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Saturday,
January 26, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Agni
pariksha A wrong
decision |
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Shiv
Sena succession war LOOK at the leadership profile of most political parties in India to understand the succession war that has broken out in the Thackeray parivar in Maharashtra. Most regional political parties are treated as family "jagir". NTR floated the Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh. After his death the family split over the succession and NTR's son-in-law was recognised as the heir to the TDP "gaddi". As far as the Shiv Sena is concerned, there is no question of any other leader from within the family replacing Mr Bal Thackeray in his lifetime. However, the names of possible successors have been doing the rounds for some time.
UP
elections a repeat of 1996
Being
your age
‘Don’t
read, please talk’
Another
attack, another failure
A house
for Advani at last after years of persuasion
1985, Economics: FRANCO MODIGLIANI
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Agni pariksha THE
successful test firing of the indigenously developed Agni missile from Wheeler’s Island off the Orissa coast is a fitting gift to the nation on the occasion of the 53rd Republic Day. The need for this weapon of self-defence has never been greater than now. Although India has become the seventh country in the world to have indigenous ballistic missile capabilities, after the USA, Russia, China, France, Britain and Israel, there are still miles to go. As renowned scientist APJ Abdul Kalam had said once that every weapon is made for deployment and not for storing. The latest test firing will give a boost to the ambitious integrated guided missile development programme. While India has made successful forays into missile domain, international community is yet to accept India as a nuclear weapon state as per the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The need for that is paramount considering the nuclear threat faced by India which is real and immediate, with Pakistan refusing to accept the no-first use doctrine. Under the circumstance, it has to have a credible nuclear deterrence in place. The Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission has asserted that India is fully capable of deployment and delivery of nuclear weapons. Yet, upgrading and development constitute an ongoing task. It is in the fitness of things that the government has given a go-ahead to the Army to raise an Agni missile strategic group. If the raising of this first visible land-based deterrence commences in June as scheduled, it can easily become operational by June, 2005. The timing of the launch may have been solely guided by technical considerations, but countries like Pakistan are bound to attach political motives to it. They must be told with adequate firmness that it is not a provocative gesture but only a suitable response to the provocations heaped on India repeatedly. In any case, it has been clarified that the missile was “short range” with a capability of less than 700 km and not an intermediate or longer range version. As the President of the country has mentioned in his Republic Day eve Address, terrorists and enemies of the nation have made a common front against India and a self-respecting country has to respond in a fitting manner. The display of the military muscle is the last resort. Ironically, the very countries which had been provoking it all along are now lamenting its “aggressive” posture. Its peace-loving, pacifist attitude has been misconstrued as weakness. The country has to send a clear message that its velvet glove covers an iron fist. That is the only mode of communication that bullies and tyrants understand. |
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A wrong decision UNDER
the pressure of the Tamil Nadu government and sundry political parties the Centre has more or less decided to reject the request of the LTTE of Sri Lanka to permit its chief ideologue to stay in the state for holding talks with its government. Mr Anton Balasingham has sought permission from New Delhi to use any of the southern states as the venue for the peace talks going on off and on in various capitals, right now in London. Norway has taken the initiative to bring the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government together to end the 19-year-old civil war and usher in an era of peace. Mr Balasingham is suffering from acute diabetes and had a recent kidney transplant. He is too weak physically to
travel. This time the LTTE seems to be more responsive to reaching an agreement on ending its extremely violent campaign for an independent and free Tamil state in the northern and the eastern parts of the island republic. For instance, it invited and hosted Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Erik Solhiem to the hideout of LTTE
