Top 10 things the UPA Can Do to Turn Things Around - from economics times blog

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I have heard that a number of Indian commercial films are made without a fully written script. In other words, the script falls into place as the movie is made. The current anti-corruption saga seems to be unfolding in a very similar fashion, with the UPA in the director's seat. At the moment, the UPA seems to be completely clueless on how to end this film.

At every stage in this battle, Team Anna seems to be ahead of the game, and to make matters worse for the UPA, Team Anna clearly has tremendous public support that only seems to be growing by the minute. How can the UPA stem the rot? Having completely lost face multiple times in this battle, is there room for a comeback? The good news for the UPA is that the Opposition is still unable to take advantage of the situation.

Here are ten things the UPA could do to win back the hearts and minds of the people, pave the way for Rahul Gandhi, and set the Opposition on the back foot - a perfect happy ending after a lot of melodrama.

10. Form a new team (Team UPA) to take on Team Anna comprising of Rahul Gandhi, A.K. Antony, Jairam Ramesh, and one other individual. This person must have a good legal brain, must have excellent communication skills, and a relatively clean image. He or she should have what it takes to face up to the legal brains of the Bhushans. A.K. Antony is in for his honest image, Ramesh for his outspokenness, and Rahul for the Gandhi "topping" and to set the stage for his ascendancy to the throne.

9. Give this team a crash course on the ins and outs of Lokpal, starting from its history since 1968. (Sorry Rahul, some serious "mugga" is needed here.) Conduct mock discussions behind the scenes to ensure that the team is fully prepared.

8. Brainstorm and decide which of the remaining points of contention in the Lokpal bill you are willing to give in on and which are non-negotiable. Have very clear reasons, and be prepared to argue and present your case to the media and to the public at large.

7. Frequently communicate to the rank and file of the party about the official stance on the Lokpal. Inform all and sundry in the Congress party that they are forbidden to speak on Lokpal, especially if it's out of line with the party's stance. Dress up Manish Tewari and Digvijay Singh in women's clothing (a la Baba Ramdev) and pack them off to an unknown destination until this is anti-corruption saga is over.

6. Force the joint draft committee members from the government team to take a back seat. No more fake smiles and guarded, evasive, non-committal statements from the likes of Kapil Sibal and P. Chidambaram. This team is like the Indian batting order - it has been completely exposed. No matter how many Tests it plays under these conditions, it is unlikely to score any points with the public.

5. Swallow your pride and invite Team Anna for a discussion and telecast the proceedings live. This is reality TV at its best (or worst, depending on how you look at it), so make sure Team UPA knows its stuff and has done its homework. In return, insist on a commitment from Anna to end his fast.

4. Turn up the heat on the Opposition for being spineless, corrupt, missing in action, you name it.

3. Agree to withdraw the current Lokpal bill and table a new bill in Parliament based on the negotiations with Team Anna and inputs from anyone else who might be feeling left out of the discussion. Commit to initiating a serious debate in Parliament and challenge every Party to announce its position on the bill formally and in public.

2. Use your majority in Parliament to pass the new bill that has the blessings of Team Anna and others. Have a live press conference to claim all round victory.

1. Plan and execute on Manmohan Singh's retirement before he further damages his reputation.

Rahul Dravid Bleeds Blue: One Last Time!...(This is from a blog by Dr. Saurabh Agrawal)

When the weather becomes stormy, take a shelter behind The ‘Wall’.






The Wall Rises once again: Hail Rahul Dravid, India’s very own resident Phoenix(as far as ODI’s are concerned). I mean seriously, how often would you see a batsman who is not thought of as an ODI player, go on to score 10,000+ runs? You write him off, you turn the pages, you close the book and open a new book, a new chapter and POP!!! He is staring right there at you in your face.
India were riding high on their World Cup triumph, Dravid was nowhere in the picture but Lo and Behold, suddenly, he is right there standing tall. Is it just a Co-incidance that there in the theatres The Planet of the Apes is rising, and here out of nowhere The WALL is rising once again among a bunch of apes? (Sorry for being so disrespectful towards our young World Champions, but what can i say after watching those awkward body postures some of them attained while facing the English and the Caribbean bouncers?) I am sure the selectors too watched it and had no option but to fall back to the battle hardened, age-old Warrior.
Rahul Dravid has once again proved that he is the King of Bad Times. Ignored when the days are sunny, but soon as the days become gloomy, going gets tough, and crisis knocks at the door, selectors once again turn their heads towards Dravid.(Only to turn their back towards him once they are done with him)

