EDITORIALS

Election noises
What BJP recited at Raipur was the mantra of vote

THE three-day meeting of the National Executive of the BJP at Raipur can be described as a please-all exercise. The various pulls and pressures the party has been experiencing from within and without the Sangh Parivar found a reflection in its deliberations. Take, for instance, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's clamour for a Bill to build a Ram temple at Ayodhya. Both the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister have taken pains to explain that the party prefers a negotiated settlement of the dispute. However, they have not altogether repudiated the legislative option. The party's doublespeak is even more blatant when it says the Ram temple will be on the party agenda but it will not be an election issue. Similarly, the BJP is not prepared to abandon its demands for a uniform civil code and abrogation of Article 370 while insisting that it will not forsake the dharma of coalition. It is difficult to make out whether the party will contest on its own the coming Assembly elections or opt for an alliance from the noises heard at Raipur.

However, one thing is clear - the BJP will follow whatever it thinks will help the party reap electoral dividends. Thus, if it is convinced that it can meet on its own the opposition challenge in the states going to the polls by the end of this year, nothing will stop it from doing so. Much the same can be said about the strategy it will follow in the next Lok Sabha elections, the timing of which will be dependent on the kind of support it gets in the assembly elections. Nonetheless, it is quite likely that it will fight the Lok Sabha elections under the NDA banner.

If the National Executive has been unambiguous about anything, it is on the question of who will lead the party in the next general election. There is no mistaking that it will be under the tried and tested leadership of Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee that it will be contesting the elections. The strategy, obviously, is to pit him against an inexperienced Mrs Sonia Gandhi and thereby draw the electoral advantage. The party may not have enhanced its credibility by speaking in different tongues on the Congress president's eligibility for the leadership of the country but it has certainly succeeded in making it an issue. There are clear indications that the party will harp on her foreign origin to drive home the point that she is hardly a rival for Mr Vajpayee. It is confident about winning a personality contest in which the BJP leader is head and shoulders above the Congress nominee. Hence all the noise about Sonia Gandhi's eligibility for the top post. However, in this respect, too, the party is careful enough not to mount any vicious personal attack against her lest it should antagonise those who do not see anything amiss in her foreign origin. It was truly a please-all meeting with an eye on the next year's polls.

The return of Tohra
He has a knack of bouncing back

MR Gurcharan Singh Tohra is back to the centrestage of Punjab politics. He is the most durable political leader of the state. A kingmaker, he had been lording over the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) for 25 years, till his inglorious exit in 1999, following his differences with Mr Parkash Singh Badal. It was perhaps for the first time that he was outmanoeuvred. Obviously, the former Chief Minister is under pressure because of the investigations into the reported financial scandals that he is alleged to have committed. It is an irony that the very person he ousted as the head of the SGPC is now indispensable to pull his chestnuts out of the fire. Now that Mr Badal and Mr Tohra have patched up, largely due to mutual compulsions, both are glossing over their earlier statements and issues. Following the resignation of Mr Kirpal Singh Badungar, it is a foregone conclusion that Mr Tohra will again become the president of the SGPC. He holds the record of having been the longest-serving president of the Sikh body. He holds another record - as a member since 1960. A grassroots political leader who has risen from the ranks, Mr Tohra cut his teeth in agitational politics, for which he has been imprisoned a number of times. He has, however, a knack of keeping interpersonal relationships intact, even if he has political differences with people. In fact, his 'friendship' with leaders of different hues, even those diametrically opposed to his point of view, is legendary.

Now that Mr Tohra is back in the Akali fold, he will need all his skills to keep the besieged cadres and the party president in good humour. The SGPC has always played a role that goes way beyond managing Sikh gurdwaras. Many issues cropped up during Mr Tohra's absence, including those of the role of the jathedars of various Takhts and the demand that women should be given the right to perform sewa at Harmandar Sahib. They need to be addressed immediately. It has, unfortunately, been seen that when parties tend to be voted out of power, they take to divisive and confrontational politics. The effect of such dalliances is too recent in the history of Punjab to be forgotten. Mr Tohra has staged a comeback at a crucial time, and it is expected that he, having learnt from past mistakes, will provide the right kind of leadership to the community.