fuehrer V. Prabhakaran and allowed the meeting to be photographed, a rare occasion when the terrorist chief was seen in a newspaper picture. Mr Balasingham is seriously engaging himself in talks and has told a Sri Lankan journalist stationed in Canada that he would pursue his mission if he was allowed to shift to any southern state of India from where he could conduct prolonged discussions with Sri Lankan government representatives. This request came through a reporter in the form of an analysis in a leading newspaper published from Chennai and other cities. The Centre’s decision to succumb to the pressure of regional parties in Tamil Nadu is strange and contrary to its policies. For one thing, the LTTE does not command the emotional support it did before Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination in 1991. Two, a few parties which thrived on their support to the LTTE have been marginalised and, three, the people of Tamil Nadu have by and large turned cold to the secessionist struggle. Above all, the political environment in Tamil Nadu has radically changed and the sympathy for the LTTE and its violent ways have evaporated. In fact, this has been influenced by the attitude of the newly elected Sri Lankan government headed by Mr Ranil Wickremesinghe which is close to lifting the ban on the LTTE and inviting it for talks without any precondition. The LTTE has grown tired of the previous Peoples Alliance government led by Chandrika Kumaratunga after it launched a disastrous armed attack early last year. There are reports that it is finding it difficult to get new recruits and would welcome a settlement with a reasonable face-saving clause. And that is possible only after prolonged negotiations and one of the southern states of India have to be the venue. When Sri Lanka is reviewing its state policy it is churlish for India to stick to a time-worn stand. India should revert to its role of bringing peace in the region, and that requires revolutionary changes. |
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Shiv Sena succession war LOOK at the leadership profile of most political parties in India to understand the succession war that has broken out in the Thackeray parivar in Maharashtra. Most regional political parties are treated as family "jagir". NTR floated the Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh. After his death the family split over the succession and NTR's son-in-law was recognised as the heir to the TDP "gaddi". As far as the Shiv Sena is concerned, there is no question of any other leader from within the family replacing Mr Bal Thackeray in his lifetime. However, the names of possible successors have been doing the rounds for some time. There were those who were pushing Mr Raj Thackeray's claim because of his so-called hold over the Shiv Sainiks in Maharashtra. Of course, Mr Uddhav Thackeray, the son of the Shiv Sena supremo, had an equally strong case for stepping into his father's shoes. In autocratically structured institutions in the event of a tie between the claimants to the "gaddi" the son gets the nod. Mr Thackeray was expected to make a formal announcement during his 75th birthday celebrations. However, due to the heat that the supporters of his nephew Raj generated over the succession issue the ageing tiger decided to postpone the anointment of his son as the next chief of the Shiv Sena. The bitter family feud can best be understood by looking at the political clout and financial health of the Shiv Sena, created single-handed by Mr Bal Thackeray. No one from his family would have shown any interest in the future and the line of succession in the Shiv Sena had it remained an outfit whose writ did not extend beyond the long shadow of its founder. Mr Bal Thackeray and the Shiv Sena have grown beyond the level of their own incompetence because of the help they received from leaders of established national parties. The narrow political interests that were behind the creation of fanatics in Punjab have contributed in substantial measure to the emergence of Mr Bal Thackeray and the Shiv Sena as the instruments of power in Maharashtra. Who would not want to preside over an outfit that is flourishing, both politically and otherwise? However, to borrow an expression made famous by US President George W. Bush after September 11, "make no mistake" about who will finally succeed Mr Bal Thackeray as the chief of the Shiv Sena. Biologically and logically, there is no difference between the blood of Raj and Uddhav. But human history will bear witness to the fact that the blood of the son has invariably been found to be thicker than that of the nephew. Mr Raj Thackeray may end up creating his own sena to remain in political business. As of today, the family feud over the succession issue merely spoiled what would have been yet another extravagant birthday bash in honour of Mr Bal Thackeray. |
UP elections a repeat of 1996 UTTAR Pradesh is destined to witness the repeat performance of 1996 during the forthcoming state assembly elections of 2002 because society and polity of the state have been completely frozen and immobilised by sectarian casteists, Hindu communalists and corrupt, criminal and completely normless and manipulative political class. A few facts may be mentioned to substantiate the argument that the forthcoming elections are in reality a “farce” and none of the political formations or groups or individual leaders is capable of pulling out Uttar Pradesh from its tragic situation after the elections. First, Uttar Pradesh has neither a “two party system” like some other states of India, nor a major party which has social presence and electoral power in all the regions of state. The BJP is a party of, by, and for the Hindus and the Hindutva politics is challenged by the caste reality of Uttar Pradesh society. Since caste is not a hegemonic construction in society, every important sub-caste has been appropriated by different caste leaders for electoral victories. Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party, George Fernandes’ Samata Party, the Janata Dal (United) of Sharad Yadav, the Lok Janshakti of Ram Vilas Paswan and the Rashtriya Lok Dal of Ajit Singh have established their narrow social base among different castes and sub-castes which are described as “Backward Castes” or “Other Backward Castes” or “Most Backward Castes”. It is a misnomer to describe them as political parties. In reality, individual caste leaders have floated their private shops which can be auctioned to any buyer before and after the elections. Similarly, the Bahujan Samaj Party of Mayawati claims loyalty of “Jatav” Dalits. Many other Dalit castes act as “floating” voters and the Bahujan Samaj Party, because of divisions among the Dalits, cannot get more than 20 per cent of the voters’ support and it can just cross the mark of 50 seats in a state assembly of 403 members. Same is true of Mulayam Singh’s “backward caste” vote bank. Second, the logic of above description is that fragmented social profile of the voters has led to the proliferation of parties or groups or individual leaders who are not bound by any ideology except the lust for political power. The power for the sake of personal and sectional benefits has become the leading normative framework of Uttar Pradesh political class. The BJP formed its so-called coalition government in the state by bribing and splitting the Congress and the BSP and it was not surprising that the splintered groups like the Loktantrik Congress Party and the Kisan Mazdoor Bahujan Party got a lion’s share of power in the Kalyan Singh, Ram Prakesh Gupta and Rajnath Singh-led BJP state governments. It has become crystal clear from the experience of 1996 to 2002 that casteists or communalists can do anything to get into the corridors of power in the state. Uttar Pradesh polity and society are caught in the vicious circle of casteist and communalist led criminal-corrupt and completely immoral culture of politics. This is the background of forthcoming state assembly elections where the BSP, the Congress, People’s Front formed by Mulayam Singh Yadav and the BJP with its seven allies are competing for the support of voters during the elections of 2002. A listing of BJP allies will reveal that all its seven allies are paper tigers and leaders with limited caste appeal. Maneka Gandhi’s Shakti Dal, Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal, Sharad Yadav’s Janata Dal (United), Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti, Fernandes’ Samata Party and defectors like the Loktantrik Congress Party or the Kisan Mazdoor Bahujan Party are all interested in loaves and fishes of power politics by joining the bandwagon of Hindu communalists. The most telling illustration of completely de-ideologised, immoral and opportunistic politics is provided by the BJP itself which has been described as a “party with a difference”. The BJP MLAs were involved in “cross-voting” during the elections of the Rajya Sabha and the Legislative Council seats in 2000 and it has led the BJP not to nominate 40 out of its 158 sitting MLAs for the forthcoming elections. The BJP MLAs were bought for “cross-voting”. Not only this. The BJP’s unprincipled quest for power led the party of “principles” to accommodate 45 defectors, including well-known criminals, in its Council of Ministers of about a 100. Further, the leaders of the same caste base are fragmenting each other’s voters during the elections. Ajit Singh of the Rashtriya Lok Dal and Om Prakash Chautala of the Indian National Lok Dal are competing against one another for the votes of Jats of western Uttar Pradesh and Kalyan Singh of the Rashtriya Kranti Dal is competing for a section of Dalit votes which may support either the BSP or the People’s Front. How can such a socially and politically fragmented state provide a viable majority to any party or even a sizable number of seats to an important political group? Uttar Pradesh is paying a very heavy price for complete sectarianisation and communalisation of polity and society. Sonia Gandhi in her Maha Parivartan rallies is correctly propagating that “Uttar Pradesh has suffered very heavily from the sectarian and backward looking politics of casteists and communalists”. Economics development and good governance in Uttar Pradesh have become a dirty word in the hands of sectarian casteists and Hindu communalist. The UP Directorate of Economics and Statistics Report tells us that domestic production declined to 3.6 per cent from 7.2 per cent in 1996-1999. During these three years, production in agriculture and services fell from 8.4 per cent to 1.1 per cent, the industrial output fell from 5.3 per cent to 4.6 per cent and the debt burden of the state government in 1996-99 has risen to Rs 92,000 crore. Political class is completely engaged only in the politics of winning an election and its worst example is again provided by the BJP. Rajnath Singh announced the creation of “quota within quota” among the backwards and the state government could not find jobs for 40,000 people who were identified as the “other most backward castes”. Political leadership of Uttar Pradesh has accepted that it is not possible to govern and develop a large state and Ajit Singh, with the support of the BJP, is contesting the elections of 2002 for another division of the state and for the formation of Harit Pradesh for Jats of western Uttar Pradesh. It has been suggested that society of Uttar Pradesh is witnessing a great social churning and anti-Brahmin backward castes and Dalits are “asserting their social right to live with dignity” under the regime of their own backward caste