E D I T O R I A L   P A G E

EDITORIALS

A matter of low interest
IT was a mirage industrialists and the Finance Ministry were chasing for long but the low interest regime has disappeared after a mere four months of existence. That and the harsh squeezing out of money in circulation are the visible signs of acute monetary discomfort. The late evening announcement on Friday last did not catch anyone by surprise despite some newspaper reports to the contrary.

Pak jehad against cable
GIVE a religious fanatic an inch and he will take a mile. This is what seems to be happening in Pakistan. Chief Executive General Pervez Musharraf's decision to reintroduce Islamic laws seems to have emboldened the clerics to demand more of the same. When he grabbed power in October last year General Musharraf made no secret of his admiration for Kemal Attaturk who gave Turkey a secular constitution which disallows religious groups any say in matters of state.

OPINION

Oil sector sell-out stalled, not rebuffed
by Balraj Mehta
THE attempted, across-the-board sell-out of the strategic oil sector of India to foreign oil companies has been stalled but not rebuffed. The tussle over this critical issue of national importance appears to be still inconclusive.

MIDDLE

REALPOLITIK

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

A matter of low interest

IT was a mirage industrialists and the Finance Ministry were chasing for long but the low interest regime has disappeared after a mere four months of existence. That and the harsh squeezing out of money in circulation are the visible signs of acute monetary discomfort. The late evening announcement on Friday last did not catch anyone by surprise despite some newspaper reports to the contrary. Everyone knew that a higher crude price and the rather regular repatriation of dollars by foreign stockmarket players were weakening the rupee. A lack of adequate supply of the dollar and an obstinate inflation rate at 6 per cent or more were the aggravating internal factors. Leave the rest to a band of currency traders and importers who strictly go by bazaar gossip and an ever-present market edginess. These men galvanised all the fears and acted as catalysts to drag the rupee down to Rs 45.7 to a dollar. Every panic button had a pressing time. The loudest one was in the office of the RBI Governor. A free fall by the rupee can have serious consequences on the economy but any precipitate action will reverse one or two positive trends. He had to balance several interests and finally he pressed on the throttle to stabilise the rupee. The first unmistakable signal is that the RBI will not stop at anything to steady the value of the Indian currency. So the bank rate — the rate of interest the RBI charges on the money it lends to scheduled banks — has gone up from 7 to 8 per cent. This will influence the lending rate of nationalised banks; since they have to raise funds at a higher cost, they will charge a higher interest from their borrowers. The interest structure will remain high. A second prod will be the burden on banks to raise resources in the lean months and the usual way is to offer a higher return on bank deposits. The days of talking down the interest on small savings and provident funds are over and Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha will come under pressure to restore the 12 per cent return. The RBI has also impounded about Rs 10,000 crore of bank funds to deny money to importers and speculators and use it to work against the rupee. These steps may not succeed but the RBI’s fierce determination is transparent.

The RBI lowered the bank rate to trigger a general reduction in the borrowing charges with a lot of scepticism. Its report after the pruning of the bank rate to 7 per cent bluntly warned everyone who would listen that the changes might not be sustainable and it may be forced to retrace its steps. And true enough most banks ignored the cut in bank rate and persisted with their “economic cost” of fund mobilisation. The RBI’s latest moves will certainly put a damper on bringing about a lower interest rate regime to make capital less costly and spur economic recovery. But there is also the distinct possibility that deposit rates, the interest banks pay on public deposits, may go up upsetting the cosy plans of liberalisers and sundry other reformers. The forcible lowering of interest rates through the government-controlled and RBI-dictated measures flies in the face of economic and monetary reality. The USA, which sets the norms in these things, has recently increased the base rate of interest to 6.5 per cent and has announced more hikes may be on the way. The present inflation rate eats into the real value of the rupee and that translates into a shrinkage of the rupee value against the dollar. The RBI Governor is convinced that a sober and mature currency market is the best place to settle these issues but his New Delhi masters have different ideas and their views prevail. These new measures are described as temporary and knowledgeable persons are sure that these temporary measures will last for decades.

