Mango Fans in Banana Republic

If you are born in America, the first sports kit you get as a child is baseball. In Europe you will get a football. And here in Bharat you get Bat-Ball (Gully name for the game cricket). Hence I was no exception for it. It's as if it is in our blood. And if you are born in Mumbai, hardly any guy you may find who hasn't played this game, even for once, in his life.

I still remember my childhood days as if it was just yesterday. Back in our school days, the most awaited day of the year was 10th of April. Last day of exams, which marks the beginning of 2 months long summer vacation. That feeling when you leave the exam hall after the last paper, the adrenaline rush which you experience within. You get license to break all the rules. The time table for vacation was simple. Eat-Play Cricket-Sleep. After having my breakfast, I used to go to my balcony at 930am. Ek Ishara and everyone will be in the ground in 5minutes. And the game begins. Either in numerical order, where first one begins the batting and last one kicks off bowling. Or if the crowd is above 10-15 then split in two teams for over arm or under arm match.

While playing the game, there was never anything at stake. You win or lose any match there is never any prize distribution ceremony. Still we played as if our lives depended on it. I remember vividly one such game. We were playing under arm 6 overs match with 6-7 players on each side. Our's was on the weak side and hence our batting order collapsed for mere 4 runs. Everyone from the other team was laughing and mocking us. Ofcourse this banter was just for fun. But I used to get very much pissed, as I never wanted to be on the losing side. Looking at our pitiful situation I asked my captain to declare them as winners and start another game to avoid further insult. But he said, 'We still can win this game'. I was not in a position to argue, so we began. To everyone's surprise, we dismissed them for 3 runs and won the game. That celebration was surely bigger than anything I may have celebrated in my life. Yelling, shouting, beating our fist, powerful high fives, hugging, running and now being our turn mocking the other team, laughing at them, dancing and what not. Captain came to me and said the I told you so line. This was the game for us. We weren't any champions nor we won any cups or medals. All was for the love of the game. We use to sweat out the whole vacation playing such matches daily in the sun. The energy which we showed in field was also their when we supported our team, India.

I started watching the game some where between 1993-94. I used to watch the game only because the guys in the screen had the same kit which we used while playing in our building complex. I didn't understand all the technicalities then. I remember once when I was watching the game, my Aaee asked me from the kitchen, 'Whats the score?' I didn't knew what was that so I told her, they have not announced anything related to that. Like me many of my friends, we all grew up watching this game. The game was so much popular that it came to be known as religion and Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar was termed it's God.

The memories of me and Team India are so much that it deserves a separate post. The name of this post clearly suggest that there should have been something negative in it's content from the start. Though everything uptill now has been good memories. But all these memories were scarred between 2012-2014 when the IPL scam surfaced. Many players were caught in the fixing while the owners of two clubs were named as the protagonist of all this corruption scandal.

The owner of India Cements Company, which also owned a club in IPL, was the president of both bccI and ICC. Narayanswami Srinivasan (NS) is the person who tainted our religion to such extent that it has come as a slap on every hardcore cricket fan.

When the scam came to light, two clubs each from Chennai and Rajasthan were accused of being involved in match fixing. The prime accused were players but they were just the pawns. The real culprits were Gurunath Meiyppan and MS Dhoni of Chennai and Raj Kundra of Rajasthan. The matter immediately got media glare. And it was the highly debated topic in prime time. Hence NS appointed his own committee and acquitted his son in law from the charges of fixing. He did everything, used all the resource at his disposal to save his family member. But finally Supreme Court decided to interfere in all this to clear the mess in the game. When the court said for the first time that his son in law is protagonist, NS immediately kept himself away from him. Then a full year was in hibernate mode as the committee appointed by Supreme Court under Justice Mudgal began it's work. The captain of our team first said that Gurunath Meiyapan was not involved in the clubs affairs. But later when it was proved that he was the face of the club captain was caught on the back foot, lying, and cheating the fans of the game which made him what he is today. Later it came to light that MSD is also an employee in the India Cements company along with few others in the Chennai club. No wonder he was trying to protect his boss. So what if he showed the middle finger to the game or it's true fans.

There was a time when Mumbai (Bombay) dominated this game in the country. The record 40 times Ranji Trophy (Domestic trophy) winners (with 15 consecutive time in the 70s), had a famous saying in their name 'what Mumbai (Bombay) did today India did tomorrow. It was only when Jagmohan Dalmiya was at the helm of bccI affairs that none from Mumbai, except one, were given fair chance to prove their worth. Today the politics remains same. Only the rulers have changed. The gateway to International team now opens from the yard of Chennai club owned by NS. Earlier a cricketers worth was assessed on the basis of his performance in domestic cricket. Now the qualities one needs to posses to be in the International team has changed. One should be able to follow orders of India Cements employees and employers. And one should play for the Chennai club in IPL. That's why the captain of this International Team runs away from responsibilities in the middle of defeated series as he cannot perform in Test cricket which is the true and rich format of the game. Even after the apex court coming heavily on the administration on charges of conflict of interests, everytime board tried to save their owner from all possible ways. I remember reading in a newspaper when the court had asked the board to appoint a committee for some purpose. The names which propped up in the meeting were of some bollywood actresses. Because they all knew, whoever is in the committee he/she has to acquit the people of board.

What the board of cricket is not able to understand is that they are merely custodians of the game. Only in March last year the same Srinivasan had tabled a position paper in ICC and has taken control of the organisation along with England and Australia. All this was done not by mutual talks but threat. Threat that if the position paper is not accepted then bccI will withdraw from the ICC. And with such massive viewership, the revenue and popularity of the game will go down if India won't play any part. Also bccI lured pakistan by promising them bilateral series, a country which is always at war with us and uses terrorism as a tool to murder our people, in order to vote in favor of the position paper. All this was done by taking the fans, their love, passion and respect towards the game for granted. Hence when it came to clean the game which was dirtied by the scams and fixing issues the same people started tainting us, lying to us.

Since day one of the IPL scam, everyone from the bccI has be evading all questions from the media. The mockery of fans in every moment during the trial was to such extent that they themselves accepted that this a private company and not answerable to any outsiders or in NS language Cricket Enthusiasts. In the one of the arguments made by the counsel of bccI, the board said, 'We do not select any TEAM INDIA but we select TEAM BCCI. We are a private body and not answerable to any one.' And on this very day they killed the game, my religion.

When all this was happening, the best display of hypocrisy was given by the retired players. SILENT. Not a word from them. If at all anyone replied, it was only one thing. The matter is sub judicial. This silence was hurting us more than the noises of main culprits. I felt more cheated that all of them now prefer money over game. Money has become so much important that the real spirit of game now seems a distant past. When our country was called to play the Asian Games in 2014, the board preferred the cash rich champions league over this prestigious competition. It could have easily sent the second rung players who would have manged to get silver, if not gold. But the board didn't feel so. It clearly shows that the game is not at all important if it's not going to generate cash flows.

Today the Supreme Court has finally halted the Srivasan juggernaut. In it's order the apex court has appointed a committee to decide about the punishment for the Chennai & Rajasthan clubs and its owners, IPL COO and also for Srinivasan in the conflict of interest charge. Court has given the committee a period of 6 months to submit its report. It has made clear that bccI will be amenable to writ jurisdiction, i.e. answerable to the people about it's internal matters. Court also barred Srinivasan from contesting the bccI presdential elections, which are to be held in 6 weeks, until he gives up the stake in Chennai club or the submission of report by the 3 member committee, whichever is later. So technically its clear that Srinivasan cannot stand for the upcoming elections, unless he uses his clout and ploughs his way by using Saam Daam Dand Bhed.

