Wimpy Kid from Hell

The Pakistan government’s current mood seems to be like that of the kid from hell who demands to be fed ice – cream as bribe for eating his beans.

No ice cream, no beans.

No Kashmir talk, no terrorism talk.

How cute. Except, the NSA-level engagement that Pakistan has chickened out of threatens the lives of thousands of people not only in the Kashmir valley, but nation-over. What with flimsy lies and outright denial by the Pakistan state even in the face of irrefutable evidence of Dawood’s presence in Karachi (http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/dawood-ibrahim-on-nsa-talks-agenda-india-has-proof-he-lives-in-karachi/article1-1382846.aspx), it has to be given credit for outdoing itself yet again and inventing scenarios that make all possible steps in the direction of a resolution to the “terror problem” impossible to take.

Why does Pakistan balk at the prospect of discussing terrorism only, and insists on discussing, rather, the lucrative, sweet-smelling candy that is Kashmir? Such an insistence to meet the Hurriyat leaders from Kashmir to defeat the entire proposed purpose of the impending talk  indicates only too clearly what Pakistan considers important and pressing and how terrorism, a concern that’s ought to be addressed immediately, is, according to them, only a blame game that India is playing with Pakistan.

The NSA-level talks were being looked forward to by the millions of Indians who are rightfully seeking answers and explanations towards the relentless attacks by Pakistani militants and army on the country’s civilians, besides security forces. But now Pakistan turns its back on the Ufa commitment between the two countries’ respective Prime Ministers to make terrorism the agenda of the impending discussion.

I don’t know what it will take for Islamabad to refrain from such feckless behaviour, but it sure does make my toes curl when I view the whole series of events spanning the recent months gone by and realise there is absolutely no sense of pressing concern in either of the governments (much, much lesser in Pakistan’s) to diffuse the terror infiltrating from the border and also from within the country.

We really do not have so many days to lose in trying to reach a consensus. People are dying each day, and here is Pakistan, refusing to eat his beans.

Narendra Modi – Reprised

Originally dated: 28-09-2013

In 2013, I had something to say about Narendra Modi. It’s 2015, and I’m all admiration for the long-sightedness I possessed two years ago. 😉

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What can be said about a man whose biography on Wikipedia says, ‘the neutrality of this article is disputed’?

  That the man must be Narendra Modi. 

Are you asking why? Well, Narendra Modi is so much Godliness packed into a man, that any word that depreciates his stature as a Saint in the Wikipedia article MUST, in fact, be disputed. Or taken off.

VIBRANT GUJARAT!

Mankind needs a hero to worship every now and then.  It had been a long time since the appearance of such a hero in India, until, in 1950, God heard our prayers and sent us Modi. (He meets the criteria maxime for becoming PM : he’s successfully crossed his sixties, and so have his ideas.)

Lord Narendra Modi , our touted prime  minister – to – be is  the 11234^th incarnation of Lord Vishnu, the preserver of our universe, and will put an end to all of the Hindu nation’s sufferings.

He will convert the whole of India into the dream nation called Gujarat. There’ll be streams of milk, more butter on our toast,  and richer people for the poor to beg to.

Modi’s record tenure as Chief Minister  in Gujarat make him the unquestionable candidate for prime minister, as it was under his governance that Gujarat really transformed overnight into the hub of all economic prosperity in India. Almost suddenly, the sub-arid Gujarat started teeming with agricultural expansions, thanks to Modi’s well thought out infrastructural plans for irrigation and water conservation. His tenure saw the literacy rate of the state soaring, the power sector flourishing, and of course, Gujarat attaining THE record growth rate. While some of these changes are apparent to us, some are testified by statistics.

But what if the statistics are false or half – true? What if Gujarat has always been a fast – developing nation and Modi’s contribution to it is blown out of proportion?  It might be, there’s a good chance. But we have to get on with our lives, and the elections are nearing, so let’s continue Modi-phancying and assuming them all to be true. I heard Bihar and Tamil Nadu are actually trailing ahead of Gujarat in terms of that figure, what do we call it again? Growth rate figure, yes.  But my vote goes to Modi for his excellent PR and Marketing Machinery.  Just like in advertisements for fairness creams, they show already fair girls getting fairer, his marketing team only painted the rosy picture of the already wealthy getting wealthier. So what if the majority of our people live a sub – standard existence  ‘BPL’ ?  It’s the rich people who pay taxes at the end of the day, isn’t it ?

India’s in the doldrums as it is, let us at least be happy for Gujarat.

Since Lord Modi is also a very enthusiastic Hindutwa – propagator (what else do you expect products of the RSS to be?), his philosophy on nation – building is particularly very interesting. Now, obviously, Hinduism is the superior religion. It’s the Lord’s word. Only Modi can pull off the paradox of being a Hindu nationalist in a multi – cultural country like India. Perhaps the nation for him consists of Hindus exclusively. Perhaps he needs to realize what worked in Gujarat might not work for the rest of the country. Perhaps his dog ate the the page of his social sciences textbook where they talked about ‘Unity in Diversity’. But WHY  do we have to continuously talk about cultural integration in the country? Is Modi responsible

for that? No. Is our prime minister responsible for that? He’s supposed to be. But Modi is going to be Prime Minister.

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