Careless Consciences

Nice article. We need more and more whistleblowers - we can never have enough of them.
``And Satyendra Dubey’s ghost must continue to haunt us.``
It should and it will.

Farzana, I`m intrigued.
If Mahatma could get away with wearing a dhoti, then Sonia Gandhi could also..
If Mahatma could live in a hut, then it shouldn`t surprise anyone that Sonia Gandhi...
If Mahatma could neglect his children, then Sonia Gandhi.., etc. You get the idea.

Also, what kind of actions are going to be taken against the BJP that would personally affect Vajpayee?

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``Manmohan Singh must get it in his head that he is in charge. And Satyendra Dubey’s ghost must continue to haunt us. Our own inner voices must not be meek witnesses. ``

Great article. Only problem is...from here, where?

IMO, give Dr. Manmohan Singh some time. It has been less than a month. Let him win his confidence vote, pass the Union budget and take a few deep breaths.

Till that time, Sonia Gandhi and AB Vajpayee offer enough scope for criticism.

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Hello Farzana . . . analysis is left to intelligent people . . . but what you may wish to add is that the Venerable Poet & Great Shining Leader is now well over, what, 80 years?

Come on, what or how much more productivity do you expect? Gone is now gone.

After all, fact remains, many in the urban areas that I know of voted Congress on the age factor . . . younger is better than senile.

cheers/Veeresh

Then we have the inner voice which defends the JKLF and the Palestinians - but no concern
for the victims at Marad, killing of Hindu piligrims and tourists in Kashmir,
the persecuted fleeing into India from Bangladesh etc. The same inner voice
who would support jihad against India and Hindus, if it would help.

Hypocrite.

Kee mera marg kay ba’ad uss naa jafa say toubaa
Hia uss zood e pasheman kaa pashemaan hoona!

I gotta hand it out to Ms. Versey for letting AVB off the hook so easily. Inner voices seem to have taken over India. Kutch Naa kahu!!!

After he loses elections mr. ABV indicts Modi. The erstwhile former PM did not hear this inner voice about Modi for years. The respected former PM kept his mum then and condoned the act. Now he indicts Modi and may be his own government in the center that failed to even mildly reprimand Modi.
If Mr. ABV had won these elections, we would never have known his true feeling about Modi.

Now Veeresh and VHP assert that ABV is senile!!!! Would VHP had declared him senile, if the respected former PM had said something about Modi right after the Gujarat riots?

He must be fast deteriorating or is he in a better frame of mind at his vacation resort?
Just two months ago he was fine and PM, now he is senile and vacationing!!!

So now what his inner voices would say about other scandals that took place under his watch? His inner voices must be ready to apply closure to many other things such as Tehelka.com, Petrol pump permits etc etc…

Peripatetic pessimism? What about the communist Left, no honorable mention? I guess those who don`t make mistakes, don`t make anything else either.

To err is human
To blame it on others is politics
To blame it on all is pessi.....

Satire

Farzana,

Lets leave him peaceful at this age...

Here is a translation of a poem by Atalji for you specially:)

`Kshama Yachana`
A Plea for Forgiveness

The main tactic of achieving respectability in Indian politics is to proclaim one-self as the direct inheritor of the wealth of values left by the Founders of Indian Democracy. The stronger the ethical heritage claimed, the greater the credibility that can be gained. How true the projection actually is does not seem to trouble most players on the scene. However, the fact remains that even in this writhing mass of distorted versions, there are some genuine heirs, a few legitimate scions who are custodians of the priceless treasure of principles left to India by Great Indians. And those who are such are the ones who are most agonised over the present abuse of this heritage. Vajpayee begs Mahatma Gandhi`s forgiveness for being `guilty of breaking oath, of defiling Rajghat, of forgetting the real aim and leaving incomplete the journey` that he began. `Jayaprakashji, keep faith, for we shall reknit the broken dreams`, he vows in the end, with all the passion he can command

enjoy!!

May be everyone views from his own limited prism.....

I give him credit for not calling the elections rigged, accepting his defeat gracefully and not taking up the issue with the election commision or the courts.

Having said that, you made some good points.

NHK

I have been out for a month, and while it is good to see our democracy being lauded everywhere, I was terribly upset with Mr. Vajpayee and the CBI verdict in Dubey’s case. The ‘inner voice’ has always been a convenient ruse in Indian politics.

#1 by kaurasach:
You are agreeing with me????

#2 by soysauce:
Come on, you need not be so intrigued…the Mahatma/Sonia reference was not meant to be taken quite so literally.

[Also, what kind of actions are going to be taken against the BJP that would personally affect Vajpayee?]

The most important one would be – should be – to get Modi arrested. ABV’s statements now reveal that he is pre-empting any move that might taint his reputation. His utterances in Goa and as recently as during the election campaign would rightfully indict him too.