or Dalit parties and leaders. Since Uttar Pradesh is witnessing a kind of democratic social revolution led by the Dalit and backward caste parties and leaders, any demand for good governance for economic development and social progress is a project of “social status-quoits”. Dalits of Uttar Pradesh are demanding “selfrespect” and parties of the Dalits or backwards are guarantors of “dignity for the downtrodden castes”. If on the one hand the so-called agenda of “social dignity” is being propagated by proliferating backward and Dalit parties, on the other, the forces of Hindutva are spreading the message that Hindu India is in danger and party of the Hindus can defend and protect Hindu India against non-Hindu enemies and terrorists. Elections of 2002 are not being contested on the issues of misgovernance, growing criminality and the breakdown of law and order in Uttar Pradesh. The electoral agenda of main parties and groups, except the Congress, is the a repeat performance of 1996 state assembly elections, and clock has stopped moving in Uttar Pradesh in spite of the fact that we have entered the 21st century. The Congress under Sonia Gandhi is raising important electoral issues in Uttar Pradesh but it is sandwiched between sectarian casteists and communalists and also its own non-existing party organisation. The decade of 1990s brought clouds of darkness over Uttar Pradesh in the form of mandalisation and communalisation of society, and it was expected that the voters who have now experienced the governments of Mulayam Singh Yadav or Mayawati or the three Chief Ministers of the BJP will learn appropriate lessons and opt for progressive and developmental secular platform of the Congress. This hope for Uttar Pradesh’s bright future has no takers because fragmented voters and vulgar power manipulators have captured “segments” of society where elections will be a farcical repetition of 1996 and tragedy of backward Uttar Pradesh will continue till caste and Hindutva brand of politics is not completely rejected by the voters. In the 21st century a society which is engaged in fighting against the “cunningness of the past” cannot have any future in spite of regular democratic election. |
Being your age AN article of mine published in a magazine the other day dealt with the art of growing old gracefully. I had drawn up a list of “do’s” and “don’ts” for people of my age who, though no longer active in the pursuit of fame and fortune, are still not completely out of circulation. Among the recommendations I made were regulation of one’s diet, a daily walk and the avoidance of excessive smoking or an immoderate intake of alcohol. I had looked forward to receiving a shoal of letters from elderly people of both sexes thanking me for my helpful hints. I was prepared, also, for one or two nasty ones from the manufacturers and users of hair dyes, the application of which I had condemned in the strongest terms. All that came my way via the editor of the magazine was a solitary letter elaborating on my theme but couched in language far more elegant than mine. I had mentioned in my article that a sensible person learns to accept the fact that after a certain age one cannot burn the candle at both ends without seriously impairing one’s health and shortening one’s life. My reference to a candle seemed to have intrigued the letter writer whom I quote: “I wonder if the source of the idiom you have used in your article is the same as mine which said that to burn the candle at both ends is to dangerously exhaust one’s energies by overworking in two different directions. The expression was used as early as 1730 but the first record of its use in its current meaning goes back only a hundred years when Charles Kingsley in “Two Years Ago” described a character who burnt the candle at both ends by sitting up till two in the morning and rising again at six.” “Here, perhaps, “the ends” are regarded as the conclusion of one day and the beginning of the next. But I am told that in Shakespeare’s time a candle was sometimes formed by a straw bent in the middle and held erect, alight by a sort of stand; and that at a later period this was used as a metaphor for extravagance.” What surprised me was that such erudition is to be found among our newspaper reading public and I resolved that in future I should have to be meticulous in crossing my t’s and dotting my i’s. My correspondent’s letter brought another thought or, rather, an expression to my mind. I had not seen his name in any newspaper or magazine. Perhaps he was a modest person who believes in hiding his light under a bushel. How, I have often asked myself, does one put a light, or a candle under a bushel without setting fire to it? Perhaps a bushel of wheat in biblical times was less inflammable than it is now. It certainly was considerably cheaper, and without government subsidies or a support price! |
