 |
Sunday,
March 24, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
|
Godhra & Ayodhya: setback to India’s secular image Sekhon’s exit raises many disturbing questions |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Battle for Oscar hots up as Aamir Khan has a long way to go It is now for the people to be alert and awake
Mahant Paramhans just
follows Ram Lalla’s ‘fiat’
PM yet to release funds for riot victims
Natasha’s death a rude shock to Delhi’s glitterati
|
Godhra & Ayodhya: setback to India’s secular image
THE cruel torching of the kar sevaks at Godhra railway station on February 27 was followed by one of the worst communal riots witnessed in Gujarat, resulting in the death of about 500 people. The riots also exposed the disgraceful manner in which Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his administration dealt with the communal riots and various other attendant problems such as relief to the affected. The police force was neutralised as exposed by Ahmedabad Police Commissioner P.C. Pandey, in an interview to a daily. The army which was called in was deployed after 48 hours without any explanation for their non-deployment earlier. While Ahmedabad city returned to a state of uneasy peace, sporadic events continue to take place elsewhere in Gujarat. The Gujarat events have brought about a distinct and palpable change in the attitude of large sections of the Hindu community. This was also reflected in the writings of some of the well known commentators. This writer was in Hyderabad recently when he met a cross-section of people and it was surprising how even sober and moderate Hindu elements spoke in terms of teaching the Muslims a lesson for having killed defenceless pilgrims. That this could happened more than 50 years after the Partition had shocked them, they said. I have heard similar opinions being expressed by responsible persons in Delhi as well. The resolution on the Muslim community adopted by the Akhil Bhartiya Pratinidhi Sabha of the RSS on March 16 at Bangalore, therefore, does not come as a surprise. The resolution cautioned Muslims that unless they earned the goodwill of Hindus, their safety could not be guaranteed in India. Explaining the resolution, a RSS spokesman said that winning goodwill meant respecting, tolerating and cooperating with the majority community. Significantly the RSS Pratinidhi Sabha also adopted a resolution on the “atrocities on Bangladeshi Hindus” and urged the Central Government to stop exporting rice, vegetables, etc, to Bangladesh until the atrocities on the Hindus were stopped. The two resolutions, seen together, represented a hardening of the attitude of the RSS which represents the hardcore Hindu communal mind. Clearly, Hindu fundamentalism is digging in. The RSS Pratinidhi Sabha also adopted a resolution that the Ayodhya movement represented the national aspiration of the people. The entire BJP hierarchy from Mr Vajpayee downwards has said as much on more than one occasion. The VHP and the Ram Janmabhumi Nyas headed by Mr Ashok Singhal and Ramchandra Paramhans, however, systematically forced the pace during the days preceding March 15. It was a tragic irony to see the Prime Minister, the Home Minister, the UP Governor and his senior officers most of their time trying to grapple with the situation to ensure that the day passed off peacefully. Even Defence Minister George Fernandes had his say. All this was preceded by the visit of Kanchi Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathy to Delhi and his confabulations with many persons. Clearly again, India’s secularism has suffered a setback. The Supreme Court interlude in which Attorney General Soli Sorabjee made a submission, without any instructions from the government as he unconvincingly said was a tragic story. His plea for permitting Bhoomi puja by a certain number of sadhus during a particular time, with a certain number of kar sevaks witnessing from a distance with the security forces standing by, was not expected of him as he was not representing the VHP and the Ram Janmabhumi Nyas. It was certainly not the plea which the Attorney General should have made on behalf of Government of India which stands by a secular constitution. It also showed the Prime Minister in poor light as no one was prepared to accept his plea that no instructions were given to the Attorney General and that he stood by his oft-repeated formula that status quo would be maintained till the Supreme Court decided the case or the concerned parties came to a compromise. One wonders whether the construction of Ram temple is really the most important task facing the country. The whole Ram temple movement started only in 1990 when the then BJP president Mr Advani led the Rath Yatra from Somnath. Does not the Indian nation have other serious problems to tackle, such as poverty eradication, health, primary and secondary education, unemployment, abuse of women and children, and equally important, improving infrastructure, quickening the pace of economic reforms, disinvestment, attracting investments from abroad, and so on? What about India’s external