Politics and corruption: then and now
T. K. Ramasamy

Poor George Fernandes. Not any proven misdeed but a broad public perception condemned him as guilty and unacceptable. And this deep-rooted suspicion of every politician being corrupt lies just beneath the surface, so to speak. In the surcharged atmosphere of today, it takes just one misstep or a careless remark to attract adverse attention and lose the reputation built over the years. You are guilty until you prove yourself innocent.

This is today's conventional wisdom. It is the variation of the old Peter's Principle that if an accident can happen, it will happen. If a bureaucrat or a politician can rake in tainted money, he will. And all those in policy-making and implementation business are in a position to make money. So they will or can.

Ask any seasoned bureaucrat. He or she will tell you a few common facts that pass off as secrets. One, policy-making and administration have become extremely complicated as living itself. The demand on the daily life of a senior official or a junior politico is such that he needs extra support to just live. And the nazarana tradition comes alive. Divali in the north and New Year in the rest of the country is the time when lavish gifts come one's way. They are no more just a token affair but a quid pro quo, a kind of retainer, an advance payment to be reclaimed in future.

This is the most widely accepted form of using money to curry favour, a latter day version of Dale Carneige's how to win friends and influence people. And it works. An officer of the Punjab government received some 20 years ago nearly three dozen suit lengths as Divali gifts and asked a leading textile merchant to sell them and give him the cash. After a few days the honest trader gave him a few lakh of rupees with the remark that not one piece had been sold but the money was found in the folds of the suit lengths along with visiting cards.

Former Union Minister Abdul Ghafoor offers the other extreme. He once sought the advice of the then Prime Minister to meet a peculiar problem he faced. This desi sharab loving Bihar leader complained that he received at least 20 guests every day and as was the custom, had to provide them accommodation and food. His salary and allowances did not go far enough. What should he do? No one knows what Indira Gandhi did.

Umashankar Dixit once regaled a small group of young journalists with his deep insight into political fund raising and the changing lifestyle of shady politicians. As a long-time treasurer of the Congress, he stoutly defended raising money for party work but divided field workers into three groups - the honest, the tolerable and the greedy. In the first category fall those State-level leaders and ministers who collect crores of rupees in the name of the party, keep about 20 per cent with them and pass on the rest to the central leadership. They are the honest lot, the backbone of the party.

Wait a minute. If they collected just Rs 10 crore and retained 20 per cent, they were richer by Rs 2 crore and yet the veteran called them honest. How come? The job, he said, was a high cost one. The man had to live in style, attend and organise parties, offer gifts on birthdays and weddings and maintain an office and staff. All this needed money and hence the compulsion to carve out a huge commission. In his own style, Dixit added that there was no law to prohibit him from keeping a greater share!

In the middle group came those who split the funds evenly with the party. They normally raised moderate amounts of money and their half did help them to work their way to the top leadership at the state and central levels and swing a few deals in favour of their benefactors. They had to serve a large client base, and maintaining contact could cost a lot. They were then the flamboyant ones, posing much more important than they really were. You saw them at every Congress convention, nudging close to the top leadership and moving about briskly and importantly, doing nothing.

The last rung is occupied by those who too did raise money but so small that it merely went to support their families. They occasionally parted with a fifth of their collection but were the point man at the lowest level — shopkeepers, small factory owners, not-so-big lawyers and others. They were the living link, the janata's neta. They spring to life during elections.

In Dixit's days seeking money for a political party was a discreet affair and not a purificatory process, as many believe today. Pramod Mahajan once came close to saying this. Just before the BJP annual convention in Mumbai, he came under attack from the diehard RSS old guard for his lavish style of living, a plush car, a cellular phone and frequent visits to five-star hotels. He retorted that it was the only route to solicit and secure funds. Of course, it was black money but no beneficiary had asked him to dip the currency notes in Ganga jal to purify it. Since then nobody has accused him of any financial wrongdoing.

Two more case studies of sorts. The first is naturally from Dixit. The DMK came to power in Tamil Nadu in 1967 and within years several of its MLAs started flaunting their newfound thousands (not lakhs or crores). The venerable old man tut-tuted the style and explained how his own party men behaved. A new Congress MP would wear only starched ultra white clothes and change his clothes twice a day, would have coffee either in the Central Hall of Parliament or in five-star hotels, would travel only in taxis and pretend as though he could afford all this for all the time.

