Tuesday, March 31, 2009

An open letter to the PM.

Sir,

At the outset let me admit that I am a big fan of yours. So what I say or do wouldn’t change my respect for you.

I was in UK when you visited Scotland and I remember the pride which you gave me when your name was taken with such reverence there. You were always addressed in hushed tones.

Alas, that is fading now. I would indeed support Opposition leader Advani when he calls you a weak PM. Though I agree it’s not your fault altogether. You are in the wrong party, a party which is sycophantic and only respect the Gandhi name and the coalition dharma has added to your woes. But Sir, there were times when I thought you would stand up and be counted. But your leadership comes across as lusterless. I would give only few examples.

Your reaction to Mr. Advani’s call for a debate was very disappointing. I watched with awe as the Presidential debate took place here in USA and candidate after candidate gave their views on every issue. You could not agree with a candidate but you had to respect his views and his grasp on every subject. At least the voters knew what each person stood for. The response of your party was rather foolish. I expected a much more intelligent answer from some one like Mrs. Jayanthi Natarajan. Her saying that debate is suited for Presidential system only.

Sir, we follow the British system. Haven’t she heard of the debates between the PM and the opposition candidates? A down and out Tony Blair had the guts to face a live audience on BBC. He was skewered by the live audience but he took it on his chin.

The response of Mr. Digvijay Singh to Mr. Advani’s blog was also churlish. He ridiculed him saying that there were only few followers. He probably doesn’t even realize the dynamics of blogging. What your party doesn’t realize is that you boast of a youthful brigade. Always try to project Mr. Rahul Gandhi as a youth icon. He is a gentleman. I have nothing against him. But you guys are in such a time warp that you don’t even accept the modern technology and the latest trends.

Imagine the response of your AP Congress who came out with a slogan “ Yes we will”
Can you be any more original than that!!!!!!!!.

And you have the cheek to ridicule some one else? Pathetic!

In fact I appreciate Mr. Advani. He may fail. But at least he is open to new trends.

Sir, give me this 81 year old modernist to your time warped and old worldish youngsters.

Do you know Omar Abdullah has even a face book profile ?

Now come to the latest Mumbai siege. Your reaction ,to say the least ,was very late and tepid. You failed to infuse any kind of confidence in the people with your speech.

Sir, your party keeps calling BJP as a non secular party. You guys have a very flawed understanding of the word secular. I think your party is the most divisive party in the country. You take the support of the communist who think nothing of sharing the dias with Mr. Madhani who has been accused of links with some terrorist organization. And the feeble argument given is that it still isn’t proved.

The 1984 Sikh genocide was a shameful episode in history. I feel it was worse than Godhra. I do not condone Godhra. But Godhra was a reactive episode where as the assassinations of thousands of Sikhs was premeditated one.
Sir, the dead can never come back. But at least I expected that with you as the PM at least the brave Sikhs would be given justice.

It was shocking ,therefore ,when Tytler whose role was well known was let scot free.

Sir, you are a man of honor. No one can deny that. But you watched silently as the great institution of the PM was destroyed by a conniving Congress President. I have no problems with her Italian descent. She has been duly elected by the people of this country. And it has to be respected. But I have problems when she doesn’t respect our sacred institutions like the President’s or the PM post. And you allowed yourself to be a willing accomplice. That simply is not expected from a person of your stature.

Sir, while voting our country is divided on sharp lines. The Muslims and Christians feel insecure with BJP. The Hindus vote for BJP because they feel insecure with your appeasement policies. Any one who criticizes Congress is branded as communal and anyone who criticizes BJP as Anti hindu. Where is Economy, Progress, health care education . Our villages need clean drinking water. Our infrastructure is pathetic. Does any one really care?

The Tatas moved their Nano project to Gujarat. Can any sane person call Tata communal?

The recession is round the corner. Doesn’t anyone think any more?

Sir, there may be many safe constituencies. I do realize you had an operation. And I am glad that you are sound and safe. I always pray to god that you are healthy.

But how can a PM not be an elected Member.

