History and Politics of India

The present decade of kerala may later be called the decade of crime. Never before had kerala witnessed so much of crime including attack against our culture, temples, spiritual institutions and spiritual leaders. Even a superficial glance at today?s crime scene in kerala reveals a stunning, haunting conclusion. Violent crime, murder, rape, robbery, burglary, home invasion, bank robbery, contract killing, and sex trade are on the increase. There is also evidence of organized Muslim crime syndicates smuggling women from kerala to the Middle East to work as sex slaves. Everyday there are new stories of gang-related crime, the proliferation of illegal weapons in Malappuram District and jihadis dealing with explosives and bombs. Once considered an isolated phenomenon, gang violence is permeating life in Kerala. Kidnapping, Contract murder, attempt to commit murder, abduction, violent crimes affecting public safety, riots, destruction of property, daylight burglary, and thefts are increasing at an alarming rate. And political killing, and religiously inspired beheading are spreading. Citizens are tormented by rampant corruption and criminalization of life in Kerala. The pre-planned cold-blooded unusual brutality by the hard-core Marxist goons against Hindu social service volunteers is going on. What is more frightening is that the present government has been providing protective shield to the criminals committing heinous acts. Organized crime syndicates, corrupt politicians and inefficient law enforcement officials are working together making life miserable for law-abiding citizens

INDIAN POLITICS ENTERED a new era at the beginning of the 1990s. The period of political domination by the Congress (I) branch of the Indian National Congress came to an end with the party's defeat in the 1989 general elections, and India began a period of intense multiparty political competition. Even though the Congress (I) regained power as a minority government in 1991, its grasp on power was precarious. The Nehruvian socialist ideology that the party had used to fashion India's political agenda had lost much of its popular appeal. The Congress (I) political leadership had lost the mantle of moral integrity inherited from the Indian National Congress's role in the independence movement, and it was widely viewed as corrupt. Support among key social bases of the Congress (I) political coalition was seriously eroding. The main alternative to the Congress (I), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP--Indian People's Party), embarked on a campaign to reorganize the Indian electorate in an effort to create a Hindu nationalist majority coalition. Simultaneously, such parties as the Janata Dal (People's Party), the Samajwadi Party (Socialist Party), and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP--Party of Society's Majority) attempted to ascend to power on the crest of an alliance of interests uniting Dalits (see Glossary), Backward Classes, Scheduled Tribes (see Glossary), and religious minorities.

The structure of India's federal--or union--system not only creates a strong central government but also has facilitated the concentration of power in the central government in general and in particular in the Office of the Prime Minister. This centralization of power has been a source of considerable controversy and political tension. It is likely to further exacerbate political conflict because of the increasing pluralism of the country's party system and the growing diversity of interest-group representation.

Once viewed as a source of solutions for the country's economic and social problems, the Indian polity is increasingly seen by political observers as the problem. When populist political appeals stir the passions of the masses, government institutions appear less capable than ever before of accommodating conflicts in a society mobilized along competing ethnic and religious lines. In addition, law and order have become increasingly tenuous because of the growing inability of the police to curb criminal activities and quell communal disturbances. Indeed, many observers bemoan the "criminalization" of Indian politics at a time when politicians routinely hire "muscle power" to improve their electoral prospects, and criminals themselves successfully run for public office. These circumstances have led some observers to conclude that India has entered into a growing crisis of governability.

The Iraq war was one of the most disastrous foreign policy decisions of the last few decades, and citizens across America and the world have looked on with horror as politicians and power got out of hand. Some of the primary arguments around the real motivations for war surround the rebuilding effort, and the benefits this would bring to US-based contractors and business owners. However, there are a number of reasons why this argument, in particular, is flawed and the Iraq war has actively punished the US economy—in addition the punishment dealt to innocent Iraqis and young Americans in the armed forces.

The US invaded Iraq on the grounds of weapons of mass destruction, claiming the Saddam Hussein regime was an imminent threat to world security and were sponsoring and supporting terrorism. Of course this turned out to be false, but at least there was the access to Iraqi oil reserves and the significant rebuilding contracts that would go to American contractors, correct? Actually, this didn’t happen either, and the Iraq war fiasco has led to nothing but bloodshed, with no economic advantages arising from invasion.

After the needless destruction of Iraq was completed, the rebuilding effort was to provide employment to American workers and the US economy. But that wasn’t to happen. The projects were outsourced to cheap labour economies to save money, and thanks to NAFTA, any jobs that would’ve been available for American workers were diverted elsewhere. Thus a further betrayal by the current government and another lie to fuel the flames of the Iraqi war effort.

While the cost in human lives can never compare, the US government have spent billions of dollars on the war machine for no reason. Despite the financial gains they may have sought, the US economy is still struggling and the reconstruction contracts have gone to lower labour economies as a result of cost restrictions and international treaty arrangements. For the US people, this represents yet another lie in the Iraq saga, and further undermines the credibility of the current Presidential regime.