The Blame Game

Sadanand Dhume wrote that "An increasingly radicalized neighborhood, fragmented domestic politics and a curiously timid mainstream discourse on Islam add up to hobble India's response to radical Islamic intimidation."

Here are two examples how fragmented domestic politics hobbles India's effectiveness in fighting terrorism:

From Naxal Terror Watch, which in turn found this article through Offstumped, comes this commentary Make Terror Victims the face of Anti-Terrorism Campaign, which criticizes the efforts of Congress and the BJP to prove that the other party has the worse record on fighting terrorism. The article argues:

By making the voice of the Terror Victims and the voice of those brave women and men in uniform who shed their lives fighting terrorism the Anti-Terrorism Campaign will not just have tremendous credibility but it would frame the public debate in the right terms.

This article Maya’s Intelligence Quotient from Hard News indicates that while there was advance knowledge of the terrorist attack on the CRPF camp in Rampur, the Uttar Pradesh government headed by Chief Minister Mayawati claimed that it had not received intelligence from the Centre. It also reveals other gaps in the state intelligence network. The article closes with this question:

If [terrorists] can attack a CRPF camp and get away, what is the fate of ordinary people?

drisyadrisya: Neighbours envy, Owners pride!

From the drisyadrisya दृश्यादृश्य blog, this article Neighbours envy, Owners pride! is about Narendra Modi's recent election victory in Gujarat. The author identifies two factors that led to Modi's victory: the Congress Party's playing the Hindutva card and the efforts of the ELM (English language media) to defame Modi.

The author notes:

As a Malayalee, having seen the devil and deep sea alternately ruin such a beautiful state, I have to admit.... I envy Gujaratis, I envy Modi. I have seen most youth complain about their state's government - and rightly so many times. But a majority of my Gujarati friends, seem so proud of their government. They put youtube videos showcasing Gujarats rapid development on their orkut..... I am sure, some of them, if not most, also hope that what Sardar Patel was denied will be made up by Modi - if not immediately, some day, may be after Advani !

I can sympathize with the author's point of view. As the author has seen his native Kerala ruined by the Communists, my husband has seen how the Communists have ruined his home state of West Bengal.

Even Modi's foes acknowledge that he's been successful at attracting foreign investment: the Wall Street Journal claims that Gujarat has received 25% of foreign investment in India. People from Gujarat describe Modi as a good administrator (albeit dogmatic) and a clean politician, rather an anomaly in India. Could it be these qualities that make Gujarat a good bet for investment?