Sunday, September 25, 2005

A Terrible week !

Here's the contest! Who screwed up the most in India last week? Afterall there seems to be a widespread urge to screw up! The week began with Advani announcing his decision to quit. While a change of leadership is not unwelcome for the badly bruised party, should it so publicly dance to the diktats from Nagpur? India needs a confident right wing nationalist party and it will be a shame if the BJP lowers its profile any further. Lets for a start have a younger leader take over as President instead of non-entities like Joshi or Apte. So how much money did you lose last week in the stock markets. Honestly I want to know how credible are the Indian stock exchanges. Is Mumbai any better than Karachi? A pakistani cricket commentator recently quipped that since Pakistan had won some match that day, the Stock markets were bound to rise the next day! Why would the government question market credibility every time there is a surge? What are the market regulators doing? Is it not their job to get rid of speculators instead of the politicians and the taxmen? Ok how many more should we get rid of the Indian cricket team...Zaheer, Lakshman, Saurav...who's next? The truth is Greg Chappell is immature and arrogant! Not the ideal characteristics for a coach. Agreed that Ganguly is past his prime and abrasive enough to disclose dressing room discussions. Time for him to say farewell. But how long has Chappell been the coach of India and how many controversies have we had? Why he is dishing out threats all the time, that he has identified the team of World Cup 2007 and everybody else should pack their bags. Why are we having selectors by the way? Whoever may have been right or wrong, it would be sad if Ganguly were to exit in disgrace because of the impatience of this arrogant Australian. Alright how long will this BCCI AGM soap opera continue? Which party will win the election? Congress, BJP or the NCP? Yeah I mean the BCCI elections!! And finally, how low can we go than voting in favor of the EU resolution on IAEA to refer Iran to the Security Council? Even Musharaff had the gal to critisize US last week. Worse 12 countries in the 35 member forum abstained from voting and one voted against. Will our abstaining costed us our much coveted nuclear deal with US? Has our so called "principled stand" on nuclear issues evaporated at the mere sight of some bones dangled out from Washington. Is some un-educated brawl by a US Congressman enough to bring us to our knees? First the Gas Pipleline, next the "Give Musharaff something to take home" nonsense and now this. I wouldn't be surprised if United States asks India to increase retail oil prices in the near future and we duly oblige them. Well that won't be bad actually!!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

2 comments, if I may make...
1. BJP - I admit I liked BJP at one point in time. But I think BJP is nothing but a upper-caste Hindu party which, if allowed to flourish, will end up cutting India into many pieces along religious lines. I liken it to the "upper-caste brahmins" which made the infamous class/caste divisions in the Indian social structure...in the past centuries...but which seems to exist even till today. My current assessment is that BJP is supported only by the upper-caste junta or the Brahmins of the country...
reality - they are like any other party.
verdict - ban it.

2. Saurav-Greg : sorry to say this, but your knowledge of cricket is questionable. If at all the email (published by rediff.com) is true...every statement made by Greg Chappell conforms to the views expressed by several cricketers who have played with Sourav over the past decade. Anyone remembers Sourav facing the aussie attack of the 1991 australia test series?
Are we blaming greg because he had the guts to talk about this? Or because he is an arrogant aussie who has the guts to talk about an Indian - a fellow country-man.

India and Indian cricket is bigger than 2 individuals. Can't blame Greg for these incidents. The 2 incidents (dressing room and the email incident) were meant to be "private talk" between Him, Captain and the BCCI. Little did he know...

Kudos to you on your views about India's voting at the IAEA. India doesn't have Musharraf's balls(apologies). India has betrayed a friend - Iran...

Balaji Chitra Ganesan said...

Upper Caste junta and the Brahmins voting BJP to power twice?! hmm...

On Sourav-Chappell spat, I didn't defend Ganguly, but only made the point that Chappell doesn't seem to have the right attitude to be the coach.

Balaji.

Anonymous said...

Voted twice? I still think it was a coalition government. E.g: a big chunk came from Telegu desam and Mr. Fernandez's party. How can we conclude that the mandate was for BJP? BJP can never come into power on their own because of the fact that it is a upper-caste/brahmin supported party. Do I have any other way to prove this? mmm, maybe my political roots...

Coalition government is just arm-twisting democracy to suit a party's march towards power. The Congress party, despite not winning many seats since the last general elections, are in power today.

Ofcourse, once a Gandhi is projected as the next leader of the country, Congress is bound to rule India...again. Not that I am a great fan of congress, but here goes my prediction: Priyanka Gandhi is the next big thing in Indian politics.

Only congress could ever dream of support from the masses...

Sourav - Greg: If the email sent by chappell is authentic, this discussion is moot. It was a "private email" which contained concerns expressed by a coach to the BCCI. It is the job of the coach to send in a report to the mgmt after each tour (this can be verified). Greg, IMHO, was just trying to explain certain incidents that took place.

Interesting comments from you...

Balaji Chitra Ganesan said...

I see that you are a Congress supporter may be even an activist. So you may not be interested in my advices to reform the BJP! Greg-Chappell controversy seems to arise passion everywhere. There are others too who have argued with me. If one were to shrugg off the mob mentality of demanding the Captains head (We did that to Azhar and Sachin too!), we can easily see that the Indian team will be better served getting rid of both Ganguly and Chappell.

Anonymous said...

No, I hate congress and everything it stands for. You got me wrong there...I merely commented on the realities. But given the BJP and the Congress, I think BJP is more dangerous for the country than the congree. I repeat, I am not a congress supporter...

To recapitulate again, I am *NOT* a congress supporter, I am just saying BJP is a party built on hatred for muslims. India can not wish away the 21% muslim population.
BJP is *NOT* the political party we all want to challenge the congress.

My dream is to see an alternate political party which can become an effective 2nd front (a 3rd front is even more welcome) and challenge congress, beat it, and take India forward. BJP is not the answer.

Greg Chappell (I have followed cricket enouugh to know about Greg, and his brothers - Trevor and Ian) is know to be a stickler for fitness, known for his honest forthright comments. If BCCI wanted Greg, then they should take what comes with him - honesty, forthrightness, and the aussie spirit. (Mind you, I am not a "white-skin-lover".) As far as I can see, Greg was just doing his job:
1. gave sourav an honest opinion when he was asked for.
2. sent an honest report to the BCCI on his observations.

I think our Indian mentality is to just "let the issue pass" rather than address it boldly. The famous Chalta hain attitude...