The best way to know the self is feeling oneself at the moments of reckoning. The feeling of being alone, just with your senses, may lead you to think more consciously. More and more of such moments may sensitize ‘you towards you’, towards others. We become regular with introspection and retrospection. We get ‘the’ gradual connect to the higher self we may name Spirituality or God or just a Humane Conscious. We tend to get a rhythm again in life. We need to learn the art of being lonely in crowd while being part of the crowd. A multitude of loneliness in mosaic of relations! One needs to feel it severally, with conscience, before making it a way of life. One needs to live several such lonely moments. One needs to live severallyalone.

Tuesday 31 May 2016

WHY WE WILL SEE MORE OF ROBERT VADRA ISSUES IN UPCOMING DAYS?

Congress has come forward, out in open, to defend Robert Vadra now - with Sonia Gandhi taking the charge this time.

There is no more 'diplomatization' of words by Congress spokespersons.

But isn't it indefensible - defending Robert Vadra?

Till now, he was a private citizen for Congress to ignore questions on his meteoric rise, his multi-millionaire status from a modest background, his questionable land deals, his shady companies, his controversial statements and so on.

But not anymore - after his name was dragged into a 'benami' property that he reportedly had in London - that he bought and sold some years ago - through his links to a controversial arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari.

Since yesterday, this house in London has become a must visit for every news honcho and for all those who work to fuel and plant political conspiracy theories.

Congress has demanded an impartial probe. BJP has demanded a thorough probe.

Sonia Gandhi has dared the Narendra Modi government to conduct a comprehensive enquiry saying Modi is just a prime minister and not a Shahenshah (emperor).

Subramanian Swamy, in his trademark (and frivolous) style, has said that Robert Vadra is preparing to take British citizenship and this 'benami' property was a part of these efforts.

Impartial probe - it cannot be - it can never be - because it doesn't suit to the long-term political gains weaves around such issues - given the state of affairs Indian politics is.

Comprehensive, it will be as much as it can be (or any such probe with so many angles to stir the political pots), but to the extent that it doesn't see any conclusion, but presents a maze of political cocoons, from which a favourable plot/element can be picked up - when(ever) it is the time.

Congress knows this. BJP knows this. Every political party knows this. And everyone who keenly watches Indian politics knows this.

So, the ongoing probe(s) against Robert Vadra, in Delhi, in Rajasthan and in Haryana, will never see a logical conclusion.

It is an evergreen pool of political potpourri to choose from whenever politically surcharged events like elections are ongoing. So, Robert Vadra becomes a hotly debated issue whenever an election approaches, especially where Congress is the main political rival.

That will always remain Congress's political predicament - and an evergreen source to score some (and sometimes major) brownie points. Why will BJP let it go dry?

Congress is now realizing this 'hoot and scoot' (hit and run) strategy and today's open counter-attack by Sonia Gandhi is an indication of that. But what else can Congress do?

And we will see more of it as Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa and Uttarakhand elections approach as Congress is a major political force in these states, even if we say so with ample reservation in case of Uttar Pradesh.  

©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/

Sunday 29 May 2016

EXPECTED AMAZON RESPONSE ON "WOULD AMAZON SUBSCRIBE TO THIS ON ‘SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE’?"

While writing my longish mail on Amazon's 'Subscribe and Save' category and tweeting it to Amazon, Amazon India and Jeff Bezos Twitter handles, I had not expected a prompt reply. 

It was based on my previous experiences. I have done this exercise with many companies - on this or that issue related to them. 

So far, my best experience has been with Dell India - its customer services team and its social media extensions. 

And about my worst -well, there are many and picking a particular one is difficult. But if I am asked to pick one -I would say Eureka Forbes.

After consistently following multiple times, through phone and Facebook extensions, I was forced to hang up but the Eureka Forbes folks refused to buzz from their eternal slumber. Apart from many product and service related issues, I was not sent even my receipt that I was promised after making online purchase for an Aquaguard Enhance water purifier (along with a freebie, that, too, never came).  

