Rahul Gandhi and the teachings of Bhagwad Gita

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

That one man who follows Gita to the hilt is Rahul Gandhi. Can you imagine the amount of failures

he has had in his political career? Countless! I would say. Yet he sticks to his guns which is his political career. For, he truly believes in karma alone. Where, he doesn’t look for success in his deeds.

    But, can you imagine. The manner in which. India ridicules this great young man. Even, today, with the great disaster of Uttar Pradesh tied around his neck. He was busy meeting farmers from Tamil Nadu.

    So, isn’t it amazing. The way our media and citizenry ridicules him, no end. I will withdraw this post of mine. If anyone shows me a media clip praising him for his political career until now. Yet he continues undeterred. So there is much to learn from him while in adversity.

    And last but not the least. It also speaks of we Indians and how much we practice Gita. Well if you go by this analogy. You won’t find too many Indians praising him for doing his karma alone. Rather everyone is critical and even jocular about his failures. So are we practicing Gita in the true sense?

*****

By Kamlesh Tripathi

WHAT IS GOOD FOR DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA—POLITICAL STABILITY OR POLITICAL COMPETITION?

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

   It is said, competition is good for consumers, but how about competition in politics? Where, I am reminded of what Indira Gandhi once said,   

  

    ‘My grandfather once told me that there were two kinds of people: those who do the work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was much less competition there.’

    She indeed was one of the tallest leaders of the Congress party, and even that of India, who could even dare to dismembered a neighbouring country. Therefore, if we superimpose her quote on the tenets of Congress Party or for that matter on any other political party it will be an interesting churning of inferences. 

    Before India attained freedom there were thirteen political parties that jointly fought the British Raj for independence, with Congress in the forefront. The focus then was not development, but to attain independence. Where, they competed and colluded in a smart manner and achieved it. Post independence some of these parties wound up as the mission was over, and some dissolved in each other. Congress then became the tallest party with practically no opposition. Muslim League the other powerful party was more or less hived off to Pakistan upon partition. Congress thereafter ruled for around fifty six years. But in these years they could have done much better than what they actually did. On the contrary they brought in the ‘License Raj’ post independence that only stifled the progress and development of the country and only benefited the few in power. So can one say political stability attracts development?

     License Raj was dissolved when P.V. Narasimha Rao in 1991 took over as the Prime Minister with Dr Manmohan Singh as his Finance Minister in a Congress Government. Thereon, things started looking up in India. But by then the coalition politics had also come into play. No single party was ruling the roost. Competition had set in, and every political party had to perform on economic parameters too, apart from the usual socialistic ones. The voter’s aspiration had also increased with the spread of literacy.

-          If we go through India’s GDP in absolute numbers we find in 1950-51 it was 2.79 lac crores that reached 20 lac crores in 1991-92 (15% annual growth for 40 years). But, was that enough when we were starting from a very low plank? This grew to 57.41 lac crores by 2013-14 (8.90% annual growth for 21 years). When the environment had become much more challenging. These growths were also facilitated by growth in population.

-         If we briefly analyse the annual growth of India’s GDP at factor cost again. In 40 years, starting 1951-52 to 1991-92. We will find. Thrice it showed negative growth, and in 79-80, after thirty years of independence it even went down to -5.2%, which is shameful. In fact growth started steadying above 5% only after 91-92 when competition amongst political parties had increased even within the coalition governments. And also when policies of open economy had set in.

-         In 1950-51 the food grain production was 50.83 million tonnes. In 1991-92 it reached 180 million tonnes. An increase of 129.47 million tonnes (an annual growth rate of 6.36%). This could have been much better, had the economy been opened in the 70’s, which the Congress government didn’t bother to do. By the year 2013-14 production reached 263.2 million tonnes. An increase of 83.2 million tonnes since 1992 (a 2.20% annual growth rate). That goes to show political competition lost focus on agriculture.

