E D I T O R I A L   P A G E

EDITORIALS

Jalandhar bomb blasts
THE bomb blasts which claimed seven lives near Jalandhar on Monday constitute the second such incident to be reported from the same city in less than a month. It would be a grave error of judgement on the part of the security agencies if they treat the latest episode as casually as they had done in the case of the earlier one in which two lives were lost.

Economic ties hold the key
THOUGH the discussions held during the just concluded New Delhi visit of Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan indicate that India and China are inching towards finally resolving their long-pending border dispute, a close look at the way the communist giant has been behaving in the past does not lead one to an encouraging conclusion. 

OPINION

Why not military training for all?
by Rakesh Datta
CHIEF of Army Staff Gen V.P. Malik in his lecture on “Challenges to Indian Army in the Next Millennium” at Punjabi University, Patiala, some time ago had said that India needed to develop a leaner and more efficient military machine. The emphasis should be on quality which includes professional knowledge, moral values, leadership aptitude, modern management techniques and technology.

Crack of the whip tames Shiv Sena
From P.K. Ravindranath in Mumbai
FOR all the drama and the hype that had been orchestrated over the “arrest” of the Shiv Sena Pramukh, Bal Thackeray, the truth is that his arrest was not considered at all at any time by the State Government.

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

Jalandhar bomb blasts

THE bomb blasts which claimed seven lives near Jalandhar on Monday constitute the second such incident to be reported from the same city in less than a month. It would be a grave error of judgement on the part of the security agencies if they treat the latest episode as casually as they had done in the case of the earlier one in which two lives were lost. The June 28 blast was said to have occurred near a tea stall near Lamba Pind Chowk on the Jalandhar-Pathankot highway. In the latest incident the explosives were evidently planted under the rear seat of a private bus running between Pathankot and Jalandhar. There may or may not be any link between the two incidents, but raising an alarm, which may eventually turn out to be false, would appear to be the better option than to wait and watch and see the situation get out of hand. It must be understood that Punjab has not yet fully recovered from the trauma of militancy. It is but natural for those who have suffered the trauma, of witnessing militant groups and the security forces indulge in senseless killings and counter-killings, to see phantoms where there may be none. Bomb blasts in buses and crowded places bring back to them painful memories of the period when such incidents had become routine occurrences in Punjab and beyond. No one has claimed responsibility for the latest incident of violence and no one will. Jalandhar may have been chosen to test the waters as it were before the malcontents show their hand. It must be understood that terrorist organisations which represent the Hizbul Mujahideen or the Khalistan Commando Force or the United Liberation Front of Assam share the common goal of seeking the dismemberment of the country. There is evidence that they now try to work in tandem for achieving their nefarious objective.

The emergence of the Deendar Anjuman in the South and ISI-run madarsas in Nepal has given a more diabolical dimension to the agenda of the various separatist movements. To that extent the signs of revival of militancy in Punjab should be the concern of the entire nation. Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir will always remain vulnerable from the security point of view because of the Pakistan factor. The Khalistan movement had the full backing and support of the Pakistani establishment. Even today camps are organised by ISI agents for imparting training to misguided elements from the two states in India. The bus bomb blasts near Jalandhar had disturbing similarities with the one which claimed nine lives in March when a Delhi-bound bus from Jammu was ripped apart near Fatehgarh Sahib. Although no one claimed responsibility for the blasts, circumstantial evidence led the Punjab Police to suspect the involvement of the Khalistan Zindabad Force. At about the same time a high intensity explosive device caused serious injuries to eight occupants of a private guest house in Paharganj in Delhi. The police suspected the hand of the leader of the Khalistan Commando Force, Paramjit Singh Panjwar, who was based in Pakistan and was under pressure from the ISI to "show results". About a week before the Jalandhar bus blast the police had arrested a Pakistan-trained youth and recovered five kilos of RDX and several detonators from him. He was working as a "pathi" in a gurdwara in Khadoor Sahib in Jagraon. The Punjab Police appears to have done a reasonably good job in containing "Khalistan-type" mischief. Evidently, they need to step up the level of vigilance in the light of the bomb blasts in a bus near Jalandhar. 

