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Sunday,
May 19, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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A POINT OF VIEW GUEST COLUMN Suu Kyi’s
release: Can it lead to a true dialogue? |
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Need for a mass awakening
Joshi’s sense of humour will see him through
Presidential poll: All eyes on Narayanan
Classical dance to dominate Sindhu festival
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A POINT OF VIEW Sooner or later, people are likely to ask the scion of the erstwhile Patiala royal house to define what constitutes his vision of corruption. How comprehensive and all-inclusive or selective and limited this vision is? How unsparing and impartial or narrow and prejudiced its application will be? Does the good Captain see himself as a social and political revolutionary or as a shrewd Congressman who has hit upon the right potion to finish his opponents off with? In that context, is the current ‘campaign’ a part of a socio-political movement with executive sanction and inspired by a genuine love for value-based politics or is it one of those high profile PR crusades guided and sustained by the team of crack publicity masterminds that surround the Chief Minister? The answers to these questions are crucial not only for the political success of Captain Singh but also for the future of a society based on respect for merit and cleanliness in public life. As regards the core question of what has been going on for the past month and a half, Captain Singh needs to take care that he does not allow what can easily be described as the best opportunity we have had for sometime for moral resurrection in Punjab to assume the proportions of a vulgar and uncouth campaign for self-aggrandisement. Unfortunately, there are indications that this is beginning to happen. However, since the Chief Minister has made himself the linchpin of the current campaign, it would be rewarding to have a brief look at how he has shaped in the course of the past decade or two. That really holds the key to understanding the chances of success or failure of what is going on in the name of war against corruption. I have seen Captain Singh from close quarters at least twice in the past fifteen years — once when the Captain was Minister for Agriculture during the Akali government headed by the incomparable Mr Surjit Singh Barnala (whom I served as his Press Secretary), and then again when the present Chief Minister, as the leader of the Akali Parliamentary Party, headed the SAD poll campaign in 1992. I claim to have a humble opinion on the way he does his politics. He has always struck me as a well-meaning person with considerable vehemence in moral emphasis. But, on the flip side, he also strikes me as a man with strong but fleeting obsessions. The high point of his political career was when he headed Punjab’s political war for Fazilka and Abohar in the famous battle of Kandu Khera in 1986. So committed, vehement and articulate was the young Amarinder in that phase that one could have visions of a moral resurgence in Punjab spear-headed by him. His contribution to the cause of his State prompted a miserly-with-words Barnala to remark that Amarinder Singh was sent to Kandu Khera as a Captain and came back a General. His career graph after that has seen him take extreme and unsustainable positions. The spectacle of Captain Singh standing in front of the Akal Takht, surrounded among others, by Simranjit Singh Mann, Bhai Jasbir Singh Rode, Bhai Manjit Singh et al, and putting his seal of approval on the infamous and an outrageously separatist Amritsar Declaration (it called for a separate, sovereign Sikh Raj) is etched deep in every Punjab watcher’s memory. He will be the first to agree that this indeed represented the nadir of his political credibility. In between, in some superb articles written for The Tribune, he became perhaps the most forceful and articulate spokesman of Sikh liberal ethos. It is this tendency to take contrary positions with passionate intensity that is a worrying feature for the future of the current campaign. Ironically, in a memorable letter to the editor of this paper, Captain Singh had once chided me for what he described as my unfair and dishonest criticism of the Akalis. Donning the mantle of Sikh religiosity, he asked me in unforgettable words to show the courage of my convictions and be the Martin Luther of Sikh Renaissance. The tone and the line of his attack, though vitriolic against me, were charming, and to me personally, those symbolise the vintage Amarinder Singh: honest to the core and deeply committed to and passionate about his views. Then, there is also the question of sustainability of interest, both in the public and the political leadership of the day, in the campaign against corruption, or whatever goes on under that name. What about the media that sees truth only in the shape of Tehlkas, Bofors etc? What do we read in the newspapers and magazines these days about the famous Tandoor incident, or about crores recovered from the house of a Union Cabinet Minister or about the young