The plot thickens
ENSURING that no harm whatsoever comes to Mrs Sonia Gandhi is very much the government's responsibility. After all, the country has already lost a Prime Minister, a former Prime Minister and a retired Army chief to enemies of the nation active both within and outside the country.

No end to UTI blues
A VERY keen and committed Sensex watcher is UTI, and it moans daily that the current buoyancy has not lifted all boats equally.

Salaam Tendulkars
THE Perfect Man of poets and philosophers is as real as E1 Dorado. History has, perhaps, thrown up only a handful of such people as can be considered to have come close to meeting the exacting requirements of perfection of the poet-philosophers.

THE PLIGHT OF DALITS
by Praful Bidwai
THE Tamarind Court episode underlines a ghastly truth: in India, there are two laws, two standards of police investigation, even two approaches to newspaper reporting for two categories of people.

Issue of one rank, one pension
by Satyindra Singh
OVER a month ago — April 10 to be precise — Raksha Mantri George Fernandes made an announcement at Anandpur Sahib that the long-pending demand of the ex-sevicemen of one rank, one pension has been accepted and its implementation was now a “matter of only a few days”.

Will keeping Hindutva in cold storage pay off?
by P. Raman
IT IS really difficult to say which one of the last week’s two parallel developments will turn out to be politically more significant in the long run — the excruciating convulsions in the Congress or the suppressed rumblings within the saffron ranks.

Sonia’s letter throws CWC into confusion
THE meeting of the Congress Working Committee at which Mrs Sonia Gandhi announced her resignation as the party president had its share of drama amid serious business.

The disturbing factor
by N. S. Tasneem
TO look back and view one’s achievements is not so frustrating as to hold in relief one’s aspirations which have remained all along unrealised. One knows what one can do whereas the people know only what one has done.

75 Years Ago

National Week in Madras
SPEAKING at the third day’s celebration of the National Week, Mr T. Prakasham said that the attainment of Swaraj and its maintenance depended on Hindu-Muslim unity. The government had often said that there could be no talk of freedom for India until there was a compact between Hindus and Mahomedans.

The plot thickens

ENSURING that no harm whatsoever comes to Mrs Sonia Gandhi is very much the government's responsibility. After all, the country has already lost a Prime Minister, a former Prime Minister and a retired Army chief to enemies of the nation active both within and outside the country. But the way Mr Pranab Mukherjee and Mr Arjun Singh have gone about raising the issue of the alleged plans to eliminate Mrs Sonia Gandhi is hardly in good taste. They owe an explanation to the country as to what are their sources of information. Even if it is granted that such a plot exists, the description of it as given by Mr Arjun Singh smacks of politics aimed at diverting attention from the internal problems of the party. By saying that "some fascist clique which had assassinated Mahatma Gandhi is now trying to target Sonia Gandhi through another diabolical plan", he and his colleagues have tried to whip up hysteria which will be difficult to control. And to make matters worse, they have tried to put words into the mouth of the Prime Minister, which the latter has denied. The irony is that Mr Arjun Singh has offered no explanation about the identity of the alleged plotters, saying that his note is explicit. That gives the impression that he is in the know about the identity of the conspirators. He can score more political brownie points by coming out with their names. This will also help him in ensuring that no harm comes to Mrs Gandhi. What is holding him back?

So many disruptionist forces are active in the country that it will be naive to believe that there is no threat to Mrs Sonia Gandhi. She is as much in the gunsight of the terrorists as some other senior functionaries of the government are. The point to be noted is that the widow of Rajiv Gandhi and her children and even her son-in-law already enjoy the highest level of security cover. The government has done well to announce categorically that it will be further beefed up. The Home Minister has rather cockily said that pre-emptive security measures are being taken and no terrorist group will be able to carry out any major operation anywhere in the country. The safety of the top leaders irrespective of their party affiliations should be a matter above partisan considerations. Mr Pranab Mukherjee and Mr Arjun Singh will be better off liasing with the government on their threat perceptions in a confidential manner rather than making a song and dance about it. Ironically, while these two leaders claim to be in the know of such a sinister murder plot, they have on their own admission told the Prime Minister that their party is not equipped to give suggestions as to how to tighten the security. Saving the life of every leader and every citizen of the country is the responsibility of the government. This job can be better performed through a constructive approach rather than adopting a "we told you so" posture. Pointing an accusing finger without verifying the factual position with the authorities can be misconstrued as crude mischief-making.

