Disinvestment blues
UTTER confusion and lack of cohesion mark the government’s policy on disinvestment of public sector units.

Troubles of Nawaz Sharif
THERE is no end to the troubles of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, most of which are of his own making.

Kuwaitis in Iraqi jails
AUGUST is a month of human tragedies. It was on the 6th and 9th days of this month that the USA dropped bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

From Colombo to Durban
by A. N. Dar
AFTER the fiasco of the Colombo talks it is now possible to predict what kind of a relationship is going to be there between India and Pakistan in the coming months. India should expect no improvement.

ASEAN & regional instability
by S. P. Seth
THE Asian economic meltdown is affecting the cohesion of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

. Will BJP's style of appeasement succeed? by P. Raman INDIA finds itself in a serious political crisis as it completes the celebration of its golden jubilee year of freedom. Sinha elated over FICCI pat EVER since the BJP-led Government came to power, it has been subjected to criticism for its failure to do anything concrete on any front. That cooling sensation by K. Rajbir Deswal “SUBKEE” in common parlance means two things. One, excessive inhalation of breath on being highly emotional many times after weeping; two, inhalation with the same intensity after experiencing (ice) cold water on the body while bathing or when caught in rain for an intolerably long time.

75 Years Ago

Satyagraha in Nagpur

A largely attended meeting of the citizens of Fazilka was held under the auspices of the Congress Committee on Monday last at 9 p.m. in the Chawk Bazar.

Disinvestment blues

UTTER confusion and lack of cohesion mark the government’s policy on disinvestment of public sector units. Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha talks alternately of disposing of as high as 74 per cent of shares in such cash-rich and profit-earning units as MNTL and Oil India, selling off loss-making ones and closing down the others. He has also kept open other options. His Cabinet colleague in charge of industry, Mr Sikander Bakth, would prefer the government to end all its links with any commercial activity. In other words, the PSUs should be offered to individual buyers at any price and the government should concentrate on wooing investors and making their task as easy as possible. Both these men are strong-willed and do not normally yield ground meekly. Then there is the specially created Disinvestment Commission presided over by the high-profile G.V. Ramakrishna, and he has a mind of his own. He refuses to be guided solely by the balance-sheet of an enterprise in deciding its future. And, finally, the old Bureau of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction has a say. And as its name suggests, it seeks to revive sick units in the private sector and has built up expertise in treating terminally ill industrial units in different ways — and with success.

The two ministers seem to be going their own preferred way in tackling the problem as they see it. Mr Sinha wants to augment the revenue inflow to meet the current expenses. He is ready to sell off the “family silver” — precious heirloom — to raise funds to implement questionable projects. Naturally, this one-point programme stands inelegantly apart from the cogent plans worked out by earlier governments since 1991. In other words, his idea does not spring from the overall aim of streamlining the working of the PSUs, which account for much of the country’s industrial muscle. His eye is reveted on bridging the wide budgetary gap. His chances of success are virtually nil. The stock market is bearish; industrial shares, barring a few in the computer sector, are losing. If the government unloads several hundred crores of shares in one go, the prevailing pessimism will drag down the prices to that of the paper the scrips are printed on. With profits dipping this year, no industrial house has the kind of surplus to make a bid to take over the lot. Mr Sinha will do well to study again the scandal of stock brokers cornering highly valuable shares of PSUs at ridiculously low prices during the first few years of economic reforms. He can surely get rid of the PSU capital, but he will not get the kind of money he hopes for. Mr Sikander Bakth’s plans will encounter the same problems plus the additional one of creating an army of unemployed men. The voluntary retirement scheme on the anvil will suit those above 50, and not others. In these days of increasing social tension, the country can very well do without a massive labour agitation.

