UP Elections

There are four major parties in the fray in UP. All of them are upbeat. I dont know the fate of BJP, but yes, Congress stands to improve its tally of MLA's, although not enough to make any claim. People appear to be angry with Mayawati because she threw out many popular politicians from the party. Upper caste people also complain of being sidelined by her. However, her Dalit votebank will stand solidly behind her. But, will that be enough to see her in the CM's seat once again. She has claimed that this time she is sure to get even more seats than she got in 2007. Time is running by fast. The last phase of polling is to be held on 28 February. All preparations are in place. Thanks God the polling at all the places has been peaceful and the voter turnout has been unprecedently high. Only time will tell who will occupy the CM's seat in Lucknow. Mulayam Singh Yadav or Ms. Mayawati?

Uttar (utter) Pradesh

Miss Mayawati, at the last moment, has thought of cleaning the system in her State. She is trying to get rid of "tainted" MLA's, including Ministers of her Party in order to improve her otherwise dilapitated image. And she thinks that people are, or can be easily fooled. Everyone in the State and elsewhere knows what she is and what she represents. She is herself being probed by the CBI in several cases of disproprtionate wealth. She has not carried out any development work in the State in the past 4 years and 10 months except, of course, building parks and monuments to immortalize the Dalit Leaders. It is now just a matter of two months and the results of the Elections in February will be out. Is UP heading for a change of guard? just wait and watch.

Ye khwab ye khushboo hai ke jhonka hai ke pal hai
Ye dhund hai badal hai hawa hai ke tum ho
Ek dard ka phaila hua sehra hai ke main hun
Ek mauj mein aaya hua darya hai ke tum ho
Aabaad hum aashufta saron se nahin maqtal
Ye rasm bhi is shehr mein zinda hai ke tum ho
--Ahmad faraz

That Col. Ghaddafi was a dictator and was holding on to power with a heavy hand was not at all justified. However, the way he was treated after he was captured alive was also NOT justified in any way. He should have been handed over to authorities and tried suitably in the court of law. If he would have been handed over a capital punishment like in the case of Saddam Hussain, it would have been justified from every angle. But now the ones who really held him and killed him in cold blood are criminals and murderers. Its they who must now be tried in the court of law and sentenced as per the Sharia law -- an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

Kiran Bedi's inflated bills are JUSTIFIED. This is the ethical stand taken by the Anna's Core Committee meeting. She charges, e.g., Rs. 80,000.00 from those who invite her, spends a mere Rs. 20,000.00, deposits the saved money-- Rs 60,000.00-- into her NGO's account (God only knows whether this was the actual amount deposited in the NGO account) , and then speaks in all humility that it is justified! A morally sound person would have notified to the invitee that she would adopt this method to save money for her NGO. This is clear CHEATING. But the members of Anna Hazare's Core team do not consider this a fraud! Charging money for one specific purpose and using it for another purpose! And still not wrong because she happens to be Team Anna's member! (Being a member of Team Anna simply means that the said person is SPOTLESS). It would be in the interest of this country and all the people if Anna continues his "maun vrat' till the end of his life. May his soul "rest in peace".

Two months of mind-boggling wait is finally over on a relieving note, with the addition of one more princess in our family. Name yet to be selected but I will always call her Sydney, because thats the place she had chosen to step into this world. All's well that ends well. Will sleep in peace tonight.

L. K. Advani is getting desperate. He is on his Jan Chetna yatra, trying to impress upon the people that he is the only man, and BJP the only party in this country, India, who are clean and dont have anything to do with corruption. Ironically, he believes that the people are fool enough, or can be fooled onto accepting and believing what he preaches! He is the same man for whom, some years ago, Jinnah was a "secular" man. Someone needs to remind him that even if the UPA is corrupt, BJP (NDA included) is one step ahead of the present dispensation. Its our bad luck that earlier we were made to choose between bad (UPA) and worse (NDA). In future we will have to choose between worse (UPA) and rotten (NDA). Choice is yours countrymen !