EDITORIALS

Laloo-Paswan spat
Accuse in public, deny in Parliament

RAILWAY Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav has denied the accusations he had made against Lok Janshakti Party leader Ram Vilas Paswan. But television clippings do not lie and they show him making wild allegations against his colleague. This being the case, the Opposition cannot be faulted when it insists that the Prime Minister make a statement in Parliament on the Laloo-Paswan spat. After all, if reports are to be believed, Dr Manmohan Singh had called both the ministers and told them to stop the name-calling against each other. Mr Yadav had said that he had evidence of Mr Paswan making huge sums of money in the purchase of cranes for the Railways. In turn, Mr Paswan had spoken about Mr Yadav’s involvement in the multi-million fodder scam.

Never in the past had two senior Central ministers made such allegations against each other. The Prime Minister has an obligation to take the nation into confidence on this issue as they cannot be dismissed as a simple spat between two individuals. Having found that the Opposition would not give them peace if they persisted with their public quarrel, Mr Paswan too has played ball by claiming that he never targeted any minister in the UPA government and his comments were on the way the Bihar government was run. Actually, there is no distinction between Mr Yadav’s stewardship of the Railways and that of Bihar by his wife Ms Rabri Devi, as everybody knows he rules the state by proxy.

The comment that the situation in Bihar has been going from bad to worse is an understatement. In fact, the credibility of the state administration has plummeted to such low depths that the Patna High Court was compelled to keep anybody having anything to do with the state government off when it ordered a special drive to remove all cell phones from the jails. It had come to its notice that criminals in jails were masterminding kidnappings and extortions with the aid of mobile phones. This was a slap in the face of Mr Yadav and the Chief Minister. But they are least bothered as caste equations that have been favouring them for the last one and a half decades remain more or less unchanged. It is difficult to believe that it was the same state that was once declared the best administered by Appleby.

Ministers by proxy
Himachal High Court calls the bluff

WEDNESDAY's observation by the Himachal Pradesh High Court that Chief Parliamentary Secretaries and Parliamentary Secretaries are not ministers under Article 164 of the Constitution and no job, which is in the nature of functions and responsibilities to be discharged by ministers, can be assigned to them is welcome. This comes as a refreshing development in the context of the attempts by both Himachal Pradesh and Punjab Chief Ministers to circumvent the Constitution (Ninety-first Amendment) Act, 2003, curtailing the size of ministries. As this Act has circumscribed the Chief Ministers’ right to go in for jumbo-sized ministries, the latter have been appointing Parliamentary Secretaries with powers, perks and privileges of ministers. The Himachal High Court bench consisting of Chief Justice V.K. Gupta and Justice Deepak Gupta has now ruled that this amounts to committing “a fraud on the Constitution”.

If this is a “fraud” in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab — which boasts of as many as three Chief Parliamentary Secretaries and nine Parliamentary Secretaries — too cannot be absolved of blame. In fact, Punjab’s Parliamentary Secretaries not only enjoy the loaves and fishes of office, but some of them also portfolios just as other ministers. This is a clear attempt by the Chief Minister to hoodwink the law and pull the wool over people’s eyes. The tendency to appoint those (who cannot be accommodated in the ministries because of the constitutional cap) as chairmen of boards and corporations is also insulting the spirit of the Constitution.

The High Court ruling is remarkable as it raises the question of constitutional propriety of Parliamentary Secretaries donning the mantle of ministers. Also, if non-legislators are appointed to these posts, the time-tested principle of ministerial accountability towards the legislature will be diluted. In the light of the latest ruling, there is need for a rethinking on the continuance of Parliamentary Secretaries. There is also need for adequate safeguards against the misuse of the Constitution (Ninety-first Amendment) Act, 2003, because there is presently ample scope for its misuse. Encouragingly, a redeeming feature of the Constitution is that though Chief Ministers cleverly try to short-circuit it, the latest ruling proves that the judiciary will not hesitate to call a spade a spade if they violate the mandatory and binding constitutional provisions like Article 164.

