End this stalemate,
Mr Joshi
THE countrywide indefinite strike by university and college teachers has entered the 22nd day. No one seems to have lost sleep as the country's custodians of knowledge and information await a positive response from the powers that be.
Ordaining unwisely
THE Prasar Bharati Ordinance promulgated on Saturday in inordinate haste does not bring credit to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in New Delhi.

Adulteration Problem

by Poonam I. Kaushish
THE end came slowly. After great pain. Yet another dead sought release from a disease-ravaged country. And time stood mute testimony to the death of civic sense and health reforms.

How IMF destroyed Russia

by Bharat Jhunjhunwala
RUSSIA was led into simultaneous internal and external liberalisation by the IMF. Imports were opened up before internal liberalisation — its massive privatisation programme — could stabilise.

. BJP’s deals with parties pay off by P. Raman THE BJP leaders are clearly in a relaxed mood. The new carrot-and-stick approach towards Jayalalitha has improved the threat perception from Chennai — at least at the time of writing. HUDCO deal jinxed for Jethmalani? THE hunter is being hunted. Remember Ram Jethmalani of the 10-Bofors-questions-a-day fame? Yes, it is the same “scam-buster” Jethmalani who is now being accused of wrongdoing as a minister. Cathartical agents by K. Rajbir Deswal DIANA Hayden, before getting crowned as Miss World, was asked by Jackie Shroff, as one of the judges, that which historical figure she would have liked to marry. The beauty queen’s answer (less brainy but more hearty) — Rajiv Gandhi — did not surprise me.

75 Years Ago

Medical education
Lahore National Medical College
THE National Medical College was duly opened on Monday at 2 p.m. and the students were admitted.

End this stalemate, Mr Joshi

THE countrywide indefinite strike by university and college teachers has entered the 22nd day. No one seems to have lost sleep as the country's custodians of knowledge and information await a positive response from the powers that be. Unfortunately, those who occupy the seats of power get sucked into the system that thrives on insensitivity. The question here is not merely of a monetary benefit of Rs 2000 or so, which, whether we accept it or not, is a critical factor in today's hard times. The wider issue is one of the response and treatment meted out to the teaching community. True, aberrations have crept in at all levels. There are gaps between promise and performance as well as between expectation and harsh reality. The entire system of education is getting increasingly commercialised. It has, in the process, disturbed the value system which once guided teaching norms. Higher education, however, cannot be treated as a commodity for sale and purchase. There is something sacred about it and it is the duty of society to see to it that those sacred bonds are kept alive against all odds. For this, it is necessary that we ensure dignity and self-respect to the teaching community.

Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi was himself a teacher once. The teaching community, therefore, expected that he would show greater appreciation of their problems and demands. But somewhere down the line politics seems to have got mixed up in the pay scale exercise. This was visible even in the case of the recent postal strike. The Minister concerned, Ms Sushma Swaraj, struck a tough posture against the striking employees and allowed things to drift. The postal service in the country was paralysed. But after 10 days or so she virtually conceded all the demands. The point here is: why do we allow such a situation to be created? Why can't we learn to be reasonable and responsive — and promptly sort out the differences across the table? In any case, the teachers have a special position in society and therefore deserve prompt attention. But for reasons best known to Mr Joshi, he has allowed hundreds of thousands of teachers, students and their parents to sulk. This is no way to treat the teaching community, Mr Minister.

Instead of faithfully following the UGC guidelines and recommendations, the HRD Ministry, with the help of its official machinery and money power, has preferred to indulge in the game of misinformation and disinformation. It has disturbed the parity so far maintained between teachers and Group A services. This has happened because the HRD Ministry has opted for the new pay scales which are closer to the Rastogi Committee suggestions, and rejected the UGC recommendations. The UGC has often tried its best to stop the flight of talent from our educational institutions by reducing the ever-widening gap between the pay scales of the teachers and those of the IAS officers. There is apparently lopsided thinking on the part of the authorities who seem to be bent on lowering the status of the teaching community vis-a-vis the all-powerful IAS and Group A services. The authorities have to appreciate the fact that higher education is the backbone of the nation and those manning it have to be treated as a class apart. No one should grudge the university and college teachers getting more. It is a pity that they have been pushed into an unpleasant situation of striking work at the start of the academic session.