No end to UTI blues

A VERY keen and committed Sensex watcher is UTI, and it moans daily that the current buoyancy has not lifted all boats equally. What it means is that not all shares have benefited from the exceptional bull run that has taken the index by nearly 1000 points since the Vajpayee government was voted out last month. Stocks of pharmaceutical companies, software units and fast moving consumer goods have risen, while those of old fashioned blue chip companies like Tatas continue to be sluggish. UTI has heavily invested in long established units and their share value has not dramatically risen to drive away its blues. At one time it was believed that if the Sensex touched or crossed 3700 points, the net asset value of US 64 will break even, thus mitigating the fear of UTI having to dip into its reserve or other funds to meet the dividend obligation. Long after that magical mark has been crossed, there is no end to the original fears of the giant mutual fund.

Simultaneously, it has also come under pressure to withdraw from businesses other than mutual fund. This is a SEBI directive and it will help UTI claim full tax benefit for dividend payment. So the first to go will be its real estate holdings. When UTI first hinted at disposing of its buildings, the construction industry groaned fearing that large-scale disposal by it would depress the already depressed market. In Mumbai proper housing has suffered a nearly 30 per cent erosion in value and in the much-publicised Navi Mumbai dwelling units built for super rich NRIs are available to anyone at half the original price. If UTI were to join the sellers list, the effect would be devastating, given the general impression that it is one of the biggest owners of building and land. The truth has turned out to be easily bearable. UTI has not invested in a big way in construction; all it owns are the offices it and its sister concerns function from. The book value is a modest Rs 356 crore and market value nearly four times that. And UTI is not selling, but only transferring the title to one of the asset management units it has floated some time back. Actually it is all a book transfer to beat the law, or to take full advantage of the law. The construction industry can breathe easily.

UTI has also reasons to keep its faith in the effects of a friendly share market. A study by the FICCI says that the current bull run in the market is there to stay and it is not a flash in the pan. Even otherwise, analysts argue that conventional wisdom says that economic turnaround should pick up momentum anytime now. Normally recession runs out of steam in about three years. Two, foreign institutional investors are “buying value and not growth”, meaning that at the current prices the shares are good value for money and profit does not depend entirely on their growth in future. Another calculation shows that the Indian share market has a more promising future than those elsewhere in Asia. More important than all these weighty points is the new realisation among the 20 or so leading speculators in Mumbai that there is money to be had in waiting for a better day than book profit at the slightest increase in prices. Anybody who keeps his money in shares for some time is an investor and not a pure speculator. And an investor is market friendly.

Salaam Tendulkars

THE Perfect Man of poets and philosophers is as real as E1 Dorado. History has, perhaps, thrown up only a handful of such people as can be considered to have come close to meeting the exacting requirements of perfection of the poet-philosophers. The Bard gave his heroes at least one flaw to make them look real. Does Sachin Tendulkar too have a “fatal flaw” to make him look real? As a cricketer he has many, but as a man he has few. But the Sachin who came out to bat against Kenya at the Gloucestershire County ground on Sunday seems to have forgotten that he was a jet-lag weary mortal whose failure with the bat would have been forgiven by the cricket-crazy nation of 900 million unreasonably demanding Indians. Yet he played a faultless innings and in circumstances which should make not only India but the entire world realise that this is the nearest we are ever likely to get to acknowledging the presence of the Perfect Man in our midst. The western world may, perhaps, never understand the worth of his innings because it sacrifices human emotions at the altar of achievement. For it the death of a near one is invariably an irritating intrusion in the affairs of the living. It may see his innings as yet another day in office. We, however, owe a debt of gratitude to the game of cricket for helping us realise “that for every scoundrel there is a hero, that for every selfish politician there is a dedicated leader.... that for every enemy there is a friend”. Had Sachin not played cricket he may have been a faceless decent human being without a touch of arrogance, a trusted friend and a dedicated family man.

Those of us who still believe in the old fashioned joint family system would understand how the death of a near one leaves us devastated for weeks together. Yet Sachin gave himself only time enough to be present at the cremation of his father to whom he was as attached as he is to his mother, brothers, wife and daughter. To help him resolve the conflict between devotion and duty was his mother who urged him to return to England to help the team remain in contention for the coveted World Cup. His wife and brothers too helped him make up his mind in favour of playing for the country. It is not only Sachin but the Tendulkar family which deserves the gratitude of the nation for the fine gesture to a team which seemed lost without the reassuring presence of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. Let not the true worth of the gesture be lost on the younger generation which has begun to eat cricket, sleep cricket as ordained by commercial interests and lead life in the fast lane of self indulgence. All the young boys who dream cricket may not end up being Sachin. But if they dream Sachin and end up being half as perfect as he is as a human being, it would still be a life well lived. He is the only superstar of the world of sport with a totally clean image as a man and player. Years ago the nation fell in love with the reel persona of Amitabh Bachchan. But the Sachin the nation has fallen in love with is unbelievably real.

