Aiyoo Rama!

Aiyoo Rama! Stumped Again!

The “liberal dharma” brigade is back with the Hindu Rasthra theme and this time it’s called “Ram Rajya”. I disagree with almost every one of their positions and this one in particular – that ‘Ram Rajya’ is an ideal to strive for.
The rare exceptions where I agree with them are in the area of universal themes (e.g. dynasty politics is bad for a democracy).

Circus tents pitched at different foras on the internet use the concept of “Hindutva” to ridicule the left. People in these circus tents drop conservative phrases like “liberal dharma” (which I have written about in the past) and “Hindu Rashtra”. The latter never fails to send a chill down my spine.

To borrow a phrase from their own lexicon, most of these circus tents are populated by “handmaidens” of the BJP. They chose to begin their critique of the Bandh call by first declaring the BJP guilty by associating itself with the left. This is not surprising as their definition of liberal makes them extreme conservatives – intolerant of anything/anybody that seeks to protect public wealth and resources from being exploited by private interests.

Now they are claiming that self-interest is in national interest and that we need to move towards a “Ram-Rajya”. They quote heavily from some scripture or the other on the rules that Lord Ram had for the his kingdom. Their argument for economic liberalization comes not from contemporary analogy but from mythology that did not consider both genders equal and all people equal.

They are welcome to quote from these scriptures and texts. These texts are not allowed to be disputed in discourse because of their religious status. This makes the quoting of these texts a dogmatic exercise.

We are on the brink of another Hindutva wave and the left (very worryingly) seems to be oblivious. The left response is weak because it suffers from a similar problem. Leftist political parties in India are also dogmatic. They discuss Marx and Trotsky but react to every critique of the two with an ad hominem response. Marx had a set of economic recommendations for a nation state– but to treat them as indisputable and as the only approach is dogmatic. A typical debate tends to slip into polemics and rhetoric faster than the blink of an eye. The Hindu Rashtra brigade says that the left uses dogma and they explain this by being dogmatic themselves. This is a game that the Hindutva brigade will win based not on content but on decibel levels.

My take on the bandh

• Everybody has a right to dissent and protest. That said, one cannot be coerced or forced into participating in dissent. 
• I refused to participate in the Bandh because Sanitary workers in Bangalore could not participate – they needed their daily wage. They have been fighting for fair wages for months now and I believe that it is India’s national interests for its citizens to align with their cause. When they go on strike – I will be striking with them.
• Inflation is a problem across every state in India including states ruled by the BJP and the Left. We need to look at how we can manipulate fuel subsidies to reduce the burden on the poor. Inflation is about big business interests and BJP is aligned with those interests as much as the Congress is. 
• The congress will not give a dam about the Bandh. Fuel prices WILL be de-regulated. MMS is from the Brentton-Woods school which means his polices are neo-liberal.

Allow me to leave you with a small take on "Ram Rajya" -
Disclosure - I have used this poem in another post as well.

जो पुल बनायेंगे,
वे अनिवार्यतः
पीछे रह जाएंगे
सेनाएँ होंगी पार
मारे जायेंगे रावण
जयी होंगे राम
जो निर्माता रहे
इतिहास में
बंदर कहलाएंगे।

- 'अज्ञेय'  |

Stumped?

There have been some subtle changes on some right wing sites recently. Probably an attempt to whitewash their Hindu Rashtra leanings. This leaves me stumped. Have they been stumped? Has the "liberal dharma tag" been buried? Have they realized that they are far from liberal and extremely conservative? The circus tent still seems to be around. That said, I have not seen any new circus tricks lately. The only exception was support for Israel in the name of 'real politics' or some such thing. Journo sena folks seem to be less engaged with them as well.

BJP - Going Downhill in Karnataka as well

It has barely been a few weeks since Karnataka was ravaged by a “10,000 year flood”. Rehabilitation and reconstruction operations should have been on in full swing under the supervision of the Chief Minister and his office. In true BJP fashion, the Chief Minister finds himself embroiled in a power struggle with a faction within his own party. Ministers are being courted by both sides and a deadline has been set for resolution. Only the BJP is capable of landing itself in such an ugly mess while completely ignoring the people who are suffering from the devastation of the floods. The indifference and lack of sensitivity on display to the urgency at hand is vulgar. The money that has been donated by many citizens towards relief work will probably now be diverted to trade donkeys within the party.

