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 :)

BCCI and the art of messing up Coach selection

Not sure why BCCI is so good at the art of messing up the Coach selection. 

We have had very few coaches - John Wright, Greg Chappell, Gary Kirsten, Duncan Fletcher, Ravi Shastri and Anil Kumble. The people before Wright were more of managers. 

Ford Fiasco

After Chappell left post the 2007 WC fiasco (the first instance when the coach was vetoed by the players) we had the sordid episode of BCCI announcing Graham Ford as the coach for him to decline the offer once he went back to South Africa. Even though he quoted reason of having a young family to decline the offer I feel there was something more to it. Wouldn't he have known about his young family before flying all the way to India to attend an interview? 

Chappell Fiasco

It is also funny that Chappell was suggested by Sourav Ganguly and the fall out between the two turned really ugly. Sourav and Sachin (Chappell didn't want Sachin to open in ODIs, which Sachin didn't like) were the main drivers behind Chappell not getting an extension beyond the 2007 world cup. After a disastrous campaign in West Indies, some head had to role and it was easy to let go of the coach who was not in good terms with the stars. 

The best two of the lot 

Gary Kirsten and John Wright were the best we have had. Duncan Fletcher - he has helped a few young players with their technical issues but there was nothing more to say about him. The positive with Wright and Kirsten was we had some strong captains in Sourav and Dhoni during their term and the coaches were more than happy to stay in the background. They also understood that with superstar cricketers not much can be dictated. That's one thing Chappell didn't understand. 

Craziness 2016 onwards

Coming to what has been happening in the last few years. Ravi Shastri was appointed as the Director post Fletcher. He was more the motivator rather than the strategist. Out of the blue last year he was sacked and replaced by Anil Kumble. Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman were in charge of selecting the coach. It is pretty obvious that Sourav and Shastri have some huge problems between them which was obvious based on the comments that came out during that period. No one knows why Shastri was not extended and what was the driver for Kumble to take over? 

Come 2017, we were all taken aback when there was an advertisement for the coach's role once the team left for the Champions Trophy. The reason cited was that Kumble had only 1 year contract and it was more of a process. Then came the leaks that Kohli and Kumble didn't see eye to eye and were not in communicating terms. Kohli put his foot down and got his way of getting Kumble removed from the coach's role. 

Once Kumble resigned and the application timeline was extended till 9th of July for people to apply there was an interview conducted on 10th. Was that enough time to scrutinize all the applications? On what basis were the people called for interviews? 

Five people were interviewed on 10th - Shastri, Sehwag, Lalchand Rajput, Richard Phybus and Tom Moody. Earlier it was mentioned that Phil Simmons would also be interviewed but he was not available to not interviewed. Shouldn't they have given him opportunity? That was the first proof that the whole process is a farce. 

End of the interview Ganguly mentioned the captain has to understand what the coach will do and that they are still discussing. The next day we had a leak that Shastri is the coach which was denied by BCCI and then later confirmed. Add to the announcement was Zaheer Khan being appointed as bowling coach and Dravid being asked to accompany the team for overseas tours. The same trio sacked Shastri last year, what did Shastri do in the interim which convinced them? 

There was also news that the Cricket administrators - Vinod Rai and gang pushing the trio to announce the coach yesterday itself. Not sure why the Vinod Rai gang was keen on that. It is another story that those administrators are a useless gang. 

Then came the behind the scene story - Ganguly wanted Moody and Sachin wanted Shastri. Not sure what Sachin saw in Shastri in the one year that he was convinced he should get the job. VVS with his role in Sunrisers had a conflict of interest in Moody's case so was neutral. To please Sourav, the choice of bowling coach was left to him. Shastri had wanted B Arun who was the bowling coach during his previous stint but was denied, for now. 

This leaves us with the following questions 

1) Why can't the richest cricketing body get his act together when it comes to getting the coach. We can get the best we want without issues. 

2) Is the coach selection according the whims and fancies of the Fab 3? Or that of the captain? Shouldn't we have a defined process for coach selection? 

3) Why didn't anyone try to get Kumble and Kohli work together? 

Shastri has worked out well in his earlier stint and the captain wanted him, so it should work out fine. One thing that I am definitely not fine with is how the whole thing has been handled. It is time BCCI get its act together but with the Supreme court meddling so much this would be least of their priorities. 

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. 

