Skip to main content

Modi Politics



The front page of today’s [22 Feb 2014] Malayala Manorama (a newspaper with 20 million readers) reports that Narendra Modi has made a contract with the Marxist Party [CPI(M)] in Kerala. 

The Marxists in Kerala turned capitalists long ago when Pinarayi Vijayan took over the Party.  V S Achuthandan (with his foot in the grave) questioned the capitalist tendencies of the Party, the result being that he was bullied by those who control the economy.

Marxists are turning capitalists all over the world.  Let’s forgive Achuthandan for growing old and yet not retiring.  Idealists don’t retire, unfortunately .

Modis flourish.   And gather followers. 

Achuthandan was invited to join AAP [Aam Aami Party].  By none other than Arvind Kejriwal himself.  But how can a senior join a junior party?  Ego problem. 

What really bothers me is the report that Mr Modi offered to pay money for buying up votes in Kerala.  The newspaper says that  Modi offered to pay any amount for winning the Thiruvananthapuram seat as well as the neighbouring Attingal one.  Given Modi’s Chanakya tantra, the report cannot be false.  Given Malayala Manorama’s credentials, the report cannot be false. 

So, what does democracy in Modi Raj amount to?  Buying votes?  Worse, fascism?

Any Gujarati trader (chai wallah, I can’t rise to Mani Shankar Aiyar’s status in this regard) can come and buy votes in Kerala?  Has Kerala degraded itself to this extent?  Has Marxism in Kerala degraded to this extent?  These are some questions that will haunt my sleep tonight. 

Thankfully, Modi won’t haunt my sleep.  He has no ideology.  He can keep buying and selling things, as far as I’m concerned.  I only hope he won’t mastermind another mass killing in some place (Rama forbid, in my village where nobody knows about Rama – they worship Krishna, you see) in India for the sake of votes.


Labels:

Comments

  1. UnknownFebruary 22, 2014 at 8:27 PM

    Don't you think you are going a boot over board with this modi fascism thing. I am a supporter of modi i like what he did with gujarat. You don't have to put a ton of degrading facts about Gujarat to prove me wrong. I don't think India is Germany nor that modi has it in him to be another Hitler. But i had enough of Congress and i don't trust aap for the simple fact that kejriwal in my protective turned out to another political opportunist. I supported anna hazare not kejriwal. And i do agree with Marxists turning to be capitalist. But a term of modi will do good for the country. The last time bjp ruled was good for India. They had strong leadership. They did pokran remember not that i support nuclear warfare but it does take strong willpower to do it. Now that China and pakistan are pestering us a surviving central lateral leadership will only be good.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalFebruary 22, 2014 at 8:32 PM

      Rupert, just one question: What's your real name? Who are you?

      Delete
    2. UnknownFebruary 23, 2014 at 8:16 PM

      This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    3. Tomichan MatheikalFebruary 24, 2014 at 9:05 AM

      What's happening Rupert? Confused?

      Delete
  2. UnknownFebruary 23, 2014 at 12:49 AM

    It seems that you are so against Modi.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalFebruary 23, 2014 at 8:18 AM

      I am, Namrata, and I don't hide that opposition behind any mask. Modi supporters wear masks, Modi's own face :)

      Delete
    2. UnknownFebruary 23, 2014 at 10:39 AM

      So, whom do you think isn't wearing a mask? What do you think would be a better party to form Govt in India?

      Delete
    3. Tomichan MatheikalFebruary 23, 2014 at 2:00 PM

      Anybody would be a better option than Modi, as far as I'm concerned. The others may be corrupt, inefficient... call them whatever you wish. But they are human!

      Delete
  3. ManiparnaFebruary 23, 2014 at 2:53 AM

    At present , India has numerous parties but no true leader..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalFebruary 23, 2014 at 8:20 AM

      That's precisely the tragedy, Maniparna. I think god has refused to incarnate anymore. What has happened to 'Sambhavmi yuge yuge', I wonder.

      Delete
  4. 12345February 24, 2014 at 1:19 AM

    Sir, i dont understand why r u so against Modi?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalFebruary 24, 2014 at 9:04 AM

      Anyone who disowns a section of his country is a traitor, dear friend. Such a person is more dangerous to the nation than terrorists.

      Delete
  5. AditiFebruary 25, 2014 at 12:08 PM

    I have never felt comfortable about Modi. But AAP gives me jitters. I find actions of AAP as demonstrative of intellectual dishonesty in every decision that they have taken so far.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalFebruary 25, 2014 at 12:35 PM

      Aditi, do intellectual honesty and politics coexist? Anyway, I don't think I can accuse AAP of intellectual dishonesty for the sake of supporting other parties which behave like street hooligans and rowdies...

