PM Modi showcasing Mithun Chakraborty as a prize catch in Kolkata rally was a poor advertisement of a party promising asol parivartan or real change. The washed out actor, a scam-tainted party-hopper, has no credibility. Co-opting regional cultural icons is smart politics but clutching at straws like Mithun betrays desperation.
Modi wants military to indigenise doctrines. Remember Indians lost to invaders due to outdated tactics
PM Modi exhorted military commanders to indigenise doctrines. Warfare is globalised science. For a millennium, Indians —Hindu or Muslim— lost to invaders because of outdated doctrines: Massed armies, kings exposed, late on gun powder, not breeding horses, and fooled by Britain’s 17th Century equivalent of 5G warfare, East India Company.
Not having a charismatic, credible face to present as an alternative to CM Mamata Banerjee is a genuine, gigantic constraint. Although the Prince of Kolkata has prudently decided to stick to his first and only love – not making a spectacle of himself like either Mithun Chakraborty or E Sreedharan – even he would not have been the master stroke Kiran Bedi was expected to be in Delhi in Feb 2015. 2. In a related development, there is talking of replacing Uttaranchal’s CM, one year before the election. The idea that strong regional chieftains do not matter is being repeatedly disproved.
There was a time when India and China accounted for a very large proportion of global GDP and what constituted world trade. Then the torch passed to Europe, later the US and Japan. China, in its new avatar, playing the game by the rules made by others, has transformed itself. That is the path India should follow. Whether a vaccine is developed in India by Bharat Biotech or manufactured under licence by Serum Institute, our effort should be to enlarge our presence in the world’s economy / trade. The same logic / imperatives must apply with equal force to military matters. Consider the power outages in Bombay on 12th October.
But the invaders had an indigenous war doctrine right? Why so pessimistic that we won’t be the winners? Having indigenous doctrines is not the problem-having poor doctrines is the issue. You wasted 50 words in a poorly thought rant…