And finally the “Lotus” blooms !!

The final results of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections have been released by the Election Commission of India. The results were published for the 543 member Lok Sabha by the Election Commission of India on their website.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alone could secure 282 votes. And the final tally of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the alliance that went to the polls together, is 336. These numbers have never been achieved by the party and the alliance in the past. These numbers are historic and set a new benchmarking. The Congress Party could, however, secure only 44 seats. The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) could make the final tally to 59 seats. The other parties together account to 145 seats.

And to form a government any party or formation needs 272 seats.

And finally the “Lotus” blooms !! The miracle of the Narendra Modi (NaMo) leadership is that it has given the BJP a nation-wide sweep and has also increased their vote share to a new mark. The BJP vote share has gone up from 18.8% in 2009 Lok Sabha elections to 31% in 2014 Lok Sabha Elections. On the other hand the Congress’ vote share has decreased from 28.6% to 19.3%.

Please visualize the above data in a Datawrapper Chart. You can also view the same data in the Google Spreadsheet.

The people of India have given their verdict and they have also given an opportunity to the BJP and NDA under the leadership of Narendra Modi (NaMo) to bring development and give good governance. And all this has to be proved objectively with enough empirical data and figures. And if the leadership is able to do all this with enough objectivity then nobody can stop NaMo for the second term as PM. Indeed, the challenging times are ahead.

Is the student’s intelligence being massacred?

An email written by the principal of St Xavier’s College in Mumbai to all their students and also put-up on the college website has attracted reactions from educationists, students, and politicians. The principal has not only written this email to all students individually but has also put-up the same on the college website. This was available at this link but the same now gives an error. It seems the same has been removed after lot of criticism.

In this article he has criticised the Gujarat Model of Development while praising UPA’s Rojgar Yojana and Food Security Bill. This has attracted nation’s attention, some praising and some criticizing. People from the Congress Party have praised the actions of the principal while the BJP people have criticised the same. The BJP has even complained against the college and the principal to the Election Commission (EC) on the ground that the college is receiving grants from the Government and hence the action of the principal to impose his individual opinion on the students is improper. The biggest question that is being asked is, is it right and proper on the part of the principal, Dr. Frazer Mascarenhas, to influence the minds of the students by his individual opinion?

Let us ask a fundamental question. What is education and what is the purpose of education? There is a Sanskrit phrase which says, Sa Vidya Ya Vimuktaye. On translation it means, education is that which liberates. It means knowledge is that which frees and liberates an individual. Education is not that which binds and bounds. The purpose of education is not to create any kind of bondage and slavery. The cosmos is expanding and accelerating and hence the individual consciousness and collective consciousness also has to expand and accelerate. We can not keep our consciousness static. We have to make our consciousness dynamic. The purpose of an education institution is to sharpen the intelligence of the students. The purpose of the education institution is to give freedom to the students in all these dimensions – physical, intellectual, emotional, psychological, social, economical, and spiritual. The goal is to see that every student is capable of thinking and deciding in his life on his own intelligence. The purpose is to make him a Swayambhu, one who is self-reliant, self-sufficient, and self-fulfilled.

The elders – parents, teachers, etc. can share their experiences with the children and the students but under no circumstance should they impose their opinions. In my opinion what the principal has done is not fatherly, and what the college has done is not saintly. We are not here to massacre the intelligence of the students. And all our actions and efforts should lead us towards “Enlightened Education” and “Enlightened World”.

A New Tea Brand: “NaMo Tea”

The art of Management and Leadership is to turn every difficulty into an opportunity. I think this is what the BJP has done out of the “Chaiwala” remarks uttered at the BJP leader Narendra Modi by a Congress Party MP. The BJP has strategically used this position to project their PM candidate as, “From a Tea vendor to a PM candidate”. And this situation has given rise to a new tea brand called “NaMo Tea”. And this brand will further be strenghtened after he becomes the PM.

I think that this “Chaiwala” barb will cost the Congress Party very heavily. I think the Congress Party Leadership should take necessary steps to avoid leaders who make such derogatory remarks. This remark may brand the Congress Party that it is not a party of the “Common Man”.

The “NaMo Mantra” must lead us towards building the nation on the platform of Truth, Trust, and Transparency. There is nothing wrong in taking a sip of the “NaMo Tea” that takes us towads good governance. There is every possibility that this “NaMo Mantra” may lead us towards “Om Namah Shivaya”.