P A G E
Tuesday, November 17, 1998
today's calendar
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E D I T O R I A L P A G E |
Tuesday, November 17, 1998 |
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US-Iraq
hating season
INDIA'S
INEFFECTIVE RULERS Will
Taiwan, China reunite? |
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Politics
of antagonism may boomerang on BJP
Mamata
displays grassroots image
America & the client
economies
Ridiculous
practical jokes |
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US-Iraq hating season IRAQ and the USA have developed an incurable itch to incite, scream at and threaten each other before falling suddenly silent. Both went through this pantomime once again last week but not before fighting a psycho war. Iraq, utterly unpredictable always, snapped cooperation with the UN weapons inspection team, thus defying the UN but challenging the USA. America, quick on the draw (the cruise missile) always, despatched a part of its awesome war machine Iraqiwards. Television pundits forecast brutal punishment of President Saddam Hussein and mounted a round-the-clock vigil to capture and transmit across the globe the dazzling destructive power of electronic military toys. With an hour to go before the US-set deadline, Iraq climbed down and the USA calmed down. And a weary world went back to its dreary routine. As befitting a mighty power and a mighty danger to that power, their hatred is always played out with passion before a frightened international public thanks to satellite television. As before, the provocation was the sudden Iraqi withdrawal of cooperation to UNSCOM (UN Special Commission) labouring for the past eight years to unearth and destroy the suspected stockpile of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and related manufacturing facilities. The UN has actually mandated this search as part of the ceasefire agreement at the end of Operation Desert Storm, but today it is spearheaded only by the USA and mechanically supported by the UK. The other three permanent members of the Security Council have long ago abandoned this humiliating way of disarming Iraq. That is the reason why Iraq dubs the wholething UNSCOM, packed with CIA spies, under instruction to topple the Saddam Hussein regime. Nonsense, retorts the USA, accusing the Arab maverick of being a mortal threat to peace in that sensitive region. This is overblown rhetoric, but there is more than a grain of truth in the accusations. Iraq is right when it says
that the USA is not interested in eliminating nuclear or
other deadly weapons. After all, it has winked at a
neighbour (Israel) building a sizeable nuclear arsenal
and is looking the other way when Iran is fast mastering
the technology. The USA is targeting President Saddam
Hussein in person, hating his gutsy defiance and
dictatorial hold on the people. It wants him out, and
will persist even if it means edging a section of the
Iraqi population to slow starvation death by maintaining
economic sanctions. It is pouring millions of dollars to
discover and prop up anti-Saddam Hussein elements and
their efforts to stage a military coup. It also has plans
to start a radio service to educate the Iraqi people on
the virtues of democracy, as it did for years through
Radio Liberty and Radio Free Europe for the exclusive
benefit of the people of Eastern Europe and the erstwhile
Soviet Union. As one Arab commentator explained, the
economic sanctions and the recent oil-for-food agreement
have pushed the common people to the brink and the regime
is merely echoing the “collective cry for
relief”. The two-page annexure to the formal
two-paragraph letter to the UN Secretary General says it
all. It wants the world body to take up the oft-promised
comprehensive review of the UNSCOM work and lift the
crippling sanctions. What the USA is doing to Iraqi
people in the name of the UN belongs to the Stone Age,
denying food and medicine to a whole nation, keeping it
under medieval type occupation. It is cruel that all this
is happening in a shrunken, sharing world. |
Unshackle varsities THE decision of the Punjab Government to allow Guru Nanak Dev University and Punjabi University to fill the required posts in the teaching and non-teaching departments has not come a day too soon. The blanket ban on filling not only ad hoc and part-time posts but also permanent posts had not only reduced the powers of the Vice-Chancellors but had also led to a piquant situation where the academic work was suffering. If the intention was to control the excessive staff strength, that purpose too was not being served. As such, there was a bit of inevitability to the lifting of the ban. What needs to be underlined is that the universities are suffering not just due to the decline in the academic and administrative standards but because of the excessive interference of the government. There has been a brazen attempt to convert these temples of learning into government departments. This is true not of a particular state but of the whole country. In order to reduce the universities to the status of an employment exchange for the government favourites, even the appointments of Vice-Chancellors have been fiddled with, and those who are not pliant enough have been made to bow out. As a result, there are numerous instances where Vice-Chancellors are either serving or retired bureaucrats or even part-time politicians. What this intrusion can do to academic excellence is there for everyone to see. Most universities have become hotbeds of politics, intrigue and groupism. This atmosphere has retarded if not annihilated teaching and research work. That is not the only way