Strike as an instrument of bargain is surely not desirable. It must have pricked the conscience of the majority of the teachers. The authorities, however, cannot absolve themselves of the responsibility of forcing them to take this extreme step. We appeal to the HRD Minister to come down a notch or two and take urgent steps to end the current stalemate. As it is, higher education is in a terrible mess. And its deterioration has largely emanated from an overall deterioration in our political culture. We have to stem the rot and create an atmosphere of cordiality and evolve work culture. For this, it is necessary that we adopt a positive approach and help the teachers develop bigger stakes in lifting the quality of education. The authorities at the Centre and in the states must view everything in totality rather than through angularities. At stake is the future of students and higher education in the country. We cannot treat teachers and students as the "captive labour force" of those who "administer" education. It is a pity that keeping the nation's educational system in step with the times seems to have become harder than putting man on the moon.

Ordaining unwisely

THE Prasar Bharati Ordinance promulgated on Saturday in inordinate haste does not bring credit to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in New Delhi. The role of President K.R. Narayanan in this case is not quite that of the archetypal moderator. The ordinance restores the Prasar Bharati Act to its original form. Among its many provisions, the spectacular one is the capping of the age limit of the chief executive to 62 years. The Chief Executive Officer, Mr S.S. Gill, who is 72 years old, had to go immediately. The earlier Act, which was amended by the United Front Government last year through an ordinance, allowed Mr Gill to function without an age limit. It also introduced some method in the madness with which the organisation was being run. It is a well-known fact that the present government and Mr Gill have not been on cordial terms. Much before Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj started defending the apparently injudicious step and declaring that there was no personal motive "behind the new dispensation", her deputy, Mr M. Naqvi, had declared that Mr Gill would have to go. On August 21, he had alleged that a major scam — of the order of Rs 14,000 crore — had been unearthed in the Prasar Bharati Corporation. It had taken place during the past eight months, he had added. He was ready with the charges of corruption against Mr Gill and everybody seemed to have some view for or against the BJP perception.

Now the new ordinance is being described as "unconstitutional, undemocratic and a fraud upon Parliament". It is said that the main purpose of this unprecedented move was the removal of the Prasar Bharati chief. Each one of these three descriptions appears to be tenable. Its unconstitutionality stems from the passage of the Bill in the Lok Sabha, but the avoidance of its presentation before the Rajya Sabha. About 124 out of 225 Rajya Sabha members, it should be recalled, had written a letter to the Prime Minister, seeking his intervention in the matter. They felt that the Rajya Sabha was being circumvented and bypassed and the ordinance was being planned "behind the back of Parliament". Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee would find it hard to explain to the members of the Rajya Sabha his attitude which amounted to disregard for their right to deliberate upon a crucial issue. Information is power. Broadcasting is a strong means with popular ramifications and a wide reach. Although it would be unfair to say that the BJP is against granting autonomy to powerful institutions where government interference is much too frequent, it is clear that in the present case autonomy has been made to stand below authoritarianism. The charge of personal vendetta against Mr Gill will be discussed in the court of law when he challenges the promulgation of the ordinance — and with the government's reply, both sides of the picture will come into the open. It will be premature to express an opinion on this contention.

There is a demeaning perception among the people at large that the Prasar Bharati Board is being sought to be packed with persons belonging to the "saffron brigade". Information and and broadcasting must be a national concern and any partisan act in its context should be scrupulously avoided. When the Act was first amended through an ordinance, the step was accepted by all political parties, including the BJP. What has happened now? Technically speaking, the Prasar Bharati Bill is the property of Parliament because the Lok Sabha has already passed it. If the BJP did not have a majority in the Rajya Sabha, it should have tried the honourable way of convincing the MPs in the other august House and got the measure approved for enactment. Parliament should be righteously angry with this backdoor approach. Many governments in the past have perpetuated their whims and fancies by reducing themselves to "ordinance raj". The BJP, which claims to be a different political organism, has given other parties an occasion to criticise it on the ground of its having an unliberal outlook. A party that claims to have no hidden agenda has to be like Caesar's wife. Mrs Swaraj has not succeeded in her rhetorical attempt at refuting the opposition arguments against the Bill. If Mr Gill has committed any irregularity, he should be made accountable for it and punished. But the clandestine manner in which he has been summarily removed from his post is indefensible. Transparency has been the caption of the ruling coalition's agenda . The Prasar Bharati Ordinance does not support this claim.

ADULTERATION PROBLEM
Whose life is it anyway?
by Poonam I. Kaushish

THE end came slowly. After great pain. Yet another dead sought release from a disease-ravaged country. And time stood mute testimony to the death of civic sense and health reforms. That is the tragedy of India. Of an adulterated India. Where time and again there are no pall-bearers or mourners to ignite the flames of perpetuation at one’s death. Scraping the dredges from the political cauldron till some one takes pity and lays them to rest finally.

