Opposition Unity Archives - Lokmarg

An Idea Whose Time Has Come

By Amit Sengupta 17th September 2024

If the caste census is an unstoppable idea now, Rahul Gandhi too is an unstoppable idea. Indeed, he is flying on the wings of a certain special kind of passion which can only arrive once in a lifetime. And the time has come now.

Contrast this with the dark irony of the fake messiah. Not only was he decisively defeated in the last parliamentary polls, he seems to have totally vanished from the scene, including from within the stooge media, who would start crawling at the mere mention of his name.

Rahul Gandhi is once again right. The constant fear and overwhelming terror of the last 10 years seems to have disappeared faster than one could imagine.

And it is not coming back!

In his recent, highly successful visit to America, there were signals which were as clear as sparkling, winter sunshine. That the PM was not biological, but, was a prophet sent by God, proclaimed in Varanasi, was the first transparent sign, said Rahul Gandhi. That revealed his “psychological collapse”. It punctured the “carefully constructed 56-inch persona”.

Talking to students and teachers in Washington DC, he said: “The idea of Mr Modi, 56-inch chest, direct connection with God, that’s all gone; its history now. He realizes it, India realizes it, his partners in the government realize it, three or four senior ministers in his government realize it.”

“I think early on he had realized this thing is going wrong. We were getting inputs from regular sources, some of the agencies… it was pretty clear that they were in trouble… And we knew when he said, I speak directly to God, that we have actually blown him apart… People think, well, this was the prime minister saying that I am special, I am unique and I talk to God. But, that’s not how we saw it. Internally, we saw it as a psychological collapse,” he said.

Rahul Gandhi’s visit to America is a pointer. Surely, there are powerful forces in the West which want a paradigm shift in India.

For a big democracy, there has been just too much of hate politics, mob-lynching, minority-bashing, bad-mouthing, war-mongering, and infinite injustice. Umar Khalid, Gulfisha, Sharjeel and other brilliant, young scholars are still languishing in prison. Clearly, the Supreme Court, all other courts in the land, and, especially, the current chief justice, who arrived riding on ‘Great Expectations’, have failed to give them justice. This is, indeed, tragic and beyond belief.

The rise and rise of Kamala Harris marks a contrast with the fall and fall of the fake god-send in India. Certainly, there is no love lost among the Democrats for the fascists in India. And, with Bernie Sanders, and his socialist ‘squad’, including Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib backing Kamala Harris, there is little hope left for the Neo-Nazis in India, to get good vibes from most of America.

The clarion call of the PM, ‘Abki baar Trump Sarkar’, breaking all norms and protocol, and sending a clear message to the Democrats, has not been forgotten. Donald Trump, friend and ally of the PM, sharing most of his retrograde views, is on a sticky wicket. The first debate between him and Kamala Harris has proved that all his cards seem to have already collapsed.

The mass murderer of Israel, one of the best buddies of the Indian PM, isolated and discredited in the entire world, and hated by a majority of his own people, is counting his last days in power. Undoubtedly, it is Benjamin Netanyahu, who is blocking all the efforts for the release of the hostages in custody of the Hamas. He simply does not seem to care one bit about them, or, their grieving families. With the genocide still continuing in Gaza, and, now, spilling over in the West Bank, the tragic fate of the condemned Israeli hostages, and their every day suffering, seems to find no end.

Meanwhile, the INDIA alliance too is becoming an unstoppable idea. Only a miracle can save the BJP in Haryana. With world champion, now, a national icon, Vinesh Phogat, contesting from her own homeland on a Congress ticket, the wave has already swept the ‘ground beneath the feet’ of the Hindutva forces. Defeat stares point-blank at them, and not even their non-biological, fake prophet can save them anymore.

The cycle of defeat should inevitably follow in Maharashtra and Bihar. With a discredited Nitish Kumar totally out of focus, and the graph of Tejeshwi Yadav rising, Bihar, once again, as in the past, will show the way. Like that of the PM, Nitish Kumar’s days too are over.

ALSO READ: Youth, Jobs and Disenchantment in India

The defeat in Maharashtra will mark the final political rupture in the fate of the BJP. Not only is it the financial capital of India, the defeat of the BJP in the state will be a clear pointer that all the crony capitalists, who, till now, were eating from the hands of the Gujarati duo calling the shots in Delhi, will now start looking for greener pastures.

With the sold-out, faction-ridden regime led by a discredited Eknath Shinde, and with all the factions fighting with each other routinely, Mumbai will now witness a new power equation. And it will be the rainbow coalition of the Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP which is bound to win the next elections.

Meanwhile, more pointers are coming from within the Hindutva camp, which are clearly bad signals for the PM. Of all the people, Smriti Irani, an obsessive Rahul-baiter, seems to have turned into an ardent fan of Rahul Gandhi! Look at what she has said recently: “A change has come in the politics of Rahul Gandhi… When he talks about caste, when he wears a white T-shirt in Parliament, he is aware of what kind of message it sends to the youth…We shouldn’t be under any misconception about his actions — whether they seem good, bad, or childish, they represent a different style of politics.”

There is no doubt that the working class and ordinary folks are close to the heart of Rahul Gandhi. From coal miners in Jharkhand, to coolies and mechanics in Delhi, to Swiggy and Zomato workers who stake their lives on motorbikes to deliver quick food to customers, and are threatened by their employers that their meager salaries will be cut if they don’t deliver on time, he has touched their hands and brought their everyday life into media limelight. Hardworking railway drivers, who are driving long distances without adequate sleep, and not even with clean toilets, he has travelled the journey with all of them, sharing their sorrows and smiles.

Not only that. Rahul Gandhi chooses to drop in, here and there, in this town and that city, in this restaurant and that, sharing their food and delicacies. He meets the cooks and the staff, shakes their hands, hugs them, pays his bill, and they are too glad to get a group picture clicked with such an amiable and friendly fellow. A Pune-based school teacher told this reporter that this is an endearing quality in the man, and she too would like to share a meal with him one day.

History teaches us that one day, beyond doubt, all fascists must accept defeat. Adolf Hitler committed suicide in Berlin. Benito Mussolini was shot dead. And so was the inevitable fate Romanian dictator, Nicolae Ceaușescu.

TheRomanian state television had then announced that Ceaușescu was directly responsible for the mass murder of 60,000 people. After 24 years of brutal dictatorship, he was executed on December 25, 1989. This also marked the end of the totalitarian regimes led by Soviet Union, and its collapse, with Mikhail Gorbachev at the helm in Moscow.

Rahul Gandhi is an unstoppable idea now. In a certain manner, he has touched the soul of India. Undoubtedly, after the 10 years of this nasty and cruel regime, India needs healing. And, as the first nip of early winter arrives with the festive season, this is the time to dream, and dream big.

Small is truly beautiful, but the ‘new India’, which belongs to the young, is full of dreams. Surely, the days of insomnia are, now, finally over.