Welcome ban

THE ban imposed last week by the Himachal Pradesh Government on all construction activity in certain parts of capital Shimla should have been put in place a long time ago but it is welcome nevertheless. Today, it is a case of being better late than never. The mindless construction activity that has been going on virtually unchecked for the past several decades has already done a lot of damage and the once proud Queen of the Hills now has ugly, ungainly limbs of concrete. It is no longer a question of preserving its aesthetic beauty. Now it is a matter of ensuring its very survival. Landslides and cave-ins pose a grave danger. That is why all construction above Cart Road has been banned. The height of new buildings in other areas has been restricted to three storeys. The ban on construction in the sinking and sliding zone in the northern part of the town between the Central School and Kalibari will be particularly beneficial because this zone includes the threatened Lakkar Bazar and Ruldu Bhatta area. Similarly, there is a total ban now on construction in the green belt, although precious little of it survives anyway. In their anxiety to cash in on the craze for urban property, the colonisers have raised tall structures everywhere in a haphazard manner. The construction plans meant for the plains have been applied mindlessly at this hill station, giving rise to many monstrosities. The government itself has set many a bad example by erecting six-storey buildings in areas which should have had no construction at all. At least now it is hoped that the ban and the restrictions will be strictly enforced. Incidentally, the government has now made it mandatory for every new building, which is approachable by a motorable road, to have a parking floor. That means that every building will have the ground floor or the basement as the parking area and only two floors above it.

The construction has not only robbed the town of its breathing space but has also had a bad effect on its civic amenities. The population of the town is many times more than what it can bear. That is why it gets water for only a few hours, that too only a trickle. The problem gets aggravated during the summer months when there is a large influx of tourists from the plains. The town, and the State itself, depend to a large extent on the revenue from tourism. But because of the perennial shortage of even basic amenities like water and electricity, most tourists go back disillusioned, never to return. Sanitation too is a mess. Traffic jams are an everyday occurrence. There is no escape from the fact that the town is bursting at the seams. No new tourists station has been developed in Himachal Pradesh after Independence. It will be a pity if this historic hill resort is allowed to go to seed. 

Pak jehad against cable

GIVE a religious fanatic an inch and he will take a mile. This is what seems to be happening in Pakistan. Chief Executive General Pervez Musharraf's decision to reintroduce Islamic laws seems to have emboldened the clerics to demand more of the same. When he grabbed power in October last year General Musharraf made no secret of his admiration for Kemal Attaturk who gave Turkey a secular constitution which disallows religious groups any say in matters of state. The dream of turning Pakistan into another Turkey, which incidentally was the original agenda of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, has been buried under the weight of the General's own indecision in calling the bluff of the fundamentalists. When he tried to give the country's blasphemy laws the much-needed human face the mullahs cried foul and he beat a hasty retreat. General Zia-ul-Haq was the first dictator to use the Islamic card for winning the support of the well-entrenched clerics. He had virtually handed over the country to the fundamentalists merely to stay in power. Keeping the various Islamic groups in good humour is the "General policy" which is evidently followed in post-Zia Pakistan. General Musharraf thought that he could defy the "Zia principle" and still survive. A day after after he announced the re-introduction of Islamic laws a number of fundamentalist groups got out of the woodwork, as it were, for implementing their more sinister agenda of Talibanising Pakistan. They have decided to launch a jehad for uprooting the cable television network from the Islamic soil of Pakistan. They have given General Musharraf until Wednesday for a clampdown on cable networks in the country. Thereafter, Islamic vigilantes would make door-to-door searches, pull out television cables and put the fear of Allah in the hearts of those found glued to their television sets. The next part of the "religious cleansing" of Pakistani society would target the big screen and newspapers and magazines which publish photographs of women.