widow burnt alive because she dared to break the great Rajput custom to marry out of caste, or about a journalist having links with terrorists killed during the attack on Parliament, or about the fodder scam involving Laloo Parsad Yadav or about the billions-worth marriage binge organised by Jayalalithaa? Not too long ago, these were the principal obsessions of the Indian media. None of these has been conclusively solved. Where is the media’s missionary passion over these issues today? These are no longer newsworthy. And what is not newsworthy is not for the newspapers surely. Much less for the hourly obsessions of the television. And, in any case, truth — or even the pursuit of truth — cannot be eternally newsworthy. In journalism, an aberration is news only if it is or can be painted as scandalous. An event is an event until it is overtaken by another event. Ravi Sidhu, even if he indeed is proved to be guilty of the mountain of sin the Vigilance Bureau has erected before the public, will also get the benefit of distance in time. What is page one in May will be page three in July, or page nine in November, only to be tucked away in some obscure corners of newspapers sometime later or to be completely gone in 2004. Banner headlines today will be single-columns a year later. Ravi Sidhu, having been a journalist of some eminence himself, would know it best Newspapers cater to popular interest. So do politicians. It is far more tempting and convenient to cater to popular taste than to shape and guide it. Who is interested in the painstaking search for truth? The lawyers? They have lined up in hundreds at the Chief Minister’s residence to seek appointments as law officers. Thousands of those left out are busy rousing rabble on issues that need to be approached with cold logic and jurisprudence. The judges? Wait till the final investigation reports on the current case are published. Teachers and educationists? They have too many plum postings and assignments (Advisers to Chief Minister, Vice-Chancellors, directors of institutes, members of boards) to use their dubious talents on to be bothered with routine matters like cleanliness in public life, or any life, or pursuit of truth. The Vigilance Bureau and the Intelligence agencies? Well, it is quite clear by now that corruption is far less important to both than the race on who should be decorated for the Ravi Sidhu kill. And this even when the case is yet to come up for its first full-fledged hearing before courts! And as for truth, its multi-faceted splendour is already dazzling us. There is the Akali truth and then there is the Congress truth. Over-riding and dictating both is the media truth. And all varieties have value only as items of voyeuristic pleasure, as a respected journal from Delhi put it. Or as tools for political one-upmanship. In the present case, once the Punjab Public Service Commission recruitment case reaches courts, much of what is now being described as the honest-to-God drive against corruption will begin to beg serious questions as much for what is being done as for what is being (deliberately?) omitted. Slowly, but almost certainly, ghosts in the backyard of the Chief Minister’s own party would begin to emerge to overshadow the Sidhu affair. And in the case of the Congress, ghosts have a habit of assuming flesh and blood in no time whatsoever. Also, almost equally certainly, the present scandal would have exhausted all its media explosiveness. Focus will then shift to more mundane issues like good governance, development, farmers problems et al. And the “coffers are empty” slogan would begin to lose its efficacy as an eternally sustainable explanation for non-performance. It is then that the real test for our Captain Conscientious will begin. Will the gloss on the shining armour of our hero remain intact till then? To be fair to Captain Singh, he has created a great opportunity for himself and for his State. He seems also to possess the right law ingredient needed for the fulfilment of his self-assigned tasks. The occasion is there, asking him to rise to it. Will he or would the fleeting obsession syndrome get the better of him yet again? Already, ‘the campaign’ is showing signs of getting mired into unseemly intra-governmental squabbles. Also, the government and the media are falling to the common temptation of making the whole exercise ‘person (Ravi Sidhu) specific’ rather than issue specific. And the Chief Minister has the added burden of fighting the charges that his government is less keen on fighting corruption than on using it to tarnish Badal. If these charges stick, they can ruin a good cause, a cause for the success of which he can and must solicit co-operation from his principal political adversary. In short, do not politicise piety. And the running battles he is having with a section of the Jalandhar media cannot exactly help him keep his focus. At stake, apart from the larger public good, is also Captain Singh’s place in posterity. He has shown the courage to seek a date with history; he also must show the tenacity to look it in the eye and the wisdom to keep the tryst free from political prejudice and personal bitterness. The initial signs are not encouraging. For the sake of Punjab, one would like to be proved wrong. The writer was Information Adviser to former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. |
