India: Prime Minister Modi letting India down

If Prime Minister Modi does not speak up on the issue and stop the extremists of his party members to run over him, he will make India, a Langda India; that is a limping India.

A solid India stands on two firm legs; 1) Prosperity and 2) Social Cohesion.

Prosperity is creating jobs, raising income levels, pulling the ones in ditches onto a level playing field to build a larger Middle class and create an expanded consumer base, whose consumption will create jobs and the economy will multiply and the standards of living will go up. The more people do well, the better the nation does.  Modi is talking big about it and we can give him two years to produce results.

Social Cohesion on the other hand is like human body cohesion - heart, brain, kidneys, liver, vision, nose, tongue, touch, hearing, and the flow of blood, breathing and all parts of the body need to function cohesively to be normal. One failure can cause the whole thing to fail or make the body ineffective. If you think the discharge part of the body is less important, wait till it stops, it will cause the whole or part of the body to malfunction.  Like wise, all people have to function well, and it is in the interest of the body that it makes up the deficiencies, so we as humans, as Indians have to meet those deficiencies in fellow Indians.

Those of you who are blinded by the love for Mr. Modi, I appeal to you to look for greater love for the nation. Modis will come and go, but the Nation will continue. I am challenging your patriotism, none of us want India to go down, so let our loyalty be to India and not Modi, until he proves that he can keep these two functions in shape, I will hold my praise for him, will you?

I don't want my India to be a Langda India, neither do you? If we all wake up and criticize Mr. Modi, guess what will happen? He will be compelled to do the right thing. Don't you want that? 

Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached. Swami Vivekananda must have meant this for us in 2015 and 2016.

NOTE: Those of you who have an interest in Indian affairs, please visit my blog for articles and my notes on India 

http://MikeGhouseforIndia.Blogspot.com

Dr. Mike Ghouse is a community consultant, social scientist, thinker, writer and a speaker on Pluralism, Interfaith, Islam, politics, human rights, foreign policy and building cohesive societies. Mike offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. More about him in 63 links at www.MikeGhouse.net and his writings are at TheGhousediary.com  

Narendra Modi’s Bubble and the Chumcha Culture

Prime Minister Modi is making all the classic mistakes of a man sitting inside the bubble, oblivious of the chaos outside the thin veil of the bubble. The men who keep him in euphoric status are called “Chumchas” – the “Yes men” of India who will ultimately let their bosses fall from grace.  

Their usual line is “Yes sir, your programs are working beautifully, there is no need to worry, everything is perfect, my hoon Na! (I am here to take care of you). Mr. Modi is so self absorbed, that he does not even question the veracity of the reports or may not even see the reports. His eerie silence does not bode well for India. 

The Chamchas bring the downfall of the leaders and kingdoms. Way back in 1799 the two chamchas of Tipu Sultan Poornayya and Mir Sadiq were telling him everything is alright, but they weren’t.  Girish Karnad writes in the dreams of Tipu Sultan that Tipu was aware of these men making deals with Lord Cornwallis behind his back, and that he was going to deal with them, alas he had done that.
 

George W Bush had his own reverend chumcha Cheney, who kept telling him, “Sir, everything is alright” and brought destruction to America and the world. Alas, God had gifted a brain to this dolt.

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, has a much thicker bubble around her, she had no idea what was going on, the chamchas including Siddhartha Shankar Roy  kept saying, “Madam, everything is going good, as you had wanted” and she almost turned India into the dictatorship through her emergency rule, I shudder at the thought of what would have happened to India – it would have spun us off the orbit of democracy. Thanks to the Journalists and the media persons who went to Jail to protect our freedom, and now we have many such heroes amidst us to protect us from Modi going the wrong way.

A powerful leader is the most dangerous person for a democracy, and a powerful media is a blessing to a democracy and guarding the rights of the people.

George Bush was a powerful leader, in the wake of 9/11; he frightened everyone including the gutless Senators, Congress persons and even the Journalists to question him. The destruction he brought upon us and upon Iraq, Afghanistan and the world could have been prevented, had the American Media asked the right questions. 

Here comes Modi – a partial replica of George Bush. Bush ruined it by his frightening talk, and Modi is doing it by his silence.  Both leaders were elected with huge mandate.