General Musharraf and the fundamentalist groups are free to do, collectively or otherwise, whatever takes their fancy to the country under their control. India would have no case for poking its nose in the internal affairs of Pakistan. But unfortunately the rise of Islamic fundamentalism does tend to cause damage to the secular fabric of India. The "madarsas" in Pakistan are known to go beyond imparting lessons in Islamic theology to young and impressionable boys. In the Islam being taught in Pakistani "madarsas" hatred for India is treated as an essential article of faith. For the purpose of spreading the anti-India "message" in the neighbourhood the ISI is said to have helped set up similar "madarsas" in Nepal and its borders with Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Consequently, if genuine "madarsas" run by Indian Muslim institutions are investigated as a result of the subversive activities of the ISI, it helps promote Pakistan's objective of causing communal strife in India. The latest addition to its dangerous "religious arsenal" is the Deendar Anjuman, which is said to be responsible for the attacks on some churches in Andhra Pradesh. It is clear that the Indian political leadership needs to give higher priority to evolving an effective strategy for preventing the Talibanisation of Pakistan. It must be made to understand that the basic objective of the fundamentalists in Pakistan is not to spread the Prophet's message of universal peace, but to destroy the foundations of secularism in India. This should be seen as a valid reason for India to seek global support for containing the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Pakistan.

Fence-mending in West Asia 
Need for Indian understanding
by A. N. Dar

INDIA’S growing relations with Israel have created unexpected reactions in some of the Arab countries. These should be viewed with understanding and maturity. New Delhi should not brazenly give the impression that India would follow its policies regardless of what the Arabs may think. Instead it should act in a more understanding manner and explain to the Arabs that in whatever it does it has no intention of strengthening friendship with Israel at the cost of the relations with the Arabs. This should be a clear and obvious foreign policy stance. India has often been told the same by other powers and in turn India can follow it up with its other friends. There should be no difficulty in this. Now is the time that India can easily grow ties both with the Arabs and Israel. The two, in furthering relations with each other, have made this possible.

If the Arabs think that India gives too much importance to Israel and less and less to the Arabs, they will be totally wrong. But if such an impression is unfortunately created, India should not adopt a “take it as you like”attitude but instead take the Arabs into confidence and convince them that India will maintain as good relations with them, if not better, as it had in the time of Nehru and Indira Gandhi. This is necessary, if only for one reason that there is an interested party which is ever engaged in spoiling relations between India and the Arabs. That is Pakistan and we must guard against its machinations.

There is nothing better that the Pakistani diplomats want than sowing the seeds of discord between India and the various Arab countries. This is not a new policy framework. It has been there since the creation of Pakistan in 1947. As Pakistan considers that it has an inherent right to Kashmir because the valley is a Muslim majority area, it thinks that the Arab countries should be closer to it because they are Muslim. This was defeated decisively by the policies followed by Nehru and Indira Gandhi who were able to forge relations with a large number of Arab countries to the chagrin of Pakistan. India had excellent relations with some of them. At a meeting I had with the then Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Mr Z. A. Bhutto, in Cairo in the sixties I asked him what he was at the time doing in Egypt, he replied that he was trying to build bridges with the Egyptians, “your friends”.

Pakistan’s main method in those early days used to be to spread reports in the media in West Asia saying that India would soon recognise Israel and establish diplomatic relations with it. In those days India had no such policy. Those were the days of great tension between Israel and the Arab states. The Arab reaction to Israel was such that anyone whose passport showed that he had been to Israel was not normally allowed to come over to an Arab country. Such was the kind of hatred between the Arabs and Israel. A rumour started by Pakistan on Indian recognition of Israel would send Indian diplomats into a tizzy of denials so that no Arab thought that India was going to recognise Israel.

