I was feeling awesome by looking at the proceeding at Delhi Assembly, a common man’s voice reached there. AAP leader Manish Sisodia, while moving the vote of confidence said, “It is not the individual MLAs who are sitting here, it is the people of Delhi who are sitting here, each of the 70 MLAs sitting here represent Delhi’s people. The people of the country are watching what kind of decision will be taken here today”. Being a common man of this country, these were quite mesmerising words. The power of common man and the credit that they gave to people was unexceptional and extraordinary. The Aam Aadmi Party Government moved a confidence motion on the floor of the Delhi Assembly and urged members to rise above political affiliations and support alternative governance for the people of Delhi. There could be nothing more to see the political reform that is happening in Indian history of powers.

The people of Delhi gave mandate to AAP to form government. They are here to clean the politics of the country. They want to ensure that people in Delhi get clean drinking water and cheap electricity. They are here for the traders, farmers and youth of Delhi. They will improve the facilities for the people of Delhi, and that is what AAP ministers are committed to.

The main opposition, BJP voted against the confidence motion. Party leader Harsh Vardhan, in his speech, initiated a scornful assault on Kejriwal and his party for taking Congress support to form the government. He had even made strong statements like pledging not to enter into a coalition with Congress on a TV channel. Last week, even BJP’s former president Nitin Gadkari attacked and alleged AAP and Congress’ settlement deal but he failed to give evidence to support his statements.

Gadkari is the one who has to quit his position, when Kejriwal exposed his scams. BJP will never digest AAP and its success as they surprisingly emerged larger than life in Delhi, by denting Congress party. BJP thought, they will easily sail the Delhi boat as there is anti-Congress waves. They even think that anti incumbency favour them and they will defeat Congress but surprisingly AAP’s entry bittered their taste for power and their future. If Kejriwal works like this only then he can even dent Modi’s dream of becoming PM in the forthcoming General Elections. AAP is a good alternative to public. They have gone through hell to form the government. They worked continuously for more than the usual working hours. They not only formed the Government but also fulfilled promises that they made to public.

A party which Kejriwal used to refer as the most corrupt party, the party against which he contested elections, the party against which he said that if elected to power, he will send corrupt ministers to jail, and will unearth all unfair trades of that government, he has taken support of that Congress party due to compulsion.

BJP being the largest party was given a chance to form government, but they refused. Congress and BJP tried to create negative image of AAP among people by saying, AAP is betraying people by not forming the government. These two biggest national political parties always had shown their double standards. BJP accused AAP of running away from the responsibility of forming the government and when AAP picked up the gauntlet, BJP turned around to accuse them. It is clear to everyone that Congress is supporting AAP for its own interests in keeping BJP out of power in Delhi and in avoiding a re-election at the moment.

This suits AAP perfectly as it can prove its mettle in running a government. The rejection of the VIP culture has been welcomed by everybody but it is a pity that BJP is loathe to admit it. To oppose for the mere sake of opposing will not beget BJP any credibility. On one side, Congress has shown determination for working for common people by supporting AAP, and on the other side, BJP is scratching its own back with anger as pseudo wave of Modi has done nothing in Delhi. People of Delhi have gone with AAP, so Kejriwal must be careful to do work in favour of common people. Of course, future of changing politics with involvement of middle class people (most from lower middle class) are looking up to them. Anyways, lack of beacon-fitted cars, little grounded ministers make Delhi assembly session stand out. First time, it was a very uncommonly special glimpse. Look of the old Delhi Secretariat was totally different as the assembly complex was thronged by a large number of AAP supporters. In the past, when beacon-fitted cars swarmed the area and there was heavy security, gates were not opened to the common man.

One can say………..the common man has arrived in corridors of power and he is here to go a long way.

Year 2013 has ended, but that year brought many shocking events for India as well as in my personal life too. Me and my team got some recognition; I got accreditation as a journalist from Maharashtra government. My studies gave me good openings. We, the NBC team really matured in this field with time. We received chance to explore new dimensions in media. We had our share of flops and gains, but we survived strong at the end. There were many shocking incidences which happened in my office also. One of our staff members married suddenly, some left and some joined us. Comparatively, the journey last year was very smooth. In the recent past, we really lived each moment enthusiastically.

