Viswanathan K's Thoughts

For once, I am with the Shiv Sena. I don't agree with their Mumbai-is-for-Maharashtrians-only line, but I do support their measures (threats?) to ensure that Pakistani players were excluded from IPL 3. People who talk about separating sports from politics don't seem to know their history. What happened in the Berlin Olympics in 1936? Or the West's boycott of the Moscow Olympics? Or the Eastern Bloc's retaliatory boycott of the LA Olympics? In any case, this is far more serious than those instances. Those were actions based on an ideological opinion (Nazism/racism in one case, capitalism v/s communism in the others). None of those were examples of the "common man" being affected. 26/11 was not an ideological difference. It was terrorism, mass murder by a set of Pakistani citizens, supported from within Pakistan, trained within Pakistan...the list goes on. Next, Pakistan has done nothing to prosecute the people responsible or to dismantle terrorist infrastructu...

Since Shashi Tharoor has irritated another set of people with his "misinterpreted" Nehru-Gandhi criticism, I thought this was a good time to say why I support people like him who voice their opinion in the Indian political scene. To people who say ministers should only voice dissent inside certain prescribed forums e.g. cabinet meetings, I ask this: would Blair have been able to go into Iraq if his ministers had been allowed to voice their disagreement on that decision at that time publicly? Possibly not. My point is that PM's, senior ministers do get things wrong: due to sheer incompetence or corruption or lobbies. Btw, in America, people can see how different Senators or Congressmen voted on different issues e.g. did they support or oppose a motion? This gives greater transparency & accountability e.g. Hillary got slaughtered because she had supported the Iraq war...while Obama came out in flying colours. Not so in India (or Britain). If we can't/won't give ...