West’s ambivalence
THERE were two signals from the West indicating its growing ambivalent attitude to the Kargil skirmishes. They are as yet muted and not pointed, but still command notice in Delhi.

Best during the worst
THE political class may continue to treat the rumblings at the border as yet another opportunity to make narrow electoral gains but the average Indians have this fantastic habit of displaying their finest virtues in an hour of crisis.

Tale of the living dead
IS it possible for a living person to be declared dead and a dead person as living in official records? It may be possible to come across rare instances of the “dead” virtually rising from the grave or the cremation pyre, as the case may be, simply because the “dead” was not yet “dead enough” to let the living literally dig his grave or light his pyre.

THE SAVIOUR OF SOUTH AFRICA
by V. Gangadhar
HE may well end up as Time magazine’s “Man of the Millennium”, edging out Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein or Mother Teresa. As the 20th century slowly nears its end, there are faces and more faces in the race for immortality. Some of them had already reached that status.

Dream merchants of higher education
by Damodar Agrawal
FAKE universities are a national phenomenon. They have mushroomed in every part of the country. Like tadpoles they are hopping about in almost each city and town. They call themselves schools or colleges or by such high-sounding names as Indian institutes of this thing or that thing.

Political fallout of Kargil
by P. Raman
EVERYDAY, the Congress spokesman makes it a point to assert that the party firmly stood by the government until the last infiltrator is flushed out from the Indian soil. But the ruling BJP loses no opportunity in warning the Opposition against indulging in petty politicking when the nation is engaged in fighting a bitter war on the border.

Congress victory unexpected
by Ervell E. Menezes
PANJIM: With the heat and dust having settled down on the recent Goa Assembly elections, it is time now for a post-mortem. What are the trends thrown up by the recent poll? Is the result a litmus test for the rest of the country in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections? Does it mean the demise of regional parties?

Mangoes from Malihabad
by V. N. Kakar
IT was one of those lovely evenings which the Lord gives to man out of his infinite bounty. I had gone to Malihabad, the land of the famous dassehri mangoes, the land of the famous poet, Josh Malihabadi, some 20 miles from Lucknow. There was a cultural programme there, organised jointly by the Song and Drama Division of the Government of India and the Information Department of the UP Govt I was to preside over that programme.

75 Years Ago

Indian questions in Parliament
LONDON: In the House of Commons today, replying to Col. Howard Bury, Mr Ramsay MacDonald denied that any consignments of rifles and machine-guns for Afghanistan were still held up at Bombay.

West’s ambivalence

THERE were two signals from the West indicating its growing ambivalent attitude to the Kargil skirmishes. They are as yet muted and not pointed, but still command notice in Delhi. In Bonn German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said that the G-8 countries were “deeply concerned” over the fighting in Jammu and Kashmir and would not be content to play the role of “a bystander”. In Washington, State Department spokesman James Foley commented that things were getting “nastier” what with the continued air and ground attacks by India and the return of mutilated bodies of soldiers by Pakistan. He bracketed these two and described these “reports” as disturbing. As a reaction to a developing situation these are not by themselves either unfair to India and show any bias against this country.

But the context and experience lend a disturbing edge to the two statements. Take Mr Fischer. He belongs to the Green Party and is bitterly opposed to India’s nuclear policy. And the G-8 discussed the Kargil issue in detail hours after it found a solution of sorts to end the brutal bombing of Yugoslavia. Given this background, it is possible that the G-8 saw some similarity between Kosovo and Kargil like the presence of the so-called “freedom fighters”, their “oppression” by the army and police and was motivated by the West’s incurable itch to intervene on behalf of ethnic and religious minorities, wherever it serves the US interests. (The periodic bombing of Iraq is justified by the West’s concern over the safety and security of the Kurds in the north and the Shias in the south.) NATO has enthusiastically embraced the Kosovo Liberation Army, a well-trained and well-equipped force, which is known to have engaged in the brutal killing of Serbs and Serbian policemen. The large peace-keeping force being sent to Kosovo is actually to help the KLA establish an independent state and prevent Yugoslavia from exercising sovereignty there. When the G-8 talks of not being a bystander, does it hint of active intervention?

