The Israel-Palestine Conflict - Part Infinity

Will the recent conflict between Israel and Hamas have the potential to have far-reaching implications on international geopolitics? Perhaps, not. As the famous Stock Market - the known information is already baked into pricing. The known information here is that it will not resolve anything. There will be a substantial amount of bloodshed this time, as compared to prior instances but it will sow seeds for the next round of conflict, mayhem, and another round of destruction. And more and more blood!

However, the Hamas attack is different than prior instances. One, it was incredibly coordinated. Even if we may say they got lucky with IDF dozing soundly, the sheer scale, brutality, and audacity of the attack caught everyone off guard. The consensus seems to be that Hamas was quite lucky in their 'success'. Hamas probably never thought they would have so many of their fighter enter the Israeli territory without any resistance. The borders turned out to be porous and what ensued was pure terror. 

This is the point I would like to emphasize. Even if we agree that Hamas was lucky in getting into the territory so easily, the brutality that followed was calculated. Once in Israeli territory, these Islamic terrorists went after innocent, unarmed civilians in systematic brutality. Killing by guns and knives was just a basic thing. The women and children bore the brunt of the attack. Rapes were recorded, babies getting tossed in the oven or bashed against the wall were recorded, point-blank headshots were recorded, and hunting for women for rapes was recorded. There was no hesitancy in their act. There was a fervor. To be hateful is one thing, to be vengeful is one thing and to be Hamas perpetrating some of the acts that I wish I had never read about is an entirely different ball game. 

How is one supposed to respond to this inhuman and degrading violence? One option is to fold meekly and give whatever the perpetrators are asking or the second option is to unleash the fury. Israel chose the second option and rightfully so. And in a true Macbre fashion that only Islamic terror would be able to achieve, Hamas is coming out 'victorious' since Hamas is shielding themselves from innocent children of Palestine. Isn't that something? And what's worse is the majority of the so-called liberal Western population along with a useless piece of the crap body called the UN is siding with Hamas and asking for Israel to stop the retaliation? The equivocation is jarring. These bodies and actors condemn Hamas only when they get to condemn Israel, putting both of them on an equal footing. How? 

Israel is likely to essentially take over northern Gaza. I would not be surprised if they settled out the northern Gaza as well. Dust will settle down at some point. The lives of 1200 will not come back. The memories of ghastly killings and rapes will continue to haunt us for eons to come. This is unlikely to solve the core issue but going forward, the bloodshed will only increase. And with so many 'liberal', 'humanitarian' supporters, Hamas will grow in power! 

Back to Medival Age!

Generally speaking, the news of someone getting elected to be the Speaker of the House in any country does not even deserve a byline in international news. It's not like the Speaker does not have power or influence but it's mostly a procedural post that is far below in the hierarchy that it is probably at the bottom of the front page news even in the native country. 

But if you pay attention to the most recent speaker of the US Congress then one will be left with philosophizing pointlessly since it is excruciatingly hard to wrap head around the choice the Republican party made in choosing the man they choose. 

There is so much to unpack here. However, we will let go of internal party squabbling and posturing. That's too internal matter to discuss. The country of the US is the most technologically advanced nation on the face of earth and dare I say, in the known history of mankind. The industrial, mechanical, and technological advancement this country has achieved in less than a hundred years is so astonishing that it will be another hundred years before mankind can start appreciating it. Industrialization and mechanization have brought unprecedented economic progress and comfort to every home, hitherto unknown to the civilization. The technology like the internet or personal computing industry, they built has, at least for now, positively impacted the world in general. And yet, the speaker of the Congress that one of the only two main political parties in US politics decides to elect is fervently anti-science. He does not believe in evolution or climate change. He does not believe Dinosaurs existed or that the Earth is millions of years old. The man believes that Earth was created 6000 years ago by a person, who he calls, God! He did not believe in COVID-19 and certainly not in the vaccine. The man questioning the reality so hard even Saturday Night Live won't be able to develop any caricature of him. The situation is dark when reality writes itself as satire. I am not even getting into his denying the results of the 2020 Presidential Election. That can be rationalized as political posturing. But who in a sane mind questions the evolution or questions the existence of dinosaurs? 

The insane mind only and the hoards of them have reached the seat of power. 

The obvious question for the non-US world is, why should anyone care? There are enough numbnuts politicians across the world. Each country has a buffoon passing themselves off as civilized. We don't care about them, do we? The case is not the same when it comes to US and US politics. The US is still the sole superpower in the world. What they do and think matters and impacts the rest of the world. They are the biggest polluters in the world. So if the Speaker of the Congressional House denies climate change then any possibility of the country working towards reducing carbon footprints drops drastically. Modern science is one of the greatest discoveries of mankind that has changed our world drastically. So, if the Speaker of the congressional house denies dinosaurs, or denies evolution, it will impact the spending on Science, which in turn will impact scientific progress. Moreover, we should not see him as a singular entity that has reached the position of power. This is not about a frozen potato reaching the highest echelon of political power. This dude is what part of US society saw fit to elect and propose. He is a reflection of large swaths of the country's society. The fact that so many people share his beliefs, his lack of faith in science and should worry all of us. 

The worst is there is nothing we can do about this development. We all get to suffer though! Some solace. 

The Roadrunner - At the end of the road!

I recently watched The Roadrunner, a documentary on the life of Anthony Bourdain. It was a wonderfully made tribute to Bourdain covering key parts of his career while vividly portraying the personality that we all fell in love with. The off-camera persona of Anthony Bourdain comes out exactly the way he was on the screen. No garnishing was required. The documentary also captures the sudden and unfortunate demise of the hero delicately and with ample empathy. It was not his sudden demise that shocked people. It was the way he decided to exit the stage. There was no cursory 'Bye' to anyone. A man with millions of words at his disposal could not muster even a few words worth a note before heading out. No one would have predicted the end. Perhaps, not even the man himself. I would be lying if I told you I did not choke up.  