Though a response from Amazon India over phone line has been efficient so far, its Facebook version was dull, and on the line seen so far, with so many companies.

I posted my write-up on the issue I am facing on Amazon India's Facebook page. Obviously, it was the headline followed by the link of the write-up. Soon, a message popped up, a reply from some guy entrusted to monitor Amazon India's Facebook page. On expected, and worn-out line, the person told me that 'I needed to be specific' in what I wanted to say.

Well, what can I say on this!

We folks spend a great deal of time writing about issues we face and we expect that the concerned organization would at least take the pain to read them.

I don't know if that happened.

Because there was no further reply from any Amazon staff after I wrote back requesting that the person should open the link attached - where I had written 'very specifically' about the problem I was facing.

And it was when it was not an outright criticism - but a suggestion conveying a potential problem that may see more of it in the days ahead.


And on Twitter?

Here again, I tagged Twitter IDs of Jeff Bezos, Amazon, Amazon India and Amazon Help along with my write-up's link.

But no response has come so far  and its almost 24 hours now.


Yes it was a weekend and there might be slippages but it looks quite awkward given the fact that there would be dedicated social media teams, even for Jeff Bezos' personal Twitter handle.

I hope there is still time given Amazon India's track record and given the fact that E-commerce or online retail cannot dominate a business scene if it is not customer friendly.

I do this exercises randomly to get some handy information about how companies are treating their customers - about their marketing communication and public interface practices in the B2C environment of E-commerce that is slated to grow manifold.

Most of the companies and their honchos fail here, some miserably. 

©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/

Saturday 28 May 2016

WOULD AMAZON SUBSCRIBE TO THIS ON ‘SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE’?

Given the kind of depth Amazon has in online retail, along with its pioneering presence and global dominance, we can say the company will soon be India’s biggest online retailer, a market that is projected to have the world’s largest middle class in the years ahead. And the way it is moving up its product chains, it is leaving behind a widening gap for other biggies of the space, i.e., Flipkart, Snapdeal, Shopclues and so on, to fill.

Like many of its good initiatives, Amazon India started an easy to subscribe (and modify) ‘subscribe and save’ category last month. Under this category, buyers can subscribe for products from among eight categories. Though the catalogue is pretty short right now, we can say it has begun on a good note. A customer has the liberty to opt for frequency of delivery – from one to six months – for each product.

There are two offers with this category that make it worth a pick.

The first is obviously the comfort of home delivery and Amazon has an efficient one. 

The second is about the 10% discount offer. If one subscribes for more than three products a month, a flat 10% discount on every product is yours.

Obviously, one can get a better deal in many wholesale markets of Delhi where the norm is between 15-20% discount. But here it is about the comfort of ordering from your smartphone or computer from anywhere you are, saving your flesh and soul from the torment of Delhi’s traffic and its overcrowded markets. I am talking about Delhi here because I stay here and my experiences pushed me to write this piece.

But in this case – with this ‘subscribe and save’ option – the comfort level of this convenient home delivery option is proving a burden - as well as an embarrassment.

How?

Let me recount here.

Last month I subscribed for some 10 products under the ‘subscribe and save’ category. Two were bathroom air fresheners from Godrej (Godrej Aer Pocket) – of different fragrances. These two were delivered a week apart. In fact, every product of my order was delivered on a different day.

So, that is there where the problem lies.

Amazon sent its guys some 8 to 10 times, stretch over some 10 days, to deliver those products I subscribed last month if I am recollecting correctly.

There is always these messages popping up that your products has been packed, that it is ready to ship, that it has been shipped, that it will be delivered today. With the usual tag line – please keep cash or your card ready! Here I would like to mention another element – none of the delivery guys were carrying the card swipe machine - even if I asked for the one.

It wastes your time. There is always this hangover in your mind that you have to be at home as the Amazon guy would come to deliver the product.

Also, on a social/societal note, your neighbours would obviously think what has happened to this guy that he is ordering so much online, even if you haveordered the basic stuff you need every month. The problem of plenty that was never there!