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GUEST COLUMN IN my article in these columns (Jan 6, 2002), I had written: “The country is slowly moving away from democracy towards a system of ‘kleptocracy’ with politicians, for whom democracy is nothing more than a tool to capture power and the license to loot, at the centre of the orbit. Around them in the orbit are the civil servants, the police and even judges each feathering their own nest”. Put in plain words ‘kleptocracy’ is “Government of the thieves, by the thieves, for the thieves”. Some friends had then suggested that I had been rather harsh and things were not that bad after all. I was hoping so and had been looking around for encouraging signals for me to believe that ‘things were not bad after all’. Then came the thunder bolt from Punjab in the form of Ravi Sidhu episode not only confirming my worst fears but a lot more. The Chairman of the Punjab Public Service Commission has been blatantly crafting a kleptocratic system in the state of Punjab for five years in full knowledge and connivance of the political, administrative and judicial leadership. He had put the state civil service, police and judicial appointments for open auction, selling key jobs to the highest bidder. Ravi Sidhu as a political appointee has been at the centre of this despicable episode and around him in orbit were top civil servants, policemen and judges. There has been righteous outrage over this episode and venting of typical ‘middle class anger and anguish’. Media has performed its rightful role leading to the revocation of the gag order passed by the single judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. People are justifiably crying for the blood of Ravi Sidhu and his cohorts. And there is enough news and visuals to keep the media and the public engaged for a while. But then as a senior media captain asks in one of his biting op-ed, “Where do we go from here?” As he aptly points out corruption knows no boundaries and in the Indian context “hits and hurts the common people the most”. According to him, “The way out of this highly messy situation is radical reforms”. But to confine reforms only to the Public Service Commission is to address only a small part of the problem. What is needed is comprehensive and holistic reform of the entire system of governance — civil service, police and judiciary. When one looks around the country one would observe that the Punjab episode is only one of the many instances of ‘kleptocracy’ that has now become common place. The entire system of governance — political, civil, judicial and even military — is on sale to the highest bidder. Tickets for contesting MLA/MP elections are openly sold by the party bosses, Rajya Sabha nominations are grabbed by those ‘who can pay the price’, almost every Government job is on auction and appointments to higher judiciary are on quid pro quo arrangement. This has been going on for quite some time with hardly anyone raising a finger. Whether in cash or in kind, one pays to become a legislator, a civil servant, a policeman or a judge. This payment is an investment in “a low risk-high profit business” in the words of N. Vittal, the fast talking Chief Vigilance Commissioner. It is these corrupt and venal elements that govern the nation today providing a ‘Government of the thieves, by the thieves’. In the constitutional scheme of things, politicians are loose cannon and do not find mention in any of its chapters. But higher echelons of civil service (IAS), police (IPS) and judiciary (High Court and Supreme Court) are creatures of the Constitution, which is the Charter of India’s Governance. These three services have been given special privileges and protection in the Constitution so that they can render to the people of this country fair, honest, just and equitable governance. The Constitution gave no such protection to politicians and neither did the Founding Fathers repose much faith in the political system to give good governance. Yet today’s civil servants and policemen bow to the dust before politicians and do their bidding without demur. Quite a few honourable judges are only too happy to be called upon to render service, obviously for hefty considerations. Over a period of time, “political interference” had become a convenient jargon to cover the greed, corruption and insincerity of the civil servants and the police. Several judges have happily joined this jamboree. Constitutional protection to these services has made things worse since people have nowhere to go to seek redressal. Functioning of civil servants and judiciary has reached such a nadir that democracy in India is being replaced by kleptocracy in full public view. Politicians and political parties have become parasites and are functioning as a law unto themselves. While civil servants and police have near totally surrendered to political thuggery, with some even facilitating it, High Courts are busy acquitting corrupt