I first read Kitchen Confidential in the summer of 2003. I randomly landed on it, most likely because I liked the lanky, good-looking fellow with knives on the cover of the book. And just like millions of others, I got hooked on the disarming monologues that filled page after page. Though a foodie myself, I never gave any thought to the food I was eating or the chefs that were making it. I have never thought about people running the restaurants. It was amusing to know how restaurants function. It was hilarious to read about why not go for a buffet on Mondays and why not order fish on Monday nights. Bourdain did shed bright lights on the underbelly of the restaurant business but he also lovingly painted the people who peel potatoes, who make the sauce, who ferry the plates, and the people who own the show. But the book, wryly honest in tone was not just about food or about the restaurant business. It was a memoir, a musing about the philosophy of life, the philosophy of wasted opportunities, being grateful for the opportunities received, and the world in general. And just like millions of others, I was hooked on the persona that was Anthony Bourdain. I couldn't get enough of this dude. The way he was flying around with his thoughts gave me a different perspective about everything around me. Anthony Bourdain was legit cool! Jaded yet clear, rueful yet honest, elite, snob yet completely street. 

I wanted to be like him and yet I knew, I could never be like him! 

When his No Reservations show started airing, it felt like a natural transition for Bourdain's personality. He took his intense gaze and ability to philosophize even the mundane happenings to a wider canvas. The narration, the thought cycle appealed to me because it felt like a monologue of a wanderer. Bourdain was as American as one can get (and as New Yorker as one can get) who didn't travel extensively before the show, yet his point of view to look at the world - curiosity, respect, disdain, and nonchalance, all mixed in exactly right quantity, showed the world from an immigrant's point of view. Perhaps because he worked on food that is inherently always been a global phenomenon. Or maybe he worked with a staff full of immigrants. I don't know but that way of analyzing the world felt very strongly personal when he started traveling around the world. I was an immigrant myself at that time. Was trying to fit in a foreign land, attempting new types of food and enjoying it, and yet, was trying to hold on to the past and the country. All immigrants go through that, I wasn't any special but the experience that all immigrants have is certainly special. And somehow Bourdain managed to showcase this brilliantly. Food is not just what we eat, how we eat, and how we cook. It's a cultural reference point, a representation of centuries of living by a certain set of people under certain geographical and weather conditions. Dig deeper and one will see how society grew and most importantly why. Passing down the recipes over generations and centuries is a thread that strongly binds societies and cultures. The food is not just to fill the belly but it represents the people in and out. The way they look, act, behave, and react all boils down to the food, and Bourdain, either by design or by accident, succinctly managed to use food as a lens to look at the world in his travels. There was a curiosity but there was never one-sided judgment. There was healthy respect but never over-the-top reverence. There was a monologue but it effortlessly weaved the cultural narration of the region he was travelling. There have been numerous travelogues before and since Bourdain's No Reservation. It's not like there are no other good travelers. My personal favorite has been Ian Wright of Lonely Planet/Globe Trekker fame. Ian was just so much fun to watch but he could never impose his personality on the episode or the location. This is where Bourdain distinguished himself. The show wasn't just about traveling, sightseeing, or about food. It was Bourdain traveling, sightseeing seeing, and eating the food. 

Some of Bourdain's traveling episodes were poignant. His travels through Vietnam and Cambodia were travelogue masterpieces. I still remember the scene of him dining in the hut of a guy who lost his legs to a landmine. The pain, shame, and regret were quite evident on Bourdain's face. The nation, the family, and the hut graciously hosting him had borne the brunt of the US invasion of Vietnam. And though the invasion had ceased more than four decades ago, the violence through landmines continued to be a steady feature of life. Bourdain and his crew handled the situation outstandingly. It left an indelible mark on viewers. Such episodes were quite frequent on his 'No Reservations' show. A militant meat eater, he was amazed at the vegetarian choices offered in India. His food side chat with the owners of a famous vegetarian restaurant in Rajasthan was quite fun to watch. The beauty was how Bourdain became part of the entire scene. The hustle and bustle of that restaurant - it was not a fine dining place, Bourdain having heart-to-heart with the young men, his genuine amazement after knowing that all of these men are engineering graduates made the episode a great watch. It is not just about food anymore. It was about people and it was about how Bourdain effortlessly brought that side to the viewers is where his genius sparkled. 

I lost 'touch' with him almost a decade ago. I didn't feel like watching his CNN show. Partially because I felt a bit betrayed. On CNN? Common man, you are better than that! You are the rebel I looked up to, not a schmuck on CNN! I still watched him whenever his old shows were on or whatever he wrote but I did not pursue him actively. If you watch The Roadrunner closely, as his fan, as his 'friend', you can see something's not right. He was running away from something when nothing was pursuing him. Our 'roadrunner' became the road himself. In search of something, he seems to have lost himself. That 'something' was never apparent though. Was it adrenaline? Was it the next curiosity? Next weird food? New culture? New people? New destination? something more fulfilling? Or maybe, some happiness? A new person to love? We don't know and what's worse, we will never know. The dude spoke millions of words, visited thousands of places, and became the coolness quotient for millions of everyday schmucks like me and yet, no one saw his sudden demise coming! He hid in plain sight. Maybe he hid from himself and all the traveling, he could not find his true self. 

It's a good idea not to get too close to the people we look up to. Not to go deeper into their personal lives. Anthony Bourdain was no saint by any stretch of imagination. They are commoners just like us in most facets of life. However, certain aspects of their personality shine brightly and enrich our lives. It's been almost a half decade since Bourdain left the scene but his cigarette-heavy voice still sounds fresh and his travelogues still make us look at the world with curiosity and empathy. I would like to just stick to that and celebrate his life.  

The General Election of 2024 - Making of Great Chivda!

For those who are uninitiated - Chivda is a mixture. The food is popular partly because you never know what ingredient you will taste next. In Maharashtra or among the Marathi people, it's also used as a euphemism for a mess.

And that's exactly what the current Indian political situation looks like. You never know what will happen next or who will speak what next. You also never know who is the Prime Minster candidate. The so-called 'Chanakya' of Indian politics has his party in tatters. He was supposed to be leading the opposition effort to bring down the Modi government. Now he is trying to count how many MLAs he is left with. In the confusion, he is making new and contradictory statements every other day. I don't know if he is confused or if he still thinks he is tricking others. As Lincoln (allegedly!) had famously said, you can some people sometimes but you cannot fool all people all the time! 

