SRK is a brand treating KKR as its subsidiary

Kolkata Knight Riders being at the bottom of the table in the ongoing Indian Premier League may hurt the KKR fans but to a cricket enthusiast it is not surprising. The on field performance of the team has truly been disappointing but Knight Riders seems to have lost the plot with the team selection. They are left with limited resources in their present squad and are not expected to go too far ahead in the tournament.

John Buchanan and his team of experts messed up with the selection of players right in the first season. They got overboard with getting big international names such as Ricky Ponting, Shoaib Akhtar, Brendon McCullum and Chris Gayle overlooking the fact that only four international players can be accommodated in the playing eleven. This made sure that although squad looked formidable on paper the playing eleven was a vulnerable one.

Surprisingly IPL must have sounded like International Premier League to the KKR. Otherwise what logic can go behind having only one Indian star Ishant Sharma with all the other Indian players not even having a place in the Indian squad. Why could not manage to get any other players from among the 20-22 India regulars? They even lost Bengal's most promising batsman Manoj Tiwari to the Delhi Daredevils.

Another mess up that the Kolkata Knight Riders did was select a top heavy squad. The batting stars that the Knight Riders have in their squad (Brendon McCullum, Sourav Ganguly, Ricky Ponting and Chris Gayle) bat at 1,2 and 3 conventionally. This leaves the middle order and the lower middle order in the hands of players like Aksah Chopra, Sanjay Bangar where as other teams had the likes of Yusuf Pathan, MS Dhoni and Abhishek Nayar.

One foolishness could be termed as mistake but twice it becomes stupidity. What made them buy Bangladeshi pacer Moshrafe Mortaza for a whopping Rs 3 Crores when he chilling in the dug out. Couldn't they have got some better player from the India U-19 squad for may be one-tenth the price. Of course Shahrukh had more of Bollywood and Television interest in Bangladesh behind grabbing Mortaza. SRK is himself a brand and treating KKR as its subsidiary.

If all this was not enough the John Buchanan came with the four captain theory and sowed the last seeds of defeat. Brendon McCullum who has turned out to be a one innings wonder as far as IPL is concerned was given the captaincy ahead of Ganguly and Gayle both of whom have experience. The inexperience has showed in his decisions in the two close encounters the team had. The results are here for all to see.

IPL Season 2 is most likely over for the Kolkata Knight Riders unless a miracle happens which is least expected with the present team combination. Hopefully cricketing logic will drive the team in the next season and not just marketing and brand building exercise. 'Go Desi' and grab some good Indian talent that's the logic behind doing well in the IPL. More importantly Shahrukh should not treat this team as a brand extension of his own name.

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Bofors : The issue that refuses to die

The 155 mm field gun which is famous for its anti-aircraft fire power has created more noise in New Delhi than in India's borders. What was brought to scare Pakistan on the Western Front has turned out to be one of the biggest nightmares for the Congress party especially the Gandhi family. The controversy around the field gun refuses to die even after two decades since it broke out.

The Central Bureau of Investigation's letting Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi off the hook in the middle of the General Elections has definitely raised some eyebrows. The CBI has asked the Interpol to take off Quattrocchi's name from the Red Corner notice list which was put on India's request. The Italian businessman is an accused in Rs 64 crore the Bofors payoff scam.

The Bofors scam which had broken out in 1987 had the name of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who was accused of receiving kickbacks from Bofors AB for winning a bid to supply India’s 155 mm field howitzer. Quattrocchi who acted as the middleman in the deal was known to be very close to Gandhi family especially Italian-born Sonia Gandhi. Rajiv Gandhi's government came under severe criticism over the scam, eventually lost the 1989 elections.

This has already snowballed into a major controversy ahead of the third phase of elections. The BJP and the BSP have accused the Congress of misusing the central investigative agency for a cover up action on a 20 year old case. The BJP said that the Congress can foresee its defeat in the elections and wants to bury all the cases it has against it. It accused the Congress letting off Quattrocchi go due to his close relationship with the Gandhi family.

Another setback has been that the CBI's role as an independent investigative agency has taken a severe beating. Just a few weeks back its giving clean chit to Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar both accused in the 1984 Anti-Sikh riots had come under severe criticism. Even in the JMM bribery scam case JMM leader Shibu Soren was let off by the agency. In the coming days more mud slinging could take place in the issue.

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India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to host cricket World Cup

By: Subhadeep Bhattacherjee

The International Cricket Council has finally given a go ahead to India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to jointly host the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2011. ICC's Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat announced in Mumbai that India will now host 29 matches, Sri Lanka will get 12 matches while Bangladesh will get 8 matches. The matches in India will be played across 13 venues with Mumbai getting the honour of hosting the final.

Pakistan was dropped as a venue over growing security concerns in the war torn nation. Most of the teams are against the idea of playing cricket in Pakistan especially after the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in February. The ICC also decided to shift the Cricket World Cup Secretariat from Lahore to Mumbai. BCCI chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty was appointed the Managing Director of the 2011 World Cup.

Pakistan on its part had requested the ICC to allow its share of matches to be hosted in Abu Dhabi. The International Cricket Council will pay a princely sum of $750,000 per match to the host nation. Pakistan was supposed to host 14 matches and could have made a whopping $1050000. The PCB which is starving for funds with the regular tour cancellation by international teams did not want its share of mullah to be grabbed by the Cricket Boards in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Pakistan's Dubai proposal was backed by Abdul Rehman Bukhatir who was the man behind turning Shahrjah as a lucrative cricketing venue. Bukhatir is one of the major share holders in the Dubai Sports Club and wants Dubai to be the next Shahrjah. The Board of Control for Cricket in India which along with the ICC had forced Bukhatir out of the cricketing business stood strictly against this idea as Dubai could become the next hub of match-fixing in world cricket.

The ICC's green signal now means that all the three nations from the subcontinent will have to work on a war footing as the preparations in all the three nations is running behind schedule. As for Pakistan it will have to try hard to keep up the spirit of the game alive in this hour of crisis which is taking a huge toll on the game and the nation as a whole.