the government has grabbed the levers of powers. It has
also used the financial control as an instrument of
blackmail to make the upright academicians mend their
ways. Things are extremely bad but not completely beyond
redemption. At least in North India, there is still scope
for a turnaround. Teaching is one profession which should
be beyond the depredations of every-day decline in
standards. Enough black sheep have been painted white and
smuggled past the portals of the universities. But there
are still enough intellectuals and men of stature who are
in this profession because of their sheer love for
imparting knowledge and because they measure their
success in terms of how many lamps of learning they
light. Naturally, they brook no nonsense and have the
moral courage to call a spade a spade. Instead of trying
to rein them in, the government needs to mark them out
and help them revive the old tradition. It would be in
the interest of every party to withdraw its
storm-troopers from the universities because they must
have come to realise by now that whatever misuse they
have been making of the universities and colleges can be
easily replicated by a rival party when it comes to
power. Under the circumstances, everybody should refrain
from polluting them. |
Review Periphery Act THE demolition of a number of unauthorised houses on the periphery of Chandigarh has once again revived the debate for planned development of the area falling in the jurisdiction of the Union Territory Administration. On Friday the Public Works Department of Punjab too got into the act of demolishing unauthorised structures on the Kharar-Chandigarh national highway. The agitation against the demolition of unauthorised structures by the “Gaon Sangharsh Samiti” is evidently politically motivated and meant to protect the interests of land sharks. The demolition of houses in Raipur Kalan village has snowballed into a major controversy and the agitators presume that they have the right to hold up traffic on the Chandigarh-Ambala national highway every second day in support of their unreasonable demands for compensation to those whose houses were demolished and regularisation of unauthorised structures. In Mr Satya Pal Jain they have found a useful political ally. His announcement that the nearly 1,800 illegal structures constructed outside the “lal dora” in UT villages would be given water and electricity connections cannot but cause embarrassment to the Chandigarh Administration. It goes without saying that the basic character of Chandigarh cannot be protected so long as politicians do not stop interfering in areas which need expert handling. Of course, the political class should voice the concerns of the people and help the administration evolve a feasible housing policy. The administration too is to be blamed for its Rip Van Winkle-like reaction to the proliferation of illegal colonies in violation of the Periphery Act. Had the administration pulled down the first illegal structure before it was completed, its periphery may not have witnessed the haphazard growth of colonies and farmhouses promoted by unscrupulous builders and realtors. It is inconceivable that
the administration would be allowed to pull down each and
every unauthorised structure in the Union Territory. It
has only two options. One is to be blind to the
unauthorised and haphazard growth of colonies and
‘farmhouses’ and the other is to review the
provisions of the Periphery Act and encourage planned
urban growth for taking care of the housing needs of all
sections of people. Beant Singh’s New Chandigarh
project had many critics but it would at least have
ensured planned urban development. Instead of promising
water and electricity connections to the unauthorised
houses in the UT villages the Chandigarh Lok Sabha member
should discuss with the governments of Haryana and Punjab
the possibility of creating a Chandigarh Capital Region
on the pattern of the National Capital Region for meeting
the housing needs of those residing in the region. The
proposed CCR Authority should be asked to identify
non-agricultural land within a radius of 50 kms and offer
it to recognised builders for planning the kind of
mini-townships which now surround Delhi. What Chandigarh
needs are counter-magnets for preventing it from becoming
a slum city. The Chandigarh Administration must take part
of the blame for the coming up of unauthorised structures
because it did not offer a “planned and
affordable” alternative to the surplus population. A
city which stops growing dies, and a city which does not
offer scope for planned expansion over a period of time
becomes a massive slum. |
INDIA’S
INEFFECTIVE
RULERS A FORMER Prime Minister said that even God would find it difficult to deal with corruption in India. God acts only through human beings. He is not going to come down and say do this and do that. The trouble arises because most of the time we have no inclination to spare time for a public cause. “After me the deluge” is the line that we take. The Delhi Municipal Corporation collects property tax totalling over Rs 600 crore a year. It could perhaps collect five times more — Rs 3000 crore — with some honest efforts, enough for solving all civic problems. The truth is that the unlimited discretionary powers lead to disparity in assessment. This provides unlimited opportunities for corruption. A colleague got a notice for assessing the value of his flat running into crores, whereas he had paid only a few lakhs for it. He ran from pillar to post to get the matter rectified. Even senior officials were