‘Don’t read, please talk’ A few weeks ago I was in Kolkata. The event was a debate competition. This was a national meet in which only those students were invited who had topped the regional debates. I was present there as one of the judges and a panelist. The Governor of the state was the chief guest. The subject of the debate was “Does India develop human resources for others ?” The students had to speak “for” or “against” the subject. The Governor in his written speech gave almost no views on the subject as to whether India as a nation does develop human resources for others. Instead he chose to talk of the need for a vision. Very good, I thought. The speaker would now link the subject and offer a national or a state strategy. But no. Instead the Governor shifted his line of thinking to children inculcating values of life. All very good but not related to the subject. This was disappointing. To cool down my internal agitation I decided to write the vision as I was expecting to hear from the Governor. While I was still doing so, and the Governor gone after his speech, one of the organisers came and asked me if I wanted a copy of the Governor’s speech. I said: “No, thank you”. I told her: “I have rewritten the Governor’s speech”. I could see that she did not exactly understand what I meant. Even I did not know at that time what I would do with what I had written, till later it fitted in. The debate started and the young speakers convincingly argued how India was developing human resources for the world. They argued that the country is going through a huge brain-drain for compelling reasons of money, personal growth, dearth of opportunities, fame, adventure, status, family ties, comfort, power and reservation policy. While India was providing training at a huge cost it was also sending its brightest to the rest of the world. They earned billions of dollars undoubtedly as Indians but and not as India. The opposite side argued that it is because of development of human resources in India that today the country is and will continue to earn billions of dollars in software industry. Hence all is not lost. However, then came the turn of we the judges and panelists. And it is now that my inner agitation came to the surface. Here was a subject which also needed an answer from the policy-makers and we as an audience did not get one. I had seen the students clearly talk of absence of a vision - and this was exactly what I had attempted to write while the Governor was talking, but forgot the subject (for no apparent motive). When asked to speak, I was still in the same frame of mind. I then shared what I thought could be the vision if we were to ensure that India develops human resources first for itself. What I had written earlier became relevant. I spelt out the possible national vision: “Each child will get quality education in a neighbourhood school”. Each child will have easy access to quality healthcare nearby. Each child will have access to playground facilities and creative activities to enable her (“her” includes him) to develop creatively. Each child will be ensured due nurturance. Each adolescent will have an opportunity to learn a trade, which could as well be her source of earning if she so desires. She will have access to higher education and professional skills as per her aptitude depending on her academic ability and qualities of hard work and perseverance. Each child will learn rights and duties. Each child alongside will contribute community service to develop the spirit of gratitude and giving. When the adolescent becomes a professional and starts earning, she will be required to give back to her country a certain percentage of her earnings so that others can get what she got. The young man or woman could have an easy access to single-window centres where she could get all information on employment, marketing, production, location, seed money availability, available resources etc. After sharing the vision I suggested the need for a mandatory condition for chief guests. Rather than reading out speeches, they must instead engage in a dialogue with the audience on the subject of the occasion so that both benefit. Such occasions could be used to learn and share the vision and evaluate performance whether it was on course. The audience applauded the vision statement and the proposal. But the chief guest was not listening and thank God for that. The next day papers fortunately for me and the organisers found no space to mention all this, except for my handshake photo with the dignitary. I am personally of the view that no one wants to leave one’s family and home to go into an alien land forever unless for compelling reasons, most of them self-created over the years of non- visionary governance. For all of us another Republic Day is passing by ...... Jai Hind.. |
Another attack, another failure AT the India Today conclave in Delhi last week — a few hours before the terrorist attack in Kolkata — Pakistan's High Commissioner to India was telling an audience of important Indian opinion-makers that a “seminal development” had occurred in Indo-Pakistan relations on January 12. Most of us had forgotten the significance of this date so he reminded us that this was the day on which his President had made his speech attacking Islamic fundamentalism and reiterating that he was against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. By doing this he had, according to Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, addressed India's foremost concern so it was time for India to reciprocate by addressing Pakistan's foremost concern, its “core issue” Kashmir. He described the history of Indo-Pakistan relations as one of “failed dialogue” because of our inability to address each other's concerns. But, we now had a chance to “move into the future” by resolving our problems and looking ahead toward a time when instead of a measly US $ 3 billion of FDI (foreign direct investment) India could like China attract $30 billion annually and Pakistan, which gets no FDI at all, could start looking towards a future in which it could hope for at least $10 billion FDI a year. He made it all sound possible and as he