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Jogi in the dustbin Nineteen
years after Riots
shake Hyderabad |
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BJP
turns the tables on Congress
“Feminist”
concerns
HUMAN RIGHTS DIARY DELHI DURBAR
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Jogi in the dustbin IT has been a double blow for Mr Ajit Jogi. First he lost the Chhattisgarh battle tamely and now he is in a soup following the audio tape scandal. But he has only himself to blame. Despite the fact that he has proved more than once his abiding faith in cynical and amoral politics he has also proved that he does not learn basic rules of underhand deals and horse-trading even after Tehelka and Judeo episodes. He was a problem Chief Minister for the Congress even earlier. His latest exploits have turned him into persona non grata even in his own party. Mrs Sonia Gandhi must be regretting why she did not show him the door sooner, even though he was considered one of her blue-eyed boys. This time suspension has been as fast as it was by the BJP in the case of Mr Dilip Singh Judeo so that the party does not have to suffer for his mistakes. The High Command's ire is two-fold. One, he deprived the Congress of the high moral ground that it was trying to occupy following the cash-on-camera act by Mr Judeo. And two, he even dragged Mrs Gandhi's name in the controversy. That is why he was dropped like hot potato. Mr Jogi denies the voice on the tape but has sheepishly admitted that he wrote a letter of support to the Governor. The extent of his involvement in the scandal can be understood only if one knows his keenness to remain in power by hook or crook. He fell into the BJP trap like a blind hog. And like a master hunter, Union Law Minister Arun Jaitley claimed a trophy in a sting-for-sting operation. The ramifications of this scandal will be felt by the Congress sorely, and for long. There are some murmurs of protest in the State over the selection of the Chief Minister by the BJP already. This tribal versus others tension could have been exploited by the Congress but Mr Jogi has muffed that chance. Another problem for the Congress is that it does not even have a suitable leader to step into the discredited shoes of Mr Jogi. So much for Mrs Sonia Gandhi's capacity to choose state leaders. |
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Nineteen years after THE Supreme Court is right in rapping the Central government for its decision to withdraw a case filed in the context of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The grounds advanced by the Commissioner of Police, Delhi, for seeking the withdrawal of the case were, indeed, intriguing. The Delhi Police took the stance that these cases were old and no substantial evidence was available on record and their withdrawal would help maintain communal harmony. The Bench, consisting of Justice S Rajendra Babu and Justice G. P. Mathur, has rightly observed that this amounted to saying that someone had committed a murder and the police would not prosecute him on the ground that it will help maintain communal harmony. Evidence for such cases is hard to come by, but there is doubt whether due diligence has been exercised in this case. No doubt, much of the evidence is based on eyewitness accounts. There are times when witnesses backtrack, but this should merely mean that more effort should have been made to nail the guilty. Since 1984, three commissions have probed the riots. They included the Ranganath Mishra Commission, the Jain-Banerjee Commission and now the Nanavati Commission. The net result of this, unfortunately, has not been the conviction of those widely considered guilty for the violence. In fact, a number of high-profile Congress leaders, like a former MP, Mr Sajjan Kumar, have recently been acquitted, though the CBI has challenged the verdict. The Supreme Court was right when it said,” on the one hand, you go on appointing commission after commission to probe the riots and, on the other, you withdraw the case registered by the police." The frustration of the court is understandable. It is time the cases concerning mass violence were expedited and the guilty punished. Nineteen years is a long time and the killers have not been punished. |
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Riots shake Hyderabad HYDERABAD, which has acquired an enviable position in the world of information technology (IT), is in the news for wrong reasons. Communal elements, it seems, are busy destroying what Mr Chandrababu Naidu has achieved. Saturday’s communal riots in the city provide proof of this painful scenario. The trouble began with a small incident with some people installing flags and distributing sweets near a place of worship. Soon another group of irresponsible people came with black flags, and the situation took a turn for the worse. The lumpen continued the orgy of violence till the wee hours of Sunday morning, taking at least five lives. In the process, the antisocial elements also scarred the new image of new Hyderabad. A close look at the circumstances leading to violence in large parts of old Hyderabad shows that the police had failed to realise the gravity of the situation. Why was there no adequate security arrangement in the communally sensitive areas despite media reports that tension had been building up there for some time? It was learnt that some people were preparing for provocative programmes for December 6, the day Babri Masjid was demolished by mobs in 1992. Some heads must roll immediately for this glaring dereliction of duty. Mr Naidu should not wait for the report of the judicial enquiry he has ordered. It is for the first time Hyderabad has witnessed communal riots on such a scale after 1990 when over 200 lives were lost in killings and arson of this nature. Ever since Mr Naidu became the Chief Minister he has been concentrating on development-related issues, not allowing communal elements to disturb the peace in the Andhra capital. There is also need to launch a drive for communal amity at the mohalla-level to defeat the designs of trouble-makers. Hyderabad cannot afford communal tensions. |
