India at Paris 2024 - What to look forward to on Day 4 30-July-2024

Archery - India lost to Turkiye in quarters. 

Hockey  Indian men drew 1-1 with Argentina

Badminton - Satwik and Chirag had a walk over as  Germany's Mark Lamsfuss and Marvin Seidel withdrew. Lakshya defeated  Belgium's Julien Carreggi in straight games and Ashwini & Christina lost to Japan's Nami Matsuyama and Chihara Shida in straight games

Shooting - Air Pistol mixed team  Manu Bhaker & Sarabjot Singh finished 3rd and will play for Bronze medaland Rhythm Sangwan & Arjun Cheema finished 10th

1pm - mens trap. Prithviraj Thondaiman is currently last end of day 1

1pm : Ramita finished 7th in 10m Air Rifle finals... At one point she was as high as 2nd

3:30 pm - Arjun Babuta finished 4th 10m Air Rifle event in finals. He was in medal contention for long before losing out

Table Tennis - Manika Batra defeated Prithika Pavade of France in the round of 32 in straight games 

Overall not a great day

Day 4 30-Jul

Archery : Ankita and Bhajan Kaur will be in action from 5:15 pm in their round of 64. Dhiraj will be in action at 10:45 pm in his round of 64 match. In case they win that match they will proceed to the next round which will be immediately after the round of 64 match

Hockey 4:45 pm Indian men will take on Ireland

Equestrian : Anush Agarwala will be in action the Dressage day 1 event at 2:30 pm

Rowing : Balraj Panwar will be in action at 2:10pm in the quarters of men's single sculls

Badminton - Satwik and Chirag will face Indonesia's Alfian and Ardianto at 5:30 pm and Ashwini & Christina will face Australia's Mapasa  and Yu at 6:20pm

Boxing : Amit Panghal will be in action against Zambias Patrick Chinyemba at 7:16pm. Jasmine will take on Philippines' Nesthy Peticio at 9:24 pm. Preethi will take on Colombia's Yeni Marcela Arias Castaneda at 1:22 am.  

Shooting - We have the Air Pistol mixed team bronze medal match at at 1pm - Manu Bhaker & Sarabjot Singh 

12:30pm - Day 2 of mens trap. Prithviraj Thondaiman will be in action

12:30pm - Day 1 of womens trap. Shreyasi Singh and Rajeshwari Kumari will be in action

Medal possibilities - Shooting pistol mixed team bronze 

India at Paris 2024 - What to look forward to on Day 3 29-July-2024

Archery - Women's team lost to Netherlands 6-0. Except Ankita Bhagat rest two were not firing well.

Badminton - Sindhu won in straight games against  ABDUL RAZZAQ Fathimath Nabaaha of Maldives. Prannoy defeated Germany's Fabian Roth in straight games

Boxing - Nikhat defeated Germany's Maxi Carina Kloetzer in the first round match. It was an interesting close contest, even though Nikhat won by an unanimous 5-0 decision. 

Rowing - Panwar finished second repachage rounds.. He is through to the quarters. I was wrong in saying that his medal contention was over. He still has to finish in top 3 in his quarters to proceed to semis. 

Swimming - Both our swimmers were in action. Srihari iwas way outside his PB  and the 14 year old Dinidhi was just outside her national record time in the 200m freestyle (3:30pm). As expected both didn't progress beyond the heats.

Shooting -  Manu Bhaker won the first medal for India in shooting. She was in contention for silver till her last shot but finished with Bronze. She looks to have moved on from her disastrous outing in Tokyo. 

In 10m Air Rifle qualifications Ramita and Arjun Babuta have qualified for the finals. Elavenil and Sandeep didn't progress. 

Tennis - Men's Double first round Bopanna and Balaji Sriram lost to Edouard Roger & Gael Monfils in straight sets. 

Table Tennis - Sreeja Akula defeated Christina Kallberg of Sweden in the first round

Sharat Kamal lost to Deni Kozul of Slovenia in the first round

Manika Batra defeated Anna Hursey of GB in the first round

Harmeet Desai lost to France Felix Lebrun in straight games

I expected all 3 to progress but Sharat lost. 

Day 3

Archery - We have the men's team event day. We are in the Quarters and will face the winner of Colombia vs Turkiye match at 6:31pm. Semis that will be at 7:17pm. 

Hockey 4:15 pm Indian men will take on Argentina

Badminton - Satwik and Chirag will face Germany's Mark Lamsfuss and Marvin Seidel at 12 noon. Lakshya will face Belgium's Julien Carreggi at 5:30 pm and Ashwini & Christina will face Japan's Nami Matsuyama and Chihara Shida at 12:50pm

Shooting - We have the Air Pistol mixed team qualification at 12:45 - we have two teams Manu Bhaker & Sarabjot Singh and Rhythm Sangwan & Arjun Cheema 

1pm - Day 1 of mens trap. Prithviraj Thondaiman will be in action

1pm : Ramita will be in action in finals of 10m Air Rifle 

3:30 pm - Arjun Babuta will be in action in the finals of 10m Air Rifle event 

Table Tennis - Manika Batra will play Prithika Pavade of France in the round of 32 at 12:30 am (past midnight) 

Medal possibilities - Men's team in Archery and Arjun and Ramita in Air rifle

India at Paris 2024 - What to look forward to on Day 2 28-July-2024

Day 1 was a mixed day for us. I was expecting the mixed team to make progress from the qualifying in the 10m Air Rifle event but didn't happen. Ramita and Arjun finished 6th and Elavenil and Sandeep finished 12th. 

In the 10m Pistol men's both Arjun Cheema and Sarabjot finish 18th and 9th in the Qualifying.

In the 10m Pistol women's Manu Bhaker finished 3rd and has qualified for the finals but Rhythm finished 15th.  

Hockey - India defeats New Zealand 3-2 in the first game. 

Rowing - Balraj Panwar finished 4th and moves to the repachage rounds.

