P A G E
Thursday, July 9, 1998
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E D I T O R I A L P A G E |
Thursday, July 9, 1998 |
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words from right man Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has at long last realised the necessity of talking on behalf of his government on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir and the nuclear situation in the post-Pokhran II period. Congress leader Madhavrao Scindia and representatives of the Left parties were correct in reminding the Head of Government that the "extremely jingoistic" terminology used by senior ministers and a few other highly placed representatives of the ruling combine had done "considerable damage to the country's image". Defence Minister George Fernandes is too ebullient to pause and think before he speaks his views out. Home Minister L.K.Advani has impulsively uttered the words "proactive policy" and he finds it hard to modify his expression which, among other things, means the hot pursuit of terrorists entering India after crossing the Line of Control (LoC). Mr Jaswant Singh, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, has assigned to himself a brief which makes him state and then deny an untenable idea on the LoC issue. We have repeatedly suggested that the Prime Minister should be his government's spokesman on issues relating to India-China and India-Pakistan relations, besides crucial points being raised at home and abroad about India's nuclear policy, programmes and strategies. Self-exceeding shows his anointed men's proneness amounting to habituation. The controversy on the sensitive issues has been ended by Mr Vajpayee's authentic iteration. Any discussion on the LoC as the de jure border has not been contemplated because there was a resolution passed years ago by Parliament which committed India to getting back the areas occupied by Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir. Besides the territory under Islamabad's occupation, there was valuable Indian land gifted to China by Pakistan. The only question to be discussed at Colombo between Mr Nawaz Sharif and Mr Vajpayee is that of vacation of aggression which will naturally call for an urgent mention of the proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir; this vicious and nine-year-old problem is an extension of the four aggressions against India by its neighbour, ruled for long years by dictators and India-baiters who failed to sustain their two-nation theory in a milieu whose conceptual mantra was globalisation and oneness of mankind. For the international community, particularly for our neighbours other than Pakistan, the offer of "no-first-use" of nuclear weapons should be the final assurance on such matters as raise fears about the considerable Indian prowess in the sphere of military wherewithal. Mr Nawaz Sharif said sweet nothings about "a non-aggression pact" at the UN and then resumed his martial tune. If there is a firm expression of India's will never to strike at any country with nuclear arms first, where is any cause for the feeling of insecurity in the neighbourhood? Pakistan has not agreed to make such a promise of self-restraint. The "command and control" of the nuclear button will be in the Prime Minister's hand. There is abundance of spurious wisdom and imaginary expertise in pro-Pakistan countries. The Chinese have put the destructive nuclear crown on Pakistan's head. The USA wants a firm foothold in South Asia and therefore it must criticise all defensive activities in this country. Look at Australia. Its top defence expert Des Ball said on Tuesday: "India had about 120 active nuclear weapons—twice as many as previously feared and all capable of being delivered by aircraft....What has happened in India-Pakistan relationship on three occasions in the last decade or so shows that they have got very close to using nuclear weapons". Thanks, Mr Ball, for this theorising ball which will perhaps never be played. Our no first-strike proposal remains in place. And there is no controversy on the geographical boundaries of undivided Indian Kashmir.  |
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| IT Action Plan An inward-looking and status quoist administrative machinery has let many positive revolutions pass India by. The biggest of them all, the information revolution, is currently sweeping the world, with our country having derived only fringe benefits from it. In this dismal situation, the farsightedness and boldness of the report submitted by the National Task Force on Information Technology to the government are a refreshing change and thus highly welcome. It sees through many unnecessarily raised blinkers and recommends a blueprint which has the potential of making India a technology superpower in the years to come. If implemented faithfully, the action plan cannot only ensure nationwide penetration of computers but also generate 10 lakh jobs in the next five years alone. It has the seeds of a fruitful call centre business in the country to handle employment intensive backoffice jobs for overseas organisations. It is ironical that the West, which needs computer trained people, lacks manpower and India, which has millions of jobless, does not have the right opportunities. The information technology can fulfil the requirements of both sides. With adequate government support, services like the Internet, e-mail and voice mail can become as ubiquitous as the STD booths which dot almost every