not willing to act till they got an appropriate report from the field formation. Another colleague got a fat electricity bill totally unrelated to his average consumption. He petitioned and was told first to pay before his complaint could be looked into. Having been a senior officer, he found this attitude and the treatment he received very annoying. In another case, a man who had applied 17 years ago to the Delhi Development Authority with the necessary deposit is still on the waiting list. He is now 67 and nobody acknowledges his letters. One sweeper has not been paid his princely salary of Rs 242 since March, 1994. In another case, because the owner of the telephone refused to tip the linesman on Deepawali, his telephone was rendered non-functional to teach him a lesson. The stark reality is that no amount of orders or instructions or laws or rules are enough or adequate to bring about improvement in the system. The above are only a few examples of the hardships faced by the “godfather-less” people. It is for this reason that people like to cultivate officials or politicians. It is a kind of insurance to avoid being harassed or insulted by petty and even slightly senior minions of the government. Despite having been independent for the past 50 years, the general population is still exposed to privation and hardship by those who have authority, power and are in a position to disburse the largesse. Basically, it boils down to the rulers not being effective. In the Indian bureaucracy, there are at least one million civil servants and other officials who are delegated the power to take decisions. If even half of them took one decision each, at least 15 million grievances would be redressed every month. It will come to a whopping figure of 180 million decisions in a year. It will wipe off all pending grievances of the people. The government can go with a “clean” slate after its five-year term. The only thing to be
ensured is that the quality does not deteriorate. For
instance, at one time the national carrier, Air-India,
was voted as the best airline of the world. The service
by the cabin crew was rated as the most outstanding one,
with slim, trim, polite, courteous, considerate and
smartly dressed airhostesses. Today the airhostesses give
the impression of being snooty, edgy, snobbish and
unwilling workers who treat the passengers as a necessary
evil. In this age of competition with other airlines,
motherly and auntie like hostesses would not make an
attractive feature for the “Maharaja”. As a
former Civil Aviation Minister put it and rightly so,
Indian as well as foreign passengers would like to see a
Miss India rather than Mother India serving them in the
aircraft. Anybody would hesitate in asking an elderly
woman for whisky and soda. Great responsibility rests on the people of the country also to see that normal life is not disrupted. For instance, a critical situation had developed on April 13 on the occasion of Maha Kumbh Mela. There were claims and counter-claims between rival religious akharas as to who should lead the procession, take bath in the holy river and other matters. Only 10 akhara representatives out of 13 took part in the negotiations and the rest three boycotted. The result was that one crore people took holy bath. The situation could have been calamitous but for the intervention of the administration and the police. It is not a happy situation where the government has to interfere in playing an arbiter in solving questions of religious precedence. Perhaps in such a situation there was no other alternative. At least the police in this case could not be accused of imposing their dictum on the religious groups. The ideal situation would be one where people themselves reached a compromise and did not invite outside interference. At the macro level, it was the quarrels between Indian states which led to the British acting as arbiters and later on taking over as the ruler of the country. It is also time when either voluntarily or by law we as a nation started working seriously. Practically all sections of people — be it the teachers, nurses, doctors, lawyers, bus operators, sanitation workers, electricity board employees, pilots, or government employees — have held society to ransom. This is apart from nearly 183 days of holidays the government employees are officially sanctioned every year. The break-up works out to something like this. There are two weekly holidays, which account for 104 days, 15 days of casual leave, 30 days of full-pay earned leave, 20 days of half-pay leave, 12 government holidays to celebrate various festivals or some birthday or death anniversary, two restricted holidays to cater to regional or special needs. The result is that a government job, coupled with strikes, means a perpetual holiday. No wonder, the speed of the government work can easily be outpaced by the speed of the snail. Even the principle of “no work, no pay” is not strictly enforced in the spirit in which the Supreme Court intended it. Those who do not join the strikes are threatened with dire consequences. The result is that an atmosphere of “no work” is created, and it continues for weeks together after the strike is over. I know of a striking teacher who made a lot of money during a prolonged strike in a state by spending all his time on private coaching. He was unhappy when the strike ended. For the common man, for whose benefit all the schemes are run and the government claims to be working in a democratic set-up, getting the redressal of his grievances means passing through hell. These are not necessarily grievances against the government. Most of his grievances relate to day-to-day existence. A citizen complaining against a fellow citizen for cheating and causing bodily harm may have to wait for decades to see the final disposal of his grievance. The system is clogged at the executive and judicial levels. It is essential to decongest it for moving forward. It can be done by political masters by avoiding the beaten track and by showing a new path. (The author is a
