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Wednesday,
July 30, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Politics of bluff Another Mumbai blast Mithi in trouble |
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A common civil code
A world within the world
Suu Kyi: the lonely road once more?
DELHI DURBAR
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Politics of bluff THE
new age kids are taught how to box, kick, punch and attack for protecting themselves from human predators. Ms Mayawati, in a manner of speaking, is a new age politician. She, therefore, follows the same rules for surviving in politics. Of course, she will never acknowledge her own contribution to making politics stink. The controversial Taj heritage project is the latest example of what she would have got away with had an alert media not blown the whistle. Now that she is feeling cornered, she has chosen attack as the best form of defence. On Monday in Lucknow she did not even bat her eyelids while demanding the head of Union Tourism and Cultural Affairs Minister Jagmohan for his "role" in the controversial Taj heritage project! On Tuesday she also mobilised her party MPs to create trouble in the Lok Sabha — although in vain. The Prime Minister has outrightly rejected her cheeky demand for Mr Jagmohan's ouster from his Council of Ministers. Her withdrawal of the demand now does not mitigate her offence. Ms Mayawati was finding Mr Jagmohan inconvenient as he does not shirk from doing his duty. Apparently, Mr Jagmohan is not helping her to hide under cover, particularly when she is afraid of the truth coming out. Not long ago when questions were asked about the extravagant scale of her state-funded birthday bash, Ms Mayawati turned it into an issue of the dignity of a "Dalit ki beti". Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav produced tapes of her style of running the Bahujan Samaj Party, and found himself facing 29 cases of corruption, vendetta and violence. In the present case she tried to dictate to the Prime Minister of the country her price for supporting his government. What essentially she wanted was a tacit assurance from Mr Vajpayee that the Maya raj will not be disturbed in spite of the evidence of her role in the Taj scam reaching the apex court. No one can perhaps bail her out now. She has to defend herself. |
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Another Mumbai blast THE
gun culture has taken over Mumbai at the micro as well as macro level. Mafia holds the financial Capital of the country to ransom and everyone who has made money or name lives in eternal fear of “bhai”. Most of these shadowy groups have links with terrorists and foreign forces out to destabilise the country. Mafia provides local support for the big players determined to wreck India from within. Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde has said that the powerful blast in a bus in the north-eastern Mumbai suburb of Ghatkopar on Monday night is believed to have been triggered by suspected activists of “Al-e-Aziz”, a shadow outfit of the Lashkar-e-Toiba. It may have been timed to coincide with the chargesheeting of some SIMI activists linked with Lashkar for an earlier blast in Mulund. Some more are scheduled to be chargesheeted on July 31 for the December 2, 2002, bomb explosion at Ghatkopar. By such depredation, they apparently want to motivate their cadres to carry on their fight against India. Shedding the blood of innocent people is a cowardly act no doubt but it will be futile to expect ruthless killers to think along these lines. For them every unguarded person, place or thing is an ideal target. Eternal vigil is the only antidote. As August 15 draws nearer, Delhi is on high alert. One is not too sure about the state of preparedness in Maharashtra. The need for extreme caution cannot be overemphasised because “Kumbh mela” is to commence at Nashik and Trimbakeshwar today. At least six million people, including sadhus, mahants, devotees and tourists are expected to participate in the religious event. Antinational forces may try to use the occasion to foment communal trouble. Such attacks are not launched without the blessings of the masters sitting abroad. It is customary for Pakistan to deny its hand. But the links are too blatant to be missed. Its policy of trying to destabilise India through terror tactics seems to have outlived its utility. In the bargain, it stands exposed before the international community. The US does not say so openly because of its own compulsions, but the Pakistani propensity to export terrorism has become quite an embarrassment. It is high time the army junta in Islamabad made some cost-benefit assessment of its too-clever-by-half policy. |
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Mithi in trouble ARUNACHAL
Pradesh Chief Minister Mukut Mithi’s continuance in office is becoming increasingly untenable following the withdrawal of support to his government by 38 of the 58 members in the 60-member State Assembly. Former Chief Minister Gegong Apang, who was ousted by Mr Mithi in 1999 in a swift move, has taken a sweet revenge against Mr Mithi by engineering a vertical split in the Congress. The Speaker has recognised the breakaway group — United Democratic Front (UDF) — led by Mr Apang who, in turn, paraded 41 members before Governor V.C. Pandey on Monday. It is not clear whether the Governor would ask Mr Mithi to seek a vote of confidence or invite Mr Apang to form the government and prove his majority support in the Assembly within a stipulated time. But, clearly, the state is heading for a fresh bout of political instability. Mr Mithi has himself to be blamed for the mess he has created. He hardly had control over his partymen. He sowed the