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Without a Clear Leader, I.N.D.I.A. is Doomed to Fail

By Sanjoy Narayan 1st October 2023

I’ll start with a promise to readers. In this column I shall use the full form of India’s less-than-three-month-old alliance of opposition parties only once. The alliance, comprising 26 opposition parties, national and regional, calls itself the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance. If you have time you can waste some of it on figuring out the clumsy grammar, syntax, or meaning of that phrase and decide whether or how you would like to translate it to mean anything for 70% of India’s 1.4 billion people who do not have even a nodding acquaintance with English. Now that we’re done with that, we’ll stick with the acronym to which that inelegant phrase reduces, I.N.D.I.A.

Nowadays, it’s fashionable and, indeed, de rigueur even, to bash Opposition leaders in India. Have a gander: Rahul Gandhi of the Congress, who is in his mid-fifties and is considered young by his benign party colleagues, is seen to be someone who is a continuous work-in-progress, apparently taking far greater time to mature than an average high school student; Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee, the firebrand leader of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) is unpredictable to the point of often being shrill and silly, but providing moments of ironic or slapstick humour like recently when she was seen jogging in slippers and a sari in Madrid, accompanied by her aides; Bihar’s veteran Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal (U), who at 72 wants as his last hurrah to be Prime Minister of India; or Delhi’s Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), whose national ambitions are at odds with the yet-to-mature party that he leads.

There are a host of other leaders of parties that make up I.N.D.I.A., ranging from the old, such as Nationalist Congress party’s Sharad Pawar, 82, to the young, such as Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Tejashwi Yadav, 33. There are schisms and differences as well within the motley alliance. It has to deal with ideological differences between member parties (some are left-leaning, others are not; some are secular, others are not; and so on). Most glaringly, there is an absence of consensus between them on who should be the leader or the prime ministerial candidate when they contest the parliamentary elections due in eight months, which is not a very long time.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime has quite clearly changed the rules of the election game. It has projected a powerful candidate, Narendra Modi, who has been successful in driving it to victory in 2014 and again in 2019. In 2024, it will project Modi, whose approval ratings (according to Morning Consult, the US business intelligence company) is 76%, higher than that of any leader in the world.

If I.N.D.I.A. intends to take him on, it will have to project a head-to-head rival and not a bunch of ragtag leaders, some of whom are still maturing, a few who aren’t sure whether they are in a sitcom or in politics, and yet others who are really pretty irrelevant, and well past their “best before” dates.

So who can I.N.D.I.A. project against Modi in the coming elections? Let’s look at a few.

Could it be Mamata Banerjee. The West Bengal chief minister and TMC supremo has emerged as a strong leader of the Opposition after her landslide victory in the state assembly elections in 2021. On the flipside, her state is wracked by divisiveness. Her ostensibly secular policies are viewed by some as pandering to the minority community of Muslims (for the record, Muslims make up more than 27% of the state’s population). And while Bengal during her regime’s rule has improved its fiscal health and economic growth, many see it as a tinderbox with violence simmering beneath the surface–its elections and by elections are marked by horrific incidents of murders, arson and other forms of violent aggression. Moreover, Banerjee’s clout in national politics is insignificant–for instance, she hardly matters in the Hindi belt.

What about Rahul Gandhi? The former Congress president and MP from Wayanad has been a vocal critic of the Modi government and its policies. He has also led several campaigns and rallies across the country to mobilise support for the Congress and its allies. However, his leadership and popularity have been questioned by some in the Opposition and the public. And while the Congress’ electoral fortunes have shown a glimmer of hope (notably, its win in Karnataka in May this year), Gandhi is not seen as a dependable “election winner”. His diffidence in taking up positions of responsibility and often fickle views on policy does not evoke confidence among many Indians.

Is Delhi’s Arvind Kejriwal a dark horse who could challenge Modi? The AAP chief and Delhi chief minister has won accolades for his governance model and his initiatives in education, health, and environment in Delhi. He has also expanded his party’s presence in other states like Punjab, Goa, and Gujarat. But realistically speaking, his achievements have mostly been on a relatively small scale. Delhi is a tiny state, much of it urban, and its government has limited jurisdiction over it. For instance, law and order is an area where it is the Centre and not the state government that has jurisdiction in Delhi. Also, Kejriwal’s party, formed in 2012, doesn’t yet have a national footprint and is perceived by many to be still in its formative stages.

Then there are the oldies, veterans such as Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar who has been a key ally of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre. However, he has also maintained cordial relations with some of the Opposition parties and leaders. A poster by RJD showed him as the PM candidate in 2024 and I.N.D.I.A. was convened by him. Or could it be the seasoned octogenarian, Sharad Pawar? The NCP leader and veteran politician has been a prominent figure in Indian politics for decades. He has also been instrumental in forming and sustaining the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, which comprises Shiv Sena, NCP, and Congress. He is seen by some as a potential consensus candidate from I.N.D.I.A.

The question is whether the alliance’s 26 parties can agree on who they will project as a prime ministerial candidate. The alliance also faces the challenge of how to share seats. I.N.D.I.A. ‘s objective is to jointly field one candidate in each of the Lok Sabha’s 543 constituencies to take on the BJP’s candidate. That is the theory.

In practice, it could lead to squabbles. I.N.D.I.A. will have to accommodate the interests and wishes of disparate regional parties that have strong bases in their home states. For instance, the DMK in the southern state of Tamil Nadu; the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state that has 80 seats; and the NCP and Shiv Sena in Maharashtra.

That said, the alliance also has some strengths and opportunities. It has a diverse and inclusive representation of various regions, religions, castes, and communities. Its common agenda is to restore democracy, secularism, and development in India. It also has a chance to build on some of the disappointment that voters have with the Modi regime over issues such as the unemployment and economic crises, agricultural laws, and insecurity among minority communities.

Shrill, with not much time left for the elections and campaigning already underway, in the absence of a consensus Opposition candidate, the Modi regime with its resources, clout, and popularity of its leader, will pose a formidable challenge to I.N.D.I.A.

Canada’s spat with India now a whimper

The ripples created by Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau when he publicly alleged that the Indian government may have had a hand in the killing of a Sikh Canadian national who India accused of being a pro-Khalistan separatist seemed to have died down last week. India may have actually gained the upper hand in the spat. With none of Canada’s allies in the “Five Eyes” pact (between the intelligence authorities of Canada, the US, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand) supporting it in any major way, Trudeau appeared to have painted himself into a corner.

India, on the other hand, while steadfastly denying his accusations, has intensified its counter charges against Canada, which it believes is harbouring anti-Indian elements and separatists who have been agitating for the establishment of an independent state in Punjab. Last week, India’s foreign minister S. Jaishankar accused Canada of giving “operating space” to terrorists and extremists.

Long before the dispute over this summer’s killing of the Sikh Canadian, India has been accusing Canada of inaction against anti-Indian elements who reside in that country and are believed by the Indian authorities to foment sentiment against India’s sovereignty.

It is widely known that the West, particularly the US, has been trying to get India’s support and alliance as its relations with China (which is closely aligned with Russia) hit rock bottom. China is believed to be trying to evolve a new “world order” to counter the West’s influence and India can be a key friend for the West in its move to counter China.