A year on and after he had established the right contacts, the second dress change would go He would be willing to be seen in a little less ostentatious place like Hotel Janpath and would occasionally hire a three-wheeler. Once he had settled down, he would transform himself into a humble worker, playing down the importance of clothes and asking friends for a ride. "You see, if you are high up in the league, there is no cause to reveal your real identity," he would add.

The DMK leaders reversed this process, raising the hackles of journalists and their own supporters. The first thousand saw them buying a gold plated watch with a golden strap. The second thousand added a few silk kurtas and angvastrams. The transformation would be both loud and swift and hence showy.

The second is from a seasoned income tax officer in Chennai (then Madras). He was transferred from Delhi a few months earlier and I had shifted to Delhi a year earlier. Thus it was a meeting between a neo-Madarasi and a fledgling Delhiite. The topic was naturally corruption and the officer was both knowledgeable and forthcoming. He compared two sets of imaginary siblings to make his point. First the Chennai brothers. The younger one make a few hundred rupees on the sly. This is what he is likely to do.

He and his wife will first go to a temple to offer puja and collect prasadam. Then buy some flowers for the bhabhi and hire a three-wheeler to call on his brother. After a cup of coffee and an hour of listless discussion, he leaves. His bhabhi, a keen observer of men and their methods as most women are, confides her fears in her husband. "This is the last week of the month and your brother has no special reason to do puja. Nor the extra cash to buy me flowers. Obviously he has accepted some bribe. If he is caught and jailed, the family's name will be in mud and we cannot get a suitable match for our daughter. Who will like to marry the niece of a jailbird? So, tomorrow you write an anonymous letter to his office alerting it of your brother's greed and guilt. You must stop him before his next bribe." The domestic vigilance commissioner is on duty.

Now shift the scene to Delhi and the starting scene is the same. Here the younger brother and his wife buy a sari for her and a shirt for him and some costly sweets for the brother's family. There is a remark about the husband's insistence on buying a sari and her insistence on buying a shirt and their collective insistence on buying sweets for the elder brother. After a cup of tea, the couple departs in the same taxi.

This is what the bhabhi tells her husband. "You know what I know. You are four years elder to him and also senior in service. See, he is prospering and buying his wife gifts and you are not. Learn a lesson and get serious. We cannot go on living on the measly salary you get."

What the outdated UN resolution really said
Rakshat Puri

Even if the visit to South Asia of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is, in effect, little more than some kind of familiarisation tour; and even if its result is unlikely in the immediate future to lead to a genuine settlement of contentious India-Pak issues, the advice that he has given to all those who parrot the "need" to implement the UN Resolutions on J & K of the 1940s is relevant and consequential. He has stated firmly, once and for all, that the UN Resolutions on J & K cannot be enforced. He has therefore counselled adherence to the spirit of the Lahore Declaration.

Before the arrival of Kofi Annan in Pakistan there had been expectation in some sections of the Islamabad regime that talks with the Secretary-General might include reference to "the urgent need" of advising India to enter into unconditional talks with Pakistan for an "early settlement" of J & K and other issues. But a statement from the UN Information Centre in Islamabad had indicated that the Secretary-General would prefer to remain on the margin of India-Pakistan issues and concentrate on regional issues while being "fully supportive of a comprehensive" dialogue.

In the event, the Secretary-General's advice to forget the UN Resolutions and return to the spirit of the Lahore Declaration literally shocked the Musharraf regime, the United Jehaad Council and the All-Party Hurriyat Conference.

The Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and other terrorist groups in Pakistan, bunched in the United Jehaad Council, reacted bitterly. Syed Salahuddin of the Pakistan-based section of the Hizbul Mujahideen is reported to have said the UN had lost all credibility in its eyes — "if the UN wants to revive its credibility, it should practically intervene in Kashmir as it did in Iraq and East Timor, and force India to get out of Kashmir".

The Hurriyat leaders, in the words of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, accused the UN of being biased and "shirking its commitments made to Kashmiris".

Pakistan's military dictator Pervez Musharraf, its President Tarar and Foreign Minister Sattar, each re-emphasised in their meetings with Annan the need for implementing the UN Resolutions on J & K and laid emphasis also on Pakistan's high expectations from the world body.

Actually, if the terrorist groups - the "jehaadis", as they like to call themselves, and as Musharraf's military regime refers to them - were sincere, and went over the relevant UN Resolutions on J & K, they might discover the real reason why a stipulated plebiscite did not and could not take place when it might have. The plebiscite was required under the UN Resolution of August 13, 1948. The Resolution was in two parts. The first part contained the "ceasefire order". Part II contained the Truce Agreement.