When all this was happening, I always wondered why doesn't the government asks them not to use the National Flag while playing games, if they consider themselves a private body. It has turned me so much against the game that right now I am wishing a white wash in the upcoming world cup. The legacy of Srinivasan is every match, every result is taken with a pinch of salt. If we lose people say it was clearly fixed. If we win, that victory doesn't taste sweet. There was a time when our team never won much trophies. But the pride which we had for our team even for that one SIX or one Wicket was beyond imagination. We loved the game not the result. The success which this team has seen since 2007 has made them so much vulnerable that they just can't handle it. They have completely forgotten the fans, the true owners of the game. We are today literally the mango fans in this banana crickets' republic.



-SR


PS: The b, c, and c in the acronym bccI have been purposely written in lower case because of lost of interst in the game which once was beyond any religion. Though I haven't lost hope completely.

Food Trip

Being a Mumbaikar there is nothing better way to spend a weekend exploring the city. And when it's food trip with your best buddies, one can't ask for more.

The first long weekend of 2015 had just arrived. Already our year end plans (which was to take place on 1st weekend of 2015) was cancelled by each and everyone step by step. It was like after proposing a plan and everyone (which was a surprise in itself) giving their consent and later everyone calling one by one to give back the normal replies. So after a gap of 3 weeks after that tragedy, we planned to meet up on the Republic Day. Only change in this was, no one was to be intimidated as enough of group culture. So plan was to be executed on the lines of the famous Marathi saying, 'हाजिर तो वजीर.'

Pravin was stressing for this day as everyone will be available, being a long weekend. So we finalised and only 3 people were in. Vinay was 3rd. There wasn't anything specific on the ToDo list. Everytime we meet up and the menu, irrespective of day and restaurant,  consist of only chicken and daaru or it's substitutes. So I suggested a new trick. We decided to visit only iconic food restaurants throughout the day before returning home for dinner. By that, one get an oppurtunity to be part of some decades old structures which has seen this city transition. Plus being old, quality is assured. And prices are less which beneficial for me being the officially unemployed guy in the toli. Plan was to meet at 11am to make our way towards CST, so we can be their in a restaurant by around lunch time. But with friends, plans are never meant to be executed on time.

Pravin reached Ghatkopar station at around 1330. From their we boarded the local and asked vinay to come directly at CST. Enroute we were having our typical discussions. He was discussing about his MBA class examples for different business houses from Tata's and Ambanis'. Ocassionally switching over to football. We reached at CST station at around 1415. Now we have to wait for Vinay. I was already starving and thanks to Pravin (as usual) being late and Vinay (surprisingly) being super late, every minute was just multiplying the hunger by 100times. Though we said we will be going to old well known restaurants but we hadn't made any chronology or list of the same. I, though, had a couple of few on my list. First was Aram near Capitol, just outside CST station on the west end. It's around 80 years old pure Maharashtrian resaturant (which is rare these days). Another was a TeaCentre at Resham Bhavan near Churchgate station. 57 years old and has almost all types of tea which are served in our country. Being a teaholic, ye visit to banta hai. And last but not the least was Badshah Falooda Centre at Masjid Bandar near Crawford Market.

Finally Vinay arrived at 1440 and we decided to walk our way towards Churchgate via Azad Maidan to catch some food at Khau Galli which is located just behind Fashion Street (FS). Now this was my usual route, walking through the Deutsche Bank building and then through the small walkway between Bombay Gymkhana and Azad maidan which had its end at FS and then some 2minutes walk behind FS, being my work location 3years ago for atleast 4years. But the extra genius Pravin suggested some different route. So now we were heading by the Cama Hospital lane. I looked at the CST station building from a distance, from Canon Pav Bhaji Centre to be exact. And I remembered the images from social media which showed the lights which are put up to make the buiding resemble like one big Tiranga. I was hoping to capture that moment live in the evening instead of sharing from others'.

As we were heading to Cama lane, just at the turning I saw a memorial for Shaheed jawans and a plaque. I just couldn't resist myself to capture the same. Though I confess, I am just an amateur user of camera. But I feel you don't need to be a professional to capture memories.

Amar Jawan Tumhe Vijay Salam

As we were heading towards the shortcut, there were some people who were sitting on dharna protesting against some basic rights. It's a popular sight in Azad Maidan. So we thought that this might not be the route and hence our search of pravin's shortcut eventually landed us at Metro. Now from there it was like No man's land towards Azad maidan. Suddenly a rare thing happened. Pravin gave us a sensible option. Kyani & Co. an Irani Restaurant was there somewhere near Metro. We were now standing at the same junction but didn't had any clue about the exact location. In Mumbai, the best guide on road are two people; Panwalla & Policewala. You can be sure to get the directions in most of the cases. So we did the same. But before the conversation could be completed Vinay spotted the place which was left to where we were standing. Finally I could see some fuel for my starving stomach. We stepped in and first we said to ourselves. No matter how much hungry we are, we have to eat in installments else we won't be able to visit other places.

I liked it in. Simple. Quiet. No idiotic formalities or eating like wearing an invisible of cloak of some stupid etiquette. Being an Irani restaurant my eyes were on the tea menu first. But had to eat something so we started our day with Kheema Pav.

Kheema Pav

Vinay had a clause that he was going to have only Vegetarian food. So he was going to be mere spectator to this classic item. He ordered a sandwich for himself to keep his mouth busy.

Veg Sandwich

I haven't had much of Kheema so I can't comment on this one. But the difference between my past experience was that this had a fair amount of gravy which further added to the taste. Extra pav was surely in order. Further we ordered a cheese omelet and raspberry juice. It was popular in this restaurant.

Rasphberry

Cheese Omelet

Later my most awaited Irani Tea and bun muska pav. My 1st Irani Chai experience was at the Charminar in Hyderabad some 4years ago and till date it has kept me spell binded. I still can't forget the taste of the same. So this was the most awaited item on the list. I was expecting, atleast, this meets my previous expectations if not exceeding expectation. But turned out to be the worst tea I ever had and one can expect under that brand name. First they served me a cuppa with a small hair floating on it. That itself killed the mood of everything. I asked him to change and bring a fresh one. After it was replaced I lifted the cup and the distance between the table and lips being merely 30cm was feeling like an eternity. My hand felt the weight of the cup because of the all the history I had with it, the waiting I did for these many years to taste another Irani tea. And suddenly the sound of huge glass cracking into pieces came in my ears. Only difference was it happened within me, and the glass of expectation and image I had created of the brand was shattered into pieces. Seriously, tapri tea is more better. I somehow assured myself this is not end of the world and that Tea Centre might help to compensate for it.

Kyani & Co wasn't that good, but not bad too. Except the tea, rest food was good. So after paying the bill we came out only to get inside a hall for shopping. We wasted some our precious time of the day as Pravin wanted to purchase something from a sale of some XYZ brand. I was getting bored so went out to have some fresh air. When I was scrolling the surrounding area, I came across some old structures. These are termed today as dilapidated structures. Some of them might be a century old from the British Raj. Standing there they have witnessed history of generations born and grow together. I could manage only to capture a glimpse in my lens.

Old Structure which will be facing axe in recent future

Finally the shopping ended and we kept our next stop as Khau Galli as our vegetarian friends lunch was pending. Passing through the FS, we finally reached the spot were Vinay had a Pav Bhaji. Ofcourse, we were not just spectators. We too joined him but gave him the majority share. Clock was at 1600 hours now. So I suggested any which ways it's tea time, and I also wanted to comeover from the horror show of tea few hours ago, so why not visit the Tea Centre. Pravin had Bachelor's in his list as he wanted to try the new Chilli ice cream. But it was situated at Marine Lines. Hence majority won as Tea centre was near than the icecream parlour. As we were heading towards the closed shop, we came across the HQ of Western Railways outside Churchgate station.