Cristiano’s last goal
Death of a footballer

BRAZILIAN striker Cristiano de Lima Junior is dead and reached the final goal of mortals. What remains very much alive is the abounding speculation over the circumstances leading to his death, and whether he could have been saved. In the final of the Federation Cup football championship in Bangalore, Cristiano, who had donned the colours of the Dempo Club, died of a “collision” with Mohun Bagan goalkeeper Subrata Paul. Cristiano fell to what is described as a “nasty plunge” from Paul, just after he had pushed the ball to the nets. Regardless of whether Subroto Paul’s action—deliberate or otherwise— is the cause of the fatal end of a promising career, the tragic incident takes the lid off the rot in Indian football. The game is becoming increasingly violent, if not murderous. Not only do players engage in physically disabling tackles on their rivals but also pick on referees and spectators in their moments of rage.

A second, and no less frightening, reality the death highlights is the appalling absence of emergency medical facilities. Dempo Sports Club has threatened legal action against the Karnataka Football Association for non-provision of adequate medical facilities that could be accessed at the time Cristiano was stricken. On the flip side, there are charges that Dempo did not have a doctor with the team, which is a specified requirement. The All India Football Federation too is responsible for failing to ensure that every such contingency is provided for, and that players are restrained from aggressive play. What it all adds up to is the chilling conclusion that tragedies like this are waiting to happen across football fields in the country, unless heads roll, lessons are learnt, sporting arenas provided with medical facilities and, above all, players given to using violent tactics eliminated to prevent more Cristianos from happening.

Thought for the day

To Americans, English manners are far more frightening than none at all.

— Randall Jarrell

ARTICLE

The trial of a seer
Equality before law is the real issue
by J. Sri Raman

FROM the whodunit and the ‘howdunit’ to the unholy mess of it all — the arrest of Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati has raised a host of issues. More important than the questions about the murder mystery behind the arrest, however, is the issue of human rights involved.

On this issue, the post-arrest debate has revealed serious political differences. The most striking of these is the one between the reactions at the state and national levels. Tamil Nadu, the Shankaracharya’s home base, has witnessed the least of trauma over the arrest. Sympathy for the Shankaracharya found its first voices outside the state. Actions in solidarity with him also originated far away from the Kanchi mutt’s constituency.

The dominant, Dravidian section of the state’s political spectrum has united in defence of the action against the Shankaracharya. This newfound unity of the two major parties of the state — the ruling All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the main opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) — has come as no less a shock than the arrest itself. And few observers of the state can truthfully claim that they were not shocked particularly at the fact of the police under Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa carrying out the arrest.

The Dravida Kazhagam (DK), the ideological patriarch of the Dravidian family, has joined the two parties on Ms Jayalalithaa’s side. The Dravidian forces present a formidably solid state-level phalanx in denying any human rights violation in the Shankarcharya case. This unity remains intact despite the afterthoughts of Mr. Karunanidhi, anxious not to give his arch-rival an entirely clean chit.

The Left in Tamil Nadu has supported the arrest no less. Members of the CPI and the CPM rallied vociferously in the government’s defence after Ms Jayalalithaa’s suo motu statement on the subject in the state Assembly amidst hostile slogans from the other end of the spectrum. State CPM General Secretary N. Varadarajan has wondered why the BJP, clamouring for a uniform civil code, wants special treatment for the Shankaracharya.

The state Congress has taken no explicit stand on the issue, but left no doubt about where its sympathies lay — especially by its silent approval of the Chief Minister’s statement. It is only the state BJP that has come out in condemnation of the arrest, but it took its time doing so. It needed an apex-level decision to nudge the state unit into the slogan-shouting in the Assembly. The rest of the “parivar” has demonstrated more street-level support than the party in the state for the Shankaracharya.

At the National level, the picture is perceptibly different. The BJP and the “parivar” have taken an unambiguous stand against the arrest, though with slightly different emphases. It was Dr Murli Manohar Joshi of the BJP and Mr Praveen Togadia of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad who cast the first stones at the Tamil Nadu government for its arrest and treatment of the Shankaracharya.

The VHP and, following it, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Bajrang Dal and the Hindu Munnani have denounced the arrest as a diabolical assault on and affront to Hinduism. The BJP has preferred to disapprove of the action of its former ally in the state more as a breach of the due process of law, leaving “Hindutva” aggression to individual leaders. Dr. Joshi, as a devotee of the Shankaracharya in distress, sounded horrified at the “humiliation” of the Hindus and one of their “holy” men. Ms Sushma Swaraj, subsequently, asserted that the Shankaracharya’s much-publicised “confession” was a police concoction. Ms Uma Bharati’s foray into Taml Nadu may intensify the “parivar” infighting on the issue.

