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Rabble Rousing Random Ramblings by S Jagadish is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.
Barack Hussein Obama, the person and not the Japanese city, transitioned from being the president-elect to being the president of the USA an hour or so ago. I found it very surprising that news channels in India were telecasting the swearing-in ceremony live.
It is undoubtedly a key moment in politics in that country. Is it an equally momentous occasion in world politics? Perhaps not, because I don't think a country's foreign policy is decided on the basis of the leader's race, religion, etc. Would people of the USA celebrate if someone from a "backward caste" became India's Prime Minister? Would they celebrate if Sri Lanka had a Tamil as president or PM? How about if France had an Arab-origin president or PM? How about if the UK had a Catholic PM? Indeed, would the world be different in such situations? So why're we "celebrating" Barack Obama becoming the president of the USA?
As for the ceremony, I didn't understand why there was a religious invocation at the event in the first place, let alone why the pastor, Rick Warren, invoked Christianity. I've never understood why "God bless America" is a constant chant used by just about anyone in a position of power. Barack Obama used a Bible (the same one that Abraham Lincoln used) while taking oath. Why this heavy reliance on a specific religion in a nation that prides itself on liberty & equality regardless of race or religion?
Thankfully Obama mentioned Christians, Moslems, Jews, Hindoos and non-believers in the list of people he wanted to take along. He is a fantastic orator. But the time for speeches is past.
There's a huge job ahead to set right his country's economy & foreign policy first. He has already displayed naivete and tactlessness when he spoke of his belief that resolving Kashmir would help switch Pakistan's focus towards Afghanistan, something that David Miliband echoed. There's talk of investing money in using Keynesian models for creating infrastructure, generating wealth for workers, etc.
PS: Dick Cheney is actually a real living organism and not some mythical creation that no-one has seen!
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On November 4 2008, Barack Obama was declared the winner of the 2008 US presidential election. For quite a few days before that, ever since he was announced as the Democratic Party's candidate, TV channels in India kept talking about whether just like Barack Obama rose to be a contender, could an event of equivalent significance happen in India. So much so that Rajdeep Sardesai asked "Who will be India's Obama?". Once the election results came in, the same questions started pouring in.
Several opinions were provided, and there seemed to be consensus that such an event was possible in Indian politics, especially given Mayawati's stratospheric rise ever since the trust vote in July.
While I wouldn't rule out the possibility, it seems to me that such an event would end up being largely symbolic. We're a nation that prides itself on symbolism. We take great pride in listing it out. We've had a woman prime minister, a Sikh prime minister, 3 Muslim presidents, a Dalit president, a Sikh president, a woman president, Christian party leaders, etc.
Yet, a few aspects of our symbolism are bloody obvious. For one, the presidency is not the single most important political job in India. In fact, it isn't even a political job. So making someone from a minority section of the population (based on gender, religion or caste) as the president doesn't mean a thing, in my opinion.
To compare it with the USA election where an African-American was elected (by direct & indirect voting) as the president is very much an apples-oranges comparison.
The voters of the USA knew well in advance that Barack Obama was the candidate of the Democratic party. In India, the equivalent would be a party announcing before the elections that someone from a minority (gender, religious or caste) section of the population would be the Prime Ministerial candidate. For e.g., the Congress (I) announces that Manmohan would be the man or the UNPA announcing that Mayawati was the front's candidate.
How likely is that? Not too likely, I'd say.
The other thing to keep in mind is that Barack Obama isn't totally African-American. His mother, Ann Dunham, is white. I'm fairly sure that had an impact on the white voters who were ambivalent about voting for him.
In short, I don't quite subscribe to the notion that the time is ripe for an Obama-like upheaval in India's political circles for the simple reason that any such event would be the result of a movement largely symbolic in nature.
PS: I write this from Cambridge, Massachusetts where I landed on Sunday. I'm here on a business visit till December 5. The weather is not as cold as I expected, so the going is good for now. I rather like the city, and will do some roaming around in Boston & Cambridge over the weekend. It isn't often that you land up in a city that has two great educational institutions and was the venue of a momentous protest in the country's history.
Labels: obama, president, symbolism, travelogue, usa, usa 2008
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Obama's remarks on a Kashmir quid pro quo with Pakistan
In an interview with MSNBC, US Presidential candidate Barack Obama indicates that if elected, he would 'facilitate a better understanding between Pakistan and India and try to resolve the Kashmir crisis so that they can stay focused not on India, but on the situation with those militants.'
I guess he is implying that in return for the USA stepping in & facilitating an agreement between India & Pakistan on Jammu & Kashmir, Pakistan will automatically switch focus away from the eastern border and help out with isolating and eliminating Al-Qaeda and Taliban terrorism on the other border.
Unfortunately, that's just wishful thinking. Jammu & Kashmir is just one of the thousand cuts that the Pakistani establishment (civilian, military and intelligence) wants to use to make India bleed.
