Politics of commotion
IT is the Congress that has posted handsome victories in Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. But it is the SP-RJD combine that seems to have got rejuvenated following this happening.

Avoidable controversy
MANY unhappy memories are associated with the first week of December. The Bhopal gas tragedy is one of them. It is unfortunate that the world’s worst industrial disaster has been forgotten except by the families of the victims of the continuing tragedy.

Mizoram: a vote for change
THE people of Mizoram were strongly looking for a change, and they have brought it about. So sick have they been of the nine-year-old Congress rule in the state that they have not allowed the party to reach a double-digit level in the Assembly elections.

LOOKING BEYOND THE VERDICT
Survival yes, but for
how long?
by Inder Malhotra
TO be sure, the BJP-led government at the Centre, headed by Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, is not going to collapse in the next few days even though the saffron party’s rejection in Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh has been comprehensive and stunning. It will survive. But for how long?

Implications of Assembly polls
by T.V. Rajeswar
THE Assembly polls in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Mizoram and the Capital of Delhi have produced results on the expected as well as unexpected lines.

Service chiefs & national security
By Harwant Singh
DURING the course of one of the better conducted panel discussions on Star TV, on the issue of bringing the Prime Minister under the purview of the Lok Pal Bill, Mr Gujral, taking shelter behind the unfailing ‘national security screen,’ pleaded that the PM should be kept out of the jurisdiction of the Lok Pal Bill. Though this new mantra of Lok Pal is expected to fight corruption in high places and look into cases of misdemeanour and malfeasance by the high and mighty, Mr Gujral tried to shift the focus of the discussion to quite an unrelated area and argued for the PM’s exlusion.

50 years of UN declaration
Dr S. Subramanian
FIFTY years ago, on December 10, 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard for all peoples and nations to achieve human rights so that, in the post world war period, people across the world lived with dignity. This epoch-making event is being remembered and celebrated all over the world on a grand scale.

75 Years Ago

Sholapur disorders
THE horrifying tale of mob violence at Sholapur has a lesson for the Government as well as for the leaders of the Satyagraha movement. The gruesome story of murder and arson must open the eyes of the leaders of the Independence Movement to the grave peril which is bound to arise if the movement is not kept under effective control.

Politics of commotion

IT is the Congress that has posted handsome victories in Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. But it is the SP-RJD combine that seems to have got rejuvenated following this happening. Not for fighting a political battle but for shouting its heart out. That is what its members did on the opening day of the winter session, making sure that the proceedings of Parliament could not be held. Slogans of "gaddi chhodo" emanated from the well of the House and there were adjournments galore. Significantly, the Congress (I) did not join the clamour for the resignation of the government in either House, although it did take part in the Rajya Sabha walkout. Like a responsible party, it launched a blistering attack on the government for the skyrocketing prices through former Finance Minister Manmohan Singh. There was a change of tack this time. It tried to raise the issue through special discussion rather than through a motion of adjournment, which would have necessitated voting. In fact, the party tried to persuade Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav to stop his slogan shouting but he continued to accuse the government of everything from being hand in glove with unscrupulous traders to being anti-Dalit, anti-farmer and anti-poor and what not. When Mr P.J. Kurien of the Congress went to him seeking his cooperation so that the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Sharad Pawar, could speak on the price situation, the Samajwadi Party leader had a dig at him also by saying: "Ek din bhashan nahin denge to kya hoga?" (Heavens won't fall if does not deliver a speech today). In other words, he was saying that nothing would happen if the Lok Sabha was kept prisoner to his lungpower for a day. He has it in him to extend the period to even weeks. That is a sad commentary on the attitude of the elected representatives. They are sent to Parliament at a considerable cost to the taxpayers to conduct the business of governance and not to obstruct it. But hardly anyone shows any deference to the people who elected them. That is why the proceedings of the august House at times resemble a street scene. The installation of TV cameras was expected to have a sobering effect; it has ended up being a catalyst to more mayhem.