THE PLIGHT OF DALITS
Serious gaps in system
by Praful Bidwai

THE Tamarind Court episode underlines a ghastly truth: in India, there are two laws, two standards of police investigation, even two approaches to newspaper reporting for two categories of people. What applies to the BMW class, the Qutab Colonnade elegantsia and the smart set does not hold true for ordinary mortals, the unprivileged, unwashed and the unconnected-to-high- places. If your income exceeds a certain level, the chances of your going to jail, no matter what your crime is, are remote. If you are from the”unconnected” class, you can be sure of getting your share of harassment abuse and ignominy.

What is less widely acknowledged is discrimination even within the unprivileged class. Indeed, large sections of society are becoming apathetic about systematic discrimination along caste lines. This is true, with a vengeance, of violence against our 160 million Dalits, who are victims of one of the cruellest systems of exploitation ever invented and legitimised. Hardly a week goes by without reports of some outrageous or repulsive anti-Dalit act: segregation along caste lines in a Delhi medical college hostel; people in Telangana being forced to drink tea from separate cups in roadside stalls; persistence of the practice of carrying night soil on the head; Dalits being forced to bathe in the same pond as buffaloes in Tamil Nadu; massacre of landless people (on April 22 in Gaya) after the Shankarbigha and Narayanpur outrages this last February. And yet there isn’t a strong sense of moral anger at this, nor a stirring call for preventive and deterrent steps.

“Broken People: Caste Violence Against India’s Untouchables”, a report by Human Rights Watch, the international group, should serve as an eye- opener to many in this country. Based on interviews with more than 300 Dalits, and over a 100 government officials, social workers and lawyers, the report systematically documents anti-Dalit discrimination through ways and methods that reports of the National Commission on Scheduled Castes and Tribes often ignore: eloquent photographs, direct quotes, and vivid descriptions of the casteist attitudes of policemen, politicians and landlords.

The picture that emerges from “Broken People” , and numerous other documents — notably the Indian Social Institute’s “State of Human Rights in India”, and material produced by the National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights — is horrifying. To be a Dalit means having to live in sub-human, degraded and insecure ways: every hour, two Dalits are assaulted; every day, three Dalit women are raped and two Dalits are killed — simply because of their “untouchable” status. Between 1994 and 1996, a total of 98, 349 cases were registered nationwide as atrocities against Dalits. Of these, 38,483 were registered under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1995. Given that many Dalits are reluctant or unable to report atrocities, and that the authorities often do not record them, the actual incidence of abuse is probably much higher.

More than 60 per cent of the Dalits are landless. Over 40 million of them are bonded labourers. Dalits are the worst victims of violations of minimum wage regulations and coercion to perform degrading work like manual scavenging. They are excluded from access to common property resources. This quasi-apartheid system extends from home to school, field to temple, from the street to the courts. More than 50 years after Independence, untouchability and segregation remain rampant. Indeed, they have become entrenched in a modern, contemporary, system of exploitation at the foundations of this hideously unequal society.

Caste oppression in India today is not a medieval hangover. It is part of the present-day system which relies heavily on bondage and violence to secure absolute control over labour. This system includes non-payment of dues, sexual abuse of women, intimidation, physical harassment, public humiliation and, increasingly, outright killing. Periodic pogroms of Dalits, and butchery (as it happened at Laxmanpur-Bathe when 62 were gunned down, or at Dalelchak, where 54 were massacred) have emerged as a new casteist response to the Dalits’ efforts to organise themselves to resist depredations. A related phenomenon is the criminalisation of Dalit protest and social activism. The state harasses activists by accusing them of obstructing the work of officials, by denying them access to information, or by filing false and malicious charges.

The emerging pattern is not one in which Dalits are helpless and passive victims, but where their growing resistance is sought to be suppressed by the systematic use of force. The Ranvir Sena’s massacres have claimed over 400 lives. This could not have happened without police complicity, as well as intense frustration among the Bhumihars at the Dalits’ growing organisation. The February 11 Narayanpur massacre took place because Bhumihars wanted to prevent Dalits from taking part in a march to protest against the January 25 killing of fellow-Dalits at Shankarbigha.

