by Harihar Swarup

A simpleton who refuses to compromise
THE most important aspect of the A.K. Antony Committee report was not the dispassionate analysis of the causes of the Congress reverses in the Lok Sabha elections but his reported refusal to dilute the findings. Pressure was evidently put on him to tone down criticism of the leadership, absolve it of the share of responsibility in the debacle but the Kerala leader steadfastly stood his ground.

Thus far and no further!
THE Abhishek Verma disclosures, which have the potential of overshadowing all scams known hitherto, may not see the government agencies proceeding on a straight line, that is, to zero in on the accused.

75 Years Ago

Haj Pilgrims
AS regards the problems relating to Haj pilgrims, as Sir Narasimha Sarma has publicly announced, those questions are engaging the earnest attention of the Government and the feelings of Muslims as to the method of their solution are being ascertained.

by Harihar Swarup
A simpleton who refuses to compromise

THE most important aspect of the A.K. Antony Committee report was not the dispassionate analysis of the causes of the Congress reverses in the Lok Sabha elections but his reported refusal to dilute the findings. Pressure was evidently put on him to tone down criticism of the leadership, absolve it of the share of responsibility in the debacle but the Kerala leader steadfastly stood his ground. The result was production of a report which calls a spade a spade and the recommendations, if implemented in right earnest, would go a long way in plugging loopholes in the Congress party’s election machinery.

Personally, Antony has the cleanest image in the Congress party — a leader who is incorruptible, never hankers after power and kicks ministerial office at the drop of hat. Many in the treacherous world of politics call him impractical, other describe him as “simpleton” and some even ridicule him as “gutless”. There are his admirers too who see him as the Lal Bahadur Shastri of the south; austere, honest, simple, soft spoken and accommodative. The Kerala leader has a stark resemblance with Shastri — a diminutive figure, the same amenable style of dealing with people and yet uncompromising on principles. What is missing is Shastri’s Gandhi cap and Jawahar jacket.

While Shastri stepped down as Railway Minister following a mere train accident, Antony took barely seven minutes to tender his resignation as Civil Supplies Minister in the Narasimha Rao Government when his name was sought to be dragged in the sugar muddle. There were others — B. Shankaranand, Rameshwar Thakur and the late Kalp Nath Rai — whose names too were dragged in controversy but they made a last-ditch effort to retain their ministerial “gaddis”.

There were suggestions during Narasimha Rao’s tenure that Antony should be made the party Working President because the Prime Minister could not spare enough time to look after organisational matters. The advice by well-wishers was not taken seriously and the party continued to be neglected with disastrous effect later. At one stage Antony’s name was considered for replacement of the ageing Sitaram Kesri as AICC Treasurer but, it was thought, that the Kerala leader was not the man to handle party funds.

Antony does not hesitate to express his views without inhibition. He was known to be against expulsion of Sharad Pawar, P.A. Sangama and Tariq Anwar from the party because, he believed, the action was too drastic and would harm the party with elections barely months away. Besides, he opposed the expulsion of Arjun Singh in late 1995 because he honestly felt there was some weight in the issues raised by the then HRD Minister. At the same time, he made it clear that he would not desert Narasimha Rao.

Many unknown facets of Antony outside Kerala are scantily noticed. Even in Delhi (where he lived as Union Minister), his austere way of living was unknown. His wife, Elizabeth, worked as a clerk in a bank in distant Thiruvananthapuram and he lived alone in his spacious Asoka Road ministerial bungalow. He did not have a functional kitchen and got his lunch from Kerala house. His meagre breakfast was cooked by inmates of his servant quarters and for dinner he depended on friends. While houses of his colleagues were flooded with electronic gadgets, his sole possession was just a transistor radio.

Antony belongs to a poor Roman Catholic family of Kerala and had to struggle at every step to make his way in life. Hardships made him more idealistic. He became a vegetarian during his student days as he learnt somewhere that production cost of 10 kg of rice or a cereal was equivalent to a kg of meat. The real reason was that he wanted to economise on his expenditure. The habit still continues.

His style of living is Bohemian. Even after actively joining politics in Kerala, he lived in a small room in a cheap hotel. The tiny room continued to be his “home” for about a decade. Only after his marriage at 44, he moved to a small tenement. The Antonys now own a moderate house in Thiruvananthapuram.

