Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's graduation to the Centre will end drift and confusion, says Virendra Kapoor
It is left to the BJP to bolster its claim of being 'a party with a difference' by adhering to minimum standards of political morality. Given the long series of multi-billion-rupee scams of the UPA, the principal opposition party would undermine its anti-corruption campaign by persisting with Nitin Gadkari as its president, says Virendra Kapoor.
Having seen the spectacular failure of Rahul Gandhi in the UP assembly election, is that 'what' Salman Khurshid is suggesting is Priyanka Gandhi? Like habitual gamblers, Congressmen are reluctant to let go of the apron strings of the family and, therefore, keen to try their last dice in the photogenic Priyanka, who seems promising only because she remains largely untested, says Virendra Kapoor
If Nitish Kumar is calling Narendra Modi names to endear himself to the minorities, or for severing ties with the BJP, he ought to be most welcome. The problem with the BJP is that in the face of persistent abuse that it is communal, it has developed an inferiority complex, forcing it to be on the defensive, says Virendra Kapoor.
'At the end of 2011, everyone had forgotten the so-called India Story and double-digit growth. Outside the members of the official economist clique, led by the prime minister's sidekick Montek Singh Ahluwalia, no economist predicts that GDP will grow at nine-plus percent. The last quarter saw growth slip alarmingly. At this rate, instead of Ahluwalia's 9% we will soon be back to the Hindu rate of growth of 3.5%,' notes Virendra Kapoor.
The fact that S P Gupta was a former client of P Chidambaram is not germane to the controversy. The withdrawal of the cases in itself was scandalous. Not one of the three cases against Gupta impinge on the wider public interest, says Virendra Kapoor.
To fight communalism, you cannot have two standards, one for the so-called secularists and the other, and far more stringent and unreasonable one, for the alleged communalists, says Virendra Kapoor.
'Praise me, condemn me, but do not ignore me. Given that the Congress party has a whole army of office-bearers, a vast majority of Indians would find it hard to name even a couple of them. But you can bet that they will readily recall the name of one general secretary: Digvijay Singh. Fame and notoriety being two sides of the same coin for present-day politicians, Singh would not mind being abused by the 'aam aadmi' so long as he enjoys a fair recall value.'
Do not defend corruption by advancing specious arguments as to who is authorised to speak for the people.
The overall message of the assembly election is certainly anti-UPA insofar as it was the endless series of corruption scams that determined the 2011 outcome, says Virendra Kapoor
The ruling dispensation seems to have plumbed the depths of depravity following the constitution of the Lokpal panel. Whatever residual respect that one might have for a 'clean' prime minister was lost once a carefully orchestrated campaign of calumny was unleashed against civil society nominees on the Lokpal panel, says Virendra Kapoor.
When educated ministers like Kapil Sibal and P Chidambaram are forced to defend the indefensible it shows a certain desperation in the top power structures in the ruling UPA, says Virendra Kapoor.
'As a lobbyist, she was within her right to co-opt whoever she deemed fit in her enterprise to service the interests of her clients. She broke no law. If she did, by now she would have been charged since these tapes belong to early and mid-2009.'
'Singh has two options. Either he asserts the authority of his office or makes way for someone who is not a proxy for the Family and can command the Congress Parliamentary Party's loyalty.'
'Officially, Suresh Kalmadi had only Rs 6.7 billion to play around with as the Commonwealth Games boss. As against this, Sheila Dikshit's government was allocated Rs 16.56 billion to upgrade the capital's infrastructure in time for the Games.'
'Unlike the present system under which every minister does her/his own thing while Dr Manmohan Singh minds his business, prime ministers from the Nehru family were truly in control of their governments.'
Because Indian Kashmiris have not allowed peace a chance in 60-plus years despite thousands of crores of taxpayers' money wasted on mollycoddling them and despite their being accorded a special status under Article 370, the time may have come to totally overhaul our Kashmir policy, suggests Virendra Kapoor.
'Vajpayee was the last of the national leaders. They do not make leaders of that calibre any longer. Maybe astute sociologists will undertake a study of the inverse link between a growing economy and a depleting leadership pool.'
In first year of the UPA-2, non-performance is visible in all areas of governance, writes Virendra Kapoor.
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