Monthly Archives: June 2014

Indian Politics: Congress-AAP coalition government in Delhi state?

 

 

 

Indian Politics: Congress-AAP coalition government in Delhi state? 

-DR. ABDUL RUFF COLACHAL

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Ex-serviceman and social activist Anna Hazare as well as Aam Admi party and its founder leader Arvind Kejriwal must  now be convinced that  their new brand politics targeting the ruling  Congress party and Sonia Gandhi led UPA government has handed down power on a platter to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). There is a strong feeling  among the  literates in the country and abroad, therefore,  that both Hazare and Kejriwal have only been  helping the equally corrupt and fanatic BJP to secure a clear majority in the parliament.

 

The incredible performance by the BJP, which won all seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi seems to have brought the AAP and Congress back to the table again. Fearing another poll drubbing by the BJP after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party have intensified back channel negotiations to form a government together in Delhi, though both deny the reports in this regard. Yesterday, at a meeting of senior party leaders, including former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, nearly 20 AAP MLAs are said to have conveyed to the leadership that the party should make a fresh attempt at forming government.  Avoiding another poll now would save public money.

 

Officially, Delhi Congress said it will prefer fresh election in the city to supporting the Aam Aadmi Party again to form a government as favoured by a section of AAP MLAs following the drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls. Chief Spokesperson of Delhi Congress Mukesh Sharma said AAP has no moral right to talk about formation of a government in Delhi again after it went to the Supreme Court seeking dissolution of the assembly and demanding fresh election. Arvind Kejriwal had deserted people of Delhi by resorting to theatrics. “Congress never withdrew support to AAP government. Kejriwal quit the government and left the people of Delhi in a lurch to gain political mileage in the Lok Sabha polls. As they did not succeed in the Lok Sabha polls, they are talking about forming government again,” said Sharma. Accusing Kejriwal of “helping” BJP by ensuring “division of secular votes” in Delhi and elsewhere, Sharma also did not rule out the possibility of some AAP MLAs defecting to the saffron party. 

 

Congress party is deeply worried that their permanent Muslim vote bank deserted it in the important poll, preferring BJP in many places. . 

 

Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung had not favoured dissolution of the 70-member Delhi Assembly as recommended by the Council of Ministers and kept the House in suspended animation. 

 

Officially, Aam Aadmi Party also ruled out the possibility of it forming government in Delhi again, even as Congress said it would prefer fresh polls to supporting AAP. 

 

Many critics describe Kejriwal’s decision to resign in February after 49 days in power as a major reason behind AAP’s poor showing in the city in Lok Sabha elections. After its spectacular performance in the assembly polls, the AAP drew a blank in the Lok Sabha polls though its candidates came second in all the seven constituencies relegating all the sitting Congress MPs including Kapil Sibal, Ajay Maken and Krishna Tirath to the third position.

 

 

The reports suggest that the both the Congress and the AAP MLAs do not wish to contest another election in the near future. It seems that a sizeable section of the party was willing to form the government again. The  informal discussions with the Congress are already underway. Whether the Congress party will support or a part of the legislative party will break remains to be seen. According to the report, a Congress MLA present at the meeting said that the AAP was asked to publicly request to the Congress for support through a proper channel.

 

Earlier, the AAP which had won 27 seats in the Delhi Assembly elections, took power in Delhi after no party won a majority of assembly seats in December’s vote, relying on ‘outside support’ from Congress. But 49-days after the party took charge of the Delhi government, Arvind Kejriwal resigned as chief minister, frustrated by obstacles put in the way of an anti-corruption bill.  Kejriwal had wanted it to be passed in the Delhi assembly in the coming days, but the Congress and the BJP thwarted him, arguing that it must be approved by the central government first. In fact neither Congress nor the BJP is keen to root out corruption  from India. 

 

BJP has overpowered both AAP and Congress party in the national poll. The Congress is afraid of losing more ground to the AAP and BJP in Delhi, while the AAP has little in terms of resources to contest their third election in seven months. However, the situation at this point is such that the BJP is not in a position to form government on its own and it cannot expect Congress to support it. The BJP has already said that it would prefer fresh election than forming a government through “manipulation”.

 

 

In the Lok Sabha polls, BJP not only won all the seven seats in Delhi where Kejriwal refused to contest but also came first in 60 assembly segments out of 70 while AAP occupied top position only in 10 assembly segments. Following the party’s dismal performance, some MLAs of the AAP had mooted a proposal for the party to once again form government in Delhi, with support from either the Bharatiya Janata Party or the Congress. A section in the party feels that it should not opt for going to polls immediately and should explore forming the government again.  Sources in AAP said majority of sitting MLAs in the party did not want to fresh election immediately thinking the “Modi wave” may flatten them all if polls are held anytime soon. 