A Minister divested

IT is an open secret that the think tank of the BJP-led alliance is only half full. And the divestment of Mr Arun Jaitly of the crucial Disinvestment Ministry proves this. The shifting is economically erratic and politically confused. True, he is eminently suited for the new job as Minister for Law, Justice and Company Affairs. But he could have combined it with Disinvestment, instead of with Information and Broadcasting as he will do now. If he is to have dual charge, it should have been Disinvestment and Law; and that sounds natural. It is known that Mr Jaitly was the Prime Minister’s first choice as Minister for Law when he formed the present government in November last. But pressure from the Telugu Desam and the Shiv Sena forced him to retain Mr Ram Jethmalani. And when the opportunity came to set right the old misselection he grabbed it. But again, why pull him out of the newly created Ministry? Already, economic newspapers have severely criticised the decision, rightly pointing out that this purely ad hoc action exposes the non-serious attitude of the government to disinvestment which is what the so-called second generation reforms is all about. As it is, persuading Cabinet Ministers to shed public sector undertakings (PSUs) and also finding buyers are not easy. The Ministers are against the sell-off not only because it will mean a loss of political prestige but also because the PSUs subsidise the bill of their personal staff . To gently twist their arms the point man has to have the required stature and dynamism, the confidence of the Prime Minister and tonnes of patience and a mountain of facts on his finger tips. By his short stint in the Ministry, Mr Jaitly has demonstrated that he has what it takes to be a Disinvestment Minister. He imparted great urgency to his job, convened several meetings of the Cabinet Committee and appointed global advisers for 17 PSUs selected for sell-off. His real achievement is that the fierce opposition of some Ministers to privatisation has given place to resigned acceptance of the inevitability. In his transition from one Ministry to another, the Cabinet has acquired a good and amiable Law Minister but has lost an energetic Disinvestment Minister.

If this move sends a wrong signal to supporters of economic reforms, the nomination of Mr Arun Shourie as the new Disinvestment Minister comes as a surprise. He is tough, persevering but ascerbic. He has the gift of annoying or angering people, many of them politicians. When he entered the Union Council of Ministers some months back with the most innocuous jobs, many felt that the Prime Minister appreciated his energy and single-minded pursuit but reined him in from crossing the path of senior colleagues and leaders. And his portfolios said it all: a junior minister presiding over the departments of statistics, pension, public grievances and programme implementation. And when he put together a comprehensive plan, including a scheme for voluntary retirement, it demonstrated his capacity for desk work. But the Cabinet threw it out without as much as a remark. This reflected two things: one, he lacked the political standing to put up a fight and the Ministers were collectively averse to provoking workers. But it showed one thing more. Mr Shourie quietly accepted the rebuff and dropped raising the subject from polite company. Clearly, he is a no-nonsense journalist but a pliant politician. If he adops the same approach to disinvestment, it is time the government gave up hopes of even touching the fringes of the more difficult phase of reforms. The political reaction will come within days from the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, which has been silenced by the Prime Minister’s hard sell and Mr Jaitly’s soft sell.

Economic ties hold the key

THOUGH the discussions held during the just concluded New Delhi visit of Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan indicate that India and China are inching towards finally resolving their long-pending border dispute, a close look at the way the communist giant has been behaving in the past does not lead one to an encouraging conclusion. "Expediting border negotiations" does not mean much in the context of China unless India is prepared to give big concessions to its powerful neighbour. In fact, this is what the Chinese might be expecting from India after their success in forcing Russia and certain Central Asian countries to yield substantial ground to Beijing. But India is not faced with a desperate situation as has been the case with the countries having accepted the Chinese demands, some genuine, some non-genuine. India would obviously like to have an honourable settlement of its border disputes with China. The other side is perhaps aware of it as the Chinese leader has declared that his country is prepared to forget the 1998 developments (which means the Pokhran-II nuclear explosions by India) and move ahead to build bridges of understanding between the two great powers of Asia. This perhaps means that the dialogue at any level must continue even without producing any substantial result so soon. From this angle, their agreement to start a process of finding "clarifications" concerning the "middle sector" — in Himachal and UP areas — of the 4004-km-long Line of Actual Control is a welcome development, though it is unlikely to bring about a thaw in their relations. India and China have achieved practically nothing since 1981 when they began a process of finding an amicable solution to their border problem.

