Narender Modi: the 'Fascist' Gets It Right

Its finally official.
The ‘fascist, the strongman, the merchant of murder, chhapan chhati Narendra Modi has romped home to victory. That he was going to win was never in doubt, except in the minds of so called experts, who bored us, monopolizing and choking the air waves with their non-stop gibberish in the run up to the result day. The media pundits had got it all wrong the last time they attempted to predict the outcome of Gujarat Assembly elections. And they seem to be making a habit of it predicting spectacular gains for Congress, where none existed, this time around. Modi, the man whom everyone loves to hate: the media, the political parties, and even the majority among his own party notably BJP National President Rajnath Singh, BJP fringe organizations like the RSS, the VHP and the Bajrang Dal, Modi had served humble pie to all his detractors. Rajnath Singh sounded hollow crediting the Gujarat BJP party set up for the victory. It was apparent. Even as Singh lauded the party machinery, the expressions on his face were that of a man who knew that he is dealing with falsehoods.

For it was an out and out Modi show. The Chappan Chhati, the man with his own set of immortals moving about in Modi masks, did not even want any other leader to canvass for him in the state. The likes of Sushma Swaraj and her ilk, adept at polished speech but low on delivery were totally ignored. You must have noticed that none of the BJP star campaigners took part in the electioneering the way they normally do in a BJP state going to elections. Modi, the true follower of Machiavilli had it all figured out. Just take a quick glance at Machiavelli’s political treatise, The Prince, and you will realize the extent to which Modi and his minions were influenced by the work.

With his win, Modi has now set the cat among the BJP pigeons. His credible performance automatically catapults him on to the national stage. Modi, the man of soiled speech, considered a third-rung leaders only a few years back, is now the most recognizable face of the party. God help us!

In the final analysis, these elections were never about development, non-development, Sonia Gandhi’s remarks, the weakness or strengths of Congress (sadly, by fielding BJP dissidents from a number of seats, the Congress once again proved what it is: a party of double standards). Modi won because he had his ears to the ground. The former RSS pracharak never lost his touch with the people, the masses who actually go out and vote. And whenever he felt that leaders from RSS, VHP, or even the BJP were coming in the way, he never lost a moment to show them the door. Despite his background as a rabble rouser and a communalist, he has to be credited for his single-mindedness, his sense of purpose and his conviction to carry it through. And this despite the high flown theories of the idiot-box intelligentsia. Me and you, we heard them talk, day after day. But Modi took no notice of these ‘wise’ men. And he WON!

Chandigarh: Then & Now III

ChandigarhPost delves into the past to find out issues that made news.
Juxtapose these unsolved matters to the present and you can see how much the city has changed or remained the same.

This report appeared on November 5, 2001 in The Times of India. Now we know for sure, but at that time a five-star hotel in the city seemed more like a dream. Interesting read.

THEN (November 5, 2001)

Is the city ready for a five star property? While this question still remains to be answered, the India Tourism Development Corporation’s (ITDC) decision to pull out of the half done five-star project has seriously dented the administration plans of having such a property. Are there enough takers for the services offered by a five-star hotel? What are the impediments? For one, pricing of land. “Land prices have been jacked up artificially by the administration and that leads to the project becoming commercially unviable,” said a businessman who had bid for the five-star plot auctioned by the government in sector 34 in the recent past.

Ponty Chadha, based in Delhi, was ready to pay a whopping Rs 36 crore for the property, but after depositing Rs 9.42 crore as guarantee money he decided to pull out of the project. Reason? He was allegedly not allowed to construct the facade of the building as per his design and permission was not granted for the sixth floor. “Chandigarh is not an investor-friendly city for property developers. The administration just wants to stick to the concrete monstrosities of Le corbusier,” said a bureaucrat on conditions of anonymity. “A building constructed with an investment of Rs 80 crore to Rs 100 crore ought to have its own character. a five-star cannot be made to look like the Markfed building,” he said.

Chandigarh is the centre of three governments and has a high per capita income of Rs 29,661 with a growth rate of 7.02 per cent. But does it merit a five-star hotel? “the city is mainly a transit point, it has not been marketed well and is not a tourist attraction,” says Beant singh, resident director, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Statistics bear this out. A CITCO report put the city’s share of foreign tourist arrivals still stuck in the thousands range. The average duration of stay per visitor is 1.6 days. “The city ought to have its USP. It can become a major convention centre for exhibitions and trade shows if promoted well. we feel that a five-star is very much viable as the city picks up on the corporate front,” said Chandrajit Banerjee, regional director, Confederation of Indian Industry.