A disturbing new trend is the blunting or discarding of some of the instruments the state was forced to develop to protect Dalits. The worst instance is the Atrocities Act, and the 1995 Rules under it. This law had to be passed in the first place because the police and the courts failed to use the provisions available in the existing laws, and would plead helplessness in the face of different forms of Dalit harassment. But in many states, the Act has been subverted. One of the most important actions of the Kalyan Singh government on coming to power was to issue an order suspending the Act’s enforcement. Similarly, in Maharashtra, the Sena-BJP government annulled complaints made under the Act. In BJP-ruled Rajasthan and Gujarat, the number of complaints registered fell significantly.

The problem of anti-Dalit discrimination extends to many other states, Tamil Nadu being an unfortunate instance too. In its southern districts, the middle caste Thevars have tormented Dalits through hair-raisingly brutal and barbaric methods. According to “Broken People”, “a girl was gang-raped, murdered, and then butchered. She belonged to the scavenger community. The men.... cut off her hand and leg and shaved her head. They then cut her head and put a stick into her private parts and then hung her head with the stick”.

Although “Broken People” looks largely at atrocities in Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Maharashtra — and there is an excellent discussion of the 1997 Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar firing in Bombay — It tries to link these with issues like gender, class and land. It exposes the government’s failure to take corrective action, and abide by its own legal obligations under a number of international covenants as well as under Article 17 of the Constitution. The domestic obligations include the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1955, and of course, the Atrocities Act. The rate of conviction under this Act remains abysmal — typically well under 10 per cent in most states. The international conventions include the Convention for Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

“Broken People” makes a number of thoughtful suggestions to state and non-state actors: on improving the implementation of domestic laws, pursuing positive discrimination actively, further empowering SC-ST commissions, establishing a review board, launching nationwide awareness campaigns on atrocities against Dalits and inviting UN Special Rapporteurs on Arbitrary Detention, on Torture, on Extrajudicial Summary and Arbitrary Executions, and on violence against women, to visit India. It also recommends full compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and Indian ratification of the Convention against Torture.

These recommendations are undoubtedly worthy of acceptance. But there is need for something more too. That is political action by the Dalits themselves. As Ambedkar told the Dalits: “Believe in your strength... . You must abolish your slavery yourselves.... Political power is the master key by which you can open each and every lock.” The experience of the Dalits with political groups like the Republican Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party has been unsatisfactory. These organisations have done a lot to promote Dalit self-awareness and self- respect. But they have not moved much beyond identity politics and towards the politics of social transformation. Rather, they emphasise patronage and are often biased in favour of the Dalit elite.

Issue of one rank, one pension
by Satyindra Singh

OVER a month ago — April 10 to be precise — Raksha Mantri George Fernandes made an announcement at Anandpur Sahib that the long-pending demand of the ex-sevicemen of one rank, one pension has been accepted and its implementation was now a “matter of only a few days”. Since then the implementation, I would like to believe, is progressing; how fast and intrinsic, I don’t know. Every now and then we read about the pending work that has to be cleared by the “caretaker government” but this subject is not mentioned. So let us draw our own conclusions from this. But that is why the ex-servicemen need media attention to “chevy up” things appropriately, for in the kingdom of babudom the ethos of “delay, deprive and deny” is an abiding factor.

The Tribune has a very, very large segment of our ex-servicemen community as its readers. But before I mention a few lines about the genesis of the matter, I must mention that on April 11 itself our AIR asked me to record a talk on this subject which was broadcast on the spotlight programme after the 9 p.m. English news bulletin. This was because I was one of the three petitioners in the pensioners case on which the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court delivered its historic judgement on December 17, 1982. I did mention to AIR that very few people now listen to AIR with TV being the craze for most people!

To quote a few lines from the Supreme Court judgement: “With a slight variation to suit the context, Wolsey’s prayer — “Had I served my God as reverently as I did my King, I would not have fallen on those days of penury” — I fall on the thorns of life, I bleed. Old age, ebbing mental and physical process, atrophy of both muscle and brain power permeating these petitions, the petitioners in the fall of life yearn for equality of treatment which is being meted out to those who are soon going to join and swell their own ranks.”

The judgement can be termed as a sort of magna carta for pensioners, for at the very end, the judges stated: “With the expanding horizons of socio-economic justice... and largely influenced by the fact that the old men, who retired when emoluments were comparatively low and are exposed to vagaries of continuously rising prices... we are satisfied that by introducing an arbitrary eligibility, being in service and retiring subsequent to the specified date, or being eligible for the regularised pension scheme and thereby dividing a homogeneous class, these classifications being not based on any discernible rational principle ... are unconstitutional and are struck down.”