Article A-1 of Part II required Pakistan to withdraw its troops from the state as their presence constituted "a material change in the situation", since Pakistan had denied, until found out, that its troops did invade the state. Article A-2 wanted Pakistan to withdraw all its other nationals from the state. Article-3 declared that the state, meanwhile, would be administered by the local authorities under the surveillance of the UN Commission.

Article B-1 of Part II of the Resolution said, "When the Commission shall have notified the Government of India that the tribesmen and Pakistan nationals referred to in Part II A-2 hereof have been withdrawn, thereby terminating the situation which was represented by the Government of India to the Security Council as having occasioned the presence of Indian forces in Jammu & Kashmir, and further, that the Pakistani forces are being withdrawn from the state of Jammu & Kashmir, the Government of India agrees to begin to withdraw the bulk of their forces from the State in stages to be agreed upon with the Commission" (emphaisi supplied). There is no ambiguity in the Resolution. Pakistan accepted it but refused to abide by its stipulations.

Today, after more than half a century, the situation has changed beyond recognition. For implementation of the UN Resolution, will the Musharraf regime agree now to withdraw, sincerely and effectively, all its forces from all parts of J & K it occupies, including the so-called "northern territories"? Can it, and will it, identify effectively, after half a century, Pakistanis who have settled on its side of J & K after 1948, and withdraw them? Will the Pakistan-based "jehaadis" and Hurriyat leaders such as Geelani agree to these pre-conditions for implementation of the plebiscite Resolution? And will the Musharraf regime get back the J & K territory ceded to China despite the state being under UN consideration? The UN Resolutions on J-K have, in truth, become outdated and irrelevant. A return to the spirit of the Lahore Declaration is the only real way now to arrive at a settlement of India-Pakistan issues.

At the risk of repeating old and known facts, it seems necessary to recall also that in the late 1940s the US attitude was conditioned by the Cold War; and that the British, in addition to going along with the US in the Cold War, were engaged in building a "friendly" Pakistan that would provide them a strategic foothold in South Asia. There was also probably an unexpressed intention to separate J-K from India and Pakistan, and make it an "independent" territory dependent entirely for its socio-economic upkeep on the West — that is, Britain and the US. The strategic importance, then and also now, of a base in J-K for Britain and the US should be obvious. British and US interest-directed attitudes on such occasions were exemplified in East Timor subsequently.

In the 1970s, when risk was apprehended of East Timor becoming a "Communist-ruled Cuba" to a pro-West Indonesia, armed Indonesian intervention in that territory was actively encouraged by President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Kissinger. They also visited Jakarta. In addition to the Communist "danger", the US also seems to have had in mind the need for a deep-ocean submarine route through Indonesian waters between its base of Guam in the Pacific and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. When the situation changed for the US and Britain, and when they did not any longer apprehend danger from Communism, they began to disapprove of Jakarta's attitude and to put the accent on democracy and self-determination. The suspicion in many South-East Asian circles was that the Americans and British were attempting an "independent" East Timor that would be wholly dependent on them for its socio-economic upkeep. Strange, that the Hizbul Mujahideen and other Pakistan-based terrorist organizations should bring up the example of East Timor and call for "practical intervention" in J-K.

Kofi Annan's advice to Pakistan — and implicitly to the Hurriyat leaders as well as the terrorist organizations based in Pakistan — to take the route of the Lahore Declaration for lasting India-Pakistan settlement would, if Islamabad did decide to take the Secretary-General's advice, make it incumbent on Musharraf regime to curb effectively Pakistan-based "jehaadis" from crossing the J-K Line of Control. It is hardly possible that the Musharraf regime should not be aware of this. The Musharraf regime can also not be unaware that the "substantial" position given to the Hurriyat leaders in J-K affairs, following the importance bestowed on them by Washington during the tenure of Robin Raphel as US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian affairs, is untenable : the Hurriyat leaders are likely to be treated by the Indian Government in the same way as other social and political groups in the State, whenever discussions should take place between them and the Centre. They will not be treated in a special way.