Initially, the Congress at the national level, too, kept its own counsel in the matter, but without sounding hostile to the Shankaracharya. Mrs Sonia Gandhi refused comment on the issue on the ground that it was sub judice, but reacted angrily to BJP suggestions about her hand in the arrest. State Congress leader and Central minister E.V.S.K. Elangovan endorsed her statement. Party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi later put on record the Congress disapproval of the “way the Shankaracharya has been treated”, but hastened to slam also the BJP attempt to “politicise” the issue. The state Congress leadership, while endorsing this anti-BJP charge as well, has been eloquently silent on the Shankaracharya’s treatment.

At least a hint of a similar hiatus in the Left on the issue has been forthcoming. The state CPM was quick to support the arrest and condemn all its critics. A prominent editor identified with the party chose to defend the arrest on a television channel and deny any breach of law or rights in the process. National-level CPM leader Sitaram Yechury, however, was quoted later as bemoaning the treatment meted out to the Shankaracharya in breach of the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court in the matter.

Mr Yechury sounded almost like other critics, who recalled past comments in a Chennai-based national daily on another high-profile arrest. The newspaper had then objected to the way the same Jayalalithaa police had arrested DMK leader M. Karunanidhi — in the dead of the night, without a due warrant, with less than due respect, and so on. The critics contend that, with a change of the name, the paper could have made the same comments about the Shankaracharya’s arrest, which it has defended now. Many, not involved in the controversy, are also of the opinion that the Shankaracharya’s arrest was just as defensible or indefensible as Mr Karunanidhi’s was.

This raises the question of the rule of law. But it is as an enforcement of the rule of law that the Shankaracharya’s arrest and treatment have been supported. A point repeatedly made in defence of the action is that the state police and government have made no distinction — well, almost none — between Veerappan and the Shankaracharya. The latter did not help his cause by reportedly telling the police at the time of arrest that he could not be treated “like Veerappan”.

If this elicited the question “why not?” from several quarters, it is because the Shankaracharya has an image problem. His arrest and the allegations against him (including some involving women) have provoked no widespread moral outrage, because the mutt chief and the mutt itself had lost much of its halo over the years. This was, in good part, because of his participation in politics, especially of the “parivar” kind, and public perception of him as a promoter of the interests of a community and a caste.

He participated in the kind of politics that certainly promoted no high regard for human rights. Neither he nor his immediate constituency nor his extended camp has distinguished itself by its commitment to civil liberties and democratic rights. They were all applause, for example, for the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA). All of them equated patriotism with POTA-like laws. The Shankaracharya had been a frontline supporter of Ms Jayalalithaa’s anti-conversion law: he saw no threat to human rights in a law that envisaged a double penalty for a Dalit’s religious conversion, which the police found “forcible” or “fraudulent”.

The arrest-provoked debate has still not advanced to the stage that is devoutly to be desired. The parties involved may talk of equality before law, each in its eclectic fashion. The people’s interest lies in the enforcement of equality before a law that is not lawless - either in its provisions or its practical implementation. And it should be equality before law not only of the Shankaracharyas and Karunanidhis but also the common people who, too, must be privileged citizens in a democracy.

MIDDLE

Holiday in Lahore
by V.N. Kakar

ONCE on a weekend holiday in Lahore, I walked into the room of my buddy, Khan Chand Duggal, in the Ewing Hall hostel of the Forman Christian College. I had never stayed with him earlier. At the end of the Anarkali bazar, there used to be the Majestic Hotel. It was owned by a friend of my father, Bhai Wazir Singh. I had always stayed there whenever I visited Lahore, and I visited Lahore off and on. If I had not stayed with Bhai Wazir Singh, he would have felt offended and as a consequence thereof, I would have been court-martialled by my father, an army officer, who believed as much in maintaining discipline at home as in having the best of relations with his friends.

Khan Chand was taken by surprise. I remember, it was a holiday in the college because it was the day of the Basant festival. Khan Chand decided to take me to the Lawrence Garden. He had naturally one cycle of his own. He borrowed another boy’s cycle for me and the two of us went on a jolly good jaunt. In the Lawrence Garden, there was a mount. We sat there together sipping Pilsner beer, eight annas a bottle. Since we were not that much used to it, we became a bit tipsy after two or three glasses. We roamed about in the garden looking at young couples embracing each other, something for which Lawrence Garden was duly famous. Late in the evening, staggering somewhat, picking up our cycles, we pedalled back to the Ewing Hall.

