From the ashes in Rio, we shall rise again

Now that Olympics, are over, I would like to give my assessment of how India fared in both Qualifications and Olympics and future prospects for each sports. 

Archery:

Archery is a very fickle sport. Korea is in a league of their own and after that, a number of nations can win on any given day. India is part of that group of nations but sadly, we never seem to win on the given day. Men's team not even qualifying for Olympics was a big disappointment. 

In Olympics, archers started well in qualifications but second half was simply disastrous. Though, we managed to get decent draws inspite of bad qualifications (once again showing the fickle nature of Archery), we couldn't capitalise on it. There is immense talent in the team but somehow they always falter at Multi Sports Games. 

Before London Games, our team was in great form and we were among favourites for medal but team suffered a complete meltdown. Archery Association (among the best run Sports Federation in India, according to me) did take corrective measures after that. They have a strict and transparent selection policy. When Deepika was out of form in 2014, even she was dropped from the team. Learning from London, this time, our team was sent quite early to Rio to get acclimatised to conditions better. There were mental conditioning camps for the team as well.  Our team did perform better compared to London. They looked much more composed. Sadly, that was not enough and we failed to reach later stages of competition once again. 

Going forward, I honestly don't know what to expect. We have a decent pool of young archers who are doing well in international events. We do need special training for windy conditions. Also, we need more archers to push Deepika. Though Korea won both individual events, the eventual gold medal winners were not the favourites before the games. Korea is so good because all three of their participants are the top level. In India, only Deepika is at that level. Atanu has shown great promise in this Olympics and hopefully, he will also reach the top level soon. But, if we want a medal in Tokyo, we need 6 archers at that level. 

Badminton:

Qualification was more or less expected. Apart from Mixed Doubles, we had participation in other 4 events. In WS, we had the maximum allowed participation. Kashyap, Jayaram and Prannoy were close to qualifying as well. I feel that if Kashyap had been fit, he would have qualified alongside Srikanth. So, no regrets in qualifications. 

Going into Olympics, none of Srikanth, Saina and Sindhu were in great form. Srikanth had a horrible second half in 2015 and Saina's ranking also had dropped significantly. Sindhu also could not improve her ranking enough to get a top 8 seeding. So, as expected, we had to face higher opponents earlier (Jorgensen and Tai in Rd of 16). Doubles team are good enough to qualify but are nowhere near top 8, so once again expectations weren't that high. 

Attri/Reddy had the worst possible draw, their 3 group opponents were all ranked in top 10. They had absolutely no chance of qualifying to next stage. They did well in winning a match against Japanese pair. 

Gutta/Ponappa had a decent draw. They could have qualified for the next stage if they won against the Dutch pair. But, it was a close match-up and they lost in 3 games. Was a bit disappointed in loss against Thai pair. Though match was inconsequential, ending the Olympics with a win would have been better. 

Saina got injured in the run up to the Olympics. As many have pointed out, maybe it was Karma for the bronze she won in London.  She is a fighter and will come back strongly. Was really sad to see the way her commitment was questioned in media after her loss to Ukrainian. Also, sad was the way, people were making fun of her after Sindhu's medal.  

Srikanth did well to defeat Jorgensen in Rd of 16. He gave a tough fight to Lin Dan in Quarters. For second Olympics, we have lost in Quarter to a legend. Srikanth is a form player, and hopefully, this performance will give him enough confidence and he will once again reach the level he was in late 2014-early 2015.

Sindhu has nerves of steel. Playing her first Olympics, she reached finals. She has now won 2 Bronze and 1 Silver in World Championships and Olympics in last 4 years. Her defence was her weakest link but here she showed immense improvement in defence. Defeating in form Tai, Yihan and Okuhara in straight sets requires great physical and mental strength. In the final, Sindhu played great badminton but Marin was simply better. Sindhu also became the first Indian women to win a Silver. 

This success we are having in Badminton is result of hard work put in by 3 generations: Prakash Padukone, Gopichand and current crop of players. Padukone and Gopichand academies are doing an excellent work. We have the next batch of youngsters ready to push the current players. Gopichand never had any competition at national level. Aparna Popat was way better than others in WS for a long time. Now, that is not the case. This depth will ensure that we continue to improve in Badminton. 

I have high hopes from Badminton in Tokyo. Hopefully, we will also improve in Doubles by that time and will have a large team and multiple medals.

Athletics:

We qualified record number of athletes. Also, a large number of National records were broken in the process. But, somehow I don't feel excited about them. In fact, improvements shown by some is suspicious. AFI re-appointing a doping tainted coach for the women's 4x400 relay team also increases my fears. 

In the Olympics, except Lalita Babar, Manish Rawat, T Gopi and Kheta Ram nobody came even close to their Personal Bests. I know, that a large number of them had already pushed themselves to the limit to qualify for Olympics and hence, were not in peak form, so it should have been expected, but still it was sad to see. I expected more from Vikas Gowda and Seema Antil. They are experienced and had qualified fairly early, so they should have done better but now it is clear that they are past their prime. As for Tintu Luka, we need to accept that she is not going to come even close to the level that we had hoped for. She will hover around 2 minute mark. Occasionally drop below 2 minute mark and win medals but thats it. I think, she should give 400m a try. Maybe it will be a better fit. Our relay teams promised much but failed to deliver. After the result in 800m, there will be increased attention on hyperandrogenism and hence on Dutee Chand. I hope we support her no matter what the IAAF/CAS decide. We should not fail her like we failed Santhi and Pinky. 

Since 2014, AFI has followed a policy of not sending 'tourists' to Asian Games and CWG. But, it was interesting to see AFI not selecting Tintu in the initial relay team (they even tried to not select Nirmala and Anas in the team but were not allowed due to IAAF rules) even though she was always going to run the relay. Only reason for doing so is that they wanted to inflate the number of athletes qualified. This is nothing but hypocrisy. If sending 'tourists' to AG and CWG harms our image then let us not send 'tourists' to Olympics as well. If artificially inflating number of athletes is kosher for Olympics, why stop deserving athletes from going to AG and CWG. 

Also, AFI should seriously think about hiring an intern who can read a 2-3 page qualification document. Not knowing that athletes qualified for 400m HAVE to be selected for relay team is simply unprofessional. Also, they should have known that there are no wild cards in athletics. Still they wasted time in trying for a wild card for Neeraj Chopra. They even sent the useless media on a wild goose chase regarding that. Fans and Neeraj were given a false hope. They even made a fool of themselves by starting a Change.org petition asking for wild card for Neeraj. 

The way AFI is run is an indicator that having ex-sportspersons as head of National federations is not the "Raam-baan ilaaj" people think it is. 

