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Tuesday,
March 25, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Not provocative enough? Back to business A major agreement |
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Preparing for the next phase of elections
At home with war
Parties not in fighting-fit shape
Patricia’s new version of “Goodbye Girl”
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Not provocative enough? WHEN Pakistan-backed militants launched a frontal attack on Parliament on December 13, 2001, the leadership thundered that the unrepentant neighbour had crossed the “Lakshman Rekha” of India’s patience. This was the horrendous culmination of a decade of blood and gore in which killers from across the border had butchered thousands of innocent civilians in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere without a befitting reply and had finally concluded that the very symbol of Indian democracy could now be targeted. For once, the government showed some resoluteness and marched the army to the border. Then came Kaluchak and the Prime Minister’s bold statement that time had come for an “aar paar ki ladai”. Then suddenly, inexplicably, the country appeared to have swallowed a mega dose of synthetic restraint pushed down its gullet by international community (read the USA). Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee later even expressed regret that he should have taken on Pakistan at the right time, but it was too late. The result? Continuing depredations and finally the cold-blooded murder of 24 Kashmiri Pandits, including 11 women and children, on Monday. How will the government and the world react now? All the old clichés like “unpardonable crime” and “heinous act” would be bandied about and it would be condemned in the “harshest possible” words. Perhaps yet another “stern” warning would be issued to Pakistan which the latter would ignore with the same contempt that it has displayed so far. Make no mistake about it. It is not going to change its stripes just because India tells it to do so. Pakistan has proved time and again that it is well beyond the niceties of negotiations and peace talks. Every reasoning is seen as yet another proof of Indian pusillanimity. Lahore and Agra are rebuff enough. Delhi has to show it once for all what is the very final limit of its patience. The USA has just set novel standards of abiding by international opinion and global forums like the United Nations. Time is ripe for India to demonstrate that there cannot be two definitions of what constitutes terror. A terrorist is a terrorist whether he slams a hijacked plane into World Trade Centre or pulls out helpless women and children from their hamlet in Kashmir and guns them down. Taking umpteen such provocations lying down would be the surest way to invite many more such heinous acts. What must be also remembered is that inaction is breeding a feeling of betrayal among a large section of people in the country which can some day erupt as a cataclysmic conflagration. What exactly is brewing in their mind cannot be gauged from what is said in seminars and workshops. One has to put one’s ear to the ground and listen to what they are saying in village chaupals and even discussion forums of various Internet portals. Pressure is definitely building up and needs a safety outlet, fast! |
Back to business HISTORY’s longest and well organised cricket World Cup 2003 is over. Now the nation of cricket maniacs can return to the more mundane business of doing whatever destiny has scripted for each one of us. Winning the World Cup was clearly not part of the deal. And so, in spite of the global hysteria generated by commercial interests and Mandira
Bedi, skipper Saurav Ganguly and his team faltered at the door of glory that comes with winning the game's biggest trophy. The only silver lining was the muted response to the emphatic 125-run victory that saw Australia walk into the record books as the only team to have won the prized trophy three times, and twice in a row now. Even delayed reports do not suggest that Mohd Kaif's house in Allahabad was vandalised for yet again failing against the best team in the world. Zaheer Khan may have to reckon with a more tense return to Baroda after the hammering he received at the hands of the Australians. Pundits will say that the World Cup was lost in the opening over itself when the lad from Baroda forgot all about line and length. The occasion at last caught up with the team that has seven players for whom playing in the World Cup was a new experience. Even the veterans could not keep their cool. Javagal Srinath's spell was nowhere near his best. Sachin Tendulkar gave his detractors another point to run him down by making an early return to the dressing room. Ganguly himself played like as if his house was on fire. Only Rahul
