politics

Illustration by Gayatri

What an eventful week! Full of noise, tweets and finally ending with a tweetergate! Twitter took its first toll in Indian politics – atleast it all started with a tweet.

But last week actually started with khap-shup.

In love? Are you on the verge of falling in love? Hold on. All is not fair in love and gotras – Going by the stance taken by some still-in-medieval age khap panchayats of Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab. Don’t tell them love is blind coz they are deaf to any romantic reasoning that may crumble their own archaic marriage code. If you fall in love with someone of same gotra – you will be wanted shot or lynched. No sympathies here.

So next time you are about to fall in love, stop. Check both of your gotra first. Imagine, you are all decked up for your date, dressed to kill. You meet, exchange smiles and your gotras and pray that it does not match. If it is same gotra, and you are a die-hard adventurous lover type, then my silent prayers for you and best of luck.

See this young couple in the pic. Like you and me,  dreams in their eyes and heart and starting a new journey in their life together  but only to be brutally killed in the name of honour by the relatives of the girl and a khap panchayat leader. This is just one of the many honor killings that happen some reported, many unreported.

Next comes the modern face of India.  Era of twitter politicians.  Shashi Tharoor – Face of Indian Twitter GenX. Twitter must be happy with the amount of free publicity they been getting coz of Twitter of late. Now that he is sacked from his ministerial post they could approach him for being their Indian brand ambassador.

First mistake our ex-minister did was failing to understand the Trimurthis of Indian controversies. He messed with two of the the trimurthis and now paid a heavy price.

Religion. Cricket. Politics – the Trimurthis of Indian controversies. A potent mix. They can stir maha controversies and make or bury many dreams. Unfortunately, Shashi Tharoor messed up with two of the maha murthis and that too with Cricket – a religion on its own for Indians and that proved a costly mistake for him and let it spill over his political life.

First it was his tweet In cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows that alienated him within his own party men. He was a twitter follower’s delight cos he had something and everything to tweet everyday. When Kochi bagged the IPL auction, he cheered it tweetrociously ( read: vociferously)

But he failed to comprehend the Indian politics.

• Networking. The mistake Shashi Tharoor made was he branded himself as a techie  politician. Yes, we are a fast developing tech-giant but  Indian politics is a different ball game. You need to network and maintain a decent relationship with your co-ministers, party leaders, party men and public and not just restrict to tweets.
• Tweets don’t translate into winning votes. Real “poli-tricks” lies in the world outside your virtual networking.
• Tread the path of the trimurthis carefully. Politicians have a penchant for cricket.  Sharad Pawar, Arun Jaitley, Lalu Prasad, Narendra Modi knows how to spin a trick or two being the presidents of cricket boards. But IPL is a different ball game since is it is perceived blatantly capitalistic venture and the chances for you to be vilified and de-sanctified is considerably high. Cheer for IPL team of your voting catchment, you will be loved but the buck should stop there  or atleast make your back door moves invisible.
• Give time to mature in Indian politics. Sudden meteoric rise of junior politician unless you have a strong dynasty tag will lead to many heart burns who will leave no chance to bring you down.

Finally, I don’t understand how an intelligent person like Sashi Tharoor who  has served in UN could think his public life and private life will not be clubbed when he was seen together with Sunanda Pushkar at many a place and still maintained he has nothing to do with the 75 crore sweat equity offered to her while he proclaimed himself as the mentor of the Kochi team.

Finally he could not bat the IPL googly. Mr.Tharoor, Welcome to real world of Indian politics. You still can bat your second innings, if you read the pitch clearly after all, we mango people have a short public memory.

Next what? The Great Indian Paisa League may see more skeletons out of it’s closet and most probably the man who made it happen, Lalit Modi may go down with Tharoor. A double whammy for Twittergate.

Tweet. Tweet. Tweet this.

My friend wanted to join politics. Thanks to multi-party democracy, In India we have no dearth for parties.