There is, however, one way through which the two neighbours can think of better days ahead in their relations. Though India and China have many common factors — being multi-religious and multi-lingual societies — they can gain immensely from each other in the area of economic cooperation via the information technology sector. The Chinese know it well how to continue their engagement in trade, commerce and industry despite having serious political or other differences. They have enough experience of this nature from their dealings with the USA, Japan and other countries. As Information Technology Minister Pramod Mahajan, who has come back from Beijing after signing a memorandum of understanding for Sino-Indian cooperation in information technology and related areas, says the two countries can speed up their economic development after learning from each other in the IT sector. While India is on the way to achieving the super power status in the software field, China enjoys a similar position in computer hardware. When the two come together it will be an ideal combination, benefiting both immeasurably. India should not allow the opportunity to go waste. Better economic relations may help resolve the border tangle at some stage. 

Centre and the states
The malaise weakening India
by Bhim S. Dahiya

THE demands for autonomy from various sensitive states and sectarian outfits on the one hand and the preachings and practices of violence from various politico-religious senas and dals on the other symptomatise the social and political malaise that has tainted the democratic fibre of our nation. The social and political developments in the last 50 odd years have led to the dominance of states over the Centre, of nationalities over the nation, of communities over society, and of castes over the congregation. While the unhealthy developments in the social order have led to the creation of senas and dals causing increasing disorder and violence, those in the political area have led to the creation of parties and pressure groups causing instability and disunity. The more states we have created, the more powerful the states have become. The end result of it all has been a situation that stares us in the face like a ghost haunting a child. Our present-day situation is very similar to what W.B. Yeats had described facing the destruction of World War I. The Irish poet’s pithy picture of the time seems very much pertinent to the present situation in our own country. In his poem called “The Second Coming”, Yeats describes the European situation in the following words:

Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity.

We may not have “mere anarchy” today, but near anarchy is not an inappropriate description of the conditions prevailing in today’s India. The Centre is certainly losing hold on the states, and things are fast falling apart. The nationalist parties are at the mercy of the regional and sectarian outfits. The nationalist minds are at the mercy of the communalists and casteists. The honest people have been pushed to the periphery by the aggressive dishonest lot. The best have been subjugated to servility, and the worst have captured the controls of the ruling machinery. When we look around and notice the happenings in social life and the political arena, our fears about the future to follow measure up to those expressed by the Irish poet in his most quotable piece mentioned above.

Sociologists and political scientists have been debating the trends emerging from the development of our democracy over the past 50 years. But nothing on the ground has taken note of the elite literature that has come out in books and articles. While the ground forces have been marching menacingly with an accelerated pace, the elite minority has been retreating fearfully into the ivory tower of its own. Consequently, while the sectarian and destructive forces have claimed almost the entire territory of our vast land, the secular and peace-loving have shrunk into the shelves of the libraries and the pubs of the elite clubs. The separation between mass civilisation and minority culture has gone so deep that no interaction is perhaps possible between the aggressive doers and the passive thinkers, between the mass controlled by money and muscle power, and the minority guided by the ideal of culture.

Without going into the maze of complexities responsible for causing the present situation, we can certainly, in the limited space we have at our disposal here, put our finger on some of the crucial factors related to the roots of the problem. Social disparities, sanctioned and surreptitious, have been responsible for the creation of the senas and dals causing menace to our social order on a scale entirely unprecedented. Our economic policies benefiting the privileged and the powerful, on the one hand, and our reservation policies, meant to capture blocks of votes, on the other, combine to create social discontent on both sides of the dividing line between the upper castes and the lower castes. While the economic policies have caused discontent among the poor, provoking the more active among them to try to capture by force what has been denied them by the privileged and powerful.