seeds of factionalism when he got arrested two of his dissident ministers for their “secret links” with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isaq-Muivah). In fact, Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani has ordered an intelligence probe into the reported nexus between six of Mr Mithi’s ministers and five MLAs from the Naga-dominated districts of Tirap and Changlang and the NSCN (I-M) and the NSCN (Khaplang). Also, Mr Mithi had irked many Congressmen when he had renamed the state’s 37 Naga tribes as “Tangshangs” ostensibly to dilute the demand for Nagalim (Greater Nagaland) within Arunachal Pradesh. Mr Apang’s support to the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government should be seen in the light of the state’s dire need for funds for economic development. Though there is no insurgency in Arunachal, unlike in Assam, Manipur and Tripura, problems such as unemployment, poor infrastructural facilities and underdevelopment are common in all the north-eastern states. There is virtually no internal revenue generation. Private enterprise is more an exception than a rule. And a majority of the population is dependent upon the government. Viewed in a wider political context, Mr Apang’s links with the Bharatiya Janata Party might prove to be beneficial for the state and lead to a convergence of interests between the Centre, which wants the negotiations with the NSCN (I-M) to continue, and the UDF. The Congress’ criticism of the BJP in Parliament for the present crisis in the state smacks of political opportunism. What about its own track record in toppling ministries? If the new political equations could lead to a united approach towards negotiating with the Naga militants, that would help the state and the region. |
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Thought for the day I agree with you that in politics the middle way is none at all. — John Adams |
A common civil code IN
a judgement of far-reaching significance, the Supreme Court on July 23 has underlined the need for Parliament to enact a uniform civil code and end discrimination between various religious communities in the areas of marriage, succession and property. The apex court has observed that such a code would help the cause of national integration by removing contradictions based on religious ideologies. This is not the first time the court has drawn the lawmakers' attention to the unfulfilled constitutional obligation to give effect to Article 44, which says, “The state shall endeavour to secure for all citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India.” The court argued that there is no necessary connection between “religious and personal law” in a civilized society and made a clear distinction between two provisions of the Constitution: one, which guarantees religious freedom (Article 25) and the other that stresses the need for a uniform civil code (Article 44). It held that laws governing marriage and succession cannot be brought within the fold of the constitutional provision that guarantees religious freedom. This landmark observation is a major step forward from the arguments made during a similar call seven years ago by Justice Kuldip Singh in the case of a woman who was denied maintenance. The matter generated a lot of heat since the Shah Bano case, in which an apex court judgement granting a Muslim woman maintenance was overturned by an Act of Parliament. In the Shah Bano case and later in a judgement relating to a Hindu husband converting to Islam to legally justify bigamy and avoid penal action, the court had hoped that Parliament would enact a common civil code. The present judgement is a fallout of a writ petition filed six years ago by a Roman Catholic priest, John Vallamattom, challenging the constitutional validity of Section 118 of the Indian Succession Act on the ground of discrimination. Section 118 says a person, having a nephew or niece and any near relative, cannot bequeath his property for religious or charitable purposes unless the will is executed not less than 12 months before his death or the will is deposited within six months from the execution to a place provided by law and it remains in such deposit till his death. Chief Justice V.N. Khare said the period of 12 months could not have been linked to the object of performing a philanthropic act. Here it may be pointed out that as the Constituent Assembly had been spelling out the policies for future India, the backdrop was smeared by a violent moment, a torn race, a balled and baffling milieu. And, unfortunately, secularism here, from the very start, has been made to wear a paradoxical garb which, in effect, has robbed it of its true content. Although shipped from the West like a host of modern concepts, secularism on the Indian soil underwent a transfer of meaning. Deft politicians twisted the humanistic idea into a convenient jargon, implying not the anti-religious, or the extra-religious, but a multi-religious approach. In fact, secularism, in a distorted sense, actually provided the founders of New India with a handy formula to appease conflicting religious groups. Thus, the Constitution of the “secular” state of India did not exclude religion; the special feature of the Constitution is that it has tried to ensure religious disparity, to incorporate the right to retain separate religious and social entities while acknowledging in the same breath a “secular uniformity”. In spite of the nation's tryst with destiny, the slate was not cleaned and the past, apparently undone, surged. up again, raising its hydraheaded face with the vigour of a new lease of life. The predators of politics were quick to ken the delicious feast and did not lose time to take the swoop. We had started with a basic