So he joined a party. He had good oratory skills. His caste algorithm matched with potential vote bank so no one asked him why he joined the party.

First time he took the mike “I am proud of being Hindu, An Indian”. Well, he was given show cause notice and booted out of the party.

The crime: He sounded communalist.

Well, my friend thought he learnt the first lesson of politics. Anyways, he joined another party. He thought not to make the same mistake again. He took the mike and started talking “More than a Hindu, I am secular, my vision , my heart , my dream focuses on the minorities of our nation…” His speech was booed. Without any explanation asked or given, he was sacked from the party.

The crime: He sounded pseudo-secular and anti-Hindu.

Never the one to give up, he joined another party. He thought he would not talk this time. To show his inclusiveness to all people, he went to temple, church and a mosque. He was withdrawn the red membership and kicked out.

The crime: The party does not believe in God.

Shaken but not to be done with, he joined yet another party. A different stage. A similar mike. He started talking “No one is bigger than ideology, Leaders come, leaders go” Everyone listened attentively. He was quiet satisfied this time. Still, he found his way out of the party.

The crime: The party is held tight by one leader. Potential challengers are nipped early.

Never to be disillusioned, he banked upon his own fortunes. He believed in the power of paper. I mean the RBI paper and it did not fail him. He won handsomely.

Now every party wants him and asks him “what is your party?” and “be in our party” That is Indian politics for you !

Disclaimer: The friend in the article is fictitious and any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. It applies to parties too.

Someone tweeted Shashi Tharoor:

"Tell us minister, next time you travel to Kerala, will it be cattle class?"

And our MoS tweeted back

"Absolutely, in cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows."

O boy! That would have rattled the netas of his own party and God bless our dear MoS with lady luck to tackle his party men. If Mr.Tharoor had thought American style witty talks will be taken with a pinch of salt or sugar in India too, he would have learnt a bitter lesson by now. Sense of humor is a complex formula in Indian politics – real humor could be bitter and bitter could be taken as humor.

Austerity is the latest fad in Indian politics. It all began with Pranab mukherjee’s strong “advice” to SM Krishna and Tharoor to vacate their 5 star suites in Delhi. Then came the travel advisory to choose economy class over business class in flights. Our next to God VIP’s definitely would have fumed for having to forego their “elite status” and to be seen among the “common man”. News hungry media was happy to highlight Soniaji’s travel in economy class and Rahul Gandhi’s travel in chair car Shatabdi express.

Some MP’s quipped that they cannot fit into economy class thanks to their huge body frame. Somebody please tell them aam admi’s (“mango people” in love aaj kal lingo) travel in the same economy class without much fuss. They even travel in worst conditions in buses for longer hours so solpa adjust maadi! While another minister protested against economy class saying business class provides comfort, privacy and allows them to clear files even while flying. *sighs* I never knew Indian politicians are so hard working… I wish! Anyways other MP’s and bureaucrats are left with no other option but to follow the new fad displayed by their leaders.

It’s been months the world is reeling in economic depression, it has become almost a routine now that farmers commit suicide and now suddenly our Kings sorry Ministers have a new found love with austerity. Isn’t it the same party that vouches on the principles of Gandhian values? So why was the principles conveniently forgotten all this years? Why not extend the Gandhian principles in all walk of their lives?

Next what?

How about Maruthi 800 for every ministers and bureaucrats instead of Skoda and Toyotas?

How about flats for all ministers instead of sprawling bungalows?

How about election rallies sans thousands of posters and cut-outs? (Couple of state elections is round the corner, they have a chance to show their austerity drive)

How about cancelling all the lavish perks bestowed to our elected representatives?

These are just samples of a long list of potential austerity steps our netas can follow. The question is will they?

Am I wishing too much? Huh.

Pragmatically thinking, I feel this is just a hint to prepare the common man for what could be in store in the next budget.

