Friends
I am happy to address you today as we approach the first phase of elections for the Lok Sabha.
I am also happy to note that the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is hale and healthy.
I wanted to take this ocassion to define to you what this Lok Sabha election must come to mean.
Today Congress President Sonia Gandhi made a very perceptive remark, I wonder if the irony was not lost on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Smt Sonia Gandhi said that while there were many who could be Prime Minister nobody could stand in front of Dr. Manmohan Singh.
How very true, even if any of us wanted to stand in front of Dr. Singh he is either unwilling or incapable of giving us the opportunity with his reluctance to contest the Lok Sabha election.
This friends is what this election ought to be about.
This election has to be about Leadership.
On the one hand you have strong and decisive Leadership that is willing to put its claims to test in the court of public opinion by directly holding itself accountable to the people.
On the other hand you have surrogacy that is being passed of as a substitute for Leadership with this reluctance to face the people by putting the 5 year record to test directly in a Lok Sabha contest.
I dont know if it is his waning love for Assam or the sliding fortunes of the Congress Party in that state that Dr. Manmohan Singh has chosen to shy away from a real Lok Sabha contest while continuing to claim to represent it in the Rajy Sabha.
Be that as it may, this election is also about something Dr. Manmohan Singh said today in his political remarks when he asked through his party’s surrogates in the media
“What is L.K. Advani’s contribution to National Welfare ?”
I wish Dr. Manmohan Singh had the courage and conviction to ask me that question face to face in a televised debate.
But then perhaps it is too much to expect him to face the people of this nation in a debate when he is reluctant to face them on the ballot.
Well Dr. Singh, my contribution to the welfare of this nation is the freedom that you enjoy today to ask me that question without fear of political persecution.
My contribution to the nation, Dr. Singh is that very same political freedom that your Party had deprived this nation of for four whole years by imposing emergency.
My contribution to the nation, Dr. Singh was to sacrifice my personal freedom and the comforts of life to fight for the cause democracy from inside the four walls of Jail during those four years of emergency while you continued to enjoy the comforts of everday life.
My contribution to the nation Dr. Singh was to defend that very document that entitles you to the Office of Prime Ministership – the Indian Constitution, the very document that your Party on every opportune occassion has trampled and violated.
I am not Oxbridge educated nor am I an economist by training.
But I do know a thing a or two about “welfare” and I am proud to have groomed some of the finest breed of leaders who have broken new ground in delivering Welfare through their Governance in states like Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.
Leadership Dr. Singh is not about being selected to High Office by virtue of lineage, but Leadership is about sowing the seeds of future leadership so many more can reap the harvest from their efforts.
I take pride in the fact that Team Advani has raised the bar on public welfare through Governance and Development initiatives like Jyotigram and Ladli Lakshmi Yojana.
Friends, this election is also about Leadership that has the courage and conviction to face the truth and does not shy away from making hard decisions.
Over the last five years there have been multiple terrorist attacks. I have on occassion met many victims and kith and kin of deceased in these terrorist attacks.
On every occassion these victims of terrorism ask me
Why is that the Dr. Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi never own up to their responsibility for lapses in Terror ?
Why is it they always give us cold comfort by pointing out that there were other attacks during the previous government ?
Should we draw comfort from the fact that others too suffered our fate and go on with our lives ?
Does our loss have no meaning to Dr. Manmohan Singh and Smt Sonia Gandhi that rather than explain how they will bring the Terrorists to justice, they want to spend time talking about what happened 8 years back ?
It pains me to hear Dr. Manmohan Singh run away from his government’s failures on Terrorism by harking back on what happened in 1999, 2000 and 2001.
Yes there were lapses during the NDA regime too, yes things could have been done better, we learnt from our mistakes but we never shied away from putting our performance to the electoral test and we faced the people in 2004 and they gave their verdict.
