India's experiment with clean politics and preferred election outcome

Years ago, India ranked # 1 on the list of corrupt nations in the world, and today it is not. Despite the economic, social, cultural frictions we have, we are inherently a pluralistic democracy.

The General Elections are going to be held from April 7 through May 12, 2014, and we have several regional and national parties competing for the 543 Parliament seats. There are two major alliances of regional parties;  NDA - National Democratic Alliance with BJP as its anchor, and UPA- United Progressive Alliance with Congress as its anchor. There is a third front is emerging with regional parties and AAP.  It takes 272 Members to form a government.  Currently Congress holds 228 seats and BJP 137, all of this is likely to turn upside down.

Arvind Kejriwal leads a brand new Party called AAP -Aam Aadmi Party, and his party will be competing with two well organized established parties – Narendra Modi leads the BJP – Bharatiya Janata Party (Indian version Republicans) and Rahul Gandhi heads the INC- Indian National Congress (Democrat equivalent).

You may differ, but my personal choice is for no party to win the majority. A coalition government would be much better, as it compels them to be watching each other, decisions will be made by issue and not party line. It will also lend to greater debates on the issues. Unlike the US, if the coalition government does not perform, it can be brought down with a no confidence vote.

Arvind Kejriwal – no experience in governance, nor does he have an established system to carry the Party – the AAP; Aam Aadmi Party – common man’s party. But he is good for India. He wants to run a clean corruption free government. My worry is simply this –what if he is killed by the same party that killed Mahatma Gandhi, does he have an established system to carry the party forward without him? Is the manifesto written up?

Arvind is a good guy – at least corruption will be checked, but we need to make sure, he has systems in place to carry the business of governance.

The man leading the BJP plank is Narendra Modi, who needs lessons in history, biology, math and society, he is making blunders upon blunders. His popularity sounds like Ted Cruz's but not sure if it is managed or real. He is not an inclusive man and does not seem to believe in freedom. His state is one of the few where Christians, Dalits and Muslims are harassed, people do not have the freedom to choose their faith.

In the last two months he has worn over 25 different style hats in every town he visits, but refused to wear a hat given by Muslims – Under his watch nearly 1200 people were massacred while he did not stop the mayhem, 20,000 People are still living in wretched camps displaced by the massacres. To this day, he has not expressed remorse or regret for the deaths, just like George Bush has not done it yet. He promises prosperity and development, and is compared to Hitler, who promised and delivered prosperity to Germans at the cost of Jews and others, at the end nothing survived. If he does not care for social structure, all that development will not be sustainable.

Rahul Gandhi on the other hand represents the INC – it appears that he does not want to fight to win, nor does he have the experience. The only thing going for him is the party machinery which is well established. He lacks experience and does not have guts to run the largest government in the world.

Again, no one should be given a free hand, let there be a coalition government, let them learn to work with each other and deliver prosperity without hurting the social structure. A cohesive India is the way to go, a prosperous India without cohesiveness is doomed, the disparities may give birth to communism - to rip from the over night rich to give it to the depressed ones.

Faceboook: https://www.facebook.com/IndiaPluralism
Yahoogroups: DallasIndians@yahoogroups.com 
URL: http://mikeghouseforindia.blogspot.com/2014/03/indias-experiment-with-clean-politics.html
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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.

Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi, you and me.

The purpose of writing this note is for us to be conscious of the fact that, we will be redefining a lot of things. 

We were formed as a Secular democracy; however, we have been an exemplary inclusive democracy. Politically, India has evolved into a two party system. Unlike the clear two dominant parties in the United States,  India coalesces regional and national parties into two major coalitions; the National Democratic Alliance with Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) as its anchor, and the United Progressive Alliance with Indian National Congress (INC) as the anchor.

Loyalty to our Nation.

For almost first half of post independent India, there was literally one party rule. If you were not with the Indian National Congress then you were less than loyal to the nation. Then came a period, where BJP ruled the nation and anyone who criticized the Government-in-essence-BJP, they were considered traitors or less than loyal to India, and it went both ways.

I hope we have come to a point where loyalty to the party will not be equated with loyalty to the nation. We need to remember that neither BJP nor Congress represents more than half of the nation now.  And we will go beyond our regional or religious affiliations in our discussions. It will be one Indian’s take against the other Indian’s take and we will do our best, for the sake of civility to not slap region or religion to it.  

Let me put it the way Jesus had explained– condemn the sin and not the sinner. i.e., you and I can disagree with our takes, but not dislike each other personally. The same great ideal is in Bhagvad Gita, Quran and other holy books; we just need to practice it. 

In simple words, I may not like your support for Rahul Gandhi or Narendra Modi, but I will not dislike you at all, and nor will I hold that against you. Can we do that?

The dirt that will be thrown at each other will be for political gains of the party you support. If Khalid Azam and Niranjan Patel disagree on something, it will be a civil dialogue and nothing personal. I would also hope that we have matured enough to discuss or challenge the facts, rather than just say – what do you expect from …?  

At Dallas Indians, a 1725 member forum, we have seen ups and downs, and I hope to see civility in our conversation. I am sure we can, after all, we the Indians claim to be a civil people. 