      Delete
  6. Ankur AnandFebruary 26, 2014 at 7:40 AM

    politics has never been about choosing between right and wrong .. it has always been a case of choosing between different shades of grey i guess especially in india.. and right now there is no shades only black !

    ReplyDelete
  7. UnknownMarch 11, 2014 at 10:29 AM

    Don't you think you are over-reacting when it comes to Modi? :D Don't believe everything you read in newspaper unless you can actually have a look at the proof :) Media are famous for misinterpreting things :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

From a Teacher’s Diary

Henry B Adams, American historian and writer, is believed to have said that “one never knows where a teacher’s influence ends.” As a teacher, I have always striven to keep that maxim in mind while dealing with students. Even if I couldn’t wield any positive influence, I never wished to leave a scar on the psyche of any student of mine. Best of intentions notwithstanding, we make human errors and there may be students who were not quite happy with me especially since I never possessed even the lightest shade of diplomacy. Tactless though I was, I have been fortunate, as a teacher, to have a lot of good memories returning with affection from former students. Let me share the most recent experience. A former student’s WhatsApp message yesterday carried two PDF attachments. One was the dissertation she wrote for her graduation. The other was a screenshot of the Acknowledgement. “A special mention goes to Mr Tomichan Matheikal, my English teacher in higher secondary school, whose moti...
10 comments
Read more

Waiting for the Mahatma

Book Review I read this book purely by chance. R K Narayan is not a writer whom I would choose for any reason whatever. He is too simple, simplistic. I was at school on Saturday last and I suddenly found myself without anything to do though I was on duty. Some duties are like that: like a traffic policeman’s duty on a road without any traffic! So I went up to the school library and picked up a book which looked clean. It happened to be Waiting for the Mahatma by R K Narayan. A small book of 200 pages which I almost finished reading on the same day. The novel was originally published in 1955, written probably as a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi and India’s struggle for independence. The edition that I read is a later reprint by Penguin Classics. Twenty-year-old Sriram is the protagonist though Gandhi towers above everybody else in the novel just as he did in India of the independence-struggle years. Sriram who lives with his grandmother inherits significant wealth when he turns 20. Hi...
9 comments
Read more

The Pope and a Prostitute

I started reading the autobiography of Pope Francis a few days back as mentioned in an earlier post that was inspired by chapter 2 of the book. I’m reading the book slowly, taking my own sweet time, because I want to savour every line of this book which carries so much superhuman tenderness. The book ennobles the reader. The fifth chapter describes a few people of his barrio that the Pope knew as a young man. Two of them are young “girls” who worked as prostitutes. “But these were high-class,” the Pope adds. “They made their appointments by telephone, arranged to be collected by automobile.” La Ciche and La Porota – that’s what they were called. “Years went by,” the Pope writes, “and one day when I was now auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires, the telephone rang in the bishop’s palace. It was la Porota who was looking for me.” Pope Francis was meeting her after many years. “Hey, don’t you remember me? I heard they’ve made you a bishop.” She was a river in full flow, says the Pope....
8 comments
Read more

Water as Weapon

A scene from Kerala The theme chosen for their monthly blog hop by friends Manali Desai and Sukaina Majeed is water, particularly because March 22 is World Water Day. It is of vital importance to discuss the global water crisis because as the motto of Delhi Jal Board says: Jal hi Jeevan hai , Water is Life . The crisis is only going to become more and more acute as we move on. With a global population clocking 8.5 billion by 2030, the demand for fresh water will rise sharply, especially in urban areas. The climate change, particularly rising temperatures, prolonged droughts, and erratic rainfall patterns, will add significantly to the problem. Ground water is getting depleted in many countries. Consequently, water is likely to be a strategic asset in the near future. Powerful individuals, corporations, and nations may use it as a weapon in several ways. Rivers can be blocked with dams and water supply to neighbouring nations can be manipulated. Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance Dam o...
9 comments
Read more

War is Stupid: Pope Francis

Image by Google Gemini I am reading Pope Franci’s autobiography, Hope . Some of his views on war and justice as expressed in the first pages [I’ve read only two chapters so far] accentuate the difference of this Pope from his predecessors. Many of his views are radical. I knew that Pope Francis was different from the other Popes, but hadn’t expected so much. The title of chapter 2 is taken from Psalm 120 : Too Long Do Live Among Those Who Hate Peace . The psalm was sung by Jewish pilgrims travelling to Jerusalem for religious festivals. It expresses a longing for deliverance from deceitful and hostile enemies. It is a prayer for divine justice. Justice is what Pope Francis seeks in the contemporary world too in chapter 2 of his autobiography. “Each day the world seems more elitist,” he writes, “and each day crueler, toward those who have been cast out and abandoned. Developing countries continue to be drained of their finest natural and human resources for the benefit of a few pr...
4 comments
Read more