Dr Ragoth Sundararajan

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[Dr Ragoth Sundararajan @ragothsun]

Many points of view being shared on this, so I am sharing my detailed POV. Disclosure: I support @annamalai_k. Warning: Long post. If you like, please share.

Exit of KA from TN BJP is a win-win-win-win for all 4 entities. I will try to explain. I am purposefully saying TN BJP, though he resigned from BJP, which is a National party. If KA was interested in National politics, I doubt if he would have resigned. He had ample opportunities to become RS MP or Minister, even six or less years ago.

Given his focus was and is TN, is his decision rational and meaningful? Without getting into controversial claims and conspiracy theories, I want to address this question.

As a lateral entry into politics, KA had a choice in terms of which party to join. Those who are aware will know there was a lot of homework and preparation that went into his joining BJP. Two factors, in my view, helped. KA was and is an ardent admirer of PM Modi. But, he wanted his base in TN State politics. Given these two clinching factors, KA chose to join TN BJP. Again I am choosing to say TN BJP. Because, this was going to be the Ground Zero of his politics.

Cutting to chase, after six years, many things have changed, while some have not. His admiration and respect for PM Modi and his focus on TN have not. Pretty much everything else has changed. Much water has flown under the Cooum/Kaveri bridge!

So, with the priors as above, the conditional probability of his remaining in TN BJP tended towards zero. But, he did not want to quit politics or change his focus on TN. So, his exiting TN BJP and forming/strengthening his own startup is a probablistic inevitability. He is trying to do this in his own way, so his playbook may not follow all conventions or standard operating procedures. For him, this is 2.0 of his serious political experiment.

How is it a win-win-win-win for all 4 entities, KA, TN BJP, National BJP and TN State? For KA, he gets to define his own vision without the need for adhereing to any superseding vision. He gets to focus entirely in and on TN. This right away increases his chances of success. A CEO hampered by the Board cannot shoot for outright victory.

For TN State, voters get one more option, above and beyond ADMK/DMK and TVK, latter has not proved to be very different from DMK/ADMK so far. How the KA/WTL vs TVK/Vijay dynamics plays out will be the story of the next few years.

For TN BJP, this is the time for soul searching. After the initial tremors and bitterness, will they move on to make some hard decisions remains to seen. They have to confront the question, what exactly does TN BJP bring to the table, in practical terms as a choice, to the voters of TN?

For BJP as a National party, with or without Modi/Shah, national expansion wthout losing regional aspirations is a challenge, as for all national parties. What the KA saga in TN has forced them to do, is to look for alternatives to inorganic growth, such as getting leaders from other parties to enable regional expansion. In some states, this may not work.

In the corporate world, lateral hires of leaders is always an experiment. In the end, all the entities move on and try to move forward in their own ways. In the medium term, there is fun and games for the observers to watch and weigh in!

Fingers crossed with hope!

[Dr Ragoth Sundararajan @ragothsun]

Yes, labour participation, especially women, and productivity increases are essential for 8% real growth and near full good paying, reliable employment. There are enough well to do Indians to take care of consumption and sustain pricing power if more high value goods and essential components are produced in India.

In services Indians are in general very price conscious. But, in products, if there is value for money, Indians are ready to shell out more, increasingly.

[Dr Ragoth Sundararajan @ragothsun]

Interesting part is that manufacturing companies share of stock market presence and marke cap is almost double that, in the 30-35% range. Which means, people are ready to bet on these companies, but many of them are not in a position to produce high value products for export or internal consumption.

Globally, in the top 10 developed countries by GDP, only 3 are higher than India in terms of manufacturing share of GDP - China, Japan, Germany. US and UK are at the bottom, below 10%. Rest are similar to India, in the 12-15% range. South Korea is another non-top 10 giant in manufacturing, with > 20% share.

Indian needs to target at least 18-20% share of manufacturing in GDP in the next 5 years. Challenging, but not impossible. This will require state and central government policies, investment, land, skills and branding makeover within India. Truly double engine approach can achieve this.

[Muthukrishnan Dhandapani @dmuthuk]

Manufacturing as a share of India’s GDP was around 17% until 2014. Over the last 12 years, it has averaged around 14-17% (depending on the data series).

To break the cycle of poverty and provide a decent standard of living to the masses, manufacturing needs to contribute at least 25% to GDP. We are nowhere near that target.

Only two major states in India -Tamil Nadu and Gujarat - have manufacturing contributing around a whopping 35% (or slightly higher in some years) to GDP.