Does it make any better business sense?

I was thinking to call Amazon for some days to register my thoughts. Today I got my call patched. The guy on the other side sounded sincere on my complaint and he said he would send the feedback up. But he also said that it was due to the cycle of availability of products. Amazon makes a product available to its customers as soon as it reaches its warehouses and, according to him, that is the reason behind the multiple runs of errands.

So, Amazon is incurring loss here. It is what a common ‘common sense’ says. After all, you need to pack the product – that costs. I would say, again of Godrej air fresheners – a small strip worth Rs. 45 was in a packing that would obviously be costly. And as I wrote, I had ordered two.

Then there is this wastage of manpower hours. All products from a single order, with a tag date of 11 of every month, can be delivered on any chosen day before that tag date. It doesn’t make sense to send 10 guys to deliver 10 products on 10 different days - of a single order.

Or does it?

Does Amazon India see any logical sense in this logistical spiral?

Because I believe I am not alone in thinking so! 


©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/

Featured Image Courtesy: Screenshot from Amazon India website

Friday 27 May 2016

MAMATA AGAIN: WHERE IS LEFT FRONT’S PROLETARIAT PLANK?

Mamata Banerjee took oath today, again after five years in chief minister’s office of West Bengal, for another five years.

It was a historic mandate in 2011 when she unseated the Left Front in a state that had become synonymous with the presence of the Reds in India, the Communists, with 34 years of unbridled run. It was a comfortable majority then – 184 seats in a House of 294.

It is even better this time – with more seats and a greater vote share.

And this brilliant victory, we can say, has effectively countered the last (and the foremost) claim of the Reds – that they represent the proletariat against everything that is bourgeoisie.

In this election, Mamata simply outdid the Left Front by stripping it of that ideological plank.

She got wide support of the proletariat as well as the bourgeoisie class.

To sum up symbolically, Mamata won all 11 assembly constituencies in Kolkata (like 2011) - and she swept the Jangalmahal region also, the rural belt of Maoist insurgency in West Bengal.

She won 211 of the 294 assembly constituencies the election was fought for – winning 45% of votes – 6% more than the last time.

While the Left Front, with all its constituents, could win just 32 seats.

How ironical that is!

The Left Front’s vote share last time was around 32%. It has drastically come down to some 20% in 2016.

Meanwhile, Mamata Banerjee has kept her winning spree on in the state – winning Panchayat, civic bodies and 2014 Lok Sabha polls in the state since 2011 – in spite of - first the Saradha scam – and now the Narada taint.

Yes, it is premature to write off the Left Front yet. It is, in fact, not a good sign for the health of Indian politics that is already reeling under the crisis of the absence of a powerful political opposition. After all, a true democratic spirit cannot flow unless there is an influential and responsible political opposition in a country.

But, for the moment, it is like a hara-kiri moment for the Left Front.

The country will watch how they survive this turn of events, something that they themselves are responsible for – allying with a party, Congress, the opposition of which was the driving force behind the Left Front’s citadel in West Bengal.

And the irony is – the Left Front was fighting against a Congress – with another Congress’s support!

After all, Mamata Banerjee was a career Congress politician from West Bengal before she formed her own political outfit – the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC or TMC as we say it). Whether Congress remained in her DNA or not we cannot say but she chose to include Congress in her party’s name.  

West Bengal’s proletariat and bourgeois simply didn’t buy this sham symbolism.  

Instead, they chose to go for painting the Red Road Blue, once again, and with a more profound writing on the wall.

Have the Left Front comrades started reading it? Because if they don’t – they’ll soon be a closed chapter in India’s political annals! 


Featured Image Courtesy: AITC’s Twitter page

©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/

Thursday 26 May 2016

MODI GOVT @ 2: A DAY OF STATISTICAL TALES

Today was basically a field days for spokespersons. They tried to cover as much length and breadth of this country as possible and they tried to speak as louder as they could so as to become audible (and visible) to media and social media eyes and ears and so on. What was put in action some days ago saw its top pitch today and will have its various notes in the days to come.

