Buddha needs enlightenment

The Panchayat results in West Bengal have been a jolt to the CPI(M). The Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya’s obstinacy is primarily responsible for this. While shoving the new industrial policy, including that of the SEZs, he was adopting a strategy that could have worked in a totalitarian state like China but in a democracy it was bound to fail. This it did and there is a lesson for the comrades. China has its own brand of communism where capitalism is thrust down the throats of the people. However, a liberal society is willing to suffer, even poverty, but is not willing to bid goodbye to its land unless it can see and comprehend a greater good to society. It is ironical that Buddha today needs enlightenment from those who are primarily occupied with keeping the fire of their hearths burning.

 Banking on inflation

The BJP is gloating as the inflation does not seem to be coming under control. From about 4 per cent when the NDA was voted out to nearly 8 per cent when the count down for the next polls has begun, makes the BJP confident of returning to power. However, in its optimism it is forgetting that when it was ousted, inflation was well contained and for the first time Indian economy was looking up. Even then if the party was shown the door then that indicates that winning and losing of elections is solely on the basis of inflation though price rise and the health of the domestic budgets do play a significant role. Equally important is the quality of leadership that is on display. Many feel that the brash, arrogant and less than civil leaders of the BJP might cost them the polls. Many among them are already behaving as if they have been anointed as the rulers!

Rajya Sabhaist think tank!

A leading journalist has dubbed the think tank of the Congress as Rajya Sabhaist! The domination of the advisers who routinely lose elections and then somehow manage to find their way into the upper house should indeed be a reason of concern for the Congress high command. The same journalist has rightly pointed out that among all the Congress chief ministers only from Andhra Pradesh and Haryana are capable of winning their Assembly seats on their own. This is a pitiable state of affair and one should hope that while the Congress is in the process of rebuilding itself, this flaw is adequately addressed.