P E O P L E

Last word: Ashwani Kumar
Rapid rise, as quickly in dock
by KV Prasad
The ground beneath Ashwani Kumar seems to be slipping, but the Law Minister is showing no signs of desperation. It’s to be seen if he can outsmart his opponents, both within the Congress and in the Opposition, after getting a rap from the Supreme Court.
For a person who is under intense attack both from the Opposition and members of his party alike, it is amazing to see Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar continue to sport a smile. Elegantly attired and well-groomed, he appears unflappable and almost smug at a time when many a seasoned politician would find it difficult to hide creases of discomfort on their face.

Good news
They float like a butterfly, sting like a wasp
by Jupinderjit Singh
Bathinda police’s WASPS model against eve-teasing and other crimes is being emulated by various districts and neighbouring states. With armed women constables watching over them, girls are beginning to feel safer.
Heena Singla walks with a confident gait towards the exit gate of the Government College for Girls, Bathinda. Unlike other days, she has no fear of eve-teasers. For, her didi is there to protect her. Heena sees her from a distance, flashes a smile and stands next to her, daring any roadside Romeo to pass a comment.

Off the cuff

 

In Passing Sandeep Joshi He’s the bravest son of India!

Last word: Ashwani Kumar
Rapid rise, as quickly in dock
by KV Prasad

The ground beneath Ashwani Kumar seems to be slipping, but the Law Minister is showing no signs of desperation. It’s to be seen if he can outsmart his opponents, both within the Congress and in the Opposition, after getting a rap from the Supreme Court.

For a person who is under intense attack both from the Opposition and members of his party alike, it is amazing to see Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar continue to sport a smile. Elegantly attired and well-groomed, he appears unflappable and almost smug at a time when many a seasoned politician would find it difficult to hide creases of discomfort on their face.

Call it his training as a litigating lawyer, a vocation of choice, or the instinctive combatant in a wrestling akhara seeking to outmanoeuvre an opponent exuding confidence and biding time to get a better grip on the situation, Ashwani Kumar, at 61, is a bit of both — a lawyer by profession and a wrestler by passion who opted for politics as a career.

Publicity is an elixir for those engaged in political life and a majority of its practitioners find it a challenge to continue to remain in news. Nothing could be better if it is for all the good reasons while a few do not mind to be in it for the wrong reasons. And for a select few the reason could be any. The idea is to remain a subject matter of discussion. Yet it can be emphasised with certainty that the current situation that Ashwani Kumar finds himself in, vis-a-vis the controversy over the CBI and the Supreme Court, is something he and the Manmohan Singh government could have done without.

Not quite the politician

This is especially so for the senior advocate, as he prefers to identify himself. He is a different kind of politician who has few friends in the Congress in general and Punjab in particular, a state to which he belongs.

Son of Prabodh Chandra, an illustrious political leader, freedom fighter and Speaker, according to those who knew his father, Ashwani Kumar is not in the same league. “Prabodhji was his own man and one who stood up against the establishment,” recalls a senior Congress leader from the state who had the opportunity to follow the rise of Prabodh Chandra as a student leader.

Political corridors of the national Capital were abuzz last October following the elevation of Ashwani Kumar to the rank of a Union Cabinet Minister, leading them to surmise: “He is the Prime Minister’s choice.”

In the eye of the storm

And to reinforce this, many allude to the recent statement by Dr Manmohan Singh who rejected the demand by the Opposition that Ashwani Kumar resign in the wake of reports that he perused a report by the CBI before it was to be handed over to the Supreme Court in the coal blocks allocation case. The apex court, of course, had come down hard on the misdemeanour.

Of course whispers by the chattering class want everyone to believe, without any basis, that Ashwani Kumar owes his position to blessings from a benign, not so discernable but influential group outside the powerful Congress core group that takes political decisions on behalf of the ruling coalition.

As for the person himself, the Law Minister owes little to any of his colleagues in the party for the position he has reached. It is an open secret that he owes his rapid rise to the top leadership of the Congress and ability to stay close to the vortex of power. How he does it, is a tactic of a suave lawyer who knows the arguments he needs to advance and swing the jury or a wrestler in the traditional mud-pit and is brusque in achieving the end result, a victory.

There is another trait for which the Law Minister is known for — of playing a gracious host both at his posh Friends Colony residence or other well-known addresses in the Capital with the guest list that could be described as belonging to an eclectic background. Having impeccable educational qualification with graduation from St Stephens, Ashwani Kumar moved on to Law College and then the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Going steady

Ashwani Kumar shot into limelight in the 1990s when he was appointed senior law officer for the Government of India in his mid-30s, when most people would be busy establishing their practice.

Earlier, as a legal consultant to the then public sector enterprise, Delhi Electric Supply Undertaking, he would tilt to the side of consumers with the belief that for an ordinary citizen it would be difficult to take on the might of the state.

His political career began to take shape when he joined the Tiwari Congress and contested on the party ticket from Gurdaspur in 1996. Known for his proximity to Arjun Singh, he moved to the Indian National Congress when the Tiwari Congress merged with the parent party when Sitaram Kesri was its president.

In the Congress, Ashwani Kumar served in the “vichar vibhag” and in May 2002, he became a member of the Rajya Sabha for a residual term before being re-nominated twice from Punjab. He also served as a spokesperson for the party.

Towards the latter half of UPA-I, Ashwani Kumar was inducted as a Minister of State. He gradually made his way up till he was promoted as a Union Cabinet Minister last October, succeeding Salman Khurshid as the Minister for Law and Justice.

Now when dark clouds hover over his future as a minister, Ashwani Kumar finds himself standing alone, though he did manage to get an opportunity to brief the Congress core communicators on the episode that has caused a logjam in Parliament.