The government thereafter filed a 75-page review petition which was rejected by a six-line order in April, 1983. The Secretary (Expenditure) was approached by the petitioners with the order. His Joint Secretary (Administration) reacted in a manner which is a manifestation of our supercilious bureaucracy at its eloquent best. He said: “We will go to Parliament and nullify this judgement.” They did not go to Parliament in a formal manner but have made sure that to this date the judgement has not been implemented — in thought, word and deed!

During this writer’s frequent rounds of the Supreme Court as one of the three petitioners, a story from the Mahabharata was related to the situation by a decorated World War II veteran, in his late seventies. Four Pandava brothers had drunk water from a pond without answering a set of questions despite being warned against doing so by a divine force. While the four brothers lay dead, the eldest of all, Yudhishthir undertook to answer the questions in return for the lives of his brothers. “Which is the most wonderful phenomenon?” asked the voice. “No man”, replied Yudhishthir, “though he sees others dying all around him, believes that he himself will also die.” The lives of his brothers were restored. The veteran then posed the question: “Will our babus, netas and Chiefs of Staff never retire or die?” To this one could add what Palmerstone once remarked: “Die, doctor? That’s the last thing I’ll ever do!”

The most important point to mention is that a mere announcement means very little. It has to be ensured that this acceptance is concretised by issuing government orders immediately so that former uniformed personnel receive their due pension and arrears within two months of the announcement — one month has already gone by and in the process (two months) nearly 10,000 ex-servicemen pensioners would have died; they form two-thirds of the central government pensioners. There are also the family pensioners and disabled pensioners who encounter a callous and cruel system in a more pronounced manner.

Ex-servicemen pensioners are entitled to be considered a little differently from civil pensioners for on the date of their entry into service they are enjoined to be ready to offer the supreme sacrifice for the nation — and which they happily do, in addition to coming to the aid of civil power so frequently when all else has failed. One would like to hope that those who have defended the basic integrity of the nation, and for many of whom life ebbs fast, are not disposed of with platitudes, for they are in no position to use coercive methods to get their demand accepted like many others do and so frequently.

(The author is a retired Rear Admiral, Indian Navy.)

The disturbing factor
by N. S. Tasneem

TO look back and view one’s achievements is not so frustrating as to hold in relief one’s aspirations which have remained all along unrealised. One knows what one can do whereas the people know only what one has done. So the hiatus between one’s aspirations and achievements is always there and it goes on widening with the passage of time. Interestingly the genuine person expects praise from the right quarters but recoils from accolade that is not his due. He is fully conscious of his capabilities but his achievements generally fall short of his aspirations.

The paradox of the parameters with which a person judges himself and those with which others judge him is a disturbing factor. At the back of his mind there is always something that creates tension. In fact, an artist or a poet does not know his destiny and has no idea of his destination. He is for ever in the process of catching a falling star. At long last he feels pleased at having done his job but the outcome is seldom gratifying. That something which is missing is only known to him and he, like Robert Browning, says — “ The best is yet to be” .

Mirza Ghalib, however, took it all in his big stride. He lamented that he was being punished for committing some run-of-the-mill sins. On the contrary, he should have been given credit for ignoring or shunning certain other sins, even more tempting. So a poet or an artist need not be deprecated for his failings, rather some effort should be made to reach the orbit of his imagination. Undoubtedly, the achievements of a person are secondary to those of which he is capable in accordance with his aspirations.

There are, of course, certain individuals with over-riding ambitions who are incapable of taking into stock their own capabilities. Many a time they act like a bull in a china shop. On their part, they may not be able to achieve much but they certainly take away a big chunk of other people’s gains. The real harm ensues when mediocrity manages to have an upper hand in any field of human activity. It is sinful to deprive a deserving person of his due but it is a crime to reward a nincompoop for something he has not accomplished.

Still when all is said and done. When you have seen through the whole game. When you know more than you should have. When it is not possible for you to take up the thread from where you had left a decade ago. When you are certain that your aspirations, the probabilities more than the possibilities, have an edge over your achievements. When you feel relaxed even though the cup has been dealt to you in another measure. Then it is time for you to repeat with Jigar Moradabadi the couplet :

Duniya ke sitam yaad

na apni hi wafa yaad

Ab mujh ko nahin kuchh bhi

mohabbat ke siva yaad

I no more remember either the indifference of the people towards me or the affections that I showered upon them. Now, at this stage, my whole being has been diffused with the glow of love.