But Dr. Manmohan Singh how does that help the victims of Delhi, Varnasi, Bangalore, Mumbai 7/11, Hyderabad, Malegaon, Samjhauta Express, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Ajmer Sharif, Guwahati and Mumbai 26/11.
Should that widowed wife, bereaved father and orphaned son take comfort in the fact that 10 years back too someone suffered in a terrorist attack ?
Dr. Manmohan Singh wanted the nation to reflect on what makes someone fit to be Prime Minister.
He is right, and the nation ought to reflect on this criminal negligence and continued delinquency on his part.
Friends I was pleased to note that the Congress party has released its manifesto where it intends to focus on Terrorism and the Economy. It reminds me of Primary School impositions where a child is asked to write a 100 times that they will not repeat a mistake. The Congress Manifesto seems no better than that in its repetition of things it did not do during the last 5 years that it now promises to do.
The Congress Party would like this election to be about festering the wounds of the past by raking up the unfortunate demolition of the Babri Masjid and the unacceptable riots in Gujarat.
The BJP is looking ahead and not to the past. Leadership is also about facing up to the ghosts of the past and about challenging the bigotry amongst your best friends.
In closing let me assure you that if the BJP lead NDA is voted back to power I shall personally lead the effort for a National Reconciliation on all contentious issues of the last century.
Its my assurance to the Youth of this country that bigotry of the past few decades will not be perpetuated and future governments will not have to carry the burden of the failed politics of Communal Socialism practised by the Congress Party during the first 4 decades after Independence.
Jai Hind and Vande Mataram
Originally posted here
Errata : As pointed out by Offstumped regular reader Jujung the emergency period must read two years and not four years.
Filed under: Dharmayudh-2009, India Elections 2009, India Lok Sabha Elections 2009, Lok Sabha Polls 2008-2009
LKA speech in Mathura. must watch
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/video/video.aspx?id=64088
Sudhir, don’t expect that to click. At least in BJP ruled states that won’t click for sure. And in states like AP it is going to backfire. People are much more aware now than before.
Today, there is one very popular congress candidate in Anantapur district who fearing his defeat has started laying good cement roads and tar roads in all parts of his constituency soince last one week. That shows how people’s awareness has grown tremendously in the last 5 years. Now people are not asking for 2 rs rice or anything like that. They are asking for good education for their children. Expect a backlash due to all these stupid schemes named after nehru, rajiv or indira.
JM – thanks – this helps us get the % votes. And also claim to being a national party. . .
Good news, Renuka Choudhary, a two time parliamentarian from 1999 to 2009 will be mostly defeated on her home turf this time by a strong TDP candidate. She did not do any work in the last 10 years in constituency she was elected and also facing anti-incumbency. I heard from a TV channel that her defeat is imminent.
Folks,
Has anyone come across a serious discussion with consequences on “Delimitation”? I think due to redrawing of the constituencies, many models that these so-called psephologists use may be just useless.
What’s latest from GVLN?
Has anybody watch this. It was the most biased political show. Ghose was practically having big O on screen. She was so happy that the gutless wonder Manmohan said something she was having a blast with that. Poor Chandan Mitra has to fight the Ghose and the CONgress spokesperson. God it was disgusting.
http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/88576/03_2009/fte2403_1/congress-sounds-war-cry-bjp-is-enemy-no-1.html
Why the BJP and Mr. Advani are not going Hammer & Tongs on ALL the media with the speach above. All they have to do is to offer a higher price than the Congres may have perhaps paid.
The speech is real good and must get a solid electronic visual media publicity if it is to have any impact on the electorate.
If anybody can read this..
eenadu.net/story.asp?qry1=23&reccount=27
It says.. now Congress is worried about BSP putting 294 assembly candidates and 42 Loksabha candidates in AP. It will be a severe blow to Congress. After revolts by top leaders in the state and openly professing to put rebel candidates to defeat congress, this is another blow. Now it is very much even!! Congress has as much chance of loosing the assembly elections as winning it. So far, most people thought Congress will scrape through in assembly, but it is also doubtful now.
