Nemesis after all!
IF the law of the land, as it exists today, is allowed to prevail in Bangladesh, 15 of the 19 persons indicted in the Sheikh Mujibur Rahman murder case, would be put to death. The capital punishment would be carried out in public by a firing squad.

Messy AMU affairs
ALIGARH Muslim University has been closed for an indefinite period following incidents of violence on the campus last week. Students have been asked to vacate the hostels and the campus has been turned into a police fortress.

Now Himachal Pradesh
THE proxy war that Pakistan has been fighting in Kashmir has been conducted from behind a firewall which is very thin. The new development is that unofficial agencies have now started openly admitting that their hands are soaked in blood.

CRIME & POLITICIANS
by S. Sahay
THE results of the American Congressional elections have come as a pleasant surprise to the Democrats and as a shock to the Republicans. Not only have the hopes of the Republicans of improving their position in the Senate and the Congress been belied but also they have barely held their position in the Senate and lost four seats, possibly six, in the House of Representatives.

Population as a roadblock
by Rati Ram Sharma
AT a hurriedly called Press conference on October 15 in New York, after the announcement of the Economics Nobel Prize for him, Prof Amartya Sen said the basic problem of India was that it had ignored education, health care and land reforms.

Ruthlessness propelled Romesh Sharma’s rise
by P. Raman
IT was in the puja room of the late Raj Narain’s Race Course Road residence that this writer first spotted Romesh Sharma. It was really an open house. Any one could walk into any room. A boy was massaging the leader as we heard him assailing Morarji Desai and Rama Krishna Hegde (then general secretary of the Janata Party). Then emerged Sharmaji with a highly gaudy picture of “Netaji Raj Narain with himself sitting at the feet.

The Punjab industry event that went awry
IT was a case of perfect mess. The press meeting of the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, in the Capital last week was an event most scribes looked up to simply because it was the second such event in many months.

Old wounds, new nails
by K.K. Khullar
IF Ghalib were alive today he would have been amused at the nail clipping programme of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. As a typical Delhiite, he might not have opposed the issue tooth and nail but he would not have let it go without a couplet.

75 Years Ago

Burma Oil Rights
LONDON: Replying to Sir Henry Craik in regard to the alleged proclamation signed by Queen Victoria and Lord Salisbury as Secretary of State for India in 1884 and the concession to the Burma Oil Company, Mr Ronald McNeill pointed out that Lord Salisbury ceased to be Secretary for India many years earlier, and the language of the documents showed that they were obvious forgeries.

Nemesis after all!

IF the law of the land, as it exists today, is allowed to prevail in Bangladesh, 15 of the 19 persons indicted in the Sheikh Mujibur Rahman murder case, would be put to death. The capital punishment would be carried out in public by a firing squad. Apparently, this is a nemesis for the killers of the father of a nation. The murder of Sheikh Mujib was part of an act of a coup. He was the President of his country when a group of armymen attacked him and many members of his family on the night of August 15, 1975. Three and a half years earlier, the people of enslaved East Pakistan had literally snatched their freedom from the jaws of a ruthless dictatorship. It is painful to remember that those who were killed included the wife, three sons, daughters-in-law, a brother, a Cabinet colleague, relatives and political allies of the emancipator of the nation. Among those who were tried in various courts of law for the killing of at least 26 persons were pregnant women and children. Sheikh Mujib’s eldest son was the first victim. Mujib was a man whom historians remember reverentially along with Gandhi and Nehru. He made a nation rise like a phoenix from the ashes of depredation. Pakistan lost considerable territory although its Generals and leaders like Zulfikar Ali Bhutto boasted that they had achieved “good riddance”. Only self-serving and myopic men could seek such glory after losing a vital part of their country’s body and a symbol of its soul. For 21 long years, no initiative was taken to bring the murderers to book. Successive regimes claimed and enjoyed political sovereignty. But the people saw the perpetrators of some of the worst crimes known to humanity. Had Sheikh Hasina, the eldest daughter of the slain President, not become the Prime Minister of the country in June, 1996, no progress would have been made in the duly registered cases against the assassins and their collaborators.