The biggest of them (in stature), held big sized rallies like the one held by Narendra Modi in Saharanpur.

Then there were extensions - from the ruling party - and from the opposition - selling and counter-selling achievements and allegations.

And then there were propped up or spontaneous splinter entities - on airwaves - blessing or bashing the two years of the Narendra Modi government.

Now, statistics tells what you want it to tell.

So, Narendra Modi, his spokespersons, other leaders of his party and his supporters have plenty to tell - from social empowerment - to introducing structural changes in infrastructure - to industrial turnaround - to internal and external security - to foreign policy.

Likewise, Narendra Modi and BJP's political rivals, including Modi's detractors, have as much in their kitty as they want to scatter - and they want to scatter it all.

So, if NDA and BJP's ministers, MPs and other leaders are busy holding meetings and rallies in different parts of countries, hard-selling their claimed achievements in these two years - the two years, that according to them, have changed India - political rivals and opposition, including Congress, Left Front, JDU, AAP and others are busy hard-selling their counterpoints - presenting point by point rebuttal of government's claims.

But the fact is - statistics doesn't really tell the stories that pull votes in times of elections - if figures are without facts - or even if figures are with flimsy facts. We all saw how NDA's 'India Shining' campaign crumbled in 2004. We saw how miserably the Manmohan Singh led UPA government failed in convincing people in 2014 Lok Sabha polls that it indeed had delivered on governance.

Like Modi has directed his ministers and party members to take their achievements to people, Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, too, had tried. The difference is - Modi is on the job right from the first year of his government while Manmohan Singh's government tried it as a desperate campaign measure in the face of a sky-high anti-incumbency after nine years in the office.

Obviously, those statistical tales didn't help Manmohan Singh and Congress then and the party was reduced to its lowest tally of 44 in the Lok Sabha. Narendra Modi must be having that in mind.

The biggest currency that Narendra Modi has, after two years in government, is - he still has no competition at his level. He is still the most popular politician, one of the most popular prime ministers and the gap between him and others who could pose as his rival to the prime minister's office in 2019 is comfortably wide. In fact, he is sitting at the top pretty comfortably.

After two years of Narendra Modi in 7RCR, the official residence of India's prime minister, India, still, has no political alternative to him.

But then, three years is a long time in India's political landscape. Anything can happen. Let's see which way the political tide turns (and soars) starting with the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections early next year.

©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/

Wednesday 25 May 2016

QUESTIONS BJP NEED TO ASK BEFORE COMMENCING ON ITS STRATEGY FOR UP ASSEMBLY POLLS

THE QUESTIONS

Is the Assam verdict assuring enough to get complacent over BJP's chances and challenges in Uttar Pradesh, the biggest state in India with maximum Lok Sabha and assembly seats and therefore with the maximum count of Rajya Sabha claims?

Has BJP not committed blunder by appointing Keshav Prasad Maurya, a Lok Sabha MP from Phulpur constituency in Allahabad district, a virtually unknown face in the power corridors so far, either in Uttar Pradesh, or in Delhi?

Couldn't BJP find a known face in Uttar Pradesh? Irrespective of credentials and controversies associated with Keshav Prasad Maurya, it goes without saying that even many supporters of BJP did not know much about him before his coronation.

Are the credentials of being an OBC, his association with RSS and hailing from a humble background enough to mobilize votes in India's most populous state where the ruling party of India of the day was forced to the third spot with a meagre 47 seats out of 403 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh? Also, Uttar Pradesh is the state from where BJP began its journey to where it is in India's political circles now.

And what about the baggage Maurya carries? He may have a humble background, but now he is a millionaire with multiple criminal cases lodged against him. His 2014 Lok Sabha affidavit declared assets worth Rs. 9 crore. To name a few, he has a filling station and a private hospital in partnership. Certainly not a saleable package politically (and electorally)!

Before appointing Mauyra, did BJP factor in why it performed so brilliantly in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, winning 73 out of 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state, and why it has lost every subsequent bye-election in the state?