For the future, in Neeraj we have a genuinely good athlete. It would be interesting to see how he progresses. Other promising youngsters in the recent past (Durgesh Pal and Navjeet Dhillon) didn't transition to the seniors easily. They are still young and improving so there is still hope. For Tokyo, I would be happy with a large team qualifying early and couple of finals. 

P.S. The way people are calling Lalita's incredible performance, best by an Indian athlete since PT Usha saddens me a lot. It shows that we have already forgotten Anju Bobby George, Vikas Gowda and Krishna Poonia's performances. Also, I rate JJ Sobha and Soma Biswas's performance at 2004 Olympics quite high. 

Boxing:

In Boxing, there is not much to write. Only 3 boxers qualifying for Olympics was a big step back from London. Thapa had a nightmare draw, eventual gold medal winner in Round 1. We are without a National Federation for quite some time now. First step on the path to recovery would be having a federation. We were on the right track till London, so have hopes that if we get our house in order, situation will improve.

But, even if we do all the right things, there is no certainty that results will come. AIBA is a mafia. India was never on their radar and hence, our boxers could be discriminated against easily. Sarita's outcry at Asian Games would not have helped. It would also be interesting to see if AIBA has the balls to take on powerful Irish federation or they will simply ignore the way Conlan lambasted them. And if they do take action against them, I am expecting a strong reaction from Irish team. Hopefully, something positive would come out from it. 

I think Sarita and Mary would both retire now. I feel for Sarita. She had to move 2 weight classes to accommodate Mary at 52kg and got a horrible draw in 2012 qualifiers. She was robbed in Incheon. After that, she was never going to qualify for Olympics. She was too emotionally drained. Also, AIBA would never have allowed her to win or even qualify for Olympics after that. 

For Tokyo, I have no hopes from Boxing. There are too many uncertainties. 

Field Hockey:

Going into Olympics, my expectations (hope) from Women's team was win the match against Japan. They drew that match. So, 50-50. There is no doubt that Hockey India should have handled the Ritu Rani situation better. We are still a long way from the top level but this Olympics should have given good exposure to the team. 

For the Men's team, I knew winning a medal was hard but heart was sure that we would break the drought. We played good hockey. Our fitness levels have improved a lot. We are no longer afraid against top teams and have victories against almost all the top teams in the last 2 years. But even with these many positives (may be because of them) this Olympics was one of heartbreak. The dying second draw against Germany was devastating. Full marks to the team for bouncing back with a win against Argentina. One does wonder what would have happened if we had managed to defeat Canada in the last league game and faced Spain in QF instead Belgium. 

We need to work on our defence. There are times when we simply fail to clear the ball and allow opposition insane amount of possession, especially if we are leading in the 4th quarter. Also, we need to reduce our dependence on PC for goals. 

Though Narinder Batra runs Hockey India like his personal fiefdom, he does take care of the players. Level of hockey in HIL is good and a large number of top foreign players also take part in it. It is a good learning experience for our youngsters. If Batra can control himself and not fire Oltmans for 4 years, I am hopeful, we can win a medal at Tokyo. 

I would also like to thank FIH and Leandro Negre for the way they have supported Indian hockey in the recent past. They worked with HI even when Indian government was giving affidavits in courts that it had no problem if there were 2 different Hockey federations representing India. They allocated a large number of events to India. India would have struggled to qualify for so many events but took part in them due to being hosts. (FIH did that because of the revenue potential from India). Taking part in those tournaments helped us a lot. 

Golf:

Don't follow the sport enough to make a comment. But would still like to laud the effort of Aditi Ashok. I didn't expect her to be so close to top after 2 rounds. 

Gymnastics:

4 years back, I didn't think I would see an Indian gymnast qualify for Olympics in the near future. 2 years back, I hadn't heard of Dipa Karmakar. This year, we started our Independence day by cheering her. She came agonisingly close to an Olympic medal and won a billion hearts. 

Road ahead for her is tough. Now, there are expectations. There are also indications that difficulty level of Produnova vault would be reduced. But, I am sure that Dipa and Nandi sir will overcome these challenges.

Rakesh Patra came close to qualifying. He was R1 for test event. So, with more focus, hopefully, we would have a male gymnast at Tokyo as well. As far as Nandi sir's claim (dream?) of 6 gymnasts for Tokyo. Fingers crossed. 

Rowing:

Dattu did a very good job by finishing 13th. 

We could have qualified a female rower as well but Rowing Federation of India didn't even send any female rowers to the qualifying event. RFI wants Army to find new talents, train them and keep them fit. It has done absolutely nothing to advance the sport. Still it has a problem if Army has internal selection trials and only sends selected rowers to Nationals. 

Sawarn Singh also showed a lot of promise in finishing 16th in London Olympics but after that he faltered. Hopefully, Dattu would not fade away like Sawarn. Also, we need to remember that we are nowhere near the best in Rowing. We are decent enough to win a couple of medals in events, which China doesn't enter, at Asian Games and win couple of Asian quotas to Olympics. Thats it. 

Shooting:

We did a good job in qualifying a large contingent. We had 6/6 in Men's Rifle, 5/6 in Men's Pistol and even managed to qualify 3 in Men's Shotgun. In Women's section, 2/4 in both Rifle and Pistol was not optimal but decent. Apart from the ones who qualified, there were atleast 3 to 4 more shooters who came close to qualifying. Among them, Elizabeth Susan Koshy was the most consistent and finished in top 20 in multiple World Cups in 50x3. So, apart from Women's Shotgun, rest was good. 

Since 1996, Shooting has provided us with the maximum medals in Olympics. This squad had past Olympic champion (Bindra), medallist (Narang), one of the most consistent shooter in the past 2 years (Jitu Rai). Almost everyone in the squad has qualified for finals at World Cup stage and a good number of them have won medal at WC level. Also, they have among the best training facilities (compared to other Indian sports). In the last 2 Olympics, our shooters did exceptionally well in finals. 2 medals and a 4th place finish in 3 finals in 2012, Gold in the only final in 2008. So, our expectations were even higher. 

But in Rio #Facepalm A good number of them were near top going into last series and then had a bad last series. It was very disappointing. Just 2 finals was not expected. 0 medals was shocking. It is hard to pin point what exactly went wrong. Law of averages? Nerves? Bad form? I honestly don't know.

Shooting is held at the beginning of the games. In the past, shooters winning medals has eased the pressure on others. This time, one wonders, what would have been the case had Jitu won a medal in 10m Air Pistol on first day. What if Bindra had won his shoot-off for Bronze. I think those near misses at the start demoralized the squad and rest felt tremendous pressure and wilted. 