Troubles of Nawaz Sharif

THERE is no end to the troubles of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, most of which are of his own making. The latest problem that threatens to destabilise his otherwise majority government is the result of soured relations between the party he heads (the Pakistan Muslim League) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement of Muhajir leader Altaf Husain, operating from London. The MQM's disenchantment with Mr Nawaz Sharif is based on the belief that the rival group of the Mohajir community, the MQM-Haqiqi, is still being patronised by the establishment despite the Altaf Husain-led faction being a part of the government at the federal level and in Sindh. Since no protection is being provided to the members of the MQM, resulting in the elimination of its activists in Karachi and Hyderabad off and on, this popular group of the Mohajirs has taken the extreme step of asking its members in the government in Islamabad and Karachi to resign, which they have done, plunging the Nawaz Sharif administration into a major crisis.

Of course, there is no serious threat to the federal government of the PML right now because of the party's comfortable position with 142 members in the National Assembly, the development is definitely a cause for concern for the Pakistan Prime Minister. If the MQM formally decides to end its alliance with the PML, which it has yet to do, Mr Nawaz Sharif will have lost the support of all the political organisations that were associated with his government at the time of its formation in 1997. The Awami National Party (ANP) left the Nawaz Sharif government early this year following the eruption of serious differences over the question of the renaming of the North-West Frontier Province. Both the MQM and the ANP, along with the Jamaat-e-Islami of Pakistan, have now started working on a plan in association with the Pakistan People's Party of the Prime Minister's arch rival, Ms Benazir Bhutto, to force the government to resign, paving the way for fresh elections, the demand for which is already being raised by certain sections not happy with the style of functioning of Mr Nawaz Sharif. Some disgruntled people have approached the Lahore High Court for the dismissal of the federal government and holding of fresh elections, saying that this was unavoidable in view of the breakdown of the law and order machinery, endemic corruption in different departments of the government, the sky-rocketing prices of essential commodities, etc.

Anyone who visits Karachi will feel that law and order has ceased to exist in the commercial capital of Pakistan. The situation may only deteriorate if Governor's rule is imposed, which can happen the moment the MQM formally withdraws itself from the coalition in Sindh. It all depends on the outcome of the talks between Mr Nawaz Sharif and the MQM leadership slated for today. The collapse of the Sindh government may make the worries of Mr Nawaz Sharif unbearable. Pakistan's economic slidedown began with the nuclear explosion it carried out to compete with India, little realising that its neighbour's position was such that no country, how powerful it might be, could cripple its economy by imposing sanctions. Pakistan does not and cannot have that advantage. The political crisis for Mr Sharif has come at a wrong time. One fails to understand how he will survive all this and the charges levelled against him personally that he has converted the Raiwind area, a suburb of Lahore, into his dream farmhouse.

Kuwaitis in Iraqi jails

AUGUST is a month of human tragedies. It was on the 6th and 9th days of this month that the USA dropped bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Eight years have passed since the unexpected and brutal Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990. Yet the world seems to have forgotten about the unprovoked act of aggression by Iraq against a friendly neighbour and the impact of the invasion on the lives of ordinary Kuwaitis. The USA has made the inspection of suspected sites of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq a prestige issue. However, the real issue which requires to be addressed by the global community is the fate of at least 625 civil prisoners of war — including eight women languishing in Iraqi jails. In a country with a population of a mere 8,50,000 the number of those suspected to be in Iraqi POW camps cannot be dismissed as insignificant. Kuwait wants to forget the unhappy episode. It has also realised the significance of defence preparedness without giving up its faith in peace. It does not want to be reminded about the stories of the acts of torture, rape and arson by the invading troops.

However, the uncertainty about the fate of civilians missing from their homes since the invasion is a continuing national tragedy considering that every man, woman and child in Kuwait is part of a close-knit extended family structure. On the occasion of the anniversary of the invasion of Kuwait the government once again issued an appeal to the global community to put pressure on President Saddam Hussein of Iraq to release the POWs languishing in unidentified detention centres. It goes to the credit of ordinary Kuwaitis that they have lent their voice to the demand for lifting of economic sanctions against Iraq because “the ordinary citizens should not be made to pay for the sins of Saddam Hussein”. But Iraq refuses to discuss the POWs issue with Kuwait. United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan should take the initiative to secure the release of the Kuwaiti POWs in Iraqi jails. In fact the release of Kuwaiti civilians should be made an essential condition for the lifting of sanctions against Iraq. From the humanitarian angle this issue deserves a higher priority than the question of destroying weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The weapons inspection can continue even after the lifting of sanctions. The champions of human rights should mobilise global opinion in favour of Kuwait’s demand for the early release of the POWs.