security, with the defence forces of India and Pakistan facing each other across the borders? No substantive work could be done in Parliament as the daily dose of crisis brought about frequent adjournments. Amidst all this arises the question of relevance of Ram in the broad national context. In Tamil Nadu, the Self Respecting Movement started by Periyar Ramaswamy Naicker in the 1930s considered Ram a conqueror from the North who was on a mission to subdue the Dravidian kings. The tribulations Ram underwent were the consequence of his own action such as disfiguring of Surpanakha, the unkshatriya like act of killing Bali from behind a tree etc. Notwithstanding the anti-Ram movement, which died down later, there are very few Ram temples in the South as the Southern people are largely Saivites while the Vaishnavas worshipped Vishnu and Venkateshwara or Balaji. Even in the Hindi heartland there are as many, if not more, temples for Krishna than Ram. Mythology and politics apart, there are several well-researched studies on the Rama story. Ms Paula Richman, a scholar from the USA, has written a book titled “Many Ramayanas”, exploring the different versions of Ramayana story in the Asian countries. Mr A.K. Ramanujan, who was a literary genius, had also written an essay, “Three Hundred Ramayanas”. There is ample evidence to show that all the events mentioned in the Ramayana story took place north of Narmada river, and even the Lanka was located in Central India. Mythology and legends had taken over subsequently, taking Ram and his army to Sri Lanka and back to Ayodhya. Mythological belief and religious fervour are not concerned with the findings of history or archaeology but that does not mean that a secular and rational government should encourage these beliefs and commit the nation’s administrative machinery for their perpetuation and protection. How much of the revival of the Ram temple movement, though primarily orchestrated by the VHP, was brought about by the electoral setback of the BJP in the recent state elections? The need to return to the Ram temple agenda for revival of BJP’s fortune has been widely discussed. The Indo-Pakistan stand-off, the security threat by terrorists and subversive forces, etc, did not click as they did not prove to be vote catching issues. However, the BJP’s belief that without the party’s return to the Ram agenda it has no future in the Hindi heartland is erroneous. A dispassionate study of the voting pattern in UP would explain this. In the aftermath of Mandalism and the rise of parties like the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party, the BJP could never, on its own, secure a majority in the UP Assembly. The Brahmins, Rajputs and Baniyas alone are not enough since these communities as well as the rest of the forward communities do not constitute more than 25 per cent of the population. The Muslims, the Dalits, the Tribals, the Yadavs, the Jats and the numerous backward classes constitute about 70 per cent of the population and without their support the BJP cannot hope to move ahead. This has been amply demonstrated in the UP elections. The Ram Mandir issue is not going to pay any undue dividends to the BJP. The disturbed communal atmosphere in the Hindi heartland will prove a great impediment to the nation’s progress. The Centre and UP government should deal with more important issues facing the people instead of frittering away their energies on the Ram Mandir issue. If India has to survive and progress, in the face of great strides being made by Asian nations like China, the NDA government and its dominant partner, the BJP, should take a more balanced and realistic view of issues facing the nation and deal with them effectively. The writer is a former Governor of West Bengal and
Sikkim. |
|
Sekhon’s exit raises many disturbing questions
AIR Marshal Manjit Singh Sekhon, AOC-in-C, Southern Air Command, was accused of unbecoming conduct as he had sought political help to advance his career. He was given the option to either resign or face disciplinary action, which could result in his being dismissed from service. The recourse to the second option by the authorities would have involved either his dismissal with the Presidential approval or a court-martial. Since dismissal under Presidential order can now be subjected to judicial scrutiny, this option with the government is not that simple any more. Neither the courts nor the court-martial would have found his so-called offence or misconduct so serious as to warrant dismissal. After all political patronage is prevalent everywhere. Even the judiciary is not free from it. Sekhon had, some months ago, written a letter to the then Chief Minister of Punjab, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, to seek his help for a posting to the Western Air Command, which, in his view, would have improved his chances to become the Chief of Air Staff. After initial obduracy, Sekhon resigned. The Sekhon episode raises many questions. How widespread is the malady of politicisation in the services? What are its repercussions on national security? Is it a