How else should one react to the administrative and political callousness towards human life. Indian citizens, apart from sterile numbers, don’t seem to count for much. Even though Mr L.K. Advani angrily told Washington the other day that our people too are “not expendable”. The frail hope that Mr Vajpayee’s government would provide a balm for the nation still nursing the tragedies of Mansarover pilgrims and of the dropsy deaths has vanished. It seems to have got lost in the labyrinth of the famous imambara, popularly called Bhoolbhulayan, in the Prime Minister’s constituency in Lucknow. Asserts Delhi’s BJP Chief Minister: “You don’t expect us to visit each home afflicted by dropsy. We have banned the sale of adulterated mustard oil which causes it. What more can we do?”

True to character, all blame it on the rotten and corrupt system. Tragically, like anything else, even the leadership today comes adulterated in cheap polypacks. Where even the functions get watered down to puerile waste. All lament the deaths but their screams are silent. Gagged by the ambitions. Leaders who are led by self-gain. Highlighting their inability to manage a crisis.

Desperate situations call for desperate measures. But one must first admit that it is indeed a desperate situation. Instead, they peddle illusory good news. “Don’t panic. Everything is under control— the floods, dropsy, etc. Things are improving. The government is doing everything that is necessary.” Remember, they said the same in 1977 (Andhra cyclone), 1984 (Bhopal gas tragedy), 1993 (Latur earthquake) and 1994 (Surat plague).

Plainly misleading or perhaps transmitting their ignorance laced with hope. What is certain is that the Central government has no independent means of relying on facts. Having to rely on officials who do not want to hear bad news simply because it means having to change money-making policies, a burdensome task, to say the least.

Against this desperate background, others are left with an easy alternative; make hay while the sun shines. Little attention seems to be given to the long-term repercussions of health and environmental management. Myopia has replaced a broader vision leading to a blinkered approach. Political fevicol is not the binder for the nation’s moral and emotional fabric. Nor do quick-fix remedies of a blanket ban on the sale of mustard oil and, perhaps, vanaspati provide any relief!

Adulteration goes best with the greasing of palms. It is the way of surviving. Without it, nothing would ever get done. Everything would come to a grinding halt. Shattering the economy. Corruption moves the wheels of industry. It synchronises the gears of finance once the handbrake of the bureaucracy is released. It is achieved without anyone anywhere appearing to give a bribe and without anyone everywhere seeming to be receiving it. It gets the job done more quickly and efficiently. Never before have so many owed so much to something which is worth so little.

We have the culture of plunder at every level, like the white ants. Power is fertile territory for corruption to feed on. The centralised corruption of the past has woven itself into subordinate democratic institutions, thanks to decentralisation. How? Small-time operators gladly pay in dribs and drabs for services rendered. The big boys, however, nurture future administrators. All it requires is the ability to pick the right man, patience and capacity for long-term investment. It speaks volumes for the inspiring leadership that thousands enthusiastically follow in the footsteps of politicians.

Evidently, the administrative system had practically collapsed a long time ago – not only in New Delhi but almost everywhere. The coming of dropsy confirmed it. Today we face an extremely serious situation, socially and environmentally. A life-style of Maruti yuppieism only brings forth the macro-consequences of the neglect of the socio-political environment. A total urban breakdown, neglect of rural poverty, unpaved roads, insanitary environments and a collapsing sewage and drainage system.

Nothing illustrates this more than the WHO figures. Only 58.15 and 7.60 per cent of the urban and rural population has toilet facilities respectively. Worse, there has been no increase in sanitation and safe water coverage of the population after 1987. Besides, the annual resource allocations for local health care do not show any substantial increase.

Dropsy is only the latest in a series of reversals in public health hazards which India has been experiencing in recent times. Malaria is back, gastroenteritis is spreading like wildfire. Then comes the resurgence of kala azar. Besides, the Japanese encephalitis, viral hepatitis and protein energy malnutrition. Other infectious diseases are waiting in the wings to exhibit their re-emergence or enhanced virulence. Dengue haemorrhagic fever is occurring sporadically in different parts of the country, and may be a prelude to manifest more widely, with a special predilection to attack children.

A new lethal viral mutation in the form of HIV is sweeping across the world, with India in the epicentre of a near-future volcanic eruption of AIDS. And in the wake of HIV/AIDS India is still dragging its feet in the control of tuberculosis, despite the availability of an effective multi-drug therapy for a quarter of a century. As it stands, India is already under intense pressure to control tuberculosis incidence and mortality from rising. “If a child doesn’t die within five years from birth due to malnutrition and diarrhoea, acute respiratory infections will get him later”, remarked a WHO official.