We have a good structure in place. NRAI has appointed a team led by Bindra to study why we failed in Rio. (I am not a fan of this decision. Bindra was part of Rio squad and hence should not have been part of the team). There are a number of juniors who have shown good promise. Except Bindra (who has retired) and maybe Manavjit, Narang and Nanjappa (great respect for the way he came back from paralysis in 2013 to qualify for Olympics) others are still young and should be in reckoning for Tokyo as well. So, we have a good mix of experience and youth and should qualify in larger number for Tokyo. Also, hopefully, we will put this disastrous Olympics behind us and return to winning medals in Tokyo. 

Tennis:

Ever since, I have been following Tennis, it has been the same story. Paes and Bhupathi (now Bopanna) fighting. Forming team for Olympics and promising a medal. Failing to win one. The only thing that has changed is emergence of Sania Mirza. With her arrival, the legends found a new pawn to fight over, right to partner her in Mixed Doubles and try for a medal. In 2000, Paes/Bhupathi ran into Bryan brothers early on. In 2004, came 4th. In 2008, ran into an angry Federer in quarters. That was the last realistic chance for a medal in MD for two of the greatest Indian sportspersons of the last 20 years. They could never overcome their ego and hatred for each other and win Olympic medal. At their peak, they could have defeated two good Singles players as well, if they had good chemistry. But, alas their chemistry was gone in 2000 only. 

The way both of them (along with their fathers and Bopanna) conducted themselves in the run up to London Olympics was shameful. 

This time, I was disappointed that no one was able to qualify in MS. But, even there it is the same old story. Since the time of Ramanathan Krishnan, we have had promising youngsters. But no one (with the exception of Paes's Bronze in Atlanta) has come close to fulfilling their potential at the senior level. Just when we get hopeful about someone, he gets injured. And after injury, they just fade away. 

In this Olympics, I always knew that our only realistic hope was in XD. Even in that, I was worried that we will lose to a team of good Singles players. 4th seeding did give me hope that we may sneak a medal. But, in the end, my fear came true. Murray was tired for his match and hence, we were able to defeat him. Even in SF, Venus was rusty at the start and we won the first set but once, Venus found her rhythm we lost the game. I didn't watch the Bronze medal match, so can't comment on that. 

Going forward, Sania looks strong in WD but unless there is another decent women player, no chance of even competing for medal there. In MD, Raja/Sharan are decent but I don't think they can win a medal as well. Especially against good Singles players. We again have a small group of promising youngsters but given past track record, I am sceptical about their progress. 

Now, Paes and Bopanna should retire. They can continue to play on ATP circuit but should not be considered for Davis Cup and Asian Games. I think AITA should have done this after London only. They are still better than the others but we need a clean slate if we want to have any chance. 

Weightlifting:

I expected 1 lifter in each gender to qualify for Olympics. We did that. We came back strong in 2015 WC after a bad 2014 WC. We even came close to qualifying a second female lifter. (If Russia/Kazakhstan/Belarus were removed from WC rankings, there is a very good chance that we would have qualified 2 female lifters). 

Team selection was pretty straightforward. At present, Mirabai Chanu is our best lifter by a margin. She is capable of winning medal in Olympics/WC. She was a long shot for medal here as well. It was sad seeing her failing to register a lift in C&J. I feel that in Weightlifting, one should always try and get a valid lift, because even if you finish 4th or 5th now, there is a chance that in future you might get a medal. But, I understand that being too conservative is a difficult decision. When you are close to medal, you don't want to finish just outside medals and wonder what if I had started at a higher weight. She is still young and has the legend Kunjurani Devi as her coach, so she should get stronger from this experience.

Rest of the team is also progressing nicely. I am confident that we will have multiple female lifters in Tokyo. 

Satish Sivalingam just edged Vikash Thakur to become our sole male lifter in Rio. He broke his PB in Olympics, which is always a good sign. 

In Men's section, we still have to cover a lot of ground. We need a good team of 4-6 lifters to have any chance of qualifying multiple lifters. There are a number of youngsters who are good and have won medals at Junior and Youth World Championships. With proper training, hopefully they will transition to seniors nicely and we would be in hunt for multiple quotas at Tokyo. 

Also, a note on those who are talking about how Mirabai would have won medal if she managed to lift equal to what she was lifting in training. In competition, there is tighter body control, so everybody lifts lesser weight compared to training. Also, more pressure in actual competition. 

Wrestling:

Before Olympics, I expected 3-4 Freestyle, 2-3 Women's Freestyle and 0-1 Greco-Roman, so needless to say, I was more than happy with the qualification numbers. 

Now, before talking about Olympics, let me talk about the run-up to Olympics. Since his silver at London, Sushil was semi-retired and he had participated in only one competition: Gold in CWG. He also had to move up a weight class to 74 kg to accomodate Yogeshwar Dutt in 67 kg (Yogi had won Bronze in 60kg in London). This created a problem as Narsingh was improving greatly in 74kg. Sushil was injured or decided to skip WC in 2015 and Narsingh won the quota in his absence. Wrestling Federation of India, being star struck, promised Sushil a trial in 74 kg without thinking of consequences and going against its past practice. Now, there was a big time gap between WC and other qualifying tournaments, so no other wrestler had a problem with this promise. I think even Narsingh accepted it as fait accompli. But as other wrestlers started qualifying, there were demands for trials in their categories also. WFI now realised that there was no way it could hold a trial for only Sushil vs Narsingh. If it held that trial, it would have to hold trial for all the other quotas as well. Also, there would be additional hassles regarding who all are eligible for trials. So, it backed out of its promise. This angered Sushil and he went to Sports Ministry and courts to get a trial he was promised. By this time, Narsingh realised that WFI didn't want to hold trials and hence, he obviously also kept on insisting that there was no need for trial. There was nothing wrong in Sushil asking for a trial and Narsingh saying no to a trial. Both were correct in their stands. The problem was WFI. It should have declared a fair policy (trial or no trial) before Olympics qualifications began and stuck to it. If this results in Sushil not getting a trial, so be it. If this results in Yogeshwar losing to an unknown wrestler in trial and losing his Olympic berth, so be it. Stick to one policy during a cycle and modify it as needed for the next cycle. The only good thing to come out of this situation was that Sports Ministry (most likely out of fear of disappointing someone) refused to become a party to this decision. They rightly told that it was the job of WFI to select team and not Sports Ministry. 