Unsurprisingly, therefore, the US reaction to Trudeau’s charges have been muted, non-committal even. In the high stakes of the geopolitical face-off it has with China, Canada’s beef with India could be of little consequence.

Elon Musk dives into the immigration issue

As the debate over illegal immigration through the US’ border with Mexico gets bigger, the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, has thrown his hat into the ring. Last weekend, Musk, 52, who owns businesses that include electric vehicle manufacture, rocket launching, brain-computer interfacing, artificial intelligence, and the popular social media platform X (previously known as X), landed up at the Eagle Pass border in Texas to stream live video of what was going on.

The video, which had 94 million views till Saturday, shows how thousands of immigrants, from several countries in Latin America as well as Africa, were using loopholes in US immigration laws to illegally enter the country, spread to other cities in the US, and stay back without being deported. Musk said he wanted to give an “unfiltered view” of what was going on as he interviewed elected representatives and local law information officers.

Illegal immigration through the US-Mexico border is of serious concern: The number of migrants crossing the border is growing and there has been a steep rise in Venezuelans crossing the Darien Gap, a treacherous jungle route between Panama and Colombia, fleeing from their country’s socio economic crisis.

Many of the migrants are not Mexican although they cross into the Us from that country and the phenomenon has become a challenge for border security, public health, human rights, foreign relations, and domestic politics. With the US presidential elections due in November 2024, it has become a hot button issue.

Musk’s eager involvement is significant. The entrepreneur (estimated net worth: $250 billion) has enormous clout in many spheres, including the US government as well as in international politics. His Starlink satellite internet constellation is used by Ukraine’s armed forces that are fighting against Russia. His rocket company, SpaceX, fills a void after the US government has retreated from spending on space exploration. In addition, Musk has a direct line and rapport with world leaders that include India’s Narendra Modi, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Musk’s importance is growing constantly. X (previously known as Twitter) is estimated to have 370 million active monthly users, and it is globally impactful. Many believe his involvement in issues such as illegal migration is just the beginning of more things to come. It would be a good idea to keep our eyes on him.

A prize not punishment for hate monger Bidhuri

Ramesh Bidhuri, a BJP MP was recently in the news when he attacked a fellow parliamentarian, who happened to be Muslim, with a despicable hate speech, making allegations and insults for which he was pulled up and an investigation was started.

Bidhuri, captured on a video clip that went viral, made his venom-spewing speech in Parliament against another MP, shouting abusive language that was patently anti-Muslim, and derogatory. He was condemned by all. Yet, instead of taking prompt action such as expelling him, his party has appointed him as a district in-charge in Rajasthan, which will hold its assembly elections soon. Bidhuri will be in charge of the Tonk district. Politics trumps principles.

What message does this send out to India’s citizens? You decide.

A small shot of good news…

In the last six years, Indian surgeons performed more than 35,000 organ transplants, according to India’s health minister Mansukh Mandaviya. That makes India third in the world in number of organ transplants after the US and China. According to the minister, more than 15,000 organ donations are now made annually in the country as compared to around 5,000 in 2013.

It’s INDIA Versus NDA. Can a United Opposition Defeat Modi?

By Sanjoy Narayan 23rd July 2023

Last Wednesday, 26 Indian opposition parties announced a pre-election coalition, which will contest the next parliamentary elections due in May 2024. The 26 parties, which together won 134 of the 545 Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 elections, forged the alliance following the initiative of Nitish Kumar, 72, the veteran Bihar politician and chief minister of the state.

The coalition is called INDIA, a clever acronym that expands to “Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance”. The 26-party coalition includes the Congress, the Trinamool Congress, the DMK, the AAP, the JD(U) (of which Kumar is the leader), the RJD, the JMM, the NCP and the Shiv Sena.

When Kumar proposed the idea as the convenor of the opposition alliance, the plan was (and perhaps still is) to together field one strong candidate regardless of which constituent of the alliance they belonged to contest the candidate nominated by BJP or its alliance, the NDA.

Already the rhetoric has been flying thick and fast. Mamata Banerjee, West Bengal’s chief minister and head of the Trinamool Congress, was quoted as saying: “Let us challenge the NDA. The NDA cannot challenge INDIA. Is there anyone who can challenge INDIA?”

The bigger question, however, is whether the mish-mash of politicians of different stripes will be able to work together. Many of the constituents of “INDIA” have been arch rivals of each other, with a long history of bitter sparring between them. Whether they will be able to bury their differences and fight as one against the NDA remains to be seen.

Some people think that the coalition has a chance to challenge the BJP’s dominance and popularity, especially if they can present a united front and a common agenda to the voters. Others doubt the coalition’s viability and stability, given the ideological differences and regional rivalries among some of the parties. Ultimately, it will depend on how the coalition performs in the upcoming state elections and how it manages to mobilize public support for its cause.

Meanwhile, critics of the new alliance have been quick with their rhetoric as well. The chief minister of the northeastern state of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma, jibed at the coalition’s acronym name and said the British had named the country “India” and the fight should be to free the nation from “colonial legacies”.

How India’s Ban on Rice Exports Can Fuel Global Food Inflation

Last Thursday, India ordered a ban on exports of white rice, its largest category of rice exports. India is the world’s largest exporter of rice and this move, it is feared could set off fears of a further rise in food inflation around the world, particularly in markets that are already reeling from high rise in price of food.

According to India, the ban on exports (the ban is on non-basmati white rice) follows a rise in price of rice in the domestic market because of the late and heavy monsoon, which has caused widespread damage to crops.

India accounts for more than 40% of global rice exports. The ban, coupled with low inventories of the grain with other exporters could further fuel food price inflation. Already, after the Russian offensive against Ukraine, which is a major food grains exporter, food prices have shot up globally. Days before India banned the exports of rice, Russia disallowed the Black Sea Grain Deal that allowed exports of foodgrains (mainly wheat) from Ukraine.

India’s food ministry noted a 11.5% increase in retail food prices over the past year and reasoned that the ban on exports was aimed at ensuring enough rice was available in the domestic market.

Last year, India exported 22 million tonnes of rice of which non-basmati white accounted for 10 million tonnes. Last week’s ban, however, does not cover parboiled rice (rice that is partly boiled in the husk) nor does it cover broken rice. These accounted for nearly 8 million tonnes last year.

High food inflation is a politically-sensitive matter in India too. Next year, India heads to its next parliamentary elections and the ruling regime headed by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Narendra Modi would be keen to keep inflation under check in its bid to win a third term at the Centre. India has also limited sugar exports after sugarcane yields declined. Rising sugar prices can also be a trigger for food inflation, which the Modi regime wants to keep in check.

Nearly 3.5 billion people in the world consume rice as a staple food grain and most of it is produced in Asian countries. Rice price inflation has been growing steadily over the past decade and, according to estimates, they are hovering around their highest levels in the last decade.

Can Cricket Hit a Sixer in America?

The names of the teams are as curious as they are in the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament: Atlanta Fire; Chicago Lions; Dallas Stars; Los Angeles Galaxy; and New York Bravehearts, to name a few. Last week, the Major League Cricket (MLC) tournament kicked off in the US, in a high-powered attempt to make the sport a popular money spinner in that country.