recent development or has it made inroads into the services soon after independence? Has communal and caste bias crept into the services too? The first case of politicisation of the army pertains to the elevation of Lt-Gen B.M. Kaul by Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister, on grounds other than merit. Kaul's utter incompetence came into sharp focus during the Chinese invasion of NEFA (Arunachal Pradesh) in 1962. Politicisation of the defence services has continued in varying degrees thereafter in matters of postings and promotions of senior officers and the purchase of military equipment. Krishna Menon, as India's High Commissioner in the UK, was involved in free India's first known scandal in the purchase of defence equipment (the famous jeep scandal). Mulayam Singh Yadav, as Defence Minister, was blatant in favouring his clansmen. There are at least five well known cases of highly competent officers who were denied promotion as chiefs of their respective services on political considerations. The malaise of seeking political and bureaucratic support crept into the system because increasingly the internal administration of the defence services passed into the hands of bureaucrats and politicians. This resulted in officers warming their way close to politicians and senior bureaucrats, directly or through their contacts, to curry favours. This cosying up to politicians and senior bureaucrats has been at the cost of the services and to the disadvantage of those in the services and national security. The ongoing restructuring of the MoD is aimed at restoring internal management in the services. A clever system of promotions and posting of senior defence officers has been worked out, in which these are approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) which consists of the Prime Minister and a few Cabinet ministers. Except for the Defence Minister, none has the knowledge about the officers under consideration for promotion or postings. Even the Defence Minister does not know most of the officers being considered. Consequently, they depend largely on the briefs and proposals put up by the babus in the MoD. There have been cases where such briefs by the MoD were doctored and in one such case, a High Court passed strictures against the officer concerned. Often the proceedings of the Service Promotion Board, chaired by the chief of the concerned service, with the army commanders (or their equivalents in the IAF and IN) as members, is altered by the MoD. Therefore, it is not too uncommon to find officers lobbying with the ministry officials and politicians. In more recent times, the government has followed the criteria of seniority for the appointment of the three service chiefs. Even so, some degree of jockeying goes on to build up a career profile to include the command of one of the more important operational commands. That was the motivation which made Sekhon write to Mr Badal. His folly or naivety was that he made his request in writing. Two typical cases need to be mentioned. An army commander is known to have used political influence to move from the Southern Command to the Western Command in the belief that this would better qualify him for the post of COAS. Yet another, due to his clout with top bureaucracy, moved from Delhi with a set of two posting orders in his pocket. One form be operative some ten months later, when the latter Command was to fall vacant. In any case, both these officers, because of their seniority, would have become COAS, even if they had stayed put in the so-called non-operational commands. Consequently, their efforts at such manipulations were fructuous, but were there all the same. Soon after these two developments, the government, using the seniority fig-leaf, appointed an army chief who had not led any command, let alone an operational command. This was later repeated in the Navy. Both had mediocre service records and in both cases, there was the smell of a political rat. On other occasions, the government has used the ploy of giving extension to the incumbent and wasting out the more deserving aspirant. Thus, there is nothing to be alarmed at Sekhon's letter to the Defence Secretary and later to Mr Badal regrettable as both these exertions are. Sekhon was never in line for the command of the IAF (unless in the remote case of Air Chief Marshal Krishnaswamy becoming the CDS). To that end, his lobbying appears all the more foolish and a typical case where unbridled ambition got the better of rational judgement. The case of states is much worse. No defence service officer can ever hope to get defence-related jobs in any state's Youth Welfare, Sainik Welfare departments without political pull. Merit is never a consideration there. Within the army, three factors i.e. corps, community and caste have, at varying times and degrees, come into play instead of merit. Traces of the first of these are currently visible. A Military Secretary had to be removed from that post once it was known that he had favoured his close relative. Thus, those who feel shocked or dismayed by the Sekhon episode are either naive