O P I N I O N S

EDITORIALS

PM’s welcome move
Troop reduction in J and K an important CBM
India’s decision to reduce the number of troops deployed in Jammu and Kashmir is, perhaps, the most significant confidence building measure (CBM) so far announced after the India-Pakistan composite dialogue process was set in motion. The latest move appears to be unilateral in nature. The latest move appears to be unilateral in nature.

Murder in the mutt
Don’t politicise the Shankaracharya’s arrest
THE people in general and the Hindus in particular are shocked over the arrest and incarceration of the Shankaracharya of Kanchi, Swami Jayendra Saraswati. He is accused of killing Shankararaman, a former employee of the Kanchi mutt, who crossed swords with him, with the help of contract killers.

• Thought for the day

ARTICLE

Simply inconsequential
Media had little impact on elections 2004
by N. Bhaskara Rao
IF the coverage of the US presidential election by the media there highlighted some pertinent lessons to be learnt, the 2004 Assembly and Lok Sabha polls provided several insights in the context of news coverage by the media.

MIDDLE

Memorial in the mind
by A.J. Philip
WHERE even the birds speak chaste Sanskrit lives Mandan Mishra,” a villager is believed to have told Adi Sankara when he enquired about the residence of the great Sanskrit scholar in the 8th century.

OPED

Human Rights Diary
New twist to Best Bakery
Case may not fall due to Zaheera’s retraction
by Kuldip Nayar 
THE cat is out of the bag. I was at pains to know why Zaheera Sheikh had changed her statement on the Best Bakery case, which covered the burning of people alive.

• Army in the dock again

Chatterati
Sonia wins the audience
by Devi Cherian
“Power behind the throne! No way”, says Sonia Gandhi. Candid and witty by turn, Sonia clearly won her powerful audience at the Hindustan Times Leadership Initiative conclave.

• Imran paints Delhi red
• Ghulam’s tonic for MPs

REFLECTIONS

EDITORIALS

PM’s welcome move
Troop reduction in J and K an important CBM

India’s decision to reduce the number of troops deployed in Jammu and Kashmir is, perhaps, the most significant confidence building measure (CBM) so far announced after the India-Pakistan composite dialogue process was set in motion. The latest move appears to be unilateral in nature. The troops can be redeployed whenever there is an increase in infiltration from across the border or terrorist violence in the valley, but any reduction in troops can lead to greater compliance in Indian intentions to restore normality in J and K and also make the atmosphere better for dialogue with Pakistan. Since Pakistan has appreciated this bold step by India, describing it as a “move in the right direction”, one can hope that it will not do anything to compel New Delhi to reverse its decision. The rider that New Delhi will keep the situation under “constant review” shows that India cannot afford to relax its vigil in the state while exploring peace.

Significantly, the latest CBM from India has come not only a few days before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s coming visit to Jammu and Kashmir (November 17-18), but also when Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz is due to arrive in New Delhi on November 23, although in the context of the coming SAARC summit in Dhaka. The troop reduction idea may not be in response to the suggestion made at an Iftaar party by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on resolving the Kashmir issue. India has made it clear that it cannot consider it as a proposal unless it is officially made by Islamabad. As External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh made it clear on Saturday, India will be in a position to “look at” what General Musharraf has said only after it comes through the official channel.

At the moment, however, New Delhi seems to be focussed on reviving the dialogue with the Hurriyat Conference and others in the Kashmir valley. But the moderate Hurriyat faction led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, while welcoming the troop withdrawal move, has given a confusing signal by clubbing the talks with the Centre with the Hurriyat leaders’ proposed visit to Pakistan. These are two different issues. The Hurriyat leaders would be unfair to the people they claim to represent if they insist on linking the talks to their visit to Pakistan.

Murder in the mutt
Don’t politicise the Shankaracharya’s arrest

THE people in general and the Hindus in particular are shocked over the arrest and incarceration of the Shankaracharya of Kanchi, Swami Jayendra Saraswati. He is accused of killing Shankararaman, a former employee of the Kanchi mutt, who crossed swords with him, with the help of contract killers. The police claim to have clinching evidence to prove his guilt. The Madras High Court has turned down his plea for special arrangements for his stay outside the jail premises. The law is obviously taking its own course in this case. At present, it is wholly wrong to treat him as either guilty or innocent. The court will in due course decide his fate.

