Wednesday, August 03, 2011

Maharashtra's Stale Politics

Ever since Prthviraj Chavan has taken over as the chief minister of Maharashtra, the politics of the state has become too stale and bereft of political drama. One reason behind this is that Chavan is not a shrewd and professional politician like his predeccecors Ashok Chavan and Vilasrao Deshmukh. He is more of a bureaucratic personality which pervades his political acumen. Much unlike his fraternity, he is not a public figure in the sense that he rarely is seen sorrounded by workers or common public. He has carefully placed himself away from the masses creating a halo around himself. Chavan has spent most of his tenure in centre and in that sense, he is yet to accommodate himself in the state's politicians.

In the initial days of his tenure as the CM of Maharashtra, Chavan was seen superceded by his deputy Ajit Pawar, who is a Nationalist Congress Party leader. Pawar had then conducted separate meetings with bureaucrats and appeared to have taken many decisions much against the wishes of Chavan. But soon, that euphoria also got disappeared. 
 
What we are now seeing is a kind of a boring drama where all the actors are just bidding their time before their final exit. Their body language gives an expression that they are not happy with the stage but their invisible director has forced them to show themselves before the audience, which in any way is not entertained at all.
It is not that Chavan himself does not understand this. But he is preoccupied himself with the task of appearing clean in the eyes of public which was least bewildered to see his predeccecor Ashok Chavan leaving his office in the aftermath of the Adarsh Society scam. Apparently, the Prithviraj Chavan's brief is to keep his party, Congress, away from scandals or scams. In the bargain, it is nobody's concern that performance is compromised.

Saturday, April 09, 2011

Centenary of An Ispiring Book

A book that inspired an entire generation of freedom fighters in Maharashtra is celebrating centenary this year. 
 
The celebrations for the centenary of Gitarahasya, the commentative treatise by Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak startrd from March 27 to 30. The occasion was marked by lectures of eminent speakers during this period. 
 
The Kesari Mahratta Trust in Pune, headed by Lokmanya's great-grandson Dr. Deepak Tilak, organises Gitarahasya Jayanti (birth anniversary) each year on March 30. Since 1962, a lecture is organised bringing out aspects of philosophy in Gita. This time, the series of lectures are organised because of special occasion.

Lokmanya wrote Gitarahasya as a commentary on Srimad Bhagwadgita. It advocates the way of works as against way of renunciation as propagated during Lokmanya's time. The new thinking was easily lapped up by the patriots, providing inspiration to the thousands.

The popularity of the book can be gauged by the fact that till now, 24 editions of the book have been sold. It has been translated into English, Hindi, Gujarati, Bengali, Kannada, Telugu and Tamil. 
 
The book is also special because of process of its creation. Lokmanya Tilak started writing this book on November 2, 1910 and completed it on March 30, 1911. He was placed in Mandalay Jail (Now in Myanmar) then on sedition charges. He was released in 1914. In the meantime, he wrote the book sitting in his cell, many a times yearning for right references.

After coming out of jail, Lokmanya once quipped that he could wrote his scholarly books only because he was placed in the solitary cells, away from hustle-bustle of politics. Commenting upon Gitarahasya, Mahatma Gandhi had once said, “ThIs book is the perpetual memorial of Lokmanya Tilak.”

Even though Tilak wrote the book in jail during 1910-11, he was influenced by the greatest theological book of Hinduism since 1872 when he was just 16 years old. Little Bal (Lokmanya's original name) was made to read the holy book when his father was very ill.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

So Sorry For Japan...

Photo courtesy: AP & Yahoo News
After World War II, Japan was always seen as a role model for the developing countries. For an Indian like me, the country had a special space because of its cultural affinity to us.

Radio Japan was the first international radio station which I started listening to in 1992. Soon, I was hooked to it and got to know many interesting things about this 'land of cherries'. That also prompted me to try learning that language in 1993.

Even after trying for six or so years, I could not make much progress on that front. My knowledge of Japanese never went beyond Sumimasen and Arigato or Dozo Yoroshiku.

But that did not deter me from loving this tiny nation with highest moral character possible. When the deadly quake wiped off much of country's wealth during last week, all those memories came back to me. During this time, one of the comments on a news item made me think.

The anonymous writer said, 'Even after so much destruction and chaos, there was no chaos or looting. That speak volume about the character of the nation.”

I could not agree more. Having gone through so many natural tragedies made us Indian admire more and more the tiny but great nation on this earth. Japan...we are so sorry for you!

Monday, March 14, 2011

Will Prithviraj Prove His Mettle In Budget Session?


Chief Minister of Maharashtra Prithviraj Chavan is facing the budget session of state legislature first time since taking over charge of his post over 100 days ago. The timing is not so right main opposition party Bharatiya Janata Party is roaring with rants against the rule of Mafias in the state. On the other side of political spectrum, Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena are preparing themselves for the impending elections of Zilla Parishads and municipal corporations. The quadrangle is completed by Nationalist Congress Party which does not let go any chance of showdown against its ruling alliance partner.

Even though Congress enjoys the most MLAs and MPs from Maharashtra, it is still groping in dark because of lack of able leadership. CM Chavan, even though a good hand at the administration, has no nose for politics. Former CM Ashok Chavan was a seasoned politician who talked in same language with NCP when he lead the cabinet. However, he had to part with chair because of one of the worst scandals that hit the state.

Ashok Chavan resigned after it was surfaced that his relatives owned flats in the now infamous Adarsh Society. With this background in mind, it was completely obvious that Prithviraj chosed to play it safe. He ensured to create an image of Mr. Clean and reigned over the builders' lobby.

However, in his endeavour to mend the administration, he forgot to make it move. The administration came to a standstill. Now, the Congressmen themselves started to blame own government. On February 3, some 25 Congress MLAs held a meeting at former minister Baba Siddiqi's house. Those who attended the meeting criticised the tardiness of administration. Interestingly, Chavan was present in the meeting. 
 
Even as Prithviraj steered clear of corruption allegations and scandals, he could not evade the controversies. The state government first faced the ire of media and public when additional collector of Nashik,was burned alive by oil mafia Popat Shinde in Manmad on January 25. Last week, CM Chavan again found himself in thick of fire when Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh named him as culprit for appointing P. J. Thomas as Chief Vigilance Commissioner. Chavan, thanks to his academic skills and graciousness of PM, could avert the allegations. 
 
These chain of affairs has not helped the Congress party in view of impending civic bodies elections. Matters are made worse because CM Chavan is not elected to any house of legislature. Sanjay Dutt, the member of Legislative Council has shown readiness to vacate his seat for CM. But a definite course of events is still far away.

With Congree in search of impressive leadership and opposition's armoury full with weapons, the budget session is sure to prove a hard nut to crack for CM.