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Coalition in Britain
Quotas in local bodies |
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Lawless land grabbers
Dilemmas of dialogue
Talk the Walk
“I will give the UPA zero out of 10”
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Coalition in Britain
David Cameron’s
promise of ‘compassionate conservatism’ will be tested in the next few months when Britain’s first coalition government since the second world war gets going. The decision to form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats is itself an extraordinary step as the two parties have not just divergent but even conflicting positions on the most important issues, as became manifest during the televised debates before the British parliamentary election. Cameron (43) is the youngest Prime Minister in 200 years and, as Liberal Democrat leader and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg pointed out, the coalition has not just produced a new government but ‘new politics’ as well. What Clegg possibly meant is that the Tories will shed some of their conservatism while the LibDems will perforce become less liberal. The coalition has ushered in a major realignment in British politics and it remains to be seen how the new government copes with the continuing economic recession and the extraordinary financial problems faced by Britain. It is extraordinary how swiftly the two parties managed to iron out their differences and put in place what is known in India as the Common Minimum Programme. But unlike the Indian system, where it is merely the expression of pious wishes, the new British coalition has already declared the outlines of its broad policies. It is now known, for example, that the new government is going to cut down on public expenditure and put a cap on immigrants, both deemed to be bad news for Indians. Even more significantly, the two parties have agreed to a fixed, five-year-term for Parliament and agreed on a referendum on an alternative voting system in future elections. The first-past-the-post system of election in vogue in both Britain and India allows parties with a relatively smaller vote share to win a higher percentage of seats. The Labour and the Liberal Democrats, for example, cornered around 50 per cent of the votes polled but even together, fell short of the required majority while Tories with just about 37 per cent vote-share, grabbed far more seats than either Labour or the LibDems. The new British Prime Minister is widely seen as pragmatic and more progressive than most Conservative politicians. Ever since he took over the leadership of a tottering party in 2005, he has aggressively campaigned to include more women and minorities in the party. And his first address to the Britons is likely to strike a responsive chord in India as well. Britain, he said, would have to prepare for hard times and the British would have to abandon their “culture of selfishness, indiscipline and reliance on state benefits”. |
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Quotas in local bodies
THE Supreme Court judgement upholding the constitutional validity of reservation for backward classes in rural and urban local bodies, including posts of chairpersons, is aimed at strengthening democratic decentralisation and local self-government in all the states. It assumes significance because a five-judge Constitution Bench consisting of outgoing Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Justice R.V. Raveendran, Justice D.K. Jain, Justice P. Sathasivam and Justice J.M. Panchal has issued several important directions in the ruling. The Bench ruled that while access to higher education and public employment increases the likelihood of socio-economic uplift of the individual beneficiaries, participation in local self-government is intended as a more immediate measure of empowerment for the community that the elected representative belongs to. Quotas in local bodies are justifiable because the objectives of grassroots democracy are not only to bring governance closer to the people but also to make it more participatory, inclusive and accountable to the weaker sections, it ruled. The Bench rejected the petitioners’ claim that the OBC quotas in local bodies of Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh, including reservation for chairpersons’ posts, violated the principle of equality under Article 14 of the Constitution. It ruled that the quota percentage should depend upon the beneficiary groups’ population in a state and that the 50 per cent cap (fixed by the apex court) should normally be adhered to except in Scheduled Tribe areas and some north-eastern states. Interestingly, it observed that specific state laws could be challenged if they provided excessive reservation. Equally important is the court’s rejection of the plea for excluding the creamy layer (it refers to those whose income-limit exceeds Rs 4.5 lakh a year) from the ambit of quotas in local bodies. However, if quota is barred for the creamy layer in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, how can it be allowed for local bodies? The Bench’s thesis that an individual panchayat member’s empowerment is only a means for pursuing the larger end of advancing the interests of weaker sections seems unconvincing. What the government — at the Centre and in the states — must do ultimately is to phase out reservations of all kinds and herald a quote-free regime in course of time. Reservations cannot continue in perpetuity. Indeed, the Bench itself has suggested regular review of reservation policies by the executive “to guard against their over-breadth”.