Anshuman Magazine, Managing Director, cb richard ellis, a global consultancy major, joins issues with Banerjee. “The project will be viable in the long run and has to be conceived with a longer duration in mind. The demand at present is not high, but with the economy picking up and industries coming to Mohali and Chandigarh, it will be viable,” he said.

A top executive of a prominent organization suggested an alternative: “A five-star hotel can only be viable if relaxations are made. there is no point in creating excess capacities. the local administration should instead work on existing properties and privatise hotel Mountview which can be upgraded to a five star.” as of now, Chandigarh is not likely to have a five-star on its skyline, but with business growing and a right sense prevailing in the administration, the landmark may become a reality in the coming years.

NOW (November 5, 2007)

The Taj Chandigarh was launched in February, 2005 and has been a runaway success from day one. The Punjabi zest for good living has kept the cash counters ringing. Plus, the spurt in economic activity has lead to tremendous increase in business visits. Whereas, earlier a company executive would prefer to return to New Delhi by the evening Shatabdi, now the majority of them would rather enjoy the opulence of The Taj (that is if their company considers them worthy of five-star treatment). The Taj Chandigarh is now one of the most profitable hotels in the region. The hotel has been designed by Singapore architect, Tom Catelo.

Then & Now

The second in this series of stories appeared in The Times Of India dated July 24, 2003. It talks about Punjab on the verge of industrial ruin due to special status granted to Himachal Pradesh.

THEN July 24, 2003

Punjab's loss is proving to be Himachal's gain. Backed by the latest exemption regime and advantages on the power front, the border industrial township of Baddi in Himachal Pradesh is coming in for renewed focus from industry in Ludhiana.

As per information available, around 60 small and medium scale manufacturers from the city have already bought land in Baddi over the last six months. Fifty of these are power intensive units using furnaces in their manufacturing process while 10 are from the hosiery sector.

Says Ludhiana-based Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings president Inderjit Singh Pardhan, ‘‘Apart from exemptions on the taxation front, these units are looking to set up shop in Baddi also on account of a better industrial environment. If the present situation persists, we will witness a virtual beeline of industrial units to new areas.''

The development has lead to an increase in price of real estate in Baddi by 25 to 30 per cent in the last four months. Says Chandigarh-based property dealer Taran Inder Singh, ‘‘Baddi is receiving increased attention from industry not only in Punjab but other states as well.''

The Central government has granted exemption to industry in Himachal Pradesh on central excise, income tax and investment subsidy for new units for a period of 10 years. The state government too has continued with its old policy of exemption on sales tax.

Pradhan says that businesses in Ludhiana are miffed as they had to pay high power tariffs in face of power shortage.

A unit cost of electricity in Himachal Pradesh costs one rupee lesser than Punjab.

Says All India Bread Manufacturers Association Convener, Ramesh Maggo, ‘‘The recent introduction of EXIM form is also seen as a retrograde step. It will lead to unnecessary delays in supply of raw materials.''

Industrialists say that the increase in price of fuel and lubricants will also add up their costs.

Says Pradhan, ‘‘With these disadvantages in place, the Baddi belt is emerging as an attractive destination. It is conveniently located and industrialists can set up their manufacturing base while continuing to reside in Punjab.''

The Punjab government is seized of the situation but is not in a position to do much.

Says director industries S K Sandhu, ‘‘We are seized of the fact that the exemptions available to industry in Himachal Pradesh are harmful to the industrial prospects of Punjab. We have been taking up these issues with the Central government but to no avail.''

However, there are others who term the trend as a short term phenomenon. Says Hero Cycles Managing Director (Works) S K Rai, ‘‘Industry moving there are only looking at gains in the short run. They will be back in place after the end of the exemption period.''

NOW December 13, 2007

Baddi has emerged as one of the biggest non-port industrial zones in the country. The subsidies and exemptions, which have been extended to 2010, has helped attract industry in droves. The Baddi, Barotiwala, Nalagarh area now has the presence of almost all the major industry houses of the country. The area has fast emerged as the manufacturing capital of the North. Though industrial houses are no longer moving out of the state, the Central exemptions have had a negative effect on the industrial growth of Punjab. The majority of manufacturing units in Punjab have invested in Baddi as part of their expansion plans. The manufacturing industry capital base of the state has remained almost static. The state has received investments mainly in agri-business, retail, real estate, and IT. Industrial houses like Reliance have declared plans to invest Rs 25,000 crore in the state in the coming years.