For decades there have been attempts to popularise the sport, which is played only in a few countries–mainly in the UK and its erstwhile colonies, including India, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, the West Indies, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. Those efforts had mixed outcomes.

Now, however, the MLC is powered with resources. Last week, the tournament began in a converted baseball stadium in Texas. With big multinational corporations as sponsors and Indian-origin tech heavyweights such as Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella (himself a big cricket buff) as patrons, already close to $50 million has been splurged on the tournament, which could see a further outlay of $130 million.

MLC is a professional Twenty20 cricket league and is operated by American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) and sanctioned by USA Cricket. It began play on July 13, 2023, with six teams representing major U.S. cities under a single-entity model. The first season is taking place over three weeks at Grand Prairie Stadium in Grand Prairie, Texas, and Church Street Park in Morrisville, North Carolina, concluding on July 30, 2023.

Besides Microsoft, sponsors include Uber, Coca Cola, Nike, Slazenger, and Amazon. The organisers are hoping that the money backing the tournament and the growing influence of the South Asian diaspora, much of it comprising cricket fanatics, will make cricket work in the US, finally.

Shock and Shame in Manipur

More than two months ago, a gruesome and shocking incident took place in Manipur where ethnic clashes and violence have been continuing since the beginning of the year. In that incident, a video recording of which has been spreading virally, two women were paraded naked through the streets by a violent mob of men. It led to global outrage over the incident.

Police have arrested four men alleged to be involved in the act and charged them with gang rape. The question, however, is why did it take the police so long to act? A police complaint was believed to have been lodged soon after the incident and in the video the perpetrators are clearly identifiable.

What is more, according to the BBC, “a damning detail that has emerged from the written complaint – the BBC has seen a copy of it – filed by a relative of one of the women, is that the mob allegedly took the survivors from police custody. And two of the survivors have even accused the police of being present, but not doing anything to help them”.

Many in India are anguished and angry about this and other incidents in Manipur and many believe the government is not doing enough to stem the violence or to bring to book perpetrators such as those involved in heinous acts such as these. The current ruling party in Manipur is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which formed the government after the 2017 state assembly elections.

The Internet Phenomenon of ‘Barbenheimer’

Barbenheimer is an Internet meme that became viral before the release of two blockbuster films on the same day last Friday in many major global markets. The name is a portmanteau of the titles of the two films, Barbie and Oppenheimer, which couldn’t be more dissimilar in style and content.

Barbie is a lighthearted fantasy comedy by Greta Gerwig about the fashion doll Barbie, played by Margot Robbie, who finds herself in the real world and embarks on a journey of self-discovery. Oppenheimer is a dark, gritty epic biographical thriller by Christopher Nolan about physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, played by Cillian Murphy, who was the scientific director of the Manhattan Project, which developed the first nuclear weapons during World War II.

The contrast between the two films provoked a comedic response from Internet users, who created memes, posters, trailers and fan art that humorously combined the contrasting aesthetics and themes of both films³. Some examples include: Barbie smiling in the foreground of a mushroom cloud; Oppenheimer holding a pink suitcase with the Barbie logo; Barbie saying “C’mon Oppie, let’s go testify before the US government; and so on.

Many were exhorted to watch both the movies on the opening day as a double bill. According to trade estimates, both films did well on the opening weekend: Barbie grossing $120 million and Oppenheimer grossing $150 million.

Bengaluru Oppo Meet Vs BJP-Led NDA’s Show Of Strength In Delhi

By LokMarg 18th July 2023

The second and concluding day of the opposition unity meeting in Bengaluru is set to begin here on Tuesday, with 26 like-minded parties closing ranks with a common aim of taking on the Bharatiya Janata Party in the next year’s Lok Sabha polls.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, on the other hand, will be holding a meeting of 38 parties of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the national capital on Tuesday.
The NDA meeting will be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The meeting of the NDA is being organised to mark the completion of 9 years of the central government under PM Modi.

Meanwhile, the first day of the Opposition party’s meeting started with the dinner meeting hosted by Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

After the dinner Congress leader BK Hariprasad said that the meeting started with a good signal and it would be the end of BJP in 2024.

On being asked about the NDA meeting scheduled to be held in Delhi, he said, “That would be National Disaster Alliance”.

Earlier, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav hoped that the people of the country would hand the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a massive defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

“…2/3rd of the population is going to defeat BJP. I hope that the people of the country will give BJP a massive defeat…I am receiving inputs from all corners of the country that the BJP will be wiped out…,” SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said ahead of the Opposition meeting.

Meanwhile, the draft agenda of the joint opposition meeting set up a subcommittee for drafting the common minimum programme and communications points for the alliance for the 2024 general elections for chalking out the joint programme of parties, which includes rallies, conventions and agitation.

They plan to discuss the process for deciding seat sharing on a state-to-state basis and the name for the alliance is also on the table. The opposition parties may also discuss the issue of EVM and suggest reforms to the Election Commission. The opposition leaders also set up a common secretariat for the proposed alliance.

Moreover, several committees are expected to be formed which will hold meetings to deliberate on various issues pertaining to the alliance. Various groups and sub-groups may also be formed.

In this meeting, a convenor may be appointed and groups formed to decide on various issues apart from deciding on a common minimum programme.

Sources said Congress is keen that the chairperson should be from the party as it is the largest party in the grouping. However, the party may not be not adamant on the matter and would be willing to go by the combined decision of opposition parties, sources said.

They said no one has any objection to the name of former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. She is also not a contender for the post of Prime Minister and is attending the two-day opposition meeting.

The sources said that opposition parties are keen not to make the 2024 Lok Sabha polls a battle between “a leader vs Modi” but to keep the focus on issues and make it a “Modi vs people” battle.

They said that some parties had proposed making Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar the convenor of the grouping in the meeting of opposition parties held in Patna last month and if there is a unanimity on the matter, the Congress would go along.

The sources said there is a proposal to make two-three subgroups or a coordination committee.

There is a suggestion that a group should be formed to decide on issues to be raised collectively against the Narendra Modi government. Any such group may also be entrusted with deciding the issues on which to hold agitations against the government and to stay away from issues that could help the BJP by causing “polarization”.

Sources said there is a proposal to form a group to decide on seat allocation in states.

They said that since leaders of 26 opposition parties cannot hold meetings in a short period, there is a proposal to form a group for coordination. “There is also a proposal to formulate a common minimum programme,” a source said.

They said all issues will be discussed in the meeting and decision t taken on those on which there is an agreement.

The issues on which there is no agreement will be discussed further, they said.

Congress general secretary KC Venugopal lashed out at the BJP-led government and said the opposition parties are all united by a common purpose – to protect democracy in this country, to ensure the Constitutional rights and the independence of our institutions.

“These all are under attack by the present regime of the BJP Govt. They wanted to silence the Opposition’s voice. They are misusing agencies to suppress the voice of the Opposition. The disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from the Parliament is one of the biggest examples of that. The incident happening in Maharashtra is also an example,” he said.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said that opposition leaders will hold discussions on many issues including EVM machines during the second joint opposition meeting in Bengaluru.

