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After Laloo Prasad Yadav's RJD and Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) had decided to contest for 37 of Bihar’s 40 seats and leave only 3 seats for its 9 year old ally Congress; the latter retaliated by announcing that it will contest for 37 out of the 40 seats itself. The alliance thus came down between these two parties. This will weaken Congress further.

After this Laloo Prasad Yadav announced that RJD-LJP alliance will take back the offer of letting Congress contest from the three seats as well. He rubbed it further by suggesting that in UP, Bihar and West Bengal there was really no presence of Congress. What it means is that Congress (as well as its main opponent) may consider themselves as "National" parties, but they are dependent on the regional players to stay alive in politics.

The feud got worse as Congress has decided to field Laloo's brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav as its candidate in Betiah Lok Sabha seat as he did not get the RJD ticket.

Laloo, however, did not burn all the bridges. He eulogized Sonia Gandhi and Dr. Singh and suggested that they are part of UPA and if they win, they will try and put Dr. Singh as the PM again.

This week the Third Front was launched. Ten parties, comprising some regional parties and the Communists, came together at a rally in Bangalore on Thursday to launch the Third Front ahead of general elections beginning next month.

Interestingly, the contradictions are very apparent. Chandrababu Naidu - the quintessential promoter of business and economic activity in AP is teaming together with CPI, the people who do their best to stall any economic activity in the country. So you had the strange mix of Janata Dal-Secular head H D Deve Gowda, CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat, CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan, Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu standing on the stage together.

Their primary objective: form an alternate front in order to topple both the United Progressive Alliance and the National Democratic Alliance.

And that's what is so sad of Indian politics now. Politicians do not run to help the common man or improve the country but to UNABASHEDLY win at any cost. The loser is the common man! Why? Because of these antics now, we will see a hung parliament and possibly one or maybe more Mid Term elections before we can have a stable Government. Hundreds of crores will be lost. Politicians will gain. But the common man will lose BIG TIME!

Meanwhile, BJP calls this Third Front as a "Parking lot" and a "Mirage". Senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu alleged that:

"Third Front has no leader, no agenda, no alliance...No seat-sharing…How can anybody call it a Third Front?"

The structure of Third Front has been changing over the years and in that sense, Naidu's claim does make sense. And if one looks back into the history of the last 20 years one can find that when the Third Front Governments took over the reigns with totally forgettable PM reigns of Dewe Gowda and IK Gujral, India was the most vulnerable!

With the economy in a downturn, the opportunist are taking advantage now.

Reference Links:

1. Third Front is a Parking Lot: BJP

Dear Countrymen!

It gives me great pleasure to address you from this virtual platform because it will help me to reach directly to your souls and souls are indeed the ones which I want to reach in these extraordinary times.

Bodies could be different - could belong to different regions, religions and stratas of socity, minds could be different - could be full of different regional, religious and intellectual prides and prejudices, but souls of a collective entity cannot be different. The soul is always one.

The Soul of India is one.

I want to address the Soul of India.

Why I say these are the extraordinary times? I need not have to go far to explain.

Even as I am writing this, the TV Channel Aaj Tak is airing its 10 pm special programme titled "Sawdhan Hindustan." In it the Channel is warning India that it is being surrounded by instable and almost disintegrating neighbours from all sides and it should remain extraordinarily alert if it wants to save the same fate for itself.

Pakistan, Afganistan and even Bangla Desh are being taken over inch by inch by Taliban. This frightening prospect is being further confounded by more and more dangerous developments by the day, what with Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaj Sharif being disqualified to fight future elections just today thus throwing its political climate into further chaos, Bangla Desh's infamous Bangladesh Rifles openly rebelling against its Army to put stability of newly formed government of Sheikh Hasina into jeopardy, while Afganistan is already in a perpetual state of receiving such doses of destabilisation daily.

Seeing the above in the light of the fact that Pakistan has nuclear bomb which could go into Taliban and eventually Al Queda hands any time, a most dreadful prospect for America, it would not be an exaggeration to fear full-scale armed intervention by America in the near future if not full scale third world war on our borders. And, God forbid, if this later eventuality happenes, it may lead to the use of even nuclear bombs once again in the history of the world.