India as Bihar
Rabri Devi seems to have a dream

MR Laloo Prasad Yadav understood the effect of soundbites on his popularity rating before television became the primary source of news and entertainment. He now provides both in abundant measure, apart from leadership to Bihar through his wife as Chief Minister. After living for years under the shadow of her hilariously famous husband Mrs Rabri Devi also seems to have discovered the art of providing a bit of both, news and entertainment, to the media.

The Opposition recently helped the Yadav parivar hog the limelight again by planting a juicy story about the non-payment of Rs 17 lakh by the Chief Minister for the uninterrupted supply of tea and refreshments for visitors. The issue was too trivial to merit official comment. An unpaid bill of Rs 17 lakh spread over a period of three years is mere piffle. It adds up to less than Rs 2,000 a day. If anything, the Chief Minister would like to sell this bit of information as an example of austerity by the residents of 1 Anne Marg.

But Mrs Rabri Devi has bigger concerns weighing on her mind. For instance, the future of Bihar. Whether she sat under the tree that provided enlightenment to Prince Siddharth is not clear, but she woke up recently with the knowledge that only a Bihari Prime Minister can save Bihar. Political gyana is not necessarily rooted in logic. The three Nehru-Gandhi prime ministers were from Uttar Pradesh. Do not ignore the incomplete terms of Lal Bahadur Shastri, Charan Singh, Mr V. P. Singh and Mr Chandra Shekhar. The prime ministerial contribution to the development of Allahabad, Raebareli, Baghpat, Amethi, Fatehpur and Balia may shake Mrs Rabri Devi out of her reverie. Of course, heavens will not fall if she is given a fair hearing by the people of India. The only problem is that Bihari politicians do not believe in half-measures. If a Prime Minister from Bihar, say Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav, fails to turn Bihar into India, he will at least turn India into another Bihar. 

Thought for the day

You won the elections, but I won the count.

— Anastasio Somoza

OPINION

Russia calls ‘rogue states’ concept evil
India can help establish New World Order
by S. Nihal Singh

IN an amazing tour de force, the sitting Russian Foreign Minister, Mr Igor Ivanov, tells the world about the heartbreaks that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union*. After many stumbles, Russia picked itself up and evolved a new foreign policy concept. He does not pull any punches in recounting the tribulations nor in articulating Moscow's interests.

After Peter the Great opened St Petersburg, as a window on Europe, Russia's orientation towards the West was a notable feature of foreign policy. Indeed, from the beginning of the 19th century, Russia was a significant actor in European affairs and was a guarantor of the 1648 Westphalia dispensation establishing state sovereignty. Then came the 1917 Revolution and the ideological bent introduced to retain a new empire.

The break-up of the Soviet Union brought bewilderment and in the early nineties, President Boris Yeltsin swung to the West — the Euro-Atlantic structure, as the Foreign Minister calls it — when neither side was prepared for it. The wake-up call came with the eastward expansion of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, which Russia vociferously opposed but could not prevent. The one lesson Russia absorbed was to embrace “an economical and focused approach”.

Mr Ivanov describes the present foreign policy as a synthesis of Soviet legacy, the resurrected imperial traditions of the Tsars and new approaches to a world that has changed fundamentally. It meant no to a class struggle fuelling the arms race and draining the resources of the nation, in his view, one of the main reasons for the Soviet Union’s collapse. A primary aim of Russian foreign policy in the last 1,000 years, he tells us, is to resist the isolation of the Russian nation flowing from a policy of “enlightened patriotism”.

That the Russian Foreign Minister promotes the concept of a multipolar world is no surprise. He comes down heavily on the “one size fits all” world order promoted by a group of countries dominated by the United States and NATO setting the rules the rest of the world must follow. Such an approach weakens the United Nations and the post-World War II order. In the Russian view, NATO remains a military bloc although Russia is trying to cooperate with it. He also snipes at the tendency of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe to seek to broaden its agenda.

Calling the European Union Russia's natural partner, a central Russian premise is that the EU can realise its potential as an independent centre of power only if it joins Russia in projecting policy. Predictably, Mr Ivanov is severe on the American air war on Yugoslavia conducted as a NATO exercise and warns that if Kosovo, now run as an international protectorate, breaks away, it would give a fillip to extremism. The only cure is for the Balkan states to acknowledge each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. It was a sign of Russian weakness that Moscow could not stop Americans bombing their Slav brothers and, in the end, drove the last nail in Slobodan Milosevic’s coffin by abandoning him.

