Audience posts today

Baba Ramdev, corruption and the wisdom of the UPA’s crackdown at Ranlila maidan were predictably the stories that got the most comments today. There was anger, justification, disappointment and much debate expressed in extremely impassioned and articulate ways across all our properties. Thank you, as always for your comments and opinion. This is our selection of comments that impressed us today:

Via @firstpostin

@uday_laments

Lol. He also gave a lengthy pre planned reply! RT @firstpostin: #JanardanDwivedi says the shoe assault was pre meditated

@media_hippie

how much ‘pre-meditation’ do u need to throw a shoe RT @firstpostin #JanardanDwivedi says the shoe assault was pre meditated

@PunditComment

Aren’t you tired of the shoe-throwing? So first decade.  RT @firstpostin Shoe thrown at Congressman Janardhan Dwivedi.

Via Facebook

In response to:

Mayawati bars Ramdev from holding protest in UP

| Nilaya Shanker Mayawati playing a double game plan::as what baba is doing is totally justified .. She is just trying to woo UPA as election  are coming in UP and she may need congress to form govt. 

On Articles

K Raman In the short term, the Government seems to have won even though many people may contest this claim of mine. But if one looks at it carefully, the Government has clearly created a wedge between Anna Hazare team and the Baba. The presence of Sadhvi Rithambara and the open support of RSS-VHP obviously has let the cat out of the bag. Now the Baba is safely tucked away in Haridwar where obviously he is not going to get the type of attention he would have got in New Delhi. He cannot enter New Delhi for minimum of 15 days now…In the meanwhile, ED, CBI and all other agencies will be let loose on him, quite deservedly. A man who owns a private island in scotland, has an annual turnover of Rs 1000 Cr and flies around in private jet would obviously have a few skeletons in his cupboard…In the next 10 days, one after the other the skeletons will tumble down…The Baba could be fixed in that way…And already Mayawati has not cleared his entrance into UP which is all the more important if he needs to keep his relevance in the whole matter.

Now coming to Anna Hazare and team, the Government has clearly sent out the message that if they mess around, then they too will meet the same fate as the Baba. Mr Shanti Bhushan’s statement that the Prime Minister and the Government has to resign is not helpful to say the least…Now with what face will this team go back and discuss with the same Government on Lokpal Bill?

The Delhi Police (which is under the control of Central Government) has already imposed Section 144 which means that the permission for Anna’s fast on June 8 could be turned down…The team can appeal in the courts against such a ban but then they cannot hold the sit-in on June 8…and the Anna team has said they are boycotting only the June 6 meeting…So June 8 will come and go…and then the Government will fix another round of meeting based on their convenience…In the process, a few more days will pass and obviously the deadline for completing the Lokpal bill will not be met…So the process will go on and on, which is what the Government actually wanted…

In my opinion, the whole blame should lie at the door of the Baba…He wanted to upstage Anna Hazare and portray himself as the biggest leader of India…sadly he does not realise the power of a sitting Government in Delhi…

What are the long term prospects of Manmohan Government?

It depends…I believe Congress will junk DMK and go all out on the 2G and CWG scams; they will also come out with a draft Lokpal Bill which will be circulated amongst political parties but will never reach consensus as in the case of Womens’ Reservation Bill…Mulayam and Lalu and Jaya and Maya and Mamta will play into Congress’s hand…

Where would that leave BJP? If they win a respectable number of seats in UP Assembly elections next year, then they may have a role to play in the future…if they abysmally fail in the UP elections in 2012 (which is what I think), they will be badly mauled and that may be the time Manmohan would be waiting for to strike at the BJP…

Now tell me, who has won this battle…Not sure…

But definitely, I know the loser…that is the aam aadmi!