Dravid, the quintessential Mr Dependable, played with a degree of assurance until Virendra Sehwag was run out to an astonishing piece of fielding — one of the factors that has made Australia the best team in the game. Some may argue that the game was gift wrapped and handed over to the rivals when Ganguly opted to field after winning the toss. It must have been a team decision, but it was wrong. The simple rule of thumb is to bat first on winning the toss unless there is a demon in the pitch that can be exploited by the bowlers. Had India batted first, it may have posted more than the 359 runs Ricky Ponting and others put on the scoreboard. After all India managed 234 runs in 39.1 overs through some reckless batting for reaching the impossible target of 360. Had India batted first, add at least another 100 runs to the 234 in the remaining 10.5 overs to have some idea about what could have been done by the best batting lineup in the game on the batsman-friendly wicket. But the real problem lay elsewhere. India had too many well-wishers and self-appointed experts telling the team what to do. It was a crazy situation. In a manner of speaking the Prime Minister batted for India and so did his colleagues in the party and the government. Not to be left out of the game of playing proxy cricket even the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha decided to bat for India. And the one and only Ms Mamta Banerjee bowled the most devastating under arm bouncer in the history of the game by demanding a Bharat Ratna for Tendulkar, for his innings against Pakistan. Well done Team India. You played exceptionally good cricket in spite of the avoidable pressure put on you by those who should learn to mind their own business. |
A major agreement THE agreement between the Sri Lankan Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) reached at the Japanese mountain resort of Hakone on holding local elections in the North and East of the island nation is welcome. This is bound to be viewed as a major step as far as the progress of the peace talks is concerned. Considering the fact that elections were not conducted in these parts, under the control of the LTTE, for as many as 15 years, this is an important decision taken during the past six months of the ongoing peace process. The Tiger rebels have dropped the demand for a separate state for which they fought for the past 25 years. And now, they have decided to enter into the political process and support the government in conducting free and fair elections. They have also asked Tamil political parties to contest the local elections. If the ethnic minorities are involved in the decision-making process and given a place of pride in the constitutionally-elected local bodies, their voice will be heard and justice delivered. Muslims should also be included in the political process. The meeting convened on April 27 between the LTTE and the Muslim representatives in Batticaloa is expected to sort out this issue. It would have been much better had the LTTE also contested the local council elections. Its chief negotiator, Anton
Balasingham, says that though they have no intention of reviving their political party, which was formed in 1989, they will encourage others to contest elections in areas held by them. Elections themselves are no solution to the ethnic problem in Sri Lanka. Both the government and the LTTE will have to cross many more hurdles on the road to peace. There are many wide-ranging issues, including a framework for political matters, to be resolved. There are also stumbling blocks on the arduous path. People talk about the continued clashes between Sinhalese and Muslims in Colombo, the High Court’s verdict sentencing Prabhakaran to a 200-year jail term for reportedly masterminding the 1996 bombing of the Central Bank, and the continued confrontation between President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil
Wickremesinghe. It is good that talks were held between both sides at Hakone, as scheduled. Doubts were raised on the fate of the latest round of negotiations after the March 10 sinking of a LTTE ship suspected of carrying huge quantities of arms and ammunition in international waters, 185 km off eastern Sri Lanka. Reports suggest that the Tigers are sticking to their guns on several issues, including the question of maintaining the military balance. All these issues can be resolved peacefully across the table just as the decision on holding local elections. Both sides are meeting again — the seventh round — between April 29 and May 2 in Thailand. Hopefully, the next round will offer more understanding on geographical regions and the division of powers between the Centre and the regions. |
