Prospect of Mid-term Elections for BJP

There is a sense among the BJP’s number crunchers that a mid-term election will see them wiped out right now. Narendra Modi will at best be able to reinvigorate the party’s workers, but not convert charisma into votes for the BJP, except for maybe Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra to an extent. Unless the BJP gets 240 on its own, even 200 at the minimum, Narendra Modi cannot become PM as he is largely unacceptable to crucial BJP allies like Nitish and Jaya.
The calculation is that the Congress will also be hit badly, but will fare marginally better than the BJP at this moment in time.
So with Mulayam and Mamata benefiting the most in UPA, and Nitish, Naveen and Jaya benefiting in the NDA, is there just a sliver of a chance that Pranab might just break away and become PM?

Wild Card in Race to Raisina?

With Pranab Mukherjee’s stature rising with every twist and turn in this Race to Raisina, can Sonia Gandhi pull out an ace from the cards she’s been dealt? And will Meira Kumar, the ‘Dalit ki Beti’ be that ace up Sonia’s sleeve? Will she get a wild card entry as the UPA’s consensus candidate?

Everest Mounted!

The Nepalis and the Chinese have finally agreed – after much consternation – that Mount Everest stands 8,848 meters tall. Forget Sir Edmund Hillary, even my 7th standard geography teacher, Paul Mathew, knew that one! In fact he even knew why Eskimos build igloos! The hapless classmate got a thrashing of course, when he replied saying: “Why not?”, to Mr Paul Mathew’s question about whether he knew!
Asides aside, the Americans – with their GPS systems and all – still maintain Mount Everest stands 8,850 meters tall.
Given the rate at which India is subducting under the Asian continental shelf, the Chinese and the Nepalis will be at it again in Kathmandu pretty soon!

“Narendra Modi is like a scorpion sitting on top of the Shivling. You can’t hit it with a stick or a stone because that will be sacrilegious and ruinous for Hindutva. If you try and brush it off, it will sting you. The only way to defeat Narendra Modi, is to convince people that the Shivling isn’t really a Shivling – that it’s only a stone.”

Former Gujarat Home Minister Gordhan Zadafiya On Narendra Modi.

US-PAK NUKE DEAL: THE REAL DEAL

Don’t be surprised if the US and Pakistan enter into a nuclear cooperation deal, a few years down the road – perhaps even sooner.
A few important things are happening simultaneously:
Pakistan is becoming central to Washington’s plans of stabilising Afghanistan, so as to effect a pullout of its troops, beginning mid-2011.
Pakistan desperately needs to tackle its energy deficit.
Nuclear power is regaining its popularity across the world – including the United States of America, where President Obama is all for a renaissance of nuclear power.
Most importantly, the international nuclear community wants to reign-in Pakistan’s notorious nuclear establishment, known more for being one of the major facilitators of nuclear proliferation around the world.
Then of course, there’s A Q Khan.
The US has been helping secure Pakistan’s nukes over the past few years.
The US is also believed to be helping raise a specialised force to protect Pakistan’s nuclear establishments.
Now the US has said it is willing to examine Islamabad’s request for a nuclear cooperation deal.
Whats more, Washington has now asked Islamabad to improve its proliferation track record if it wants a nuclear cooperation deal.
India should be happy, as it will bring Pakistan’s notorious nuclear establishment under stringent IAEA and international control regimes.
But India should be extremely concerned, for another important reason.
Want to know why? Refer to my post on:
http://www.roydendsouza.wordpress.com

Just spoke on air, to a very fiery Shaina NC, who took pleasure in tearing Mulayam to shreds for his comments about ‘elitist women’ entering politics.
Mulayam though was merely pandering to his votebanks as he increasingly resigns himself to be a regional as opposed to a national level leader.

Indians In Afghanistan

The government says there are 3,500-plus people of Indian origin in Afghanistan. The overwhelming majority of them are not working for the Indian government.

Obama Health Care Bill

Yes Mr President, it is a big f***ing deal!

“Please ask Robert Blake why Pakistan is so substantially involved in Afghanistan today!”

Senior Indian Diplomat in Utter Frustration

Good, Bad and Ugly Taliban

Has India been forced to toe the line of the West in making a distinction between the Good Taliban and the Bad Taliban? New Delhi has maintained that there is, and can be, no such distinction. The London Conference however, seems to have forced New Delhi to concur with the West, on the need to “reintegrate” sections and individuals of the Taliban, rather than bring about “reconciliation” – albeit within the “red lines”.
Now if that is so many words is not the same as engaging the Good Taliban, I don’t know what is!
What’s worse, we don’t seem to be nimble at all in adapting to the fast-changing Af-Pak scenario. As a result it appears win-win for Pakistan.