Anamika

Yes, the action against Baba Ramdev was not the best thing that the Congress should’ve done. But politics aside, do people really go with Baba’s demands from the UPA? I think not. First of all, what does abolishing of Rs.500 and Rs.1000 currency notes have to do with any kind of reform at all? And promoting Hindi “at the expense” of English would not help the country move forward in any way, in the long run, considering how increasingly globalised things have become. And the one question I couldn’t get out of my head is this: If these concerns were of such vital importance to Baba Ramdev and co, why did he not bring up this issue and protest when the BJP were in power? To me, this demonstration of Baba Ramdev is just an act of the Sangh Parivar, whether or not in alliance with the BJP is not known yet, to disrupt peace and to cause the Congree-led UPA regime to seem like a period of chaos and corruption.

I think the Baba should do what he is best at doing - sit in his Ashram and teach yoga to his students, and charge Rs.50,000 for each session from each student. His belief of yoga being able to ‘cure’ homosexuality and that yoga and ayurveda can cure any kind of illness, is like I said, his belief. I don’t think he has the right to impose that onto the one billion-odd population of the country. It should be upto the people to choose what they want to use. Democracy, you know.

And I don’t believe that the common man would prefer to back the Baba in all his demands from the Government. While some of them make sense, some of them are extremely bizarre, and cannot be implemented in a nation like ours. If he wants people to shift to using Ayurveda medicine, I think he should work on making the people believe in its efficacy and that it’s a better alternative to Western medicine, before taking such outrageous demands to the Government. And yes, I would love to see how he cures a cancer without Western medicine.

Posted on Why the Congress wooed and then shooed the Baba away

Espad

The electoral arithmetic in India in these days of coalition Governments is based on just one parameter - “index of opposition unity”. UPA or NDA have to form electoral alliances to ensure that there is a straight fight between nominees of just these two alliances, without any third party in the fray to split votes. Regional parties,free as they are of any ideological hangups, join either the UPA or NDA based on their assessment of the relative strengths of the Congress or the BJP. Given the current political scene where the Congress is mired in corruption scandals, total paralysis on the policy front and grossly incompetent governance (most importantly in its inability to stem raging inflation), regional parties who matter (like the AIADMK in Tamilnadu, TRS and YSR Congress in Andhra, BJD in Orissa, AGP in Assam, Ajit Singh in UP and INLD in Haryana) may find it in their interest to align with the BJP rather than with the Congress.

Neeraj Kumar Singh

Whatever happened last night, was one of the saddest day in Indian diaspora and make alive the day of Jaliawala bagh accident into my mind. Here the role of General Dyer has been played by current government. What has been to our democracy? Is the current government governing in a democratic way? If this is called democracy then before 1947, what was ?

After seeing all this sad and gloomy moments in India’s perspective, the zeal within myself excites me to stand upfrontly to get the freedom again to establish real ‘Ramrajaya’ for which our veteran Mahatma had dreamed for.

As far as, I know the dharna was very peacefull, and a huge gathering was there to support the movement against corruption, black money hoarders and unethical behaviours in our bureaucratic systems. There was nothing wrong there. Why the government felt insecured and took a barbaric step to toe down the movement. I don’t understand what the people in power understand and want to rule by force even to the fact that they were their own people.

The people in Govt. have been proudy and haughty and want to denounce all voices even if it be against the corruption and cornering the money of poor citizen of India. As if anything be hard and rigid, it has only option to break, the proud of these people in power would be broken one day. Only the generous and flexible can make their way forward and rule in democracy.

There is a time. The govt. should come forward actively and pardon for what happened last night. Otherwise, the clock is ticking, if no action taken within time, the water will go above head. A big or you can say mammoth retaliation against would follow to topple the govt. down.

It is a democracy, and no autocratic policy and thought would get the space here.