Preparing for the next phase of elections The next phase of assembly elections is due in Oct-Nov, 2003, when Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Delhi go to the polls. Understandably, the BJP and the Congress are both having a series of sessions analysing the various connected issues. The BJP has begun the exercise by tracing the reasons which led to the fiasco in Himachal Pradesh. While it did not expect the Hindutva propaganda to succeed, it did not expect the Congress to get a two-thirds majority. This indeed shocked the leadership which was basking in the glory of Gujarat’s election outcome. At a high-level meeting of party office-bearers in Delhi on March 1, attended by Prime Minister A. B. Vajpayee, Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, party president Venkaiah Naidu and others, the whys and hows were gone into in detail. The anti-incumbency factor was agreed upon as the prime reason, but the infighting in the party hierarchy in Himachal Pradesh was held even more responsible for the BJP defeat. Mr Vajpayee himself had reportedly referred to the infighting in the party and Mr Shanta Kumar has since been asked to explain. The BJP will try to ensure that there is no infighting in the states which are facing the elections later this year. However, this is easier said than done. In Delhi, Mr Madan Lal Khurana’s antics and the antipathy he generates in many of his colleagues in the BJP is quite well-known. In Madhya Pradesh Ms Uma Bharati has been despatched as party president in preference to several stalwarts like Mr Kailash Joshi. However, in her own backyard her brother has raised the banner of revolt and is reportedly seeking to join the Congress. In Rajasthan, Vasundhara Raje Scindia was clearly an imposition from above by the party hierarchy. Her unwillingness to jettison her ministerial post in Delhi was quite known but she had to be relieved along with Ms Uma Bharati in spite of their preferences. However, senior BJP leaders and ministers have now been earmarked to take care of these states. The propaganda strategy and the issues to be highlighted during the forthcoming assembly elections are being discussed by both the Congress and the BJP. The BJP seems to have decided, especially after the Himachal Pradesh elections, that Hindutva cannot be used as a trump card any more. Mr Advani himself had reportedly observed that but for Godhra and the aftermath in Gujarat the party could not have secured the stunning victory there. The party, therefore, is looking for preparing a charge sheet against the respective state governments for their alleged failure on many fronts. In Rajasthan the main allegation will be that the Gehlot government failed to prevent starvation deaths. In Madhya Pradesh the alleged rigging of the electoral rolls, which has assumed some importance of late, could be played up. There is also Bhojshala which has suddenly been blown up as a major issue. In Chhattisgarh Mr Ajit Jogi’s alleged lavish and spendthrift habits such as the proposal for a costly new capital etc have been referred to. In Delhi, nothing has been identified as yet against the administration. There are fewer power cuts and the water supply also has been fairly satisfactory. The Central government has done its bit to win over the government servants by restoring the leave travel concession and making marginal concessions in the income tax levies. The Congress has been busy on a series of exercises. A meeting of PCC presidents was held on March 9 and the party is due to hold a two-day national convention of block presidents on March 28-29. This will be followed by a mass rally in Delhi on March 30. The obvious purpose is to lay down a road map for the forthcoming assembly elections and later the parliamentary poll in 2004. There are clear signs that the Sangh Parivar as a whole is getting together, under the direction and guidance of RSS leadership to help the BJP in winning the forthcoming elections. There has been increasing interaction between the RSS hierarchy and the BJP hierarchy. The RSS General Secretary, Mr Mohan Rao Bhagwat, recently addressed a meeting, which was described as a Shakha-RSS rally, and about 100 BJP MPs attended, including the PM and the DPM and senior ministers with RSS background. It was reportedly decided that all the Parivar outfits, including the VHP should present a united front in working for the success of the BJP. The luncheon meeting at the Prime Minister’s house on the Holi day was attended by all the top leaders of the RSS and the BJP. A public rally in Delhi on April 5,to be addressed by the Prime Minister and others has also been programmed. The party would hold a “Chintan Shivir” later in June when all the important issues will be discussed and finalised and clear directions given. There is clearly much more on the BJP agenda for the elections than mere closing of the ranks of the Sangh Parivar. The Ram temple is going to be a major issue. It may be recalled that the Prime Minister himself, in the course of an election rally in Himachal Pradesh, expressed the hope that the Ram temple will be eventually constructed and that it will be found that there was a Ram temple at the disputed site in the past. It may be a sheer coincidence that a few days later the Allahabad High Court directed the Archaeological Survey of India to carry out the digging of the site where the