 

 

Meanwhile, with the Left getting a severe drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls even in its strongholds in the country, the CPI has revived the debate over merger of the Communist parties, arguing that a reunion is essential to meet the challenges ahead. The CPI said the reasons that led to the split in the Indian Communist movement 50 years ago had become increasingly irrelevant and the current task before the leadership is to explore ways of a reunion. 

 

CPI-M leaders, however, reacted in a lukewarm manner to the call holding that many of the factors led to the 1964 split were still relevant. Holding that the Left had not lost its space in Indian polity due to the drubbing it received in the current elections, the party mouth-piece said the biggest task before the Communist leadership is to “address seriously the ideological, political and organisational challenges before the movement.” Reacting to the call, CPI(M) leader MA Baby, who recently lost to a Socialist leader Premachandran  in Kollam  parliament constituency, Kerala,  said this was not an issue to be approached emotionally and some of the key factors that caused the split were still relevant. He said what was required was strengthening the unity among the Left parties and not their organisational reunion. 

 

 

The split in Indian communist party took place as Soviet Russia and China began  their own   cold war over ideology and   world communist leadership issue. 

 

 

-DR. ABDUL RUFF COLACHAL 

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د. عبد راف 

Unfortunately, today there is not even one Muslim nation practicing  truly Islamic faith and life. 

–BY DR. ABDUL RUFF COLACHAL has been an Educationist, Prolific writer, Commentator  on world affairs Expert on Mideast Affairs,  Former university Teacher;  Editor:INTERNATIONAL OPINION; FOREIGN POLICY ISSUES; Author of books;

 
Dr. Abdul Ruff has published his views globally in  hundreds of   printed as well as online newspapers. including, International Herald Tribune, Global politician,  The Canadian, Turkish Digest, Financial Tines,Frontier Post, Arab News, Al-Jazeera, Economic Weekly, Friday Weekly, The Statesman,Independent, Marwat Post, Middle East Online, Middle East Times, Nepal News,ABC, abc, Nepal news International, Israel  Herald,Muslim News,M Corg, Kuwait Times, Iran Daily, Afghanistan Sun, EMM News,Gulf News, Gulf Daily News, Khaleej Times, Asian Tribune, Asia Times, EI News,Bangladesh Today,Daily Star,New Age,The  Nation,Daily Mirror,The Island, Dawn, Friday Times, Daily News, Daily Times, The Telegraph, New York Times, Deccan Herald, The Pioneer, Indian Express, News from Bangladesh, Kashmir Times,Greater Kashmir, Mirror of Kashmir, Kashmir Affairs, Kashmir Watch, Kashmir Monitor, Kashmir Observer, Kashmir Newsline, Kashmir Awareness, Kashmir Images,Asian Age, Jammu Kashmir Front line, Hindustan times,SL Guardian, Times of India, Central Chronicle, Economic Times, Sahara Times,Maldives Chronicles, International Observer, Palestine Times, Pakistan Observer, Indian Muslim Observer, Foreign Policy Issues, International Opinion,  Tribune International, Wikipedia, etc,website: http://abdulruff.wordpress.com/  Phone: 91-8129081217—(Account: No 62310377429 – CIF No: 78215311481- State Bank of Hyderabad, India) abdulruff@gmail.com

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India plans for Narendra Modi-Barrack Obama meeting in Washington!

 


 
India plans for Narendra Modi-Barrack Obama meeting in Washington!
-DR. ABDUL RUFF COLACHAL 
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According to reports available in the corridors of Indian power, India’s newly sworn in Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who swept to power in a general election last month, will visit Washington to meet President Barack Obama in the last week of September. During his telephonic conversation with Obama, Modi has accepted an invitation from Obama for two-way talks in Washington. Obama had invited Modi to the USA when he called up the PM to congratulate him.
 
Premier Modi is scheduled to attend a UN general assembly meeting as Indian PM in September. The Obama –Modi meeting is being arranged  on the sidelines of the UN meeting. Obama’s meeting with Modi signals a new start in ties with a leader once denied a visa by the United States.
Both countries are keen to boost security and economic ties as. India seeks to reinvigorate its ties with USA while not spoiling its traditional military relations with Russia.
As it is known, the Obama administration, seeking more finances from India to back up US economic meltdown, has set a goal of quintupling annual trade with India to $500 billion. But India’s economy is widely seen as having stagnated throughout the final years of Modi’s predecessor, Manmohan Singh. With a nominal GDP of $1.85 trillion in 2013, according to the IMF, India is only the world’s tenth-largest economy, despite being the world’s second most populous. India’s GDP growth has since stalled, falling to just 4.4% in 2013.
 