“you see, even we have given up the business class , now time for you to share the burden of the fiscal deficits”

Election 2009 has broken the back of  Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) , the supposed to be the part of difference and the second largest opposition party of India. Defeats and victories are part of democratic process.  Defeats should lead to introspection , analysis to identify the reasons for the defeat and find straregies to recover the lost position. Instead BJP seems to be on auto pilot tailspin to disaster. From a party of difference it is making a perfect recipe of party of dissidence , indifference and chaos away from the ground realities.

The leadership seems happy not to analyze the defeat. They are eager to find issues and scapegoats and save itself from the labour of figuring out the actual reasons for the defeat. Escapism !

The latest step in the walk of self destruction came with the expulsion of veteran leader Jaswant Singh.

Jaswant Singh may not be a popular leader among the masses of India still he is one of a tallest leader BJP has now. He is an Ex-army officer , an academic and a senior most member of BJP , having served the party for 30 years. A party cannot ban a leader for his individual views that he expressed in his book. It just shows the immaturity and irresponsibility of a political party. Jaswant did not make any comment as the party spokesperson , whatever he mentioned in his book “Jinnah – India, Partition, Independence” is his individual expression and people should be tolerant of one’s individual viewpoints . Ofcourse , the party could always disassociate from the viewpoint of Jaswant Singh , present its own thoughts on the discussion and make clear its stance. Instead the leadership chose to yet again deflect the real focus on election defeat and make Jaswant Singh the only issue in its “chintan baithak” meet , where it is supposed to plan its “road ahead”. Going by the happenings “road ahead” seems to be full of thorns and they are in no mood to remove them and walk the talk.

So what are Jaswant Singh’s controversial remarks ?

"I would admire that in any man, self-made man, who resolutely worked towards achieving what he had set out to,"

“Nehru believed in a highly centralized polity. That’s what he wanted India to be. Jinnah wanted a federal polity. That even Gandhi accepted. Nehru didn’t. Consistently, he stood in the way of a federal India until 1947 when it became a partitioned India.”

“I think we have misunderstood him (Jinnah) because we needed to create a demon… We needed a demon because in the 20th century the most telling event in the subcontinent was the partition of the country.”

I have no specific opinion about Jinnah. He is a man who took advantage of the turbulent situation that prevailed in the subcontinent during the partition time and carved an independent country. No one could also deny the fact that the policies of congress during that time and primarily of Nehru and Gandhi helped Jinnah in the making of Pakistan. Why do people have to frown upon that fact ? Jinnah singlehandedly could not give wings to the concept of Pakistan. The situation in the Indian Subcontinent and the policies , ego and ambitions of political leaders of that time sure have a reason for the division of subcontinent. So Jaswant Singh has a point when he claims that the policies and image of Jinnah has been demonized in India to hold him solely responsible for the division of the country. I do agree with him in this context. History is many times taught one-sided : where as Jinnah is demonized in India , Gandhi and Nehru are demonized in Pakistan.

There is also a truth in Jaswant Singh’s claim that Nehru believed in centralized polity and Jinnah wanted a federal polity. Certain policies of Nehru post independence would sure add weight to his claim.The egos , personal ambitions and dreams of the political leadership of India since 1930’s have their own share that lead to the painful , bloody partition of India and creating a wound that will take a long , long time to heal.

I may not wholly subscribe to this view point of Jaswant Singh. Since I have not listened to in what context he said this , I would not disagree too. He is partly right on this , according to me.

“Look into the eyes of the Muslims that live in India and if you truly see the pain with which they live, to which land do they belong? We treat them as aliens … without doubt Muslims have paid the price of partition. They could have been significantly stronger in a united India … of course Pakistan and Bangladesh won’t like what I am saying.”