anomaly and soon it entrenched itself deep into our body politic. Later, whenever there had been any talk of change, it was stifled by misgivings about the possible reaction of the vote banks. So after more than three decades of freedom a helpless old woman takes recourse to the “secular” law of the land for minimum justice, and at once there is such sound and fury as if the country itself falls apart. Everybody forgot Gandhiji's advice: “Wrong does not become right by giving it a new lease of life. If you have undone the past, you must write on a clean slate.” Here it should be borne in mind that a constitution is not a scripture and is changeable as and when necessary. In fact, the right to property has been already modified. The pertinent question to be raised here is about the principle: what should be the guiding tenet behind any proposed or desired change in the Constitution? Should it progress forward to the future or retreat back to the past? Should it be aimed towards greater human justice and freedom or more injustice? Should it be directed at greater social harmony, national integration, or more tension, dissension and strife? It is from this perspective that the present issue is to be considered. In India, “Religion in danger” is the most effective war cry that destroys both secularism and democracy. Such strong passions are then stirred by politicians in a manner that all appeals of humanism and rationality prove inadequate to douse the fire of communalism. So, at the beginning of the 21st century power-mongers openly exercise social, political, economic and ultimately legal control over a section of citizens of this “secular” state. To be sure, in any conflict between orthodoxy and liberalism, the former always appears louder and more formidable. Initially, the original sound of orthodoxy may appear to be harmless, but the echo is always many times louder. This diabolical and perilous echoism is a common attribute of “groupthink,” that is defined by Billy Graham in his book “World Aflame” as one of the potent dangers invading civilization. Since differential treatment for any religious group is violative of the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Declaration on the Rights to Development adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights, it is hoped that Parliament will frame a common civil code without further delay, divesting religion from social relations and personal law. This will develop futurism instead of promoting
revivalism. The writer is a Kolkata-based Emeritus Fellow of the UGC |
A world within the world IN
one primal sense, each one of us lives in a world of his own, in the fortress of his heart, dreaming, dismantling, remaking some lost felicity which has left a mark on the spirit. The world outside — of commerce and traffic, of appointments and disappointments, of songs and serenades etc. — keeps flowing like a stream, and we keep washing our hands in those blue waters from which we come up at times, with pearls, at times, with a fistful of slime and weeds. The platitudinous life and the life of the imagination remain moving on parallel lines, and once in a while, there comes a moment of criss-crossing, of some strange symbiosis. However, as one sits late in the evening, to recall that moment, it dissolves like a drop of dew. Was it a meeting, or an illusion? The mind remains perplexed. The horizons look far and wide, and yet the dropping skies look so close, so near. Our little world within the wider world keeps moving on its own axle, safe from cynics, cads, and snobs. This little prelude is a reminder of the fact that even as we live in a world of thought and fancy, of make-believe, we are, at the same time, living in another small world within the world. In short, there are now three worlds in which we are continually and simultaneously living, each safe within its own parameters. To put it differently, we are now living on three planes of reality, and we keep shuffling the cards of identity. The assaults of reality will never cease, nor will the will to affront one’s fate. We keep playing one game within another — and within the Great Game of God. I think, it’s time to descend to specifics. When the subject flashed on the screen of my mind, I was actually thinking of Stephen Spender’s autobiography whose title ring a clear bell in my mind. This was so because, unable to complete my own unfinished memoirs, tentatively entitled “My Three Lives” for reasons of illness and age, I was then musing over some autobiographies that had once touched my imagination. All this, finally, brought back to me a flood of memories from the cradle to my present moment, with over 80 years rolling down the slope, as it were. As I let that deluge gather in the basin of my mind, the stamped impressions of my earliest days from the crib to the school, and to college, to visits, lectures, seminars etc started unrolling as a long film. Each event, episode, encounter rose from the mist of decades to hold me in a trance till some rude shock — of separation, of faithlessness, of agonising ingratitude — brought me crashing down to my knees in prayers. As the turning screw went deeper and deeper into the cork of my memories, I saw, among other things the ogre red face of a British officer with a whip in hand, my school teacher, Manna Singh, caning on my stretched hand, my college days where my literary sensibility was shaped, my 12-year long stint at the National Defence Academy, Dehradun and Poona, the birth of my third child, a daughter that made me forget all my blues, and then my life as Professor of English at Patiala, at Harvard, at New York University. And it was on return to Chandigarh from New York that I had a neurological collapse which had crippled me to seek nirvana in poetry, in daily papers, in the sea of holy Sikh scriptures, in particular. And that’s where I remain today to ponder my Karma, my little world now reduced to a nutshell of trashed dreams.n |
