PERSPECTIVE

A POINT OF VIEW
When morality & ethics took a nosedive in Maharashtra
P.K. Ravindranath

IN the age of globalisation, when market forces determine prices in India, democracy and governance also come with a price tag determined by the “elective merit” of a legislator.

The trial of strength between the 30-month-old Congress-NCP coalition government of Maharashtra and 13 legislators led to a state where the Government ceased to function for a whole fortnight, as the leading members of the government rushed to Indore and Bangalore where their flocks were sheltered in five-star comfort far from predators carrying suitcases packed with currency notes. The going price of a defecting MLA was Rs 5 crore without any position or perks and Rs 2 crore with a Cabinet post plus perks.

Not surprisingly, the largest single component of the defectors, who were kept under constant vigil in a Mumbai suburban hotel, was from the NCP, which has always been laying stress on the elective merit of its candidates, rather than on their education, integrity or even the capacity to perform their duties if elected.

When five NCP legislators told Governor P.C. Alexander that they were withdrawing their support to the government it was clear that there were many others who were willing to accept the offer of the Opposition Shiv Sena-BJP group. The entire flock had, therefore, to be flown by a chartered flight to Indore and after a few days flown again to Bangalore, where they were considered safer from the poachers.

The NCP, which is just three years old as an organisation, has been keeping its doors open for candidates with questionable credentials, criminal background and mafia links. Since they had the capacity to overawe voters and indulge in actions, the Election Commission always frowned upon, even as they were able to prove their elective merit.

Once elected, they were quick to learn the ropes and establish their “market value,” which they did on June 3.

They had their own list of grievances against the government, which meant that while the ministers got all their work done, they had no time to oblige legislators, who had demands from their constituents. The ministers were often at loggerheads, the Congress ministers refusing to do any work for NCP legislators or sympathisers. In any case, the dissidents allege that lucky legislators and all the ministers were busy making their own piles of money, euphemistically called party funds.

When the aggrieved legislators who had been served notice to show cause why they should not be disqualified under the Anti-Defection Act by the Speaker, they appealed to the Mumbai High Court which rejected their plaint on the ground that it was premature.

Petty politicking by an NCP minister, Sunil Tatkere, manoeuvred the defeat of the Peasants and Workers Party candidate for the presidentship of the Raigad Zila Parishad, with the help of the Shiv Sena-BJP group in the area. The PWP is a constituent of the Democratic Front coalition government. Its five legislators withdrew support from the government. They were followed by two Marxist legislators, when Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh initially dropped Tatkere from the Cabinet and within a week re-inducted him.

While the NCP helped the Shiv Sena to secure the post of the Zila Parishad president, it got for itself the vice-presidentship. Mr N.D. Patil, veteran PWP leader and brother-in-law of NCP president, Mr Sharad Pawar got all his five MLAs to withdraw support. There has been a long-standing tussle between the NCP and the PWP in Raigad district and in the entire Konkan belt for supremacy.

The stab in the back from a partner in the coalition government immediately sent the two parties into a head-on clash. It sent shock waves among all the allied parties.

The dissidents had prepared their ground in advance as events proved. The first to register his dissent was an independent MLA to whom the Anti-Defection Act did not apply. Next came a Republican Party of India MLA who also had no problem with the Anti-Defection Act since there were only three legislators from his party.

Even as Mr Sharad Pawar, after a closed-door meeting with Mr Deshmukh , Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal and other senior ministers, declared that there was no problem in Maharashtra despite five of his MLAs having withdrawn support to the government. The Chief Minister’s desperate act of swearing in three independent MLAs as ministers proved futile. One of them, Harshavardan Patil, even promised to bring the dissenters back. A week later, his promise remained unfulfilled.

The Opposition Shiv Sena-BJP group had also counted its chickens long before they were hatched. They were totally oblivious of the authority of the Election Commission and its stipulations. Mr Narayan Rane, former Chief Minister, could be excused for his bravado about stepping into Mr Vilasrao Deshmukh’s shoes, along with the BJP’s Gopinath Munde. The Sena Supremo, Bal Thackeray also did not lack enthusiasm when he paraded the 13 defectors at a meeting of all Sena-BJP legislators.