Will he survive it is a question most students of politics would like to ask. He has the option of employing his favourite moves — the dastran daav, a lightening swift move that grabs the neck, twists around to lock the waist from behind with arms and executing a manoeuvre on near-paralysed feet of the opponent to floor him, and the dhobi pat, tossing the opponent on to the mat as a washer man would do with clothes. Or, the lawyer in him can deploy crafted arguments reflecting dexterity to see him through.

Good news
They float like a butterfly, sting like a wasp
by Jupinderjit Singh

Bathinda police’s WASPS model against eve-teasing and other crimes is being emulated by various districts and neighbouring states. With armed women constables watching over them, girls are beginning to feel safer.

Trained in unarmed combat, WASPS constables are equipped with a 0.38 revolver, baton, pepper spray and handcuffs. Tribune photo: Pawan Sharma

Heena Singla walks with a confident gait towards the exit gate of the Government College for Girls, Bathinda. Unlike other days, she has no fear of eve-teasers. For, her didi is there to protect her. Heena sees her from a distance, flashes a smile and stands next to her, daring any roadside Romeo to pass a comment.

The didi is Ravinder Kaur, one of the 25 women constables of the unique Women Armed Special Protection Squad (WASPS) of the Bathinda police. She and another constable, Veerpal Kaur — an MA, MPhil in physical education — are deployed for the safety of students.

Every day from 8 am to 5 pm, they keep an eye on eve-teasers around the college and other places during their beat on a two-wheeler provided by the police. Dressed in a blue uniform, they are well armed too. Apart from a .38 revolver, they have a pepper spray, handcuffs and a baton. They have been trained in unarmed combat as well. As the acronym WASPS (yellow bee) suggests, the squad roams around and swoops down suddenly on the culprit, prepared to sting him hard if the need arises.

Others follow

Introduced by the Bathinda police in January this year, WASPS has caught the fancy of the state government and also the neighbhouring states. Last week, the Deputy Chief Minister flagged off similar squads for Mansa, Muktsar, Fazilka, Abohar, Faridkot and Ferozepur. More such squads would be introduced in the entire state.

Even Haryana will have similar squads. Early this month, the Punjab and Haryana High Court asked the Haryana Police to introduce the same model of women policing in the state. Some police officers from Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh have also evinced interest.

Apart from checking eve-teasing and crime against women, the squads have become counsellors for young girls, who share their personal lives with them and seek their advice. Some school and college managements have even asked the WASPS to give a talk to the girls.

Bathinda SSP Ravcharan Singh Brar says, “In the wake of the Delhi gangrape incident, we intended to provide a force exclusively for preventing crime against women in the city. The idea of WASPS came up and trained women constables were chosen for the job. Now, they have become counsellors also as girls seek their guidance in personal matters.”

The first group of 25 constables was divided into 10 teams of two members each. Five were kept in the reserve squad. The teams patrolled the city, which was divided into 10 beats. They have been asked to focus on women colleges, bus stands and railway stations. “The squads were an instant hit. They were attached to the special women helpline numbers. The WASPS rush to the aid of any woman in distress,” says Nirmal Singh Dhillon, IG, Bathinda Zone.

Alka Meena, ASP City-II, says the greatest achievement of the WASPS has been that incidents of eve-teasing are down and it has instilled a sense of security and confidence among women. The squad is basically for urban policing, but demands for introducing it in rural or semi-urban areas are coming up.

“We plan to introduce such squads in semi-urban areas like Talwandi Sabo and Rampura Phul. Many women constables belong to villages and often travel by buses. Besides offering security to women passengers, the WASPS attracts girls for a police job,” the SSP says.

With a salary of around Rs 27,000, it is one of the “better educated” squads of the police. “Most of us either have a master’s degree in a subject or are pursuing it. This gives us a good base to interact with girls and gain their faith,” says Rajwinder Kaur, a member of the squad.

“Apart from responding to SOS calls through the woman helpline (0164-2215020) and ‘100’, the squad gets direct complaints also,” says DSP Avneet Sidhu, who along with ASP Alka Meena imparts daily briefing and training to the squad.

Lesson to remember

Stalking is one of the most common complaints the squad receives daily. “We receive complaints of middle-aged or aged men trying to act smart with girls in a bus. There were some incidents of harassment at work place. Generally, women employees want the matter to be resolved and don’t want to make it an issue or involve their parents,” says DSP Avneet Sidhu.

“We have resolved many cases where men were stalking girls after their relationship ended. Boys in their late teens or early 20s are involved in eve-teasing. Most of them are addicts or school and college dropouts,” says Rajwinder Kaur.

And what do they do when they confront one? “We tell him politely he is committing a crime. If he doesn’t apologise and promise not to repeat it, we hand him over to senior officials to take necessary action,” says Veerpal Kaur.

What if a man or a group of boys becomes offensive? “We know how to defend ourselves. The culprit gets it back there and then. But we haven’t used much force so far,” says Ravinder Kaur.

Off the cuff

People say there are four-and-a-half Chief Ministers or six Chief Ministers in Uttar Pradesh. But if someone is giving good advice and suggestions, it is not a bad thing.

Akhilesh Yadav, UP Chief Minister
In an interview

People want a strong leader. They want a leader whom they can consider their hero. They are no longer interested in goody-goody kind of leaders who only talk sweet.

Uma Bharti, BJP vice-president
Claiming people disillusioned with the UPA

I have met 11 crore people till now in my sabhas and I have heard only one voice — The nation wants Narendra Modi. I am not saying so. It is the nation’s voice.

Baba Ramdev, yoga guru
Praising Gujarat Chief Minister’s leadership

We will generate employment opportunities for the youth by setting up steel factories. We will not sell iron ore to China. We will sell it steel after we come to power.

Rahul Gandhi, congress vice-president
During a rally in Karnataka