LIKE PAKISTAN THE CONGRESS ALSO TRIED TO CREATE A DIVERSION

The war hysteria being built up by Pakistan till recently was to successfully divert the world's attention away from their having been caught out with their hands in the cookie jar after the Mumbai terrorist attack. It also helped the Congress govt. to join issue and allowed it to flex its unused muscles to fool the people.

But the biggest hoax was almost pulled off by the Congress through one of its own- Diggy Raja aka Digvijay Singh, ex-CM of Madhya Pradesh when he floated a blatant lie when he stated that the Mumbai terrorists had wanted to bargain with the release of their hostages in the Mumbai hotels against their comrades in Indian custody. But the "resolute" Congress said an emphatic NO as they refused to buckle under any terrorist blackmail as Diggy elaborated. How this jerk and his handlers in his Party expected us to believe this hogwash is anybody's guess.

This lie was resorted to in order to draw a parallel with the Kandahar hijack and show up the then BJP govt. in bad light for having buckled under the hijackers' threats of blowing up the hijacked Airbus 300 along with all its passengers. But Desperate Diggy was soon exposed by members of his own govt. a few days later when it denied any such thing having taken place.

As the BJP is not being given a fair share of its due in the English media it should try and start another mass contact program across India to go to the people directly to explain its position instead of some of its leaders putting on their best clothes and make-up for mouthing half baked views on various TV channels only. But will they brave the cold and fog on the road and get out of the comfort of TV Studios? Is Advani listening or is he too impatient to become the next PM through a patchwork coalition?

WHAT INDIA SHOULD DO NOW

Instead of Pranab Mukherji continuing with a verbal slug fest with the Pak Army's puppet govt. in Pakistan, we should continue to apprise the world community of every nation including those against us that Pakistan is THE nursery of World Terrorism and no nation including China (battling the Uighur Muslims in their Xingjian region in Western end of China) is immune or safe from this lethal cancer.

Simultaneously, India should encourage Israel's MOSSAD to eliminate the leaders of the perpetrators of the Mumbai carnage operating out of Pakistan as Israel wants to avenge the death of Jews killed by the Paki Jihadis when they attacked Nariman House in Mumbai on 26/11. India should hand over all the latest data and locational details of the handlers of the terrorists living in Pakistan including Dawood Ibrahim which India routinely gathers through RAW so that MOSSAD can take them out clandestinely. Since Pakistan denies that these vermin live within Pakistan they cannot suddenly protest that their prominent citizens have been suddenly killed by outside forces. It will also put the fear of Allah in all those who are living including the ISI, Army brass and politicians once for all. Israel should next target the nuke bomb sites in Pakistan as these bombs called Islamic bombs can be dropped on Israel too by Pakistan handing over a few to Iran whom they have sold AQ Khan's nuclear technology and equipment procured from China and North Korea.

No better option seems to be available to India now, specially since the govt. is no more dependent on the pro-Pakistan Indian Left for its survival. If India can pull this off nobody can stop the Congress from romping home to power with its own majority at the Centre in the next general elections in April 2009. But will the Italian female oblige or can the weakling Sardar behave like a Singh (Lion) for once? "Singh is King" did someone sing recently after India had signed the nuclear power deal with the USA? He seems to have gone back to his meowing days instead of roaring like a lion for which his martial community is famous for the world over. That earlier roar must have been a playback by someone else from the background.

WHAT INDIA SHOULD NOW DO IN RETALIATION AGAINST PAKISTAN.

1. Snap all diplomatic relations immediately.

2. Snap all trade ties as well and all imports and exports with Pakistan to be stopped immediately.

3. Declare Pakistan a terrorist State.

4. Discontinue all trains and bus services as well as trade and business transactions.

5. Announce renegotiation of the Indus Water Treaty as the terms unduly favour Pakistan. Stop water supply to Pakistan.

6. Begin a process to regulate the water supplies and build new mechanisms to activate water flow controls.

7. Cancel permission for all types of over flights over Indian territory/air space.

8. Seal the Nepal and Bangladesh borders on a priority basis as both these countries offer logistical support to Pakistan for subversive activities against India.