“Agenda of today’s meeting is to be one. Discussion will be held on many issues including EVM machines, Lok Sabha seat sharing, what will be the name of the front,” he said.

Moreover, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh took a swipe at BJP over the NDA meeting scheduled for Tuesday and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi “suddenly thought of NDA” after the meeting of opposition parties in Patna last month.

Jairam Ramesh said at a press conference here that efforts are being made to infuse “new life” in BJP-led National Democratic Alliance after the success of the opposition conclave in Patna.

“PM and BJP are baffled. After the Patna meeting, the PM suddenly thought of NDA. Attempts are being made to breathe new life into NDA. Suddenly, it was reported that the NDA meeting has been called for tomorrow. This is a result of the meeting in Patna,” he said.

Chief Minister MK Stalin said that the Opposition parties have united to “defeat” the ruling BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections while terming the Enforcement Directorate raids at the residence of State Minister K Ponmudi as “diversionary tactics” coming ahead of the second unity Opposition meeting.

Speaking to reporters at the Chennai airport before flying to Bengaluru to attend the Opposition meeting, CM Stalin said,” “All Opposition parties have united to defeat the BJP-led Central government. We took the decision in Bihar to convene the second meeting in Karnataka today and tomorrow”.

“Opposition unity which started in Bihar last month will continue during the second meeting in Bengaluru,” CM Stalin added.

On being asked about the ED raids at the residence of State higher Education Minister K Ponmudi, Stalin said, “This was a false case initiated by the then Jayalalithaa Government against him thirteen years ago. The ED raids reflect the BJP’s frustration.”

“The raid is a diversionary tactic in the light of the Opposition meeting,” he added.

Aam Admi Party (AAP) MP Raghav Chaddha said that the coming together of like-minded opposition parties is giving “sleepless nights” to the Bharatiya Janata Party. He also claimed that the saffron party will not return to power at the Centre in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The AAP leader said that “The alliance of like-minded opposition parties is giving sleepless nights to the ruling BJP. The coming together of leaders of non-BJP parties have made them to live in fear”, adding, “The agenda of the meeting will be discussed during the meeting in Bengaluru”.

Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) general secretary Vaiko said he hopes that the Modi government will lose the next elections as he arrived in Bengaluru to attend the two-day joint opposition meeting.

“This is a very important meeting, it will bring a change in Indian politics…I hope that Modi govt will lose”, Vaiko said.

Jammu and Kashmir National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah said that something more “substantive” will be done in the opposition meeting being held in Karnataka’s Bengaluru.

“This is only the second meeting. Obviously, I hope that something more substantive will be done in this meeting because the last meeting was just the beginning. We wanted to see how many parties are attending, and what their individual points of view are. This is the second in the series of meetings, we need to have something more substantive,” he said while talking to the reporters.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party and said that after Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister, the economic condition of the country was destroyed.

“BJP is the party which destroyed the economy of the country, not Opposition parties. After Narendra Modi became PM, the economic condition of the country was destroyed, prices were raised, farmers poor are in distressed condition and because of communal issues people are living in scary situations,” he said.

Siddaramaiah also hoped that the people of the country would give BJP a massive defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

“BJP and PM Modi will not get a mandate this time, they will lose this time,” he said.

Karnataka CM also asserted that the influence of PM Narendra Modi is waning and that the decline of the BJP has initiated in Karnataka.

“Didn’t we defeat Modi in Karnataka, BJP’s loss in all the places, where Modi campaigned? During the Karnataka assembly elections, PM Narendra Modi visited the state 28 times. The decline of the BJP has begun in Karnataka. We’ll win the majority of seats in Lok Sabha 2024 polls, and BJP and NDA alliance parties will lose.”

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, party MP TR Baalu, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, party leader Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Raghav Chadha, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) general secretary Vaiko and others leader arrived in Bengaluru to attend the meeting.

Earlier, hitting out at United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and Opposition party alliance, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president JP Nadda on Monday termed it as “Bhanumati ka Kunba”.

“UPA and Opposition parties alliance is Bhanumati ka Kunbha’s, ‘Kahi ki Eet, Kahi Ka Roda, Bhanumati ne Kunba Joda (bringing together elements that don’t go with each other),” JP Nadda said addressing a press conference in the national capital.

He further said it is an alliance based on selfish interests and is only for photo opportunities.

“UPA neither has a leader nor does it has the power to take decisions. It is an alliance based on selfish interests and is only for photo opportunities. It is 10 years of corrupt governance and non-governance of the UPA government,” the BJP chief said. (ANI)

Opposition Unity Meet Begins In Bengaluru

By LokMarg 17th July 2023

Congress general secretary KC Venugopal on Monday hit out at the ruling BJP-led government at the Centre accusing it of misusing probe agencies for its political ends and said that the meeting of opposition parties in Bengaluru “will be a game-changer” for India’s politics.

Addressing a press conference here as opposition parties gather in Bengaluru for the meeting, Venugopal alleged that the BJP wants to “silence the voice of opposition” and said disqualification of party leader Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha and developments in Maharashtra are examples.
Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh and Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar also addressed the press conference.

Venugopal said the opposition parties had a successful meeting in Patna on June 23.

“Tomorrow 26 political parties will participate in the Bengaluru meeting. We will decide the future course of action during the meeting which will be a game changer for the Indian political scenario. We will also chalk out the Parliament strategy. Now they (BJP) are also meetings, this is the real success of the opposition unity,” he said.

Venugopal said the opposition parties are united by a common purpose – to protect democracy in this country, to ensure the Constitutional rights and the independence of our institutions.

“These all are under attack by the present regime of the BJP Govt. They want to silence the Opposition’s voice. They are misusing agencies to suppress the voice of the Opposition. The disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from the Parliament is one of the biggest examples of that. The incident happening in Maharashtra is also an example…”

Earlier speaking to reporters, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said that opposition leaders will hold discussion on many issues including EVM machines during the second joint opposition meeting in Bengaluru.

“Agenda of today’s meeting is to be one. Discussion will be held on many issues including EVM machines, Lok Sabha seat sharing, what will be the name of the front,” he said.

The opposition parties are seeking to put up a united front to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The two-day meeting will conclude on Tuesday after a formal meeting of opposition leaders. (ANI)

Tango In US While India Burns

By Amit Sengupta 28th June 2023

“What’s happening in India?”

The Prime Minister seems to have queried, seeking a response from the BJP chief, after his six-day lackluster tour of the US and Egypt, with 31 drones and metaphysical jet engines thrown in. In an equally lackluster tenure, without holding a single press conference, and without answering a single query from a journalist, except for the stooge media, he should have instead listened to the perceptive question by Sabrina Siddiqui in the White House press meet with Joe Biden. He would have, then, actually, not only rediscovered Nehru’s India and its original and authentic DNA, he would have also discovered what he has done to its wounded body and soul during his one-dimensional regime of a dictatorship camouflaged as democracy.

So what is happening in what is euphemistically called the largest democracy in India?

