Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} White Man's Numbers by Sunil Shah Low White Blood Cell Counts (Neutropenia) A lowered level of immunity is called immunosuppression . Certain diseases, including cancer, and certain treatments, including chemotherapy and radiation therapy, can cause some people to have immunosuppression. This is usually referred to as having a low white blood cell count, but you might hear other words to describe it too. What is neutropenia? Neutropenia is defined as a lower than normal number of neutrophils (a type of white blood cells). White blood cells are part of the immune system. There are different types of white blood cells, and they each have a key role in the body’s defense against germs: Neutrophils Lymphocytes (which include T-lymphocytes and B-lymphocytes) Monocytes Macrophages. Neutrophils are key infection-fighters. Neutrophils form a very important defense against most types of infection. Normally, most of our white blood cells are neutrophils. In patients with cancer, neutropenia is usually caused by treatment. When looking at your risk of getting an infection, doctors look at the number of neutrophils you have. If your neutrophil count is low, the doctor may say you are neutropenic . For most people with cancer, having a low neutrophil count is the biggest risk factor for getting a serious infection. Ask your doctor if your cancer treatment will cause your neutrophil count to drop. Lymphocytes can mark, signal, and destroy germs. Some treatments, most often those given during a bone marrow (stem cell) transplant, can cause a shortage of lymphocytes. B and T lymphocytes help fight viruses, but have different jobs: B-lymphocytes make special proteins called antibodies that recognize and kill certain germs. They also can mark germs to be destroyed by other cells. T-lymphocytes make signaling substances called cytokines that tell other cells what to do. They also destroy cells infected by viruses. Monocytes and macrophages help recognize invaders. They help lymphocytes recognize germs. They can surround and digest germs that have been coated by antibodies (the proteins made by B- lymphocytes). They help fight bacteria, fungi, and parasites. What is an absolute neutrophil count (ANC)? You might hear your doctor or nurse talk about your absolute neutrophil count or ANC. This is the number of neutrophils you have in a certain amount of blood. Your health care team will use your ANC to get an idea of how well your immune system might work during treatment. A blood test called a complete blood count (CBC) is used to see how well your immune system is working. It measures your white blood cells (WBCs), and your cancer care team is able to figure out your ANC from your WBC count. Your cancer care team will use your ANC to get an idea of how your immune system is affected by treatment and how well it is working to protect you from infection. As the ANC gets lower, the usual signs of infection, such as fever, pus, pain, swelling, and redness, may not show up when an infection starts. This is because these signs are caused by neutrophils fighting off germs, and if you don’t have enough neutrophils to fight infection, you won't produce the signs. This can make it hard to know if you have an infection. The good thing is that another WBC, called the monocyte, can still cause signs of infection in a person who has neutropenia. Sometimes in people with severe neutropenia a fever may be the only sign of an infection. The lower your ANC is and the longer it stays low, the higher your risk of infection will be. Ask your doctor if your cancer treatment might cause your neutrophil count to drop. Your cancer care team will help you find the ANC on your lab results and can help explain more about it. What can cause or increase the risk for neutropenia? Some types of chemotherapy Radiation therapy Bone marrow or stem cell transplant Steroids. Symptoms of neutropenia. Fever Chills Mouth sores Cough Difficulty breathing Abdominal or rectal pain. Problems neutropenia might cause. Increased risk for infection In a person with a healthy immune system, the usual signs of infection may include fever, pus, pain, swelling, and redness. As the ANC gets lower, many of these signs may not show up when an infection starts. This is because these signs are caused by neutrophils fighting off germs, and you don’t have enough neutrophils to produce the signs. Your cancer care team may have to delay your treatment or reduce your dose to prevent further neutropenia. Treatment of neutropenia. Treatment may include one or a combination of the following: Myeloid growth factors: These are proteins that stimulate the bone marrow to produce more white blood cells to help the body fight infections. They are also known as growth factors or colony-stimulating factors (CSFs) . Examples of drugs to increase growth factors include filgrastim (Neupogen), tbo-filgrastim (Granix), and pegfilgrastim (Neulasta) Antibiotics may be given in certain instances to help prevent infection Cancer treatment may be delayed to give your body enough time to make more white blood cells and recover your ANC. Talk to your cancer care team about what to watch for. Call your doctor if you have a fever (your cancer care team will let you know what temperature they consider a fever) or any other symptoms of neutropenia. The Speaker, Her Driver and the Driver’s (ex) Wife – Shah on No Confidence vote. Below, we carry a rousing and emotive rallying cry for all South Africans to convince Speaker Baleke Mbete to allow MPs