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Lankan crisis to impact Tamil Nadu polls

By: Subhadeep Bhattacharjee

The war between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) in northern Sri Lanka is likely to have a huge impact on the Lok Savha polls in in Tamil Nadu. Political parties from Tamil Nadu like the DMK, AIADMK and PMK are trying to draw maximum mileage out of the Lankan issue. The BJP and the Congress are watching their steps on the issue and refraining themselves from making any controversial remarks on the issue.

Now the Sri Lankan has finally declared a ceasefire and promised not to use heavy weapons and air strikes as close to one lakh Tamil civilians are still believed to be trapped in the battle zone. This after New Delhi requested Colombo to halt the aggressive move by its army which was talking a toll not only on the Tigers but the civilians too. Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said the ceasefire was a result of the Indian intervention in the island nation.

The ceasefire by the Lankan government will bring a huge sigh of relief to the Congress and the DMK as both these parties are on sticky wicket in the state. DMK is not likely to sweep through the polls like it did last time when it got all the seats along with its allies denying Jayalalitha's AIADMK a single seat in the Parliament. LTTE's defeat would have further made the situation for the Congress- DMK combine.

The PMK has made LTTE the most important issue in Tamil Nadu and its leader Vaiko is openly campaigning for the Tamil Tigers. Often termed as the political face of the LTTE in India Vaiko would surely emerge as the greatest benefactor if any thing happens to the LTTE chief and his organisation. He had even threatened to have a bloodbath in Tamil Nadu in case anything happens to Prabhakaran or the LTTE.

The coming few days will be very important as the Lankan Army will not give up its positions after making strategic gains. What seems logical is the army is giving some time so that the civilians can go out after which it can launch its final offensive against the government.

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It’s the Prime Minister’s turn to get the shoe

By: Subhadeep Bhattacharjee

If the 2009 Lok Sabha elections will be remembered in the future for one reason it will surely politicians getting the shoe. What journalist Jarnail Singh started as a mark of protest seems to have triggered a chain of events and doesn’t seem to have an ending soon. After P Chidambaram, Naveen Jindal and BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate LK Advani it was the turn of Prime Minister Mahmohan Singh to be at the receiving end during an election rally Gujarat.

The shoe missed the Prime Minister and landed just near to him distracting him for a moment. The shoe thrower was immediately whisked away by the SPG (Special Protection Group) who detained him for questioning. He was later identified as Hitesh Chauhan, a 21-year-old student pursuing a computer course in a local engineering college. Chauhan however said he does not belong to any political group but did to reveal what provoked him to take such a step.

The surprising thing came from the Prime Minister who decided to pardon Chauhan and requested the authorities not to take action against him. Well in this election season our politicians will not dare to take on people even if they are at the wrong side of law. They are ready to take a few shoes if that means they have a better chance in the polls. All our leaders seem to have learnt the phrase ‘forgive and forget’.

Was it right on the part of the Prime Minister’s part to do that well that’s a debatable issue? Home Minister had pardoned the offender in the first incident keeping in mind the elections but that generous act seems to have encouraged irresponsible citizens to hurl shoes at our leaders. Law should be allowed to take its own course in such incidents and politicians should not intervene in such matters.

As for people like Hitesh Chauhan they should be dealt with strongly under the law of the land. Showing shoe at a leader is no way to show grievance let alone the Prime Minister of the country. The democratic system technically has its methods for protest and certainly a shoe is not the method in a civilised society. Lastly we can just hope this incident is last among the ugly incidents that have happened this election season.

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Perfect finish again eludes Dada

By: Subhadeep Bhattacharjee

If critics still doubted the talent the 'Bengal Tiger' Sourav Ganguly had, yesterday's innings against the Rajasthan Royals was an answer for all of them. Nobody expected the match to go down to the wire once Brendon McCullum and Chris Gayle had shown their back. It was the man of steel the former Indian captain Sourav who came good and almost did it for the Knight Riders silencing the Ganguly bashers.

The only sad thing in the story was a perfect finish has once again eluded our beloved Dada. Be it the 2003 World Cup final or the first ball duck in his last Test innings Sourav seems to have been unlucky when it comes to finishing in style. After playing a breathtaking innings and almost scripting an impossible win, Sourav was out in the penultimate ball of the innings giving Royals a chance to win the encounter in a Super Over decider.

A lot of questions are being raised on McCullum's choice to hand over the ball to Sri Lankan Ajantha Mendis. This showed his inexperience in captaincy and the New Zealander's personal understanding of the game. McCullum a good player of pace handed the ball to a spinner. What he forgot was Yusuf Pathan being an Indian can murder spinners. Yusuf hit through the line and finished the game single handedly in the Super Over.

Coming back to Sourav it is sad to see that time and again this man has been targeted by his critics. In spite of scoring more than 18500 runs at the international level his attitude, temperament and skills have been regularly questioned. But the character that he is Sourav has always come out of poor form and silenced them. There has been no cricketer in the Indian history who has come back from the docks time and again and proved his critics wrong.

Who said Sourav Ganguly has forgotten how to hit sixes? Things have changed and Dada is doing it against the pacers now. Did we hear somewhere that he was susceptible to fast bowling? Well true he was not a great puller of the short ball like many in the international stage are but again he was murderous when it came to the spinners especially the left arm ones. Even the great Sachin is never comfortable against left arm spinner, so did we brand him as a player who can't play left arm spin.

The buck has to stop somewhere. If we can't respect our heroes lets not humiliate them.

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Rain rain go away; IPL players wanna play

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Rain rain go away; IPL players wanna play

By: Subhadeep Bhattacharjee

This is probably the nursery rhyme that all the players and the fans of Indian Premiere League are rhyming at the moment. Almost a half a week after the tournament began the weather god hasn't showered his blessings on the tournament and rain has played a spoilt sport in most of the matches. It seems to be raining everywhere in South Africa be it in Durban or Cape Town.

Out of the eight matched played so far two have been reduced encounters with the result being decided by the ever debated Duckworth Lewis method. Ironically both the times Kings XI Punjab have turned out to be the victims once at the hands of Delhi Daredevils and than Kolkata Knight Riders. Another match between Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians had to be abandoned due to rain.