Boxing -  Preethi Panwar in the 54kg round of 32 defeated Vietnam's Vo Thi Kim Anh 5-0 on points

Table Tennis - Harmeet Desai defeated Jordan's Zaid Abo Yaman in the first round 4-0

Tennis - Men's Double first round Bopanna and Balaji Sriram vs Edouard Roger & Gael Monfils was cancelled due to rains

Badminton - Lakshya Sen defeated Kevin Cordon of Guatamela in the Group stage game in straight games

Satwik & Chirag defeated Lucas Corvee & Ronan Labar in the Men's doubles Group stage game in straight games

Tanisha & Ashwini lost to Kim So Yeong & Kong Hee Yong of Korea  in straight games

Day 2 

Archery - We have the women's team event day. We are in the Quarters and will face the winner of France vs Netherlands match at 5:45pm. We will face mostly Korea if we move to the semis that will be at 7:17pm. Can we win our first Archery medal? That has been a wish for quite a few years right from the days of Limba ram

Badminton - Sindhu will start her campaign with ABDUL RAZZAQ Fathimath Nabaaha of Maldives at 12:50pm. Prannoy will take on Germany's Fabian Roth at 8pm

Boxing - Nikhat will take on Germany's Maxi Carina Kloetzer at 3:50pm in the first round match 

Rowing - Panwar will be competing in the repachage rounds.. This is only for finishing order.. medal changes are gone as soon as he finished 4th in his heat

Swimming - Both our swimmers will be in action. Srihari in the 100m Backstroke heats (3:13pm) and the 14 year old Dinidhi in the 200m freestyle (3:30pm). Don't think either will progress beyond the heats. 

Shooting -  Manu Bhaker will be in the finals at 3:30 pm 

We have 10m Air Rifle qualifications for women and men at 12:45 and 2:45 pm respectio- Elavenil, Ramita, Sandeep Singh, Arjun Babuta will be in action

Tennis - Men's Double first round Bopanna and Balaji Sriram vs Edouard Roger & Gael Monfils hich was cancelled yesterday will be played today... Mostly after midnight. Sumit Nagal will take on Corentin Moutet of France at 3:30 pm

Table Tennis - Sreeja Akula will play Christina Kallberg of Sweden in the first round at 2:15 pm 

Sharat Kamal will play Deni Kozul of Slovenia in the first round at 3 pm

Manika Batra will play Anna Hursey of GB in the first round at 4:30 pm

All 3 should progress  

Medal possibilities - Women's team in Archery and Manu Bhaker

India at Paris 2024 - What to look forward to on Day 1 27-July-2024

 Even though today is the official start of the competitions, Indians have started competing since day before yesterday. Archery ranking round was held and Indians - Men's, Women's and Mixed teams are directly through to the Quarters. 

Today all events starts at noon India time. 

Shooting - 

We have 10m Air Rifle Mixed team event. We have two teams competing. There are a total of 29 teams and we have Elavenil and Sandeep Singh Ramita and Arjun competing. Elavenil and Sandeep should have a good chance of progressing to the finals. Which is at 2 pm India time. 

Followed by 10m Air Pistol Men's Qualification at 2pm - Arjun Cheema and Sarabjot Singh

Followed by 10m Air Pistol Women's Qualification at 4pm - Manu Bhakar and Rhythm Sangwan

I am expecting at least 2 finalist from the three event.  

Rowing - Balraj Panwar will be competing in the Single sculls heats. Top 3 from each heat will move to quarters. And he didn't as he finished 4th

Boxing - We have Preethi Panwar in the 54kg round of 32 at 12:02 am against Vietnam's Vo Thi Kim Anh. 

Hockey - Men's grounp stage match against New Zealand at 9pm. Need to have a winning start

Table Tennis - Harmeet Desai against Jordan's Zaid Abo Yaman at 7:15 pm

Tennis - Men's Double first round Bopanna and Balaji Sriram vs Edouard Roger & Vasselin of France at 3:30 pm 

Badminton - Lakshya Sen vs Kevin Cordon of Guatamela at 7:10 pm Group stage

Satwik & Chirag vs Lucas Corvee & Ronan Labar at 8pm Men's doubles Group stage

Tanisha & Ashwini vs Kim So Yeong & Kong Hee Yong of Korea at 11:50pm - Women's doubles Group stage

Outside of Indian participation looking forward to some great competition in the Swimming pool..  

 

Views on Nirmala Sitaraman's defense of CAA/NRC

Watched the interview of Nirmala Sitharaman in one of the tamil channels defending the CAA/NRC. Her key views 

1) This is amendment is primarily targeted for those who came to India during the India Pakistan wars and are staying for 60-70 years without any benefit

2) As this is primarily targeted for those affected during the wars we are not looking at others - be it Sri Lankan tamils etc. 

3) NRC is not discussed yet so why are we talking about it

4) Protest you can but opposition is stoking violence and the Congress President by stating she stands with the protesters is only supporting violence 

My views 

1) If the amendment is targeted only at those affected by the wars and who came at that time, what is Afghanistan doing in that list? Secondly the cut off date is 2014 and not 1971 war? 

2) The HM was clearly stating that the NRC is part of the whole process and that NRC will follow CAA. He was categorical in asking all of us to understand the chronological order of these 

3) Congress President stating that she supports those protesting doesn't mean she supports violence. Does it mean those who are just condoning the violence (like the PM) don't want anyone to protest peacefully? What stupid logic is this?

Really surprised that a senior journalist like Karthigaichelvan didn't bother to raise follow up questions to the minister. 

Rajnikanth's Entry to Politics - Short take

What was talked about from mid 90's is finally happening in the end of 2017. Rajnikanth has decided to enter politics by forming a separate party and has announced that he will face the assembly elections whenever they happen next. To an extent he also clarified why he took so long to make this decision. Whether it is convincing enough is another matter.

He claims he was pushed to this decision based on the happenings in the last one year. He has also promised that if he cannot deliver on poll promises he will resign in 3 years.

He made some right noises that he is more about ensuring corrupt free government, with people more frustrated with the levels of corruption this statement would be well received.

Very first mistake according to me is - claiming that he will not do anything till party is formed at the right time before assembly elections. Already people are bit irritated that he took this long to take this decision and even now if it's not active from day one not sure how well that will be received.