And I have yet not said a word about the picture inside India, about increasing possibility of Mumbai-like terrorist attacks because of the above, about the economic recession engulfing the whole world and its consequences for our ecountry which had just begun to develop wings in this respect etc.

Nor I have said a word yet about the equally worrying political climate inside the country. Where, to say the least, statesmen have become politicians, politicians have become petty politicians, petty politicians have become outright muscle men and goondas of whosoever is in power, or whosoever can buy them. The elders are faltering, the middle agers have no political legs of their own, the youth are lacking confidence to take their place, with the result that criminals and people with money and muscle power are increasingly calling the shots in the body politic of our country.

Amen. But...

Such one-sided happenings do not make a times extraordinary. These could represent bad times but not extraordinary times. Extraordinary times are the ones when alongside the bad happenings there happen good ones of equal importance and intensity so that a little more pressure on either side could make an individual, a people, a nation tilt either way. It will either make a paradigm shift to a new, higher order or fall to the ground in total chaos.

Deep diviners of things know it which is why right before the extraordinary times of the happening of French Revolution great French writer Charles Dickens began his world-famous novel " A Tale of Two Cities" with the lines: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." It was the best of times because he could see in it the coming of French Revolution, it was the worst of times because in it the common people of France were under the most brutal oppression of French Aristocracy in their history. And this is not the only example.

So...

Yes, you have guessed it right, my fellow countrymen!

I also see alongside the present bad happenings in and around India a number of good happenings of equal importance and intensity as well which could well lead our country into its own Revolution of sorts - Indian Revolution.

We have for the first time won so many Oscars for our people, we have for the first time won gold and so many other medals in the Olympics, we have for the first time reached the moon with our own rocket, we have for the first time reached almost double digit growth in our economy, our businessmen have steadily spread their wings throughout the world, we have set an example by making world's cheapest car, we have shown the world once again that as ever when things go to deeper levels as from hard ware to soft ware we are the masters. We had already proved it when one of our geniuses had invented zero, when our spirituality had reached to the very home of the One/God through its philosophy of Advaita Vedanta.

Do you think, my dear countrymen, these extraordinary things are happening now just by chance?

No my countrymen! I see in them the hand of destiny, India's destiny. I see in them destiny calling us for action towards a greater future for India, for an Indian Revolution. I see in them the spirit of India racing ahead even as its body is caught for a while in chaotic conditions without and within. In see in them the emerging new order out of the prevailing chaos. I see in them a call for a new type of thinking, decisions and actions.

Now, let me call these new type of thinking, decisions and actions as Right Thinking, Right Decisions and Right Actions at this crucial juncture and try to enumerate them for you with my limited understanding.

A. Right thoughts:

1. I am an Indian first and Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian etc later. No doubt I cannot forget my religion which is really the core of my being but for this very reason I will keep it strictly to myself. I will take it as my most secret pact with God. So that I will not take part in any of those religious affairs/activities in the open which will have the potential to harm my country in any way.

2. I am an Indian first and Utter Pardeshi, Punjabi, Haryanavi, Himachali, Bihari, Maharashtrian, Gujrati etc later. No doubt I cannot forget my state but I will think of my state only as a part of India and not in isolation. If I am really honest I am sure I will not face any difficulty in serving both equally well at all times.

3. I am an Indian first and my individual-self later. I recall that it was not always so and understand and accept the necessity of it being so now. Because extraordinary circumstances require extraordinary measures and moreover, I would better try to keep my country alive even at the cost of myself now rather than lose my country and make my life even more miserable alive than dead like Palestinian people later. By so doing I will at least be ensuring a home for my future generations not to forget the future generations of India.

4. I would not blame anybody because of their past/past actions, but only because of their actions from now on. I will keep myself free from any depressing thoughts regarding past if any by constantly reminding myself of Lord Krishana's words in Bhagvad Gita "What happened was for the good". I know paradigm shifts in people's awarenesses cannot be brought about by keeping them bound to their pasts. It is an experience really of the soul and for it to happen people's souls will have to be set free of their pasts.