and criminal politicians by stretching law to absurd limits. Except writing platitudes in minor cases of corruption, even Supreme Court, the last bastion of justice, has been passive to these sordid happenings. In the even corrupt and venal men and women are striding this land like colossus, dominating its political, administrative, judicial and business spectrum. Over a period of time, the good and the honest have shrunk and the corrupt and the venal are looming larger than life mocking at the institutions and the systems democracy has spawned. Over the years these parasites had succeeded in reducing democracy to a choice between corruption and communalism with the party system virtually becoming a farce. Now even this choice is not available. People have only one option — vote for a combination of corruption of Punjab/Tamil Nadu style and communalism of Gujarat pattern. Unless this decay and degeneration is halted, nation is bound to head towards unparalleled peril. Institutions that are supposed to be bulwarks of democracy and decency in public life are either compromised or bulldozed. It is time for civil society to rise and assert itself if this nation is to be saved from its side towards kleptocracy and its natural successor autocracy. Fascism will then not be far away as recent events in Gujarat have manifested. It is in this context that the rousing initiative of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association to call the higher judiciary to order is to be appreciated and welcomed. Their assertion that “We are willing to go behind bars, but the truth must prevail,” is worthy of praise. Combined efforts of the media and the Bar Association can certainly strengthen the resolve of the investigating officials to go to the roots of the case and bring everyone — however high or powerful he or she may be — to book and see that they are effectively prosecuted resulting in resounding conviction. If this happens it would be a landmark and a turning point that could reverse the trend and put the nation back on the road to honest and good governance. Let this be a beginning. There is much that needs to be done to reverse the decay caused by rampant corruption in the system of governance. Civil servants have the position and the authority to prevent corruption; police have the mandate to apprehend and prosecute the corrupt and judiciary has the power to punish the corrupt that are arraigned before them. So, if the civil servants, police and the judiciary perform their duties and legal obligations honestly and diligently, corruption can be eliminated to a very large extent. Politicians per se have no power or statutory authority to halt this process. ‘Political interference’ therefore, is a lame excuse. Much noise is being made about electoral and other reforms to cleanse the political system, but nothing is heard about reforming civil, police and judicial services which in fact should take precedence. But this will not happen unless civil society all over the country rise and mobilise and exert consistent and insistent pressure on the powers that be. Within the services — civil, police and judicial — there are several good and sincere souls who would certainly rise with the civil society in combating the forces of kleptocracy. So let the war begin and let the Bar Association initiative become a catalyst to bring together the disparate groups working on this in an isolated manner and shape them into a force to be reckoned with. Only then the impending peril engulfing the nation could be kept at bay and then defeated. The writer is a former Army and IAS officer. |
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Suu Kyi’s
release: Can it lead to a true dialogue? We can only speculate on the factors which influenced the Generals to release charismatic Suu Kyi from detention. World opinion, perhaps counted a bit. So did the economic boycott by the world community. The junta perhaps felt that after 40 years in power it was too well entrenched to be threatened by the frail, articulate woman who was a hero to freedom loving citizens. The release must have come after some serious soul-searching from the generals. Myanmar economy had been stagnating for several years in view of the absence of foreign investment. It had been watching the rapid economic development of the rest of South East Asia. Taiwan, Singapore, Bangkok and Kuala Lampur had come to be recognised as the ‘tigers’ of the region. Enjoying the present relative peace, Indonesia was also poised for substantial growth. China, of course, was now a world power with its economic clout recognised by even the USA and Japan. In such circumstances, the men who ruled Myanmar, must have felt that their nation’s isolation had gone too far and ultimately would not benefit any one, including themselves. Barring North Korea still shrouded in the mystic presence of the late Kim II Jung, the entire region was moving forward, the sky was the limit. The Myanmar generals must have felt that lifting of the bamboo curtain over their country would result in economic progress and a better life for its citizens, which would ultimately thrust aside the clamour