-         In the infrastructure sector. Construction of roads, (both surfaced and non-surfaced) picked up a steady pace only after 2008-09. After political competition started heating up in India and the same goes for exports which too picked up post 2003.

    The US is the world’s largest economy. There are two main parties, the Republicans and the Democrats. They follow each other close on heels on various issues. Yet, in the last two decades, like in the case of many other developed nations, its growth rate has been decreasing. If in the 50’s and 60’s the average growth rate was above 4 percent, in the 70’s and 80’s it dropped to 3 percent. In the last ten years, the average rate has been below 2 percent and since the second quarter of 2000 has never reached the 5 percent level. So has political stability in American politics helped the growth rate? Or is it that the continuing good sound policies of the government is driving growth, irrespective of which party rules, or is it that there is no politics over growth?

       In India we have seven national parties that include BJP, INC, CPI (Marxist), CPI India, BSP, TMC and the NSP. In addition we also have forty eight state parties. There is enough competition on the ground but whether it is helping development, is the big question. There is no firm paradigm of continuous fast track of development. That only goes to prove political competition may not mean development in India.

    So, sadly India has seen both the extremes. One, when Congress was stable and virtually in a monopoly for 56 years. When sadly there was only a steady, self complimenting and complacent development, and nothing exponential, which was what was required. And even now when you have a number of political parties on the ground, the development is dismal and that too at the cost of corruption that we saw in Congress UPA regime. Somehow, BJP has been able to reverse this trend because it is in full majority and politically stable, and its top leadership is averse to corruption. Needless, to say political parties are competing not for development, but for retention of power. This reflects glaringly in Uttar Pradesh.

    Uttar Pradesh the political hot seat of India has BJP, SP, BSP and Congress as main parties on the ground. In the past there were five prime ministers also who represented UP, apart from Dr Manmohan who also was under the command and control of the first family of Indian politics who also are supposedly from UP. Yet UP is where it was some forty years back. Despite, being the cradle of civilization, and the cynosure of every era. Today, UP is poor hungry, unemployed, illiterate and is one of the most prominent members of the Bimaru states of India.

    In six and a half decades of independence, India has grown manifold in population, but sparsely in infrastructure. But some states have grown faster than others and that’s where UP has lagged behind. UP is still way behind Kerala, Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana.

    So then what went wrong especially after independence and where did UP drop the ball? It was one of independent India’s most prosperous states. It kept growing till 1980s, from a steady growth in the beginning of the 1^st five year plan in 1951 till the 1980s. UP has also seen frequent change of guard and therefore most certainly is a victim of political competition.

    So then what is good for India? Political stability or political competition? There are no straight answers, but I found an appropriate quote that can act as a solution—‘stop competing with others, start competing with yourself.

*****

Judges to appoint judges … a voter’s perspective

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

 

Supreme Court has the done the right thing by keeping the corrupt executive and legislative out of the process of appointing judges. Some electronic media channels have also termed it as ‘Supreme Court’s judgement against the will of the people,’ rather I would call it ‘Supreme Court’s judgement against the will of the L&A,’ (legislative and elective) and not the people of India. Consequent to this, a spate of debates, have taken place in political circles, the print media and more vociferously in the electronic media, but sadly the general public is again a mute spectator in all of this. So from a voter’s perspective let me put forth some arterial points to which the big guns of the country may not be privy to.

Government and some political parties, (because now Congress like a chameleon has changed its colour) feel the traditional collegium system of judicial appointments is opaque, out-dated, and even has deficiencies. But, as a common man I feel this opacity and deficiency is hundred times better than the blatant corruption and callousness of the L&A. For over a period of time since independence the ‘trust deficit’ between the common man vis-a-vis the L&A has only increased and therefore, why would the common man trust the L&A when it comes to appointment of judges. In that manner Supreme Court has shown maturity by drawing a line and not allowing them to tamper with the process of justice, even if it happens to be appointment of judges. In a healthy democracy some amount of turf war is desirable between the L&A and the judiciary. The moment the executive takes over judiciary, it will become like the various inefficient police departments of India that wag their tails incessantly only in front of the political class without performing their actual duty, and where the concept of a world class policing doesn’t even exist.