Will Musharraf grasp the opportunity for discussion while he may, ending cross-border terrorism and responding positively to the Indian Government' s extended ceasefire? - which so far neither his regime nor the terrorist, or "jehaadi", organizations in Pakistan nor some of the Hurriyat leaders have appreciated or recognized? The greatest advantage, economic and political, from a sincerely discussed and mutually acceptable India-Pakistan settlement would probably accrue to a hard-up Pakistan itself. The obvious prior condition is, however, that Pakistan's military regime, army and Inter-Services Intelligence begin first of all to plan and act independently. They leave the impression of being inspired by external sources, for non-Pakistani interests. Possibly, if Beijing's leadership and the Chinese People's Liberation Army wished, they could, among others, throw some light on this. Asia Features

Water or liquor? It's a matter of choice
Prem Kumar

Two headlines appeared besides each other recently in this newspaper. One said: "Liquor to be cheaper in HP". The other said, "Drinking water to be dearer in HP". HP, close to Chandigarh, is familiar to all, if not, it means Himachal Pradesh, which has fondly been described as Dev Bhoomi, the land of gods. Maybe, gods do not live merely in mythology, but also in the real world of today. And why should they need water, the drink of the ordinary mortals? So water can be costlier but liquor should get cheaper. As for the common man, well, if they don't get bread, they can eat cake.

A long time ago, maybe over three decades back, the prices started soaring after devaluation of the rupee. The people were worried and so were the authorities and the media. The newspaper this writer was working for wanted to run a campaign to highlight the people's hardships. Rising prices of a whole lot of things were discussed. The campaign started with the price of water, which had risen by a few paise. But water was considered important enough and the campaign had to begin with it.

We do not question the state's authority to determine priorities. They may also have their reasons. Himachal Pradesh is from where water flows into the plains and which has a massive hydel power potential! We are told that water tariff in the state has been raised steeply, while liquor prices has been slashed. Just to give an idea of steep rise, water connection in villages will cost Rs 20 in place of Rs 6, application fee for commercial sectors in a town has increased from Rs 2 to Rs 50 and security and connection charges from Rs 120 to Rs 333. Commercial water charges in towns go up from Rs 1.35 per kilolitre to Rs 4 per kilolitre. The reasons are obvious. The state government has to spend more on supplying drinking water and gets much less as revenue on water supplied. Very valid reason indeed. Any shopkeeper will have the same arithmetic to make these calculations. The only difference is that the government does not spend anything other than the public money.

But why should the people crib about it? They have cheaper liquor as substitute. The new excise policy of the state is kind to them. The excise duty on country liquor — the commoners drink had been reduced from Rs 60 per proof litre to Rs 8 per proof litre. For better off people, that is consumers of IMFL - Indian made foreign liquor - the duty has been rationalised in a way that it is lower. Also ex-factory issue price, export fee, etc, have all been reduced. The reason for this bounty, we are told, is that the price is lower in neighbouring states and HP authorities would want its citizens to drink only Pradeshik liquor. Incidentally, they did not talk of price of water in the neighbouring states.

Not that the record of other states is very commendable in matters of water. The drinking water that is supplied in most cities is not only expensive, but is not fit for drinking. They have tested water in different towns of Punjab and most tests have failed established standards. Nobody tests water in rural areas, apparently, because the rural folk are considered to be stingier and thus have to manage with poor quality water. According to rough estimates, over 70 per cent of India's population do not have access to safe drinking water. The water of all rivers, including the sacred Ganga and Yamuna is polluted. Hundreds of thousands of litres of untreated sewerage goes into the Yamuna in Delhi alone. Effluents from factories, sewerage from residential areas and irrigation water mixed with chemical fertilisers and pesticides all go into rivers and lakes and ponds. There are also more serious pollutants like hospital waste and chemicals from leather processing and fibre dying units. The water of Ludhiana, for instance, is nothing short of poison. The efforts to supply safe drinking water are either not made or are inadequate and ineffective. Even cleaning projects of sacred rivers have reached nowhere. Forget about non-sacred rivers. Most lakes and ponds have dried up or are stagnant and heavily polluted. Heavy dose of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and outflow of effluents from factories into nowhere have polluted ground water, it is futile to talk of official price of water, the people are paying a much heavier price through facing health hazards. That many have taken to domestic filers and aqua-guards only add to the cost.

Lest you think that a pessimistic critic is overdoing things and scaring you, it may be appropriate to quote from a government document. The Ninth Five Year Plan, that is the current Plan, documents the situation beautifully:

"The studies as on 1.4.1997 revealed that there are 61,724 habitations without any safe source of drinking water, 3.78 lakh habitations which were partially covered and 1.51 lakh habitations which had quality problems like excess fluoride, salinity, iron and arsenic, etc. Apart from the provision in the state plans for water supply, these are major centrally-sponsored schemes called the Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme and Urban Water Supply Programme for small towns with population of less than 20,000. In order to cover the backlog in rural drinking water supply, it has been estimated that approximately Rs 40,000 crore will be required, including funds required, for operations and maintenance and funds to tackle equality problems. Similarly, the estimates of investment required for full coverage of urban water supply are Rs 30,734 crore."