“Where are you staying?” asked Khan Chand. “With you, of course, where else?” said I. He was taken aback. “But you can’t stay with me,” said he, “for that, I have to take special permission from the warden in advance. Normally, guests are not allowed to stay with boarders at night.”

Khan Chand could not have thrown me out of the hostel. And it was too late for him to knock at the door of Dr Schyler, the formidable American warden. The two of us shared the cot that Khan Chand had in his room. The next day, early in the morning, I moved back to Ferozepore cantonment, where I was stationed. But my night out in Lahore was noted by the khansama and the dining room bearer. One of them or maybe someone else, let Khan Chand down. He reported my nocturnal stay with him to the warden. And two days later, Khan Chand informed me through a letter that he had been expelled from the hostel.

“When to the sessions of sweet silent thought; I summon up remembrance of things past; I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,” — in those moments of solitude, Khan Chand is one of those who creep in quietly. He retired as a Colonel from the army and died one evening in New Delhi’s Defence Colony while giving a push to a stranded car belonging to someone unknown to him. He should not have done it. For he was a heart patient. But, then, he was Khan Chand. And the likes of him leave behind on the sands of time footprints which time itself cannot wipe out.

OPED

Dateline Washington
Insurgents target aid workers in Iraq
International agencies move out staff
by Ashish Kumar Sen

US soldiers in Iraq : “We’re fighting insurgents and dead-enders and criminals who aren’t following the standard rules of engagement”. — Photo by Reuters

INTERNATIONAL aid workers, whose humanitarian mission afforded them protection in areas of conflict, now find that their flags offer little defence against an unprecedented spate of terrorist attacks in Iraq.

The kidnapping and reported execution of Margaret Hassan, CARE International’s Director of Operations in Iraq, and the decision of the aid organisation to close down its offices in the country hastened the exodus of other aid groups from the region.

On November 4, the Doctors Without Borders closed its operations citing an inability “to guarantee an acceptable level of security for our staff, be they foreign or Iraqi.”

The International Rescue Committee also has decided to phase out its humanitarian assistance programmes in southern and northern Iraq by the end of December.

Mr Mark Bartolini, California-based Middle East and Asia Director at the IRC, said “security constraints” were responsible for the decision. “The deteriorating security conditions reveal a trend toward attacks against Iraqi civilians who associate themselves with international agencies as well as against the international staff of those organisations,” he said.

Mr Ross Mountain served as U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s deputy special representative in Iraq until earlier this week when he was posted to the Congo. He says the three-dozen remaining U.N. workers in Baghdad have had to “adapt our approach dramatically.”

“In the past, U.N. humanitarian groups have operated without armed guards — wrapping ourselves in the people’s goodwill and our blue flags, and providing all the assistance the people need,” Mr. Mountain said. “But Iraq has become a very different theater of operations.”

Insurgents that are targeting aid organisations “are people who are not particularly interested in the welfare of the Iraqi population,” he said. “They are interested in scoring political points. And we are very soft targets. When you blow up 20-odd U.N. staff it is easier than going after a military target, and it obviously has an impact.”

Many aid agencies have moved their most vulnerable employees out of dangerous areas and have replaced their expatriate staff with local Iraqis. Some have taken armed guards, but others choose not to do so, preferring instead to build trust in areas where they work.

While instances of foreigners being kidnapped get prominent coverage in the media, groups working in Iraq say most of the people who have been killed, injured and abducted are Iraqis.

Pentagon officials blame the “changing dynamics” of the enemy for the fragile security situation. “We’re not fighting an Iraqi government, we’re fighting insurgents and dead-enders and criminals who aren’t following the standard rules of engagement,” a defence source said.

Normally aid organisations ensure that they are visible in the areas in which they are operating. Workers travel in prominently marked vehicles and don’t rely on the protection of armed personnel.

In Iraq, however, the situation is quite the opposite. Oliver Burch, Iraq programme manager at London-based Christian Aid, says the aid group’s partners go about their business in taxis and try and blend in with the local population.

In recent conflicts, military forces have become increasingly involved in operations other than war, including provision of humanitarian aid to the local population.