spoke immediately after America's former Vice-President, Al Gore, who also talked of the need to shed the baggage of the past — in the context of Indo-American relations — it seemed briefly as if a brave new dawn was already lighting up the skies of the subcontinent. Then, the next day, while I was at the same conclave in the gilded halls of the Taj Palace Hotel waiting for the Home Minister to outline his vision of India came news of the Kolkata attack. And, instead of a shiny, new dawn we got the ugly, old reality. No matter how many brave speeches General Musharraf makes against radical Islam, the reality is that once you start the sort of jehad the Pakistani army sponsored in Kashmir and Afghanistan, it is very hard to withdraw your troops. You can halt a regular army operating under a unified command but what do you with small bands of irregular fighters owing allegiance to shadowy generals in hidden caves? If Pakistan is to blame, so is our own government. Despite this jehad having gone on in Kashmir for more than seven years, we have not learned how to deal with it. So our first response to a terrorist attack is invariably to blame Pakistan, often without proof. So we put ourselves in the embarrassing position last week of the American government saying they were not laying blame till there was more evidence while our own officials were shrieking Pakistan. Within hours of the attack, our intelligence agencies miraculously came up with a list of suspects all of whom, naturally, have connections to either Pakistan's ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) or gangsters in Dubai. You want to ask why, if they knew so much about these people, they took no preventive measures but nobody asks these questions because terrorist violence is so awful as to make all questions seem insensitive. Well, it is time to start asking them if we are to ever win this war. For a start we need to ask the Home Ministry to explain why our intelligence agencies seem to be so completely ineffectual. At the India Today conclave I talked to a couple of important ex-bureaucrats about how they assessed the competence of our intelligence agencies and without hesitation they admitted that they were “pretty hopeless”. RAW (Research & Analysis Wing), which is supposed to be our CIA or the body directly in charge of external intelligence has been so debased that, according to a senior police officer, it has been for some time treated as a vehicle to provide postings abroad. “You may not believe this”, the officer said, “but so eager is everyone to get a chance to go abroad that you find even postal employees being sent abroad as RAW agents. How can you expect proper intelligence?” There are other problems with the agency. It was created by Indira Gandhi during the Emergency and was used by her to spy on her political opponents rather than as a means of gathering intelligence abroad. Mrs Gandhi was famous for invoking the “foreign hand” when she was Prime Minister but she appears to have been less scared of it than she gave the impression of being or she would have used RAW more efficiently by ensuring that it concentrated on the job for which it was created. She is, though, far from being the only one to blame. No Prime Minister who came after her appears to have felt the need to demand an overhaul of either RAW or any of other intelligence agencies despite their total failure to report correctly on the developments in Punjab and Kashmir in the early eighties. It was these developments that were the beginning of our current terrorist problem but even after young men from Kashmir and Punjab started crossing the border to receive training in Pakistan our intelligence agencies seemed unable to come up with accurate information about their whereabouts or what was going on. Political instability in the nineties combined with weak governments that changed frequently did not help but now that the Vajpayee government has been in power long enough to be stable, it’s time for someone to start asking a few questions. Our politicians and bureaucrats have been so busy hiding behind the excuse of “cross-border terrorism” that they have not even paid attention to the fact that our policemen are not trained in counter-terrorism. Nor are they equipped to take on terrorists armed with automatic weapons. If there is one lesson to be learned from the attack on the American Centre in Kolkata last week, it is that we cannot rely on General Musharraf's promises to end terrorism. We will have to end it ourselves by fighting this jehad with all our might. |
A house for Advani at last after years of persuasion SO, finally “Sardar Patel II” — as Union Home Minister L K Advani is known in the Home Ministry circles — has relented. After years of persuasion from the country’s top security managers, Advani has reluctantly agreed to shift from his Pandara Park residence to 30, Prithviraj Road, a bungalow which till now as occupied by Union Urban Development Minister Ananth Kumar. The bungalow is being readied for Advani keeping in view his security requirements, which have been rated at par with the Prime Minister. State-of-the-art X-ray equipment, scanners, spy cameras and other such gadgetry are being installed in the new bungalow. Advani, who has spent more than 35 years of his life here is sentimentally attached to the house. Incidentally, he was allotted this flat/bungalow under “Journalist” quota when he was a Sub-Editor with Panchjanya magazine. Several factors weighed heavily in forcing Advani to