Democracy is only good if it is played as a gentleman’s game, but unfortunately this game in India has now been completely taken over by the goondas, opportunists and cheats, where the few honest ones are not even visible; and there is a great risk that if judiciary too goes into their hands, nothing will be left in the common man’s hand.

Across all political parties a trait exists that as long as they are in the opposition they talk the common man’s language but when they attain power they show their real teeth. When BJP was not in power they used to talk about anti-vvip culture, but now all their guns are blazing to promote VVIPISM. They are now snooping in to net- neutrality and even dictating what to eat and what not to eat. They had never shown their real teeth before elections otherwise probably they wouldn’t have won. Congress is no different.

Even after 68 years of independence the entire political class could not produce another Gandhi or anyone close to him and that itself speaks of the hollowness in the character of politicians that sum up as political class. 65% of India’s population was born after 1970s and the political class that often keeps harping about high standards of values and morals could not even produce a modern day Gandhi as a role model for the youth of this country. Some could only see a glimpse of that in Anna Hazare.

In the past we have had politicians like Sanjay Gandhi who forcefully got people sterilised, and then you had Mrs Indira Gandhi who for her own personal benefit forced the state of emergency down every Indians throat, how very selfish. There have been riots where thousands of Sikhs were killed, lakhs of Kashmiri Pandits were thrown out of their homes, together with several Hindu-Muslim riots in which members of both communities have been killed and all of this happened at the subtle behest of the political parties that runs the L&A. So how will such people add any value in appointment of judges?

In India democracy is only for the day of the voting and thereafter the elected politician has no connect with his voters, election commission also doesn’t monitor this, and therefore he is a tiger for the next five years. They rarely meet their voters and are only surrounded by sycophants and coteries. Most of them are low on morals and are criminals and only believe in promoting their family. They also enact laws that suits the entire political class, without showing any morals or respect to the common man, such as keep contesting elections even if you have cases against you till the matter is finally decided by the highest court, going on foreign jaunts when the state is reeling under famine, increased VVIPISM, vote bank politics and the list is endless.

If the elected legislative wants NJAC, that does not mean the voters also want it. Elected legislative has only become an eye wash for people’s mandate. Elected members do not discuss issues of national importance or state importance with their voters back in their constituencies to take their mind. So it is wrong to say that in every important decision the will of the people is involved. Rather the elected member listens only to his party diktats which may or may not suit the voters of his constituency. Voters are supposed to vote as per their choice after ascertaining what the political Party has to offer through its manifesto. But in today’s India political parties don’t work as per their manifestos, rather some don’t even release their manifestos, some only release their vision documents, and some work totally against their manifestos. And the election commission has no check on them. In fact Supreme Court has issued guidelines on this but political parties have not responded.

If we allow the L&A to takeover the media and the judiciary there is a great risk of political class playing havoc with the general masses.

What is legislated in the parliament is necessarily not what the people of India want and what people of India want is often not legislated in the parliament or the state assemblies. This is because the elected members have lost connect with their voters. For example the entire India wants VVIPracism to be abolished but has the government tried to enact any legislation to abolish it? On the contrary VVIPISM is only growing in this country.

Amongst the four pillars of democracy the L&A has largely let the masses of India down and there is now only hope from the media and judiciary and in no manner should they allow the L&A to enter their turf in the interest of the masses.

***

ARTICLE: THE CROWDED INDIAN POLITICAL SPACE

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

THE CROWDED INDIAN POLITICAL SPACE

Caution: 65% of Indian population is below 35 years of age and born after 1979. They want high performance delivered by political parties and not the usual rhetoric divide between –Hindu-Muslim-Sikh-Isaai

    Indian political space is currently going through a state of filthy transformation as the political space for each party in India is gradually reducing because of the increase in number of political parties. And this is only increasing the competition; and competition is always good they say, as it helps the consumer and brings out the best in the marketer, which in this case is the political party. And this mind-boggling competition is only going to intensify further, because of the literacy rate of India that now stands at 74%.