What the document, an official one, is not supposed to disclose is that these funds will hardly be available. If they were not available for the last 50 years of Independence, where will they come from now? The official schemes and then the cost of programme will increase manifold. How will the enhanced funds be made available? Perhaps more studies will be conducted. The estimates will be revised upwards. By that time, the population will also increase, more habitations will come up, the quality of water will get worse and estimates will have to be revised, of course upwards, again. The unending process will continue and this writer, or some other writer, will do a similar write-up on water, one of the sacred gifts of God to humanity.

Germans scouting for partnership with Indians
A. Naqvi

"There is an awareness in Germany and in other European countries of India's role as a positive factor for stability in Asia and beyond."

This is the assessment of the Indian Ambassador to Germany, Mr Ronen Sen. In an exclusive interview given to The Tribune, Ambassador Sen appreciated the positive development of Indo-German relations in all fields. For instance trade between India and Germany increased in the first nine months of 2000 to 11 per cent.

The year 2000 has been an eventful year in Indo-German relations. After a number of years, exchanges have acquired momentum and intensified. Mr Sen referred to the two visits of German foreign minister Yoschka Fischer to India, conclusion of the Indo-German Agenda for long cooperation, beginning of the Indo-German strategic dialogue for the first time and successful and stimulating meeting of the Indo-German Consultative Group. Mr Sen mentioned further, the visit of the president of the Upper House, Dr Biedenkopf and the president of the Lower House, Mr.Thierse, to India and the visit of the Indian Finance Minister Yashwant Singh in Berlin last April. At that time there were two successful business conferences in Berlin and Frankfurt. After stagnation, even decline, trade in 2000 again started picking up. From January to September there was an overall increase by 11.3 per cent, with our exports going up by 12 per cent. The trade in 2000 was about 9 billion Deutsch mark. The balance was in India's favour.

Mr Sen highlighted the launching of the German Cultural Festival in India, which is the most extensive of its type by Germany in Asia. He referred to the meeting of Indo-German joint Committee in the field of science and technology and the visit of the Minister of Human Resource Development, Dr Murali Manohar Joshi.

India's main exports to Germany are cotton and other textile garments, leather items, engineering goods, chemical and pharmaceutical products. India's main imports from Germany include electro-technical machinery, iron and steel products, precise goods, plastics and machine tools. Major areas of German investments in India are electrical/electronic equipment, metallurgical industry, chemicals, transportation and power and oil refinery sectors.

Mr Sen emphasised that one of the best ways to increase trade is to participate in specialised trade fairs in Germany. German companies are not just for doing a quick deal but looking at prospects for partnership in longer-term perspective. So there it requires sometime establishing ones credentials. He suggested that it should be made for Indian companies to operate in Germany by making visa regimes more business friendly.

The writer is a Berlin based journalist

The mind can rule the body
Anthony Browne

It's what New Age healers have known all along: the mind does matter.

In the ultimate vindication for the holistic approach, a study has shown that a positive state of mind can be almost as effective as drugs at combating serious disease.

Researchers found that therapy can significantly reduce the amount of HIV virus in gay men suffering from the disease. It is the first to show that counselling can have such a dramatic impact.

'From now on every single doctor treating HIV --- and many other serious diseases --- should think hard about helping patients with their mental health so the outcome of the treatment will be better. It's not enough just to give people pills,' said Dr Alberto Avendano, director of HIV services at the University of Maryland's Department of Family Medicine.

Earlier research has suggested a link between grief and a weakened immune system. Doctors also know that stress can exacerbate many illnesses, including heart disease and some cancers.

However the study, published in the Journal of Human Virology, is the first to show how actively giving therapy to people can lead to an immediate physical improvement in their health.

More than 100 gay men who were HIV positive and had lost a partner from Aids in the previous six months were split into two groups. One set was given grief therapy, and the other sent on a community programme. The therapy encouraged crying and venting, figuring out how to face the future, and learning ways to deal with stress in general.

Blood tests were given before and after the 10 sessions, and it was found that the therapy significantly reduced the amount of the HIV virus in men. Adjusting for other factors that can affect the level of the virus - including medications and the stage of the disease - the researchers found significant decreases. The changes were high enough to reflect a marked improvement in the patients' physical well-being, turning back the progress of the disease.

