Don’t dismiss Mani-Joseph merger as a very simple affair

As the Kerala Congress factions led by K.M.Mani and P.J.Joseph seal their merger with a public meeting at Thirunakkara Maidan at Kottayam on Tuesday, present-day analysts are prone to dismiss the affair as simple and innocuous.

Those who have watched the political developments close to the formation of Kerala Congress know it for a fact that the union of the two factions now could generate a lot of interests that would engender politics to take twists and turns.

The Congress Party in Kerala has definitely been shattered on account of the fact that the new dispensation would have to be provided with more seats.
There are reports about the CPM making overtures to K.R.Gowri Amma of the JSS which is in the UDF.

Gowri Amma was once a tall leader of the CPM, but she had to leave that party out of frustration.

Now after long years of separation, is it possible for her to reunite with the CPM? All the same, Gowri Amma has hurt feelings in the UDF that certain elements in the Congress Party had worked against her election to the Assembly last time.

No doubt, one way or other, Mani-Joseph merger would cause an upheaval in many realms.

If anyone thought the PM should overshoot, it has been proved wrong
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has spoken to the Press for the first time in four years in Delhi.

He has not made any overbearing announcement than reiterating whatever has been going on these days, be it Indo-Pak relations, Indo-US relations, conduct of his Cabinet colleagues, his ambience with the Congress president, corruption and what not.

Perhaps if it were someone else flamboyant, there would have been a bevy of announcements on which the media would be whetting and whining. There is no harm in pursuing that line. But Manmohan Singh is a different person altogether.

Even about the legacy he would like to leave, he said he was not bothered about it, let future historians record the fact. He did not even say that he would like to be an economic wizard who kept Indian economy rather well when even developed countries floundered.

The media were keen to dish out something from him regarding some sort of divergence of views between him and the Congress president on various issues.

True, he has kept himself aloof from contentious issues like the way increasing level of attacks by Maoists is being handled, whether broader mandate is needed as clamoured for by Home Minister P.Chidambaram, or about the alleged corruption involving Communications Minister A.Raja of the DMK.

Take for example, he did not care to directly defend Raja, he only revealed the assertion of Raja as 2G auctions were held as per a policy that was relevant then. Also, the CBI has been pursuing the issue.

On the whole, no doubt, Dr Manmohan Singh does not want to dominate anyone, he only wants to keep his government workable in the given circumstances of leading a coalition omnibus, guided by a party which is bigger than his assignment.

Air disaster visits India again; 160 lives lost in a split second

After a long time, a passenger plane has crashed in the country, at the Mangalore airport, of whom about 50 persons are apparently from Kerala.

Mangalore airport is quite convenient for people of the Malabar areas in Kerala. A lot of them are working in the Gulf countries. And this Air India Express flight has been coming to Mangalore airport from Dubai.

Quite miraculously eight of the passengers could jump out from the jaws of death to the living world as they got a toe-hold in the form of a gape on the burning aircraft after it split.

They could be the luckiest people on Earth, for all those who were around them in the aircraft, at arms length, had all perished.

The Serbian origin commander of the aircraft had ample flying hours of experience with him. The co-pilot was an Indian. And so there could be no communication gap on account of the language problem.

Initial reports speak about the aircraft having overshot the runway on account of a dislocated landing.

The aircraft might have touched down farther than the spot it should have landed. Escaped passengers have recounted over television channels that the pilot had applied brakes several times, but the aircraft hit building structure, caught fire and fell into the ravine nearby.

Life for all these people were a slip between the cup and the lip. They have flown all the way from Dubai and reached Mangalore, but they could not have the blessing of a safe landing. They have paid dearly for their lives for no fault of theirs.
Can we make our flights fool-proof and save the lives of the passengers?

Skin-deep analysis is going on about Mani-Joseph merger;
There is something more to it than meets the eye

Jerk-kneed reactions are outpouring in the political and analytical arena about the merger of K.M.Mani and P.J.Joseph factions of the Kerala Congress. Things are apparently moving smoothly in the merger process as far as both the factions are concerned. For others, this would appear to be ludicrous, suicidal and destructive of the front politics.

No doubt, Mani has been waiting in the wings to see a strengthened Kerala Congress. He was prepared to have a broad bandwagon with R.Balakrishna Pillai and T.M.Jacob as well, in addition to the already immersed P.C.George faction. Balakrishna Pillai and Jacob are keeping off the bandwagon for the simple reason that they may not get equal positions in the united entity.

Reactions of bravado have been pouring in even to the effect that the united Mani-Joseph entity should be dropped from the UDF. This is something easier said than done. In politics, any strong entity need not be afraid of launching themselves into new experiments. For sky is the limit for spoils of office. One-party rule is a thing of the past even at the national level.

No doubt, Congress and other partners would come to properly understand the significance of the merger. Brave Mani would not jump into unfathomable depths; comparatively new faces in politics may take time to imbibe the consequences of the latest developments.