Hindus and Muslims and in general the common man of India still suffers from the partition wound. Though 60 plus years have gone by since the partition of Indian subcontinent and birth of Indian sovereign nation , the wound of partition still remains. We cannot deny the fact that still remains a degree of mistrust between Hindu and Muslim communities , fuelled lately by divisive politics and the emergence of Islamic terrorism. Its a separate topic in itself  to be dealt with. Of course from a Muslim point of view as a community yes united Indian Subcontinent would have given a bigger say and a stronger political voice for them.

Anyways , back to the topic , my view point BJP made a blunder in its decision to sack Jaswant Singh.

Post Election , BJP should be doing a soul search to find what went wrong and to make corrections to it course but they simply are refusing to do so. The party is in a chaos , leadership out of sync to the mood of nation , an aging leadership , short sighted strategies and refusal to analyze the outcome of election and bad decisions are sinking the BJP into disarray . Its time the party wakes up to the reality and pulls its socks. India needs a strong opposition and right now still BJP is the only party that could play the role. I hope and wish , BJP rebrands and emerges itself as a strong political party in sync with the younger generation and acts up to its original selling point of “Party with a difference” .

Going by current events , Its a long,long road ahead. My sympathies goes with Jaswant Singh in this turn of events. In his media interview post expulsion , he sounded  what would happen if "soch, vichar and chintan" stopped in Indian politics. I wonder too.

Parting shot quote :

“From BJP’s Hanuman, I am now its Ravana”

: Jaswant

Some excerpts from Jaswant Singh’s book :

‘The basic and structural fault in Jinnah’s notion remains a rejection of his origins; of being an Indian, having been shaped by the soil of India, tempered in the heat of Indian experience. Muslims in India were no doubt subscribers to a different faith but that is all; they were not any different stock or of alien origin.’

- & -

‘It is in this, a false ‘minority syndrome’ that the dry rot of partition first set in, and then unstoppably it afflicted the entire structure, the magnificent edifice of an united India. The answer (cure?), Jinnah asserted, lay only in parting, and Nehru and Patel and others of the Congress also finally agreed. Thus was born Pakistan’.

- & -

‘His opposition was not against the Hindus or Hinduism, it was the Congress that he considered as the true political rival of the Muslim League, and the League he considered as being just an ‘extension of himself’. He, of course, made much of the Hindu-Muslim riots (1946; Bengal, Bihar, etc.) to ‘prove the incapacity of Congress Governments to protect Muslims; and also expressed fear of ‘Hindu raj’ to frighten Muslims into joining the League, but during innumerable conversations with him I can rarely recall him attacking Hindus or Hinduism as such. His opposition, which later developed into almost hatred, remained focused upon the Congress leadership’ (M.R.A. Baig, Jinnah’s secretary).’

- & -

‘Religion in all this was entirely incidental; Pakistan alone gave him all that his personality and character demanded. If Mr. Jinnah was necessary for achieving Pakistan, Pakistan, too was necessary for the fulfilment of Mr. Jinnah.’

- & -

‘However, it has to be said, and with great sadness, that despite some early indications to the contrary, the leaders of the Indian National Congress, in the period between the outbreak of war in 1939 and the country’s partition in 1947, showed in general, a sad lack of realism, of foresight, of purpose and of will.’

- & -

‘As (Maulana Azad) wrote in his memoirs, he had come to the conclusion that Indian federation should deal with just three subjects: defence, foreign affairs and communications; thus granting the maximum possible autonomy to the provinces. According to the Maulana, Gandhi accepted this suggestion, while Sardar Patel did not.’

- & -

‘For, along with several other there is one central difficult that India, Pakistan, Bangladesh face: our ‘past’ has, in reality never gone into the ‘past’, it continues to reinvent itself, constantly becoming our ‘present’, thus preventing us from escaping the imprisonment of memories. To this we have to find an answer, who else can or will?’