Sheikh Mujib was sought to be written off from the golden pages of the history of Bangladesh. But heroism lives in sagas of sacrifice until it is symbolically immortalised and those who try to defile it are shown their right place in the dustbin of ignominy. Remember the 17-month-long trial which was disrupted several times by treacherous elements in Bangladesh? There even was a no-confidence motion against the judge who was trying the case. The anti-independence leaders promulgated the most injudicious Indemnity Ordinance in 1975. It was aimed at ensuring the safety and security of the accused. According to the provisions of the dispensation, no legal action could be taken against the participants in the macabre act. Those who ruled Bangladesh before Sheikh Hasina faithfully implemented the ordinance which was subsequently incorporated into the Constitution to protect entirely all those who had eliminated the creator of the sovereign State. There are countless enemies of freedom in Bangladesh. They are anti-India and pro-Pakistan. They have close links with the ISI. On their own, they assist the insurgents in North India and aggravate the socio-economic tensions there. India, which helped Sheikh Mujib in achieving his goal of freedom has to face many groups of saboteurs, who frequently infiltrate into this country and create chaos. Sheikh Hasina has described the judgement of Mr Justice Golam Rasul as the victory of the people and of law-based democracy. She hopes that Bangladesh would be “relieved” of a curse when the verdict is executed. But only five defendants were present in the court and the rest were tried in absentia. Will the absconders be ever brought to book? The laws of extradition are clumsy and the fugitives have the support of the Pakistani regime and its agents in Bangladesh. India does not rejoice in death sentences on its own soil or anywhere else. But it welcomes any judicial step which vindicates the rights of man and the sacrifice of a great leader. The judgement is historic. We would wait for its implementation as Sheikh Hasina is doing.

Messy AMU affairs

ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY has been closed for an indefinite period following incidents of violence on the campus last week. Students have been asked to vacate the hostels and the campus has been turned into a police fortress. It is not for the first time that the academic ambience of the university has been disturbed because of large-scale violence. The current round of trouble can be traced to the strike by junior doctors of Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College for pay revision. Some unidentified miscreants reportedly entered the campus and roughed up the junior doctors, giving Vice-Chancellor Mahmood-ur-Rahman an excuse to order the closure of the university. Since the university is perceived to be a centre of learning for the Muslims campus violence gives the member of the minority community a bad name. However, it must be recognised that AMU is still among the best centres of higher learning and one of the reasons for the current round of unrest has something to do with the style of functioning of the present Vice-Chancellor. Mr Mahmood-ur-Rahman is a serving bureaucrat and is more comfortable dealing with district-level officials than establishing rapport with the teachers and the students. A number of teachers have been victimised by the university authorities at the behest of junior district-level officials to please the Vice-Chancellor. Elections to the students’ union have been suspended and the body packed with handpicked nominees of Mr Mahmood-ur-Rahman. A Vice-Chancellor who once pulled out his revolver and fired in the air in full view of the teachers and the students is clearly not fit to be the head of a prestigious academic institution. Vice-Chancellors of the calibre of Zakir Hussain, Bashir Hasan Zaidi, Ali Yavar Jung and Badr-uddin Tyabjee helped the university grow as a centre of academic excellence.

A succession of inept administrators in the early 80s presided over the decline in the academic standards of the university before Syed Hamid stepped in to stem the rot. Mr A.M. Khusro knew the art of keeping the students and the teachers in good humour without doing much for anyone of them. Mr Mahmood-ur-Rahman is neither a Syed Hamid nor a Khusro and since AMU is a Central University the Union Human Resource Development Ministry should begin the exercise of finding a suitable replacement for the present Vice-Chancellor, who is too full of himself to be able to respond positively to the aspirations of the academic community. His predecessor was responsible for patronising known criminals and introducing an element of corruption in the affairs of AMU. Mr Mahmood-ur-Rahman has created his own coterie of hangers-on which is at the root of the current round of turmoil on the campus. AMU’s contribution to the country’s pool of talent in diverse fields cannot be ignored. Jazbi, Majaz, Sardar Jafri, Rahi Masoom Raza, Shaharyar, Naseeruddin Shah, Muzaffar Ali (of “Umrao Jaan” fame), Asghar Wajahat (“Jis Lahore Nai Vekhiya”) and noted historian Mushirul Hasan are some of the names associated with AMU. Reuters’ prestigious fellowship for Indian journalists is named after an AMU alumnus, Najmul Hasan, who died while covering the Iran-Iraq war for the news agency. The continued good health of AMU is also essential for the non-Muslim population of the region. The names in the list of AMU Old Boys’ Association, Chandigarh, provide some clue to the importance of the university for the region. It includes names of retired and serving bureaucrats, IPS officers (Mr Manoj Yadav who served a Superintendent of Police, Chandigarh, is from AMU), professors in Panjab University, and engineers. The Principal of Punjab Engineering College, Mr Rajnish Prakash, is among the more active members of the alumni association. It is because of him that PEC is counted among the best non-IIT institutions in the country. Members of the Chandigarh chapter of AMUOBA should raise their voice against the autocratic style of functioning of the present Vice-Chancellor if they still care for the growth of their alma mater.