The situation with Congress is more perplexing. They just won the Karnataka state election. This should 'refill' their empty coffers (the state Deputy Chief Minister has already told everyone that there is no money left for development. One doesn't have to wonder where all money will go!). Yet, the party is acting as if they are a non-existent force. The party still commands a 20% vote share in the country and yet, they meekly capitulated to the strong-arm tactics of AAP and Kejariwal. It was astonishing to Congress agreed to AAP's demand of opposing an ordinance on the governance of Delhi, that was always going to sail through the parliament. Is there no one in Congress who thinks rationally, thinks about ROI, or thinks about the party's future? AAP has always eaten into Congress vote share. AAP has not been able to make any serious dent in BJP's vote share. By supporting AAP in their childish game against the Central govt., Congress has gifted their vote share in Delhi to AAP. (which in the short term and from the perspective of the Delhi assembly election scenario, is bad news for the BJP) But somehow, despite missteps after missteps, Congress believes they are the pole position around which all opposition parties of India should gather and fight against Modi govt. in the next elections? The think tank in Congress should get their heads checked because if two rupees worth of a blogger like me can see through this stupidity then I wonder what sort of knuckleheads are running the show in Congress! 

There are a host of regional ambitions running wild. Some have personal vendettas like Nitish Kumar who is running out of allies to backstab. Yet, he believes Modi is the villain here. Vendetta politics can get you returns in the short term but on a grand level like the Indian general election and over the long term, personal vendetta will lead only to disaster. Nitish has been CM of Bihar for almost twenty years and back in 2005, he was primarily elected to throw out the Laloo gang. It is rather sad to see him now joining the Laloo gang in his attempt to take revenge on Modi. How will that serve anyone? And most importantly, do these people think that voters won't see through this game? 

Then there is Mamta. She is ready to kill anyone who will voice against her. She has done that multiple times. The bloodbath after the last assembly elections in Bengal was so bad that even god-awful people like Rajdeep Sardesai had to acknowledge the violence. Unfortunately, her violent politics means she cannot get out of Bengal and set the national stage for her ambition. Yet, she believes she is or should be the kingmaker in the next elections. The largest party by seats in the 2019 general election was BJP with more than 300 seats and Mamta's party, which is the fourth largest party by seats, won 22 seats. BJP has a vote share of more than 37% while Mamta's party has a 4% vote share. The party is decidedly regional and still, Mamta believes she is a PM candidate. I don't know what is the thought process here but the mixture of ambition and personal rivalry seems to be at play. 

I talked about only some of the key actors from the opposition camp. There are a host of competing personalities and parties that are in play. All this drama but unfortunately, the sad reality is there is no true opposition. And a functioning democracy should always have a capable and thoughtful opposition. These parties are family-run fiefdoms who just want to survive at any cost. There is no vision, there is no new thought. It's just noise. And this is the best we will have to make do with. 

The Pawar, BJP and the Powerplay

To say no one saw it coming would be an exaggeration. The timing was a surprise but all dynastic or family-centered political parties are bound to go through the phase of rebellion. It is just natural. A family member is given precedence over another and the other decides to split. Sometimes the split is successful while for most purposes, the usurper is defeated soundly. The two Laloo brothers fought but Tejaswi, the first choice of Laloo, emerged a winner. Bal Thackeray chose his son over a potentially more deserving candidate - his nephew. The nephew has been in the wilderness since then. Similarly, Stalin soundly defeated his elder brother and has been running DMK since then. In short, it was a matter of time before NCP also goes through the split. The nephew here is much stronger when it comes to public support and he is a strongman as well. While the daughter has been getting elected as a Member of Parliament for decades now, her sway over the Maharashtra electorate has been mediocre at best. Sharad Pawar seems to have decided to throw his weight behind his daughter instead of his nephew. There is a bit more nuance here that is critical. The senior Pawar has not relinquished his power yet. He has not given reigns to his daughter. He is desperately holding on to the power as if his life depends on it. Even at this advanced age, senior Pawar wants to be the kingmaker. Perhaps, he took that moniker given to him a bit more seriously. 

Or Ajit Pawar saw the writing on the wall and decided to chart his path. The party has barely grown in the last two decades. Their vote share in MH has consistently come down since 1999. Their maximum seat winning was 71 seats out of 288 legislative seats. Unsurprisingly, the party recently got delisted as a National Party. With the rampaging BJP rushing ahead of everyone and the emergence of Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena, now was the time for Ajit Pawar to branch out. Otherwise, there was a healthy chance of Ajit Pawar going down like Uddhav Thackeray. All these political equations make sense for Ajit Pawar and a good number of NCP leaders and MLAs. But does that mean BJP should take him under their wing? Politics is all about benefits and somehow, I do not see Ajit Pawar's defection helping BJP in any way. I foresee considerable headaches and concerns from within the party and most importantly, from the loyal vote base of BJP. 

Sharad Pawar has been playing games from the shadows for far too long. He hoodwinked BJP and Devendra Fadnavis in 2019. The move he made not only ensured Uddhav Thackeray and Congress joined hands with NCP in forming the state government but I am sure senior Pawar got a kick out of him landing a knockout punch squarely on BJP's chin. The party known for a multitude of leaders, think tanks, cadre based organizations was so summarily defeated in the game of politics that it won't be surprising if the party and especially, Devendra Fadnavis decided to make this personal. With retribution in mind, they helped destroy Pawar Senior's party from the inside out. Perhaps, the vote share will split further favoring BJP in the 2023 Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections. Perhaps, the confusion may lead to further infighting in Congress, in Uddhav's Shiv Sena, and NCP leading to more seats for BJP. All that is possible but what if BJPs vote share comes down? Can that happen? Perhaps. 