Many cricket experts are raising doubts over the shifting of the venue to South Africa after the IPL Governing body and the Indian Government could not come to an agreement on the security for the tournament in wake of the General elctions. Many are asking the question whether England would have been a better venue but the weather man would say the situation is the same even in UK.

The rainfall has become a major headache for Lalit Modi and his team as it doesn't only mean no play it also mean loss of ad revenue. The fact that the ad revenue is already low as compared to the first season of the league made Modi and his men come up with the idea of Strategy Breaks which has already met with sharp criticism from the teams and former players.

IPL Season 2 has already been hit by low TRP ratings which may be a result to the low scoring matches compared to last year. The batsmen are unable to play the slam bang cricket as the green top in South Africa is no comparison to the dusty flat beds in the sub continent. Also the fact that the matches are being played at the end of the season in SA the pitches have become a lot slower and not conducive to stroke play.

All this has become a huge worry for Lalit Modi and his team. They will be praying to the rain gods to shower some blessings on them or else IPL Season 2 might just prove to be a disaster.

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Lalu's surprising moves is out of fear

A few months back if there was one ally the Congress could trust in the United Progressive Alliance it had to be RJD's Lalu Prasad Yadav. But Lalu's moves in last two months has not only surprised the Congress but political pundits who thought they knew the Railway Minister well. The Bihar strongman has not only broken the alliance but is now accusing the Congress for the Babri Masjid demolition.

Lalu is playing to the gallery and making sure he gets maximum mileage out of Congress's failures and also at the same time be seen as a messiah of secularism. His blaming the Congress for the Babri Masjid demolition was a clear signal of being opportunist in politics. The irony is he shares the dias with former BJP leader Kalyan Singh who was the UP Chief Minister when the December 6th incident took place.

Lalu surely had made his game plan to dump the Congress long ago. He wants to have maximum bargaining powers at the centre. He presented a Congress with an unacceptable seat sharing deal and formed an alliance with Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP. If that was not enough the two leaders make a alliance with Samajwadi Party for seat sharing in UP and Bihar having a dream of forming a Fourth Front government.

There is however a tricky fact behind all his surprising moves. The election wind does not seem to be blowing towards Lalu anymore. His breaking alliance with Congress might hurt him and analysts believe his tally could be reduced to half from the current 22. Also the fact that the state has seen some development under the leadership of Nitish Kumar is worrying Lalu. This can be very well understood from the fact that he himself is contesting two seats Saran and Pataliputra.

Lalu might have been India's most successful Railway Minister with the IIMs inviting him for lectures but he seems to have lost his connection with Bihar. In the 2004 polls he had the state government under his control with his wife as the CM. This time the command of the state lies in the hands of his friend turned foe Nitish Kumar and Lalu is most likely to have a bad show in the Lok Sabha polls. This perhaps explains his surprising moves.

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Don't kill IPL with 'Strategy Breaks'

Every sport has to evolve and bring in constant changes to the format to give the audience something new. Indian Premiere League in its second season has seen a very un-cricket-like change in the name 'Strategy Break'. One thing is for sure this concept was not the brain child of any cricketer. A cricketer will never want to spoil the momentum of the game especially in a format like the T20 where there is hardly time to settle down.

It can be very well understood who is the biggest beneficiary of these 'Strategy Breaks'. The television ad spots surely will fetch the BCCI huge revenue at the cost of the game. As far as marketing the game of cricket is concerned it has to be one of the best ideas we have seen in the recent past but it takes a toll on the game. The idea which has been most likely taken from the game of basketball has not found too many fans among the cricketers and die hard cricket fans.

The biggest name in world cricket Sachin Tendulkar has voiced his concern against the concept of Strategy Breaks saying it hampered the momentum of the game and seven and a half minute break was too long for a game like T20. Sachin's opinion has to be a testimonial to this marketing concept after all he has worked hard in the cricket field for 20 years and not sat in an air conditioned room and come out with a concept called Strategy Break.

It is a well know fact that the BCCI had gone overboard with marketing the IPL right from its first season. In an absurd movie it has also taken away the rights to publish images by the media houses over the internet as it has sold the internet rights to a single media house. The media fraternity had threatened to boycott the league in its inaugural season after which an agreement was reached between the media and the BCCI.

It may not come as a surprise to many if it was revealed that the Strategy Break concept was brought without the consent of any of the cricketers in the IPL Governing body. It may be too late to call of the Strategy Breaks this season as the deals with the sponsors have already been signed. The poor cricketers have become victims at the hands of the marketing graduates.

BCCI should look into it that all the changes that are brought to the game should have more cricketing than marketing sense. After all its the game of cricket that is being sold by the richest cricketing body in the world.

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Karunanidhi remembers his long lost friend Prabhakaran

Call it the old age syndrome or the pressure of politics DMK chief Karunanidhi suddenly seems to have remembered a person by the name of Prabhakaran. In a startling interview with a TV channel the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister has said that the LTTE chief is his friend and he is not a terrorist. DMK's partner Congress is on a sticky wicket after his comments.

Giving a clean chit to the dreaded terrorist Mr Karunanidhi also added that Prabhakaran is not involved in any of the killings and he was fighting for a novel cause. He accepted that some terror element might have entered the ranks of the LTTE but Prabhakaran was in no way responsible for this. He contradicted himself and accepted that the LTTE is fighting for a genuine cause but their methods were wrong.

This statement by Karunanidhi hasn't surprised many as MDMK chief Vaiko who is known to be supportive of the LTTE had almost hijacked the issue and hoped to make major gains in the ongoing Lok Sabha Polls. Its alliance with the AIADMK is posing a threat to the DMK and it seems LTTE will be one of the major issues in the elections this time around in Tamil Nadu.

Karunanidhi was left with no choice but to endorse Prabhakaran and the LTTE to connect an emotional cord with the voters in an election where he surely cannot better his dream performance like last time. The Congress party which had lost one of its key leaders Rajiv Gandhi to the LTTE still seems to brand LTTE as a terrorist organization.