The People’s War Group and the Maoist Communist Centre in Bihar, and the Naxalite groups in Andhra, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh swear by the poor and practice violent ways to revenge the injustices allegedly done to the deprived classes. Similarly, there are outfits like the Ranbir Sena and some of the militant Hindu dals, which feel disgruntled on account of favours done to the lower castes and the minorities. No one can defend what these senas and their sponsoring agencies are doing to disrupt peace in our society. But we can very well relate their misdoings to our partisan policies and caste-based reservations. Both combine to foster forces which are born from the illegitimate union of sectarian sentiments and social inequalities.

As for the regional, communal and casteist outfits — which have been floated in the name of political parties, and have received respectability in the form of the Election Commission’s recognition on the sheer strength of votes, attracted by caste or community affiliation — these are managed by money and muscle power. We have today parties in the name of castes and communities, regions and languages. Even parties created in the name of social justice are actually camouflaged casteist pressure groups. The Socialist Party or the National Lok Dal, the Bahujan Samaj Party or the Republican Party, none of such outfits is without the tinge and tilt of a particular caste or group of castes, the protection of whose interests is claimed to be the sole objective of these so-called political parties. What is most unfortunate is that these very outfits have now combined to capture power at the Centre.

Several combinations have been formed from time to time to secure the seat of power at the Centre. Smaller combinations lasted smaller periods. The present one, consisting of 24 parties, seems to succeed for a longer span. But we suffer everyday the consequences of such a combination. The smaller interests related to a region or a caste or community have started dominating the functioning of the Union Government. Even the national policies are twisted to exempt or privilege a particular state. Concessions and packages are distributed to certain states under pressure from the regional lords. In such circumstances, the national interests are sacrificed and the regional ones are promoted, often leading to extreme demands of autonomy. Besides, the Centre becomes so weak in such a dispensation that it dare not question the policies which the state bosses introduce, even when they are outrightly against the larger interests of the nation. We know how resolutions for autonomy of greater powers are freely mooted in the State Assemblies, how free power and water are given to farmers in certain states, how party cadres are declared freedom fighters and made privileged citizens, how caste and community interests are promoted by making captive the democratic institutions, like the recruiting agencies, and even educational institutions. All this has clearly led to a chaotic situation very similar to the one depicted by W.B. Yeats.

We have similar types of anarchic forces ruling the nation today, some officially, others unofficially. This is because of the creation of small states which have in turn produced smaller leaders who cannot rise above their local politics of caste or region. It is these leaders, to our misfortune, who constitute our ruling class today. What is worse is that not only that these leaders are small, a large section of them have criminal records, and many of them feel free to plunder public funds.

If we have to restrain the dangerous forces let loose today, we must do the following at once: (i) curb all elements which go contrary to the secular character of our nation-state; (ii) remove regional imbalances in economic development; (iii) reduce the widening disparity between the rich and the poor; (iv) evolve an objective criterion for the creation of states; (v) rationalise the reservation policy by relating it to economic status rather than caste, and without compromising on merit. We need to do all this rather quickly, so that the Centre can hold the parts together and move towards making our society truly secular, democratic and just.

The writer is a former Vice-Chancellor of Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra.

Why not military training for all?
by Rakesh Datta

CHIEF of Army Staff Gen V.P. Malik in his lecture on “Challenges to Indian Army in the Next Millennium” at Punjabi University, Patiala, some time ago had said that India needed to develop a leaner and more efficient military machine. The emphasis should be on quality which includes professional knowledge, moral values, leadership aptitude, modern management techniques and technology.