Then & Now

ChandigarhPost delves into the past to find out what made news then.
Juxtapose that to the present and you can see how much the city has changed or remained the same.
Here is the first story from TOI, which talks about Unrest in the Industrial Estate of Panchkula.

THEN April 17, 2002

Clouds of labour unrest continue to hang low over the industrial estate in Panchkula which is home to over 300 small scale units engaged as ancillaries to larger units, mainly in the automobile sector. With three cases of labour problem reported in last three months, the industrial area here is rife with union activity. It is mostly the larger players like Drish shoes and the state sector Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) which have had to bear the brunt of trade union activity in the recent past. The sluggish economy seems to be at the root of this upheavel. The manufacturing units, feeling the pinch of dwindling orders, are looking for flexibile employment rules. Instead of direct employment, the owners are interested in adopting ‘contract manufacturing’, with greater flexibility on the hire and fire front. The union activity is greater among workers who have spent five years and above in a particular unit and are covered under the labour laws. A visit to the industrial area on monday brought to the fore a protest by workers from two units . First was the demonstration in front of the Drish shoes unit which has a total of 375 workers. The union is affiliated to the All-India Trade Union Congress (aituc). a few blocks away another group of five was staging a chain hunger strike. The company: surya pharmaceuticals. surya pharmaceuticals union general secretary amarpreet singh gill said, ‘‘we have been victimised. The management has transferred all five officebearers of the employees union to their other plants at Baddi and Banur, knowing fully well that they are not in a position to relocate themselves.’’ Surya Pharmaceuticals has over 80 workers on their rolls and the union is affiliated to the left oriented centre for india trade unions (CITU). Earlier, the employees of state owned Bel had adopted confrontation path. The workers were not comfortable with the management decision regarding introduction of smart cards for marking attendance. ‘‘They have not taken our consent before implementing the decision,’’ the union leader had said. the issue was resolved subsequently but it highlights the extent of trade union activity in the industrial area. the individual unions here are affiliated to one or the other central trade unions. and the officebearers of these bodies take an active part in sorting out issues between the workers and the management. times news network witnessed the ongoing deliberations between Drish shoes employee union and the company management, mediated by labour officer Dharampal. however, it was an office-bearer of the aituc haryana state committee who dominated the negotiations which broke the impasse.

NOW December 13, 2007

The Panchkula Industrial Area now has everything: peaceful atmosphere, cordial industrial relations, electricity, water, other facilities; the only thing that is missing is the industry. Industrial units have relocated to nearby industrial areas, mainly Baddi in Himachal Pradesh. And the luckier ones, who owned industrial plots at prime locations, simply sold them off or entered into lucrative arrangements with third - parties to open up show rooms, multiplexes and what not. In a nutshell, industry in Panchkula is dead. Its rather as well. Industrial units should be located in industrial townships, not in middle-class townships like Panchkula.

Sanjay Dutt Takes a Bow

Sanjay Dutt might well have taken the most cherished bow of his lifetime. No, not at one of those glitzy award ceremonies, where the glamour and the artificial sheen of the filmy world is a dead giveaway to the shallow moorings. Quite removed from it, the actor this time stood in front of Pune’s Yerawada jail where he had just begun to serve his six year sentence. And, the audience consisted largely of his family, the policemen turned out neatly in mufti, a battery of lawyers, his close friends from the movie fraternity, old school mates from Sanawar, and above a wildly cheering group of people moved by the actor’s ordeal over the past year or so. Coming from one of the foremost families of the rarefied world of Mumbai movie makers, the life of the hugely popular actor has been a roller-coaster ride gone awfully wrong.

In the latest episode, which resulted in Sanjay’s conviction in a case related to the 1993 Bombay blasts, the actor got the breather due to a technicality ignored by the Mumbai TADA court. The Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan enlarged Dutt on bail till the TADA court provides him with a copy of the judgment. Dutt or “Sanju Baba”, as he is popularly known, will have to surrender after the copy is delivered.

However, the moot point remains: Is our judicial system right in punishing someone like Sanjay Dutt, when the real criminals manage to walk away scot-free under the very eyes of the law. By acquiring an AK 47 and ammunition from people linked to the Bombay blasts, Dutt no doubt committed a mistake. But it was just that: a mistake. Nothing more. It certainly wasn’t a crime, and going by the spirit of law, Dutt should have been pardoned or at least given a lighter sentence. ered more than enough. He has realized his mistake and is a reformed man by all accounts.