Jalikattu Protest - The way it is coming to an end

First and foremost I don't buy this argument that Jalikattu is the only way to save native breeds. As has been widely mentioned the total native breed count has come down from 150 to 37. Jalikattu has been banned for only 2 years now and we didn't lose 113 breeds in 2 years for sure. The main reason is people moving away from low end farming job(MREGA is also a reason when people get paid for doing almost nothing) which causes shortage of people to help in farming which forces the farmers to move on to tractors and other mechanised farm equipments. Hence the farmers didn't have any use for the bulls and that is the reason why they are becoming extinct and not because of ban on Jalikattu. As mentioned in my earlier post, I strongly feel that the reasoning being given is same as justifying female foeticide. 

Secondly the most quoted A1 vs A2 milk hypothesis. As mentioned it is just an hypothesis and not proven. There is no scientific research which has proved this, so let us stop spreading falsehood. 

The protest that has been going on for over a week was very peaceful which was really surprising to see, as with such large crowd things can easily get ugly (as it started happening since this morning). Police and the administration also played the patient game till this morning. There were many good stories - of women not being harassed, people cleaning garbage from the protest sites, helping police in traffic regulation, etc. There were many women and children who joined the protest without any worries. All these are huge positives of how to run a peaceful protest. 

I am not for or against Jalikattu. However, if it is held I would expect it to be held with strict guidelines in ensuring the bulls are not hurt. 

There are statements being made that maadu muduthu naanga vangikarom. Try telling this to the family members of the two people who were killed yesterday. 

Coming to the topic of this post

1) There were no leader for this protest and no one to guide them. It was fanned by social media where any meme or post is construed as truth

2) When there are no leaders there is no one to guide them and hence they don't know what they were really protesting for and when to end the protest. 

3) Asking for ban on PETA, American products are stretching the protest beyond the realm of what it all started for

4) There were more peer pressure on people to be part of the protest. Many wanted to tell the world that they were also part of this. 

5) I was disappointed to see posters of LTTE Prabhakaran being shown on live television. 

6) Tamil Electronic media also didn't come out with glowing colors. There were many rumors that were spread without verification (like this morning when there was a news that Maneka Gandhi had filed a case against Jalikattu). The sad part is that most of the news channels in TN have backing of some political party or other and or they have their political motives. That being the case the coverage or the lack of it was driven by what their owners wanted to do. 

7) In the age of social media, everything flies. People don't validate anything and just keep passing on whatever they get. I saw many pictures since this morning of people being dragged and beaten including by police of other states (their badges were a clear give away). I used to wonder why in Kashmir the mobile data and internet are often cut off by the government, it helps in stopping all these kind of spreading falsehood. 

8) The protesters didn't even understand what an ordinance is. Just because the term being widely used to mean ordinance in tamil ("Avasara sattam") gives a meaning that it is temporary and quick fix doesn't mean that's what it is. There was no one to guide them on what an ordinance is. I heard people complaining that it is applicable only for 6 months - this is after the CM assured that he will table the law in the assembly this week itself. With a majority in the assembly and with such huge public support - every party in the assembly would have blindly supported the law. 

9) Given that scenario when the CM personally went to inaugurate the Jalikattu event he was sent back by the people and protesters of Alanganallur. 

10) When the government has done so much in terms of taking the central government into confidence, getting the ordinance passed and assuring that the law replacing the ordinance will be tabled in the assembly immediately after it convenes this week - not sure what more the protesters were expecting. Even the so called leaders called for the protest to be ended yesterday not sure what kept them going on with the protest. 

11) It is very easy for such a large gathering to turn violent as has happened this morning in terms of burning vehicles outside two police stations. 

12) This protest has run its course and should have ended when the ordinance was passed on Saturday. What happened to the CM yesterday would have been the last straw for the government. 

13) The police and the administration have done their part in terms of ensuring no violence happened in the last 7 days and also passing the law and post that they will definitely act to clear the protesters from the protest sites. 

14) Some elements among the protesters (or some goons who were not part of the protesters) will obviously react back with violence. 

In Conclusion

I personally feel that this protest is so misguided that the reasoning itself is all wrong. Jalikattu is not going to save the distressed farmers (the poor farmers committing suicide are not the ones who rear bulls), it is not going to save the breeds from extinction, it is not going to give you healthy milk. I am still surprised how so many educated people have been blindly fooled to believe all this will happen just by conducting Jalikattu. If the protest was to just uphold the age old culture, then it is a different thing. 

I would have been happy if the protesters had made just one request to government - provide funds and means to ensure the native breeds don't become extinct. That would have been a more meaningful thing to ask for than conducting Jalikattu, banning Peta, amending PCA and what not. 

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.