Tagged: politics

If you know me well, you would have quite easily made out my love for my home-town and how vocal and emotional I can get when it comes to it. Also I recognize the hoards of problems faced by the city. Despite being the political nerve-centre of the most politically active state of the country we never had leaders that have stood up for us. Now I guess we have a chance to change that.

I was elated even when the rumours spread that Shashi Tharoor is contesting from Trivandrum. I am not a big fan of the Congress/UPA policies, but as a Trivandrum-ite we need someone like Dr. Tharoor to lead us to change. It will not be easy for him to coast to a victory despite the credentials he has. But I do hope he pulls through. Trivandrum needs that chance and I hope all Trivandrum-ites think about it and use their vote intelligently. And I think they will do it. After all we did elect the maverick V.K.Krishna Menon when he stood as an independent candidate way back in the 70s.

One more thing : Whether you are not going to support Tharoor or not, do exercise your power to vote. It is your fundamental duty. If you believe all this is beyond you, you don’t even have the moral right to criticize the “system” as we always do. Do our duty first then think about blaming the netas.

I am a strong supporter of socialism and to an extent leftist ideals. I would call my political stand as liberal-left. And yeah till recently you could say I was a supporter – na, that is too strong a word – rather a mild supporter of the Marxist Party. But seeing how things are going, I have to say that support has dwindled down to an extent that I can’t ever imagine them doing any good to our country anymore. Before I start criticizing, I admire the lot of good work they have done, especially in Kerala. They are in part responsible for making Kerala a comparatively “welfare state”. They have, to a large extent, enabled the strides that the state has made in education, equality, health and general welfare of the people.

But thinking about all the blunders they have made in the past, makes me wonder – Don’t they ever learn from their mistakes? First of all before Independence they made twists-and-turns on the whole world war funda, first calling it an “Imperialistic War” and then abruptly switching their stand point when USSR was attacked by Germany. Secondly during the Chinese aggression in the sixties, terming India as the aggressor and justifying the attack by China! How dare they do that? I cannot believe they placed their weight behind foreign interests against their own homeland! After that they sparked off the whole Naxal movement and by the time they realized it has gone too far, things were gone far beyond their control. Did they learn? No they didn’t. They actually opposed computerization in India, saying people will loose their jobs because of it. Well, do I need to explain any further?

And did they learn even after that? No they didn’t. They have again destabilized the political situation here by blindly opposing the nuclear deal. I admit, it has its loop holes, but was it the reason why it was opposed? They are opposing it just because India is dealing with the US. Let me make it clear, I am no fan of the US. But really, whatever you say, they are the only superpower in the world and we are never getting anywhere without having them on our side. To what cost is a question, but did our comrades even consider discussing this? They have been adamant throughout the whole process, opposing it just for the sake of opposing it.

I seriously think the comrades of CPI(M) need to do a good rethink of their strategies and their policies. They have to keep in mind that they are Indians first and communists second. Don’t try to create Videsi solutions for Desi problems please. This country badly needs development. Opposing development citing centuries old reasoning is not going to help anyone.

I am just stating my opinion. Criticisms are most welcome.