According to the General, excessive manpower has limitations in its application in terms of time and space. Manpower is also very expensive to maintain. On the other hand, modern day battlefield is much wider in dimension, and it continues to expand not only in physical terms but also in abstract form. Cyber is to this millennium what blitz krieg was to the last century. However, more pertinently, the General said that reduction in any deployment would be possible only if there could be improvement in the effectiveness of Central and state police forces, particularly the armed police. Such forces account for nearly 10,89,800 personnel which is almost equal in strength to the armed forces of the country and include the whole range of paramilitary forces like the National Security Guard, the Special Frontier Force, the ITBP, Assam Rifles, the CISF, the CRPF, the BSF, the RPF and the state armed police units.

Future threats will generally revolve round non-standard conflicts such as a local war, a limited or low-intensity war, a proxy war or an irregular war instead of a regular war. While, according to the General, when nearly two lakh troops are employed regularly on counter-insurgency operations in the various parts of the country, meaning thereby that the Army has been continuously facing a war-like situation, there is no recognition for the armed forces since the nation is otherwise at peace with itself. It is often said that the Army is becoming redundant because there has been no war for the last 29 years. At the same time the credit for this long-drawn peace also goes to the Army. India is spending nearly Rs 58,597 crore on defence. It is less than 3 per cent of the GDP.

According to the IISS (1998-99), the total strength of the armed forces in India is 11,75,000 which is only a small percentage of the total population of India. On the other hand, recruitment to the Indian armed forces is on a voluntary basis. The present trend shows that there is a tremendous shortage of officers in all the three wings of the armed forces, forming the core of the fighting material. Besides, all the military training establishments linked to recruitment such as the NDA, the IMA and the OTS are functioning below their capacity due to greener pastures available outside the military career. The situation has reached such a pass that to fill the required quota even the training period of cadet officers is cut down by six months at the IMA. On the other hand, there is a move to prune the armed forces to make way for modernisation. This is notwithstanding the fact that India has the fourth largest Army, the sixth largest Air Force and the ninth largest Navy in the world.

The General believes that the era of an all-out war is almost over, giving way to the proliferation of non-conventional conflicts including threats to internal security from external agencies. For this we have to be ready to protect our territory and our interests all the time. When we call upon our troops to defend our frontiers with more vigil and resoluteness, their continuous involvement in ending domestic unrest will affect their credo on which the whole military edifice is structured.

Keeping in view the above scenario, India must start thinking in terms of using its human resource potential in a more meaningful and constructive manner. Train them at least for self-defence purposes by putting them to compulsory military training. The population of India has already crossed the one-billion mark and in another quarter of a century it may leave China behind in terms of the demographic ratio.

So, why let only a handful of people defend a sea of humanity when the latter has scant respect for them. Let our military forces handle the frontiers in a more high-tech manner and keep modernising themselves with the advancement of technology, with the buzzword information technology. This, however, can be possible only if the Indian armed forces are kept disengaged from domestic involvement, which eats away their resources, leaving much to desire in terms of modernisation.

India has a highly professional Army. This is unlike its neighbours. For instance, the Chinese army has a janus-faced character. It works both on the farms and in the battlefield. Even though much stress is laid on its professionalism in the modern sense by making it high-tech, the world’s second largest army has a huge manpower engaged variously, true to its nomenclature as a liberation army.

Pakistan too has industrial enterprises fully supported by the three wings of the armed forces. This arrangement not only provides revenue to supplement its defence expenditure but also helps in the lateral induction of its defence personnel making the military as a much sought-after profession after politics.

Thus the defence budget of China and Pakistan is heavily supplemented by income from defence business establishments running into billions of dollars. It is precisely this reason that both countries could afford to purchase sophisticated weapons compelling India to later pay through the nose to ward off any external danger.

It is time the Indian armed forces stopped feeling concerned about the number game and instead bargained for the state of art technology. Nevertheless, it must feel assured that in any exigency its civilian ranks will serve them as a major force multiplier. It can be possible only if every Indian citizen is trained in the art of military engagement, even if in an elementary manner. It will not only change the total complexion of Indian nationals but also make them more rational and nationalist in outlook.