village of the country. In fact, these booths are to be central to the computer revolution by upgrading themselves into information kiosks and providing all the services mentioned above and more. Privatisation is the key to the brave new world that has been envisaged. The task force has specifically sought an end to the monopoly of the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL). This organisation is just not capable of providing adequate services to a country of India’s dimensions. Not only that, the proposal is to utilise the network already available with organisations like the Railways, state electricity boards, power grid corporations and the ONGC etc. They can be granted permission to use fibreoptic backbone to provide services to the public. In fact, it could be a good opportunity for them to earn revenue. For instance, the Railways has a nationwide telephony network. It can be put to good use by making only slight additional expenditure. India being a poor country, very few people have computers. But televisions have reached every nook and corner. It is proposed to use cable operators to provide Internet facilities. The services can change the face of the nation and can increase software export from the country to $ 50 billion by 2008. But a pre-requisite is to advance the time frame by three years for acceding to WTO information technology agreement schedules, including zero duty on all information technology products, to 2002 from 2005. While the task force has submitted its report at a record speed, the government has also shown a sense of urgency by setting up a four-member ministerial committee to examine it. The committee comprising the Finance Minister, the Information and Broadcasting Minister, the Human Resource Development Minister and the Defence Minister has in turn been asked to submit its report within 10 days. Since these ministries have already had intensive discussions with the task force, the approval of the proposals should be formality. Then the real task of implementation will start. Knowing the votaries of the bullock cart age and the industrialists who want to palm off their own obsolete products in the name of promoting locally made products, quite a bit of resistance is but natural. The government needs to ignore them all. The country has already fallen far behind others heeding to such self-serving advice. Now is the time to remove all speedbreakers from the information superhighway and ensure a cushioned ride for the common man. Right to information should not be a monopoly of the select, well-provided few. |
| Celebrating secularism The annual Amarnath Yatra from Jammu to the holy cave via Pahalgam got off to a quiet start on Sunday. The Jammu and Kashmir government has wisely extended the duration of the yatra by several weeks to avoid last-minute rush of pilgrims to the shrine. The security forces have sanitised the 46-km route from Pahalgam to the holy cave to ensure an incident-free darshan of the ice lingam of Lord Shiva. These measures are necessary keeping in mind the attempts of the malcontents from across the border to create communal tension by targeting the Hindu devotees. Over the past several months Pakistan-trained militants have selectively killed members of Kashmiri Pandit families for implementing their satanic agenda of causing bitterness among brothers who share a common religious, cultural and social legacy. Some years ago the Charar-e-Sharif shrine was destroyed with the same objective of creating Hindu-Muslim tension in Jammu and Kashmir. Of course, foolproof security arrangements are necessary to thwart the evil designs of the militants. At the same time, the people of not just Jammu and Kashmir but the entire country need to be reminded on a regular basis about the strong secular tradition which evolved naturally in India and later became an integral part of the Constitution. Most religious festivals, rooted in Indian soil, involve the celebration of secularism without any distinction of caste, creed or faith. The Amarnath cave was discovered by a Muslim shepherd and to this day one-third of the offerings go to his family and local Muslims have not given up their involvement in providing “travel facilities” to the yatris in spite of provocations from Pakistan.The Amarnath cave is not an isolated symbol of the country’s secular ethos. The “secular waters” flow from Kashmir to Kanyakumari making India a unique example of religious togetherness. The Hindu pilgrims to Sabrimala in the South must first pay their respects to a Muslim devotee, whose shrine is located near the sanctum sanctorum, before a darshan of the Lord. The shrines of Muslim saints in Delhi, Ajmer and elsewhere attract a large number of Hindu devotees. The Jagannath Yatra, which is currently on in Orissa, is another powerful symbol of positive secularism (participating in the religious festivals of members of other communities). According to a recent report from Bhubaneswar, Remada, a small village in western Orissa, “stands out as an oasis of peace and amity” because here the members of the Muslim community traditionally celebrate the Rath Yatra with equal devotion. Mohammad Jamilullah Khan plays a key role in patronising the festival and taking active part in the Lord’s rituals. Muslim musicians sing bhajans in praise of Lord Jagannath. However, there is a disturbing element in the report from Bhubaneswar. It quotes Jamilullah Khan as expressing concern over an attempt to start a parallel rath yatra at the instance of activists of a political party. The nation cannot but agree with the Muslim devotee of Lord Jagannath that “it is not a question of starting another festival. What matters is the underlying motive in it, which might sow the seeds of hatred among the people.” How are these elements different from the anti-nationals who tried to create religious hatred in Doda and Coimbatore? |