This is simply because BJP has been projecting itself as the most non-corrupt party. There is an element of truth to that. Then BJP has been projecting itself as a political party that puts governance, development, and people's mandate above political slug-fest. They are the party that would not compromise on its principles and would even let go of power if needed. They have done that in the past. Those moves did not immediately bring them electoral benefits but that type of politics has gained them an extremely loyal voter base. Just look at the recent Karnataka Vidhan Sabha elections - the party's seat tally came down drastically but their vote share has not budged much. People who voted for them continued to vote for them. Another example is the Delhi Vidhan Sabha elections where BJP has barely any presence in the seat tally but their vote share has gone up in the last decade. All this is because of their fastidiousness with principles, ideology, and their capability to even let go of power for principles and ideology. And all this is no longer visible in the current scenario. 

NCP and associated leaders have been accused of massive corruption. I will provide only one example, Ajit Pawar, irrigation minister for over a decade, is infamous for irrigation project scams worth billions of dollars. The cases have been long pending with no end in sight. Similarly, in the social engineering space, NCP has amped up caste-based, anti-Brahmin tirade that has led to multiple cases of violence and in creating disharmony in the society. The party is known as a party of only one caste while not serving even that caste appropriately. The last home minister of the state, a leading figure of NCP, has been embroiled in an extortion scandal and was in jail for months. Another home minister from this same party was helming when the 26/11 attacks happened. The list of corruption scandals, insidious political games, and complete failure when in administration for NCP is too long. Yet, BJP believes that combining forces with NCP and with Ajit Pawar is a good idea. Have they lost touch with their ideals, with their voters, and with their beliefs? Please don't tell me that there are no enemies in politics. You don't have to be enemies but you don't have to be friends as well. Remember, birds of the same feather flock together. Is BJP changing its feathers? Because NCP or Ajit Pawar surely are not going to change theirs! 

As mentioned earlier, NCP has been fading for a long time in MH now. They would have ceased to be a political power very shortly. With a strong part of Shiv Sena already with them, the likelihood of the BJP winning a massive mandate in next year's Vidhan Sabha elections was very high. They may very well win the next election or even the next one after that. But in the long term this strategy will severely impact BJP. 

The Adipurush Effect

The recent release of Adipurush, a film based on Ramayana, is generating massive and frankly speaking, unnecessary controversy. Not surprising since the age we live in is an age of controversy. I have not watched the film but based on the trailer and other random clips, the screen looks shoddy, the actors are looking confused and the VFX is juvenile. The dialogues are also cringing. Overall, the movie seems to be a poor production. But since when did the poor quality of a movie become a controversy? 

From what I understand the director has not changed the story of Ramayana. There is still Ram, Sita Ma, and Laxman. The movie still has Hanuman and also has Ravan. The villain is still Ravan and the hero is still Shri Ram. Given the current discourse in the country, I am happy to take this. Now, if the story has not changed a bit, then we can love or hate the movie's quality. We can even laugh at the production. But there is no reason to get angry and upset about it! 

There has been a spate of Hindu world-centric movies in the last 3-4 years. Partially it's a reaction to the overtly attempted 'secularised' and 'urdu'isd' movies and partially, due to changes in the political environment that made it safe to make such movies. There was a movie on the Great Bajirao I. The movie quality, direction, and acting were quite good. Much better than the Adipurush. But to have Bajirao I dance with his soldiers was simply unthinkable. Here is a warrior who never lost a battle in the field. He roamed conquering regions from Delhi to Hyderabad. His name is synonymous with victory in Marathi and Hindi language. And then the director from the Hindi film industry had a creative epiphany in which, Bajirao would be dancing with his soldiers! Yet the movie was a huge hit. And that's a good thing. People had forgotten about Bajirao I. India, which Maratha ruled for almost 120 years, had lost the memory of the Maratha empire, of Maratha warriors. How do we get people to learn about the history? At least, the key events or key characters of the history? We can and should update the history textbooks. But what if we can tap into mass media and spread the message? That's where movies come into the picture. Whether one likes or detests Bollywood, they do have immense power over the imagination of vast tracts of our country. Their ability to influence tens of crores of people is unparalleled in modern India. So, having them produce a movie on Bajirao (or later a movie on Battle of Panipat) is only a win-win situation, the quality of the movie notwithstanding. 

Can we say that all presentations of Ramayana on big or small screens have been great productions? The Japanese anime presentation of Ramayana that came in the early 1990s was brilliant. But can we say the same thing about Ramanand Sagar's Ramayana? Sagar's Ramayana was right on time and was well- acted but as compared to BR Chopra's Mahabharata, Ramanand Sagar's Ramayana looked quite elementary. Yet we liked them all. That's because the original material, Shri Valmiki's Ramayana is just superb. The story of Shri Ram and Ma Sita is a story of human struggles, it's the story that perseverance, it's a story of following duty to the T. It's a story of love, lust, anger, triumph, and ultimately human tragedy. It's a story of standing tall despite suffering. In a month or so most of the population will forget about the Adipurush. However, the movie has brought back Ramayana in conversation. It's back on the center stage. It's back on people's minds, back in their imagination. People are looking for old clips from prior representations of Ramayana. People are again discussing Ramayana. Perhaps, we can all agree that the movie has achieved its (unintended!) objective already. 

The Kerala Story

I have not watched the movie. I am unlikely to watch it either. I did not watch The Kashmir Files either. The topics and subjects cut too close and hurt so much that if I watch the movie my rage will probably make me go insane. 