The CPM’s two members got more than their share of media coverage when they promised to vote with the government if only to keep the “communal forces” out. Another Marxist “Himalayan blunder” was avoided. In any case, they have been totally with the Congress at the Centre, fighting to curb the saffron influence. It was imperative that they applied the same principle at the state level.

The problem in Maharashtra is that everyone agrees that Mr Vilasrao Deshmukh is a good and clean man, but he is ineffective. Most of the time his writ does not run, with colleagues or even with bureaucrats. The composition of the Cabinet is such that Cabinet ministers of the NCP often find Ministers of State from the Congress under them and vice versa. One functions to cancel the other out, or to checkmate him, never to work in tandem as good Cabinet colleagues.

There was never any attempt to coordinate the functioning of the department concerned. This was evident in the Home Department, under Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal. A brash and aggressive Congressman, Kripashankar Singh, is his Minister of State who takes instructions directly from New Delhi.

Morality and ethics have taken a nosedive in Maharashtra politics, under the present dispensation. It is each one for himself and grab everything that is going, never mind the price.

Maharashtra has had a fair name not only for unsullied political behaviour, niceties and the common grace among gentleman politicians. All that is now strewn on the market place, mainly because the “elective merit” factor crept into the choice of candidates and down went all other considerations.

The writer is a Mumbai-based veteran journalist.

GUEST COLUMN
India will have to evolve a military doctrine for the future
Kuldip Singh Bajwa

MILITARY leaders are inclined to fight their present wars and plan for the future on their experience of yesterday. Unfortunately, this approach does not fully take into consideration the impact of technological developments on military tactics and doctrine. There can be no better example to bear witness to this flaw in military thinking than the Maginot Line concept of the French prior to the Second World War. The French military concepts were influenced by their experience of the static trench warfare during the First World War. At that point of time, the machine gun and the artillery had robbed the opposing armies of power of manoeuvre on the battlefield. The French generals had built the Maginot Line, an extensive system of fortifications along the frontier with Germany, which they pronounced to be impregnable.

It was evident that the potential of two new developments, which had appeared on the battlefield towards the tail end of the War, was not fully absorbed by the French military thinkers and planners. On September 16, 1916, the British had sent 49 of a somewhat crude version of a tank, across the German lines at Flers on the River Somme. Many of these unwieldy steel monsters broke down even before starting and most of the rest could not easily negotiate the shell craters in the no-man’s land and the German trench system. Next year the British tank attack at Cambrai had successfully demonstrated the ability of the tank to move through a hail of machine gun fire. This potential of the tank to restore battlefield manoeuvre had made a strong impression on the German military high command.

Towards the closing months of 1917, the Germans had adopted an innovative battle tactic to carry out infantry attacks without suffering prohibitive casualties. They employed specially trained and equipped storm troops to speedily penetrate deep into enemy defences and attack from the rear and flanks in conjunction with an attack by the main force. This tactic was first tried out in September 1917 against the Russians at Riga. The Twelfth Russian Army had established a very strong bridgehead across the Dvina River near the Baltic coast. Ahead of the river, the Russian defences were in considerable depth. A direct frontal assault would have been very costly. On September 1, German General Oskar Von Hutier, a rather unconventional soldier, crossed the river on a flank and then used specially trained assault troops to speedily infiltrate into the rear of the Russian defences. The Russians were completely taken by surprise and within hours their whole front had collapsed into chaos.

Young Erwin Rommel tried similar tactics to break up Italian defences on the Isonzo-Caporetto Sector of the Italian front. Taking a lesson from these successes, the Germans had raised a number of specialised battalions of assault troops to break up the stagnation on the western front in France. On March 21, 1918, these storm troops infiltrated the front of the British Fifth Army and soon ripped it apart. Continual movement and penetration into the depth to disrupt the British command and support infrastructure was the essence of their tactics. From over-head German aircraft provided information and gave fire support. The main German forces followed up to mop up the paralysed defenders.