But those were different days. The world situation has now changed. Those days India’s pro-Arab and anti-Israel policy went smoothly into its overall policy of being close to the Soviet Union and having generally a socialist image. This sat well those days in beating off Pakistan’s anti-Indian policies and the Anglo-American support that it received. This helped India in gathering Muslim countries’ support on ticklish issues like Kashmir. Countries like Egypt, Iraq, Syria and Algeria, while beating off Islamic fundamentalist policies, supported India in world forums. India needed the Muslim countries’ support, even as it does today when Pakistan raises the Kashmir question in forums like the Organisation of Islamic Conference. This is done by Pakistan to show to the West that the Muslims the world over support Pakistan on Kashmir and also to give a new lease of life to the separatists in Kashmir. The impression given by government spokesmen that the then Indian government did this to gather Muslim votes in the country is not wholly correct. This might have come about as a by-product, but that was not the main policy objective. Now the situation has so changed that Israel and most Arab countries have diplomatic relations with each other and do not mind if other countries set up links with both of them.

Recently new suspicions were created with the quick visits of the Home Minister, Mr L. K. Advani, and the Minister of External Affairs, Mr Jaswant Singh, to Israel. The propaganda has spread that India is going to have a kind of nuclear cooperation with Israel. If Arab countries feel alarmed, it is not because they do not want the Indian government to have close relations with Israel but they are feeling alarmed by reports that Israel could also become a nuclear power. They know that both India and Pakistan are now nuclear weapon states. But they do want to look with a close angle at the attempts reportedly being made by Israel to further its nuclear progress. Indian politicians and diplomats should consider this with maturity. Till they also become nuclear states (which looks unlikely), the Arabs are very keen to see how far Israel is progressing on the nuclear front. This interest is understandable. That is why some Arabs are attracted by the promise of the “Islamic bomb”. Till relations with Israel stabilise, they will have to be very cautious about Israel’s nuclear ambitions. India should understand this from the Arab point of view too. This is like India being watchful about China’s nuclear ambitions.

The Arab states cannot now look askance at India’s relations with Israel. They are firmly going in for new friendlier relations with that country. So, there can be no suspicion about India. It was good of both Mr Advani and Mr Jaswant Singh to visit President Arafat in Palestine. Mr Arafat has been an old friend of India. There should be no attempt by Indian leaders and Indian spokesmen to belittle relations with Arab countries. This is not only because of the geographical and political relations between India and the Arab countries. Both are developing societies and with good relations trade and commerce can greatly increase in the future. Similarly, with Israel too these relations are sure to improve. India has to learn a great deal about how Israel has stood against the threat of terrorism. There may be need to be secretive about discussing anti-terrorism measures and adapting each other’s methods, but it should not be thought that this is being done against the Arabs.

Indian officials have in recent weeks given the impression of being put off by the reports of suspicion in Arab countries over supposed Indian nuclear relations with Israel. But the Indian response should not be: “they have no business to ask or criticise us.” Indian spokesmen should explain to the Arabs the contours of the new relations with Israel so that the Arab fears are set aside. This is necessary because Pakistan will continue to create suspicion between India and the Arabs. India should make every effort to nurture the friendship with the Arabs that has been built for decades. This should not be thrown away just out of indifference. Names like Gandhi, Nehru, Indira Gandhi, and Krishna Menon even now give rise to pleasant memories in Arab countries. This goodwill should be built upon.

There is also need for India to draw closer to the Arab countries which are tying to fight fundamentalist forces like Egypt, Algeria, Syria, Iraq and Palestine. Some of them have also been fighting the terrorists trained in Afghanistan and Pakistan and sent across to fight for fundamentalist causes. Countries like Egypt and Algeria have suffered heavily because of this. These are also countries which want to create pluralistic societies. In this Gandhi’s India is an inspiration. India should try to come closer to them. Not, it should be emphasised, by cooling off towards Israel. In the years to come there should be no conflict between India’s relations with Israel and the Arabs.

Oil sector sell-out stalled, not rebuffed
by Balraj Mehta

THE attempted, across-the-board sell-out of the strategic oil sector of India to foreign oil companies has been stalled but not rebuffed. The tussle over this critical issue of national importance appears to be still inconclusive.