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Suu
Kyi: the lonely road once more? Arrest, incarceration and enforced solitude are things that Aung San Suu Kyi has learned to live with in the 15 years since her life changed irrevocably. When, in March 1988, she returned to care for her seriously ill mother in Rangoon, the wife of Oxford-based Tibetologist Michael Aris, was in the midst of an interesting phase of her own research on her father, the legendary General Aung San. As tumultuous political events overtook her, she was not to go back to her home nor to her books at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. Hailed as the leader of the incipient democratic movement, Aung San Suu Kyi stepped confidently into her challenging new role in a country that had been shrouded from the world by the 26-year-old dictatorship of General Ne Win. Over the years, Aung San Suu Kyi had learned to `cope’ — that convenient term used most often in the context of women juggling many lives. After a degree in modern greats (PPE) from Oxford University (she had earlier studied at the Convent of Jesus and Mary and Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi when her mother had been Burma’s Ambassador to this country), Suu, as she is known to her close friends, married Michael and settled into a life of domesticity. Or so it seemed. Charming, well-groomed and stoic in her approach to a multitude of issues jostling for space — concern for her mother in far-away Rangoon, endless house guests, shifts in homes and two growing sons — Suu coped admirably. One rarely saw anything else — the strains of living between cultures, bearing the responsibility of being her father’s daughter and wondering no doubt whether her country would ever reach out to her. Perhaps it was mere coincidence, or if one doesn’t believe in coincidences, that’s how things were meant to be, Aung San Suu Kyi’s visit to Rangoon in that fateful spring linked her inextricably to the future of her beleaguered land. In May, 1989, the newly founded National League for Democracy of which she was the General Secretary, swept the polls winning 386 of the 485 seats in the National Assembly. The military junta took no notice of the results and instead, in July, placed Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest, claiming that her activities were endangering the state. In the six years of detention that followed, she became an author, a political thinker and a well-read, dignified symbol of non-violent protest. Books is what she asked for consistently, from Michael in England: texts by and on Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, spiritualism and Buddhism were among her favourites as Aung San Suu Kyi filled long hours with reading and reflecting on the future. When she was released in 1995, Aung San Suu Kyi had become an international icon, a lonely but principled and spirited figure committed to democracy and tolerance. The Nobel Prize for Peace in 1991 was one among the many awards and honours (including the Nehru Award in 1995) that were bestowed on her. Unable to deal with her increasing popularity, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC as the army regime calls itself euphemistically) put her under house arrest again in September, 2000. Aung San Suu Kyi was released in May, 2002, and this time she was given permission to travel within the country as well as abroad. Aware that any trips abroad would surely mean few chances of being allowed back in, she concentrated on activities within the country and started touring widely. In the meantime, Burma (or Myanmar as the junta renamed it in 1989) continues to be a country of forced labour, extortion and land confiscations, its many new roads and railway lines in the north built by ethnic minorities, of whom thousands have died from exhaustion and physical abuse. Recently, the Shan Women’s Action Network and the Shan Human Rights Foundation reported on the ‘systematic use of sexual violence by Burmese troops between 1996-2001’. Yet, it has become a trader’s paradise, maintaining a clever balance between Chinese and Indian interests. While in 1988, India supported the democratic uprising, opening its borders to countless refugees, in 1992-3, Narasimha Rao’s Congress government decided that `national interest’ required engagement with the Generals. The two reasons that motivated this view was insurgency in the Northeast and an increasing Chinese presence in Burma. However, despite the Generals’ announcements to the contrary, the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) and the Manipuri People’s Liberation Army (PLA) continue to have bases and training camps in Burma. The January 2003 visit of the Burmese Foreign Minister to India resulted in discussions on the proposed joint Business Council between the two countries and many private investors have visited Burma over the last few years. Burma-watchers believe that this visit was merely to paper over the cracks that were apparent in the dialogue between the Generals and Aung San Suu Kyi on the possibility of a guided democracy. This is hardly surprising as she is committed to a people who want freedom and democracy and feels that she cannot `operate as a normal leader of a normal party’. Yet, before the attack of May 30, she had expressed her confidence in the growing solidarity among ethnic minorities and a fresh groundswell of support for the NLD among the youth. A popular leader is not what the SDPC wants in its midst; at the same time the Indian government continues to ‘watch with concern’ the evolving scenario. The writer is the Editor, Indian Journal of Gender Studies, and a long-time friend of Aung San Suu Kyi |