A bit of overreaction I guess. It's a movie after all. Movies always take artistic liberty and tend to paint the picture in a color that generally does not have a gray color. Unlike the gray area in that, most of these controversial issues reside. Or so the so-called liberals and rationalists would like us to believe. But then sometimes, the situation is so drastic, full of blood red that people then try to paint it gray. It is sort of a defense mechanism. Since, it is too hard to digest the bloodiness, hard to accept the reality, and hard to fathom the failure. Sadly, gray color or not, the reality does not change. The blood-soaked rice was forced on some people, Kashmiri Hindu women were raped and killed, and mutilated for being Hindu, the region of Kashmir was rinsed of Hindu presence, Hindu girls of Kerala were indoctrinated, converted to Islam, sold off to sexual slavery only because that's all that kafir Hindu girls deserves. And all this happened in the last 30 - 40 years only. In the age of TV, digital media, social media, and activism. This happened without any protest from Hindus despite the perpetrators doing all this without even an iota of shame. The Islamists of Kerala or Kashmir wanted more people to know this since they know the 'secular' governments of Kerala or Delhi will not do anything against them. In fact, in Kerala especially, the government will help them abduct, convert and sell Hindu girls. The Islamists wanted the limelight, they want to advertise. They want to spread the terror. They want to show their supremacy - "we will kill kafirs, rape their women, sell their children into slavery and no one can do anything. No one will dare touch us" 

I will not even talk about the visceral reaction from so-called secular, liberal, progressive people. In India, these labels are usually garb for being staunchly anti-Hindu. Never bother talking to these folks since they are already brainwashed. How are you going to make any sense to them or have a logical discussion with them when they don't own their mental faculties? They are more rabid, more fundamentalist, and more irrational than even the rabid, most fundamentalist, and most irrational Islamists of Pakistan! The reaction was expected. It made movies more popular. It led people to the theater. Both movies went mainstream and both became mainstream hits. I say, we should not engage these rabid secularists or liberals but we should let them shout shrill. 

But one key point I do not see discussed when people defend the movies or the subject is the historical precedence of Hindu genocide by Muslims in Kashmir or Islamic slavery of Hindus in Kerala. The tactics, the objective, the modus operandi, and the rationale behind it, are nothing new. Islamists and Muslims have been doing it for centuries. During the first onslaught of Islamic invasions in Sindh - they looted our temples, killed men in lakhs, destroyed cities, and sold Hindu women en mass. It is documented that they used to send 1/8 of women abducted for sex slavery, to their Caliphs in Arabia! Genocide had been common in Afghanistan and Pakistan for centuries. Take a look at the Hindu population in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan post-1947. Either Hindus were forced out, killed, raped, or forcibly converted without impunity in all these three countries. The Islamic supremacy and with that justification, the ability to unleash violence, met out sub-human treatment to Hindus has been a routine. The Godhra train burning? The massacres in Noakhli, WB during partition? The Mophala riots, rapes, and forced conversions of thousands in Kerala? The geography is different, the rationale is the same, the justification is the same, and the conviction is the same. "Hindu men are not men and so, Hindu women are fair game" "Kafirs do not have any place on earth" "Killing kafirs is a good deed" and "Raping Kafir women is ordained" One will not find any of this in so-called news articles, in so-called scholarly journals or for that matter even in public discourse. And that's the reason the Islamists get to kill, maim, rape, loot and destroy again and again and again! 

And yet, Hindus are the ones justifying the movie that shows the reality! And Muslims and Islamists cry, victims. Jihadis get the batch of secularists and Islamic terrorists are called martyrs. Unless the language does not change, unless we do not sugarcoat their deeds, unless we call a spade a spade, the situation will keep repeating. 

As it had been for centuries. 

The Great Karanataka Elections

The Karnataka elections are going to be outstanding. The state is one of the largest in terms of population, land mass, and most importantly, in terms of economy. The IT sector of India is synonymous with Bangalore. The state has been home to multiple critical central government institutions including defense and space organizations. The state is home to some of the iconic higher education institutions. The state has a rich history and heritage. The developmental indexes also generally put Karnataka in the upper bracket. For a state of this size, Karnataka's Human Development Index (HDI) ranks 11th in the country. The state is 5th in per capita income. The GDP is around $236 Billion, ranking them fifth in the country. The economy more than tripled in the last decade. I have traveled in northern Karnataka, traveled to and around Bangalore, south-western Karnataka (Coorg, Chikmagalur, etc. ), and west Karnataka of Tulu land, and the state infrastructure is visible everywhere. The poverty levels are low and per the statistics, around 13% population lives below national poverty. Most of the statistics on development have Karnataka above the national average. That, again, for the size of the state, is decent. 

However, elections are rarely fought over long-term developments or achievements that span over decades. State elections are a mixture of caste, cash, and controversy. I don't want to say development does not matter. Because last state elections UP clearly shows us that development can have an outsized impact on election results. However, two of the biggest states in India, Maharashtra and Karnataka have an additional flavor of regionalism that impacts the government formation. In Karnataka, two national parties - BJP and Congress have a strong presence but the local, regional party of Janata Dal-United (JDU) has enough voters to preclude the formation of a single-party stable government. Though BJP came back to power as a single-party ruling party, it did so after splitting the Congress party. A similar situation is very likely to emerge during this election as well. As parties are fearful to lose even a single vote, they are going beyond any extent to please the voting bases. Reservations for Muslims?- Yes. CM from a particular caste? - Yes. Free power, water...you name and you will get it for free. And no party is opting out of this race to the bottom! 

Another elephant in the room is corruption in the state. The proportion is staggering and it has made most of the people angry and nauseous. The city of Bangalore is suffering mightily because of rampant corruption in urban development and maintenance. The economic powerhouse with almost half of the state's GDP ($110 Billion against around $236 Billion) feels like it is on life support with municipality and state only working to siphon off as much money as possible. And no party is clean here. However, I see only BJP seriously trying to clean the house. And they are ready to take the risk of losing a few seats or even an election in the process. They have done so in MP before where one-third of sitting MLAs did not get the tickets and the experiment had been successful. Hopefully, they get similar success in Karnataka as well. 

One thing for sure is that the results will have no bearing on the General Elections of 2024. The elections of the last decade or so have clearly shown us that voters differentiate between voting for the central government and the state government. There is a good chance BJP will lose the state but come 2024 and they are likely to get a good number of parliamentary seats from Karnataka. 

However, if BJP does lose this election, the democratic index of India, per BBC and opposition parties, will suddenly see a surge. Secularism would win and at least, the state of Karnataka will suddenly become heaven of harmony, peace, and justice. 

Ta-ta, Bye-bye Rahul Gandhi

This is my third consecutive post on Rahul Gandhi. Either he has suddenly become smart or I should seriously start reading other and better things for new ideas. The second part may have some truth to it but Rahul has not become smart. Not by any measures. 