or feigning ignorance of such goings on, though no one can hold a brief for Sekhon. It is all a matter of being exposed. Every facet of Indian system has been politicised. Communalisation and manipulation are all pervasive in every field of activity, though mercifully, it is very marginal in the defence services. What is intriguing is the timing of the disclosure of Sekhon’s letter to Mr Badal. Air Marshal Sekhon, in the inquiry conducted into an incident of firing on an IAF transport plane piloted by Air Marshal Vinod Bhatia, AOC-in-C, Western Air Command, had found violation of the LoC by this aircraft. Is someone trying to kill two birds with one stone? Consider the motivated manner and the timing of disclosure of the letter to the press. There are two possibilities. One the staff at the CM's office sent Sekhon's letter in original to the Defence Minister/PMO and the MoD found it an opportune time to leak it to the press. Or some officer on Sekhon's staff had xeroxed this letter to be used, at an ‘appropriate moment’. The writing and disclosure of the letter should be investigated. The leakage of a confidential letter should be exposed and the people involved in the leakage taken to task. Such a person is a potential threat to national security for he would not refrain from passing on other vital information to others. This rift in the IAF seems to have found its way into the inquiry pertaining to the incident of an IAF plane hit by a missile at Kargil. There is no need to despair. The politicisation of the services is not widespread and is restricted to small pockets. Once the MoD restructuring is carried out, political and bureaucratic interference in the posting and promotion of senior officers of the defence services will vastly decrease. The services have strived hard to maintain their apolitical character and indications are that, barring a few dark spots, they are continuing to vigorously pursue that path. The writer, a retired Lieutenant-General, is a former Deputy Chief of Army Staff. |
|
Battle for Oscar hots up as Aamir Khan has a long way to go
AT the offices of the Central Intelligence Agency, it was the Department of Dirty Tricks which carried out the most nefarious jobs associated with spying. These included bugging, setting up honey traps and discrediting people whom it was investigating. The US President may have been aware of how the CIA operated but seldom took any corrective steps. It is something unusual that on the eve of the announcement of the prestigious ‘Oscar’ awards, the media is full of reports on yet another episode of dirty tricks, this time involving the ‘Oscar’ choices and Hollywood in general. Money, media power, sly accusations and other dirty tricks had been reported to push the chances of certain films and pull down the chances of others. The reports made unusual and exciting reading. Was Hollywood capable of such cheap, despicable tricks? Why not? The stakes are pretty high. For the sake of the dollar. Successes in the ‘Oscar’ race can bring a film millions of additional dollars in revenue. Studios, directors, producers and stars who win out in the ‘Oscar’ race can ask for the moon and get it. Naturally, the fights have become gory involving covert operations, trench warfare, propaganda sorties and whispered slurs which covered everything from sexual habits to racism. And of course, money. The ‘Beautiful Mind’ (One of the nominated films) Oscar push, it was reported, involved a mindboggling $ 15 million. And that could be just the tip of the iceberg. For this year’s ‘Oscars’, there are quite a few black contenders. Denzil Washington ( ‘Training Day’), Will Smith (‘Ali’) and Halle Berry (Monster’s Ball). The media reported a whispering campaign against them for playing the ‘Black card’! The film which had been tipped to win several of the major awards, ‘A Beautiful Mind’ was supposed to harbour anti-semitic sentiments. This could be a sensitive issue because a majority of the members of the Academy were Jews. The ‘Oscar’ race had come to represent a sort of presidential campaign. Money and champagne flowed like water. All sorts of smart-alec PR persons were roped in to boost their own favourites and bring down the rivals. The tension became so palpable that Russel Crowe, nominated for the Best actor ‘Oscar’ for ‘A Beautiful Mind’ pushed and shouted at the producer of the TV show for slightly editing his acceptance speech at last month’s British Academy Film Awards. The actor quickly made up with media persons but the incident was a clear reflection on the heat and dust created by the awards race. Observed a veteran ‘Hollywood Reporter’ columnist, “The ‘Oscar’ campaigns have always been competitive, but I don’t recall it ever being as down and dirty as it is this year”. The columnist, Robert Osborne, who had authored a book on the history of the ‘Oscar’ awards said he had received numerous anonymous notes and e-mail tips assailing many of the ‘Oscar’ contenders. In the past studios spent a fortune in advertising their ‘Oscar-nominated’ films and stars in trade and popular magazines. Today, everyone is splashing