NR
I dont know where you get your numbers on TN. But I dont see the ADMK+Allies getting no more than 20 seats. Cong has solid vote base in the south and the rural voters are quite happy with the DMK for the Rs 1 rice and the color TV. Besides DMDK is going to spilit the anti DMK vote. Right now I bet the DMK + CONG + VC + 2 muslim parties should get atleast 30 seats. In the worst case scenario it might be a 20-20 spilit for DMK and ADMK alliance. The only place BJP has any chance is SarathKumar as a BJP ally in Tuticorin and Thirunavukarasu on Ramanathapuram. Even these two seats the odds of BJP actually winning are very very small. They might get a few votes in Kanyakumari,South Chennai and Coimbatore.
MGR fought the election from HOSPITAL bed,so why NOT MMS fight election if his cop is SO sure of his winning from any constituency he fight.
udhav thackeray u r right,our PM is,,,,,,,,,,,
When reporters repeatedly asked if Viswanathan’s murder would have remain unsolved if Jigisha was not killed, a frustrated Dadwal said, “Criminals not leaving any clue is not our fault.”
WHERE IS OUR “PINK CHADDIS”
THEY SHOULD SEND THEIR “CHADDIS” TO PM,HM AND CM + UPA CHAIRPERSON FOR NOT ABLE TO PROTECT WOMEN IN NEW DELHI.
Great speech. LKA’s still got it… However, if you go by MSM and the Dhimmis who read/watch them, we should really be a monarchy with the Nehru-Gandhi clan calling the shots.
I found this site that aggregates commentary.
http://www.bharatright.com/
Hi, Offtopic but really interesting:
Little known facts about government functioning/Shri Narendra modi functioning
1) He works till almost 11PM and wake up in early morning around 4, do pranayam & review all the available newspaper including online versions of some national newspaper.
2) He has a war room type office adjacent to his residence, where weekly/monthly review meeting of different departments held regularly. Very good atmosphere there as all are very charged and have respect towards Modi, and that’s the main thing.
3) Video Conferencing: Gujarat has the best IT infrastructure in the INDIA and it is utilizing it very well. I know this because I worked almost three years in Guj Govt IT company. I had contributed in many IT projects and worked at ground level (villages also). Everyday various departments have taken video conferencing slot with all district collector office and discuss process of various schemes/strategy. It is chaired by mostly IAS officers/ministers so no time wasting at all. No need to call all the district officers to Gandhinagar frequently. Realy very good thing. Tell me if you want know more in detail regarding video conferencing.
4) Chintan Shibir: Held once in a year and for mainly motivating the team, motivate individual to contribute more, give more powers and responsibility. This shibir focus more on implementing various schemes with innovative ideas, promoting individual to strengthening the Gujarat Team.
5) Plan everything in advance/Clear in thoughts and action: almost every department has Goal for the month/mid year/year and which is monitored regularly. Each major department has got some yearly event to work on, so each individual in department got chance to perform.
Like for agriculture department there is Krishi Mahotsav – Each year some new face at the higher management level so every year some innovation is there in mahotsav. Performance is improving year by year, because its like challenge between individual to perform more and more.
Kanya Kelvani Mahotsav/Shala Praveshotsav- Whole Education departments is engaged during the whole month and here also with some innovation year by year in implementing.
There are many more in series , but most important thing is :
What I noticed during my tenure with Gujarat Government that employee at the age of 50’s or 55 are now satisfied. They fill that now they got chance to perform. Till date they are doing only routine work, there was no zeal in the work at all. Now they got to show their ability and they are giving more than expected.
Only 5 % or less govt. employees feel that they are over burden/hate the government approach, but rest fells that they are now performing more with Zeal.
Folx:
Can someone pl tell me whether congi is going it alone in jharkhand or fighting with JMM? Am a bit confused on this.