Even though I personally feel this is a very long overdue decision, not sure how well he will be effective and accepted as a leader.

Given the fact that Jayalithaa and Karunanidhi are not active and the fact that Stalin was not able to capitalize on the issues in Admk is a clear indication that the people of Tamil Nadu are looking for options. Will Rajnikanth be able to fill the void left by the two leaders ? - Only time will tell.

Wishing him well in his new journey. 

RK Nagar Elections - What's at Stake

RK Nagar elections are scheduled for 21st December and this is already more than 6 months delayed. (Any seat cannot be vacant for more than 6 months). EC declared that the EPS-OPS gang will keep the 2 leaves symbol and the next day announced the election date. 

EC taking so long to decide on who gets this and the delayed bye-elections doesn't augur well to project their so called independence. 

Even though we had two independents who were getting more media coverage - Vishal and Deepa - don't think they had any chance in the elections. Vishal might have got few votes because of him being a Telugu and Deepa might have got few votes because of sympathy for Jayalalithaa but they had no chance of winning any elections. 

The problem for any leader, is the people surrounding them. Case in point is Deepa, she was over hyped by the people around her and she thought she is the reincarnation of Jayalalithaa. Initially OPS group (in February during the initial revolt against Sasi clan) also fell for the hype but they realized their mistake and started distancing from her. Now with her nomination papers also rejected its time to put her to political oblivion. Vishal's case may play out differently, we will wait and watch. 

Coming to the key players and what's at stake for each of them. 

Starting with DMK - This is a must win situation for Stalin. It is a test of his leadership. With no Jayalalithaa ADMK is doesn't have the same magic. ADMK still has the government machinery but losing this election will be a huge disgrace for Stalin. The party, especially his family which is not happy with his leadership will start revolting and it will be very difficult for Stalin to manage them if he loses this election. With VCK support (which has considerable backing in north madras) their chances have increased. 

EPS - OPS - Madhusudhanan their candidate, is the presidium chairman of the party. He is a local of the constituency and has good cadre backing. However, EPS and OPS merger is coming apart at the seams and any sabotage from within will be a complete disaster for his chances. Losing this election might be a loss of face for the party, I don't think they would mind much. 

TTV -  There is so much hatred among people for the Sasi clan. The main objective of TTV is not win the election but to get at least 1 vote more than Madhusudhanan. His main trump card will be money power, which is what they tried in April also. In case he doesn't get more votes than Madhusudhanan, it will become more difficult to hold on to the few leaders he has now. They will all switch to the other side, already few jumped ship once the symbol went to the other side. In case he gets more seats than Madhusudhanan, he will use that to position his group as the real ADMK, which will be a disaster for EPS-OPS gang. 

All in all Stalin has more to lose than anyone else. The fight between TTV and Madhusudhanan is more about who gets more seats than the other. 

PS : There is another party BJP, less said about them better. No way they will even get their deposit back. 

New Actor Politicians of TN - What 1 year has done to TN Politics

Post September 22nd of last year (It is exactly 1 year since JJ was admitted in Apollo) things have changed drastically in TN politics. Jayalalithaa spent around 75 days in the hospital before passing away on December 5th of 2016. The other veteran of TN politics, Karunanidhi is sick and is completely out of action. 

ADMK is in doldrums and there is considerable hate against the Sasi clan among the people. Feb 7th when OPS revolted against Sasi there was little bit of hope but with his inability to pull more MLAs into his side that also fizzled out. Now with EPS being the CM and OPS merging back things are back to square one for the party. EPS and OPS need some strong backing to take on the clan and that they are currently getting from BJP which hopes to make a headway into TN. 

DMK is a bit clueless without MK. Stalin is not able to make a decisive move on bringing down the government. Things would be completely different if MK was still active. DMK still is in a much better situation that ADMK.

While TN was expecting and waiting for 22 years for Rajnikanth to enter politics looks like his contemporary Kamal will enter politics before him. 

Rajni has been giving mixed signals for last 22 years, his golden opportunity was in 1996. To me that blame should also go the late PM PVN Rao who should have backed him wholeheartedly and that would have also ensured Congress at least managed it's vote bank if note increased the same. They had around 15% vote back then. In 1996 with his backing TMC and Congress rode on the anti-incumbency that Jayalalithaa faced. She was decimated even losing her own seat. In 2004 he gave a statement opposing PMK which was part of the DMK Congress alliance, but they won all seats that they contested. That would have been clear indicator for Rajni that his pull among the people was waning. There is also a popular view that he makes political statements before release of his movies. 

In July of this year he met with his fans and has asked them to be ready and they will be called when there is war. We will have to see if he really takes the plunge this time. 

Kamal on the other hand was harassed during the release of his Viswaroopam movie. That anger against Sasi clan and JJ is also there. With the passing away of Jaya that anger is coming out in the open. He is making all right noises in terms of his tapping into popular sentiments like NEET opposition, Corruption, etc.

With the two main leaders of the two main parties in TN out of action, there is definite political vacuum. This is what the likes of Rajni, Kamal and also BJP want to occupy. 

Let us look at what they can accomplish in electoral politics

Rajni - I am still not convinced if he will really enter politics. Even if he enters, he doesn't have the same popularity which he had in 1996. His health and age will also be against him. In case he really enters, he can at best get 10-15% of the votes which will not help him win many seats to be a serious contender. He will slowly go the Vijayakanth way. 

Kamal - He is an elitist. I am really not sure how he will be able to connect with general public. Some people are joking that people cannot understand his tweets, how are they going to understand his policies. Seriously he has met Kerala CM and Delhi CM and claiming that all these are learning process. Post his meeting with Kejriwal the statements indicate he might move closer towards AAP. AAP has not had any impact in TN so not sure what Kamal can do to them. Kejriwal is also someone who is strong headed person and Kamal is also similar in character, so both of them working together would also be very difficult. Communists are not an option at all. Starting his own party he will not get more than 2-3% vote share. 