Similarly, there is an implied tilt in the US stand. Mr Foley refused to go beyond a bald reaction to the torture of soldiers captured in a military operation. He explained that he had no way of independent verification, no authentic source to go into details of this brutality. But he held forth on the Indian action to throw out the intruders. Nor has there been any official statement on the use of a US-supplied Stinger missile by the militants which brought down an Indian helicopter. The CIA gifted these deadly missiles to the Afghan mujahideen in the eighties to fight its proxy war against the erstwhile Soviet Union. (Incidentally, Pakistan turned Afghanistan into a laboratory to test and perfect the theory and practice of fighting a proxy war through mujahideen.) Indian diplomats should get busy explaining the scope and repercussions of the Kargil intrusion. This country is actually fighting not an expansionist war but a form of brutal terrorism sponsored by a neighbour. This is a threat the world, the West in the main, will face tomorrow. They should not be content drawing dubious comfort from receiving tapes of conversation from “friendly” sources. Such gestures have the potential of becoming eminently meaningless in times of need.

Best during the worst

THE political class may continue to treat the rumblings at the border as yet another opportunity to make narrow electoral gains but the average Indians have this fantastic habit of displaying their finest virtues in an hour of crisis. As was only expected, most of the ex-servicemen have offered their services to the nation. That shows that their bodies may not be what they were in the prime of youth but their spirit still soars. Their expertise can definitely be invaluable to the nation. Similar indomitable will has been displayed by the family members of the soldiers who laid down their lives in an undeclared war in the Kargil-Dras sector. The father of one martyr beseeched those who came for the funeral not to cry because that would demean the sacrifice of his son. Another father expressed his steely resolve to send the surviving sons to the Army so that they could emulate their slain brother. A pilot returned after torture by the enemy offered to rejoin duty immediately after coming back to the country. It is such events which make a country great. All these priceless contributions have come from persons steeped in the tradition of serving the nation. But how about the stiff competition among the inmates of Tihar jail to collect a sizeable amount for the welfare of the jawans and to donate blood for the wounded heroes? So keen are these so-called criminals to do what is least expected of them that they have even offered to go to the border and fight the country’s war. If only they were properly trained for the task, they would have actually risked their lives for this noble cause. Till this sense of devotion and belonging remains, the enemy’s designs to dismember the country cannot succeed.

This upsurge of patriotism is not meant to be only a gesture. There is need for proper channelisation of this fervour. The government has to rise to the occasion to coordinate a plan so that everyone can add his mite. It is not a question of preparing for a war but for peace. The soldiers can defend the front better if the situation within the country is settled. As is well known, a nefarious plan is afoot to spread disaffection and mayhem at various places so that the attention is diverted away from the front. Every responsible citizen has to ensure that the conspiracy does not succeed. At the same time, it is necessary to remember that the concern for the defence forces should not wax and wane depending on the incidents at the border. This focus on their welfare and that of their families cannot be a temporary affair. Unfortunately, it becomes dormant once peace returns. That is why the families of those who laid down their lives in the 1962, 1965 and 1971 wars remain neglected. At least these people should be kept above the poisonous effects of the corruption in the system. Only then would various gestures of solidarity expressed by sections of civilian population and the government be meaningful.

Tale of the living dead

IS it possible for a living person to be declared dead and a dead person as living in official records? It may be possible to come across rare instances of the “dead” virtually rising from the grave or the cremation pyre, as the case may be, simply because the “dead” was not yet “dead enough” to let the living literally dig his grave or light his pyre. By the same token the possibility of an honest error in the matter of performing the last rites of those presumed or declared dead by the competent authority too is a possibility which cannot be ruled out as being outlandish. Of course, there is also the possibility of deliberate mischief in having someone declared dead for settling a personal feud or for reasons which may have something to do with the moveable and non-moveable assets in the name of the one pronounced dead. It may also not be wrong to presume that if someone wrongly declared as dead in official records were to insist on having the record set straight, as it were, the authority concerned would most probably put the blame on human error and do the needful by giving the living person the right to”live”.