Shamefully, the Indian Media is flooded with the chumchas, who are ready to praise Lord Modi at every instance.  Here is Jefferson’s wisdom for them, "The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter…."  Thomas Jefferson.

Describing the role of the press, George A. Krimsky, the former head of news for the Associated Press’ and co-author of Hold the Press, writes, “In the wake of America’s successful revolution, it was decided there should indeed be government, but only if it were accountable to the people. The people, in turn, could only hold the government accountable if they knew what it was doing and could intercede as necessary, using their ballot, for example. This role of public ‘watchdog’ was thus assumed by a citizen press, and as a consequence, the government in the United States has been kept out of the news business.”   Indeed, a true journalist is someone who is not a chumcha of the government, and we the people should be skeptical of all the journalists who praise the government.

Modi lives in a bubble, there was a time he cried and was true to himself, shame on his chumchas, and he is not true to himself any more. His bubble is becoming translucent; he cannot see what is going on outside of it.

President Reagan advise to Modi would be, “Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don't interfere as long as the policy you've decided upon is being carried out.” And he would add, “Trust but verify”. Ronald Reagan.

Indeed, his dream is being jeopardized by his own chumchas and may bring his downfall, if he skip the verify part.

 Sab ka saath sab ka vikas – that is, working together brings prosperity to all. His administration is doing everything to compel people not to work together and ripping their liberties and hell bent on dividing India. They are telling what an Indian can eat or not eat, believe or not believe.  The process of blatant discriminating against Muslims in employment and housing has begun, and on and on and on. Modi’s eerie silence on the issue is chilling, he is being told, and everything is alright sir. My hoon na!

Modi’s slogan, “We will build toilets and not temples” brought a lot of joy to the Indians. He is the first leader of independent India to even think and do something about it.  But his men and women are hell bent on forcing religious conversions, vandalizing churches and pushing a pluralistic Hindu faith into becoming a violent religion.

Does he want this or is he being bullied into silence? Whatever it is, he needs to tear the bubble and reconnect with people and speak up.  Indians are gutsy people and will bring him down as they did with the Almighty Indira Gandhi.

Skepticism is good and without which nothing good can come, and I understand the concerns people have.  In 2014,  I wrote, “I do connect with him now, and I will stick my neck out and say, things will get better under Modi Sarkar, good days are coming for every Indian regardless of his or her affiliation. “  I am withdrawing my neck now, until he comes out of the bubble and restores sanity and cohesiveness of India.

I thank Dr. Thomas A. Kodenkandath/Thommy, a Scientist by profession, and a cartoonist by hobby for drawing the Modi in Bubble cartoon precisely depicting the status of Mr. Modi. He is a graduate of  Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) and is a recipient of several awards, including the Kerala State Lalithakala Academy Award for editorial cartooning 

 Thank you

mike
Mike Ghouse, Speaker
(214) 325-1916 text/talk
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Mike Ghouse is a public speaker, thinker, writer and a commentator on Pluralism, Islam, India, Israel-Palestine, Politics and other issues of the day. He is a human rights activist, and his book standing up for others will be out soon | He is producing a full feature film " Sacred" to be released on 9/11 and a documentary "Americans together" for a July 4 release.  He is a frequent guest commentator on Fox News and syndicated Talk Radio shows and a writer at major news papers including Dallas Morning News and Huffington Post. All about him is listed in 63 links at www.MikeGhouse.net and his writings are at www.TheGhousediary.com - Mike is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day

Indian Democracy - will it survive?

As an Indian deeply committed to democracy in India, not the theocracy that will sink every one of us in the end, I hope and pray that the people of Delhi have voted for AAP.  We will wait for the results. Whatever the outcome of Delhi Elections, we have to live with it.

We need a strong opposition to keep the government on its toes, and at least somewhat accountable. Fascism takes root when the government has huge majority and huge mandate; it is the most dangerous thing for a nation to give full powers to a single party.

Radicals no matter where they raise their ugly heads simply destroy the nations – it’s happening in Iraq, and Syria, and gaining ground in Pakistan. None of us want India to become a theocracy like theirs, we want to be a nation of free people and not to be ruled by a bunch of idiots who who tell us what we can drink, eat, wear or believe.