A few questions however arise:
If Prabhakaran is not a terrorist what is he doing with the LTTE?

If Prabhakaran has no control over his organizational activities (read terror attacks) than how can he be termed has the chief of his organization?

Are we to be led by people who endorse and support terrorism on national television?

Why is it that leaders like Vaiko and Karunannidhi raise up the issue of the LTTE and not the Sri Lankan Tamils?

Have we or should we forget about the assassination of former PM Rajiv Gandhi?

How can we ask Pakistan to keep off from the Kashmir issue when we ourselves interfere in the internal matter of our neighbouring country?

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IPL 2 starts: Blackout for other TV Channels

The DLF Indian Premier League 2 kick starts in a few hours from now and if last year’s viewership is anything to by the General Entertainment Channels and their never ending family sagas can go for a virtual break. The men won’t complain anymore as all the women folk in the family won’t want to get hold of the remote and catch a glimpse of K-Series or Saas Bahu Aur Saazish. The T20 version seems to have been customised to keep off family fights over the TV remote.

Rightly marketed as small screen’s ‘Dhamaka’ last year which virtually led to the black out of other entertainment channels IPL 2 promises to be bigger and better in spite of going for a South African safari. And with the tournament becoming Non Resident Indian Premier League more eyes will be glued to the idiot box be it a 14 inch B/W television in the slums of East Delhi or a 49 inch plasma screen in a posh apartment at Juhu.

Bollywood can also shut down its shop for some time as Shahrukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Shilpa Shetty are busy in the rainbow nation cheering their respective teams. With Aamir Khan preaching election funda and Salman sorting his never ending problems with Katrina Kaif, Bollywood is in for a recession. Had the industry been collectively listed in the BSE or the NSE the share prices would have definitely gone south.

The coming of the flamboyant English players and the not so flamboyant Bangladeshi players has meant that IPL has truly become a global event. What IPL had done in its first season was packaged sports with entertainment. There was the competitive game for the die-hard cricket fan and entertainment for his family and friends who didn’t have the opportunity to swap channel and catch some soap or news.

The success of the tournament last could be measured from the fact the tournament had become talk of the nation. Women in offices would talks about the previous night’s game instead of their mother-in-laws and men would divert some of their attention from the gadgets and gizmos and cheer for their respective teams. This year such monopolistic attention might be difficult with the ongoing General Elections and the most interesting word we have learnt in the last 8 months ‘Recession’.

All in all IPL 2 promises to live upto the expectation it created with the mega success in the first season both in terms of the game and the entertainment value. After all unlike the Election campaigns which terms the fight as ‘Battle for the States’ Indian Premier League is all about ‘Battle of the Cities’

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Now L K Advani gets the chappal

After P Chidambaram and Naveen Jindal its the turn of BJP leader and NDA's Prime Ministerial candidate L K Advani to get the shoe. Journalist Jarnail Singh's shoe hurling at P Chidambaram seems to have started a chain of events with people finding shoe throwing a noble gesture to show their displeasure with the political class in India.

Interestingly this time around it was an ex-Bharatiya Janata Party member Pawas Agrawal who allegedly threw a slipper Advani at an election rally in Katni, Madhya Pradesh. Agrawal who was immediately taken into the police custody said that Advani was a 'Fake Iron Man' who asked for votes in the name of Ram and then paid tribute to Mohammed Ali Jinnah the founder of Pakistan.

The BJP party leaders were shocked at the incident and blamed it on the Congress for being behind it. Congress was quick to fire back and asked BJP not to publicise the issue. As both the parties try to make an election issue out of this it is another dark chapter in the 2009 elections which has already seen many lows from our leaders.

The question now arises is whether shoe throwing will now become a regular part of Indian politics? Well if the politicians pardon these people under the heat of the election these incidents will take place again. P Chidambaram had let Jarnail Singh walk away with no punishment after the first shoe-gate incident. His pardoning act was more of political in nature keeping in mind the elections in Punjab.

This pardoning act had lead us to this day when within a week we have had three politicians at the receiving end. The problem arises because the politicians act as law themselves and don't allow the men in khakhi and the people in black coats to resolve the cases. Election rallies are places where our politicians apologise for their blunders and cases are not solved in courtrooms. Is this the democracy we are so proud of?

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Vajpayee's last minute campaign – A pre-planned move?

Many people were wondering all throughout the election campaign where was former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The last that people heard of him was he was being treated at the All India Institute of Medical Science in New Delhi. His physical condition did not permit him to contest the Lok Sabha polls but he did not even participate in the campaigns. Now all of a sudden he has come up and backed his long standing party colleague L K Advani to be the next Prime Minister of the country.

This is the first election that Vajpayee and Advani are not fighting together after shaping the BJP with the departure of the Jana Sangh. The two politicians have been through thick and thin together and spent time at the prison when Mrs Indira Gandhi had called Emergency. The two leaders brought BJP from a tally of 2 seats in 1984 to form a 13 government in 1996.

This seems to be a smartly pre-organised movie by the saffron brigade to bring in the most respected face in their party to give a final boost to the campaign. It is a well known fact that many of the coalition member in the erstwhile NDA government had struck to the BJP just because they could swear by the name of the poetic Prime Minister. With Vajpayee's slow exit after the 2004 polls these parties dwindled away from the NDA.

Ever since LK Advani was projected as the Prime Ministerial candidate by the BJP, Vajpayee was kept in the sideline. This was done to keep Advani's chances floating as Vajpayee still has the charisma to pull the people of the nation and the leaders of the smaller regional parties towards him. Vajpayee's active campaign would have hurt the chances of LK Advani who is considered to be a hard-liner and has less mass appeal as compared to that of the moderate Vajpayee.

To use the Sangh Parivar terminology bringing in Vajpayee is like using their 'Brahmaastra' just before the Electronic Voting Machines buzz in the 15th Lok Sabha Polls. Only time will say whether Vajpayee was able to woo the voters and bring them to the NDA or the BJP did a blunder by keeping him aside for so long.