But can turning the dead into living and the living into dead be converted into an organised racket for cheating the State and harassing helpless individuals by a corrupt officialdom? It is not for nothing that Uttar Pradesh is often described as “Ulta Pradesh” where the civil administration and the political authority seem to have abandoned the policy of upholding and strengthening the rule of law. If stories doing the rounds are to be believed, declaring the living as dead and vice versa has become a multi-crore business in which local-level politicians and officials have equal interest. According to one estimate, nearly 5,000 persons in rural areas have so far been identified by social activists as illegally “dead” in revenue records and their property, mostly agricultural land transferred to relatives or well-connected individuals after hefty amounts have been given as “consideration” money to the racketeers.The mind boggling dimensions of the crime can be gauged from the reaction of the “ living dead” who have now formed a “Mritak Sangh” (organisation of the dead). The Sangh hopes to put collective pressure on the administration for having the records straightened out and for the restoration of the property illegally transferred in the name of someone else. However, Mr Lal Bihari “Mritak”, president of the unusual organisation, is not sure whether his voice would be heard “because most of the victims are poor and ignorant about their rights”. As for the racket of showing the dead as alive in official records, there is little that anyone can possibly do to prevent corrupt relatives in cahoots with “obliging officials drawing the pension and other related benefits available to retired government employees.

THE SAVIOUR OF SOUTH AFRICA
Mandela as universal hero
by V. Gangadhar

HE may well end up as Time magazine’s “Man of the Millennium”, edging out Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein or Mother Teresa. As the 20th century slowly nears its end, there are faces and more faces in the race for immortality. Some of them had already reached that status.

Nelson Mandela, who at the age of 80 retired as President of South Africa, need not reach out for history. To his credit it must be said that he created history and created hope in the hearts and minds of millions of poor, hungry and exploited Africans. Wrote one of his biographers, “He has become a universal hero for the 20th century. In a time for vote counters, spin doctors and focus groups, he conjures up an earlier age of liberators, war leaders and revolutionaries.” He was as much a social reformer as Gandhiji was and excelled him in the art of political leadership.

As South Africa’s second all-race election concluded, it ushered in the Mandela era. But the legacy remained. The African National Congress of the former President had swept the polls and would continue to rule. The 56-year-old new President, Mr Thabo Mbeki, whose succession to the post was confirmed by the ANC’s sweeping victory, was handpicked and groomed for the post by Mandela. He is from the same Xhosa tribe and the same Transkei district as his mentor. Mr Mbeki is certain to consolidate the gains achieved by the previous government and speed up the process of the black majority catching up with the white minority in economic progress.

Yet Mr Mbeki has a difficult tradition to follow. He is certain to be compared to Mandela in all his actions, and this is not an easy prospect. Mandela was a legend and it would be impossible for any South African leader to be compared with him. The new President will have to operate in a different manner. Political observers in South Africa agree that the focus will shift from national reconciliation theme of Mandela’s presidency to the accelerated delivery of services to the black majority, who were denied these rights under white rule.

But the charisma of Mandela will linger for a long period. This sprightly, smiling old man in colourful shirts and dark glasses had caught the imagination of the modern world more than the rulers of the more powerful nations. His appeal cut across all barriers. Children from the Soweto slums worshipped them, and so did the Spice Girls and members of the British royalty. Queen Elizabeth II found him utterly fascinating and must have asked herself hundreds of times how her government supported the powers which had kept such a great soul behind bars for 27 years.

The President quit power at the most appropriate time. His mission was accomplished, his dreams realised. He had never wanted power or position. All that he wanted was freedom for South Africa and a fair deal for the majority black community. Yet when he demanded these, he was put under arrest and had to spend 27 years inside the notorious prison at Robben Island, cut off from the outside world. Even the British, who ruled India, treated Gandhiji in a better and more humane manner.

It is a wonder he did not develop bitterness and hatred towards his white captors. Perhaps that was what separated humans from saints. In one of the most remarkable miracles of 20th century, the apartheid crumbled, and Mandela, released from prison, set out to direct a remarkable transition from tyranny to democracy without bloodshed. Former President F.W. de Clerk, his partner in this history process, observed, “He ensured by his actions that it was a peaceful process.”

In the early 1990s as Mandela wielded the reins of black South Africa, the world watched in suspense and feared that violence would be let loose on the white minority which had subjugated that blacks to total degradation and reduced them to a state of slavery. South Africa had every reason to be ashamed of its past. The Sharpeville massacres, the Soweto deaths, the brutal suppression and torture of black freedom fighters could not be forgotten so easily. The persecutors and killers of young freedom fighters like Steve Biko could not be expected to go scotfree. The Mandela government appointed a Truth and Justice Commission to look into some of the worst killings during the apartheid regime. Its findings revealed tortures which churned one’s stomach.