There is a combination of various factors that has led to this pass. First, the continuous neglect and disregard for the poor and the lack of respect for human life. Second, the gradual collapse of the administrative and political machinery. Third, abysmal sanitary conditions (only half of the country’s garbage is cleared). Fourth, a poor health care system and no solid waste management. A number of large cities have no sanitary landfills or dumping grounds.

But who cares if the state machinery is creaking or cracking? Certainly not the government or the Opposition. They are governed only by the dictates of retaining their warm seats. Leaders who place self-interest above party interest, and party interest above national interest. Of political double-talk and dualism. Each party is putting principles aside and has taken to abject propaganda and cheap canvassing of its petty causes.

There are no short-cuts possible. The country’s image cannot be made or unmade by imagery alone. For example, take the USA. Plague was reported there every year between 1985 and 1992. No one panicked and no one refused to accept the US produce. There was general faith in the American ability to control the disease. India inspires no such confidence.

It is time to change the reality. Economic efficiency, social well-being, community upliftment are all different byproducts of a common collective endeavour. Education and public health are two other areas which have to be attended to on a high priority basis if the nation is to accelerate its economic growth.

It is now imperative for India to rethink its strategies and approaches to safeguard the public health infrastructure, establish fresh priorities, improve the service delivery mechanism and government hospitals, establish close links between research, policy and service, with people at the centre of health-care plans.

Special attention needs to be paid to the problems created by a burgeoning population and its impact on local eco-systems, the growth of urban slums, environmental insanitation and decay, the conditions favourable for the proliferation of insect vectors carrying pathogenic microbes, stagnant water bodies, the rise of drug resistance, the rapid movement of people across countries and continents, and changing life-styles. The country should be prepared to exploit the windows of opportunity provided by scientific advance for the prevention and control of diseases, and not allow complacency to set in. Protection of public health is a matter of eternal vigilance. To foresee is to govern.

You need neither a bleeding heart nor blindness to mayhem and murder to know what should be done to stop a carnage. It is time not to ask but to act. Not for pious platitudes but firm performance. Firmness not of the chair, but of the mind. Decisive indecisiveness will not do. It only holds out promises of more misery, more wrenching news bulletins and more cries for the government to act. The time is far gone for the government to play the pied-piper. And aver whose life is it anyway. In the final crunch: Who will live if India dies! – INFA

How IMF destroyed Russia
by Bharat Jhunjhunwala

RUSSIA was led into simultaneous internal and external liberalisation by the IMF. Imports were opened up before internal liberalisation — its massive privatisation programme — could stabilise. The result was that its domestic industry was largely wiped out and tax revenues lagged behind. The resulting external trade and budget deficits were sustained by dollar inflows from consecutive IMF bailouts. Now that Russia has defaulted on its debt obligations, further bailouts are unlikely. The IMF is pushing for opening Russia to foreign investment. That would only compound its problems in the long run. The only solution for it is to reverse the disastrous policy of speedy external liberalisation followed till recently. It should willingly default on debt repayment, devalue the rouble and put imports under pressure, and resuscitate its domestic economy first. Having already made the mistake of opening prematurely to external trade, it should not compound it by opening itself to foreign investment.

Russia took the route of management-employee buyouts in its bid to privatise state industries. Its mass privatisation programme of 1992-94, says the World Bank in its World Development Report-1996,” was basically a management-employee buyout programme because of its preferential treatment of managers and workers. These insiders could choose between receiving a minority of shares at no cost and purchasing a majority of shares at a large discount. They chose the second option in about 70 per cent of the cases.”

This was basically a correct strategy. In its state-controlled economy whatever “business sense” existed was to be found among the erstwhile managers. Given a proper environment, there was no reason why many, if not most, of these managers could have turned into successful businessmen.

Alas! that was not to be. The IMF and the World Bank sold the idea that simultaneous opening up to international trade would be the best way to force these newly boughtout industries into global competitiveness. They pushed Russia to deny these industries time and protection to adjust. The World Bank says in its report that its “concern is with cases where governments extend their reach far beyond infrastructure firms... arguing that transition justifies (giving) industrial enterprises, public or private, the time, protection and resources to become competitive.”

The implication is clear. As far as the World Bank is concerned, such “time, protection and resources” should not be given to the boughtout industries to adjust. They should be subjected to import competition from day one. So it was. The result was that these newly privatised industries were killed by imports before they could stand on their feet.

The result was two-fold. On the one hand, domestic production and tax collection faltered in the face of imports and government budget deficits ballooned proportionately. On the other hand, the imports shot up and external trade balance worsened as well. The IMF helped it in doing so by providing one bailout after another.