mud on others. A study of ‘Oscar’ awards which are chosen by the 5739 members of the American Motion Picture Academy showed that even without outside influences, there were definite patterns. The affluent members who included actors, producers, public relations men, tended to belong to the Right Wing in American politics (mostly from the Republican party) favouring the ‘America can never be wrong’ approach. John Wayne, it was acknowledged, was no great actor. But he was a staunch supporter of the Vietnam war and portrayed the Tough American role admirably, even in cowboy films. No wonder, Wayne won the ‘Best Actor Oscar’ for ‘True Grit’ in 1969, an honour which embarrassed move goers. Stars who associated with liberal causes and belonged to the Democratic Party, were more often than not, left out. Both Gregory Peck and Paul Newman, outstanding actors, had to wait almost towards the end of their careers to pick up the ‘Best Actor’ award. Often the awards made no sense. Imagine, the best actor award going to someone like Lee Marvin, hero of the Western with a limited appeal, ‘Cat Ballou’. The ‘Oscar’ awards committee could not ignore the claims of actors like Marlon Brando or George C Scott. Both of them publicly scorned the rat race and the hoopla associated with the ceremony. Brando was not present to accept the ‘Best Actor’ award for ‘Godfather’ and his representative read out his speech which was a scathing indictment on the American government’s policy towards the native Indians. Hollywood was not amused. Race, colour, money, politics... you name it, the ‘Oscar’ race has it. Poor Aamir Khan. It is under these circumstances our own Aamir had to canvas support for his film, ‘Lagaan’ nominated for the Best foreign film. Aamir and his director had been spending time in the USA, spending money in popularising ‘Lagaan’ but being novices in the department of dirty tricks, have a long way to go. |
|
It is now for the people to be alert and awake THUS spake the Shankaracharya of Kanchipuram after his meeting with Atal Behari Vajpayee: “It is difficult to wake up someone who is asleep. But it is extra difficult to wake up someone who is awake and asleep at the same time”. Such perceptive and sharp remarks are rare to come by in spiritual leaders, but this Shankaracharya must have exceptional gifts. He has put his finger right on the sickness (we can call it sleeping sickness) afflicting the nation and has given due warning. It is now for the people to be alert and awake. There can be variations on the Shankaracharya’s theme. What if Vajpayee is pretending to be asleep while he is listening? Or is pretending to be listening while he is actually asleep? He has the knack of going to sleep between sentences or even in the middle of a sentence. This may come from his poetic inclinations. While he is uttering prose, he sometimes pauses to see how he can put the same words into verse, so he stops and reflects. He has a habit of trying to find consensus within himself while he is speaking – or even while he is sleeping: “To be or not to be, that is the question. Whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous VHP, or to take arms against a sea of karsevaks…” What would the Shankaracharya have said about our judiciary had he had any direct dealings with it? He might have branded them all, from the Supreme Court downwards as Kumbhakarnas. Their waking time is only marginal. Ten years isn’t enough time for some of the courts to pronounce judgement in certain cases before them (and quite often many years more as in the case of the Ayodhya land dispute pending before the Allahabad High Court). They will not be moved, or persuaded to get a move on, even if riots break out all over the country and cities burn. And when they finally do give their judgements, they are so carried away by their own rhetoric that the public will have to take care to protect themselves from the ferocity of the wind. Some people think that the law’s delays are not caused by excessive sleep on the part of the judges but by their tendency to overwrite, that is to say, using ten words where only one would do. Inside every judge there’s a Shakespeare or Macaulay trying to get out. And words flow in glorious succession bringing forth the majesty of the law. Take the Arundhati Roy case, for example. The learned judges, while showing their magnanimity and chivalry to a ‘woman’, went on to give this young and promising writer some suitable advice on art and literature and how not to drift away from the narrow path she was traversing. In other words, the honourable judges were saying that ‘an author of name and fame’ as Arundhati is ‘stated to be’ should not indulge in the luxury of being a social activist of Narmada fame. Somewhere close to the opening paragraphs of this historic 76-page judgement, these upholders of the dignity and respect for the institution of the judiciary, display a sense of alarm at the threat represented by Arundhati Roy. “After more than half a century of independence, the judiciary in the country is under constant threat and being endangered from within and