Among all the religious leaders, the Shankaracharya is the most famous. The whole country hoped against hope that he would be able to end the Ayodhya tangle when he took upon himself the role of a mediator between the Hindus and the Muslims. It is, therefore, difficult for most people to believe that he could have conspired to kill an acolyte of his predecessor, who was universally revered for his scholarship and tolerance. As an advocate of the prosecution argued in the court, a distinction has to be made between the respect for the post of Shankaracharya and the respect for the person who holds it. In no case should his arrest be seen as an attack on the great institution that traces its origin to Adi Sankara. The Kanchi Peeth has the necessary strength and resilience to withstand the present unfortunate incident.

It is in this context that the efforts of organisations like the VHP to portray the arrest as an attack on Hinduism should be condemned. It is an attempt to politicise the case. They overlook the fact that the Swami was arrested in the full knowledge of Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa, who venerated him more than some of his own disciples. Also, the Shankaracharya has enough resources to hire the best legal talent to fight his case. If he is innocent, it would not be difficult for his lawyers to prove that the police charge is false. In any case, there is no need for either the DMK to gloat over the arrest or for the VHP to whip up communal passions over it. Hinduism can certainly do without the labours of such self-proclaimed defenders of the faith.

Some compensation
NHRC’s order a balm for families

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is to be commended for announcing compensation to the next of kin of 109 persons who died while in police custody between 1984-1994, the decade during which Punjab was wrecked by militancy. This is a rare occasion when compensation has been given to victims of state violence by a body appointed by the state. What is even more commendable is that this has been done without any political undertones. NHRC Chairman Justice A.S. Anand has awarded Rs 2.5 lakh each as compensation. Whether the amount announced for the next of kin of the victims is adequate or not is debatable, but what is important is that their grievances were sought to be redressed by the NHRC. The commission has confined this order to those cases in which the Punjab police admitted that the victims were in its custody when they were killed. In all, the commission is hearing cases of 2,097 missing persons who were illegally cremated by the police in Majitha, Amritsar and Tarn Taran alone. That the police knew the identities of those killed, but cremated them as “unidentified” can only be condemned. Similar cases in other districts of Punjab are not being looked into at present, although the families of the victims are demanding that they also be included.

The work done by human rights activists in compiling the list and submitting documentation to the commission, pursuing the case against odds, for 20 long years, too, needs to be commended. The task before the commission, which is sifting through over 1,600 applications for compensation, is daunting since there are difficulties about the identification of the victims and verification of facts, etc. The government needs to come clean and help the NHRC bring this painful chapter to an end. The Punjab police and administration tackled terrorism with a more than firm hand. However, the guilty should be brought to book where excesses were committed and extra-judicial methods used. The NHRC’s order is a significant step in compensation for human rights violation.

Thought for the day

The possession of a book becomes a substitute for reading it. — Anthony Burgess

ARTICLE

Simply inconsequential
Media had little impact on elections 2004
by N. Bhaskara Rao

IF the coverage of the US presidential election by the media there highlighted some pertinent lessons to be learnt, the 2004 Assembly and Lok Sabha polls provided several insights in the context of news coverage by the media. The 2004 polls had exposed the news media, survey agencies and political parties further. In this regard, five observations are worth making.

The first is the disconnect of news media. We already know about the divides of various kinds in the country. But the disconnect of the news media, the metro media more specifically, with the mainstream India has not been a concern, despite it being a source for some of the divides. Senior journalists like Nikhil Chakravartty and H K Dua did write candidly about this phenomenon a decade ago about the irrelevance of newspapers in the context of elections. Between the divide and the disconnect are the deep pockets that the media tend to cater to more. That is how media priorities and the popular wavelength are at such a variance. We are reminded of this at the end of every election.

Despite all that expansion, proliferation and the boom in the news media recently, its “influence” seems to be less today than it was some years ago. Even so their credibility. Even in the US, the presidential candidate endorsed by the prestigious news media has lost out as if such a coverage made no difference. How else can one explain, for example, that the voter turnout in India has been on the decline in the clusters where exposure to the news media in the country is the highest? Studies have indicated that this is because of the limited representative character and a definite decline in the social responsibility/concerns of the media. So, the disconnect of the news media is not only on account of its limited reach, but, even more, their irrelevance. No wonder then why journalist organisations themselves maintain that today journalism as a profession has declined despite increased profits of media establishments. This shift in the paradigm needs to be understood in the larger context.

The second is the blatant bandwagoning tendency. This trend in the media, as we have seen in 2004, cannot be described as complacency about grassroots. It could be commerce and convenience.

