Author: Pran Kurup

With India aspiring for growth and looking to build smart cities, roads, bridges, infrastructure, power plants, etc., the country presents a great opportunity for American businesses. Obama’s visit was essentially a giant sales pitch to firm up business opportunities for American companies.

Likewise, there is plenty of opportunity for Indian businesses in the US market as reaffirmed by the “who’s who” of Indian industry queuing up for darshan of the US President.

Strategically, from an American perspective, a vibrant and growing India can act as a counterweight to China in the region and come in handy with regard to Pakistan and Afghanistan as the instability in these countries persists.

To read the rest of this post, please visit the Economic Times website where it was first published.

Kiran Bedi has pulled off the impossible. The supposed supercop has parachuted her way into the Delhi BJP leadership slot after waiting on the sidelines and intermittently showering praises at the party leadership from time to time for years. With the elections round the corner the time for courtship is over and its time to jump into the dirty world of politics whose sworn enemy she once was. Her Krane landing has been so immaculate that the BJP top brass has in addition to offering her the CM post in advance even agreed to cut down Modi’s face time on the Delhi campaign in order to make room for her (sort of an icing on the cake). Talk about having the cake and eating it too with icing on it!

Today, there is no BJP. Mr. Modi is the party. So Mr. Modi stepping aside from the limelight is a huge concession. Surely, this can’t be a long lasting arrangement since the BJP swears by a Modi everywhere policy.

To read the rest of his post please visit the Economic Times website where it was first published.

It appears that the BJP has discretely issued a memo to many that it will soon be shutting its doors and the time to board the bus is running out. There seems to be no other explanation for the flurry of people joining the BJP and others queueing up outside its doors. If you are one of those in politics or dabbling at its fringes and don’t know where you are headed, here are a few signs that will help you discover that you are headed the BJP way.

You were a part of the Anna movement. By virtue of this, you landed several times on TV debates and yelled and screamed but had little of substance to say. Nevertheless you are a known face – famous for being famous. But now, you badly miss the limelight. With the Anna movement gone, you have nowhere to turn. You are not a mass leader by any stretch of imagination.  You have antagonized the AAP leadership and your are of little value to most other political parties. You take stock of your USP and think “if I can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”

To read the rest of this article please visit the Economic Times website where it was first published.

The BJP launched PM Modi the other day into the Delhi campaign in order to resurrect its fast sinking hopes in the upcoming Delhi elections. The PM reverted back to the familiar themes that the BJP think-tank had effectively conjured up for the Lok Sabha elections to counter AAP – bhagoda, Naxalites, governance, dharna, etc.

This is an unusual step for the PM who has thusfar tried to remain above the fray, so to speak. Even when the loony fringe of the BJP has gone to town with a series of crazy proclamations, the PM has maintained a stony silence. But here he was, mudslinging in Delhi politics.

To red the rest of this post please visit the Economic Times website where it was first published.

The Aam Aadmi party has an uphill battle on its hands. It is fighting the BJP and the fast disappearing Congress in the upcoming assembly elections in Delhi. The BJP has everything going for it in terms of resources. Bottomless deep pockets, a PM who is still basking in the aftermath of the marketing blitzkrieg of “ache din” from the 2014 elections, a media that is too terrified to ask tough questions and prefers to play along and support the BJP to the hilt.

If there is one thing that even the worst critics of the Aam Aadmi party would admit, it is that the party has brought a rare sense of creativity to politics. Its fund-raising process, its candidate selection process, and its transparent style of operation have all been widely appreciated. As the party that has previously been in power, the AAP could easily raise funds through the tried and tested approach of Indian politics, where donations are collected upfront in lieu of favors when in power. But the party has chosen not to do so. The former Chief Election Commissioner recently pointed out, “Only 20 per cent of the source of funding to any political party is known.” In this environment, there is something to be said for a party that lists every donation/donor on its website.

To read the rest of the article please visit the Economic Times website where t was first published.

Tamil superstar Rajinikanth has kept everyone guessing about his entry into politics for decades. He has been adding to the intrigue through frequent pithy dialogues on the issue in his films. Naan eppo varuven, yepdi varuvennu yarukkum theriyathu. Aana vara vendiya nerathula (No one can tell when or how I’ll arrive — but I always do, when the time is right.)

His god-like status in the south has made him a constant target of vested interests who court the superstar from time to time to join them. But times have changed and years have gone by. In the meantime, his popularity has grown and continues to grow. Today, politics in Tamil Nadu (TN) is at the crossroads, and the time for him to take the plunge might just be right.

The DMK, in its spent state, is like the last years of the Mughal empire. As the wily Karunanidhi ages, his sons, daughters, nephews and nieces battle for dominance.   As things stand today, it is more than likely that the DMK would self-destruct after his time.  The AIADMK has problems of its own with Jayalalitha facing serious legal setbacks. Thanks to her dictatorial ways, there is no real long-term second in command, and it is only a matter of time before internal strife sets in. Circumstances are forcing her to toe the BJP line as she settles for an IT department fine.

To read the rest of this article please visit the Economic Times website where it was first published.

Ever since the BJP was swept to power at the center, there have been two distinct efforts from the party. The first is to put its marketing department on permanent over-drive in a massive image-building exercise while simultaneously distorting the truth and counter any criticism. To a large extent, this effort has been very successful.

Examples of this are visible every day. Just the other day, Mr.Jaitey had the temerity to announce that India is leading the battle against black money. A perfectly tuned headline to reinforce the illusion of change to the ever gullible middle class. The truth is that the BJP has done little about black money, despite making a host of shameful promises including the PM himself promising 15-20 lakhs per citizen after bringing back the black money within 100 days! The reality, though, is a far cry from this smoke screen.

Then there are a whole host of Bollywood-like feel-good buzz lines — Make in India; no more red tape, only red carpet; SMART police; Swach bharath; better utilization of railway stations; sabka vikas sabke saath; and maximum governance minimum government. (This so-called minimum government with 66 ministers is not very different from the 77 in the UPA!). In short, the internal mantra seems to be to crank out one buzz line a day to keep “ache din” seekers at bay and the middle class in good spirits like front benchers at a Bollywood film.

Then there is the entire spin around government officers and bureaucrats coming into work on time. This is the minimum one should expect of them. The spin doctors of BJP are busy attributing credit for this to the PM. Seriously? We need a designer-clothes wearing PM to bring these bureaucrats in line?

As far as investors and other financial experts are concerned, the general consensus seems to be that not much has changed since the BJP government came to power. In fact, there seem to be a consensus that it has been a mere continuation of UPA-II policies. Comparisons to Thatcher and Reagan have stopped, thankfully.

The second effort by the BJP is the concerted effort to consolidate power at the state level. i.e., try to win each state or, if not possible, establish a coalition partner of convenience in the state – a strategy straight out of the Congress playbook.

To read the rest of this article please visit the Economic Times Website where it was first published.