The 'Chosen One' to be Snubbed again and again

Dravid, the ignored Step-child of ODI Cricket: As expected, the talks are on. Selectors are saying, ‘Horses for Courses’. Experts are divided between “Its a step in backward direction” and “It was the only option left considering he has been the only in-form batsman on the tour”. Cynics are claiming an under the table deal to give Dravid a chance to retire respectfully(Something that is believed to happen to Ganguly as well), but the Fans and the neutrals with some common sense know better.
Dravid has played just 6 odi matches in past 4 yrs, but he still rightfully owns a place in Test Team and whenever need be, he could have retired respectfully from Tests. There was no need to strike a ‘deal’. For that matter, fans do believe that there was no need to show him the door in the first place. After all, it was just 5 failures in a series immediate after his resignation as captain, and Zap!! He was dropped. And that too when in some of the innings he came in to bat as late as 40 overs which compelled him to slog, and when only a few months back, he had climbed to his career high ICC ODI Ranking of 5. It was as if the Selectors were only waiting for a chance to chop him off.
2 years later, When the batting was struggling, they called for his services once again in a lead up to the Champions Trophy in South Africa, only to dump him 6 matches later, the fact that he was the 2nd highest run-getter for India in those 6 matches notwithstanding. The obvious reason being, India were back in their own backyard, the run-oozing tracks of Vadodara, Nagpur and Hyderabad and the young guns were good enough to tackle it. Any other player in the world might have made a huge hue and cry, Newspapers would have been loaded of articles in his support, effigies would have been burnt, but nothing of that sort happened. PR was never his strong suit.
And now 2yrs later, he has been again given a howler to save the day( Much like Prince Caspian gave a howler to the Pevensie siblings in The Chronicles of Narnia 2), and suddenly Rahul Dravid finds himself back in this magical world of Narnia(Read ODI Cricket) that he so much wanted to go back to, but could only go back when it called him to save itself from getting into ruins.

As far as the ODIs are concerned, the Indian Selectors have always treated Rahul Dravid like a step-son is treated by his step-mom in cheesy Bollywood movies, ignoring and hating him all along, only to shower all the love in the world when she comes to know that her husband died leaving all his money in the son’s name, only to ignore him back once she is done with him. And Dravid is no different from the Filmi ‘Beta’. He obliges his mom every single time.
All in a day’s Play: Well, the matter of fact is, Finally Dravid is a part of the ODI Team again. That he declared his retirement few hours later is another thing. That fateful day, 6th of August, being a hardcore Dravid fan, i ran through a lot of emotions.
When in the afternoon, i got a message on FB from a friend, “Hi!congrats!age,Dhoni,couldn’t prevent him to be selected!”(sic), i was bewildered, “What is he talking about? Is he Talking about RD?”. Astonished, i checked out and i found out that indeed he was talking about RD. To start with, i was a bit surprised, like Dravid, but surprise was momentary as euphoria and ecstasy soon overtook. My dream had come true. I’ll have to come out honestly here, as i did pray to god before the England series that please God, Let Rahul play in such amazing form, and let the others struggle so that he can break into the ODI team once again. (Though i never knew that my prayer would bring with it, two crushing defeats for India.) But soon, Anger took over euphoria. Here, I’ll have to deviate from the topic a bit.
As a Post 1983 born Indian, we all had a collective dream of watching India win the World Cup, but along with it came a sub-dream. As in Hindu Mythology, there are Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh, there are (With due respect to other great cricketers like Kumble, Laxman et al) 3 gods in Indian Cricket too. Sourav, Rahul, and Sachin(The latter owing to his 7yrs head-start went on to become the World wide god of cricket). More than half of the Indians wanted to see Sachin lift the WC trophy, many wanted to see Ganguly kissing the Trophy, but there were a few people who wanted to watch Dravid kissing that coveted Trophy too. I was one of those few.
So, obviously, i was angry. Why? If they had to call him back after all, why not before the World Cup? Why only Now? The Anger lasted a while longer than surprise and ecstasy, but soon Tension crept in. Will he be able to perform considering he has played just 6 matches in past 4yrs? Even if he performs, will he be retained in the squad once Team comes back to the home tracks which are born to deliver 300-350+ runs(just like an Indian illiterate Village woman whose only job is to deliver and raise babies)? Even if he is retained, will he be able to continue till the 2015 WC in Australia? Will he be able to win it there? (Yeah, i know, dont blame me. Its the power of imagination, dreams, hope and optimism that the god has given to humanity to go on and on even in the times of hopelessness). But as the night came, Peace ensued. Dravid had announced his retirement from ODIs. No more Worrying. From selection to Retirement, it all happened in a day’s play, a day when nobody could overshadow him in News channels Prime time slot, nobody could overshadow him in the next day’s newspaper Columns.
Adding Insult to the Injury: When i saw Dravid announcing his retirement from the limited overs format of the Game, i could feel the internal pain Dravid was going through. For a person who is known to be very articulate, quick thinker and fast speaker, the way he stuttered through the conference made his disappointment and frustration evident. First dropped from the team after a handful of failures, called back 2yrs later, and then snubbed once again inspite of decent showing, he might have just wondered what wrong he has done? And when finally he was overlooked for the WC Team shattering his dream chance of winning the world cup, i can only imagine how he might have made peace with himself telling that, ‘Ok Man! you are no more an ODI player, just concentrate on Tests.‘ And then suddenly comes a call back to ODIs freshening up his wounds, adding insult to the injury.
Something tells me that if Rahul is the best bet to play in tough English conditions, then probably, of all the people, Rahul Dravid deserved to own a World Cup Medal more than anyone else. Something tells me that had he been a part of Indian Team instead of Kohli or Raina, India would have still won the Cup.