Though belonging to a religious Catholic family, Antony became an agnostic quite early in age and shunned religious rituals. He carried on a relentless struggle against Church-run educational institutions as a student leader and later as the President of the Kerala unit of the Youth Congress. So much so that he was described as a heretic.

The Kerala leader came to the limelight in 1976 when emergency rule of Indira Gandhi was at its peak. At the Gauhati session of the AICC when everybody was praising Mrs Gandhi and the then party President, Mr D.K. Barooah, coined the expression — “Indira is India” — Antony called for restoration of democratic function in the party. Mrs Gandhi did not react then but a year after when Mr K. Karunakaran had to resign following an adverse remark in a court case, she made Antony the Chief Minister. The Congress-led front romped home with a thumping majority in the 1977 assembly elections.

Antony did not last in office for long. He resigned abruptly after a year when his supporters sided with Mrs Gandhi in the Chickmagalur bye-election. There was no compulsion on him to quit but he did so as a matter of principle. It was also out of sheer conviction he did not side with Mrs Gandhi in the 1978 Congress split. He, however, returned to the Congress-I in 1981 and was welcomed by Mrs Gandhi herself to much discomfiture of his rival Karunakaran. She entrusted him with the responsibility of the organisation and made him General Secretary of the AICC in early 1984.

Thus far and no further!

THE Abhishek Verma disclosures, which have the potential of overshadowing all scams known hitherto, may not see the government agencies proceeding on a straight line, that is, to zero in on the accused. A lot of zigzag movement is likely and this may qualify to be called “feverish activity”. When the heat is off, the zigzag movements, as intended, would have confused the general public. A number of reputations may be sullied, but the culprits may not head for the cooler.

Similar may be the fate of the final set of Bofors documents. The name of a major Indian family based in London has been cropping up not only in this but even in the HDW Submarine deal. Oldtimers recall how this family was involved in a famous pay-off at Geneva during the Morarji Desai regime by a government agency. The monies routed to a powerful Islamic state ruling family — that prime ruling family was later overthrown by a revolution.

It is said that this particular Indian family in London has been representing the interests of Bofors AB in countries other than India and any reference to them in Bofors papers would be concerning these transactions and not the Rs 64 crore scam involving the Rajiv Gandhi regime. This family is close to a section of the present ruling elite. Axiomatically, another section of the ruling elite would like the facts to be known. A tug of war is on both in the Abhishek Verma and Bofors cases because it is feared that if the Pandora’s box is opened, the cross-pollination of pecuniary interests amongst the political elite may be exposed.

All old is not gold

The names of a galaxy of former Parliamentarians, many who are no more, were recalled in the Central Hall of Parliament on December 17 morning while the Best Parliamentarian Award for 1997 was bestowed on Mr Pranab Mukherjee (who became the first Rajya Sabha member to receive it) and Mr S. Jaipal Reddy for the year 1998. Due to the political turmoil of last year, Mr Mukherjee could not receive the award earlier.

The names of two Rajya Sabha members of yore which were ignored were those of Mr Bhupesh Gupta, the veteran Communist, whose 25 continuous years as Rajya Sabha member were communicated with a special sitting of the House in 1977 — his record is unbeaten till date — and his political bete nore, Mr Piloo Mody, of the erstwhile Right Wing Swatantra Party. And can the galaxy of Lok Sabha members ever be complete without mentioning Feroze Gandhi?

The irony was that this function in which the Vice-President, the Prime Minister (and his entire Cabinet), the Leader of Opposition, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, and everybody who is somebody in the hierarchy of Parliament of India, were present together under one roof on the morning of December 17 — the anniversary of India’s first and only ever victory in a war (Liberation of Bangladesh, 1971) it was not thought appropriate to pay tributes to the martyrs or to remember Mrs Indira Gandhi whom the present Prime Minister had described as “Durga” in 1971, and the London’s “The Economist”, had described as “Empress of India”.

The Iftaar season

The holy month of Ramzan has its special significance in Lutyen’s New Delhi. Politicians vie with each other to host Roza Iftaar parties. This year the ball was set rolling by the Communications Minister, Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, on December 15. All roads seemed to be leading towards 12, Janpath, the official residence of Mr Paswan, adjacent to Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s 10, Janpath, and the guest list was a virtual who’s who what with Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee topping it.