Now Himachal Pradesh

THE proxy war that Pakistan has been fighting in Kashmir has been conducted from behind a firewall which is very thin. The new development is that unofficial agencies have now started openly admitting that their hands are soaked in blood. Only a fortnight ago, Syed Salahuddin, the chief of the Hizbul Mujahideen outfit, admitted in Islamabad that many Pakistanis were taking part in the “jehad” in Kashmir. And now Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the chief of Markaz Dawat-ul-Irshad, another Pakistani terrorist organisation, has admitted that a large number of Pakistanis had been sent for strikes in Kashmir since last year. Not only that, he is quoted to have said in Lahore the other day that his group, which is ironically named the Centre for Preaching, would further expand its militant activities in India by including Himachal Pradesh is its list of targets. This devil-may-care attitude shows that the group enjoys considerable official sanction. Otherwise, there is no reason why it should make such a statement at a time when it is close to being banned by the USA for exporting terrorism.

By going public on its future plans, the terrorist organisation has only shown that the crocodile tears that are shed on Kashmir are only eyewash. The attempt is to somehow weaken India. If it is not Kashmir, then it is Punjab. If both prove to be futile grounds, peaceful States like Himachal Pradesh are always there. Equally farcical is the Pakistani claim to be a sympathiser of Muslim interests. It has killed innocent people to further its interests without being concerned about the religion or caste to which they belong. What the world in general and the USA in particular has to realise is that India is not going to be the sole target. The export of terrorism that it has been indulging in requires larger avenues. The sooner it is stopped in its tracks, the better it would be. Time has come to declare Pakistan a terrorist State.

CRIME & POLITICIANS
Dwindling respect for rule of law
by S. Sahay

THE results of the American Congressional elections have come as a pleasant surprise to the Democrats and as a shock to the Republicans. Not only have the hopes of the Republicans of improving their position in the Senate and the Congress been belied but also they have barely held their position in the Senate and lost four seats, possibly six, in the House of Representatives.

A direct consequence of this is that the Republican plan to tighten the noose around Mr Bill Clinton’s neck as far as the impeachment proceedings go has received a huge setback. Apart from the election results, 57 per cent of the Americans are believed to be in favour of dropping it. Obviously, the main reason is that even those who do not approve of Mr Clinton’s peccadiloes admire the manner in which he is running the country and would like him to continue to do so undistracted by sexual charges.

Each country lives by its own code of conduct, or, as the Americans put it, community standards at a given point of time. As a broad proposition, it may be said that they are more rigorous in the application of the rule of law than we in this country are, and have greater respect for truth than we have even though our motto is “Satyameva Jayate” (“Truth Triumphs”). What must have surely been noticed in this country is that the attempt in the USA has been to haul Mr Clinton over the coals, not so much because he had affairs with one woman, or even a series of them, but because he has lied to the court and the Americans in general by interpreting literally what sexual misconduct in law means. He has now admitted his folly and apologised to the nation.

I am sure those Americans who have taken a forgiving attitude towards Mr Clinton — and they include the Negroes, the Asians and other minority communities, as also the women in general — would have been unforgiving if the President’s indiscretions put in jeopardy the interests of the USA.

Contrast this with the situation at home. Romesh Sharma is very much in the news. Apart from a series of cases filed against him, he is now being prosecuted under the National Security Act (NSA), which means that he can be detained by the government for a year, subject to a review by the statutory board, and Mr Sharma’s right to seek relief from the higher courts.

Without commenting on the merits of the cases against Romesh Sharma, one might say that the allegations against him which have been reported by the newspapers are mind-boggling. Among his friends and patrons have been three former Prime Ministers, a former Defence Minister, a former Finance Minister and some former Chief Ministers. He had not only had quick access to a former Prime Minister’s official residence — no security checks for him — but had also been accorded “C” class security by the Union Home Ministry.

The Hindi proverb, “Jadu woh jo sar par chadh kar bole”, (the true magic consumes the mind), was literally true in the case of Romesh Sharma. He reportedly began life as a street peddler, graduated to small crookeries and finally landed in the company of Dawood Ibrahim. He allegedly became Dawood’s agent in Delhi, acquired over 31 properties by using strong-arm methods, ran a guest house with enough temptations for our netas, babus, policemen and even some journalists to keep them happy. He is alleged to have been part of a hawala racket too in which, of course, some of our netas are involved. Little wonder, a police officer has described the Capital as a place of “pimps, prostitutes and fixers”.