Excerpt source : Key excerpts from Jaswant Singh’s book

The Budget ‘09 is presented today in parliament by Pranab Mukherjee and by now all the television channels are having field day analyzing , reanalyzing , debating and debating again on what was debated , talked in length , breadth and all the geometrical permutations possible and if you are common man but with a keen interest towards budget reality show , you must be by now exhausted , over consumed with the numbers and even if the numbers , percentages started dancing before your eyes , can’t help it..

So let me give a gingerly guide to what the Budget ‘09 means for You , Me , We !

Sweeter things first !

1. Select life saving drugs
2. LCD TVs
3. Mobile phones
4. Branded Jewellery
5. Sports products
6. Leather products
7. Packaged software
8. Footwear.
9. corals

All this may come bit lighter on your wallet ! Damn it ! My wife  picked an Adidas only 3 days back *sighs*

Green brigade can cheer a bit too since there are some duty sops for bio-fuels and generators used in environment-friendly sectors. Yo Green !

Tax faces the Axe :

Senior citizens can smile a bit more with IT exemption limit raised by Rs.15,000

Their children can smile too , with IT exemption limits increased by Rs.10000 for others.

Hold on . 10% surcharge on personal income tax scrapped too.

Now time for bitter pills :

To cost more :

1. Gold and Silver
2. Set top boxes
3. Cosmetic surgery

Ok enough for the common man , what about the social sectors ?

Loads of regular stress on rural sector, agriculture sector ,empowerment of weaker sections and minorities , health care , education are there with increased allocation to various schemes.

You can read all the complete details here >> Indian Budget highlights document

May 13

The Great Indian Political Battle

The Final phase of polling.

86 seats

10.8 Crore electorate

1,432 Candidates

0.12 million polling station

0.5 million polling staff

7 states &  2 UT

( Parts of Jammu & Kashmir , Punjab , UP , West Bengal , and whole of Himachal Pradesh , Tamil nadu , Uttarkhand , Pondichery and Chandigargh )

Key contestants : P Chidambaram , Mamtha Bannerjee , Varun Gandhi , Menaka Gandhi , Jaya Pradha , Mohammed Azharudin , Mani Shankar Aiyar , Dayanidhi Maran , Sajjad lone.

My Interesting battles : Varun Gandhi , Menaka Gandhi , Jaya Pradha , Sajjad Lone( ofcourse due to all the controversies generated , though the win of the first two are almost certain , the victory margin would make a good analysis )

The final phase is a keenly watched battle for me as Tamil nadu is my native state. The battle is this southern battle is spearheaded by the two rival parties : DMK and ADMK , one headed by old will seasoned politician M Karunanidhi and the other by the never say die battle hardened charismatic women politician J Jayalalitha , popularly called “Amma” . 39 states of TN would be a crucial block for any new government formation and this time “Amma” is poised to sweep the majority of the numbers and avenging her humiliating complete rout last time that send her into almost political hibernation for 5 years.

Back in Kashmir , the separatist leader , Sajjad Lone defying the warnings of other separatist has taken a positive step of battling it out in democratic way. I welcome his decision . Democracy has a solution for all problems and hope this would make a positive impact for the republic of India.

So the battle finally comes to its end game. Whole India would be waiting for the D-day that is 16th may , when the results would pour in , along with heartburns , victory smiles , anguish , despair and with that the hunt for allies to reach the magical number of 272 to form the new government.

Kaun banega the new PM of 1 billion plus  population ? Lets wait for a few more days.

Last few weeks , NDA seems to have gathered a bit of steam but will it translate to votes and victories ? we have to wait for 16th..

Left seem to have reconciled to their not so great performance in election 2009 and have already made small voices of supporting congress to keep the BJP away .. so will they support the Congress yet again ? Again the answer will be on 16th ..  If they finally support Congress , am sure they will block Manmohan singh’s second term as PM. So who will be the new PM , incase Congress comes back to power ?

Will the dream of Mayawati and Jayalalitha , Sharad Pawar for the PM chair come true as a wild card candidate ?

For all that numerous questions and probabilities , the answer lies on 16th May.