9. Build a grand alliance of democracies by increasing their stakes in the burgeoning economic pie of India, to leverage their support against authoritarian regimes on our border including Pakistan.

10. Increase FDI limits in the Defence sector from 26 percent to 49 percent. This will help India to emerge as a self-reliant and most modern technology driven defence industry hub in Asia while making it profitable for Western companies to invest.

11. Start the same dirty proxy war against Pakistan by training Indian youths to act like jehadis and be sent to Pakistan to get training. Infiltrate the Pakistani intelligence by these Indian jehadis.

12. Support all the secessionist groups in Pakistan who want independence like Baluchistan, Sind etc.

But the million dollar question is: Will a historically Muslim appeasing political parrty like the Congress ever take such steps to put India's interests above compulsions of Muslim votes?

ONLY DESHDROHIS WILL INSIST THAT WE PLAY CRICKET IN PAKISTAN

Only touts like Rajiv Shukla and Suresh Kamladi of the Congress will insist that we play cricket in Pakistan, when security experts are pressing the government to even cut off all diplomatic ties with the rogue nation. How come Pakistan does not feel insecure about their permanent Indian residents and cultural terrorists like singer Adnan Sami being attacked in India? Who are they trying to fool by equating themselves with India by pulling out of squash and hockey tourneys in a tit-for tat reaction? Just because they WILL attack Indian players in their country they are trying to equate us with themselves as if India is another rogue nation where there is no rule of law anywhere?

With the Congress in power and a very large Muslim population in India who vote, unfortunately due to no fault of the Indian Muslims themselves the Congress and other similar parties who believe in their self-created myth of Muslim voting en bloc- has rendered the Indian nation into state of paralysis from adopting a doctrine of ZERO TOLERANCE AGAINST TERROR like other civilised and more genuine democratic countries around the world.

With such a bunch of politicians in charge of running this country both within and outside the ruling bloc we should permanently brace ourselves for more terror strikes anywhere in the country where the timing and choice of venue will be at the sole discretion of Pakistan. We now even believe in another myth created by the ruling clique that it is in India's interest that the puppet civilian government survives in Pakistan. Or else the Pak Army will take over. As if this lame duck dispensation that is an apology for being called a government is not under the full control of the army even now.

BARKING DOGS DON'T BITE!

The Congress Party in power at the Center is a barking dog that will NEVER bite! Least of all a Party of bangle wearing males led by an imported female who knows very little of the Indian ethos. If they were at all keen to strike back at Pakistan they would have done it long ago and NOT after so much Sabre rattling. Since they have already decided that they won't strike hence they have been barking.

Today if Pakistan itself were to make a few attacks on itself or ask China to do so to make it look like an outside job and blame India for doing it, many would believe them- thanks to the war hysteria the lily livered Pranab Mukherjee has been daily drumming up with his “All options are open” bluff.

To make matters worse the principle opposition party the BJP is today bereft of any principles save and except of dreaming of making Advani the next Prime Minister of India. When you work with such a narrow agenda of making someone a Prime Minister you lose focus on the issues that concerns the country. In fact it is the addressing of the right issues that should prompt the people to vote for a Party as they are not in love with any candidate to push him/her into the PM's chair and Advani just does not have that kind of popularity rating due to his shifting stands in order to keep the rump NDA intact whose other constituents are Congressites with different names.