He is no longer a Member of Parliament. He does not lead the party, his family's fiefdom. At least, not officially. In short, he is nothing. At best, he is a former MP and the son of a current MP. He never held any position of responsibility in the government, nor did he ever hold any constitutional post. In short, he is finally, a Nobody! I don't think anyone saw this coming so drastically. At least, he did not see this coming. No one in his family, not since his Grandmother and his father, has ever faced any consequence of their actions. No consequences for their words, no consequence for their inactions. No consequence for their unhinged tirades. They managed to sink the grand old party of Indian politics and yet, they remain above everyone and managed to remain unscathed. 

Not anymore though. 

The cause of this downfall seems innocuous. So many have said so much worse than this. But the point is not exactly what he said. I mean, it is but to an extent only. There are so many layers to this issue. The utter disregard Rahul has shown to the public institutions, the political institutions, and the governing and law institutions so far that it was just a matter of time before something comes and levels him in a blow. Rahul tore an ordinance that the then Prime Minister of the country has himself passed. He did that in full public view. This was not his ordinance to trash. He had no locus standi to do that and yet, he did that because he knew nothing will happen to him. And that was true for almost a decade. 

"You can fool some people sometimes, all the people one time but you cannot fool all the people all the time" Abraham Lincoln (allegedly!) 

Rahul kept yapping his way around. He derided his underlings in his party, he derided his constituents. He derided elected officials. Nothing happened. So he got emboldened and he finally made a statement that can certainly be construed as a casteist slur. I do not believe he hurled a casteist slur. I don't think he is smart enough to know that Modi is a caste and that too a backward caste. But he did make that statement. A case was filed against him as criminal defamation. The criminal defamation law, a rather draconian law I must say, is one of the very few laws that politicians of all backgrounds. The law proceedings take place at a rapid pace. The defendant has to prove, rather convincingly that they did not mean personal abuse. But if the court sides with the accuser, then the defendant goes to jail straight up. The defendant can get out of this mess by publically apologizing. Kejriwal had to do that to Nitin Gadkari, who filed a criminal defamation case for Rs. 100 crores against Kejriwal. But Kerjariwal is a smart fellow, he publically apologized, learned his lesson, and moved on. Now he says all the bad stuff against everyone only in the assembly where one cannot be held in criminal contempt. 

Rahul did nothing of that sort. In fact, after making that statement in a public rally (the Congress party last time Congress won a Loksabha seat in Gujarat was in 2009!), Rahul increasingly went berserk. He openly questioned the Indian army during the Galwan crises, openly questioned the homemade Covid vaccines, openly questioned India's purchase of Rafale purchases and most recently, he publically questioned India as a country while singing peans about China. He went a step ahead and alluded that western nations should intervene in Indian democracy! 

All that finally caught up with him through that one funny-sounding statement he made in 2019. Forget about politics, the opposition unity, the pending elections, or the evolving election strategy of all the parties. Rahul is finally held responsible for his actions. And he is finally paying price for his crimes. And I will take that. 

I am happy!

A Manchurian Candidate

Despite the Congress party losing election after election and despite Rahul Gandhi himself losing the prestigious Amethi seat in 2019, I tend to write a lot about him about what he does and about what he said. It is evident that the party and the ideology if there was ever anyone, is rapidly losing ground across the country. The leadership, barring a few state governments, is completely a vacuum. The political strategy of the Congress party (and that of Rahul Gandhi) oscillates between a low-level theatrical production of absurdity to virtual political suicide over tone-deaf, political career-killing statements. It is hilarious and jarring at the same time. But just because Rahul's political stunts and Congress's political strategy always lead to meme fest does not mean both of them are not dangerous. They are dangerous. There is a reason the 'la Familia ruled India for decades. The party apparatus and family's tentacles are quite deep-rooted. It's like an iceberg where the dangerous nature of the Congress party and Gandhis is only 1/8th visible to the public. These people know the system well. Hell, they were THE systems at one point. Their corrupt and corrosive ways mean there an ecosystem, which immensely benefited under Gandhi's rule, will go to any extent to maintain the hold. Just look at Raghuram Rajan. Such a sad and drastic fall for a brilliant guy! 

The pattern that is evident from Rahul Gandhi is after a whirlwind of political 'activities' in India, he tends to run to a foreign land for vacation. Followed by the vacation, he goes on a rampage in criticizing and defaming India. The venues are some sort of think tank platform or questionable groups hosting him in top-end universities in western nations. First, there is absolutely no need to talk about your country's government in a foreign country. It is contrary to the expectation of an elected member of Parliament. Then why does Rahul Gandhi continue to do that? A key point to note here is, he is not bad-mouthing the Modi government only. He talks about democracy being dead in India. He talks about India's failure as a nation. He constantly talks about Muslim persecution in India. He talks about the economy failing, not having jobs, and in general, the country being in a state of anarchy. Why? Rahul is certainly not getting any votes in the UK or from Cambridge university. Moreover, with such talk, he will not get any votes in India either. Then why do it? 

Is it because his handlers would like him to do that? A Manchurian candidate? 

One of the key achievements and focuses of the Modi govt. since 2014 has been foreign policy. It is proactive, it is definitive and it marks India's entry as a mover and shaker rather than a meek follower. I know foreign policy does not change in a decade but a decade's worth of work is a start. Whether it is a covid shots diplomacy or Ukraine war or whether brazenly attacking Pakistan twice as a response, the Modi govt. wants the world to notice us, respect us, and ensure that our interests are taken care of as well. Foreign entities aren't going to simply allow this to happen. They will fight back and fight back through back channels. The way he builds an argument, it feels like Rahul is doing that at the behest of foreign entities. Either a foreign government or a spy agency or both. For example, remember the Chinese ambassador secretly meeting Rahul Gandhi at Rahul's residence during the height of the Galwan crisis? Rahul Gandhi never issued even a statement at that meeting. Yet, he keeps parroting that China has grabbed India's land despite categorical denial from the Govt of India, the Indian Army, and the PM himself! Now, who does that help? Psychologically speaking questioning the Indian Army or the Government of India will discourage Indians. It will give an advantage to China and Chinese psyops. Even two days ago he said Modi 'does not understand the threat of China'. Maybe, China does not understand the threat of Modi. Can we look into that? 