India has also been blighted by rising levels of corruption, unemployment and inflation in recent times, with the rupee weakening against the US dollar (it has rebounded to 59 to the dollar since Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) party won the election).  In August 2013, Singh’s administration was forced to introduce limited capital controls to prevent the collapse of the rupee and avert a balance of payments crisis. Generally, his government had come to be seen as one that seemed to have run out of ideas.
It was therefore no surprise that the weakness of the Indian economy and poor governance resulting in rampant corruption, rising prices and unemployment and black money and black markets, etc, were the key themes of the election campaign.
Following his stunning election victory last week, India’s new Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, is determined to inject some dynamism into the country’s economy. Seen as a neoliberal, Modi has set his sights on removing inefficiencies, tackling corruption and rolling out free-market policies that can weaken the already shaken poor of India. The flip side will be curbing welfare programs, as per the IMP plans as it is happening in Europe, making common people extremely vulnerable to price shocks.
 
Modi wants to cautiously open up the Indian economy to foreign investment to boost growth and job creation and ahs already announced a full 100% foreign investment in military goods production in India. His government may announce as soon as next month that it will allow foreign online retailers to sell their own products in India, creating a major business opportunity for big transnational players such as Amazon. 

There are also concerns that Modi, who downplayed his Hindu nationalism during the campaign, may end up fanning the flames of religious hatred in India.  In 2002, soon after he became Gujarat’s chief minister, he condoned the massacre of 1,000 Muslims in the anti-Muslim riots of that year. Modi denied complicity and was cleared of wrongdoing by several inquiries but was banned from entering the US (a ban that the administration of President Barack Obama’s lifted when Modi won the election). However, there is a risk that India’s relations with Muslim countries including Pakistan could become more strained, especially if there are any repeats of the 2002 episode.

 

In taking the decision, Modi has acted with alacrity and decisiveness on what many believe is going to be one of the biggest immediate challenges for India’s foreign policy. Modi regime is eager to take steps for mending India-US ties which had tapered off under UPA. Modi’s decision underlines the significance of the US in India’s strategic matrix. There was speculation that Modi could focus more on China and South Korea for economic gains and on an improved security partnership with Japan but these are not likely to come at the expense of Washington.

 
Modi, a former chief minister of Gujarat, had been refused a U.S. visa over sectarian strife in the state in 2002, in which more than 1,000 people, mainly Muslims, were killed. He has denied any wrongdoing and an Indian Supreme Court inquiry found no case to answer. The US ambassador to India met Modi earlier this year, as opinion polls showed his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on course for an election victory. U.S. officials had said a visa and an invitation to meet would probably be forthcoming if Modi won.
 
Can Modi banish unemployment and instill some dynamism back into the economy? Goals of BJP include creating the 10 million new jobs that India needs every year just to absorb young people entering the workforce. It was a positive economic vision which captured the imagination of people.
Modi government wants to see the Modi-Obama summit as one of the foremost international events of the year overshadowing even Modi’s presence at UNGA, if he decides to go to New York too.
Significantly, according to Indian sources, the meeting won’t happen on the sidelines of the United Nations general assembly in New York but, as per Indian request, in the form of a full-fledged bilateral summit in Washington.
The two sides are finalizing the date for the meeting which will be in the last week of September.  Scheduling of Modi visit has still to be finalized, but the summit would represent an upgrade from earlier expectations that Modi would meet Obama on the sidelines of the annual United Nations general assembly in New York.
However, no comment was immediately available from the Indian government press office or from the US embassy about the Modi visit to USA.
 
 
د. عبد راف 
Unfortunately, today there is not even one Muslim nation practicing  truly Islamic faith and life. 
–BY DR. ABDUL RUFF COLACHAL has been an Educationist, Prolific writer, Commentator  on world affairs Expert on Mideast Affairs,  Former university Teacher;  Editor:INTERNATIONAL OPINION; FOREIGN POLICY ISSUES; Author of books;
Dr. Abdul Ruff has published his views globally in  hundreds of   printed as well as online newspapers. including, International Herald Tribune, Global politician,  The Canadian, Turkish Digest, Financial Tines,Frontier Post, Arab News, Al-Jazeera, Economic Weekly, Friday Weekly, The Statesman,Independent, Marwat Post, Middle East Online, Middle East Times, Nepal News,ABC, abc, Nepal news International, Israel  Herald,Muslim News,M Corg, Kuwait Times, Iran Daily, Afghanistan Sun, EMM News,Gulf News, Gulf Daily News, Khaleej Times, Asian Tribune, Asia Times, EI News,Bangladesh Today,Daily Star,New Age,The  Nation,Daily Mirror,The Island, Dawn, Friday Times, Daily News, Daily Times, The Telegraph, New York Times, Deccan Herald, The Pioneer, Indian Express, News from Bangladesh, Kashmir Times,Greater Kashmir, Mirror of Kashmir, Kashmir Affairs, Kashmir Watch, Kashmir Monitor, Kashmir Observer, Kashmir Newsline, Kashmir Awareness, Kashmir Images,Asian Age, Jammu Kashmir Front line, Hindustan times,SL Guardian, Times of India, Central Chronicle, Economic Times, Sahara Times,Maldives Chronicles, International Observer, Palestine Times, Pakistan Observer, Indian Muslim Observer, Foreign Policy Issues, International Opinion,  Tribune International, Wikipedia, etc, website: http://abdulruff.wordpress.com/  Phone: 91-8129081217—(Account: No 62310377429 – CIF No: 78215311481- State Bank of Hyderabad, India) abdulruff@gmail.com

Syria: President Bashar al-Assad returns to power!