I think even Congress is a little confused whether they have an alliance with JMM or not.
I don’t think coomi kapoor and IE changed minds. I feel it is more of print media vs electronic media
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/the-connection-between-tv-and-varuns-hate-speech/438424/
Look at
http://www.sojaare.com/
http://www.onebilliondolts.com/
Initially I thought it was a joke to mock Jaagore campaign. But look at the website. It is not on a free domain, meaning the author paid money for it. Also it is neatly layed out and the author spent quite a bit of time on it.
The author is one Neeraj, I suspect it is the same congi from http://vote4congress2009.blogspot.com/
These people are actually dangerous and misleading, most likely sponsored by congis.
I have registered with Jaagore to be a first time voter and will vote for BJP. Jai Hind!
Karthik,
Please relook carefully at the words I have used in the first and last sentecnces of my post. Then you will know whether I gave 30 to admk front or not. There are atleast 20 toss up seats in TN.
And if you think congress candidates are going to pull it off you are welcome to it. This is my opinion. Only congress candidate who can be confident of a win is chidambaram. The only reason is he has his own loyal base and with dmk support plus his opposition votes will be divided with radhika also contesting from sivaganga. Not even Manoshankar iyer can be sure of his win.
Please go have a look at the fatwa against muslims thread(the recent one-not the one with 91 comments) where I have clearly explained the situation in TN. Your projection mean dmk to win 80% of the seats it contests(thats 20/25) and congress to get 10/15 to win 30 seats. Pleasetell me do you expect that?
So the joke on rediff and toi becomes true
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday came down heavily on the Mayawati-led Uttar Pradesh government for denying its prime ministerial candidate L K Advani the permission to hold a rally in Azamgarh on March 28.
“The ground for the refusal of permission (for holding rally) was security,” said BJP spokesperson Balbir Punj.
The BJP had chosen three venues, including a stadium and a college ground, for the rally.
Earlier, the Indian Premier League (IPL) was called off due to security reasons and will rallies of leaders like L K Advani be cancelled now, Punj asked.
My last statement was intended about Varun (sorry for name of Rahul)
IPL has moved out of India but it will not solve the problem of security in the upcoming elections. Home Minster P Chidambaram has made it clear that he will not move troops from border and the naxal affected states.
So he cant provide security for elections, security for cricket. Atleast is he able to make border areas foolproof – no.
Excellent HM
Latest Rahul gaffe “Manmohan has not buckled under terrorism.” If security could not be provided for IPL and it is forced to move out of India, Is it not buckling under pressure?
I think the biggest contribution of Advani is to bring out in open the debate on ’secularism and pseudo-secularism’. Today the politics of India revolve around these two poles. Mr. Advani is one of the poles. I think, nobody can even come near Advani’s contribution if we look at indian political history of last 3 decades. The irony of this question is, that it’s being asked by a person whose own political contibution is a big ZERO. and BTW, what is the contribution of his boss? This was answered by George Fernendes once, two children… and what abt the prince of this grand old party, not even that yet…
Archbishop Daniel Acharuparambil, president of the Kerala [Images] Catholic Bishops’ Council, is a busy man. Yet apart from his pastoral duties he has found enough time to pore over the list of Congress candidates. To such effect apparently that he was able to send a list of four Catholics to Sonia Gandhi [Images] who, in the Varapuzha Archbishop’s considered opinion, deserved to get the Congress ticket from certain select constituencies.
If the good shepherd ever finds respite from tending his pet lambs he might, perhaps, ponder over a text somewhat removed from party politics. The Gospel of Matthew to be precise, which quotes Jesus Christ [Images] as saying, “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.”
[Should the Archbishop be a trifle pressed for time with other matters in the run-up to the general election, I believe the line appears in the twenty-second chapter of the Gospel.]