to vote with their consciences in the upcoming No Confidence debate against Zuma and his executive. It comes from Sunil Shah, a chartered accountant and former portfolio manager at Coronation who wrote a fascinating novel called White Man’s Numbers. Here, it’s about the numbers of ANC-MPs who’ll exercise their consciences. He distills the realities; it’s unlikely the Constitutional Court will grant the UDM’s prayer for a secret ballot – ever- mindful of the separation of powers, they’ll probably throw it back at parliament where Mbete (ANC Chairperson and NEC member) has the absolute, final say. Excellent long-odds for somebody prepared to put pocket money on a bet. If she exercises her conscience and commits political suicide, they’ll be instantly rich. In a similar vein, it will be political death-by-voting-yes for any ANC MPs (my argument being that Zuma’s spies will soon uncover the less-than-required-50 who might be emboldened by a secret vote). So, the ruling party MPs, who’ve grown figuratively, and in many cases literally, obese, sitting like frogs in the fast-warming waters of parliament, are unlikely to have felt the extra heat of the Anti-Zuma streams that have begun flowing in. They’ll open one eye as some extra-parliamentary noise interrupts the soporific chamber debate – and decided the water’s still comfortable enough. I’m sure Shah, who predicts a similar outcome, will shimmy along with the rest of us, should we be proved astoundingly wrong. What’s more likely is that, with a grandiosity and charisma similar to that of the late AWB leader, ET Terreblanche, Msholozi will, by contrast, stay in the saddle, courtesy of the Speaker, his seeming omnipotence, and her Leader/Driver’s ambitious ally and former wife, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. – Chris Bateman. By Sunil Shah* As the South African Nation reels from the carnage of the past month, the event that I found most repugnant was our President’s statement on his 75 th Birthday in Soweto, on April 13th. “I do not have stress. In the Zulu nation, stress does not exist.” Let us pause for a moment. We are witnessing the trajectory of our country being redirected, from a promising emerging, rainbow nation to the dungeons of Zimbabwe…our people are suffering from mounting and violent strikes, food inflation escalating faster than our leader’s numeracy can keep pace, job losses that would make any politician shudder, thousands if not millions on the breadline with no hope of a dinner, a seismic downgrade to junk status on our foreign debt that will take years to erase…and our ‘beloved’ President ‘does not feel stress – a white man’s disease that can be cured by muti.’ We are witnessing the nature of the man. The cabinet reshuffle our President imposed can leave no reasonable doubt of his primary interest : lining the pockets and promoting the careers of his cronies. This should have instantly mobilised a principled ANC which has the welfare of its citizens at heart, (the National Executive Committee in particular), to replace him. Can there be any doubt – even within the ANC – that Jacob Zuma is morally unfit to lead our nation? Alas there is still doubt. To my horror, the members of the NEC who dared to oppose his recent decisions have been bludgeoned back into line. The hundreds of thousands of civilians protesting ‘Zuma must fall’ on April 11 th , of every colour and creed, seemed like water flowing off a (large) duck’s back. Our Madiba is surely rolling in his grave. Some history. Our constitution was formulated with a benevolent leader in mind, a Nelson Mandela; enormous executive powers were vested in the Presidency, such as his unhindered capacity to replace the cabinet. This is in stark contrast to other democracies. For example, even if US President Trump has made some astounding nominations, the most important positions (about 1400 key posts including cabinet ) have to be confirmed by the Senate . Well, we have just witnessed how unsuitable our President is to deserve this authority: in the recent cabinet reshuffle Zuma had the audacity to replace a world-class, highly respected Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, with a lying, cheating incompetent, Malusi Gigaba with negligible quantitative experience or qualification s, whose only ‘attribute’ is unquestioning loyalty to Jacob Zuma. More of Zapiro’s magic available at his website www.zapiro.com. To support my claim on Gigaba’s ineptitude, I point you to his first key appointment: Christopher Malikane as his chief Economic Advisor, who wasted no time to claim , “In so far as the tender-based capitalist class has begun its war against the dominant white monopoly capitalist class, it has to be encouraged.” Wait! Is this a bad horror movie? Did the new Chief Architect of Economic policy just endorse tenderpeurship? It’s the scourge of our nation, the get-quick-rich schemes of connected individuals as they sponge off immoral and wasteful government contracts that are paid for by the taxpayer. The press is littered with examples, from exorbitant (and unsuitable) coal contracts for Eskom to illegible and shoddy school books, awarded to a tenderpreneur at the nation’s expense. Is this how Malikane sees the way forward? And did he just disparage efficient market theory – which prevails across the world as the most efficient allocator of capital – with the all-embracing (and meaningless!) phrase, ‘white monopoly capital?’ I ask again, is this a bad horror movie? Constitutional Court of South Africa entrance. Note our constitution allowed our leader to make this change without a word of consultation with the NEC. And no justification. The rot is spreading. Fast. And once initiated it will take an epic struggle to restore a measure of meritocracy in our economy. Does any self-respecting, honourable ANC member of parliament still have any doubt about the unsuitability of Jacob Zuma? It’s a simple question, and it has to be answered now, as we approach this critical moment of truth of a ‘no confidence motion’ in our President. Does he or she choose to serve the country or join the cabal of Zuma cronies? Is the ANC Minister willing to feed selfishly off the Zuma patronage, in the guise of ANC solidarity, and feather his or her own nest, thereby subordinating the welfare of the country to ride the gravy train of Jacob Zuma? That is the ultimate question. No honourable ANC Minister, you have a conscience. The dignity of Africa rests on your decision. The last bastion of hope in this corrupt continent. The only question remaining is how to oust and replace JZ for the future of this country, and thus inspire hope for Africa. This is where the intricacies of the Speaker of Parliament need to be understood. The Speaker adjudicates over parliamentary debates. He, or in our case she, Baleka Mbete is compelled to take an independent and objective view of proceedings to ensure the opinions of Ministers are heard, irrespective of their party affiliation. South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma arrives with Speaker of Parliament Baleka Mbete to give his State of the Nation address at the opening session of Parliament in Cape Town, February 11, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings. In any normal democracy, it would be patently obvious that the Speaker would be obliged to renounce her political affiliation to a party, in order to maintain her independence. But no, our Speaker is still the Chairperson of the ANC, still a member of the all-important NEC, as she presides over parliament. Her decisions are so biased, it is chilling. I present a clip of her ‘unbiased adjudication’ as she ejects the leader of the DA, Mmusi Maimane for calling a point of order , when our President refused to answer a perfectly legitimate question. You need to stick with me as I elaborate. The motion of ‘no confidence’ has been called by the DA. The UDM has requested that the motion be voted upon by a secret ballot to the Constitutional Court This motion has also been supported by the EFF. However it is most likely that the Concourt will refer the matter back to the Speaker in Parliament who has the power to decide. Speaker Baleka Mbete, is the lynchpin figure who needs to find her conscience, over-ride her affiliation with the ANC and approve the secret ballot motion, for the sake of our wonderful country. Why is this important? Simply because the ‘no confidence motion’ is not simply for the President, but it applies to the entire executive Parliament if approved. All the ministers with executive positions would be dissolved, until a new President appoints a new cabinet. 76 ANC Ministers and their deputies hold executive positions, and they are not going to vote themselves out of a job. Do you really believe these prevailing ANC Ministers would express their rejection of JZ in public? In the current environment that is so infested with daggers and Machiavellian plots and sub-plots? What if the motion is rejected? That would be political suicide for an executive minister! That’s akin to asking the first Christians to vote for a confrontation –defenceless – against the hungry lions in the Roman coliseum. No, I don’t expect them to vote with their conscience in public. But I do expect them to prioritise the welfare of their country in private. So there you have it. We have to convince our Speaker that a secret ballot is the only rational option given the circumstances. We have adequate cause: the cabinet reshuffle demonstrates Zuma’s total disregard for our people’s welfare. Baleka Mbete can approve the motion of a secret ballot given the powers vested within the Speaker, without referring it to the Constitutional Court. Here’s Mbete’s email: [email protected] . I’ve done my bit. Now it’s your turn to send an avalanche of emails and your personal arguments, why the motion of ‘no confidence’ must be exercised by a secret ballot. It’s for the future of South Africa. For your sake and as envisaged by Nelson Mandela. Sunil Shah: SAA will be profitable when pigs fly. MUST READ! Sunil Shah is a rare breed: he has a natural gift for numbers and words. What’s more, he is brave enough to speak his mind and peppers his work with humour. In this article, he applies his considerable intellect to whether South Africans should put any more effort into trying to get national airline SAA back in the air. Shah, an investment specialist and author, sets out a detailed argument backing what many of us suspect: SAA will most likely be profitable when pigs fly. – Editor. SAA portrays the crash landing the ANC seems intent upon. By Sunil Shah* In the ever-increasing despair the South African faces, first the carnage introduced by Zuma, including the embedment of a crony corrupt political regime he ‘endowed to his beloved’ country, then a pandemic of unrivalled economic disruption, my fervent hope was the desperate plight faced by the people would mobilise our government into swift remedial action, a transformation catalysed by circumstance… be it the stricken, gaunt face of a jobless and emasculated father, or a mother whose Covid-induced fever was ignored