For one, the civil war is raging in the sensitive border state of Manipur, with the homes of ministers and BJP leaders being attacked routinely, women blockading the security forces, a huge lack of ration and basic amenities, everything shut down across the Imphal Valley dominated by the Meiteis, and the hills populated by the Kukis; militants, armed to the teeth, strutting around like warlords across both camps, both the camps fiercely pitched against each other with no possibility of reconciliation in the near or distant future, the hollow hyped-up, double-engine government totally paralysed, and the Union home minister, seemingly, equally at a loss, neither here nor there, in this terrible Catch-22 scenario.

While the PM did a toast with Biden, or, Kamala Harris, who seems to have totally disappeared from the scene, and serenaded around the Egyptian pyramids!

Meanwhile, our world champion women wrestlers continue to touch a deep and intimate chord with the body and soul of the nation, especially with our mothers and daughters. Like real warriors, they are now practicing hard for the next battle in the next international turf, and they are certain, in word and deed, that the fight is on. Even while the BJP bahubali too seems to have disappeared.

They will, indeed, remain eternally, an inspirational role model for girls and women all over India and the world for all time to come. Even while the PM, as in the case of a ruined Manipur, has yet again been rendered speechless, completely forgetting the DNA of the nation he talks about with such easy lucidity.

Besides, the opposition has sensed a breakthrough; one step forward and two steps back. They seem strategic and flexible, choosing consensus and not chaos, tactical advantage, not one-upmanship. There was bonhomie too as Laloo Yadav, who has never ever compromised with the communal forces, like the Congress, and who retains his magical sense of humour despite severe loss of health and a long stint in prison enacted by a revengeful PM, cracked a fatherly joke on Rahul Gandhi. “So why don’t you get married?” Even as the rest of the leaders had a good laugh.

Undoubtedly, the drubbing of the BJP in the Karnataka polls has rubbed a bucket-full-of-salt on the fake messiah, who fought the elections, as in Bengal, as if it was a mandate on him, and him alone, with several solo rallies and road shows, throwing in a fake propaganda movie, and manipulating the mythical sacredness of Jai Bajrang Bali, as failed poll gambits. Denying subsidised rice to Karnataka for the poor, as promised by the Congress, is so typically a vicious act in a long series of such petty acts, that no one is surprised.

As 15-plus opposition parties joined hands in Patna, the 56 inches seem to be shrinking, as if isolated, alienated, ageing, at a total loss about his future, one-dimensional and alone, outside static time and space. You don’t even see him with his party leaders. While a desperate BJP has been left with no allies, except inconsequential splinter groups. So, again, will it be dil maange more once more for the messiah?

Not really. That the opposition conclave waited for both Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, and postponed the meet, is more than a pointer that the Congress has changed both its contours and character. Mamata Bannerjee not only came along, but played a happy referee with the Congress and a sulking Arvind Kejriwal.

Not only that, in eternal hibernation, even Akhilesh Yadav joined, and seems to be oiling his Samajwadi cycle in UP, instead of stagnating in the stasis of his comfort zone. Predictably, Mayawati, Jagan Reddy and Naveen Patnaik were not invited, and correctly so, while Chandreshaker Rao remains in a dilemma. While his daughter is being hounded by the ED, he knows deep in his heart that he will lose the assembly polls in Telengana at the hands of the Congress this time round. Hence, his national ambition seems to have been clipped in the bud.

There are ground reports that the Congress will do exceedingly well in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. If the Congress agrees to accept the leadership of the regional parties where they are weak, as in Bengal or Tamil Nadu, which it will, then the ‘one is to one’ contest will be a strategic double advantage for the opposition alliance. In Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the regional parties will yet again be victorious, while the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar is bound to win.

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The Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance has a solid chance in Maharashtra for multiple reasons. The Shinde faction is totally discredited with big brother BJP breathing down its neck. With the Shiv Sena cadre still steadfast with Uddhav Thackeray, they are reluctant to fight even the municipal corporation elections! And having checkmated Ajit Pawar, who just can’t be trusted, the NCP is firmly in the command of Sharad Pawar.

The whole world knows that a wily Pawar can smell the tide on a full moon night and the shifting wind with an instinct so sharp, that no other politician in India can match it! So what has he said? He stated categorically after the BJP got so decisively crushed in Karnataka that its days are now over. Coming from Pawar, not even the BJP can deny it.

Meanwhile, the White House has condemned the harassment of Sabrina Siddiqui. who works for the prestigious Wall Street Journal. “We’re aware of the reports of that harassment. It’s unacceptable, and we absolutely condemn any harassment of journalists anywhere in any circumstances,” John Kirby, a White Hose spokesperson on national security issues, told reporters, according to a media organization, The Hill (thehill.com).

He was responding to a journalist’s query on the online harassment of longtime White House reporter Sabrina Siddiqui. “That’s just completely unacceptable, and it’s antithetical to the principles of democracy that… were on display last week during the state visit,” Kirby said.

Indeed, Sabrina was only echoing what Barack Obama had earlier spoken to CNN journalist, Chritiane Amanpour, and which is shared by all democrats across the globe, including leading think tanks in Europe. Obama had said: “If the (US) president meets Prime Minister Modi, then the protection of the Muslim minority in a Hindu majority India is worth mentioning. If I had a conversation with Prime Minister Modi, who I know well, part of my argument would be that if you don’t protect the rights of ethnic minorities in India, there is a strong possibility that India would at some point start pulling apart… We have seen what happens when you start getting those kinds of large internal conflicts. So that would be contrary to the interests of not only the Muslim India but also the Hindu India. I think it is important to be able to talk about these things honestly.”

So, really, what’s happening in India?

Opposition Unity: Nitish Kumar Meets Rahul Gandhi, Kharge

By LokMarg 22nd May 2023

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who is in the national capital as part of efforts to forge a united front against the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday.

The meeting was held at Kharge’s residence. RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, who has accompanied Nitish Kumar in such meetings, was not present at Kharge’s residence due to “health reasons,” sources said.

The meeting comes in the backdrop of suggestions for a big opposition meeting in Patna.

Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav had met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the national capital on Sunday and had extended support to the AAP leader against the Centre bringing an ordinance which is seen to have nullified Supreme Court judgement handing over reins of “services” to the Delhi government with some exceptions.

The ordinance creates National Capital Civil Service Authority.

Nitish Kumar slammed the Centre and asked, “how can powers given to an elected government be taken away?”

“It’s against the Constitution. We stand with Arvind Kejriwal,” he said.

The Bihar Chief Minister said they will hold meetings in the future. “We are trying to bring together all opposition parties in the country.”

Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav had met Kharge and Rahul Gandhi last month also. (ANI)

Nitish Kumar’s ‘One Against One’ Strategy is Quite Silly

By Sanjoy Narayan 21st May 2023

Nitish Kumar’s “one against one” strategy is quite silly

No offence intended but the proposal, attributed in the media to the Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, to have a single united opposition candidate to contest against the Bharatiya Janata Party in around 500 Lok Sabha constituencies, is a bit silly. According to media reports, Kumar, a wily and opportunistic politician who has frequently switched sides in order to achieve his political ambitions, has proposed a “one against one” strategy to defeat the BJP in the parliamentary elections scheduled for next year.