Now, the other issue: Narsingh's positive test. I am not going to go into whether he took drug knowingly or unknowingly. I don't care. WADA rules are clear. He and his support staff hold full responsibility for everything he eats. I always said that once an athlete tests positive, s/he has to undergo a ban, even if conspiracy is proven. Sadly, a large number of supporters were not aware of this (not their fault). This created a huge public support for Narsingh which prompted even politicians to give support to Narsingh. ADDP got swayed by this popular support and gave an emotional decision in favour of Narsingh. This decision greatly eroded its credibility. Even after this decision by ADDP, WFI/IOA/Sports Ministry had a chance to correct the mistake. Someone should have stepped up and said that WADA will appeal the clean chit. CAS will ban Narsingh. Let us do damage control and send someone else. But alas, nobody wanted to take the unpopular stand and become public enemy. Now, conveniently whole blame can shift to foreign WADA/CAS for harassing an honest Indian and denying us a chance to win Olympic medal, when in reality, both were correct in their stand. 

Coming to actual Olympics, I never expected anything from our Greco-Roman wrestlers. Qualifying for Olympics itself was a big step for them. From here, we should aim to regularly win medals at Asian level before thinking of Olympics. 

In Men's freestyle, we only had 2 wrestlers: Sandeep and Yogeshwar. Both got bad draws. Sandeep faced Russian in first round and Yogeshwar faced Mongol (who would have won bronze if not for last second foolishness). I didn't watch Sandeep's bout so won't comment on it. Yogeshwar looked tired in his bout. It was sad that after winning 2 medals in London, we failed to win a single bout in Men's Freestyle in Rio. But, I feel that the pre-Olympics acrimony had a large role in it. 

The amount of progress we have made in Women's Wrestling is amazing. Sakshi showed great mental and physical strength to win multiple bouts after trailing. Its not easy to win a nation's first medal at an Olympics after so many legends and medal hopefuls have failed. Vinesh had a good draw and could have won Bronze (I don't think she could have defeated Eri Tosaka) but alas, she got injured and had to withdraw from the tournament. Phogat sisters have won almost all of our Women's Wrestling medals but failed to win our first Olympic medal. I am sure this will inspire Vinesh to come back stronger and win that elusive Olympic medal for herself, her sisters and her family. 

I think both Sushil and Yogeshwar will retire now. So, there will be a great void in our squad going forward. It is upto the youngsters to raise their standard and take Wrestling to the next level. Inspite of the incompetent WFI, I have hope. Sakshi's Bronze will inspire a lot of female wrestlers. We have good coaches (Mahabir Phogat, Satpal Singh and a few more). What we need is more depth in each weight class. Also, we need to work more on the higher weight classes. There are a number of young wrestlers who have shown promise and should improve in future. I hope after retirement, Yogi joins the team in a coaching capacity or opens his own academy. Road ahead is tough but the potential to grow is immense. 

Judo: 

We are nowhere near Olympic standard. In fact we only manage to win a bronze or two at Asian level. Unless something drastic happens, we will continue to get an Olympic quota (continental quota) and fail to do anything substantial at Olympics. 

Swimming: 

Our swimmers are improving a lot, especially our women swimmers. But, we are still so far from the top level, that a male swimmer dipping below A standard or female swimmer getting even B standard is a distant dream. Virdhawal, Sajan, Supriyo, Sandeep, Saurabh, Shivani and Maana are doing all they can. Hopefully, they will create the foundation on which future swimmers will achieve something. 

Table Tennis: 

We were able to qualify 4 paddlers only because of sub-quota for South Asia and withdrawal of top East Asian paddlers from Asian qualifiers. Once again, there is a lot of improvement but still a long distance to cover. 

Cycling: 

Some of our cyclists are ranked high in UCI World Junior lists (I still don't know how). In Deborah, we have a very good talent and with proper training, she has a decent chance of qualifying for Olympics. 

Fencing: 

Bhavani came close to qualifying in Rio and hopefully, with more support and experience, will be able to qualify for Tokyo. And inspire other fencers to raise their standard. 

Sailing: 

We have qualified a boat or two for Olympics in the past. So, there is hope that we will be able to bounce back from this disappointment and again qualify for Olympics (through continental quota). 

Volleyball: 

Only team sport, apart from hockey, where we have a distant chance of qualifying. Women's team is still very far from top at Asian level and it will take some time before we even talk about Olympic qualification. Men's team is very inconsistent. We have fought well against top Asian teams and struggled against weaker teams in the same competition. Till we get some level of consistency, we have no chance to qualify. But, we are near the top 5 in Asia and are capable of closing the gap. I think before we need to focus on winning a medal at Asian Games first and after that think about Olympics. 

As far as other sports are concerned, it will take a miracle (I am looking at you Dipa) to come close to qualifying. Hopefully, someone will force us to dream big and break all the barriers to put some other unknown sport on our radar. 

- Jai Hind

इसलिए मोदी

16 May 1996. I was just a small kid who had no interest in politics. An event, which took place that day, changed it. That day, I saw a certain pride and hope in my father's eyes as an old man said "Main, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, ...". At that time, I didn't know why my father felt that way, but it meant that I supported Atalji during his tenure as PM. It also started my interest in politics which has only increased with time.

By the time, 2004 came, I had been following politics for 8 years, and in my limited understanding, thought that NDA government had done a decent job. Also, I was in awe of Atalji due to his oratory. I was upset that I was not eligible to vote. I wanted to vote for Atalji as PM. Needless to say, I was sad when results came. The biggest disappointment was the fact that I would never get to vote for that visionary man. 

Over the years, as my understanding has increased (mainly thanks to social media and friends), my compatibility with BJP has increased. It is now not merely because my dad supported it. I support BJP on all three of the core issues (Ram Janmabhoomi, removal of Article 370 and implementation of Uniform Civil Code). I am appalled at the 'secularism' in which "tilak bhi lagana padega aur topi bhi pehenni padegi". I am ashamed at the 'preparedness' of our defence forces. I am angry at the way our economic progress of NDA years has been withered away. For me, these are the three main issues in these elections: Secularism, Security and Economy.

Let us start with the pet topic of so many who oppose Modi: Gujarat 2002. If BJP is communal because of Gujarat 2002, then what about Bhagalpur, Nellie, Hashimpura, Moradabad, Bombay, Muzzafarnagar? Even for 2002, what about Congress leader Haji Bilal, the chief conspirator of Godhra massacre? What about Meghsingh Chaudhary, another Congress leader, who led the mob at Gulbarga society and killed Ehsan Jaffri? Let me put it bluntly: India in general and Gujarat in particular has a history of communal violence. If we disqualified every party in whose tenure riots took place, we would be left with none. Moreover, 2002 riots are not a one-off incident for Gujarat. We used to have curfews every year. There was not a single Rath Yatra which would pass off peacefully. So, why this insistence that all others were spontaneous and only 2002 was state sponsored? In India, we follow the dictum of "Innocent until proven Guilty" but why in 2002 is it "Guilty even after proven Innocent"?