Will keeping Hindutva in cold
storage pay off?

by P. Raman

IT IS really difficult to say which one of the last week’s two parallel developments will turn out to be politically more significant in the long run — the excruciating convulsions in the Congress or the suppressed rumblings within the saffron ranks. The impact of the former is immediate and more crippling. It might even badly upset the party’s electoral calculations. But most of us seem to have ignored the seemingly innocuous changes taking place within the RSS parivar and the silent resistance to Atal Behari Vajpayee’s “liberalisation” plans.

For an organisation like the RSS, Vajpayee’s has not been a mean achievement. Without a trace of open protest, he has sent the VHP sadhus to their aakhras and the street-smart shakha boys to the confines of their mohallas. Ritambaras and Uma Bhartis no more blare out inflammatory speeches on cassettes. Where have Ashok Singhals and Acharya Giri Raj Kishores gone? After all the widespread bashings and burnings, the Christians are spared of a disturbed life, at least now. Peace prevails even in areas identified as the most riot-prone. The BJP’s critics can rightly claim that all this invariably establishes the direct role of the RSS outfits in anti-minority attacks. But it also highlights success of the Vajpayee doctrine within the RSS parivar.

Last year, he removed from the BJP government’s agenda pet RSS demands such as the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya, abolition of Article 370, introduction of a common civil code to embarrass the Muslims. Admittedly, this was done to accommodate the views of the non-communal alliance partners of the BJP. But now the party has decided to jettison such controversial issues in its own programme. This is the meaning of its decision not to issue its own manifesto. Instead, it will have only a common manifesto for its newly formed National Democratic Alliance. Is there any need for more evidence to show that Vajpayee’s BJP will go to any extent to throw out the party’s Hindutva baggage to make it more acceptable to the allies?

A flashback on the pre-alliance era of the BJP will convince one of these perceptible shifts in the BJP’s profile. Formation of the NDA may primarily be a move to get the first invitation from the President to form a government. But the primacy accorded to NDA by the BJP, including setting up of NDA offices in states, marks another stride in Vajpayee’s move to give a secular facade to the BJP and drag it away from the RSS-VHP stranglehold. For the past 15 months, the BJP has been resisting the formation of such a front, obviously due to fears that an institutionalised front would curb Vajpayee’s own powers to act freely. Now it has been realised that a bigger role for the NDA in running the government will also check meddling by parivar outfits.

Already, the latter has stopped dictating on issues like who should be the Finance Minister. The Swadeshi Jagran Manch no more bothers him or “vandanas” foisted. An attempt was made at the Bangalore session of its national executive to make the government more accountable to the party. Proposals were made to form a coordination panel of the Cabinet and the organisation. However, Vajpayee had curtly refused to accept the suggestion saying that all government matters would be his prerogative and the party should not interfere with his freedom. And every one meekly submitted. Later, he had threatened to use his domineering position to put an end to the attacks on Christians by parivar outfits. This marked a direct challenge to the entire parivar.

An offshot of this raging cold war within the parivar has been the build-up of the worst kind of personality cult around Vajpayee. In India, the BJP and the Left parties alone had practised genuine inner-party democracy based on discussions and mutual accommodation. The CPM had often overruled its top-most leaders like Jyoti Basu and Harikishan Singh Surjeet. The BJP has a tradition of free internal debate devoid of “one-leader bossism”. The Vajpayee build-up with all the pre-eminence assigned to him, has turned him into a “super leader” within the RSS parivar. Already, he has the last word in the party on all matters. Even in national executive meetings, after elaborate discussions his views become the formal decision. Such a thing has never happened in the BJP.

Understandably, Vajpayee himself is conscious of the emergence of a constituency built on his personality. Some BJP allies openly declare that their support was not to the BJP, but Vajpayee personally. Now it is the BJP that needs him for its survival, not the other way round. The erosion of the RSS authority has also greatly contributed to the personalisation of political management in the BJP. A weak and aging RSS leadership finds itself unable to exert its moral supremacy over an overgrown BJP leadership. For the past year and a half, it has been the RSS that followed its political outfit’s dictates on all controversial issues.

The former has meekly yielded ground on every occasion, even on such fundamental issues as Ayodhya. At its annual congregations, the RSS may still talk of its pet policies but it has been more as a token. The RSS as an organisation and an idea is very much alive even though it is undergoing rapid transformation. But its role as a moral guiding force within the parivar has been diminishing. When kshatriya emperors become too powerful, the brahmin priests find themselves unable to confine them to their own “meemamsa” code. Unlike earlier, the BJP had in some cases did not even bother to seek RSS mediation on controversial issues like Christian bashing. They were only requested to restrain the VHP and others. The weakening of the RSS authority naturally enhances the personality cult within its political wing.