The German offensive had met with considerable success, but it came too late at the end of four years of a debilitating war. Weary Germans could not match the induction of fresh American troops and their superior material resources. Their offensive was halted and the Allied counter offensive that followed brought an end to the war. The lessons learnt, however, were not lost. Over the intervening years, Germany developed the Blitzkrieg, a combination of storm troops, armour and the dive-bomber to over-run Western Europe, despite the much-vaunted Maginot Line and the Belgian fortresses like Eban Emael.

A hard look at wars fought by the Indian armed forces starting from October, 1947 highlights our very conventional military thinking. Admittedly in the operations in Jammu and Kashmir during 1947-48, a great deal of dynamism and innovation was displayed in the actual fighting on the ground. This was, however, not matched at the conceptual and directive levels of command. The only flash of unconventional tactical brilliance was the employment of tanks to break through the enemy defences at Zoji La on Nov 1, 1948. During the subsequent wars of 1962, 1965 and the western sector in 1971, the planning and conduct of operations was largely conventional and pedestrian. It was only in the operations in the erstwhile East Pakistan in December 1971, that some tactical innovations were witnessed. The crossing of the Meghna River by 4 Corps by a vertical envelopment using helicopters was a brilliant stroke. Even the advance down south through Jamalpur-Mymensingh to Dacca had considerable tactical merit. All the other operations did not rise above conventional plodding.

Pakistan is our primary adversary on land. Both the opposing armed forces are very similarly organised, equipped and trained. The leadership concepts and operational philosophy is not far different. In both countries the main defences are based on canal and ditch-cum-bund obstacle systems. It is also rather difficult to achieve strategic as well as tactical surprise. Invariably in the past both the opposing forces had ended up in a near parity in their fighting potential on the battlefield. While Indian forces did succeed in carrying the fighting onto the Pakistani soil, the advances made were dismal by any operational yardstick. In the future any sizeable concentration of forces to break through these strong linear defences would run the risk of a tactical nuclear strike. It is evident that in this operational environment a force organised and trained to disorganise a near static defensive structure by infiltration can help achieve a significant breakthrough.

It is essential that we raise a sizeable force of elite storm troops to spearhead our operations. A combination of these specialised forces, helicopter mobility, airborne firepower, armoured spearheads and mobile follow up echelons in time would be needed. Even more important is dynamic military leadership with mobile and innovative minds positioned well forward in battle. It would not be easy for the adversary to decide to resort to tactical nuclear weapons in the state of confusion and chaos created by deep penetration into its defended zone.

Nuclear weapons have brought about another radical change in the concept of war. There is undoubtedly considerable deterrence to any large-scale conventional war. Pakistan has chosen penetrative as well as proxy terrorism as a state policy. The fundamentalist-jehadi outfits encouraged by the state, and with which the state apparatus had developed a close nexus, have started acting independently on their own. These organisations follow their own agenda and are not deterred by any show of organised force. Pakistani ruling establishment including the army no loger seem to have effective leverage with these jehadi outfits created and nurtured by them. Even if some clout is there the rulers are restrained from using it by their domestic compulsions. It would be an illusion to depend upon other powers to act overtly and strongly against the erring state and terrorist organisations that flourish in Pakistan. The attitude of the USA amply proves this point. It has adopted eradication of international terrorism as an article of state policy, and yet it has found it expedient to take on board the Pakistan Government headed by General Musharraf, which has been a widely acknowledged sponsor and patron of international terrorism.

What are our options? Do we go to war with Pakistan every time a heinous terrorist act is committed such as the recent massacre of innocent civilians at Jammu? This is neither feasible nor desirable nor would it be cost effective. Do we then strike in a big way on terrorist camps or establishments in Pakistan? This too may not be practicable and may turn out to be counter-productive as Israel is finding out in Palestine.