| Governance without gimmicks Performance as the criterion by Joginder Singh There have been different patterns of governance at different times. At one time absolute monarchy was considered the best way to govern and to redress the grievances of the governed. But as the burden of governing increased, the ruler came to depend on his close friends and relations. They in turn assumed not only significant roles in governance, but were also given vested interests. Good governance comes not only from good laws. Basically it emanates from wise interpretations, and effective and fair implementation of those laws. It also originates from honest intentions and their implementation, devoid of politicisation of every issue. Fixity of tenure or irremovability are important components of good governance. Normally, when a crisis occurs, governments tend to find scapegoats to compensate for its own failure in dealing with any situation. It is true that it may not be humanly possible for the minister concerned to monitor the working of all aspects of his department. But there is nothing to prevent him from devising a mechanism or having people in his team who would deliver results. It has been noticed that a set of people, irrespective of the party in power, manage to surround the political masters. Ostensibly, they carry out all the commands of their master. But, actually, they stonewall the ministers. Nobody can see them unless the minions surrounding the minister or the Prime Minister are pleased. Similarly, no official information can reach the minister unless the bureaucrats decide to put up the same. Particular care is taken even at the cost of truth to see that nothing is put up which may displease the political master. The reports and recommendations are doctored, anticipating what is expected and required. It is like a thali culture in a restaurant, wherein all eatables are presented before the visitor. Replace the thali with the government file and you get a picture. Successive governments have done a lot of damage in bending the bureaucracy to serve their needs. Compliant civil servants with unscrupulous politicians have been too happy to involve themselves in the nexuses. At one time one Prime Minister talked about committed people working for the government. In the case of impeachment of a Supreme Court judge, the government of the day literally worked against the motion by abstaining. There has been a lot of talk whether India should switch over to the presidential form of government. It may or may not happen. But a few good features of the presidential system can be adopted straightaway to tone up the system. At present the system of senior appointments is shrouded in mystery. For all appointments of the level of Joint Secretary and above,the file passes through about 35 people. The final approval comes only when the concerned minister, the Home Minister, and the Prime Minister have concurred. For some appointments, even the President’s approval is required. In the Presidential system, all such appointments are required to be ratified by a committee of the legislature. Roughly speaking, all appointments of the equivalent of Additional Secretary and above go to committee. The background and suitability is thoroughly pre-investigated. The incumbent summoned to appear before the committee may have it with them. The entire past of the candidate for top slot is looked into so that an effort is made to fit the square peg in the square hole. As compared to the present system of appointment, it is done on the basis of the confidential reports of the officer. Such reports are written by the next superior officer, based on the performance appraisal furnished by the officer to be reported upon. People vie for getting outstanding reports so that they are not bypassed for promotion. This writer is aware that many a times when the reporting officer has been kept in good humour, he asks the person reported upon to write his own report and just get his signature. It is very common for the private secretaries and the other staff close to the ministers to write their own reports and just get the signature of their ministers. Once a Private Secretary was unhappy that his minister had recorded his work as satisfactory. He told his minister that the report would mean the end of further progress in his career. The minister asked him why should it happen when he was satisfied with his performance. The man explained that anything less than “Very Good” or “Outstanding” will mean curtains for him. The result is that almost everybody is classified as “Very Good” or “Outstanding” in his annual appraisal. The only difference between the reports is the superlatives and panegyrics used. In such a climate, almost everybody comes up. Once one official was given a very good report by his senior. His senior was told that a series of petitions would start against him and the entire staff would hate him unless he classified everybody as outstanding. Just to buy peace and keep his office functioning, he agreed to whatever was asked for. The same is true of the overtime allowance sanctioned to the staff