I don't think both coming together and forming a party would also change things drastically. They can at best become the second largest party in the coming elections. 

BJP - There is complete hatred among the people for the saffron party, all their efforts to occupy the space of ADMK is coming to naught. NEET, Cauvery, Hindi, Demon, GST, Petrol there are so many things for which people are angry about BJP. It is very difficult for them to make any entry, their best hope is tag along with ADMK and win few seats. 

DMK should move quickly to ensure the current government falls and elections are held. They will sweep the elections if they are held any time soon. I don't think they would want to risk allowing the ADMK the full term. We don't know what can happen in those 3.5 years. 

Trying to understand Nitish Kumar's decision

Yesterday was an interesting day of developments in Bihar politics. Nitish Kumar the CM, who was pushing for Tejaswi Yadav's (Laloo's son) resignation post the CBI charge sheeting him in a corruption case, took the decision to quit the CM post. 

Obviously it was clear that he had the backing of BJP and was back as CM this morning. He wouldn't obviously quit if not for the assurance of BJP support. Nitish and his JDU alone cannot win elections and he needs the support of other parties to win elections. Individually RJD is stronger than JDU. 

With this move, one of the strong alliance partners of the opposition has moved back to BJP. BJP would have also felt that they cannot repeat their 2014 performance in 2019 without more alliance and they felt it is better to ally with Nitish. 

Background

Let us go back to 2013 when Modi was rising up on the BJP side and Nitish hated him to the core and he snapped the long alliance that he had with BJP. He wanted to ensure that the muslim vote is not lost. 2014 parliamentary elections changed everything when everyone lost badly in Bihar. He quit and made Jitan Ram Manjhi as the CM. Once elections were nearing he was worried that Manjhi will grow too big and came back as CM and tied up with Laloo and Congress and formed the mega alliance. The alliance won easily with Nitish being projected as the CM candidate. 

CBI conducted raid about a case of corruption when Laloo was the Railways minister. Laloo and family got 3 acres of land for letting them run 2 BNR (Bengal Nagpur Railway) hotels through a rigged process. This 3 acre property was initially sold to a benami and later transferred to a company owned by Tejashwi and Rabri. This is the reason for Tejashwi being charge sheeted. 

Nitish's Demand

Nitish wanted Tejashwi to come clean from the case - basically he wanted him to resign. Laloo was not keen to have his son quit so Nitish resigned. As I mentioned earlier he would have finalized BJP support before quitting. It would have been interesting if Laloo had called his bluff by asking his son to quit. 

The Other Player Congress

The other partner in the mega-alliance Congress is once again the easy punching bag for media which is really frustrated that there is no alternative the Modi who is becoming more powerful each day. Nitish met Rahul on Tuesday also but Rahul couldn't do anything to ensure the alliance stayed. It is easy to blame Rahul and Congress for letting the alliance wither away and its not that they don't have a share of the blame being the largest opposition party. They are not the only reason. 

Why Nitish took the decision to move back to BJP

Nitish asking Tejaswhi to quit for a charge sheet is just a reason for him to move back to BJP. There are union ministers with charge sheet who are still continuing, for that matter Nitish himself has cases of Attempt to murder and murder against him. I personally wouldn't be surprised if all these were pre-planned right from the CBI charge sheet (why else is a 13 year old case is coming back to light now?) 

What are the probable reasons for Nitish moving away now

1. There are rumors that Laloo was ok to dump Nitish and support BJP if all cases against his kids are dropped. Nitish wanted to preempt such a move and so he went with BJP.
2. There were talk about him being a PM candidate for the opposition in 2019 and it is obvious that he has high ambitions of becoming the PM. Then why did he quit, probably because he felt that BJP will be very difficult to win. Even 2014 elections BJP was growing strong when he quit, so has he learnt his lesson or will it be a repeat of 2014 mistake? Only time will tell 
3. End of the day he is the junior party in the alliance (which will not be the case with BJP - at least in Bihar) and any day Laloo can ask his son to be made the CM. 

End of the day politics is about survival, Nitish probably felt he can continue as the CM and keep his PM ambitions aside for some time. 

He is 66 now and with 2019 ruled out he will be 73 in 2024 and only in Indian politics people have career plans for such age :)

I am the best.... The problem is the opposition is even better....

I am the best to take care of security.... Proof of the pudding - Kashmir is in trouble... Naxals are still killing lots of people

I am the reformer and best for the economy.... Proof of the pudding - Growth has slowed down.... No jobs being created.... Yeah the best thing that I did demonetization

I will take care of the agriculture and farmers... Proof of the pudding - every where there are farmers protesting even after a good monsoon (except TN)....

Is there anything that I have not proved that I am the best?

The only problem is there is an even better opposition.....

2019 - Nothing can and will stop me

Post Conviction Surprise and the short lived happiness - OPS vs VKS

Sasikala, Sudhakaran and Elavarasi were convicted by the Supreme Court this morning. 

The OPS camp was expecting that the MLAs will move out of the resort and support him. At least that is the reading many people had. It still stays at 11 including OPS. 

It is no surprise that Sasikala has propped up Edapadi Palanisamy as her proxy. It was expected that someone will be propped up and it is Edapadi who was even talked about immediately after Jaya's death. 

The real surprise in all this is that the MLAs have still stayed with Sasikala. When Jaya was alive it was a completely different case, it is a huge surprise that MLAs are staying with Sasikala. Not really sure what is the hold that she has on the entire MLAs. Is it that the many of them were selected by her as candidates which is the reason for this? 

The governor has to either accept Edapadi's claim and swear him in or give OPS also an opportunity to prove his majority. For that OPS has to prove that he has more MLAs than the 11. 

OPS camp has to move aggressively in convincing the MLAs to move to his side, otherwise his game is over. 

The general public were against not just Sasikala but her entire clan. With Edapadi being her proxy the government will be completely run by her family. 

People were happy with the verdict this morning but with the MLAs supporting Sasikala's proxy and their happiness looks to be short lived. 

