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. 

Uttama Villain - A Movie Review

Cast - Kamal has continued with Andrea and Pooja Kumar in this movie as well. You also have Urvashi, Parvathi Menon, Jayaraman, K Bhalachader, Nasser, K Viswanath, MS Bhaskar. 

Movie is about a star who is about to die and his last wish. Manoranjan(played by Kamal) is a superstar. He is married to Urvashi and has a son. He is a superstar and movie starts with a release of a new movie. Kamal plays the typical hero (hiding his drinking from public, etc.) and his manager played by MS Bhaskar ensures that the superstar image is well managed. 

Manoranjan comes to know that he is going to die due to brain cancer and wants to do a final movie with his mentor (played his real mentor KB) and that too a period comedy. Some niceties - KB plays Margadarshi and Manoranjan plays a character in the movie who is immortal. 

K Viswanath plays his father-in-law who also produces most of his movies. Jayaraman plays the step father of Parvathi Menon who plays the daughter of Kamal from his yester year love affair. Andrea plays his personal physician who is also his mistress. Pooja Kumar is the heroine in his movies(within movie). With so many affairs you are left wondering if it is a bit biographical. Nasser plays the villain in the movie being made. 

The film goes back and forth between what happens in the life of the star and the movie that is being made. Whether Kamal is able to complete the movie before his imminent end makes the rest of the story. 

Even though he wanted to do a comedy as his last movie - you were left wondering where the comedy was?  

KB keeps praising Kamal during the making of the movie - which beyond a point gets very irritating. 

There is a tiger animation and it was very amateurish. 

Songs - I personally liked the fast paced Single Kiss-kae.. But the dancing by both Kamal and Pooja Kumar was a huge let down. Other than that no other song was anything to write about. 

Urvashi has acted well as Kamal's wife and so has Parvathi has his daughter (even though she still claims that Jayaram is more her father than Kamal). Andrea looks beautiful as always and Pooja kumar - not sure why she was there in the movie. The scene when Kamal comes to know about Parvathi and his meeting her were beautifully enacted by Kamal. 

The sets are good in the period part. 

Neither the comedy nor the serious part of the travails of an actor who is facing death makes an impact on you. 

Oh Kadhal Kanmani - A Movie Review

Watched OKK yesterday night. Cast - Dulquer Salman, Nithya Menon, Prakash Raj and Leela Samson. 

Movie is a romantic love story. The hero and heroine meets in Mumbai station. Next they meet at a friend's wedding and then get to know each other, don't want to get married but stay together and then get influenced by the relationship between Prakash Raj and Leela Samson and finally get married. 

There is lot of resemblance to Alaipayuthey and Ayudha Ezhuthu (Siddharth and Trisha story). Here also the hero wants to go to US and heroine to Paris.  

Dulquer's second tamil movie and he has done a good job and this being a sync sound he has done a good job in dialogue delivery also. However, you get a feeling that there is a bit of Madhavan from Aalipayuthey in the initial scenes. He plays the role of a video game designer who wants to become the next Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg. 

Nithya Menon - Especially in the church scene looks beautiful. Uses are big eyes to good extent and acted beautifully. She is an Architect and want to pursue her Architecture studies in Paris. 

The best part of the movie is the pair of Prakash Raj and Leela Samson - They play the hosts for Dulquer initially and then Nithya Menon when they start living together. Very subtle acting not going overboard. Leela Samson is a very good find as an actress, she plays an character with Alzheimer's.  

What is with Mani Ratnam and having a song or dialogue sequence of the hero and heroine under a bed sheet. You have seen it from Bombay days. Also as he explained when a movie is made in Mumbai how can you not have the trains. 

Songs - Mental Manadhil - I personally liked the picturasization of that song. Fast paced and beautifully done. 

Initial part of the movie meanders and then picks up speed just before intermission and then you know what is going to happen in a typical tamil movie and that's how it ends with the hero and heroine getting married - but still continue to go about their individual careers. 

There is no separate comedy track and there are some scenes and dialogues which make you laugh - Overall a light romantic movie and good entertainer. I didn't watch Kadal, but this movie is much better that Raavan. 

OKK is definitely more than OK. 

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. 

Komban - Movie Review

It has been a long time since I watched a movie so went to watch Komban over the weekend. 

Cast includes Karthi, Lakshmi Menon, Rajkiran, Kovai Sarala, Super Subburayan and some unknown villain characters. 

Movie is set in the background of 3 villages - No effort was spent on establishing what the issues are between the people of the villages. Karthi falls for Lakshmi menon and marries her. Not really sure what bad things villains do. Karthi claims that he doesn't like what they do - But no one tells what that is. Just because they are called as villains and the hero beats them up we have to accept that they are villains. 

Some stupid cliches like Lakshmi Menon saying she has to accept her husband whatever he does - not sure if even village girls say such things now. But this is after she leaves him and goes with her father - no logic. 

Suddenly Karthi in one scene beats up Rajkiran and next scene goes to their house and apologizes and in the end says that father-in-law is like his father. Not sure how such transformation happens. 

Rajkiran in the climax shouts like a cat and dog - not sure if that is the custom or what. Seeing it for the first time in a movie. 

In the end Karthi beats up the villains and the movie ends. After Madras you expected Karthi to continue to act in good movies - not to be. There is no story or screenplay in this lousy movie. 

Most important reason why I went for this movie to understand what was the fuss about - I think I found out. PT leader doesn't like people having such moustaches and if the hero of the movie sports such a moustache he will create trouble - happened with Virumandi and with this also. I found nothing derogatory and offensive in the movie. 

Overall a very lousy movie to watch. Please avoid. 

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.