Time to disappear for 52 days, but then just do it!

RaGa has brought me back to blogging! It pains me to see that over the last few years Congress-I has been going through a roller coaster and nothing is happening. This has to stop, they need some direction. I am tired of waiting for change. So RaGa, if you get to read this, some free suggestions for change. 

1) Start with an end in mind - just declare to the world that change is in motion and once the change is complete, the family ties will be completely severed; this will be shock and awe. Sycophants and Aam Admi will see this as the "seed of change". Give yourself a timeline. Accept the fact you need a full scale change and some solid time for such a change. Go for 2024 not 2019. Please don't call it vision 2024. For Indian democracy to thrive, it needs Congress-I. Just take this plan and modify, you may wish to use it as a straw-man.

2) This is the logic - "In some cases retrofitting is expensive, worthless, start again!" Just do it. 

Take Congress to grass roots, especially there are so many people who want to see a strong opposition and a strong counter-balance. Start again from Principles especially on secularism - say everyone is equal and re-build for long-term; NO to short-termism. Believe me this will work. (Forget the Parliament, let Modi and co do whatever they want - they can't destroy India any more than your party has done in the last 60 years) - This should be the only focus.

3) Create simple Principles that aspires for Centre and Neutral view - never can we bring equilibrium, but that doesn't mean Congress should be left. Today it is aligned with leftist and seen too left. Take it to centre and Centre will come to you!

4) Plan elections of Congress-I leaders from district through to state and National across all the 4 directions. Create Nodes from grass roots and ensure the system promotes people from base node to the higher e.g. a number of village/town leaders vote for blocks and block leaders elect a district leader and a number of district leaders vote for state and the state leaders choose a regional leader (at least 4 per region) and those regional leaders chose central leaders who would choose at least 2 candidates for the top seat.

5) Bring democracy all over the organisation - this will rejuvenate your party, the Nation and more importantly fresh blood and that will be a strong system. Use the facebooks and twitters - needless to say the media is waiting for you - they will hail you as a phenomenon.

6) Call for change - find the sycophants, weed them out - whoever praises you should be fired. Find a small team that can drive this change, don't let any old or new "chamchas" near you.

7) Last and most important - Let everyone know that you would resign after a number of central leaders are in place and cut all family ties - let the structure run the congress. If you truly cared about India, you will attempt something of this sort

Ironically if this is how Parties are supposed to run their inner party elections, just re-create the system and just go for it!

If you don't do this now, it will be never and there will be very few ways to counter BJP or help Indian democracy.

NB1: Start with Karnataka - if this helps you win, the momentum swings to you and your party will not let you resign, you can continue the dynasty ;)

NB2: I started writing this yesterday, but just finished it. But this morning (spooky coincidence), Sashi Tharoor had come out with a similar suggestion in NDTV.

360 days back...

Headline - About an year back, India voted 4 change; Change is visible, but when issues are systemic and deep rooted, it takes time; The broad direction is still hazy and fundamental "step change" plans are unclear.

A lot of my friends have asked me, I send a lot of memes on RaGa and AK67 but none Modi. In fact memes on AK67 have died out as well. Simply because both of them are down in the business and the noise has gone down. RaGa also has started to get his sleeves rolled up, but till a time the shi(f)ts in Congress are visible, memes will continue.

Year 1 Review: CAG has just published a view about our situation on military ammunition stock and the number of fighter jets is also under the minimum advised stock level (re. French deals). India's national security has been dealt in such a careless manner by previous rulers, Media should stop treating UPA with kids gloves (Coalition never would have stopped them on this count) Seriously don't know why SoGa or RaGa (MMS) have not been asked about this question on the above two highly important national concerns;

Sorry it seems like I digress, but this is a fundamental point to take note when we discuss/measure two government performances - the baseline has been so poor. Performance has to be compared against a baseline. Our media and various BJP spokespersons should set this when in a fortnight's time, every Indian Media team will be reviewing Year 1. The Y1 performance should be on a baseline on a key set of factors that is in the scope of Union government- If Media doesn't measure do it this way (I am sure none of the outlets would do), then people who read this should reflect on the baseline.

First my disappointments:

1. Indian PM talked about so many acronyms - where is the policy for skill development? This I remember was his main point - What is the direction and strategy on Skill development?