Three factors seem to have influenced the present process of “de-Hindutvisation” of the BJP. First, for at least two decades, Vajpayee has been striving to drag the BJP towards a centrist, if not left of the centre, paradigm. He had enunciated his Gandhian socialism, value-based politics and humanism in the very first party policy document whose first president he was. The RSS had adopted a neutral policy in the subsequent election. At some places, the RSS had even supported Congress candidates. The Vahpayee-led BJP, which tried to keep off ardent Hindutva, became its victim in what was then called a veritable Hindu backlash.

Finally, when his line flopped (the BJP then had only two Lok Sabha seats), L.K. Advani, who has been a more Hindutva-friendly president, took over. Now that Vajpayee is more powerful than the entire parivar put together, he seems determined to press ahead with his old egalitarian line. So much so, even his BJP colleagues realise the need for adopting the line of what was until recently dismissed as ‘pseudo-secularism’ and ‘pampering of minorities’ if it helped retain power. For them, this is the only way to widen the party’s vote base and accommodate the sentivities of the allies.

Second, the BJP leadership felt uncomfortable when other influential allies like George Fernandes and Ramakrishna Hegde began talking of forming a ‘socialist’ front within the BJP alliance. Initially, Fernandes had assured the BJP that his aim was only to tame whimsical leaders like Mamata Banerjee. However, there was all fears that such a lineup could act as a pressure group within the government and inhibit the BJP’s supremacy. The group’s hobnobbing with such politicians as Chandra Shekhar and Mulayam Singh Yadav had aroused suspicion in the BJP. A hurried decision on the formation of the National Democratic Alliance was to pre-empt such moves.

Third, the DMK’s decision to jump on the BJP bandwagon was not without strings. Traditionally, Karunanidhi enjoyed the solid support of the vast Muslim and Christian minorities. During negotiations, he had made it clear to the BJP side that if they did not shed their anti-minority image, it would be difficult for him to sit with them. In this respect, Karunanidhi has been more blunt than Chandrababu Naidu, Mamata Banerjee or Hegde. It was with this in view that Karunandhi had stated that the BJP was now changing its communal character. All these factors have come in handy for Vajpayee to go ahead with his concept of a BJP with a liberal face.

How long will the present state of suspended animation of Hindutva last? Will the forces within the parivar tolerate its ideological emasculation? Or will it eventually lead to the distancing of the Vajpayee BJP from the parivar? We may still have to wait for an answer to such questions. However, what can be said with certainty is that the BJP leaders’ present insatiable hunger for power will force them to put their Hindutva in cold storage for a number of years. In the short run, if the NDA fails to wrest a majority in the ensuing elections, as the main opposition it will have to follow the same gentleman’s posture. True, hardliners in the RSS and VHP are still fed on the hope that all such temporary compromises were part of a strategy to use the BJP allies as a ladder toward a single-party BJP rule. Once the aim is achieved, there was no more need for the ladder.

Apparently, Indian politics is so complicated that it had defied game plans made on the drawing boards. Every regional BJP ally is built on a strong local support base. Barring Janata offshots, no regional party has so far disbanded itself to merge with a bigger one. Their constant resistance to political poaching will ensure that no other party grows at their expense. Therefore, a power-driven BJP will have to keep the Hindutva in cold storage for an indefinite period. It will be a question of power vs Hindutva.

Sonia’s letter throws CWC into confusion

THE meeting of the Congress Working Committee at which Mrs Sonia Gandhi announced her resignation as the party president had its share of drama amid serious business.

The sudden move took the assembled members of the CWC by surprise and many of them were shocked beyond words. So much so that some women members became emotional and their tear glands were activated while Mrs Gandhi’s predecessor, Mr Sitaram Kesri, tried to prevent her from leaving the meeting after the announcement.

Two sideshows occurred during the episode. As soon as Mrs Sonia Gandhi read out her letter to the CWC and decided to withdraw from the proceedings since the matter to be discussed concerned her, confusion reigned supreme.

Mrs Sonia Gandhi walked out of the meeting and retreated to her 10, Janpath residence which is adjacent to the AICC headquarters. While she made her way, the personnel accompanying her picked up her belongings including the file that contained the resignation letter.

Obviously, the letter which was CWC property, was carried by mistake and it was left to her private secretary, Mr Vincent George, to return it to the meeting.

In between, according to another report, when Mr Kesri walked out with Mrs Gandhi and held her hand in an attempt to prevent her, his Man Friday who was in the ante-room was confused. Thinking that the action was against Mr Kesri, he immediately pleaded with Mrs Gandhi not to take action against his boss explaining that the former chief had no role to play, since the now expelled leader, Mr Tariq Anwar, is Mr Kesri’s protege.