From Colombo to Durban
Pakistan’s game-plan on Kashmir
by A. N. Dar

AFTER the fiasco of the Colombo talks it is now possible to predict what kind of a relationship is going to be there between India and Pakistan in the coming months. India should expect no improvement. This is not because of the failure of the talks but is a continuation of the line Pakistan has been following even before Colombo. It will do the same after Colombo.

This suits Pakistan’s hawkish policy. It is not interested in any general improvement of relations with India. Its main policy objective is to grab Kashmir. It has decided that it can achieve it only of it concentrates on Kashmir. According to it, the world must be concerned with nothing but Kashmir. It has come to the conclusion that it will present itself as a victim of India’s policy before the USA, China, several European countries like Britain and many Muslim states. For his personal politics it also suits Mr Nawaz Shrif. As a hawk, he sees himself getting the upper hand over Ms Benazir Bhutto, rallying all the anti-India elements to himself and thus remaining secure for some years.

Even if India had at Colombo made all the concessions Pakistan wanted, Mr Nawaz Sharif would still have said that the talks achieved nothing. This is because Pakistan, after the nuclear tests, has decided that the world is fearful of a nuclear war between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, and now is the time for it to strike at the best bargain with the help of its allies. It has, therefore, decided that it must keep up the pressure on Kashmir and not relent on other issues by keeping the door closed on them. Indian policy-makers should know that this will remain the Pakistan policy till the ruling clique there changes track by a change of heart or frustration at not getting Kashmir.

Pakistan will keep on harping on Kashmir — and make it the focus of whatever it does with India. Indian diplomats can in a way relax. They may not have to look for alternatives. Pakistan is not going to change for it has decided that it must concentrate only on Kashmir.

This imposes several conditions so far as India is concerned. Pakistan will unleash a propaganda blast on India across the world. In this it will sound convincing if it can create a great deal of turmoil in Kashmir. It will want to keep the Kashmir situation at boiling point. The four carnages in Doda in recent days and the latest in Chamba (Himachal) point to what the ISI will continue to do. India must counter this with force. At least in one of these murderous attacks, the Indian forces should have shattered the ISI design by getting the intruders killed. This would have taught them to be more careful in getting into our villages.

To keep the Kashmir trouble on the world map, Pakistan will also want continuous tension across the Line of Control. The incident in the last week of July in which 21 people, including five Indian soldiers, were killed should show what the Pakistan government wants to do. It will also keep on helping the pro-Pakistan militants in Kashmir so that there is continuous trouble. The ISI has enough Pakistanis and Afghans to sacrifice for this. The Pakistan non-paper’s demand that the Hurriyat should be recognised as the Kashmiri representative was meant to hurt India and make it impossible to have any agreement and also to send out a message of moral support to the Kashmiri separatists for their grievance has also been that Pakistan has not given them enough material help, like going on a war with India when they were doing their maximum damage.

The American Ambassador, Mr Richard Celeste, has said that India and Pakistan are “closer to a war than the Soviet Union and the US ever were”. This may be a slight exaggeration but the hotheads in Pakistan politics and military would like this to be so. The then Pakistan Foreign Minister, Mr Gohar Ayub Khan, even warned of a nuclear war. Nawaz Sharif has accused India of bringing the region close to war Indian statements, even of the Prime Minister, have comparatively been very soft.

India must put all this into its planning and, without creating a war situation, beat Pakistan in its endeavours. It must beat back the terrorists but at the same time see to it that the local people are not troubled. Kashmiris must know that terrorism will not pay, but they will not be harassed in any way if they are peaceful and loyal. Such sections must be encouraged because we must see to it that the local population stands by India.

