Bunch of Thoughts

It would be fair to say that BJP's performance in Gujarat has been disappointing by the high standards that they have set for themselves. Their CM candidate for HP, lost even his own seat. Although BJP has won both the elections comfortably, clearly some political calculations have gone wrong. 3 key lessonss from today's results 1) Development alone is not enough - Phase 1 of elections in Gujarat was fought largely on vikaas.  Phase 2 had a cocktail of Development, Hindutva, and Nationalism. All of BJP's losses were in Phase 1. BJP needs Hindutva and/or Nationalism to fire up its core vote base. Hindutva today is non-negotiable. Even Rahul Gandhi has realized this. 2) Saurashtra/Kutch Issues - Water remains an issue for both Saurashtra and Kutch. So far, one could blame the central UPA government for not completing the Sardar Sarovar dam. Today the dam stands completed but work on canals that will take water to villages is still to be done. This needs to completed...

Sanjay Leela Bhansali (SLB) has messed up big time with the marketing of his movie Padmavati. To start with someone 'leaked' the storyline which involved a 'dream sequence' between Rani Padmini and Khilji. This led to vandalism on the sets. The police acted quickly to make some arrests but SLB refused to file a FIR and the accused had to released. SLB then got into an agreement with Karni Sena on the movie. It was then very clear that something is just not right. Fast forward a few months and the story repeats again. To start with no one emphatically denies the dream sequence. To make things worse Deepika Padukone lectures the nation on being regressive. This further escalates the opposition.  SLB then releases a video and allows a few media folks to review the movie. CBFC is now pissed at being bypassed. Politicians then get into action and without having seen the movie demand a complete ban.  There are some very good reasons why I support the release of ...

Experts and novices alike are predicting doomsday for the Indian economy. GDP growth earnings and job data from one quarter are being used to brandish the fastest growing economy in the world as a failure. The issue is not with the assessment but the failure to recognise that Modinomics has fundamentally changed the way our economy is analysed and managed - a change from macroeconomics to microeconomics. The microeconomics in play is also very unique to India and is inspired by Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya's philosophy of Integral Humanism. Once cannot understand Modinomics without understanding Integral Humanism.  As per Pandit Deendayal, the goal of any economic policy is to provide a life of dignity to every human being. The fundamental building block of an economy is an individual and his family. An economy can only improve if the life of individual at the lowest rung of society improves. Integral Humanism is also takes into account the unique cultural, historical a...

The Rohingya Muslims are a 2 million strong community hailing from the Rakhine region in Burma. Historical records indicate the presence of the Rohingya's in Burma since the 1430s. Burma claims that the Rohingyas are refugees from Bangladesh and are not citizens of Burma. Since they are not citizens, they need not enjoy any benefits which are a privilege of citizens only. Rohingyas are Sunni Muslims and have their own language. They have little in common with Burmese culture which has a strong Buddhist influence.  There are 40,000 Rohingyas settled illegally settled in Jammu with more than a million more waiting to make their way to India.  Libtards in India are making a strong case for India to take in more Rohingyas and take care of the ones illegally settled here.  There are 3 reasons why India needs to not only close its doors to this community but also deport the ones present in Jammu 1) History of the Rohingyas - Despite being in Burma for at least 700 y...

There is little doubt that yoga today is a global phenomenon. The benefits of yoga are well documented and proven beyond doubt in the scientific and medical community. Beyond the medical and wellness benefits, yoga has become the most potent platform to experience Hinduism. Yoga is now emerging as a weapon of cultural conquest for India. Its true that Indians have never physically invaded any country but we have often used culture to win over the hearts and mind of global citizens. India's cultural influence spreads way beyond its political borders. If one had to re-draw India's boundaries based on its cultural influence, our map would cover a big part of the globe.  Sensing this imminent cultural threat from India, a new movement has been launched in the west. This movement is being called SBNR or Spiritual But Not Religious. SBNR claims that no religion is complete but every religion has value which can be appropriated. Although SBNR claims to be against all forms of...

NDTV Frauds   by Sree Iyer is an epic takedown of the NDTV group of companies, its founders and some of its employees. Sree Iyer digs up investigations going back to the 1990s and portrays a picture of a company founded to act as a PR firm for a political party under a guise of journalism. Here are some of the top 5 allegations made by Sree Iyer in his book- 1) Quid Pro Quo Deals - NDTV has its foundations in a program titled 'The World This Week' which was paid for by Doordarshan. The book alleges that in return for the contract , NDTV hired the son-in-law of the Doordarshan honcho. This son-in-law who happens to be the son of a famous cricketer goes on to become #2 in NDTV. 2) Hiring @ NDTV - Sree Iyer claims that NDTV hires kin of people in powerful positions be it politicians, bureaucrats, judiciary, army etc. This hiring strategy gives NDTV access to insider information and also aids in getting them contracts. The book cites an example of a spouse of an Income...