5. I will envision more and more role for youth in the future because I know that not only are they full of fresh energy but even more importantly, are free from the burdens of the past. Yet I will not allow this at the cost of respect for the elders, because I know that elders did no less in their own times to bring us to the state where we are now and where we can at least breathe, think and act freely.

6. I think it is time to be leaders unto ourselves and improve whatever things we want to improve rather than wait for the leaders from outside. I will have to be the leader at least for my small world around me myself. I am sure this way some day the whole of India will stand up on its own feet to improve things to really usher into a revolution from within.

B. Right Decisions:

1. I will take decisions concerning the coming elections and even later guided by the above-explained right thoughts. As a consequence, I will not caste my vote on the basis of my religion, region, self-interest or under the influence of money and muscle power.

2. I know I cannot decide about the goodness or badness of parties in general, especially the main parties and, moreover, know that there are good and bad people in all the parties. So I will choose the best available candidate from my area to caste my vote irrespective of to which party he/she belongs. I am sure good people in any party will do good wherever they go while bad people will do bad. I am sure going ahead my this decision will discourage parties from giving party tickets to bad people in future.

3. I will not be influenced by anybody's money or muscle power and will caste my vote in favour of the person I have freely decided and not out of any fear.

4. I will neither make any vulgar display of outer wealth and luxuries myself nor appreciate anybody doing so. I will educate people to shun it in favour of inner wealth of knowledge and wisdom. I will not vote for the candidate who does such vulgar displays.

5. I have full faith in the ancient philosophy of India that everybody is wise from the heart so I will always stand by the idea of democracy even if sometimes its results may not look apparently good. I am sure people's inherent wisdom will show itself sooner or later.

C. Right Action:

1. I will act as per the right thoughts and decisions given above.

2. I will acquaint more and more people of my area with the ideas contained in this paper even by publishing and distributing it if need be. However, I will take care not to fall into unnecessary confrontations with anybdoy as I believe that all will come to the side of truth in due time. All I have to do is do my work as above.

3. I will honestly educate people as to the good and bad points of candidates of my area and will urge them to vote for the good and comparatively honest candidate. I know it will be very difficult to find completely honest candidates so long as people have to spend money on elections and so, I will term comparatively honest candidates those candidates who collect money only for elections and not for making personal assets. I will not be easily swayed by the mere outer goodness and honesty of people because I know there are some people who look good and honest only because they are
more clever than others at concealing their bad actions. I will go deeply into this aspect with my friends as time passes.

4. I will shun earning money or other perks by wrong means from now on myself.

5. I will shun giving or receiving favours.

6. I will not approach people in power for any personal gains.

7. I will work to the best of my ability, power and efficiency. I will do my best to remove the notion that "work to rule is like strike" from people's minds. I will put greatest value on performance with honesty rather than on mere honesty.

8. I will set examples for people to follow and will patiently wait for them to follow on their own by overcoming their past prejudices and weaknesses rather than force myself on them and expect immediate results. I know paradigm shifts are led first only by a few people, not by crowds. Crowds will first have to be mentally prepared obviously by persuasion, by helping them understand certain things at their own pace, by motivation rather than by force. Force can be used only later on the exceptional few who prove themselves to be beyond reformation by persuasion or by any other means.

With this my dear dear countrymen, I close my address. I earnestly hope that mother India shows you its inherent 'light' at this critical juncture which enlightens you enough to see the truth in the above words and gives you strength enough to follow them in letter and spirit.

Jai Ho, Jai HInd

LK Advani has suggested that the Prime Minister should be from Lok Sabha. P. Chidambaran, however suggested that it was an interesting suggestion and Somnath Chatterjee said that it is not practical.

LK Advani said that there should be an amendment in the constitution to make that possible. The other two commenters however rejected it on the basis of whether it was practical or not.

Based on the basics of democracy, what LK Advani says is how it should be. Although it may not have been laid out clearly in the constitution, that was the clear intent of the founders of modern India. For, if it does not matter if the Prime Minister is ELECTED or not, then what is the logic of having others be elected?