The Indian authorities must not waste their midnight oil in planning for a new Indo-Pakistan summit in Durban at the time of the nonaligned meeting in September. Its result will not be any different from what it was in Colombo. Pakistan, to highlight its plans, will want it to be another “zero” at Durban. It will keep on repeating in different versions what it did at Colombo. This fits in its policy because it does not want to relieve pressure on Kashmir. India must not go to a summit unless Pakistan specifically asks for it. There is not point in giving to Pakistan another opportunity to repeat what it did at Colombo. The month of August is important. It will show if Pakistan will want to change tactics before the Durban NAM conference.

Pakistan’s non-paper was proof of what it wants to do. What kind of a non-paper was it if it just set out its point of view? If it wanted to move towards an agreement, the non-paper should have left some chinks open for negotiation. It has only reiterated what Pakistan wants. It is only a publicity instrument meant for those who have a superficial view of the dispute and are not aware of the intricacies.

Its demand that Indian Army pickets should be removed from Kashmir might sound reasonable to those not aware of the reality, but the people who know will point to the United Nations direction in the early days that all Pakistani soldiers must leave the state of Jammu and Kashmir. This, of course, finds no mention in the non-paper. It wants to bring in the Red Cross and the military observers of the UN so that somehow Kashmir can be internationalised. Instead of issuing a non-paper, it would have been more honest of Pakistan to give out a Press note setting out its demands.

Pakistani spokesmen picked on Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee as having given a wrong impression about the summit talks. According to the Pakistan foreign office, Mr Sharif had said that the two Foreign Secretaries had been given the task of how to resume the talks. Mr Vajpayee had said that the two sides had agreed on the resumption of talks. Was it something that needed to be made such a fuss about? The two Foreign Secretaries had, in fact, met twice.

Yet Pakistan does not want to give the impression to its supporters that it does not wish to continue the talks. That is why it said that the two Prime Ministers “will have their next meeting at the sidelines of the NAM summit in Durban”. Sure, Pakistan wants to create a greater drama before the wider audience of NAM. There is no need to give Pakistan this satisfaction — unless it itself requests for these talks.

Much of this is being done to make its friends like the USA and China bring pressure on India on the Kashmir question. India must resist it till Pakistan shows a change of heart and a spirit of give and take. In Kashmir it must be prepared for a lot of trouble from Pakistan.

ASEAN & regional instability
by S. P. Seth

THE Asian economic meltdown is affecting the cohesion of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). This was markedly reflected at the recent ASEAN meeting in Manila where Thailand and the Philippines sought to promote the idea of a robust debate among its members about issues affecting them. Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan called it “flexible engagement” to avoid any suggestion of interference in each other’s affairs. He argued, “The reality is that, as the region becomes more interdependent, the dividing line between domestic affairs on the one hand and external or trans-national issues on the other is less clear”. He added, “Many ‘domestic’ affairs have obvious external or transnational dimensions, adversely affecting neighbours, the region and the region’s relations with others.”

ASEAN can no longer ignore developments affecting its individual members in the name of non-interference. Recent forest fires in Indonesia were a case in point. It was no use pretending that these only concerned Indonesia when the smoke haze from there was affecting the health of people in neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore. Even more seriously is the virtual absence of a collective ASEAN response to the ongoing economic crisis among its members.

Asia’s economic miracle, during the eighties and into the nineties (till the 1997 currency crisis), gave ASEAN a new confidence. The regional economic prosperity was supposed to provide the binding glue subsuming all differences — at least in the short and medium term. Besides, most of its members believed in superior Asian values which accounted for rapid regional economic growth. By the same token, America’s relative decline was ascribed to its loose social system and freewheeling democracy.

ASEAN was thus riding high on a wave of economic growth. Its members (majority of them) felt a new sense of pride from a shared Asian value system. It was a new bond, or discovery, based on the “negative” example of the West. But it lacked substance. No wonder, when Asian economic meltdown started in mid-1997 each ASEAN member-state was fending for itself. Indeed, the cherished ASEAN principle of non-interference stood in the way of mutual cooperation. In other words, during its worst economic crisis, ASEAN proved irrelevant. Obviously, it would need reinventing to suit new times, though it is highly problematic.