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Anyone can rat, but it takes a certain amount of ingenuity to re-rat. — Winston Churchill |
BJP turns the tables on Congress THE Bharatiya Janata Party’s sweep in three of the five states in the assembly elections — it was never a serious contender in Mizoram which nevertheless kept the Congress at bay - portends the future in more ways than one. By circumstance or design, the BJP has, at least tactically, divested itself of its garish Hindutva clothes. The emphasis on development (in essence governance) is all to the good. But the Congress’s central dilemma of its national leadership has been cruelly brought to the fore. In a sense, the BJP has turned the tables on the Congress. It has, for the time being, resolved its own contradictions in governing a plural country through the prism of Hindutva by jumping on the development wagon. But the Hindutva weapon remains in reserve, to be employed when the opportunity occurs and in order to retain the loyalty of the Hindutva storm-troopers. For the record, the BJP has made the difficult transition from a party of rabble-rousers and supporters who razed the Babri mosque and indulged in a pogrom in Gujarat to one in tune with the people in fulfilling their basic needs. There were other factors that went to contribute to the astonishing BJP victories, especially in Madhya Pradesh. The election strategy was well planned at the central, regional and local levels. The party did not shy away from using modern methods of diving trends and put them to good use. And in the important tribal belts of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in particular, the BJP reaped the fruits of years and decades of social and educational work of its spiritual mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP snapped up 25 of the 34 tribal seats. Congress supporters, rather too glibly, cite the anti-incumbency factor in interpreting their disastrous results in all but Delhi. There are also suggestions that the innovative work done by its chief ministers, particularly in Madhya Pradesh, led to rising expectations that were impossible immediately to fulfil. And in an era of growing consumerism, the new generation of voters wanted short-cuts to prosperity, their desires enhanced by the inviting images on the idiot box. The Congress victory in Delhi is partly attributed to the anti-incumbency factor of the BJP-led Central government. All these might have been contributory factors to the string of Congress defeats, but the stark fact is that Ms Sonia Gandhi as the party’s national leader failed to make an impact, despite her hectic campaign rounds. Even more detrimentally, she did not seem to have a grip on the party’s electoral machine nor the political savvy to select the right advisers. The impression often created was of yesterday’s men and women surrounding the leader, to the detriment of the party and its electoral prospects. These handicaps are in addition to the question of Ms Gandhi’s provenance, which will become a major issue in the Lok Sabha elections next year, with the BJP forewarning that it will pose the issue of Sonia Gandhi versus A.B. Vajpayee. Here the Congress seems to be in a no-win situation. As an inheritor of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, she is the natural leader of the Congress. But her foreign origin and political ineptitude remain great handicaps. Traditionally, the Congress has given virtually unlimited powers to its leader based on the compact that he or she would deliver the votes. If Ms Gandhi cannot deliver the votes, her leadership would rest on shaky ground. Yet to open the question of leadership, at least as far as a prospective prime minister is concerned, would lead to a carnage on the party floor. How the Congress will square this circle, with an eye on the Lok Sabha election, remains to be seen. The prospect is of some window-dressing; there is little reason to hope that there will be revolutionary changes. And there can be no comfort for the Congress in contemplating the fact that, with Uttar Pradesh and Bihar already gone, it has been practically wiped out in the Hindi heartland with the loss of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. It is too early to write off the Congress and broader national issues and other parties come into play in national elections. But the party will need to work overtime in seeking alliances within the ambit of the restricted choices it has by giving up its big brother attitude, based on its antecedent as the party of governance in independent India. The BJP has proved adept at coalition-building, with the two Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu wooing it and the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal returning to the Union Cabinet on humiliating terms. What is worse for the Congress is that the role of the party has been reversed vis-ŕ-vis the BJP. Traditionally, the Congress was the party that reached out to the grassroots, with dedicated men and women fertilising it with hard work. With her presidential style of