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Sonia stroke Sensex
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Lawbreaker Beware, Raja Bhaiyya is out The notorious lawmaker from Pratapgarh, Raghuraj Pratap Singh, does not waste time. He symbolises the weakness in the system of parliamentary democracy that allows lawbreakers to earn the right to represent the people and make laws on their behalf.
The troubled
neighbourhood
Magic of the melody
Results mask
decline of Congress, NCP From
Pakistan
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Sonia stroke CONGRESS President Sonia Gandhi has in one masterstroke deprived her critics of a potent political weapon. By listening to her "inner voice" and declining the post of Prime Minister, which would have been hers by virtue of heading the single largest political party and coalition, she took the steam out of the BJP's threat to go to town on the issue of her foreign origin. It was utterly churlish of Union Minister Sushma Swaraj to have threatened to tonsure her head if Ms Gandhi was sworn in as Prime Minister. Equally ill-advised was the threat of the National Democratic Alliance to boycott her swearing-in, particularly when the Congress-led alliance had won the elections in its own right and had obtained adequate support from the Left and other parties. Ordinarily, there should have been no hitch in the transfer of power from Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Ms Gandhi. However, the Congress leader could not have been oblivious of the possibility of a dispirited and desperate Sangh Parivar unleashing a systematic campaign against her because of her foreign origin. She would have had the unpleasant experience of listening to shouts of "foreigner" from the BJP and its affiliates both within and without Parliament. She would not have been able to concentrate on her work as Prime Minister if she had to face such attacks day in and day out. Given centuries of "foreign rule" India had to undergo, it would not have been difficult for the Sangh Parivar to drum up support for its "foreigner hatao" campaign. All this would have vitiated the political atmosphere and created unnecessary divisions among the people. Besides, Ms Gandhi would have been hamstrung by her foreign origin to take decisions which have serious political and diplomatic implications. Her critics would have been seeing all her decisions through tinted glasses and in the process they would have seen only tinted images. In any case, it would not have been in the interest of the nation to have someone at the top who would have to look over her shoulders. It is this realisation that forced her not to take the plunge. In doing so, Ms Sonia Gandhi has earned the gratitude of all the peace-loving people of the country for there are few parallels in history of such abdication. |
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Sensex regains sense The
BSE sensex, after its worst-ever intra-day plunge on “Black Monday”, is back on the recovery path, but may remain range bound until a clearer picture of the political scenario emerges. Although the Indian growth story is still intact and the stock markets have reacted positively to the possibility of Dr Manmohan Singh occupying the prime ministerial chair, the Leftist shadow on the future of reforms still looms. While Indian financial institutions have made some value buying during the period of turmoil, the foreign institutional investors too have perhaps realised that they had overreacted to the Leftist threat to reforms, obviously played up by news-hungry TV channels, something brokers justifiably protested. The 565-point sensex crash on Monday was the second biggest after the 570-point collapse triggered by the Harshad Mehta scam in 1992. Happily, the system successfully weathered the storm this time and there were no payment problems. The latest crash, though severe, lasted only two trading days. Such nasty surprises may recur as foreign funds can withdraw as quickly as they enter the market. Besides, global events now also impact investment decisions. For instance, in the past few days stock markets the world over have been witnessing a downward trend on fears of spiralling oil prices slowing down growth and on prospects of US interest rates going up. On the positive side, the overheated Chinese economy is set to cool and foreign investors there are looking towards alternative emerging markets like India. Within the country, investors are keenly awaiting the common minimum programme of the proposed coalition government at the Centre as also the Budget to make vital investment decisions. The new government will have to resist the Leftist pressures on economic policy and temptations of resorting to populism. The investing community has already given its thumbs-up to Dr Manmohan Singh and one hopes he would live up to the high expectations pinned on him. |
