Is that a good or a bad thing, you think? Haven't been keeping up as much as I'd like.
I fully expected NDA to win but did not expect BJP alone to win by such a large margin again.
Also did not expect candidates like Pragya Thakur to win by such a large margin in Bhopal.
Beware the Crazy Man.
Modi himself isn't too bad. But the middle and lower ranks of the BJP ride his coattails to basically get away with some bad bullshit.
I really hope Congress gets a viable leader now. Rahul had two bites of the apple and screwed up both times. And, speaking of apples, his has fallen far from Nehru's tree. Time to move on. At the very least, for Congress, it would break one of Modi's most powerful arguments that he isn't a dynast king like the Nehru-Gandhi family.
Final Fantasy, Foreign Policy, and Bollywood. Helluva combo, that...
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Question is, can the INC actually do that? Dynastic leadership is pretty much all they have - they don't really offer any alternative other than "we're not the BBEG like the BJP is" and that's a very argument to make.
Unless they radically reinvent themselves and toss out the Dynasts, I think the INC is history.
I hold the secrets of the machine.
Beware the Crazy Man.
Well they pretty much are irrelevant now by the vote count. Can't hurt much more than it already does. Sadly, no idea who to replace them with. The closest person to such a replacement is Shashi Tharoor and....well....thats just not good.
On the other hand, the BJP will likely implode the moment Modi retires or dies, so maybe they think its just a matter of lasting along enough for a post-Modi BJP.
Then again, I don't trust Rahul to win in that situation anyway so....
Final Fantasy, Foreign Policy, and Bollywood. Helluva combo, that...
The ICJ has ordered Pakistan to allow India consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian citizen convicted of espionage in Pakistan and both sides are claiming 'victory' their regarding it.
Edited by xyzt on Jul 17th 2019 at 11:25:58 AM
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Far as I can tell, guy was made a patsy. The case against him is pretty shaky, to be quite honest.
Still, at least he can be visited now by Indian Officials. The ICJ being canny on the other aspects of the filing is understandable, but silly given the circumstances.
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Beware the Crazy Man.
Doesn't matter if the guy is a patsy, as that's mostly a political question. The ICJ was always going to rule in that direction since a nation has the sovereign right to arrest someone for espionage, regardless of whether the person in question is guilty.
Final Fantasy, Foreign Policy, and Bollywood. Helluva combo, that...
The Congress-JDS government in Karnataka collapsed on Monday after the confidence motion moved by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy was defeated in the assembly, ending his 14-month long turbulent tenure.
The Rajya Sabha in India on Thursday passed the contentious Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019, amid uproar among the Opposition, which said the changes diluted the crucial transparency law.
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Not surprised. It was an alliance of convenience, with the only objective being to keep the Lotus (The BJP) from taking Karnataka. Yeddyurappa (who's slimier than grease on a steel pole) is now the Chief Minister.
And it's really saying something that he's considered an improvement over the Coalition.
Mostly irrelevant changes being turned into a teacup tempest by an Opposition that has no other objective than to oppose simply for the sake of opposition.
Mostly because to oppose the other two major bills that just passed (The Muslim Women Protection of Rights on Marriage Bill or the National Medical Commission Bill) would be political suicide. Which at this point is all that's left for most of India's opposition.
Of course, the more hardline Islamic Conservatives are furious over the Bill's passage, but that's just them being their usual bag of dicks.
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It seems there may be a deal for Afghanistan. The Taliban renounces AQ and agrees to a ceasefire, the US leaves. Whether its enforceable and where that leaves the Ghani government, not yet detailed out....
Final Fantasy, Foreign Policy, and Bollywood. Helluva combo, that...
India has slipped to the 7th position in the global GDP rankings in 2018, marginally behind the UK and France, according to World Bank data.
Regarding the Muslim Women Protection of Rights on Marriage Bill, the supreme court already declared the instant triple talaq practice as unconstitutional and unislamic, and thus the divorce would not be legally accepted anyways. So doesn't that mean that when the potential accused would be jailed, they would still continue to be married to the victim? Also if the accused is in prison for upto 3 years, who is going to pay the subsistence allowance to the victim, as I don't think the accused would be able to if he is in prison. I don't know, but quite a few of the criticisms against the bill sounded pretty legitimate.
Edited by xyzt on Aug 2nd 2019 at 9:07:05 PM
In Kashmir, unprecedented order forces stockpiling of supplies as fears over removal of special law for Muslim-majority region grow. Fear and confusion have gripped residents in India-administered Kashmir after authorities issued an unprecedented order, cancelling a Hindu pilgrimage and asking tourists to leave the disputed region.
Under pressure to arrest a slowdown in the economy, finance minister of India Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday started the process of rolling out a slew of measures to boost industry’s access to credit, including opening a ₹10,000 crore liquidity window for home financiers.
Edited by xyzt on Aug 4th 2019 at 11:54:50 PM
In an announcement with massive repercussions for Jammu and Kashmir, Home Minister Amit Shah has announced in Rajya Sabha that the government has decided to repeal Article 370 of the Constitution which grants special status to J&K. The government has also decided to bifurcate the state into two Union territories – Jammu and Kashmir, which will have a legislature, and Ladakh, which will be without a legislature.