Asking questions to the elected government is a right and should be exercised but questioning the government institutions may not play out well in the long term since the erosion of public trust is the start of the unraveling of democracy. 

Western nations have always used the stick of so-called secularism and invented the narrative of Muslim persecution to defame India. Even though the Muslim population has only grown in India while the Hindu population has declined and Muslims have played prominent roles in modern India - from being top space scientists to be one of the most successful cricket captains to being the most successful Hindi movie star. And it's not just the narrative they leverage but they have created an ecosystem of NGOs, think tanks, newspaper publications as well as the 'scholar' tribe to browbeat the Indian government and policymakers to fall in line. The emergence of the Modi-led govt. is the first time since independence that the Government of India is standing up to the bullies from European Union and other western nations. India is the largest functioning democracy in the world. The word 'Largest' actually does not do the justice to stunning grandeur with which Indian democracy functions. There are fault lines and concerns but by far and large, Indians have heartily embraced the concepts of democracy. Yet, to constantly question the very ethos of Indians and India makes you wonder whether Rahul Gandhi is batting for foreign interests here. 

I strongly believe Rahul Gandhi is up to something here. He is a fool to believe that western powers will destabilize India and prop him up as a candidate. In the history of Western atrocities and colonialism, they have never done that. They are unlikely to do that now. The country of India is not that disunited or weak either to just let that happen. Not when the economy is booming and all indicators are pointing positively. That does not mean we should forgive Rahul Gandhi and his unhinged tirades against India. Technically he is merely an MP among 445 others. He has never held a position of responsibility in the Government. Nor has he ever passed any legislation. Rahul has missed most of his attendance in the parliament. Despite all this, his last name means he is still quite dangerous. He may not be able to sway people to vote for his party but he sure can sow doubts in people's minds. Rahul Gandhi, being the scion of once a ruling family, will be quoted across a multitude of mainstream publications in the western world. NYT for example recently published a rant against India on the topic of Kashmir. There will be some damage to India's reputation and India's aspirations. It is quite evident that Rahul is actually on Bharat Badnam Kao Yatra! 

Rahul Gandhi Ki Jai Ho!

It is always fun to watch Rahul Gandhi. He is not exactly a fool though he acts like one. He dances around with the words when it is fairly evident that he scarcely understands the words he utters. Rahul's political strategy is unhinged, lacks any cohesive direction, and is tone-deaf. The spurts of action followed by an extended holiday have been the only constant of his political career. Just look at the recently concluded, randomly named, 'Bharat Jodo Yatra'. With all the beard growing, Saddam looks led him to come back to barking about Adani only. He was shouting himself hoarse about Adani and Ambani before the 'Yatra'. Though he has conspicuously dropped Ambani from his accusations, it won't be long before Ambanis make a 'come back'. By the way, Rahul Gandhi was supposed to speak in terms of the President of India's speech at the start of the session. This was not meant to be an unhinged tirade against those he considers his enemies. Of course, decorum and responsibilities have never been his forte. He is also not in public talking about the recently presented Budget. The Budget of 2023 is the last of the major Budgets presented by the Modi government before the Lok Sabha polls of 2024. A budget in 2024 will be presented before the elections but it is likely to be a lame duck since the government elected post-2024 elections will surely make changes to it. Yet Rahul decides to skip the whole thing beyond giving some sound bytes? Sometimes I wonder if he is working for BJP. He is like a trojan horse of the BJP in the Congress camp. 

But I am here to make a point in favor of Rahul. I want him to succeed in his mission of Bharat Jodo Yatra. Bizarrely, Rahul is critical for the success of emerging India.  

In the last general election Congress party still held on to almost 20% of the vote share. These vote shares are scattered across the country. A key aspect to note here is that the vote share is for Lok Sabha elections. For example, Congress recently won the Vidhan Sabha state elections in Himachal Pradesh but in the last two Lok Sabha elections Congress has not won a single parliamentary seat. The state is a two-party state and Congress still holds almost 40% of votes in Lok Sabha elections. The state of Himachal is small but provides us with a good marker for the rest of the country. Though the vote share varies, the votes have splintered across the board. Congress is quite strong both in Madhya Pradesh and in Rajasthan but they have won exactly one Lok Sabha seat in the last two general elections. The party is completely decimated in UP and WB though. 

Now if Congress is to go down further then the vote share is up for grabs. There are always strong regional players like TRS in Telangana or CPI in Kerala or even, TMC in WB who will get stronger. Which means their regional arm-flexing will become more potent. New entrants - unsavory ones like MIM and awful ones like AAP will also find an opportunity in grabbing that vote share. We have seen that happening both in Delhi and in Punjab where Congress vote share en-mass moved to AAP. And Muslim vote share both in UP and Bihar partially deserted Congress and moved to MIM. These small regional upstarts are exceptionally myopic in their view and detrimental to the growth of our country. AAP, for example, has readily jumped into bed with Khalistanis to win the Punjab elections. Their pandering to Khalistanis will not only lead to bloodshed in near future but will create a national security threat for India. AAP's and specifically, Kejriwal's lust for power has no limits. He will go to any extent to win. He won't think twice before siding with Pakistan if it will get him a Muslim vote share. The only reason Kejariwal is not speaking on China's behalf is that China is currently in alliance with Congress and there is no space or money for Kejariwal yet. Similarly, the history of MIM is full of Islamic fundamentalism and anti-Hindu rioting. MIMs forefathers butchered Hindus during the anti-Hindu pogrom of 1948 while current leaders of the party, especially the Owais brothers have regularly threatened Hindus in public forums. They carry the flames of 'independence from Hindus' mentality. The political legitimacy they are vying for on a pan-India level is nothing short of a disaster for the country. 