The first casualty of Asia’s economic crisis has been the belief that East Asian people somehow had a unique value system, which enabled them to cope and perform better than the West. It was spurious, in the first place, because the same cultural framework had tumbled so badly in the face of Western colonial onslaught. It couldn’t have suddenly re-emerged in an updated superior version. In any case, arguments about relative cultural superiority/inferiority are on a par with similar racial claims, which are now largely discredited though not without tremendous human tragedy. The rise and fall of civilisations/empires (and now nations) is due to myriad factors, with racial and cultural explanations having very little to do with it.

Asia’s economic meltdown, therefore, is a convenient starting point to dump cultural determinism. To be relevant, Asian regional forums like ASEAN must have contemporary credentials based on open interaction. Which presupposes transparency and accountability. But can ASEAN withstand such open scrutiny? It would appear difficult — to put it mildly. Take the case of Burma (now called Myanmar), for example. Any criticism of the military junta in that country will lead to Burma’s withdrawal/expulsion from that organisation. ASEAN countries have so much heterogeneity in political, economic, cultural, ethnic and religious terms that open debate of any kind would simply be intolerable. In other words, ASEAN is likely to become increasingly irrelevant.

Japan, the supposed economic powerhouse of Asia, is itself in deep trouble, with its economy in recession and political paralysis gripping the country. There is a naive belief that if only Japan could bestir itself economically, Asia’s problems would disappear. But Japan is structurally incapable of making about-turns of the kind expected from it by the USA and its Asian neighbours.

Therefore, all of the Asia-Pacific region is in deep crisis. Unless its social and economic problems are tackled at the global level, it could dangerously destabilise the world.

That cooling sensation

by K. Rajbir Deswal

“SUBKEE” in common parlance means two things. One, excessive inhalation of breath on being highly emotional many times after weeping; two, inhalation with the same intensity after experiencing (ice) cold water on the body while bathing or when caught in rain for an intolerably long time.

With the monsoon almost ready to bid a goodbye and yet there being no end to the sultry days, I long to have a “subkee” of the second type since there has been almost no rain where I happen to be staying these days — the semi-arid areas of Haryana bordering Rajasthan.

Sweating brings with it irritation and frustration coupled with exhaustion. With the air-cooler being on and despite the water-pump in it being off, the atmosphere in your room does not afford you to converse in a low-pitched tone, and most of the time you are shouting in the listener’s ears.

And in that close encounter when two bodies “bleeding” with perspiration come near each other, a repulsion of sorts is experienced. It is here that you feel like having the thrill of a “subkee” and be fresh again.

Having a dip in the Ganga at Har ki Pauri or bathing in the Ravi near Chamba or in the Yamuna near Paonta Sahib, or even a thought of experiencing that “subkee”, provides you the desired relief. But again you cannot be imaginative and dreamy when droplets of stinking sweat trickle down on your temples from the head.

A badly bruised woman molested by her neighbour appeared before me in my office. She was crying with pain and wailing with anguish. Her tears mingling with perspiration on her face narrated her tale of woe more effectively than any number of appropriately worded petitions could to really “move” a cop. On my consolation she calmed down a bit and started sobbing. She drew a long breath, exhaled it and sobbed again to end it with a “subkee”.

It was here that I realised the difference between the real and the unreal. Between the artificial and the natural. Between what can be sought for creative comforts and what can comfort a genuine seeker. It was only then that I experienced a cooling sensation on my forehead, when I dropped the idea of longing for a “subkee”, having been floored by the “subkee” of that damsel in distress.

75 YEARS AGO
Satyagraha in Nagpur

A largely attended meeting of the citizens of Fazilka was held under the auspices of the Congress Committee on Monday last at 9 p.m. in the Chawk Bazar. His Holiness Shri Swami Keshwa Nand, Mahant, Sadhu Ashram, took the chair. The following resolutions were proposed, seconded, supported and adopted unanimously.