The Soviet break-up meant that millions of Russian citizens became foreigners, and a primary aim of Russian policy is to protect their interests. Mr Ivanov confesses that Russia had a bumpy ride in seeking to reorder relations with the former Soviet republics through the Commonwealth of Independent States and had to settle for a two-tier cooperation of the willing, deepening bilateral relations with individual countries. Georgia presents problems and Turkmenistan prefers to stay “neutral”, whatever that might mean.

America used the “war on terror” to install military bases in the former Soviet Central Asian states and has long been seeking to get a handle on the energy resources of the Caspian basin. Indeed, the surprise was in Moscow’s acceptance of the new US bases (stemming from its weakness), but Russia has been fighting a rearguard action to set up alternative defence arrangements and to assert its primacy in the sources of energy in what it calls the “near abroad”. It is seeking the agreement of both China and Japan on pipelines to transport Siberia’s abundant resources.

Another surprise of post-Soviet history has been how tamely the Russians finally accepted Washington’s abrogation of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, a central arch of the post-World War II defence architecture. This move, Mr Ivanov says, is motivated by exclusive US interests. Russia's unhappiness is laced with the warning that Moscow would be forced to bring into play counter-measures to a missile defence.

Mr Ivanov reminds us that two-thirds of Russia lies in Asia and a Russia-China partnership is at the heart of building a New World Order, with India’s “significant” help. Although the formulation on the resolution of the Kashmir problem is dutifully proclaimed on the basis of the Shimla Agreement and the Lahore Declaration, Russia does not accept them as nuclear powers and insists that they must sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Nor can India find much comfort from Mr Ivanov’s assertion in favour of nuclear weapons free zones in Asia, with China, of course, continuing to enjoy its nuclear weapon status.

It was a tradition in the Tsarist days to induct poets and writers into the diplomatic service and Pushkin, the great Russian poet, was given a place in it. Russia is apparently taking its time to emulate the Tsarist example, but it would bring a breath of fresh air to the stolid corridors of foreign offices around the world.

What is surprising in the candid portrait of Russian policy Mr Ivanov has drawn is his frankness in acknowledging the initial blunders before focusing on a realistic policy. The Russian infatuation with the West, he suggests, was relatively short-lived and superficial. The Russian worldview is so diametrically opposed to the Bush administration’s that one must wonder at the shape of things to come in international affairs.

Russia views itself as an independent pole in a multipolar world. It believes that if states' security is not upheld by international law, they will seek to protect themselves “by all means”. Moscow wants to strengthen the United Nations as an overarching instrument for international peace and security. Russia considers the concept of “rogue states” evil. No one country can single-handedly solve regional problems (witness West Asia) and no important global problem can be solved without involving Moscow and Washington. Russia is for cordial transatlantic relations, but not at the cost of being relegated “to the backyard”. But Mr Ivanov acknowledges that his country has limited resources to pursue its “new cold and scientific approach” to foreign policy.

*The New Russian Diplomacy by Igor R. Ivanov; Nixon Centre and Brookings Institution Press, Washington, DC; pp 203

The writer is a former Editor of The Statesman

MIDDLE

Monsoon magic
by Ramesh Luthra

SO there you are at last after a long long wait, dear monsoon. Everyone was looking at the blazing sky with screwed eyes — sometimes shaded by hands. Not a single patch of clouds! How miserable! Dry parched land and the burning hot skies. That is all one could see around. Human hands went up in prayer! So bountiful you are! Answered their prayers.

First there was a drizzle. Next moment we were drenched all over — body as well as soul. It felt as if the nectar entered every pore, inch by inch and then all over.

I uplift my face. The heavens bless me straight on the face. A soul-stirring experience wherein body and soul become just one whole.

I feel an exhilarating fragrance around me which the earth emanates out of sheer joy — perhaps out of gratitude to the skies. After all the thirsty and parched earth has been blessed with life-giving showers.

I expand my chest to inhale, deeper, still deeper, to take in rich fragrance as much as I can. Go wild and run here and there. Such is my de’ja’vu. Surroundings have undergone a transformation.

I just can’t resist plying paper boats in the rivulet formed by gushing waters. Sheer fun watching the boats floating, running along with them exclaiming: “I have won.... I have won.” The uproar created by us took me back to the commotion during kite flying.