2. Indian PM recently spoke about democratic values to the Times - why doesn't he set-up something up a forum like NITI Aayog, where all Parties debate on policies regularly and use Parliament to rubber stamp on important policies? This is healthy for democracy but more importantly opposition's voices can be then managed pro-actively? - Handling of bills and opposition has been appalling

3.  To top it all, the messy handling of agriculture sector - the land-bill and how this whole sector has been dealt has frustrated me

I believe on an actionable strategy (In the last sixty years, Nehru & Vajpayee were the ones who showed a strategic and actionable shifts, Indira rode on Nehru's back). Overall and aspects of strategy has to be communicated, even if the government doesn't have a clue - The way hype was created before election, I expected a roadmap of strategic changes - Some changes are taking shape, however a comprehensive direction and policy/approach is missing and that would set the discourse in right direction.

With, the absence of thought leadership in previous 10 years, I was hoping to see some strategic shifts - The two areas with a bit clarity 1) in International policies, 2) "intent" in centre-state joint governance. Apart from these two, there is little clarity on many key topics.

So here you go this is what I am frustrated with BJP government and Modi.

Some positives to note: no scams till date, swift action on auctions (though on SC push), interesting policy debates on NJAC (see what has happened last week in Chennai HC), swift relief on international operations, setting the perception about India in international stage, no riots till date, no terrorist incidents (touch-wood), approach to NITI Aayog, even Nitish has started getting cosy with Modi, Mamta di is now on board smiling.

So all in all, it is not as scary as UPA and associated Media outlets have been projecting. To emphasise again, one needs to compare the government against the base line and also some of the scary thoughts that Media members like Guha, Shiv N etc. were projecting - nothing of that sort has happened.

1 Subtle but strong Voice P. Chidambaram has been writing about the Government and its actions regularly in Indian express since day 1 and has been putting up very good arguments - Except PC no sane or clear views from Congress.

Will I vote Modi again? - Yes (still no alternative from any National party)

NB1: A lot of us debate on multiple issues when we talk about Modi's governance, but we forget about what are Centre's responsibilities, where it ends and what are state's roles... This complicates the debates big time...

NB2: The comments and discussions that happen between UPA vs. NDA or Pappu vs. Feku is slowly edging into borderline riots in the internet arena... This is not safe, the Media should find a way to manage this... a lot of anonymous and false ID comments are twisting the debates into Hindu vs. non-Hindus - this is a very dangerous and alarming trend. It has to be Media, if Modi intervenes on this, a lot of us will say that the government is curbing Media freedom.

NB3: I have omitted a lot of areas of interesting happenings and issues - simply because it is just Year 1 and expecting changes all of the place in Y1 is too much. Let us wait till 2016, when RS strength would get shifted...

Bye for now!

Bee for Boss: Don't underline your ignorance

"Don't underline your ignorance" - Those were the golden words from my dad as he was reviewing my test papers. I have mentioned this previously in a post. I remembered this quote again as I read through our "Boss's" speech.
I said to myself: Boss, who is going to call out that the emperor is wearing new clothes?

True to this storyline, no one is calling out that our Boss is not wearing any clothes and parades before the Confederation of Indian Industry, a non-profit body for that works with the government for advancing policies and strategies for all industrial sectors.

In this setting our Boss starts with a storyline that in 1991 people thought we are travelling in elephants and praises the Industry for giving us the advancement, but then goes on to say in 2012 (over 20 years), that a lot of migrants are still travelling in overcrowded trains and shamelessly admits that he, the Boss allowed an empty-pocket entrepreneur to buy him a cup of tea! Please some amateur story writer has penned his speech, apparently he lost it (see above video).

I am shocked how could Congress let loose such a guy on CII? Aren't those CII leaders ashamed? These are top Industrialists and they have lost a few hours. No one has called out and said he is wearing no clothes... How? are you not scared that tomorrow if such a guy leads a government, that your industries may loose out? our Boss will makes us not only empty-pockets but make us buy a chai and say this is the spirit!

Two things to single out from his speech. 1. A man on the white-horse and 2. Bee-hive theory

Re, A Man on the white-horse: Not only in India, but across the world, millions of stories about a single individual in many fields over many years have changed the course of history. We have our own 'Original' MK Gandhi, Narasima Rao (who incidentally started the change in 1991), His great grand-dad, grand-mom all have single handedly influenced the Nation. The point about hearing a billion voices is fine, but even the bee-hive needs one single queen. In the west, there are many such tall leaders like Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Margret Thatcher, etc. who have altered the course of their Nations - in some cases through their teams, in some cases personally leading the charge. Even though Cricket is a team sport, many a times we see and read the Captains knock. - I say Boss don't underline the ignorance. Interestingly towards the end of his speech, our Boss starts mentioning individuals like "Sam Pitroda, Krishnamurthy, Sreedharan, Nandan Nilekani(?! Narayanamurthy?)" - so he is now contradicting his own thought process, where he higlights individuals who have made the change, if instead he had said the organisation names, I would say he believes that no one man can change things...

