The Three most powerful Indian politicians

By Vipin Agnihotri

Politicians are the backbone of any country because usually they are the one who take and implement important decisions. Taking this into account, The India Street decided to give you the list of three most powerful Indian politicians at this moment of time.

Mayawati: Hoping for a Prime Minister chair

In my opinion, Mayawati’s dreams to occupy the Prime Minister’s chair in Delhi have got a ray of hope, when her Bahujan Samaj Party recently won the UP assembly bypolls. Now that the queen of the Dalits has increased her seats tally to 211 in the 403-member UP Assembly, experts believe that she is more confident of handling Delhi.

As a matter of fact, brimming with new found confidence, Mayawati is looking forward to mid-term parliamentary elections. Political experts are mooting the possibility of Mayawati with 100 plus Members of Parliament, becoming the next Prime Minister. Point to be noted here is that Mayawati is leaving no stone unturned to convert this into reality.

Mayawati has defied history by creating a Dalit- Brahmin alliance. How far this alliance travels, only time will tell. But one thing is for sure, Mayawati’s stars are on the upswing and she is most likely to play a prominent part in central politics in the near future.

Prakash Karat: Leading light in Indian political thought process

Karat is highly respected in political circle of India because he is not an ordinary politician. Interestingly, Karat is neither a stylist nor an opportunist. In my opinion, his educational background distinguishes him from run-of-the-mill politicians.

Like everyone else who knows Karat, I strongly believe that he is a die-hard Marxist, who draws his inspiration from strong leaders of small nation states like Castro and Hugo Chavez. Besides being a politician, Karat is also known for his writing skills as an editor cum author.

Pranab Mukherjee: Sonia Gandhi’s chief trouble shooter

At this moment of time, Pranab Mukherjee is not only the most powerful minister in Manmohan Singh’s government but also Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s chief trouble shooter. Hardly a surprise that both Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh turned to Mukherjee, who also holds a day job as the country’s foreign minister, to diffuse the crisis in UPA-Left ties over the Indo-US nuclear deal.

In my opinion, Without Mukherjee’s political skills, this Manmohan government may not have survived the convulsions it has faced over the last month.

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Closing New Retail Stores is not good for India

I came across this article posted by the Indiaretailbiz.com site and had to comment on the seriousness of the situation.

Big blow to modern retail in Uttar Pradesh; Mayawati orders closure of Reliance Fresh and Spencer’s stores

The article states; “The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Thursday has ordered closure of 10 new Reliance ‘Fresh’ stores in the state. Besides Reliance, ‘fresh’ stores, other retail chains like RPG’s Spencer’s have also been served closure orders by the government. Shops operating inside Malls even if selling green products have, however, been kept outside the purview of the government’s order.”

I can’t help but wonder how foreign retail investors view matters such as these. I understand there were protests and vandalism, but by caving into these tactics only encourages the use of them. If I were a foreign retailer, I would be hesitant to move into India until a firm policy is in place to handle these matters better.

“I have constituted a high-level committee to review the whole affair and until the committee gives a green signal, Reliance ‘Fresh’ stores will remain shut,” said Chief Minister Mayawati.

It reminds me of an occasion when a high profile foreign bar and restaurant grand opening was closed in Mumbai because a small bar in the area violated the do not serve alcohol after 11pm rule in effect at the time. The New high profile bar and restaurant had flown in important dignitaries and Hollywood stars to the opening, but were completely shut down because a small local bar violated a rule. Anyway, I digress.

Mayawati should immediately reopen the stores and stop playing games in order to appease one local group.

Addressing a Press conference in Lucknow on Thursday, Kanchal a member of Rajya Sabha, said that his organisation was opposed to all large retail chains, not just those of any particular group. “Our agitation against the big retail companies would continue till they wound up their business from the state,” Kanchal added.

Their isolationist remarks sound like the Taliban or some other fringe isolationist group albeit not calling for heads but calling for a ridiculous policy of hiding one’s head in one’s sand. It harms the country and does not help India’s image as the world’s largest democracy.

I leave you with a sensible man who said; “The decision seems to have been taken in haste and therefore should be reviewed,” said Venugopal Dhoot, President, Assocham.

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