    And, to explain what I want to say, let us compare the current political landscape of India, with that of the erstwhile auto industry of India, and that too before the MNCs walked in. There were then three car manufacturers that used to manufacture Ambassador, Fiat and Standard brand of cars that had defined markets across India where they used to sell a defined volume per annum and go home merrily. There were stray calisthenics about competing and showing aggression in some pockets but by and large these companies had their pockets and markets as vote banks in politics from where they met their targets and were having a ball of a time, as they never spent on product up-gradation, nor research and development and it is a fact that even without that some of these cars had as many as nine lives, just because there was no competition.

    In the same fashion when India got Independence there was only Congress as the major political party in India that kept all other teeny-weeny parties at bay. They were in monopoly and that was one of the reasons why development in India took a back seat, because they kept winning election after election without much of a development. And in fact I hate to say but subtle reality is that had British Empire not ruled India; India would have had a late entry to railroad and many other infrastructure projects.

    Congress had many inborn political advantages, such as low literacy rate and monopoly, so until 1991 when PV Narsimha Rao became the prime minister they never thought seriously about big reforms because their vote banks were safe in the hands of Muslim, Christian, schedule caste and schedule tribe pockets-and so also rural. The voting percentages those days were very low as compared to the total population and so with even the aggregate of minority, schedule caste, schedule tribe and rural votes they could grab power and so they were having a ball of time.

    Jansangh, later on BJP was always considered a party—of, for and by the Upper class Hindus and had stemmed out of the RSS. And since upper caste Hindus were always a divided lot, BJP could never come to power till the nineties at the centre. And this further helped Congress, who kept ruling the country without any big development agenda but by providing lip service and subsidies to the minorities and also by Hindu bashing.

THE POLITICAL SPACE IN 80-90s

    When the multinationals in the auto industry arrived in the nineties, even Indian auto companies improved in quality, new launches, CRM, customer interface and after-sales-service; and so also the markets expanded exponentially. In the same manner with some new political parties entering the fray in eighties and nineties the situation on the ground changed only marginally, as Congress still had the clout but BJP had started breathing formidability. But even with all this politicians of major parties were having a good time.

THE CURRENT POLITICAL SPACE IN INDIA

    In the context of politics the MNCs of politics are the new political parties that are gaining grounds in India, thereby increasing competition in the plinth of the Indian political space. One such party at the national level is AAP which has scared BJP quite badly.

EXAMPLE OF AAM ADMI PARTY

    When AAP started, political bigwigs of India felt it is just a hangover of Anna movement and it will die down but they finally won Delhi quite formidably. That goes to show people were not happy with the existing political dispensation and were looking for an alternative. Today LG of Delhi and Delhi Police try to disparage AAP at the drop of hat and as much as possible under the garb of rule book as if Indian political always moved as per rule book and this is further helping AAP and exposing the dictatorial mindset of BJP.

WHAT IS PLAGUING THE EXISTING PARTIES

Let me put it as pointers:

-        Indian voter is no longer happy with lollipops. They don’t like political arrogance and are clearly looking for talent and not family scions to run India, for the model has failed. Analyse Congress Party’s debacle in the last general elections.

-         You can continue to do caste and minority based politics like the way Congress favours Muslims but this space is getting too crowded as there are other parties like SP and MQM who also favour Muslims so the strategy will have to change and parties will have to deliver big-time to survive. As Muslims and other minorities also want jobs and security. Mind you Congress has already reached a pathetic 44 by not willing to change its strategy.

-        BJP should not remain as a Hindu mascot alone and should work for Indians in India if it wants to serve long term.

-        Parties and governments should desist from entering into privacy of people by quoting some religious idiotism for the public feels the party and the government is not performing and therefore trying to divert attention—a kind of a wag the dog syndrome.

