KCR’s Muslim reservation card will divide newborn Telangana

Saswat Panigrahi

After taking the reigns of Telangana, TRS is in a hurry to implement 12 per cent reservation for Muslims in jobs and education, a promise the K Chandrasekhar Rao-led party made in its election manifesto.

“TRS Government will provide 12 per cent reservation to Muslims in Telangana on the lines of Tamil Nadu,” party leader and KCR’s daughter K Kavitha told a national newspaper.

Before analysing the TRS Government’s proposed reservation for Muslims, let us quickly flip through the history of communal reservation in Andhra Pradesh. It was in 2005 that YS Rajasekhara Reddy, the then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, sought to provide 5 per cent reservation in public employment and educational institutions. The move was however spiked by the Andhra Pradesh High Court.

Let’s take a look at the Tamil Nadu model of reservation, which Kavitha has all the praise for. Though Indian Constitution states that the quota limit should not exceed 50 per cent, Tamil Nadu extended the reservation limit to 69 per cent through the provisions of legislature. The law is under litigation of the Supreme Court. Both the ruling AIADMK and the Opposition DMK bat for the dangerous quota model to cultivate their respective vote-bank.

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Mamata embraces Left as BJP rises in Bengal

Saswat Panigrahi

The meeting between Trinamool Congress supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with a 12-member Left delegation led by CPM’s Biman Bose on Monday has raised many eyebrows.

The meeting was a first of its kind in Bengal politics. During the meeting, Mamata Banerjee went out of her way to display warmth that the comrades must not have expected. Mamata was even seen escorting the Left delegation out after the meeting.

Though the CPM-led Left parties called on the Trinamool Congress supremo to appeal to her to check the violence unleashed by her party cadre against Left workers, it was during the hour-long meeting Mamata urged the CPM to check the trend of cadre of Left parties joining the BJP.

“Manage your own folks… you know my stand on communalism,” Banerjee told the Left delegation which was thoroughly stumped by Mamata’s new U-turn.

Moreover, it was Mamata who proposed a Coordination Committee to address the issues between the Trinamool and Left parties.

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America’s intentions will become clear after Modi-Obama meet in September

Saswat Panigrahi

The US wants to be a partner with India and is excited to work with the new Indian dispensation.

Nisha Desai Biswal, United States Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, during her recent India visit, has maintained that the US wants to partner with the Narendra Modi Government in meeting the hopes and aspirations of Indians.

The two sides are working closely to finalise a date for bilateral talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the US President Barack Obama. The meet is likely to be held in September.

It is pertinent to mention here that Obama was among the first foreign leaders to call up Modi and congratulated him on his emphatic victory.

There is a marked shift in US policy on India and Narendra Modi. Though Modi, the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, had never applied for an American visa, the US administration had officially maintained that he was ‘not eligible’ to receive a diplomatic visa.

Moreover, the India-US relationship has seen rough weather including the diplomatic row over Indian Foreign Service officer Devyani Khobragade in the recent past.

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Modi prioritises policy, streamlines bureaucracy

Saswat Panigrahi

Keeping with his motto of ‘minimum government and maximum governance’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spelt out a to-do list for bureaucrats.

The aim is to bridge the difference between the Government departments and Ministers, to expedite decision-making process and to streamline the delivery mechanism.

The idea is to give bureaucracy a greater role in decision-making process with thrust on transparency and effective governance and to galvanise it by bringing in a new work culture. Aimed at curtailing the proverbial red-tapism, this is the first such attempt in the independent India towards taking administration closer to the people.

There are numerous rules which have become outdated in the current times. Instead of serving the purpose of governance, they stand as stumbling blocks between Government and the people. As a people’s leader, Modi acknowledges this and is working to change things.

Narendra Modi’s Government is swiftly doing away with the archaic rules and working on streamlining administrative rules and procedures to make them accessible to the masses.

This is precisely the reason the new Prime Minister is emphasising administrative overhaul. His message to the Secretaries is a means to that end.

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Modi’s oath-taking a proud moment for India

Saswat Panigrahi

It’s a day of reckoning in India’s history. Narendra Modi is taking oath as the 15th Prime Minister of India in the forecourt of the majestic Rashtrapati Bhawan on the evening of May 26.

The day epitomises the rise of a common man. A boy who once sold tea in Gujarat’s Vadnagar is now the Prime Minister of the billion plus nation. It is indeed a proud moment for Indian democracy.

Narendra Modi is the man who overcame every obstacle by sheer hard work. As an RSS pracharak, he preached the essence of cultural nationalism. As a BJP general secretary, he was a quintessential organiser. As a ‘people’s Chief Minister’ he has revolutionised Gujarat. Modi is the leader the nation has been awaiting since long.

Gone is the elitist Nehruvian era which dominated the Indian political scenario for decades together. Also obliterated is the Dynasty and the party they led. In a sense, it is India’s genuine tryst with the nation.

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Modi victory shows corrupt Congress its place in history

Saswat Panigrahi

The landslide victory of Narendra Modi-led BJP in the Lok Sabha election marks a watershed in Indian politics.

The BJP has stormed to power by winning a staggering 282 of its own, 10 seats more than the majority mark. The tally of BJP-led NDA rose to a record 336.

The scale of BJP’s victory could be read from the fact that no single party got an absolute majority on its own since 1984. Thanks to the Modi wave, BJP has done the virtually impossible in an era of coalition politics.