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Lawbreaker The notorious lawmaker from Pratapgarh, Raghuraj Pratap Singh, does not waste time. He symbolises the weakness in the system of parliamentary democracy that allows lawbreakers to earn the right to represent the people and make laws on their behalf. The Bharatiya Janata Party had described him as its enemy. He was released on bail on Tuesday. His first act was to declare war on the state -level leaders of the saffron party in Uttar Pradesh. He intends to settle scores with them for having conspired with Ms Mayawati for his detention under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Assumption of innocence unless found guilty by the courts is a sound principle for protecting people from the possible abuse of law. However, to extend this protection to politicians with known criminal proclivities is injurious to the health of parliamentary democracy. The only way to stop criminals like Raja Bhaiyya from damaging the instruments of democratic governance is through appropriate changes in the provisions of the Representation of the People Act. The moot issue is who shall introduce these changes in the election laws. The representatives of the people often go through the motion of expressing concern over the criminalisation of politics. However, they have themselves found unconvincing reasons for making such laws as would prevent mafia dons from entering the sacred portals of the country's legislatures. The fact that few elected members with criminal backgrounds contest as independent candidates provides damning evidence of the patronage and respectability that recognised political parties give to them. Raja Bhaiyya himself is a product of a similar system, although he is capable of winning without political support by using terror as a weapon for making the people vote for him. Ms Mayawati had at least tamed him by abusing POTA. However, Mr Mulayam Sigh Yadav has given him respectability he does not deserve. |
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Hope raises no dust. — Paul Eluard |
The troubled neighbourhood IN an article that he penned just before the dramatic election victory of the Congress and its allies, Mr J.N. Dixit, who played a key role in formulating the national security and foreign policy objectives of the party, observed: “Whatever the results of the general election, whichever, government comes to power in New Delhi will have to cope with a very complex and tense neighbourhood”. India is, without doubt, going through turbulent times. The Americans are trying desperately to get out of the quagmire that they are finding themselves in Iraq. Saudi Arabia that provides a significant portion of India’s oil supplies is facing a threat arising primarily from the very forces that it funded to spread Wahabi extremism in Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere. Closer to home, General Musharraf runs with the hare and hunts with the hounds as he allows the Taliban leadership free access within his own country, even as he swears undying loyalty to the Americans in their “war against terrorism”. The impact of the developments in Afghanistan and Pakistan has been felt even to our east. Groups from Osama bin Laden’s “International Islamic Front” like the Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami have moved into Bangladesh and receive support and sustenance on Bangladesh soil. Begum Khaleda Zia’s government not only fraternises with such groups, but also permits huge shipments of arms that find their way to insurgent groups in our northeast. New Delhi’s feeble protests to Bangladesh are peremptorily rejected and cross-border terrorism from Bangladesh flourishes. It is obvious that India lacks a coherent strategy to deal with this challenge. India would have to mount diplomatic pressure on Bangladesh to compel it to mend its ways and combine this with enhancing India’s covert and overt capabilities to raise the costs for our eastern neighbour if it persists with its present policies. New Delhi will have to urgently undertake diplomatic and other measures to guarantee energy security for the country in an era when world oil prices are set to rise. After nearly two decades of relatively stable oil prices that spurred world economic growth, we now seem to be headed for an era where oil prices will rise by at least 30 per cent over those prevailing earlier. And the situation could get worse should oil prices rise to over $ 60 per barrel (domestic petrol prices could then rise to Rs 60 per litre), if the violence now prevalent in Iraq spills across the border and endangers the oil supplies from Saudi Arabia. Restoring stability to Iraq is now crucial if we are to avoid developments that could seriously endanger our economic progress. It is Iraq alone that has the potential to fill any void created over the longer term by disruption or uncertainty of oil supplies from Saudi Arabia. India shares a common interest with all major consumers, including the US, the European Union, Japan and China in ensuring stability in the Persian Gulf. It is the fast growing economies of India and China that are now increasingly accounting for the rise in global oil imports. Thus, while there are some in our ruling dispensation who may gloat over American discomfiture in Iraq, the importance of devising cooperative strategies to meet the forthcoming challenges in the Persian Gulf cannot be over-emphasised. The foreign policy issue that received most attention during the election