Offered a proper choice, the electorate shall punish the corrupt, the incompetent, and the arrogant - but also reward true performers. You cannot ask more of a democracy, says TVR Shenoy.
Where is the much-vaunted Congress 'high command, asks T V R Shenoy. Exactly where it was when Anna Hazare was shaking Delhi in August? Exactly where it was when the FDI-retail concern brought Parliament to a halt in November?
Trade analyst Vinod Mirani gives us the box office verdict for the week.
'The CPI-M faces multiple investigations, with the CBI, the SIT and the Kerala police pursuing different cases. It is said as many as 70 to 90 CPI-M leaders are under the scanner, and that as many as 30 of these leaders are under imminent danger of being arrested,' notes T V R Shenoy.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has invited New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to visit India with a trade mission.
While, the Congress is seemingly the biggest loser in the by-elections, they were other big losers, points out T V R Shenoy.
Team Congress says it opposes Team Anna's Lokpal recommendations because it could create a parallel system of government. If so, we should support Team Anna without reservation because right now we seem to have no government at all, says T V R Shenoy.
Anoop Menon and Joy Mathew along with Dulquar Salman and Namitha have given a decent performance in the film.
It is no longer about A Raja alone. It is not even truly about P Chidambaram. It is about rescuing Dr Manmohan Singh, says T V R Shenoy.
There was a clear polarisation of Christian and (especially) Muslim votes in favour of the UDF. This caused enough misgivings to start a consolidation of Hindu votes behind the LDF, says T V R Shenoy.
It is now on record that the Congress has a history of paying money -- call it 'donations' for 'cooperation' if you like -- to MPs from the Opposition benches, says T V R Shenoy.
By any rational reckoning the CBI has done the BJP an enormous favour by arresting Janardhana Reddy. It gives the party one more chance at redemption, says T V R Shenoy.
'The answer to that must lie between Dr Singh and his conscience,' says T V R Shenoy.
If Jaganmohan Reddy wins the Kadapa by-election, he may be able to destabilise the Congress state government in Andhra Pradesh. This may also have implications for the UPA government at the Centre, says T V R Shenoy.
'There are indications of two streams of money flooding the coffers of Kalaignar TV. The first was from DB Realty. The second, which is not yet publicly disclosed, allegedly involves a sum of Rs 50 crore from another participant in the purchase of 2G spectrum. Investigators are also looking at a seeming clue thrown up by the famous Radia Tapes.'
'Between 2000 and 2004 there were six recommendations to start proceedings against P J Thomas. After 2004 not only was there no such recommendation, but all mention of the Palmolein Case was wiped off Thomas's bio-data. There seems to have been a deliberate attempt to clear Thomas's record starting in 2004. The Manmohan Singh ministry took office in 2004. Draw your own inferences.'
One can easily understand just why Rahul Gandhi chooses to dance away from the minefield that is the ongoing brouhaha over the Lokpal Bill. But why is he silent on issues that specifically concern young men and women? asks T V R Shenoy.
One can easily understand just why Rahul Gandhi chooses to dance away from the minefield that is the ongoing brouhaha over the Lokpal Bill. But why is he silent on issues that specifically concern young men and women? asks T V R Shenoy.
The Constitution lays out a laborious process for removing a judge, deliberately so because it must never be done on a political whim. History shows that no Supreme Court or high court judge has ever lost office in such fashion. The best defence against judicial misbehaviour, to use the American term, is 'peer pressure.'
What do you make of the sheer fecklessness of the political class, those men and women that are supposed to be the pillars of our representative democracy? Why are they all seemingly blinded by folly? asks T V R Shenoy.
The prime minister, I believe, still enjoys a majority in the Lok Sabha if push comes to shove, but 'majority' and 'authority' are two different things. When you look at Dr Manmohan Singh you must now automatically insert 'lame duck' before 'prime minister,' says T V R Shenoy.
'How is this rush to decay to be halted before Indian universities become the laughing stock of the world, the (few) good ones unfairly tarred by the misdeeds of the worst of the lot?'
'Is there any truth to the rumour that the Income Tax authorities have traced a money trail to a senior politician down in South India?'
'Kerala may have the worst physical infrastructure -- potholed roads to overflowing drains -- of the four major southern states, but does anybody care? Given all this you may think Kerala's voters lack any options come Election Day. That would be a mistake.'
'Nobody denies the culpability of many bureaucrats and businessmen in the shrinking of our moral universe but at the end of the day it is the politicians who set the standard,' says T V R Shenoy.
'A defeat in the Hisar by-election would not make any difference to the numbers in the Lok Sabha for the simple reason that the Congress had not won that seat in 2009 anyhow. But alienating the Trinamool Congress (19 Lok Sabha MPs), the DMK (18 Lok Sabha MPs), and the Nationalist Congress Party (nine Lok Sabha MPs in addition to all the MLAs in Maharashtra) is another story. Those 46 MPs are crucial to the survival of the Manmohan Singh ministry.'
'Will Sonia Gandhi use the argument of retaining power in Delhi to over-ride her party's chances in Tamil Nadu, corruption be damned?' asks T V R Shenoy.
The Adarsh scam is potentially the more dangerous than the Commonwealth Games mess since it points to corruption in the armed forces. As a man whose personal integrity is beyond reproach, the defence minister must step in and stem the rot, says T V R Shenoy.
'The CBI suspects A Raja of favouring Swan Telecom, a wing of DB Realty. A chain of firms connected to DB Realty transferred over Rs 200 crore to a television network connected to M Karunanidhi's immediate family....'
'This is how it works in Delhi. Step One: Wait for a shortage to develop. Step Two: Run around squawking until the deafest trader on the global markets has had the message drummed into his ears. Step Three: Engage in panic buying from abroad at suitably inflated prices.'
'Is it too much when senior -- very senior --politicians fear the law so little that they accept payment through cheques, something that can be easily traced?'
Since Dr Singh did not explicitly tell A Raja to stop, the minister sped down his chosen road, says T V R Shenoy.
'Arjun Singh was chief minister of Madhya Pradesh back in 1984. He is still on Indian soil, and, presumably, available for questioning.'
Politically, the north and south are different planets, says T V R Shenoy.
The latest entrant into Kannada films is author and Infosys mentor Narayana Murthy's wife, who will be a part of Prarthane.
Is this the time to use India's forex reserves to bail out Dubai? The emirate might be grateful, but how would the others in the United Arab Emirates react? asks TVR Shenoy.
'It is an open secret that the mining lobby wields immense clout both in Karnataka and in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. It is no surprise that millions of tons vanished without a trace. (As did thousands of crores of rupees in lost revenue.) But it should be a cause for worry when the power of the mining lobby seemingly leads to the disappearance of honest officials.'
BSNL shall be bankrupt by the end of 2011, Indian Railways is bleeding; Air India has run up a total debt of Rs 40,000 crore. T V R Shenoy on the figures that tell the government's story.
Nitish Kumar made his reputation by focusing on development. Why is it that even he has to follow the hollow rhetoric of 'communal' and 'secular' when the time comes to woo voters?'
If the UPA or the Opposition wants the CVC out it must use due process of law, not insult and innuendo. Prosecute him if he is guilty, praise him if he is innocent, but at all costs respect the office that he holds, says T V R Shenoy.
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