Giant-killer defends choice of Madhepura
by Harihar Swarup
SHARAD YADAV’s house in Delhi’s prestigious Pandara Road was full of flowers when he returned triumphantly from Madhepura last week. Every inch of the dining table, instead of foodstuffs, was packed with bouquets and flowers. Every hour a crowd of drum-beating party workers would appear at his residence gates. They were allowed to let in, cross the small lawn and reach the door-steps.

A speedy implementation
ONE only wishes that all Departments of the Government of India function with promptness and speed, notwithstanding the fact that it glossed over an important occurrence. Well if you are wondering what it is all about, this incident is sure to leave everyone amazed at the swiftness with which the Ministry of Planning and Programme Implementation moves.

75 Years Ago

October 17, 1924
Australian franchise for Indians
IT is gratifying to learn from the letter of a Melbourne correspondent of the “Servant of India” that the Australian High Court has given a favourable decision on an application by an Indian resident of Australia questioning the legality of the Commonwealth Government’s denial of franchise to him.

Giant-killer defends choice of Madhepura
by Harihar Swarup

SHARAD YADAV’s house in Delhi’s prestigious Pandara Road was full of flowers when he returned triumphantly from Madhepura last week. Every inch of the dining table, instead of foodstuffs, was packed with bouquets and flowers. Every hour a crowd of drum-beating party workers would appear at his residence gates. They were allowed to let in, cross the small lawn and reach the door-steps. The pitch of the slogans would become sharper with drum beats rising in crescendo as they surged forward.

In the drawing room Sharad Yadav was busy talking to this correspondent. As the pitch of the drum beating became deafening, he took me to inside room; the interview had to be completed as he did not have time afterwards. Sharad Yadav’s wife told me in Hindi: “Jab tak yaee (Sharad) bahar nahin aate, woh log nahin jayange”. (Till he comes out, they will not go). She was absolutely right; Sharad came out with folded hands leaving the interview incomplete. The workers burst into delirious cheers. Sharad mixed with them, shook hands with some, patted the younger ones on the back. Packets of fresh, delicious ladoos followed and the workers devoured them with relish.

Sharad did not know by that time (a day before the swearing in) he would be inducted into the Cabinet and be allocated the Ministry of Civil Aviation. To repeated questions in the unfinished interview, he would stress he was not interested in a ministerial berth but hastened to add: “I can’t say anything at the moment....I am rushing to a meeting at Ram Vilas Paswan’s residence. George (Fernandes) is coming there and we will take a decision about our party’s nominees in the NDA Government”. One could make out by his expression that he was joining the government but the portfolio (Civil Aviation) was a real surprise.

Sharad Yadav’s victory over the formidable Laloo Prasad Yadav had been stunning indeed. It was, perhaps, the most significant contest of the mid-term poll and nobody thought he would trounce the invincible Laloo, who was backed by all the might of the state government, headed by Rabri Devi. Sharad has earned the sobriquet — Jack the giant-killer.

“Had I shifted to another constituency”. Sharad said in the interview,” it would have been my ‘sarvnash’ (complete destruction)”. Having known Laloo’s technique “I have trained bands of my party workers in anti-booth capturing measures”.

Sharad said he had also launched “protect your vote” movement in Madhepura constituency to thwart any attempt at booth capturing. The refrain of his poll campaign was: “You have been deprived of everything. Protect your vote with all your strength otherwise you will be nowhere”.

Being a firebrand Lohia socialist, he would cross swords with anyone at the slightest provocation. But why did he to take up the cudgels against Laloo Prasad Yadav with whose help he successfully contested elections from Madhepura in 1991 and 1996 and lost in 1998, when both fell out. Sharad comes out with a long explanation: “I never fought with Laloo but he betrayed me, did not take me in confidence when he pitch-forked his wife (Rabri Devi) to the post of the Chief Minister. I was, after all, the party supremo”.

Sharad Yadav’s political career has been full of strife. His birthday coincides with Independence Day. He was imprisoned twice under MISA — in 1971 and 1973 for 11 and nine months respectively. He was behind bars during the entire period of Emergency — from 1975 to 1977. He was then a member of the Lok Sabha and an activist of Jayaprakash Narayan’s movement.

Sharad hit the headlines in 1974 having rested the Jabalpur Lok Sabha seat, for the first time, from the Congress in a byelection necessitated following the death of veteran Seth Govind Das. A known freedom fighter and a protagonist of Hindi, Seth Govind Das, has known as father of the Lok Sabha, having retained the Jabalpur seat since the first general election.

Those were the days of J.P.’s movement and he personally selected Sharad Yadav to contest the byelection as the “people’s candidate”. Barely 25, young Sharad had not, by that time, joined a political party even though he was greatly influenced by Dr Ram Manohar Lohia. Though he became a nominee of the combined Opposition parties, he was fairly well known in Jabalpur, having been involved in the students movement and yet obtaining a first class degree in BE from the local university.

