk to lives vs. economic hardships (a longer term, more drawn out, more slow and equivalent in pain/loss if not more). As we step into a post-COVID world, Government of India is coming up with a slew of interventions & stimuli to reboot our economy. The announcements are being done in tranches and the broad theme of these moves has clearly emerged which I shall elaborate later. While some of us are upbeat, some are not glad with the announcements. During the course of this write-up, taking the Rs. 20 lac crore economic package as a context, I'd be pondering upon the role of the government, economic demand generation concerns, possible stable solution and few of the many questions that the outbreak of the #ChineseWuhanCoronavirus has possibly catalyzed. I am hoping that my loud pondering will assist the reader in exploring the events happening around and likewise aid my own thought process & development as well.

Fidayeens are Few

The marvelous side-effect of the #ChineseWuhanCoronavirus is the redrawing of definitions, priorities and boundaries of multiple living entities. From dolphins swimming in Venice to Elephants roaming in Dehradun, to deers frolicking on urban roads to birds chirping more sweetly than ever either on trees or while riding the travelators! In all this, humans have a chance to bond with their families, invest time in introspection/spirituality, ponder on 'what is peace' and more! Amongst all these jolly good opportunities of revisiting or redefining, lies an opportunity to revisit & redefine another misunderstood definition - it has been a bane to Indian politics and society for too long but nature has ensured that barricaded-at-home Indian populous gives it a thought, i.e. secularism. Now I'll leave that to each fellow Bhaaratiya to ponder as I move towards the focal point of my blog today which is the conundrum of 'a few'. Let me state outright that I consciously with a sound mind completely support and subscribe to the assertion "Not ALL Muslims are bad/evil! A 'few' of them are".  The point of divergence lies in a single word, 'few'. What do you mean by 'a few' ?

Joke of a Judiciary

We proudly claim India to be a democracy - rule of the people, by the people and for the people. It is but logical to conclude that in such a political set-up, the people's choice is the ultimate binding declaration or covenant. The people's choice is reflected by the legislative (Lok Sabha) and for all practical purposes or day-to-day national operations, the executive (PM, his cabinet and the administration). Theoretically so, the word of the legislative, i.e. law passed by the Parliament, is the final word on the matter. When that law is not upheld, the function of the third estate, i.e. the Judiciary, commences - delivering justice for violation of the law. However, what is to be done when the fence consumes the farm?

Mee Punha Yein

Year 1980, Bharatiya Janata Party’s first president, Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee thundered the prophetic and magnetic words, “Andhera Chhatega, Sooraj Niklega, Kamal Khilega”

Year 1984, post Indira Gandhi assassination, Rajiv romped home with over 400 seats in the Lok Sabha; BJP opens account with 2 - Dr. AK Patel from Mehsana, Gujarat and Chandupatla Ranga Reddy from Hanamkonda, AP; both get mocked by the ruling dispensation on the floor of the house, “Hum do Humare do”.

The early 1990s, the immortal Raam Mandir movement reaches an emotional crescendo and BJP crosses 100 LS seats for the first time; the late 1990s saw Atal-ji being sworn in multiple times as the PM eventually managing to lead a coalition government into the new millennium.

The mid-2000s saw the fall of the Vajpayee government in spite of improved economic parameters, tremendous scientific & infrastructural progress (who can forget Pokhran and National Highway expansions?) as the Congress Ecosystem managed to best the gentle giant; Narendra Modi is watching and learning – noting down the mistakes that should not be repeated.

Year 2014, the culmination of the wishes of a great and ancient nation coupled with the pain of the dark decade – Narendra Modi becomes the 2^nd BJP leader to take charge as the Prime Minister of India with a thumping single-party majority; by year 2017, the party is ruling 71% of the land mass and 69% of the population.

Year 2019, Narendra Modi does an encore crossing the most coveted and cherished triple-century Bhaarat celebrated immediately followed by the fulfillment of two long standing manifesto promises – abrogation of article 370 and the commencement of a King’s return to his Kingdom of Ayodhya!

Cut to today with the following image circulated in social and mainstream media with hysteric glee and unsavoury captions:

Muck is in the Middle

We are a day away from state assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra; the latter being my home state and housing a significant chunk within my social circle, has seen a noticeable banter around it - what with an unconventional choice for the CM completing a full term in spite of obstacles within and outside his party, traditional derailment techniques applied by the liberal ecosystem and national context to a state election. Numerous reactions are coming through and they have triggered a fairly old recurring thought in my head that I keep pondering upon every once in a while - the relationship between the Traditional Indian Middle class (TIMC) and politics. This blog is an attempt to express my frank, brutal and naked understanding of a fairly common phenomena in our politics : why does the general politician (irrespective of any affiliation, ideology, caste, background etc) not take this TIMC that seriously as much as he/she does the other socio-economic groups? (Bonus: what can it do to change it!)