Re. the Beehive, A writer in the Universal Magazine for May, 1800, has penned:
"Thou art a fool, thou busy, busy bee
Thus for another to toil;
Thy master waits till thy work is done,
Till the latest flowers of the ivy are gone,
And then he will seize the spoil. He, will murder thee, thou poor little bee.”

Does the boss wants India to be like a beehive where the honey is tasted by someone else? In the pursuit to display a fresh and original idea, our Boss has underlined his ignorance about India's complexity and gone with a freemasonary symbolism of beehive - a very old idea. With his mom at the top, using beehive as a symbol is the last thing one would want to choose.

So what is wrong with beehive - this whole concept of colony and society is actually not true in case of bees. Most bees aren't social -- less than 15 percent of bees live in colonies. The rest are solitary. They may exhibit some social tendencies, but they don't build large hives or store lots of extra honey. i.e. 85% of the bees are individualistic and does not work and live together as our Boss thinks! Anyway the idea looks fresh, but the question is does he want all of us to be just workerbees delivering the honey to Queen and her drones? I will leave it to your choice...

Sonia gandhi - Good in management! We should give it to her - Part 2

What is a role of a manager in a company? I was trying to research and draw a view on this role definition. However in this context of analysing Sonia, i understood it is going to be difficult. However if I try to define a ‘Street-smart’ manager then I could outline a lot of views. I am sure we all have had good and bad managers and I am going to simplify the definition in a Politics context - can be applied broadly too.

If I can simplify, typically our experiences can relate to a manager who supports our development as well his/her development and by the process deliver the shared objective and such a case is “Good management” and “Good Manager”.

I am looking at it from the perspective that if given an amount of wealth or a piece of an asset be it knowledge or process or a new invention, it is up to an individual to put ‘good’ use or ‘bad’ use. I quote the bad and good – coz’ these are relative terms and qualifiers. So with this definition, I am about to see SG. I am about to outline a set of techniques that she may have put to use to deliver the shared objective.

In my opinion, hers' and Congress (I)’s shared objective is to be in Power and govern India. Let me qualify that the actual results of governance may be bad/good, but as far as the objective goes – she has managed to put Congress (I) in power for 10 years! – So is she not a good manager?

How do you uplift and motivate your team?Managers use different techniques, some define a threat or some put forward a Vision, or some inspire using ‘Hope’, some define an economic profit i.e. a monetary goal or a few philosophise for a dream or a few evoke empathy and play victim to rally people around and create a hope.

On 26^th May 1999, “A combative, impassioned Mrs. Gandhi, who quit as president of the Congress Party a week ago after three party leaders had opposed her candidacy for Prime Minister because of her foreign birth, said an outpouring of support from party members had persuaded her to withdraw her resignation. In a voice choked with feeling, Mrs. Gandhi, 52, staked her claim to being an Indian patriot. The country adopted her 31 years ago when she married Rajiv Gandhi, she said.”

She recalled the assassinations of her mother-in-law, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, in 1984 and her husband, a former Prime Minister who was 46 when he was slain in 1991. And she witheringly noted that the same three men who were raising the questions about her origins had a year ago asked her to head the party, then in a slow dance toward oblivion. ''I became a wife here, a mother here, a widow here, too, right before your eyes,'' she said, speaking in Hindi. ''The greatest daughter of this country, Indiraji, breathed her last in my arms. Every drop of blood in me says this country is mine. This country is mine.''

Apologies if it reminded you of Rahul Gandhi’s recent speech. But here Sonia chose to sympathise and create a dramatic entry. (I still wonder if it was stage managed with Sharad Pawar – look they are all one, even though for namesake he calls it NCP)

How do you show you are Strong – Play the victim, but show that you are a fighter?She defiantly said she would not reply to those who questioned her patriotism. She was apparently alluding to critics who have asked why she waited until she had been in India for 15 years before becoming a citizen and suggested that she might not have renounced her Italian citizenship, a contention that her friends say is false. ''The people will give a resounding reply to that,'' she said.