The past decade has been the only decade in Gujarat for a long time without a major riot. Does that count for nothing? Gujarat has the highest conviction rate, by a fair margin, among all the riots which have taken place in India. Does that count for nothing? Maya Kodnani is the only high profile politician to be sentenced in a rioting case. Does that count for nothing? Supreme Court appointed SIT has exonerated Modi of any wrongdoing. Does that count for nothing? Even after a decade of witch-hunting by Central government, media and 'NGOs', there is not even an iota of evidence against Modi. Does that count for nothing? 

There is a general perception that there is only one communal party in India and that is BJP. A party which watched silently when Kashmir was purged of Pandits is not. A party which rewarded (and continues to reward) people involved in killing of Sikhs in 1984 is not. A party which opposes Uniform Civil Code is not. A party which passed a legislation to deny Shah Bano a princely sum of Rs. 500, as maintenance, to pacify the Maulvis is not. A party whose Prime Minister started his re-election campaign by doing Shilanyas at Ram Janmabhoomi is not. A party whose allies include Muslim League and Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (of Owaisi fame) is not. A party which encourages illegal immigrants of a certain community is not. A party whose Prime Minister tells that minorities have first right on national resources is not. A party whose Home Minister asks states to go easy on Muslim suspects is not. A party whose ministers claim that the party president cried when she heard of Batla encounter is not. A party whose ex-CM and senior leader releases a book claiming that 26/11 was an RSS conspiracy is not. A party which promises reservations for minorities (even implemented in Andhra Pradesh only to be squashed by courts) is not.  A party whose president approaches Shahi Imam and gives a clarion call to Muslims to vote for it is not. A party whose minister even questions the existence of Indian Mujahideen is not. A party which gives student scholarships based on student's religion is not. A party which brings a bill which has separate laws for majority and minority communities in case of communal violence, irrespective of who initiated the violence, is not.

I dont know about others but atleast I have a problem with this definition of secularism. It is nothing but minority appeasement. It is this appeasement, which has widened the trust deficit between communities. It is high time, this pseudo-secularism ends. Terrorists need to be eliminated irrespective of their religion. Students need to be promoted irrespective of their religion. Law should be same for all irrespective of their religion. According to me, until Uniform Civil Code is implemented, we cannot achieve secularism in the real sense. At present, there is only one party which supports that demand: BJP. इसलिए मोदी

 

Now lets talk about security. China and Pakistan both are our enemies. They dont want India to progress. They both want Indian territories. This is a harsh reality, which we all should embrace. The present UPA government over the past decade has compromised our position greatly. To just give a small example of this, we dont even have a Navy chief for over a month now. Mr. Clean, St. Antony, has sat on files for so long that our armed forces dont even have enough ammunition. There has been no push for modernisation of forces. We still lack infrastructure in forward areas. Maoists are increasing their presence and striking capabilities at an alarming rate. The present government has even allowed Balochistan to be equated with Kashmir. The constant flip-flops on talks with Pakistan is nauseating. At times, it feels as if our foreign policy is: not to antagonise any one. At other times, it feels we dont have a foreign policy. Whatever the minister or the bureaucrats feel like, they do. There is simply no pattern to it. Is this the sign of a country which wants to be seen as a world power? (For a more detailed read on the problems faced by India in defence and foreign policy, please go through Jaideep Prabhu's articles)

In these difficult times, I want a hawkish government, which gives security the importance it deserves. I want a government, which, as Shourie says in his book "We Must Have No Price", can do a Kashmir on Pakistan in Pakistan, which does not believe in a tooth for a tooth but in full jaw for a tooth. George Fernandes was an excellent Defence Minister. Morale of the armed forces was high in his tenure. Not only was armed forces being modernised, we even conducted nuclear tests. In Shourie, Gen. V K Singh, Gen. Khanduri, Ajit Doval, BJP has persons who have the experience, knowledge and resolve to make the situation better. To ensure that our borders are safe. To ensure that Maoists are pushed back. To ensure that Pakistan know that if it continues to meddle with our lives, it will also have to pay a price. इसलिए मोदी 

I belong to a family of businessmen. In the end, money matters a lot to me. I dont want India to go back to the socialist era where the peak tax rate was as high as 97%. I dont want India to go back to the license/permit raj. I dont want India to go back to the Nehru growth rate of 2-3%. I dont want India to go back to the time when all banks were nationalised. I want more MNCs to come to India. I want Indian companies to compete with those MNCs. I want India to grow at 8-10%. For that to happen, we have to liberalise our markets even more. There has to be a massive disinvestment drive. Why should Government of India be running an airline? or a telephone company? or hotels? or give film awards? As many have said, Government has no business being in business. 

Atalji's government was the most reform minded government, we have seen. The reforms in NDA were not forced by impending crisis but were because of conviction in them. There was real divestment and not the type we have seen in the past decade, where PSUs buy government stake in other PSUs. There was a major boost to creation of infrastructure. Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana, Golden Quadrilateral, North-South and East-West corridors doubled our road network. There was also a large drive to achieve electrification of villages. Present BJP governments in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Goa and Rajasthan have taken forward the good work done by NDA. Madhya Pradesh is no more a Bimaru state. Agricultural growth seen there is heart warming. PDS system in Chattisgarh has improved a lot.

A lot has been written about Gujarat development. I dont know the GDP figures or Infant Mortality Rate or the number of malnourished kids. I know that there is no power cut. I know that almost all villages are connected by road. I know that villages have broadband connectivity. I know that now Gujarati women dont have to travel kilometers in scorching heat to get water. I know that recently Government of Gujarat has started creating toilets in rural households. I know that GoG has undertaken a special programme to reduce the prevalence of Sickle Cell Anaemia in Dangs area. I know that BRTS is running smoothly in Ahmedabad. I know that Gujarat is at present leader in both Solar energy and Drip Irrigation in India. I know that Sanand has developed as an auto-hub. I know that we Gujaratis are happy with the work done by the Government.

In short, BJP is the party which is most likely to bring in much needed reforms. BJP is the party which has done development in the states which it is governing. Modi has a proven record of doing things. Of delivering on promises. इसलिए मोदी 

To summarise, I am voting for Modi on the basis of the good work done by him and other BJP CMs in their respective states. I am voting for Modi on the basis of the good work done by Atalji's government. I am voting for Modi in the hope of a stable government. A government which will not compromise on national security. A government which believes in Development of all, Appeasement of none. Which believes in Minimum Government, Maximum Governance. Which believes in the following Idea of India:

I hope this May 16, 18 years later, कमल फिर खिलेगा, अँधेरा फिर छटेगा. I hope I would have pride in my eyes as I see the next Prime Minister of India take oath as "Main, Narendra Damodardas Modi, ...."