-        Personal touch of leaders will play a big role. Leaders should be approachable and not surrounded by gun toting cops. I should be able to pick up the phone and speak to hitherto arrogant MLA or MP of my area. Currently such politicians are not there but with the burgeoning Indian population and unemployment rate jumping, more youngsters are free to become netas, and mind you they won’t be those unwieldy netas who can’t work without cars, bungalows, and staff. Some trend of this nature is already seen in politicians of AAP party.

-        In times to come political parties will have to move away from political sermons, to service providers role as 65% of your population is below 35 years of age who is not too much interested in your sermons but wants service, as the world has moved towards consumerism.

-        Like the present day auto industry most political parties need to have consumer centres—professionally managed where voters can visit/call/e-mail and lodge their protests.

-        Indian voter has matured and they look for talent and not family run shops.

-        There is need to run political establishments in India in a much more professional and transparent manner, with RTI, transparent accounting system just like large corporations. And, also they will have to perform and cover the nation in a much more professional way which will require a much more talented and professional team. And the party that starts first will get the early bird advantage. Enormous youth power is available for political deliverance in the country. And it will have to be cadre based. Something like RSS—but without religious linkages. And I soon see a great role for Management consultants to enter the political arena in converting political parties into political corporations that run the country. Defence of country from external forces and foreign policies will have to be dealt in special manner.

-         Voting in India should be allowed electronically and even by post for the masses to vote in large numbers and also to stop ballot-cheating as this will improve the variety of politicians.

MEDIA’S ROLE

-        Whosoever comes on a TV screen considers himself as a hero. So stop making heroes of radical leaders of any community. Instead focus on ordinary citizens who are doing great jobs for the country. This should be done across board and not by a particular TV channel to balance TRP ratings.

INDIAN PUBLIC

-         Muslims and Christians often criticise BJP to be a Hindu party. If that is the case more Muslims and Christians should ask for membership of this party to tilt the balance, after all at the end of the day BJP is only an Indian political party—so catch the bull by its horns. And in the same manner if Hindus feel Samajwadi party or Congress are pro minority, more Hindus should join this party to tilt the balance and once this happens the agenda of political parties will move from religious and caste polarization to hard core performance and development.

The whole gamut looks difficult and impossible, but I guess the world carries on, only with the difficult and impossible as the easy is only left behind.

***

THE MISSION AND VISION OF MOST POLITICAL PARTIES IN INDIA—to win elections

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

 ... WELL SUMMARISED BY A TV ADVERTISEMENT

Sometime ago, various TV channels used to air an interesting advertisement, and if I am not mistaken it was a Nike adv and used to run as follows:

There were two guys walking in the jungle. Suddenly they hear a tiger’s roar and get frightened. The guy who is walking ahead requests the guy behind him to pass on his Nike shoes, in the bag.

    The guy holding the bag says,

    ‘You think by wearing these shoes and running, you will outrun a tiger?’

    ‘No,’ replied the other guy and added, ‘I will not outrun a tiger but I will definitely outrun you and that is enough to save me from the tiger.’

Isn’t this the manner in which most political parties run in India? Their only mandate appears to be to keep ahead of their nearest rival, that is often witnessed in TV debates also, where they only remind each other, the count of wrongs the other party has done as compared to them.

Excellence will never flow out of this attitude. For excellence, political parties need to openly accept their mistakes and shortcomings if any, to forge ahead like a rocket without trying to defend the indefensible.

    For remember when a political party admits to mistakes and shortcomings, the general public gets a positive feeling of their being taken into confidence.

****

Satire: Jagdish Tytler’s divorced conscience in conversation with Jagdish Tytler

 Copyright@kamleshsujata1

By Kamlesh Tripathi

One day while Jagdish Tytler was taking a morning walk, he met his divorced conscience after many years, in the colony park behind his house. His conscience asked.