The fundamental anomaly in the system was, however, perpetuated. The problem was that domestic firms were unable to adjust to the market economy so fast. They needed time and protection and resources to make the adjustment. Protection would have enabled them to initially produce goods at a cost higher than the international marketplace. Grappling as they were with an entirely new mode of production, they deserved this much breathing space.

This ignominy of the country, which put the first man in space, was brought forth by simultaneous internal and external liberalisation. Had Russia given time and protection to its nascent private sector, the result might have been different.

Now, having made the two blunders of premature external liberalisation and excessive borrowing, the third awaits Mr Chernomyrdin, the newly reappointed Prime Minister. The choice before Russia now is two-fold. It may reverse the process of external liberalisation, let the rouble fall, default on debt, resuscitate its private sector and straighten out its tax administration. After an initial hue and cry, the dust will settle down and Russian industry may yet survive.

Alternatively, it may continue with these same abortive domestic policies that have landed it into trouble all these days. It could replace debt dollars with those coming as foreign investment, as being advocated by the IMF-World Bank combine. This approach will be disastrous. At present, at least, the ownership of its industry is in its own hands. If Russian industry should revive, the profits earned would get ploughed back into the Russian economy and impart some growth in the long run. If these industries were to be sold to foreign investors, the profits would leave the Russian soil, and it would be ruined in exactly the same manner that Latin America and East Asia have been.

Cathartical agents

by K. Rajbir Deswal

DIANA Hayden, before getting crowned as Miss World, was asked by Jackie Shroff, as one of the judges, that which historical figure she would have liked to marry. The beauty queen’s answer (less brainy but more hearty) — Rajiv Gandhi — did not surprise me.

Once Rajiv Gandhi, when he visited Haryana and expressed the desire to be on the steering wheel of a jonga, was greeted on a wayside stopover by an old woman showering blessings of long life. Little did she realise that she harboured another secret desire. And being an innocent, naive and unpretentious woman, she minced no words for seeking to touch Rajiv Gandhi and know how he felt on being touched. She pleaded with honesty, “Oh Raju Beta, should I touch your rosy cheeks and feel you?”

Beautiful women and men have always been agents of catharsis in any form, negative or positive, and for the subject the cathartical experience is always pleasurable. So, not only Diana Hayden is justified in fantasying marriage with the late Mr Clean but Haryanvi women too must have had an experience no less cathartic in nature, whatever that meant.

Things of beauty have not only been joy forever but they are effective agents of catharsis too. When pent-up emotions fined an abortive outlet, the experience is that of pleasure, believed Aristotle, who propounded the theory.

The mass hysteria, as was witnessed with a number of self-immolations and suicides after the death of MGR in Tamil Nadu a few years ago, was an example of negative catharsis. Yet it must have been a result of some negative stimulation experienced with “pleasurable death-wish” on the part of the MGR fans, who are no more with us to express their feelings.

Diana, the late the Princess of Wales, is another case in point. Besides all other things, she has in her death, for the English in particular, proved to be an agent of mass English catharsis.

As many as 94 per cent Britons, leave aside the others the world over, watched Diana’s funeral. Countless depressed ones improved their mental condition, having had an occasion to weep, as is corroborated by media reports from mental asylums in Britain. The critics of the English monarchy grabbed another opportunity to vent their ire on British royalty and questioned, “Where is our Queen, where is her flag?” Countless people have got themselves registered for a visit to the grave of the People’s Princess. Millions of CDs of “Candle in the wind” albums and books have been sold all over the world. And most people have started naming their daughters as Diana. All this proves that Diana in her death, like Julius Caesar, has proved to the world her power to rob people’s hearts — an occasion for a pleasurable catharsis, in one way or the other, for everyone who knew her.

75 YEARS AGO
Medical education
Lahore National Medical College

THE National Medical College was duly opened on Monday at 2 p.m. and the students were admitted.

Bhai Parma Nand ji presided over the function and delivered an instructive speech to the new-comers ending it with an “Ashirvad’’.

Dr Gopi Chand welcomed the students to the institution.

Then the Secretary introduced them to their Professors. The regular opening ceremony shall be celebrated after the summer vacation.

The regular classes have commenced.

To meet the requirements, education has begun.

Arrangements for the Charitable Hospital are nearly complete.

BJP’s deals with parties pay off

by P. Raman

THE BJP leaders are clearly in a relaxed mood. The new carrot-and-stick approach towards Jayalalitha has improved the threat perception from Chennai — at least at the time of writing. The CBI raids on Bihar Chief Minister’s residence, though a miserable flop, has temporarily chastened the local Samata leaders. In any case, with President K.R. Narayanan and the Prime Minister on intermittent foreign tours, the BJP managers foresee peaceful days until the winter session of Parliament.