From crime to politics was an easy step for him and he started a party of his own with a view to fighting elections, to begin with, in Delhi. If newspapers are to be believed, his game-plan was to capture power in the interests of Dawood Ibrahim, whose connections with the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan are well known.

In short, what emerges is that what Pakistan failed to achieve through a low intensity war unleashed in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, it hoped to achieve through the soft political route.

Yes, we do need a White Paper on the ISI’s activities in this country. It is to be hoped that it will honestly deal with its direct influence on politicians, bureaucrats, policemen and even journalists. The names need to be exposed. But will they be?

There is another point to ponder over. Quite a few of our top politicians are facing prosecution. For instance, as many as 46 cases have been registered against Ms Jayalalitha, former ministers and others. The government appointed three special judges to try these cases. Ms Jayalalitha challenged the constitutionality of the measure. A Division Bench of the Madras High Court has just dismissed Ms Jayalalitha’s petition and upheld the validity of the notification.

The court has rejected the charge of mala fide in the issuance of the notification. It has said that Ms Jayalalitha had tried to make out a case that the notification was an attempt to politically annihilate her and others by putting them in bad light by trial and adverse publicity. This, said the court, was not only devoid of merits but was also an attempt to wriggle out of the situation to which they had been placed.

The court said that Parliament and state legislatures were representatives of the people, and they were supposed to know what was good for them. The court could not sit in judgement over their work by picking up holes in drafting.

The Division Bench made the point that once a prima facie case had been made out against the accused politicians, the best course for them was to face the prosecution and to get themselves cleared. The complaint that the prosecution was a consequence of political rivalry deserved to be rejected. When public figures were involved there was bound to be media coverage and this could not be treated as a political spectacle or adverse publicity.

These are wise words and also legally sound, but would they make an impression on our leaders? Ms Jayalalitha does intend to move the Supreme Court against the judgement. Apparently, her game-plan is to procrastinate the cases till the next assembly elections, when she hopes to come back to power.

This appears to be the game-plan of other leaders facing prosecution too. They are hoping for a change in the political leadership of the nation and the states, apparently in their favour.

The real tragedy of the nation is that, for our netas and our babus, the rule of law is a matter of convenience and not of faith.

Population as a roadblock
by Rati Ram Sharma

AT a hurriedly called Press conference on October 15 in New York, after the announcement of the Economics Nobel Prize for him, Prof Amartya Sen said the basic problem of India was that it had ignored education, health care and land reforms. Subsequently he opined that the problem of India’s poverty could be solved within a year if the three problems were properly addressed to. But he did not bring out “population” as the core problem which, in fact, is basic even to the three “basic” problems stressed by him. Politicians have a vested interest in creating and maintaining social chaos and then keeping quiet about it, but Professor Sen is an intellectual who can easily make out. He could and should speak out, particularly after getting the Nobel Prize, because his words might have an authoritative sobering impact on the politicians’ mind, to save the nation from inevitable ruin.

When India became independent, its population was 33 crore. Part of it turned into Pakistan. Now the population of the remaining part of India alone is around 100 crore. Almost 40 per cent of it is below the poverty line. Their absolute number is larger than the total starting population. The problems of illiteracy, malnutrition, ill health. disease, mortality, hunger, poverty, etc, relate to this section of society. But this is a “goldmine” and “vote bank” for politicians, who, on this vote-strength, have won many an election and ruled the country during the past 51 years. Politicians’ interests are better served by keeping, nay enlarging, this vote bank. That is why a number of social welfare programmes and “poverty eradication” schemes have been announced and publicised with only increasing the number below the poverty line. Only 15 per cent of the allocated funds could reach the target population, the rest 85 per cent disappearing on the way.

The present population of the country has several alarmingly abnormal facets. At the level of the micromost social units, namely families, the well-to-do educated people who can well afford to bring up several children are mainly and consciously adopting the “small family” norm. But those who can hardly look after themselves have large families. The big kothis in big cities are occupied by couples with one or two children, but the dwelling units in jhuggi-jhonpri colonies are overcrowded. The politicians vie with one another to get the unauthorised JJ colonies regularised before elections. The concept of secularism has been so confused and distorted.