The committed globalisers in the NDA government claim to have secured approval of the Union Cabinet for the disinvestment of the government equity in Indian oil companies. This, however, is far from a decision to authorise their strategic sale such as the newly created Department of Disinvestment sought. The stiff resistance from the Petroleum Ministry has so far prevented such a decision being taken. Disinvestment of PSUs not only in the oil sector but others also will now have to be on a case-to-case basis, with the Department of Disinvestment working its way through and in concert with the administrative ministries concerned. This hopefully will restrain a break-neck disinvestment process and result in more mature consideration of the pros and cons of disinvestment in the case of PSUs in the vital sectors of the economy.

The globalisers working furiously for disinvestment and the strategic sale of PSUs and those resisting them in the National Democratic Alliance must now be clearly identified. Mr Jaitly in the newly created Department of Disinvestment is being supported by the Finance Minister. Mr Ram Naik in the Petroleum Ministry has made an unassailable case for 51 per cent government equity in and management autonomy for PSUs in the oil sector. The Ministers of Heavy Industry and Communications have expressed reservations on giving carte blanche to the Department of Disinvestment for the strategic sale of PSUs to transnational corporations.

The Prime Minister, on his part, is playing the familiar game of moderating the conflict on policies and of personalities in the coalition government. But his tilt is tending to be more and more in favour of the globalisers. This tendency surfaced sharply after the visit of the US President and may gain further strength. This line-up in the NDA government and the role being played by Mr A.B. Vajpayee have significant policy implications.

The Petroleum Ministry has pointed out that after the opening up of oil exploration for foreign investment, international oil companies have not been inclined to discover oil in India. Whatever oil has been found and produced in India has still been done by the Indian oil companies in the public sector.

The foreign oil companies have refused to make investment in the refining of crude in India either. They are obviously interested only in taking over cheaply the existing refining capacities and exploit the marketing network built by Indian companies for the import of petroleum products from their captive sources for sale in India. There is, therefore, no merit in allowing foreign companies to market petroleum products when they are not willing to make investment in oil exploration, refining and marketing of petroleum product in India.

The Oil Ministry too is in favour of maintaining the government equity in oil PSUs at 51 per cent or above and continue with “unfiltered operational empowerment” of PSUs in the oil sector. It is against any disinvestment scheme which will result in the transfer of their management and eventually ownership to foreign oil companies. This is a sensible position, considering the positive performance of the oil PSUs and the negative response of the foreign oil companies to attractive terms which have been offered for their return to India.

It may not be amiss to stress in this context that all countries recognise the strategic significance of the oil sector which the self-styled globalisers in India are so vociferously denying. To block the indigenous development of the oil sector in India is to be irresponsible and dangerous at the present stage and level of India’s economic and social development.

Governments everywhere have also found it necessary to restrict the role of private, especially foreign, oil companies by outright expropriation of their assets or by imposing strict controls on their operations. The developed countries may no longer consider this necessary because they can secure their interests by other means —economic strength or politico-strategic clout. But the self-styled globalisers in India are ranting against this policy imperative for totally unwarranted and dubious reasons.

The US administration and business interests on their part are known to give the highest priority to the establishment of their commanding position in the energy sector of India. They found the opportunity to advance in this direction when official policy in India shifted away from planned development and self-reliance early in the nineties.

The Petroleum Ministry in opposing the disinvestment policy proposed by the Department of Disinvestment for the oil sector has rightly emphasised that the “strategic identity of the national oil companies should be maintained” to ensure the security of supplies of critical inputs for India’s economic development and security. What is being proposed by the Department of Disinvestment is to push Indian oil companies into a position in which they will lose their elan and aplomb and become mere appendages of foreign oil companies with far-reaching adverse economic, social and politico-strategic implications.

The muddle of the middle
by J. L. Gupta

ONCE even I was young. With a shapely middle. Looked slim and smart. Felt fine. As the days passed, the doctor’s command was — “don’t chew. Eschew. Watch your waist-line.” I paid no heed. The inevitable followed. I gained weight. Lost the figure. There was a muddle in the middle. The bulge of the belly was a stark reality. Staring me in the face. Soon, I was past my best. With the middle out of shape, the youth was gone! With the expansion of the middle, the middle age had set in. Today, it is history.Truly, the middle matters. The most. To everyone. And everywhere. Without exception. In the market, it is the middleman. In the office, it is the middle rung. In health clinics, it is the midline. In the hospital, the cardiologist chides you for the growth of the girth around the middle. The endocrinologist warns you against living in the “food’s paradise”. Then enter the labour room. What a sight! Ladies looking like sacks full of loose mass. And everyone just labouring with the middle.