in the face of her wailing and famished children. I was sure the “Call of Duty” would be heard and vitalise every Government official to action, to slash waste, sever graft and create jobs with a passion that matched the country’s despair. Does that sound dramatic? Maybe. But does it also sound like the basic humane reaction of a responsible politician to the plight of his people. I have to stress, seldom do I muster the resolve to write about contemporary SA – the hardship and squandered opportunities that have followed the foundation laid by Nelson Mandela are almost too painful to confront. This week again, when I witness the events unfolding, my fingers are compelled to type. For what we are seeing this week is so cataclysmically wrong, immoral and misguided, each and every patriot needs to be aware of the pivotal crossroads our country faces. A short digression. My last article, Close encounters with ‘lying, cheating, incompetent’ Malusi Gigaba was voted ‘A best of 2017’ by BizNews readers. I can only hope it played a small role on ending the ambitions of the lying, fraudulent and conniving political shark Gigaba, once Zuma’s primary architect, promoted to the exalted rank of Minister of Finance, but now relegated (hat-tip President CR) to the dusty corridors of the Minister of Home Affairs, to disentangle the mess he created through his genius of unabridged birth certificates for inbound tourists. (Read on to understand why I mention the Gigaba article – not to brag, but to segue into a disgraced Minister of Finance and his downfall.) The bailout of South African Airlines. Before we dive into the details of SAA, it will be helpful to outline the economic rationale why a country deems a national airline to be a sovereign benefit. So why would a country consider a national airline, publicly owned and operated, to be an important strategic asset? Because it’s a profitable enterprise that contributes to the state coffers Because it may serve a route that is not deemed economic by other carriers, but that passage provides an externality (an economic term where the benefit is not currently monetised), e.g. the future benefit to SA, for our citizens to visit China so as to improve our understanding of the culture and be better hosts to future Chinese tourists. For a wealthy nation, it can represent a symbol of culture and national heritage, akin to a flying ambassador for international prestige. So, if the above combine to proffer a material benefit, a country might well consider subsidising its operations (loans at low rates or incurring treasury losses) during a dry patch, such as Covid has inflicted on global airlines currently. So, let’s consider each of the above. SAA will NOT be profitable before pigs can fly. SAA has been a huge liability to the fiscus for almost its entire existence. The Government could NEVER claim that SAA will eventually add to the budget surplus. In simple terms, if in the last decade SAA has never sniffed a profitable rand, even our current political experts know the prospects for a sustainable profit in a post-Covid and aviation-averse world is as remote as them delivering adequate sanitation to ALL our Metropolitan cities. I hope ANC politicians will not miss the analogy. By funding SAA, you are allocating a scarce resource – our fiscus revenue – to a bottomless pit, whereas those very funds could materially enhance the welfare of your people. The Cumulative Opportunity Cost of operating SAA. This excerpt summarises SAA’s operating record (my emphasis) According to the statements, as published by the DA’s Alf Lees, the airline recorded a loss (after tax) of R5.4 billion in 2017, R5.5 billion and R5.1 billion in 2018 and 2019, respectively. This marks the first time the airline has presented its financials since 2017, and the first time the public has gained any insight into its financial situation since the group entered business rescue in December 2019. The airline has not turned a profit since 2011 , and has received R57 billion in bailouts since 1994. The group, meanwhile, secured R3.5bn in ‘funding’ from the state-owned Development Bank in February 2020. A simple question to our Government: If SAA has not come close to a profit in the last decade, in the post-Covid environment where air travel will be severely curtailed, do you expect to make SAA profitable? Also, given the scale of the losses recently, averaging 5.7bn per year, do you believe our welfare would be better served by deploying R5.7bn elsewhere? To help your decision making, a budget of R5.7bn per year could: build and fund the entire staff costs of 47 hospitals , each comprising 200-beds ( at a PDE of R1,665/day source: govt paper ) per year 1,000 fully-built houses, each 200 m2 cement/brick (low-cost) houses in a design community. 