without. The need of the time is of restoring confidence amongst the people for the independence of the judiciary. Its impartiality and the glory of the law has to be maintained, protected and strengthened. “The confidence in the course of justice which the people possess, cannot, in any way, be allowed to be tarnished, diminished or wiped out by contumacious behaviour of any person. The only weapon of protecting itself from the onslaught of the institution is the long hand of contempt of court left in the armoury of judicial repository which, when needed, can reach any neck however high or far away it may be”. As we all know, “majesty”, “dignity”, “glory” and such forth of law are words that only members of the judiciary use. The honourable judges in this case, having reached Arundhati’s long and graceful neck, seem pleased with themselves in having protected whatever it is they set out to protect. The phrase, ‘reach any neck’ is reminiscent of a fox hunt. Tally-ho! For anyone who gets entangled with the courts of law in India, far from having their confidence in the legal process enhanced, the experience is more like a form of torture. As Arundhati said in her statement on coming out of Tihar jail, after serving her one-day imprisonment, “The process is part of the punishment”. In her case, it started a year ago. |
Mahant Paramhans just
follows Ram Lalla’s ‘fiat’ Mahant Paramhans claims to communicate with God — the Rama — in dreams and his future course is guided by the Lord’s dictate. As far back as 1949, so is the popular belief among his followers, “Ram Lalla” appeared in the Mahant’s dream and beseeched him to raise a temple at His Janmabhoomi ( birth place), which is now said to be the sanctum sanctorum in the disputed site. One wonders how many times “ Ram Lalla” came in his dreams but the latest one initially kicked up a storm and, at the same time, enabled the Centre to defuse what looked like a volatile situation. “Ram Lalla came to me in my dream and asked me to go to the workshop (where pillars are fabricated) and perform puja there. He told me to donate a stone before I die. I am just following His directives”, Paramhans says, adding “when I performed the shila daan, I did it on the God’s instructions. I have no mission of my own and neither am I associated with any political party nor am I a politician. You know politicians do not have morals”. Fantasies are, after all, illusions and they can be interpreted conveniently. Mahant Paramhans may live in his world of fantasy but nobody, except his devout followers, will believe his mental images. “Ram Lalla” has apparently not told him to held out the threat of killing himself if he failed to comply with His dictate. Those who know him say that he is known for issuing similar threats and ultimatums since he came in prominence a decade-and-a-half ago although he never carried them out. Also he is noted for exaggerating an event and known for bouts of rage and then suddenly cooling down. He appears to have been running into trouble as a trustee of the RJN, Mahant Dharam Das, has reportedly threatened to file a case against him seeking the court’s directive for his removal as the Nyas’ Chairman and declaring the March 15 “shila daan” in Ayodhya as illegal. A demand is also being made for return of two “shilas”, donated by Mahant Paramhans to Mr Shatrughan Singh, PMO emissary and Head, Ayodhya Cell, Cabinet Secretariat, to the workshop. The hostility between Sants and Mahants and their bid to control the wealth of their respective temples and peeths has, at times, erupted into bloody battles. Paramhans himself escaped a murderous attack. In May, last year, he along with two security guards were injured in a powerful bomb explosion at the gates of Faizabad district hospital. A few months later, Mahant Nrityagopal Das, vice-president of the RJN was attacked with crude bombs but he escaped with bruises; his security guards were seriously injured. Investigations revealed that one of his own disciples was involved in the attack. Yet another “Sadhu”, Baba Lal Das, a member of the Nyas, was not so lucky; he was murdered a few years ago and property dispute was said to be reason for attack on him. Even though over 90, Mahant Paramhans has been very active in organising purification rituals, yagnas, yatras and other religious rituals. He has also been an important figure in negotiations in the temple dispute and, in his capacity as the head of the RJN, remained in the limelight on every occasion including “shila nyas” in 1988 and two years later when an abortive attempt was made to pull down the Babri masjid which was ultimately razed to the ground in December, 1992. He is certain to remain at the centrestage in any future negotiations to find a solution to the temple issue in Ayodhya. One wishes he lives long enough to see the final verdict of the court in the vexed issue. Will he abide by the court’s verdict which all parties have committed to comply with? |
PM yet to release funds for riot victims EVEN