समर शेष हैं नहीं पाप का भागी केवल व्याध 

जो तटस्थ हैं समय लिखेगा उनके भी अपराध 

-- रामधारी सिंह दिनकर 

जय हिन्द

Thank You Sachin but Sorry Dhyanchand

Thank You Sachin for 100 hundreds. Thank You for close to 35,000 runs. Thank You for all the wins. Thank You for that six off Shoaib Akhtar. Thank You for Desert Storm. Thank You for lifting the spirit of nation at Chennai after 26/11. Thank You for that century against Kenya you made just days after your father's death. Thank You for 2003 and 2011 World Cups. Thank You for demolishing one the best bowlers of our times: Shane Warne. Thank You for all those timely wickets you took. Thank You for Cape Town, Sydney and Leeds. Thank You for Gwalior and Hyderabad. Thank You for giving us hope that till you are there no match is lost. Thank You for everything. You are a role model for so many persons. But, sadly, according to me, you dont deserve to be the First sportsperson to be given Bharat Ratna.


Does Sachin deserve Bharat Ratna? Yes. No doubts about that. But, does he deserve it more than Vikram Sarabhai, Homi Bhabha, Satyendranath Bose, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Verghese Kurien, Norman Borlaug, M S Swaminathan, Sam Manekhsaw, K M Cariappa, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan? Even if we restrict our criteria to only sportspersons is his contribution and achievements more than those of Dhyan Chand, Roop Singh, Leslie Claudius, Uddham Singh, Milkha Singh? Even if we restrict criteria further to only modern sportspersons what about PT Usha, Vishwanathan Anand, Leander Paes, Dhanraj Pillay, and Mary Kom?

 Dhyan Chand, Roop Singh, Leslie Claudius and Uddham Singh represent the only era when we were truly world champions in an Olympic sport. It was the era when we were Olympic champions for 32 straight years, won 8 Olympic Golds, 1 Silver and 2 Bronze. Our only other Olympic medal till 1996 was K D Jadhav's bronze in Wrestling in 1952 (not counting Norman Pritchard's 2 Silvers). At a time, when India was seen as a land of snake charmers and rope climbers, these players broke the stereotypes and showed the world what India is capable of. They are legends of not just India but of the sport itself. Before 2012 Olympics, when London tube stations were named after great Olympians, 6 were chosen from Hockey and 3 of them were Dhyan Chand, Roop Singh and Leslie Claudius. The reasons given for not awarding them Bharat Ratna are they are from a distant past, Nobody remembers them, Such awards should not be given posthomously. The very fact that they are forgotten makes the award necessary. Also, many persons have been given awards posthomously. Sardar Patel, Ambedkar, Maualan Azad had also passed away years before they were honoured. We could also give it to Dhanraj Pillay (according to me, the last of the long list of Indian hockey wizards) partly for his excellent play and partly in memory of those players, like Nobel committee did when they acknowledged their mistake in not giving it to Gandhiji while awarding Peace prize to Dalai Lama.

If we consider only the athletic career of P T Usha, then also she has achieved enough to deserve Bharat Ratna. She was the best Indian athlete for a decade. She won medals at international level and dominated proceedings at Asian level. If this was not enough, after retirement, she has been running a very successful academy. Her academy has already produced talents like Tintu Luka and Dutee Chand. Her exemplary contribution to the sport not only spans over 3 decades but is also an integral part of a better future for Indian athletics.

Vishwanathan Anand became India's first Grand Master in 1988. Today, when he is playing for his sixth world title match, we have 34 GMs and are ranked 8th by FIDE in country rating. Instead of repeating why I feel he is the best in world, I would just like to share what I wrote when he defeated Kramnik for his third Championship and first in Classical Matchplay. Since then, he has won two more Championships and inspired even more people.

Leander Paes is another player who is much underrated. Agreed he is not a great Singles player, not even the best Indian Singles player. But, he is the only Indian tennis player with Olympic medal, India's only second Olympic individual medal winner and that too after a gap of 44 years, and he did it in Singles. Along with Mahesh Bhupathi, he has been among the World's best in Doubles for close to 15 years. He has won a Grand Slam in three different decades. He has won a total of 14 Grand Slam titles. While playing for India in Davis Cup, he has given scare (Jonas Bjorkman, Petr Korda, Marcelo Rios, Greg Rusedski)  and even defeated players (Wayne Ferreira, Henri Leconte, Goran Ivanisevic, Jiri Novak) ranked much higher than him  in Singles, which is not his strong point. He (along with Bhupathi) have inspired the next generation of Indian tennis players, Somdev Devvarman, Yuki Bhambhri, Sania Mirza, Rohan Bopanna, Vishnu Vardhan, Raja Purav, Dvij Sharan and worked towards ensuring our future in tennis is in safe hands.

Mary Kom has won the World Championships 5 times. Last year when Women's Boxing was being introduced in Olympics, AIBA chose her as the ambassador for the sport. Such is her standing at World level. She won Bronze even though she moved up a weight class to compete in Olympics. It is mainly due to her, that India is considered a powerhouse in Women's boxing. We are 3rd in consolidate medal table for World Championships since 2001. And she did all this without any media attention or much support from Government or association.


One of the main reasons that is given for not awarding Bharat Ratna to Anand (Mary Kom and Paes are not even being considered by many) is that Anand is still playing. Fair point. But, if active players can be given other state awards (Padma Awards), if active players can be given Rajya Sabha seats (Sachin Tendulkar), if active players can contest elections (Krishna Poonia), then why draw the line at Bharat Ratna. This demand of retirement is not there for Bharat Ratna in other categories. If being active sportsperson is a strict no-no for Bharat Ratna, then will Sachin's Bharat Ratna be suspended, if he decides to make a comeback like Jordan or Schumacher?

When Sachin started playing cricket, it was already well established in India. We had won a World Cup. He had the guidance of Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Amarnath, Pataudi, Vishwanath, among others when he started. He had the company of Ganguly, Dravid, Laxman, Kumble while playing. He had a fairly decent board to take care of the small things. He didn't had to go looking for sponsors to participate in tournaments. Agreed that because of his popularity, he was also the only one who carried the hope of the entire nation when he played but he also had good help to cope with it.

There is a feeling among majority of the sports fans and non-cricket players, that in India, sports = cricket. This award sadly reinforces the same. And then we wonder, why we don't win Olympic medals. 

Sorry Dhyan Chand. 