Tamil Nadu politics - OPS Vs VKS - Options and way forward

Background : 

December 5th or for that matter September 22nd changed the face of politics in Tamil Nadu. With Jayalalithaa being admitted in hospital and her subsequent demise things took a dramatic change in ADMK and Tamil Nadu politics. 

Going by the statements made by OPS recently, Sasikala requested him to take over the CM position as he had been 2 time CM and anyone else would cause the trouble in the party leading to a split in the party. The other side has not issued any denial so far at least. 

OPS had been performing well especially his handling of the Vardah cyclone, to a large extent the jalikattu protest (except the last day violence), the way he went to AP to speak to Chandrababu Naidu to ensure water is released were all very good. He was also very accessible to all especially the officials and things were going in the right direction. 

Also I was personally happy to see the ruling party and opposition talking to each other in a civilized manner (funnily Sasikala quoted that as the reason for sacking OPS). 

Sasikala took over the position of General secretary in late December and it was well known that she will also want to take over as CM eventually. When she called for the legislative party meeting on 5th of February it was a forgone conclusion that she will get elected as the CM. As expected the party MLAs selected her as the CM. Panneerselvam submitted his resignation and also proposed her name for the position of leader of the Legislative party and eventually the CM. 

Even though there was absolutely no public or cadre support for Sasikala people were more or less resigned to the fact that she is the CM. What no one expected was what happened on 7th of February when the caretaker CM went to Marina and sat on a meditation in front of Jayalalithaa's memorial. 

The moment he uttered the sentence that they were irritated by his good work it became apparent that the party is splitting. It was funny to see some of the party spokespeople who were on show during his meditation stating that "Annan" is praying to amma that everything should go fine and immediately after his press conference calling him a traitor. 

Governor's dilemma

Governor going to Delhi and then Mumbai for a few days was not right when things were happening in Chennai. Governor is also being careful in ensuring no one legally questions him. The following actions prove that 

1) He accepted OPS's resignation within a day even though his actions were clear that he was in no hurry to swear in Sasikala. 
2) Denied the secret note he sent to Home ministry - even though he wanted to wait till the DA case verdict is out which is what he had apparently quoted in that said note. To ensure he is not questioned in the courts, he quickly issued a denial about such a note
3) Not allowing parading of MLAs - the Sasikala group was keen to parade the MLAs which OPS also requested him not to allow

Options and way forward 


For OPS

All in all OPS has nothing much to lose and has already gained a lot. He has become a true hero from being termed the mixture mama that is a huge. There is a huge groundswell of support for him and whether he will be able to win an election with that is a different question, but at least for now the general public seem to favor him over Sasikala.

• He at present has only 7 MLAs and with most of them lodged (don't want to use the term locked up) in the private resort in ECR the number can at best go up to 10 immediately. 
• I believe that if his request to withdraw his resignation was legally tenable the governor would have allowed that. 
• In case the SC acquits Sasikala in the DA case, his aim would be to get at least 20+ MLAs which will ensure the Sasikala's side doesn't get to rule the state (this is also true in case she gets convicted and appoints a proxy)
• The best case scenario that OPS would be hoping for is SC convicting Sasikala and the majority MLAs move over to his side. 
• In case SC convicts Sasikala and she would nominate some other proxy and try to rule from inside the jail or through the so called mannargudi mafia. 
• The worst case scenario for his is Sasikala is acquitted and whoever are with him currently desert him. He would have a tough time to keep his political career alive then. 

For Sasikala

With governor having no inclination to swear her in as the CM, her options are limited. Till date she has been able to maintain most of her flock together. She has more to lose than gain. 

• In case she gets convicted in the DA case, she will try to appoint a proxy as CM. Having seen OPS someone who is known not to have high ambitions revolt she would be very worried about appointing anyone to the post of CM, she might go with a safe option of someone from the family which might also cause more trouble for her. 
• Her best case scenario is the get acquitted in the DA case and ensure she continues to keep her flock of MLAs intact. 
• In case she loses more than 20 MLAs (either way the verdict goes) she can as well bid goodbye to her political ambitions as there too much hatred for her and her family among the general public and also the party cadres. 

For Governor

Having decided to wait for the DA case verdict to be out and playing it safe legally so far his options are pretty simple unless things take a dramatic change in terms of the number of MLAs supporting both groups. 

• In case of conviction request ADMK to select a new leader 
• In case of an acquittal swear in Sasikala
• In case the MLA supporting both groups change drastically (don't think that will happen unless there is a conviction) will be the most interesting option. Will he go for a composite floor test? Or ask either of the two groups to prove the majority? To me personally he will go with Sasikala group or go for a composite floor test as he has so far not allowed OPS to withdraw his resignation and if he was ok with that option he could have done so already. (In the said note that he sent to home ministry he has not mentioned anything about withdrawal and called OPS as only the caretaker CM.) 

Side notes

• It was pathetic to see some of the ministers in such inebriated state, if you are so drunk stay at home or at least don't talk in front of the press.  
• The cops are playing it safe and not taking any directions from either side. Which is expected, but what was really surprising to see is they didn't even act when the press were attacked yesterday. 
• OPS's house is so very accessible and there were more curious crowd trying to see what is happening there. I could see people going for their evening walks just drop by to see what's happening. 
• There are also lots of women supporters showing up at OPS's house.
• There is definite backing from central government for OPS. They would also want to ensure the party stay together as they need ADMK support during the President election. It would be interesting to see how central government acts in case Sasikala gets acquitted. 
• I would also be interested to see what will happen to all this public support that OPS has now in case there is an acquittal. 

For people checking for updates very hours or minutes, don't expect anything to happen till the verdict is out. The court has already gone back on its words that they will issue the verdict within a week. Hope they issue the verdict tomorrow (02/14) at least.  

All in all interesting times ahead for a political junkie like me. 

Jallikattu - Surprised about the reason for protest - It is same as justifying female foeticide

Last few days Tamil Nadu has been seeing protest across the state in support of Jallikattu (Sallikattu - it is actually taking the coins that are tied to the horns of the bulls, that was the main objective of the sport). The main reason in support is that we will lose the entire breed of stud bulls. 

