“Eighty heads of state and government will grace the Beijing Olympics in August but PM Manmohan Singh will not be among them.” [link]
Instead, the Chinese people, being as smart as they are, have invited the real ruler of India. The Madam. They did not invite the prime minister or the president, but the mere head of congress party.
Small mercy though, that madam is not going to go because of her busy schedule. Some relief!
And we used to think that the times of kingmakers were gone. What does this say about the state of the Indian democracy?
Its a shame that this government may fall for a progressive step that they wanted to take. We just hope that the next elections produce a stable government, and our country gets over the Gandhis for good.
Earlier: Sonia Who?
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It is one thing for outsiders to invite Sonia Gandhi but mostly she deflects them with a degree of grace and political savvy that needs much more appreciation than it gets. That people are obsequious to the Gandhis is the people’s problem; I think she deals with the ‘power’ more gracefully than most would. Let’s be fair to the woman. It is not as if she courts these invitations!
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And a stable govt. without a “left” of the kind that we now have !
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Shefaly – I agree, it is a problem with the Congress which cannot see beyond the Gandhis. But somewhere, she is playing kingmaker, and from what i know democracies shouldnt have kings or their makers.
Last year she represented India at the UN, and i wrote about that too. It was a forum where heads of states represent their countries. In what capacity was she present at that event?
Obviously, someone is enjoying the glory. Shouldn’t she snub the Chinese pointing out to the inappropriate nature of their invite, instead of saying that she wont be going because she is busy?
Dinesh – True words. Its time the left got left behind!
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Added. Nice work on this one. Btw, my blog is dofollow, stop by and grab a link. Walter
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AD:
First of all, what democracies should have and what democracies do have are two different things, for better or worse. Kingmakers of sorts exist in nearly all modern democracies. For that it is important to define the concept of democracy that you use as a working model. It is used as a catch-all term for many types of governance systems as this post (sardonically) had aimed to show:
http://laviequotidienne.wordpress.com/2008/01/02/the-d-word/
As for snubbing, it is usually not the diplomatic tool of choice. There are a hundred ways of saying ‘no’ and she has chosen one. Besides have you ever seen a Chinese person saying ‘no’ directly? They almost never do
It is also a cultural thing..
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Mrs. Gandhi snubbing Chinese would be out of question. That Gandhis are still known as king makers is success of her ‘leadership’. I disagree with Shefaly when she says Mrs. Gandhi needs more appreciation that she gets. Instead she has made a mockery of PM, and the entire government. One would think that this country is a fool to elect puppets whose have strings pulled by someone else. Sooner we get rid of Gandhis, the better.
The next PM-in-waiting Gandhi’s sojourn with Dalits is talk of media. Does one ever know any educational qualification of this leader of ‘young brigade’? I know we in India never bother with qualification of our politicians but I guess that should end arrival of young brigade. We should have a qualified head at helm. But for some strange reason, Congress high command is always silent about Rahul Gandhi, the royal prince’s education.
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@ Poonam:
Perhaps it is my fault for making very nuanced points in the blogosphere. I particularly said her “political savvy” requires more appreciation than seems to be the case in black-and-white debates on Indian politics.
In a democracy, people get the leadership that they elect. Interestingly political power is not just what is vested in the position but also what is perceived.
If international bodies keep inviting her with such alarming regularity, there are two possible explanations –
That she courts these invitations and gets them, which, if true, would suggest that she is making a mockery of the PM’s office;
Or – the more likely one that many Indians are loathe to concede – that perhaps the countries, allies or otherwise of India, do see Dr MM Singh as a puppet and no more! And whose fault would that be?
Sonia Gandhi is playing perfect politics, and it is not an easy or subtle game but she is playing it well. Dr MMS plays no politics but is the pawn in a complex political game. I know who I’d rather be!
As long as people keep mouthing “I don’t do politics”, without realising that it is all they do, all day, every day, this throne-and-the-power-behind-the-throne will remain India’s peculiar brand of democracy. And who is to say that will not continue?
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@ AD: Quick one for you: how is it that Poonam’s avatar shows and mine does not? Just wondering…
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@Shefaly – Now that i am not on wordpress, this blog cannot recognise the wordpress logos. Even mine doesnt show up.
I setup this plugin that shows users’ logos using gravatars. Poonam must have set one up which should be why her icon shows up here.
Setting up a gravatar would mean that your icon would show up not just on my blog, but it apparently is some sort of open standard these days and would be recognised on many other sites that use this format.
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@ AD: Thanks. I looked in WP.org support forums and they suggest similar. Thanks for your tip and sorry about running that test here. Thanks.
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Hmm no comments on who should attend or invited ..I think Olympic games are a major cause of degradation of Environment…Imagine all the wood, metal, money being used. It could be held more simply.
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Hey Thanks for blogrolling me!
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Perhaps the Chinese thought that Mr. Singh may not last until the Olympics
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Shefaly & Amreekandesi: You are right that wordpress.com avatars don’t show up on self-hosted blogs. That said, setting up a gravatar is really easy. Just go to gravatar.com and upload the avatar and specify an email id. After that, any time you comment and use that email id, your gravatar will appear along the comment – on all wp.com and self-hosted blogs. Doesn’t work with blogger though
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Lekhni and AD:
Thanks. Will do. Which means I have to stick to one email ID. Hmm.
Blogger we all agree is slightly odd
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@Reema – Thats an interesting twist. But then, we spend so much money on wasteful stuff. At least organising olympics cleans up cities, and now there is a lot of emphasis on environmental impact. Beijing is going to shut down the neighboring industrial plants to clean up the air.
@Dinesh – You are welcome!
@Lekhni – I setup my gravatar but somehow it still doesnt show up
But i guess it has something with the blog settings.
@Shefaly – Hopefully yours will
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@ Lekhni and AD: Followed all advice. It asked me to wait 10 minutes so hoping this will work now. Thanks for help
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Shefaly: Actually, you don’t have to stick to one email id. You can very easily add multiple email ids to the same gravatar account
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Lekhni:
Thanks. I have two mail IDs on it but I am not sure any is working right now
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Shefaly – there you go now. I could see your icon in the dashboard but it wasnt showing up here. Just had to do and undo some settings for this to become visible
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Oh, thank you, thank you, AD
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The power sharing model between the PM and Sonia Gandhi is not as bad as it is made to sound. It is just another (or new) model of democracy, as Shefaly puts it. To me, this (inviting SG over the PM) is more of a protocol issue, rather than anything ‘solid’. In due course, this will become acceptable in the book of protocols.
In a democracy, a PM has to ‘work for’ its citizens (>1 billion in ours) – and invariably, a PM works more for some and less for others, depending on the returns of his work. We have seen PMs who have towed the line of a particular caste, ideology, political party, coalition ‘dharma’ etc etc…. and now, we have this (PM & SG power sharing) – not like the PM’s office has been put to shame (atleast not any more than it has already been)
And remember, PM has been in core politics for longer than SG and has taken very big political risks (in liberalization etc). His body language may not be that of a seasoned politician, but his mind is certainly that of one – sharp, calculative – in addition to being ‘intellectually inclined’.
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Whatever you might say, Sonia is a role model for the politicians of the subcontinent. First it was Asif Ali Zardari who said he wants to play the role that Sonia Gandhi is playing in India, then there was Prachanda the Maoist, from Nepal who wanted to play the role of Sonia Gandhi in Nepal.
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I’ve heard some good things about this blog. Remember to balance the pics with the text tho. cheers!
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I am seaching for some idea to write in my blog… somehow come to your blog. best of luck. Eugene
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We just can hope for the best government in the future but till that time we have to do something to make image good.
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