5.7Rbn would fund 25 such community projects each year. A family of 5 would lead to homes for 125,000 family members a year. It’s important to highlight this is the opportunity cost our government has chosen, each and every year for the last 4 years: using taxpayer money to fund SAA’s losses rather than build 47 hospitals or house 125,000 people. Does SA need the luxury of a sovereign airline given our current per capita income? Parliament may defend the bailout by pointing to the trend overseas, where many subsidies have been approved for national carriers. Yet I would point to one important difference. A German or French national may well promote his/her country during an excursion to a foreign land, but he/she normally has a full stomach when taking off and a home to return to after the trip. It is simply ludicrous to prioritise a loss-making airline given the economic status of the average South African. Those scarce resources, about R5.7bn a year, could hardly be spent more irrationally than SAA losses. Lack of Management Expertise in Government. I draw your attention to the last long-standing CEO SAA appointed. Dudu Myeni was summoned to Parliament in Cape Town in 2014, to explain SAA’s chaos under her helm. She had the audacity to fly first-class on a competitor’s airline. If that doesn’t summarise her lack of judgement and business acumen, nothing will. I raise this point because our political leadership has demonstrated a conspicuous lack of management depth and talent. Our ministers should be painfully aware of the acute shortage of management talent in their ranks. This article, Municipalities still in financial disarray, audit reveals depicts a catastrophic majority of municipalities lack management expertise. “A clean audit goes to an auditee who has credible financial information, whose performance information is useful and reliable and where we have not found significant non-compliance with key laws and regulations relating to financial and performance management,” explained Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu. Of the 257 municipalities audited, 20 received a clean audit. If most municipalities can’t deliver water or electricity why on earth does Government think they can run an airline! The Significance of Tito Mboweni’s Capitulation. On 17 th July, the Minister of Finance, Mr Mboweni, attempted to use an emergency procedure to have an additional SAA bailout expedited through parliament. The Democratic Alliance, the ANC’s Opposition party, believed Mboweni ‘unlawfully’ used the emergency provisions of the PFMA to release funding for the airline’s rescue. The rationale was perfectly straightforward, as stated by DA Spokesperson Geordin Hill Lewis: The DA argues that it has a “clear, alternatively prima facie, right to an interdict” because the use of Section 16 is “clearly unlawful” as the requirements laid out in the section do not apply to SAA’s case . Lewis-Hill said there was no emergency that warranted the “extraordinary shortcutting of usual appropriation processes” as the company had been in financial decline for over a decade. Further, there was “nothing exceptional” about the required funding and postponing the funding would not prejudice the public interest. Mr Mboweni’s response chilled my soul: “I think it is incorrect to use this house to try and present yourself as of superior mind [with a] superiority complex which seeks to undermine the efforts of those of us who work day and night to make a success of this country,” Mboweni said. “I do not take kindly to anybody who comes and displays some kind of racial superiority here. I hate it. I don’t like it. I desist from that. We know what we are doing and we will continue doing what we are doing.” In my estimation Tito Mboweni is one of the most competent Ministers in Parliament. His appointment has added enormous credibility to the country’s international reputation. I have held his skill and judgement in the highest esteem, particularly as he has often rejected the pervasive subsidisation of loss-making parastatals. In fact Mboweni has often explicitly rejected further handouts to our uneconomic and mismanaged SAA. Tito Mboweni, the new finance minister who was brought back to the frontline of government after president Cyril Ramaphosa started cleaning up on corruption , has been making noises that it is time to pull the plug on SAA . This brings me to the conclusion of my fears. There can be little doubt that our finance minister’s judgement has been side-lined by his cabinet. Many DA members believed Mboweni to be a staunch pillar of economic reason, a man of principle with his heart and mind in the right place. Yet here we witness him pulling the ‘race card’ of disparaging the unassailable voice of reason as a ‘superiority complex’. I cannot overstate the significance of this capitulation. I don’t wish to delve into the pressure Mboweni may have been subjected to, to coerce him to tow the party line. But I leave you, the reader, to decide where this path leads. And I ask those politicians, like Tito Mboweni who still believe their singular responsibility is to serve the nation: Will you, one day, regret your submission. Meet Modi-Shah's five-man army entrusted with polarising Hindu voters. The Balakot airstrikes of February 26 have given the BJP a major advantage in the Lok Sabha elections. Till Balakot happened, the BJP was struggling with issues such as agrarian distress, sluggish economic growth and the unemployment crisis. Balakot changed the narrative almost overnight, making national security the dominant theme of the elections. But what if Balakot had not happened? To minimise its losses, the BJP has been wooing young voters and the middle class by tweaking the tax code. Certain welfare schemes were launched to alleviate the effects of the agrarian crisis. The poor were offered free cooking gas, electricity and new toilets. More importantly, the BJP has also been focusing on effective booth management and targeted campaigning, especially in key states, overseen by the chosen lieutenants of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah. These key leaders were given the overall charge of energising party workers, coordinating campaigns down to the booth level and pushing a polarising narrative to maximise Hindu votes in key states to compensate