The Bharatiya Janata Party is shell-shocked by the reverses that it has suffered. Various leaders may not say so in public but even they know that the skyrocketing prices have been their undoing. That is why there was a sullen silence on the treasury benches on Monday. But the BJP has been helped by the fact that its allies have stood by it in this hour of trial. The latter know that the political situation in the country is such that they would be hurting only themselves if they corner the BJP at this stage. The unfolding of the situation as ordained by Mr Yadav helps the party. It is not clear what its future line of action would be on the price front. Resolute action has not been the hallmark of the government so far and there are no reasons to believe that there is going to be any sudden change now, the stinging electoral reverses notwithstanding. At the same time, it is clear that it does not have very many arguments to defend itself on the price rise. The wisecrack that the Congress should demand the onion as its election symbol only betrays its nervousness. But by blocking the proceedings of the House, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav has only helped the BJP get off the hook. The sooner he realises this, the better.

Avoidable controversy

MANY unhappy memories are associated with the first week of December. The Bhopal gas tragedy is one of them. It is unfortunate that the world’s worst industrial disaster has been forgotten except by the families of the victims of the continuing tragedy. An event which some political parties plan to commemorate as “black day” is not worth remembering because of the pain and suffering associated with it. The process of healing has already begun and it would serve no purpose to scrap open the wound through such thoughtless action as the political parties plan to take. However, instead of learning the right lessons from the unhappy episodes associated with the first week of December the Vishwa Hindu Parishad plans to add another black day to the month if it is allowed to lead a “rath yatra” headed by a “suicide squad” for the “liberation” of a Sufi shrine in Karnataka. The shrine is located in Chikmagalur and the VHP and Bajrang Dal activists plan to “liberate” it from “Muslim control” on December 3. The Chief Minister, Mr J.H. Patel, has promised adequate security to ensure that the annual Dattatreya Jayanti rituals, traditionally performed by a Muslim priest, are not disturbed. But what prevents him from putting the malcontents in jail for trying to disturb the communal peace of the State? Sufi shrines all over the country attract both Muslim and non-Muslim devotees. The shrine in Chikmagalur is no exception. Centuries ago a Sufi saint Hazrat Sheikh Abdul Azeez Mecci made the hill near Chikmagalur his home. Three hundred years ago the saint’s disciple Dada Kalandar converted the shrine into a place of pilgrimage. He came to be known as Baba Budan Giri. His tomb and those of the saint’s other disciples are said to be located in the cave near the shrine.

Another version, which is at the root of the current controversy, is that Dattatreya (an avataar of Vishnu) prayed in the cave, who the Hindus believe would return to correct the world. Until the emergence of the VHP and the Bajrang Dal the shrine was treated as a common legacy of both the Hindus and the Muslims. The rituals performed at the shrine are a happy combination of Hindu and Muslim practices. In fact, the source of strength of Sufi saints was that they attracted followers from all religious denominations. This is what has made the Sufi tradition so very different, in form and content, from mainstream Islam which insists on exclusivism. It is true that the saint of Chikmagalur is referred to as Dattatreya Swami by the Hindus. If anything, this is a tribute to the composite culture of India. No one has ever objected to the shrine being called Sri Sadguru Dattatreya Baba Budan Swami Peetha. The VHP and Bajrang Dal activists seek to ignore the fact that the Muslim disciple of the saint who came to be known as Baba Budan Giri is remembered for having made members of the two communities come close in spite of their different religious backgrounds. The Hindu shrine at Sabrimala too is a powerful symbol of communal harmony. The devotees are required to pay their respects to the Muslim disciple of the Hindu saint before entering the sanctum sanctorum. Religious fundamentalism has already caused serious damage to the secular fabric of the country. The proposed thoughtless action on December 3 may give yet another blow to the forces of secularism. And history will not forgive those responsible for turning December into a black month.

Mizoram: a vote for change

THE people of Mizoram were strongly looking for a change, and they have brought it about. So sick have they been of the nine-year-old Congress rule in the state that they have not allowed the party to reach a double-digit level in the Assembly elections. The Congress, which has done so well in Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, has got only six seats with Chief Minister Lalthanhawla suffering a humiliating defeat. The Mizo National Front and the Mizoram People's Conference, which challenged the Congress together, have secured 33 of the total 40 seats, a massive mandate which had been clearly forecast by the exit poll. The severe drubbing of the incumbent party shows that the voters have great expectations from the new rulers. If the people are disillusioned with the Congress for "rampant corruption, maladministration and the neglect of development", they will judge the performance of the new government on this touchstone. The change of political dispensation will provide the psychological relief for some time, but after that the people will develop their liking or hatred for the new rulers on the basis of their functioning.

