To Be or Not to Be Inclusive
While BJP fought the election on an exclusionary agenda, the hope is that the process of governance will be inclusionary, writes P Chidambaram in The Indian Express. He points out that BJP has a vision of one nation, one history, one culture, one heritage, one civil code, one national language. The government needs to shed its partiality to a particular religion or language so that every state, especially Tamil Nadu Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, feel included and governance is fair and equal.
“Did the BJP fight the just-concluded elections on the plank of inclusiveness? I doubt it. According to news reports, among the BJP’s 302 MPs there will not be anyone from the Muslim community. There are others who feel excluded such as Dalits, tribals, Christians, tenant-farmers and agricultural workers. There are some sections that are actually excluded from the developmental process because of caste, poverty, illiteracy, old age, minuscule numbers or remoteness. There is, therefore, a need for the Prime Minister to reiterate his original slogan ‘Sabka saath, Sabka vikas’.”
Fasten Your Seatbelts for Bharat 2.0
The reason for BJP’s stupendous victory is the way they navigated caste politics, managed media, brought about a Hinduism narrative - all built around the fact that, ‘If not Modi, then who?,’ writes Twinkle Khanna in The Times Of India. The lack of a strong opposition leader and party just helped the chowkidars who, unlike the liberals, always presented a united front.
“Rahul Gandhi made a remark after a press conference where Namo was present but declined questions. He tweeted sarcastically, ‘Congratulations, Modi Ji. Excellent Press Conference! Showing up is half the battle.’ He probably didn’t realise that he was being prescient. The chowkidars didn’t have to bring anything to the table to win the battle. All they had to do was well, just show up and no other group could match their collective, unified numbers. The pen is meant to be mightier than the sword but against a brick wall, it can only leave traces of graffiti behind, hoping it is read and we are all wiser the next time around.”
It Is Time India and Pakistan Address Kashmir, Restore Bilateral Relations
Modi could add a feather to his cap if he gets Pakistan to allow bilateral free trade including cross-border investment, which all seems likely, write Khaled Ahmed in The Indian Express. It is time India and Pakistan put Kashmir to rest, allowing the Hindus and Muslims there to live peacefully. And even if Imran Khan tries to dodge peace talks, it is imperative that Modi makes it a priority.
“In Pakistan, Imran Khan must succeed in “normalising” relations with India by not frontloading Kashmir in the coming negotiations with his Indian counterpart. Both states are nuclear powers and given the new “thymos”, the two religions can go to the final Armageddon. Once the Indian Constitution informed the attitude of the Indian middle class, which was tolerant of secularism. This is no longer so. In Pakistan, the constitution still inclines the middle class to desire sharia and consequently prefer the “harder” sharia of the al Qaeda and Islamic State to state ideology. For once, however, the Pakistan army, path-dependent so far on India despite defeats, is allowing PM Khan to change the India policy on a permanent basis.”
The Gender Agenda Before Parliament
It is ironical that despite women winning against all odds, gender issues are rarely discussed by political parties, either during campaigns or while in office, writes Lalita Panicker in Hindustan Times. Even today, parties offer women voters free sarees, sewing machines, food processors and money. It is never about substantial issues like economic empowerment in the form of rural start ups, jobs and safer public mobility. For women to get prominence in policies, we need proactive ministers in the human resource development and women and child portfolios.
“Many parents who stop their girls from going to school or who pull them out early are not aware of the returns they could get from educating them. We need to make available information on what jobs educated women from rural areas can get, how their public mobility can be made safer and also utilise credible role models for young women. The next HRD minister should be out there in rural areas at least once a month to motivate women to get educated, for families to invest in educating the girl child and to encourage women to get jobs, if possible locally. Education is a state subject but when the push comes from the Centre, the states will find it difficult not to match the initiative.”
India Have the Team to Win the World Cup, So Do at Least Three Others
Suresh Menon writes in The Hindu that sometimes, in cricket, as in politics, a little instability is not a bad thing; it keeps everyone on their toes. He points out that teams that start with a bang almost never make it to the final, but the ones who gather confidence along the way taking in a defeat or two most definitely do. India has played safe in picking its team and this shows a lack of confidence to pick an outlier who could turn around a crucial game.
“At the other end of the scale, which are the teams that have consistently performed above themselves? New Zealand have been in more semifinals than any other team, but except for 2015 haven’t progressed beyond that. Last time they were everybody’s second favourite team both for their game and their manifest enjoyment of it as well as their behaviour on-field. It would have been a reminder, had they won, that nice guys sometimes finish first.”