If we look at Mumbai, then the city has witnessed many shocking incidences including Shakti Mill Compound Gang rape case. City saw first ever Narendra Modi’s rally. Maharashtra Assembly saw lot of ups and downs because of Adarsh scam and anti superstitious activist Narendra Dabholkar’s murder. Country had big events and incidences to share. Congress Party announced Rahul Gandhi as its Vice President and also a Prime Minister Post candidate. Rahul Gandhi neither has experience nor has shown the required ability to change the policies and performance of the Congress party or governments run by it or in coalition with other parties. The party claims their grand old party is built with leaders’ sacrifice. At the time of action, they were behaving with arrogance and self-gain. Now at the time of election, to retain power they are doing lip service and big talk. A new party may need some time to learn – not Congress. For corrupt nation, they are mainly responsible as being the rulers of this country for most of the time. Rahul’s performance as an elected representative was A DISASTER. People of this country are poor and illiterate and follow people blindly and worship them. There are selfishness in many people’s attitude and behaviour. Still, we have an age old culture and there are selfless people. Nehru family has earned nation’s money with the only qualification of their family name ‘Gandhi’. Now, the 4th generations is earning, is it not enough? Many Indians will be seeing 2013 as a thrilling year, as for most of them it is rotten year. 2013 brought many shocking news for us. The destruction in Uttarakhand which killed thousands, the Mumbai gang rape, Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal being accused of rape, godman Asaram and son being arrested for rape, and the Supreme Court verdict on gay sex; the list is apparently limitless.

We saw how Rahul Gandhi attacked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the issue of ordinance to protect convicted lawmakers, which really left our jaws hanging. In June, the terrible magnitude of nature’s fury unfolded as a multi-day cloudburst centered in Uttarakhand, causing devastating floods and landslides, making it the worst natural disaster in India since the Tsunami in 2004. After the disaster had claimed more than 5,700 lives, a debate ensued on what really caused it. After this disaster, Muzaffarnagar riots took lots of life and it ended with making many people homeless. We had not forgotten (as human mentality is) Nirbhaya’s brutal gang rape of 2012, we heard a photo-journalist was gang-raped in Mumbai by five men, including a juvenile in a deserted Shakti Mills compound. Mumbai, the city, which has always boasted about the safety of women, got shivers after this rape incidence.

Tarun Tejpal one of the big name in investigative journalism, sexually assaulted a colleague in a lift after the ThinkFest in Goa. Tehelka, a big news agency collapsed to scratches, and lost all its integrity and credibility.

Starting with a 10-acre ashram, Asaram went on to acquire some 420 major or minor such institutions over a period of 40 or so years across the world. Before his arrest, he was raking in around Rs. 400 crore or more annually. In the process, he also snagged some 20 million followers worldwide. He and his son both are in police custody under the charges of rape. On the other side, Sadhvi Pragya Singh who was in jail from past six years is acquitted from all charges; NIA declared that Madhya Pradesh wrongly arrested her in Malegaon blast case and RSS pracharak Sanjay Joshi’s murder case.

Modi too got clean chit from 2002 riots. Modi emerged as big name and prime ministerial candidate of BJP, he not only shook the politics of this country but also successfully created waves against Congress. Congress, India’s oldest national party collapsed in no time. On the other side, Aam Aadmi Party has created threat to Congress and BJP by forming a government in Delhi.

In a blow to gay rights activists, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of the penal provision making gay sex an offence punishable with upto life imprisonment. The bench had reserved its order in March last year after granting day-to-day hearing of the case from February 15, 2012.

Other shocking incidents of the year include Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal-United ending its 17-year-old alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party, after the latter named Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate. The move came as a major jolt to the National Democratic Alliance, which was left with only three constituents – the BJP, the Shiv Sena and the Shiromani Akali Dal.

There were many shocking deaths happened in Hindi film industry like Jiah Khan’s and Farooque Sheikh’s. Bollywood industry had given another shocking incident of separation between Hritik Roshan and his wife Susanne Khan. It was very difficult for public to believe this story. This entire year was quite interesting with good events and sudden shocks….

In 2014, India will go in for general elections, which is considered as one of the biggest democratic festival in the country. Year 2013 has passed…….

Let’s welcome 2014…..

As a chief of this organisation, I wish all my readers, a very happy and a prosperous New Year.

When Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was in its early day of formation, I remembered a sentence that Gadkari has said in one of the public meeting- “AAP Chillar Party hai”; but today, with the chillar party making decision and noise, netaji couldn’t take it. Nobody ever expected that Aam Aadmi Party will score so high and Kejriwal would take the position as Chief Minister of Delhi. No doubt, people have accepted him and I have seen that sense of belongingness in peoples’ mind for his party. Whatever allegations are made against AAP, without any concrete proof, lead voters to understand that conspiracies are made against them. I’m surprised to hear the words chosen by Gadkari like ‘deal’, ‘chillar’, ‘dukaan’, ‘shutter band’, a language used by Mumbai’s street boys. Seriously, I was thinking that he will become Union Minister one day, but I could not predict this. If he is not well informed about anything, then he should not spread misinformation. Ultimately, he will hurt the general sentiment that is built against the Congress, which may damage BJP’s chances in Lok Sabha elections. Gadkari said a deal was struck between Congress and AAP party leader Arvind Kejriwal to form a government in Delhi. Gadkari said that the Congress strategy was to prevent formation of a Bharatiya Janata Party government in Delhi and stop Narendra Modi from becoming the country’s prime minister. Now, let me allow to discuss this issue in detail.

Was this Gadkari’s personal insecurity speaking? We all know that BJP failed to come to power from last 10 years and had not retained power in 2004. His party ruled India for just six years and a few days, since Independence. First in 1996 his party ruled India for 13 days and after that for 13 months in 1998 and then from 1999 to 2004. There were no AAP or other parties to stop them from coming to power. It was public who never trusted them. They got clean sweep success over emotional issue of “Building Ram Mandir” but they betrayed people’s sentiments and lost the power. It’s Modi who made party back on tracks.

With such ‘great’ leaders like Gadkari, BJP could never even manage to survive. Since AAP came to existence, BJP and Congress utilised their entire force to malign, tarnish and vandalise their image, but nothing happened. Its voters who have given mandate to AAP to take charge. Is this not enough for BJP and Congress to learn a lesson?

Now the second point is, Gadkari said, “A deal was struck between Arvind Kejriwal and Congress in a five-star hotel, a person (familiar with the development) told me”. If the deal took place in a five star hotel, Gadkari should have demanded the CCTV footage of that hotel to check the authenticity of the informer, before going public with such baseless allegations. Since Kejriwal took oath as a chief minister, people have become restless. Some channels are busy in exposing Congress and some ministers are busy exposing Kejriwal. Why so much anxiety? Please understand, people have lost faith in you. By doing all sort of immature things you might hamper the remote chances of BJP coming to power.

The Congress, which has eight legislators, is providing outside support to the Aam Aadmi Party, which won 28 seats in the 70-member Delhi assembly. The BJP has 31 seats. The remaining three seats are with the Shiromani Akali Dal, the Janata Dal-United and an Independent. In such awkward situation, BJP has clear chances to form government with the help of these three MLAs but they refused the biggest opportunity to form government.

When Kejriwal was part of Anna’s movement, same BJP leaders were saying, agitations will not solve the issues; contest elections, come to Parliament and make changes. Today, when they came to power, everyone is cursing them by various means, why? However, other parties are making difficulties and hurdles for Kejriwal; people are easing all difficulties for him. He is people’s leader and proved to be the man of the masses. The man, who vowed on his son that he won’t take the Congress’s support, became the Chief Minister with that party’s support. BJP stooped down to embarrassing levels to pull him behind but failed to succeed while Congress played very safe by giving support to him.

There is one more reason why people are not taking Gadkari‘s allegations seriously. It is because, Kejriwal and his AAP members exposed Gadkari’s land dealings and scams. After alleging a sweetheart deal between Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra, real estate firm DLF and Haryana Chief Minister B S Hooda. Kejriwal uncovered Gadkari’s letter to Maharashtra Irrigation Minister Ajit Pawar to sanction him 100 acres of land that the government had acquired to build a dam in Khursapur village in Umred Taluka in Nagpur district but had been unable to use. Although, farmers from whom it had been acquired, wrote to the government seeking the return of the land, the government was unable to utilise, their requests went unheeded on the grounds the land was being used to ‘beautify’ the area. But when Gadkari asked for the land, with virtually indecent haste, Pawar permitted Gadkari’s companies to acquire it. Anyways, one allegedly corrupt minister of BJP who had to leave his President’s post due to corruption charges is alleging a newly sworn Delhi’s seventh Chief Minister. If Gadkari is making claims, then he should also give evidence. Gadkari knows the art of dealing; he has a good experience in that.

So, such an experienced political leader should stop wasting his energy over gossips and allegations. He should focus on constructive vote building policies for BJP. AAP has emerged and sustained so far, let the people decide their fate….