[Dr Ragoth Sundararajan @ragothsun]

During Demonetisation, several questions regarding the role played by banks came naturally, but we have never discussed them openly yet. NPA is another area where Banks have not covered themselves in glory. What goes on behind the scenes in Banks is questionable to say the least.

Lots of governance and compliance issues and loopholes. Similar question marks remain about institutions such SEBI or LIC as well. We just need to take these institutions and their eithical conduct more seriously.

[Prasanna Viswanathan @prasannavishy]

Eight arrested. ₹79.8 lakh recovered. Bank staff now under the scanner too.

8 men arrested, including Tinnu Yadav (driver to Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust general secretary Champat Rai)

5-6 serving bank employees under scanner for alleged embezzlement and conspiracy with the accused

Sangh itself seems acutely aware of reputational cost.
A senior Sangh functionary put it plainly " Ram temple's management is closely associated with the Sangh in public perception, and episodes like this cast a shadow on an organisation that has long positioned itself as a standard-bearer for probity in public life

[Dr Ragoth Sundararajan @ragothsun]

PM as another Sai Baba worshipped by children is not a good message or branding you want to push on Gen Z. We are in 2026. Admirers of Modi such as Sunil Shetty may end up doing more harm to him unintentionally than good.

[Being Political @BeingPolitical1]

Sunil Shetty says his 15-month-old granddaughter has Modi ji’s photo next to Sai Baba and does his pooja by offering laddus 😭

[Dr Ragoth Sundararajan @ragothsun]

Oh my God. First Bharathiraja, now Bhagyaraj. What's happening. King of Screenplay is no more. So sad and shocking. Om Shanthi 🙏

[K.Annamalai @annamalai_k]

சிறந்த இயக்குநரும், நடிகரும், இந்திய அளவில் மிகச்சிறந்த திரைக்கதையாசிரியர்களில் ஒருவருமான, திரு. K. பாக்கியராஜ் அவர்கள், உடல்நலக்குறைவால் காலமான செய்தி, மிகுந்த அதிர்ச்சியும், வருத்தமும் அளிக்கிறது.

தன்னுடைய திரைப்படங்கள் மூலம், தமிழக மக்களின் பேரன்பைப் பெற்றிருந்தவர். எளிய, பண்பான மனிதராகத் திகழ்ந்தவர்.

திரு. பாக்கியராஜ் அவர்கள் குடும்பத்தினருக்கும், உறவினர்களுக்கும், ஆழ்ந்த இரங்கல்களைத் தெரிவித்துக் கொள்கிறேன். அவரது ஆன்மா சாந்தியடைய இறைவனை வேண்டிக் கொள்கிறேன்.

ஓம் சாந்தி!

[Dr Ragoth Sundararajan @ragothsun]

By the way what is the role or purpose of this Representative in Delhi? Was there an official position like this before? Will this person operate in the shadows or openly? Why should the Central government work with this person instead of CM or other Ministers of TN?

These are the questions to be answered. But, a Kannadiga angle is being discussed as the most important question. Why?

[Sanghi Prince 🚩 @SanghiPrince]

Condemn appointment of a Kannadiga as TamilNadu govt's Special Representative in Delhi, unfair to Tamilians, says TN BJP President @NainarBJP

Since @annamalai_k claimed he would prioritize TN, will Annamalai condemn ?

Or will he keep quiet on this issue to make sure his link with Congress is kept secret ?

Let's see what stance this backstabber will take.🤔

[Dr Ragoth Sundararajan @ragothsun]

Problem is everything cuts both ways in life. BJP and it's governments have gained goodwill and good vibes because of their association and open patronage of Ram Temple. Nothing wrong with that. But, when something goes wrong with the same issue, obviously their detractors will use that as a political weapon. To be expected.

[Ratan Sharda 🇮🇳 रतन शारदा @RatanSharda55]

In the debates on #RamMandir, I am surprised that TV anchors expect BJP to have set processes in the mandir management. #BJP had no control on trust. It took legal action when the fund theft was found out. Trust is answerable, it asked for probe & FIR immediately. Problem is trust put faith on people above processes. They need to be fixed. Any person responsible has to be punished.

[Dr Ragoth Sundararajan @ragothsun]

This should have been done looong ago. Now, it's too late. We have to amend the law or live with this kichdi for ever.

[The Jaipur Dialogues @JaipurDialogues]

PASSPORT is not a Citizenship Proof

AADHAR is not a Citizenship Proof

PAN is not a Citizenship Proof

VOTER ID is not a Citizenship Proof

The Government should clarify what is Citizenship Proof or simply Launch a Citizenship Card by doing NRC

[Dr Ragoth Sundararajan @ragothsun]

NRC is a non-starter, it won't work, especially for 1.5 billion people. No point selling pipe dreams.