Syria: President Bashar al-Assad returns to power!

-Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal
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In an open show of a strong sway over Syrians and perfect rebuke to western backers of Syria’s misguided opposition, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been re-elected in a landslide, on June 05, capturing another seven-year term in the middle of a bloody three-year-old uprising against his rule that has devastated the country.
Syria’s parliament speaker, Jihad Lahan, announced the final results, saying Assad garnered 10,319,723 votes, or 88.7%. Laham said Assad’s two challengers, Hassan al-Nouri and Maher Hajjar, won a meager 4.3% and 3.2% respectively. The supreme constitutional court put turnout at 73.42%.
For the first time in decades, there were multiple candidates on the ballot. In previous presidential elections, Assad and before him his father, Hafez Assad, were elected in single candidate referendums in which voters cast yes-no ballots.
The government has sought to present this vote as a democratic solution to Syria’s three-year conflict, although a win for Assad could anger his opponents abroad and is certain to prolong the war. Much of northern and eastern Syria is in rebel hands, and those in the armed opposition show no signs of relenting in their fight to oust Assad.
The war, which activists say has killed more than 160,000 people, has left the international community deeply divided, with the US and its allies backing the revolt against Assad, who enjoys the support of Russia and Iran. That division persisted in perceptions of the  vote.
The opposition and its western allies, including the United States, have denounced the election as a farce. The win boosts Assad’s support base, and provides further evidence that he has no intention of relinquishing power. In Beirut, US Secretary John Kerry sharply criticized the Syrian election, calling it “a great big zero.” He said it can’t be considered fair “because you can’t have an election where millions of your people don’t even have an ability to vote.” The European Union, as expected, joined the US in condemning the election, saying in a statement that “it cannot be considered as a genuinely democratic vote.”
Assad’s victory was always a foregone conclusion, despite the presence of two other candidates on the ballot for the first time in decades. Voting was held only in government-controlled areas, excluding huge tracks of northern and eastern Syria that are in rebel hands.
In Damascus, meanwhile, a delegation led by the government’s chief international supporters from more than 30 countries, including legislators and dignitaries from Iran, Russia and Venezuela, who toured polling stations said Syria’s first multi-candidate presidential election in over four decades was transparent and free, and would pave the way for stability and national agreement. In a final statement read by Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the head of the Iranian parliament’s committee on national security, the delegation blamed the US and its allies for “crimes committed against the Syrian people.”
 
After the results were released, Damascus erupted into a thunderous, rolling clap of celebratory gunfire that appeared to include heavy weaponry. On the streets of the capital, men cheered and whistled. Some broke into the familiar pro-Assad chant: “With our souls, with our blood, we sacrifice for you, Bashar!”
Unlike in Iraq, where Russians played mischief with President Saddam Hussein by causing his removal and brutal assassination by US agents, death, Russians and Chinese have stood with Syrian President Assad. USA could not do much this time.
Now that all strenuous efforts by USA and EU and their pawns, the Syrian opposition, should end their bloody war against Syria and stop causing deaths of Syrians.
Having burned all its fingers, the USA is expected end military and other support for the criminalized and greedy opposition parties trying to destabilize Syria.
Western terrocracies should stop forthwith their regime change projects in Mideast.
Enough is more than enough!

 

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Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal, Educationist; Prolific writer; Chancellor-Founder of Centor for International Affairs(CIA); Independent Analyst-Commentator-Columnist;Chronicler of Foreign occupations & Freedom movements(Palestine,Kashmir, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Xinjiang, Chechnya, etc.) Former university Teacher; website: abdulruff. wordpress.com/ abdulruff_jnu@ yahoo.com.
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د. عبد راف 

Terrorism is caused by anti-Islamic forces. Anti-Muslimism and anti-Islamism are more dangerous than “terrorism” Fake democracies like USA-Israel twins have zero-tolerance to any criticism of their anti-Muslim and other aggressive practices.  Anti-Islamic forces & terrorists are using criminal elements for terrorizing the world and they in disguise are harming genuine interests of ordinary Muslims.  Global media today, even in Muslim nations, are controlled by CIA  & other anti-Islamic agencies.