Sharad could not remain an M.P. for long. With the birth of the Janata Party in 1977, he formally joined it and, this time, his re-election to the Lok Sabha was an easy task. He shifted to Badaun constituency in U.P. in the December 1984 election but riding the sympathy wave the Congress swept the polls and he was defeated. Sharad, however, managed to enter the Rajya Sabha within a few months.

The fortune of the Congress reversed in 1989 and he avenged his defeat by winning the Badaun seat with a huge margin but had to face defeat in 1991 again. Within months the Madhepura seat fell vacant and in the byelections, the constituency had a candidate from outside and he was Sharad Yadav. Since then he has represented the remote Bihar constituency, barring defeat in the 1998 election.

Belonging to Babai village of the Hosangabad district of Madhya Pradesh, Sharad Yadav had always been fearless and a tough fighter. Even in his teens he jumped into a well to save the lives of a woman and her two children who were about to be drowned. While protesting against the infamous Press Bill brought by the Jagannath Mishra Government in 1980, he received a lathi blow on the head and the scar is still there.

Both his father and mother were freedom fighters and imprisoned during the British Raj. His father later became the District Congress president.

A speedy implementation

ONE only wishes that all Departments of the Government of India function with promptness and speed, notwithstanding the fact that it glossed over an important occurrence.

Well if you are wondering what it is all about, this incident is sure to leave everyone amazed at the swiftness with which the Ministry of Planning and Programme Implementation moves.

Unaware of the fact that its new Cabinet Minister, Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, did not take oath in the newly-appointed Council of Ministers on Wednesday, a group of officials from the Ministry promptly reached Mr Dhindsa’s office-cum-residence Suite Number 1, Punjab Bhavan in the Capital in the afternoon.

Armed with a letter from the Cabinet Secretariat about the allocation of new portfolio to Mr Dhindsa, these officials descended to find out when it would be convenient for the new “Mantriji” to assume charge.

Imagine, this was at a time when practically everyone raised eyebrows over the absence of any Sikh in the Union Cabinet.

Incidentally, Mr Dhindsa at that time was in Kapurthala House, where the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, was explaining to the media as to why the Shiromani Akali Dal opted out of the Union Cabinet.

The officials were told by Mr Dhindsa’s single-member staff that the person they thought was their new “Mantriji” had not taken oath. Unfazed they flashed a letter from the government informing them of the new Minister, but then reality dawned upon them and they quietly beat a retreat.

Who says plans of government remain on the drawing board. Here was a case of speedy implementation too.

Of a son and missing stars

The swearing-in ceremony of the Atal Behari Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance was a long-drawn affair. As the autumn sun continued to glow most of those who attended felt restless.

Like last time, the ceremony was held once again in the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan but unlike the previous occasion it was also a saga of a son and missing stars.

The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference’s Omar Farooq, who became one of the youngest members in Mr Vajpayee’s Union Council of Ministers was the sole Chief Minister’s son this time around unlike last time when there were two.

Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal and Mr Omak Apang, sons of Punjab and then Arunachal Pradesh Chief Ministers respectively, both of them lost this time around.

While the 13th Lok Sabha has another Chief Minister’s son, Mr Ajay Chautala. However, the INLD party he belongs to has declined to join the Ministry.

As far as the saga of sons goes, the present Cabinet has two sons, whose fathers were distinguished and high profile Cabinet Ministers of their time. Mr P.R. Kumaramangalam’s father, late Mohan Kumaramangalam was the “jewel of the crown” in Indira Gandhi’s 1971 Cabinet; Mr Naveen Patnaik’s father late Biju Patnaik not only served as Union Minister but was Chief Minister of Orissa too.

He made Bhajan bite the dust

He is the giant-killer from Karnal, the person who defeated Mr Bhajan Lal. That is the way Mr Ishwar Dayal Swami, Member of Parliament, was introduced to the officials of his Ministry by the Home Minister, Mr Lal Krishna Advani.

The occasion was a formal introduction of the newly-appointed Union Ministers of State for Home, Mr Swami and Mr Vidyasagar Rao.

Incidentally, not many may be aware that there is a strange co-incidence in the political life of both Mr Swami, a bureaucrat-turned-politician and Mr Bhajan Lal which goes back to over three decades.

It was in 1967 that Mr Swami, who as the Subdivisional Magistrate, Hisar handed over the election certificate to Mr Bhajan Lal who won for the first time from the Adampur Assembly Constituency. The certificate proved lucky for Mr Bhajan Lal who had never looked back since in his political career, at least so it seemed.

In the meantime, Mr Swami who served in the Haryana Provincial Service also worked in various State Government departments, corporations and boards, including some stints under Mr Bhajan Lal who eventually became the Chief Minister of Haryana.