According to the Kumar formula (if we want to call it that), opposition parties should bury their differences and together field a single strong candidate in each constituency to defeat the BJP. In other words, what Kumar is suggesting is the formation of a new coalition. Only, he is doing it in a different way. He wants all parties opposed to the BJP to come together and have a convenor and a chairperson with the assumption that the convenor will be projected as the prime ministerial candidate. No prizes for guessing whose name Kumar, who will turn 73 before the elections, will likely suggest as the convenor.

Here’s why his proposal is a bit silly. First, it requires a buy in from the Congress party and several other oppositions parties—both at the national level as well as at the regional levels—with many of them agreeing to play second, third, or even fourth fiddle in Kumar’s grand plan. Second, in many constituencies, veteran politicians from opposition parties would have to agree not to contest and step back in favour of another party’s candidate who is considered to be stronger. Try making that work when you have politicians who consider their constituencies as personal fiefs. Also, try getting a senior Congress leader and former candidate to canvass and campaign for someone from, say, the Janata Dal (United), the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Trinamool Congress, or someone else, and vice versa.

Third, and most important, is the fact that for the majority of Indians (we are not talking about politicians or the lemmings in media) the single vote that they have the power to exercise represents a lot. The poorer the voter the more important that single vote is to him or her. The media often deploy the rather inelegant word “anti-incumbency” to describe the phenomenon where a ruling party is unseated by the electorate when it votes and elects a party that is opposed to it. In reality, it is a voter who is disappointed with the ruling regime and wants and hopes it would get better governance from another party or alliance. The majority of voters vote in the hope “for” something not “against” something.

Kumar’s “one against one” strategy is probably the veteran politician’s attempt to get a shy at the top office in Delhi. That’s understandable for an ambitious politician in his twilight years. It, however, also reeks of desperation and a detachment from reality. If India needs an alternative to the BJP, it will have to be a robust one: not a rag-tag ensemble conjured up to fuel one man’s ambition.

How to measure a nation’s true power

The measure of a nation’s true power is a combination of several things. It includes a country’s economic strength (measured by GDP and more relevantly, per capita GDP), its military might, its productivity, and its population. There could be several other factors as well, including softer ones related to a nation’s influence on culture, lifestyle, and so on.

In a recent feature on China, the Economist delved into the concept of measuring a nation’s power by looking at how China measures what is known as Comprehensive National Power (CNP).

While China has attempted to measure its own CNP in various ways, worldwide there are scores of different ways of doing it. According to the Economist, there were 69 different versions of measuring a country’s powerfulness. And, of course, the Economist added its own measure. In its version, there are “three essential ingredients of national power: economic heft, productive efficiency and military might”. Its “hard-power index” takes into account GDP per person as a measure of efficiency; defence expenditure as a measure of might; and non-military GDP as a measure of economic heft. To arrive at the index these are multiplied together.

How do countries fare according to the Economist’s hard-power index. The top eight countries on the basis of their 2021 hard-power index were in this order: US, China, Russia, India, Germany, Japan, Britain, and France.

While the Economist’s feature was on China, it is interesting to note that India ranked number 4 on its list of top eight hard-power countries in 2021.

One more episode in India’s endless corruption saga

Instances of the Indian police and other authorities trying to extort money from the affluent are not uncommon. In fact, we still marvel when a person in authority turns out to be doing his duty honestly, something that is expected to be normal practice. In October 2021, a few young people, including the Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son, Aryan Khan, then 22, were arrested on charges of consumption and possession of drugs while aboard a cruise ship bound for Goa from Mumbai.

To be sure, last year, Khan was cleared of the charges. However, there is now a new twist to the tale. One of the officers of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Khan’s case, Sameer Wankhede, has now been charged by India’s apex investigating agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) of trying to extort Rs 25 crore from the actor Shah Rukh Khan to in exchange for “diluting” the case against his son. It has also been found that Wankhede has accumulated disproportionate assets, including several flats in Mumbai, and has spent on many personal trips abroad that are not commensurate with his income. In other words, Wankhede has been accused of several instances of corruption. Sad but not surprising.

US report is scathing on religious freedom in India

The US State Department’s Religious Freedom Report, 2022, has called out several countries including India, China, Russia, and Iran for targeting adherents of certain religious communities. India has been ranked eighth among 162 countries of the highest risk of mass killing.

India’s Constitution declares the nation to be secular. In fact, although 80% of 1.4 billion Indians, according to the 2011 census, are Hindus, 14% is Muslim and 2% is Christian. The report has called out India on several grounds including the fact that religious conversions are banned in some states; attacks against minority communities have been spreading; and instances of cow vigilantism, which often results in killings and lynching, have been increasing.

India’s official reaction to the report has been predictable. The ministry of external affairs has said that “such reports continue to be based on misinformation and flawed understanding”. The fact is that since 2014 when the current BJP-led regime came to power, Hindu nationalism has been on the rise. And while the government would like to sweep allegations such as those made by the Religious Freedom report under the carpet, minority communities have never been more insecure in India than they are now.

Can AI get as clever as humans? Or cleverer?

Even as the debate about the threats and risks that Artificial Intelligence (AI) may pose to humanity, a new debate about Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) has already begun. AGI is a theoretical form of AI where a machine would have an intelligence equal to humans; it would have a self-aware consciousness that has the ability to solve problems, learn, and plan for the future. AGI is different from traditional weak AI, which is restricted to specific tasks or areas.

In theory, therefore, AGI could rival humans and use its abilities to act independently and autonomously, and, in the hands of the wrong sort of people, it could wreak havoc. The good news is that we could be still far away from the emergence of AGI. Some experts believe that we could be several decades away from the emergence of AGI; others believe it could take centuries to evolve.

What if those experts are wrong? After all, few expected AI to reach the levels it has so quickly. What if the road to AGI is traversed at an exponential field? Ponder that.

Historic Step For Oppn Unity: Rahul After Meeting Nitish, Tejashwi

By LokMarg 12th April 2023

With Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav meeting him and Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge as part of efforts to forge a common front against the BJP, Rahul Gandhi said on Wednesday that it was a “historic step” towards opposition unity and for an ideological fight.

Rahul Gandhi, who posted a picture of Kharge and him with JD-U and RJD leaders, said they are “standing together, will fight together – for India.”
“In this battle of ideology, a historic step has been taken today towards opposition unity. (We are) standing together, will fight together – for India!” Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet.

Janata Dal-United president Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh was also present at the meeting held at Kharge’s residence.

The meeting is being seen as an attempt by Congress and other opposition parties to take forward their “unity” displayed during the budget session of Parliament session that concluded on April 6. The session saw continuous disruptions over the opposition’s demand for a JPC probe into the Hindenburg-Adani row. The opposition parties also slammed the government over disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha following his conviction by a Surat court in a criminal defamation case.

Kharge had earlier this month telephoned Nitish Kumar, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray in an effort to build on “unity” displayed during the budget session of Parliament.