for working beyond their normal hours. A colleague told me that work or no work, he used to sanction maximum overtime allowance to his staff. Personally, he felt that he was doing something wrong. But he had no option, when he found everybody doing the same. First he used to be indignant and would pontificate over other’s wrong doing. But he reconciled to the situation when he felt that unless he went with the current, he would be courting more trouble than he could handle. Moral sickness in the country is expediency. It knows no caste, creed, colour or the office. We have to create options to transcend and make it difficult to do wrong. One of the cardinal sins in the government is to criticise it or any of its actions or any senior functionary in the government. On the face of it, it is a healthy rule and there is nothing unexceptionable about. It is right also that normally you do not criticise your pay master. If you do not like the job, you are free to quit and take up something after your heart. It is also true that everybody will not be happy with all the actions of the government. What is the redressal of grievance for an employee? Since he cannot criticise the government openly, he goes to the courts and the administrative tribunals. Those institutions are flooded with the cases against the government. The government is the biggest litigant. It is surprising that a lot of time, energy, money and manpower are spent by the government in defending its actions. There has been no senior functionary, including the Cabinet Secretary, against whom contempt proceedings have not been filed. It is too serious a matter to be ignored. Either our rules and laws are not properly framed or not justly administered. The government has to be a model employer. At the same time, it should not become a refuge of the unfit and the deadwood. Different performance appraisal models have been tried, and they have all been subverted from within. For instance, the recent government decision to raise the age of retirement was long overdue. But it was the duty of the bureaucrats to have advised the political masters to build the safeguards in the scheme. For instance, in the defence services and paramilitary organisations the first requisite thing for promotion or retention in service is that the person concerned should be physically fit. It is a fact that with age, the capacity to work goes down. Many health problems also crop up. It would have been useful if a clause of a medical examination had been introduced. Instead of extending the retirement age across the board, perhaps it would have been better to use the occasion to weed out the deadwood. Political masters may not know the nitty-gritty of the administration. But there was nothing to prevent the senior bureaucrats to suggest measures for toning up the administration at the time of increasing the retirement age. The time has come when time-bound results should be insisted upon from the bureaucracy and job retention should be linked to job performance and not who knows whom. It is time the new government broke a new path in this direction. |
| Defence forces & their firepower by B.K. Mathur Defence Minister George Fernandes loves flying high. He is high on providing concessions, facilities and allowances to the troops — like a labour leader. But low on tackling the top priority requirements of the defence forces, to make them operationally strong in the new emerging security scenario. As the Vajpayee government completed one hundred days in office on June 26, George, like all his colleagues, came out with the achievements of the Defence Ministry under him. He highlighted, among other things, the special recruitment drive in the North-East, some defence production achievements, change of the headquarters of one of the IAF commands, increase in Siachen allowance and opening of new laboratories, besides, of course, Pokhran-II. But there is little effort to enhance the firepower of the forces. When Mr Fernandes took over, the three defence services were faced with five major problems: acute paucity of spares for the existing machinery with the forces, upgradation of the main fighting machines like the main battle tank, light combat aircraft, procurement of an aircraft carrier for the Navy, replacement of Vikrant which retired last year, provision of advanced jet trainer for the Indian Air Force and, above all, the need to attract better intake in the forces. The Press Information Bureau release outlining the achievements of the Vajpayee government in its first one 100 days does not, surprisingly, make any mention of the above five problems which required top priority handling. In the present day strategy, it will be difficult for India to fight a naval battle without an aircraft carrier. And the defence planners need to understand that the next war between India and Pakistan (chances of which may be remote) will start from the Arabian Sea for various reasons. The main reason is that Pakistan may not be confident of achieving much headway from the Kashmir front from where it has initiated three earlier confrontations in 1947-48, 1965 and 1971. Secondly, Islamabad has considerably raised the firepower of its sea force since 1971, thanks to the supply of lethal naval weapons and fighting ships by America, China and their allies. Thirdly, India has a vast coastline and its defence would be a difficult task without at least three aircraft-carriers and nuclear-powered submarines. More than Pakistan’s superior naval force