The forum is moderated to eliminate ads, and to keep the focus on the topic at hand instead of jumping around. To join the forum, simply send an email to DallasIndians-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

As a moderator of the forum, I want to assure you, that I am free from any prejudice towards any human, let alone a fellow Indian. Meaning, if I you see you in a party, my blood will not boil, nor will I lean over my friend and whisper bad things about you in his or her ears. My disagreement with you does not become the source of disliking you.

My book "Standing up for others" is being released by the end of this month. I simply ask you this - if any one on our forum, jumps on an individual's region or religion, we all need to speak up. We are all Indians and nothing but Indians.

Jai Hind

Mike Ghouse for India
http://www.MikeGhouseforIndia.Blogspot.com 

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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 onSean 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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Modi says, he was shaken to core by Gujarat's religious riots

Narendra Modi's words sound hollow
URL - http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2013/12/modi-says-he-was-shaken-to-core-by.html

Mr. Narendra Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat has been compared for his focus on development of his state, while tearing the social fabric of Gujarat and reducing minorities to second class citizens. The Gujarat Massacred killed nearly 1000 people and displaced 20,000 without any rehabilitation or compensation. The lower court sided with the recommendations of a special investigative team on December 26, 2013. Mr. Modi sounds hollow.

December 26, 2013. The district court in Ahmadabad, Gujarat validated the recommendations of the special investigation team and dismissed the charges against Mr. Narendra Modi's involvement in the Gujarat massacre under his leadership in 2002. 

Immediately after the verdict, Mr. Modi tweeted, "Satyameva Jayate" - that truth triumphs at the end.  The words sounded hollow.

Referring to the 2001 Earthquake, he wrote on his blog "Hundreds of lives were lost. Lakhs were rendered homeless. Entire livelihoods were destroyed. In such traumatic times of unimaginable suffering, I was given the responsibility to soothe and rebuild. And we had whole heartedly plunged ourselves into the challenge at hand."

Of course the hard core supporters will lap it up, but this should have happened as an initiative and not as a reaction.

Mr. Modi, did you not have the responsibility to soothe and restore the lives of the riot victims, at least with some heart if not wholeheartedly? If you had cared for them, the world would have been with you and you did not have to play these games.

However, you still have the time to show if you really have a pure heart that does not discriminate any one. Mr. Modi said, "I pray to God that no bitterness seeps into my heart". Please do the praischit, (repentance) prayers alone won't cut it, and they are merely words.

Should we buy the following statement, "However, it was from these very built up emotions that I had appealed to the people of Gujarat on the day of the Godhra train burning itself; fervently urging for peace and restraint to ensure lives of innocents were not put at risk."

Should we buy this statement from Rahul Gandhi, your opponent if he delivers this, "However, I was totally opposed to corruption in the UPA government, I was shaken to the core. 'Grief', 'Sadness', 'Misery', 'Pain', 'Anguish', 'Agony' with the way things are happening, I am here to change it and put India back on prosperity that reaches every Indian."

After twelve years and countless investigations and interviews, he comes up with this to build momentum and position himself as a good guy, "I was shaken to the core. 'Grief', 'Sadness', 'Misery', 'Pain', 'Anguish', 'Agony' - mere words could not capture the absolute emptiness one felt on witnessing such inhumanity." Really? It took twelve years for you to share that on an opportunistic time?

He continues, "On one side was the pain of the victims of the earthquake, and on the other the pain of the victims of the riots. In decisively confronting this great turmoil, I had to single-mindedly focus all the strength given to me by the almighty, on the task of peace, justice and rehabilitation; burying the pain and agony I was personally wracked with."

Mr. Modi, you still have the time to take action, here are the suggestions. 

1. Restore the lives of refugees uprooted in the riots, find them minimum housing and a path to earn a livelihood. Let them be accommodated amidst all others with caring attitudes, in the long run we have to build de-segregated societies for the good of all.

2. Inclusive governance, to include Muslims on the internal advisory of the Chief Minister to make security decisions on a voluntary basis with nothing to gain.

3. Justice to the families of the ones who have lost their lives, both Hindu and Muslim without discrimination.

4. Find the truth about burning of 59 passengers in the train in the most transparent way - to bring closure to doubts on both sides or acknowledge the findings and live with it.

5. Punishment for anti-Muslim and anti-Christian attitudes in the state machinery, just like the strong anti-corruption rules instituted by the Chief Minister.

6. Meet with local Muslim, Dalit, Sikh, and Christian leadership on a regular basis, not to appease them, but to hear them out and prevent injustice to them.

7. Earn the goodwill of the people affected by restoring their lives and seeking forgiveness from them.

Remember, Muslims and other minorities are not looking for favors or handouts, but just fair treatment, and an opportunity to be productive citizens.  If Mr. Modi can demonstrate that he is a good human being, and put in to practice the above seven points for the next five years, he would earn the goodwill of the people and could hope to be the Prime Minister of India for several terms.
 

Jai Hind

• OpEd News: Narendra Modi's Nakshatra's are not in his favor http://www.opednews.com/articles/Narendra-Modi-s-Nakshatras-by-Mike-Ghouse-Anti-christian_Bharatiya-Janata-Party_Business_Congress-131227-999.html

• Huffington post - India's future, Narendra Modi and moving forward.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ghouse/indias-future-narendra-mo_b_4177079.html

• Modi's letter after the lower court's decision http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/allaboutnarendramodi/was-shaken-to-the-core-by-2002-gujarat-riot-narendra-modi/article1-1166877.aspx

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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.