That this meeting of the citizens of Fazilka extend their warmest congratulations to Seth Jamna Lal Bajaj and Mahatma Bhagwandin for their having started the Satyagraha Movement at Nagpur in honour of the National Flag at such a juncture when political life in the country was regarded to have died its natural death and Civil Disobedience to be an accomplishment only reserved for the coming generation; for having conducted the Satyagraha campaign with admirable success to the entire astonishment of the bureaucracy, and for their unique sacrifice in offering themselves for arrest in the service of the Motherland.

That in view of the other provinces sending batches after batches of volunteers to take the Satyagraha to a victorious conclusion, this meeting earnestly requests the Punjab Provincial Congress Committee to issue an appeal to all the District Congress Committees in the Province to enlist volunteers, ready for despatch, at call, so that our share in the fight may also be contributed.

Will BJP’s style of appeasement succeed?

by P. Raman

INDIA finds itself in a serious political crisis as it completes the celebration of its golden jubilee year of freedom. It is not just a question of the survival of the Vajpayee Government at the Centre. The very foundations of democracy and healthy traditions are coming under challenge. Political management is rapidly slipping into the hands of the wheeler-dealers while senior leaders helplessly watch the degeneration of the entire system.

Sadly, most of us have failed to take adequate notice of the ugly upheavals in the jubilee year. Convulsions have gripped the very concept of inter-party relationship, political management and evolution of the leadership. No one finds fault with the shunting of honest officers at the helm of investigation just to appease a recalcitrant ally. Everything is for sale if that can provide a brief lease of life for those in power. All this will soon become a precedent, judging from the halting Opposition responses to such distortions.

The poll-eve eradication of ‘political untouchability’, as the BJP describes it, has been followed by the removal of moral and ethical untouchability as well. Jayalalitha, has become respectable just because she controls 27 votes, crucial for the survival, for either side. Sukh Ram, against whom the BJP had stalled the House for three weeks, is an honourable member of the BJP coalition.

The BJP, which had derided the Janata “parivar” for providing respectability to those like D.P. Yadav, has now merrily embraced him.

Buta Singh, another leader, who was once in the Vajpayee Cabinet, has suddenly become the good boy of the Laloo-Mulayam combine. If they happen to align with the Congress in an alternative arrangement at the Centre, the latter will have to sit with Buta Singh. Laloo Prasad Yadav, who is involved in the fodder scam, had become a Congress ally long back. Even the Left will soon be forced to put up with him. The guiding principle is simple: everything has become acceptable in the emerging game of power-politics.

Incidentally, this has created two classes of the tainted — those who have used the acquired gains as a lever to regain power and position and others like Narasimha Rao who preferred not to do so. Apparently, the latter suffers because present-day politics is for the smart and daring.

The eleventh Lok Sabha marked a shift of political power and decision-making to the states. Some had viewed this as a dangerous trend and felt that the regional parties could not run the country as they lacked a national perspective. While this was proved wrong, the present Lok Sabha has brought about a really disturbing trend. The regional bosses brazenly threatening the Centre to push their personal agenda.

The scenario is really frightening. For the past few months, the central government has been running on the basis of day-to-day bargaining, delaying and surrendering on important issues. The number of well-publicised items of legislation and government decisions pending at different stages itself reveals the haphazard manner in which affairs are conducted. Every government has its own share of internal differences and abandoned bills. But they all had followed a certain pattern of decision-making and consultations.

Narasimha Rao’s ministers had taken considerable pains to hold pre-presentation consultations with sections of the Opposition to avoid embarrassment in the House. Under the National Front, even an outside supporter like L.K. Advani had taken part in finalisation of important Bills until the Mandir-Mandal controversy had overtaken the arrangement. The much-maligned UF had its own elaborate committees to sort out sharp differences on crucial issues. They held endless discussions at their steering and standing panels to arrive at a consensus.

The BJP leadership’s aversion to formal or informal consultations on controversial issues is based on the basic assumption that all allies are obliged to go by the decisions of the dominant party. The allies, if necessary, could individually discuss differences, if any, with the Prime Minister, whose supremacy is unquestionable. In private, the BJP leaders say that since all allies are local outfits, their individual problems and sensitivities are well taken care of bilaterally, and not in a forum.