Posted on Brutal attack on Baba backers may backfire on government

Trueindian Ofindia

Dear Mr. Jagannathan,

Great post.You have analysed the whole issue and the Congress

ideology perfectly. Anyhow no good can be expected from a party which has taken over

the role of the British of dividing people after Independence. I feel only the colour of the skin

has changed, the Congress is very much the British in mindset and ideology, only wearing the

Indian mask. Unfortunately the ordinary illiterate Indians have still not recognised their true

colours,not been able to see thru their masks and hence have voted them each time and

then suffered. The only thing that can save this country from these anti-nationals is that the

people should vote them out totally for a minimum of 15-20 years, so that our country gets

the time to heal the wounds on its mind and body,which have been inflicted by these

Congressmen.The only hope or way out for us Indians is not to vote for corrupt and anti-

national political parties like the Congress and its allies and all those parties which want to

allign with the Congress in the future.

Posted on Why the Congress wooed and then shooed the Baba away

Cmclvr Kuppur The civil society leaders must take note of the fact that corrupt and opportunistic Congress can boot them also like they have booted out Baba Ramdev.The civil society is on slippery ground. A strong moral stand backed by huge public support can do nothing to thieves and looters from outside constitutional framework. As legal and constitutional provisions are fully in favour of them, they claim to be the real representatives of people doing what people like even when they’re looting the wealth of the nation. Using this pretext, they will yield nothing and when it comes to the crunch, they can boot out anyone. Mr. Anna Hazare’s team must end their talks with this unscrupulous Govt. They can, at best, get a Joke Pal and nothing more. It’s also useless to sit for dharna, fasting etc as servants turned masters will not listen to beggars.

Indian public is fed up with what is going on and is certainly enthusiastic to support an agitation for democratically bringing about constitutional changes to hold elected representatives accountable to tackle corruption and other abuses. It’s a long and arduous task needing patience and great leadership. Democracy is just not electing some elite once in 5 years and sit quiet allowing the corrupt to do whatever they like. It’s just that now as the role of opposition no longer exists due to systemic corruption cutting across party politics. It’s this failure that resulted in Baba Ramdev and Anna Hazare making a desparate Gandhian entry. The democratic election process itself is rigged in favour of some corrupt elite. Therefore, the changes must start from electoral reforms. A sustained agitation must be conducted seeking nationwide referendum to introduce various checks and balances like the Lok Pal to function as part and parcel of our democratic process. The direct will of People is Supreme and not the Parliament. People must take back their powers and fix the corrupt usurpers immorally lording over them in the guise of their representatives after abuse and subversion of constitution in the form of innumerable amendments.

If it’s not possible to bring about constitutional changes, it’s better to allow the corrupt to have their way till the system collapses under its own excesses. Such a stage and situation is extremely dangerous. What else is left for the helpless people when the corrupt elite are abusive, adamant and bent upon destroying our democratic system?

_Posted on Why the Congress wooed and then shooed the Baba awa_y

Da_Scribe

Rafa has once again proved that even if in his own words he is not at his best, he is the king of clay. Roland Garros has become like a backyard for Rafa. Congratulations Rafa. U have shown yet again that you rule The French Open. Roger, well tough luck. I guess it must be slowly sinking into him that he will never manage to beat Rafa on the clay court’s showpiece tournament. But Roger has proved one thing by the reaching the final and proved his critics wrong. They were many who were saying that the days of Federer are over. But this performance in French Open has shown its anything but. Come on Roger. The entire season is up in front of you. All the Best. You will soon head to Wimbledon, which is like a back yard of your own. Go on master it. It would be a treat to see you lift the grass court title once again.

Posted on Nadal beats Federer, lands sixth French Open title

Ngunaseelan

whatever the actions taken on baba ramdev is 100% correct and justified by the government.If the Govt is inactive then we can see more number of people with differenct types of demands will start their campaigns to show their power. So the steps taken by Govt is welcomable and babas should be put into jail and should be applied to all whoever take laws into their own hands.