WR Headquarters

I wasn't having any intention to capture this picture. It was just a co-incidence. We were suppose to have this small trip on bike, each of Vinay and Pravins'. However at the 11th hour Vinays' bike was not available so most of the time we had to walk. To take a break we halted at this spot to ask another cop the way towards Resham Bhavan. Unfortunately he was newly posted their so had no clue. So we said lets go to our favorite ice cream parlour, K. Rustomjee. Both of them crossed the road and went on the other side whereas I stayed because I wanted to take a picture of plaque which is kept outside the Churchgate station in the memory of the victims who died on 11/7 in the Western Railway blast. Unfortunately it was too long to fit in my small screen and I couldn't go back to give it more screen space since it was on the busiest road. Hence I moved on and was walking parallel to them. From the other side they asked someone about Resham Bhavan and the man showed them its location. Both of them pointed towards a buiding which was a few feet on my right. I was excited when I read the name, but it died immediately. The Tea Centre was shut down, too. So I told the guys to come at Rustomjee. Since there was partition on the road I had to go till the end of the road and cross from the Pizza by the Bay junction and come back.

After a long walk and then talking a U turn I came back to another vintage place. Instead of going to Baskin & Robbins kind of stuff where you find less cream and empty cone at sky high prices, this is a no nonsense place. Wrapped in tissue paper is a brick of cream nestled between two waffers at even half the price of the over hyped branded ones. One visit can never be enough at this place. The biggest dilemma is to choose one of the all, as I have always wanted something of everything. So instead of going through the menu I decided to order the special one for the day. Helped us save some time. We agreed for 3 different flavours so we may have some variety on the table. I went for Pan masala, Pravin opted for Chocolate mint whereas Vinay ordered Anjir. The first two where the special for the day. I don't need to explain the taste as the name itself is enough to define it's quality.

(Top to Bottom): Anjir, Chocolate Mint & Pan Masala

Finally after chilling our body, we decided to relax a bit on the queens necklace. Merwan was on the list being another Irani restarant. Bachelors too was their to try the new chilli flavour icecream. And then Badshah, on which I was firm as all the ones which were their in my list were closed. We have been walking all the way since 1430 for around 3 hours. So this break toh banta tha. Sitting their we realised that we have been capturing all other things except our own pictures. So this was the spare time for some selfies.

Selfie Time at Marine Drive

The sun was taking toll on us. So now we had to cut short certain places. Merwan was rejected outright. As such I had enough of Irani at Kyani and Co. so I was Ok with it. Next up was Bachelor's. Just for chilli we had to walk all the way on the queens necklace. And from their we won't be able to go anywhere. So that was then rejected too. Now we had only one option left i.e. Badshah I was surely not going to give up on it. But we first thought of having something to eat. So nearby was another old restaurant near Churchgate station, Standard. After a break of around 30minutes, soaking in the sun near the waters of Arabian we set for Standard. When we reached the Pizza by the Bay turn I saw the classic vintage car on the other side of the road. Couldn't guess which was it as we had only few seconds till the signal turned green.

A Vintage Car

As the car moved away we also headed to out destination. While passing from the Ambasaddor hotel we saw a board on the next building with an arrow pointing left, inside the building. It was pointing at the location of Bachelors Icecream Parlour. So among the list of rejected, one was available. We went in and got the chilli icecream. It's surely innovative. You might get the feel of chilli as you take small scoop. But if you take a large scoop, only then you can you realize the actual chilli effect down in your throat. It's not the spicy part but the chilli essence is added in it during the making. It was good to be tried atleast once, not something which you might crave to have it again.

Chilli Icecream

The only item on Pravins list was fulfilled. After two blocks was the Standard Restaturant. We went in and Pravin first ordered a Bread Pudding. The taste was good but Pravin said it should more soft on the top. So ou guesses is it might have prepared some hours ago.

Pudding

One thing was surely not going to be enough. So we went on to get their famous pick. A cup cake, i forgot its name though. A caramel custard and bunmaska chai.

Cup cake, Caramel Custard and BunMuska

 Again, the tea wasn't that great. But rest was fine. I was trying to be low as I needed to keep place for the big item that's the falooda, ofcourse only if it's open as everything in my list has been closed. After closing on Standard, we took a cab to Crawford Market. Vinay didn't had any wishlist which now left us with Badshah Falooda. We reached their in around 10minutes. And finally something which was in my list was open.

Last time I visited there was a queue outside the restaurant just for entry as it was houseful. But this time, though there was rush, we didn't had to stand in any queue and also got a table immediately. The waiter offered water and the menu card. I instantly jumped on the Falooda section and ordered a Royal Falooda. I also faced the same dilemma here like in Rustomjee. Just couldn't select one of the many. So went for neutral one. Pravin had given up. Whereas Vinay ordered ButterScotch falooda.

(L-R): Royal & Butterscotch

It was truely awesome. Taking the intial sip and a small scoop of icecream. Later mixing all the colours together and making it Red, in Vinay's case yellow. The last time I visited here with a friend we had 5 between the both of us. But today I didn't had such powerful company as both (athletic skeleton body) seemed to be exhausted. So had to settle down on the above couple and make our way out.

That's it for the day of eating. Pravin did mentioned Bagdadi but then himself gave up and also Vinay didn't wanted to go so we finally started our walk towards CST to home. It was around 1830 and sky had become dark thus paving way for man made lights. So it meant I will be getting to capture the CR Headquarters and MCGM building in lights. Politics dominated our talks in the walk till CST. When we reached the station, Pravin and Vinay went to purchase their tickets. There was a train announced which was fast local and halting at both Ghatkopar and Bhandup. But I ignored it since you don't get to see such scenes daily. I ran outside the station. When I looked behind these guys were no where to be seen. So I thought to first capture the images of the buildings and then buzz them to ask their location.

BMC Headquarters

CR Headquarters

So this was suppose to be the official end of our first city road trip. We also got a fast train in the end which was a regular one for me during my office days. Like we say, If ends well then all well. I may have missed a few restaurants from my list but the ending was chilling sweet in faloda and then watching these towering structures, one of which is adorned in our National Flag is just priceless.

Thank You fellas. Hoping this was one of the many. Cheers.



-SR.

Indira-Modi Similarities

The biggest negative point in the 10 year UPA rule was the country had a Prime Minister and a De-facto Prime Minister. Officially work was carried out in South Block of the Secretariat Building but was authorized in 10 Janpath. Singer resided in 7 Race Course Road but lyrics and background score were given from either Akbar Road or 10 Janpath again. Hence it created a huge vacuum of elected leader as head of state, like Sanjay Baru explained our PM in his book as the accidental prime minister. This vacuum led to the rise of Narendra Modi from the confines of Gujarat to become the head of world's largest democracy.

A strong Hindutva leader, Modi captured the imaginations of voters and won the election on politics of economic development. Many comparisons were made of Modi with other Prime Minsters but the most best suited comparison for him was with Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.The choice might seem to be confusing as she was neither part of Sangh parivar nor belonged to saffron political alliance. But it seems to be very identical when one sees their work pattern in public life.

Back in 1971 there was break up in the Congress party. Following an electoral loss in 1967 Indira Gandhi had voiced against the seniors in the party. Then congress president expelled Indira from the party after which she formed her own faction and managed to retain most of the Congress MPs on her side. And finally in 1971 by giving a call Garibi Hatao Indira Lao Congress Bachao she won a landslide victory for Congress (I). The point to be taken into consideration here is the entire election was centered around one person. In 2014, Modi became the top leader in the party after bypassing all senoir leaders. The entire election was centred around one person. By giving a call for Congress Mukt Bharat and  Modi Lao Desh Bachao he brought a first single party government in Delhi after three decades with 282 seats of BJP and 336 seats of the 29 parties BJP led National Democratic Alliance.