for total political freedom. Thus, releasing Suu Kyi and restoring her rights as a citizen could be a well calculated risk which was worth taking. Suu Kyi’s challenge to the junta had embarrassed the generals, particularly after she had won the Nobel Peace Prize. Perhaps that was why the junta was receptive to overtures from UN representatives like Razeli Ismail to talk with the peace movement and offer freedom to Suu Kyi. The impact of the release is being savoured all over the world. The USA, the UK and the rest of the world hailed Suu Kyi’s coming out of the house arrest. What happens now would be of vital interest. Could it lead to something more by way of a permanent solution? The mere release will not amount to much. The junta must be persuaded to share power with the people, organise and hold elections which would be supervised by the world community and allow some of its own to be tried for human rights violations. Military rulers all over the world had baulked at such steps. Absolute political power was too intoxicating to be shared among the masses. It remains to be seen, how much the Myanmar junta was prepared to give up or share with its people. On her own part, Suu Kyi is reported to be ready for a step by step dialogue with the generals. She knows it would be too unrealistic to demand too much, too soon. According to sources close to the Myanmar leader, rather than insisting on an immediate and complete transfer of power, she had chosen to focus on influencing specific policies. These issues mainly relating to the national economy, education and health, to start with, will be taken up for discussion with the generals before entering the more tricky areas of defence, civil liberties and the role of armed forces in a proposed democratic set up. Perhaps, the people of Myanmar may have to wait for a long time before they became truly independent and were able to decide their own political future. But they should not mind the waiting period, provided it offered them a permanent solution to their political future. The rest of the world, had an important role to play in the future developments of Myanmar. A beginning could be made with trade. The USA did not see eye to eye on many issues with China, but that had not deterred them from expanding trade on all fronts. There are more exchanges on the trade, culture, education, health and sports fronts. Considering the fact that the USA was totally hostile to China for several decades, calling it contemptuously the ‘Yellow Peril’, the new phase of near-normal relations began with trade exchanges. This could be the model for any future rapport with Myanmar whose enormous natural resources were waiting to be explored. A word of warning. Suu Kyi’s release should not lead to excessive euphoria. Military generals are always fickle minded and their views on what constituted ‘democracy’ often turned into mirages, frustrating everyone. If Suu Kyi’s release was motivated by genuine factors to ease tensions in the country, these should be encouraged. |
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Need for a mass awakening “WE don't need any lessons on secularism from anybody.” This pompous piece of rhetoric came from the Prime Minister as a reaction to the feelings of horror over the Gujarat killings expressed by a number of friendly countries. Don't we, Mr. Vajpayee? I think we certainly do. Particularly now. No one can any longer take secularism for granted. Now is the time when our society should examine its feelings towards this unique Indian phenomenon. Confusion has already been created by such epithets as pseudo-secularism. Anyone who defends the rights of minorities is dubbed pseudo-secular. Anyone who condemns the majority community's fascism is called anti-Hindu or anti-national. In the heated intellectual climate of today's India, rationality seems to be in retreat. The cherished values of our society that were so far taken for granted are forgotten, and now secularism is under attack. We have to tell the Hindutva protagonists that we will not accept religious nationalism parading as secularism. We want secularism and nothing but secularism. This is why we have to keep redefining it, keep reminding ourselves of its values and its practice. Secularism is in keeping religion as a private matter, keeping politics free from it. Communalism may seem attractive as a political tool, but it will in the end destroy our society and all it has stood for. Gandhiji believed that religious values ought to guide our actions in public life, but even he, I dare say, would have changed his view had he been alive today! Defending secularism has become the duty of all true patriots. From all accounts, from Gujarat and elsewhere, it is clear that the communal poison has gone deep into the body of our nation. The effect of years of vicious propaganda is now beginning to show. What happened in Gujarat may well happen in other parts of the country. Hatred of Muslims now pervades Hindu society irrespective of class, culture or education. Unless we recognise that fascist forces are active and are making headway, we cannot save this nation from anarchy and