shift his house. One, his entire neighbourhood in Pandara Park was under threat. Two, the chiefs of intelligence agencies had been telling him that the location of the Pandara Park residence was such that it made the country’s Home Minister a sitting duck for terrorists. And three, some suspicious youths were picked up by the police for frequenting an MP’s house in Advani’s vicinity. These youths had made an unusually large number of visits to the United Arab Emirates. Advani would be shifting to his new house within a couple of weeks. According to Hindu belief, change of residence has a vital impact on one’s stars. What kind of impact is in store for Advani? Watch this space. ABOUT TURN It was meant to be a media briefing that would have taken off the lid from the aluminium casket controversy surrounding the Indian Army. Rajya Sabha MP and former Chief of Army Staff Gen Shankar Roy Chowdhury, however, found that he had bitten more than he could chew. A volley of uncomfortable questions followed and the General was seen scampering for cover. He finally said he was getting drawn into a controversy for which he was not prepared. The General admitted that he had nothing much to say on the casket controversy and he just wanted to send a message that the decision making process in the Army should continue despite uncomfortable questions being raised on the purchasing policy. A cautious approach often leads to the Army being unable to utilise the purchase funds within a fiscal year. After much pleading the General finally had something to say on the casket. He preferred a wooden casket to an aluminium casket as it preserved the dignity of a soldier. LONG WAIT Delays and lack of coordination is not only an Indian trait. The other day the visiting US Counter Terrorism Chief Francis Taylor and his colleagues had to wait for more than 15 minutes for their vehicles after they finished their meeting with Union Home Minister L K Advani at North Block here. However, it would not have been an unpleasant wait for Taylor and his company as they had the opportunity to have a first hand look at the lighting and other arrangements being made for the Republic Day celebrations in Lutyen’s Delhi. ELUSIVE TICKET Perseverance is one quality that seems to be deeply ingrained among Congressmen seeking tickets for the coming assembly polls. The party’s headquarters at the Akbar Road here was brimming with aspirants, mostly from Punjab, days after the party declared all its candidates in the state. Though the aspirants could not meet many senior leaders, they never got tired of narrating the “injustice’’ the party had done in deciding tickets. It was AICC treasurer Motilal Vora, who with his patient but non-committal approach, helped keep tempers in control. The ticket-seekers finally left for their constituencies on the last day of filing nominations, still not clear if the party would review its decision on their seats. While ticket-seekers from Punjab were somewhat restrained, some of the women aspirants from Uttar Pradesh pitched themselves outside the residence of Congress president Sonia Gandhi demanding that women be given their “due share’’ in ticket distribution. Their `fast-unto-death,’
however, lasted only for a day. Some aspirants did not even hesitate in putting at stake their property for getting the party ticket. A ticket-seeker from Fatehpur Sikri, while listing out why he should be given ticket in his representation, offered that his entire property may be confiscated if he loses the election. Claiming that he was the most senior, educated, youthful, experienced, responsible, active and popular among all the aspirants who had applied for the ticket from his constituency, he threatened to give up his life at the samadhi of a senior Congress leader if someone ``less competent’’ was made a party candidate. Contributed by Rajeev Sharma, Girija Shankar Kaura, Prashant Sood, S.
Satyanarayanan and T.V. Lakshminarayan. |
Ajmer merchants' complaint
Calcutta |
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Gifts may be of food, clothing, transport or shelter; gifts may be of gold or gems; but greater than all of these is the noble gift of dhamma. In the world there is no jewel like the jewel of Dhamma It ends all suffering and wretchedness; all its ways are happiness. — From Hindi Dohas of
S. N. Goenka *** Volumes have been written about God and what you should do to approach him; but the basis of it all is fear. As long as one is afraid, one cannot find anything real. To see the false as the false, To see the true in the false, and to see the true as the true, It is this that sets the mind free. — J. Krishnamurti, Unconditionally Free *** Go on hating and sorrow, destruction and ruination follow you. Hatred are communicated from father to son, from generation to generation, from clan to clan. Hatred is preached as substance of heroism as essence of patriotism, and as crux of religious fidelity.... Hatred is used as a strategy for gaining power, and then power is used for gaining power, and then power is used for perpetuating hatred. Sophisticated hatred is even called Dignity. The first victim of hatred is the hater. Hatred destroys the finer sensibilities in a man. It scorches his divine qualities and higher faculties. It sets smouldering within a man A self-consuming fire. — “Musings of the Musafir”, Prabuddha Bharata,
November 1969 *** To wrong those we hate is to add fuel to our hatred — Eric
Hoffer, The True Believer |
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