Aid groups say this involvement is partly to blame for “blurring the lines” between their staff and the U.S.-led coalition troops in Iraq.

The Iraq Project and Contracting Office (PCO) is responsible for implementing nearly $12.4 billion of the $18.44 billion in the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund approved by the U.S. Congress.

The PCO reports to the Defence Department on matters relating to programme management and contracting, and to the Iraq Reconstruction Management Office (IRMO) at the State Department on matters relating to priorities and requirements.

According to U.N. guidelines, humanitarian action must be conducted separately and clearly distinguished from military-led relief operations.

At the same time, practical realities on the ground have necessitated various forms of civil-military coordination for humanitarian operations. The UN has instructed its staff that the use of military or armed protection for humanitarian agencies is “an extreme precautionary measure” that should be taken only in exceptional circumstances.

Oliver Phillips, UNICEF communications officer in New York City, says the experience of a lot of the people who have been kidnapped “shows that no matter how many steps you take there are no cast-iron guarantees that you are safe.”

Dr Burkle said: “The NGOs will tell you that wearing protective gear brings attention and aligns you to the coalition. But it doesn’t make any difference who you are now.”

“You have to question whether these issues have limited humanitarian work. And the answer is yes, of course,” he added. “Yet some of it goes on by brave people.”

Delhi Durbar
Elahi comes calling

THERE was much back-slapping between Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and his Punjab counterpart from across the border in Pakistan, Pervez Elahi. The visitor was dazzled by Gurgaon and its sprawling malls.

Chautala sought greater exchanges and mutually beneficial cooperation in agriculture, education, health and IT extending from West Punjab to Haryana.

Elahi concurred and during a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh quickly switched to talking in Punjabi.

Later Elahi confided that he found the Prime Minister highly sincere in trying to normalise relations with his country. Dr Singh said he was looking forward to his visit to Pakistan.

Elahi was quick in imploring the Prime Minister to return to his roots in Gah village where Dr Singh was born. Apart from gifting Elahi a tractor, Chautala also presented HIM a “murrah” baffalo saying it provides plentiful milk for one’s health and happiness.

Bihar PCC ignored

Congressmen from Bihar are a disgruntled lot as they see no future for the party. A prominent leader from the state said that the PCC should adopt a resolution seeking party President Sonia Gandhi’s permission to merge in the Rashtriya Janata Dal.

While the Muslims and the upper castes along with a section of the Dalits are prepared to return to the party fold, RJD supremo and Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav has gone on record to say that he will not give more than a dozen assembly seats to the country’s grand old party.

The Congress high command is so obsessed with the RJD’s support to the UPA government that the PCC interests are being totally overlooked, a leader observed. “See, there is no permanent member from Bihar in the Congress Working Committee and not even a permanent invitee”, he lamented.

Varun eyes Lok Sabha

Varun Gandhi, who will turn 25 years next March, is understood to have already sounded the BJP leadership about his intentions to contest the Lok Sabha poll from the Vidhisha constituency in Madhya Pradesh, which is being represented by party General Secretary Shivraj Singh Chauhan.

His eye on the Vidhisha seat is due to two reasons. First, it is considered one of the safest seats for the BJP. Secondly, there is a strong possibility of Shivraj Singh, who is currently General Secretary in charge of Haryana, being asked to take over the mantle of Chief Ministership in Madhya Pradesh after the Assembly poll in Haryana early next year.

In today’s politics strategy and timing are very important and Varun is definitely shaping up well.

One man, two posts

Supporters of Himachal Pradesh Cooperatives Minister Kuldeep Kumar, who was recently appointed state PCC chief, have mixed feelings over his getting the new assignment.

They feel that Kuldeep Kumar may have to give up his slot in the state Cabinet if the party decides to implement its one-person, one-post norm.

After all the norm was repeatedly cited in the case of outgoing PCC chief Vidya Stokes by those in the state Congress who wanted her out.

With Kuldeep Kumar, apparently having not been given any firm assurance by the party’s central leadership on his continuing as a minister, his supporters seem apprehensive.

They say that Kuldeep Kumar is the only Dalit MLA of the Congress in some 30 constituencies of the lower region of the state and taking him out of the ministry would leave a large section unrepresented.

Contributed by Satish Misra, S Satyanarayanan, Prashant Sood and Gaurav Choudhury.

REFLECTIONS

—Mahatma Gandhi