chaos. Prayer meetings and such pious activities cannot provide the solution. What we need is political action, mass agitation and demonstrations, a mass awakening. See what the French have done to Le Pen. For ten days almost the whole nation came out in support of Chirac to make sure that Le Pen did not win the Presidential election. The whole spectrum of politics united, Left, Centre and Right. There were demonstrations throughout the land, and Le Pen was shown his place. The French were only acting according to their memory of history. They have known what it is to be under Nazi occupation. They know the dangers of racism and dictatorship. They were only listening to the wisdom of their famous philosopher, Albert Camus, who said, “Fascism is like the plague bacillus which never dies or disappears for good — it may be dormant for some time before one day deciding to rouse up its rats.” |
Joshi’s sense of humour will see him through Manohar Joshi’s elevation to the Speaker’s post was a surprise decision of the BJP leadership when it appeared almost certain that the choice would fall on Petroleum Minister Ram Naik, a stickler of rules and procedures and too upright a man to humour defiant members. MPs, cutting across party lines, now say that, despite his Shiv Sena background, Joshi is more suited to preside over the present house which often becomes uncontrollable and every thing goes haywire. Joshi has come up in life very hard way and had to struggle every inch to make his way in the uncertain world of politics. Twenty seven years back when he arrived in Bombay from a remote town of Raigarh district of Maharashtra for higher education, he was dazed by the glamour of the metropolis. Having obtained the Master’s degree, he graduated in Law and began his career as a clerk in Bombay’s Municipal corporation on a meager salary, became a corporator and, subsequently, rose to the position of the mayor of Bombay. His slogan was ‘Clean Bombay, Green Bombay’ as he took up host of other issues relating to labour, agriculture, housing, employment and promotion of Marathi language. In his days of adversity, he ran tutorial classes for students and had come to be known as ‘Principal Joshi’. Joshi took a plunge in building activities and soon became a well-known builder. His business thrived and it turned out to be literally “a rag to riches” story. The course of his life changed when he came in contact with Bal Thackrey. He led many Shiv Sena-sponsored agitations and became one of the important financers of the Sena. First break in Joshi’s political career came in 1972, when he was elected to Maharashtra Legislative Council and had a 15-year long stint as MLC. For the first time, he contested the state assembly election in 1990 and became the leader of the opposition. Luck finally smiled on Joshi when he was elected to the assembly for the second time in 1995 and replaced formidable Sharad Pawar as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. He headed Shiv Sena-BJP coalition which was the first-ever real non-congress government in the state. Even though Joshi ousted Pawar, he maintained his friendship with the Maharashtra strongman. His rumour often sparked when he compared Pawar with the late Y.B. Chavan. “While Yashwant Raoji used to keep good relations with the opposition leaders, his foster son (Pawar) goes a step forward; lures opposition members to his party”, Joshi would say in his meetings. He is a powerful speaker and keeps his audience in good humour. Manohar Joshi developed differences with Thackeray in the last year of his tenure as the Chief Minister and was forced to step down by the Shiv Sena supremo to be replaced by a staunch Sena man, Narayan Rane. Though little known outside, Rane was a confidant of Thackeray and a Maratha and in Sena Chief’s reckoning the new CM would sway Maratha votes. His calculation proved to be misplaced. Insiders say that Thackeray did not like the rising clout of Joshi who had begun defying the Sena “dictator” and not fully meeting the financial requirements of the organisation. Come 1999 mid-term poll and Thackeray fielded Joshi from Mumbai North Central constituency. He won by a margin of over 1.68 lakh votes and moved to the Centre. He was inducted in the Vajpayee Government and given the portfolio of Heavy Industry and Public Enterprise. With his long experience in public life, Joshi was counted as an efficient minister of the NDA government but he was not happy in his ministerial office and preferred the Speaker’s post. |
Presidential poll: All eyes on Narayanan
While unopposed election of Narayanan, who was in the Congress, would be to the liking of the latter, partymen feel that there were clear possibilities of his emerging a winner even in a contest. They say that Bahujan Samaj Party and the members from weaker sections in the other parties would find it difficult not to back Narayanan. The difficulty for the Congress is that Narayanan has not given his mind on the issue with reports suggesting that he would be willing for a second term only in case of a consensus. The Congress is not talking about alternatives and is extremely cautious about reacting to names being mentioned as likely candidates of NDA. Congressmen seem somewhat cagey to the oft-mentioned name of Maharashtra Governor P C Alexander as the likely NDA nominee. After the uncontested election of a Shiv Sena leader as Lok Sabha Speaker, for which Congress drew flak, it perhaps does not want to be seen as endorsing a candidate who also has support from Shiv Sena. There is also talk in certain quarters about Congress leaders not agreeing with certain remarks made in a book by Alexander. Man