Opposition leaders have in the past made efforts to forge a broad unity to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Congress is a junior part of the ruling Mahagathbandhan in Bihar which also includes JD-U and Rashtriya Janata Dal. While Nitish Kumar leads the government, Tejashwi Yadav is the state Deputy Chief Minister. (ANI)

It’s Advantage Rahul Gandhi

By Amit Sengupta 31st March 2023

“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which… All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others… ”
– George Orwell, Animal Farm

“Rebellion cannot exist without a strange form of love.”
– Albert Camus

A cartoon by Sajith Kumar in Deccan Herald tells it all. A security guard outside the locked gates of what used to be the home of Rahul Gandhi, from where he was quickly ousted in what is being widely perceived as a petty and revengeful act, as he was from Parliament, makes a cryptic comment: “If we over do it, he will rent out a place in people’s hearts.”

If a cartoon can tell a thousand words like an epical moment captured in a sudden, photographic click, this eviction too seems to have clicked inside a million hearts. And these hearts seem to be beating with a rhythm which tells a story which is deeper than what we see and hear. There is something surely simmering in the air, and, as of now, undoubtedly, it is Advantage Rahul Gandhi!

There is no doubt that things are changing a bit too rapidly in contemporary India, since the stupendous success and mass support which captured the nation’s imagination during the Kanyakumari to Kashmir long march of the Bharat Jodo Yatra. The slogan of ‘Nafrat Choro Bharat Jodo’ and ‘Nafrat ke Bazaar mein khol rahe hain Pyaar ki Dukaan’ clicked like a pulsating heart-beat across the kaleidoscopic and vast ‘unity in diversity’ of this country’s geography, like a sublime song of eternal idealism which sticks to the inner being like a dream sequence – like a pure, untouched memory from childhood.

‘Daro Mat’, Rahul Gandhi said, his white and pepper beard adding charisma, wisdom and renunciation (tapasya) to his personality, lowering down the communal temperature in many parts of this pluralist, secular country, its fanatic polarisation, especially in the Hindi heartland, spiked by the octopus-like, hydra-headed, hate-filled fronts of Hindutva and its patrons in positions of power.

Not only that, many messages were reinterpreted in the mainstream being and consciousness: mass unemployment and universal impoverishment, back-breaking inflation and price rise, totally sell-out section of media, especially on TV, wallowing in vicious hate politics, the rise and rise of Adani and crony capitalism, the bad deal for farmers, the terrible, everyday life of deprivation for the poorest and jobless daily wagers, especially of women, the dreams and aspirations of the young, including in small towns and remote villages, and, of course, the tragedy of the mothers and daughters of the soldiers who died in Pulwama before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The messages were transparent.

The final, cinematic speech in Srinagar, under white streams of falling snow, with no umbrella, in frozen winter conditions, was as stirring and epical as the widely shared picture of Rahul Gandhi in his T-shirt, giving an enlightened, brave speech in falling rain during the yatra, even as twilight-darkness crept up into the massive rally.

No wonder, this one-dimensional regime, self-absorbed in self-love, with no love lost for peaceful dissenters and the minorities, was ‘shocked and awed’ – shaken from its absolute, hegemonic, haughty arrogance.

Since then, they have made one mistake after another, refusing to read the signs from inside India, and that emerging from the world, including the West, which, you can ignore at your own peril. The ban on BBC and the raid, boomeranged. It became global news. The documentary was now being openly watched by thousands of students and others as an act of defiance. Did nobody tell the ‘Acche Din Messiah’ that anything that is banned becomes more popular and tempting!

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The title of the Hindenburg report said it all — Adani Group: How the World’s 3^rd Richest Man is Pulling the Largest Con in Corporate History. Overnight, the meteoric and unbelievable business empire of the best buddy of the Great Helmsman crashed. Rahul Gandhi’s incredible speech in Parliament, and the national and international media coverage, exposed the last, stinking skeletons in the rotting cupboard.

Is this being all mere chance – not really it seems. There is a pattern to this inevitable predictability. There seems a method in this chain of coincidences.

That the largest democracy has become a “electoral autocracy” was a well-researched declaration by a European think-tank; this is a perception widely shared across the political and academic circles in the West, and, especially, among the ruling Democrats in America, more so, among the currently influential ‘socialist’ Bernie Sanders camp. Dismissing such perceptions with disdain and pseudo nationalist rhetoric is like declaring a stagnant quagmire as a garden of roses.

Look at this recent statement by the German government. “We have taken note of the verdict of first instance against the Indian Opposition politician Rahul Gandhi as well as the suspension of his parliamentary mandate. To our knowledge, Mr Gandhi is in a position to appeal the verdict. It will then become clear whether this verdict will stand and whether the suspension of his mandate has any basis. We expect that the standards of judicial independence and fundamental democratic principles will equally apply to the proceedings against Rahul Gandhi,” a German foreign ministry spokesperson has said.

The US state department had, earlier, said: “Respect for the rule of law and judicial independence is a cornerstone of any democracy, and we’re watching Mr Gandhi’s case in Indian courts, and we engage with the Government of India on our shared commitment to democratic values — including, of course, freedom of expression… In our engagements with our Indian partners, we continue to highlight the importance of democratic principles and the protection of human rights, including freedom of expression, as a key to strengthening both our democracies.”

In a recent report by Reuters, the signs are transparent: The annual US report on human rights practices listed “significant human rights issues” and abuses in India, including reported targeting of religious minorities, dissidents and journalists, the US State Department said. The findings come nearly a year after Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US was monitoring what he described as a rise in human rights abuses in India by some government, police and prison officials, in a rare direct rebuke by Washington of the Asian nation’s rights record.

The report further says that Human Rights Watch has said that the Indian government’s policies and actions target Muslims while critics of Modi say his Hindu nationalist ruling party has fostered religious polarization since coming to power in 2014.

Meanwhile, it is bad news for all dictators and extremist power establishments. In the face of tens of thousands of people on the streets of Israel, everything from sea ports to airports to campuses and government offices shut, Bibi Netanyahu had to be airlifted in his own power turf, even as the police chief the Tel Aviv district and his own defence minister resigned in support of the protesters. Meanwhile, a reluctant and discredited Bolsonaro has finally gathered the courage to return to Brazil from Florida. And Donald Trump of the ‘Abki baar Trump sarkar’ fame, has been indicted by a Manhattan Court.

Check what seasoned journalist David Remnick rights about Trump in an essay called ‘An American Tragedy: Act III’ (The New Yorker, March 30, 2023): “Former President Donald Trump, twice impeached, yet impervious to shame, was indicted Thursday on criminal charges related to the payment of hush money to a porn star. There was a time in American history, almost impossible to recollect now, when such a sentence, such a plot point, would have been beyond our imagining. That has not been the case for a very long time… In early 2016, the ascent of such a clownish demagogue, a sleazy real-estate hustler who had only begun to reveal the full depths of his bigotry and authoritarian impulses, was a laugh line…”

Indeed, there are lessons for India and its political establishment, and all politicians across the spectrum, in all countries. Nothing is permanent. Not even power, privilege and pelf. All is ephemeral. Including, Acche Din…