The third is that the 2004 elections have brought out the inadequacies of poll surveys and the misleading use of them by the news media as well as by political parties — even in the US. This issue alone needs a wider debate. Earlier we were not sure of the effects of poll surveys, but the 2004 polls had brought out a “double-edged” character of poll surveys. This kind of one-upmanship, in the name of competition, even among research agencies and psephologists in 2004 was unprecedented. It was as if they operate in tandem. No wonder, why was there no plausible explanation for the “mislead” from neither of the agencies after April 2004? US networks, on the other hand, tried to give an explanation for their fiasco and restrained in their coverage to avoid a repeat in 2004.

Methodologies used by research agencies in this context, by and large, remained the same despite significant changes in the politics of the country. Going off the mark is nothing unusual in the case of pre-poll surveys. But, not so with exit polls, particularly the way they were held in 1998 and 1999. And yet 2004 witnessed a further debacle and by the same psephologists — as if we have not learnt anything.

Researchers’ subjectivity (implied in exit polls) about something in which they are not experts cannot be expected any better than from working journalists. Exit polls implied increased weightage to the subjectivity element. That is how they further eroded the very credibility and exposed such poll surveys. And then the craze for “larger” and “largest” ever sample size had ensured faux pas of exit polls. Yet, there was hardly any practice of having serious interaction between editors/journalists and those who describe themselves as psephologists engaged in the number game, before giving out their “results”.

TV channels have misused exit polls. Lack of sensitivity in the media itself about methodologies too has added to the “let-down” by surveys and psephologists.

By now everyone knows that poll surveys have become a commercial proposition, a very lucrative one, particularly for the one-man operations with no credentials, And yet their presence was prominent in the media. It has become a “free for all” affair. Political parties have been using and viewing such poll-eve surveys as part of their election strategies. That is how there were so many plants in the media in so many different ways, some of them so blatantly. As a result, there is ambiguity on all the four core aspects of psephological exercises independence, objectivity, representativeness and in the very transparency of the exercise.

The fourth is as if all that was because of a “Jugalbandhi phenomenon”. A week-to-week analysis of the coverage in the news media (newspapers and news channels) between January and end of April 2004, for example, brings out certain gang-up between key players as if it was a jugalbandhi.

The fifth observation is the politicians’ pampering of the media (owners and journalists) and the media doing so of political bosses. Despite the fact that an incumbent had never come back to power on the media coverage basis, our political parties do not seem to learn lessons. The fear of boomerang too does not seem to bother our leaders. We have examples in India as well as in the US of parties loosing despite high-pitch media coverage and campaign. And, in 2004 we also had an example of a party impressively scoring without any coverage of its campaign in the media.

It is high time we have guidelines both for the news media to use poll surveys and for survey agencies to disclose their methodology and not exclude any findings implied in such surveys which are critical. The Election Commission should restrain exit polls and pre-poll surveys with disclosure norms and conditions.

The writer is Chairman, Centre for Media Studies, New Delhi.

MIDDLE

Memorial in the mind
by A.J. Philip

WHERE even the birds speak chaste Sanskrit lives Mandan Mishra,” a villager is believed to have told Adi Sankara when he enquired about the residence of the great Sanskrit scholar in the 8th century.

When I visited Maheshi in Saharsa district in the 20th century, the villager would have been more appropriate if he had said, “where the people defecate in the open lived Mandan Mishra”.

As the legend goes, word reached Sankara, who was at that time preaching Advaita and setting up monastic centres in the four corners of the country – Sringeri in the south, Dwarka in the west, Puri in the east and Badrinath in the north – about Mandan Mishra’s greatness.

It was to meet him that the savant from Kaladi in Kerala, reached Maheshi, a name derived from Mahishmati, situated on the banks of a tributary of the Kosi, Bihar’s river of sorrow. What ensued was an unparalleled debate on some of the finer aspects of Hinduism.

The person who moderated the debate was Sarasvahini, the wife of Mandan Mishra, who was herself an authority on Hindu doctrines. At one point, Sankara was totally flummoxed when the debate veered round to carnal pleasures.

Since Sankara could not proceed on the subject as he practised brahmacharya, he instantly transmigrated to the body of an animal and thereby into the wondrous world of sex. He thus acquired the necessary wherewithal to continue the debate.

At the end of the intellectual duel, Mandan Mishra became a disciple of Sankara. He was thereafter known by the name, Sureshwar. Those who have seen the first full-length Sanskrit film on the life of Adi Sankara released in the early eighties would have seen vignettes of this fascinating debate.