for the potential loss of seats in areas where the BJP had reached saturation levels in 2014. Five of these handpicked leaders are Gordhan Zadafia (Uttar Pradesh), Suresh Pujari (Odisha), Sunil Deodhar (Andhra Pradesh), Arvind Menon (West Bengal) and Himanta Biswa Sarma (northeast). It is a Modi tsunami across India. Gordhan Zadafia does not look like a typical sangh leader. He is married, was a successful diamond merchant, and kurta-pyjamas are not part of his wardrobe. “My colleagues often tell me that I do not look like a politician. I tell them I don’t need to look like one,” said Zadafia, deftly handling morning visitors at his Lucknow residence. When Narendra Modi became chief minister of Gujarat, he brought in Zadafia as home minister. Known for his honesty, he even declined to draw his government salary. Zadafia was, however, dropped from the cabinet after the 2002 riots. He rebelled and floated his own party in protest. Modi brought him back into the BJP in 2014. Insiders believe that had Zadafia not quit the BJP, he would have been in party president Amit Shah’s position today. Although he is usually reluctant to speak to the media, especially about his decision to quit the BJP, Zadafia opened up to THE WEEK, saying it was wrong to leave the party. “It was a mistake and misunderstanding. I was a Modi fan, but I had issues with some people. That has been resolved. I lost 10 valuable years of my political life because of that misunderstanding,” said Zadafia. “I remain a hardcore Modi fan. I have always been a Modi fan.” After campaigning successfully for the BJP in Uttar Pradesh during the 2014 Lok Sabha and 2017 assembly polls, Zadafia was named party in- charge of the state. His connection with Uttar Pradesh goes back a long way. In 1989, he was among the senior functionaries of the Vishva Hindu Parishad who performed shilanyas (foundation stone laying) for a Ram temple in Ayodhya. Today, one of Zadafia’s main tasks is to manage relations with sadhus in the temple city who are angry with the BJP for the delay in building the Ram temple. He keeps on reminding them that notwithstanding the delay, the BJP remained the only party capable of building the temple. Zadafia strongly refuted the allegation that he was sent to Uttar Pradesh to polarise the voters. He said his brief was to unite the state. “UP has a culture. It is rich in resources. But the state has remained malnourished. I will have to help the party to turn it into Uttam Pradesh,” he said. He blamed the mahagadhbandhan for polarising the voters. Zadafia’s influence was evident from the manner in which the BJP dropped several sitting MPs. Zadafia said the decisions were made by the party’s parliamentary board. “The MPs were expected to play a bigger role in taking forward the prime minister’s pet projects. I admit it is not possible to visit every village in their constituencies. But, somehow, you need to reach out to people. Those who did that got the tickets,” said Zadafia. He was confident that the BJP would sweep the elections. “Earlier it was a Modi wave,” he said. “This time, it is a Modi tsunami across India.” Let there be violence, and we will retaliate. Suresh Pujari was once the chief liaison between the BJP and the Biju Janata Dal in Odisha. Now, he is among the principal challengers of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. According to Pujari, the BJP failed to flourish in Odisha because senior leaders like A.B. Vajpayee and L.K. Advani went out of the way to accommodate Patnaik, in order to keep the Congress out. “They patronised Patnaik and I was asked to toe the line. Patnaik was, in fact, groomed by Vajpayee and Advani, and not by his father, who did not want him to be in politics,” said Pujari. But following the Kandhamal riots in 2008, Patnaik chose to end the alliance with the BJP. The riots saw Pujari’s stock rise within the BJP. He stood by his men who were accused of rioting, and put pressure on Patnaik to spare them. Riots broke out in Kandhamal after a seer associated with the VHP, Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati, and four of his associates were murdered. Pujari said the seer was facing threats from Maoists and Christian missionaries. “Maoists failed to turn Kandhamal into a red corridor because of him. There was a perception that minorities were behind the murders. The violence was in retaliation,” said Pujari. He dismissed Patnaik’s claim that the BJD broke the alliance because of the riots. “The riots began on October 23, 2008. But he waited for six months before walking away.” Pujari’s political activism started in his student days. He became famous after leading an agitation demanding fee waiver for poor college students. The agitation turned violent and ultimately the government had to budge. Pujari joined the BJP in 1997, and became president of the state unit of the party in 2006. During the Kandhamal riots, he was accused of inciting Hindus. Pujari said he had appeared before two commissions which investigated the riots, but the Patnaik government was yet to release the reports. “When we form our government, the first thing we are going to do is to table the reports,” he said. Pujari said the BJP would sweep Odisha, but conceded that West Bengal would be far more difficult. Along with Odisha, he is also in charge of West Bengal’s western belt including Purulia, Bankura and Midnapore. He said BJP workers were targeted by the Trinamool. “But that helped us fight back. Let there be violence, and we will retaliate. It helped open the gates for the BJP,” said