Yet the former President did not ask for an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Despite unrest from some of the African pockets which wanted the white bullies to be punished, he offered the repentant whites forgiveness. Many of the guilty whites who were in the armed forces and dreaded secret police pretended to repent, but even they were forgiven. This particular action of the Mandela government would be debated in the days to come. There is a clear feeling that many of the white administrators had got away with murder.

Nelson Mandela knew that many of the white pardoned by his government had blood in their hands. But he was certain that an atmosphere of “forgive and forget” was needed to build a new South Africa. The country could not afford to forget the excesses of the past, but such memories should not halt the march towards the future. The finest achievement of Mandela was that during the last days of the apartheid, he helped to ensure the transfer of power to the blacks in an orderly and peaceful manner. Gandhiji could not do this when India was partitioned and rivers of blood flowed at the borders of the newly-created Pakistan and India.

Independent South Africa, despite its booming economy, faced plenty of problems. Millions of blacks were still poor, out of jobs. The most fertile land in the country was still in the hands of the white minority. All over Africa independent countries floundered and rent by tribal warfare, slowly sank into military rule. But South Africa was an exception. It stood out as a beacon of hope in the Dark Continent. One man, President Nelson Mandela, was responsible for this. He made his people, including the exploited and angry blacks, realise the importance of tolerance and the need to look towards the future.

Some of the political groups were critical of Mandela’s slow and unsteady steps towards economic revival of South Africa. He needed foreign investment, but was not prepared to give a green signal to total foreign domination. The Western powers who had anticipated liberal trading terms were disappointed, but Mandela preferred to move with caution. He had witnessed what economic greed had done to countries like Congo and Nigeria. Mandela wanted South Africans to be the masters of their own economy and would not sell out to foreigners.

In spite of his tremendous international popularity, Mandela was a reluctant performer on the international scene. He did not enact the role of an international leader who had a solution to all the ills of the world. South Africa played a subdued role of an international leader who had a solution to all the ill of world. South Africa played a subdued role in the U.N. Even within Africa, it was slow to mediate in the disputes among African nations. Mandela preferred squabbling nations to work out solutions to problems on a bilateral basis, without any third party interference. The South African government was a reluctant peacemaker.

What will the great man do in his retirement? Fortunately, he has discovered his true love at this stage of life. He will rest, travel a bit, do some gardening and write his memoirs. One hopes he will keep in touch with India, which was one of the most determined supporters of the struggle against apartheid. After the exit of Rajiv Gandhi no Indian Prime Minister paid sufficient attention to foreign affairs, and the Africa Desk in the Ministry of External Affairs seldom had much work to do. We can ill afford to ignore giants like Nelson Mandela, even in retirement.

Dream merchants of higher education
by Damodar Agrawal

FAKE universities are a national phenomenon. They have mushroomed in every part of the country. Like tadpoles they are hopping about in almost each city and town. They call themselves schools or colleges or by such high-sounding names as Indian institutes of this thing or that thing.

To make money is their sole objective in which they succeed immensely. Their strategy is to access the credulous. They thrive on their ignorance. People’s lust for degrees is their secret of success. They spend millions (on advertisements) and earn trillions.

Turn over any page of any popular newspaper and you will see their ads. They promise you the very heavens — MBA from London, MBBS from Bulgaria, BBM from Australia and so on. They claim to prepare you for GMAT, GRE, SAT, TOEFL, USMLE and what not. Get registered in India, stay in India and get degrees from abroad, they will tell you. And they will make everything look like real.

But in reality they are shops of education. Some are so big that they might well be named the departmental stores of degrees. They will claim instant admissions for you in reputed institutions. Pay them money and you become a BE, BDS, MDS, MD or MCA from wherever you like.

But don’t ask them questions. Only wait and watch, for they will tell you that their students have topped the Civil Services examination and have bagged the best positions in CAT, NET and JEE... and in heavens. Floodgates of good employment are what they will open for you, immediately.

Not that the government is not aware of the racket. Only the laws are lame, like a donkey with tied legs. Anyone can pay a licence fee of Rs 50 and open a computer college. The UGC Act, 1956, provides for a maximum penalty of Rs 1,000 for anyone running a fake university. They pay the penalty, change the name and return with a bang. The consequences are for anyone to see: a parallel education system. An amendment to the Act was placed in the Rajya Sabha in December, 1991, but was soon dropped.

We have been repeatedly told that the UGC Act will be amended to provide for penal action. Prof M.M. Joshi had told the Rajya Sabha (in July, 1998) that there were in our country at least 28 unauthorised universities. Their names were published in the newspapers. The Supreme Court too had ruled that no private institution had the legal right to call itself a university.