On the other hand, we are resolved to recover Kashmir territory illegally occupied by Pakistan. It would be perfectly legitimate to undertake operations into Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir and where necessary undertake selective surgical strikes. These operations should be so planned and operationally calibrated that Pakistan can neither claim a cause to breach the nuclear threshold nor start an open conventional war. Careful political and diplomatic preparations would also keep the global reaction within manageable bounds.

While we must continue with our diplomatic pressures and deterrence with force, we must examine the selective elimination of the terrorist leadership. “Extermination with extreme prejudice” has been practiced by nearly all the secret services of the civilised world. Moral squeamishness has little relevance in a world willing to accept strange bed-fellows in pursuit of their chosen interests. Time has come to critically examine our security and defence management concepts, formulations and practices.

The writer is a retired Major-General in the Indian Army.

Destroying democracy, bureaucrat’s style
C. D. Verma

HARYANA is a land of strange possibilities. It created a history of sorts when it gave the political idiom of “Aya Ram Gaya Ram”. Recently, it created yet another history of deriding the local government and the panchayati raj system.

Four elected councillors of the Faridabad Municipal Corporation have been suspended by the Commissioner of Gurgaon Division. The fear of suspension looms large on two more corporators who have procured stay orders from the court against the showcause notices issued to them.

The power of suspension of municipal councillors, who are elected representatives, by a bureaucrat, not only defeats the spirit of the panchayati raj system, but also makes a mockery of the Haryana Municipal Corporation Act.

This Act draws sustenance from the 74th Constitution (Amendment) Act (Nagarpalika Bill), 1992, passed by Parliament.

The Haryana Municipal Corporation Act was passed in 1994. Section 34 of the said Act empowered the State Government to remove by notification any member of the civic body, if in its opinion, (a) he becomes subject to any of the disqualifications mentioned in Clause 8; or (b) “he has fragrantly abused his position as a member or has through negligence or misconduct been responsible for the loss or misapplication of any money or property of the Corporation; or (c) he has become physically or mentally incapacitated for performing his duties as a member; or (d) he absents himself during three successive months from the meeting of the Corporation; or (e) he acts in contravention of the provisions of Section 60.”

Five years later in 1999, the Bansi Lal Government amended Section 34 of the Act and inserted a new provision (34-A) which gave powers to the Divisional Commissioner to suspend any member of the Corporation where “a case against him in respect of any criminal offence is under investigation, enquiry or trial, if in the opinion of the Commissioner of the Division the charge made or proceedings taken against him, are likely to embarrass him in the discharge of his duties, or involves moral turpitude, or defect of a character....”

The State Government was already armed with draconian powers to remove any member of the Corporation under Section 34 of the Act. And there was no necessity to amend the principal act and insert a new section 34-A, thereby empowering a bureaucrat to suspend any member, including the Mayor, and the Deputy Mayors.

Invoking the aforementioned provisions of the amended Act, the Commissioner of Gurgaon Division suspended four elected representatives, while two more elected councillors procured stay orders, one from the Punjab and Haryana High Court, and the other from the Supreme Court. The elected corporators have been suspended on the basis of petty offences during the pendency of the cases. The new section 34-A provides much scope to the ruling party in the state to punish the elected representatives of the opposition party.

The use of the draconian provisions of the Act, for the first time in Haryana, in respect of the elected representatives of a civic body, the largest in the state, brings to fore serious flaws and legal infirmities the Haryana Municipal Corporation Act suffers from. It certainly contravenes the 74th Constitution (Amendment) Act, and negates the intentions of the founding fathers of the Constitution.

Further the MLAs and the MPs are also the members of the Corporation. As a result, they also fall under the ambit of Section 34-A of the Corporation Act, implying that the Divisional Commissioner can even suspend the MP or the MLA and debar them from participating in the proceedings of the Corporation, and prevent them from discharging their public duties.

It is like empowering the Chief Secretary to suspend the MLAs and Ministers. The factum situation not only makes a mockery of the system of local government vis-a-vis the elected representatives being subjected to the control of the bureaucrats, but ridicules the very concept and spirit of democracy which is government of the people, for the people and by the people.