Professor Sen is right that in India education has always been neglected or ignored. Even if the budget allocation for education is increased, the unmanageable population will bring it all to naught. An idea of the enormity of problem can be had from the crowd of applicants at the time of admissions. But perhaps Dr Sen does not know that admission to a medical course under the reserved category is possible even for one per cent score, ignoring an upper caste with an 80 per cent score. The ruling politician would not be treated by a qualified doctor of the reserved category but would go to the USA or the UK for treatment at huge government expenses. The government is thinking of privatising higher education and asking the universities to earn their own funds. The scheme of mid-day meals in primary schools was started to improve the attendance of students without much success. The reason is that for parents, particularly from the lower income groups, education of the children is counter-productive. The anti-child labour law cannot be strictly enforced because the parents of the working children have no alternative. The alarming aspect of messed-up education can be seen in the long waiting lists in employment exchanges and the long queues of applicants for jobs. Some youths are reported to have taken to guns only because of unemployment. How then do we build a competent, confident, meritorious India to compete with advanced countries?

I have approached the Government of India an to provide for continued medical education so that a doctor registered under allopathy can later qualify and get registered to practice homoeopathy and so on. This will provide all-round comprehensive therapeutic skills in one mind.

The problem of Indian poverty is very complex. It is linked with multiple causative factors and has multiple consequent ramifications, all having a bearing on the unmanageable population. .

The author is a retired Professor and Head, Biophysics Department, PGI, Chandigarh.

Old wounds, new nails
by K.K. Khullar

IF Ghalib were alive today he would have been amused at the nail clipping programme of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. As a typical Delhiite, he might not have opposed the issue tooth and nail but he would not have let it go without a couplet. His philosophy was that by the time the old wounds healed the new nails would grow to undo the heal. But Ghalib was a philosopher who nailed the issue philosophically while the MCD is dealing with it physically.

In ancient India, growing long nails and long hair, and wearing long robes were milestones on the road to asceticism. Magesthenes, who came to India 2300 years ago, writes in his travelogue “Indika” about Indians having long nostrils, long ears, long nails and indeed very long teeth. In pre-Partition Punjab, boys used to chew their nails and girls preserve them. In fact, women of taste had raised rearing of nails to the status of a fine art. They cleaned their nails so meticulously with the tail of squirrel that no trace of dust was left in the roots. A Punjabi film actress, Mumtaz Shanti, had invented a new polish for beautiful nails. This polish represented all the seven colours of the spectrum. In hilly and tribal societies even more wore long nails and cared for them like their moustaches. If personal hygiene is the focus of the current nail-cutting campaign of the MCD, it is not surprising that the same principle prevailed and guided the preservation of nails in olden times.

The nail clipping service is free although not compulsory. It is like primary education. The compulsion is for the state not for the people. Barbers have been asked not to use force but persuade people. If persuasion fails then incentives will have to be given as in family planning. Clerks may get an additional increment for regular clipping of nails for a year on the recommendation of the barber. That would open the floodgates for false certificates.

As the scheme progresses, many more issues would come up. Barbers would require training to cope with difficult situations. For example, the pick-pockets keep blades beneath their nails and knives underneath their sleeves. No barber would ever go near such a person for fear of his pocket being picked.

Something more, therefore, requires to be done. The barber should be given some authority to stop the buses, autos, cars, trucks, rickshaws. It is the bus where the genius can play its part. The moment any person extends his hand to get a ticket the barber should grab it. For ladies lady barbers would have to be employed. Dr Johnson was asked by a lady: “Dr why did you include dirty words in your dictionary”. The great lexicographer replied: “Madam you were looking for them.” The barbers would, therefore, look for the dirty nails as per their programme.

This sounds quite well on paper, but in actual reality it has no base. This was brought home to me by my recent visit to a village in Punjab the other day. Since I had gone there in an urgency I had not taken with me my shaving kit. Accordingly, I surrendered myself, on arrival, to the village barber. He gave me a close shave, rubbed alum on my cheeks, removed my shirt without asking me, shaved my armpits with a sharp razor at one go each, and clipped my nails. All that I underwent wordlessly. At the end of the operation, I said:

“A man like you should be in Delhi.”

“Yes sir, many friends have advised me to contest the coming elections.”

“Delhi is an ideal place for a talented person like you. If you stand from West Delhi popularly known as Refugee Delhi, you will make a mark”, I said in lighter vein.

“But I will prefer South Delhi”, saying that he got busy with someone else.