But degree-hungry people will not listen. Captivated by display ads, they make a beeline to these dubious institutions and are properly duped. Why can’t they ask themselves just two simple questions? First, what is the market value or the employment potential of these degrees? What is their primary motive, education or money-minting?

Under the present rules of the state and the central government no one can stop anyone from running tuition classes. The problem will arise only when he calls his tutorials a university, and when the universities themselves become a partner in the racket, the matter becomes serious.

It was to guard against this that the HRD Ministry had some time ago set up a committee to go into the whole issue and make recommendations for amendments in the UGC Act. This was aimed at strengthening the legal position of the UGC vis-a-vis such universities.

The committee’s recommendations are now available for anyone to study. The main recommendation is obviously about the amount and intensity of punishment one will have to face if one calls ones institution a university. He or she will then have to face a penalty amounting to Rs 10 lakh and imprisonment for three years.

The committee has also recommended that the offence will be cognisable and non bailable and the UGC will have the power to take direct action, and without any reference to the police.

A more ticklish problem concerns the existence of “fictitious colleges” legally affiliated. The Bar Council of India has only recently derecognised at least 120 Law Colleges of this kind. These are in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and MP. According to the council there is at least one Law College in Madhya Pradesh with “just a part-time teacher in a verandah and a broken almirah to keep the books.”

In many states there are hundreds of affiliated colleges which deserve to be closed down. If the coaching colleges are flourishing, it is mainly because of the failure of these affiliated colleges to impart good education. The necessity of a university degree to enter the employment market must also be reduced. And a more effective step will perhaps be to improve the quality of our distance education.

Mangoes from Malihabad
by V. N. Kakar

IT was one of those lovely evenings which the Lord gives to man out of his infinite bounty. I had gone to Malihabad, the land of the famous dassehri mangoes, the land of the famous poet, Josh Malihabadi, some 20 miles from Lucknow. There was a cultural programme there, organised jointly by the Song and Drama Division of the Government of India and the Information Department of the UP Govt I was to preside over that programme.

Hide not, oh moon, hide not, as long as I sing the song; let me sing this song of life to my heart’s content. That was the first verse of one of the popular songs of those days in the mid-fifties. I think it was from a film called “Man Ki Jeet”. The film was based on Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’ Urbervilles. That song provided the background music to whatever else was arranged that evening.

Dassehri mangoes used to be quite cheap. A dheri would cost just about two or three rupees. And it consisted of 33 mangoes. The top layers used to be of big ones. Below them were often the smaller ones. Typical of merchants who make millions in the sabzi mandis of India!

As the programme ended, the village biradari insisted that before leaving for Lucknow, we must have our dinner with the village gentry. That was not on our schedule. We had to return to Lucknow. And it was getting pretty late. Along with my colleagues, I tried to take leave from the village people. “Nothing doing,” said their headman, an elderly Muslim gentleman in typical Lucknavi dress (chikan kurta and pyjamas), “no one comes to Malihabad as our guest and goes back from here without taking his dinner with us. We have arranged the dinner and all those who matter in the village are going to attend it”.

Feeling embarrassed, getting late, I tried my level best to get leave of the people of Malihabad. I failed in my efforts. The dinner was sumptuous.

“This has been the tradition of Malihabad from the days of our aaba-o-ajdad (forefathers),” said the gracious gentleman sitting next to me, “that anyone who comes here must take dinner with us. Even Jawaharlal Nehru couldn’t say ‘no’ to us when he came to Malihabad on one of his tours during the freedom struggle”.

At the end of the dinner, as our party was leaving for Lucknow, the headman came out with another gem of generosity. “Please, for my sake,” pleaded he, “for the sake of the people of Malihabad, take these baskets of mangoes with you. These are special. The trees that have yielded them were planted here by Jawaharlal and Rafi Sahib. They planted them a long time back with their own hands. And we have taken special care to see that nothing happens to those trees. Their mangoes are as sweet as mangoes from other trees in Malihabad. But the trees from which these have come are special to us”.

We had to accept those baskets as gifts. The sentiments behind them were typical of the people of Malihabad. The sentiments behind them were typical of all that is best in the culture of Malihabad, and the culture of India.

Mangoes were never that sweet.

