Thursday, June 28, 2007

Pratibha - Not for President!

Its deja vu. Three years ago when UPA scored a surprise victory in the General Elections, the nation and its media were stunned. But they nevertheless recovered quickly to mount a snap campaign against Sonia Gandhi becoming Prime Minister. Whether that campaign had any effect on Sonia changing her mind is something we'll never know. But it was a job well done.

We then got a Prime Minister in Manmohan Singh who despite his numerous failings is not someone I'm ashamed of. Its now time to get our act together again. India's otherwise defunct media has mounted a campaign to expose Pratibha Patil. The bloggers have picked up the mantle now.

In 2004 too, I had sent a mail to some hundred friends of mine, urging them to sign a online petition against Sonia Gandhi becoming PM and also to write to the President on his web page. It was perhaps a waste of everyone's time! But silence in the face of injustice is no option at all. So here, I fully support the 'Pratibha - Not for President' campaign.


I urge you to pass the word around. We may not achieve anything with this, but atleast our conscience will be clear. On the 60th year of its Independence, my country doesn't deserve a President who 'speaks to ghosts'.

More on this,

1. You can get the above banner here.
2. Amit Varma on India Uncut.
3. Nitin and Yossarin on National Interest.

10 comments:

அ. இரவிசங்கர் | A. Ravishankar said...

didnt know that u write so often and so well in english.. subscribing to GR.

Balaji Chitra Ganesan said...

thanks. 'often' has been quite out of order these days. i tell myself to write one decent post every few weeks instead of the crap I normally turn in!

Anonymous said...

"I tell myself to write one decent post every few weeks instead of the crap I normally turn in!"

Glad to know you admit that what you write is CRAP. No one else can agree with you on this more than I do.

1 Tamilian, a fugitive sandalwood smuggler.
2 Tamilians, a suicide-bomb squad.
3 Tamilians, a classical music school.
4 Tamilians, a Jayalalitha fan club.

PS. Your turning moderation on doesnot affect my coming to your blog and leaving comments as what I write is for you only to read. Well, if others get an opportunity to read it too, better. My purpose is solved anyways. May "Rajrajan" bless you.

Balaji Chitra Ganesan said...

these days I prefer using 'Tamils' to denote Tamil people instead of 'Tamilians'.

Arun said...

"decent" and "crap" posts are all relative to the reader. for me this one is a "crap" post , so is all news/current-affiars to me.
But atleast u r a good citizen-glad that u are conscious/care-much about whos being president than most ppl .

Anonymous said...

History of Pratibha Patil

FlyingHigh said...

I sent the banner to a few people....when they had just announced her name , I made a statement that she might make a good president. Had to eat my words later.

-Shradha

Anonymous said...

I don't know why NRIs show so much concern about what happens in India. If you guys have such love for your homeland, what in the first place took you away from it? It definately cannot be the love for your country that drove you out of it.

Balaji Chitra Ganesan said...

yeah, lets start abusing India from now!

Arun said...

anonymous, balaji has done enough good to india by leaving the country.