governance and with the aim of achieving quick results also to anoint Sanjay Gandhi as the future leader, Indira Gandhi starved the grassroots in favour of wheeler-dealers who still occupy positions of power in the party. On the other hand, the Sangh Parivar, particularly the RSS, has been nurturing the grassroots to great profit. According to BJP supporters, RSS workers have been active in tribal areas since 1954 and are staffing 40,000 one-teacher-one-school entities in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. One of the more distressing aspects of the assembly elections has been the voters’ seeming disregard for the criminal antecedents of the people they have elected. The BJP’s decision to retain Mr Dilip Singh Judeo as the star campaigner in Chhattisgarh despite being ostensibly caught on camera accepting money speaks for itself. Equally telling is the BJP’s attempt to turn the tables on the Congress by allegedly catching Mr Ajit Jogi trying to bribe BJP legislators to defect. The Congress has suspended Mr Jogi while the BJP had secured Mr Judeo’s resignation from the Union Cabinet. But neither party was deterred by the criminal records of those they successfully fielded in the elections. All in all, the elections have thrown up interesting pointers, with the warning to the Congress that it is in danger of becoming yesterday’s party if it does not heed the signs of the times. |
“Feminist” concerns I hope you are not a feminist", as soon as I heard these words from one of the fellow civil services trainee officers who had a very concerned frown on his forehead, at Lal Bahadur Shasatri Academy of Public administration, Mussorie, all my feminist hopes from the services and its "elite" evaporated into the thin air. During the training I had suggested to look into the topic of an assigned project from the point of view of its impact on women empowerment. In the "village visit" report, presented by my group (incidentally consisting of lady officers only), a separate reference was made to the condition of womenfolk in that particular village Similarly, on various occasions during the classroom discussions, I had been brazen enough to raise certain issues relating to the problems of women. All this naturally, gave rise to the well-founded fear of my
batchmate, who ,I must admit, was very frank to voice his concerns. After that, whenever I had to raise a voice concerning a women-related issue, I was always guarded and restrained not to arouse such "alarming" suspicions. The most enlightening experience of my life was when I discovered that not only human beings but also the toilets made by them carry a gender bias. It is a very common arrangement in the Indian government offices that the toilets will be classified into three categories, "Gents", "Ladies" and "Officers". At the time of my first assignment, when I approached a toilet marked, "Officers", a gentleman came rushing towards me saying, “Madam, yeh to Officers toilet hai”. Before I could ask him, " then, what do you think I am?" he led me to the ladies' toilet. Similar incidents broke my illusion. I was dismayed to such an extent that I even raised this issue before the head of the department, sincerely believing that keeping in view the gravity of the matter, he will take immediate steps to rectify the situation. He gave me a very understanding but confusing smile and nod and, naturally, took no cognisance of the matter. However my concern in this regard became a well-known fact in the official circle. As a result many related problems were brought to my notice. One of my subordinate lady officers refused to accept the prestigious position of Local Audit Officer of the Army units on the plea that there were no ladies toilet in the units and, therefore, it was very difficult for a lady to work there for the whole day. I talked to the commanding officers of those units. Some of them resolved the problem but many others gave me the same understanding and confusing smile and nod and did nothing. As a vengeance on such discriminatory system, as soon as I was posted as head of an office, the only toilet of the third category was converted into "lady officers' toilet" and it gave me immense sadistic pleasure when the male officers in the office had to use the gents' toilet. |
HUMAN RIGHTS DIARY
Still the SAHR has taken on — all extremists and hardliners — in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal which comprise the SAHR. It has set up a minority commission drawing two distinguished persons from each of the five countries to prepare a report on the state of minorities in the region. It is a daunting task, visiting places of rioting and tension, interviewing the victims and suggesting remedial steps. A long itinerary has already been prepared, starting with Bangladesh in March. The report, after getting comments from the respective governments, will be sent to the UN and released to the Press. Indeed, the minorities in the region live in fear and insecurity. The main problem is that there is no rule of law. Most in the police have got brutalised, caring little about the individual’s rights, the constitutional guarantees or the international conventions. The rule of law has been sacrificed at the altar of religious fanaticism. And the various recommendations of the inquiry committees, which have gone into earlier riots, have not been implemented. How much the SAHR Minorities Commission can do to awaken the government to its basic duty to protect its citizens of different beliefs is yet to be seen. The purpose of the SAHR is how to enable people rise above the pull of nationality and religion to become South Asian in their outlook and temperament so that all in the region work for the well being of all. Lack of information is mainly responsible for the absence of an integrated approach to violations of human rights. Otherwise, the SAHR could be a force. But it should at least recall certain tragedies in the South Asian countries on the day they took place. For example, the Bhopal gas disaster, which practically went unnoticed even in India, could have been one incident for all SAHR member countries to recapitulate at meetings and seminars held in New Delhi, Islamabad, Dhaka, Colombo or Kathmandu. What thousands of people at Bhopal went through on the December 2 night in 1984 was the region’s