machinery-wise its present air strike capabilities are of greater concern. In fact, their 19 or 20 fighter squadrons are better equipped than India’s more than twice the number. What is worse is that our fighter pilots, known for their bravery all over the world, are at a near-crisis point in the absence of an advanced jet trainer, which the IAF has been demanding for long. When I raised this question with the Defence Minister, he seemed to be ignorant about this demand. He started talking about the LCA and MBT projects, which too have been hanging in the air for a long time. Even when the Defence Secretary corrected him, he simply riggled out characteristically by stating that “negotiations are progressing”.It is for nearly a decade now that the Air Force has been demanding an advanced jet trainer, but the fighter pilots have so far been denied proper training to take on today’s sophisticated, complex aircraft. Remember, the good performance of the IAF in the past was a result of highly competent officers and men behind the machines in the air and on the ground. Whatever they flew, they were the masters in the sky. Alas, it is not so today. For flying high-technology fighter aircraft, there has to be a mandatory drill of learning the ropes and an advanced training aircraft, which we do not have as yet. This reminds one of Nirmal Suri, former Chief of Air Staff, who had once, while in uniform, asked a group of defence writers: how can you expect one to graduate without passing the intermediate course or the plus two stage in the present scheme of educational system. Suri’s predecessor, Poly Mehra, had about two years earlier stated as the IAF Chief that the Indian Air Force will be doomed if it did not get an advanced jet trainer. Even Suri’s successor Air Chief Marshal S.K. Kaul had wondered within days of his taking over the command of the IAF in 1993 as to “how the boys can fight without adequate training” to handle the latest sophisticated aircraft. But things have remained as they were. There is no AJT. — infaThe Defence Minister tom-tommed in reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha last month that the number of accidents in the IAF, which was about 30 per year in the previous decade, has now fallen in the current decade to an average of 22 accidents per year and that there have been only 13 accidents in the IAF during 1997-98, which is the lowest figure since the formation of the IAF. Some time earlier the public relations officer of the IAF in the Ministry of Defence had also issued a hand-out, highlighting the drop in the accident rate. Why, oh why this populist attempt of indulgence in the numbers game — like the way the Defence Minister conveniently reacted to the problem of intake into the forces. He said the strength in the military training academies is “full”. Mr Minister, the question is not about the number at the entry point. It is about the quality of the trainees, which has gone down considerably. Youth is just not interested in joining the forces. |
| Patent for “paranthas” by Ranjiv Dalal I received a teleprinter message nominating me for the vertical interaction course to be held at Mt Abu just two days before the start of the course. I was excited as I saw in it a chance to escape the hellish heat wave of the plains and bring some cheer to my wife who was fed up with my long sittings in the office day after day. After all, she had decided to be a housewife to be able to spend more time with me. With lots of pull and influence and thanks to the quota system in the railways, which is yet to come under PIL (public interest litigation), we managed two seats. What eats we should carry for an 18-hour-long journey was the next question? “Food is available right in the train,” my daughter butted in. “Oh, no! I hate to eat rice, daal and chapatis rolled in aluminium foils. All that glitters is not gold,” I retorted. “Besides, it is so messy,” I added. “Then why don’t you carry buns, sandwitches, cutlets and a few chocolates to munch”, she sermoned. “No, I shall not carry all this junk food smelling of MNCs”. I reacted. “Let’s carry ‘aaloo paranthas’ rolled with mango pickle inside and it will be super”, I directed my wife. My daughter shrugged her shoulders disdainfully and walked away. The very name of “paranthas” activated adrenal glands and my mouth watered. Oh! delicious “aaloo parantha”. “Parantha” is a household word in North India. I think my association with it dates back to my toddler days. And when the time came for me to join school, my mother tempted me with “chini ka parantha” (sugar-mixed parantha) and from then onwards, paranthas were more often than not part of the tiffin during my school days. We must hurry up and get our “paranthas” patented before some American firm stakes out the claim of having conducted research on it and snatches it from our hands. Why! Haven’t we already lost fragrant basmati; our useful neem and its “nimolis”, and may be tulsi. A group of housewives or a genuine (there are many fake ones) voluntary agency must move and seek patent for this tantalisingly delicious, all purpose ancient Indian cuisine, or else soon we will have to rush to McDonalds and Wimpy stores to fetch “paranthas”, and the police would be conducting raids on dhabas and homes to arrest red-handed housewives making “paranthas” under an all-encompassing parantha regulatory Act. No other dish offers such fantastic varieties in taste as “paranthas” do — right from plain “parantha” to “aaloo parantha”. In