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Kaif’s South African safari ends before IPL starts

Mohammad Kaif’s South African safari has ended even before the first ball has been bowled in the second season of the Indian Premier League. Kaif and seven others are on their way back home even before the tournament starts. The defending champions who are based in Cape Town have decided to drop the former India Under-19 captain just three days ahead of their first encounter with the Bangalore Royal Challengers.

Kaif was one of the highest paid Indian cricketers for the Royals with a price tag of USD 675,000. He had a poor season last year averaging a disappointing 16 in spite of playing all the matches. This will be a huge blow for the UP skipper who has been sweating it out to get back his place in the national side.

What might have hurt Kaif’s case is the performance of little known players like Swapnil Asnodkar, Niraj Patel and Yusuf Pathan in the first season. These little known names under the inspirational leadership of spin wizard Shane Warne made sure the Royals brought home the trophy in spite of pundits writing them off right from the word go.

The Uttar Pradesh captain was once considered to be the future of Indian cricket after his the famous knock he had played at Lords in 2002 NatWest Trophy to snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat. But sadly that was the only innings Kaif is remembered for and in spite of spirited performances at the domestic level he has never been able to wear the Indian colours again.

Rajasthan Royals team management stated that it was additional expense for them to keep the entire squad in South Africa and thus they had taken this decision. Rajasthan Royals might have just set a trend and we might see other franchises following the RR and trimming down the expenses as they already are incurring additional costs after the tournament got shifted to South Africa in wake of the Lok Sabha Elections.

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Munnabhai plays the communal card

If communal speeches could be measured using the metric system the upcoming Lok Sabha polls would surely be the winner. When it comes to communal speeches and divisive politics our netas surely have no match in the world. After Varun Gandhi made a name for himself for his anti-Muslim speech its is now the turn of our very own Munnabhai Sanjay Dutt.

In an election rally in Uttar Pradesh he said that he was tortured to the third degree and booked under the TADA because his mother (famous actress Nargis) was Muslim. He was campaigning for Samajwadi Party (SP) nominee Arshad Jamal Ansari in a minority dominated community. This speech did not go down well with the Election Commission and they served him a notice.

Sanjay Dutt might have a short memory and forgotten that he was found possessing an AK-56 rifle which he had acquired from the Mumbai underworld. Now surely that unlicensed piece of metal was not meant for killing birds nor was it to be a show piece in his living room. If he was not to be booked under the TADA what else was to be done with him after the Mumbai serial blasts?

Was he insane enough not to know AK-56 was a banned weapon. If he was that insane and ignorant how does he expect to represent people of this country being their leader. Owing his celebrity status he could have raised this issues of torture before. What took him 14 years since his release to reveal this truth to the country. Didn't he ever hear “to accept injustice is also a crime”?

Now where did the question of him being the son of a Muslim mother come from. Sanjay and his siblings had always proudly carried his father's surname like most Indians do so where is the question of him being victimised for being a Muslim woman's son. There were several Muslim stars in Bollywood why were none of them accused of being a part of the plot and put behind bars in the case if Muslims were victimised.

He should thank his luck that he literally got away with the case due to his celebrity status and the influence his father had over the politicians in Maharashtra and Delhi. There are several others accused who have been behind the bars for the last 16 years. The fact is Bollywood actors are used to retakes and don't think twice before committing a blunder. Sanju baba get back to the sliver screen, politics doesn't seem to be your cup of tea.

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Satyam changes call sign: Satyam is now Tech Mahindra

After months of uncertainty and daily rumours the verdict is finally out Tech Maindra is now the fourth largest IT company in the country after acquiring Satyam Computer Service Ltd. This is a huge relief for the employees of Satyam for the first time since January 7 when Ramalinga Raju broke the 7000 Crore scam after which he and his brother were arrested.

What it means for Satyam is that at one go it will have the much needed cash which it was starved off due to the fraud committed by its founder B Ramalinga Raju and his brother Rama Raju. For Tech Mahindra its huge step getting a well organised company with Fortune 500 clients at one go. Tech Mahindra a nobody in IT services till now has become the fourth largest Indian IT brand.

Satyam's diverse client base is a huge advantage for Tech Mahindra which the company is getting with acquisition. Till now TM was focused only on the UK market with British Telecom being one of its major clients. With Satyam in the kitty it gets access to the US markets where from the bulk of IT business comes to India. It can now boast of clients like ANZ, GM, Motorola among others.

Satyamites reacted to this acquisition with mixed feelings. While some rejoiced the fact that the period of uncertainty was over others were bit worried about their jobs as Tech Mahindra is known to have a huge bench strength of its own. Tech Mahindra's relative less grip and experience on the IT market is also a major worry for them as many. Some feel the masters here are less experienced than the company they acquired.

The markets did not accept the deal with open arms. Satyam share prices had risen in the first hour of trade on Monday and had rises by almost 8% in during the trading period but with the news of Tech Manidnra winning the bid the the prices went down. Experts believed L&T Infotech might have been a better master considering the brand value it enjoys over the Mahinda group.

All in all it is too early to say how the investors, clients and employees of both these companies will react to the situation and only time will say if this acquisition works for the betterment of the employees of Satyam and the brand of Tech Mahindra.

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Buddiya to Guddiya – Elections '09 gets colourful

If Narendra Modi had not taken up politics he could have been a good poet or a lyricist considering his rhyming skills he has shown in the 'Buddiya to Guddiya' issue. Elections were never this exciting in India. From someone threatening to kill everybody belonging to a particular community to someone promising to bulldoze his political rival we are seeing and hearing it all this election season.

Gujarat Chief Minister BJP's poster boy Narendra Modi added showed his poetic skills by calling Congress a '125 year buddiya' (old lady). The third in line to the Congress throne Priyanka Gandhi took offence and asked Modi if she and her brother Rahul looked old. Modi made some quick corrections to his statement and instead called the party 'guddiya' (doll).

This elections is witnessing mud slinging and abusing like none other before. Election Commission might so have to start a new branch for sending notices to our leaders. All the criminals fighting elections claim the charges have been framed by the opposition. It can be an interesting study as to why only 'framed' criminals fight the elections and not the actual murderers, frauds, rapists.