Lets , wait and watch and write and read.

May 7 , 2009

The Great Indian Political Battle

4th phase of Indian General Election .

7 states and National Capital Territory ( Delhi )

85 seats

95 million voters

1,315 candidates

0.13 million polling station

0.6 million polling staffs

All the seats of Delhi , Rajasthan and Haryana and one seat in J & K and part of Punjab , UP , Bihar , and West Bengal goes to poll today.

Key Contestants :

Lalu Prasad Yadav , Mulayam Singh Yadav , Pranab Mukherjee, Rajnath Singh , Farooq Abdullah , Shatrugan sinha , Sachin Pilot .

Interesting battles :

• The fate of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s daughter-in-law , Harsimrat Kaur and son of former CM  Amarinder Singh , Raninder Singh will be decided today on a direct fight for family honor in Bhatinda.
• BJP President Rajnath Singh is sweating it out in Ghaziabad , UP . Its important to note that Rajnath Singh has taken a risk by contesting in a constituency not highly favorable to him in caste equation .

The Great Indian Political Battle

April 30 , 2009

Third Phase of Election.

9 states and 2 Union territories

( Jammu and Kashmir , UP , MP , Maharashtra ,  Gujarat , Karnataka , Bihar , Sikkim Dadra & Nagar haveli , Daman & Diu  )

144  million voters

1567 candidates

0.17 million polling stations

Key Contestants : Sonia Gandhi , HD Deve Gowda , Jaswant Singh , LK Advani.

A crucial phase for BJP , would be hoping to get rich dividends from the states of Karnataka , Gujarat , MP , Bihar and Maharashtra .

Activist and dancer Mallika Sarabhai  is contesting as Independent in Gandhinagar , pitting herself against heavy weight BJP’s current numero uno LK Advani .In spite of the rubble and noise and bits and bytes , I don’t think she will be able to make a big dent on the record of LK Advani in his constituency .

The result I would be eager to see is in Dakshin Kannada . After the recent untoward incidence caused by Sri Ram sena activists and the subsequent Pink chaddi campaigns and the church attacks , definitely mangalore belt is an area to watch and what direction they will make would be keenly followed by many including yours bloggingly  !

====================================================================

On a dismal note , the voters turn out in Mumbai was pathetically low . I would have liked the mumbaikars stepping out in large numbers and vote their rights and make a statement on the terrorism issue. After all , they have seen a lot , felt a lot , been affected a lot by terrorism . Mumbaikars , sorry folks , you lost a golden lesson to teach the politicians.

The Great Indian Political Battle – The Second phase

April 23 , 2009

12 states.

195  million eligible voters.

2041 candidates.

2,22,350 polling stations

Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand

Key Contestants : Rahul Gandhi , Sharad Pawar , Sushma Swaraj , HD Kumaraswamy  , Captain Gopinath , Ananth Kumar

This second phase of election is memorable for me for the sole reason , I casted my vote for the first time. So was I thrilled ? Yep ! Me and my wife got up around 7 , had garam ginger chai and went to caste our votes. The polling booth is quiet near to our place . There were many booths made , so there was not much crowd and it was a smooth event and I pressed the button and got the ink on my finger as a proof of voting ! Whom did we vote ? I pressed the button for BJP while my wife clicked Congress. so 50 : 50 verdict !

Bangalore votes :

So Bangalore being my adopted city now , I had enrolled in the voters list and casted my vote in Bangalore north constituency. To be frank , I was disappointed with the contestants of Bangalore north. Though my voting affiliation is with BJP , the candidate was a big let down. BJP has fielded Chandre Gowda , who defected from Congress just few weeks back. The 70 plus candidate who quit last minute to grab the BJP ticket got my vote in spite of my disliking for the political opportunism he displayed. Well , its another fact that  politics and opportunism goes hand in glove but reality bites. Some of my friends asked my why I root for BJP , allegedly “ communal ” party , Well , would write a post on that some day soon. Congress has fielded yet another good old Jaffer Sharief . After delimitation , I think it would be a tough call to predict the winner in Bangalore north.