Mr Swami, who joined the BJP in 1988 after retiring from the Indian Administrative Service, entered the Lok Sabha for the first time in 1996 representing the Karnal Parliamentary Constituency. However, he was trounced in 1998 by Mr Bhajan Lal, a result that was reversed in 1999.

Strange co-incidence that this was the first time that Mr Bhajan Lal had been defeated in an electoral contest at the hands of a person (Mr Swami) who signed Mr Bhajan Lal’s first-ever certificate of victory in elections. Perhaps electoral life of Mr Lal has come a full circle.

When the sun shone brightly

Several bigwigs, including many first time MPs and Opposition leaders, who had come to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, and his Council of Ministers, were seen occupying extreme back rows. Though it gave an impression that this group of people were sulking at the joyous celebration of democracy, enquiries revealed that the reason was something else.

The blazing sun had forced them to retreat under the shade of giant trees that line the boundaries of the forecourt of Rashtrapathi Bhavan. As the ceremony progressed, it took around two hours for all the Ministers to be sworn-in, a large number of people, unable to bear the heat, were found leaving the venue.

Bee-line for Andhra CEO

That Mr Nara Chandrababu Naidu has emerged as one of the tall regional leaders during the last four years cannot be disputed. After the manner in which he shaped the United Front, Mr Naidu has been equally important in the formation of the Vajpayee-led coalition in 1998 and also the solidity he lent to the National Democratic Alliance this time around.

Having scored a spectacular electoral victory both in the Lok Sabha and the State Assembly elections this time, Mr Naidu has once again emerged as an undisputed leader of Andhra Pradesh.

During his recent visit to Delhi to take part in the swearing-in ceremony, Mr Naidu was accorded a welcome by his supporters the like that has not been seen except to the AIADMK Chief, Ms Jayalalitha.

However, Mr Naidu refused to be swept off his feet by all the adulation he got and insisted that for the first time he had proved that people were willing to give positive vote if the government worked.

Mr Naidu said that these elections have proved that ‘development’ has come to occupy the centrestage of politics and people expect that the government they elect delivers.

His simple mantra, “I work for 18 hours a day and if my Ministers put in at least 10 hours, things should be working. I tell people if I can work long hours why can’t you for yourself and for the sake of your children. If Indians can achieve success outside the country why can’t they if we give them the right governance at home? “Was his candid observation in the Capital.”

After the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Mr Digvijay Singh, the latest ones to approach the person who prefers to call himself as the Chief Executive Officer of Andhra Pradesh was ... hold your breath.. Mr Parkash Singh Badal, the Chief Minister of Punjab, who wanted to have first-hand knowledge from Babu, as he is popularly known in Andhra Pradesh as to how he transformed the state.

Maybe Punjab is now facing a financial crunch but for a state which was in the forefront of the green revolution can exchange notes with a state whose Chief Minister has visions of turning his state in the next millennium into “Swarna Andhra Pradesh”.

By the way, the next in line is the new Chief Minister of Karnataka, Mr S M Krisha, who too wants to emulate Babu.

Irony of fate

One need not refer to O’Henry’s famous short story about a poor couple’s Christmas gifts to each other to get an example of “Irony of fate”. The recent Lok Sabha elections saw the defeat of four Congress Working Committee members — Dr Manmohan Singh, Mr R.K. Dhawan, Mrs Meira Kumar and Mr Vijayabhaskar Reddy — who had been most vocal in opposing the candidature of sitting MP from Tezpur, Mr Mani Kumar Subba, in spite of the Assam PCC and other official lobbies of the party from the North-East backing him.

Their contention was that Mr Subba’s name had been related to the Nagaland Lottery Scam. However, after consulting legal experts, Mrs Sonia Gandhi decided to field Mr Subba again as the party’s candidate. Mr Subba is back in Parliament after winning the election. The party bigwigs who had opposed him have lost the test of the hustings.

Fit to speak

Cricketers who gathered at a Press conference here to convey their message on fitness and health awareness for the Perfect Health Mela in October end were surprised when a journalist asked Chetan Chauhan to comment on the fitness of politicians. Chauhan replied, “Mooh se to fit hain” (They are certainly fit to speak). He added that they are not physically fit.

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

75 YEARS AGO

October 17, 1924
Australian franchise for Indians

IT is gratifying to learn from the letter of a Melbourne correspondent of the “Servant of India” that the Australian High Court has given a favourable decision on an application by an Indian resident of Australia questioning the legality of the Commonwealth Government’s denial of franchise to him.

The court has held that the withholding of the suffrage is contrary to law and has ordered that the Indian’s name be registered. This individual case does not by itself settle the problem of the rights of all Indians in the Commonwealth. But there is every reason to hope that after this decision steps will be taken by the Government itself to set things right.