NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS AND INDIA (old post 15th May 1998)

There is a lot of noise after the nuclear explosions by India. Some thought that its the dawn of a new era and some considered it to be a step towards doomsday. World was shocked, delighted and angry.

In short we have seen every kind of reactions from various people and nations.

We all know that nuclear arms are bad regardless of the fact that they belong to India or Pakistan or US. And for that matter all the arms are bad, or is it? Arms cannot do anything unless there is a man using it. Once discovered its very difficult to ban a lethal weapon. Even if countries sign treaties and all, you will always find somebody, some terrorist group using it.


Nuclear arms are no different. You need somebody to push the trigger. And if USA has the option of pushing the trigger, why not other nations. Bill Clinton mentioned our country as a fifty year old democracy. He need to be told that we are one of the oldest civilizations. If its the years
that count we are way ahead of a 200 yr old country.


There should not be any emotional outbursts in a rational discussion, but then, had man been rational, world would have been a better place to live in. There would not be any poverty, illiteracy, religion etc They all come because we are not rational beings. I am not trying to defend
BJP but don't we all want India to be peace-loving & prosperous country?


Peace comes with a price tag. Our neighbours occupied our territories in exchange for peace. Also we need to maintain so much vigilance on Borders to maintain peace. If the World is so peaceful, why waste so much money on Army. Why don't we close down Army and use the gun factories for making utensils. (Nehru did the same before Chinese invasion)


Is Nuclear option so much costly? I read one of the scientists saying that it will cost one crore a piece. Dirty Cheap considering their devastating power. Now we do not need to fear Ghauris and Ghaznis. Somnath temple is safe.


There are reports of some demonstrations in the Capital and noises around the world that the South Asia need to be free of Arms race, free of nuclear arms. But why only south Asia. The people from other parts may decide to use them in this part of World. What about that? I know you are getting a heavy dose of opinions from various newspapers and magazines. Truely speaking this is not a military policy but the countries' policy as a whole.


Commies do not understand Capitalism, they think its something bad. But India has to live with it. And we need to get the best of that. You see its all market driven. A country's military strength is also one of the factors which investors see before they thir money in. Had we remained a non-player in international arena, we could have faced some real problems.


China is our friend. That's what I was told by commies. They attacked us because we could not have managed that particular strip of land that they captured. And that they stopped when they felt, they have help helped us.


Come out of your dream, China stopped the aggression because USSR told them that they had enough. Its only our goodwill with USSR that saved us. No other country came to our rescue. That's when China did not have the Nuclear Bomb.


Now, with China having their bases on both sides of our border, I mean in Pakistan as well as China; what do you want our defence experts to do, the same thing as Hindus did when Abdali attacked India. They went to temple to pray so that God shall stop Abdali. "Sorry God helps those, who help themselves"

Dated 15th May 1998

State Election Roundup

Congress retained Delhi, won Mizoram & Rajasthan
BJP retained MP and Chattisgarh and Lost Rajasthan

Here is my analysis of the elections.
Rajasthan: The big factor was Maharaniji and growing corruption. Ashok Gehlot will be a welcome relief to the folks.
MP & Chattisgarh: Development was the main plank. BJP was able to score over Congress in the same.
Delhi: Shielaji's personal magic is still at work. No wonder, family-croons are hesitant to touch her. She made lots of mistakes this time. However, electorate forgave due to the development which she brought in.

Now, lets analyse other factors.
Development: Seems to be a big factor in here. People have voted for the same.
Media: Congress seem to be controlling all major media outlets. It created the myth of Hindu terrorists and ran a smear campaign through the active collaboration of Media. Media also played a bad game of suppressing anti-Congress news and high-lighting anti-BJP stuff. How else can you explain that MP vote scandal was totally suppressed even when they had irrefutable proof.
Terrorism: A big agenda which was turned into Congress favour by media. Instead of blaming the ruling party, the media started bashing up "Political Class". And grouped Congress and BJP together. Thus, this was utilized by Congress in actually covering its own mess.
Congress: Its 1980s again when Congress controlled everything. They successfully managed media and utilized Police to put BJP on back foot. ATS through systematic leaks tried to malign BJP as much as possible.

So, what. Still the voters have delivered a correct verdict. And shown that they are mature enough to sift right from wrong. In my view, the verdicts cannot be any better.

Peace Marches.. Huh!

I was split between whether to write on our security forces or write about state of the country. I decided that criticism of security forces can wait. So, here is my take on varied reactions by citizens of India.

Today is another Wednesday. A week back on this day, the terrorists stuck big time in Mumbai. Some called in India's 9/11. I am still debating what to call it.. another "day of infamy".. let me wait for couple of more days.
In the meantime, weird things are happening. Here is a list

1. SMSs and Emails going around asking people not to vote
2. Anger against Politicians
3. Peace Marches

I am not so sure.. how are these related to terror incident. We are a democracy which means that we choose our representatives. If representatives fail in their duty, we throw them out after five years. If we do not vote, then we do not get represented. I do not know what is the benefit of not voting. Next.. media cries.. people angry at Political Class. Wow.. after lower class, middle class .. we have Political class. This is really weird. Let me state clearly. India does not have a Political Class. In Democracy, leaders are chosen from the people. You can think of leaders as those boys n girls in your school who used to raise their hands when teachers asked for volunteers. Then we, the people, vote one of these folks into Parliament. So, don't crib. If you think you are better, go ahead and raise your hand. Stand in the next election. Now, the best of all... Peace marches. Wow, terrorists come and terrorists kill. And we conduct peace marches. "Please do not kill us". Huh! Next is what. Sending a letter to ISI requesting them not to pursue the path of violence.

Here is the deal folks. Some of us are angry at our current regime on not doing enough. Some of us are angry that inspite of so many terror incidents, we are still unprepared. My take is vent that anger. Vote for the party which you think is best suited to handle terrorism. Write to PMO, News Media etc about need for a comprehensive policy on terrorism. Ask them to be tough. If needed, ask them to go for surgical strikes within enemy territory. Currently Media is manipulating Public Opinion. If they see such big response, they will be forced to chance their stance.
So, think hard before you react. This is the time to think with your head and act with your heart.

(Do you know that the media which is ridiculing Maha CM Deshmukh for getting RGV along with him during post-op Taj visit, had scores of Page 3 folks in studios as a part of Live broadcast during Mumbai stand-off.)