What does this government hold in store?

There was initial relief that the left is no more part of the government. That has been shortlived as there are apparently worse forces at work. The government needs money. One way to get this is to remove the administered pricing mechanism (APM) (not exactly sure about what this exactly is, but it is primarily the reason why our fuel prices did not shoot up even when international crude prices did). Enter Mamata di. There are some elections (assembly i think) coming up in Bengal. Raising prices before elections is anathema! I hope it happens at least after the elections. I know, no one likes higher prices. But that way at least usage will come down and more people will opt for public transport or will pool vehicles (message to the government - improve public transport, fast). Btw I think Mr Karunanidhi is also dead against raising fuel prices. I think these two will more than make up for the left's absence in the present government. Even after the APM is removed prices of LPG and kerosene will still be regulated - this was the plan. An interesting piece of trivia. Kerosene is cheap because the government provides a subsidy hoping the poor will benefit. Where does a lot of this go? Into adulterating petrol (and/or diesel, I am not sure).


A Raja who apparently has cost the previous UPA government 60,000 crores (yup, crores) in revenue because of the opaque way he allotted 2G spectrum is back as the IT minister. TR Baalu who has supposedly demoralised the entire ministry of transport is also back. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh of the RJD who supposedly did some good work as rural development minister has not been allowed by Lalu to join this government (talk about sour grapes!). I am not casting aspersions on the man's abilities but I am still confused as to why SM Krishna has become the MEA.


What is going to happen to this country?

The Indian Elections and Their Aftermath - Part 2

Also what does the future hold for the opposition? I got the following tidbit of information from a TV channel, maybe IBN7 - in 2004, the NDA had an ultra-positive campaign in India Shining, this time it was ultra negative in Bhay Ho, neither worked. In 2004 the NDA was a poor loser stalling Parliament proceedings. I hope they behave better this time round. It is surely going to be a sorely demoralized lot. Advani has already said he is not interested in being the leader of the opposition.

I am also curious about the next general elections, which will hopefully be held only in 2014, not before that. Who are going to be the key players? Rahul Gandhi is declining a ministerial post right now. The Congress is (in)famous for its sycophants, one among who had once declares "Indrira is India". It is not beyond the 'Gandhi family loyalists' to exhort him to stand for the PM's position the next time round (he will be 43, Rajiv Gandhi became PM at 40). Manmohan Singh will probably be as old as Advani is now but will the Congress choose him over a member of the Gandhi family then? So it would seem advisable for Rahul Gandhi to take up a ministerial post, as we are sure that he will one day become the PM of this nation. But what about the opposition? Advani will not be in the picture. Modi does not have national acceptability now, I am doubtful about his acceptability in 2014. Is there another leader today in the BJP who has a mass appeal? I don't think so. There are potential candidates like Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Shourie (a friend pointed out Yashwant Sinha and Jaswant Singh) but I cannot say for sure that there will be anyone who can compete against Rahul Gandhi, except Modi. And we are back to square one.

And what is up with Andhra Pradesh? I cannot claim to have followed even decently what has been happening in AP over the last five years. But from what I heard there was widespread corruption everywhere, missionary activites atop Tirumala hill (for the uninitiated Tirupati is the town and Tirumala is the actual hill where Lord Venkateswara's temple is located and the CM is a converted Christian) and rampant nepotism. Rajasekhara Reddy's (the CM) son has become an MLA this time round. He is a controversial figure in his own right, owns a paper, I forget its name. It has a pro-Congress tilt (obviously) and I beleive it was started to take on Ramoji Rao's Eenadu, which was highly critical of the COngress govt and which is pro-TDP. Another thing that I am aware of is that anything and everything is being named after either Rajiv Gandhi or Indira Gandhi, whether it be Hyderabad's new international airport (a Visakhapatnam-Hyderabad flight takes about 45 minutes, it takes an hour to get into town from the airport), a housing scheme or a health scheme. Someone please tell the CM that there were other leaders in the Congress leaving out those two. There is not even a mention of P V Narasimha Rao (maybe a stretch of a Hyderabadi ring road has been named after him) and this was the person responsible for giving us Manmohan Singh, for bringing India out of the risk of sovereign default and for providing the first stable government after Rajiv Gandhi's assassination.

There was Chiranjeevi with his Praja Rajyam Party. I do not say he would make a great CM but at least there was an opportunity for a change. There was the ex-civil servant Jayaprakash Narayan with his Lok Satta Party promising clean governance. There were huge turnouts at Chiranjeevi's rallies. It was the same when Balakrishna (NTR's son) and Junior NTR (Balakrishna's nephew and NTR's grandson) campaigned for the TDP. Where were these votes? The TDP and the Communists had formed an alliance. The people ignored all of these and voted for the COngress! My father quipped that people get the government they deserve.

Forget for the moment the next general elections. What do the next five years hold for us? I would describe myself as an Andhra middle class liberal Hindu right-wing citizen of this nation, and these are my anguished thoughts.

The Indian Elections and Their Aftermath - Part 1

This is going to be a lengthy post, hence it is in two parts. The elections are over. What is up with the Indian electorate? I have not exactly understood why the UPA govt has been voted back to power and that too with such widespread support. One theory I have heard is that Muslims have voted unitedly for it this time which has caused this swing. But, does no one hold the government responsible for the spate of terrorist attacks that took place over the last 2-3 years? Or is everybody hoping that Manmohan will work his magic on the economy and bring it out of the slowdown? Do people believe the NREG scheme and the nuclear deal are wonderful examples of the UPA government's achievements? I don't know.

One question we have to ponder is that what is happening to us as far as terrorist incidents go. When the Mumbai attacks took place, there was national outrage? I do not see any manifestation of it in the electoral outcome. Have we become resigned to the situation? Do we believe we cannot do anything about this? South Mumbai where the attacks took place saw a voter turnout of 47% I think. What is happening here?

One good thing with the electoral results is that the verdict is not fragmented as it has been in the past couple of years. Regional parties do not seem to have a strangle hold over the govt that is to be shortly formed. So we can hopefully look forward to a decisive govt (consider the irony, the BJP was giving ads about a decisive govt). Now it remains to be seen if Manmohan Singh can stand by two promises he had made. Unless I am mistaken he had said in an interview that he would get India out of its slowdown in 100 days if the UPA came back to power. He had also said the same thing about bringing back Indian black money stashed abroad. Will he stand by his words or has he also learned the art of realpolitik? Will we have more farm loan waivers (God forbid)? Apart from the effect on the fiscal deficit of the country, I hate seeing the money that I as a middle class member pay going into farm loan waivers. I am all for helping farmers. But do it properly. Improve irrigation facilities, consolidate land holdings, improve seed quality. Sharad Pawar seemed to be as (or maybe more) interested in the BCCI as he was in the agricultural ministry. Will there be a repeat of this? Whatever one might say, I am happy that it is Manmohan Singh and not Sharad Pawar, Mulayam Singh Yadav or Mayawati that is becomming the PM.

The stock markets seem to have given a thumbs up to the UPA's victory, so much so that trading had to be halted! Does this portend good times to come?