All this has, rightly or wrongly, given a new sense of confidence to the BJP establishment about the soundness of its present political strategy of running the coalition. The party’s Jaipur meeting has been merely a delayed quarterly ritual without much of a political or organisational significance. However, discussions after the Jaipur session seem to have convinced the party leaders that under the present fragile political arithmetic, there was no escape from the periodic spate of tantrums from the allies, and the only way to tackle such situations was a careful mix of firmness, pampering and fragmenting.

An extremely active party manager even boasted about the success achieved with regard to the last. The BJP, he claims, has established effective contact with the individual leaders of every supporting party. Thus whenever a party would try to quit the alliance, there will be intense internal pressures from the friends of BJP against it. If the leadership forced the withdrawal, a big chunk would remain with the coalition. Jayalalitha, Samata, Mamata and even the Akalis know this. He claims such contacts are being established both at the state and central levels. The BJP, it is asserted, would go to any extent to keep the government in place.

A second look will reveal that by seeking to sub-divide the parties aligned with it, the BJP is only applying the same strategy it had successfully tried on the eve of the 12th Lok Sabha election. Described as the Bali-Sugriv syndrome, it is based on engineering or intensifying the existing antagonism among the major state-level outfits. In Orissa, the BJP had effortlessly split the JD and carried the bulk of it into its camp as allies. It has been this antagonism between the respective ally and its main rival at the state level that ensures the former’s continued association with the BJP.

For this, the BJP had only to carefully play on Mamata’s anti-Leftism, Ramakrishna Hegde’s allergy towards Deve Gowda, Nitish Kumar’s enmity with Laloo Prasad Yadav and the anti-Congressism of the TDP, AGP, Akalis and Bansi Lal. Similarly, the BJP will now make it a point to cultivate and perpetuate differences within each supporting outfit. Its success in weaning away all major allies like the MDMK, PMK and Ramamurthy has been the major factor that had forced Jayalalitha to meekly withdraw her toppling threat. It has successfully applied the same strategy in dealing with the Akalis by establishing a special rapport with those like Surjit Singh Barnala and Parkash Singh Badal.

As a long-term measure, the BJP leadership has been carefully experimenting with a dual strategy to win over both traditional moderate Hindus and those who prone to Hindu separatist sentiments. The strategy had its roots in the early tussles between the two powerful wings within the RSS clan. While the BJP, the political arm, had felt convinced that with the still strong pluralist sentiments and the age-old secular mindset, the Indian voters would never give it a majority on the basis of its Hindutva agenda, the VHP-Bajrang Dal faction would not play down its own programme.

Under the compromise arrangement, both wings of the RSS clan were allowed to go ahead with their respective policies without pushing them to the breaking point. Soon the BJP began donning a gentleman’s attire by distancing itself from the anti-Muslim and anti-Christian programmes of the VHP-Bajrang Dal camp. The latter, as a compromise, took care not to force its anti-minority agenda on the BJP. This liberal facade enabled the BJP leadership to win over to its side many of those with a clean secular background and end what its leaders describe as “untouchability’’.

This division of the roles led to a sudden fall in the number of saffron-clad BJP MPs after the Ayodhya frenzy had died down. The BJP began talking about things like “Mathura-Kashi not on our agenda.’’ However, instead of leading to confrontation, the differences in approach were put to best use to win over the loyalty of the two different constituencies. It was first successfully experimented in two successive elections in Gujarat. While the official BJP approached the voters with their moderate agenda, those like Sadhvi Ritambhara and the political sadhus of the VHP conducted a parallel anti-minority campaign to incite Hindu passions.

In the process, the BJP was able to garner the votes of both sections even while escaping the provisions of the code of conduct relating to the misuse of religion in elections. Since then, the Gujarat experiment was put to use in a big way all over the country with varying results. Due to this dual strategy, the religious sadhus, communalised Hindus and those who had mixed up religious faith with religious hatred stayed with the VHP. Earlier, the BJP’s formal pledge to honour the court verdict on Ayodhya had prompted some of these sections to organise themselves outside the RSS clan.

Of late, the VHP has been aggressively going ahead with its Hindutva agenda. It is no more confined to construction work on the Ram temple or “liberation’’ of Mathura and Kashi. It has widened the scope by making Christian institutions special targets. Burning of copies of the Bible in Gujarat and concentrating on schools elsewhere are part of this plan. There has been a special VHP drive to highlight the conversion moves, real or imaginary. The VHP may or may not be directly involved in the attacks on nuns. But the message is loud and clear. In several parts of Gujarat, auto drivers are being forced to display their religious identity on their vehicle.