Seated in a special enclosure was Mr Vajpayee rubbing shoulders with Muslim clerics on one side and Mrs Sonia Gandhi on the other with Mrs Paswan sandwiched between the two. Apart from a large turnout of members of the diplomatic corps were several Union Ministers, including Home Minister, Lal Krishan Advani, a large number of MPs and, of course, the BJP President, Mr Kushabhau Thakre. On the other side of the political horizon were the CPM General Secretary, Mr Harkishen Singh Surjeet, and former Union Minister, Balwant Singh Ramoowalia.

A day-after it was the turn of the Lok Sabha Speaker, Mr Ganti Mohan Chandra Balayogi, to host “Iftaar”. The turnout was equally impressive and with Parliament in session, a large contingent of MPs made themselves available at the function hosted by the affable Presiding Officer of the 13th Lok Sabha whose conduct of proceedings have earned him grudging respect from even the most vocal lot.

The week rounded off with the Deputy Speaker, Mr P.M. Sayeed, holding an “Iftaar”. Mr Sayeed, who is one of the seniormost MPs of the present House after Mr Indrajit Gupta of the CPI, enjoys support cutting across party lines.

Dichotomy of an RJD leader

Dr Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, former Union Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader, makes his mark as a Parliamentarian who switches roles with ease. Apart from being a Leader in the Opposition ranks, a role which he plays with devastating effect, he is also on the panel of MPs who presides over the proceedings in the absence of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker. Gifted with a booming voice, Dr Singh does not let go of any opportunity to harangue the government on issues concerning the weaker sections, the oppressed and, of course, Bihar.

However, when he sits in the Chair to preside over the conduct, he wears a different cap gently reminding members how to behave and allow the House to go through the business. Last week during a sudden uproar from the Opposition over Ayodhya, Dr Singh was in the Chair and when the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr Pramod Mahajan, assured that the Prime Minister would reply to members’ concern, many in the Opposition were not satisfied and continued to appeal to the Chair to give a ruling. Dr Singh did so, upholding that during Zero Hour he could not force the government to react and then went on to add pointing to his seat in the House: “Wahan se Vipaksh, Yehan se Nirpaksh (Opposition from there, impartiality from here)”.

(Un)spirited party

It was a party with a difference when the newly appointed Minister of State for Defence, Mr Harin Pathak, called a get-together to celebrate his appointment. Coming from the land of Gandhi (Mr Pathak represents the Ahmedabad Lok Sabha constituency in Gujarat), the Minister made sure that the guest toasted only on soup and soft drinks. Guests of the guzzling variety who were looking forward for a binge at the sprawling Air Force mess at Zakir Hussain Marg were naturally disappointed. Several scribes, who had missed their evening ‘peg’ at the nearby Press Club of India, exchanged pleasantries with the Minister and made a quick exit. Not only did they desert the party, several of them even called up their colleagues to inform them about the state of affairs at the party. The result was a poor turnout. Mr Pathak is, however, not complaining as several journalists from his State were appreciative of his gesture.

Millennium celebrations

As the clock ticks away to ring in the next century, Delhiites are busy planning how best to celebrate the mega event. Several people would be busy spending sleepless nights in hospitals to welcome their planned millennium babies while others would be making merry.

However, for thousands of bankers, computer professionals and chief executives the wait for the next century would be a harrowing one. The reason: The fear of the Y2K bug. The Government has decided to set up a National Control Room to monitor problems related to Y2K. In effect this means officials in several ministries and departments would do the red-eye shift just in case the millennium computer bug strikes.

A daunting task indeed but then the Indians are not the only ones who will keep guard for the Y2K bug. Several million people all over the world are expected to stay in office all night to prepare for possible computer glitches.

— (Contributed by SB, T.V.Lakshminarayan, K.V.Prasad, Girja Shankar Kaura and P.N.Andley)

75 YEARS AGO
December 19, 1924
Haj Pilgrims

AS regards the problems relating to Haj pilgrims, as Sir Narasimha Sarma has publicly announced, those questions are engaging the earnest attention of the Government and the feelings of Muslims as to the method of their solution are being ascertained.

One feels confident that the community will assist the officers of the Government to the best of its ability in the formulation of proposals towards the removal of the difficulties which have been experienced from time to time in the past.

The chief among these difficulties is the question of destitute pilgrims.