There were no emotional issues involved in the contest in this North-eastern state. The factors that sealed the fate of the BJP — the crippling price rise, law and order, etc — were also not at play in Mizoram. The electorate, it seems, had made up its mind to try another group of rulers. Mr Zoramthanga, the Chief Minister-designate, who had never occupied this position earlier, will have a tough time fighting the entrenched vested interests, who had weakened the administration. His party, the MNF, has a separatist past. Its victory (with 21 seats) may be interpreted to mean that there is a danger of insurgency getting a fillip in Mizoram. But past experience makes one believe that power forces such elements to change their thinking. Brig T. Sailo of the MPC, which has secured 12 seats, has lost the race for the top slot. He headed the state government in 1984. In the elections that year he was replaced by Mr Lalthanhawla, who had to make room for Mr Laldenga after the signing of an accord between the then Central government and the MNF on June 30, 1986. However, the Laldenga government could survive only a little more than two years, and the strategically important state came in the grip of political uncertainty. The situation led to an election in 1989 and Mr Lalthanhawla was reinstalled as Chief Minister. He had been ruling Mizoram since then. His government had developed complacency, taking development projects in a casual manner. Corruption was rampant in the administration. It will not be an exaggeration to say that the Congressmen in Mizoram were itching for the dressing down they have received at the hustings.

LOOKING BEYOND THE VERDICT- I

Survival yes, but for how long?
by Inder Malhotra

TO be sure, the BJP-led government at the Centre, headed by Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, is not going to collapse in the next few days even though the saffron party’s rejection in Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh has been comprehensive and stunning. It will survive. But for how long? That’s the question that should be giving sleepless nights to the Prime Minister and his senior colleagues. Unless, of course, they too have become as insensitive to reality as the Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, who had blandly declared on the penultimate day of the election campaign that skyrocketing prices were “not an issue” during the polls.

Even the BJP’s shame-faced spokespersons are hard put to deny that their party’s rout in an area vital to them is anything but shattering because it has exceeded their worst fears and the Congress’s best expectations. But they are doing their damndest to put a gloss on a situation that could not have been more bleak.

The burden of their song, or rather their dirge, is that whatever has happened is relevant only to the states concerned and has nothing whatever to do with the Central government’s past or future. This is ridiculous rot. It is clear as daylight even to the purblind that whatever provincial, parochial or local factors may have been at work in the three states where the Hindutva party has been rejected thoroughly, the most important influence on the voters was the extremely poor, indeed pathetic, record of the Vajpayee government during the short period it has been in power.

To the average voter of Delhi the dividing line between the BJP ruling from the Old Secretariat and the party top brass governing (or rather misgoverning) the entire country from South Block is thin. Large areas of Rajasthan are adjacent to the national Capital. Because Madhya Pradesh is distant, it is there that the point about the Union government’s role in the BJP’s near-demolition is most manifest.

In all recent elections in the country, the anti-incumbency factor has been very powerful. This should explain why most psephologists and almost all exit polls had confidently predicted that while losing Rajasthan and Delhi, the BJP would “wrest” Madhya Pradesh from the Congress. The pollsters have had their faces blackened along with that of the BJP. Why? Simply because the anti-incumbency factor working against Mr Digvijay Singh’s ministry in Bhopal was overshadowed by the avalanche of popular anger against the incumbent Central government.

It had taken Indira Gandhi nearly a decade to traverse the path from Olympian heights to her nadir. Mr V.P. Singh managed to do so in less than a year. I had thought then that he had set up an unbeatable record. But I was wrong. Atalji has done it, or allowed himself to do it, in eight months flat.