What many of the supporters argue is that the Stud bulls if Jallikattu is not held would be sent to slaughter house immediately after birth. This will lead to the extinction of the entire breed and then we have to import bulls for reproduction. 

The bulls were earlier used for farming and as bullock carts. With more mechanized farming and trucks being used for transportation the usage of bulls have reduced drastically. Now they are primarily used for reproduction. 

What I am surprised is that people are willing to accept this reason. This argument is same as justifying female foeticide. The reasons that were given for female foeticide were financial reasons - getting them married, giving dowry, etc. Now same is being given as the reason for not raising bulls - they don't give anything in return except help in reproduction whereas a cow gives milk. The main reason why people are using this line of argument is is to dramatize the whole issue. 

The main reason for giving away bulls for slaughtering is definitely not stopping Jallikattu it is because their usage in farming and bullock carts has stopped. Just saying that what was followed for long has to be followed even now will not get you so much support (people will talk about child marriage, sati, etc. as counter argument), only dramatization of the issue will ensure maximum support. 

What some people argue is that even if what Peta argued is true in terms of putting irritants into the eyes of bull, forcing bulls to drink alcohol, poking them with sharp substances during Jallikattu, the farmers are the ones who take care of them for the other 364 days. This is the most absurd argument that you can hear, why is it that the farmer who has been taking care of the bull for 364 days cannot properly care for them one more day? Also is this some kind of a black Friday for the farmers where they are able to turn profitable in a day? 

The other argument is that drinking the milk from a cow which mated with foreign bulls will cause cancer, why drink milk in the first place? Stop drinking milk if you think it will cause cancer. 

Just because someone supports Peta which spearheaded the campaign doesn't mean all Peta ambassadors should be maligned. What happened to some of the actors is completely unacceptable. 

I am not against Jallikattu. Like it happened couple of years back lay down proper rules which has to be followed. No irritants in the eyes of the bulls, no poking them with sharp equipment, no biting of the tails, no forcing alcohol down the throats of the bulls and only one person catching each bull at a time. Ensure all these and conduct Jallikattu. 

To All my Nationalist Friends

This post is dedicated to all my nationalist friends (or the so called BJP supporters). 

What exactly happened is that few people shouted slogans supporting Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhat (that they were martyrs, they were wrongly killed, etc.) and that Kashmir has a right to self determination. 

Afzal Guru - even though he was hanged on circumstantial evidence, I trust the decision of the SC. 

The main anti-national slogans were 

“Bharat ki barbaadi tak, jung rahegi, jung rahegi!”

“India, Go Back” 

These were made by Kashmiri students - But aren't these things that are heard in Kashmir on a daily basis? Your ally in J&K says much worser things and are more aligned to separatists views. Didn't we as a nation agree in UN that we will allow self determination in the entire Kashmir (this includes what is occupied by Pakistan)? 

Scotland voted on whether they can be separated from Great Britain? - Should all those who voted yes be jailed for sedition? Catalunya also wants to separate from Spain - can we jail everyone for sedition? Oxford University union took a pledge that they will never fight for the King - even though they were termed as anti-nationals no one was booked on sedition. 

We as a nation are not ready to listen to these kind of statements made in public - we are not ready for such a democracy. 

We are however, ok with people saying things like this country is useless, this country is going down the drains, I cannot live here within our living rooms. I have many of my friends who live outside India (still Indian citizens) who have said worser things. Can we book all of them under sedition? 

The main issue to me is why was Kanhaiya Kumar, JNU students union president, arrested on charges including sedition? Did he shout slogans against India? It seems that police have learnt that he was no way connected to the slogan shouting, so would they tell the courts that he can be released? I hope some sense prevails. 

What is nationalism in letting someone getting arrested on sedition charges for no fault of his? When you can ally with a party which mostly aligns with the views of separatists what right does BJP has to give gyan on nationalism to everyone? 

Do we need a law on which "No One" has ever been convicted but it is most abused by all politicians? My simple answer is NO. 

Scams - Released in the last one month

The NDA government happily mentioned at the end of the first anniversary of them having assumed office in May 2014 that there were no scams in the one year after their assuming office. 

Not even a month passed and we have multiple scams that has cropped up - Sushma Swaraj and Vasundhara Raje connection with Lalit Modi, Vyapam Scam, Pankaja Munde scam, PDS Rice Scam in Chattisgarh. BJP can still say that these are issues (except in the case of Swaraj) all are not related to the central government, but the perception that these scams create in the people's mind in very bad. 

Let us go over one by one 

Sushma Swaraj

She got the British government issue travel document for Lalit Modi so that he can be with his wife who was supposed to undergo treatment in Portugal. She did that without involving her ministry or checking with the Finance Ministry (under whom the ED comes) which had a case against Lalit Modi. Her defence was that she did this on humanitarian consideration. She has a personal relationship with Lalit Modi and her husband and daughter were working for him - with those in mind she should have recused herself from this issue and let her bureaucrats handle the issue. The best option would have been to have him promise to get back to India in lieu of the travel document. The defense that there is money involved doesn't cut ice. 

She didn't involve her ministry, talked to her England counterpart directly, didn't get inputs from Finance ministry and didn't recuse herself from a case of a close friend doesn't warrant her to continue in the Government. 

Vasundhara Raje

Vasundhara issued an affidavit to support Modi being issued travel document and stating that the case against him are politically motivated and she explicitly stated that her giving this affidavit should not be revealed to the Indian authorities. There is a money angle also to this where Lalit Modi has invested money in her son's firm. It is debatable whether this is quid pro quo but there is proof that money has changed hands in lieu of some shares in his company. 

Vasundhara is a strong regional leader and she can even bring down the Rajasthan government or start a party on her own if she is asked to resign. That will definitely play in the mind of the BJP leadership. Her giving an affidavit to an accused with a disclaimer that her affidavit should not be known to the Indian authorities is in itself a reason for her to go. 