Choose words and attack enemies, de-stabilise and create a negative brand for your enemies.1999 - The Congress president said that ''the people doubting my credentials as an Indian would get a befitting reply in the coming election. All these non issues are being raised by the Bharatiya Janata Party to divert the people's attention from their 13-month misrule,'' she said.  ''The very people who targeted the minorities, made them suspects in the country are asking proof of my nationality,'' she said in a direct attack on the BJP-orchestrated criticism.

2001 - A normally reticent Ms. Sonia Gandhi today blasted the Prime Minister, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee, for ``unfairly attacking the Congress and trying to sermonise to it''. In a rare display of emotion, the Leader of the Opposition launched an onslaught after the Lok Sabha adjourned sine die and the members were leaving the House.

Manager needs to grasp the Situation and Politics1999-2002 Her major emphasis has rightly been on political stability as the country goes into a third election in three years. The Congress party's emerging strategy of contesting the Lok Sabha polls on its own for the most part and making stability the key campaign issue makes complete sense.

Sonia Gandhi has in recent weeks proved how unequal she is to the task of providing leadership; she even needs a written text to say yes or no to a straight question from the Press
Emerging from a 40-minute meeting with the President, Sonia admitted that she had so far mustered the support of only 233 MPs. ``I shall talk again with all the colleagues who voted against the confidence motion. It is for the other secular forces to see that the BJP Government does not come back,'' she told waiting correspondents.

Take full controlThe AICC left it to her to overhaul all the party organisations from top to bottom with people of her choice. Indira Gandhi had the backing of her father, Nehru, and 25 years of their service to the party. Sonia Gandhi has achieved the position without lifting a finger.

Manage your networks and growQ, Hinduja brothers, Ahmad Patel, P.C. Chacko, Datta Meghe, Prafful Patel and Prabha Thakur, MMS, Pranab, Arjun Singh and so on

Managing PerceptionsEven the faces are familiar. Those who saw Jawaharlal Nehru in Narasimha Rao and found Kesri's `home-spun' qualities endearing, are now singing Sonia Gandhi's praises. Not even once did she make any gesture or observation to indicate that she felt embarrassed. The secrecy about her health also goes into this mix.

We all know how the media co-operates and Times listing etc. However recently I read a tit-bit, that she was in UP and a prepared speech given to her had omitted a senior Congress(I) member’s name and in a flash, she picked the miss and reworked the speech. – This was in the news… The incident highlights her individual management style as well as the perception management to ensure this news is published in Media.

New York Times published an article that Sonia Gandhi reclaims congress party and its members’ devotion – did Advani do it? Jayalalitha has done it, Omar is better, Modi is trying hard, Mamta struggles, Yeddy is already becoming a teddy, Stalin is way off in comparison to Karuna, Sena has split, AP’s Reddy is in Jail – so that many people struggling at State level, where as one lady has managed to hold 29% of national votes to Congress (I) – isn’t she a good manager? I have largely focused on her initial days in Congress as these are the crucial days for any manager! But the history as people often say provides a lot of answers! - In fact a quick comparison to RG's recent speech can tell you the template was from SG's initial speech.

However I leave with a parting thought – is she a good leader? Await part - 3

We should give it to her...

I never thought, I would appreciate Sonia-ji one day. Before I write anything further, I wish to state a few things.

1. The below thoughts are highly recommended to be consumed only in the perspective of 'Management style' and not relate it with Patriotism, Politics or any other viewpoints. 
2. I don't mean to support the Congress (I) party in its agenda or Sonia-ji's politics 
3. I will aim to keep this apolitical and focus on the management, but will challenge other politicians in the due course and relate to some political events, but the main aim is to discuss her Management style.

I have come around to appreciate Sonia in her personal capacity for what she is today. Imagine you get married to a foreigner (and that too a topmost politician of a country) and to add, you have no roots to politics or any upper class lifestyle habits. In this situation, you have got a MIL (Mother-in-law) who is ruthless and comes the history of declaring emergency... Please visualize/imagine (irrespective of your gender) yourself walking to Indira Gandhi to be introduced as Sonia! Take a few minutes, get yourself into that character and tremble in your shoes...

From there you have come all the way to aiding the congress to win 2 elections, even more keep the family in tact as a single mom, in addition got the whole party under control, PM under influence (being gentle on MMS), your sworn enemies like Pawar, Sangma etc. come back to support you, worse the opposition leader LKA arriving at your lawns and accepting your latest position as a supreme leader in India - As people like Subramaniam swamy say it may all be about Money, it could all be for protecting the black money, still a lady, a single mother, a foreign national to take up the mantle of India - She has got it!