In fact in the US' Presidential system, the President is the one who is elected. The rest of the Secretaries (Ministers) are not. And THAT is the basics of being a democracy. Otherwise its a complete mockery of democracy.

Dear, dear fellow countrymen!

No day could be more auspicious to share with you certain concernes regarding the coming elections which I and a few of my friends have in our minds keeping in view the future of our great country.

On the one hand, recalling our mastery in the software designing field in the last few years, our economic surge on the world scale, our winning the first-time gold and other medals at the last olympics and to top it all our taking the Hollywood world by storm today by winning 9 straight Oscars one is left in no doubt that the time of India to regain its ancient glory and be one of the leading countries of the world has arrived.

While on the other hand, from clouds of anarchy and instability in our neighbourhood made more monstrous by the possibility of nuclear weapons slipping into wrong hands leading even to the possibility of making the area an arena for a third world war, to the possibility of more and more Mumbai-like terrorist attacks as a consequence, to the almost uneducated, self-centered and criminal-like behaviour of most of our politicians sends a shiver down one's spine as to whether this country can remain even united not to talk of its becoming great.

Any sensitive soul of India would have wept from his heart if not literally hearing speaker Somnath Chatterjee's helpless words a few days ago cursing certain politicians for their unruly, goonda-like beahviour in the Lok Sabha.

"May you all be defeated," he had lamented.

No doubt we are at the crossroads of history.

Wise say such are the times to make or break something, somebody, an individual, a country, a nation.

Either we can think right thoughts, take right decisions and follow them with right actions and make our great country jump to a new level of awarenes and work-culture compatible with the great possibilities enumerated in paragraph first above, that is, of achieving its ancient glory and leading place in the comity of nations, or,we can let ourselves be taken over by lethargy, laid-back devil-may-care attitude or even worse, by our own local self-interests to let the things drift the way they are so long as they serve our own petty interests and behave as if nothing really worrysome is happening. With the inevitable result that sooner or later it will go the way of neighourhood, into anarchy, into divisions and ultimately into death as a country.

It is time to choose. It is time to choose almost between life and death as a country.

We, some friends, have made our choice. We have chosen life.

We have found ourselves unable to forget the India of yore, the India which gave birth to almost God-like gurus, rishis, munis, fakirs, saints, fighter-saints, kings and princes; the India which gave birth to Vedas, Upanishadas, Gitas and Granths full of wisdom derived from the wisdom-wells of all regions and religions, the India whose spiritual reach touched the godly heights of seeing all as One, indeed seeing all as God. While in the West one William Wordsworth talked of seeing the world in a grain of sand and was celebrated for that, here it is the reality for almost everybody thanks to it.

And so here we move further to choose what right thoughts to think, what right decisions to take, what right actions and work-culture to adopt and then share them with you. With the full hope that just as we have brought these words and thoughts right from our hearts, similarly, you too will follow them right from your heart, that is, with utmost earnestness, as if your very own life is at stake and not of some distant entity called country India.

Now below I will enumerate what right thoughts to think, what right decisions to make, what right actions to adopt for your kind consideration.