The first 25 years of my life,  I grew up on a staple diet of Bollywood movies. Growing up in Mumbai ( or Bombay then), I used to believe that entertainment meant Bollywood. Given the variety and volume of content from Bollywood in the 1990s, there was never a need to look beyond Bollywood. Then came the era of the Khans and Bollywood began to decay and decline. In 2005, when I moved to Bangalore, I realised that movies made in southern part of India were far superior than even the best from Bollywood.  Bahubali made me realise about the rot that has set in Bollywood. As I look back, I can easily identify 3 reasons for this decline of Bollywood 1) Rise of Syndicates - Today Bollywood is organised in a manner which is very similar to the underworld mafia. Every 'Bhai' develops his own group/gang or syndicate which controls the entire ecosystem - from financing, production, actors, distribution. This syndicate dictates when any movie can be released and in how man...

In the recent past, judgements from our courts have often surprised me. Latest case is the judgement on the Babri Majid demolition case. Lets look at the charge of criminal conspiracy.  As per our Indian Penal Code, there are 2 necessary conditions which need to be proved beyond doubt to establish criminal conspiracy 1) Agreement - There needs to be an explicit prior agreement between parties to commit a criminal act. Our law clearly states that mere intent is not enough but an agreement needs to be proved. After 25 years of investigations, all we have are eye witness accounts of speeches made by Advani and others. These speeches at best indicate an intent to build a temple and nothing more. After 25 years with many eye witnesses dead and fading memory, it is impossible to prove prior agreement.  2) Plan or Design - The second necessary condition to prove criminal conspiracy is the existence of a plan or design which was pre-agreed by the people who have come ...

This week 2 people are in the news for all the wrong reasons - Kapil Sharma and Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad. Kapil Sharma got mad at his team as they started to have their meals even before he had finished his drinks on a flight. In a fit of rage, he hit his own team members with a shoe. Ravindra Gaikwad went a setup further and slapped an Air India official 25 times with his sandal. One often wonders why these people who are public figures indulge in such behaviour. Why would any one who has accomplished so much throw it all away in a petty fight? Tony Blair also encountered this. He lost many of his talented cabinet members in the first year of office to some sex scandal. Tony too wondered what had gone wrong. In his memoir, Tony explains that power is intoxicating. The initial 'kicks' from his intoxication makes one do good ... it feels amazing to help ordinary people around you.  As with all intoxicants , soon the kick fades away and urge sets in to up the...

A confident BJP has decided to put in place a team of 'A' players to head its government in UP. This team is expected to be ruthless in implementing BJP's manifesto. Here are 3 reasons why the the team of 1 CM and 2 Deputies is a good step forward 1) Law & Order - The strength and dose of any medicine has to be proportional to the spread of the disease. Given the rampant lawless and the rise of local bahubalis in the last 5 years, only a strong, no-nonsence leader can deliver on law and order. A leader is needed who can put the fear of the law in the minds of local bahubalis. On this count, there is no better leader than Yogi Adityanath. He will lead the charge to establish the rule of law. Women security will get a boost with Yogi as CM. Yogi's track record as a MP since 1998 has been impressive. His interventions during 55 debates and 200+ questions he put forth during Question Hour demonstrate his administrative and policy making acumen. Yogi is as young as ...

There was a long standing myth in Indian politics - one cannot win an election without the support of minorities. Hence every political party puts a huge premium on the minority vote. It came to a point that every party used to complete for the minority vote. This gave birth to appeasement politics or what is commonly known as politics of secularism. Hindus on the other hand were never seen as one community. Politicians in India who were often educated abroad viewed the Hindus not  as a community but a collection of castes, cults and sects. Like most western experts the Hindu identity was looked down upon. The only recognition was that of caste. Hence the path to electoral victory was to secure the minority vote and combine that with a few caste based vote banks. This logic was turned upside down by a visionary from UP in 1991 - Kalyan Singh. Kalyan Singh dreamt of an 'Universal Spectrum of  Hindu Vote' or in simple words a Hindu vote bank. What if all Hindus irrespecti...

There are numerous reports of the Trump administration banning H1B visas for professionals. Market reacted sharply and a billion dollars worth of market cap was wiped off. Trump's policy of ' Hire American, Buy American' is also likely to scare away students. While Trump may think his policies are helping America, he has ended up doing a big favour to Indian IT industry, families and our country at large 1) IT Services companies took off in the 90s on the value proposition of cost arbitrage i.e. shipping skilled Indian engineers at 25% of US costs and milking huge margins. This was called 'body shopping'. This was followed up with the 'Onshore-Offshore' model i.e. have only small teams at customer locations in the US which gets worked done by a large offshore teams in India. Margins increased and so did employment in India. As large US multinationals setup their own base in India, this model is now falling apart. IT Services companies are looking for a ...

For a change, the most talked about calendar in India today is not the Kingfisher calendar but the KVIC calendar. Most people like me would never have heard of a KVIC calendar. Its a calendar published by Khadi and Villages Industry Commission which promotes the use of khadi. The calendar is in news as it carries a photo of Narendra Modi spinning a charkha. Liberals are up in arms claiming that this is an insult to the father of our nation. While there is no doubt that Gandhi is bigger brand than Modi globally, every brand needs a brand ambassador to keep itself relevant from time to time. The Gandhian brand to me stands for the following values 1) Swadeshi 2) Swachata 3) Development of India by developing her villages 4) Authentic Desi Identity - Gandhi ji was never shy of being 'Indian'. Gandhi ji's faith, values, behaviour and dress did not have a tinge of westernisation despite his global exposure. From his support to cow-protection to his anti-conversion views...