The film received rave reviews all over the country. But in Maheshi, where the pastime of the people is to reel out the long list of names of those who trace their ancestry to the village like Vashisht Muni, who was the teacher of Lord Ram, the film evoked derisive comments.

They did not like the portrayal of Mandan Mishra, who they believe “defeated” Sankara in the battle of the mind. Even so they were overjoyed when Sri Jayendra Saraswathi of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam made a visit to the village and promised an investment of Rs 1 crore for a befitting memorial, a ved padshala and a hospital. The whole village was electrified by the seer’s visit, the first after Adi Sankara’s.

A year or so later when I visited the village, the whole area where the memorial was to come up was covered with weeds. The district magistrate even sought my help to convey to the Shankaracharya that he would do everything possible to have the dream project completed.

With greater things to accomplish, the Shankaracharya did not show any interest in pursuing the project. Mr V. Krishnan, who, besotted with the Shankaracharya, resigned his job with Agfa to take up this project “as a challenge” died a broken man while the initiator of the project spends his time in Vellore Central Prison.

OPED

Human Rights Diary
New twist to Best Bakery
Case may not fall due to Zaheera’s retraction
by Kuldip Nayar 

THE cat is out of the bag. I was at pains to know why Zaheera Sheikh had changed her statement on the Best Bakery case, which covered the burning of people alive. Her earlier disclosure that the witnesses did not testify because of police pressure was so telling that the Supreme Court had to reopen the cases which it had closed. While commenting on Zaheera’s retraction, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s statement gave him out. He said that the country should find out the role of human rights activists. As expected, his ardent supporter Arun Jaitley has questioned the very role of NGOs.

The anger of Modi and Jaitley is understandable. Human rights activists put the Gujarat carnage on the map of the country and the world. They pursued the matter in law courts and elsewhere. They made the BJP say that its head bowed in shame. However, it has taken the BJP establishment seven months to bring Zaheera round. Hers is the key evidence although it does not mean that the case will fall because of her retraction. What kind of pressure worked and who were behind it may come to be known if and when the CBI makes an inquiry, a demand made by human rights activists.

Zaheera also targeted the human rights activists. She fired her first salvo by attacking Teesta Setalvad, a leading human rights activist, and said that Teesta had threatened her to keep quiet. She is responsible for a threadbare discussion on the killings and other excesses committed in Gujarat. She is the one who constituted a committee of citizens, including two former Supreme Court Judges, to go into what happened in Gujarat. The committee submitted a two-volume report, which indicted Modi by name. Zaheera’s latest statement cannot be taken even with a pinch of salt because if she wanted to speak out, she could have done so long ago. She could have sent her petition to the Minorities Commission then as she has done now.

Zaheera visited the Supreme Court at least 15 times and had several opportunities to talk to the media. If she was under pressure, she could have indicated to the court or somebody in the media. In fact, it would be interesting to know who arranged Zaheera’s press conference and what was the Baroda Police Commissioner doing when she was retracting her statement which attacked the state police. It is quite revealing that public prosecutor has said that Zaheera’s mother approached members of the prosecution to give the family a flat and set up a bakery in Mumbai.

I do not think that those who have followed Teesta’s career will be taken in by Zaheera’s allegation. Teesta is a byword for the protection of human rights. Her contribution in the field of Hindu-Muslim riots is outstanding. She is the one who pursued the Mumbai blasts before Justice Sri Krishna.

Human rights activists are mote in the eyes of any government. Indira Gandhi appointed an inquiry commission against them when she returned to power after the Janata Party’s defeat at the polls. The Kudal Commission harassed literally every human rights activist, particularly the Gandhians, because they put up the stiffest resistance during the Emergency. Not even a shred of evidence against them was found. Still the report raised doubts about the working of human rights activists without evidence.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s remark that people should “ponder and reflect” over Zaheera’s retraction is neither here nor there. True, he cannot go into the merits of the case since it is sub judice. But he could have at least commented on the system where the pressure by police could make the accused go back on what he had said. Zaheera’s case has brought such tactics of authorities to the fore. People have raised their voice against similar incidents earlier. If the Prime Minister had only mentioned the helplessness of public in the face of Zaheera-like cases, the police and the administration would have got the warning and might have improved themselves. The police involvement in cases is nothing new. The force gets away with anything because there is no proper follow-up and punishment. So many inquiry commissions have pointed out how the police are a party to cover up crime. No concrete step has been taken so far.