A general election falls in the secular realm of the Caesars, does it not? Why then did the Archbishop choose to shatter the line between Church and State? Is this the famous ’secularism’ which the Congress, the Communist Party of India-Marxist, and their allies are swearing to protect from the talons of the Bharatiya Janata Party [Images]?
This is scarcely the first time that the Roman Catholic Church has attempted to play a part in political matters. The government of Kerala had set up a Law Reforms Commission under the chairmanship of Justice V R Krishna Iyer. The commission made several proposals, and the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council was quick to oppose some of them. Stephen Alathara, spokesman for the council, said the Catholic Church could never accept the recommendations for refusing concessions to parents with more than two kids, to permit euthanasia, and to do away with the provision that makes suicide a crime.
Population control, the right to die, and the decriminalisation of suicide are matters that affect non-Catholics? What, exactly, gives the Catholic clergy the right to dictate to the rest of us?
The recommendations of the Kerala Law Reforms Commission must await the end of the general election, so that is a battle for another day.
Although the Varapuzha Archbishop has caught most of the flak, he was scarcely alone in sending advice to 10, Janpath in Delhi [Images]. I understand that there were at least two others who offered advice.
One of them tried to veto a certain Congress candidate on the ground that the said candidate had married a non-Christian.
Forget ’secularism’ and ‘communalism’, this is pure idiocy! Did the man even think of the person to whom he was addressing that letter before putting ink on paper? Sonia Gandhi was born a Catholic but she herself married a non-Christian, did she not? (One can argue over whether the late Rajiv Gandhi [Images] was a Parsi, through his father, Feroze, or a Hindu through his mother, Indira, but there is certainly no Christian on the family tree.)
Was it this last epistle that turned the scales? We shall probably never know but, to give credit where it is due, Sonia Gandhi ignored both the recommendations by two bishops and the objection of the third.
May I point out that this is one instance where the Congress leadership comes over trumps over its Left Front counterparts?
While releasing the CPI-M election manifesto, party General Secretary Prakash Karat [Images] made the usual thundering denunciation of “communalism”. All very well good, but the BJP is not a force in Kerala, so the CPI-M general-secretary made it a point to single out the Muslim League.
Comrade Karat described the Muslim League as the most communal party in Kerala — some reports said he made it the worst in India! — and vowed to uproot it.
If the archbishop who spoke of “marriage to a non-Christian” was being silly, Karat was being utterly hypocritical. In order to take on the Muslim League in its strongholds the CPI-M has joined hands with a group called the People’s Democratic Party.
Despite the innocuous name the PDP is a creation of Abdul Nasser Madani, the man charged in connection with the Coimbatore blasts. Though he was acquitted in that particular case the police are now investigating possible links between Madani and certain militants in Jammu & Kashmir. (According to reports, terrorists linked to the Lashkar-e-Tayiba [Images] and the Indian Mujahideen [Images] claimed that they had been in contact with members of Madani’s family.)
Kerala’s Left Front Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said there would be no new probes against Madani as all the new reports are related to old events. This prompted former chief minister Oomen Chandy to point out the obvious: “Malayali militants get killed in Kashmir, a clandestine meeting takes place in Aluva, and militants hold a training camp in Vagamon. But still the home minister does not view any of these as new.”
Incidentally, the CPI and the CPI-M certainly do not see eye to eye on Madani and his People’s Democratic Party. CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan has specifically denounced Madani’s group as “communal”. This comment, by the by, came on the very day that the CPI-M party boss in Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, shared the platform with Madani at an election meeting.
Sections in the ’secular’ media are baying for Varun Gandhi’s [Images] head, asking the BJP to dissociate itself from its candidate. How much criticism have you heard about the blatant interference in politics of the Roman Catholic clergy in Kerala, or of the CPI-M’s hobnobbing with a party that even the CPI denounces as “communal”? Or is it only Hindus and the BJP that must always prove their adherence to ’secularism’?
