P A G E
Tuesday, June 22, 1999
today's calendar
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E D I T O R I A L P A G E |
Tuesday, June 22, 1999 |
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The
good word from
RELATIONS
WITH CHINA |
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No
takers for all-party arrangement
Two
men against corruption
George
on display
Colony
for clerks |
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The good word from G-8 THE summit meeting of the group of eight highly industrialised countries (G-8), which concluded in Cologne on Sunday, had its plate full. It had to evolve a policy on Kosovo in the wake of the Serbian pull-out and the expensive reconstruction programme, the economic health of the world and the writing off of nearly $70 billion of debt owed by the least developed countries. Yet the summit found time, and found it necessary, to discuss the Kargil skirmishes and add a few paragraphs to its communique. The low-intensity military operation by India to eject armed intruders evoked serious concern just because the two parties to the dispute are nuclear powers and any misstep by one will bring the world close to an unthinkable nuclear confrontation. This is the logic and the thrust of the G-8 opinion. It has dubbed the violation of the Line of Control (LoC) irresponsible and has demanded an immediate end to it. Also, there is an appeal to keep alive the Lahore spirit and to settle the issue within that framework. The communique does not name any country but the issues it raises and the steps it demands add to a big diplomatic victory for India and a nasty surprise for Pakistan. The G-8 stand is highly significant for two reasons. One, it more or less repudiates the opinion of the Foreign Ministers who took a seemingly neutral stand but tilting in favour of Pakistan. This time the neutral stand is aligned to this country's oft-repeated stand. Two, this is the first time that the leading countries of the West, particularly the USA, have opted for a course that favours India and frustrates Pakistan on the sensitive Kashmir issue. Obviously, India's repeated promise not to cross the LoC but to confine the clean-up job to this side of the border has helped. It sounds convincing since, despite the casualties the Army is taking, there is no talk — no serious talk, that is — of enlarging or intensifying the operation. Also, the readiness to continue talks with Islamabad once the last intruder is thrown out has doused down any fear of a major armed conflict. In contrast, Pakistan
has badly misjudged the mood of big powers by harking
back to the basic problem of Kashmir and denying any role
in pushing in hundreds of armed mercenaries and even
regular troops. This stand and the frightening statement
of Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz that his country would
take the necessary steps to protect itself have made its
friends nervous and acutely discomfortable. Indeed, the
Kargil conflict and the new perception of the West are
good starting points to work for a new power equation in
this part of the world. Pakistan should be shown for what
it is: a country involved in narcotics traffic, promoting
religious fundamentalism, exporting armed terrorism and,
finally being a source of instability in the region. The
need of the USA to have a friend like Pakistan has
evaporated with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the
end of the Cold War. China too can be persuaded not to
see this country as a potential rival even if not as a
trusted friend. |
Defence brooks no delay THE battle of India's sovereignty in northern Kashmir is taking an unexpectedly long time to end. The initial expectation was that the Pakistani Army's officers and men would get debilitated within a month or so because their supply line would be cut and their mainstay, the Afghan and other mercenaries, would be neutralised without much of a heavy fight. But the difficult terrain and the crookedness of the adversary have conspired to make the struggle a long-drawn one. In such a situation men are as important as material. Pakistan has been preparing for the occupation of strategic heights for more than a year. Despite heavy casualties inflicted upon the aggressor, it would be necessary to acquire greater staying power and sufficient arms and ammunition. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has threatened to cause "many more Kargils". The most reliable military intelligence agency of Russia (as also of the erstwhile USSR), commonly known as GRU, has made it known that Islamabad is concentrating more and more troops and weapons in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) along the Line of Control (LoC). The agency, which has monitored the situation in Kargil closely, has said that a 15,000-strong mass of Pakistani Army personnel is currently on standby alert not far from the LoC. Its purpose is to make further and successive incursions in the Dras-Kargil-Batalik belt after the Indian defence forces destroy major hideouts, bunkers or camps on the Indian side of the disturbed LoC. This move points to the correctness of Mr Nawaz Sharif 's threat of "many more Kargils". So, there is an urgent need for nationwide preparedness to meet any eventuality. Blood is shed bravely
for protecting the sanctity of the motherland by
dedicated men who put service before self. But the
wherewithal that goes into fighting the enemy costs much
money. The immediate defence allocation of Rs 600
crore—made by way of an emergency grant—is
apparently not enough. Our own ordnance factories do not
produce all the hardware and defence equipment needed by
our Armed Forces. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is quick
in approving the purchase of various items meant for
immediate use, but the procedures of concluding
negotiations with the suppliers abroad are still awfully
cumbersome. However, this time there is no unnecessary
bureaucratic delay because the "Crisis Room" in
South Block, the MoD headquarters, has introduced an
element of computerised sophistry and efficiency into the
system in view of the urgency. Israel and South Africa
charge heavily for the arms and ammunition supplied by
them and the delivery of the required defence goods takes
time. Russia, as usual, is a reliable source of supply.