It is time to right the wrong and restore the dignity of the elected representatives and the sanctity of the democratic system and institutions.

The writer is Reader & Head, Department of English, Hans Raj College, Delhi.

KASHMIR DIARY
Nizami: The last few links
David Devadas

AFTER several years of covering events in Kashmir and then spending months living here at a stretch for research, I finally last week was able to meet a leader of the Muslim Conference that had split from the National Conference in 1940. He sat on a rug in a large though simple room, with a copy of Othello, some newspapers and files of records sometimes half-a-century ago piled neatly around him. This 76-year old, GMD Nizami, is one of the few remaining links with the original Muslim Conference because he returned from Pakistan in 1955. Like almost the entire leadership of his party, he had been externed to the Pakistani side of the dividing line in this state very soon after the subcontinent was partitioned. Sheikh Abdullah did not want any remnant of the rival party to stay around to challenge his leadership.

Already, the Muslim Conference was weak in the valley, but could have posed a potent threat in the Jammu region. Mr Nizami says quite plainly that the late Mirwaiz Yusuf Shah, the torch-bearer of the Muslim Conference in the valley, was a religious rather than a political leader. The outstanding leader of the party was Chaudhary Abbas, who was based in Jammu.

The reason for his party's weakness in the valley is socio-economic. Mr Nizami is a living example of the fact that the Muslim Conference drew support from the landlord and merchant classes in the valley. His family owned eight merchant establishments in the Budgam area. They were traders and landlords. That cast them almost automatically against the National Conference's Leftist rhetoric, which promised radical land reforms and the abolition of the feudal hierarchy and of moneylenders.

All the khate-peete (well-heeled) people of the valley then were with the Muslim Conference and only the jahil (unlettered) with the National Conference, says Mr Nizami even today. No doubt radical rhetoric appealed to the destitute masses. Almost the entire Muslim population of the valley was destitute. On the other hand, far more Muslims were relatively affluent in the Jammu region.

Like the other Muslim Conference leaders, Mr Nizami crossed to Pakistan in late 1947. He settled down in Rawalpindi and got a manager's job in a Karachi-based insurance company. However, he never forgot the verdure of his valley, nor the vast wealth his family had possessed here. In 1955, he took a boat from Karachi to Mumbai. Instead of reporting to a police station, as the law required, he went to the State's Resident Commissioner in Delhi and said he had lost his identity papers. When he got to Srinagar, he went to Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed, who was then the Prime Minister of the state (Jammu and Kashmir then had a Prime Minister). He had known Bakshi in the Maharaja's jail and the latter helped him to resettle here.

His party, though, lay dormant for decades thereafter. The current chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Abdul Ghani Bhat, too heads a party called the Muslim Conference, but he launched this new party only in the late 1980s. Bhat himself acknowledges that his party sought to revive the Muslim Conference in the valley but had no direct connection with the original party of that name.

The party has a complex history. Sheikh Abdullah's party began in 1931 as the Muslim Conference. It split the next year. In 1939, the Muslim Conference led by Abdullah converted itself, under the influence of Leftist and Congress leaders like Nehru, into the National Conference — with a secular agenda. The next year, it split again and the Muslim Conference was revived. The Political Muslim Conference then merged itself with the revived party.

Even after that merger, the party remained weak in the valley, except for the merchant-dominated downtown Srinagar area. Even today, Mr Bhat's party has little support across the valley.

PROFILE

Lakshmi Sahgal makes the contest interesting
Harihar Swarup

IT is now evident that the fight for the Presidential office between two persons of divergent background is an unequal contest. There is nothing common between the missile man, Dr.A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and octogenarian Capt. Lakshmi Sahgal. While Dr. Kalam has been basking in the glory ofhis achievements, Capt. Sahgal was a heroine of the days gone by and many in the younger generation have not even heard her name. Dr. Kalam has a vision of developed India but Capt Sahgal’s dream of seeing triumphant INA soldiers marching to the Red Fort was shattered long ago. The fight between the country’s top scientist and a freedom fighter of yesteryears is uneven indeed. The only thing common between the two contestants is that both are Tamilians and born in the same state. The contest is more ideological and, given the wide support extended to Dr. Kalam in the electoral college, the challenge appears to be symbolic.