Jai Hind

A case for small government

Today, Andhra Pradesh Governor accepted the resignation of two ministers Dharmana Prasada Rao and Sabita Indra Reddy. Dharmana Prasada Rao was Minister for Roads & Buildings while Sabita Indra Reddy was Minister for Home, Jails, Fire Services, Sainik Welfare, Printing & Stationary. A couple of weeks back Siddaramaiah alloted portfolios to his minister, Satish Jarkiholi got the Ministry of Excise. So, AP Govt. has a Ministry of Printing & Stationary and Karnataka Govt. has a ministry of Excise (in addition to Finance, Revenue and Ports & Inland Transport). If we go through the lists in detail, we would find a lot more ministries which make no sense. So, let us try and analyze the list of such useless Ministries of the Central Government. 

1. Ministry of New and Renewable Energy,

          

It seems this ministry was created so that Farooq Abdullah could enjoy being a Cabinet Minister while doing nothing. What are the New and Renwable Energy sources that we are looking at? Tidal? Geothermal? As far as I know, we don't have a central government policy on either of these. We do have solar/wind policies, but do we need a full separate ministry with a dedicated minister just for that? Hydroelectricity is also a renewable source of energy but it comes under Ministry of Power, which has a Minister of State with Independent Charge. There is also a Department of Atomic Energy, which PM is holding.

2.  Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs

According to their website, "The Ministry focuses on developing networks with and amongst Overseas Indians with the intent of building partnership with the Diaspora. Besides dealing with all matters relating to Overseas Indians, the Ministry is engaged in several initiatives with OIs for the promotion of trade and investment, emigration, education, culture, health and science & technology." 

For promotion of trade and investment, we have Ministry of Finance, Commerce & Industry, Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises, Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, Corporate Affairs, FICCI, CII and various trade forums. Similarly, for education, culture, health and science & technology, we have specific ministries. Also, all these services to Overseas Indians can only be provided with the help of Indian High Commissions and Consulates. So, why have this separate ministry? Shouldn't it be just a department in Ministry of External Affairs?

3. Ministry of Civil Aviation

The primary job of this ministry is to monitor the functioning of Air India, an entity that should have been closed years ago. It is a loss making enterprise that serves no purpose except as a source of corruption and misuse by politicians and bureaucrats. Apart from Air India, MoCA, also oversees the functioning of Airport Authority of India (which should be an autonomous body ensuring safety standards are met at airports and not running them) and Director General of Civil Aviation (also an autonomous body). Now, if these bodies are autonomous, why do we need a minister to oversee their work? 

4.Ministry of Shipping

The Ministry of Shipping encompasses within its fold shipping and ports sectors which include shipbuilding and ship-repair, major ports, national waterways, and inland water transport. In India, inland water transport is almost negligible. There are a total of 6 national waterways. Environmental and Labor concerns in ship building, repairs and breaking are taken care of by respective ministries. There is no need for government to be running shipping services and ports should be administered by an autonomous body like AAI. So, what exactly is this ministry doing?

5. Ministry of Coal, Steel, Chemicals and Fertilizers, Textiles, Petroleum and Natural Gas, Public Enterprises

Each of these ministries are there just to oversee the functioning of a PSU. What exactly does a Textile Minister do? If not for Coal Scam, how many of us would have even known that there is a separate ministry for coal? What policy decisions have to be taken in Steel Ministry? There is a separate Ministry of Mines, which should take care of utilization/allocation/auction of coal/iron ore mines. It should be converted into Ministry of Natural Resources and incorporate even Natural Gas blocks. Ideally, I would like government to divest their stake in majority of these PSUs but even if they want to continue doing business, then also we have a separate Ministry of Public Enterprises which should monitor these PSUs (having full autonomy).

6. Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Minority Affairs, Tribal Affairs, Women & Child Development, Youth Affairs & Sports, Development of North Eastern Region

This is a classic example of duplicating work. If Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment does it work efficiently, we don't need ministries dedicated to specific groups. If government wants to launch a scheme targeted at women of North East, which should be the nodal ministry? Tribal women belonging to minority community should be covered by which ministry? Why is there a need for separate youth affairs ministry? 

What exactly does the Sports ministry do? Each sport has their individual sports bodies. In multi-sports events we are represented by IOA. Why do we need Sports Authority of India which hires and pays coaches, maintains many stadiums and takes care of training facilities. Why shouldn't that money be given directly to the respective sports federations? All these ministries can be clubbed together as a single department under the Ministry of Human Resource Development (which could be separate from Ministry of Education).

7. Ministry of Tourism, Culture

Most of our biggest tourist attractions are historical sites which are maintained by ASI which comes under Ministry of Culture. Also, majority of the work of Tourism Ministry is done through India Tourism Development Corporation. Why can't ITDC be shifted to Ministry of Culture? As far as remaining works of Tourism Ministry are concerned (running hotels and restaurants), there is no need for government to do that. 

8. Ministry of Information and Broadcasting

There is no need for government to run television/radio channels, give film awards or administer film institutes. Censor boards should be made autonomous. Press releases can be handled by respective departments.

8. Ministry of Finance, Commerce & Industry, Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises, Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, Corporate Affairs, Consumer Affairs, Statistics & Program Implementation, Planning

Till now, I have not been able to understand what is the role of each of these ministries. Why cant they all be merged into a single or maybe two ministries? Having these many different ministries results in overlaps which results in delays. 

So, in essence, half of the ministries are there just to duplicate the work of another ministry or monitor the work of numerous PSUs, autonomous bodies and corporations. Since, for any work one has to deal with more than one ministry this results in delays and inefficiencies. Taking into consideration the various perks each minister gets, I think we would be much better off with a much smaller cabinet and giving real autonomy to corporations. 

Also, this problem is more severe at state level. Courts have reduced the problem somewhat by limiting the number of ministers but even the present figure seems to be bloated and there is score for further downsizing. 

Jai Hind

Rahul Gandhi: The ideal PM candidate of UPA

Recently, there was an article in Niti Central by Kiran Kumar assessing the performance of Rahul Gandhi as an MP. The gist of the article was that Rahul Gandhi has failed miserably in his duties as MP. This was due to the fact that his attendance in Parliament was low, he didnt ask too many questions or participated in debates. Also, his constituency of Amethi has very low human development index measures. After this the author goes on to ask if we would "dare to promote him to a higher responsibility role?" The response to the article in the comments section was overwhelming. But, I feel that the author and others have either not heard or have forgotten Dilbert Principle.

 

 Scott Adams himself explained Dilbert Principle as

That in many cases the least competent, least smart people are promoted, simply because they’re the ones you don’t want doing actual work. You want them ordering the doughnuts and yelling at people for not doing their assignments—you know, the easy work.