Political fallout of Kargil

by P. Raman

EVERYDAY, the Congress spokesman makes it a point to assert that the party firmly stood by the government until the last infiltrator is flushed out from the Indian soil. But the ruling BJP loses no opportunity in warning the Opposition against indulging in petty politicking when the nation is engaged in fighting a bitter war on the border. The message of this anticipatory recrimination is loud and clear. What is happening on the border is going to be debated, and will turn out to be a major election issue.

The extreme caution on both sides itself is aimed at winning the hearts on the eve of the decisive hustings. Understandably, the Opposition does not want to be accused of spoiling the national efforts and thus earn the voters’ wrath. By repeating the politicisation charge, the BJP strategists seek to do precisely that. So far, only senior regional party leaders like Mulayam Singh Yadav, who had headed the Defence Ministry, and P. Chidambaram alone have tried to assail the Vajpayee government for its failures on the border. The mainstream parties have, by and large, avoided finding fault with the BJP government for all the avoidable bloodshed and waste of resources. All such restraint apart, this war of nerves for making it an election issue will become more pronounced if the BJP goes ahead with its ‘Kashmir day’ campaign on June 23.

Unfortunately, politicisation of defence and foreign policy began even before the Vajpayee government took charge. Of all the political parties, the BJP alone had from the very beginning tried to advocate a distinctive policy on defence and internal security. It had woven national security into its own brand of emotional nationalism and ultra-patriotism. This, along with the swadeshi and cultural nationalism formed integral part of its Hindutva. Its 1988 election manifesto had put forth a “proactive rather than being merely reactive” diplomacy. It squarely blames all previous governments for what it says compromising national interests.

“The internal and external security environment has deteriorated sharply in the last decade.... Successive weak and irresolute governments have imperilled national security....” the manifesto says and assures “immediate steps to reverse such negative trends.” The BJP had repeatedly blamed all previous governments for their lack of “efforts and determination to face these threats”. During the election campaign and after coming to power, the party continued to project itself as the sole champion of national security. All this comes in sharp contrast to the general consensus approach of other parties on policies relating to external affairs and defence. Similarly, the BJP has also added the failure of all former central governments to check the increasing terrorist activities, sabotage by Pakistan’s ISI and the Bangladesh infiltration. It had assured to put an end to all such threats.

The nuclear test at Pokhran has been an extension of this policy of oneupmanship aimed at winning over large sections of patriotic people through what the BJP critics call pseudo-nationalism. The whole idea was to give a hero’s halo to the prime minister — as Indira Gandhi had done in ‘70s — for challenging both Pakistan and the world powers. The orchestrated media hype that followed left no one in doubt about the politicisation of nuclear test for expanding the BJP’s support base. Interviews with people in different walks of life, all invariably hailing the Prime Minister for his bold decision, continued on the electronic media until all the frenzy came to an end after the Pakistanis also did the same. In those days, the BJP strategists were talking of holding an early election so that the party would get a majority of its own.

However, Pakistan’s nuclear test accompanied by the tightening US siege had made the nuclear blast as a rather poor unique selling point (USP) in the subsequent assembly elections in which the BJP lost heavily. Then came the bus yatra, another buildup for the Prime Minister. During the recent pre-poll rallies, senior BJP leaders had made it clear that both Pokhran II and the Lahore yatra would be the party’s major election planks. However, the irony of Indian political has been that all those who tried to be smart by pushing a particular USP for their partisan gains, had themselves fallen victims to it.

Rajiv Gandhi had thought his non-political background could be converted into a ‘Mr Clean’ image to impress those who were fed up with the traditional politician. Within years, ‘Mr Clean’ recoiled on him, and he could never get out of scandals. After having taken advantage of the people’s patriotic aspirations, the bungling on the security front seems to be rapidly pushing the BJP into a similar intricate syndrom. Like Rajiv Gandhi’s ‘Mr Clean’, too many ghosts may haunt the BJP once bunglings of Kargil become a debating point in the ensuing elections. Since national security has already been politicised it will not be easy to prevent its further negative politicisation.

Opposition leaders are chuckling at the embarrassment suffered by the BJP government which had derided them for all the past failures. In private talk, they assail the Vajpayee government for bringing such national humiliation brought about by its own failures. A very senior Congress leader who had held important ministries, said: “Since the BJP has already politicised national security, they will have to answer to loss of so many precious lives and resources suffered by the country. All this is entirely due to their failures.” They seem to possess lots of information to squarely blame Vajpayee and George Fernandes for the intelligence failures.