The state of affairs in the Karnataka unit of the BJP is testimony to the fact that the BJP deserved the humiliation in the Lok Sabha elections, the bruising in Maharashtra and the wipe out in Arunachal and Harayana.

There is a silver lining in this episode. If the BJP is unable to prevent a mutiny in Karnataka, it will be one step closer to self-destruction. Yipeee!

Manufacturing Consent for a Two-party system

The media's obsession around the BJP is interesting. There has been a lot of manufactured news around the need for two large political parties at the national level. The demise of the BJP would be counter-productive to this cause and hence the much needed news to focus attention on "rebuilding of the BJP".

Like in the US (Democrats and Republicans) and the UK (Labour and Conservatives) a two party system does not offer too many choices. For example - Obama's strategy for American Imperialism and war is no different to that of his presidential predecessor. The Corporate houses who funded Bush and Obama are not dissimilar - this translates to their positions being identical. The policy-based differences in UK between the two national parties are equally thin.

A very plural - multi-party regional political system seems to be more representative. While it may not be more representative of the Urban Middle Class and Urban elite, it will be more representative of the 800 MILLION Indians who live on less than a dollar a day. We know that both the Manmohan Singh and Advani think-tanks have a bent towards the "Model" as designed and directed by the IMF, World Bank and WTO. With the complete collapse of this model in South America - it is obvious that such models will never work in an impoverished country like India.

Because the global corporatocracy cannot enforce these models covertly they now use direct force. e.g. Iraq. The best example is the introduction of Bechtel for the water supply system in Iraq after a majority of Public Sector employees were "sacked" by the occupying forces. Bechtel came to Iraq soon after being kicked out of Bolivia by the people for preventing rain water harvesting on the grounds of unfair competition and inflating the price of water by a factor of 300. Such sadly hilarious examples are numerous.

The continuous efforts of the media to create a two-party system in India is bewildering because of the undemocratic nature of such a system. Lastly, the media's approach to the budget and their lack of honest coverage of budget issues that affect 800 Million Indians is bordering on being obscene.

Equally alarming is this red paint job that media is engaged in with "Maoists". Calling the people in these district insurgents is like the American demand for Palestine to Lay Down arms before negotiating. This deliberate and pointed effort to create an illusion of "violence" and "insecurity" is to cloud the real issues. The real issues being lack of food, water, education and primary health care. "Maoists" seems to be the excuse for the government and media to oppress voices that can direct us to the real picture of this country. This environment is the perfect excuse for commericalising natural resources in the "red districts". It looks and smells like the Nigerian privatization moves on Oil.

Neither of the two parties has condemned or questioned the occupation of the NWFP in Pakistan by the US Army. It is known that the Intelligence Agencies and the Pakistan government are influenced by the US government and need the approval of the US government to survive. Sri Lanka and Pakistan have a massive refugee crisis on their hands. We are on the brink of a drought. Can we afford to focus on issues that only benefit corporate houses - do millions of other people not exists? We are being pushed by the media into a conflict with Pakistan who's government is nothing more than a puppet in the hands of the US. We need to be on the side of the people of Pakistan, not the government.

My questions are

• Other than Hindutva and the Gandhi family - how are the two parties different?
• What have these two parties done that has had a direct impact on the poorest of the poor in this country in the last 15 years?
• The revenues that the media generated in the US with the Obama effect was maddening. Is the Rahul Gandhi story of change any different? A well packaged pipe dream that is about as good as and as far from reality as an SRK film?
• The media is reduced to producing news that their advertisers want. (Fear, Insecurity, Violence - all targeted at the urban middle class with brand ambassadors such as Simir Grewal and Shobha De). This environment will allow corporate lobbyists to push "reform" through in the backdrop of confusion rooted in insecurity.