Pujari. “Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee united the Hindus in Bengal.” Pujari mocked what he called Mamata’s gestures towards appeasing the Muslim community. “She wore hijab, offered namaz and openly curtailed religious rights of the majority. She is more popular in Bangladesh than in India. Given an option, the people of Bangladesh would have chosen Mamata instead of Sheikh Hasina.” Nothing wrong in lifting the Hindu spirit. When Sunil Deodhar promised Narendra Modi that he would defeat the Manik Sarkar government and bring the BJP to power in Tripura, the prime minister asked him to improve his fitness first. “First you lose weight and then defeat him,” said Modi. Deodhar dutifully followed the prime minister’s advice. He opted for bariatric surgery and brought his weight under control. To cope with the rigours of campaigning, the vegetarian took to eating fish. His determination paid off when in March 2018, the BJP swept to power in Tripura, ending the left’s 25-year-old reign. Impressed by Deodhar’s accomplishments, Amit Shah gave him the additional charge of Andhra Pradesh, after Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu pulled out of the National Democratic Alliance. Deodhar started his Andhra mission by shaving his head at the Tirupati temple. He has also been travelling extensively to understand the pulse of the people. After his travel and interactions, Deodhar realised that religious polarisation was unlikely to work in Andhra Pradesh. “Although Hindus here are more religious, they don’t think of religion during elections. [YSR Congress leader] Jaganmohan Reddy, in fact, is a Christian who gets a considerable number of Hindu votes,” Deodhar said. But in neighbouring Telangana, he said all bets were off as he felt the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen of Asaduddin Owaisi was openly campaigning for Muslim votes. “In such cases, we need to think of lifting the spirit of Hindus as well. There is nothing wrong in it.” But his focus this time was on defeating Naidu, although he felt Jagan, too, was no good. “Both are corrupt. One came out of jail and the other would go to jail soon,” he said. But Deodhar and his team are not averse to Jagan winning this time, thus completely weakening Naidu. His real target is the 2024 assembly elections. “I will bring the BJP to power in 2024. That is my promise to the party president.” Deodhar seems to be in for the long haul. He is learning Telugu, has started trying Andhra cuisine and has even discarded his kurta-pyjamas for white shirts and trousers. He has also started watching Telugu movies. His real worry is that the people of Andhra Pradesh are not so keen on national parties, which he said was because of the bitter experiences they had from the Congress. “Delhi has no prominence here,” he said. “But in a few years, I will reverse that.” There is no kindness left in Mamata Banerjee. On April 18, Arvind Menon was at a small hotel in Siliguri, addressing a small gathering of BJP workers. A few Trinamool workers got wind of it and rushed to the hotel. They destroyed the cars outside, beat up BJP workers and went door to door in search of Menon, the BJP’s co-in- charge of West Bengal. The hotel staff locked him in a room to ensure his safety. State police came soon, but they advised Menon to stay put till central forces came. Finally, under the instructions of the Election Commission, central forces arrived and escorted Menon to safety. “They were trying to catch Arvindji. If he is hurt or arrested, our chances of winning Bengal will be over,” said Tushar Bose, a BJP worker. Menon, who was born in Guruvayur in Kerala, speaks fluent Hindi and Bengali. On loan from the RSS, he has been orchestrating the BJP’s Bengal strategy since October last year. Known to be close to RSS sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat, he was said to be the brain behind the BJP’s long tenure in Madhya Pradesh. Impressed by his talent, the party recalled him to Delhi and gave him the charge of as many as 29 departments at the BJP headquarters, including the party’s policy-making cell. Menon played a key role in the Gujarat assembly elections in 2017. Bengal would, however, be the sternest test in his political career. “This is the toughest place in the country for campaigning. Worse than Bihar and Bundelkhand,” said Menon, who reports directly to Shah. He said the party sent him to Bengal not only to win maximum number of Lok Sabha seats, but also to win the assembly elections in 2021. “I promise I will meet the expectations of the party and win the assembly elections,” he said. Menon does not believe in high decibel campaigns and sound bites. He is one of the few BJP leaders without a chowkidar prefix on Twitter. His social media presence is limited. He prefers to meet people on the streets, in shops or in villages. Menon has built up a dedicated team of workers who are present in almost all blocks of Bengal. Based on their feedback, he informed Shah about an achievable target in the Lok Sabha polls. Subsequently, Shah has set a target of 23 seats. Menon said he would ensure that the target was met. After Menon took charge, the BJP has a presence in all 74,000 booths in the state. Young men and women filled with the spirit of hindutva are active across the state. For nearly all of them, the primary enemy is Mamata. “Her name is Mamata, which means kindness. But there is no kindness left in her,” said Menon. “She had fought relentlessly against the left, but she forgot all that after coming to