Although it is slipping beyond any possible damage control exercise now, has the BJP introspected about why it ignored Uttar Pradesh since winning the state in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls?

A natural corollary to the previous question is - are the BJP strategists, including Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and the RSS leadership, confident enough that they have sufficient time to regain the lost ground and so to reclaim the state - nine odd months now - when the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh are to be held? 

A sub-question to that is - does BJP feel honestly that is has lost the much ground it gained during the Lok Sabha polls in 2014? That is the key to do any exercise that it intends to do now - to map the trajectory ahead.

It is beyond speculation that Keshav Prasad Maurya cannot be the BJP's chief-ministerial nominee. Although he hails from the Kushwaha community (OBC), that forms around 8% of Uttar Pradesh's population, he is simply not magnetic enough to pull a significant chunk of OBC voters from a population segments that is 40% of the total. What is then the basis of projecting him as the OBC face of BJP in Uttar Pradesh?

Can Keshav Prasad Maurya successfully play the OBC card by equating himself with prime minister Narendra Modi, an OBC and a Chaiwala like him (as Maurya claims), given the fact that BJP has not performed well, in Jayapur, Varanasi's village adopted by Narendra Modi where BJP lost local village polls recently and in Varanasi, Narendra Modi's parliamentary constituency?

And the natural extension to all this is - who will then be the BJP's chief-ministerial nominee? Obviously, it should be someone from the upper caste communities who have been traditional BJP voters. The upper caste voters were an important factor behind Mayawati's caste/social engineering in 2007 assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh that gave her complete majority. This time also, Mayawati and her party BSP are ahead in the race, as the projections so far say, and therefore, retaining upper caste voters will be a problem for BJP, especially when its new state president has replaced a Brahmin, Laxmikant Bajpai from Meerut. Names of claimants are already doing rounds - Varun Gandhi or Smriti Irani or even Rajnath Singh - or will it be someone else? Certainly, here Amit Shah cannot prop anyone like Keshav Prasad Maurya and it is going to be a difficult decision to take. 

And these are just the primary questions BJP needs to introspect before beginning on any activity in Uttar Pradesh. The party needs to take a top-down approach here because there isn't enough time left for reorganization (and restructuring)  of the party and the party should hope it works for bottom-up issues - like galvanizing cadres and district units - to do their best for the names the party finalizes. 

©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/

Sunday 22 May 2016

VARANASI WEAVERS: GADDI AND GADDEDAR

Varanasi is a big market, catering to the markets across the India as well as abroad. The concept of Gaddi is basically about distribution the shops. A Gaddi translates to 'seat' in English.

Gaddis is a colloquial/local/social term that is used across many parts of North, East and even Central India, in many businesses. It's kind of having 'seat' of something in your possession - say of business transaction here. So, there may be seats of quilt businesses, of jewellery, of even paan (betel), and so on.

A Gaddi is a seat of central prominence in the circle of stakeholders localised in a particular area and is held by its owner, the businessman, the Gaddidar. Basically, he is a kind of facilitator, a trader, who ensures the product flows to the market from the manufacturer.

They are like small aggregators who sell either to shops or to big aggregators. We can say Gaddidars are equivalent to the local wholesale traders. Though there are no specifics, there should be around 2000 Gaddis in a city like Varanasi.

They work as intermediaries between weavers and the middlemen transacting business for weavers and big traders, i.e., stores, showrooms, handloom houses, design boutiques, big textile conglomerates, big wholesale traders and so on.

Then there are some very big businesses/export houses, in fact aggregators, including some Muslims. And again, most of them only distribute the product, in reaching to the scattered domesitc and overseas markets.

The flow is like:

From Sardars (the community leaders of weavers) - to the aggregators/Gaddidars (Hindus as well also Muslims) - to the big aggregators/export houses/distributors (Hindus and Muslims).  

It all depends on how we define aggregators.