Lightning gets furious. Hence mother calls me inside. Not a bad bargain. She knows what I relish in the “barkha”. There she lays down a feast of “pakoras” and “sweet poodas”. She does not forget to prepare “kheer” with a rich helping of dry fruit. In the adjoining room my sister is engrossed in listening to “savan ke badlo un se ye ja kaho”. Her fiance is settled far away. Of course yearning to convey her passionate feelings through the clouds. Wish Kalidas’ “Meghdoot” could come to her rescue.

Wow! there is the multicoloured rainbow to cheer. Nature’s art at its best. The unforgettable majestic peacock! Its stately dance! Nothing can beat it. Certainly gods too would envy humans’ lot to watch the peacock under trance. Gives one the feeling monsoon is a Pandoras box laying open christmatic things for us. Why should the glow-worms be left behind? Nature’s lamps emitting light at night. Sheer magic created by the divine.

The “teej” fair with the romance of “savan” woven with henna on soft hands, tempting multicoloured bangles around fair arms and the swings touching the very clouds. A world of fantasy, indeed. The soothing showers make nature too heady. It seems to be under the spell of heavenly waters.

Rains bring with them the king of fruit in its varied variety. Enjoying a feast of mangoes is a bliss of the monsoons. Boy! I won’t forgo it for any other pleasure on the earth. Such is your felicity, thou monsoon!

NEWS ANALYSIS

Vajpayee emerges as undisputed leader
A please-all strategy leaves contentious issues unsettled
by Satish Misra

PRIME Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is the supreme leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party. This is the main message of the BJP’s three-day National Executive meeting at Chattisgarh capital Raipur. Every other leader comes after him. Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani stands at rather distant second in the scheme of hierarchy in the party.

Mr Vajpayee’s line was accepted and even Mr Advani endorsed it, presenting a picture of unity. It appeared that Mr Advani had accepted the Prime Minister’s position on major issues totally.

On the last day of the meeting, party President M Venkaiah Naidu left no one in doubt when he made it clear that the BJP would enter the electoral fray under the “able, competent, experienced, wise and visionary” leadership of Mr Vajpayee.

Other issues, including the most contentious ones like that of Ayodhya, uniform civil code and abrogation of Article 370, are for the party’s emotional linkages with the Sangh Parivar and that too essentially for electoral advantages.

Mr Naidu announced loudly to the media for the consumption of the party’s traditional followers and sympathisers that the BJP had not left any of its dear ideological issues, but the Vajpayee government was helpless to pursue them as they were not part of the agreed common agenda for governance.

Ayodhya figured prominently as a special resolution was passed on the issue. The party politely conveyed to the Sangh Parivar, particularly the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, that the Vajpayee government would not bring in legislation for facilitating the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya. Mr Vajpayee made it clear that the path of dialogue was the best route for solving the Ayohdya problem amicably.

Mr Vajpayee’s strong disapproval, rather criticism, of the VHP’s approach and his message to the Executive members that the Parishad’s unnecessary accusations were spoiling the atmosphere was underplayed by the party with a view to keeping the Sangh Parivar in good humour.

Essentially, the three-day exercise focussed on ways and means to win the coming Assembly elections in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh by ousting the Congress governments, to enter for the first time the Mizoram Assembly and retain power in New Delhi.

For testing the electoral waters, the party finetuned its strategy for the Assembly elections by discussing ‘Operation 2003’. It was decided that the party would go it alone. The ‘Mission 2004’ for the Lok Sabha poll was also discussed which analysed the party’s and the NDA partners’ strengths and weaknesses.

It was agreed that while on the one hand the party would trumpet its achievements by going to youth, attempt to win over women voters by trying to enact a law which would increase women representation in the Lok Sabha and legislatures, on the other in the absence of any emotive issue like Ayodhya, Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s foreign orgins, lack of experience and immaturity will be one of the major issues in the Lok Sabha poll.

The party, concerned over the revival of the Congress’ fortunes, decided at Raipur that all possible means would be used to expose the main political rivals. For winning the elections, the Executive approved a 26-point programme of action which in the party’s assessment would help in mobilising support for the party.

One of the positive features of the three-day deliberations was the economic resolution which was introduced by Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley and seconded by Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie, but then the subsequent debate helped possibly in opening up the closed minds which have grown on the staple diet of temples, minority hatred and casteism and regionalism.