During the reign of Indira Gandhi she had total control of party as well as the government. Though RSS has the remote control of both party as well government but on books Modi is the leader of the government whereas his man friday Amit Shah is in control of the party affairs.

When you are leader there is always a controversy in your name. Indira Gandhi was under huge pressure for her action in Operation Bluestar in the Golden Temple in Amritsar to kill the Khalistan Separatist leader Bhindranwale. Similarly Narendra Modi was, is by some sections of media and opposition parties even today, criticised for being biased in handling the Godhra Rail Burnings and the riots which followed. Even his party insiders did not spare him when then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee had said Modi should follow his Raj Dharma while tackling such a sensitive issue.

The most important similarity between both the leaders is their oratory skills. Even after being cornered by Congress senior leadership in 1971 she managed to get people by her side. When there was an anti congress wave in the 1977 post Emergency, Congress(I) did win majority seats South India though they were decimated in North. This was the reason Gandhi fought in the Chikmagalur by poll to mark her comeback. Even after being rooted out of power in 77, she brought her party back in business in 1980 by breaking the Janata Party coalition. For BJP, they got a natural orator in Narendra Modi. I would say a more powerful and effective than Indira Gandhi. He galvanized the entire BJP cadre with the chants of Abki Baar Modi Sarkar in all his campaign rallies. Like Indira fought from Chikmagalur and Rae Bareli in 1980 Modi fought election from Varanasi and Vadodara.

Horsetrading was another common factor associated with both of them. In case of Indira Gandhi, one aptly remembers the Aaya Rama Gaya Ram stint by Bhajan Lal, CM of Janata Party in Haryana back in 1980 when Gandhi came back to power in the Centre. The phrase 'Aaya Ram Gaya Ram' is a gift from Haryana to National Politics which was coined when Gaya Lal had changed three parties in a day back in 1967. Incase of Bhajan Lal after cracking a deal with Gandhi, CM along with his entire cabinet left Janata Party and overnight joined Congress thus making it a Congress state. In the six months of Modi's tenure BJP was accused of getting into horsetrading of AAP legislators in Delhi in order to get the magic figure in the assembly which was in suspended animation following resignation of CM Arvind Kejriwal. Even in Maharashtra, though pre-poll, BJP imported around 60 candidates from Congress, NCP, MNS and Shiv Sena of which 52 were from the ruling Congress-NCP outfit.

During the 1971 campaign Indira criss crossed the entire nation to campaign for her party. She wanted to create her pan India appeal and image bigger than her party. In the entire campaign Gandhi was fond of wearing the symbolic headgear of the region in which she traveled. She also used to campaign for all state polls for Congress. Narendra Modi also addressed around 400 rallies in all corners of the country. He also addressed in remote locations such as Tripura where BJP has zero presence and also made inroads in regional backyard in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. Even Modi wore head gear of those regions where ever he travelled. Modi is also the campaign leader for BJP in state polls as well. He addressed around 30 rallies in Maharashtra, then in Haryana and now in Jammu & Kashmir and Jharkhand.

These are a few striking resemblance between the two powerful leaders who are separated by three decades. The entire political spectrum changed after the demise of Indira Gandhi. There came an era which was dominated by Mandal-Mandir debates. Then came the era of Alliance politics where like minded parties agreed to a common minimum programme to jointly rule in state or in centre. Now with the annoinment of Modi as the Prime Minister, it has marked a beginning of another new era of politics of economic development. This has been so far successful even after General Election as BJP captured two states, Maharashtra & Harayna, banking on the Modi wave. Like all the oppositon came together to defeat Indira back in 1977, same movements are visible even today. Nitish Kumar and Laloo Prasad Yadav coming together to fight the by polls. Mulayam Singh Yadav also joining the bandwagon. In east, Mamata Banerjee rumored to be joining hands with her fierce rival Left and Congress to stop rising BJP. Only time will reveal to what extent does this new brand politics assist BJP in fulfilling Modi's mission of Congress Mukt Bharat.

PS: The most important and critical part I didn't mention above about Indira Gandhi was the Emergency era which is, till date, the darkest period in Independent Democratic Bharat's history. The reason for skipping was a hope that Narendra Modi does not gives us a chance to use this as a parameter in the two leaders comparison list.


-SR

The Suffering that never ended

The nation was just coming out of Diwali celebration for the year when suddenly a news broke out in the media. Warren Anderson, Chariman of Union Carbide Corporation died in a nursing home in Florida. TOI, country's largest English daily, didn't spare the opportunity to express the anger of the nation in it's headlines mentioning him as Bhopal's Tormentor. Though the official date of his death is somewhere in September, the family did not announce his death for reasons only known to them. The news surfaced only after the New York Times noticed his obituary in a small Connecticut newspaper called Vero Beach and then confirmed from the public records in order to release it to the world.

Warren Anderson's desk was said to have rested a paperweight with the Chinese proverb, ''Leader is best when people barely know he exists." Well he did implement that in his real life. After the Bhopal Gas tragedy that killed 15000+ Indians and still counting, Anderson did everything possible to ensure people knew he barely existed, disappearing from public view and living in hiding for nearly 30 years to escape New Delhi's feeble effort to bring him to justice. Normally after a person's death people pay their final respects to the departing soul. But in case of Anderson, the general sentiment on social media as news of his death surfaced was that he would rot in hell after being meted justice at the hands of his maker. This sentiment was the result of his company making Bhopal a land of dead in the fateful year of 1984.

I came across many rumours and half stories about the biggest industrial disaster. Not until I read Five Past Midnight by Dominique Lapierre and Javier Moro I could actually fathom the gravity of the tragedy and it's repercussion on the generations to come. It gave a detail account of the rise of Union Carbide Corporation in India. 

The factory was built in 1969 to produce a pesticide named Sevin. It was one it's kind product in those times in India as no other manufacturers attempted in doing so because of the huge production cost. In technical terms its production process followed by the company was as follows: Methylamine reacted with Phosgene to form Methyl Isocyante(MIC), which was an intermediate product. MIC was further treated with 1-Naphthol to form the final product Sevin or Carbaryl which was it's brand name.

Storing MIC in huge quantity meant holding a nuclear bomb in the factory premises. This was the reason why another chemical giant Bayer kept itself away from using MIC initially. The Bhopal factory was not well equipped to handle the gas created by the sudden addition of water to the MIC tank. Also MIC was kept at 20 degrees Celsius, not the 4.5 degrees advised by the manual. Hence when water was released in the MIC tanks the plant was not at all equipped to handle such a disaster and the gas went out in the atmosphere through the factory chimney. The toxic effect of the compound, when around 42,000 kilograms of MIC and other gases were released from the underground reservoirs of UCIL, was so massive that it killed thousands of people at a time and many more in the years to come. Lakhs of people suffered temporary disablement. The extent of cruelty was so huge that some people in and around the factory premises who slept in the night after a hard days work with hope for a new sunrise, never woke up. The pile of dead bodies was so much that made things difficult for the people to recognise the dead. The author explained one such incident which sent a chill down my spine. Two women, one hindu and other muslim, where fighting over a dead body. Both of them were claiming that the body was of their husband. The dispute grew louder that finally third person interfered and asked to strip the body naked from below to decide to whom the body belonged.