The Congress-led UPA has been booted out of the office with its tally dipping to a measly 60 seats. The Gandhi family-owned Congress bagged a mere 44 seats, not even the minimum number required to be recognised as a legitimate Opposition.

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BJP manifesto not for party but for people

Saswat Panigrahi

The BJP manifesto has charted a blue print for nation. Titled ‘Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat’ the 42-page-long vision document vows to end corruption, rebuild economy, develop infrastructure, generate employment and make governance accessible to the masses.

Never before in the history of Parliamentary elections, had the nation seen such a manifesto.

The most striking salient feature of the BJP manifesto is the focus on Centre-State relations. The BJP wants to evolve a model where the national development will be driven by the development of States. To that effect, the BJP has promised to set up a Team India initiative which will include the Prime Minister and Chief Ministers as equal partners.

Second, the BJP manifesto promises to decentralise power for making governance accessible to the masses. The BJP has pledged to convert the representative democracy to a participatory one, where the people have a say in the governance system. The party has promised a governance model which is policy driven and people centric. A model which could offer ‘maximum Governance’ and ‘minimum Government’.

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‘Vote for India’ is the new buzzword this poll

Saswat Panigrahi

The nine-phased Lok Sabha election has begun with six constituencies going for polls on Monday.

This general election is broadly a fight between two major national parties, the BJP and the Congress. While BJP has a leader who has moved India with his rallying cry ‘Nation First’, a tottering Congress — sans a leader — is giving false slogans and making fake promises with no takers.

India is choking on Congress’s rank misgovernance in the last 10 years. The Congress-led UPA has inflicted serious damage on the country. Scam after scam have hit the nation hard. Thanks to economic mismanagement under the leadership of an economist Prime Minister, the nation is suffering an economic downslide. The macroeconomic parameters are declining steadily.

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BJP’s poll anthem is a shot in the arm for nationalists

Saswat Panigrahi

The BJP’s poll anthem is a veritable melody of refreshing nationalism. The song promises to defeat the forces inimical to India’s interest.

The song aims at uniting India affected with divisive politics and inculcates the essence of ‘Nation First’.

The song is a straight dig at Congress which has gifted the country wave after wave of scams, messed up our economy, subverted democratic institutions, divided India on communal lines and compromised with the national security.

The song, which features Narendra Modi, directly connects the hearts of the countrymen when the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate says:

“Woh loot rahe hain sapno ko
Mein chain se kaise so jaaun
Woh bech rahe hain Bharat ko
Khamosh mein kaise ho jaaun”

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Congress manifesto should be torn up, thrown away

Saswat Panigrahi

The Congress’s poll manifesto is out. Titled ‘Your Voice Our Pledge’, the manifesto comes with a set of fake promises.

The foremost striking feature of the manifesto is that the Congress vows to push the GDP growth rate to 8 per cent plus in the next three years if it comes to power again.

Let’s have a reality check. The GDP growth of the country has slipped to a measly 4.9 per cent, thanks to economic mismanagement under the leadership of the so-called economist Prime Minister. The nation is suffering an economic downslide. The macroeconomic parameters are steadily declining.

Now a flashback to 2004, the year when the Congress-led UPA took over the reins from the BJP-led NDA. The country’s economy was in a pretty good shape. The GDP growth stood at a whopping 8.4 per cent. But the Congress messed up the economy and pushed the country into an era of gloom and doom.

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PMO spreading canards about Gujarat, BJP seeks apology

Saswat Panigrahi

Congress’s dirty tricks department is burning the midnight oil this poll season to defame Gujarat by using spurious data. Pankaj Pachauri, adviser to the Prime Minister, tweeted some misleading data to make the point that Gujarat doesn’t figure in the list of top 10 States in the field of economic development.

Pankaj Pachauri said that among 19 States, Gujarat had the slowest growth rate at 9.52 per cent in year 2012-2013. Pachauri had put up a graphic on his Twitter handle, which has listed the growth rate of 19 States, while placing Gujarat at the bottom.

Pankaj Pachauri’s assertion is in sharp contrast to the figures of Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) which suggest that Gujarat’s GDP actually grew by 12.69 per cent in 2012-2013.

According to the report by Economic Freedom of the States of India (EFSI), 2013, Gujarat tops States in economic freedom. The report states that Gujarat has widened its lead at the top of the economic freedom table, with an index score of 0.65 on a scale from 0 to 1.0.

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Modi’s visit infuses new life into Odisha BJP

Saswat Panigrahi

A sedate BJP unit in Odisha virtually got a new lease of life after the party’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s first political outing in the State in the run-up to the upcoming Lok Sabha election.

Modi’s Vijay Sankalp Samabesh in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday witnessed a huge turnout. Never before has Odisha seen such a mammoth rally. A two-lakh strong crowd gathered at Baramunda ground in the State capital to listen to their favourite leader. Those who attended the rally were not just BJP karyakatas, a sizable chunk of the participants comprised common people — mostly youth from various parts of the State. The temple city of Bhubaneswar was completely ‘Modified’.

NaMo must have returned happy after receiving such a massive public response in Odisha which he might not have expected. This, despite the State unit having been dormant since 2009.

Ever since the party parted ways with the BJD, no central BJP leader has taken Naveen Patnaik head on like Modi did.

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