Resurrecting Capt. Sahgal from virtual retirement, the left parties have, unfortunately, sought to make her candidature a fight between secularism and communalism, focussing on the gruesome happenings in Gujarat. She proposes to launch her campaign in Ahmedabad and visit the nearby relief camps. Dr. Kalam has virtually demolished the main plank of the left by stating emphatically “what has happened in Gujarat is very painful. We should prevent it at all cost. I can only say religion should graduate into spiritual inquiry, managers must become leaders, and political leaders must have compassion”.

Dr. Kalam is not BJP’s candidate nor does he subscribe to that party’s ideology. A welcome aspect of the campaign is that both Dr. Kalam and Capt. Sahgal have no personal rancour against each other and have demonstrated mutual respect. Mark her words: “I admire him for his scientific achievements. I do not know him personally and have nothing against him”. She does not agree with her sponsors that long political experience and sound constitutional knowledge is needed to occupy the highest office of the land. What is needed is a political and social perspective.

Capt. Shagal was virtually bewildered when the left parties approached her and requested her to become their Presidential candidate. She was away from the limelight for long years since the INA guns fell silent, barring a few occasions, like the one when he was honoured with Padma Vibhushan. She was influenced by the Communist movement rather late in life after she herself saw the plight of labourers and, subsequently, joined the CPI-M but her first allegiance continued to be Netaji and the INA. Though in late eighties, she still works for the welfare of the poor and the needy.

Maj-Gen Shahnawaz Khan, known to be the right-hand man of Netaji, has described her in his book “INA and its Netaji” published in 1946 with a forward by Jawaharlal Nehru, in these words: “Dr. Lakshmi Swaminathan, a young, energetic and outstanding brave lady was selected by Netaji to be the commander of the Rani Jhansi regiment”. Within a brief period of six months the members of the regiment mastered all their training and were every bit as well trained and disciplined as any soldier of the Azad Hind Fauz. The girls were particularly good in bayonet fighting and all of them were eager to use the weapon against the British forces.

Maj-Gen Khan wrote: “Early in 1944 when other units of the Azad Hindu Fauz were moving to Burma for an assault on Imphal, the girls of Rani Jhansi Regiment submitted an application written in their blood to Netaji telling him that they were as anxious as any male member to proceed to the front and lay down their lives for the liberation of their country”. Netaji conceded to their request and the regiment was moved from Singapore to Rangoon. No wonder, Netaji appointed Dr. Lakshmi as a minister in his 14-member provisional government.

Daughter of the brilliant lawyer, Subharam Swaminathan, Lakshmi opted for medical education when sending girls to college was considered a taboo. Her mother, Ammu Swaminathan hailed from Kerala and was a known Congress leader. Lakshmi joined the freedom movement inspired by Sarojini Naidu and became a good friend of her daughter, Suhasini Naidu, an accused in the Meerut conspiracy case. Her first marriage did not last long and soon after separation she left for Singapore.

That was the year 1940 and the second world war was gathering momentum. Lakshmi came across a band of Netaji’s followers in Singapore and she formally joined the INA in 1942. She raised a high motivated force of women volunteers which later came to be known as Rani Jhansi regiment. Initially the strength of the brigade was only 15 women. While working with Netaji, she came across a dedicated and handsome man, Col. P.K. Sehgal, an INA hero.

He was a confidant and ADC of Subhash Bose.

She subsequently married Col Sehgal and their daughter Subhashni Ali, is a dedicated CPI worker and a former member of the Lok Sabha. Subhashni has played a key role in persuading her mother to be the left parties’ candidate in next month’s presidential election.

DELHI DURBAR

Is Sinha’s position shaky at the Centre?