retired Director of the CBI. |
Will Taiwan, China reunite? THOUGH the recent China-Taiwan talks are being played as a breakthrough in the international media, they only mark the end of open hostilities across the Taiwan Strait. Half a century of protestations that reunification is the only policy available has still left the territory inching ever closer towards the goal of independence. Taiwan’s President Lee Teng-hui has stressed many times the importance of democracy in the People’s Republic of China on the mainland as a condition of unification. But Taiwanese public opinion differs sharply. A recent survey by the Taiwan Mainland Affairs Council showed that only 17 per cent wished to unite with China, while 73 per cent were opposed to the “one country, two systems” formula proposed by Beijing. The fact is that, perhaps unsurprisingly, neither of the two basic groups in Taiwanese society trust the Beijing government. The “outsiders” — the soldiers and their families, members of the Kuomintang of Chiang Kai-Shek, who were defeated by China’s communists and fled to Taiwan in 1949 — have no reason to trust the communist regime. Then there are the “local” Taiwanese, those who trace their family history back to at least 1895 when the island was ceded to Japan by the Qing government. They felt betrayed then, and later suffered under the harsh rule of the Kuomintang. Locals, therefore, have a strong sense of Taiwanese identity and traditionally find “mainlanders” — both KMT and communists — untrustworthy. With Taiwan’s increasing democratisation, all political factions on the island have had to take these positions into account. The two major parties, the Kuomintang and the Democratic Progressive Party, thus find themselves advocating similar platforms with respect to the island’s international position. The Taiwan President began as early as 1988 to appoint more Taiwan-born KMT members to government positions in an attempt to localise the party’s appeal. He has to walk a tightrope between affirming the essential unity of “one sovereign China” — the official KMT position ever since 1949 — and insisting that Taiwan has a different government from the mainland, that Taiwan and China are “two political entities”. On many occasions he has called for China to face the reality, to respect the Taiwan government as a political entity with the same importance as the Beijing government. Taiwan belongs to a cultural and historical China, he says, not to the PRC. While the positive spin
surrounding the most recent talks across the Taiwan
Strait has given new life to the idea of a meeting
between Mr Lee and China’s President Jiang Zemin
next year, Mr Lee’s determination to visit China as
the President of Taiwan precludes such a possibility. The KMT’s biggest opposition, the Democratic Progressive Party, holds a slightly different view. Its support comes mainly from the local Taiwanese who have been advocating Taiwan independence since the 1970s. During the years of martial law, they avoided mentioning words such as “sovereignty” and “independence” but simply said the Taiwanese should be able to decide their own future. After the lifting of martial law in late 80s, they argued that Taiwan should declare independence and anything leading to the change of the island’s status should be decided by all Taiwan’s people. However, in 1995 the then chairman of the DPP, Mr Shih Ming-teh, said that if the DPP became the ruling party, it would not and need not declare independence. “Need not” because Taiwan was already a sovereign country. “Would not” because it would arouse attention and reaction from the international community. In 1996, party chairman Hsu Hsin-liang called for a westbound policy. He suggested that Taiwan should open more direct links with China, that there should be more economic, cultural and sociological exchanges. However, these should be carried out in the same way that two countries interact. In other words, Mr Hsu was saying that Taiwan should open a diplomatic relationship with the PRC. The closeness of the two parties’ positions means that sometimes the KMT even borrows ideas from the DPP. Mr Lee’s “unite under a democratic and free system” strategy is very similar to the “one country, one system” negotiation strategy suggested by Mr Hsu Hsin-liang. But the semantic differences have one real division built in. To the DPP, “China” means the PRC. To the KMT it is a cultural and historical China. For the DPP, therefore, the “Republic of China” is Taiwan, and Taiwan does not belong to China, while the KMT believes that they are the Republic of China on Taiwan and that Taiwan belongs to a cultural and historical continuum. The likelihood for both, then is a continuation of the status quo. No one is in a hurry to declare independence. But unification is still no more than a slogan. Taiwan’s uneasy balancing act looks set to stay for some time to come. — Gemini (The author, a
freelance journalist, is based in Hong Kong.) |