The attacks on the Muslims over the issue of inter-religious marriages and their eviction from the minority villages in Gujarat are too known to be repeated. The VHP has been extremely active on such issues. The whole idea is to keep up the tension which would bring electoral dividends even while reaching out to a wider section. In the long run, the RSS clan’s dual strategy is bound to harm the BJP’s secular allies. The Shiv Sena alone may be an exception. The ire of the Christian community will make the allies’ problems worse. Mamata Banerjee herself had been the victim of a minority backlash in the recent elections. The Tamil Maanila Congress hopes that in case the DMK crosses over to the BJP, it will become the sole beneficiary of any such minority backlash in Tamil Nadu.

By now, deals as an instrument of perpetuating power seem to have been institutionalised. New cases are coming up almost every day. The sordid triangular drama heightened by quick developments, one after other, in Tamil Nadu shows how blatantly state power can be misused for political deals. Even as the mystery over the shunting of Bezbaruah continued, new deals and counter-deals have surfaced. One day, suddenly Karunanidhi throws hints at supporting the BJP government at the Centre. His nephew, Murasoli Maran, gleefully distributes a letter from the Home Minister removing Karunanidhi’s name from the list of the suspects in the Rajiv Gandhi case.

Hours after, Delhi comes out with a statement saying that the government had only corrected a “computer error’’, and there was no move for any negotiation with the DMK for its support. Apparently, L.K. Advani’s gesture to Maran had come at a time when the BJP was arduously wooing the DMK after it found that the tie-up with Jayalalitha was on the rocks. Soon, she had made a tactical withdrawal following pressure from her allies. She was also influenced by the lack of response from the Congress to her entreaties and fears of Karunanidhi joining the BJP camp. All this forced L.K. Advani to suddenly underplay the political deal with Maran.

In the first place, Karunanidhi was made a “suspect’’ in the ATR as part of one of the endless deals to appease Jayalalitha at a time when she had turned really difficult. It was done at the instance of AIADMK ally, Vazhapadi Ramamurthi. After scrapping the deal with Maran, which apparently included making him a Union Cabinet Minister, the BJP also had struck bargain with the AIADMK by agreeing to sack special public prosecutor K. Kumar, who was dealing with the cases involving Jayalalitha and her friends.

Another political deal came in the form of a CBI raid on Bihar Chief Minister’s residences. It was aimed at pleasing the Samata leaders but proved a total flop. Last month, the Akalis were sought to be consoled by exempting the rich Sikh farmers of Udham Singh Nagar from the state’s land ceiling law. This week, the landholders of Hardwar, who have been opposing the inclusion of the district in Uttaranchal, were offered a similar bargain if they relented on the issue. The unsavoury aspect of all such deals has been the blatant exchange of state power for political advantages.

It is difficult to say how long can all this buy loyalty and sustain governments. Already, there have been grumblings among some of the allies about the electoral cost of prolonged “tailism’’. The disgruntled elements in such parties allege that the allies are hardly consulted on crucial issues but are compelled to defend them in front of the people. Indian politics has its own dynamics. It had always defied the brinkmanship by those in power.

HUDCO deal jinxed for Jethmalani?

Tof the HE hunter is being hunted. Remember Ram Jethmalani 10-Bofors-questions-a-day fame? Yes, it is the same “scam-buster” Jethmalani who is now being accused of wrongdoing as a minister. Among those pointing the finger are three senior officers of the Urban Affairs Ministry, including the Secretary, Ms Kiran Aggarwal.

The storm is over Mr Jethmalani’s stand on the Capital’s Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) and his decision regarding the reallotment of a complex at HUDCO Place in Andrews Ganj locality to a hotelier.

While Janata Party chief, Subramanian Swamy has fired the first salvo, Mr Jethmalani’s response, asking the CBI to probe if “disgruntled officers” had leaked files has only added to the complexity of the problem.

As things stand, three senior officers, the Secretary, Additional Secretary and Joint Secretary of the Urban Affairs Ministry, all dealing with the matter, have represented their case to the Cabinet Secretary and to the Prime Minister’s Office.

The HUDCO complex is coming up on a plot of land which was originally allotted to “pinjrapole” — for animal husbandry — and later allocated to some VIP cooperatives for group housing. The high court struck down the VIP allotments a decade back and later the land was given to HUDCO.