However, the Hindutva party’s spin doctors are undeterred. They have come up with the argument that Mr P.V. Narasimha Rao had lost Assembly elections in Andhra, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat between December, 1994, and February, 1995, and had yet continued to rule at the Centre until May, 1996. But don’t these innocent souls see that Mr Rao’s misdeeds were first rejected in the states and then all across the country? If his government in New Delhi was undisturbed, it was simply because it was more cohesive and being run more cleverly than is the case with the present BJP-led ruling coalition.

Not to beat about the bush, three main reasons threatening the stability and durability of the Vajpayee government should be taken note of. The first is the obvious one: the tremendous enthusiasm among those parties, led by the Congress which has won a famous victory, that want to see the last of the BJP government. This is visible to the naked eye, and it is accompanied by the understandable demoralisation in the BJP ranks and doubts in the minds of its allies.

The countervailing factor here is that the BJP’s opponents are not in a position to form a viable and credible alternative quickly or easily. No wonder then that Mrs Sonia Gandhi has taken the prudent course of intensifying the pressure on the beleaguered BJP but not to do anything to give the impression that her party is in a hurry to capture power. The likes of Mr Harkishen Singh Surjeet, the CPM General Secretary, will simultaneously go on chipping at the ruling coalition’s morale.

As is becoming clear already, the BJP’s allies also have no intention of losing whatever toehold in power they have. However, with Ms Jayalalitha and some others, one never knows. The war of nerves will therefore continue, and it could be further debilitating.

To Look for the second reason for the growing uncertainty about the Vajpayee government’s future one has to go no farther than to the repeated lament by various BJP ministers and their apologists. The bureaucracy at the higher levels, it is said, is not letting the government be effective. It is alleged to be subverting the good work Mr Vajpayee is anxious to embark on.

If true, will not the across-the-board drubbing that the BJP has received in the three major states intensify the obstructionist proclivity of those whom the BJP considers abominable no-man of the administration?

The third and the most important reason which might drive the BJP-led dispensation into the abyss is the bitter discord and destructively divisive rivalries within the Sangh Parivar. These may not be as visible as factional fratricide in other parties. But the most potent foe of the BJP-led government is the enemy within.

The situation is best illustrated by what happened immediately after the Vajpayee Cabinet took the courage in both hands and decided to allow foreign participation in the insurance sector and to bite the bullet in relation to the Patents Bill mandated by the country’s membership of the WTO. But within minutes of the two decisions being publicised, the Swadeshi Jagran Manch of the RSS struck back and announced its intention to oppose the proposed measures tooth and nail.

This feeling was reflected also in the meetings that Mr Vajpayee held on Sunday to take stock of the post-poll wreackage. Senior party members doubted the wisdom of going ahead with the Insurance Bill so resolutely opposed by the party for so long.

In this context, the Prime Minister’s declaration that economic reforms are irreversible, and that foreign investors should not be distracted by the “democratic drama of the day” but should look at the inherent strength and tremendous potential of the Indian economy becomes rather arid.

If the outlook for the Hindutva party — which has alienated many voters because of such midsadventures as the aborted saffronisation of education policy and the horrors perpetrated on the Christian minority — is bleak, the poll results have a message also for the Congress, understandably elated and euphoric over its tremendous triumph.

Fruits of victory can be frittered away rather fast, as happened previously in the times of both Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. Today’s bouquet can easily turn into tomorrow’s brickbats. The best way to avert this is to revive the Congress at the grassroots, introduce in the party organisation democratic functioning that vanished long ago and ensure that power brokers and party barons are cut to size. Above all, the Congress will have to make difficult and perhaps unpopular policy choices, if and when it comes back to power. It will be difficult to implement these unless the people are first persuaded that these are in the best long-term interests of the nation.

(The writer is a well-known political commentator.)

LOOKING BEYOND THE VERDICT- II

Implications of Assembly polls
by T.V. Rajeswar

THE Assembly polls in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Mizoram and the Capital of Delhi have produced results on the expected as well as unexpected lines. Pollsters predicted a clear Congress victory in Delhi and Rajasthan, and victory for the BJP in Madhya Pradesh. Now that the results are out, the political tremours arising therefrom will be clearly felt very soon.