The irony about this elections is most of the campaigns cutting across party lines haven't focused on good governance and development. Congress's only stand is to brand the BJP as a communal party and portray itself as the rainbow party which represents all Indians. BJP on the other hand is happy to make anti-minority statements and target the Prime Minister being the weakest in Indian history.

Much better are the regional parties, most of them want to keep equal distance from both the BJP and the Congress. They hope to provide a third alternative to the people of the country but the truth there is no end to alternatives with so many coalition partners. All of them have high aspirations as the Centre and each has its own Prime Ministerial candidate so it won't be surprising if we have Prime Ministers on a six moth term if the Third Front is voted to power.

Well for an outsider he may term it as chaos, drama or lawlessness but for us Indians its is our Lok Sabha elections.

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Congress goes into damage control mode

The Congress party has gone into damage control mode by withdrawing the candidature of Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar from the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Both Tytler and Kumar are accused in the 84 Anti-Sikh riots which had claimed the lives of more than 3000 Sikhs. This after the infamous shoe-gate incident involving journalist Jarnail Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram had its ripple effect in the national capital and the state of Punjab.

The Congress High Command took the decision in a bid to calm down the sentiments among the Sikh community against the party. The Congress is also trying to prevent the BJP and The Akali Dal from hijacking this issue and making it their main stand in this coming elections considering Punjab sends 13 members to the Lok Sabha and out of the 7 Lok Sabha seats in Delhi the Sikh community is a major force in at least four.

This decision will come as a relief to many Congress leaders in Delhi including Chief Minister who was not happy with Tytler being granted a party ticket considering his dark past. Dixit felt the party should have been more sensitive towards the Sikhs who have a sizable vote share in Delhi. This is a moral victory for her as she was against the candidature of Tytler and Kumar right from the word go but had to bow down to her party’s pressure as both these man had won the last elections by huge margins.

Jagdish Tytler on his part maintains that he has been a victim of inner party politics and feels sad that he has caused so much embarrassment to his party. He added that there was no evidence against him and he has been made a victim by some of his party colleague and the media. He said both the Nanavati commission and the CBI had given him clean chit in the case.

The issue very unlikely to die down in the coming days and will surely be a major poll issue both in Punjab and Delhi. For the Congress which has been embarrassed just about a week before the first phase of polls it will be a though job replace Tytler and Kumar with winnable candidates and secondly build its image before the Sikh community in a short span of time.

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Prosecute politicians who support terrorism

MDMK General Secretary Vaiko's said that Prabhakaran exists in the hearts of all Tamils and if any harm is done to him there will be bloodbath in Tamil Nadu. Isn't it a shame that a politician in India can speak openly in support of a terrorist causing damage to life and property in one of our neighbouring countries. Has Vaiko forgotten that it is the same Prabhakaran who masterminded the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

It is the same LTTE which is issuing threats to Sonia Gandhi and her family members according to recent intelligence reports. How could Mrs Gandhi have run a government in alliance with a party like MDMK which supports a terror outfit which killed her husband? To forget and forgive people takes a big heart but to ally with your enemy just for the sake of political gains is opportunism.

True Sri Lankas Tamils have gone through a lot of atrocities and every Tamalian has the right to have a soft corner for them. But Vaiko doesn't stand up for the Lankan Tamils rather chooses to support a terrorist organization which has been banned by the India government. Vaiko is playing a political master stroke and wants to create an emotional outbreak among the people of Tamil Nadu knowing in the election season he cannot be arrested no matter what even comment he makes.

On one hand we do not miss a single opportunity in branding Pakistan as perpetrators of terror in India and on the other we have leaders like Vaiko who openly support a terror outfit in our neighbouring country in the name of protecting the cause of Lankan Tamils. What is the message we portray to the international community when we want them to isolate Pakistan on the issue of terrorism but some of our leaders are there support terrorism in Sri Lanka.

It is a fact that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter so as a nation we need to collectively take a stand on these issues. Should we call for a ban on all form of terrorism both within our country and in the neighbouring ones or should we allow our leaders to make such speeches and easily get away with it. We cannot be the promoters and victims of terrorism together which unfortunately our neighbour on the west Pakistan has become.

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Jarnail Singh shouldn't have been let off

Dainik Jagran journalist Jarnail Singh flung a shoe at Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram during a Press Conference at the Congress headquarters in New Delhi. He did this in protest against the Congress’s decision to field Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar — accused in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case. Chidambaram had refused to answer a question raised by Jarnail who accused the the Congress of denying justice to the Sikhs.

Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar are accused in the 1984 Sikh riots which happened after the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. CBI had given a clean chit to Tytler in the case recently much to the dismay of the entire Sikh community. They felt the centre had used its power over the CBI ahead of the the crucial elections.

Chidambaram on his part recovered composure and went ahead with the Press Conference. In the heat of the upcoming elections he even went on to pardon Jarnail Singh for his act. He did not want the Congress to be seen as Anti-Sikh and loose vote its share among the community. Among a section of the Sikh community Jarnail is being hailed as a hero and cash rewards are being given to him.

The truth is however this is a highly condemnable act by an individual that too a journalist. In a democracy like ours there are other ways to protest. We do not need to take a leaf out of Iraq and perform the act in India. Do we want India to be another Iraq? Surely not and Jarnail Singh should not have been let off easily after his shameful act.

P Chidambaram letting him off is another example of how politicians see their vote bank ahead of everything else. Would this individual have been let off had this incident happened a year or two ago when there were no elections in sight? Who is Mr Chidambaram to pardon somebody who has hurled a shoe at a cabinet minister and could have posed a serious security threat to many others present during the Press Conference.

We are not a banana republic and letting Jarnail off is a bigger international shame than his act. What do we portray to the world leaders who address the press when they visit India. Should they be prepared to have a shoe flung at them by some other journalist who will be inspired by Jarnail's act more so because he has earned overnight fame without any punishment.

Jarnail Singh's act is highly condemnable but even more is the decision to let him off in spite of hurling a shoe at a cabinet minister.