Mr Naidu claimed from the roof top that the party had clarity but then it was meant to enthuse the delegates who, in turn, could motivate and mobilise the party cadres.

In this direction, the BJP managed to do well at Raipur as the party managers presented a rosy picture of the country’s economy and successes on other fronts, including the fight aginst terrorism from across the border.

The meeting made a conscious effort to manage the obvious contradictions without treading either on the toes of the Sangh or alienating that section of the electorate consisting of the urban middle class and secularists.

These contradictions have not been sorted out, but left hanging for the time being in view of the impending elections. For this exercise, the BJP used its trusted and time-tested instrument of confusion. By emitting confusing signals, the BJP has sought to please everyone. But whether it has succeeded in doing so is still to be seen.

DELHI DURBAR

Sugar-coated Bill on women’s quota

MOVES to introduce a double-member constituency in the Lok Sabha is unlikely to increase the strength of women representatives to the cherished dream of 33 per cent of the total strength of the House. If the 181 seats are made double members then too it would be way below the magical figure as the strength of the Lower House would then go up to 726.

All the debate has been about giving 33 per cent reservation to women in the House and the critical arithmetic of 181 has been arrived at from the Lok Sabha’s present strength of 545 members. The proposal would, however, increase the strength of women representatives to about 24 per cent from the current figure of single digit representation. Are the women representatives ready to accept such a watered-downed proposal?

Jaya as Prime Minister!

When it comes to Hindutva issues, especially the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, VHP leader Praveen Togadia is not shy of making abrasive statements to put pressure on the BJP. The firebrand VHP leader, who has been vociferously demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for not taking the initiative of coming forward with legislation in Parliament to resolve the Ayodhya issue, told newspersons in Chennai recently that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa will make an “excellent Prime Minister”.

Although he did not elaborate, it was obvious that the VHP leader wanted to point out to the BJP bosses that the lady down South had more guts to pursue the Hindutva agenda. Even on earlier occasions, Togadia had made fun of BJP leaders by openly admiring Ms Jayalalithaa’s leadership qualities and for bringing in an anti-conversion law in Tamil Nadu as also her bold statement against the Pope.

Pakistan’s PM vs President

A Pakistani citizen who was recently in New Delhi made an interesting observation: “We have chosen an Army chief who is also the President of the country. And we have chosen a Prime Minister, who literally would not mind running errands for the boss. Therefore, when it comes to diplomatic niceties, he doubles up as the Sindhi interpreter to the President. But when it comes to hard negotiations, the President lets it be known who the boss is.”

Railways’ media consultant

Realising the need to improve its image in the face of criticism from various quarters, the Railway Ministry has now handpicked a retired news agency man to assist its Director, Public Relations. According to sources in Rail Bhavan, Mr Krishan Anand, who retired as the Roving Editor of PTI, is credited with a good understanding of the Railways which he once covered. Mr Anand’s appointment as the Media Consultant, first such post, is said to have been approved by the Railway Board.

Swamy on Capitol Hill

Irrepressible Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy is to address a conference as a guest speaker on the Capitol Hill in Washington on July 24 hosted by Senator Thomas Harkins and Representative Joseph Pitts. He is expected to dwell on the tense Indo-Pak relations. Dr Swamy believes that in Indo-Pak relations can improve if both sides first unravel the convoluted Kashmir issue.

Contributed by R Suryamurthy, S. Satyanarayanan, Girja Shankar Kaura and Tripti Nath

REFLECTIONS

Our pains and pleasures are in accordance with God’s will.

Basant, 1188

Everyone craves happiness, no one asks for misery.

Siri, 57

Poise is attained by piercing the heart through with the love of the Word and by regarding pain and pleasure alike.

Siri, 57

Arms that do not surround the neck of the spouse, burn in anguish.

Wadhans, 558

I love my Lord body and soul, but He has left for foreign lands. He is not coming home and I am pining. The lightning flashes and terrifies me. My bed is lonely and I feel great misery, so much so that I feel I am dying of it., Mother! Without Him, I feel neither sleepy, nor hungry. I cannot suffer even my clothes upon me.

Guru Nanak, Tukhari, 1108

He who loves to see God, does not care for salvation or paradise.

Asa, 360.

The accumulated effect of past deeds cannot be removed (except through God’s grace).

Basant, 1171