Thus the entire emphasis is on suave public relations with the top leaders of the respective ally rather than evolving a meaningful approach on important political, economic, foreign and social issues. Even if some parties have some specific views on any such issues, the BJP style of resolving them is by way of deputing those leaders who are most friendly with the top leader of the respective party. It is always presumed that the allies have only electoral interests and no commitment to social or economic policies. Even during the discussions on disputes, the negotiators emphasise the fact that the proposed steps would enable “you to get more votes.”

The personalised handling of top bosses of a party — rather than its collective demands — has been a sophisticated management technique. Even before management schools came up, employers in India have been putting the concept to effective use to win over individual trade union leaders to frustrate the workers’ efforts. Extending special respect and regard to a Surjit Singh Barnala or Parkash Singh Badal is considered enough to win over the entire Akali Dal.

Giving higher positions to Nitish Kumar and George Fernandes was expected to ensure the entire Samata Party’s support. Similarly, Ramakrishna Hegde is the key to the loyalties of the Lok Shakti.

Painstaking efforts are being made by the BJP aparatchiks to understand such individual leader’s likes and dislikes so that they could be used to the best advantage in this psychological game. At meetings, they are specially lauded and seated at respectable places.

The BJP’s extreme confidence in the effectiveness of such public relations exercise can be gauged from the frequent assertions by its spokespersons to settle every controversy through a “talk by the Prime Minister” with the leader of the ally concerned.

This strategy of political public relations with top bosses has interesting corollaries, beginning with providing special government facilities to taking care of the interests of kith and kin. But all said and done, when complex issues crop up from the ranks, the big bosses themselves become helpless. The Union Cabinet had endorsed the inclusion of Udham Singh Nagar district in Uttaranchal in the presence of Barnala, a respected leader. But even he and Badal could not help the BJP when the pressure began building up from below.

Until last week, the BJP really believed that the Akalis’ objection to the inclusion of Udham Singh Nagar district was because some of their dear and near ones have land beyond the ceiling, imposed in that area. Thus it was presumed that the Akalis could be silenced if an assurance on safeguarding the large land holdings was incorporated in the proposed Bill. All cultural, economic, linguistic and ethnic differences were overlooked in the process. The BJP managers did not even think it necessary to discuss the new changes in the Bill with the Akali leaders.

This blind trust in direct trouble-shooting, as against the meaningful institutionalised consultations, has been the reason for not taking Jayalalitha into confidence on the crucial Cauvery talks. Even on the Deputy Speaker’s election, partners like Mamata Banerjee were taken for granted. This has caused rumblings of varying degrees among many BJP allies.

The BJP’s exclusive patronage to Naveen Patnaik is leading to a vertical split in the Biju Janata Dal with a majority of the MPs siding with the rebels. Naveen Patnaik under BJP pressure wants to tone down the memorandum to be submitted by the party to the Centre on the problems of Orissa.

As regards the Samata Party, the wedge between the state leaders and the two “pampered” ministers is widening. The central coordination committee of the BJP and its allies, which was to have discussed all important issues, has met only twice in the past five months. Its last meeting was even boycotted by some allies.

The PR-style handling of political parties marks a new stage in the degeneration of political culture. It is anti-thesis to the democratic functioning of the political parties. Unlike the Shiv Sena or Lok Shakti, it cannot be effective in the case of multi-leader parties like the Akalis and BJD. However, it is in tune with the mushrooming of one-leader parties with a strong regional base. Such parties are either running the government or are sole alternatives in about half of the country, including UP, Bihar, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

The origin of the post-1980 one-leader parties can be traced to the successful authoritarian control of the Congress by the late Indira Gandhi. If a mass party ruling almost the entire country could become a one-leader party, why cannot one leader form a mass party? Absence of ideology or programme and excessive stress on power sharing invariably paves the ground for such outfits who can strike deals and break ties at will. One-leader parties in non-BJP states are ready to join any one who offers to meet their demands. Mulayam Singh Yadav and Laloo Prasad Yadav, heads of two one-leader parties in the north, are known for their political poaching.