A. Right thoughts:

1. I am an Indian first and Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian etc later. No doubt I cannot forget my religion which is really the core of my being but for this very reason I will keep it strictly to myself. I will take it as my most secret pact with God. So that I will not take part in any of those religious affairs/activities in the open which will have the potential to harm my country in any way.
2. I am an Indian first and Utter Pardeshi, Punjabi, Haryanavi, Himachali, Bihari, Maharashtrian, Gujrati etc later. No doubt I cannot forget my state but I will think of my state only as a part of India and not in isolation. If I am really honest I am sure I will not face any difficulty in serving both equally well at all times.
3. I am an Indian first and my individual-self later. I recall that it was not always so and understand and accept the necessity of it being so now. Because extraordinary circumstances require extraordinary measures and moreover, I would better try to keep my country alive even at the cost of myself now rather than lose my country and make my life even more miserable alive than dead like Palestinian people later. By so doing I will at least be ensuring a home for my future generations not to forget the future generations of India.
4. I would not blame anybody because of their past/past actions, but only because of their actions from now on. I will keep myself free from any depressing thoughts regarding past if any by constantly reminding myself of Lord Krishana's words in Bhagvad Gita "What happened was for the good". I know paradigm shifts in people's awarenesses cannot be brought about by keeping them bound to their pasts. It is an experience really of the soul and for it to happen people's souls will have to be set free of their pasts.
5. I will envision more and more role for youth in the future because I know that not only are they full of fresh energy but even more importantly, are free from the burdens of the past. Yet I will not allow this at the cost of respect for the elders, because I know that elders did no less in their own times to bring us to the state where we are now and where we can at least breathe, think and act freely.
6. I will prefer inner wealth of knowledge and wisdom over outer wealth of assets and luxuries. And so will expend far more energy on gaining the former compared to the latter.
7. I think it is time to be leaders unto ourselves and improve whatever things we want to improve rather than wait for the leaders from outside. I will have to be the leader at least for my small world around me myself. I am sure this way some day the whole of India will stand up on its own feet to improve things to really usher into a revolution from within.

B. Right Decisions:

1. I will take decisions concerning the coming elections and even later guided by the above-explained right thoughts. As a consequence, I will not caste my vote on the basis of my religion, region, self-interest or under the influence of anybody's past. I will judge everybody what and how he is doing now.
2. I know I cannot decide about the goodness or badness of parties in general. Especially the main parties and, moreover, know that there are good and bad people in all the parties. So I will choose the best available candidate from my area to caste my vote irrespective of to which party he/she belongs. I am sure good people in any party will do good/spread goodness all around while bad people will do/spread badness. I am sure going ahead my this decision will discourage parties from giving party tickets to bad people in future.
3. I will not be influenced by anybody's money nor of muscle power and would keep in mind that nobody will be watching me while casting my vote so that I will caste my vote in favour of the person I have freely decided and not out of any fear.
4. I will neither make any vulgar display of outer wealth and luxuries myself nor appreciate anybody doing so. I will educate people to shun it in favour of inner wealth of knowledge and wisdom. I will not vote for the candidate who does such vulgar displays.
5. I have full faith in the ancient philosophy of India that everybody is wise from the core of his being. So I will always stand by the idea of democracy even if sometimes its results may not look apparently that good. I am sure people's inherent goodness/wisdom will show itself sooner or later.

C. Right Action:

1. I will act as per the right thoughts and decisions given above.
2. I will acquaint more and more people of my area with the ideas contained in this paper even by publishing and distributing it if need be. However, for the time being I will take care not to fall into unnecessary confrontations with anybdoy to ensure my kind of people grow in numbers enough before we act more freely./li>
3. I will educate people as to the good points and bad points of candidates of my area and will urge them to vote for the good and comparatively honest candidate. I know it will be very difficult to find completely honest candidates so long as people have to spend money on elections and so, I will term comparatively honest candidates those candidates who collect money only for elections and not for making personal assets. I will not be easily swayed by the mere outer goodness and honesty of people because I know there are some people who look good and honest only because they are more clever at concealing their bad actions than others. I will go deeply into this aspect with my friends as time passes.

4. I will shun earning money or other perks by wrong means from now on myself.
5. I will shun giving or receiving favours.
6. I will not approach anybody/people in power for any personal gains.
7. I will work to the best of my ability, power and efficiency. I will do my best to remove the notion that "work to rule is like strike" from people's minds.
8. I will set examples for people to follow and will patiently wait for them to follow on their own by overcoming their past prejudices/weaknesses step by step rather than force myself on them and expect immediate results. I know paradigm shifts are led at first only by a few people, not by crowds. Crowds will first have to be mentally prepared obviously by persuasion, by helping them understand certain things at their own pace, by motivation rather than by force. Force can be used only later on the exceptional few who prove themselves to be beyond reformation by persuasion or by any other means.