While the Pakistanis were occupying large tracts of territory in Kargil for four months, the government was smarting under the success of Vajpayee’s bus yatra. It was not the lack of intelligence but the failure to correctly analyse them at the top level, they assert. Some agencies did send alarming reports of infiltrators taking up positions but they were blinded by the delusion caused by the bus ride hype. According to one version, after the winter withdrawal local brigade failed to reoccupy them due to ‘shortage of troops’. Finally, it was some wild foul hunters from a local village who had spotted the Pakistani infiltrators who had taken up vantage positions. The patrol that was sent thereafter was shot at and tortured by the infiltrators.

No doubt, this is not the first case of the intelligence failure or political bureaucratic bungling. A parallel is drawn with the Indian debacle of 1962 when China had over-run the posts all along the border. However, the then opposition — among whom were the Jana Sangh men and socialists like George Fernandes — went the whole hog to attack the government even at the peak of the war. They assailed the Defence Minister and Premier Jawaharlal Nehru for their ‘Himalayan blunders’. Unlike the present opposition, they held demonstrations, burnt effigies and attacked party offices. Parliamentary debates of those days stand witness to repeated attacks on India’s first Prime Minister for the Army’s debacle.

To an extent, the arguments were also strikingly similar — the Defence Minister’s personalised style of handling the ministry, political interference in technical matters of defence, lack of defence preparedness and intelligence failure. If Nehru was carried away by ‘Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai’, hangover of bus friendship turned the present rulers lethargic. As it often happens in such cases, the rulers themselves seem to have fallen victim to the media hype intended to enhance the government’s image. Paradoxically, the BJP manifesto had vowed to “enhance the traditional and technical capabilities of external intelligence and also to increase the interaction and coordination with user departments”.

As for the present rulers, they had come to power with pledge to give overriding importance to national security. Therefore, any security lapse on their part will naturally invite more public attention. During the recent pre-poll rallies, both Vajpayee and L.K. Advani had specially mentioned the achievements on relations with Pakistan and improved internal security environ. This was hardly a few days before the Kargil broke out. It was claimed that Kashmir had returned to normalcy, terrorism curbed and ISI activities frustrated, and all this would form part of the party’s election campaign. But almost immediately, there have been a series of blasts and seizures of explosives. There have been successive blasts right in Delhi followed by an alleged attempt on the life of K.P.S. Gill. Explosives were seized in Chennai, Tiruchi and Coimbatore, indicating an increase in ISI activities. There have been large RDX hauls in Kashmir and Kutch. At least two train accidents this month were attributed to sabotage.

There might have been a let-up in politicisation of the national security had the Vajpayee government involved the major Opposition parties in the management of the present crisis. But barring a casual meeting with the Congress chief, there have been no serious attempts on the part of the government to take the Opposition into confidence on issues like Pakistan’s designs, our defence efforts and diplomatic offensive. Even during the China war, despite all open attacks on the government, defence officers frequently briefed the opposition MPs. (Some of those defence maps and facts sheets are still with this writer). Instead, the government has sent the defence officers to a BJP meeting.

Regular consultation with the leaders of major Opposition groups is more imperative for a caretaker government. It will also help the ruling party take the wind out of Opposition criticism. If neither side is keen on such consultations, it only indicates their plans to make it a major election issue. Therefore, at the moment the Opposition would hold the fire even though they gleefully claim to possess enough ammunition. Whatever may be their claim, since the politicisation had begun much before the armed conflicts in Kargil, there is no way of stopping either side from using it for electoral benefits.

Congress victory unexpected
by Ervell E. Menezes

PANJIM: With the heat and dust having settled down on the recent Goa Assembly elections, it is time now for a post-mortem. What are the trends thrown up by the recent poll? Is the result a litmus test for the rest of the country in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections? Does it mean the demise of regional parties?

That the Congress has emerged outright winners in Goa is not only contrary to expectations. It is ironical too. Because the Congress has been the biggest defaulter in Goa as far as corruption and defections are concerned. The swift fall of three governments in last year is the doing of the Congress. So when former Chief Minister Wilfred D’Souza terms the recent results as a “victory for the forces of corruption and communalism” he cannot absolve himself. It is he who brought down the Rane Government but he also elicited the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and his record of defection is also pretty high.