The present UPA government has been following the Dilbert Principle for almost all major promotions. Nobody is sidelined for incompetence, corruption or any misdemeanors. They are simply removed from the productive flow by promoting them. There are lot of examples regarding this. Lets look at some of them

Example 1: Pranab Mukherjee (Hon. President of India)

Previous  Job: Pranab held portfolios of Finance, Defence and External Affairs in UPA-1 and UPA-2. He also was the leader of LS from 2004-2012. 

Assessment of previous jobs: 

When his candidature was declared, Ram Jethmalani came up with two articles listing out why he didnt deem Pranab to be the President of India. (Link 1 2) The charges levelled by Ram Jethmalani vary from Emergency time acts to shielding Hasan Ali and others having black money. Even if we dismiss these claims as political in nature and without proof (which I think we should not), there is no escaping the fact that Pranab's tenure as Finance Minister has been disastrous for Indian economy. Levying of retrospective taxes, huge spending on doles, no action taken on black money issue, lack of vision while planning for the future, policy paralysis, etc. are some of the examples of the unsatisfactory performance of Pranab Mukherjee as Senior Minister and virtual number 2 in the Government. Also, there is the case of the controversial confidence vote of UPA-1. Pranab Mukherjee as the leader of the house is accountable for Cash for Vote as well. His conduct in that confidence vote shows how much respect he has for democratic institutions.

Reward: So, what was the punishment for making so many mistakes and failing as Leader of House and Finance Minister and tanking one of the fastest growing economies of the world? Promotion to President.

Example 2:  P. Chidambaram (Minister of Finance)

Previous Job: Minister of Home Affairs. Minster of Finance (2004-2008)

Assessment of previous jobs:

His first tenure as FM coincided with 2G Scam, Coal Scam and a host of other scams which were directly linked to Finance Ministry and government policy. Also, the burden on the Indian treasury due to populist schemes like NREGA and Farm loan waiver happened under his watch. (For those interested in how NREGA is damaging the food security of India, please read this article on Centre Right India). So, to punish him for all this, he was made the Home Minister. His work as HM was as worse as his work as FM. 

He failed to take any significant steps towards solving the Naxal problem. There has been no respite from bomb blasts which showcases failure of intelligence gathering. There is a clear trust deficit between state governments and central governments on a host of issues like NCTC, GST, etc. Chidamabaram is also responsible for the bad law and order situation in Delhi as Delhi police comes directly under Ministry of Home Affairs. Crackdown on Baba Ramdev and his supporters and arrest of Anna Hazare happened during his tenure as HM. Also, instead of tackling cross border terrorism, he was more interested in trying to find a saffron angle to every bomb blast.

Reward: Continues to be FM. 

Example 3: Kapil Sibal ( MHRD, Communication and IT Minister)

Previous Job: Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences

Assessment of previous jobs: 

In his present term as MHRD, Sibal has made no efforts to tackle the real issues plaguing the system. On the contrary he is destroying the roots of the education system in India. Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation system in schools and the change in the admission process of IIT-JEE are two prime examples of this. And how was he rewarded for these? By being given the additional charge of Communication and IT. 

As Minister of Communication and IT, he is working on a single point agenda of stifling any opposition voices. To do this, he blocked twitter handles of many users, search queries for Assam on Facebook and Twitter and even Indian Army Fan page on Facebook. He has also talked to ISPs about the feasibility of banning social networking websites in entire states.

And to add to it all, he comes with great theories like the zero loss theory in 2G. 

Reward: Continues to hold two very important portfolio.

Example 4: Sushil Shinde (Home Minister)

Previous Job: Power Minister

Assessment of previous jobs:

Dismal state of power sector. Majority of the states are power deficient. Transmission and Distribution losses are high. Still a large number of villages are not electrified. No onus on non-traditional forms of power.

Reward: Promotion to Home Ministry (Ironically this promotion took place just after the collapse of Northern and Eastern Grid)

Example 5: Vilasrao Deshmukh
Previous Job: Chief Minister of Maharashtra

Assessment of previous jobs:

He was the CM of Maharashtra at the time of 26/11 attacks. He is also one of the accused in Adarsh Scam. Farmer suicides in Vidharbha, increased attacks on North Indians, no improvement in infrastructure of Mumbai and large scale corruption are some other salient features of his tenure as CM.

Reward: Was asked to resign after 26/11 attacks but was reinstated as a Union Cabinet Minister. Held important portfolios like Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Heavy Industries, Science and Technology.

Example 6: Prithviraj Chavan

Previous Job: Minister in PMO, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, Department of Atomic Energy, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Ministry of Science and Techonology

Assessment of previous jobs:

He was minister in charge for the Antrix deal and Thorium Scam. Also, it was during his time in PMO that 2G scam took place in which there have been serious questions raised against PMO.

Reward: Made CM of Mahrashtra

Example 7: Praful Patel (Minister of Heavy Industries)

Previous Job: Civil Aviation Minister (MoS with Independent Charge)

Assessment of previous jobs:

Biggest achievement of Praful Patel as Civil Aviation Minister is the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines. According to an Economic Times report before merger, the combined losses of the companies was around 770 crores in 2006-07 which skyrocketed to 7200 crores in March 2009. He presided over the national carrier's decline and benefited from it.

Reward: Promotion to full Cabinet Rank

There are many such examples (Veerbhadra Singh, Shivraj Patil, etc.) wherein incompetent persons have been promoted/rewarded. As a result, there are many who are trying to outshine each other in uselessness. So, if Rahul Gandhi has to become PM candidate he has to beat the incumbent one. So lets review MMS to ascertain if Rahul Gandhi is ready for the top job.

Manmohan Singh (Hon. Prime Minister of India)

So much has been written about Manmohan Singh in the recent past that there is no way I can write something without being accused of plagiarising. But, still there are a lot of persons who swear by his integrity and knowledge of economy. To all of them, I would like to point out that many scams have taken place in his reign. Also, the overall parameters of Indian economy are down. There is policy paralysis. Now, either he knew all this and allowed situation to get so bad or he was ignorant. In either case, he has proved his incompetence.

Beating Manmohan Singh and other cabinet members was not easy. Apart from these, Rahul Gandhi also had to showcase that he is worse than Digvijay Singh, Manish Tewari et al. It took him 8 long years, continued absence from Parliament, silence on each and every issue of national importance, failures in UP and Bihar, many evidences of his low IQ (he once said Gujarat is bigger than UK in size), but I believe he has finally proved that there is no one who is more useless in Indian politics than him. So, in accordance with Dilbert Principle, he has really earned the right to be UPA's PM candidate.

  

Jai Hind