Switzerland is a neutral country but has a system of compulsory military training for its citizens. Most West Asian countries and European nations, which do not support large-standing armies, too have made military training mandatory for their people.

We must educate people about the advantages military training can provide to them not purely in terms of national security perspective but also in day-to-day life.

The writer is Head, Department of Defence and Strategic Studies, Punjabi University, Patiala.

Crack of the whip tames Shiv Sena
From P.K. Ravindranath in Mumbai

FOR all the drama and the hype that had been orchestrated over the “arrest” of the Shiv Sena Pramukh, Bal Thackeray, the truth is that his arrest was not considered at all at any time by the State Government.

For one thing, the legality or tenability of such a move had been in serious doubt from the start. The state’s legal authorities and advisers had, in fact, advised against it.

So, when on July 15, Home Minister Chhagan Bhujbal announced the decision of the government to prosecute Bal Thackeray and Samajwadi Party State President Abu Azmi, he did not go into details. And when specifically asked if it would lead to their arrest, he gave an ambiguous answer. The media imported the concept of “possible arrest” into their reports the next day.

On that evening, soon after the Home Minister’s announcement, Shiv Sainiks, depending on rumours, called for a shutters’ down in some of the suburbs of Mumbai. They went on the rampage and halted the suburban train services, stranding thousands of home-goers. The city was soon afire with mere rumours.

Mr Chhagan Bhujbal, a master of theatrics and only too well aware of the paranoid dread of his former mentor Thackeray of going to jail, played on his fears. His cronies leaked out “secret” information about the “imminent” arrest and the Police Commissioner had to go on Doordarshan to inform the people that there was no plan to arrest him and that he had, in any case, not got the necessary instructions from the government.

Mr Bhujbal and his men should take full credit for keeping alive the mortal fear of being jailed in the minds of the supremo. Mr Bhujbal had seen how the mighty Tiger wept inconsolably when he was arrested the last time in 1969, following the strike he organised in the city for four days to press for a solution to the Maharashtra-Karnataka border dispute.

In detention also he presented a miserable sight, pleading, sobbing with the warders and sentries and begging for warm beer, which is his favourite drink. He was ultimately ordered to be released by Chief Minister V.P. Naik after three days.

No one has any rational explanation for this mortal fear of jail in the mind of the man who had shown no mercy in prodding his followers to launch violent demonstrations against wayside hawkers, Udipi hotels and non-Maharashtrian establishments in the initial stages of the growth of the Shiv Sena. In fact, the entry of the Sena into the political and trade union field was marked by the murder of a prominent CPI trade unionist, Mr Krishna Desai, in the heart of the labour areas of Parel.

It was only during the four-and-a-half years of the Sena-BJP rule till last year, that there has been a respite in Sena workers and Shakha Pramukhs indulging in violence leading to murder. There is a big list of Sena leaders against whom there are first information reports in several police stations about murders, intended murders, assaults, rape, extortion, dacoity and robbery.

Along with stories about the imminent arrest of Bal Thackeray, information had been leaked out that old police records were being examined afresh for possible action against about 32 Shakha Pramukhs involved in serious offences.

In order to buttress all these efforts, the authorities brought in 4,000 state reserve police personnel from the districts and 2,000 Rapid Action Force personnel. One contingent of the RAF was stationed outside Mr Thackeray’s residence, at the drive-in theatre at Bandra. School and college premises were requisitioned to accommodate the extra policemen. Every move was well publicised so that the facts would sink into the Sena Pramukhs who had threatened to set the city on fire.

After three days of agony, Thackeray admonished his three ministers at the Centre as a “useless lot” who could not even intervene effectively to take him off the hook. The three ministers, Manohar Joshi, Suresh Prabhu and Vikho Patil, promptly submitted their resignations from the Council of Ministers and the two non-members of the Sena who have been elected to Parliament with its support — Pritish Nandy and Ram Jethmalani — made noises for public consumption. Jethmalani had been offering legal advice to the Sena for long. That is what had earned him its patronage and a ticket to go to Parliament. This time he chose to use the television channels to air his view that the case against Thackeray was “time barred.” The greatest slap for the legal luminary came from the Supreme Court, which condescended to take on the case, under a PIL and asked the Union Government to inform it what it had done to implement the Srikrishna Report.