Ruthlessness propelled Romesh Sharma’s rise

by P. Raman

IT was in the puja room of the late Raj Narain’s Race Course Road residence that this writer first spotted Romesh Sharma. It was really an open house. Any one could walk into any room. A boy was massaging the leader as we heard him assailing Morarji Desai and Rama Krishna Hegde (then general secretary of the Janata Party). Then emerged Sharmaji with a highly gaudy picture of “Netaji Raj Narain with himself sitting at the feet.

The picture remained on the walls of the drawing room among the gods and goddesses, Bhagat Singh, Ram Manohar Lohia, JP and innumerable photos of himself and Charan Singh. Every time we entered the hall, one could not but look at the gaudy picture of the “Netaji” with Sharmaji. One day this writer was taken to a corner and handed a tiny gift packet — a 16-page booklet containing pictures of the late Suresh Ram’s (Jagjivan Ram’s son) sexual orgies. Since then the by-now-familiar face was spotted at a couple of places, including once at the office of the Congress Parliamentary Party.

Hardly had we then anticipated that one of those political hangers-on would one day become the owner of a real estate empire worth an estimated Rs.500 crore. Some have put the figure five times higher. Since his arrest two weeks back, all the endless TV footage and talk of his unbelievable attributes in various underworld activities have begun. All this makes him the latest — not the top-most — in the pantheon of the politico-criminal gods in India. Such urban criminal lords have been a relatively recent phenomenon.

The jungle-based rural dacoits — historically the origin of every ruling dynasty which subsequently got glorified by tracing exemplified ancestry — had certain rustic qualities. Though a terror to the village rich, they were also liberal in redistributing the booty. The new generation of urban criminals have an unlimited area of operation, often across the borders. Street smart and with wide contacts, they form conglomerates, amass wealth and indulge in dangerous kind of activities. Political and business links and connivance with police make them far more formidable.

Each one of the politico-criminals in the past couple of decades has a different orientation, distinct style and objectives. Apart from sheer criminality, all of them sought to become super-rich through nefarious means and aspired to be politicians or meddle in politics. Becoming a member of Parliament has been their cherished ideal. For a few, entry into legislature might have been another avenue for amassing more wealth and more clout. But most of them nursed a desire to contest an election and become a legislator or MP — some kind of a metamorphosis, a feeling of attainment.

Once this is achieved, they begin to adjust to the new atmosphere and become more of a gentleman. The transformation itself may have much to do with their own biological changes. Haji Mastan, a ‘pioneer’ in smuggling activities and a terror in his time, also wanted to contest elections and become a champion of the poor. He had even floated an outfit with a communal tinge to help them. Phoolan Devi, D.P. Yadav and Anand Mohan, with varying background, have achieved political success and seem to have well adjusted in their new avtar. Arun Gawli, after hobnobbing with the Shiv Sena and the rivals, had been quick to build a support base in his small area of operation.

Charles Sobhraj had his own fancies. But Dawood Ibrahim might have been a political aspirant but for his sudden communal vendetta on the aftermath of the Babri Mosque demolition which soon sucked him into the Pakistani sabotage network. Chandraswami is an altogether different guy. Originally a power broker, he had gradually developed white collar criminality as part of his quest for money, fame and power. His is a unique case. He preferred to remain as a king-maker, international broker and presiding deity of his own wealthy empire.

S.K. Jain of the hawala fame is the one ambitious operator who may not fit into any of the above categories. Essentially a business and financial operator, criminality has been incidental to him. But he too had an eye on politics. His efforts for a Rajya Sabha ticket is fairly known. Chandraswami and Jain have been more sophisticated operators at higher levels. Apart from their other activities, they have been able to directly deal with the top politicians though their modus operandi vastly differed. Even if diary entries may not be evidence in judicial parlance, the vast network of recipients he had at the higher levels reveals his easy access and grave potential.

Apparently, Romesh Sharma, who had begun with a sprinkling of politics in the drawing rooms of Lutyen’s Delhi, had unlimited ambition to rise up the power ladder The importance of being Romesh Sharma is that he had tried to acquaint himself with the methods of all hitherto politico-criminals. He could resort to crude strong-arm tactics of any property broker-cum-street goon to grab prized real estate. He is adept at posing as a suave businessman, can forge documents and threaten the victims. He uses any trick to recruit and misuse men and women for any purpose.

As a small time cheat, he could blackmail, beat up and take sadistic pleasure from the torture of the victims. He kept the owner of a grabbed property at his farmhouse as a prisoner for months. Police claim that he had forcefully occupied through various means as many as 32 real estate properties. His involvement with the Bombay underworld made him more ruthless and gave access to Dawood Ibrahim. He became part of the latter’s sabotage-cum-espionage outfit in favour of Pakistan. With all this, if right in Delhi he could evade prosecution and arrest for a decade and more, it has been due to his clout with the politicians and police at higher places.