winters you have their methi, mooli, gobhi parantha, egg etc, varieties. It caters to every palate and in all seasons. Hamburgers and hot dogs pale into insipidity before this aristocratic cuisine. In winters, it is indeed heavenly to relish hot “paranthas” topped with a spoonful of home-made butter accompanied by a big bowl of fresh curd. And if one has to carry packed stuff for lunch or for use during journey, nothing could be more tasty and wholesome than the unique taste of cold “paranthas”. It is not only an all-weather friend but also a friend in need. Ask any enterprising housewife (except those who can afford home delivery service from Hot Millions and the like) as to how she copes up when the guests arrive unannounced at odd hours. In no time, hot paranthas with a variety of pickles are served, followed by a steaming cup of tea. Poor “parantha” has been left behind as it got no sponsorship from multinational companies who aggressively advertised their junk food products and candies and captured the minds of our children. How long will poor “parantha” be able to withstand the onslaguht of mighty hamburger is a million dollar question! |
| Power projects not hit by sanctions By K. Vaidiyanathan It was nothing short of an unbelievable surprise when the BJP leadership introduced its prize catch from the Congress Rangarajan Kumaramangalam on the eve of the 1998 Lok Sabha elections. Rangarajan’s decision came as a surprise because he hails from a family of nationalists committed to socialism and social justice. If his grandfather Dr Subbaroyan was a Minister in Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s first Cabinet, his father Mohan Kumaramangalam, a renowned lawyer and a member of the Communist Party of India, joined the Congress Party to become the Law Minister in Mrs Indira Gandhi’s Cabinet, after the 1969 Congress split. The well-known CPI leader Mrs Parvati Krishnan was his paternal aunt. If his mother is a Bengali, his wife is a Punjabi. This third generation politician and minister in the Union Cabinet is truly a nationalist. Forty-year-old Rangarajan is a graduate in science from Madras University. He then qualified in law from Delhi University and practised law in Chennai. During his college days he blossomed out as a student leader, and it was but natural that from here he should become an active trade unionist. The next jump was into politics at the national level. He was elected to Parliament in 1984, 1989, 1991 and 1998, but lost before the combined forces of the DMK-TMC in 1996. His pet dream is to create opportunities for the employment for all the youth of this country. Rangarajan Kumaramangalam, who was then a Minister of State in the Narasimha Rao Cabinet resigned his ministership protesting against the inability of the Congress regime to protect the Babri Masjid in 1992 and uphold its secular credentials. It is nothing short of an irony that he should join the party that was responsible for the demolition of the Masjid and become a Minister in the BJP Government as the Union Minister for Power. Was it opportunism or a change of heart, one is unable to fathom. But what is clear is that Rangarajan can be convincingly loyal to the side he prefers to align with. Today, he speaks in a voice that has no relevance or identity with the Congress and has become an ardent Hindutva exponent. His office in Shram Shakti Bhavan buzzes with visitors, both from the Congress and the BJP. He does not hesitate to convince his erstwhile Congress friends to follow his footsteps and join the BJP, for, in his opinion, it is the BJP that upholds all that the Congress held dear to its heart. One cannot find a more friendly politician than Rangarajan and a more efficient administrator among the younger crop of politicians. Unlike Chidambaram he does not have the intellectual arrogance or airs and unlike Rajesh Pilot, he is not over ambitious. Being a down to earth politician and an administered who knows what he needs, it is no surprise that he is one of those efficient ministers in the Vajpayee Cabinet who has made a success for himself in the Ministry of Power. In this conversation Rangarajan Kumaramangalam not only defends the government on its decision to go nuclear but also justifies the demand of the AIADMK for the dismissal of the DMK Government in Tamil Nadu. Excerpts: Q: The BJP criticised the earlier United Front Government as a 14-legged animal speaking in different voices. But your BJP-led coalition seems to be much more disunited than the United Front? A: It is not so. It is united. The reality is that different people voice their views on different issues in different ways. The truth of the matter is, even when the Congress was in power with absolute majority, it was traditional for the state leaders to make their demands and for the Centre to say that it will take its own time to decide. The government at the Centre has multiple inputs and complications. This speaking in different voices was there in single party governance also. Q: “Is it not a mockery of coalition and governance to find a partner in the ruling coalition staging dharnas and walkouts in the Parliament?” A: To dismiss the earlier DMK government during the Chandra Shekhar regime, the AIADMK was virtually standing on the shoulders of the Congress. MPs from Tamil Nadu walked out any number of times. It is not new and I am not at all surprised or upset over it. Q: The BJP went to the polls with an alliance claiming to give a stable governance because a large party