though the top Central leadership of the BJP commended Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for having brought the communal situation in the volatile state under control within 72 hours, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has not found it fit so far to make available funds for relief and rehabilitation from his National Relief Fund. This has foxed discriminating politicians of all hues and shades as well as NGOs though some BJP leaders insist that such a request has not been made by the Gujarat government. The non-release of any funds from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) has raised a volley of questions about the sincerity of the saffron brigade in infusing confidence especially among the minority community. Certain allies of the NDA government, the Opposition, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and others have castigated the Narendra Modi government for having created a serious crisis of confidence and adopting a lackadaisical attitude in maintaining communal harmony. Modi has singled out the media from the national capital for painting a distorted picture of the Godhra carnage and its backlash in other parts of Gujarat. At the same time everyone knows the abysmal state of affairs in the relief camps in Gujarat. MAYAWATI OR POLL During a meeting with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Kanshi Ram was advised to observe patience for a while and not rush to make his deputy Mayawati the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh again. After listening to Vajpayee, Kanshi Ram reportedly replied in his known frank style that he has enough patience because he knows that either Mayawati is the Chief Minister or the state would have to go in for fresh elections. SPEAKER ISSUE The appointment of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha appears to have taken a back seat primarily due to the widespread apprehension that the BJP is slowly but surely trying to
resurrect the Mandir issue thereby bringing Hindutva to the forefront. In any case nobody seems to be in hurry including Andhra Pradesh chief minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu’s Telegu Desam party (TDP). The Speakership fell vacant because of the death of G M C Balayogi in a helicopter crash in his home state of Andhra Pradesh. Naidu, who had handpicked the late Balayogi for the Speaker’s job, had a telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee earlier in the week feels there is no tearing hurry to fill this slot. It is apparent Naidu is mulling over matters though there is no doubt that the job of Lok Sabha Speaker will be offered to the TDP again. After all the TDP with a strength of 28 MPs in the Lok Sabha and extending outside support to the Vajpayee government is crucial to the BJP-led NDA government. Nevertheless, Naidu’s dilatory tactics on the Speaker’s issue has somewhat dampened the spirits of the
aspirants among the TDP MPs considered front runners for this high profile assignment. Any forward movement in this regard is expected during the recess of Parliament from March 23 to April 14. UNEASY CONFESSIONS The serious debate on POTO in the Rajya Sabha was not without its lighter moments. K M Saifullah of the TDP, an outgoing member of the House, had the members in splits not only with some of his suggestions but also over his admission that though he thought that the bill was not required, he was supporting it because of instructions “from my leader” Chandrababu Naidu. One of the suggestions Saifullah gave pertained to the clause relating to the wife of a person booked under POTO. The bill provides for not taking action against the wife of such a person. Saifullah insisted that word ‘wife’ should be replaced with ‘wives’ as some persons had more than one wife. Cinestar Jayaprada, also of TDP who was sitting next to Saifullah, could also not hide her laughter at some of the suggestions made by her party colleague. Panthic Morcha’s Gurcharan Singh Tohra, who later walked out, recalled how he had met a barber and a cloth-merchant in a prison where he was detained. The two, he said, had been jailed only
because they had dared to demand money from the police for their services. WITH A DIFFERENCE Normally policemen are known for their abrasiveness and boorish behaviour, especially those on field duty. But there are always exceptions. In Ayodhya when tension was mounting over the proposed shila daan ceremony, security personnel deployed to prevent kar sevaks from entering the holy city had a tough task on their hands. While many policemen on duty lost their cool easily in their bid to keep away people going near the disputed site, a policeman posted near Hanumangarhi turned out to be an exception. Using humour and wearing a perennial smile he was successful in turning away many and all without rancour. Couple of days before March 15, the day shila daan was to be performed by RJN-VHP leaders, one of the local sadhus tried to venture through the Hanumangarhi check post asserting that he was a local resident and had a pass. When the sadhu told the policeman that “mere pas pass hai (I have a pass)” in a bid to get through, the latter in his inimitable style