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Assam problem needs to be tackled seriously

Assam is becoming synonymous with blasts. Yesterday four blasts rocked the state killing 8 people just a day ahead of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's election rally in the state. Dreaded terrorist outfit ULFA is considered to be behind the blast. This blasts comes just a week after the March 31 blast which incidentally happened minutes before External Affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee was to address an election rally.

These blasts should be an eye opener for the government both at the state and the centre whose policies have been ineffective in dealing with terrorism. The UPA government should consider itself unlucky as so many attacks have taken place under its rule as it does not consider itself being 'soft on terror.' But with incidents happening all over the country this problem should have been dealt more seriously.

It is surprising where do the so called Human Rights Groups disappear when such an incident takes place? Why don't they come and condemn the terrorists when they gun down the editor of a newspaper. Where is the Peoples Consultative Group which flies Business Class to Delhi and talks only for the militant and not against it even when it is involved in such inhuman acts. Are the human lives lost every day of no value to these people who talk about Human Rights?

As for the ULFA it has always been like a chameleon. It has always used the ceasefire to regroup and strike back in the state. It has regularly uses the 'friend and foe' diplomacy where one wing talks about peace and the other carries on its killings and bombings. This is right from the top of the outfit where Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa is pro talks and C-in-C Paresh Baruah is not ready for it. This works well to keep the Indian establishment interested and confused and fool the people of Assam.

Another reason why the ULFA has survived for this long has been sympathy the outfit enjoys among a substantial population in the state. Although many people are done with the dream created by the outfit many still see it as a saviour for the original inhabitants of the land. Some NGOs have been a big hurdle for the government as well as the security forces in dealing with the ULFA.

Ironically ULFA today is causing more harm to the ethnic tribes of the region by promoting the influx of Bangladeshis. ULFA top brass running their outfit from Bangladesh and joining hands with the HUJI is a testimony to the fact that they do not stand for North East's biggest problem 'influx'. Targeting the Hindi speaking labours and replacing them with Bangladeshi migrants has become their modus operandi.

History has shown us terrorism can be crushed when there is firm resolve. Be it the naxalite moment in West Bengal or terrorism in Punjab when people stood up for peace terrorism had to kneel down. Same with Assam people have to ban the outfit and have no sympathies for it and the government has to formulate a strong anti-terror policy. Let us accept talks with groups like the ULFA which is a threat not only to the nation but to the demography of the region doesn't seem possible.

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The 'D' Factor of Indian cricket

Cricket is a team game but there have always been individuals around whom teams have revolved. Be it Sir Richard Hadlee who turned around Kiwi cricket or Grant Flower who was like pillar in the Zimbabwean batting line up individuals have shaped teams. For long Sachin Tendulkar had not only the best batsman in the team but a psychological advantage too. But now Dhoni seems to have taken over this burden from the Master Blaster's shoulder. He is now the 'D' Factor of Indian cricket.

The importance for MS Dhoni can be studied from India's test series versus New Zealand. After winning the first test convincingly Team India struggled in the second test without Dhoni on the field. They looked a complete different team and managed to force a draw after following on. Enters Dhoni in the third test and the scene changes again and New Zealand have been set a target of more than 600 runs to level the test series.

When he made his debut for the Indian team in Dhaka in 2004-05 the entire country rejoiced. Finally we had an wicket keeper who could play slam bang cricket lower down the order. In the recent past most of the Indian wicket-keepers had been additional baggage when it came to batting so much so that Sourav Ganguly had to make Rahul Dravid don the gloves to have a seven men batting line-up. Dhoni entry meant we had a full fledged wicket-keeper and a hard hitting batsman down the order.

It was one morning in 2005 during Pakistan's tour to India in Vishakapatnam that Dhoni's fate changed for ever. Sent up the order Dhoni slammed 148 of 123 balls to stamp his authority on the international level. His innings not only demoralised India's arch rivals but also gave a glimpse of the talent the man possessed. Many people termed his innings very un-Indian and compared it with the West Indian legend Sir Viv Richards.

When he took over the captaincy of the ODI and the T20 teams just before the T20 World Cup some pundits raised their doubts. All were put to rest by the man for Jharkhand who made sure India won the inaugural edition of the tournament. When he stepped into the big shoes of Rahul Dravid as the ODI captain Dhoni did no disappoint others. Dhoni commands huge respect from his teammates in spite of the fact that most of them are more experienced then him.

In a short span of time MS Dhoni has seen a lot of success as a captain. Be it winning the T20 World Cup or taming the Aussies in their own den Dhoni had led his men with honour and pride. And now on the verge of winning a Test series in New Zealand for the first time in 41 years will surely be a prized feather in his crown. MS Dhoni is surely the driving force behind Team India and surely the 'D' Factor its success.

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Third Front – A force to reckon with

Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar's decision to join a rally with leaders of the Third Front in Bhubwaneshwar means that his marriage of convenience with the Congress party is almost over. This has also meant that a third alternative to both the BJP and the Congress may be within striking distance of forming a government at the centre.

The United Front government in 1996-1998 had given a glimpse of such an alternative although it had the support of Congress from outside. An unknown figure like HD Deve Gowda had become the Prime Minister of India surprising even his party colleagues. The two national parties the Congress and the BJP could not digest the idea of not having the Prime Ministerial chair with them.

This election may be a repeat of 1996 and make both Congress and the BJP sit together on the left side of the speaker in the Lok Sabha. We may also see major post poll alliance and the pre poll friends might turn foes. Some parties like Lalu's Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party should not have any ideological differences in joining the The Third Front. In case the Congress and does not retain its 145 seat tally the Lalus and the Paswans might switch sides.

Now the major challenge for the Third Front will be to keep the joint tally of the NDA and UPA under the magic number of 272. The problem however lies in the state rivalry. The DMK and the AIADMK cannot be on the same side neither can the SP and the BSP. Since Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh contribute 119 seats to the Lok Sabha a vote divide here might prove expensive for the Third Front.

The present tally of the Third Front including the Biju Janata Dal and the Nationalist Congress party stands at 120 odd seats. But the TDP, BSP and the AIADMK had performed disastrously last time and they are expected to up their tally this time around as a lot has changed in all the states. Mayawati has got her cast equation right, DMK will face anti-incumbency in Tamil Nadu and has more problems with the PMK parting ways. Chandrababu Naidu's party can only go up this time from their dismal 5 seats last time.