[Kanchan Gupta 🇮🇳 @KanchanGupta]

As usual @IndiaToday is peddling malicious misinformation.
A passport is a travel document. Nowhere in the world it substitutes for a citizenship certificate।
To determine citizenship we require NRC which will be followed by the issuance of a citizenship ID card to every bona fide citizen of Bharat।
Ironically, Bangladesh and Burma have NRC and citizens get cards with Unique Identity Number: No card, no service, no benefit, no vote।
Lefties, Libbies, Jamaatis, India Today and Mamata Banerjee's stooges won't allow NRC in India।

[Dr Ragoth Sundararajan @ragothsun]

Why are passports in different colour? Is it for fun? Guess not. There is citizens passport, blue in color which mentions Nationality as Ind8an, which is > 99% of cases. Why can't it be used as proof of indian Nationality which is the same as citizenship?

[Rahul Roushan @rahulroushan]

Dalai Lama is provided "this travel document" (called Yellow passport) and he is not a citizen of India. What MEA folks said was technically correct that passports (all kinds of) are not a proof of citizenship. Babus are supposed to be technically correct. They are not poets.

[Dr Ragoth Sundararajan @ragothsun]

Are passports given to non citizens same as those given to citizens? What about the Nationality column in the passport? Does GOI declare someone to be Indian National on a document issued by them without being sure? Just quoting inscrutable laws is not going to solve the problem.

We are going to be 80 years old as a Republic soon. We still don't have a way of figuring out who is a citizen and who is not. Successive governments have been kicking the can down the road. No amount of finessing is going to change this basic fact: When GOI acknowledges some one as Indian National on the passport issued by GOI, they are not 100% sure. When GOI gives a voter ID to an individual, they can't be sure that person is a citizen. This is a shame.

[pallavi ghosh @_pallavighosh]

Big clarification comes in from govt sources- For all friends in Media:

It was not decided yesterday that the Passport is not a proof of citizenship.
It was not even decided in the last 12 years.

The Passport has never been a proof of citizenship.

The Passport Act 1967 says that passports can be given to non-citizens.

Judgments of the Bombay HC from 2013 have made it clear that passport is not a proof of citizenship

[Dr Ragoth Sundararajan @ragothsun]

I think the question is really simple. Can an Indian passport holder lose his or her citizenship because the documents he or she has as evidence are found wanting or insufficient? If answer is no, then passport is as good as any proof of citizenship. If answer is yes, then we have a serious problem of how we give passport to people.

[Nirupama Menon Rao 🇮🇳 @NMenonRao]

The discussion sparked by a recent statement on Passport Seva Divas has generated more heat than light.

The Ministry of External Affairs stated that a passport is a travel document, not a document of citizenship. Legally, that is correct. A passport is issued under the Passports Act, while citizenship is governed by the Citizenship Act, 1955. One law regulates the document; the other regulates the legal status.

But law and public understanding are not always the same.

For most Indians, the passport is the most authoritative document the Republic issues. It bears the name of the Republic of India, carries the holder’s identity, and is accepted around the world because foreign governments trust that India has verified the bearer’s nationality before issuing it. It is therefore entirely understandable that many people asked: if a passport is not proof of citizenship, then what is?

The answer requires some nuance.

A passport does not create citizenship. Nor is it the legal instrument that finally determines citizenship if that status is challenged before a court. Like many democracies, India distinguishes between citizenship law and passport law. In rare cases involving fraud, disputed parentage or illegal acquisition, citizenship may have to be established through the provisions of the Citizenship Act and supporting evidence. That is why a passport is not regarded in law as conclusive proof in every conceivable circumstance.

But that should not be confused with its practical significance.

A passport is issued only after the Government has satisfied itself that the applicant is entitled to one. In everyday life, and in international travel, it is the strongest evidence of Indian nationality that most citizens will ever possess. Nothing said by the MEA changes that. No immigration officer abroad will suddenly regard an Indian passport with suspicion because of a legal clarification made in New Delhi.

The episode does, however, remind us of a larger challenge.

India’s systems of civil registration developed unevenly over many decades. Millions of older Indians were born when birth registration was incomplete. Names were recorded differently across school certificates, land records and electoral rolls. The painful experience of the Assam NRC showed how documentary inconsistencies can create profound hardship when citizenship itself becomes the subject of legal scrutiny.

The lesson, therefore, is not that passports have somehow lost their value. It is that India needs stronger and more comprehensive civil registration, universal birth registration and reliable archival records so that citizenship can never become hostage to missing or inconsistent paperwork.