With this my dear dear countrymen, I close my paper. I earnestly hope that mother India shows you its inherent mysterious 'light' at this critical juncture which enlightens you enough to see the truth in the above words and gives you strength enough to follow them in true spirit.

A Concerned Indian

Jai Ho, Jai Hind

Here is an interesting survey from the India Today. It involved surveying the youth and knowing their preferences. It seems that Congress is the front runner in the coming elections with 3 out of top five as their candidates who the Indian youth want to see as PM. Narender Modi is an exception as he is at the top. LK Advani, is nowhere in the race! He even trails AB Vajpayee, who despite the fact is on ventilator worrying for his life is still ahead of Advani!

In fact Modi again comes out as a "Strong Hand" when it comes to historic perspective of the youth - He is # 3 behind Indira Gandhi (not alive) and Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam (can't run ina PM race!). #4 is Vajpayee who is also not in the race and right after AB Vajpayee is Dr. Singh. LK Advani is way down again!! So, from all available indications, this election may seem to be an embarrassment for LK Advani.

Here are the other results:

Things within BJP are going astray. There is in-fighting within the party and with the main allies.

Bal Thackeray has snubbed LK Advani. And LK Advani had snubbed Jaswant Singh.

Surprisingly, Bal Thackeray refused to meet LK Advani when he was in Mumbai. Some are saying that Shiv Sena wants to tie up with Sharad Pawar's NCP to ensure a Maratha leader be the Prime Minister.

Jaswant Singh, on the other hand has suggested that there were differences within the NDa Government regarding the Operation Prakaram (troop build up in 2001 after the Parliament Attack). LK Advani wants to pursue a "muscular" foreign policy where he wants to ensure that no one "messes around with India".

In a recent opinion poll, it seems that this time it will be a hung parliament... where Congress led UPA will get 215 to 235 seats while BJP led NDA alliance will get between 165 to 185 seats. The poll was conducted by CSDS for CNN-IBN. Interestingly, it is predicted that the gains for Congress would come from the Hindu Upper Castes (8%), dominant peasant castes (7%) and the lower OBCs and Adivasis (5%)!

Both the major parties - Congress and BJP will however gain over their smaller allies. Congress allies could end up with just 6.7 per cent of votes, seeing a drop in their vote share by 3.4 per cent, while BJP allies may just get 7.1 per cent votes (6.6 per cent less than what they got in the last general elections).

On the other hand, the Left parties' share would slip by 2 percent versus their last performance in 2004. BSP could gain but marginally by 0.5%.

Advani is exhorting his cadres to work hard and win on BJP's own strengths instead of the Allies. In fact he says that Allies come when BJP is strong. They would not come on their own.

"No, we have to fight on our own strength. Allies don't come for nothing, alliances happen on the basis of our own strength... The stronger we get, the more allies we fetch,"

While BJP is in fear of losing its allies in AP, TN and West Bengal, and the seat sharing may not be according to its liking in Orissa, Bihar, Punjab and UP as well. But the worst blow is the indication that the Shiv Sena - part of the larger Sangh Parivar - may tie up with NCP this time in Maharashtra.

So, things look bleak for BJP going into the elections.

The political parties are "fishing" for a fight as the elections approach! Narender Modi was asked about the "youth icon" Rahul Gandhi from Congress. To which he replied:

'We are not small fish floating around in the comfort of aquariums, but we weather huge storms to win. 'We are not flowers cultivated by gardeners of the rich. We have grown up in the forests on our own, which young people are they talking about?'

Well, it was clearly meant for Rahul Gandhi. Now, there are enough sycophants in the COngress Party, specially of the Gandhi family. So prompt came the reply from Manish Tewari:

'If Rahul is a fish in the aquarium, then Modi is a piranha who devours human beings.'

Obviously it is going to be a tough season ahead. Modi meanwhile is portraying the "tough leader" stance by bringing up the staple issues of BJP:

"Pakistan had initiated war and India should have responded accordingly. 'Instead, the Indian government went and begged before the US, pleading with them to lean on Pakistan. Why is Afzal Guru not being hanged, despite being pronounced guilty? Why is he being kept alive, as if he is in a museum''