Laloo Should Be Brought Back As Railway Minister

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Lalu Prasad Yadav - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Laloo is never going to be Prime Minister. Now we know that. It is Manmohan, and then it will be Rahul's turn after Manmohan is done with it. And granted Laloo has only four MPs under his belt now from the 24 he used to have. But he was the best railway minister in the world. And he should be brought back as railway minister. And the UPA does not garner a majority on its own. And if ever the Congress might need to reach out to the Left down the line, Laloo would be the best middle man they could find. It was Laloo Yadav who saved the Manmohan Singh government when the Left threatened to pull away on the nuclear deal issue.

Laloo should be brought back as railway minister primarily for his stellar performance over the past five years as railway minister. That is the number one reason. But it also makes parliamentary arithmetic sense.

If Manmohan Singh was among the top five heads of state in the world over the last five years, Laloo was the very best railway minister in the world. That is reason enough to bring him back.

The BJP is still the Congress Party's number one rival, and there is no bigger opponent than Laloo that the BJP has. Noone else plays the game better.

Manmohan Gave China Like Growth To India

Coalition	Total	Party	Seats
United Progressive Alliance	262	Indian National Congress	206
		Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	18
		Nationalist Congress Party	9
		Jharkhand Mukti Morcha	2
		All India Trinamool Congress	19
		Republican Party of India (Athvale)	0
		Jammu and Kashmir National Conference	3
		Assam United Democratic Front	1
		Kerala Congress (M)	1
		Muslim League Kerala State Committee	2
		All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen	1
National Democratic Alliance	158	Bharatiya Janata Party	116
		Janata Dal (United)	20
		Shiv Sena	11
		Shiromani Akali Dal	4
		Indian National Lok Dal	0
		Asam Gana Parishad	1
		Rashtriya Lok Dal	5
		Nagaland People's Front	1
Third Front	76	Communist Party of India	4
		Communist Party of India (Marxist)	16
		Revolutionary Socialist Party	2
		All India Forward Bloc	2
		Bahujan Samaj Party	21
		AIADMK	9
		Biju Janata Dal	14
		Telugu Desam Party	6
		Telangana Rashtra Samithi	2
Fourth Front	27	Samajwadi Party	23
		Rashtriya Janata Dal	4
		Lok Jan Shakti Party	0
		Praja Rajyam Party	0
Main Other Parties	5	Pattali Makkal Katchi	0
		Janata Dal (Secular)	3
		Haryana Janahit Party	1
		Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	1
		Janhit Congress Party	0

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Sri Lanka: Is The End Game Near?

Sri Lanka: 'What's happening there is another genocide like Rwanda'

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The government in Sri Lanka is all set to announce its total military victory over the LTTE. There are those who will marvel at the military operation. And it perhaps will be a military victory. But at what price and to what end?

There can not be a military solution to a political problem. Sri Lanka can not continue to be a unitary state. Sri Lanka can not continue to be a country that treats its Tamil minority like second class citizens. That basic political problem if anything has only worsened.





I have never approved of LTTE violence. But for me that has not been an excuse to ignore the very real political issues of Sri Lanka's Tamil minority.

There is a very real danger that the ruling class in Sri Lanka will think of themselves as victors and find the military victory to be an excuse to further mistreat the Tamils. We already have the ugly stories from the internment camps.

Sinhala chauvinism goes along these lines:

• The Tamils are not discriminated against.
  
• Sri Lanka is too small for federalism.
  
• But don't you know the Tamils are terrorists?
  

Bloodbath In Sri Lanka: Where Is The Outrage?
Genocide/Ethnic Cleansing Of Sri Lanka Tamils

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Spectre of Mass Suicide as Tamil Tigers Face Final Battle the embattled separatist fighters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are not expected to allow themselves to be taken alive...... LTTE terrorists are preparing for a mass suicide ...... Prabhakaran and other commanders may be ringed by at least 100 Black Tigers ........ Soosai revealed that her husband remained inside the combat zone along with Prabhakaran and Pottu Amman, the LTTE intelligence chief and effective second in command ....... bombers mingling with escaping civilians before detonating their explosive belts ........ the stench of death permeates the area. ...... Fierce fighting has prevented Red Cross ships from reaching the area to evacuate the wounded and ferry in food since May 9. Pro-Tiger websites are also reported that the make-shift hospital operating in the combat zone is no longer able to function. ......... the military now within hours of destroying the long running insurgency ....... Before leaving Jordan, Rajapaksa announced, "I will return to Sri Lanka as a leader of a nation that vanquished terrorism."
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• Toronto ground zero for Tamil protest (network.nationalpost.com)
• Sri Lankan army pushes on with final assault on cornered Tamils (guardian.co.uk)
• Sri Lanka refugees in 'welfare villages' (guardian.co.uk)
• Memo From Colombo: Outcome of Sri Lanka's Long War May Hang on Fate of Insurgent Leader (nytimes.com)
• S Lanka hospital 'attacked again' (news.bbc.co.uk)
• Tamil Tiger rebels 'to fight on' (news.bbc.co.uk)
• Sri Lanka Disproves LTTE Invincibility (madhavgopalkrish.wordpress.com)
• India: 70,000 trapped in Sri Lanka war zone (cnn.com)
• Editorial: Victory but not peace (guardian.co.uk)
• Plea for Cease-Fire Help in Sri Lanka (nytimes.com)
• Tamil Tiger's end game (nationalpost.com)
• Sri Lankan military fights to surround rebels (msnbc.msn.com)
• Indian election: Tamil leader calls for invasion of Sri Lanka (telegraph.co.uk)
• Sri Lanka: Civil war in 'final phase' (cnn.com)
• Sri Lanka: Troops close in on rebels (cnn.com)
• Sri Lankans Find Death on a Voyage to Safety (nytimes.com)
• Grim picture emerges from Tamil camps (thestar.com)
• Sri Lanka: Revise polilcies on Tamil struggle: Karen Parker tells U.S. Senate (tamilnet.com)
• Sri Lanka: US, UK want UN to facilitate 'safe evacuation' of civilians (tamilnet.com)