Sunday, June 21, 2009

Shashi Tharoor deals with the Heat and Dust of Indian Politics

He was a success in the UN but Shashi Tharoor, MP from Trivandrum, is beginning to realise that Indian politics is a totally different ball game.

His own party men are angry with him. He did the unthinkable - socialised with the friends of the Marxists !

His own community has rejected him; he is labelled "Delhi Nair", whatever that means.

But Tharoor seems to be quite unfazed by all this row.

His response to the ruckus has a flavour different from the politically correct but inane and evasive statements that our politicians excel in - you know that verbose equivocation that we are sick and tired of listening to.

Those dinner appointments were made long time back. I cannot cancel them, he told his party heavyweights.

Angry with this fresher who pays scant respect to their sentiments , the local Congressmen have threatened report him to the High Command.

Will Mr. Tharoor take on the disgruntled elements in his party with the suave bluntness( oxymoron?) that had caught the fancy of the voters?

My father was active in the NSS but I represented Trivandrum not as a Nair but as a secular congressman.

Not many congressmen would do such straight shooting, given the love hate and the interdependent relationship between the Congress and the NSS.

But Mr. Tharoor's words were music to the ears of those who wished to see decency and honesty in politics.

The question is, will Tharoor survive?

OR, will he change in order to survive.

I'd rather he didn't survive than change to survive.

11 comments:

  1. As on Big St fan,i too hope that he wldnt change to survive...But deep down i do pray and hope that he could connect with the lower stratas of the society which he might not be so familiar with,than stick to the urban elite .

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  2. Good and valid question raised.

    I'd love to see Tharoor take the bull by its horns. The Trivandrum DCC's reaction hasnt surprised me because they were not in favour of Tharoor's candidature from the word go. There were serious complaints raised after the election day about the lethargic campaigning efforts from DCC. So this is just a follow-up, nothing new or threatening.

    Tharoor may have learned quite a few lessons about Indian politics but I hope for heavens sake that he wont degrade to another ordinary politico. At the same time I'm desperate to see Tharoor live the full life because he is the last hope of rejuvenation for my city, Trivandrum. So I think Tharoor will keep the lesson and will follow his ways.

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  3. Delhi Nair simply means a marunadan malayalee. It is time Tharoor ignored the local Conngressmen and went ahead with what he is doing. They are the least of his worries.

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  4. Tharoor is one bright spot in the otherwise murky political atmosphere in Kerala. Hope that he doesn't change for political reasons of all things

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  5. I agree..But if he dont survive, then thats gonna b a disaster for the morale of a conscious voter who might never walk that path again

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  6. I had read your posts on rage to be when I started reading your posts, I really admire your courage and am happy that you are fine now. Worrying about this particular disease is so much a part of me, and what with the age bracket i am getting into..most of my previous generation was afflicted around their 40s.

    Coming to this post..I really like Shahsi Tharoor, hes an intelligent person and a great orator. I would want him to really survive in this arena.

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  7. Your apprehension reflects exactly the fear I expressed in my comment on your post dated the 6th April 2009 on Tharoor.

    I feel he should not have made this apologetical statement about his being a Nair himself and his father being an NSS follower.

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  8. Hope and wish he survies. We need people like him. And as a big time Shahi Tharoor fan, pray he always has the courage to stand up...

    He is the ray of difference, in the otherwise slimy Kerala Politics. Very rightly said 'petty politics and politicians'. I admire their grit to survive this muck.

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  9. Ma'm, you have a nice blog and write very refreshing brief accounts which is just beautiful. However I am writing to point out facts that you may disagree with (this is the second inside of half an hour). Mr. Tharoor is nothing but a vanilla coated communist who helped formaulate the UN socialist policies for umpteen decades and he like any other politician is trying to be different seeing the winds of change after his sacred edifice, the erstwhile soviet union vaporized overnight.Only he could have done such a thing without any conscience while sitting n New York for decades and then have the temerity to run for the office knowing that all the policies over the years for which he was the mouthpiece had been shattered to pieces right on his face.

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  10. @ nehru mantri
    am not a commie but i believe the commies too have their points - as is being seen now in a world manipulated by giant corporates. a world body needs to be balanced tho it is financed by the capitalists.
    reg sashi taru - the man is different. my point is he cant b worse that our politician - so y not give him a chance.
    besides, he's a novice in indian politics -hence untainted. as an intelligent man who has seen corruption in india thru an observer's and artist's eyes, i feel he'll not fall a victim to it - and we can do with such people.
    i only hope - as all the blog visitors do- that i'm not wrong.
    i'd say about sashi T - so far so good.

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  11. kpj : what does "marunadan malayalee " mean ? wrt to the anonymous comment above .

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