Bangalore South has impressive candidates . Ananth Kumar , the three time MP and the number two in the power hierarchy of Karnataka BJP is facing Krishan Byre Gowda , a young seemingly impressive candidate from Congress . To add excitement to the already active young list of candidates is Captain Gopinath , the Deccan aviation chief. Captain may not win the seat but am interested to see how much he would fly the electoral race. I am also eager to see , If the hype that was build around Byre Gowda would match the confident Ananth Kumar. Tough fight in cards !

Bangalore rural sees “farmer “ Deve Gowda’s Son HD Kumaraswamy seeking revenge on “Giant killer ” Tejeswani Gowda , who stunned everyone last time by defeating Gowda Senior. Other day , I followed the Tejeswani on a local channel and  was impressed by the lady’s energy and campaign . I would like to see her defeat Gowda Jr but then again it would be a tough battle ..

Assembly Election :

Orissa and AP also have their state assembly election alongside. So its time for voters to review Naveen Patnaik and YSR . Chiranjeevi is contesting from Tirupati and also Chandra babu naidu hoping his grand alliance will push him back to limelight. Lets wait and watch ..

The tear drop shaped island in the Indian Ocean is literally in tears and soaked in blood now. Tears of hapless Tamil civilians and their blood.

Thousands of poor ,  hapless , abandoned Tamils are caught in the battle zone between LTTE and Sri Lankan forces. Ironically , one force that arouse from within and another force supposed to guard them morally as a national force are fighting at the cost of the innocent blood. A  genocide  ruthlessly  effected and the world is just carelessly watching. UN , US , UK , India makes a mumble that makes no sense on ground reality.

Sri Lankan forces are mercilessly overboard , sensing complete victory over LTTE in the 25 year old battle , they have least botheration for the sufferings , pain and blood of rightly their own Tamil populace. Makes me wonder , what is the difference between LTTE and Sri Lankan force ? If LTTE is labeled terrorist activities , How do we tag Sri Lankan army who is  effecting a Tamil genocide , who on one hand they claim as their own civilians ? Truth is their for everyone to see , read and hear but who cares ? World has no concern for a community that is in a small island and have no importance for them. Unfortunately , Sri Lanka does not even have oil reserve in their geo map for Uncle Sam to jump into the fray to fish in the muddy bloody water. So let them fight , let them die , who cares ..

Coming to the Tamil population in India . The common Tamil of India definitely would share the pain of the plight of their community in Sri Lanka . No doubt about it . What is appalling is the politics being played out it by the political parties and their leaders here. They make a hue and cry and it is quiet obvious it is only with election in mind. DMK has been a prime component of the central government with a huge bargain power thanks to their numerical strength in the coalition government. But what did they extract for the benefit of Tamil cause from the central government ? Nothing. The sound bytes of the ruling DMK and the opposition parties are just a hoodwink with no whole hearted commitment for helping genuinely the Tamil fraternity in the neighboring country.

Tamil in Sri Lanka needs to be helped . The genocide should stop. With the imminent defeat of LTTE , the plight of the Tamils will by all probability going to be worst further , if the way the armed forces are turning the Tamil populated area into a killer field.

I do not support division of Sri Lanka into two nations . I do not support the formation of Tamil Eelam. Definitely , I would not like my country to be divided , so I would not support the demand to divide any other country too. But what I would like to see is acceptance of Tamils as a equal citizen in the tiny island. What I earn is self respect for the Tamils in my neighboring country . I want the Government of Sri Lanka to give equal opportunity and civilian status not just in words of constitution but in the spirit of the constitution. For now , I want the world to give a moment to the plight of the Tamil population in Sri Lanka . They need support. They need attention , badly.

SOS.