Four days after the incident Anderson came to India and was immediately arrested by the Bhopal police. However our country couldn't dare to prosecute him and was released immediately. The impact which the gas leak had on the countrymen, this was also that much painful that the person responsible for so many deaths was allowed to walk away free. The USA, which considers itself as messenger of peace and justice, gave full protection to Anderson and was never allowed to be extradited in order to bring him to justice. Sometimes I get a thought, what consequence would Anderson have faced had the same incident happened in American soil. Even our country merely declared him a fugitive and kept the status quo of other transactions with the USA as it is. Why didn't India take a tough stand against the US in order to isolate them in international community. Had an Indian committed such a crime in America, would India have saved the person from the impact of International law? The USA gave rigorous imprisonment to Rajat Gupta for a financial scam which did not result in any loss of life. But the world's biggest industrial disaster was not important in the eyes of US laws.

It has remained debatable that who from our machinery supported Anderson due to which he lived a comfortable life for 3 decades after the disaster while in Bhopal the count of dead went on increasing. The then PM Rajiv Gandhi was also in the list of names which were rumored to have helped Anderson to flee the country. When Osama Bin Laden attacked the US in September 2001, they invaded Afghanistan to search the culprit. But when, around same amount of people died in the industrial disaster in India due to an American the same US shielded him by all possible means till his natural death.

After the death news of Anderson flashed on Indian media, people in Bhopal came together near the Union Carbide factory premises to give their last respects to the owner in their own way. A huge picture of Anderson was kept on display and people came in queue and spat on that picture one after another.


PS: Many blamed Rajiv Gandhi to have assisted Anderson. I am actually happy, like he explained the anti sikh riots after Indira Gandhi's assassination,  that he didn't say something like, 'When a big company leaks......'


-SR

BJP-NCP Love Affair

After 15 years, finally, there has been a regime change in Maharashtra. For the first time there is a Saffron party in ruling as well as in Opposition bench. But was it all a smooth ride in the rise of Narendra Modi led BJP which turned out to be largest party. New party or alliance was sure to take charge in the state considering the considerable good work done by the previous Congress-NCP setup. But the way things turned out in the end was quite disappointing as well as surprising.

Soon after BJP led NDA came to power in Lok Sabha, BJP started moving it's pieces for capturing Vidhan Sabha in Maharashtra and Haryana. The Mahayuti which had Shiv Sena, BJP, RPI, RSP, SSS and Shiv Sangram was expected to come to power with more than 200 seats in the state. However the tussle started between the two main stakeholders in the alliance, Shiv Sena & BJP over seat sharing arrangement. As decided by Late Shiv Sena Chief Balasaheb Thackeray & senoir BJP leader Late Pramod Mahajan, the seat sharing formula said BJP will be elder brother in General Elections while Shiv Sena will be elder in state elections. So the formula of 171-117 was always considered as the base for negotiations. BJP appointed Rajiv Pratap Rudy to take control of Maharashtra elections. The noise started increasing, moment BJP started sending proposals of equal seat sharing to Shiv Sena.

Before the alliance partners meetings even started, ShivSena had released it's first part of the Vision Document which was pertaining to Mumbai. In the presentation ShivSena launced it's Mission 150 for the state polls and had declared party chief Uddhav Thackeray as their CM candidate. This created a bit of animosity amongst other parties in the alliance. Hence BJP started looking for it's option to grow beyond the restrictions of Mahayuti and Shivsena. They knew very well that this was their golden chance to score above ShivSena and stake claim for the CM post. The alliance formula also said the party with highest number of seats will lead the government. Hence Shivsena declaring their CM candidate on behalf of the alliance made the environment sour even before official discussions had begun.

The unrest due to seat sharing had finally led to a split in the 25 years alliance, and both Shivsena and BJP decided to go solo in the state polls. The other stakeholder from the Mahayuti decided to stay with BJO thus leaving ShivSena alone in the first state election post demise of Balasaheb Thackeray. The important catch in this process was merely couple of hours after this break up annoucement was made, NCP announced it is parting ways with Congress and also withdrew support from the government thus forcing President's Rule for a month in the state. It seems the BJP and Sharad Pawar do have some secret affair wherein one gives hand when other ship in sinking. To understand this affair we need to go a bit in the past.
The first time when Shivsena and BJP came together it was Sharad Pawar who was the reason for their breakup. In1984 Shivsena fielded 2 candidates under BJP symbol, though unsuccessfully. Congress won the election with landslide margin of over 400 seats due to the sympathy wave of Indira Gandhi. BJP shifted the defeat in Mumbai on Shivsena even though they themselves managed to get 2 seats throughout the country out of which one was due to TDP. A big reason for BJP being decimated in 1984 was RSS had tacitly backed the Congress and spread the word that its cadre were free to vote as they pleased. Even Nanaji Deshmukh had endorsed Indira’s Punjab policies and asked it's cadres to vote for Congress.

After the defeat BJP drifted away from the Shivsena as many leaders saw it as a controversial outfit. Later in 1985 Sharad Pawar formed an alliance the Purogami Lokshahi Aghadi (PULOD) bringing together Congress-S, Janata Party and Left parties for Maharashtra state elections which was principally against the Congress-I. BJP decided to join the alliance but Shivsena stayed away. Result was Shivsena won only one seat in the assembly but captured BMC.

Shivsena earned huge response after the Shah Bano case and also won the Vile Parle by election in 1987 on Hindutva plank for which Shivsena Chief was banned from voting for six years. As the VHP led Ram Janmabhoomi Movement began in Ayodhya, LK Advani was told to lead the Rath Yatra. Finally BJP embraced Hindutva and joined hands with Shivsena in 1989 as Sharad Pawar rejoined the Congress-I outfit. Balasaheb Thackeray had reminded the BJP leaders more than once how they were close to Sharad Pawar.

In 2014, again Sharad Pawar has his own party NCP who was now trying to enter NDA fold during Lok Sabha elections. However Shivsena opposed strongly to this step and hence BJP had to cancel any such plans. Even RSS was not willing to allow NCP to enter the alliance who had coined a term Saffron Terror. In the Lok Sabha election BJP Prime Ministerial Candidate Narendra Modi had campaigned extensively in Maharashtra but had knowingly ingnored Baramati constituency which belonged to Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule. In the various TV interviews of different party leaders during the run up to state polls, one leader from Mahayuti Madhav Jankar of RSP had opened the secret that Sharad Pawar and Narendra Modi had a deal during Lok Sabha campaign period that former will not campaign in Baramati. And if NCP is able to get 3-4 MPs only then his party will support BJP endeavors in the Rajya Sabha, as UPA still has majority in the upper house. Hence, inspite Jankar being a strong candidate against Sule, he lost the election by small margin as neither Modi nor Uddhav campaigned for him Baramati.

When the BJP fell short of majority again in Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha, NCP supported BJP in the voice vote for confidence motion of the minority BJP government. The secret love affair was reignited after 3 decades showing that it is still lively and ripe. BJP thought it was convenient to walk away from Shivsena by taking outside support from NCP. When everyone is pretty much aware that they cannot be trusted at any moment of time. Sharad Pawar left Congress in 1999 to form NCP by criticising Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin. But joined hands with the same party and ruled the state for 15years and also country for 10 years. Now they supported BJP in vote of confidence by taking moral ground of respecting people's mandate and that support is unconditional with only intention of giving state a stable government and immediately after 2 days Sharad Pawar asked his NCP workers to be ready for midterm polls in state at anytime.

Hope Modi-Shah duo take cognizance of these ground realities and realise the gravity of risk they are taking by accepting NCP support in the state.



-SR

Happy Birthday Dinkz

Firstly, Many Happy Returns Of The Day. Hope you have a super rocking day.

Now the objective to write here is because of my unsuccessful surprise plan. Like the government declassifies secret files after a period of time, I open the secrets of my surprise plans once the occasion is over. Mismatch comparison, I guess. Ignore it. Actually I was going to send you a Greeting Card via courier. But one of the bank exam dates came in this week and I couldn't go ahead with the plan. I am extremely sorry for No tangible Gifts from my side, so please accept this virtual gift.