Labels: jammu and kashmir, obama, pakistan, president, terrorism
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Pratibha Patil: President of Amaravati
First, she wanted an airport in Amaravati, at a cost of at least Rs. 400 crores.
Now, she wants an Indian Institute of Technology to be setup in Amaravati, of all places. If that isn't bad enough, she wants it to be an exclusive women-only institute (Link via Nitin).
Of course, these demands have nothing to do with the fact that it was her constituency. They're aimed at overall development of Vidarbha.
This is the whole problem with making chamchas/chamchis as presidents or governors. SM Krishna moved to Maharashtra as governor shortly after the 2004 elections. Now he's back in active politics. Sushil Kumar Shinde was made governor of Andhra Pradesh in 2004, but obviously the office wasn't to his liking. He quit in 2006 and is now a Union cabinet minister. ND Tiwari is the current Andhra Pradesh governor, but it wasn't too long ago that he was the Uttaranchal Chief Minister.
I'm fairly sure there're several such instances in the past where politicians have been given gubernatorial postings as a sop or to ensure they don't continue making trouble for the party.
There should be a constitutional bar on people being appointed governors within 5 years of holding any sort of executive position in their party or in government.
Labels: agriculture, airports, education, governor, iit, india, pratibha patil, president
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What to do with 400 cr? Build an airport for the President
Amravati, in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, is all set to get a new airport, with a budget of Rs. 400 crores. But of course, it is just merely a coincidence that the incumbent President, Ms. Pratibha Patil, considers Amravati home by virtue of her marriage to Devisingh Ransingh Shekhawat, a former mayor of Amravati. The Rashtrapati Bhavan is very quick to deny any sort of link.
Vidarbha district is where, by government estimates & registered case counts, there have been nearly 2500 suicides from 2006, over 1000 of them this year. While I am all for infrastructure development, it seems very clear to me that the farmers in the region would probably benefit far more if the money was spent on efforts to improve roads, rail network, educating them on agricultural practices, better quality irrigation, educating the farmers to possibly consolidate their tiny land holdings to get greater returns for their efforts, helping them pick the right crops to plant in the right season and thereby reduce their dependence on rainfall, etc. Not 'packages' or subsidies. Certainly not an airport!
Labels: agriculture, airports, farmers, india, pratibha patil, president, vidarbha
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Pratibha for President? Umm perhaps not!
There's a campaign currently on in the Indian blogging community to protest against Pratibha Patil, the UPA's nominee as President.
It seems to me like the protests and accusations are worth supporting. But, I'm far more uncomfortable with the fact that we will have a pliant President. The incumbent has shown some worrying tendencies a few times (talking about river linking, excusing himself from the scope of the RTI Act, signing the Union Cabinet's recommendation for President's rule in Bihar at midnight from Moscow being three notable ones), he's been ok otherwise.
Like I wrote a couple of weeks ago, if there's so much symbolism associated with the post, why can't we do away with it? I'm fairly sure it costs a few crores to the exchequer on an annual basis to maintain/upgrade the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The country maybe better off opening it up completely as a museum and charging visitors.
Labels: pratibha patil, president, symbolism
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Geriatrics zindabad! Symbolism zindabad!
A 83-year-old and a 72-year-old will probably end up contesting an election for the presidency of a country where around 60% of the population is aged between 15 and 59.
Keep in mind that the current Prime Minister is 74-years-old and the incumbent Preisdent is 75-years-old.
Among the 79 ministers at the centre, 13 are less than 50 years old (4 from Tamil Nadu), only 9 were born after 1960, only one of them was born after Indira Gandhi imposed the Emergency, while 18 were born before 1940!
| Decade | Count |
| 1920s | 4 |
| 1930s | 14 |
| 1940s | 31 |
| 1950s | 21 |
| 1960s | 8 |
| 1970s | 1 |
Hasn't there been an overdose of pointless symbolism? A Muslim as President, a Sikh as Prime Minister. Now, a woman as President? If the institution of the President can be diluted through symbolism, isn't it high time that institution was abolished?
PS: Shivraj Patil has got a huge laddu, but this means he continues to be the Home Minister, which is frankly more devastating news.
Labels: age, ministers, parliament, pratibha patil, president, symbolism
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Terrorists terribly disappointed with Sonia Gandhi
There is increased speculation that Shivraj Patil, and not Pranab Mukherjee is likely to be the Congress (I)'s nominee for the presidential election. The only people who'd be disappointed with Sonia Gandhi's apparent preference for Shivraj Patil are the terrorists, given Shivraj Patil's record as Union Home Minister (can you remember a single week that goes by without a terrorist attack or civil unrest?).
I'm all for doing anything to ensure such an inept minister is relieved of such an important portfolio. Maybe he should be given a plum posting at the NAM, that extremely relevant international organization.
Labels: congress (i), president, shivraj patil, sonia gandhi
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