Babri Masjid existed before its demolition, to find out whether there was a temple. The digging has since begun. No possible conclusions could be arrived at in a month’s time as digging has to go on patiently and slowly, layer after layer of the earth. It is extremely doubtful if the team could come up with clear proof that there was a Ram temple under the Babri Masjid site or in the immediate vicinity. There are other controversies already on the Ram temple issue. Some Jains have claimed that there was a Jain mandir at the disputed site once upon a time. Mr Praveen Togadia of the VHP has refused to say if the VHP would give up its claim on the disputed site in the event of the Archaeological Survey team’s findings are contrary to their expectations. He also announced that a major agitation would begin from March 27 when lakhs of Ram sevaks would gather each day for a week in Delhi and that yatras and jan jagrans would also be held at various places in Delhi. Mr Mohan Bhagawat, the RSS Sarkarvavaha, announced in Nagpur on March 7 that the climate in the country was tilting in favour of Hindutva forces and the time has come to activate the Ram temple movement. Clearly the Ram temple, as an election issue, has the potential of great mischief and if Ram sevaks begin to converge either in the capital or elsewhere, who knows something like Godhra may not take place in some train somewhere leading to serious consequences as it happened in Gujarat. We could only hope that better sense and wisdom would prevail to ensure that such things are fully averted. The Congress on its part should be prepared to face these challenges. In fact, there are quite a few issues such as the cow slaughter, the Bhojshala, the alleged softness towards terrorism, the so-called soft Hindutva on the part of Congress etc. They have to clarify and make clear-cut declarations, not only both for the party workers but also to the people at large. More than anything else, the secular and non-BJP forces have to put up a united front if they have to stem the tide of the Hindu form of fundamentalism, with the VHP as its front paw, as it may pose danger to India’s unity and integrity. While the BJP which is heading the NDA keeps proclaiming that it would strictly go by the NDA agenda, the BJP as a party and political face of the Sangh Parivar is a different avatar altogether. If it ever gets 300 seats in Parliament, as hoped by the BJP President ,it will shake off the NDA mantle and come out in its true colours. The secular and democratic forces have to realise this and unite by setting aside their differences, regional grievances and interests. The writer is a former Governor of West Bengal and Sikkim. |
At home with war My father who was born in 1930, after the First World War and before the Second, was there informing us about the “wages of war”, in Sahir Ludhianvi’s inimitable style — Jung mashriq main ho ya magrib main; amno aalam ka khoon hai aakhir (War, if it breaks out whether in the East or in the West, amounts only to the murder of global peace). And that — Jung to khud hi ek masla hai; jung maslon ka hal kya degee (War does not offer solutions since it is in itself a problem). It was March 16 and as per initial reports pouring in, America was to attack Iraq on the seventeenth. All of us in the family, who were listening to father’s rendition of Sahir’s poetry, were then asked by him to hit our respective beds, since he too wanted to retire for the day. To the encore he recited the parting couplet of the evening — Is liye ai sharif insanon, jung talti rahe to behtar hai; aap aur hum sabhi ke aangan main, shama jalti rahe to behtar hai (Thus, O’ Noble men, if war could continue to be postponed it is good for all of us so that the flame of life keeps burning in our respective households). We passed a sleepless night. Rising early the next morning, I dashed to the door to collect my pack of newspapers, when I discovered two of them had not been delivered that day. I subscribe to four. Having heard me grumble and curse the vendor, my wife half in sleep said that she had reduced the number of newspapers from four to two, as part of the austerity drive in the household, which “we deliberated upon just a couple of days back”. “But whaaay…? Jaswant Singh has not been so cruel at least this budget season!” I nearly barked. We have survived innumerable squabbles all our married life but I don’t know what happened to my wife who immediately threw away the blanket and shouted: “So whaaat? I have cut down the quota by two!” I too sprung on my feet and shouted with heightened pitch: “But why have you done so without even asking meeee?” “Ask you, my foot!” and she too was literally on her feet and thumped on the floor in a more threatening gesture and did not stop even at that as if enough had not been enough. She let out her unilateral resolve: “If I would have my way I would stop the other two as well.” She threw a real challenge and dared my masculinity, or so I thought. I retaliated with a real suspension of disbelief: “Can you dare to…and do you really mean that…!” I started fumbling for words. Wife walked out and made it to the living room where father had already been sitting. Fuming like a bull, I also followed her. Father came out of his meditation trance quite unaware of our early morning wrestle. Referring to our last evening’s pondering on the inevitable and impending war, he asked us: “Has the war begun?” Reflexively, my wife’s and my eyes met. We burst into a peel of laughter. All the frostiness had gone when wife offered me my morning cuppa. I wish someone, a father-figure, could make Bush and Saddam laugh. Truly, war does not determine who is right. Only who is left. |