campaign was the alleged subservience of the NDA government to diktats from the Americans and not entirely unjustified apprehensions that the Americans were getting a bit too intrusive on the developments pertaining to the India-Pakistan dialogue. But it is an undeniable fact that after the Kargil conflict the United States has played a significant role in making it clear to Pakistan that it should respect the sanctity of the Line of Control, end infiltration across the LoC and ban the activities of groups like the Lashkar-e- Toiba and the Jaish-e- Mohammed. It would be dangerous to ignore the reality that in today’s world it is the US alone that wields the diplomatic, economic and military power to move Pakistan to mend its ways. While the manner in which Mr Colin Powell handled the issue of the grant of a “major non-NATO ally status” to Pakistan speaks very poorly of his much-touted diplomatic abilities, the fact is that not much has changed since the announcement was made. The US has a $ 3 billion five-year aid programme for Pakistan that should not cause India to lose any sleep. And the Congress-led government would do well to make it clear to the Bush Administration that any supplies of armaments like nuclear-capable F-16 aircraft would have a seriously destabilising impact. There is now a broad national consensus on the need to move ahead in expanding cooperation with China and in amicably resolving the border issue. But it would be dangerous to advocate, as our Marxists are doing, that China is some form of a strategic ally and that India can balance the US through a grouping of India, China and Russia. While the Russians remain trusted friends, the Marxists are conveniently turning a blind eye to China’s extensive relations and engagement with the US and its continuing cooperation with Pakistan — a country that Chinese strategic thinkers describe as “China’s Israel”. Pakistan’s nuclear weapons are of Chinese design. Its missiles that are now capable of targeting Kolkata and Thiruvananthapuram are of Chinese origin. No country has done greater long-term damage to Indian national security than China. There is nothing to indicate that there is any change in the thrust of its military, nuclear and missile collaboration with India’s troublesome western neighbour. The dialogue process that the Vajpayee Government initiated with Pakistan should be pursued in a pro-active and imaginative manner. But given the efforts that India’s friends across the border made to disrupt the recent elections in J&K, it should be obvious that Pakistan intends to continue using terrorism as an instrument of State policy, while regulating the levels and intensity of terrorism, based on its internal and international compulsions. The newly elected government has to be prepared to deal with these and other challenges in the months ahead. The government would also do well to remember that the statements that destabilise the country’s stock markets and give an impression that it is sliding back from the path of economic reform will seriously undermine India’s standing and credibility internationally. |
Magic of the melody The admirable Guru Dutt looked on as the bewitching Madhubala swirled her umbrella and sang:
Thandi hava, Kali ghata, Aa hi gayi jhoom ke and Johnny Walker accompanied by a pretty Anglo-Indian starlet crawled under office tables singing:
Jaane kahan mera jigar gaya ji. The film was Mr and Mrs ’55 and when I saw it decades later turned out to be a male-chauvinistic affair aimed at taming the shrew. But its music was wonderful for that was a time when melody reigned supreme. Incidentally ‘55 was also the year when I was born so melody seemed to have worked its magic on me when I was still in my mother’s womb. I grew up listening to Binaca Geet Mala on Radio Ceylon and the late-night Urdu service on All India Radio and became a great admirer of the Hindustani film songs. It was enchanting also to see these songs picturised in the films of those times. My love for the movie songs remained unchanged although it became a trifle embarrassing when I grew up and became part of arty-literary circles. The people I came into contact with had more developed musical tastes. Many relished Hindustani classical music and could appreciate folk music but film songs they considered passe. Redemption came for me when the famous theatre and music director, late
B. V. Karanth, described the film songs as folk songs of the urban population in the country. There is a small confession to make here. While still in my troublesome thirties, I had a crush on a crooner in a Chandigarh hotel and the prime reason was that he sang these melodious songs. So when he glanced sidelong glance with his cap perched at a rakish angle and sang:
Tumhara intezar hai, Pukar lo, I actually felt he was singing this Hemant song from Khamoshi only for me. Well, such is the sorcery of these songs. Recently, one was part of a gathering of South Asian women writers from Pakistan, Banglades, Ceylon, Nepal and of course India. All conversation would be in English and the Bangladeshis, Tamilians and Sinhallese could not speak or understand Hindi. But come evening and it was time to sing all would join the singing of the Hindustani film melodies with a Tamilian actually singing out a pure Hindi number like