America & the client economies by Darshan Singh Maini SINCE the award of the Nobel Prize to Prof Amartya Sen (Harvard), now Master of Trinity, a renewed interest in the economics of compassion, human weal and social engineering seems to be presenting a challenge to the ideologues and apologists of the market economy and globalisation. That this sentiment should have surfaced with some force in the editorials and articles in Indian papers or periodicals is understandable. What’s really both disturbing and ironical is the fact that the award comes close at the heels of the capitalist crisis now in full swing from the ‘liberated’ Russia to the Latin American countries and to the “paper” tigers of South East Asia. And the deep anxiety over the “meltdown” is beginning to make the G-7 “giants” sit up, and take notice of their own imperilled economies and shrinking markets. It’s perhaps too early to say if the recession in the troubled countries is going to settle into a depression, reminiscent of such earlier disorders, particularly of the Great Depression of the thirties in the USA following the Wall Street crash of 1929, but the domino effect of the tumbling, overheated economies of Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, etc, certainly makes nonsense of the economic philosophy of consumerism which’s devoid of the larger humanist vision, and instead underscores the Darwinian side of the issue in question. The very suggestive phrase, “tiger economies”, reveals the aggressive and ruthless nature of the processes of thought. There is, naturally, no room in such a world-view for the deprived and the driven, for the forsaken and the forgotten. But, as in the past, such cycles of affluence and joblessness, of euphoric days and suicides will continue to haunt world economies if the Amartya Sen type of imagination is not pressed into service. Things have not yet fallen apart for the big players in the game (with the exception of Japan), but “the ravens of unresting thought”, to recall a Yeatsian phrase, seem to have already spread their shadow over the neo-capitalist battlements. The dream of the approaching millennium is already in tatters. So, it’s not “the end of history”, but the end perhaps of a misbegotten dream! From the confused signals coming from the monetarists and bourse economists, it appears that they are as yet unable to understand, or unwilling to face the nature of the big leaks in the system. There’s even a grudging and rueful acknowledgement in some write-ups (Newsweek, Time, etc.) of the failure of traditional remedial or corrective measures, and a feeling of helplessness and bewilderment. The economic pundits in Washington are worried about losing their “caste”. For the element of the absurd and the irrational seems to have derailed their dreams. And this absurdity, if one may say so, is structured into the very structure of the economies raised on stilts. One reason advanced for the sudden collapse of “the tiger economies” is that the rulers and the peoples of these countries have failed to create a climate of “honest” capitalism — its values of thrift, transparency, labour, etc, values that puritanism entailed in relation to the making of money as God’s will — and, instead, have promoted venal corruption, greed and insensitivity. There’s some point in that argument, but when we examine the Weberian thesis and the nexus between puritanism and capitalism, we find many a deep chink and fissure. Even the USA — a sui generis case — does not quite fit into the frame. Not even the “Mecca” of high capitalism has been safe or immune as its history of economic upheavals affirms. For, ultimately, the forces of free economy, it appears, resemble the forces of natural disasters such as the periodic earthquakes, hurricanes, typhoons and floods. One cannot completely predict these things, nor stop them when they suddenly erupt and overthrow us into confusion and ruin. The “bulls and bears” economies need to have birds and nightingales around to keep them on course. A touch of poetry in this prosaic business, in short. And this poetry is the poetry of pity and compassion. This, finally, brings me to the philosophical or metaphysical dilemma of the American reality. The deep dichotomy which the runaway capitalism creates is part of the American history, psyche and dream. If, for instance, we examine the great novels and plays of the formative, brutal years of American capitalism (novels of Upton Sinclai, Jack London, and Theodore Dreiser, plays of O’Neill, etc) and the dark metaphysical romance of Melville and Poe and Hawthorne, we begin to see how the Freudian ghosts and economic hobgoblins relating to the American-settler guilt (the inhuman treatment of the bought Blacks and the dispossessed Indians) soured the Great American Dream at the start. The manner in which transparencies turned into ambiguities, dreams into duplicities shows the split in American life, economy and polity. And despite the tremendous steps America has taken towards a working welfare state, the double-facedness of things abides. The American person and the corporate persona exist side by side. To be sure, the American
have advanced the frontiers of human knowledge beyond our
thought, and, in addition, created a viable and vibrant
democracy at home. But it must never be forgotten that
the American economy and life-style of the present day
are heavily dependent upon client economies around the
world, and that if these economies go into a deep
depression, “the American Century” may end not
on “a bang but a whimper”. |
Politics of antagonism may
boomerang on BJP