Army in the dock again

Once again, the Army is in the dock in Kashmir. True, an inquiry has been ordered into the allegation of rape of an 11-year-old girl and her mother in a remove village of Kupwara district. A Major has reportedly been taken into custody. Such incidents only alienate people. Thousands of them took to the streets in the Valley to demonstrate against the incident. Even human rights organisations are angry.

The rape case involving Goa’s Director-General of Police Amod Kanth is curious. The National Human Rights Commission has ordered prosecution. One lady from Delhi aged 19, as the commission’s report says, has stated before it “a police officer caught her from the main gate of Vasant Continental Hotel in the year 2001 and handed her over to Amod Kanth, a senior police officer.” Her claim is that she was assured that Kanth would take care of her and her family members but it never happened. She further alleged that Kanth continuously raped her from

October 2002 and she claims she has evidence to prove her allegation. Kanth has denied the allegation. Thank God, there is no politician involved. That would have given another edge to the whole incident.

Chatterati
Sonia wins the audience
by Devi Cherian

“Power behind the throne! No way”, says Sonia Gandhi. Candid and witty by turn, Sonia clearly won her powerful audience at the Hindustan Times Leadership Initiative conclave. Devastatingly frank, humorous outright on every issue she floored the likes of Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga, Farooq Abdullah, Imran Khan etc. The anti-Congress types may have started a fan club for her by now. What a mix of dignitaries.

Oh! Farooq cannot but help still treat Omar like a child. “Hold your mike”, closer he told the young politician much to Omar’s dismay. Well, journalists, industrialists like Mukesh Ambani, Nandan Nilakeni all managed to find a place on Rahul Gandhi’s lunch table. There was no cordoning off the young Gandhi. He was there as any other delegate and everyone was free to interact.

Rahul and Robert Vadra, both attired in business suits, were there through all sessions while Priyanka did not attend. Farooq and Imran Khan bantered on the J&K issue. Arun Shourie said, “Politicians are like journalists. Aside from getting everything wrong, they have 53 reasons for why everything went wrong”. Arun Jaitley said that the BJP did regret the disruptive approach in Parliament.

Well, as Sonia pointed out, India has much more to offer than just delicious curries. To a question from Omar, she said, “I have learnt from all of you including you”. But the best was Imran Khan who said how he envies Indian democracy.

Imran paints Delhi red

Single and ready to mingle was Imran Khan. He is still in Delhi, still painting it red every evening at all Divali parties. This Pathan sure has got over his divorce fast. Yes. But the girls at dinner just could not decide how he was considered good looking as he is so chinky eyed. Now! That would be difficult for Imran Khan to digest no doubt.

The dinner hosted that night was full of has-beens and the ones now in power. Oh! How cruel the capital is. The NDA leaders were completely sidelined by all here while those in power were of course being sought after. Clearly, a show of how only the powerful matter.

Ghulam’s tonic for MPs

Ah! Gulam Nabi Azad is so concerned about his colleagues going physical. Especially after what happened to poor Naveen Patnaik in the Vidhan Sabha. He wants them all fit and not faint at the sight of a chappal. So, Nabi has come up with a bonding technique for a fissiparous Parliament and a quarrelsome bunch of lawmakers who are perpetually at each other’s throats.

Going by Azad’s list of trying to contribute to cross-party harmony. Azad has invited his colleagues to participate in Kabadi, for the diehard male Swadeshi, for both sexes, there is a three-legged race, freestyle swimming, for the Saas-Bahu type, there is the spoon race and for the wild side of politics there are shooting events and a game that entails “hitting the post with a hockey stick”. Well, better to hit the post than a fellow MP.

Azad does hope all these games will drain our MPs of their destructive energy and promotes team spirit. I do hope here Azad will not need the Election Commission to play umpire and the Supreme Court to decide on the constitutional rights to administrate the sack race.

REFLECTIONS

Vanity sits ill on a person who claims to know the Supreme,

For what he knows is but a drop in the ocean.

— The Upanishads

There are others who realise the supreme purpose of life by deep contemplation. This is the way of "gyan" (Knowledge) and needs critical, unemotional self-analysis. Generally a person needs quiet and peaceful environs for such self-introspection.

— The Bhagvad Gita

Our children should be initiated into the practice of Simran. Simran should be the backbone of our system of education.

— Guru Nanak

In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness.

— Mahatma Gandhi

People talk about "finding" their lives. In reality, your life is not smoothing you find - it's something you create.

— David Phillips