Rahul, stuka:

Unfortunately, we have short memories. Who is going to remember Dubey? I have often been accused of rushing to the keyboard…as though it is a terrible thing to do, when you have something to say, when you are agitated, when you feel your words may help in further discussion. I am terribly perturbed that while Dubey’s news got an inside page mention, the PM doing his thing with files was front-paged. Worse, I went through today’s TOI and there was no follow-up on Dubey’s verdict, no edit piece. The PM’s lunch, dinner and work schedule again got front page and news of the planned attack on Modi and the VHP response to Vajpayee were prominently displayed.

The reason I talked about consciences at other levels was precisely because of this. We need to think. And stuka, as individuals we can only raise our feeble voices wherever we can, whenever we can…we may have different voices, so let different people hear them differently…

#5 by Sadna:

I have nothing against Dr. Manmohan Singh. But if the PM sends out tepid signals of his role, then we are in trouble. He is quite unlike Mr. Vajpayee, but if you read the VHP’s comment today, about how they do not believe in one person ruling all the time, you would realise that politics is a devious game of shuffling priorities.

PS: Thanks for enquiring about my health on the earlier board…am fine now but, as you can see, deeply agitated about a dead man’s fate in Bihar. One is not supposed to get emotional, but I guess it is too late for me to change.

#7 by arjun_m:

[One MMS doesn`t wash away the sins of the congress....]

Far from it…I think she is merely being a strategist and one can see through it. As for Sajjan Kumar and Tytler, the less said the better. The threesome (H.K.L.Bhagat included) should have been tried together with Kehar Singh… I was shocked to hear that Najma Heptullah has joined the BJP. Not that she did much in the Congress anyway. Such petulance constitutes politics today.

#10 by HP:

I did not let ABV off the hook. The inner voice refrain was meant to be sarcastic. Therefore, we are pretty much on the same page this time…I will not give much attention to the senility argument, for an organisation like the VHP has just decided they want a retirent age for politicians. Do not forget that Modi, Uma Bharti, Praveen Toagdia all fall within the acceptable age bracket, and what have they done? There is danger ahead…

#11 by Satire:

[What about the communist Left, no honorable mention? I guess those who don`t make mistakes, don`t make anything else either.]

To some extent you are right. Also, I have always looked on the Left as an effective Opposition in India and their role has been primarily that of watchdogs. One may or may not agree with their ideology, but they remain the outsiders looking in. A valuable source to keep checks and balances.

Re. pessimism…don’t you feel like that sometimes? It is not a question of blaming it on all, but also oneself. The latter half of the article was examining this…

Hi veeresh:

Hope you are well…you forget that the BJP has many young leaders.

#9 by satyamvada:

[Then we have the inner voice which defends the JKLF and the Palestinians - but no concern for the victims at Marad, killing of Hindu piligrims and tourists in Kashmir,
the persecuted fleeing into India from Bangladesh etc. The same inner voice
who would support jihad against India and Hindus, if it would help.]

Are you not sick of stalking me with the same old thing? If you must know, then the issues you mention are not necessarily due to my inner voice. Why has the JKLF come into being? Who are its leaders? Why is it legitimate in the Valley? Why can no government ignore it? Read what I have to say about Yaseen Malik and what Malik has to say about his position and then talk. About Palestinians, am I the only one who speaks up for them? Look at history. Look at the matter closely. Yes, I have discussed these two often and at length because I think I know a bit more about the subject. I cannot say the same about those fleeing BD. And I have written about Hindu pilgrims, but no one liked the tone I used…I am not here to write what YOU want me to write. Disagree with me, but let us not get into this claptrap about whose suffering is worse.

By the yardstick you use, everyone is a hypocrite when seen from the other side. Let me add here that you tend to transpose my comments with those of the people I comment on. How can that make sense? These are people in authority who can change the face of society and the functioning of governments. They influence how large segments of the population behave and even think. I only express my views for a small number of people to perhaps engage in a dialogue. Is that too difficult for you to understand?
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Digression:
This is a good time to mention it, although I resisted it earlier. Many of those who have problems with my views are free to use this forum to have their say, and have not refrained from doing so. I would therefore appreciate it if my mailbox is not filled with abusive posts. Thank you.

Dear Farzana:
Nice to see you back in full force!
Agree with most of what you say. Have said the same sort of things about ABV myself; but I think that he is now a spent-force and I do feel pity for him the way that he is being ignored by even the two-bits in his own party. You are right about Sonia, her decision was a calculated one - although it will be some time before we know the full story.
I would like to give MMS more time. He is in a very difficult situation. He is not running the coalition; he did not choose his cabinet; whether or not he will be able to govern is yet to be seen. I have my doubts. I think that he should first get elected to Lok Sabha to gain at least some measure of mass legitimacy. And if he cannot govern, he should resign. My gut feeling, though, is that Sonia will not interfere in day-to-day governance. Whether or not she will be able to deal with the Narad Munis is another matter. If she starts listening to them (Narads) MMS should resign; otherwise he will truly become a `khusra`.