Classic example of media treatment, now the deified Dhoni is the whipping boy

Media treamtment is like this. One will be extolled beyond his accomplishments and almost deified.

Dhoni and company were simply made gods. Now when they have been thrown out of the Twenty20 world cup, nobody is there to sympathise with the literally tired team,skipper particularly.

An agency has published a story purportedly dictated to the scribe by a former player-anonymous, of course.

Partying, wine, willing women, drugs and what not are available in plenty in IPL bonanza. No doubt, not an iota of energy would be left out of the players.
And you want them to bring cricket laurels from abroad!!!

Perhaps Dhoni might have blurted out some plain truths. No doubt, he cannot be justified, for he had the powers to rein in the flawed characters in his team.

But he had not lifted his small finger against the queuing up of actresses at the pleasure of the players of the bat and the ball.

I, for one, often thought about the unrealistic hype given by the media about the space achievements of the country. Some of the scribes have even gained the nickname, science fiction writer.

The reports go like we will be colonosing the Moon on whose deep craters are some embedded ice particles, churning which our water needs there would be met.

The oxygen would be separated from the water molecule ( H2O) for human survival on Moon!!! Or something like that.Some hundreds of tonnes of ice specks would yield half a litre of water!!!

And here on Earth we wait for the Gods to provide salubrious climate for sending out our rockets. If the atmosphere is cloudy and windy, the programme would be postponed.

After sending one rocket into space, the media would go on claiming that within a few years an Indian would land on the Moon, then we would use Moon as a transit point for space odyssey to Mars and what not.Kalam had not predicted the timeframe.

These days nothing is being heard about our rocket programmes after the failure of the cryogenic engine rocket.

Thank God, the media have not yet started kicking the scientists.

Scientific programmes have to be ironed out after careful completion of hundreds of successful repetitions. But we are in glee at once, and then vituperative at the next moment.

Jairam Ramesh has spoiled himself, no one can save him

The environment is definitely hostile for our know-all Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh. For him the fall would be too much.

Predictably, the Opposition has been clamouring for his scalp. The Congress Party cannot save him. Maybe, he thought he could have his way because of his proximity to the Gandhi family. This time, nothing is going to help him.

Even a school boy would not utter words like the ones he splashed around in a cavalier manner in China. Jairam Ramesh has been too much involved in climate change projects and anxiously rigid with ideas, some of which were unworkable in his capacity as a minister.

What is the great idea now about his pacifying letters drafted to the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi and meeting Home Minister P.Chidambaram?

The deed is done and he has to bear the consequences. Thinking about informed persons like Jairam Ramesh and Shashi Tharoor, one would wonder what happened to these fellows when ministership came by their way.

Could it be suicidal for the UDF, minus Mani and Joseph, in a three-cornered Assembly elections?

By O.J.George

Kottayam: The Left, particularly the CPM, has reasons to cheer about in West Bengal and Kerala, at least for the time being. It is not because of the good works done by the respective ruling fronts in both the states, headed by the CPM. The golden opportunity has come to it because of the bickering in the rival fronts in both the states headed by the Congress Party.

In West Bengal, Trinamul Congress leader Mamata Banerjee is on a hell-bent rush to dethrone the CPM-led front government. She would like to take the credit solely for herself rather than sharing it with the Congress Party. Definitely, she has made inroads into the pocketboroughs of the CPM held in a vice grip all these three decades of time. The grip is loosening. No, the party has lost its grip with the people on a large scale, may be due to incidents like Nandigram and others. Global publicity through increasing number of television channels has also gone against the CPM-led front there.

Mamata Banerjee is not prepared to give even a little credit to Sonia Gandhi-led Congress Party in whose government at the Centre she is a Cabinet minister. In the election to the local bodies, she has conceded a few seats to the Congress which feels that these were simply unwinnable. The Congress retaliated by affirming it would go alone in the ensuing municipal elections. The writing on the wall is clear, the Congress-Trinamul bonhomie is over. The near-drubbed CPM would naturally gain from the rift in the rival camp.

In Kerala, the Left, particularly, the faction-ridden CPM, can definitely feel happy about the public bashing by the Congress and the Kerala Congress c(M). Kerala Congress(M) supremo K.M.Mani has been publicly criticised by various senior leaders of the Congress Party as well as junior functionaries at the district and local levels over the merger of the P.J.Joseph faction, which was with the LDF till the other day, with the Mani faction.

Since the differences have trickled down to the grassroots level, there Is no point in making efforts to bring about a patch-up. Muslim League leader P.K.Kunjalikutty, who had taken the initiative on his own to solve the problem, has given up his effort.

The Catholic Church, to which Mani and Joseph belong, is keeping guarded silence over the developments, for it cannot publicly vouchsafe for sealing the merger of the Mani and Joseph factions.