Akbar Road drama

For the past one week, citizens of Delhi cannot use the portion of Akbar Road which connects Central Delhi to India Gate. It is under siege.

Ever since Mrs Sonia Gandhi announced her decision to quit as the Congress President, there has been an “outpouring”. Hordes of Congress supporters who have been carted to the place in buses and other forms of transportation by leader have arrived to express their unflinching faith in the leadership of Mrs Gandhi and none other.

The road has a lane which is used as the main entry to 10, Janpath. On either side is the residence of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri whose memorial is housed there and on the other side is the AICC headquarters at 24, Akbar Road. Further down is the residence of former Bihar Chief Minister whose son is a Special Secretary in the Union Home Ministry. And right across the AICC headquarters is the official residence of Air Chief Marshal A.Y. Tipnis.

Throughout the day, the area resembles a crowded mela with roadside vendors doing brisk business selling ice creams, chaat and golgappas to party men and hangers-on.

The periodic burning of effigies of the three leaders till their expulsion continued while another supporter rendered his variation of patriotic songs eulogising the contribution of the Nehru-Gandhi family to blaring music.

Apart from an aborted ‘attempt’ at self-immolation, a supporter from Jalesar (UP) provided some comic relief by climbing on to a tree and threatening to jump down if Mrs Gandhi did not take her resignation back. Of course, his resolve ended after an hour of persuasion by hassled police and fire brigade personnel who had enough on their hands otherwise.

Mandarins in the Finance Ministry are a worried lot these days. With the country in an election mode and the Union Government, free of all hassles of coalition politics, taking decisions left and right, the Finance Ministry feels that populist measures could hit the country’s finances in the long run.

The first salvo was fired by the government when it came very near to taking a decision on increasing the subsidy given to fertiliser importers. The subsidy on fertilisers ensures adequate supply to farmers, which in turn helps the agriculture sector as a whole. Though the decision would have ensured in electoral gains, the Finance Ministry’s worries were how to cope with the additional subsidy bill.

The result: the ministry has taken up the matter with the Prime Minister’s Office. The PMO is now busy sorting out the matters between the Ministries of Fertiliser, Agriculture and Finance and if official sources are to be believed the government has yet to find a solution to this knotty problem.

Tax axe now on MNCs

Elections or no elections, the Central Board of Direct Taxes is busy with its tax collection drive and its activism at this juncture is creating problems for the Industry Ministry. After targeting Japanese companies for the irregularities committed by them regarding tax deduction at the source of their employees, the tax officials are now hunting for other multinational corporations. They have reportedly conducted raids on several MNCs, including some of those based in the USA.

Reacting to the move of the Revenue Department, the Union Industry Minister, Mr Sikander Bakht, has reportedly dashed off a letter to the Union Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, warning him of the likely effect the raids could have on flow of foreign investments into the country. Claiming that such muscle-flexing sends wrong signals to foreign investors, the Industry Ministry has stressed the need for a more humane approach.

But, if Mr Sinha is to be believed, the tax department is in no mood to relent and it would continue with its drive. His tough posture was reflected in his address to the Income Tax Commissioners recently where he said the CBDT should meet at all cost the targeted tax collection for the current fiscal.

Fun time for parents

Young parents, who were missing out on their favourite movies in theatres due to the fear of their wailing kids, now need not worry. An enterprising cinema hall in the Capital recently announced that it has set up a creche within its complex where children can spend their time playing under the watchful eyes of baby-sitters even as their parents enjoy the film.

(Contributed by SB, T.V. Lakshminarayan, K.V. Prasad and P.N. Andley.)

75 YEARS AGO

National Week in Madras

SPEAKING at the third day’s celebration of the National Week, Mr T. Prakasham said that the attainment of Swaraj and its maintenance depended on Hindu-Muslim unity. The government had often said that there could be no talk of freedom for India until there was a compact between Hindus and Mahomedans.

Proceeding, the speaker said that if the present system of government were to continue, he thought, everything would be hopeless. What the people of India wanted was freedom and protection of their interests.

The freedom of any nation consists in the protection of the people’s elementary and natural rights. The money paid to the Government must be spent in the interests of the people. Until this control over the pursue could be obtained, no freedom worth the name could really be hoped for.

Concluding, he said that the people had a duty to perform, the duty of restoring good relations between Hindus and Mahomedans when disturbed, and strengthening the bonds when there was no disurbance, so that Hindus and Muslims should present a united strength when there was an occasion for it.