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Lawless land grabbers
A
sharp rise in urban incomes and real estate prices has produced an acquisitive culture in which law-breaking comes naturally and greed has no limits. Though the real estate boom has subsided, it has left many with surplus cash to splurge. They acquire flashy cars and every possible status symbol which places them in the league of the super rich. Owning a farmhouse is a growing fad. To meet the insatiable housing demand, the mafia ropes in sarpanches, politicians and policemen to grab chunks of land near cities. The village heads are handing over common village land to gangs for a consideration or under the threat of musclemen. The easiest to take over is government or village shamlat land because sarpanches and official watchmen are very helpful. The Haryana government stated before the Punjab and Haryana High Court on April 6, 2010, that 21,000 acres of village common land had been encroached in the state. Stringent Central laws notwithstanding, forest land is often grabbed with equal ease. In fact, the Punjab government itself has been seeking Central exemptions to use agricultural or forest land for residential or commercial purposes. Small wonder then that the state’s green cover is shrinking fast. First influential persons buy land covered by forest laws cheap and then press ruling politicians for clearances. Meanwhile, they get busy removing hurdles and even cut through hills, if need be, to make way for their farmhouses. There is no one to stop them. If a murder is committed, often there is an FIR and a hunt for killers begins. However, the massacre of trees invites no action. The laws cannot help if the watchdogs join hands with the law-breakers. Given the criminal-politician-police nexus, it seems the high court will have to step in to curb the menace just as it did in the Moga sand mining case where 28 contractors were fined Rs 2.25 crore and the SSP was hauled up for inaction. |
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If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks likea duck, then it just may be a duck. — Walter Reuther
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Dilemmas of dialogue
THE recent SAARC Summit in Thimpu strained the nerves of virtually all of India’s neighbours. Rather than focussing attention on issues of economic development, education and regional economic integration, the entire attention was focussed on whether or not India and Pakistan would resume their much-touted “Composite Dialogue” in which bureaucrats regularly meet to discuss issues ranging from peace and security to visa procedures. A Sri Lankan friend once asked me: “There are seven members of SAARC. We are all keen on enhancing cooperation in South Asia. Why do you convert every SAARC Summit into an India-Pakistani soap opera? If you want to settle your problems with Pakistan please do not do so at our expense and waste the time and energy of our leaders in SAARC meetings”. The Thimpu Summit was a an occasion when we further demeaned ourselves in the eyes of friendly neighbours like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Nepal and the Maldives, whose President gave public expression to his frustration. It is no one’s case that we should not talk to Pakistan. But surely there are better ways to do this than exposing ourselves to ridicule in the eyes of our neighbours as we did in Thimpu. Coming to Pakistan itself, we seem to be deluding ourselves that Mr Yousuf Raza Gilani is an “empowered” leader who can overrule his Army Chief, the ubiquitous General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. In a damning report, virtually indicting Pakistan’s military leadership for the circumstances leading to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, a high- level United Nations panel observed: “The Sunni groups are largely based in Punjab. Members of these groups aided the Taliban effort in Afghanistan at the behest of the ISI and later cultivated ties with Al- Qaeda and Pakistani Taliban groups. The Pakistani military and the ISI also used and supported some of these groups in the Kashmir insurgency after 1989. The bulk of the anti-Indian activity remains the work of groups such as the Lashkar-e-Toiba, which has close ties with the ISI”. In recent days, General Kayani and his cohorts have been emboldened by American mollycoddling. They now openly proclaim their influence with the Quetta Shura headed by Mullah Omar while refusing to act against the Afghan Taliban military leadership in North Waziristan headed