power.” Menon said he would remain in Bengal till Mamata was ousted from power. “Let them attack me and my workers. We are prepared,” said Menon. “But I will go into each and every village and inject the message of change into the minds of the people. We will change Bengal before 2021.” Hindus may soon be a minority in Assam. Himanta Biswa Sarma was once the rising star of the Congress in Assam. But three years ago, he ditched the Congress and joined the BJP, and soon became Amit Shah’s most trusted lieutenant in the northeast. Sarma handles important portfolios in the Assam government and serves as convener of the 13-party Northeast Democratic Alliance, the northeastern cousin of the NDA. When the Lok Sabha elections were announced, Sarma was hoping to contest from Tezpur. But Shah intervened and asked him to coordinate the BJP campaign in the entire northeast. Sarma was disappointed, but he chose to move on, and took charge of the BJP campaign. His first move was to bring back the Asom Gana Parishad into the BJP-led alliance. The AGP had walked away following the BJP’s decision to introduce the Citizenship Bill. Sarma, in fact, has been one of the key proponents of the bill, unlike Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who was opposed to it. Sarma travelled across Assam and addressed around 80 rallies, building his campaign around the narrative of Hindus in danger in the absence of the Citizenship Bill. “Unless something is done, Assam would become another Kashmir where Hindus will be a minority,” said Sarma. The U-turn by Sarma, who was once an avowed secularist, has shocked a lot of people. Said Aminul Islam of the All India United Democratic Front, “Sarma feels Assam will become a Taliban state if Muslims stay. He wants to get closer to the RSS and gain attention.” Sarma’s polarisation project seems to be paying off. Islam said the BJP was likely to win five to six seats. “And that is because of Sarma and his tireless campaign.” It was Congress leader Hiteswar Saikia who brought Sarma, a brilliant student with a PhD, to the political mainstream. Sarma worked closely with Saikia and Tarun Gogoi and played a key role in ensuring the Congress supremacy in Assam. As a minister, he handled important portfolios. But when the BJP gained upper hand in Assam under Sonowal’s leadership, he jumped ship. The Sonowal-Sarma combination swept Assam in the assembly elections in 2016. Sarma did not get the top post or the post of deputy chief minister, although he was given important portfolios such as finance. He played a key role as an organisation man for the BJP, keeping the Congress out of power in Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya. He also helped the party seize power in Tripura. Sarma is, however, keen to shift base to national politics. If Modi returns to power, he is likely to get a plum position in Delhi. Sarma is working hard to ensure that he gets his due this time. Once the polling was over, he flew to Delhi. His mobile phone was switched off for a while. When asked what he was doing in Delhi, a senior leader of the BJP said, “Sarma is in Delhi to seal his own future.” Sunil Shah. About this Item: PAP. Condition: New. New Book. Delivered from our UK warehouse in 4 to 14 business days. THIS BOOK IS PRINTED ON DEMAND. Established seller since 2000. Seller Inventory # IQ-9781515213239. The Impact Study of Mobile Content Delivery System for Teachers' Training. Sunil Shah. Published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform (2014) From: Books2Anywhere (Fairford, GLOS, United Kingdom) About this Item: PAP. Condition: New. New Book. Delivered from our UK warehouse in 4 to 14 business days. THIS BOOK IS PRINTED ON DEMAND. Established seller since 2000. Seller Inventory # IQ-9781515213680. Task-Based Activities to Enhance Vocabulary of ESL Learners. Sunil Shah. Published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform (2013) From: Books2Anywhere (Fairford, GLOS, United Kingdom) About this Item: PAP. Condition: New. New Book. Delivered from our UK warehouse in 4 to 14 business days. THIS BOOK IS PRINTED ON DEMAND. Established seller since 2000. Seller Inventory # IQ-9781515213802. The Impact Study of Mobile Content Delivery System for Teachers' Training: The Impact Study of Mobile Content Delivery System for Teachers' Training in Gujarat (Paperback) Sunil Shah, Komal Mahida. Published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform, United States (2014) From: The Book Depository (London, United Kingdom) About this Item: Paperback. Condition: New. Language: English. Brand new Book. This book reports a study conducted to ascertain the use of Mobile Content Delivery System for Teachers' Training. Seller Inventory # APC9781515213680. Communicative Techniques for ESL Students: Communicative Techniques for Increasing use of the Target Language (English) among Student in Rural Area School of Gujarat (Paperback) Sunil Shah, Ekta Bhatt. Published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform, United States (2015) From: The Book Depository (London, United Kingdom) About this Item: Paperback. Condition: New. Language: English. Brand new Book. This book is based on a research study conducted to use Communicative Techniques for Increasing use of the Target Language (English) among Student in Rural Area School of Gujarat. Seller Inventory # APC9781515213239. Task-Based Activities to Enhance Vocabulary of ESL Learners (Paperback) Sunil Shah, Tanmay Naik. Published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform, United States (2013)