tragedy. It should have evoked that kind of response. At a Bhopal factory owned by the Union Carbide, an American company, a tank containing 40 tonnes of the deadly methyl isocyanate burst open. The poisonous smoke killed 8,000 men, women and children. It is proved beyond doubt that the disaster was due to negligence, — there is one standard of safety for the white employed in the Union Carbide factories in America and Europe and another for the non-white working elsewhere. Till date more than 20,000 are dead. At least one person a day still dies from the gas exposure-related diseases. Nearly one and a half lakh victims are in urgent need of medical attention. In a report published this October by the reputed Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA), it was said that the children born to women of gas victims are today 19 years old and the symptoms of gas poison are still evident on their body. The affected young boys and girls are shorter in height, about 13 cms, than normal height, the body structure is unbalanced, the skull is 1.5 cm less in diameter, the body weight is below normal and the most significant aspect is that their legs abnormally long while the upper part (above navel) is short. The most tragic story is that the victims are largely those people who are poor, illiterate and helpless in getting the compensation for such a condition. Compensation cases of the victims are still pending with the Supreme Court. How long will the victims have to wait? Who will compensate the children who are looking old in youth? Union Carbide is holding Dow Chemicals responsible for waste disposal and vice versa. What have the state and
centred governments done to lessen the damage — and people’s hurt? Even the site of the tragedy remains untouched, with the toxic waste still there. Perpetual attacks on freedom of the Press in South Asian countries should be another topic for the SAHR to focus . Human Right Watch in America has pointed out the intolerance of press freedom in Pakistan. General Musharraf has reportedly condemned The Herald, a fearless monthly of the Dawn group of newspapers at Karachi, for being “anti army”. Anything written or said against the army is considered against the “national interest”. So the General said, administering a warning that time had come to “deal with” the Herald and its outspoken senior editor, Amir Mir. He has already paid the price because his car outside his house was set ablaze by some “unidentified persons”. Till today General Musharraf has not disassociated himself with the remarks which he made at a reception of Pakistan newspaper editors a fortnight ago. Another journalist, again a human rights activist, Rasheed Azam from Khazdar in Baluchistan, was arrested this August on charges of sedition for having published a photograph of Pakistan army personnel beating a crowd of Bluch youths. In contrast our Army claims that the instances of human rights violation in Kashmir have been pursued and those who committed them have been punished. The claim needs scrutiny. I recall that a few years ago whenever human rights activists pointed out in their report that the armymen were not punished for the atrocities they committed, the government would say that the guilty were punished but the sentence against them was not published lest the publicity should demoralise the Army. How the punishment to the guilty will affect the morale of the Army. In fact, it will deter others from brutalising the scene if their misdeeds were properly publicised. |
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DELHI DURBAR THE BJP believes its strategy of unleashing woman power has come good at least in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. An analysis of the election results in these states revealed that the turnout of women to exercise their franchise was far greater than evidenced in the past. BJP strategists believe it was aided greatly by Uma Bharti and Vasundhara Raje being in the vanguard of the saffron brigade’s campaign in these two states. While no one in the BJP leadership had any doubts about the bash on regardless and immense staying power of Uma Bharti, they had certain reservations about Vasundhara Raje undertaking a blitzkrieg of a campaign. Much to their surprise, Vasundhara Raje more than lived up to the challenge and travelled the length and breadth of Rajasthan addressing no fewer than 800 meetings spread over six months. Senior BJP leaders insist that the strategy of making Uma Bharti and Vasundhara Raje the chief of the party units in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan well in advance had also helped the party to send a singular message that women have the capacity to triumph and make a mark on their own in the political spectrum. A first for both Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan is that the two chauvinist states will have women Chief Ministers for the first time.