Author: T V R SHENOY
Yossarin,
Please see below. Abu Azmi is faced with a NBW for distributing vests. In my earlier post, in Sonia’s rally there are reports that indicated that the congress paid for their food. In substance there is no difference in their actions. Logically a NBW needs to be issued against Sonia. It may be a good point for the BJP to go for the jugular, it is good propaganda even id she is not arrested.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Vests-for-Shirdi-pilgrims-put-cops-on-Azmis-case/articleshow/4311694.cms
Guys, A brilliant poem on rediff. The hindi poetic form of Yossarin. Brief but fantastic. The BJP should pay royalties to this guy and use his poem.
Re: Congress and Secularism
by nimit patel on Mar 24, 2009 03:21 PM Permalink
भर भर के हमने वोट दिए, कांग्रेस को दिया मौका,
आज हालत देखो भारत माँ की, इटली की बेटी ने किया धोका,
राशन पानी महंगा हुआ, गरीबी को नहीं रोका,
महंगाई बढ़ी- नौकरी गई, आम आदमी को ठोका,
25 धमाके – 8000 आदमी, किसीको पकड़ नहीं पाए,
घर तक घुस गए पाकिस्तानी, क्या मुह लेके वोट मांगने आये,
मुंबई जल गई – आंसू सुख गए, दुनिया ने हसी उडाई,
मुसलमानों की गोदी में बेठे, अंतुले की सीट बचाई,
राम-लल्ला का नाम मिटाया, साध्वी पे लगाया मकोका,
आज हालत देखो भारत माँ की, इटली की बेटी ने किया धोका
मुंबई मेरी जान, कर दी कुर्बान,
सोनू-मोनू सोये थे, जब भारतवासी रोये थे
Antulay is nominated from Raigad in Konkan.
Awesome poem Venkatesh!!
http://ibnlive.in.com/blogs/tarunvijay/2387/53293/the-doctor-helped-in-time.html
Tarun Vijay’s blog…
@ drummasala
Good one.
Tarun Vijay’s blog has to to be one of the best expose of Congress in recent times.
Lets spread it everywhere.
[...] India prepares to vote in the General Elections hard questions must be asked of the Congress Party on Dr. Manmohan Singh’s Leadership and of his hypocrisy on Electoral [...]
NR
30 seats maybe a little tough but not impossible. But 20 to 25 is almost sure. This is a survival issue for the DMK. I think Karunas strategy would be to get atleast one more seat than ADMK gets. He really wouldnt care how many seats anybody else gets. Getting more seats than ADMK is his insurance policy for the state Govt. If he can able influence the centre with that it would be a bonus for him. He knows all the other parties like MDMK,Left,PMK,DMDK are free agents they will go with whicever party will give them the better deal post election. So all he needs to do is to get more seats than ADMK so CONgress won’t dump him. So he is going to fight hard and fight dirty. He will do anything to win. If you followed the Thirumangalam bye election you would know Alagiris muscle power. He is trying to spread his wings on the entire souothern TN outside Madurai. This is his best chance. So DMK Cong might sweep the south. I think we will get a clear picture once they firm up the alliances and release the candiate list.
[...] Older » [...]
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Columnists/GDP-growth-Closer-to-35-than-53-/articleshow/4313034.cms
“As the world slows down, most Indians feel comforted that our 5.3% GDP growth in the fourth quarter of calendar 2008 was among the highest in
But Surjit Bhalla, India ‘s most flamboyant economist, says this is false comfort based on incorrect calculations. Citing OECD data, he says India actually had negative growth (- 3.6%) in Q4 of 2008, not the 5.3% claimed by the government. “
[...] have registered with Jaagore to be a first time voter and will vote for BJP. Jai Hind! . courtesy [http://offstumped.wordpress.com/2009/03/24/india-elections-2009-a-speech-for-mr-advani/#comment-1092...] . . . Now that the secret is out: What the author of this comment does not know is that not only [...]