Another key point to note here is, keeping Congress's vote share intact means total disruption in Opposition. The national-level outlook of non-BJP parties is somewhat hilarious. We have a bunch of thuggish, strongmen (and women!) like TMC, DMK, SP, and wannabes like TRS (though TRS is much better than most when it comes to the development of the state!). These parties know they do not and will not be able to have any sort of national imprint. Yet, they can all come together and elect a leader to represent them if they ever smell near victory in the general elections. Congress and especially Gandhis could never stomach a secondary role. If they are somewhat in a position of bargaining, they will either impose their will (i.e. Rahul) on the leadership or will disrupt the opposition unity. Any of these scenarios is critical for the BJP's success in 2024.

But why is it that only BJP should win in the next election? That's because they are the only national party left with some sort of sanity. Congress is rudderless and full of hubris. The regional parties are power-hungry, myopic (I said that before, didn't I?), without much of a national imprint. The reality is that there is nothing democratic about any of the regional outfits since most of them function like family-owned mafia businesses. If they come to power through coalition then Khuda Bachaye" Remember the mid-1990 era of IK Gujral and HD Deve Gowda? 

The charisma of Modi is not just intact but it has grown substantially since the last election. And at this point, his popularity and pan-India appeal rival only Indira Gandhi's peak in the 1980s. BJP also has built a strong cadre-based organization and exceptionally well-oiled election machinery. But Indian politics and voters cannot be taken for granted. The country is vast in every possible facet. The aspirations and the expectations are a web of contradiction. Balancing all of it is an incredibly tough task. Yet, Modi and BJP are somehow managing to do it for the last 9 years. There are some misses, some blunders, and some mistakes but overall the report card is positive.  And Rahul Gandhi is critical to India having similar positive report cards for next decade or so. 

The 'Reductive' India

The public discourse in India has gone down so drastically that even an innocuous joke can now invite a police complaint. And no I am not talking about the self-righteous, self-proclaimed, so-called woke, liberal 'artists' shouting murder, murder at every juncture. But at the same time, the so-called right-wingers going nuts over a shade of heroine's clothes (or lack thereof!) is stupifying. Just the way insulting for the sake of it should be condemned, taking insult literally at everything should also be ridiculed. The larger point here is Indians, including awful leftists and cranky right-wingers, need to chill, relax and take a deep breath. Keeping controversies alive is a hobby for some and for some, it's a money-making enterprise. I can assure you no satisfaction or no money will ever find its way to the agitators.  

Now before some numbnut self-styled liberal giggle at above, I positively believe we, as a country, have reached this point solely because of leftists and mindless west aping 'woke'. See, the righteous anger of right-wingers is somewhat understandable. They should not be so angry. But they are! These entrants to the 'club', labeled and lampooned as such by the so-called 'secular', 'liberal' mafia in India, feel cornered since their beliefs, their deities, and their views are regularly marginalized as a fringe. As Gandhi ji once said (or maybe he did not, I don't know!), the moment you are called fringe, you should know you have arrived. Instead of feeling confident and backing it up with more material, the so-called right-wingers lash out at everything and everyone. Sometimes, not responding or not agonizing over is the best response to an insult. An art lost to right-wingers. However, these new entrants to the insulted club have nothing on the old-school, backbenchers of the class - the woke liberals and the leftist mafia. 

These self-styled 'liberals' are truly the blue-blooded insult takers, the pioneers, the Firsts. They invented this profession and took it to dizzying heights. To be sure, their agendas are different. Lumping all of these creatures together will be a mistake. For the woke liberals, their agenda is a weird mixture of individual choices (basically only choices, no responsibilities. And only 'my choice' and no one else) and NGO-funded activities. These NGOs have become new-age WMDs. They work for church-funded anti-national agenda (see, church opposing Kumbakonam nuclear plant), they work for western power-funded objectives (opposing any sort of developmental project), and they work for the billionaire-funded initiative. They do not have any scruples about the objective. As long as money is flowing, they will go to any extent to destabilize the situation. And one of the key activities they do is rile up the 'liberals' at the slightest notion of a disagreement. The discussion ceases to exist and what is left is the muck of name-calling and shouting hoarse. Not all 'woke' are agents of NGOs. This group does have the truly stupid ideologues who do not have the faintest idea of reality. They think history is unidirectional with cascading effects on the present. History is a precursor of the present but it is multidimensional and multifaceted with actors impacting it from all directions. The moment you lose nuance on how it connects with the present is the moment you become a self-styled activist attempting to right the wrongs of the past. And unfortunately, the number of such crazies is increasing rather rapidly lately. 

The other part of these professional agitators (or as Modi ji rightly called - 'andolanjivis') are the original leftist and communist ideologues who have morphed into a multi-faced demon. They are still very much communists at heart but they have gone underground. They understand that the commie ideology is currently dead and there are no takers of it in India. But that does not deter them. These shape-shifters will latch on to any issue to constantly bombard their subversive messages. Whether it is a developmental project or a religious celebration, they howel at every juncture. Freedom of speech, a right that was banned in all communist states in the past, is a favorite bush they would like to beat around all the time. If you disagree with them, you are a right-wing, Hindu chauvinist, casteist, anti-Muslim fundamentalist. These adjectives can be a Ph.D. dissertation! If you ignore them, you are killing democracy. If you call out their lies and deceit then you are a facist. In any case, heads you lose and tails they win. Whether its nullification of Article 370, CAA or Indian Army's Agniveer scheme, each step towards betterment is opposed by these creatures. These elements are increasingly getting in bed with shady foreign organizations, biased and raciest news agencies (NYT and BBC!) to toe the interests of either European countries or China or worse, Pakistan. 

Creating controversy, riling up enough dust to obsecure the actual issue, creating enough anti-narrative lies to bury the nuansce is a modus operendi repeated ad-nausem in last 20 years. It's not that India did not face such vested interest before but this time the emerging narrative of India is truly not good for host of actors mentioned above. Though current government dispostion does not back down from the initiative and determined to push their a positive narrative, these leftis ideologues, woke liberals and religious fundamentals masquerading as secular are unfazed, deep pocked and equally determined. 

In grand scheme of things, I genuinely believe, these knuckleheads will be a mere footnote. But they certainly have killed humor and open dialogue in our public discourse. It will be sometime before we can laugh at everyone and at everything!