The BJP has been totally repudiated by the people of the country in the elections in the three northern states. The BJP has travelled a long way since its inception and after its earlier incarnation as the Bharatiya Jan Sangh. Electorally, it has been a slow march for the party until 1989. It won three Lok Sabha seats with 3.1 per cent votes in the 1952 elections, four with 5.9 per cent in 1957, 14 with 6.4 per cent in 1962, 35 with 9.4 per cent in 1967, 22 with 7.4 per cent in 1971, 79 with 9.45 per cent in 1977, 2 with 7.4 per cent in 1984, 85 with 11.4 per cent in 1989 and 119 seats with 20.18 per cent of votes in the mid-term Lok Sabha poll in 1991. In 1977, in the wake of the post-Emergency anti-Congress wave in the country, the Janata Party and its allies got 298 seats, while the BJP alone accounted for 79 of them, as the largest single constituent. But in 1980 the entire Janata Dal got only 41 seats with 9.42 per cent of votes and the BJP’s own performance was negligible. The BJP’s lowest tally since its inception was in 1984 when it was reduced to a mere two-seat party in the wake of the sympathy wave generated by the assassination of Indira Gandhi. Its electoral performance in 1991 was remarkable and it was mostly due to the surcharged atmosphere over the Ram Mandir and Shilanyas factors.

The 1998 Lok Sabha elections marked the high watermark of the BJP’s electoral success in terms of seats, with 179 seats versus 141 of the Congress, even though the Congress had secured 25.88 per cent of the votes polled against the 25.47 per cent of the BJP. Uttar Pradesh alone gave the BJP 57 Lok Sabha seats with 36.44 per cent of votes, primarily because of lack of unity between Mandal parties like the SP and the BSP. If only the Congress, the SP and the BSP had combined their strength, the outcome of the Lok Sabha poll would have been different. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee told pressmen at Lucknow on November 25 that consequent to the results of the assembly elections, a mid-term poll for the Lok Sabha could not be ruled out. It had been interpreted by some that Mr Vajpayee was trying to send a warning to his political allies to stick together or face the elections and the uncertain consequences.

Whatsoever the motive was, the Prime Mijnister was only being realistic. The Congress and the secular parties of the Hindi belt — namely the Samajwadi Party as well as the newly formed Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha and the BSP — will now realise that the fortunes of the BJP are on the retreat and they will naturally seize the opportunity to force a mid-term poll, hoping to reduce the overall strength of the BJP in the Hindi belt and elsewhere. If the Assembly elections are an index of the BJP’s fortunes, a mid-term poll within the next four or five months may see the BJP’s strength in the Lok Sabha reduced to a double digit. The Parliament session will show which way the wind is going to blow.

Ideology and commitment become unaffordable luxuries when people are faced with extraordinary difficulties in procuring the basic necessities of life. The recent shortages of vegetables and the skyrocketing of prices, the failure of the Delhi administration to locate, arrest and prosecute those who were marketing adulterated mustard oil and the unheard of increase in the price of onions and the scare about the shortage of salt for a couple of days were all unacceptable administrative failures. The Delhi administration, its ministers and civil servants and the BJP government at the Centre were all responsible for these painful developments. Mistakes had also been made by the party and the government which alienated large sections of people. The unimaginative insistence on singing Saraswati Vandana saw even the allies of the BJP like the Akali Dal and the Telugu Desam party protesting against it. At a time when the government at the Centre had to devote all its energies to controlling the prices of essential items for the common people and make them available without endless harassment, there was no need or room for purveying ideological doctrine.

India is not a welfare state and there is no social security for the people however poor they may be. Some of the allowances given to the elderly are of no consequence. The basic necessities like the availability of foodstuffs at affordable prices, provision of electricity and water, the minimum medical facilities are the responsibility of every government even if not committed to a social security system. Unfortunately, the BJP ministry in the Union Territory of Delhi, functioning along with the BJP government at the Centre, has been remiss in all these areas. It was, therefore, not surprising that people had voted against the BJP in Delhi.