Posted on Baba thanks SC for issuing notice to Govt

Gvaidya55

you reap what you sow!!! MU .KA as he is affectionately called lamented about a conspiracy from Himalayas to kanyakumari to finish his family and his party the moment his daughter got lodged in jail. . Drama enacted by MU KA the great script writer for the last 5 decades in Tamil nadu. 1,Raja is Innocent and it is the sabotage of the upper castes to unseat him.the moment kani is lodged in Jail Kani’s lawyer argues Raja is the perpetrator and chief planner of the entire scam . Has Raja beeen solemnized as an upper caste??? 2.the same card was played by MUKA when Justice Dinakaran was being probed for his murky and surreptitious land deals. 3. Srilankan tamils are his co born by convenience to enact resignation drama to tackle and handle the centre and have the Morsels of power, 4. The passionate cause of tamils is taken up only once when ministry formation happens with his dedicated wheel chair presence to get ministerial berths for his own siblings and Grand nephews.Till These are obtained Centre is kept guessing on his support and his famous script “we will give conditional support from outside”. 5.The state of T.N was converted to family owned business zones by district and every Industry was targeted for loot and again the famous script was " why are people raising eye brows when my family members earn through legitimate businesses" unquote . Look at the number of films getting released without the family banner in the T.N . Film Industry. 6.can one forget the torture meted out to an IAS officer for not towing the family line refusing to dole out favours for sumangali cable vision and also the fish trawler purchase suddenly getting suspended on the grounds of false community certificate. 7. The list is endless but last but not the least when J goes to jail after getting arrested by the DMK govt “The law has to do it duty and every body is equal before it and J gets compared to Mrs Marcos of Philippines.unquote Now When KANI is in jail " she is a woman and well educated and needs to tend her son " It was my mistake to make her a share holder in Kalaignar TV”. The mistake is not that of MUKA but that of people of T.N who were made to wake up from slumber by all the inappropriate actions during the previous regime and it was a WAKE UP CALL really Given BY MUKA.. Vaazhga TAMIL Valarga TAMIL NADU IPOZHUDAVADU. THEETHUM NANRUM PIRAR THARA VAARAA

The above literaly means *1 long live tamil and let tamil nadu grow atleast frm now on *2 good or bad do not come on their own bcoz of otherz !!!!!! U REAP WHAT U SOW!!!!!!!

Posted on Kanimozhi arrest: Bruised Karuna sulks, guns for Centre

Abhishek Bansal

Are we in a new kind of Dictatorship?? When Rahul Gandhi was in UP protesting against the land acquisition in a place where 144 was already in act and still he was not banned from coming to that place for 15 days..even though the protest had turned violent. Then why Ramdev Baba is banned..just because for the first time someone is raising an issue that really matters..? Just because these good for nothing ministers are all to be crucified once it is declared who all are having accounts in foreign banks..? God Dammit..its our money..we work day and night..we pay our taxes and they steal our money, put it and some other nation’s bank’s and when some asks them to bring it back..they barbarically beat up that person..isn’t it whats called ‘Dictatorship’..?

Posted on Why the Congress wooed and then shooed the Baba away

Prahlad Chandra Das I feel this analysis is partially agreeable, because, all politically Fascist forces in the human world make such tactics to gain short term benefit. But history has repeatedly provd that such type of anti-people tactics always back fire after sometime in a very ruthless manner. For example 1.Soviet occupation in Afghanistan, 2. USA led anti-soviet war in Afghanistan. 3. Rise and fall of Hitler, 4. Assassination of Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi. etc. So, it high time for Congress party to abandon such nasty game for ever. At last, People’s power is the supreme. So, Lenin told, you can fool some people all the time, all people for some time, but you cannot fool all people for all the time.

Posted on Why the Congress wooed and then shooed the Baba away

Arun Kumar N Dear Jagan,

I fully appreciate the role of Parliament and other institutions. Unfortunately, they have let down the people for far too long. They have failed to tackle corruption sincerely. Civil sociey has a deffinite role and space. Does my role end with mere casting a vote once in five years? Can I not be involved and engaged during the intervening period? The governmentt MUST listen to the credible voices from civil society. Who constitute civil society? You guessed it right - everyone indeed. The govt must certainly talk with eminent citizens of unimpeachable integrity and character. Arun Kumar N

Posted on Anna Hazare and co. walk tightrope after Ramdev’s exit