forms the nucleus of the coalition. In reality it does not seem so now? A: The government is very stable and where do you find instability? All our Bills have been passed. When somebody wants to see instability in stability, no one can stop them. Instability means what? Has there been a no-confidence motion? What has happened to talk about instability? Nothing has happened except noise. So, noise has become the cause of instability. Those who talk about instability do not either have belief in parliamentary democracy or else, have no other issue to raise. Q: It is said that the ministry that has been affected most in the Pokhran phase is that of yours. To what extent the power projects have been affected because of the sanctions? A: Everybody says that my ministry is the most affected because of sanctions but not a single project of mine has got slowed down. On the contrary they have speeded up. The reality of life is, there are only two countries in the world where there is a heavy shortage of power. One is China and the other is India. All the power companies of the world are interested in the Indian market. Compulsions of economics make me very secure. It is not a little money. A power project of 1000 MW is Rs 4,000 crore. It is not a joke. There is no room for worry at all. We are in a position of strength. We should give up the Anglo-Saxon aping and our servile attitude towards the West. Q: There is a growing apprehension that your government has set in motion an arms race in the sub-continent because of the nuclear explosion. How do you feel about it? A: There is no arms race. Truth of the matter is that there is tension in the borders and therefore security of the nation is a very important thing. This bogey of arms race is a tactics of the West. When they make missiles it is forgiven. There is no race there. When we make them they call it a race. It is time that we call the shots. It is our right to ensure our security. Q: Don’t you feel that we will be cutting down on development to earmark more funds to defence? A: We are not wasting the money. I think anything spent on security can never be termed waste or unnecessary. Anybody saying so is an anti-national. I do love peace to war. But I love my country more. In the name of peace, I am not prepared to lose my country. We lost our independence because of our love for peace in the past. Go back to three, four centuries and you will realise that it was our obsession with peace and tolerance to others which cost us our independence. Q: Which do you consider to be the major opponent of the BJP, the Congress or the United Front? A: The United Front does not exist anymore. Q: Do you expect the Congress to survive for long? A: I hope it does. Q: Are you moving toward a two party system in India? A: I hope so. Initially it will be a two coalition system one led by the BJP and the other by the Congress. Slowly it will move towards a two or three party system. From an era of single party dominance, we have entered into a coalition phase which eventually will result in a two or three party system. This is a process of maturing and transition. Q: With regional parties asserting themselves and playing a dominant role in national politics, will it be possible for any national party to establish the old order? A: Regional is always a passing phase. National parties will be compelled to reassert themselves. It is an automatic development because regional parties have a place only when India disintegrates. India will never disintegrate and the regional parties will have to merge into the national mainstream. Q: “You hail from a family of secularists and socialists and how come that you opted to associate yourself with a communal party? A: What is communal about the BJP in the first place? The only thing that is communal about the BJP is that it talks the truth. When we denounce pseudo-secularism and partiality towards one community does that become communal? We insist on equality towards all and do not subscribe to the theory of treating the majority as pariahs. Does it become communal? This has become an art. What is communalism? Communalism is basically discriminating a section of the society on the basis of religion, caste or creed. They are willing to accept caste based parties like the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the BSP as secular parties. We on the contrary say that all are equal irrespective of caste or religion and no one should enjoy any special privilege. People have no patience to digest this hypocrisy of naming people by nomenclatures like communalists. Q: Is it your opinion that the tirade against communalism does not work anymore? A: Times have changed and people have seen through the political hypocrisy practised by these pseudo-secularists. People want a government that works and delivers the goods. They are fed up of political hoodwinking in the name of secularism. Q: How come that ministers in the Cabinet, including yourself, are coming out with different opinions on the dismissal of the DMK government in Tamil Nadu? A: There are two things in it. One is a collective responsibility and the other is an opinion of individual capacity. If you ask me in my collective responsibility as a Minister, the Cabinet has not taken any decision on the dismissal of the DMK government. Individually speaking, I can tell you that the Ministers who have demanded the dismissal of the DMK government in Tamil Nadu have done so because in the last elections people of Tamil Nadu