In Rajasthan, the two-thirds majority for the Congress in the elections shows how much Mr Bhairon Singh Shekhawat’s regime had alienated itself from the people. Only the other day Prime Minister Vajpayee was citing the Shekhawat regime in Jaipur as a shining example of the BJP administration. Alas, the truth was totally different which was obvious to everyone other than the BJP hierarchy. Taking just one example, the chaotic educational scene in Rajasthan, highlighted in the newspapers after the self-immolation by a student, showed how far away the experienced BJP politicians had moved from the realities. Is there any wonder in the BJP getting wiped out in Rajasthan?

The outcome in Madhya Pradesh is the real clincher. The poll forecasts and the exit polls unanimously predicted the BJP returning to power in Bhopal, with a difference of about 30 seats over the Congress score. Moreover, a clear majority was forecast for the BJP in the Chhatisgarh region which again has been totally belied. The assertion that the anti-incumbency factor was responsible for the BJP’s defeat in Delhi and Rajasthan, has been shown hollow.

Mizoram’s politics is entirely of a different pattern. It is a Christian-dominated state and the outcome has been conditioned by Christian groups ranging against each other. But the rout of the BJP in the Hindi belt is a clear repudiation of the party and all that it stands for. The BJP government’s position at the Centre becomes extremely tenuous and its days are clearly numbered. An interim government consisting of secular and democratic parties and the Leftists, followed by mid-term polls in April-May seems unavoidable. The BJP’s rise and fall in such a short span of time in India’s history has sound lessons for every political party in India.

(The writer is a former Governor of West Bengal and Sikkim.)

Service chiefs & national security
By Harwant Singh

DURING the course of one of the better conducted panel discussions on Star TV, on the issue of bringing the Prime Minister under the purview of the Lok Pal Bill, Mr Gujral, taking shelter behind the unfailing ‘national security screen,’ pleaded that the PM should be kept out of the jurisdiction of the Lok Pal Bill. Though this new mantra of Lok Pal is expected to fight corruption in high places and look into cases of misdemeanour and malfeasance by the high and mighty, Mr Gujral tried to shift the focus of the discussion to quite an unrelated area and argued for the PM’s exlusion. However, what Mr Gujral revealed, was by itself quite revealing. He disclosed that as PM he was privy to some security issues which in his perception were so sensitive that these could not be disclosed to even the service chiefs or the Chairman of the Chiefs of Defence Staff Committee. On that plea, he argued that the PM should be kept outside the purview of the Lok Pal; lest it peeps into the defence secrets hidden in the PM’s bosom.

Neither the moderator, the redoubtable Veer Sanghvi, nor the panellists or the better informed audience, asked Mr Gujral as to how does national security gets entangled with the Lok Pal on the one hand and on the other who else shared these dreadful national security secrets with him, for he could not have dreamt these up by himself but must have been briefed by someone on the subject or such a brief put up to him. How did he conclude that the worthies in the PMO, the foreign office, intelligence bosses or the scientific community who briefed him were more trustworthy than the service chiefs.

A similar situation prevailed during the late fifties and early sixties, where the then PM had kept the service chiefs in the dark regarding the deteriorating relations with China and other relevant information available with the foreign office and intelligence agencies. Had the service chiefs been taken into confidence, it would have been possible to assess the threat from China in realistic terms and suitable action taken to prepare the defence services to respond to the emerging situation. It was left to the Chinese to shake us out of that absurd notion that the service chiefs need not know all the security related issues or those which could have a bearing on national security. It was Mr Shastri who put such notions to rest, with the result the services met the challange from Pakistan in 1965 reasonably well.

When Mr Rajiv Gandhi, during the parliamentary debate on Bofors, tried to take shelter behind the time tested “security screen”, and informed the house that the then COAS was not aware of some of the national security related information available with the government, Mr Jaswant Singh from the Opposition benches, expressed shocks and disbelief and feared that a situation similar to that prevailing before the Chinese attack in 1962 seemed to have come about.