A Gujarat court’s rejection of a petition seeking the prosecution of Narendra Modi for his alleged role in the 2002 Gujarat riots has brought no change in US visa policy for him. Modi was denied a diplomatic visa to the US in 2005 over the riots, was welcome to apply for a visa and wait for a review which will be grounded in American law. There has been no change in their visa policy, since then. Modi has proved himself ‘unstoppable’ once again. Though the Supreme Court has yet not ruled that the accused Chief Minister is the culprit, nor has anyone else proved him guilty. So far, he is not proven guilty but still doesn’t live scot-free. He was not granted visa to US but still he is set to talk to the Indian Community in North America via satellite from Gandhinagar. There are talks that people might be over-estimating him for his abilities but fact is, even the campaigns of Rahul, Sonia and Manmohan collaboratively failed to move him out of power in his own state. He has done everything to propagate across the nation and has always spoken of unity among party members. He was a keynote speaker at Gujarat Day celebrations across North America; he has not only won the hearts of Indians in USA but has also proved that where there is a will, there is a way. I do have my own reservations when it comes to Modi’s applause and his work of courage. He has put the message, very loud and clear that even the US cannot stop him.

One cannot underestimate the personal tragedy, riots have brought to the victims and justice has to be done to them. The shrill campaign unleashed outside of the judicial forums has now to be toned down. It has to be remembered the Supreme Court in its wisdom and after overseeing the probe of the SIT did not have any material disagreement with the process followed by the SIT. Now, another lower court has looked at the protest petition and rejected the petitioner’s contention. It’s time that we focus on undoing the terrible impact of riots through assertive action and material solace and stop focusing on one individual who has gone through enough judicial scrutiny. Kodnani has been found guilty and she is serving her sentence. If Modi is not found guilty, then he might be innocent. If anybody has political grudges against him then he or she should fight against each other in any elections. Voters will decide his fate. Probably, this controversy will go on till his death or people will give weightage to the statements. In spite of courts declaring that they had not found his involvemen,t there are people who think themselves above all courts. I fail to understand, why the press gives so much weightage to such reports and publish them. In the Ishrat Jahan case, her mother and counsel declared her as innocent girl killed in cold blood but no one has answered how she was with three dreaded Pakistani and Indian terrorists. She was with them at least for 4 days as per her mother’s admission. This is scandalous and our investigative press who is always in search for sensation has not investigating this angle to publish worthless news. The press is not interested in price rise, development, fall of rupee and so many other economic issues concerning the common man. Leaving aside this controversy, even BJP as party went wrong in matters which are concerned with Modi.

Karnataka was a big mess for Modi and people started booing him. Though the fact is, he did not campaign across Karnataka. Members of BJP still have reservation for choosing their leaders because they felt that they are the right candidate. Nitin Gadkari, the then BJP national President, was one such person who was on fire as BJP was ruling the state . By the way, where is Gadkari now? After so much of chaos and losing Karnataka, Rajnath Singh is ready to invite and accept Yeddyurappa’s returns in party. They realised without his support Karnataka is not possible for BJP to conquer.

BJP members are selfish and self-centric. Of course, we know that BJP governance was better than Congress in both the terms but that was due to leaders like Atalji. Many BJP leaders hate Nitin Gadkari because of his financial scams and his open support for Modi (when others did not like him in the centre at that time).

Today, BJP members are hailing Modi because they do not have any other choice. However, they will support him only till he is clean (like Gadkari); once the accusation turns real, leaders will not hesitate to go against him either. Lack of unity, integrity of thoughts, unclear vision, loose party governance and over all chaotic attitudes amongst party members have served as a severe downfall of the party. In Karnataka, Yeddyurappa’s led Karnataka Janata Party (KJP) was one of the factors for BJP’s downfall in the state. Saffron party is more affected by the spoilers. In Gujarat, the party has been weakened because of Keshubhai Patel led Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP). Congress was utterly nowhere in the scene. In Delhi, AAP marked its success and spoilt BJP’s dream. Today Arvind Kejriwal will swear in as Delhi’s seventh and youngest chief minister.

The biggest spoiler of BJP will neither let BJP win nor will they support Congress. AAP is just another spoiler with last P-factor like KJP and GPP. Everyone from BJP and RSS wants to be a political hero but fails to understand that one must first follow the master to become the master. The corruption in BJP members is less than that of the Congress men. The Congress Party will soon be in chaos and BJP will have its time to hit the hammer when iron is molten red. However, if the BJP goes on weakening, then there will be more spoilers produced by the party itself. The party will land up into broken pieces and a slightly bigger stone will again win the coming elections.