Why Modi Needs to Return to His Old Slogan
Now that Modi is back, it is time he revisits his old mantra of ‘minimum government, maximum governance,’ writes SA Aiyar in The Times Of India. Giving the second-time prime minister some lessons to learn, he writes that the Modi government should shift from leaky, corruption-ridden subsidies to targeted cash transfers to the needy, privatise infrastructure, education and health. He also suggests that land acquisition needs to be made quicker, GST must be simplified and the police-judicial system should be made quicker and more competent.
“Indian minorities are insecure. On the positive side, communal riots have declined in NDA-1. Yet mob lynchings of Muslim transporters and attacks on Christians have hit social harmony. Modi has castigated Sadhvi Pragya for praising Nathuram Godse. If he can ingrain that attitude in his colleagues, especially in state governments, communal harmony will improve. Nobel Laureate Douglas North and other economic historians have shown that strong, independent institutions are essential for long-run growth and prosperity. Congress historically interfered with many institutions and BJP is doing the same. The independence of the RBI, Election Commission, CBI, state police and the national statistical system is constrained. This may be politically convenient in the short run. But Modi should focus on the long run.”
Inside Track: New Look Cabinet
In a column in The Indian Express, Coomi Kapoor looks back at what went wrong for the Congress that worked in the favour of the ruling party, BJP. Many in the Congress are inexperienced youngsters who have an NGO mindset rather than an understanding of electoral politics, she writes. Priyanka Gandhi was introduced quite late and casually in the middle of the campaign, and though her charm and personality attracted crowds and media attention, it did not garner votes. Probably if she was at the helm instead of her brother, the Congress’s fortunes could have revived.
“Congresspersons privately blame P Chidambaram and Navjot Singh Sidhu for damaging the party’s image. Chidambaram as chairperson of the manifesto committee, along with Rahul Gandhi’s young apolitical brains trust, insisted on inserting a clause in the party manifesto calling for amendment to the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). While human rights activists applauded the move, it hardly made political sense in the wake of Pulwama and Narendra Modi’s campaign whipping up nationalistic fervour. Voters frequently mentioned the manifesto as a black mark against the Congress. Similarly Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh was infuriated with his minister Sidhu for giving a bear hug to Pakistani army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa when he visited Lahore for Imran Khan’s swearing-in ceremony. The BJP made capital out of the photograph.”
Luxury Meditation: A Cave With a View
G Sampath, in a column in The Hindu, takes a dig at Prime Minister Modi who had a photographer clicking pictures of him while meditating in a holy cave near Kedarnath Temple. He asks, why can’t asceticism be a luxury experience accessible to anyone who can pay for it? Proposing a PPP model and spewing sarcasm, he says the government should auction off these caves to private players, who will then develop these ancient spiritual properties into modern nirvana centres.
“To my mind, in addition to a spa, every seven-star cave should have a sauna, jacuzzi, climate control AC, a mini-bar, bathtub, butler service, and an attached multi-cuisine restaurant with Mughlai, Chinese, South Indian, Thai, Continental, Mediterranean, and Gujju options. Imagine how much better off we’d be if India’s most powerful were spiritually evolved individuals and not the Khan Market gang? All the more reason to encourage them. If the Himalayas can roll out the red carpet for the well-heeled spiritual seeker, who knows, the day may not be far off when we could, as a nation, learn from the wisdom of a monk who sold his country.”
Why Women Are Supporting #Mentoo
Talking about a movement that took women empowerment and consent to the next level, Pooja Bedi writes in The Times Of India about why, as a country, we need to protect not just the women but anyone who has been wronged. She writes that there has been a meteoric rise in false cases, with many women using marriage laws, divorce laws, live-in laws against men and their families. This has scared men so that they are putting CCTV cameras in their offices for evidence, avoiding any form of flirtation, viewing marriage as a trap, and even preferring to hire men over women – she claims.
“There are reports of women screaming #Metoo on the behest of their PR agencies in order to gain recognition, and cases of men who in fear have audio recorded consensual sex and been terrorised by women filing cases against them for even that. How does a man protect his own dignity and reputation? Do we need to have affidavits signed by women in court or in front of witnesses for consensual sex? In an era of tinder and pre-marital sex is not marrying someone you had sex with equivalent to rape? Those women who firmly believe in equality and women empowerment realise that it’s in their hands to correct this gross injustice before women are not welcome in a workplace, marriage viewed as an extortion racket, and cases of real suffering by women viewed through a suspicious lens.”
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