The practice of keeping the service chiefs in the dark concerning vital national security issues seems to have become a practice. In 1948, without consulting the Army, ceasefire was declared in Jammu and Kashmir when the Army’s operations had picked up momentum and the Pakistan army was on the run. In Shimla, Mrs Gandhi threw away the tremendous advantage the Army had gained for the security and had provided the opportunity to resolve the Kashmir issue. She never consulted the Army on this vital issue for which we continue to pay a heavy price in Jammu and Kashmir. Again in 1988, agreement not to attack each other’s nuclear facilities was signed with Pakistan, wholly to the latter’s advantage without any reciprocal commitment by Pakistan to refrain from nefarious activities in Jammu and Kashmir.

The availability of chemical and biological weapons was first known when their existence was admitted in the UN during the convention on biological and chemical weapons. What the services did know was that our neighbour not only had these weapons but also the equipment for troops to fight under chemical and biological warfare environments. This had a disconcerting effect on the commanders in the field in 1990 when relations between the two countries nearly came to a boil, because the enemy could use these weapons against some of our otherwise impregnable defences in Jammu and Kashmir without the fear of any reprisals on the same lines.

General Sundarji in his book ‘The Mad Man of Hindustan’ notes that while the service chiefs were discussing nuclear issues, they realised that their knowledge of the country’s nuclear capability status was no better than that of the bearer who served them coffee. The emerging situation in Sri Lanka as known to the foreign office was never transmitted to the service headquarters; consequently, when the slumbering government was overtaken by events, a panic reaction had to be put into operation and the Army found itself ill-prepared for the task it was suddenly landed with. Therefore, its response was ad hoc and a patch-work job.

A similar situation appears to have prevailed during the run-up to the nuclear tests on May 11 and 13. There are many inherent dangers in the practice of such a policy. Coherent and viable defence planning cannot be carried out in isolation and in the absence of inputs from every relevant source. It is not only a long-drawn process but requires constant updating to reorient and steering the correct course, keeping abreast with the changing geopolitical, economic, technological and the international scene.

To operate or act in the case of vital national security issues without the expert advise of service headquarters by the political executive, appears to have come about under the presumption or false notion that the same can be provided by the bureaucracy and or the scientific community or perhaps the political executive has come to consider itself self-sufficient in such knowledge. The argument that defence is only one part of the national security scene has been trotted for some time with the aim of relegating the importance of defence as part of national security paradigm. While there is merit in this argument, what it obfuscates is the fact that defence is the single most important ingredient of national security and provides the ultimate fall-back position to the nation.

In this context it would be pertinent to have a close look at our decision of unilateral renunciation of first use of nuclear weapons. To have done so, is a case of failure to grasp the nuances of the very concept of nuclear deterrence and how it operates in its full scope and dimension. Such a policy militates against the very concept and nature of deterrence. It falsifies, almost by half, our claim that deterrence is the raison d’etre for our going nuclear.

The other and more serious fallout of this policy of no first use, is the effect it will bring to bear on the conduct of operations by a field commander when his opponent has no such compulsion. While he will be constrained to operate under the threat of use of nuclear strike against his forces, his adversary would not be inhibited by any such fears. Now even the uninitiated would know the vast difference in the conduct of operations carried out under the shadow of nuclear strikes and one where no such threat exists. Those who have to fight battles in the face of possible nuclear strike against their forces are at once placed at a great disadvantage, vis-a-vis those who have no such inhibiting factors in their calculations, because their opponent has renounced first use.

What sort of consultations with the service headquarters or the Chairman, Chiefs of Defence Staff Committee, preceded the decision to commit the nation to the policy of no first use of nuclear weapons is not known. The impromptu manner in which this policy came to be announced gives credence to the possibility that no such exercise was carried out. The authors of this policy were oblivious of the impact it would have on the conduct of conventional operations by a field force commander.

50 years of UN declaration
Dr S. Subramanian

FIFTY years ago, on December 10, 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard for all peoples and nations to achieve human rights so that, in the post world war period, people across the world lived with dignity. This epoch-making event is being remembered and celebrated all over the world on a grand scale. India, being a founder-member of the United Nations is also commemorating the event in a befitting manner.

A golden jubilee is not a mere chronological milestone. It is also an occasion for introspection and contemplation and for stock taking and to assess how far the parameters set by the Universal Declaration have been realised by the nations — big and small.