in focus Dr P. C. Alexander, who was principal secretary to Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi between 1981 and 1985, was privy to some of the most momentous
developments in the history of free India. Though always perceived to be close to the Congress, it may be a different ball game for the party on the issue of Presidential elections. In his book “In the new millennium”, Alexander has made certain hard-hitting observations about the post-Nehru leadership. In this book published last year, Alexander writes: “The post-Nehruvian period, according to most people, has been a period of decline in standards of both efficiency and integrity in India’s political leadership. It is obvious that today’s political leaders do not command the same degree of respect from the people as the leaders of the Gandhian or Nehruvian periods did. One reason is that they lack the halo of freedom fighters which had enabled their predecessors to command high respect among the people. However, the more serious cause of disillusionment is that most of them do not measure up even remotely to the Gandhian standards of purity in public life”. Obviously, these comments are being seen as a reflection on the Congress leadership of Indira-Rajiv era. Celebrity
concern “Icons like Sachin Tendulkar and Shah Rukh Khan, in greed of money, should not accept advertisements from firms of doubtful integrity and should check before they accept the offer,” he said. But even the icons have not been spared by the owners of the Home Trade company as was revealed by another member of the House. Mr Rajiv Shukla pointed out that the scam was more in the nature of a fraud as the CEO of Home Trade had not even paid the amount he had promised to Sachin Tendulkar and Shah Rukh Khan for doing the company’s advertisement. Samosas
& jalebis The US paratroopers are in Agra for joint military exercises with their Indian counterparts to achieve synergy in airborne military operations. But there seems to be synergy in other spheres too, especially eating habits. The American commandos, who were initially sceptical about eating Indian food, have developed a great liking for samosas and jalebis. There is no get-together of Indian and American paratroopers at Agra airbase these days where the hosts do not arrange samosas and jalebis, says Air Commodore S N Bal. Now the Americans are graduating to South Indian dishes like idli and
dosa. Sonia
stumped! Last week during the Lok Sabha Speaker’s election, when reports reached Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi that Sonia Gandhi was contemplating to oppose his candidature he rushed to Madam. Joshi reportedly told Sonia that her mother-in-law Indira Gandhi had got him elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Council in the mid seventies. Grapevine has it that Sonia was stumped with this argument and dropped her plans to oppose him. After Joshi’s election, Sonia attended Joshi’s dinner and spent over 40 minutes at his residence and opted for home-made Sakarbhat over five-star food. Incidentally, Sakarbhat was also preferred by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. Contributed by T.V. Lakshminarayan, Prashant Sood, Rajeev Sharma, Girja Shankar Kaura, S. Satyanarayanan, Satish Misra and Tripti
Nath. |
Classical dance to dominate Sindhu festival ON May 20, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee leaves for his annual holiday at Manali and before the month ends, Union Home Minister L.K.Advani would be in Leh for the annual Sindhu festival which is to begin on the first of June. For some reason the chief guest at this festival for the past three years has been Mr Advani. And like the past years, the focus would be on classical dances. This year Delhi- based artist Naresh Kapuria will be putting up a 200-feet long canvas. I am not sure whether he would be painting the realities of the day or leaving things at the abstract level. It was heartening to know that the Government of France has conferred on Aruna Vasudev the award of “Chevalier des Arts et
Letters” (Knight of the order of the Arts and Letter). Aruna is the chief editor of Cinemaya and is an active member of the Indo-French Initiative Forum and has been responsible for NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema). In fact, the French Embassy spokesperson says that thanks to her efforts, the Indian cinema is being discovered in France and in many other European countries. The Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris has decided to pay a special tribute to her and to her journal with the screening of Asian short films and Ritwik Ghatak’s Subarnarekha in Paris on June 3. I have been wondering about what makes the 60 plus Vasudev so successful in every sense of the word. I think it is her attitude to life. Last year at one of the French Embassy dos, she was busy dancing and laughing even though she had told me that she had been operated upon for cataract just a couple of days back. Modi