THERE is an element of truth in Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s recent assertions that the ensuing elections to four state assemblies would not be a referendum on his coalition’s performance. In the normal course, assembly elections are contested on local issues. There have been occasions when voters had behaved differently in elections to the Lok Sabha and the assemblies. Moreover, the loss or gain of a few seats in an assembly election will have no direct impact on the stability of the ruling party at the Centre. Technical position apart, Vajpayee’s remarks speaks volumes of the politician’s nervousness over the present fluid political situation. A shrewd politician, Vajpayee apparently wants to insulate his coalition from a possible fallout of an adverse popular verdict in the four states. The preliminary feedback from the states does not project a very rosy picture for the BJP. Both the Congress and the BJP share almost equally the challenge from rebel candidates. Voter apathy, so conspicuous in the last elections, haunts both parties. While it is too early to gauge the popular mood, what is obvious is the new confidence among Congress workers. The absence of the poll-eve exodus of Congressmen, a regular feature in the past couple of elections, is an indication of the increasing feeling in the party that power could still be within their reach. The emergence of an undisputed high command at the Centre with due dynastic legitimacy — something the Congressmen are so used to — seems to have slowed down the process of disarray in the states. On the other, there is an apparent dismay among BJP workers in the three mainstream states over voter resistance. They are called upon to explain the overall deterioration — the unusual increase in the prices of onions and other vegetables, failure to prevent deaths from mustard adulteration, spurt in crimes and power cuts that have become beyond control. Since all this prevails right in the midst of the poll campaign, there is hardly any time for voters to forget and forgive the ruling party. Even party loyalty and organisational superiority seem to be failing to assuage their feelings. Besides some emotional issues have suddenly cropped up in the midst of the campaign. Revulsion over the suicide of students due to what is widely perceived as insensitivity on the part of the administration, murder of a BJP rebel candidate, etc have aggravated the situation for the BJP workers. This has given more grit to the Opposition propaganda against the ruling party. It has been fashionable to blame Bihar and UP for electoral violence. In Delhi, it is widely believed to be a fractricide committed by one BJP group on the other. This mafia war, again, highlights the character of the newly acquired BJP cadre. More than an electoral jolt, this degeneration of cadre quality should cause more worry to the party leadership. The elections to 637 assembly seats — 320 in Madhya Pradesh, 200 in Rajasthan, 70 in Delhi and 40 in Mizoram, along with seven byelections in different states — may not be a referendum on the performance of the government at the Centre. But it will certainly be considered as a popularity test for both the Vajpayee Government and the BJP as a party. Despite this, it is puerile to jump to the conclusion that all this would automatically lead to the collapse of the present coalition — even if the BJP suffers a rout in all four states. This may look paradoxical. Then that is precisely how the political dynamics has so far worked in the BJP’s favour. The BJP coalition’s survival has been solely due to a peculiar kind of political antithesis, that exists in various states. Every BJP ally is bound by such local antagonism. If the TDP is constantly coming to the rescue of the BJP in Parliament, it has been due to its fear that the Vajpayee Government’s fall would facilitate the ascent of its arch-rival Congress at the Centre. Anti-Congressism also guides the Akalis in Punjab, Chautala in Haryana and, to an extent, the AGP in Assam. For them, a relatively weaker BJP is an easier option. Similarly,
Jayalalitha’s DMK-centred policy still keeps her
tieup with the BJP alive. It has been Ramakrishna
Hegde’s anti-Gowda phobia that led him into the BJP
camp. For Mamata Banerjee, it is anti-Leftism. Neither
the BJP allies nor their sworn rivals have any presence
in any of the four states where elections are now being
held. Thus the results would not make any difference to
them. On the other, it is even possible, at least in
theory, that the allies will continue to defend the BJP
government more zealously to avert the advent of a
Congress government. How long will this delicate politics based on antagonism work? It could have worked much longer, even if with the periodic hiccups, had all other factors remained constant. But in today’s politics it cannot be so. Predictably, soon after the polls there will be a reiteration of loyalty to the coalition by every ally. However, the real durability of the arrangement will depend on the BJP leadership’s readiness to accommodate the interests of its dozen and half allies. “Interests” of the allies do not mean demands for more ministers or more funds. The big brother’s real problem will be how to reconcile the political interests of each ally’s support base. The BJP leadership has all along overlooked this crucial difference. While the compulsions of local antagonism pushes the allies in to the BJP camp, the interests of their own support base clashes with that of the BJP. The RSS parivar’s aggressive moves against the Christians and their institutions have caused much uneasiness among the allies. Most of them enjoy the support of a non-religious following. Initially, the allies had explained away their tie-up with the BJP saying that it was only a strategic arrangement to share power. Now