ONCE again there is talk of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee mulling over the much-awaited expansion-cum-reshuffle of his council of ministers. And it has not come as any surprise that Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha’s job continuously seems to be on the chopping block. This has been the case for a considerable length of time. It has been consistently reported that Sinha is being replaced but the politician and erstwhile bureaucrat has managed to hold his own thus far.

Once again focus is veering round to Vajpayee undertaking the long awaited expansion and reshuffle of his council of ministers either on June 29, 30 or July 1. It is apparent the Prime Minister has to undertake this exercise before the monsoon session of Parliament so that the new ministers and those whose portfolios are changed have that much time to acclimatise themselves with their assignments. Some media reports have also gone to extent of suggesting that Sinha may be sent to Jharkhand as chief minister in place of Babulal Marandi. A bird tells us that Sinha might still carry the day without being disturbed as the finance minister though there are powerful lobbies in the Sangh Parivar and among industrial houses who are pushing for one of their nominees to be the Union Finance Minister.

The impending expansion-cum-reshuffle of the cabinet has no doubt raised the hopes of the ministerial aspirants in the ranks of the BJP along with Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress and the PMK, the regional party from Tamil Nadu which has severed its links with J. Jayalalitha’s AIADMK.

THE HEADMASTER

The NDA’s presidential nominee, Prof A.P.J.Abdul Kalam’s first major interface with mediapersons in the national capital on Wednesday, a day after filing his nomination papers, had the stamp of a school headmaster’s approach. Having come well prepared with hand written notes, the maverick technocrat-scientist brought to the fore the fact that he has a mind of his own and that he is not going to be led by the nose by anyone. He conducted the press conference with aplomb and refused to be drawn into a major controversy be it the communal situation in Gujarat, the Ayodhya tangle or what have you.

At the same time he strongly supported India acquiring nuclear capability. He observed that having served six Prime Ministers, he was not all that a novice when it came to politics. Nevertheless, he conceded he will learn the intricacies of politics while on the job in Rashtrapati Bhavan and consult experts on tricky constitutional issues. It is widely believed that it is only a question of time before Kalam fine tunes himself to the duties and responsibilities of the Head of State.

QUIET CONGRESS

Though the BJP and the NDA government took strong exception to the report on Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s health in a leading US weekly, the Congress refused to do so. The party said it did not comment on such reports. “Reacting to the report would amount to giving it some credibility,” a senior party leader said. The report, which has been described as “biased and ill-informed,’’ by officials of the Prime Minister’s office, has nevertheless caught the attention of a lot of Congressmen. Despite their overt indignation over a US magazine writing on the health of India’s Prime Minister, discussion on the report in private conversation was not infrequent with some Congressmen even talking about it to the scribes.

One reason for the cautious reaction of the Congress to media reports is that it could well be their party’s turn tomorrow. Not long ago there was controversy over the biography of Indira Gandhi by a British author wherein party president Sonia Gandhi’s name was dragged in. The party had remained silent even then and the issue blew over. Otherwise, the Congress has been speaking against foreign interference and when, at the height of Gujarat riots, adverse comments were reportedly made by some foreign missions, the party criticised them.

FOOTBALL FEVER

As the Left parties’ presidential candidate Capt Lakshmi Sahgal was filing her nomination papers with the returning officer in Parliament House, some of the MPs were keenly waiting for the formalities to get over as they were more eager to go back to their residences to watch the World Cup soccer quarter final between England and Brazil. CPI (M) Lok Sabha MP Hannan Mollah from West Bengal was one of them and he jokingly remarked that the match was between the third world and the developed world. “We are obviously for the third world and want Brazil to win”, he said and rushed away leaving the rest to ponder. But many former MPs were disappointed as they discovered to their dismay that the TV sets in the Central Hall were not connected to the sports channel which was telecasting the match live. On enquiry, the former MPs were told by the concerned officials that a decision on the file for approval for showing Sports was still awaited. A decision would be taken once the World Cup was over, an MP observed.

NDA CONSPIRACY?