Where does this leave the other politicians in the game of chess? What has happened to their strategy? You cannot get a word out of her unnecessarily, she has got veil and a whole layer surrounded and nothing can penetrate her world - so what ever may be the cause, however selfish she may be, without that level of management, how can she be there at the top for so long? In fact so-called Chanakya of TN - Mu.Ka is no where near her stature! Even is she is corrupt and has all sorts of bad intention, she has swept the country's multi-functional system, managers and leaders - If you say money is the reason, may be. But for someone to hang onto the power and stature for this long, it is extra-ordinary... Why hasn't the top parties like BJP, Left got any answers? Are there no leaders to her match? (I will let Modi out of this writing, coz' irrespective of his background and his politics and the godhra, he is proving to be a thorn for his opponents - not to mention both have similar styles of functioning)

So you got to give it to her... Wait for Part 2.

Regular Breaker Rahul

I grew up hearing stories about Rahul's dad Rajiv how he wanted to change India and how he is to lead the country into a super-power. However I also heard stories that how he is interested more in technology than in politics and as a matter of fact not interested at all in entering into politics. But the Congress Chamchas' had to have someone with blue-blood to keep their interests secure. So Rajiv was made and sadly missed. Today 'they' understand the nuance that with Power comes more Responsibility (as Spiderman says...). How to be in power and limelight, but shrug responsibilities.

One section of media has a regular section on security breaker Rahul Gandhi. I don't understand what he is doing up there. I am told he strengthens grass roots and he plays wisely. btw why do we always paint politics as a game of chess and a matter of high canniness?

I was quite annoyed about the recent security breaker in UP and a second-class sleeper travel with 10 commandos. I was searching in google for such news in the past two years and actually he has been consistently doing this for the last 2-3 years.

Exam question: If one aspires to be a 'leader' of the nation (he will not be a direct PM but a remote PM), is it actually sensible to belittle your security teams by giving them a run?

What is the purpose of this hide and seek?

What if you actually stumble upon a situation that the 10 commandos around you couldn't help?

Let me analyse it purely from a security perspective:
I am about to play naive and assume that Rahul's intention is to break away from hassles of security and VVIP, that he doesn't fear life - that's easy: Write to the government and break free! No more security, no more news and you go free, wherever you like...

or let us assume that Rahul understands the need for security, but would like to mingle with crowd and understand the grass-root issues: This could also be done by arranging for spot Q&A with very little time for chamchas to massage the news - that is ask the local cong leader on the spot to assemble pockets of people who could be checked by security and allowed to interact, so the 'leader' could understand local issues. - in my defense, he has actually done this a few times where he meets students in locked up auditorium (why a locked up session?) and in Mar 2010 with a very short notice, he arrived at a wedding where the minimum security was given.

Over to Alternate thoughts...
or let us assume Rahul is interested in media-management: Hence break free especially when kids are around or in second class sleeper trains where 10 commandos are with you to protect etc.

or let us assume Rahul is actually dumb and doesn't understand the challenges of security and breaks once in a while. - if this be the case, then can't help an argument.

I can think of a few worthless scenarios, anyway not for today.

In the grand scheme of politics, one can only assume its media-management. Unfortunately the power of media and information is too great, so the alternate scenarios of his stunts come out very well. I can think of only one proverb in tamil 'Puli varadu, Puli varadhu ngra kadai oru naal unmaiyya puli varapohuthu' - (one day the tiger might actually come and get its prey). On a serious note, if he seriously aspires for the future of Indian premiership, this is quite worrisome as these acts highlight his IQ & EQ and what might be in store, if he becomes one.

News in 2030:

• Rahul gives a miss to Cabinet meeting!
  
• Parliament Finds Rahul sitting with Backbenchers
• Today Rahul lands a suprise, dressed as a security guard and standing next to speaker!
• Rahul does it again, his ministers complain to Sonia-Ji...
• Young (just 60+) Rahul's journey to Parliament was a surprise...
• Rahul breaking protocol leaves UN fuming
• Chinese delegation searches Rahul as he travels by world's fastest train (slept under the seat and missed the stop)
  

His chamchas will continue to say, what a rebel he is... Unfortunately gone are those days! (Hopefully, or we will find similar headlines about India)