Ukranian weaponry and equipment like radars are not
unusually expensive, but certain firms in Ukraine have
been blacklisted for supplying T-84 tanks to Pakistan. We
need constant replenishment of critical military stock.
The indigenous units for manufacturing these are still at
a developing stage. Some European countries are adopting
delaying tactics deliberately to favour Islamabad. The
arms supply process is getting obstructed. In the
battlefield, the timely arrival of men and material is
the most important factor. There should be no
procrastination in a situation which says: "do or
die". The nation has to support the Armed Forces
fully and this support has to include the quick supply of
ordnance, hardware and even appropriate items of food and
clothing. |
Wah Steve Waugh THE pre-match comments of two legendary cricketers, Hanif Mohammad and Viv Richards, perhaps,aptly summed up the outcome of the final of the last World Cup of the millennium. Former Pakistan captain Hanif Mohammad was quoted as having said that "there is only one team that can beat Pakistan and that is Pakistan".Former West Indies captain and batting dynamo Viv Richards, however, put his money on Australia because in his book Steve Waugh is "cricket's man of steel". After Wasim Akram literally set Pakistan against Pakistan in the over-booked World Cup final against Australia at Lord's, questions are already being raised about his future. Of course, no one expected the final to be as exciting as the semi-final between South Africa and Australia, which cricket pundits are inclined to rate as the best game in the history of the World Cup. By the same token no one expected Pakistan to virtually hand over the trophy to Australia on a platter. What Pakistan achieved in the end was the most forgettable final in the 24- year history of the tournament. Instead of taking the trouble of coming to the Mecca of cricket for what was billed as "the match of the millennium" Wasim Akram could have mailed the trophy to Steve Waugh. The Australian captain himself must have been disappointed with the one-sided nature of the match. The Australians evidently wanted to avenge the defeat by a narrow margin of 10 runs,chasing a target of 275, at the hands of Pakistan in the league match. After bundling out Pakistan for the lowest score in a World Cup final within 40 overs, they reached the target in 20 overs and in the process effectively destroyed another myth that Pakistan has the best bowling attack in the world. The last World Cup of
the millennium has been unkind to Asian cricket.
Defending champions Sri Lanka were knocked out of the
tournament at the league stage. India's poor fielding and
bowling ensured their elimination in the Super Six stage.
The pathetic performance by Pakistan in the final killed
any hope of the trophy remaining in the sub-continent.
However, in the final analysis, Australia convincingly
proved why they are considered the top dog of
international cricket. After a poor start, they virtually
rose from the dead to claim the title of World Champions
which they had last won in the final against England at
Calcutta in 1987. The league match against the West
Indies saw them raise the level of their game to heights
which ensured them an easy victory against Pakistan in
the final. They entered the Super Six with the same
disadvantage as India of carrying forward no points.