The fan following of BJP has increased. People have chosen different parties for different elections. They feel that cleaning up starts from their own household and proceeds nationwide. When they do not see progress in their areas, they do not see progress anywhere. BJP needs to be a bit more united and be strong at places where it already holds the power, prove their worth with progress and come up as a rising star. The faith in both the parties is going down, the coming election results will be based on not who has risen up but, by who has stooped low a bit lesser than the other.

Follow me on Twitter @vaidehisachin and let us discuss the fishing grounds of BJP and Congress for votes.

Ahead of General Elections, 2002 riots case was hanging like a naked sword on BJP’s Prime Ministrial candidate NarendraModi. Congress and media had already declared him communal and a culprit. Some NGOs were hell-bent on bashing him. However, Gujarat court on Thursday gave clean chit to him in 2002 riots. The court rejected the petition of ZakiaJafri, whose husband EhsanJafri was burnt alive during the riots, challenging the closure report of a Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team.Zakia’s husband, former Congress MP EhsanJafri, was killed in the riots along with 69 others in one of the worst massacres at Gulbarg Society in Ahmedabad on February 28, 2002. Proceedings in the matter ended on September 30. It was on September 12, 2011 that the Supreme Court had said it would no longer monitor the case after the SIT cleared Modi of the accusation that he had failed to discharge his constitutional duty to intervene swiftly to stop communal riots. The case was sent back to the lower court.

Gujaratis are the people to judge Modi. They have voted him to power three times consecutively. If they held him guilty of the charge, they wouldn’t have chosen him to be the CM for threeterms. This very fact absolves him of any such malicious charges. He has proved his worth as an able administrator; the US which declined him Visa too has acknowledged this fact. Undoubtedly, he deserves to be a Prime Ministerial candidate. Little of elegance and modesty – that is what it takes to change insights. Modi was defined by the Gujarat riots of 2002 because he has not been tactful enough to confess, despite attacks from all corners over a decade. He never said the riots were unfortunate and that he feels sorry for the lives lost. His prime, and ineradicable, identity has been that of a hardcore Hindu nationalist. The image makeover as the messiah of development came after 2007. For people who arefollowing him since Ayodhya Ram Temple Movement, through the riots of 2002 and the Gauravyatra, it would be difficult to set him apart from political Hindutva, with all its negative implications.

Modi had announced three-day Sadbhavana fast to embrace Muslims. The fast, started on his 61st birthday on September 17, 2011 had launched his campaign to become BJP’s prime ministerial candidate. Since 2002 till now, not a single riot happened in Gujarat. All the people are living in peace. When a mistake happens, it has to be rectified and not be repeated again, that’s how life goes. However, by raising 2002 riots issue, again and again Congress and other so called secular parties are playing communal politics. When Modi became CM of Gujarat, Congress was not happy and they were trying to capture power in this state like they took power in Karnataka. So, Congress made a plan for newly, administratively inexperiencedModi by burning a train at GodhraRailway Station in which majority of children and women were killed. Congress knew that Hindus will definitely react to this. Everyone was in a hurry to declare him responsible for 2002 riots, but the SIT claimed that it could not find any prosecutable evidence against the accused persons regarding their involvement in the alleged conspiracy behind the riots. It had even refused to treat IPS officers like RB Sreekumar, Rahul Sharma and Sanjiv Bhatt as witnesses on the ground that their statements are hearsay evidence. On the other hand, Zakia has alleged that the SIT has been shielding Modi and others by not believing statements given by these police officers and neglecting the available evidence. Zakia has accused the SIT of playing the role of a court by adjudging the truth of the available evidence. Her lawyers contended that the investigation was incomplete and the probe agency had not even done it seriously. On the opinion of amicus curiae RajuRamachandran that Modi may be prosecuted for inciting communal hatred, the SIT has said that there is no evidence to prosecute him, and the incident alleged was beyond the ambit of its probe. Anyways,Modi got clean chit here.

Congress is planning its plan B to get Modi again.The union government has cleared an inquiry into whether NarendraModi and his government in Gujarat illegally spied upon a young woman architect. The Centre’s plunge into the controversy known as “stalk-gate” has been revealed by the BJP. Stalk-gate rests upon secretly-recorded phone conversations in 2009 between a former senior police officer in Gujarat, GL Singhal, and other members of the anti-terror squad in the state. Singhal submitted many of these tapes to the CBI. The conversations allegedly establish that the woman was being tailed at the instructions of a “saheb” or big boss – Modi, according to the Congress. I hope the probe will start very soon and the Sahebwill come out of it and once again,Modiwill clear his test…