From a weaver to the prospective buyer, these all act in some way as middlemen, eating into the real worth of a product - the huge difference - in what a weaver gets - and on the price the product is sold in the market.

©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/

Thursday 19 May 2016

WHY BJP SHOULD READ THE ASSAM VERDICT WITH CAUTION?

Today was a day when BJP, the ruling national party, the chief group of the National Democratic Alliance, got another feather in its cap - towards its aspirations to become a true pan-India political party.

BJP, more than comfortably, won Assam, and got a fantastic headway into the North-East of the country - that has otherwise been the forte of Indian National Congress and regional political parties like Naga People's Front, Sikkim Democratic Front, Mizo National Front or CPI(M) in Tripura.

And with it, the largest political party of the country, in terms of members, in terms of MLAs (in the state legislative assemblies), and in terms of MPs (in the parliament), effectively answered to the observations that it was trying to get a backdoor entry in India's North-East  by uprooting a democratically elected Congress government in Arunachal Pradesh. Arunachal Pradesh has a different government now - comprised of Congress rebels and supported by BJP.

But the verdict has its own cautionary tales.

BJP's vote share has come significantly in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. The party, in spite of putting intense efforts, saw its vote share down to 10% from 17% in 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Tamil Nadu was the same story where it came below 3% - from almost 6% in 2014.

And BJP's good show in Assam is going to have a flip-side.

The anti-BJP faction is going to consolidate. When Nitish Kumar said the outcomes were not unexpected given anti-BJP parties failed to stitch an alliance together in Assam, like it was done in Bihar, it was a clear signal of the things to come.

And BJP should read it in the context of the fact that the party is going to lose Uttar Pradesh and Punjab polls the next year. What is left to be seen is the scale of BJP's loss.

So, for BJP, it is time for some introspection based realpolitik.

To continue.. 

©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/

Wednesday 18 May 2016

A RAINY D-DAY: WOULD AMMA EMERGE A 'BAAHUBALI'?

It was just six months ago when J Jayalalithaa, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, miserably failed in addressing the destructive rains and floods that wreaked havoc in many parts of the state including Tamil Nadu's capital Chennai.

Though Tamil Nadu was not the only South Indian state to face the rain aftermath then, with Andhra Pradesh also badly affected, the real worry was in Tamil Nadu - where Chennai saw the worst rainfall and flooding in 100 years. And the situation was not much different in many other parts.

To the scale that even Jayalalithaa's 'Baahubali' avatar couldn't save the state - even if Amma, as Jayalalithaa is affectionately called, tried hard to do - with her larger than life presence - on hoardings, on banners, on posters, on every sort of relief material including the food items.

'Baahubali' that translates to 'muscleman or strongman' is one of the most successful movies produced by the Indian film industry last year.

Last November-December, when Tamil Nadu was reeling under the miles high devastation of  the flood aftermath, Jayalalithaa's huge Baahubali hoardings cropped up, showing an all powerful Amma carrying a baby away from the horrors of the rain.

No need to say that was in bad taste - and attracted every sort of criticism and satire.

But that could not dim the prospects of a South Indian politics obsessed with film stars and personality cults.

Jayalalithaa has continued with her mission to make Tamil Nadu 'Amma Nadu', a state synonymous with her nickname. There are Amma baby kits. There are Amma canteens. A bottled water is brand named Amma. The list is long - Amma salt, Amma seeds, Amma pharmacies,  Amma home appliances, even Amma cement and laptop - and this list is not exhaustive.

The way it has spread in Tamil Nadu in the last five years makes one feel that Jayalalithaa is going to rule Tamil Nadu for a long time, breaking the trend of consistent power transfer in the state, from AIADMK to DMK and vice versa, in subsequent elections.

We all felt so.

Many of us still feel so, even if there is a group that feels DMK has now fair chances to defeat Amma. Even some exit polls say so. If that indeed happens, the mishandling of the last year floods would be a major cause in this.

Tomorrow is the D Day when the results would be out.