What about the media? Especially the newspapers? Is it any different? Is the front page the real icing on the cake? Or is the central page the centre of attention? And what about the “middle”? Is it not more popular than all the rest? An essential part? A vital necessity? Everyday. In every paper. For a majority of the readers.

Yes! What does the morning paper give me? A collage of callous crime. Stories of corruption. Drugs. Trafficking. Some financial scam. Match fixing. Violence. Murders. An occasional sex scandal. Terrorism of the terrorists. Intervention by the security forces. Investigations by the CBI. Just what you have already seen on the TV. For almost half an hour. Only the evening before. At the end, one goes to sleep hearing that the world is a den of crime. Inhabited by rogues. And gets up to read about it in the morning. Day after day. What a way to begin or end the day.

I ask myself — Did I buy the TV to witness violence? No! Actually to watch something good. Exciting. Interesting. Something to relax the mind. Like a good game. The French Open. The Wimbledon. A well fought game of football. Even golf. And the like. Cricket? Not anymore. Similarly, I spend my hard earned money on the morning papers. Not to read about the crime and corruption. Nor for seeing the commercial advertisements which only induce you to live beyond your means. But something interesting. Short and sweet. Like a crisp “middle”. The first thing in the morning. Time permitting, one goes through a nicely written piece at the top of the edit page. With that ends the utility of the paper. At least for me.

And yet, we find that there is total uncertainty about the “middle”. Often it is totally missing. Why? Nobody knows.

As in a human body, so in the paper, the “middle” is important. This reality is recognised. At least to the extent that the sanctity of the central page is maintained. No wonder, there is no advertisement on the edit page. Nothing commercial. Only serious stuff. Something stimulating. That gives good food for thought. To all and every reader. It also helps to preserve the purity and character of the page. But the “middle” often becomes the casualty.

I ask myself — “What would a man be without a middle?” Nothing. Ineffective. Lacking in force and power. Of no use to anyone. Except for the king’s harem. And so would it be with the paper. No “middle”. No attraction. No interest. Thus, the middle should be a permanent feature. Not an uncertain and avoidable option.

And then the shape. The “middle” in a paper should be like the middle of the human body. Not too fat. Nor too big. Not as wide as the main article at the top. Running into full five columns. No! Just three. No more. So shapely. Good to look at. Pleasing to the eye. Appealing to the mind. Big at the top. Narrow and small in the middle. Then again big and broad. That would make the edit page attractive. Not fat and flat. Like a pillow.

Many faces of crime & punishment
by P. Raman

WE are living amidst so many cruel ironies. On the one hand, more and more draconian measures are sought to be enforced to deal with law and order. On the other, responsible senior leaders of the ruling coalition publicly threaten with paralysing the administration and thus subverting the Constitution if the state dared to prosecute them under the established law. While the central authorities are winking at such wanton challenges to the system, an unwilling Election Commission is forced to derecognise the political parties — just for observing a local hartal.

The contrast in the administration of law and deliverance of justice has been so stunning. In the second case, which looks more curious, the CPM, the third largest party in the Lok Sabha, is being threatened with derecognition by a constitutional agency which on its own admission has no powers to do so. A show-cause notice has been issued to the party by the Election Commission which has fixed September 6 as the date for the hearing of the case. The party has been told to explain why it should not be derecognised for launching a statewide hartal in Kerala in September, 1998. The commission’s action, if it succeeds, will undermine the democratic rights of political parties so blatantly that even the BJP has expressed its opposition to this kind of judicial activism. The BJP knows that what has happened to the CPM can occur to any other party.