Parties not in fighting-fit shape There is something unusual about the way the two main political parties are rushing with the preparations for the Assembly elections, still eight months ahead. Revamping the units and posting new bosses in poll-bound states had begun even before the new year. Observers and prabharis from New Delhi have already taken charge of the election campaign. Every possible caste and religious guile and propaganda trickery is being tried to win the four crucial states. Though the total number of Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Delhi is much less than UP, the BJP had in 1999 bagged 52 out of 72. More than the adverse psychological impact, a setback in these states will considerably reduce the party’s domineering position within the NDA after the 2004 general election. After Gujarat and Himachal these are the main battle grounds where the two parties come in direct contest. For the Congress, any defeat in its four strongholds would mean abandoning all hopes of a return. The Congress has been holding meetings to tone up administration in the four states. It has put its best organisers to plug the chinks in its defence. The Congress has also called a two-day conference of its block presidents from March 28 with a view to energising the ranks. An early starter, the BJP has been more systematic. It has inducted young blood as elections bosses in bigger states like Rajasthan, MP and Chhattisgarh and launched the poll campaign with massive rallies to be addressed by Mr L.K. Advani. It had its unpublicised strategy sessions to discuss various cunning formula put forth by its in-house spin doctors and outside experts. Apart from the session in Raipur, the BJP has successfully persuaded the RSS to hold a joint chintan baithak of all parivar bosses some time in June. Mr Vajpayee, who had initially went on defying the RSS, seems apparently convinced that he will lose heavily if he does not have the parivar’s full involvement in future elections. Successive elections have shown that the disillusioned middle class no more finds a messiah in him as did in 1998 and 1999. Now the biggest hurdle in the way of his return to power is the public perception that his government had ended up as a pale imitation of the earlier regimes. The present establishment is seen as having even surpassed the Congress. Shorn of frills, the “Congress image syndrome” has been the main reason for the fall of the BJP governments in state after state. The growing camaraderie in the RSS parivar has been the result of this collective realisation that things could not improve without a new game plan. The whole confusion in the BJP centres on whether it should opt for election campaigns based on ‘non-performance’ of the Congress governments or Modi model mobilisation. Both may seem complementary but not so on the ground. In case the religious hate campaigns catch on, that will invariably push the failures of the Congress government to the fore. This had happened in Gujarat and its reverse version in Himachal Pradesh. A prominent section in BJP, including the now demoted Pramod Mahajan, argue that since non-performance as central theme had worked in Himachal against the government, the same could catch the voters’ imagination in other cow belt regions as well. The BJP should, therefore, launch a massive campaign against the failures of the governments. Statewise chargesheets citing the alleged misdeeds, rallies and direct actions and full mobilisation of the friendly Hindi channels and the print media should be mainstay. The Modi experiment, it is argued, can work only if the campaign has a high rate of success and the emotion really all-pervading. Otherwise it is better to concentrate on the opposition government’s failures because after a certain point nearer the election, the two focuses would have the effect of neutralising each other. This was what the master strategist Digvijay Singh did by raising Hindutva issues to distract attention from his alleged failures. They don’t want the BJP to fall into his trap. The other view is that there is nothing wrong if the VHP and its sadhus are encouraged to push ‘Hindu bride’. It will impress at least some sections locally. The two campaign points could target different