Vyapam Scam

I am scared to write about it. This is a bit old as it is about the irregularities in recruitment and entrance exams (munnabhai style) which happened between 2008 and 2013 (not sure if it is still continuing). The issue has come up to limelight because many of the witness/accused are dying under mysterious circumstances. We have had maybe one or two witness being killed but so many dying is a cause of concern. We still don't really know the whole truth about this but with SC hearing a bunch of petitions requiring CBI probe has made the CM extremely vulnerable. As the central government is led someone who is not very close to him. 

Chattisgarh PDS Scam

As far as scams goes this is pretty simple one - Increase the number of PDS ration cards on record and pocket the money that was supposed to go to providing PDS to these cards. There was an huge increase in the BPL cards issued and there was cash found in ACB raid in March of this year to the tune of 4 crores. This is also early days for this scam and it has to be thoroughly investigated as to who are the real beneficiaries of the scam. 

Pankaja Munde Scam

The issue being raised is that there were orders issued by her to persons known to her family without following due tender process. This is a case of probity - in case the orders were issued to anyone other than the people known to her family there wouldn't have been any case as it could be explained as executive decision and as long as there were no money involved that explanation would have been accepted (same as the 2G case - the 1.76Lakh scam can easily be explained as executive decision but the 200 crore money trail to Kalaignar TV cannot be explained). 

Congress is Happy

Congress must be very happy having so many scams to go against the ruling NDA government. However, there seems to be no clear strategy on how to handle these which was clear from their going on about the palaces and losing focus. It is clear that the monsoon session will go for a toss if no action is taken on these scams especially the Lalitgate where they will not relent till they get the blood of both Vasundhara and Sushma. Surprising that Media has moved on to Vyapam scam having forgotten the Lalitgate from this week - Congress cannot afford to do that. This is the best opportunity for them to make a come back. 

The Prime minister has kept quite and it is his prerogative on when he wants to speak. As Swapan Das mentioned in his article today I remember the interview where Rajdeep kept asking about riot and he didn't utter a word about it and kept staring in the distant and Rajdeep was forced to move on. There is no necessity for him to speak also. 

What's Next

Sushma and Vasundhara have to resign and there should be a thorough probe on the other three scams. Why is it that the BJP has not pressed them to resign yet? - It is simple this will set the benchmark for all other scams. BJP would not want to yield so soon. July 21st is when the Monsoon session is going to start and it is going to be interesting to see whether they wait till the Monsoon session is completely washed out or act before that. 

Excellent Job by the Armed Forces but???

The army suffered huge damage in Manipur on 4th of June when the militants of the NSCN(K) group attacked them and we lost 18 army men. 

On 9th morning Indian army with intelligence attacked back and took out around 50 militants. It was a well executed operation with no casualties on the Indian side. 

The Army issued a statement which was a bit vague in details. The statement did mention just that the operation was in the border and that President of Myanmar said they don't want to allow any militants operating out of their land and that they were not involved in the operation. Everything was perfect till then. 

Then the government stepped in and the MOS of I&B Col Rathore shot off stating that we entered the Myanmar and the army of Myanmar was informed. This led the Myanmar government to issue a denial that this happened, this put them in an embarrassing position. 

The Minister also went on to state that we wanted to send a message and we will repeat such operations in future against any country. He added to good measure that we will take out militants at any place of our choosing. This is plain immaturity on the part of the minister. The Ambassador has been called to explain the statements and the NSA is rushing to Myanmar also. Minister also tweeted with 56InchRocks which is plain chest thumping. 

Covert operations has to stay covert and always the message will go out in a subtle way to the people who has to get the message. 

First and foremost people of this generation who are jumping in joy have to understand that this is not the first time we have our army enter other country and take out militants. Those who have read Kaoboys of RAW will know that we had a covert operations wing under RAW which ensured every militant actions had a retaliation. IK Gujral government wound down the covert operations wing of the RAW. 

There are many more such operations, in 2003 we entered Bhutan and with the help of their army took out northeastern militants. Also heard on the TV that during the Narasimha Rao government an entire Battalion entered Myanmar and took out some of the militants.  Myanmar and Bangladesh government headed by Sheikh Hasina allowed us to conduct such operations. 

Secondly this has caused huge embarrassment to the Myanmar government. They will think twice before agreeing to a similar operation request. 

Thirdly there are political reasons for this and I am sure the army action in itself (without the statements by the Government) would have proved a point that the government was decisive in acting against the militants. 

Hope the government learns from this episode and don't go about chest thumping. Read that the PM and EAM are upset with this and I hope that is true. 

Operation Raahat - Successful Evacuation of People from Yemen

Operation Raahat - The operation to evacuate Indians from Yemen has been successful. We have successfully evacuated nearly 4000 Indians and few more from other countries. 

Excellent job done by Ministry of External Affairs in coordination with the Airforce, Navy, Ministry of Home Affairs and Air India in this Operation. 

Good part is that we have received requests from 26 other nations to help evacuate their nationals also and Government is responding to the same. 

Way to go. Nice to see us taking a lead on this humanitarian initiative. 

India had deployed 3 Naval Ships and the C17 globemaster from IAF in the evacuation. Air India has also been flying out people from the country. 

MoS of External Affairs, VK Singh was on the ground coordinating the entire operation. The Indian Army has many experience of evacuating people from natural disasters and other situation, this experience would have definitely helped VK Singh, who was a former Army chief, in coordinating the entire operation. 

Sushma Swaraj, External Affairs Minister was also actively involved. Finally nice to see her getting to do some work as EAM, as till date PMO was taking over most of the EAM's activities. 

Heard that Twitter and other social media was also used by people affected to reach out to the Indian embassy officials, which shows us how the social media is getting more and more integrated and useful in our lives. 

Lastly the controversy about VK Singh's tweets about the media. Having been a chief of Indian Army, he would have got used to people taking orders from him and not questioning anything he said. However, now that he has become a politician and that too a Minster, he has to understand that he has to be a bit more diplomatic. His tweet after visiting the Pakistan Embassy for their national day celebrations was also not in good taste. That doesn't justify what Times Now try to do with VKDisaster hashtag. 

This operation is a success and us helping in evacuation of nationals of other countries shows how to exhibit our soft power. 

