Political analysis and the other side the political commentary and are once again complex issues. That political news reporting versus political analysis is different has been explained before. Similarly, these two are as different as apples to oranges.
Let us come to the analysis versus commentary now. A lot of political writing in India has been about what is happening right now and what should have been done before, rather than what is the right strategy now (now that it has happened) and what should be done for the future.
Every mother’s son is content to write, blog or flog their wares about what is happening right now, and what should have been done right then, when the present policies have been or being implemented.
And I have a quarrel with that. Despite my respect for all political writers of any political leanings, my regret is that there have been no ‘think-tank’ thinking/writing going on in India. Everyone has been blogging or writing or publishing or telecasting about what ‘has’ happened and what ‘should’ have been done.
I see very few thinking (writing/blogging/publishing/telecasting) about what should we do right now! (except of course, for yours truly - the mad.madrasi take)
0-:)
That is the point of this post - everyone is being a political commentator - as of now I can see no political analyst or think-tanker blogging or writing about what should be done now, for the future. Apart from our founding fathers like Radhakrishnan, Nehru, Ambedkar, Azad, Patel and a few others I forget to name here, I can only recollect one man who wanted and had that type of thinking, a vision - incidentally another mad.madrasi - former president Kalam with his Vision 2020 et.al.
We had one dude in between who talked about taking India to the 21st Century, but then we always deride such people and shut them down permanently.
;-)
Under such constraints, as Tagore said, Where the Mind is Without Fear, I would keep plugging/blogging away with what we have to do now and in future.
As an aside, if you’ve been following my blog - a very few as you can see at the counter - you’d have noticed that my posts have always been about what should be done now or in future - less about why that came about!
Why the happenings came about is history - let us think about the present - now - which is in fact thinking about future, isn’t it?
If you doubt me, suppose you are in front of an angry cobra now, you’d right now be thinking how to get away from it or kill it (fight or flight). You would never think about how you got in front of the cobra - would you?. And thinking about fight or flight itself is ‘thinking-ahead’, isn’t it?
So it is with regret I pick point with today’s article The Trigger Effect of Arun Nehru who now seems to be a faint shadow of the Giant who assisted Rajiv Gandhi. I’ve one chief disagreement with that article - regional satraps may do well in their own state, but that (their performance) should and cannot be the criteria for national (General) elections or even neighbouring or forth coming state elections.
If that was the case, the winning coalition in Bihar would never have shied away from using Narendra Modi in election campaign. Using same logic they would have tried to (or not tried to) rope in next door good-governance icon Naveen Patnaik. The very fact the winning coalition shied away from asking them to campaign on their behalf, proves my point - regional satraps are just that - regional.
It is not always that regional or state leaders can make or even be accepted to make the transition to National politics. Sharad Pawar hasn’t been able to do so. Neither can esteemed leaders from Charan Singh, Devaraj Urs, Bangarappa, Mulayam SIngh, Lalu himself, Ms. Mayawati, Jaya, et. al.
Whenever such push came to shove, unknown people have been thrust to the mantle - I.K. Gujral, Deve Gowda for example.
Thus to ridicule national leaders for regional elections for poor performance is nothing but political scoring points.
After going on so much about what should be done -
There is a fresh, new wind blowing in Indian political scene, whether with Rahul Gandhi and his team in the INC or Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Nitin Gadkari et. all. in the BJP. I think what ever our political views and however we would lean on the day of the elections (which would be between us and the electronic voting machines), let us put the faith on these new leaders and trust that they can lead us away from the dreary desert sands of dead habits.
Let us give short shrift to political ‘Commentary’ and hope that there are more political ‘Analysis’ from now on!
Jai Hind!
Let us come to the analysis versus commentary now. A lot of political writing in India has been about what is happening right now and what should have been done before, rather than what is the right strategy now (now that it has happened) and what should be done for the future.
Every mother’s son is content to write, blog or flog their wares about what is happening right now, and what should have been done right then, when the present policies have been or being implemented.
And I have a quarrel with that. Despite my respect for all political writers of any political leanings, my regret is that there have been no ‘think-tank’ thinking/writing going on in India. Everyone has been blogging or writing or publishing or telecasting about what ‘has’ happened and what ‘should’ have been done.
I see very few thinking (writing/blogging/publishing/telecasting) about what should we do right now! (except of course, for yours truly - the mad.madrasi take)
0-:)
That is the point of this post - everyone is being a political commentator - as of now I can see no political analyst or think-tanker blogging or writing about what should be done now, for the future. Apart from our founding fathers like Radhakrishnan, Nehru, Ambedkar, Azad, Patel and a few others I forget to name here, I can only recollect one man who wanted and had that type of thinking, a vision - incidentally another mad.madrasi - former president Kalam with his Vision 2020 et.al.
We had one dude in between who talked about taking India to the 21st Century, but then we always deride such people and shut them down permanently.
;-)
Under such constraints, as Tagore said, Where the Mind is Without Fear, I would keep plugging/blogging away with what we have to do now and in future.
As an aside, if you’ve been following my blog - a very few as you can see at the counter - you’d have noticed that my posts have always been about what should be done now or in future - less about why that came about!
Why the happenings came about is history - let us think about the present - now - which is in fact thinking about future, isn’t it?
If you doubt me, suppose you are in front of an angry cobra now, you’d right now be thinking how to get away from it or kill it (fight or flight). You would never think about how you got in front of the cobra - would you?. And thinking about fight or flight itself is ‘thinking-ahead’, isn’t it?
So it is with regret I pick point with today’s article The Trigger Effect of Arun Nehru who now seems to be a faint shadow of the Giant who assisted Rajiv Gandhi. I’ve one chief disagreement with that article - regional satraps may do well in their own state, but that (their performance) should and cannot be the criteria for national (General) elections or even neighbouring or forth coming state elections.
If that was the case, the winning coalition in Bihar would never have shied away from using Narendra Modi in election campaign. Using same logic they would have tried to (or not tried to) rope in next door good-governance icon Naveen Patnaik. The very fact the winning coalition shied away from asking them to campaign on their behalf, proves my point - regional satraps are just that - regional.
It is not always that regional or state leaders can make or even be accepted to make the transition to National politics. Sharad Pawar hasn’t been able to do so. Neither can esteemed leaders from Charan Singh, Devaraj Urs, Bangarappa, Mulayam SIngh, Lalu himself, Ms. Mayawati, Jaya, et. al.
Whenever such push came to shove, unknown people have been thrust to the mantle - I.K. Gujral, Deve Gowda for example.
Thus to ridicule national leaders for regional elections for poor performance is nothing but political scoring points.
After going on so much about what should be done -
There is a fresh, new wind blowing in Indian political scene, whether with Rahul Gandhi and his team in the INC or Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Nitin Gadkari et. all. in the BJP. I think what ever our political views and however we would lean on the day of the elections (which would be between us and the electronic voting machines), let us put the faith on these new leaders and trust that they can lead us away from the dreary desert sands of dead habits.
Let us give short shrift to political ‘Commentary’ and hope that there are more political ‘Analysis’ from now on!
Jai Hind!
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