said “aap ke pas pass hai, to baba aap bypass se jaiye” (if you have a pass Baba, then kindly take the bypass.” When Ramjanmabhoomi Nyas President Ramchandra Param-hans Das threatened to commit suicide connected with the shila nyas in Ayodhya, there were alarm bells all over the country. To stave off a potentially explosive situation, the government approached all those who could possibly exercise influence on Paramhans to persuade him to abandon his threat. Authorities decided to rope in former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar in the hope that Paramhans being a Thakur would listen to a fellow Thakur. Concerned about the dangerous fallout that would follow if Paramhans carried out his threat, Chandra Shekhar wasted no time in talking to the Sant over the telephone in Ayodhya. But when the other day Swami Chinmayanand informed Chandra Shekhar that Paramhans was not a Thakur but a Brahmin from Chapra, there was a sudden silence which was broken when someone remarked that regional
loyalties transcend caste affiliations. Contributed by TRR, Satish Mishra, Prashant Sood and S
Satyanarayanan. |
Natasha’s death a rude shock to Delhi’s glitterati DEATHS have been playing havoc. Together with the news of the mayhem perpetrated by Narendra Modi’s right wing divisive forces in Gujarat, two deaths here have been playing havoc on the human psyche. Barely as details of Nitish Katara’s murder settled down — Nitish was killed last month by the kin of politician D P Yadav, for daring to fall in love with Yadav’s daughter, and this would probably have been hushed up as another of those unsolved murder mysteries if Katara’s father wasn’t a civil servant — Delhi’s glitterati woke up to a rude shock with Natasha Singh’s death. Estranged
daughter-in-law of Congressman Natwar Singh, Natasha was trying to make a name and a niche for herself as a freelance photographer. Though it’s still not officially confirmed whether it was a murder or suicide, it shows the helplessness of a single woman even in a place like New Delhi. I had seen Natasha at several dos; I saw her at Suhel Seth’s book release function on February 7 at Taj Mahal hotel. I still remember her reed-like body, a sad smile playing on a well chiselled face and of course those talks about her personal life — broken marriage and the legal battle over the custody of her sons and the much talked about relationship. Together with all this is the fact that there was no family support to her decision to live on her own. In fact, just yesterday, socialite Nafisa Ali pointed out a relevant fact — that there are many supposedly strong and independent women who are trying to escape from patriachal setups. But the few who do manage to achieve this are the ones who are lucky enough to have family support. Look around and you are sure to find Natashas in your own family setups but most of these women die prematurely or fight a lonely battle because of lack of family support. If only her family had stood by her, I am sure, Natasha wouldn’t have needed men or their money to go on in life. Those who knew Natasha well cannot believe that a woman of grit would have been driven to commit suicide. Yet, the lethal combination of a bad marriage, not gaining the custody of her children (because of the lack of financial soundness), men backing out of the relationships, had begun to play havoc. And though we talk of that great Indian tradition of family support, very few families have the courage to back the independent streak in the woman. |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 122 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
THE cruel torching of the kar sevaks at Godhra railway station on February 27 was followed by one of the worst communal riots witnessed in Gujarat, resulting in the death of about 500 people. The riots also exposed the disgraceful manner in which Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his administration dealt with the communal riots and various other attendant problems such as relief to the affected.
V. Gangadhar
MAHANT Ramchandra Paramhans, chairman of the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas, was the most photographed person of the month. The snow-white bearded “Sadhu”, shown on the TV screen day after day, became lens men’s delight as both Indian and foreign magazines displayed his picture on the cover page. “What a wonderful photograph — uncombed long locks, white beard flowing up to chest, a diminutive but sturdy figure”— commented photo-journalists, representing media across the world , who had flocked to Ayodhya. “Sadhus”, it is believed, do not disclose their age or their origin — family background, parent, place of birth — but it is well-known Mahant Paramhans has crossed 90. Nobody, however, knows his exact date of birth; he is believed to be between 90 and 93 and still going strong. His place of birth and ancestry are shrouded in mystery. According to scrappy accounts, he had spent his childhood in Bihar, somewhere near Patna and, subsequently, travelled to Ayodhya, possibly, in twenties or thirties during the British “Raj”.