Hawala at Midnight

If you want to find fault with someone it is very easy.. Especially when you claim that you are holier than thou, it becomes even more easier... 

Yesterday AVAM (AAP Volunteer Action Manch) reported that some of the donations to AAP are from dubious companies. BJP and Congress both receives bulk of their donations in cash, but that doesn't matter. 

AAP's defense is that everyone is bad. Wasn't that the reason why they were formed? If you agree that you are one among them, AAP loses its USP. Which is what has happened now. AAP is also questioning the fact that the folks from AVAM are now in BJP but that is not an issue. What is the point in shooting the messenger. 

This is well crafted move by BJP which is really under pressure to win the Delhi elections as many have claimed that this is their first real fight after the last year's general elections. Also the induction of Kiran Bedi as the CM candidate of BJP has not worked as they had expected. She was brought in to get the clean image and she being someone from the same IAC group was expected to give them the extra boost. However, her not so polished way of talking in public has not really helped the cause (which has also forced the BJP to enforce a gag order on her). 

BJP pressed the panic button and brought in many ministers and MPs to campaign. Their asking 5 questions is good publicity but the questions being asked are pretty childish. 

AAP's primary vote bank is the poor people which will not be hugely swayed by this recent issue. The middle class voters might move away from them. 

Coming back to the topic of discussion, the funds and the dubious nature of the companies that has given the donations -

1. AAP has to accept their mistake of not doing a proper due-diligence of the person giving the funds - In case they are hiding any ill-gotten funds in such way then they are proving that all political parties are the same - I hope that is not the case. That will help in getting back some of the sheen that has been lost 
2. Running a political party in India and compete elections is not easy. With the practice of getting cash for casting votes it is becoming even more expensive. There needs to be more transparency in the funding process. Most of the funds that parties receive is primarily from business people. I would like to quote an incident that Shekhar Gupta had mentioned about recently, when Suresh Prabhu was sacked as Minister from the Vajpayee government it seems that Shekhar asked Bal Thackeray the real reason for for his sacking for which Thackeray had responded after much persistence that he has to run a party and what is the point in having a minister if I cannot get money for the party :).
3. People give donations to parties for two reasons - To get something in return or as response to some thing bad they had already done. Either way it is bad. 

AAP started of as a party with difference which is what caught the fancy of the people and got them a huge vote base in Delhi. They came to power, thanks the Nirbhaya case, commonwealth games scam and not in small measure the protest that Anna Hazare led. Sheila Dixit government over the 15 years did lots of good work for Delhi but the incidents just prior to 2013 elections, mentioned above, helped AAP establish themselves. However, power got to their heads and they gave up the Delhi Government and contested the general elections in the whole entire country. This election in case they lose, is going to be a huge problem for them. It will become another Lok Paritran - not that I will miss them a lot if that happens. 

We are all Hypocrites

Over the last one week there are few incidences which highlight one basic fact of life - We are all Hypocrites

First Incidence is the Savile Row suit of our Prime Minster with fine print of his name - There was a hue and cry about how the Prime Minister can wear something which had his name all over it. Good question, I also found it stupid.. Then realized two things - One I wear so many clothes which has the brand names visible - either big or small and Two I have a cap which has my name on it. Is it ok for me to wear those but not the PM? That is when I realized the basic fact of life - I am an hypocrite

Second Incidence is about case of Evangelist IAS officer Umashankar - Let us look at objectively, he is allowed to do what he wants in his private time. We all have code of conduct at work and in most cases organizations don't allow us to propagate religion or indulge in political activities during work time. However, we are not stopped from doing anything we want outside our work time. That is not questioned but being an IAS officer shouldn't he be treating everyone as equals? IAS officers and for that matter the politicians also should act as if all religions are equals. 

Every individual has their own belief be it an atheist or fatalist or any religious follower believes that whatever he does his the right thing and is better than what others do. That's why the continue to do it. Otherwise, they would have changed their beliefs. That is precisely the main point of contention with what Umashankar has done. 

Even our PM has openly displayed that he doesn't believe in symbolism of wearing a muslim cap which was offered to him (It is a different story that he was ok with wearing a sikh turban). Everyone made a hue and cry about it because we wanted him to be a hypocrite. So are we expecting the IAS officers and politicians to put on a show that they consider every other belief as equally good? 

When personally we are OK with us believing that our belief is the best but when it comes to IAS officers and politicians we want them to act that their belief is nothing great when compared to other beliefs? Isn't that hypocrisy? Yes it is, we want our people in power (be it officers or politicians) to be perceived as treating everyone as equal. 

After realizing the basic fact I just have one question, how much did the Savile Row suit cost and who paid for it? 

Is Meeting Expectations Bad?

I am sure everyone who has been working in IT know that Meeting expectations is Bad. Is that the case? In normal circumstances HR will say meeting expectations is not bad but when it comes to issuing pink slips (as in the case with the recent issue with the large IT organization) this is communicated as bad performance by the same HR. I am not blaming them for the fiasco. So are the employees always expected to exceed expectations? 

Many organizations have a 4 grade system. There are cases where organizations have 5 grades or in some cases a 10 point scale. All these only causes more confusion and ambiguity. 

What is the solution to this? A change of nomenclature for rating to me is fine. You just have three rations - Exceeds Expectaions, Meets Expectations and Doesn't meet expectations. This way we can get rid of the ambiguity in the system. 

Exceeds expectations should be the people who did exceptionally well should be the top 10-20%. Meets expectations should be the majority of the populations - 75-85%. Doesn't meet expectations should be the bottom 5%. 

The bottom 5% should be put through the performance improvement program and set clear expectations on what they need to improve. In case the employee doesn't improve post that period also he/she can be let go. 

This is purely in the case of performance issues. However, that doesn't seem to be the only criteria with the recent case in the largest IT organization in India, where employees are let go because they were not utilized for sometime. 

Every mistake gives opportunity to learn. Every organization should also learn from each others mistakes. The current issue gives an excellent opportunity for everyone to re-look at their performance appraisal systems. 

Meeting expectations should not be considered bad. This is what the majority of the employees be rated as.