that the BJP has given a clear notice of its intention to “Hinduise” education, history and culture, the allies have begun experiencing a minority backlash. The recent civic elections have been an eye-opener for Mamata Banerjee. Chandrababu Naidu and Jayalalitha have adopted different strategies to minimise this minority revulsion. Both have a fairly big Christian and Muslim support base. Jayalalitha’s frequent fight with the BJP leadership gave her the much-needed cushion. Naidu’s support has been selective. What has suddenly added to the discomfiture of the allies has been the repeated assertions by the senior BJP leaders like Kushabhau Thakre that the party could not implement its own Hindutva policies due to its dependence on allies. The minority supporters among the allies resent the way their leaders are allowing themselves to be used as “ladders” by the BJP. Mamata Banerjee’s decision to observe December 6 as ‘black day’ is aimed at delineating her party’s policies from that of the BJP. Her party has also resented the BJP government’s plans on the “Hinduisation” of education. Trinamool circles say that their leader had plans to raise the issue of communalising education and culture at the meeting of the coordination committee. She had demanded a meeting of the committee for this purpose. It was not to discuss prices alone. Now that she had resigned from the panel, she will make more noises against it at public fora and in Parliament. This is bound to force the other allies to take a position on such issues, as bashing of Christians and Bible-burning. The response of the Akalis, by far the most loyal ally, has been rather unique. They have now demanded separate identity by seeking special personal law for the Sikhs. This seems to have further embarrassed the RSS parivar as it had all the while claimed that all indigenous religions are only different sects of Hinduism, and not a separate religion as such. The local antagonism that had hitherto helped the BJP earn the support of the allies, seems to be turning against it in a big way. It is always a double-edged weapon. The parties that supported the BJP coalition under such compulsions will also have to compete with the local rivals on their own turf. If the Akalis try to compromise on the Udham Singh Nagar district issue, the Mulayam Singh party or the Congress will be the beneficiary. The former will have to vie with others to fight for its exclusion from the new state. The Akali decision to withdraw from the contest in the ensuing assembly elections in favour of the BJP is being made an issue by the rival Akali Dal. The Samata Party is forced to demand bigger compensation for the bifurcation of Bihar, just to outsmart the Laloo party. Mamata Banerjee has put forth a long list of demands to the Centre. At times, she seems to assume the same role the Left had played during UF rule by insisting on certain economic issues. Her demands include scrapping of the proposal for the closure of eight public sector units, six of them in West Bengal. She has given notices of her opposition to the closure of eastern coalfields which, she says, would render 70,000 workers jobless. This explains the new mood
of assertiveness among the regional allies who will now
have to be more responsive to the campaigns and action
plans by their own local competitors. On this depends
their own political survival. Largely adverse election
results are bound to heighten the process. Coinciding
with this is the normal season for setting in the process
of disillusionment of a new coalition at the Centre.
Usually, the process begins only after eight months to a
year. The present government is heading for that
disillusionment line. |
Mamata displays grassroots image LUCKNOWITES, the other day, got a first-person account of Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee’s trademark “leader-next-door” image. Used to attending the needs of a different breed of leaders, Loktantrik Congress workers had a tough time getting accustomed to Ms Banerjee’s style of functioning. The firebrand Bengal leader made the party workers hastily arrange for a humbler Maruti, instead of the more upmarket Sumo, which they had initially arranged to bring her from the railway station. Even before the bewildered workers could respond, Ms Banerjee walked up to a vegetable vendor and enquired about prices and justified it by saying “Isi pe to bolenge” (I will speak on this). As the convoy left for the destination, Ms Banerjee stopped the car mid-way demanding that the escort car and sirens should not be part of the journey. Later, at the guest house, she insisted on “paying her own bills”, and took a dig at the frequent calls on the cell phones of her host.” These calls cost much. How come you have so much of money”. Flabbergasted, a worker remarked: “She behaves more like an angry headmistress than a leader”. Gill mum on Milkha That India’s well-known sprinter Milkha Singh has managed to rake a controversy over the new record of 400 metres recently became clear the other day. While addressing the media, the Chief Election Commissioner, Dr M.S. Gill, was giving figures about the number of contestants and percentages. On a particular figure he
said that it could be rounded-off to three instead of
2.97 per cent and in the same breath added that he did
not want to quibble like Milkha Singh (whether his record