Lets just talk about the extent that he has deviated from the accepted behavior. Those of you fond of guns, will vouch for the pride of place an AK 47 or Kalashnikov will occupy in your collection. I personally own a .12 bore, a .22, and a revolver (all licensed). But to own an AK would be a dream come true. It is the ultimate weapon in its class. I have fired it twice (in air, of course) and I know the feeling. It would find a ready market if the government were to make its ownership legal. So what did Sanjay Dutt do? He had the means to acquire the ultimate weapon and he did that illegaly. I don't think he intended to kill anyone with the weapon. And, for his this indiscretion he has suffered more than enough.

By the way, what does the law strive to achieve by punishing an individual? The pundits say that the objective is to ‘Reform’ the person. By punishing individuals gone-wrong, the law strives to make one realize his or her mistake so that it is not repeated. Dutt, I guess has already realized that many times over. So, what is the point in sending him away for a good six years? Lets hear it from you…….

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Movie Review| 300 The Roaring Saga of a Ancient Sparta

Guess which is the most comonly used word in the opening statement of a typical Hollywood flick review? The answer is "Pedestrian". The majority of the movies (typically those produced by Ashok Amritraj), thrive on sex, violence, one-man acts, forced comedy, super heroes and of course fiction of the comic book type. It is not possible even for the likes of Steven Spielberg, Oliver Stone, Francis Ford Coppola, Sam Mendes, Ridley Scott, and Martin Scorsese to come up with path-breaking stuff such as Saving Private Ryan, Platoon, American Beauty, Gladiator, The Godfather, Casino, Apocalypse Now, and Scent of a Woman every time they set the camera rolling. However, very much against expectations, 300 is one such that belongs to the pantheon of these all time greats.A vivid, bloodthirsty adaptation of the novel by Frank Miller, 300 is anything but ordinary. The movie borders on genius and finally establishes director Zach Snyder as a director whose work demands to be watched.

Woven around the Battle of Thermopylae, the movie gives you a slice of history that has largely gone unnoticed despite its manifestation of all that is best in human character। It highlights the elements -- valor, patriotism, leadership, ambition, sacrifice, love, betrayal, and loyalty that shape up the human character. 300 portrays the defiance of 300 Spartan soldiers, who successfully hold the line against innumerable Persian hordes marauding the countryside in ancient Greece.

Though history does not provide the exact numbers, literary estimates say that the invincible army of the Persians was so large that their arrows, if fired in tandem, flew so thick and fast that they could crowd the sky and block the sun (depicted in a scene of the movie).

300 focuses on the Spartan King Leonidas (Gerard Butler), who leads his small cadre of troops -- each one honed into a razor-sharp warrior trained to kill — into a battle they are unlikely to survive. Leonidas fights to uphold the democratic ideals of Greece. He sets out to block the legions of Persian ‘god king’ Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) in a narrow passage, which is his only chance of beating back the large army. The Spartan soldiers are drawn from the best among the sons of Greece, trained as they are to face the rigors of the battlefield right from the age of seven. The movie has a strong narrative, delivered in a powerful voice that is vibrant, and trained to express human emotions in simple words. Each sentence and dialog tugs at your heartstrings. 300 impresses with its superb story line, a tight script, and excellent screenplay. It is choreographed with a finesse that surely makes it a frontrunner for the Awards. Sample these dialogs

Leonidas addressing his army, just before the final battle:

Spartans! Ready your breakfast and eat hearty...... For tonight, we dine in hell!

Remember this day, men, for it will be yours for all time।

Freedom is not free, it requires great sacrafice। The price is paid in blood.

Butler is effective in bringing the blood-soaked, aggressive, heroic tale of King Leonidas to life. Though his queen, played by Lena Headey appears only in a handful of scenes, she leaves an impression that most actresses take an entire film to display.

Once again, the casting is superb, comprising actors with passable acting skills but flat board stomachs and rippling sinews which are truly representative of the Spartan times. Snyder captures the majestic size and scope, the exotic, and carnal physicality of the times with elan.
300, however, takes glorification of bloodshed and violent conflicts to the extreme. The movie has one scene too many; of human heads lopped off with razor-sharp swords, and deadly spears piercing human bodies with the ease of a kitchen knife slicing through a melon. Snyder, however, doesn’t lose his focus of the main storyline throughout the movie. Despite the violent excesses, 300 stops just short of what you may term as sadistic. Verdict: For those, who love to explore History, this is a must-see movie. I rate it second only to Gladiator in terms of its visualization and impact on the audiences.

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Shujaat Hussain Khan: The Stillness of Melody

Taken From Chandigarhexchange.com

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