In other words, Advani wishes to become PM with the agenda of its allies instead of its own which it did earlier as “a party with difference”. Where is that slogan now? How different are they now from those whom they wish to replace? Today the BJP is a third rate Congress clone whilst the Congress is grabbing the BJP's nationalist plank with spineless Pranab Mukherjee daily issuing empty threats via the media to Pakistan. India can and should make sudden surgical air strikes on LeT camps to expose Pakistan internationally that such camps do indeed exist in its territory. India in fact has all the equipment to carry out such blitzkriegs from the air without having to cross over the international boundary through missiles from high above. If India lacks the know-how after having psyched itself into acquiring the political will to do so it can seek covert advise from Israel who are not only the world’s greatest authority on the subject but they would also gladly oblige.

OPEC IN A CLEFT STICK.

Oil like most commodities is demand driven and not supply driven as OPEC and company are finding out the hard way. All oil producing countries have reached a point where they need a minimum of huge oil revenues to keep their economies above water. If they sell less oil they earn less which may be below this base level. Therefore, they cannot keep cutting back on production as demand falls globally that will result in lower quantum of their oil revenues which is never enough. In any case, most oil producers as a rule exceed their quotas as they sell their produce "surreptitiously" of which all are aware.

As the severe economic downturn is worldwide, consuming countries will be forced to keep their oil consumption to stringent levels if the price of oil rises. Russia which had become a non-entity in world politics during the time of Boris Yeltsin because of economic bankruptcy has now once again begun to flex its muscles in the international arena due to its buoyant economic strength which is almost solely oil revenue driven. Recently Russia had even surpassed Saudi Arabia as the highest exporter of oil for a short period. It will be foolish of them to join up with OPEC's plans of reducing oil supplies at the cost of oil revenues on which they are so dependent. Further, with the vested interests from the US Texas oil lobby having been voted out of power, the global oil scenario will be very much different once Barack Obama takes over. Above all, this century’s energy needs will be more natural gas driven than oil driven, both due to environmental concerns as well as the dwindling supplies of crude oil which will be soon running out in a few decades from now.

WHITHER LEVEL PLAYING FIELD?

There seems to be a conspiracy here. With the private oil companies shutting down their entire petrol retail trade the entire business has shifted to the PSU cartel which the Government of India (GOI) is now subsidizing 100% with the Indian citizens’ hard earned money. If the GOI provides the even playing field as committed earlier to the private players like Reliance, Shell and ESSAR by extending the subsidy to them also in that case the GOI does NOT pay out ANY EXTRA subsidy as the demand for petrol/diesel is inelastic. But the GOI is not interested in world class service that the private oil companies provide which will contribute to the PSU cartel losing market share to the private players as indeed it did when the private players had a level playing initially.

The more the PSU dealers sell their adulterated and short delivered fuel to hapless vehicle owners the more money they make due to lesser working capital employed as also the “extra” fuel sold being unaccounted for and hence tax free. It may also be noted that thousands of petrol pumps, kerosene and gas agencies are owned by past and present Ministers, MPs, MLAs, bureaucrats and their family members, cronies or henchmen since time immemorial directly or in benami. The numbers of such perpetually lucrative dealerships are owned in direct proportion to the number of years a political party has been in power at the Centre ever since the government had regulated the petroleum retail trade after taking it over from the private multinational companies. This has resulted in this business today being dominated by a politically backed oil mafia who are beyond the control of the law or the government oil companies. Recall the gruesome murder of the IOC official in Uttar Pradesh at the hands of this same mafia. To make matters worse whilst Ministers make public speeches promising stern action against such elements, privately they ensure that none of their cronies or henchmen are touched by any of the agencies concerned.

At the same time Government is killing two birds with one stone. First, by depriving the private players of the subsidy it is projecting a spurious image that it is not influenced by the private players and second that it is "saving" the subsidy that would have to be paid to Private players. As the price of crude oil has fallen drastically and the PSU cartel is making huge margins, all the GOI has to do in order to save itself from a permanent headache is to take out petrol and diesel from the ambit of subsidies and oil bonds and throw it open to all players and leave it to them to fix their own prices. With competition amongst the Oil companies all of them will not only reduce their selling prices to retain/regain market share but will also drastically improve their services to customers. This will also improve the bottom lines of upstream oil companies like ONGC, GAIL and OIL who are today forced by the government to be a part of the subsidy sharing mechanism at a great cost to the country’s and their efforts at improving our self-reliance in oil.