All in all the Third Front seems to be strengthening itself with every passing day and Congress amd the BJP having a tough time keeping allies with it. The main challenge for the Third Front is the large army of Prime Ministerial candidates its has among its ranks. Also formulation of program and polices that appeal to the castist, the communist, the regionalists and above all opportunists doesn't seem to be easy.

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April Fool - The GMail style

By: Reetasri Bhattacharjee

“GMail is a new kind of web-mail, built on the idea that email can be more intuitive, efficient, and useful. And maybe even fun”. This is one line probably most of the GMail users miss when they log in. This in brief tell us what we are using everyday, what we are experiencing and what is so useful every time we log in to check our mails. Launched on 1st April, 2004 with a storage capacity of 1 gigabyte, today GMail is one of the largest products in the market. It recently celebrated five glorious years on 1st April, 2009. To mark the fifth anniversary, GMail announced its new feature AutoPilot. With the help of an automated artificial intelligence technology called CADIE (Cognitive Autoheuristic Distributed- Intelligence Entity) the feature analyses ones writing skills and replies for the person.

GMail is notoriously known for the April Fools’ pranks that it have been playing on the users and the market analysts over the past five years. In 2004 when Google announced its launch everyone thought it to be a joke because no one expected a mail to have storage capacity of 1 GB. But to everyone’s surprise Google did the impossible and launched GMail with the promised storage capacity. Immediately in a few weeks time other big players like Yahoo upgraded their storage. It is still to be seen whether AutoPilot is just another prank or a real feature in GMail.

GMail since then has been re-inventing itself coming up with newer and better facilities each day. GMail comes in the Beta version meaning that all the features that they launch are on an experimental basis which actually comes out from the Google subsidiary “Google Labs”. The idea of having Beta phase is to enable the users rather than the developers or professional testers to give the feedback. GMail says that it wants the users to be the critics and respond to all the new features that they include in it.

In the last five years GMail has evolved. It was the first mailing site which intigrated chat within the mail box. It was also the first one to include video chats. As Todd Jackson, GMail Product Manager says, that these innovations and features are “really important in expanding the scope of communications that Gmail makes fun and possible and easy and fast.” Other features like less spam, easy UI (User Interface), filters and labels makes GMail a favorite with millions of people around the world. Jackson further enumerates that the steady growth of GMail has been one of the reasons the users are hooked to it. Gmail’s first aim is to make it as user-friendly as possible and then add more additional features. Jackson claims that in the next five years it will grow more and get even stronger.

As for the users, we are certainly benefiting from the increased experiments from Google Labs. Today there are millions of users logged on to GMail and it is “counting”. With GMail coming in many languages it further increases the chances of its growth. The latest edition for India is its Hindi version. Transliteration will only help GMail and obviously us, the users.


This blog has been contributed by Reetasri Bhattacharjee a dear friend of mine. She is a regular blogger on blogspot and maintains the blog My Passing Moments

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Is the worst over for Indian markets?

If the trading of the last two weeks is anything to go by there are some cheers for the investors in the Indian stock market. The Bombay Stock Exchange is trading more than the psychological barrier of 10000 and the Nifty has crossed 3000. These may be statistical data to many but they are moral boosters to people who have their money invested in the market or are still willing to put in there.

Let us look at some of the positives that have happened in the last few weeks. Firstly comparing quarter to quarter the markets have closed in the green first time after the Oct-Dec '07 quarter. This after going south continuously for all the four quarters in the disappointing 2008. Rupee has appreciated against the dollar over the last one month which means imports have become cheaper.

The low prices of the crude oil in the international market has meant that inflation has considerably come down. But what's scary is the chance of a extended deflation period like the one that Japan went through in the 90s. To a layman deflation might sound good but for an economist its more dangerous than inflation and kind of a cancer to the economy.

The biggest hurdle for the markets is to get back the confidence of the investors after they burnt their fingers in the last fall. Many of them were small and first time investors who had put in their savings. Many of them novice to share trading had put in money and fuelled the upward thrust in the market last time. It will be a little tough toe get these people back to investing and in large volumes.

One big concern for the industry leaders is the upcoming General Election. With the uncertainty that looms over the current political scenario in the country markets may behave strangely till the next government takes charge. Also the Left Parties forming a grand alliance is a worry for many industry leaders as their policies may work against the speedy recovery of the Indian economy.

But all in all we might just be seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. Aiming for a 21000 now will be foolish but in a market scenario like today even cutting down on losses is like making profit. Scaling 10000 again has been a huge moral booster. We can hope this brings in some confidence among the investors. We might just have left the worst of this fall behind us.

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Assam's security questioned again

A blast rocked Guwahati yesterday killing 1 and injuring 16 people. The blast incidentally happened very near to the place where External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee was to address an election rally shortly. The blast has once again raised questions about the security of a common man in Assam's state capital.

On January 1 three blasts had rocked killing 6 and injuring more than 50. The reports of a ULFA joining hands with the Bangladesh based HUJI has raised concern among the security agencies. The intelligence agencies fear that the ULFA along with the HUJI will try to disrupt the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections.

The change in the modus operandi of the outfit targeting the capital city rather than the smaller towns has also become a cause of worry. The problem the security agencies face is a strong political will to crush the militant outfit. Many a times the notorious outfit has regrouped under the camouflage of peace talks with the State Government as well as the centre.

Now with upcoming elections the as Congress, BJP and AGP fight for the Lok Sabha there is a fourth sphere of influence in the state the ULFA. The militant outfit has always had a significant influence over the elections in the state although it calls for a ban on it time and again. In the recent past the dreaded outfit has targeted political party worker in the state.

The Prime Minister who is a Rajya Sabha MP from Assam should have put in some extra effort for the state and the region but unfortunately he did not. The development of the entire North Eastern region depends on the security situation in Assam especially Guwahati as it is the gateway to the other states. Under the current security situation not much of development can be expected.

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