CLEAN SWEEP: AAP, which has a clean sweep in Delhi, is hoping to repeat its performance in Gujarat which goes to the polls from December 1-5 and will contest all 182 seats.

By Rajan Narayan

AND a few stray thoughts for yet another Saturday. For a Saturday following the week when elections have been announced for Gujarat and this will be the biggest challenge before the Narendra Modi government’s attempt to stay in power in parliament. For a Saturday following the week when a clear-cut distinction must be made between the old RSS and the new RSS. For a Saturday following the week when the election commission stipulated that the term of an elected parliament will last for five years and show greater political stability. For a Saturday following the week when there is worldwide panic as Twitter is sacking people worldwide on a very large scale.
AND a few stray thoughts on the elections which have been announced for Gujarat. This will be the biggest challenge before the Narendra Modis government attempting to retain parliament. It is not going to be easy for Narendra Modi despite the double-engine development model. This refers to development issues taken by the central and state governments. Srinivas Dempo who sold his mines in Goa to Vedanta has invested at least in four shipyards in Gujarat. Many large industries are been forced to set up industrial units in Gujarat.
Though the BJP ran in the last three elections the vote share with the Congress remains at an average of 40%, this is not reflected in the seats secured in the legislative assembly. The image of the BJP has also suffered because of the mysterious death of Home Minister Haren Pandya at the time of Godhra incident. Pandya had testified that Narendra Modi had asked officials not to interfere with the attacks on the Muslim community. Pandya was found mysteriously murdered and several other officials connected with the probe have been victimized.
A fresh factor in the Gujarat election this time is the Aam Aadmi party. After successfully capturing Punjab, Kejriwal has set his eyes on Gujarat. The AAP, which has named Isudan Gadhvi as its chief minister candidate, has decided to contest all 182 seats. The Congress which had 72 seats in the last assembly has announced its first list of 44 seats. It is the Patels who will decide the outcome of the Gujarat election; fortunately for the Patel community, which enjoys the status of the Marathas in Maharashtra and Jats in Punjab and Haryana, the Supreme Court has in a minority verdict upheld the quota for economically weaker sections. This is likely to have an impact on elections not only in Goa but in Maharashtra and the Hindi heartland.
A brief note on the demand for reservations for the EVS. Most of the EVS are culturally and even financially advanced. Most of them are involved in agriculture. But with the mechanization of agriculture and the use of combine harvesters and power tillers, the need for labor has reduced sharply. Generation next does not want to take up farming but want to be engineers and doctors. Which is why the demand for a special category for reservations for the economically weaker sections.

REAL RSS, UNREAL RSS
AND a few stray thoughts on the RSS. I was speaking to my colleagues from Arambol who are very devoted to the RSS. They insist that the RSS that the BJP projects is not the real RSS. The real RSS has dedicated teachers who teach children to respect parents and elders. Even now the teenage children of my colleague do pranam or nameste to the elders in the family including the parents when they wake up in the morning.
Reportedly, real RSS never teach violence and asks its young students to respect all communities. There is an interesting dimension to Goa’s freedom struggle which has largely been ignored except in my book “The Liberation of Goa.” The RSS was an active part of the Azad Gomantak Dal. This was the militant wing of the Goan freedom struggle which included the late VP Sinari. The AGD needed funds to buy weapons and bullets in their desire to liberate Diu and Nagar Haveli. The late Lata Mangeshkar, who has refused to hold any concert in Goa in memory of how Goans had treated her father, helped out in a special concert for the AGD – on the request of music director Suresh Wadkar.
It is reported that Suresh Wadkar carried his stun gun in his piano case. There was hardly any resistance at Diu which was guarded only by a few soldiers and policeman. Within an hour the Azad Gomantak Dal had taken over Diu and Nagar Haveli. The Indian government refused to permit Portugal to get troops from the much larger garrison in Daman.
Interestingly, Diu and Nagar Haveli were liberated without any help from the Indian army by the Azad Gomantak Dal. The story goes that Morarji Desai, who was then chief minister of Mumbai, helped the AGD because he was more afraid of the communists taking over.

POLITICAL STABILITY
AND a few stray thoughts on the election commission stipulation that the term of an elected parliament will last for five years and show greater political stability. The term of the legislative assembly lasting for five years is unique to India. This means that if a party is elected to power it will continue to remain in power for five years. There may be changes in the leadership of the party. But the party government itself will not be affected.
This has avoided the instability witnessed in the UK. The UK has two political parties, Conservative and Llabor. Whichever party gets a majority forms a government. But there is no fix terms for the government as in India. For instance, even within the Conservative party leadership can change every week. It may be recalled that Boris Johnson had to step down for holding a party during Covid against his own rules. His successor Liz Truss was disowned by her own party for her terrible knowledge of finance displayed in the budget she presented — where the rich paid less and the poor paid more. Liz was also accused of using a personal email to send official documents, this is a serious offense and a violation of the Official Secrecy Act.
This was all for Rishi Sonak of east African or South Asia origin to became the chief minister of UK. Whether it is Labor party or Conservative party there are more problems within the infighting of the party. This is not to say that there is no battle between the Labour and Conservative. The late Margret Thatcher become prime minister and introduced the higher, more popular poll tax, which steeply affected the mortgage rates the poor had to pay. In the UK and several western countries, you can buy a house and mortgage it to a housing finance company.
You then pay the mortgage or the equivalent of our EMI till the house is fully yours. As in India, the interest rate will depend on the rate decided by the Reserve Bank of India version in the UK. Margaret Thatcher was defeated by Norman Dodds of the Labour party. The latest instance of political instability in countries which do not have a five-year term of parliament is Israel which just completed its fifth election in five years. Netanyahu is a hawk and this is not good news for the Palestine Arabs.

TWITTER’S ELON MUSK
AND a last stray thought when there is a worldwide panic over Twitter sacking staff on a very large scale. Elon Musk who has taken over Twitter has gone back on his promise not to sack employees on a large scale. Significantly, those on the chopping block seem to be country managers who are coordinating with governments and political parties.
Recently, there was a huge controversy involving the leading online media people of The Wire and Meta. The charge of Meta was that the Twitter head was favoring the head of the BJP IT Wing. Unfortunately for The Wire, their evidence was challenged and it would seem they had been set up. Small companies cannot take on giants like Meta. Musk is promising a more transparent and more liberal Twitter. The old Twitter used to be very biased. However, with Elon Musk in the saddle those who want the blue tick against the Twitter will have to pay $7.99 (Rs700) per month.