by Jalaluddin Haqqani, who General Kayani is known to regard as a “strategic asset”. Within Pakistan, General Kayani has upped the ante of anti-Indian sentiment by his pronouncements suggesting that India is deliberately starving Pakistan of its legitimate share of river waters. Reporters who visited Kasab’s native village of Faridkot noted how anti-Indian sentiments had been exacerbated by propaganda on river waters and Kashmir. Interestingly, even though the Pakistan Government claims that Hafiz Mohammed Saeed’s Jamaat-ud-Dawa is banned, its weekly magazine continues to be published and is readily available even in villages like Faridkot. Yet our mandarins and ministers seem to take Pakistani protestations of being ready to act against the Lashkar seriously. The reaction to the Kasab conviction was mixed in Pakistan. But the general sentiment was conveyed by a farmer in Faridkot, angered that India was diverting Pakistan’s water resources, who said: “There is nothing wrong if he (Kasab) did it with good intentions against a kafir country like India”. Indians, who are given to being sentimental about their formative years in what is now Pakistan, should understand that sentiment in Lahore and Chakwal today is not the same as it was in the idyllic days of the 1940s. While the fiasco at Sharm-el-Sheikh is best forgotten, we need to be realistic about the dynamics of internal politics within Pakistan and its relations with its three major patrons — the United States, China and Saudi Arabia. While the decline in President Zardari’s fortunes has been accepted an inevitable reality by the Americans, both the Chinese and the Saudis, for different reasons, were uncomfortable with Mr Zardari. Prime Minister Gilani started his political career as a protégé of General Zia-ul-Haq and is at heart a Muslim Leaguer. His long association with the Army establishment has been reinforced by familial marital ties with the Pir of Pagaro, who has been the Pakistan Army’s hit man on Sind’s borders with India. Mr Gilani has virtually no political base within the ruling PPP. He is merely a pliable front for the Army establishment led by General Kayani and will have little stomach to take on General Kayani’s anti-Indian agenda. Moreover, even now sections of the Obama Administration reportedly believe that the ISI surely has a case in claiming that it needs its “Kashmiri militants” to force India’s hand on Jammu and Kashmir. New Delhi should be realistic enough to know that given American and Chinese backing and Saudi understanding, there is no reason for the ISI to discontinue measured assistance and support to its “jihad” in India. One should not be surprised by the present Pakistan Government’s rejection of the movement forward in formulating a broad framework for a Kashmir settlement that had been achieved in discussions between Indian Special Envoy Satinder Lambah and General Musharraf’s trusted aide Tariq Aziz between 2005 and 2007. On the contrary, we have to be prepared for increasing infiltration across the Line of Control together with Pakistani moves to make the fundamentalist Syed Ali Shah Geelani the focal point of the separatist leadership in the Kashmir valley. While differences have been papered over in Thimpu, they cannot be wished away. While External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna has made it clear that forthcoming talks are primarily meant to remove the causes of “distrust” between the two countries, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi claimed that in the forthcoming talks between Foreign Ministers and Foreign Secretaries, all issues of concern, including Kashmir, Siachen, Sir Creek, river waters and people-to-people contacts would be discussed. Mr Qureshi brushed aside India’s concerns on terrorism, glibly claiming that terrorism is a “global” concern, which would be best addressed collectively. One cannot but be disgusted by Mr Qureshi’s description of the Mumbai massacre as an “incident” which is best forgotten. With General Kayani in charge in Pakistan, the Army’s traditional policies of “bleeding” India and seeking “strategic depth” in Afghanistan will continue. It will, therefore, be disastrous if New Delhi allows Pakistan to have its way on an agenda for talks which would sideline the primacy of India’s concerns on terrorism, as it did at Sharm-el-Sheikh. While talks with Pakistan are necessary, we could do without thoughtlessly drafted joint statements and public expressions of bonhomie, which would only show our government’s insensitivity towards outraged public opinion in the
country.
