YSR Chopper crash

There is such a big fuss being made about the reason behind the chopper crash that killed the Andhra CM, YS Rajashekar Reddy with calls to book all those who have not done their job properly. Is it really news that our government servants are incompetent and least interested in their jobs? Every single day, there are umpteen deaths of common people caused by some babu who decided to take it easy on the job. Like the RTO inspector who takes bribes and allows people without basic driving skills to become killing machines on the road. Or the PWD engineer who screws up our pipelines that mix sewage with our water supply. Why is there no outrage at that? Why are there no demands to chop their heads off?

It isn’t nice to speak ill of the dead, but the reality is that YSR has reaped the fruits of what he has sown. It is he and others of his ilk that have tolerated (and even encouraged) incompetence and substandard delivery of services to the public. Why should we be surprised that he has paid the ultimate price for that?

Why I will vote for the BJP

Here are 3 reasons why I will vote for the BJP in this coming election

1. Security: It is amazing how the media has pushed the 26/11 attacks to the background. But, let that not distract you, the past 5 years have seen a huge number of terrorist attacks on the population of India. Mumbai was the grand finale, but we had Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Bangalore, the list goes on. By taking a soft stand on the security issue, the UPA government has failed in its duty to protect the common man. It is a matter of chance whether you will be a victim of the next attack. Everyone knows the root of the issue, but the BJP seems to be the only party willing to tackle it head on. Is that not reason enough?

2. Economic reforms: There is no debate required on whether reforms are good or not, the evidence of the past 20 years is clear enough. The UPA government lucked out by being in power during a period of unprecedented boom, but did very little to contribute to it. On the contrary, it did all it could to derail the momentum that had been built up during the NDA’s term, the Golden quadrilateral, PSU disinvestment, FRBM, each was chucked by the wayside in their quest to ruin the country.

3. Quality of leadership: In most parties in India, you need the right DNA to get to the top. What that essentially means is that unless you are the son of an important party leader, there is no chance you will be anything more than an ordinary party worker. The only parties where this is not the case are the Left parties and the BJP. Which other party can throw up leaders of the integrity and caliber of Vajpayee, Advani, Modi, Jaitley etc?

I have no doubt that the BJP is not everyone’s cup of tea, and a few things about them may turn off some people from the party. Even to them, I will say that the reality is that no party in India is anywhere close to perfect and we need to make compromises. I feel that for all its faults, the BJP is a lesser evil than a Congress led UPA government or a rag-tag bunch of parties calling themselves the Third Front. Look at what each of them offers and then make your decision on who is the best suited to lead India forward for the next 5 years.

Mumbai terror attacks

I don’t know how or why, but this morning I got up at 4:30 am and couldn’t go back to sleep. So, I made myself some coffee and proceeded to check my email and Google news reader. One of the feeds that I read mentioned about the usage of Twitter, blogs, flickr etc in reporting the Mumbai blasts. I clearly remember thinking why it is a story today when the blasts happened quite a while ago. I attributed it to a reposting and went on. Around 6:00 am, I went to Rediff to check on the cricket score when the enormity of the terrorist attack hit. I switched on the TV and watched for a while, but after a while I just couldn’t take the tamasha that these people were turning it into.

I was angry, really angry. The anger prompted me to write an open letter to our country’s leadership.

To

Dr Manmohan Singh

Prime Minister

Republic of India

Dear Dr Singh,

By now, you would be well aware of the attacks in Mumbai. Though I live in Bangalore, I feel that these were an attack on me. It was just a chance that it took place in a different location to where I was, each of the persons killed could well have been me. They were just individuals who were going out for dinner or returning home from work or brave officers who jumped in knowing very well that they may not return alive. We have seen many attacks in the past and the response from you and your members of Cabinet have never been more than empty words. I am afraid for the future of our country, because I feel that the people of India have reached a tipping point and unless you act decisively, the outcome will be an end of the India that we know and love.

Here are a few things that I would like you to do

- You keep saying that terrorism has no religion. Yet, we have seen an amazing game of double standards being played out in the media. An elaborate case has been concocted against Pragya and Lt Col Purohit and the media has gone to town heralding the rise of “Hindu terrorism”. Can we have the same sense of purpose in all terrorism cases? Do not let vote bank politics play a role in the investigation

- Do not negotiate with the terrorists. They may kill a few hostages, yes that is damaging for the people and their families, but the damage to the country that is caused by your capitulation is far worse.

- If reports are true and Pakistan is behind these attacks, we need to take decisive action against them, even if it means large causalities on our side. Otherwise we will forever be known as a weak state that will keep facing attacks like this one.

Going by the past record of your government, I have 0% confidence that any of my wishes will come through. But I live in hope, because the alternative is to live in fear. That would mean giving in to the terrorists.

Sincerely

An Indian Citizen

Bangalore bomb attack

9 bombs went off in Bangalore yesterday. They were of really low intensity, in fact looking at the TV pictures, you could mistake it for a firecracker that went off. Due to the limited damage, people have written it off a little too easily and it has almost become a joke. But, that's not the point, we should not forget that the terrorists could have easily used a more powerful explosive and the damage could have been a lot worse. We got off easy this time, but will we be as lucky the next time?