Advani against theatrics The “high tea” at Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani’s residence on Saturday last saw all those who mattered in the party
celebrating the party’s unexpected windfall in the assembly elections. Advani was moving around, mixing with journalists, sharing his thoughts with them when Murli Manohar Joshi made his entry. Advani took special care to send the right message that any rivalry between him and Joshi was fiction. The DPM readily agreed to TV journalists’ request for being photographed as Joshi offered Advani mouth-watering panipuris from old Delhi. Then party General Secretary Pramod Mahajan, also keen to show that all was well between him and the DPM, approached Advani saying that he also wanted to offer him sweets. But when he took a spoonful of kheer the cameraperson put the lights on, Advani declined that he did not like “theatrics.” Mahajan’s face turned glum and he left the scene after some time.
Vajpayee’s Id milan There is quite a buzz in the national Capital about Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s Id milan in Lucknow, his constituency in the Lok Sabha. Vajpayee had specially gone to Lucknow for this purpose. The exercise undertaken by Vajpayee is seen in political circles as an effort by the BJP stalwart to boost his image and that of the party which is losing its sheen in Uttar Pradesh. It assumes importance after the fall of BSP leader Mayawati’s coalition government in Lucknow and SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav being installed as Chief Minister of the country’s most populous state. Vajpayee, the poet-PM, utilised the opportunity to reach out to the leaders of both the Shias and Sunnis of the minority community. He did not miss out in praising Mulayam Singh Yadav. Is that a harbinger of some major realignment of political forces in UP in the run-up to the next year’s general election? BJP President M. Venkaiah has alluded to critical realignment taking place in the political firmament following the party’s stunning victories in the assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
M.L. Khurana at loose end The BJP’s chief ministerial aspirant for Delhi, Madan Lal Khurana, finds himself at a loose end with the Congress emerging a clear and convincing winner. The zest in Khurana has taken a severe beating and the powers-that-be in the BJP feel that it is time for the old war horse to make way for the second line of leadership. Khurana’s intention of retaining the Lok Sabha seat appears certain as he is disinclined in being the Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi assembly. The people of Delhi rejected Khurana’s assertions that it was the BJP which had prepared the
blueprint for the metro or what have you in the national Capital but voted him overwhelmingly from the Moti Nagar seat. In retrospect, certain BJP strategists believe that Khurana’s choice as the chief ministerial candidate for Delhi was wrong and perhaps Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj or Jagmohan might have given the Congress and Shiela Dikshit a run for their money. Alas, that was not to be. Contributed by T.R. Ramachandran and Satish Misra
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The magnetic needle always points to the north, and hence it is that the sailing vessel does not lose her direction. So long as the heart of man is directed towards God, he cannot be lost in the ocean of wilderliness. — Sri Ramakrishna Whenever the mind goes after anything other than God, consider that as transient and surrender the mind at the sacred feet of the Lord. — Sarada Devi Our duty is to encourage everyone in his struggle to live up to his own highest ideal, and strive at the same time to make the ideal as near as possible to truth. — Swami
Vivekananda Without the Guru, the love of God does not spring (in our hearts) and the dirt of ego is not washed away. — Guru Nanak The moment you find a defect in another remember to look within yourself. Understand, behind every flaw that you recognise in another you have the same perhaps far more pronounced in your own personality. — Swami Parthasarathy |
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THE SAHR literally means dawn. This abbreviation is of the South Asian for Human Rights. The two-year-old organisation met informally the other day at Delhi. It could not meet formally nor invite the Press because the Indian mission at Islamabad issued visas to some Pakistani participants on the understanding that they would not speak in public or meet the Press. Bless the High Commission or the Home Ministry which, I believe, clears every name. Deputy Prime Minister
L. K. Advani sees to it that he undoes whatever Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee does to improve relations with Pakistan.