'When you are depressed, when you are having trouble, your immune system goes down,' Avendano said. Patients who participated in the special grief therapy retained vital disease-fighting cells, and they also made fewer visits to the doctor.

Dr Karl Goodkin, the psychiatrist who directed the study, said group therapy would be a valuable addition to the antiretroviral drugs that have been so successful at controlling Aids in recent years. He suggested that therapy should also be used to prevent older women who lose their husbands from falling ill. ONS

It is Tehelka all the way
Humra Quraishi

By the time you would be reading this column, tehelka.com editor Tarun Tejpal would have become the most talked-about journalist in the country — today the buzz word in every possible circle revolves around Tehelka and the revelations it has brought to the fore. We all know that corruption has hit a great majority of politicians and their hand-in-glove partner, the civil servants, but actually viewing the faces of the guilty, the words pouring out from their honourable (!) mouths is a different matter altogether. It’s true that the focus is nowhere near the personal lives of the who’s who, but since the realm of the personal does definitely affect the official sphere as well — especially if you happen to hold high offices — so like the Yankees perhaps it’s high time that we Indians also get to know the various personal liaisons — both the official and the not-so-official ones — of our so called leaders. Moving on, since the entire week the Tehelka revelations dominated the scene, so UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s visit to New Delhi on March 15 and 16 could not get the due focus, especially in the context of the unresolved situation prevailing in Afghanistan, which is edging on sheer barbarism. In fact, the DG of UNESCO is said to be convening a meeting of UNESCO’s 54 Member States that belong to the Organization of Islamic Conference. And here in New Delhi Taliban’s mindless wreckage of cultural heritage has been condemned in very strong words. In fact, in a hurriedly called meet by SAHMAT several artists, historians and writers protested against this vandalism. Leading the voice at this meet was the ailing poet Kaifi Azmi (who was brought on a wheelchair by wife Shaukat: “The happenings in Afghanistan are a clear demonstration of the threat that fundamentalists of all hues pose. The destruction of the Babri Masjid at the hands of fundamentalists in our own country, not very long ago, is one of a piece with insanity being indulged in by the Taliban in Afghanistan. What is happening in Afghanistan is nothing but the spread of fascism in this side of the subcontinent... and we have to control/defeat it at any cost... fascism has shown its ugly face here in India too.”

Dr Kapila Vatsyayan has been quoted saying: “No nation has the moral right to destroy the cultural patrimony of any faith or religion... it is cultural heritage which is perennial and far beyond any political or narrow ideological biases.”

Several leading historians have issued this statement here: “Today as the Taliban are destroying the Great Buddha images at the Bamiyan and Buddhist statuary, the Indian History Congress together with historians and archaeologists the world over, unreservedly condemns these acts... In more recent times Afghan scholars of repute have worked on the sculptures and cave paintings of the same complex and neighbouring sites, there being some 750 artificial caves there. Among such scholars have been Ahmad Ali Kohzad, Abdul Hayy Habib, Zamaryalai Tarzi and Ahmad Ali Motamedi. They have devoted themselves to exploring and studying the complex, because they knew it was an inalienable part of the national heritage of Afghanistan. What the Taliban, armed to the teeth, have done can never be restored. It is a warning to all of us where religious fanaticism can lead us, of whatever colour it may be...”

Space constraints stare me in the face otherwise it would be interesting to fit in details of what the earliest traveller writers wrote about these wondrous statues. In fact Abul Fazl in ‘Ain-i-Akbari’ (1595) has described these as “colossal images at Bamiyan...” — rightly so for one Buddha statue, measuring 53 metres is said to be the world’s tallest statue.

Other happenings

Bypassing last week’s Alice-In-Wonderland type of tea parties hosted on International Women’s Day (complete with rabbits and hares and the bewildered Ms Alices hopping around the lush lawns) let me focus on Wadali brothers rendering sufiyana kalaam, at Anita Singh’s house, for an enthusiastic audience, which included Khushwant Singh, Ajit and Arpana Kaur, Uma and Aruna Vasudev, Uma Sharma, HK Dua, SK Misra and several others. Never before had I heard the two Wadali brothers Pooran Chand and Pyare Lal hailing from Punjab’s Guru-ka- Wadala but somehow I was disappointed. Blame the hype created around their rendering or else blame the other sufiyana kalaam singers like the late Nusrat Fateh Ali, for there seemed little comparison. And March 17 is the World Francophone Day and presentations are lined up by France, Canada, Romania, Morocco, Tunisia and Belgium. In fact, on March 12, the Tunisian Ambassador to India, Mohamed Sahbi Basly, hosted an entire evening focusing on the little known aspects of his country and as expected many in the audience queried about the ongoing havoc in Afghanistan to which his reply was: “What is being done by the Taliban in the name of Islam is simply not Islamic. In fact, what they’re indulging in, is against all tenets of Islam and it is sheer politics at work in which religion is being dragged. And the average citizen of Afghanistan is really suffering — dying of hunger, poverty and disease, now that the various aids and grants coming from international organizations would be stalled.”

