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Relief for Amarinder
Out on a limb |
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Tapping trouble
Intensifying US-Iran tussle
Once upon a time
INDIAN POLITICIANS’ LEAGUE
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Relief for Amarinder
WITH the Supreme Court Constitution Bench quashing the peremptory expulsion of former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh from the State Assembly for “breach of privilege”, the Congress leader has scored a major victory. A five-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan ruled on Monday that the State Assembly had no power to expel him for the “executive action” taken by him. Capt Singh was expelled from the House on September 3, 2008, after a resolution was passed on the basis of the report of a special committee appointed by the House to look into the Amritsar land scam. The report had alleged that Capt Amarinder Singh had granted illegal exemption to certain developers, thus causing a loss of several crores of rupees to the state exchequer. Calling his expulsion as arbitrary, whimsical and unconstitutional, Capt Singh had argued that the Assembly had no powers under “breach of privilege” to expel a former Chief Minister or Minister as long as the alleged act “does not have any nexus with the House”. Significantly, the Bench has ruled that the Assembly had acted “erroneously” as the alleged act of irregularities was committed during the 12th Assembly session whereas the 13th Assembly had expelled him. Admitting Capt Singh’s petition, it disapproved of the House’s action and cautioned that if such a practice was upheld, it would open a Pandora’s box as every time a new party assumes power, it would sit over the executive decisions of the previous regime and expel the former Chief Minister or a Minister from the House under the garb of “breach of privilege”. Thus, the apex court has not only redefined a State Assembly’s power of expulsion under Article 194 but also cautioned against its misuse by the government of the day. Capt Singh didn’t get justice during the hearing of the case as the apex court had rejected his appeal for a stay on his expulsion. The Bench has restored his seat which was declared “vacant” by the 13th Assembly. Though he may draw comfort from Monday’s ruling, the Bench has said that quashing the expulsion would in no way interfere with the ongoing criminal probe against him. He has to clear his name in the Ludhiana City Centre scam and the assets case too and thus he has a long battle ahead. For now, however, Capt Amarinder Singh stands vindicated and his political fortunes could well be on the upswing.
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Out on a limb LATE on Sunday night when Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians were battling it out in a thrilling final of the Indian Premier League III, BCCI bosses were engaged in an equally crucial meeting of their own. Well past midnight, they suspended IPL commissioner Lalit Modi on 22 charges of impropriety and issued him a show-cause notice. While Modi, who is facing charges ranging from financial irregularities to rigging bids, proxy holdings to kickbacks in broadcast deal, is very much answerable for all the allegations, the cloak-and-dagger way the order was passed presented him with a chance to wear a martyr’s halo for no reason. Now he can claim with some justification that he was suspended to prevent him from rebutting the charges against him in person. Perhaps he made mistakes; but even he needs to be given a fair trial. The midnight coup in which he was suspended should have been avoided. May be the BCCI was rattled because Modi had decided to attend and chair the IPL Governing Council meeting on Monday morning. Indeed, that should have been the right forum to nail him, but that was not to be. He now has 15 days to reply to the show-cause notice and can be depended upon to name names. Here is hoping that the authorities would be as prompt in probing these allegations as they were in putting income tax sleuths on his trail as soon as he picked a fight with the then Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor. Apparently, there are lots of skeletons in the IPL cupboard. Now that the cleaning operation has started, it must be taken to its logical conclusion. Nobody should be persecuted just because he is rich and powerful. At the same time, nobody should escape just because he is rich and powerful and politically well-connected. There are reasons to believe that some top politicians were party to the unholy goings-on in the IPL. It is time cricket – rather every sport – is rescued from their dangerous tentacles. The IPL had some undesirable elements perhaps. That does not mean that the IPL itself should be banished.