Notwithstanding the canards spread by the vested interests, India has been in the forefront in implementing these principles. The Constitution of India, in its Preamble, Part III-Fundamental Rights and in the Directive Principles of State Policy, has incorporated all the principles contained in the Universal Declaration. In these 50 years, the United Nations has evolved many covenants, principles and standards, and almost all of them have been incorporated in the social legislation, substantive and procedural laws by India. We have established an apex National Human Rights Commission and many States Human Rights Commissions are already functioning and for the rest, the process is on. There are Human Rights Courts, which enforce human rights. This is unique in the world and some of the western countries lag behind India in this respect.

It may appear to the uninitiated, that India has been acting under pressure of the western nations in implementing human rights standards. This is far from the truth. The procedural laws enacted over a century ago and the relentless fight of the freedom movement for statutory incorporation and enjoyment of human rights by Indians, are standing testimony to the commitment of the Indian nation to human rights. The reports of the Motilal Nehru Committee of the Indian National Congress of 1928 is a watershed. Of the 19 recommendations made by this Committee, 10 find place in the Fundamental Rights chapter of our Constitution, and the rest are in the Directive Principles. Indians can, justifiably, be proud of their record in implementing human rights.

We are aware that we have a long way to go and all is not that rosy. In a country of continental dimensions and peopled with 960 millions, violations of human rights do take place. What is important is, that when located, action is being taken to remedy them. Much remains to be done; the ethoes of the state. Bureaucracy and the people accustomed to feudalism, colonialism and other evils, should be changed. There is a concerted move to create an awareness for human rights among the people and it is being done through educational institutions, in service training programmes etc. The role of the judiciary, media and the NGOs in this regard is commendable.

A good cause can be lost through bad advocacy. Human rights movement is suffering a great deal due to the fact that it is being espoused by the countries and persons, whose human rights record itself is suspect. Human rights were used as a weapon, with great success in the cold war. The Teheran proclamation was used to twist the hands of developing nations and to deny them their due of economic assistance. In a bid to destabilise developing nations, terrorism and political unrest were promoted by the developed nations in developing countries, in the garb of support to the cause of human rights. Politicisation of the concept and its utilisation as a tool in the international power play, has affected the credibility of the concept in developing countries. An International Criminal Court has been established, rightly so, to deal with crimes against humanity. Is there someone, who could bring to book the offenders in Vietnam and the Gulf war? Is it possible to ensure that big powers implement the values proclaimed by the UN Declaration. Till these big powers follow what they preach, credibility of human rights movement will be at its lowest in the world.

On this occasion of the golden jubilee of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations should muster enough courage and clout to ensure that super powers implement these principles and ensure that they accede to all human rights covenants and implement all standards, and this should be made a precondition to their holding a permanent seat or a seat in the Security Council.

By definition, universal declaration has universal application. Let us strive to remove double standards in implementation and ensure that all countries, big and small, adhere by them. As rightly stated in the declaration itself, to prevent the common man to take recourse to rebellion, it is essential to ensure that human rights are bestowed on him and the rule of law prevails.

(The author is a retired IPS officer and has been Director General, CRPF and NSG.)

75 YEARS AGO

Sholapur disorders

THE horrifying tale of mob violence at Sholapur has a lesson for the Government as well as for the leaders of the Satyagraha movement. The gruesome story of murder and arson must open the eyes of the leaders of the Independence Movement to the grave peril which is bound to arise if the movement is not kept under effective control. No amount of explanation can condone the acts of criminal violence which were perpetrated by the mobs which were apparently fired by enthusiasm for the freedom movement.

Even if it be assumed for the sake of argument that the local authorities had mishandled the situation or were responsible for provoking the people by an unauthorised or illegal exhibition of force, the brutal murder of policemen, the burning of police chowkis, the main police station and the District Courts and the other outrages perpetrated by the mob must be unequivocally condemned by all right-thinking persons.

Murder and incendiarism cannot advance the interests of the country; and those who are leading the civil disobedience movement have always emphasised the imperative necessity of keeping the movement scrupulously free of violence.