The Uprising of Rahul Gandhi

Do we have a future star in the making?

A couple of weeks ago, I read an article about him in Outlook. From that, I gathered, Rahul has started on the correct note. He has worked at grassroot levels in his constituency-Amethi. Around himself, he has a ring of both junior and senior knowledgable party workers willing to train him and support him at the same time. He is known to have a craze for techno-gizmos: a natural for any youth.

The big positive that I see in him is his age and his willingness to build up a team. If projected as the next PM candidate in the general elections, I think he has a big chance to win Congress party more than 50% of the Lok Sabha seats. While that will take some doing to happen, if it does take place, it will be a great positive. For the first time in about more than 15 years, India will have a government that will not be bound by coalition jokers. They will be able to take, approve and implement decisions without hinderance. And wouldn't that be a further bonus to the economy?

Plus, looking at the professionalism in which Rahul is going about his task, it will not surprise me if he becomes the most effective PM till date. The question is Will He? And for the first time, if that be the question, I will support the Congress party for that to happen. For the simple reason that he seems to be the only person capable to lead a stable government to make hard decisions for five continuous years.

At the same time, India have, once again replied spendidly to the huge Pakistani total and IMO are in with a small chance to win the test match - with not one but two Pak batsmen likely to miss out in the second innings. If India can convert this opening into an opportunity, I will call that team Champs.

Cricket & Tennis

Its a dream time for sports enthusiasts. The Australian Open http://australianopen.com/en_AU/index.html and the VB Series is rocking on! While the India Pakistan Test Series is also underway, it is of least interest because of the nature of defensive pitches prepared by Pakistan. It seems Pak is worried about the good show put up last time by India seamers and hence they have purposefully prepared placid pitches hoping that the sheer pace of their bowlers will be enough to take 20 wickets in a match. Meanwhile, India displayed great attitude by dropping a batsman and picking five bowlers while Pakistan took a step back by doing the revers. The presence of Geoffrey Boycott has really added value to the broadcast. He was, is and will be The Best.

About the VB Series, its very precariously poised with almost every team standing at the same level in the points table with half the prelim matches being over. I hope that SL and SA kick out Aus in these stages. Both the teams look good enough to do it but its just a matter of having the killer instinct for long enough. Australia are in the middle of a selection crisis due to rotation and this I feel is the biggest chance for world cricket to pounce on them. All the best to SA and SL.

Not much to write on the Australian except the exits of Sania, Rodick and Wlliams sisters. The second week now promises to be thrilling with many top seeds making their way into the final sixteen. That Martina Hingis is back is a great news for many tennis lovers :-)

Meanwhile, I found a pretty interesting group from the article in Sakal. http://www.esakal.com/static/raviwar11.html The group is located at http://bharatudaymission.org/ In my opinion, it is a very promising concept.

The Rise & Fall of my Favourite Political Party

Welcome 2006.

Top story at the start of the new year. BJP chief L K Advani steps down. Vajpayee calls Advani as Ram and Mahajan as Lakshman. It was really disheartening to see my favourite Bharatiya Janta Party crumble on its own weight.

BJP started from Jan Sangh on the ideology of the Sangh Parivar. Within a period of around 10-15 years, they rose from 2 to 200 members in the Lok Sabha and ruled the government for more than five years. That was a phenomenal performance. However, with power comes Responsibility. And that's where BJP failed. As is clear from the latest revelations of bribery and corruption in the party, it has lost its Different image. This is its biggest blow.

For me, the Vajpayee government did quite well when in the office. Except one blunder. Gujarat riots. More than the inability of the government to control the situation, it was the involvement of everyone in the system from the police to the CM to the Home Minister in the riots that was shocking. It was I think a prime factor behind BJP loosing the next general election although they were able to win the Gujarat assembly. However, it must be noted that BJP handled their coalition partners much better than what the UPA govt. is doing now (Please refer LEFT) :-)

More important than loosing the elections, it was the later events that did the party in. Uma Bharati sulked. And again, And yet again! Advani's Jinnah remarks were used by Sangh to re-establish their stronghold on the party organisation. Though NDA won a few assembly elections, their public image kept going down.

The biggest problem was they were not accepting their mistakes. Advani did not agree with the expulsion of the corrupt parliamentarians but instead took their side. Instead of doing some introspection, the party kept critisizing the UPA govt. during its national executive in Mumbai. They were unable to break the RSS shackles and could not install a dynamic president like Jetley or Mahajan. The party did numerous unnecessary and exaggerated dharnas in the Parliament and blocked its workingfor too long in the sessions. That is an unforgivable sin.

Overall I think the popularity of the party has suffered a big blow and Cong would win all hands down if a general elections were to happen right now. However, time makes people forget things and it will be interesting to see what happens in the Rajnath Singh-era. I am sure L K Advani is not finished. He will come back, and so will Pramod Mahajan who I think will become a good leader of the party and the nation.

Talking about Cricket, the Ind-Pak series is setup perfectly well. The excitement has reached a peak. In Australia, SA have hit hard on the 2nd day of the 3rd test. Aus will need to fight very hard to save the match from now on. It makes for a thrilling three days of attack and defense. If SA is able to beat Aus, then they will become the 2nd team after India last year to hold Aus in their home ground. And that will be some achievement. Earlier I was sure that Aus will run over SA. But now the recent form from SA makes me believe that they have it in them to come out better from this match. Lets see what result is in store.

Till then, wish you all a very happy new year.