The Romesh Sharma episode has once again raised the debate on the criminal-politician-business nexus and its disastrous effect on the polity. The revelation so far demonstrates how apt has been the dangerous scenario highlighted in the Vohra Committee report. It seeks to subvert the democratic process and exposes the rot setting in the political and administrative hierarchy. However, it is too naive to presume that all this meant an imminent takeover of the political establishment or administration by the likes of Romesh Sharma. Those who express such fears ignore the basics of the Indian political system and its proven democratic resilience.

All those with a known criminal background who have got elected to the legislatures had the backing of some political party or were beneficiary of a favourable caste factor. Even the brief Anand Mohan phenomenon in Bihar had the backing of the anti-Laloo parties. Phoolan Devi, D.P. Yadav and all the dozen ministers with criminal background in the BJP government in UP had a similar support. Indian voters have time and again expressed their faith in the indispensability of a viable political party with a responsible leadership. While big money is needed to boost the election campaign, that alone cannot earn the voters’ trust.

Prevalence of over a dozen one-leader regional political parties, which are in a position to wrest power in states any time, is often cited to prove that local heroes with huge funds could sway votes. However, each of these regional parties is under a leader with a long political tradition and origin. This gives them political legitimacy. The only rank outsider who could humble the Congress overnight was N.T. Rama Rao. But he could achieve this feat only as a symbol of popular protest against the Congress establishment’s mindless actions. He represented a mighty movement that had the support of the entire Opposition.

Some have suggested the possibility at least in theory, of the likes of Romesh Sharmas putting up a string of candidates with high-profile campaign and try to capture a small state. This, too, looks a misplaced notion. For, such a gang-up itself is bound to have a repulsive effect on the voters as this very fact would be the main talking point in such elections. In popular perception, there still seems to be a distinction between the politician adopting criminal means and criminal using politics. Moreover, in any state no alternative outfit can emerge as an effective force without the backing of an ideology, an issue or a social support base.

However, the Romesh Sharmas and the D.P. Yadavs have been frequently used by political parties to settle score. Sharma, who had made his campaign rath and huge funds ready, has indicated his secret understanding with Sushma Swaraj to put his own party candidates in a dozen Congress strongholds to split the votes. He did so even after Swaraj’s denial. Income tax additional director Vishwa Bandhu Gupta has indicated this in his written petition to the Election Commission alleging that his transfer was part of such an understanding with Romesh Sharma. Sharma has demonstrated his access to three former Prime Ministers and the present one. Several other big names are doing the rounds. But so far, Laloo Prasad Yadav alone is being subjected to special scrutiny.

While the phenomenon represented by Romesh Sharma does not pose any immediate threat of subversion to the country’s oft-tested democratic system, its corruptive influence on the political and administrative fabric should cause concern. Every one is aware of the nexus between the criminals, politicians, police officials, business and foreign agents. The problem can be tackled only with enough political will on the part of the ruling class. Sadly, instead of demonstrating this will, the ruling class is seeking the support of the criminal elements for electoral gains.

The Punjab industry event that went awry

IT was a case of perfect mess. The press meeting of the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, in the Capital last week was an event most scribes looked up to simply because it was the second such event in many months.

The Punjab Government, which has a fairly large public relations establishment in Delhi, chose to let a private agency organise the conference since the agenda was to inform everyone about the industrial progress of the state.

Personnel of the media management firm, instead of making most of the occasion, ended up ruffling quite a few feathers. Apart from their inability to understand professional requirements, the venue lacked space and a malfunctioning public address system compounded woes.

So much so the Chief Minister was distracted during the media conference with officials unable to trace the root of the problem.

What is interesting is that the state government or the Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation, which is supposed to have hired this public relations outfit, did not know that the same firm was discarded midway by the Congress Party after hiring it ahead of the 1998 general election.

Many questioned the need for the state government to hire firms at a considerable cost to the exchequer even though it had its own set-up with a substantial grant from its budget.

Romesh bugbear haunts police

L’affaire Romesh Sharma has not only kept political circles abuzz but also had the police officials scurrying for cover.

While enough stories and names of the politicians have been floating around in the Capital about their possible involvement with Romesh Sharma and also about their various activities with him, it is the police officials who have been trying hard to deny their acquaintance with the Dawood Ibrahim frontman.