The hotel complex in question was first given to Pawan Sachdeva of MS Shoes, who was jailed. Later Sushil Ansal, who was associated with the project, got into trouble after the Uphaar cinema, owned by him, caught fire last year. The present bidder, Four Seasons Hotels, is owned by the Nairs of Mumbai’s Leela Penta (now Leela Kempinski) fame. Soon after they made the bid, the Leela group was in trouble with the CBI regarding some of their business dealings. Now, the pinjrapole jinx seems to be affecting Ram Jethmalani.

Pachmarhi fever on

Right now, for Congress members all roads lead to Pachmarhi, the picturesque hill resort of Madhya Pradesh from where Mrs Indira Gandhi’s “Chanakya” — former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister D.P. Mishra — used to run the affairs of New Delhi in the late sixties.

No, it is not vacation time but time to get down to some serious business and plan for the future.

Beginning September 4, the cream of the Indian National Congress will reach there and engage in a “brainstorming session” in the cool weather during the next three days.

To start with, the exercise is expected to break the jinx of what is commonly referred to “Narora-type” camp, the name the session inherited after such an event took place for the first time during Indira Gandhi’s regime in 1970s.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi is keen to hold the session, the first major event after she took over the reins of this 113-year-old party which is now struggling to retain its grip on national polity.

Participation is restricted and naturally members of the party, which has many heavyweights and leaders, are clamouring for an invitation to Pachmarhi. In some cases like those of certain former Governors, the letters of invitations were withdrawn after it was realised that these had been mailed to them by mistake.

Apart from the embarrassment caused to the leadership on this account, what added to it was the leaks from the background papers that were splashed across in newspapers which indicated a change in approach on many contentious issues.

The special committee to oversee preparations had to prepare background papers on political, economic, international and organisational aspects.

Mrs Sonia Gandhi took a serious view of the leakage and when last heard some notes were being revised and to be on the side of caution, the party has been instructed to circulate the papers with a note stating: “The enclosed background paper on the subject is a document only for discussion and does not essentially reflect the view or the policy of the Congress party.”

In addition, the party decided to hold the session away from the prying eyes of media. It remains to be seen who wins in the battle of wits since competing with the media are a large number of Congress members who have been left out, besides hangers-on who plan to go to Pachmarhi.

The dropsy effect

The principal Opposition party, the Congress, decided to hold protests against selling of adulterated mustard oil and the resultant deaths in Delhi.

The president of the Delhi unit of Congress, Mrs Sheila Dixit, recently asked scribes to inform of the manner in which the party decided to highlight the problems being faced by consumers in the Capital.

Interestingly, just as the assembled were served snacks and tea, someone quipped if the Congress was certain that the “kachori” on the plate was not cooked in the same medium — adulterated mustard oil.

The result was effective. The message was driven home straight what words could not achieve, action did. The kachoris remained untouched.

Facelift for Bhavan

Punjab Bhavan in the Capital is wearing a new look these days. The mundane furniture that adorns most of the government offices have made way for the more ethnic and eye-pleasing cane furniture. Colourful works of handicrafts adorn the dull walls.

The transformation of the Bhavan has an interesting tale. It all started after the former Cultural Secretary of the state government, Mr Amitabh Pandey, took over as Resident Commissioner here. Fond of everything ethnic, the bureaucrat is working overtime to implement his ideas. And, it has not been in vain.

When the Punjab Finance Minister, Capt Kanwaljit Singh, visited the Capital recently he was full of praise for his tastefully decorated room. Capitalising on the opportunity, the Resident Commissioner promptly asked for more funds for sprucing up the Bhavan. If the minister’s appreciation is any indication, funds should be coming.

Pills with school meals!

The National Research Development Corporation, which recently launched a wonder drug made from freshwater algae, Spirulina, plans to tap the large number of children who have mid-day meals in schools for the sale of their product. Mr Ashok Parthasarthy, a senior official closely associated with the NRDC, was optimistic that the drug, which provides complete nutrition and vitamins, would be a success with the children.

However, what Mr Parthasarthy did not say was the meagre allowance that the various state governments give for the mid-day meal scheme. At Rs 6 for a meal, the amount is no sign of generosity. One tablet of Spirulina drug costs Rs 1.60. If the children have two tablets a day then what else will they eat? This should be food for thought for Mr Parthasarthy.

A simian boon

The simian menace in the corridors of power — North Block — has now turned out to be a boon for some government employees.

Troubled no end by these creatures, senior officials of the ministries in the building decided to grant overtime to some guards, whose job will be to chase away the monkeys.

Apart from granting funds to arm them with shotguns, the officials have posted guards with canes to scare the simians which descend late in the evening at parking slots.

(Contributed by T.V. Lakshminarayan, K.V. Prasad and P.N. Andley.)