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Tapping trouble HOME Minister P. Chidambaram’s statement in Parliament that the Union government did not authorise any phone tapping notwithstanding, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, already on the back foot because of the IPL scam, price rise and other issues, is now virtually against the ropes in Parliament in the face of the united onslaught of the Opposition. What has emerged from the din that has surrounded the issue is that the phones of various VIPs, political leaders, even UPA allies, were tapped by intelligence agencies, even though Mr Chidambaram has categorically denied that the government had ordered the phones to be tapped. The issue forced three adjournments of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on Monday. The MPs were not satisfied by the Home Minister’s statement and are demanding a probe by a joint parliamentary committee. The National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), an intelligence agency constituted to combat terrorism, obviously has the expertise and the equipment to tap cell phones at will. NTRO has been implicated in the media expose, though there is no confirmation that it is involved. Antiquated laws like the Telegraph Act govern the monitoring of communications in India, although a Supreme Court judgement in 1996 gave more guidelines. It is unfortunate that the Information Technology (Amendment) Act 2008 passed through Parliament without debate. This is the Act that deals with electronic communications and it is now obvious that the MPs want to take a closer look at the powers that the government has for interception, monitoring and blocking of electronic communications. The country needs to have the laws, as well as proper oversight, checks and balances to ensure that intelligence agencies are used only for legitimate purposes. Phone tapping is a serious breach of privacy and should only be used on legally sanctioned targets for specific reasons. Governments have had to pay a high price for phone tapping, when used for political reasons. A silver lining to this controversy is that the spotlight on the issue may pave the way for closer scrutiny of measures taken for the security of the nation, and to ensure the privacy of ordinary citizens of the county.
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Memories are haunting horns/Whose sound dies on the wind. — Guillaume Apollinaire
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Corrections and clarifications
Despite our earnest endeavour to keep The Tribune error-free, some errors do creep in at times. We are always eager to correct them. This column appears twice a week — every Tuesday and Friday. We request our readers to write or e-mail to us whenever they find any error.
Readers in such cases can write to Mr Kamlendra Kanwar, Senior Associate Editor, The Tribune, Chandigarh, with the word “Corrections” on the envelope. His e-mail ID is kanwar@tribunemail.com. Raj Chengappa
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Intensifying US-Iran tussle THE fact that US Defense Secretary Robert Gates had to write a secret memo to warn White House officials that the US does not have an effective long- term policy for dealing with Iran’s sustained march towards nuclear weapons capability underlines the confusion that surrounds the Obama Administration’s attempts to deal with Iran. After extending his hand of friendship and getting spurned by the Iranian mullahs, Barack Obama is now quietly back to where George W. Bush was when he left office. America’s Iran policy is once again getting militarised after Obama’s Iran policy seems to have gone nowhere. Rather than latching on to Obama’s friendly overtures as the US had hoped for, the Iranian theocracy is now at its jingoistic best. While celebrating Iran’s march to nuclear capability, the authorities in Tehran have been coming down heavily on their opponents, jailing a large number of them and executing a few to send a message. The Obama Administration, of course, has nothing to say on the domestic developments in Iran. It had hoped that by keeping quiet on the internal political troubles in Tehran, it would be able to get Iranian cooperation on the nuclear question. But Iran has rejected all Western overtures on the nuclear issue and things are rapidly coming to a boil. Despite its protestations to the contrary, Iran appears particularly intent on maintaining an independent capability to enrich uranium and seems to have decided to test how far it can push the West. Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, has informed the agency setting out the plan to begin enriching its stockpile to 20 per cent purity after President Ahmadinejad personally ordered his atomic scientists to begin the process. It remains far from clear that Iran has the capability to enrich fuel to the level ordered by the Iranian President, who is apparently seeking to increase pressure on the West to reopen negotiations on providing fuel for the medical reactor on terms more favourable to Tehran. Until now, Iran has never enriched significant quantities of fuel beyond the level needed in ordinary nuclear reactors, part of its argument that its programme is for peaceful purposes. But any effort to produce 20 per cent enriched uranium would put the country in a position to produce highly enriched uranium - at the 90 per cent level used for weapons - in a comparatively short time. The US is seeking global consensus for sanctions against the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, so far without much success. China and Russia continue to hold out on their support. They have no real incentive to cooperate with the West on this issue. US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton had gone to the extent of publicly warning Beijing of significant trouble if Iran’s nuclear programme was not tackled by the international community immediately. But China’s oil interests in Iran remain significant, preventing it from supporting additional sanctions on Tehran. Beijing has argued that pressure for tighter sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme could block the chances of a diplomatic settlement to the dispute. The much-hyped Nuclear Security Summit failed to evolve any consensus among major powers on sanctions against Iran. Meanwhile, the US is ratcheting up military pressure on Iran and its policy now seems to be gearing up for a possible military challenge in the Gulf. It is speeding up the deployment of anti-missile defences in the Gulf not only to put pressure on Iran but also to ward off a growing perception that Iran is rapidly emerging as the most powerful entity in the regional balance of power. Several countries in the Gulf, including the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait, are talking of these defence systems from the US. This is part of a larger arms build-up in the region whereby the US has sold more than $25 billion worth of arms. The US is helping the Saudis to triple the size of their 10,000-strong protection force, conducting large-scale joint exercises with Arab militaries and sharing extensive intelligence on Iran. Though this military build-up began under Bush, the Obama Administration has expanded it to include the deployment of Aegis ships equipped with missile interceptors to help defend Europe and US forces against Iranian rockets. The US wants to demonstrate its resolve to Tehran as well as allay concerns among its Gulf allies that it will be there to support them in case Iran becomes aggressive. The credibility of the US had suffered when Obama had seemed to be reaching out to Iran early in his term at the expense of traditional American allies in the region. Now the US is trying to rectify those perceptions. There is, of course, another element in the US thinking and it is to reassure Israel that America will take the steps necessary to counter Iran, and that Tel Aviv should desist from undertaking any unilateral military strike. For the US, a lot is at stake in the evolving strategic environment in West Asia. Seven years after the US invaded Iraq, in part to transform West Asia, Iran is ascendant while many see an America in retreat and the Arab states awash in sectarian currents that many blame the US for exacerbating. Iran, meanwhile, has deepened its relationship with Palestinian Islamic groups, assuming a financial role once filled by Arab Gulf states. In Lebanon and Iraq, Iran is fighting proxy battles against the US with funds, arms and ideology. Reminiscent of the heady days of the 1979 Islamic revolution, Iran is today exerting power and influence in the strategic vacuum created by the overthrow of the Iranian foes in Afghanistan and Iraq. Facing these realities, the US is back to good old-fashioned balance of power politics in the region. Across the region, the Shia-Sunni divide is increasing at a menacing pace, with the potential to destabilise the entire region. The rise of Iran is seen as symptomatic of Shia resurgence, to the discomfiture of Sunni regimes in the region. As a consequence, the US is hoping that Iran's rise will provide a single, agreed enemy that can serve as the organising point of reference of policies throughout the region. As the endgame nears in US-Iran confrontation, India will be confronted with difficult diplomatic choices. India has significant stakes in the strategic stability in the Gulf. The crisis between the US and Iran is not going to get resolved merely because India wants a peaceful resolution of the Iranian problem. Therefore, it is imperative that India starts re-assessing its options and thinking clearly as to what it can do to maintain the balance of power in the region, so crucial for Indian
interests. The writer teaches at King’s College, London.