A number of police officials have actually been writing official letters to newspaper offices denying their association with Romesh Sharma, who is known to have maintained all kinds of records to show his closeness to police officials and politicians.

While a former Commissioner of Police, in whose daughter’s marriage Romesh Sharma is alleged to have given lakhs worth of jewellery sent out a long denial in a prominent newspaper of the Capital, another senior official who had in the past been the Deputy Commissioner of Police (South District) sent in denials to another newspaper office.

The DCP, who was known to have been introduced to Romesh Sharma by his Assistant Commissioner of Police and was said to have also attended some functions at his residence, actually claimed in the denial that he had seen Romesh Sharma for the first time on the TV after he had been arrested.

It was interesting to see the reaction of another police official actually came out openly and told a scribe: “Talk anything with me but Romesh Sharma. I don’t want anyone to even mention his name in my office. After all even walls have ears”, he said.

He fought till the last

When the young Indian Information Service (IIS) officer, Sanjay Bhatnagar, breathed his last in Washington last week it was the end of a saga of courage and determination. Crippled by deadly muscular dystrophy, a disease which gradually weakens the muscles, Sanjay never considered his disorder a handicap. It was this spirit that led him to challenge the Union Government’s order denying him entry into the prestigious IIS. The young aspirant contested that despite moving in a wheelchair he was fit to serve. The court ruled in his favour and since then there has been no looking back.

His colleagues remember his jovial self and the indomitable spirit to do well in life. He was a virtual walking encyclopaedia, they say. His brother used to help him reach the seventh floor office in Shastri Bhavan, where he was posted as a features editor. His sincerity and sense of duty endeared him to one and all. It was on this basis that two Prime Ministers — Mr Inder Kumar Gujral and Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee — went out of their way to help him.

When Sanjay Bhatnagar discovered on the Internet that there was cure for his disease in the USA, the government posted him at the Indian Embassy in Washington. However, his fight against the disease across the seven shores did not yield the desired results as fate willed otherwise.

‘Create power, not buildings’

With corporate savvy politicians taking up positions in the Union Cabinet, official functions are also changing accordingly. For instance, when Union Power Minister P.R. Kumaramangalam went to lay the foundation stone of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation’s multi-storey office complex at a Faridabad site last week, his speech was not just sugary and sweet. He told the NHPC officials that having big buildings was not enough and they should try to add more megawatts of electricity.

That was not all. He continued to embarrass the NHPC bosses by comparing the size of his office with that of theirs. “At this rate, the entire Power Ministry can shift to the NHPC building” he added. The minister said the NHPC can afford these buildings only when they touch 30,000 MW of power generation.

Mr Kumaramangalam also had a word of advice for the wives and sisters of the NHPC officials. He said he was flooded by requests from several quarters for transfers to selected areas, and in some cases under the plea that they wanted to be near their in-laws house. The minister while appreciating their love for their wives and in-laws said hydroelectric stations could not be set up in the plains. They had to be in the mountains, he added.

He also took exception to some officers from the South seeking transfers to Chennai and other adjoining areas. “We must first at least have a project in the South before opening an office there” he lamented. Surprisingly the minister received a great round of applause for his frank talk.

Ambika’s pep talk

In a rare gesture, the President of the All-India Mahila Congress, Mrs Ambika Soni, has started writing letters to all those women aspirants who applied for the party ticket but failed to get the nod.

She acknowledged the contribution of the aspirants, their qualification and also that it was because of the pressure and sustained efforts, the party fielded more women candidates than before.

Considering the fact, that the battle for reservation for women in legislatures and Parliament had just about begun, the women members will certainly need more pep talk to convert it into a full war.

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

75 YEARS AGO

Foreign News
Burma Oil Rights

LONDON: Replying to Sir Henry Craik in regard to the alleged proclamation signed by Queen Victoria and Lord Salisbury as Secretary of State for India in 1884 and the concession to the Burma Oil Company, Mr Ronald McNeill pointed out that Lord Salisbury ceased to be Secretary for India many years earlier, and the language of the documents showed that they were obvious forgeries. The United States Government was informed in 1921, but no official admission was made till last year.

Correspondence in the meantime was diverted to a side issue, namely, the precise effect of the existing legislation in India. The use of the forged documents in the recent official report to the Senate and the decision to apply for an oil lease by the late Secretary of State for the Interior had caused the Government to make further representations to the United States, eliciting the statement of last week. It was not clear from the Government information whether the documents originated in the Bureau of Mines in 1919 or the US Consulate in Bombay.