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Kinda reminds me of Northern Ireland somehow.
"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"
And article 370 and kasmir's special status is now abolished
I am expecting there to be quite a bit of increased unrest in the kashmir valley for days to come.
Edited by xyzt on Aug 5th 2019 at 2:22:29 PM
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Not entirely like Northern Ireland. But close enough.
Still, it's been a long time coming. Good to see some actual change for once. Of course, the meaningless screeching from the Opposition is music to the ears of the ruling dispensation - they know it is rage borne from impotence.
There will be a bit of unrest for some time, sure. It won't last for very long either.
I hold the secrets of the machine.
What do you think about the decision to reduce Jammu and Kashmir from a state to a union territory? From what I know and have heard, the majority of kashmiris in the valley hate India as much as our predecessors hated the British Empire. This move is most likely going to make them hate us even more and I don't see how their feeling towards us will change in the future since the valley is still occupied by the military and AFSPA is still in full effect. Personally, I believe Ambedkar's idea was the best solution to the Kashmir problem (assuming the below article is accurate about the view being his).
http://www.newindianexpress.com/opinions/2009/apr/16/ambedkars-views-on-foreign-policy-41489.html
'My view has always been that the right solution is to partition Kashmir…. Or if you like, divide it into three parts; the ceasefire zone, the Valley and the Jammu- Ladhak region and have a plebiscite only in the Valley.”'
I am assuming though that this idea is not only extremely unpopular among all sides but it is impossible in today's climate and not just because of the egos of all parties involved. Although I am glad that atleast Ladakh is separated from the Kashmir region and atleast it can peacefully integrate with the rest of India with no problem
Edited by xyzt on Aug 5th 2019 at 10:25:57 PM
I don't think that partition is a solution, it's just a way to kick cans down the road as the Americans say. See North Korea vs. South Korea, East Germany vs. West Germany, Israel vs. Palestine and arguably Pakistan vs. India, all of which are or were still troublesome.
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My only issue with revoking the special status is the demographic shenanigans some people might try to attempt an effort to "Hindufy" Kashmir. Otherwise, I take no issue with it. The special status was always going to be revoked eventually, given that no other territory in India gets to have such autonomy, legally speaking.
Splitting it is also no big deal. Ladakh was always a very different place from the Vale, and the former princely state was essentially a mini empire holding together many regions. It's why Pakistan was able to seize Gilgit back in 1948: The Gilgitis did not want to remain answerable to Srinigar, whether or not it was under Dogra or Delhi rule.
I do however take issue with the remaining Jammu and Kashmir ALSO being a union territory, even if its one with a legislature. They should be a state. And Ladakh, while I think its fine to be a union territory, should have a legislature.
Final Fantasy, Foreign Policy, and Bollywood. Helluva combo, that...
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For the record, most Kashmiris don't hate India. Up until now, it was mostly indifference. And loyalty too - though that often gets overlooked, because that's not nearly as interesting for outsiders. If anything, they still won't care much even after the scrapping of A370 and A35.
The "hatred" is restricted to exactly four districts - all with exceptionally bad standards of living, crushing poverty, high unemployment and high levels of infiltration from across the Line of Actual Control. And even that has mostly petered off - they mightn't like India much, but the alternative is Pakistan.
Independence was always a pipe dream - they're in a highly strategic location, so that would have never worked. Didn't work then, won't work now.
Demographic flooding was probably the last thing on the minds of anyone save the nutters within the Sangh. They'll not have much of an impact. Also, the Home Minister did say that the region would eventually get full statehood, once the situation quiets down.
Seperatism seldom ends well. As some chinwag in India said, the Pakistanis see Kashmir as unfinished business. India sees Pakistan as unfinished business.
Edited by TechPriest90 on Aug 5th 2019 at 1:26:18 PM
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Beware the Crazy Man.
The nutters of the Sangh have more than a little influence in the BJP. Thats how you get zealots like Adityanath as CM of a major state. It's not a concern to be dismissed so lightly and so quickly.
As for J&K statehood, I think it requires something a little more concrete than "once it quiets down", since that can be purposefully misconstrued so that it never happens.
Final Fantasy, Foreign Policy, and Bollywood. Helluva combo, that...
Forgive me if i am wrong, but doesnt Nagaland still enjoy a degree of autonomy that is comparable to kashmir's special status?
So are most of the stone pelting incidents that we hear in the news mostly restricted to these districts? If the unrest is really restricted to only 4 districts, then Kashmir has an ususually high concentration of troops for that doesnt it? I mean even recently atleast 38 000 additional troops were deployed in the valley, section 144 has been imposed and the amarnath yatra was cancelled. I dont think the govt would have done that if they were not expecting a huge amount of resistance from the people in the valley.
Edited by xyzt on Aug 6th 2019 at 9:10:17 PM
Not really a surprise to me. He juiced up the electorate with the non-war he declared on Pakistan. Had he not done so, he'd have probably just won back what he had before.
Final Fantasy, Foreign Policy, and Bollywood. Helluva combo, that...