Tejpals from Chandigarh

And before I end, I must add that Tarun Tejpal and his wife Geetan Batra are both from Chandigarh and she works for the arts portal of Tehelka. And they are one of the few couples who are very frequently spotted together and who look and talk like great friends/companions. Maybe it sounds routine to all of you, but in New Delhi, much in keeping with the abnormal lifestyles, few couples in that who’s who category move around together and still fewer interact like companions.

Washing dirty linen in public

Tehelka.com has lived up to its name. There is commotion everywhere. The sensational expose on corruption at high places in the present Government has had politicians indulging in washing dirty linen in public.

A senior scribe observing the goings-on in disgust observed: ‘‘Is hamam mein sare nange hain (All are naked in this bathtub)’’. And no, he was not pleading the case of Fashion TV.

The American line

Remember the time MPs fell head over heels to greet US President Bill Clinton in the Central Hall of Parliament. Well, the episode continues to haunt the ruling coalition. The subject came up for discussion in the Lok Sabha when the leader of the Samajwadi Party, Mulayam Singh Yadav, was talking about the poor condition of farmers in the country.

Strongly pleading for India's case for withdrawing its membership from the World Trade Organisation, he said the WTO was controlled by the USA and other leading powers. He charged the Government with toeing the line of the USA. When members of the BJP objected to this remark, an angry Mulayam Singh Yadav retorted that the case was worse than this.

‘‘You people literally fell at the feet of Bill Clinton. Have you forgotten that’’, he asked red-faced ruling side members. He went on to add that India had removed quantitative restrictions on several items at the behest of the USA.

More than that, External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh has been engaged in talks with a junior official in the Clinton Administration. ‘‘Don't force me to expose your links with the USA,’’ the Samajwadi leader warned. Thereafter, he was allowed to speak without any interruption.

Opportunity in adversity

The political uncertainty generated by the secret tapes of Tehelka.com did shake up the Government but then it also gave hopes to several politicians in the ruling side. The resignation of around half a dozen Ministers also meant that new vacancies had been created.

While the majority of polity was busy speculating about the survival game, there were these die-hard optimists who were hazarding a guess on the next Cabinet expansion. One member felt it would be done during the recess period of Parliament.

Commenting on the spate of resignations, a senior BJP leader remarked that there were many aspirants to fill these vacancies. After all democracy is a game of numbers, he pointed out stressing that there was no threat to the Vajpayee Government.

The crisis may prove to be an opportunity for others, he averred. It was also speculated that allies who stick with Mr Vajpayee would demand more berths in the Cabinet.

Another website

What's in a name? A lot if it does not happen to be ‘‘Tehelka’’. So realised the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson, Dr Najma Heptullah. When she sent invitations for the launch of a separate website for the Rajya Sabha, she was confident it would have a great appeal.

After all, the Website would give comprehensive information, including the uncorrected version of the debate in the Rajya Sabha on the same day at the click of a mouse.

However, as it turned out there were not many guests for the function. Barring mediapersons from Doordarshan and two wire news agencies, there were no scribes. They were probably busy chasing the fallout of the Tehelka expose.

Chaos theory

Little had the euphoria over the Budget settled down, the stock markets crashed. While investors burnt their fingers over the lost money, the technically initiated market analysts termed the roller-coaster ride of the Sensex as a manifestation of the ‘‘chaos theory’’.

Simply stated the theory says that there is uniformity in chaos. A day later when the Tehelka.com tapes sent the political equations haywire, marketmen commented that it was a reflection of the reverse ‘‘chaos theory’’ — there is always chaos in uniformity.

Coalition politics in India is generally chaotic and follows an uniform pattern of getting toppled within a periodicity of two years.