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Once upon a time OURS was a generation that grew up on stories narrated by mothers and grandmothers. Stories that were sometimes sad, sometimes funny but invariably with a moral. In joint families, a system that, alas, has all but disappeared, ones aunts, uncles, sisters, cousins, maids et al too were often repositories of innumerable tales, fables, myths and legend. As children we would huddle around them and their words would cast a spell on us transporting us to lands unknown. A whole new world of daring warriors and crusaders from the Mahabharata, the Ramayana and the like unfolded before us as did the wisdom of the Panchatantra through their narration. Tales of courage and valour, honour and pride, betrayal and deceit, beauty and character stimulated our imagination and fuelled fantasy. In school to there would always be one or two teachers who would excel in the art of story telling. Many were the evenings spent listening to them with rapt attention as they recreated the world of fairies, tiny dwarfs and little imps, of ferocious giants and fire-spitting dragons, fierce ogres and demons, of swashbuckling knights and fair maidens. In the end, good had to prevail over evil and truth triumphed. Ours was the age of romanticism and high adventure, sensitivity and perception. It was not as if we were bereft of reason and rationale. It was something else. I think it was that we believed as children, in magic and that yes, there was a “Once upon a time.” The present times, because of the advent of hi-tech, have snatched away from those wideeyed tiny-tots their gift of incredulous wonder. Gone is their ability to indulge in flights of fancy and to dream of an Alice in Wonderland or Alladin and his Magic Lamp. The Pied Piper of Hammylin or Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. Or the awesome escapades of Hanuman and the pranks of Krishana and his cowherd companions of Brindaban. In the here and now everything has been reduced to laptops, ipods, ipads, internet, google, youtube, Cisco, Oracle, it’s endless. Who has the time to take these toddlers on these fascinating journeys into the enchanting world of the real, the unreal and the make-believe! I wonder why we have stopped talking to our children and listening to their prater. Our history, our culture, our folk and all that is our heritage is so rich, vibrant and colourful. Yet we allow them to be possessed by the television, electronic and computer generated games. No longer bedtime stories or lullabies. Sagas of heroes, monarchs, patriots, scholars, soldiers, bards, all but consigned to oblivion. Theodre H. White in his remarkably well-researched book “In Search of History” writes about President John F. Kennedy of America never tiring of listening to the lines from Camelot, the story of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, “Don’t let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot”. Every child is entitled to his or her Camelot, to their dreams, even those less privileged. Prince and pauper, sinner and saint, jester and clown, it is the circle of life in many hues and in the realm of perhaps the real, maybe the unreal. We live on hope. One day fortune will surely smile on those who keep faith. Miracles do happen. Magic is there. And of course, believe you me, there always was a “Once upon a
time”.
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INDIAN POLITICIANS’ LEAGUE Politicians are again under the scanner for their role in the IPL. The complex web of intrigue and investment, slush funds and tax havens could not have survived without the patronage of politicians. While the IPL is under a cloud, the Bombay High Court has struck the right note. Is there a conflict of interest if a serving minister remains an active member of a sports body, it has asked. MONEY laundering, betting and 'ayyashi'. Underworld connections and use of black money. Deals aimed at tax evasion , international monetary deals and foreign exchange violations. Silent ownerships and match-fixing. Manipulating contracts in favour of cronies. The range of allegations clouding the Indian Premier League is truly mind boggling. Eyebrows were raised at the marketing gimmicks this year. Deals were signed with cinema halls to screen IPL matches live. It was a win-win situation because late night shows in multiplexes rarely attract a full house. The rates were high and everybody seemed happy. Even the fines imposed on captains for slow over-rate were astronomical. According to media reports, Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar were fined Rs 10 lakhs. How much money were the players being paid ? What was even more brazen is the cocky claim that the IPL had no tax liability since it was a part of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, which is registered as a charitable organisation devoted to promoting cricket in the country. It was public knowledge that the IPL had earned a revenue of over Rs 600 crore in the first season itself ---websites and periodicals and business papers were falling over each other to hail IPL and Modi for beating the recession. But the Finance ministry and its regulatory bodies, the Enforcement Directorate, the CBDT, the Registrar of Companies, seemed strangely silent. The CBDT now claims it raised questions last year and sent notices. But the agencies clearly had no 'political mandate' to go after the IPL. That is where politics comes in. Whether it is business or industry, educational institution or entertainment, trust or a