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Talk the Walk
My customary early morning constitutional during that one heavenly, twilight hour before the busy, bustling world comes to life and all is quiet on the western front, is not only addictive but also set aside exclusively for myself in an otherwise busy without business routine. Nonetheless, as soon as the open spaces begin to fill up with other denizens out for a breath of fresh air, try as I may to keep that hour inviolate, I soon discover myself subliminally preoccupied in slotting them. Topping the list are the regular fitness freaks followed by a motley category broadly definable as the fairly resolute, the struggling, the casual, the ephemeral — joggers, walkers, cell-phone and walkman aficionados— all ‘valiantly’ engaged in attempts to keep this fragile human machinery well-oiled and running. Then of course, we have the late starters who constantly wail about the misfortune of being ‘genetically’ disadvantaged despite religious adherence to a life-time of dietary restraint. That they are all the while at pains to justify their well-deserved ‘post-workout’ reward of French fries, to make up for hugely ‘depleted’ levels of energy is entirely a different matter. Whoever said you are what you eat! The most dreaded of all however, are the ubiquitous, ‘more-than-health-conscious’ enthusiasts—the formidable, lethal groups of voyeuristic saunterers spilling over walkways in their keenness to keep abreast of the goings-on of the minor celebrities of their immediate neighborhood, much in the manner of ‘walking the talk’ or ‘talking the walk’. These compulsive Sisyphean deliberations happen to be not only the greatest business but also the greatest burden of their day. And, it is this category I am most consciously wary of, for the ease with which one is inexorably drawn into the vortex of their humming, heady and charmed circle. The persistence, dexterity and delight, with which veterans of this tribe can stalk their prey and whisper or wink away reputations, could hold a candle or two to even the most promising, skilled and seasoned of sharp-shooters. Their penchant for ferreting out appropriate ‘intellectual’ fodder’n’spice is legendry as is the sheer vigour and vitality of their whispering campaigns. Sufficiently peppered with ‘brave’ attempts at vicarious dignity, their vital verbal orgies are, more often than not, interspersed with ill-concealed and appropriate peals of triumphant haws and hums potent enough put to shame the most glib of orators or telecasters ‘breaking news or boundaries’, about the ‘wayward’ capering of private lives. And if you happen to be within earshot of this steadily-expanding clan, god help you! A reasonably brisk pace willy-nilly gives way to voluntary slackness as you desperately strain your ears to capture sundry snatches of juicy gossip wafting your way. In the blink of an eye pre-dawn resolutions vanish, complicity takes over and before you can utter ‘hey presto’, you are allured into the precincts of the enchanted Ivy League. Such is the irresistible ‘power and glory’ of peeping
Toms!
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“I will give the UPA zero out of 10”
It is now six months since you have taken over as President of the BJP. What has been your main focus? The main achievement for me is to increase the morale of the workers and we have been organising conferences apart form holding agitations on price rise to do this. Because of these programmes the morale of our workers is very high. Now they are in a mood to fight against the government over the price rise. But you were expected to usher in a whole new order in the BJP. What is that change you are talking about? Actually, it is an evolving process. I have got people from the new generation into my team. It’s a good team now. The mood of our leaders, workers and supporters is positive. I feel that there is an opportunity for our party to increase its mass base. We have targeted that we have to increase our vote bank by 10 per cent and our priority is to concentrate on Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, minorities apart from professors, doctors and the intellectual class. We have to work in the unorganised labour sector too. We want to concentrate more on Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana and in these states we have to increase our mass support.
The way your party has performed in the Lok Sabha leaves a lot to be desired – the cut motion failed and overall its role as an Opposition hasn’t been a success? The cut motion has exposed the other opposition parties. Particularly, Mayawati’s BSP, which though it spoke something else supported the UPA government. As did Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad Yadav. When we started the war against price rise, they were with us. By the time of the cut motion, they withdrew. I feel bad. The most important and trusted ally of the UPA was the “Congress” Bureau of Investigation (CBI); the CBI was misused and because of the CBI, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Lalu Prasad Yadav and Mayawati, reached a deal with the UPA. It is very unfortunate. By using the CBI, political blackmailing was there. This is not politics based on moral values. This is political blackmailing. And I feel this is very bad for Manmohan Singhji and Soniaji.