Actually no single party was expected to get a majority in this election. Poll pundits put the figure of the Congress at about 16 to 18 and that of the BJP around 15. They were wrong on both counts. Congressman Francisco Sardinha told me a day before the elections that his party would get 21 seats and he was bang on the target. But not many Congressmen were as optimistic. The BJP camp too fell well short of the expectations. But the battle has been between the two national parties, the Congress and the BJP, as Congressman Dayanand Narvekar had forecast earlier. It also means a big blow to the regional parties who could together muster only eight seats — the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party 4, the United Goan Democratic Party 2 and the newly formed Goa Rajiv Congress Party (GRCP) by Dr D’Souza 2. The BJP may have paid dearly for not taking the support of the MGP as it did last time but it has surely made inroads into the MGP vote bank.

Does this mean the end of an era of regionalism because five years ago the MGP and the UGDP were forces to be reckoned with and if they joined forces they could easily have challenged the non-too-secure Congress. But that phase seems to have ended. Or does Goa need a new regional party which would be a good mix of both the Christian and Hindu communities? The GRCP could hardly fulfil this role because it is essentially a stop-gap party with Dr D’Souza waiting anxiously for a recall to the Congress. His avatar apparently is Ms Margaret Alva but with the Congress eking out a majority the need did not arise.

May be the influx of outsiders into Goa has led to the shift to the national parties. But this could hardly be ascribed to be a litmus test for the rest of the country. The recent performance of the Congress at the Centre, that of pulling down the BJP Government without providing an alternative, can hardly be construed as a plus point. To add to their woes Mr Sharad Pawar’s defection and the formation of a new party is another blow. But if money-power is the deciding factor — as it seemed to be in Goa — they seems to stand a fair chance.

The new Chief Minister Luizinho Faleiro clearly told Congressmen Sheikh Hassan and Dr Wilfred Mesquitta at Congress House in Panjim that he was giving them a certain amount which he had collected from the mine-owners. He said he got a certain amount from them which he divided by 40 for the number of MLAs. If this wasn’t an open admission of money-power in the elections what is? What is even more shocking is the brazen manner in which he announced it. When Congressman Sardinha was asked what he felt about it, he thought nothing wrong about it. “In politics you can’t have chaste folks”, he said. Which is probably why the “tainted” Congressmen are back. There’s Rane, Mauvin Godinho (the power scam), Dayanand Narvekar, Ravi Naik and a whole lot of men with dubious reputations. Whatever happened to the new face of the Congress?

The grapevine has it that when the Goa list of Congress candidates was shown to Ms Sonia Gandhi she had already lost interest because of the jolt she received from Mr Pawar. Be that as it may Congressmen are known to have fielded poor candidates against “old favourites” and this time it they seem to have done it in the case of Congress candidate Shrikant Malick. They wanted Dr D’Souza to have an easy path as he was the only Christian candidate in that constituency and the Christian vote proved to be the deciding factor. It was a probable provision to call upon his GRCP support in case they fell short. But the need did not arise.

Hence it is apparent that the Congress with its “culture of corruption and money power” has once again been able to form the government. How long it will stay united remains to be seen. In the past the Congress has proved to be its own enemy and with as many as three ex-Chief Ministers in it — Rane, Ravi Naik, Churchill Alemao — dissatisfied and senior Congressman Sardinha whose margin of victory was the biggest having staked his claim, it could be only a matter of time before the squabbling begins. But for the present the celebrations are still on and the sweet smell of victory is still in their nostrils.

75 YEARS AGO

Indian questions in Parliament

LONDON: In the House of Commons today, replying to Col. Howard Bury, Mr Ramsay MacDonald denied that any consignments of rifles and machine-guns for Afghanistan were still held up at Bombay.

Mr Richards, replying to Mr Wardlaw Milne, Mr Mills and Mr Lansbury with reference to the fatal labour troubles at Cawnpore, promised to communicate with the Government of India with a view to their consulting the provincial authorities for further enquiry into the causes of these disputes, and into the practicability and desirability of devising measures tending to diminish the risk of a recurrence.

Replying to Col. Howard Bury, Mr Richards said that definite information regarding the two missing members of the Kohat gang was still lacking. The Chief Commissioner for the North-West Frontier Province had taken up the matter with a joint jirga of Afridi and Orakzai tribes and had secured satisfactory undertakings from the majority of the sections concerned. Further pressure would be applied if necessary.