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DELHI DURBAR EVEN though the Congress has been in the forefront of boycotting Defence Minister George Fernandes in Parliament over the Tehelka controversy, he has not held that as a grudge against their parliamentarians. The situation was not without its attendent poignancy following the death of George Eden in New Delhi on Saturday. Eden represented Ernakulam in Kerala twice. His Congress colleagues in Parliament from Kerala knocked at the door of Fernandes to ask if he could help in providing an Air Force aircraft to ferry Eden’s body to his home state for the last rites. Fernandes obliged readily and an Air Force aircraft was deployed for the purpose without the slightest fuss. A trade-off When former Goa Governor Bhanu Pratap Singh, who has been in the Congress for over three decades, wrote a letter to the Kanchi Shankaracharya protesting against the seer’s readiness to “trade off” Kashi and Mathura if the Muslims conceded Ayodhya, a senior leader of his party smilingly observed that even if “Maharaj” (as Bhanu Pratap Singh is affectionately called) was to make religious demands competing with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the party would take no action. This is particularly so as Bhanu Pratap Singh represents one end of the spectrum that the grand old party has been presenting to the people of the country. Cauvery again Southern states’ water disputes echoed in the Rajya Sabha and the warring parties of Tamil Nadu were speaking in one voice. The target of
the TDP and the Dravidian parties of Tamil Nadu were their parliamentary colleagues from Karnataka. Andhra and Tamil Nadu MPs alleged that Karnataka was deliberately withholding the share of their respective states. As Andhra and Tamil Nadu MPs spoke in one voice, Deputy Chairman Najma Heptulla was first caught in the din. And, when she saw the MPs of the southern states vociforously expressing their anger, she remarked “Oh, it’s Cauvery again”. CAS not yet Despite the Information and Broadcasting Ministry’s insistence on introducing the Cable Access System in Delhi, Madan Lal Khurana has been dead set against the move as he insists it would jeopardise his chances of coming to power again. He pleaded with the Prime Minister to postpone the CAS launch. Atal Bihari Vajpayee has obliged him by deciding that CAS would initially be introduced in South Delhi only. Bad economics First, the Planning Commission turned down Capt Amarinder Singh’s proposal for a Rs 3,200 crore state plan. The Punjab Chief Minister thought it better to project the economy of the state rather than the delicate fiscal position. So the Captain called a select group of business journalists and strictly refrained from taking political questions. He hoped that the pink dailies would turn around the debt-ridden fiscal scenario of Punjab. Alas that was not to be. Downsizing govt Downsizing the government is a cherished dream but politically costly, specially in an election year. The Punjab Government will be downsized and unworthy public sector undertakings disinvested, asserts Capt Amarinder Singh. Sound economics or prescriptions of the World Bank which is giving the aid is anybody’s guess. However, it will provide ammunition to the Akalis not only to attack the Congress government on this front, but also provide an opportunity to expand their base in the urban middle class sections, especially when the general election is scheduled for next year. Contributed
by TRR, Satish Misra, R Suryamurthy and S. Satyanarayanan |
Man’s conduct can be true only if he cherishes the True One within his heart. Bilawal, 831 Where conduct is good, understanding is perfect; without good conduct, it is less and less. Siri, 25 It is prayer, not command, that succeeds with the Master. Asa, 474 Whosoever cries out and begs at the Lord’s door, is duly heard and blessed. Asa, 349 The mind is a priceless pearl, but it attains honour only by dwelling on the Name of God. Siri, 22 Why should the created be proud of his gifts, when the Creator alone has the power to give? Siri, 25 O foolish mind! why are you proud when you are bound to quit the world as and when God so pleases? Maru, 989 The evil of pride has gripped the whole world; but he who meets the Guru gets rid of it. Gauri, 224 By overpowering pride, man ascends to celestial heights. Gauri, 153 Riding a beautiful horse with a pretty dagger hanging by one’s waist, should not make one proud lest one should fall headlong on the ground. Ramkali, 956 |
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On May 30, 2003, as Aung San Suu Kyi’s motorcade left Monywa, north of Mandalay in Burma, it, as well as the villagers who had gathered to greet her, was attacked by four truckloads of people armed with iron rods, bamboo and iron spears. Clearly a well-planned attack as the trucks had been trailing the charismatic democratic leader, an eyewitness felt sure that the degree and nature of violence meant that it was a genuine attempt to assassinate Daw Suu and other leaders of the National League for Democracy. Several were killed and though she sustained injuries, Aung San Suu Kyi’s car sped away in the nick of time with a shattered rear glass window. Two days later she was taken into ‘protective custody’ and it was later confirmed that this was at the notorious Insein prison in Rangoon under what UN envoy Razali Ismail described as ‘absolutely deplorable conditions’. She has subsequently been moved to a safe house, which according to diplomatic channels, does not bode well: it may mean a ‘settling in’ — or another long spell of solitary confinement.