stood or was erased (by Paramjit Singh). Anti-police PILs Although the focus may no longer be on them, the woes of Punjab police personnel still rankles their brethren across the nation. The issue figured during the recent meeting of the Directors-General of Police organised by the Intelligence Bureau held in the Capital. There were reports that some senior ranking police officials drew parallel to the lack of motivation among police forces in some states which are facing a law and order problem. It was mentioned that just as some Punjab police officials who had fought militancy were now facing trial, there was yet another trait in some parts where criminals were said to be reportedly behind filing public interest litigations through fronts and binding down police personnel who have to tackle them. The matter drew the attention of the Home Minister who has been critical of the manner in which the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act which was enacted by Parliament was allowed to lapse some time ago. Onions to woo voters As expected onions is a major issue in the assembly elections in Delhi. The Opposition parties are doing their best to highlight the Government’s failure to contain the increasing prices of essential commodities. Onions being symbolic of the present state of affairs on the price front, it has become omnipresent in the Opposition campaign. Onion-shaped balloons floating on multi-utility vehicles and cars are a common sight on Delhi roads these days. But amidst all this high flying campaign, the Opposition is still making a mistake. Balloon symbols are fine but then the candidates are roaming wearing huge “onion malas (garland)” around their neck. With so much of onions doing the rounds, the common man is left wondering whether there really is a shortage of the bulbous vegetable or is it just politics. A bystander seeing large quantity of onions around a candidate’s neck quipped that the politician would have done better if instead of displaying them he had distributed it to the public. Even one onion per person would have ensured a valuable vote. Competing to draw kids Teachers Day, Mother’s Day, and now it is Children’s Day. Delhiites seem to have started observing these days with great enthusiasm and fervour, thanks to the import of Western culture in the liberalised economy. The catchy advertisements of companies like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Nestle, Cadbury’s and Archies have made it fashionable for parents to encourage their children to observe these days as festivals. Exchange of cards have become a common phenomenon on these days. For instance on November 14, several companies offered freebies on their products and this included free outings to amusement parks. Popular places like Appu Ghar and the zoo were crowded and for a change the more popular International Trade Fair in the adjoining Pragati Maidan seemed to have taken the back seat. Govt that means business The change of hands at the Centre appears to have resulted in a shift of focus vis-a-vis the country’s two premier industry associations, FICCI and CII. FICCI, more in line with the present government’s prophesed swadeshi ideology, seems to have stolen a march over its rival association, CII ever since the BJP-led coalition government took charge in March. The mood in the FICCI Secretariat is upbeat with not only the Prime Minister gracing the association two times within a short span of 20 days, but also because of the fact that major announcements on the economic front being made at these meetings. The PM’s announcement at the FICCI AGM last month of a multi-fold economic package to put the economy on a high growth trajectory was followed by the announcement to issue PIO cards to Indians living abroad at the Global Indian Entrepreneurs Conference — also organised by FICCI. The CII, on the other hand, has so far been graced only once by Mr Vajpayee. The Finance Minister, despite his busy schedule, chose to participate in two full sessions (one as chairman) spanning over two hours at the FICCI conference. Now, did somebody say that government didn’t mean business? (Contributed by
T.V. Lakshminarayan, K.V. Prasad, Girja Shankar Kaura,
Gaurav Choudhury and P.N. Andley) |
Ridiculous practical jokes Comment WE seem to be passing through an epidemic of red letters. Government officials, shopkeepers, municipal commissioners, even newspaper editors have received such letters threatening them with death if they do not mend their ways. At one time these letters might have inspired the addressee with fear, but as their number increased they were treated as mere bluff and now one regards them as a humdrum sort of affair. The mystery behind these letters has, however, deepened, as the police has failed to trace the authors of these practical jokes who sign themselves as “General Officers Commanding,” “Officer Commanding”, “Commander-in-Chief,” “Minister of Justice” or as holding some other equally exalted office in the “Hindustan Socialist Republican Army.” The latest letter of the kind which we have received, and which we publish elsewhere for what it is worth, is from no less an authority than the “Secretary, the Socialist Republican Army.” It is reassuring to learn that “the red letters which have become so common now-a-days” are not genuine but are the work of C.I.D. agents and that the unoffending men, including members of our own fraternity, who were threatened with instantaneous death are safe. We hope that this
much-needed assurance will bring relief to many a
troubled mind. Whoever may have been responsible for
these practical jokes, the high dignitaries of the
“Republican Army” or agents of the
much-maligned C.I.D., it is now time that the game should
cease; it has gone too far, and has lost even its
novelty. |
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