have voted for a change. Q: Do you also share the view that people have voted for a change of government in Tamil Nadu? A: That is what the AIADMK Ministers feel and they express it openly in their individual capacity as members of the AIADMK. As far as I go, I am not talking of dismissal or non-dismissal. I am only voicing my worries over the unfortunate situation that developed in Coimbatore during the blasts, prior to the blasts and post blasts. Instead of actually nabbing the ISI agents, it is the Hindus who are being arrested and in particular the BJP activists. It is not giving correct signals. A drama is being enacted by bringing an act to deal with militancy. But ultimately the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Q: Do you feel that the present DMK government in the state has mishandled the situation? A: I don’t think they have mishandled. They are handling it according to their choice. By using the word ‘mishandle’, we will inadvertently be giving the DMK credit for ideas which they lack. Q: Do you personally feel that the government deserves to be dismissed? A: Personally speaking, I think the situation is quite serious. If they don’t set things right, even if we do not want to dismiss them, a situation might arise where the government will automatically get dismissed. The DMK government is not realising this. Q: Is it right to demand the dismissal of a state government just because it lost in the Lok Sabha elections? A: That is not the reason why I am talking about dismissal. In fact, I am not talking about the dismissal. Despite our earnest intention of not invoking the Article 356, the charge against the Tamil Nadu Government is not one of law and order, but is far more serious. Pakistan is far away from Tamil Nadu, the southern most tip of our country. How did the ISI agents reach Tamil Nadu and gain a safe asylum over there? Who backed them and what is happening? It is a serious question of national integrity. I can understand the LTTE gaining a foothold in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, but not the ISI agents. Q: Even the previous AIADMK Government could have given them room to operate or at least did not bother to realise the developments, is it not? A: That government is not there. Bomb blasts took place only after the DMK came to power. Had the earlier AIADMK Government been at fault to ignore the developments taking place, it is all the more necessary for the government of the day to arrest the situation and retrieve the state from the clutches of foreign agents. If we start passing the buck on the predecessor for everything, the ultimate loser will be the nation. No responsible government can afford to do it and the onus is always on the incumbent to tackle such a situation. If a government is lethargic on such sensitive developments, we will lose the country. Q: In the last Lok Sabha polls, did the people of Tamil Nadu vote for the AIADMK alliance or for a strong and stable government at the Centre? A: Both are the same. The slogan of the AIADMK alliance was a strong and stable government at the Centre. When they voted for that, they voted for the alliance. Q: Can it be interpreted as the pardoning of the AIADMK regime’s corruption? A: Who is to decide corruption in a democracy? It is time that we realise that ours is a democratic country where the people are the kings on whom rests the final judgement. Unfortunately few elitists think that they are the kings. Q: I beg to differ with you. Just because people vote somebody to power, are we to exonerate the corruption of that leader? A: A proper definition of corruption is illegal aggrandisation. What is illegal in a society is defying the laws of that society. In a democracy who makes laws, ultimately? The Chief Justice of a High Court once asked my father as to what would happen if Parliament was to enact a law unacceptable to the people. My father’s reply was, the government will not last a day if it enacts such a law. It is no use telling that this is the law and therefore it is corruption. If people reject it, that is no longer corruption. That is the honest truth of democracy. We are all elitists who want to have laws that suit us and give it our colour. But the reality is quite different. —Newscribe |
 75 YEARS AGO London letter A farewell party A farewell evening party was given recently on the premises of the Catholic Club to Mr C.H. Martin, ISO, Assistant Secretary in the Defunct Department of Revenue and Agriculture.The Hon’ble Mr B.N. Sarma, the Hon’ble Mr M.S.D. Butler, Education Secretary, Mr R. Ewbank, Deputy Secretary, and the entire staff of the department, had assembled to bid farewell to Mr Martin, who was retiring as a result of changes made in the Civil Departments of the Government of India.Mr Sarma eulogised Mr Martin’s services and regretted to have to part with one who had managed the staff and work of the department under him with great tact.Mr Martin joined the department as a clerk and had by his ability risen to the highest ministerial appointment open to employees of his rank. He received I.S.O. last year for his valuable services, especially in connection with the management of the foodstuff branch during the Great War.Mr Martin was presented with a valuable clock, to which the staff had contributed as a token of the regard in which Mr Martin was held by them. Mr Martin acknowledged the eulogistic remarks about him in a speech which was much appreciated. |
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