The Vivekean Times

The charges and counter charges between Kapil Mishra, Aam Aadmi Party and the BJP only reveal that there are no honest politicians in India today – only two-faced hypocrites. It is extremely foolish of the BJP and Congress to take a ‘holier than thou’ stance since they do not practice cleanliness in their electoral politics either. Yes, you're guilty even if you accept dirty money for your kin or party. If some politicians are still considered clean, it's usually due to the takeover of media houses, lack of evidence, U-turns of eye witnesses (with money changing hands), bungling or complicity of investigating agencies, or the existence of labyrinths (such as a network of shell companies) created to conceal the scams. Have you ever stopped to think why no political party is now asking for the full implementation of the Lokpal Act? Because it suits them all. Aam Aadmi fought for the Lokpal Act. The Congress and BJP promised to deliver on TV debates, but now all of t...

A deranged youth slapped the Union Minister of Agriculture and the nation was divided in its response. There were those who condemned the act unequivocally, while there were many who praised it. Anna Hazare, who has so wrongly been equated with Gandhiji, sarcastically asked why he was slapped only once, thus exposing the true colours of this cunning old man. I have always mentioned in the Vivekean Times that one of the chief reasons I hated the movement of the hypocrites popularly known as Team Anna was because of the potentiality of violence. This act of Harvinder Singh clearly justifies my approach. In Today's Times Of India, Shobha De as a columnist virtually justified the slap on Sharad Pawar. What if people who did not approve of her writings slapped her hard in public. How would she take it?Yes, we need to reject the kind of street democracy or annarchy marketed by Team Anna. The Lok Pal movement has degenerated from an anti-corruption drive to a nationwide street brawl. Ev...

I was quite amazed to learn that the Indian Censor Board has decided to blur the image of the Tibetean flag from  a scene in the soon-to-be released movie "Rockstar." There is no justification for an Indian censor board to do something like this. Is it because China would get offended by it? Well I got news for them. Today China is sheltering the top ULFA leadership which plans and plots acts of terror against India. China is occupying thousand of kilometers of land which actually belongs to India including a part of Pak-Occupied Kashmir. China has supplied nuclear material to Pakistan and fathered the entire India-centric nuclear program of that hostile neighbour. Yet, we seek to appease this same China that wishes only the worst for our great nation. It's a country which does not belong in democracy or freedom and is killling innocent Tibeteans who had lived peacefully for generations before the Chinese invasion of their beautiful homeland. I say show the Tibetean flag ...

To say that the Jan Lok Pal movement is just an anti-corruption movement is an insult to our intelligence. It is an Anti-Congress movement propped by right-wing and left-wing fundamentalists attempting to topple the UPA government before the next elections or to further damage their credibility to enable the BJP to form the next government. Yes, the UPA government has failed miserably in curbing corruption and inflation but I still will not support this movement because of the following reasons: 1) It is a Political Movement and not a movement by civil society. With Shanti Bhushan (ex-law minister of Indian, a former BJP politician and RSS man), Swami Agnivesh (a Maoist representative), and Anupam Kher (Husband of high-level BJP functionary) promoting and participating in this movement, the Jan Lok Pal Movement is definitely a political movement. The high level of support of RSS activists and Maoists outside parliament and the BJP politicians inside parliament justify th...

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Since I have to travel on a daily basis to office and back, it is but natural I will be travelling often in auto rickshaws (a common experience in suburban Mumbai). It has been shocking to learn that the auto rickshaw fares have fallen by about 25 to 30% due to the checking of tampered meters. The meter fares over the years have consistently come to an amount of 25 to 30% over and above the actual fares so as to fool daily travellers. That thousands of rickshaw drivers have been cheating just shows how rampant corruption is in our blood and in the system and that Anna's drive is just an Anti-Congress propaganda. Interestingly, what the auto rickshaw drivers are fighting for is the Right to Cheat . They have called for a strike as RTO officials are catching them red-handed with tampered meters. They have earlier gone on strike when the RTO tried to force them to use electronic meters which couldn't be tampered. Surprisingly, the government has given in to their demands of a fa...

To say that the Jan Lok Pal movement is just an anti-corruption movement is an insult to our intelligence. It is an Anti-Congress movement propped by right-wing and left-wing fundamentalists attempting to topple the UPA government before the next elections or to further damage their credibility to enable the BJP to form the next government. Yes, the UPA government has failed miserably in curbing corruption and inflation but I still will not support this movement because of the following reasons: 1) It is a Political Movement and not a movement by civil society. With Shanti Bhushan (ex-law minister of Indian, a former BJP politician and RSS man), Swami Agnivesh (a Maoist representative), and Anupam Kher (Husband of high-level BJP functionary) promoting and participating in this movement, the Jan Lok Pal Movement is definitely a political movement. The high level of support of RSS activists and Maoists outside parliament and the BJP politicians inside parliament justify this truth....

India was in deep financial crisis and facing a shameful default in the early 1990s when the ex-RBI governor, Dr Manmohan Singh became the Finance Minister of the newly elected Government. He brought in a wave of sweeping reforms that saved the face and economy of the nation. It was due to his astute policies that privatisation, liberalisation,deregulation and tax reforms took place. The economy was saved and India grew to become one of the strongest economies in the world by 2007 with Dr. Manmohan at the helm as the Prime Minister of a Congress-led UPA coalition. Despite surviving the financial crisis of 2008, India has found itself in a soup with spiraling inflation (as faced by almost every other country on this planet) and large-scale corruption at every level of government and society. The 2G Telecom scandal and the Commonwealth scams have rocked the UPA government hard and it had almost sunk when Anna Hazare started his anti-corruption drive insisting on a Lok Pal bill draf...

Almost every Indian citizen (who can afford it) gives donations to schools and colleges for their childrens' admissions. Many buy tickets in black (at unreasonable rates) to watch movies. Many citizens bribe RTOs for fake driving licenses; while others give bribes to traffic cops and railways TCs when caught on the wrong foot. Shop owners pay haftas to cops and gangsters. Actors work in films financed by underworld gangsters like Dawood Ibrahim. These are everyday phenenomena in our motherland yet people who pay these bribes do not launch an agitation against the schools, gangsters and policemen. In the light of this blatant and rampant corruption, and our role in it, isn't it so hypocritical that civil society is launching an all out attack on the government and judiciary when we ourselves act s irresponsibly. Let us deny our children the school we prefer, let us sacrifice the privileges and comforts we desire before putting the entire blame on the government. And let me ass...