Baron De Jomini in his treatise the art of war makes definitional criteria for strategy compared to Grand Tactics, namely that to qualify for being a part of strategy the initiative must : 1. Be about the selection of the theater of war, and the discussion of the different combinations of which it admits. 2. Inform about the determination of the decisive points in these combinations, and the most favorable direction for operations Read this alongside the fact that a credible power center of the US establishment and its Secretary of State – Mrs Hillary Clinton rides into town not ascending the steps of the Presidential Palace in Delhi but of the Writer’s building in Kolkata To woo or what to do ? That is the question when it comes to courting Ms. Mamta Bannerjee another major power center, federalist, battle hardened veteran of the Indian political scene, communist nemesis. Is colonialism always going to enter the Indian heartland via the Gangetic delta of Bengal ? How and to what extent does this officially sanctify the weakness of the center’s hold over the states ? An entry in ‘ India Ink ‘ – The Wall Street Journal Global Edition says : “During her last visit to India, Ms. Clinton had asked India to take greater responsibilities in the Asia Pacific region. She could discuss with Banerjee the importance of West Bengal in promoting India’s relations with her eastern neighbors and thus, by extension, to the region as a whole. This would include close ties with Bangladesh, for instance. She could likely discuss the critical role West Bengal has in forging relations with partners” How can an Indian state have a role in country to country deliberations? Next you know, India will have Boris’s making each mofussil town a London in its ambitions !! But Quetelet thinks better the Americans than anyone else ...the record is uninspiring....

Beware of Majoritarian excesses in search of consensus

Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable, the next best . An inexact science though it may be, it is true to arithmetic to the extent that a bigger number is more than a smaller number ! Constitutional dignitaries in India have been candidates who were being neutered from active politics. It was a dignified retirement. To be ‘kicked up’ before fading out. Toadies were the preferred species but always put together of the best tack and gear. They carried themselves with an empty feudal grandeur and they were there in the first place because someone exalted had done the anointing. Those days seem to be gone. Toadies, they still may be but increasingly disparate considerations are leading to such appointments. It is no inspiration that an opposition recommended candidate may eventually become the consensus choice. It is not democratic sobriety that election to this office won’t divide the ground between an effete government and the opposition circus like a fissure in the earth that may take two neighbours a mile apart. Quetelet asks - Why the people are not being asked if we need these exotic birds in their golden cages in the first place ? write in with your feedback to india.political.report@gmail.com