‘Hi Jagdish! How are you? And how is your legal battle of 1984—Sikh riot coming along? Have you been acquitted?’

‘Yes-yes, more or less.’ He replied in a cheerful tone.

‘More or less, what do you mean by more or less?’ questioned his divorced Conscience.

‘Dear Conscience, I visited Dr Manmohan Singh some time ago when he was the Prime Minister and requested him for a clean chit, and he in turn instructed CBI to give me a clean chit. So, I guess I am out of the rut. But by the way do you know who Dr Manmohan Singh is, as I’m meeting you after an aeon?’

‘Arrey, Jagdish, so what if I left you in 1984, but who doesn’t know Dr Manmohan Singh. Isn’t he the same CEO of India under whose nose all UPA scams were committed? And, I understand through reliable sources he is getting a plum posting again, as he is now being offered the hot chair of ‘CEO-Hell.’

‘CEO-Hell—what is that- Conscience?’

‘Arrey, the way he was ‘CEO-India’ he will now be ‘CEO-Hell,’ where you don’t even require a nomination through Rajya-Sabha as he will be a direct appointee of the President.’

‘But Conscience, he is a very noble soul. Do you think he will be able to handle well, the affairs of hell which are rather slimy and tricky, as CEO-Hell?’

‘Let me tell you Jagdish, you can’t get a better candidate them him. Didn’t you notice how he turned India, which was a heaven, into a ‘corrupt-hell-station,’ in just about a decade, and that to in connivance with the Congress High Command.  Boss you need to understand; appearances can be deceptive like Manmohan Singh, otherwise a meek and honest looking person, but individually, he successfully masterminded to make India one of the most ‘corrupt-hell station’ of the world. And don’t you worry about him as he is a smart operator, but yes, your case is indeed sad.’

‘But … how, Conscience?’

‘Oh-oh, Just to please Gandhi parivar and show your allegiance to Congress Party you instigated a slaughter of 3000 Sikhs, in Delhi riots, in 1984. And that was really stupid of you and what did you think you’ll go scot-free after this ghastly crime? Kanoon ke haath bahut lambe hain Jagdish ji, perhaps you didn’t know that.’

‘But yaar Conscience if you will recall, it all started as a mob reaction, and at the spur of the moment, when Mrs Indira Gandhi was shot dead by her own Sikh guards.’

‘I know-I know everything, as I lived in you then and haven’t forgotten anything. You may use all the legal tricks now to defend yourself in the court of law, but in my court you will always remain guilty of this heinous crime ever.’

‘But, Conscience why are you holding me solely responsible for this crime as there were others too involved in this crime.’

‘Because you were one of the main accomplice’s in getting 3000 Sikhs massacred in the streets of Delhi. And, you made no efforts to stop the riots even with all the power at your command. I left you soon after this crime was committed in 1984. But did you ever introspect as to why you did this and what you got out of this?’

‘I don’t deny I was a great friend of the Gandhis and maybe I too got emotional when Mrs Indira Gandhi was shot dead.’

‘Or was it your insecurity, that if you don’t react sternly you won’t remain the blue eyed guy of Gandhis. You see Jagdish we often commit the mistake of internalizing a feeling in ourselves that we are permanently going to be part of this world and that makes us amass vulgar wealth, perpetrate heinous crimes such as this, and stoop to unethical levels and various sorts of Chamchagiri, trying to be more loyal than the king.

Analyse the difference between yourself and ManMohan, who after converting India into a ‘corrupt-hell-station’ is still roaming free; whereas you lost your complete political career. In 1984 when you committed the crime you were 40 and now past 70 and since then you have just been cooling your heels at home. You converted to Christianity under the influence of James Douglas Tytler a renowned educationist, who impressed you, but still went for this kind of a massacre. Oh what a bright future you had. But all down the drain.’

‘Oh Conscience what do I do now? Show me a way out.’