We have a long history of DMK-AIADMK swapping sides in Tamil Nadu for power. In case, Jayalalitha crosses over to the Congress side, Karunanidhi would not have any qualms to go over to the BJP. Sheer gratitude should have made Karunanidhi to stay with whatever was left of the UF. Now the DMK’s decision would be influenced by the Tamil Maanila Congress without whose support it cannot meet a combined Congress-AIADMK challenge. Such is the opportunism of one-leader parties. These are dangerous portents of the jubilee year.

Sinha elated over FICCI pat

EVER since the BJP-led Government came to power, it has been subjected to criticism for its failure to do anything concrete on any front. It is natural that when the Union Ministers attend public functions they are apprehensive about such criticism.

Last week when Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha went to deliver a “vision” statement at a conference organised by the FICCI, he was quite jittery.

He admitted this, when he told the audience that he was sure that the issue of sanctions would be the foremost in the minds of industrialists and bankers and they were going to raise the issue with him. However, contrary to expectations, except for one speaker nobody even mentioned the word sanction.

In fact, the Finance Minister had a double occasion to celebrate. The FICCI Vice-President, Mr Sudhir Jalan, said the fundamentals of the economy were strong. This statement, was “music” to Mr Sinha’s ears as it was after a very long time that he was hearing anything positive about the economy. Well, that is not saying much.

Sushma’s bargaining chip

That the Union Communications Minister, Mrs Sushma Swaraj was keen to ensure the passage of the Prasar Bharati Bill could be gauged from a story narrated by a Congress MP recently.

A Lok Sabha MP from Rajasthan met Mrs Swaraj in an effort to activate two low-power transmitters set up at a border town falling in his constituency. He argued that these transmitters could not be made functional due to lack of staff but much to his surprise, the minister used it as a bargaining chip.

He said the minister sought help in the passage of the Bill in return for his request to be executed. Some days later, after the Lok Sabha passed the Bill, the MP accosted the minister in the lobby only to find her repeating her stand. The MP finally gave up, saying while he did what he could in Lok Sabha, there was little he could do in the Rajya Sabha.

Was it a case of wrong connection or over-anxiety over the fate of the Bill behind the minister’s move ?

SPG to Sonia’s ‘rescue’

It was finally an SPG personnel who came to the rescue of Congress President Sonia Gandhi. Well that is what they are supposed to do but the task here was much different — to pay for her subscription to the newly launched party mouthpiece, Congress Sandesh.

At a function to mark its launch last Friday, the head of the editorial board, Mr Vasant Sathe, sprung a surprise.

While stating how he planned to raise revenue and sustain publication through self-financing, he said one of the steps was to sell the newsletter, priced at Rs 5 per copy, to party members. To prove his point he asked the unsuspecting Congress President to buy a few copies of the edition she just released.

“Madame, I want to make a beginning by selling the first copies (English, Hindi and Urdu editions) to you”, Mr Sathe announced promptly. Apparently, Mrs Sonia Gandhi was not prepared for she walked in without a purse. But without batting an eyelid, she just turned to the SPG personnel accompanying her and at least two of them started furiously digging into their pockets to find change.

Meanwhile, an AICC general secretary moved up to offer the princely sum but a wave of hand by Mrs Sonia Gandhi stopped him even as the SPG finally found the right change to buy copies.

Dabbler’s dilemma

Soon after he decided to convene a meeting of various parties opposed to the BJP and its allies on the Shrikrishna Commission report, Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav decided to despatch invitations to all like-minded parties.

Letters were written in Hindi. However, the SP leader made an exception to his practice and thought it would be in the fitness of things to send the communication to the Congress and the Telugu Desam Party in English.

Mr Yadav, who did not even spare the mighty armed forces from communicating to him in Hindi when he was the Defence Minister, found himself in a bit of a fix this time.

As an aide called him to find out how to address the Congress President, Mr Yadav just could not find a substitute for “ji” to all names. In the end the letter went with regular salutation. So much for dabbling in a language of alien nature.

(Contributed by T.V. Lakshminarayan, K.V. Prasad, Girja Shankar Kaura and P.N. Andley.)