Jethmalani’s resignation is not the end of the drama.

All city streets are being patrolled. All known bad characters and anti-social elements have been taken into custody to ensure that they do not get on to the streets in case of any disturbance. In some areas known goons have been pressed into service and asked to maintain peace in their areas. They are to help the police control miscreants.

Within the week several known Shakha Pramukhs had gone underground or left the city for safer havens. Many of them had to since the elaborate security cover they had been enjoing had been withdrawn. Many of them protested that in case they fell victims to assassins, their blood would be on the hands of the state government. The withdrawal of security cover considerably reduced their mobility.

Almost all Sena Shakha offices were deserted. Two prominent Sena Shakha Pramukhs — Baban Surve and Shivaji Chavan — had been shot down last March. Since then, 28 Sena Pramukhs had been provided special security cover. Now that too has been withdrawn.

The police was studying the records of 144 Sena municipal corporators, to find out which of them had criminal records. Some interesting facts about many of them had been unearthed. Among those identified in criminal activities was the Mayor of Mumbai, Hareshwar Patil, and at least five other Sena corporators.

Some of the Sena leaders were on the hit list of the underworld — particularly of notorious gang leader Arun Gawli.

In all the actions taken, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party stood together, never revealing any differences between them, if at all any existed. Even though it was Chhagan Bhujbal who was leading the charge all the time, the Chief Minister, Mr Vilasrao Deshmukh, lent him silent support, but made it clear that he was totally in concurrence with all actions taken till now.

He took the same stand when called to New Delhi to meet the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister to appraise them of the situation in Maharashtra.

For a week, it had been a grand sight for terrorised slum dwellers to watch the local Sena bully run for cover. Never before had people in Mumbai seen such a panic-stricken lot as members of the Shiv Sena who had ruled the roost for almost a decade, since they last went on the rampage after the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Chhagan Bhujbal, drawing inspiration from Justice Srikrishna, had done nothing but crack the whip. But after the Supreme Court order, the state government feels compelled to arrest him, even formally.

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

... all the particles of our body — call them cells, or whatever they are — are manifestations, solid forms of the cumulative force exerted upon a particular centre called the human individuality by the total action of the planets and the sun. So you are a child of the solar system. You are not born to any father or mother and all that; these are all social interpretations of your position, but you have a larger stellar relation. You are a citizen of the solar system .... Every atom of space has eyes. There is cosmic intelligence pervading everywhere. This cosmic intelligence which is ensouling the entire physical cosmos can be interpreted as something cosmically in relation to the intelligence pervading your personality .... The significance is what you call "yourself". There is a meaning in you; that meaning is what you are.

— Swami Krishnananda, Your Questions Answered, chapter I

***

I created thee rich, why dost thou bring thyself down to poverty? Noble I made thee, wherewith dost thou abase thyself? Out of the essence of knowledge I gave thee being, why seekest thou enlightenment from anyone beside Me? Out of the clay of love I moulded thee, how dost thou busy thyself with another? Turn thy sight unto thyself, that thou mayest find me standing within thee, mighty, powerful and self-subsisting.

—Baha‘u’llah, cited in The New Garden

***

Man today has no purity in his heart, no sanity in his emotions, no love in his deeds, no God in his prayers.

Man today is trying to master every kind of knowledge but is unable to discover his own true nature.

Man undergoes enormous trouble to guard his wealth but does not spend an iota of energy to guard his inner consciousness.

Men seek the causes for death but no one seeks the Divine source of life.

— From the discourses of Sri Sathya Sai Baba

***

Religious worship is not directed to images in themselves, considered as mere things, but under their distinctive aspect as images leading us on to God incarnate. The movement toward the image does not terminate in it as image, but tends toward that whose image it is.

—St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Catholic philosopher and theologian