The actual demand for kerosene used as domestic cooking and lighting fuel is only one third of what is allocated by the GOI that is consumed in the villages. The balance two thirds allotted to the urban areas is diverted for illegal uses fetching a huge premium to the politically powerful people who control this business. Example: How many people do you actually know in your city who actually use kerosene or even draw their quotas from ration shops for personal use? Where does the huge “lapsed” quota go? The price of petrol in Delhi today is Rs. 45.65 and diesel Rs. 32.86 per litre after the recent price reduction. Kerosene rules around Rs. 9 per litre. Even if 10 % of kerosene is used to adulterate Petrol without seriously affecting the anti-knock properties of petrol see the resultant unaccounted profit a petrol pump owner earns on every litre of petrol sold. The properties of diesel and kerosene being almost identical both being middle distillates in the petroleum hierarchy any amount of kerosene can be used as an adulterant without the vehicle driver realizing the nature of the fuel being used in his vehicle. Now if we calculate the volume of petrol and diesel being sold in the country one can have a shock realization of the mind boggling amounts of money involved in this huge scam successive governments have been carrying out in the name of the “aam admi”. Actually, the huge annual outlay made by the government for cheap kerosene is solely for the benefit of the adulteration business that fills many coffers as the poor hardly get it at the price fixed for it even in the countryside. By reducing its allocation to one third for the rural areas alone a huge saving can be made. This same kerosene but with a slight modification called aviation turbine fuel or ATF is what is used by all jet and turboprop aircraft in the country. Yet GOI can only keep raising the price of ATF and cripple the aviation business rather than stop the spurious activity of subsidized kerosene diversion to illegal ventures.

But with general elections round the corner the ruling party wants to fool the public by gimmickry by again reducing the prices close to the election dates apart from the vested interests raking in the unaccounted moolah mentioned earlier. Recommendations on similar lines by the GOI 's own PPAC which has replaced the earlier OCC is gathering dust within the Ministry of P&NG in Shastri Bhavan. Further, hopes that something positive would emerge from the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB), on the petition filed by three private oil companies — Reliance, Shell and Essar have remained just that- high hopes. Many months ago the petition had asked the regulator to initiate adjudication proceedings against the oil PSUs cartel that indulges in unfair and restrictive trade practices in the sale of transportation fuels but as with all GOI sired bodies this too is a paper tiger as the occupant of this chair owes his continuance in the job to the blessings of the minions of the Ministry of P&NG. It is interesting to recall what the Prime Minister, an economist had promised eons ago on 9th November 2004:

PM promises MNCs oil regulator

THE HAGUE: Promising to usher in further tax reforms in the next Budget and to bring down tariffs in India to ASEAN levels, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has assured multinational corporations that an independent Petroleum Regulatory Authority would be set up to provide a level playing field to them in the oil sector.

At an interaction with chief executive officers of European and Indian corporates last night, Singh also made it clear that India will adhere to all the commitments already at the World Trade Organisation, "I recognize that whoever comes to invest in India is entitled to expect a level-playing field. The government is in fact in the process of doing that. An independent and credible Petroleum Regulatory Authority will be set up," he told Jeroen van der Veer, chairman, Board of Management, Royal Dutch Shell, who was designated to take over as chairman of the whole Anglo-Dutch Shell Group after the forthcoming merger of the UK and Dutch branches, the first non-British Chairman of the combined firm.

Public memory is short but it is the job of analysts to remember the past and bring it repeatedly to public notice for their and the nation’s benefit. Only a strong public opinion based on facts can keep democracy vibrant and self-serving politicians at bay for all times. It will also compel the media to correctly reflect public mood and opinion instead of the media manipulating public thinking.