The issues are plenty. No one has time to address.

I have very good friends who are Muslims and Christians. They feel insecure with BJP. They have my support.

BJP Must give them the assurance . They are as much Indians as Hindus and should feel they are safe and well protected.

That is something Mr. Advani has to address.

But as far as I am concerned , my vote goes, for now at least, to him. He looks to me a better candidate and the BJP a better party.

I pledge my support to him.

But as I said before its nothing personal. My respect for you still remains.

Regards.

9 comments:

  1. Dear Sudhir,
    Very well written. I honestly wish that if not the PM, at least the Indian electorate read this post, I believe that would certainly make a difference to the country.
    Thanks for such a wonderful thoughts.
    -SKT

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  2. thanks Basava
    i am glad you liked it.

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  3. dear sudhir,
    its grt,u have treaded this topic with caution and unbiased with no disrespect to anyone,keep going

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  4. Thanks Prathap,
    very grateful for your kind words.

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  5. well written.... no doubt Dr Manmohan Singh is a good guy, but the fact remains is that he's a dummy PM..... and moreover, he's not an elected candidate.... even i share the same views....

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  6. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  7. Thanks Ankit. Grateful for your comment.

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  8. You are a good writer Sudhir... I have read a few of your posts.. Though I am not politically inclined, I have a few thoughts I would like to share..

    -About the debate, dont you think its his call if he wants to debate or not? Everyone would agree that Advani vs Singh in a debate is like Australia vs Bangladesh, Singh being Bangladesh(the weaker team)... I would like to see Advani wanting a debate had Indira Gandhi been the current PM.. Now that would be Australia vs Bangladesh again, this time Advani being Bangladesh :)

    -About blogging and such, MMS is an economist,a CEO, he doesnt necessarily need to have a blog or an orkut profile.. He neednt even know bout such stuff..

    - I dont agree with you that the PM should be necessarily elected by the people.. The constitution allows it, so MMS can milk it :)

    - As per your own writings "She(Sonia) has been duly elected by the people of this country. And it has to be respected." Well I think she respects the PM. And if you rem, she should have been the PM.. It was only because of a BJP leaders(dont wanna name her) anctics that she decided against it..

    All other points that you made make sense.. I am with you on those.. But the very fact that you needed to come up with points as feeble as the ones i have negated(I say feeble coz a novice like me could negate them easily), show that you are quite a follwer of Advani's blog! :P
    Cheers man! Keep writing..

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  9. Hi Arshat,
    Thanks for your kind words. And btw my Blog is not half as brilliant as yours. now coming to your points :
    1.The debate is not about who is a great orator its about the views.contrary to general perception, its not a shouting match where the one who can shout the loudest wins as Dr.MMS has recently said. it has a moderator who asks each person his views on diff. subjects like say health care, education etc. a time is alloted. We must not judge them on how well or how badly they speak but what are their plans.

    2.I dont expect that a PM or some one blogs. but if some one does you dont have to demean him. this reference was contextual when the congress had made some snide remarks about BJP using internet.what i meant was the use of modern technology and reaching out to people.i opposed their status qouist attitude.

    3.The PM of a large democracy should not give an impression that he has a back door entry. how can he be a leader if he doesnt seem to have the capacity to get elected? this is abt a perception and not about the legal status.
    but again this is subjective. and i must respect your view.

    4.My Problem with Sonia is that she has manipulated a decent man and usurped all powers without the accountability of the post.
    if she respected him, she should have directed all the ministers to directly report to him. i can give a lot of instances where she deliberately allowed all to know that she is the boss. that is an insult to the august instituition of a PM.

    5. well i am a follower of good blogs. and honestly i went to his blog out of curiosity. and i was impressed with his smartness.

    again i wasnt trying to support Advani. trust me his much to smarter than me :) and so are you:)

    I loved your blog very much sp.some of the original comments like anorexic books ( Hilarious - shantaram) and description of holi - a drawing class gone wrong. well done.

    pheww. thats the longest reply i have ever written.

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