Well in Jharkand you are accused of doing much the same thing. Your party has flip-flopped over its support to the JMM – you condemned Shibu Soren but now you are willing to form a government with his party? The Jharkhand political situation is a very different. The problem is that if we withdraw support, there will be President’s Rule in Jharkhand. Whatever happened in Parliament about the Shibu Soren case and the way the CBI is used was there for everyone to see. In the wider interest of a stable government and the development of Jharkhand, we will not allow the Congress to play its dirty game by using their money and muscle power. In that situation, we have taken this decision to retain the government. Your party seems to be losing its focus. What’s the ideology that you are espousing? As far the BJP is concerned, we have a clear ideology. My feeling is that the country needs politics for development and politics for progress and it is related with our nationalism. We have a feeling and commitment that we have to make this country economically strong, the super-economic power in the world. That is the commitment which we have. And for that purpose, nationalism is our thinking. What about the Ram Mandir issue – what’s your stand? When people ask me about the Ram Mandir, I explain to them the position of our party. Whatever decision taken by the party, it is already there. I am not going to change anything. I do not think it is a BJP issue. It should not be made a political issue. The issue is related with the aspirations of lakhs and crores of people of India so it should be resolved through consensus. You are projected as a moderate but you are also charged with following a hardline Hindutva course. Where do you stand? I am a nationalist. As far as Hindutva is concerned, I request you to refer to what is the definition of Hindutva. The present judgement given by the Supreme Court explains it as a way of life. And I feel that if you refer to Vivekanandaji, then only we can understand exactly what is the definition of Hindutva. The broad meaning of Hindutva is related with good governance, tolerance and recently the way Supreme Court clarified the meaning of Hindutva, that is important. You have come out in vociferous support of Narendra Modi who is seen as the face of hardline Hindutva? Why blame only Modi – there were riots after the 1992 blasts in Mumbai. What happened to Delhi in 1984? Modi is a model of development. The agriculture growth rate in Gujarat is 14% and the per capita income and GDP of minorities in Gujarat comparing to the country is very high. We are not anti-Muslim. We are anti-terrorists. My feeling is that the way Gujarat cases are projected in a section of media, it is injustice to Narendra Modi and the BJP government. Are you still advocating that Modi should be the next Prime Minister? Actually when I was asked whether Narendra Modi had the potential of becoming a Prime Minister I said, yes, he has the potential. But as far as our party’s policy is concerned, our highest body is our Parliamentary Board. And we have a lot of people who are competent. At that time, our party will decide who should be the Prime Minister. What is your party’s stand on the question of khap panchayats and honour killings? I want to discuss this issue with our party office-bearers in Haryana before I say anything about it. How is your party’s alliance with the Akali Dal in Punjab doing? We have a good relationship with the Akali Dal. A month before there was a big function in Amritsar and I met with Prakash Singh Badal sahib and discussed many things with him. There are no problems, even if some arise we can solve them. Coming to the Centre, the UPA will be completing a year in its second term soon. What is your assessment of its policies? As far as economic policies of the UPA govt. are concerned, the price rise is a big problem. The current inflation rate of 11 per cent is very high whereas in other countries like Singapore and Thailand it is less than 2 per cent. As per the latest Planning Commission report, 40 per cent population of the country is still below poverty-line. Is this garibi hatao ? This UPA government is totally anti-farmer, anti-poor and anti-villager. As far as internal and external security is concerned this government has totally failed in terms of controlling terrorism and Naxalism. So how would you rate the UPA’s performance on a scale of 10? I will give this government 0 out of 10 for performance and 10 out of 10 for corruption? What is the stand of your party about talks with Pakistan? India should not hold any talks with Pakistan – our party is against it. The talks will have no relevance as Pakistan has done nothing to end cross-border terrorism. By resuming talks with Pakistan the UPA government would be repeating a big mistake. What’s your opinion about the way the UPA handled the Mumbai 26/11 investigation and on Kasab’s prosecution? This government is always talking big, but it has no courage to fight terrorism. The government has no guts to carry out the judgment of the Supreme Court which awarded the death sentence for Afzal Guru. It must now move swiftly on Kasab’s verdict and act on it. See how promptly the US handled the Headley issue. Why is our government waiting? I do not understand. It the duty of the government to take a decision on the matter urgently. But the Bharatiya Janata Party didn’t do much either when it was in power. Look at the way it handled Kargil, Kandahar and the attack on Parliament? The BJP handled everything promptly. It did not allow any terrorist-related case to linger on and atleast it completed all investigations and brought people to book. The BJP is in power in Chhattisgarh and yet the Dantewada massacre happened? Are you blaming the Centre too for not tackling Naxalism? It is no use blaming each other. Instead it is time both the Centre and the states came together to jointly fight Naxalism which is already causing great harm to our country. What have you learnt in six months as President of the party? It has been a good experience for me. Although I am a junior person in the party, I have been getting good cooperation from my senior leaders. So, I am feeling comfortable now How are your relations with Advaniji? Does he big brother you? Almost everyday I meet Advaniji and there is good cooperation from Advaniji. Advaniji and Atal Bihari Vajpayeeji are a role model for us. As far as I am concerned, I have tremendous regard for Advaniji and Vajpayeeji, who always support me. You are considered close to the RSS? Do they interfere in party affairs? I am definitely an RSS person and I do not hide anything. But the RSS never interferes in our affairs. There is criticism from some sections of your party that as President you spend most of your time in Mumbai? It is totally false. In the past six months I have spent barely six days in Mumbai where my family lives. I have travelled across the country. And my work begins from 7.30 am until late at night.
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