The controversy goes back to 1997 when a Kochi-based organisation filed a public interest litigation in the Kerala High Court referring to the inconvenience caused to the public due to the frequent bandhs and demonstrations in the city seeking a ban on them. The court found the complaint valid and made sweeping observations which would in effect will be a ban on all mass actions like ‘forceful’ bandhs and demonstrations. This was in 1997. This year a public organisation approached the High Court with the complaint that the CPM’s statewide hartal in September, 1998, had come under the purview of its previous order and the party should be punished for willfully violating the court order.

The court accordingly directed the Election Commission to enforce its orders by derecognising the CPM as a national party. However, counsel representing the commission pointed out that under the existing laws the commission itself did not enjoy such powers. (Subsequently Nirvachan Sadan sources said that left to it the commission would not like to take such punitive steps against any political party). Despite this clarification, the High Court issued directives to the commission to enforce its orders as it had found bandhs unconstitutional. The court also made another addition. In the original verdict, the ban was presumed to be on bandhs. There were suggestions in the media that hastal, do not come under the purview of the ban. Hence the CPM’s September, 1998, call was for hartal, not bandh. Now hartal has also been included it the banned list.

The CPM’s decision to challenge the High Court verdict in the Supreme Court will have ramifications on every lively political party. Last week, certain BJP outfits in Kerala had enforced a total bandh in the state capital. Someone can approach the same High Court and seek a directive to the Election Commission to derecognise the BJP as well. In India right from the days of the freedom struggle, expression of dissent, right to protest, satyagraha and dharna have all been considered as basic democratic rights. In many cases, these have been the only avenues left for airing grievances for those who have limited access to the media. Emergency-like curbs on such democratic tradition.

This is especially so in view of the emergence of a new class with its strong apolitical or anti-political obsessions. True, often demonstrations and hartals cause innumerable inconveniences to the citizen. Patients have died on way to hospitals. But the apex court, as is expected, will have to strike a balance between the citizen’s inherent right to public protests and the need for its orderly conduct. A reading of the Kerala verdict shows that the court presumes that every procession is intimidatory to the public and composed of hired crowds. But, as an eminent jurist had put on record, it would be a disaster if courts empower police to “license” demonstrations, rallies and dharnas. If this becomes the law, any future government could misuse such powers to stifle democracy.

The Supreme Court will also have to review the sweeping orders for making the organisers of the demonstrations “liable to compensate government and public and private citizens” for any resultant destruction. Legal experts have already said this amounted to creating a new law. Possibly, there is need to differentiate between the sweeping Kerala High Court verdict and last week’s fairly reasonable guidelines set by the Delhi High Court for demonstrators, the police and the commuters to follow. The best way to curb political excess is not through the SHOs. The people themselves will punish those who hurt their everyday life.

Such judicial activism comes in sharp contrast to the brazen challenge to the rule of law by Shiv Sena boss Bal Thackeray. All that the State Government has done was to permit the Mumbai police to proceed against him for his inflammatory writings in his own daily. No further proof is necessary for such writings in black and white. The Srikrishna Commission had also found the Shiv Sena’s culpability in the bloody riots that convulsed Mumbai soon after the Babri demolition. Thackeray himself was charged in a number of cases in connection with the rioting but his own previous government had summarily withdrawn them.

His threat that “India could burn” and “religious riots: would break out if he is prosecuted amount to a direct challenge to the rule of law. The threat was immediately followed by disruption of rail and road traffic and forced closure of shops by Shiv Sena men. If the Kerala High Court order is applied, the Shiv Sena could be derecognised a number of times on these charges by the Election Commission. Then came more threats to force the BJP coalition to use Article 356 to dismiss the State Government as retaliation. To step up pressure on Vajpayee, all Sena Ministers submitted their resignation.