Those radicals who think Hindutva *** Government is the way to go, will severely regret a few years down the road, and will say;

First they came for Muslims,
we didn’t care, we were not Muslims;

Then they came for Christians,
we rejoiced, we were not Christians;

Then they came for Sikhs,
we did not care, they were not Hindus;

And finally they turned it on us,

They wanted us to be obedient dogs,

and there was no one left to defend us.

The only reason I wish AAP wins is not because I like them, but I like our democracy to win and India to win.  The vote would be a reminder to Modi to bring humility in governance and let the ahankar go.

*** Hindutva is a political ideology similar to Islamists. It is neither Hindu nor Hinduism in character, just as Islamist are neither Islam nor Muslim. 

Enjoy the following political video featuring Modi, Kejriwal, Bedi and Shah.

Video link - https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153285734992580 

Mike Ghouse
www.MikeGhouse.net  

For every Muslim ass there is a Hindu ass

URL - http://mikeghouseforindia.blogspot.com/2014/04/for-every-muslim-ass-there-is-hindu-ass.html

Secularism will not die; it will be upgraded to Pluralism; India’s heritage.

Most Indians agree and support this statement, "let every Indian, pray, eat, sleep, drink, wear, think or believe whatever the hell he or she wants to do, but not impose his ideals onto others."

Indeed, a majority of Muslims, Hindus, and others mind their own business, taking care of the family, getting kids to school, having a job and thinking of comfortable retirement. 

It is time to scream at the rascal individuals be it in Congress or BJP  who talk divisiveness. Anyone who does not care about the others is not good for the society.

Indeed, for every Muslim ass, there is a Hindu ass, (or other assess). For every Azam, there is a Togadia, for every Bukhari there is an Amit Shah…  and many more popping by day.

The purpose of police, criminal justice and law is to protect Indians from these men who incite hatred.

Modi or Indira, they come and go, but India has been there and will always be there with its pluralistic ethos. If they do any damage or did not control the damage like the Sikh Genocides, Gujarat Massacre, Mistreatement of Dalits, Destruction of Babri Masjid, it will hurt for a long time, but will heal. India is too big for these temporals. I like that old song from Bombay to God - Na koi raha hai, no koi rahega, mere desh azad ho ke rahega.

We are deeply a pluralistic people and our heritage is loaded with pluralistic ethos. Men who are divisive are an insult to Hinduism and Islam’s pluralistic ethos. Remember men in all traditions have been violent, despite their religion teaching otherwise. It is not the religion; it is the selfishness and insecurity in men that drives them to be rotten pigs.

And, “Hinduism is the “Ellis Island of religions”. Pluralism and diversity are deeply ingrained in it, “the lines between different beliefs and practices are permeable membranes”

And, “India gave itself a secular, liberal constitution because a vast majority of all its people, in fact almost unanimously, determined that this was the finest formulation for nation-building in a land as diverse and complex as ours. The Constituent Assembly had participation from across the many ideological divides. The document it drafted has now acquired the status of scripture and nobody in mainstream politics dares to question it. The man credited with leading that process, Ambedkar, has been added to our pantheon of all-party gods.”

Now coming to deal with the extremism- a part of every society, every religion, every ethnicity and language.

The politicians want to label it religious, but in reality it is the arrogance of one over the other. Each group is deviating from the religious teachings of humility and chosing arrogance, ahankar etc.

I fully endorse the theme of the article " Secularism is dead" by Shekhar Gupta at Indian Express.

Secularism is Dead

This anti-Modi battle cry is lazy, illiberal and an affront to Muslims — and to Hindus.

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Mike Ghouse is a speaker, thinker and a writer on pluralism, politics, peace, Islam, Israel, India, interfaith, and cohesion at work place. He is committed to building a Cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day at www.TheGhousediary.com. He believes in Standing up for others and a book with the same title is coming up. Mike has a strong presence on national and local TV, Radio and Print Media. He is a frequent guest on Sean Hannity show on Fox TV, and a commentator on national radio networks, he contributes weekly to the Texas Faith Column at Dallas Morning News; fortnightly at Huffington post; and several other periodicals across the world. His personal site www.MikeGhouse.net indexes all his work through many links.  

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