sections. Even if such issues fail to pick up momentum, it will force the opposition governments to dissipate their energy to fight on many fronts. At the moment, the BJP gameplan in the four states is to highlight the incumbency factors even while cautiously seeking to identify hate seeking Hindutva programmes. This apart, the BJP’s biggest headache, as repeatedly emphasised by Mr Venkaiah Naidu himself, is the problem of indiscipline. In Himachal, 25 rebel candidates had refused to withdraw. The BJP has the distinction of being the worst victim of this fast spreading Congress infection. Those who take politics as a career and business have overwhelmed the organisation. This upwardly mobile crowd is its best asset but they also go to any extent to become MLAs and ministers. The Congress had in the past tried remedies like sending special teams to districts to identify the right nominees and their selection three months in advance. But instead of ending rebellion, it gave enough time for the failed ticket aspirants to seek fortunes in other parties or to indulge in more elaborate sabotage. In fact, organisational factionalism, rebel candidates and the post-election revolt against the party chief minister are all inextricably intertwined. If a faction leader’s nominees are denied tickets, they turn rebels. The self-seekers entrenched in BJP for the past five years are as unscrupulous as those of the old Janata and worse than the Congress. Offer ministership, they will readily defect from the BJP. This is not the story of UP alone. The BJP’s lack of trust in its own MLAs has forced Mr Vajpayee to amend the RPA to impose secret ballot to elect Rajya Sabha members. The party was the worst victim of the recent cross votings. The BJP high command’s imposition of subedars on unwilling state units has already has its toll. The projections of Ms Uma Bharti as Chief Minister has a unifying effect on veterans like Mr Sunderlal Patwa, Mr Kailash Joshi and Mr Vikram Verma. Ms Vasundhararaje Sindhia’s intrusion into Rajasthan had led to smear campaigns among Rajasthan BJP factions. In Gujarat, Mr Keshubhai Patel had relented only after he realised the intensity of the massive hate wave under Mr Modi. In the absence of such sweep, rebel phenomenon will become beyond Delhi’s control. Explanation was sought from Himachal rebel leader Shanta Kumar in the hope that it would scare the prospective rebels in this year’s elections. But the rebels also know that in a party where expediency reigns supreme they will be welcomed back provided they stood firm — as in UP and elsewhere. |
Patricia’s new version of “Goodbye Girl” Washington: Patricia Heaton, the two-time Emmy-winning actress of “Everybody Loves Raymond” fame, is all set to star in the remake of playwright Neil Simon's 1977 film “The Goodbye Girl.” The new version is being made for a small-screen appearance, with the 45-year-old Heaton in “final negotiations” to re-create the role originated by Marsha Mason, who won an Oscar nomination for her role of a divorcee sharing her New York apartment with a struggling actor, played by Richard Dreyfuss. Simon has already been roped to rewrite and executive produce the new “Girl,” which is a co-production of Warner Bros. TV and TNT, reports people.com. “When my agent brought up the possibility, I didn’t dare entertain it. I just love that movie, and Marsha Mason was incredible. And for anyone who loves theatre, Neil Simon is an icon,” Heaton was quoted as saying by Variety. The shooting is set to begin this summer.
ANI Super-Man not found, director quits Washington: Inability to find the lead actor for the movie based on the popular comic book character has forced Super-Man director Brett Ratner to resign. In a statement, Ratner said: “I have chosen to withdraw as director of Super-Man. The difficulty of casting the role has contributed to my decision. I appreciate the efforts of Warner Bros and the entire production team during this process.” According to a report in News 24, Josh Hartnett was favourite after months of screen tests but pulled out due to other commitments. Brendan Fraser, Paul Walker and newcomer Matthew Bomer are all thought to have been screen-tested but have yet to agree to a deal. The script has been written by JJ Abrams as part of a trilogy.
ANI Liz Hurley’s new farmhouse London: British actress-model Elizabeth Hurley has bought a 2.75-million-pound farmhouse, called Ampney Knowle. Located in the Cotswolds, the house is surrounded by eight outbuildings and a tennis court, reports PeopleNews. Prince Charles’s Highgrove Estate is only a few miles away from Hurley’s new home. Meanwhile, Hurley is also house-hunting in Los Angeles, following reports of her starring in a US sitcom.
ANI |
To harm a man Is to betray humanity. Love your enemies And you will have none. To love your enemy Is to conquer him. Love your enemy And his soul will bind him down. —Paul Bible, Proverbs 25:21 |
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