“I am honoured and privileged to be selected in the Indian one day team”, said he but one can only guess how much turmoil he was going through from within. He must have been asking himself, Why now?? Why was i snubbed then? Why am i being called back now? Only to be snubbed again? How long am i going to be exploited like that?

Its ironical and only the Genius Indian Selectors could have achieved this feat of forcing a batsman who has played just 6 matches in last 4yrs to officially announce his retirement. How well he has been rewarded for his never ending commitment to the Team.

Enough is Enough!!

The Wise Decision: The message was clear from the selectors, “Yes, we are the World Champions without the Services of Rahul Dravid, but it has little to do with the talent of youngsters. It has more to do with the downfall of the invincible Australians and the luck that by rotation policy the World Cup fell in Indian Sub-continent. Any Tom, Dick and Harry is good enough to represent the team and win the WC in India, but when it comes to tough English Storm, We need you, the real warrior to weather it, Oh Wall”.Any other player in the world would probably have boasted or displayed his ego as if he has finally proved a point. But in all humility, as humble as Dravid is, he told the selectors that he is ready to serve the team once more in ODIs, but this time it is the last time. And it was probably a very wise decision. Not only did he save the youngsters like Raina, Sharma, Kohli et al from falling into a zone of uncertainty and insecurity that they have one less spot to compete, he also saved the selectors from the dilemma of whether to persist with him or not once Indians return to their own backyard where it is much easier for the younger lot to score runs. But most Importantly, he saved himself from the repetition of the humiliating and unjust treatment meted out to him in 2 not-so-easy installments in 2007 and 2009. He rightfully rejected the offer of a 3rd installment in 2011.

Since i had not been picked for one day cricket for the last 2yrs, i was obviously a little surprised and to be honest because i wasn’t picked i had not informed the selectors or the board of my desire to solely focus on test cricket.

This was probably his way of telling the selectors that i have not forgotten the snubbing of the past but i had made my peace with myself and you robbed me off my peace.

In the Long term,its best for me to solely focus on the test cricket.

This was probably his humble way of saying enough is enough. 2yrs hence, when Indian batting struggles again, don’t come looking for me. I have had enough of this bullshit.
Ultimately, Dravid gets his well deserved chance to hang his boots on his terms. Well Done, RD. You Proved that The Nice man, after all the injustices done to him, can still finish First.

The Nice Guy who Did Finish First

Time to raise a Toast for the Champion: So, Come September, All You Dravidians, get ready to raise the toast and Watch the True God-Cum-Servant of the Game Bleed Blue for one last time.