hatao If you were to ask Congressmen whether there’s all quiet on Gujarat and Narendra Modi front, they will tell you that they are raking it up in a big way on May 21 — the death anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi. I am told that senior Congress leaders have been despatched to different state capitals and that the day would be marked by rallies and the demand for the ouster of Gujarat chief minister. Refugees'
woes I think never before has there been so much focus on refugees. In the last six weeks, I have attended more than three seminars on the refugee crisis. Now there will be immediate focus on them as this coming week Ruud Lubbers, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, would be visiting New Delhi. Maybe it is a routine visit, but the state of the refugees living in the country isn’t plain
routine. Well-to-do refugee families trying to somehow survive UNHCR’s Chief of Mission to India Augustine Mahiga had told me that most of Afghan refugees who had been fleeing to India were either businessmen (usually those with Hindu and Sikh origins) or former bureaucrats and military personnel. |
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PUNJAB Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has got a head start to his tenure, with the Vigilance Bureau stumbling across what has been described as the biggest recruitment scandal ever unearthed in the country. While the last has not yet been heard on 1’affaire Ravinder Pal Singh Sidhu — one is yet to know the exact version of the main accused in the sordid drama — it can hardly be denied that the issue has given a fillip to the claims of Captain Singh that he intends to combat corruption in public life. No matter at which end of the political spectrum one happens to be, it is difficult to disagree with Captain Singh’s choice of corruption as the central component of his thrust against his political opponents. And therein lurks a grave danger.
Times, however, have changed. Captain Singh is no longer perturbed by his Sikh conscience that led him to resign from the Congress in the wake of Operation Blue Star. He is no longer an Akali either. Quite the contrary, he heads a Congress government that has Parkash Singh Badal on its plate for breakfast, lunch and supper. What has not changed, luckily, however, is Captain Singh’s romance with idealistic passions. And unluckily, neither has his love for the gallery. And the presence of these dichotomous sentiments in the Chief Minister threatens the outcome of this famous campaign against corruption.
AUNG San Suu Kyi’s release after nearly 19 months house arrest in Myanmar brings new hope for its people who had been under various military regimes for nearly 40 years. Can it lead to a true dialogue between the military rulers of the country and representatives of the freedom movement, led by Suu Kyi?
ROBUST commonsense and sense of humour are the two qualities that help a Speaker to keep Lok Sabha, often unruly, in order. Making a defiant member silent by the force of sheer logic or wit have been traits of the new Speaker Manohar Gajanan Joshi’s style of functioning and he demonstrated them in ample measure within days of occupying the high constitutional office. This correspondent has watched three Speakers — N. Sanjiva Reddy, G.S.Dhillon and P.A. Sangma — defuse a surcharged situation by making irate members cool their frayed tempers by sheer humour. Doubtless, three presiding officers were well versed in rules and procedure and, so must be Joshi, but their reaction at the spur of the moment proved more handy than the mastery of cumbersome rule book. The new Speaker has to be watched as he unfurls his hitherto little known talents.
CONGRESS leaders, it seems, heartily want President K.R.Narayanan to say yes to a second term in Rashtrapati Bhavan. His being in the fray, even if there is a contest for the post, suits the party eminently. Ever since the names for new President started doing the rounds, Congressmen have been effusive in praising the President, describing him as one of the best the country has had.
The debate on the calling attention motion pertaining to the recent securities scam to hit the country saw members expressing concern of a different kind. The concern was not about the common man losing money or being duped as a result of such scams. But it was for film and sportsworld celebrities taking up advertisement contracts with tainted companies. The concern was expressed by Samajwadi Party member Amar Singh over icons like Sachin Tendulkar and Shah Rukh Khan accepting contracts to appear in advertisements for the ‘Home Trade’ company. His concern was that the superstars should not be ‘in greed’ for money and should accept advertisement contracts only after checking the background of the companies as it could also affect their reputation.