Plan was to purchase a normal birthday card which will have enough space at the back so I can write my own message. Now that I couldn't send it, atleast I can give you the message which was ready with me.

Task was quite simple. I don’t have any big creative mind like yours. Remember, somewhere back in July I had asked suggestion from you about how to design a birthday card. That one was for Vanessa. But I do understand human nature. It’s not the price tag of the gift but the sincerity involved in giving the same is what makes it special. So I’ll write down here what I was going to put in the card.

On Left hand side of the page where wishes are printed:

The words printed on the adjacent side are by the manufacturer of this card. My wishes you will find on the next page. So please royally ignore these words and turn over.

Ps: You might feel like throwing the card away the moment you turn this page, such is the beauty of my handwriting. But please bear with me.

On the next page:

Being introduced by a common source, we do not have too many moments together in these many years of our acquaintance. But our friendship is unique in it’s own way. To talk about the birthday girl, one who enjoys her academics (I wonder how can one enjoy ones studies:P), book lover, hardcore tree lover who also enjoys football and politics. I, especially, enjoy our discussions on the last subject. Considering your knowledge in political science you can make a good career in politics, now that Anjali Damania has resigned and AAP is looking for a face in the state.

The uniqueness of our friendship is I don’t have even a picture of us together. But like the old saying, a friend in need is a friend indeed. Whenever a person goes through some weird phases in life, when many thoughts keep encircling your head, when judging the situation goes beyond your control. That is the time when that person yearns for an ear to listen out. I still remember that call I made to you in one such weird phase in my life. Thank you for hearing me out then. This mention doesn’t mean that I am living in the past. It’s just that I don’t forget the people who were there around when I needed friends the most.  Also the surprise you and Vanessa had planned where you asked me to come to meet you but it was Vanessa who had come back to the city who met me. These small gestures matter a lot.

So I take this opportunity to thank you, buddy, for allowing me to be in your friends list. My bestest wishes on this day.

Happy Birthday Adi, once again. God Bless.

This was going to be the content of that greeting card which I could never send you. Anyways, I hope you have great day. You are surrounded by all your friends and family and flooded with good wishes. Enjoy the day and have a rocking year ahead.

PS: I don't have any pictures but I do have one screenshot of your message on my book. See if you remember it. Must be atleast, 6years old.

-SR

Decoding Vidhan Sabha Results

Vidhan Sabha result for 2014 were declared on 19^th October. Regime change, as expected, is about to happen. It’s just the manner in which things took place in the end was not at all satisfying as a Marathi Voter.

Ruling Congress-NCP were reduced to 42 & 41 respectively. The alliance of ShivSena-BJP and other small parties known as Mahayuti was expected to come to power. But in a complete surprise, BJP who broke the alliance came out to be largest party with 122 seats. Whereas ShivSena got 63 seats. The biggest setback in this result was Maharashtra Navnirman Sena was reduced to mere 1 seat while Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen, who contested for the first time, won 3 seats. Let’s get into a bit detail of this historic election result.

Breakup Yuti

The 25 year long alliance between Shiv Sena & BJP was broken on seat sharing issue for mere 2-3 seats and both decided to go into polls, for the 1^st time in over two decades, on their own. This event, though, did not happen in a fortnight. Post Lok Sabha result, BJP was trying to flex its muscles in all states by banking on the Modi wave. After LS result, Narendra Modi elevated his right hand man Amit Shah for top post of BJP. By this, he fully controlled the government as well as the party organization. Immediately after the LS polls, there were certain By-Polls on assembly seats in North India. In these, BJP performance was average. Modi being the PM wasn’t there for campaigning. Hence all these were fought under the leadership of Amit Shah. The result had some impact on his credibility to lead the organization which was at all-time high after winning 72 seats for the party in Uttar Pradesh of the possible 80 and getting full majority in LS with 282 seats. Hence Maharashtra & Haryana polls was an acid test for the partys Modi Wave and a matter of prestige for Amit Shah to cement his position as the Top Leader.

Fake Sympathy

I did explain in one of my previous write up how Shah had asked his party members to target Mumbai and take it from the hands of Shiv Sena. As he who holds the key to rule Mumbai, rules Maharashtra. So the seat sharing meeting were just a façade. They were just looking for an appropriate time to break the alliance, get public sympathy and go alone in the polls with PM Narendra Modi as their star campaigner. There are in total 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra. Now, BJP broke alliance with the Shiv Sena on 25^th of September. 27^th was the last day to fill up the nomination forms of the candidates. If BJP leaders were saying that they tried till the end to reach up for an arrangement and it all happened all of a sudden. Then within a day they got candidates for all 288 seats? Isn’t that a Guiness Book record achievement, incase a criteria is allotted for such event? Every party has to give ‘A’ form & ‘B’ form to its candidates which are to be filled with the election commission in order to be the official party candidate. So if the events happened all of a sudden, in a day the party distributed those forms to all candidates throughout Maharashtra? Immediately after Lok Sabha polls RSS said they won’t participate in state poll campaign for BJP. And suddenly they change their mind to allow their ground force to work for the party. Nothing was all of a sudden. Everything was pre-planned. And on the last day of the campaign, BJP leader confessed that it was none other than Amit Shah who decided to walk away from the alliance in order to become the senior party in the state so that they can stake claim for CM post.

Imported Candidates

Along with lack of ground force, lack of mass leader in the state, BJP also lacked another important thing. Lack of own candidates. It had to import around 60 candidates from other parties, of which 50 were from Congress-NCP itself. The same people whom BJP accused for corruption in the Vidhan Bhawan for the last 15 years were seen sharing dias hand in hand, while the PM of the country campaigning for them. It was to such extent that, one of the candidates was accused and jailed during the Telgi Stamp Paper scam for 2years. But had the Prime Minister, himself, campaigning for him in his constituency. So what change was PM Narendra Modi talking about? By this policy, you can surely change the ruling flag, but unfortunately same people will be running the government again. It’s like Old Wine in Old Bottle.

DayLight Robbery

The alliance formula set by Late Shiv Sena Pramukh Balasaheb Thackeray & Late Pramod Mahajan was BJP will be elder in Centre elections while Shiv Sena will be elder in state. Hence in the past two decades, BJP never fought above 120 assembly seats. So practically, party has become non-existent in more than 150 seats in Maharahtra. It doesn’t has its party machinery nor any ground force in those constituencies. After the demise of Gopinath Munde the party also lacked a face which has a pan Maharashtra appeal. Hence they needed the Prime Minisiter of the country, CMs of other BJP ruled state, entire central Cabinet, all Gujarats MLAs, MPs, Corporators to campaign in Maharashtra. Since they don’t have anyone of their own. Even on the banners only Modi picture was shown to garner votes. Inspite of being in such a weak situation, the party managed to win 122 seats, for me, is more like a Day Light Robbery

Pawar Trouble

NCP leader Sharad Pawar wanted to enter NDA fold in the Lok Sabha polls itself. But Shiv Sena party president Uddhav Thackeray had opposed his inclusion in the alliance. Hence Sharad Pawar had a deal with Narendra Modi that he should not campaign in Baramati. If NCP is able to win 3-4 seats then he will support the NDA proposed legislations in Rajya Sabha as Congress is still in majority in the Upper House. After the Vidhan Sabha preparation began, NCP supremo played another masterstroke. He had talks with a senior BJP leader in Delhi and asked them if you break alliance with Shiv Sena, within hours I will break alliance with the Congress. Even after the VS result were out and BJP came out to be largest party but short of majority, NCP declared unconditional outside support to form the government. Why is NCP always in hurry to be in the ruling corner? If one looks back into the history of Sharad Pawar, there has never been ethical politics. Only ruling politics. His party has been in power since its inception, either in state or country. Even in this polls when NCP was demanding higher seats from Congress, the latter decided to start the probe of Irrigation Scam. Before the CM could give orders, NCP resigned from the government putting it into minority. Later BJP leaders were calling for dissolving the government and applying President Rule in the state to the Governor. Today the NCP says, we respect people’s mandate and they have said BJP should form the government. Hence we are providing the support so the state gets a stable government. So if they were so concerned about the state then why did they resign at first place forcing upon President Rule on us? Sharad Pawar is mainly worried about Amit Shah. When Modi came in power in Gujarat, Shah started moving his pieces and took control of all co-operatives from the Congress. Today in Maharashtra, NCP runs mainly 60% of the co-operatives be it Sugar mills, Banks, Diaries etc. This clout helps the party to earn votes even when facing grave corruption charges. Pawar knows, if his party is not in power it will start breaking up. Plus there are many other financial transactions taking place which needs the shield of power. Hence to keep it together he needs the oxygen of government, be it Centre or state.