(Contributed by Satish Misra, T.V. Lakshminarayan, Gaurav Choudhury and P.N. Andley)

The daughter of Netaji Subhas Bose
Harihar Swarup

Before undertaking his perilous 15,000-mile submarine voyage from Kiel in north Germany to east Asia on the last phase of India’s battle for freedom, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose wrote a moving letter to his elder brother, Sarat Chandra Bose. Dated February 8, 1943, and posted in Berlin, the letter revealed, for the first time, that he had married and had a daughter.

Written in Bangla, the letter is a historic document. It says: ‘‘I am again embarking on the path of danger, but this time towards home. I do not know whether I shall see the end of this road… I have married here and have a daughter. In my absence please show my wife and daughter the love that you have given me all my life. May my wife and daughter complete and successfully fulfill my unfinished task —that is my ultimate prayer.’’

Netaji had, perhaps, a premonition that he would never return to see his wife and daughter again. Sharat visited Vienna in 1948 with his wife and three children and warmly welcomed Emilie and Anita into the Bose family.

Netaji’s daughter, Anita Bose, now 58, and born in Vienna, was only four weeks old when she saw her great father for the first and last time. Since then she had seen him only in photographs. Netaji visited Vienna in December, 1942, to see his infant daughter and disclosed his plan of embarking on the dangerous journey only to his wife, Emilie Schenkl, and wanted her to see him off, if possible.

Emilie joined Netaji in Berlin and together they drove to Kiel. In the words of his close friend and political associate, A.C.N. Nambiar, Subhas was ‘‘a one idea-man… singly for the independence of India but, I think, the only departure was his love for Ms Schenkl…..he was deeply in love with her’’ and, of course, for the one-month-old daughter.

Anita Bose was in Delhi, last week after having visited Kolkata, Hyderabad and Kerala. She visits India practically every year and makes it a point to go over to her ancestral house in Kolkata. She says: ‘‘It is a huge house. I always talk to one of my aunt who is still living there. My grandfather must have been a good manager to maintain such a huge place. I am touched by the peoples’ love for my father and me. They are genuine people.’’

Anita also makes it a point to meet the Indian National Army (INA) personnel still living and helps them in whatever way she can. She addressed a rally in Hyderabad organised by surviving INA men.

Had Netaji been living, he would have been 104 now, she says, reacting sharply to the controversy whipped up over the question of her father’s death. ‘‘As a person, I know, I do not have a father. Since 1945, there is no consistent theory whether Netaji is dead or alive. The most consistent has, however, been the plane crash theory’’, she told me in a brief tete-a-tete a day before leaving for Berlin.

How many fact-finding commissions would convince them (those who believe that Netaji is alive) that he would not have lived incognito at 104 ? Nobody is pleased, not Anita in any case, with the consequences of that blind faith. The faithful resist celebration of Netaji’s death anniversary and do not agree to honour him posthumously with the highest award of the land, the ‘‘Bharat Ratna’’.

Anita chooses rather strong words for the believers. ‘‘Those who believe that my father is still alive are irrational…… nonsensical.” The mystery shrouding Netaji’s death now remains a purely academic exercise, she says.

Netaji had disappeared mysteriously twice — once when he escaped from house arrest in Kolkata and the second time when he undertook the hazardous submarine journey but each time he resurfaced . When he disappeared after the plane crash, says Anita, initially everyone around her, including her mother, thought that Netaji was living somewhere. However, of all theories doing the rounds, the plane crash was the only reasonably appropriate conjecture.

Anita wants that the almost half a century old controversy over Netaji’s death should end and hopes the new panel — the M.K. Mukherjee Commission — would put an end to the dispute. The harsh reality is that ‘‘Netaji lives for ever but in our hearts. He cannot escape from there’’, she says.

Anita’s mother passed away recently. She spent a lot of time looking after her mother, taking time off from her research work in Augsburg University to be with Emilie. Netaji’s wife had a tough time after he sailed off the coast of Kiel, taking up odd jobs to bring up Anita. Times were tough in Vienna and entire Europe was ravaged as World War II entered the final phase. Emilie faced all the odds but years later was able to send her daughter to the USA for higher education.

Anita has been all through brilliant; met a German Professor, Richard Pfaff, there and married him. The couple returned to Germany and took to teaching.

Prof. Pfaff, subsequently, joined the German Socialist Party (SPD) and is now a member of German Parliament. Anita Bose ‘‘Pfaff’’ is Associate Professor of Economics with Augsburg University. She is currently doing research in economic and sociology with stress on demography. ‘‘Days are short for me’’, she says.