cooperative-without blessings from politicians, nothing really works. But the Finance Minister has now assured the Parliament that no wrong-doer would be spared. And the agencies have quickly gone into an over-drive, raiding offices, interrogating people, sending notices and summons. The whiff of a political witch-hunt is undeniable. TV channels and the media openly speculated that the ruling dispensation is out to corner Sharad Pawar, who is considered ambitious and having the capacity to embarrass the UPA government. By putting his protégé Lalit Modi on the mat, heat could be turned on him. While nothing has emerged so far to directly link Pawar to the murky deals of the IPL, he still appeared vulnerable because of his son-in-law. Sadanand Sule, it was leaked, had stakes in a company which negotiated the revised telecast rights of the IPL. Pawar's daughter, Supriya, was quoted as saying that her family had 'nothing to do with the IPL' but the dirt stuck. Following the leaks she shifted position and explained that the stakes were inherited by her husband and that too way back in the early nineties. The selective leaks do suggest a sinister pattern of the establishment hitting out at political rivals. The onus is clearly on the finance minister to table in Parliament a preliminary report detailing the findings. It remains to be seen if this is done before the Parliament is adjourned, in the first week of May, till the winter. Even the Bombay High Court has queered the pitch. On Monday it asked the Maharashtra state government to file its reply by May 5 on a substantive question of law. Is there a conflict of interest, it asked, if a serving minister also serves the BCCI ? Can ministers hold office even in charitable organisations ? There are other politicians ( see box) whose roles have come under a scanner. Many more seem to have escaped scrutiny. With the kind of incestuous relationship politics has with business and industry in this country, it would be a wonder if the murky deals being alleged in the IPL do not lead to politicians. Even the success of the IPL is being credited to politicians. How did all the 55 matches start on time ? How did the flights maintain their schedules ? How is it that power never went off during the IPL matches ? How much money did the state governments pay for security and other arrangements ? How is it that the bureaucrats in so many states went out of their way to ensure that glitches do not mar the event ? OWNERSHIP Do politicians have silent stakes in Rajasthan Royals, Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab ? Despite denials by Shilpa Shetty, Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta, CBDT sources claim that investigations are on to find out if some of these franchises sent money overseas through hawala. Sources of funds used in the auction of these teams in 2008 are being traced to find the involvement of companies registered in safe havens like Mauritius or Cayman islands. "We do not know the entire structure by which money came to India, and we have to establish how money laundering took place. The facilitation payment running into millions of US Dollars could actually be a commission," claimed a member of the CBDT. It remains to be seen if the opposition in Parliament mellows on its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to investigate into the IPL. It has been suggested that while official agencies are competent to carry out the inquiry and report to Parliament, the JPC should turn its attention to money stashed in tax havens and in Swiss banks.
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Wankhede punch Before Sharad Pawar, the closest a Maharashtrian politician came to shaking up the cricketing establishment was S K Wankhede, a former Speaker in the state assembly. As President of the BCCI, he locked horns with the hallowed Cricket Club of India over share of tickets during matches. When the CCI refused to oblige him, he simply got the state government to allot land and built a new stadium in just six months flat in the mid-1970s. The stadium was named after Wankhede himself, possibly as a tribute to his ability to mobilise funds and cement in an era of shortages. Pawar play While supporters of Pawar are seen to be doing well in the field of cricket, his opponents have been brought to grief. Dnyaneshwar Agashe from the Mumbai Cricket Association was supposed to vote at the BCCI election in which Pawar was defeated. Agashe was delayed as the train he had taken to Kolkata did not reach on time and failed to cast his vote. People thought he did it deliberately. Shortly afterwards he found his business ruined. Cases were filed against him by the home ministry in the state controlled by the NCP because of which Agashe was put behind bars. He died allegedly because medical assistance was denied to him while in jail. Gavaskar’s missive Sunil Gavaskar, the Indian legend who is also Vishwanath's brother-in-law, wrote shortly before the KSCA election in 2007, "The result of the election will tell you whether the voters want those who have played cricket at the highest level to run the game in their state, or those who profess to be interested in the game but are actually there only for the increased profile that it will bring. So, if Gundappa Vishwanath doesn't become the president of the KSCA and his opponent, who has never probably held a bat in his life wins, then that will be a good indication of what those who run grassroots cricket want". Vishwanath lost.
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