Sometimes a legally precise statement can create unnecessary public anxiety if it is not accompanied by explanation. A better way of putting it might have been this:

A passport is issued only after the Government has verified that the applicant is an Indian citizen. While citizenship itself is governed by the Citizenship Act, the passport remains the Republic’s most trusted document for international travel and, in ordinary life, the clearest evidence of Indian nationality.

That is both legally accurate and reassuring. The law need not be diluted, but neither should public confidence in one of the Republic’s most important documents.

To distil the argument:

A passport is issued because the Government has satisfied itself that you are an Indian citizen. It is therefore powerful evidence of citizenship in ordinary life and in international travel. But in a legal dispute over citizenship itself, the governing law remains the Citizenship Act, and a passport is not conclusive proof that overrides all other evidence

[Dr Ragoth Sundararajan @ragothsun]

Not sure if there is a nuance here. Indian government cannot issue Indian passport to non-Indians. So, if GOI has convinced itself that the person is a citizen before issuing passport, why would passport not become a proof of citizenship? Why is a 2nd document needed? What proves that the 2nd document is fool proof? This is a recursive, circular, pandora's box.

[Aditya Raj Kaul @AdityaRajKaul]

Since everyone on Indian Social Media seems to have discovered suddenly that Passport isn’t an Indian Citizenship Document, here is a Bombay High Court 2013 observation/ruling.

“Passport alone no proof of citizenship: Bombay HC”.

Nuances matter. https://t.co/c8gEHqj1rZ

[Dr Ragoth Sundararajan @ragothsun]

Normally, whatever process you follow to get Voter ID should be good enough to prove citizenship, as by law, only citizens can vote and voter ID is issued by ECI after verification. If Indian law does not believe this process is fool proof, then God help us.

[Mumtaz Patel @mumtazpatels]

Ok how do I prove I am an Indian citizen… Real , factual and serious answers only please …

[Dr Ragoth Sundararajan @ragothsun]

Expired passport cannot change citizenship. Citizenship can be surrendered or canceled when another country citizenship is taken as dual citizenship is not allowed.

For rare cases, government can cancel citizenship but to accommodate this, 99.99% people have to show multiple documents for proof of citizenship? How will this solve the rare case? Which are those multiple documents? This is crazy.

[Dr Ragoth Sundararajan @ragothsun]

Exactly. This opens a pandora's box. Now, other countries will not accept passport as Nationality establishing document for visa issuance. Why are they doing this nonsense, I don't understand.

[Rishabh Mukherjee @rishabhm]

I'm pretty sure that while not citizens have passports, all passport holders are citizens. And there is to that effect a field called "Nationality" on the bio page of the passport. So unless the MEA means to tell us that it's been handing out passports to non citizens with Indian nationality scribed in these passports, I have no idea what this is about.

[Dr Ragoth Sundararajan @ragothsun]

You can reverse the arguement as well. If all the process to establish citizenship has been done before issuing passport, why can't it be proof of citizenship? Is the GOI admitting that the process is not fool proof? Other countires may stop giving us visa, if the nationality column in the passport is not beyond question.

[Diksha Kandpal🇮🇳 @DikshaKandpal8]

Passport has never been the proof of citizenship. Why is everyone reacting like this is something completely new? Even when a passport is made, authorities rely on documents such as birth certificate, domicile etc to establish identity.

If the passport itself is issued on the basis of pre-existing documentary evidence, then how can it be the foundational document used to establish citizenship in the first place?

[Dr Ragoth Sundararajan @ragothsun]

If some one can vote, there is no way he/she can be a non citizen of India. That should be the norm. If there is any doubt, non citizens cannot vote. If this is not enforeceable already, we have a problem with our democracy itself.

[Ramesh Srivats @rameshsrivats]

Passport lets you travel from India.
Voter ID lets you vote in India.
PAN lets you pay taxes in India.
Aadhaar lets you reside in India.
You can have all four.
You can live here, travel, pay taxes and even vote.
But you still can't prove that you're a citizen of India.
What da?

[Dr Ragoth Sundararajan @ragothsun]

Everyone in waiting mode..loading..3..2..1!

[Army of Dheeran Annamalai @annamalai_chap2]

வெகு விரைவில் எல்லாவற்றையும் பற்றி பேசுகிறேன்.

[Dr Ragoth Sundararajan @ragothsun]

Allavai Theya Aram Perugum Nallavai Naadi Iniya Solin.

[Sridhar Vembu @svembu]

@dreamseller2000 We must appreciate good things, only then will good things happen.