Left Front MPs had been directed by their respective parties to felicitate Capt Lakshmi Sahgal when she arrives at the main entrance of the Parliament House. While many were seen, scribes noticed the absence of CPM leader in the Lok Sabha Somnath Chatterjee. A sympathiser said Somnathda was busy in Kolkata participating in the silver jubilee celebrations of the Left Front government in West Bengal. But minutes after Somanathda was seen rushing towards the room where Capt Sahgal along with other important leaders including former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda was filing her papers. He walked into the room telling the waiting journalists that he was late because of an NDA conspiracy to delay the Kolkata-Delhi flight which evoked peels of laughter.

DSGMC POLL

SAD (Mann) President and Lok Sabha MP from Sangrur Simranjit Singh Mann is camping here along with senior party colleagues to campaign for the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee elections due on June 30. The elections are being held almost a year behind time. In the fray for the DSGMC elections for the first time, SAD (Mann) has decided to steer clear of the Congress and the BJP, both of which it rates as corrupt and anti-minority.

The party has fielded 14 candidates for the 40 plus seats and is hopeful of building a rapport with the electorate. Simranjit Singh Mann is more than satisfied with the support promised by voters on the opening day of the eight-day campaign at Tagore Garden in New Delhi on Thursday.

Contributed by TRR, Satish Mishra, Prashant Sood and Tripti Nath.

DIVERSITIES — DELHI LETTER

She fights a losing battle, but without bitterness
Humra Quraishi

FOCUS has been on the two Presidential candidates — the Left’s Capt. Lakshmi Sahgal and the NDA’s Dr Kalam. In last week’s column, I had mentioned about Sahgal’s glorious nationalist past (well, in accordance with the traditional definition of nationalism and not according to the Sangh’s complicated, newly woven formulas) and her equally glorious present — even at 88 years she runs a charitable clinic, tending to hundreds of patients in Kanpur’s industrial belts.

No, she doesn’t talk much, keeps a low profile and though she’s fighting a losing battle, there’s no bitterness. In fact, she has addressed just one Press meet so far and soon after filing her papers, she rushed back to Kanpur to get back to the routine. She would be back here on June 26 to address several women’s groups.

And focus shifts from wah-wahing to Dr Kalam’s nuclear theories (thankfully none have been tried out so far ) to some other aspects — his self-proclaimed ‘bramacharya’ status, his preference for veggie fare, his love for going for long winding walks, his mastery to deviate from giving direct answers to even simple queries on the Gujarat carnage...I could go on but the question of his hairstyle seems to distract. Till date Jagmohan’s hairdo is said to be the ultimate in terms of style and effort but Dr. Kalam’s strands seem to stand out, just about somehow. And barbers are already upgrading themselves to hair-stylists. Though the Rashtrapati Bhavan has the distinction of housing every possible department a saloon seemed missing, so far, at least.

VVIP SECURITY

As a bungalow on Prithvi Raj Road is reportedly getting readied for outgoing President K.R.Narayanan, residents staying in the multi-storeyed buildings/complexes on the other side of the road are almost fuming. They say, the particular stretch has the bungalows of the Union Home Minister, the Cabinet Secretary and now with the former President also moving in, the security bandobasts would reach frightful limits.

“There shouldn’t be VVIP setups in middle class settings, for we have to bear the burden of those bandobasts — security drills, sirens, roads getting blocked etc.” Incidentally, this particular road also houses a former Cabinet Secretary — Zafar Saifullah. But he leads a quiet life sans all the frills. The same is said of the present Cabinet Secretary T.S.R.Prasad. It’s a complete contrast to his predecessor Prabhat Kumar’s glamorous set up.

WORLD REFUGEE DAY

June 20 was the World Refugee Day. The focus was on women refugees. With their children, refugee women account for 80 per cent of the refugees. This time, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Dr Augustine Mahiga, with historical inputs, spoke on the complexities of the entire refugee problem. He spoke well and thankfully didn’t bypass the human aspect related to the refugee crisis.