If the BJP Government did not yield to the blackmail, it has been due to the fear of angry reactions from other allies like the DMK, the Akalis and TDP against the misuse of Article 356. Thackeray himself knows that he lacked the numbers to pull down the Vajpayee Government. All this might force the tiger to eat his pride. But none of these lessens the brazenness of his challenge to resort to extra-constitutional methods and the coalition’s refusal to condemn such threats. Equally disturbing has been the Vajpayee Government’s refusal to perform its constitutional obligation by accepting the state’s request for more forces. Thus the Thackeray episode and derecognition move should awaken us to the stark distortions in the rule of law.

Unrelated as it may look, this comes in the wake of a clear revival of the old culture of public protests and action programmes. The change of public mood is quite conspicuous. Public agitations, bandhs, hartals processions, rallies, gheraos, mass arrests etc had marked the scene throughout the 60s and 70s. All this was taken as part of the poltical process and no one then took umbrage to such mass actions. By the end of the 80s, the field was yielded to the caste and communal groups. With the advent of the economic reform, demonstration of public ire had suddenly become unfashionable. While the caste, communal or purely local agitations were grudgingly tolerated, the perceived public mood was against any kind of trade union or political protest actions.

The middle classes looked down on them as anti-reform and so anti-growth and anti-modernism. The whole emphasis was on the new work culture and an apolitical or anti-political approach. Thus all-India strikes and observation of ‘days’ and ‘weeks’ by the political parties were, by and large, confined to their own activists. This post-1991 middle class obsession had even dissuaded most political parties to play safe with their public agitation plans. Instead, the interest groups tried to confine themselves to localised show of strength which was used to as a vote bank for better political bargain. The use of vote power, rather than direct actions, was found more effective to realise the demands.

No one can any more ignore the wind of change. Workers of the rick small units in industrial townships are coming out in large numbers in the true pre-reform agitational mode. Disillusionment has gripped even sections of the middle classes. When political deals with the leaders of the interest groups become ineffective, even those with regional demands — like the Uttrakhandis — have begun taking to the streets. The Uttrakhand agitators are out with new stir programmes, Chhatisgarh groups have called for perpetual bandhs. A gherao of the UP Assembly is scheduled against the government’s land allotment policy. In Kerala, the Opposition Congress and BJP workers have been on the streets to protest against the State Government’s school allocation policy. 

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

A truly meditative man can be recognised by his movements, his face, his eyes. He has wonderful poise, his mind is tranquil. With eyes opened or with eyes closed, engage in whatever occupation, he meditates constantly and continuously. The current of thought flows unceasingly towards his Beloved. Just as a person suffering from acute toothache is constantly reminded of it, so is the aspirant constantly aware of the living Presence.

— Maharaj Charan Singh, The Master Answers, 54, 65.

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The only radical cure for this outer noise is to find inner silence.... Meditation has as its primary aim the detachment of this entity or person who is acting, working, walking, moving from the activities themselves, so that he might get a chance to be truly conscious, to know himself. Hence the fundamental method of meditation is to direct attention deliberately away from these outward activities and to turn inwards in opposition.

— Paul Brunton, The Inner Reality: Practical Help in Yoga

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Meditation is the process of getting to know myself completely, both who I am ‘inside’ and how I react to what is ‘outside’ .... Through meditation, I discover a very different ‘me’ from perhaps the stressed or troubled person who may seem superficially to be ‘me’. I realise that my true nature, the real ‘me’ is actually very positive. I begin to discover an ocean of peace right here on my own doorstep .... Meditation can certainly be looked on as a healing process, both emotionally and mentally, and to a certain extent, physically too ....

— Practical Meditation, a Brahma Kumari publication

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O my dear brother; see, walk ye with care;

Do, no deed evil, speak no word evil,

Pain if you give; pain you shall have,

Kill you, if any creature, sorrow shall you have,

Thought, word and deed are like a river,

Beware you be of them; flow not with their current,

On mind and senses, O' dear brother mine,

Do exercise a firm control,

Thus you will live fully, prospering ever,

keep a watchful eye, ever on your soul;

In this wide world, live on a spiritual plane.

— Maharishi Shiv Brat Lal Verman's translation of an admonitory verse in Hindi