We are a nation of 1 billion people. We have some of the richest in the world, on the other hand our country is also home to a significant population who live under poverty line. A booming middle class which is ready to take India to new heights and an emerging economy which has the potential to transform India to a developed country. Some of us have even dared to dream of India becoming a super power as America. I will not blame the dreamers, because we were one of the most developed civilization at one point of time. We can find a lot of sucessful Indians who hold key positions in western world. Indira Nooyi, Vikram Pandit, Lakshmi Mittal are specific examples. The cream of our graduates from IIMs and IITs has been lured away by foreign companies. India would have been a much better place, had we been able to prevent this brain drain. Still there is no lack of talent in India. The Tatas and Ambanis showed us that Indian companies can also dream big and can have Global aspirations.
India's dreams can be achieved only through political will. For that we need politicians with vision, and more than that they should be focused on the development of the nation and above all should adopt a honest and transparent approach of governance. Ethics, morality, honesty and integrity are characteristics which we hardly see in any of our netas. India's dreams will remain dreams unless we elect honest candidates who have real passion for the progress of our country. However, there will only be a handful of candidates in that category.
We have two national parties who claim to have nation wide reach and a bunch of regional parties who have no ideology what so ever and who are ready to change ideology and principles and awaiting the right opportunity to back stab major national parties. Some of them have tried to set up a third front also. There is no doubt that the regional parties are becoming stronger and national parties are losing grounds which is a very worrying fact. Clearly the regional parties do not have a national vision. I can't imagine an India led by lalu or mayawati.
Divisive politics and hate speeches have become very common. Varun Gandhi's speech has attracted serious attention. His speech was particularly disturbing because it came from a person who is educated at the London School of Economics. Varun's grand father was a Muslim and his mother is a Sikh. Still he made such a disgusting hate speech just for votes. He is the new opportunistic face in a party which laid its foundation by spreading hatred towards minorities. Young Netas like varun and Raj has taken clues from their seniors and realised that communal remarks and regionalism fetch votes even in modern era. Campaigns like jaago re have been trying hard to attract voters to polling booths. However, even though there is widespread protest against criminalisation of politics, political parties gave tickets to criminals. How can we expect educated urban classes to come forward and vote for criminals and fraudsters.
The list of candidates from Kerala is really encouraging this time. Shashi Tharoor is contesting from Trivandrum. He is one of the most eligible candidates in election-2009. His global experience and knowledge can easily earn him a cabinet post . Going by his track record, he is more than capable of taking Trivandrum to new heights. Bloggers from trivandrum have started campaigning for him through blogs and for the first time in my life, I am going to vote.
Please visit his website and try to support his campaign in whatever way you can. Can he be the ‘Obama of Anandapuri’ and deliver the change we are looking for? My answer is a definite yes!
TV channels celebrated another Indian Victory after Vijay Mallya brought back Baapu's belongings. News channels declared Mallya's win as the show of Indian strength and money power to the world. I always had a feeling that television media has never been able to cover the real issues of the country. They always concentrate on stupid controversies, while real issues went unnoticed.
Gandhiji considered drinking as a social evil which can hinder the progress of our nation. Now Mallya has managed to get his belongings using the money from his liquor business. I can’t see any reason why we should celebrate this; on the other hand we all should be ashamed. Gandhiji's trademark is simplicity, its an irony that his belongings went to someone who is exactly opposite, who lives a luxurious fast paced life.
Otis has approached Government of India to avoid the auction. In return he has asked the government to spend 5% of the GDP for health and sanitation of the poor. I think Gandhiji would have preferred Otis to have his belongings than Mallya. At least he understands what Gandhian principles is all about. Finally Government claimed that they brought the pride possessions through Mallya in order to save their face. However Mallya has rubbished this claim quickly and announced that the government has nothing to do with the auction.
I believe we shouldnt worry too much about his spectacles and other personal belongings. We should pay attention to what he taught us. His ideology of simple life style has great relevance in today's world where people struggle to pay off their credit cards.
The commercial value of Baapu is sky high. Lage Raho Munnabhai, has proved this fact. He still lives in the heart of millions of people around the world. Many think Gandhian principles are difficult to practice now. However, living a simple life has its advantages. It will make us less complex human beings. The mad race behind money is not going to take us anywhere.