Is Corruption really an Issue?

One thing which the Marathi voter proved in this election is corruption can never be a poll plank in the state. Instead of getting angry, people flaunt the figures of corruption by their leaders with pride. When the Adarsh Society scam surfaced, then CM Ashok Chavan was forced to resign from his post. But the same person, won the only Congress seat in Maharashtra, inspite of facing such grave charges. The then Governor Sankarnarayanan, Congress appointed, didn’t allow probe against Chavan in order to assure a smooth victory ride in LS polls. Even his wife Ameeta Chavan who stood in the Vidhan Sabha election also won her Bhokar assembly seat. Take the case of Ajit Pawar. Protagonist in the 70000crore Irrigation Scam in the state.  Did theatrics of resignation, but no one was appointed in his place. After 2months, himself acquitted him and returned to the Dy.CM post again. Abused the people by making urinating in dam comment. And at the end of the day, he won his Baramati seat with maximum margin in the recent elections. Going by these couple of examples, amongst many, it makes me wonder is corruption really a issue. If same people are to appointed again and again then I guess there is no need of electoral process which again spends thousands of crores tax payers money.

Analysis of MNS

MNS saw it’s all time low in the recent state elections. They were reduced to 1 seat, from the 13 won in 2009. Plus the party which was said to have a strong base in Mumbai, Thane, Nashik belt couldn’t get anything from these urban areas. Especially Nashik was the biggest setback for Raj Thackeray which still has a MNS Mayor. But did the party actually deserve this. Were they so bad as an option to be considered by people compared to the anti-incumbent government or for that matter the Hyderabad based MIM, who won 3 seats & whose victory lap had slogans “Bhaag Hindu Aaya Owaisi”. One cannot deny the fact that as on date, after Sharad Pawar, only Raj Thackeray has a pan Maharashtra appeal. A Fire Brand Leader, Class Orator, Popular among all ages. So what went wrong? Did the party didn’t perform at all with their 13 MLAs or did the people vote according to activities happening in the last 3-4 months before elections. First lets see the work done by MNS.

 -Marathi Compulsory

Ever since I started using mobile phone, there were only two languages available for talking to customer executives; English or Hindi. It was after MNS agitation that all mobile phone operators started Marathi as another optional language. Many liberal thinkers called this petty issues. So why aint these queries raised in the states in South Bharat. They holding up on their language is pride, and if Marathi people talk about the same then it is goondagiri. In my visit to some cities in Gujarat, I use to find trouble even in searching for a General Store. Since all the name boards of shops were in their local language. So when the same law is applied here, people make conclusions of dividing the country. All states were formed according to their local languages. So it is the duty of all citizens to respect the local culture. This change was visible in the state only because of the successful MNS agitation.

 -Toll

This has been the most talking point since 2012. But the strange part in it is the entire sections of media have always cross questioned Raj Thackeray but never ever did the question the authorities, or the incumbent government. Even the principal opposition party in the state never paid heed to this issue. It was MNS which unearthed the massive corruption through toll, how people are being fooled and are merely contributing to ruling parties election fund. In all his rallies, Raj Thackeray explained in detail, how the corruption is going on. Not by just flying arrows in the air, but with proper documents from the appropriate authorities taken via RTI. MNS Chief gave many examples of different toll nakas, the number of which are illegal, the ones which have already expired but collection is on. All MNS activist were sitting on the toll nakas day and night to count the number of vehicles which pass through the toll naka’s daily. The party complied all the data in order to get rough idea of the amount of collection which is made daily and how much time will it take to shut down the toll nakas. With all the complied data when MNS approached court, they always postponed the hearings for months together. Court said since the toll collection started more than 10-15 years ago, time limit to file a case against any corruption is 3 years after the date of beginning of collection. Which implies that corruption has no time limit but to voice against it has a time limit. When MNS Chief met the Chief Minister of the state to highlight this issue, he himself confessed being aware of the wrong doings. But replied that being in an alliance it is not possible to take action else the government will go in to minority. After the first state wide agitation when all MNS activist staged rastta roko in various parts of the state, the government sprung into action and ordered closure of 65 toll nakas which were either illegal or which had expired already. As asked by MNS, government also asked all companies to display the details such as Cost of construction, Amount to be collected, Amount collected as on date, Start Date of Collection, End date of Collection etc on the toll nakas. Even as the Lok Sabha polls came near, CM declared another new policy wherein construction on which Rs.10crore or less is spent, toll will not be applicable. MNS has also asked for increase in distance between two toll nakas should be implemented as per the guidelines of NHAI. When a violent agitation took place in Kolhapur, some opposition parties tried to take credit. But point worth noting is those were the local people of who staged the protest and not any political outfits. It was MNS which first brought into people’s notice the corruption behind this type of road tax. And what people did, was ignore it completely by voting against MNS only because media carried a propaganda against them.

 -Pro Modi or Anti Modi

MNS Chief was the first person throughout the country to propose that Narendra Modi should be the PM of our country. His organizational skills, leadership qualities, pride for Gujarati Asmita, and will power to make things possible made him the perfect CM of his state. This was the only reason why Raj Thackeray also praised him during the Lok Sabha campaign. But some people misunderstood it. His support was for the man and not for the party to which he belongs. The country lacked a strong leader under UPA. Hence Modi was a perfect option to replace and fill that vaccum. Also support doesn’t means he became a blind follower of Modi. When things are wrong one should voice concern regarding the same. Certain things which took place post elections were shocking. As soon as Modi government started business, he first scrapped a project which was suppose to come in the Naval land in Mumbai and shifted the same to Porbandar. Even in November 2013 it was MNS who raised the issue for JNPT. Purposely the development of the port was delayed because it’s business was being transferred to Gujarat. During the Vidhan Sabha Campaign, CM of Gujarat came to Mumbai for a function attended by industrialists. There she made her full speech in Gujarati. Now is Gujarati Maharashtra state language or national language? Also in that speech she openly criticized the Infrastructure of Mumbai, where apparently BJP is control of Mumbai Municipal Corporation. She urged all the business community to pack up from Maharashtra and shift your base to Gujarat where we will give you a red carpet welcome. Not even in his single speech did Modi answered about the comments made by his appointed CM. Here BJP is talking creating employment, but the partys boss home state CM was talking about snatching away all the employment opportunities. Complete contradictory campaign was been carried and sad thing is people did vote for them. So when Raj Thackeray raised these issues he was criticized for changing his stand. I failed to understand where did he actually change his stand. He isn’t a blind bhakt of Mr. Modi. He will speak if some thing is happening against the welfare of our state. He was not all wrong in that. It was just the wrong media propaganda, which changed people’s mind who went against MNS.