‘Well for such a genocide one only needs to visit hell for penance, where you’ll probably meet again your old friend Dr Manmohan Singh—CEO-Hell; who might suggest a way out. Anyways take care, and be cautious in your next birth.’

CROSSTALK: WHO HELPS WHOM … the X-factors of politics

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

  

Dr Manmohan Singh after bitterly criticizing BJP in the morning calls on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the afternoon. Many TV channels speculate as to why this meeting took place. There are rumours galore that he went to tutor the PM on how to run Indian economy, and some said he called on the Prime Minister for political asylum owing to various scams committed during UPA regime. And BJP won the general elections because of the scams.

On the face of it BJP and Congress might be bitter rivals but the moral of the story is even a bitter rival can give his opponent a lifetime of an opportunity. Perhaps, PM Narendra Modi didn’t forget this gesture. So who helps whom is often not in the hands of we human beings. 

***

 Mohd Asaduddin Owaisi, is a bitter rival of BJP. But what will happen if his party MIM decides to contest UP elections. The Muslim votes will further get divided amongst Congress, SP, MIM, BSP and BJP. And who will it benefit--BJP? So in politics no one knows who’s helping whom.

SONI, SELJA DIG IN HEELS, WON’T VACATE BUNGALOWS- Such unwieldy politicians likely to fade away from the Indian political map

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

Once upon a time American and European fuel guzzling cars were very popular all over the world because there was no other choice. Then came, the fuel efficient Japanese cars that took the car markets by storm where some of these companies faced the threat of closure and some actually closed. Finally, to survive every car manufacturer had to manufacture fuel efficient cars. They say global trends are more powerful than national and national trends are more powerful than the local.

Indian political market is somewhat heading in the same direction where the culture of VVIPISM is frustrating the Indian population as a whole. Prime Minister Narendra Modi keeps harping about the strength of the young Indian population which happens to be under the age of 35 and is 60% of the Indian population. And this population will soon be up for grabs if they don’t find employment in other sectors, and they will turn into politicians and that will be only good for the Indian Political Market.

For this new breed of politicians will be lean, wieldy, needy and talented, and putting it more appropriately--fuel efficient. Like the Sonis and Seljas they won’t require Bungalows to reside in, vehicles and drivers to cart them, secretaries to communicate, peons to lift their baggage and security guards to protect them. They will be confident and self-sufficient.

And they will be ready to operate out of a small residence, carry their own luggage, drive their own cars or move in public transport without security guards and operate their own laptops; pretty much, away from the hulky and unwieldy syndrome.

Looking in the manner the current generation of politicians is frustrating India through VVIPISM; the talented young India is seeing an opportunity in this. And this may happen quite soon. Arvind Kejriwal came quite close to this methodology but for some reasons moved away. But the younger generation is still contemplating the opportunity and it will require only 5-10 young crusaders to announce this new kind of politicking; and will become the new hero of new India—the lean Indian Politician.

Read the TOI column, Thursday, May 21, 2015

New Delhi: Former Union ministers and Rajya Sabha MPs from Congress Ambika Soni and Kumari Selja have slapped privilege notices on the urban development (UD) ministry for asking them to vacate their official bungalows.

    The ministry served them eviction notice on the ground that they were no entitled to the ministerial bungalows. Both the MPs have contested the claim and have dubbed the notice as a breach of their privilege as parliamentarians. The UD ministry has been intimated by the Upper House.

    “The two have given privilege notices to the urban development ministry in response to its eviction notice served on them for vacating their Type-VIII bungalows.” said an official.

    Soni and Selja are staying in 22, Akbar Road and 7, Moti Lal Nehru Road, respectively, which are allotted to them when they were ministers in the previous UPA government. The UD ministry claimed they were entitled to accommodation meant for MPs as per their seniority but not ministerial bungalows.

    This came even as all MPs staying in the Ashoka Hotel have vacated it. “Dushyant Chautala of INLD was the last to vacate the hotel.” an official said. At one point, 120 newly-elected MPs were staying at Ashoka Hotel.