Khencho kaman maroji baan. Or a Bangla writer beating her foot and singing Sahir Ludhianvi’s lyric for Baazi:
Tadbeer se bigadhi huyi taqdir bana le. All lingual barriers were broken in the singing sessions and this led Urdu writer Zaheda Hena from Karachi to remark, “Hindustani film songs are indeed the folk songs of the sub-continent.” She had given a greater status to the film song than was given by Karanth. As I write all this down, I feel happy to think there are so many more like me and I find myself humming:
Hum hain rahi pyar
ke…
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Results mask decline of Congress, NCP
Job one for Mr Sharad Pawar after the installation of the new government at the Centre is to rejuvenate the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party for Maharashtra’s assembly elections, scheduled for later this year. Even while workers of the two Congress parties were congratulating the ailing Maratha chieftain on May 13 over the shocking defeat of the National Democratic Alliance, Pawar kept an uneasy eye on the scoreboard. And what he saw certainly promises to be worrisome in the days to come. “Were it not for the alliances made by Pawar in Maharashtra, the political situation in the country would have been far different,” admits a senior Congress party leader. A shrill campaign against the ruling Congress-NCP led Democratic Front government in Maharashtra helped the saffron Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party combine to increase its vote share in the state. According to political analysts here, the vote-share of the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party combine was up from 38 per cent in 1999 to 42 per cent in the latest elections. However, their tally fell from 28 seats in 1999 to 25, thanks to the consolidation of votes under the secular alliance stitched up by Pawar. In 1999, the NCP, newly split from the Congress party just before the elections, divided the votes between them. The combined vote-share of the two parties fell from 51 per cent in 1999 to just 44 per cent in their latest outing. The breakup of the electoral arithmetic is proving to be of much encouragement to the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party combine. “We lost votes due to the consolidation of the anti-BJP votes, but then our vote-share is increasing,” says BJP leader and former Public Works Minister Nitin Gadkari. The BJP and the Shiv Sena had embarked on a major publicity campaign to highlight, what they called, the Maharashtra government’s
failure to help drought-affected farmers in the state. A mass movement in the rural areas to mobilise cotton and sugarcane farmers and the embarrassment caused by the Telgi scam threatened to weigh down the ruling alliance. The Maharashtra ruling front, however, scored a masterstroke by withstanding pressure from the NDA government at the Centre to hold assembly elections with the Lok Sabha poll. The two Congress parties now hope that a good monsoon in Maharashtra and a fade-out of the Telgi scam would help them in the assembly poll later this year. It is, however, not clear if Pawar would be able to stitch up another winning alliance. For one, the Left parties are at loggerheads with the Congress and the NCP in Maharashtra and refused to join Pawar’s secular front for the Lok Sabha poll. Should the Congress-Left alliance at the Centre fail to replicate in Maharashtra, the Left parties could end up eating into the Congress and NCP votes and benefit the two saffron parties. Pawar has also burned his bridges with the Peasants and Workers Party, still part of the Democratic Front government. Eager to hit back at the PWP for attempting to topple the Maharashtra Government two years ago, Pawar worked hard to prevent the PWP from opening its innings in the current elections. The party even lost its stronghold, Kulaba, after Pawar got the Congress to field his old foe, Abdul Rehman Antulay, here. The Congress and the NCP are also facing new challengers, who threaten to muscle in. The Samajwadi Party failed to split the Muslim votes despite roping in Shahi Imam. But Muslims may not vote for the Congress-NCP in the assembly polls as they are still bristling over the arrests of scores of young men under POTA. To make matters worse, Mayawati and her Bahujan Samaj Party are making a major impact in Maharashtra’s hinterland. Analysts say, the BSP cut into the Congress-NCP’s voteshare in at least 11 of the 48 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state. “We have to do something about the BSP which made a good showing in Vidarbha,” Pawar himself admitted when the results began streaming in. Thanks to a whistle-stop tour by Mayawati, the BSP garnered 10 lakh votes in several Dalit pockets of the state. The BSP is accused of ensuring the defeat of the Congress-NCP in a number of key constituencies. Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde’s wife Ujwala in Solapur, who lost by 5,798 votes, NCP spokesman Praful Patel, who lost from Bhandara by 3009 votes and veteran Congress leader Prabha Rao, who lost from Wardha by 3188 votes were all done in by the BSP. Encouraged by the showing in the Lok Sabha poll, the BSP is getting ambitious. “We hope to get 40 to 50 MLAs in the coming assembly poll,” says Vilas Garud, BSP President in Maharashtra. The BSP has also managed to capture local self-government bodies in the region, threatening to put deep roots in the Vidarbha and Marathwada regions of Maharashtra. In campaigns across the state, Mayawati made it clear that only the BSP could inherit the mantle of Babasaheb Ambedkar. The Republican Party of India, floated by Ambedkar, has split into several factions in Maharashtra. Three of these were part of the Secular Alliance and contested one seat each. Observers here say, the Congress-NCP will have to immediately strengthen their networks in the co-operative sector in Maharashtra. The Bharatiya Janata Party under the leadership of former Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde has made inroads into this sector and wrested control of several major co-operatives from the Congress and the NCP. Traditional supporters of the Congress-NCP like the powerful Maratha community, accounting for more than 30 per cent of the state’s population, are being wooed aggressively. Though the two Congress parties have denied it, there is speculation that Shinde, a Dalit, would make way for his deputy Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil for the top job in the state. |
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From Pakistan ISLAMABAD: The Jamali government on
Tuesday, directing eastern Punjab to provide wheat to the NWFP and Balochistan, decided to import one million tonnes of wheat to cope with the country’s overall requirement as the annual crop production target is unexpected to be achieved. The decision to import wheat was taken here at a high-level meeting with Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali in the chair. “The meeting agreed that Punjab will provide wheat to the NWFP and Balochistan according to their requirements,” said an official announcement. The government had set a target of 20 million tonnes for the current wheat season but due to the early advent of extremely hot weather and the catastrophic rains, the production of the major crop was adversely affected.
— The Nation MMA opposes new taxes
RAWALPINDI: Deputy Secretary-General of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and Jamaat-i-Islami Naib Amir Liaquat Baloch has warned that if Gen Pervez Musharraf does not leave his uniform by December 31, 2004, under the government-MMA accord, the offices of both the President of Pakistan and the Chief of Army Staff would lose constitutional cover and the whole system would plunge into deep crisis. Expressing his views at a Meet-the-Press programme at Rawalpindi-Islamabad Press Club on Tuesday, the MMA leader expressed complete dissatisfaction over the government’s performance and said that it had failed to tackle the problems of the country and its people.
— The Nation Lashkar looks for aliens
WANA: Around 1,200 armed volunteers of a tribal lashkar began a search for foreign militants in the South Waziristan tribal region of Azam Warsak, about 15 km to the west of this regional headquarters here, on Tuesday. Allagai Wazir, who is heading the lashkar, asked residents in Azam Warsak to expel foreign militants. He said those found sheltering foreign militants would face demolition of their houses, a fine of Rs 1 million and banishment from the tribal territory. Local tribesmen are reported to have claimed that foreign militants had vacated the area and had moved to Shakai, Khamrung and Samtoi and the adjoining Shawal mountains.
— The Dawn Pak labourers in Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani labourers have captured the reconstruction market in post-war Afghanistan as thousands of them are engaged in building new houses in Kabul. But the weekly magazine which carried the report did not give any figure about the number of Pakistanis working in Afghanistan. “Relying on foreign manpower would not solve the problem of the war-weary Afghans,” the weekly “Payam-e-Mujahid” said. “The Afghan government should devise a labour policy and encourage millions of Afghans to return home from the neighbouring Pakistan and Iran in order to take over work from Pakistani labourers”. Majority of Afghan refugees are reluctant to return home due to increasing unemployment in the country.
— The News International |
The charitable man is loved by all; his friendship is prized highly; in death his heart is at rest and full of joy, for he does not suffer from repentance; he receives the opening flower of his reward and the fruit that ripens from it. — The Buddha Whatever use of living or non-living objects a man of right faith may make through his senses, is all for getting release from the karmas. — Lord Mahavir When the Devas fused the mortal man complete, they all entered into him. Therefore one who knows man regards him as Brahman’s Self. — The Vedas The one God pervades everywhere and He alone dwells in every soul. — Guru Nanak Any new discovery of truth does not contradict the past truth, but fits into it. — Swami Vivekananda |
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