 -Contesting Election

Raj Thackeray did mention his reason for not contesting the polls. He is a state leader who has state wide appeal. He is not restricted to any particular constituency. One needs to understand that he is single handedly managing the affairs of the party. He has to draft the agenda, the policies, to head the campaign. He had to tour the entire state as MNS was contesting in over 230 seats. In such case it was never possible for him to concentrate on one constituency. He also faced dilemma in choice of constituency. If he selects A, then what B has did wrong to ignore them.

 -Performance of MNS 13 MLAs

People completed ignored all the statistics which spoke in volume about the performance of MNS in Vidhan Bhawan. In the entire 5 years tenure, MNS legislators raised over 6600 questions in the assembly, highest by any party. MNS ranked 2^nd when it came to proposing new legislations for the welfare of the state. MNS MLA from Sewree, Bala Nandgaonkar was ranked among the top performing MLA in the last concluded assembly.  And yet people ignored each and everyone of them in the recent elections. If Ajit Pawar can win the polls even after being named in the Irrigation Scam, then why couldn’t all clean image, performing MLAs win in the elections.

 -Performance of MNS as organization

MNS karyakartas where among the highest number who faced police lathi charge due to agitation they participated in. MNS was active against the anti-incumbent state government more than the principal opposition parties. It was MNS who was on road when police and media was attacked by Raza Academy Morcha people. Raj Thackeray, in all his speeches during the state wide tour in 2013 spoke in depth about the multi crore Irritgation scam, with all documents and proof. He brought in front of the people the methods in which money was being utilized for sponsoring their electoral campaigns. No other party explained these issues with such details and by giving examples of projects. MNS provided food for all the boys who came to Mumbai for getting a police job, since some boys died during those tests due to lack of food and water. Even the police department thanked the party for providing assistance. Party also supplied water, fodder in draught effected areas. It instilled the Marathi pride in today’s youth which was fading away.

And yet MNS was rejected completely by people to such extent that the party might be de-recognised by Election Commission as a state party and also might lose its election symbol Railway Engine, both of which it achieved in its very first elections in 2009. Results were indeed sad, but now is not the time fir crying over it. It is time for thorough introspection and complete rejuvenation of the party. MNS has it’s ground force, local leaders and a charismatic party chief.

Now that BJP is set to form new government with either Shiv Sena or NCP. All I can hope is we might find some change in the state. If it doesn’t perform MNS is there to keep a check on them even if the party has one MLA.

-SR

Dear Rajsaheb Thackeray

Respected MNS President Rajsaheb Thackeray,

Warm Greetings and a very Happy Diwali.

Vidhan Sabha results were declared on Sunday. As you are well aware of, our party was totally decimated in terms of number of seats as well as our vote share. It hurts more when a Hyderabad based party comes and wins more seats than us.

Sir, the only reason I started following MNS since its inception was your perspective. To explain in Hindi,  Aap Lambi Race ka Ghoda ho. Your political acumen, decision making pattern, quality of judging the ever changing political scenario is something which our state politics doesn't produce anymore. In the Narendra Modi dominated Lok Sabha polls, even by contesting 10 seats half heartedly, as you confessed, you were 6th or 7th in maximum media coverage throughout the country. This, without any media advisers or paid media theatrics. Speaks in volume of your charismatic personality. A person who is well versed with the past and has built a vision, brick by brick, from those experiences for a better future. Practically, no one did put forth such a massive document in the recent elections or in Independent Bharat politics like our Blueprint. It's just that, we were not successful in selling our dream. Sir, I am completely a novice to give you lessons on politics. But as a follower I just wanted to make these few things heard.

Point 1:
I remember in one of the Karyakartas Melawa in your brief speech you had said to all leaders, "Perform or Perish. Team B is ready to takeover." Sir this is the golden opportunity we have been granted by the people. In Bharat, there are few basic requirements of a political establishment: Charismatic Leader, Better Vision for the future and Ground force. As on today, we have fulfilled all these criteria. Now lets take the next step & strengthen our organisation roots.

Point 2:
After back to back defeats, some heads must roll. We lost our ground touch, which had a negative impact on our image. President's interaction with the party, without media around, has to increase. Sir, your presence, few exchange of words can boost up the morale of cadre. And I can vouch for maximum number of our Karyakartas. Your speeches aint just guidelines but act as power thruster. Sir, we missed your presence around. Your word is the command of the entire cadre. But it was coming after long time gaps. It is time fill in that gap.

Point 3:
Something which was seen in many of our previous constituencies was, our MLAs were undertaking work without taking people into confidence. Change is the need of the hour, but we just can't impose it on people. One angry voter expresses his/her anger towards our party to many others. We need to take all concerned parties into confidence before going ahead with implementation of projects. It is not possible to get 100% consensus, but the positives has to be on the higher side.

Point 4:
The most important thing today, where our party lost ground was lack of active IT team. Our party needs to be active on social media as that is one of powerful source to put our views in front of people. Agree, it has its own disadvantages. But we cant deny the fact that it is the future. BJP was able to capture that space. To some extent, even AAP was successful in getting their views trend during Delhi assembly elections. With an influential leader, like you sir, we can easily create a space for our party which is necessary to attract the fresh voters which are today increasing in numbers as well as they are the future of country.

Point 5:
Appointed party leaders holding various posts like the Branch heads, Area heads, District heads must be compelled to submit monthly or quarterly report detailing the works done by them on behalf of the party. It should be implemented in Down to Up pattern. Branch head will submit to Area head. Area head will submit his/ her own report as well as Branch Heads report to District head. Each district heads can send one consolidated report to RajGad, our party HQ, for review by senoir leaders & party president. This will help to strengthen the organization. Surprise visits by senoir leaders can be conducted to ensure proper functioning of the party machinery.

Point 6:
Indirectly, we must activate MNVS in active politics. We knew Raj Thackeray, because of your work when you were at the helm of Vidyarthi Sena during Shiv Sena days. Similarly we must make our young generation popular on their own credit. Frequent visits in constituencies even on general days might help them create their own image. The more independently they start handling the affairs of MNVS, more deep we root our party in our state.

Point 7:
Second in command leaders must be compelled to conduct campaigns on their own. This will increase our reach to voters, specially during election time when there is time shortage. It will also ease out dome pressure from your shoulders. As the number of visits of other leaders will increase their popularity will begin to rise. Dividend can be reaped during election season.

Point 8:
We need to implement some parts from our Blueprint. We have mentioned about election within the party. This is the appropriate time to go ahead with it. I remember you said in one rally, "Opposition party never wins, ruling party loses." Hence we should not wait for some wrong doing of current government. Instead we should start taking our agenda to people, leaving the criticise ruling party part aside. Let people judge our genuineness. Once they realise & understand our honest intention, no force can stop us.

Point 9:
The one thing which had a huge negative impact on the confidence of people in us was our constant change in stands. With main stream media, parallel media, social media all on highly active mode, nothing fades away. All comments stay in the tube. Few things among them were, as you are aware of it sir, supporting and then criticising Modi & youself backing out from not contesting polls. I am completely aware of the ground reality for those decisions. But we failed to convince our voters. Hence they couldn't judge our motive behind those decisions. That communication gap led us to our downfall in this election. We need to reach out to people again to explain our point of view.

So lets come together once again in our mission to create Maharashtra,  the world will envy of. Let us together strengthen our strong points, implement some new techniques, keep our party in active mode, constantly. With this, we will be able to make our voice heard. We will be able to win back the lost ground. We will be able to win back voters confidence. Yes, It is Possible.

At the end I would like to quote few lines from a poem:

"From the ashes, a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring.
Renewed shall be the blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be King."

- A Rajsaheb Thackeray & MNS Supporter.