But everyone, even those who outwardly deny such interventions, know it for a fact that the church or some of its leaders have blessed the political matrimony.
The Congress-led UDF is not in a position to convene a meeting of the leaders of its front. Things have gone further down the patch-up level, for Mani has made it clear there is no going back for him as far as the merger issue concerned. He has urged his followers to muster strength on a greater level, affirming when strength is earned, seats would come round automatically.

Congress is willing to part with only the number of seats allotted to the Mani faction as usual even if P.J.Joseph group is drafted into the Mani faction. Mani and Joseph know it for a fact that even if they contest elections alone, they would get substantially more than this number of seven or so offered by the Congress. Splinter Kerala Congress groups led by R.Balakrishna Pillai and T.M.Jacob may say Mani’s move is suicidal, for their parochial gains.

Could it be suicidal for the UDF minus Mani and Joseph in the ensuing three-cornered Assembly elections?

Do we smell the emergence of a third front in Kerala during ensuing Assembly elections?

It may be far fetched, but politics in Kerala may be in for some change. One cannot say it with certainty, but the rumblings between Congress Party leaders and Kerala Congress (Mani) group may go out of hand in course of time.

The outbursts by the Congress leaders, particularly those of the second and third rung leaders may have irked Mani to his tether’s end.

The stiffness of Mani could definitely be a body language akin to intolerance against the Congress for whipping up an unnecessary controversy over the merger of Mani and P.J.Joseph factions of the Kerala Congress factions.

The Congress Party may have been flabbergasted by the sudden announcement of the merger.

Leaders of the Congress Party may have been sitting pretty happily over the portends of their snatching power so easily in the ensuing Assembly elections in 2011.

Panchayat elections in 2010 could also have been favourable. The Congress Party would be getting a major chunk of the seats. Almost all the seats given over to the erstwhile DIC in the last elections could also be cornered by it, minus a few seats being given to the Janata Dal of Veerendrakumar.

Now things may be going out of their control. A strengthened Kerala Congress may not be willing to sign on the dotted line.

Unless the Central leadership of the Congress steps in and saves the situation, the whole scenario may go out of hand one time or the other.

Narco test never had any legal binding, now it is officially stricken out

Narco analysis test, brain mapping test and polygraph test have been declared invalid by a bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice K.G.Balakrishnan.

Narco test, definitely, was something bizarre. We have seen the videos, on television channels, of narco analysis test conducted on Sister Sephi and Fr Thomas M Kottoor. Another priest, Fr Poothrukka, was spared because of his ill health.

By injecting chemicals into the human body, he/she is numbed and made to answer questions. The victim fumbles something , and sometimes goes into unconsciousness, again awakened and asked questions.

The Supreme Court has now ordered that such tests cannot be done without the consent of the parties concerned. In the normal course, no one will willingly take on this injurious test.

The CBI and the police maintain that as there is no room for third degree methods in investigation, narco analysis and such other tests are essential.

Narco analysis test results have never been taken as pieces of evidence in courts of law. But these tests provided clues to the investigating agencies as to the direction which they should take in arriving at conclusions.

It would definitely be humane to dispense with such tests if we can go ahead with investigation otherwise.

Do we perceive the absence of a Karunakaran touch in dealing with the merger of P.J.Joseph and K.M.Mani factions?

Clearly, the merger of P.J.Joseph-K.M.Mani factions has been mishandled at the UDF level, particularly by some Congress leaders. No doubt there would have been many other ways of dealing with dilemma, had the leaders tried to do so than washing the dirty linen in public.

A P.T.Thomas, M.I.Shanawaz and the like vigorously speaking against the merger would not be salubrious for the UDF.

Think of the situation being handled by K.Karunakaran, were here at the helm of affairs now. He would not have, in the first instance, remained oblivious of the goings-on before hand. He would have devised ways in which the Congress was definitely benefiting.

Splitting and splintering Kerala Congress groups was in a way a pastime for him. The-then powerful Kidangoor Gopalakrishna Pillai was packed off to Singapore on a gubernatorial assignment on completion of which he became a nobody. The NDP had to pack up.

In the instant case, P.J.Joseph does not seem to be in glee about the merger. His coterie is definitely pleased. Mons Joseph would have been nowhere otherwise, for Kaduthuruthy would have gone to someone else. Ettumanur would be gobbled up by Congress. Now Congress is taken unawares and its plans are going awry.

Mons Joseph now claiming that he was proud of being a minister in the Achuthanandan ministry is ludicrous. He cannot explain away the precarious situation.

One should have seen the happy face of Dr K.C.Joseph on television channels when he spoke after demitting office as a member of the public service commission. He seems to have already cornered Kuttanad from where he has been eased out by various compulsions, particularly the arrival of an economic giant there to oppose him.

T.U.Kuruvilla is as good as dead-wood and he would not mind being a commoner.

Surendran Pillai knows it for a fact he would never be a minister if he does not grab the opportunity now, staying with P.C.Thomas.