And Tamil Nadu is again staring at massive rains. In fact, according to reports, Chennai received maximum rainfall in a day since 1995. Then there is a cyclone alert for Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and senior and junior level officials have been deployed to handle the aftermath.  

But the million dollar question is - would voters give Amma another chance to 'do or undo' what she had done during the floods last year?

Another way to look at that is - if Amma wins the polls tomorrow - it would say Amma's Baahubali act indeed established a connect with her supporters.

And that would further hasten the 'Amma-fication' of Tamil Nadu. 

©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/

Tuesday 17 May 2016

CAN BJP GET WHAT IT GOT IN MAY 2014?

It was again a thoughtful selection by the folks working in Facebook backrooms or some algorithm working on my account this morning, if I can say so, about picking up one of my memories that I chose to scribble on my Facebook wall some time ago.

Yesterday, it was about what I had written on counting trends - on May 16, 2014 - the counting day  - the counting day of the General Elections in 2014 - that BJP won comfortably (an unexpectedly, because a victory was in the air, but not with complete majority).

On a day when the 2016 assembly elections got over - on May 16, 2016 - with counting slated for May 19!

Today, it was again on a related issue - on the electoral behavior of Muslim voters.  



That was in 2014 - the year of the Narendra Modi wave. Two years later, the first real test is here.

The Narendra Modi wave is certainly in reels now. Even BJP has finally accepted this.

Muslims are even more polarized against BJP now. All the analytic opinions point to just one thing - that defeating BJP has become the primary objective of Muslim voters - and the miserable performance of Asaduddin Owaisi led AIMIM in Bihar polls is being seen as a testimony to that.  

Two factors that were attributed to the massive victory BJP got in 2014 are not going to work for BJP here - because assembly polls are localized, and affected more readily by caste and local issues  - and because of the rush of fringe voices ever since the BJP government came to the office.

The question is - can BJP achieve the Hindu vote polarization of 2014 - at least in Assam - the only state in this round of polls where BJP has some chance? Can the luck smile on it in other states, West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, especially in West Bengal and Kerala, states with sizeable Muslim population.

Certainly not!

And the question is - can BJP see a fractured Muslim vote again - like it happened in 2014 - helping the party electorally - something that it is hoping for in a state like Assam? -

Probably not!

Let's see what happens on May 19, 2016. 

©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/

Monday 16 May 2016

MAY AGAIN IS GOING TO BE THE MOST IMPORTANT MONTH IN INDIAN POLITICS..

Politically, May 16 may not be the biggest day this year in India's socio-political landscape, like it was in 2014, but it started the race to gear up for what lies ahead - on May 19 - when counting for assembly polls in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and West Bengal takes place.

Whatever it comes out to be, it will write a defining chapter in India's politics because the nation would directly face the most important assembly polls from here - in Uttar Pradesh - that would, in turn, write the script of the electoral politics on display in 2019 parliamentary elections.

When I glanced at the my Facebook page today, I found what I had scribbled then. That was the day of counting of the world's biggest democratic elections. Exit polls were in and the real-time trends had started telling the picture that would emerge finally.


Exit polls have set the ball rolling for May 19 with conclusion of single phase polling in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry today. There are valid reasons on why or why not the exit poll results may fail. The analyses, the predictions, the projections, they will find their final edge on May 19 and it should be all clear by noon.

May 16 and May 19 may be two years and two days apart, but May again is going to be the most important month in Indian politics. 

©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/

Friday 13 May 2016

MY FACE IS JUST AN ACCESS TO THE MIRROR..

My face is just an access to the mirror
Otherwise there is a deep disconnect
Perpetuated by years of dependence
Perpetrated by countless hours together
We never realized what would be the life
When reflections will tell different stories
Now there are colours to mix in yours
And there are colours to fade in ours
The mirror shows us those tales to plead
But I find you adrift, lost in yesteryears
And how would I not know the eventual
You are as I am, lost in time and its stories
My face, like yours, lost in each other, is,
Just an access to the mirror, not its stories



































MY FACE IS JUST AN ACCESS TO THE MIRROR..

©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/