However, unlike India, they won all the three Super Six
games by convincing margins.In fact,the Super Six match
against South Africa was as closely fought as the
semi-final clash between the two teams. In a manner of
speaking, Australia were lucky to play back-to-back games
against the Proteas unlike Pakistan who had relatively
easy games against Zimbabwe and New Zealand in the run up
to the final. For the South Africans it was a case of
being third time unlucky. In in1992 the ridiculous rain
rule deprived them of a possible place in the final. In
1996 after winning all their group matches they saw their
dreams of winning the World Cup being killed by Brian
Lara in the quarter-final. In the 1999 World Cup they
paid for the mistake of letting Australia off the hook in
two consecutive games. That, perhaps, explains why
Australia deserve the honour of being only the second
team after the West Indies to win the World Cup twice. |
RELATIONS
WITH CHINA MULTIPOLARITY is New Delhi’s latest mantra, recited at two ends of the globe. Diplomatically translated, it reads as follows: Prime Minister Vajpayee asks US President Clinton to flex his muscles at Pakistan via a letter. He expects him to exert pressure on Mr Nawaz Sharif through the G-8 summit in Cologne. At the other end, Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh gives a quiet burial to the year-long Pokhran bitterness and sings again the “Hindi Chini bhai bhai” jap! There is no gainsaying that India can justifiably see itself as a partner in the quest for a multipolar world. True, both Washington and Beijing seem to hum the Kargil mantra. But the moot point is on whose terms? None else than Mr Jaswant Singh confessed in Beijing: “We arrived at the same conclusion though from different ends.” Washington would hate to see India coochie-cooing to China and vice versa. From Washington’s eyes, the Asian region has now attained strategic contours along two axis — economic dynamism and resources potential and nuclear non-proliferation. It wants to establish its hegemony over the region and prevent China and India from forming a bloc inimical to the USA. Also, it has little interest in destabilising South Asia, merely because it suits Pakistan’s domestic interests. Additionally, with economic diplomacy taking precedence over political issues, Mr Clinton cannot afford to rub New Delhi the wrong way — and write off a lot America would stand to gain commercially! China’s stand is seen in the context of its deteriorating relationship with Washington, following the recent US bombing of its embassy in Belgrade. It would hate to see NATO emerging as a powerful conscience keeper of the world. Ditto is the case with India. New Delhi too would not like to seek an alternate power where the USA is not the nation of last resort. Also, the NATO doctrine has got India worried to seek an alternate balance of power. Both realise that post-Cold War, the power game in Asia is shifting. While China’s sway over South Asia stands undisputed, India would definitely like to get recognition as a major player of the subcontinent. New Delhi realises that China is fast emerging as a powerful actor not only in Asia but also in and outside the UN. Nearer home, its growing economic clout, military strength and political stability make it singularly important. Also, in recent years, both have assiduously sought to engage the West. Both have aspired to join the top table in the international system. Besides, the more fundamental developments in global arms control could nudge India and China towards each other. Mr Jaswant Singh undoubtedly ushered in a new chapter in Sino-Indian relations. Happily, the Chinese too believe that his visit will mark another milestone in the growing relations between the two countries. Asserted premier Zhiu Rongji: “I want to congratulate you. I am told your visit has been a great success.” It was politically significant sans hype and business like for a change. South Block dispensed with its sentimental blinkers and talked realistically and in “specific” terms by agreeing to hold a “security dialogue”. Both countries have committed themselves to “peace and tranquillity” in their mutual relations and are now immersed in radical economic reforms to accelerate development. Both have also expressed themselves in favour of economic cooperation and revival of the Joint Working Group. In the changed geo-political scenario today, New Delhi wisely shed its emotional hang-up over the border issue and decided to take hard practical decisions. In the interest of its immediate eco-geostrategic needs, it has suited India to go along with China. Remember, there are several pockets along the border — Daulet Beg Oldi to Demchok to Barahoti to Dolam Plateau and West Bhutan to Thagla, Bumla, Sumdrong Chu, Longju and Walong. In fact, Beijing has to be read against the backdrop of a pragmatic spread of interests rather than confluence of ideologies. At one level the USA may be in the bad books of the Chinese today, but it will not prevent the two from dealing with each other. At another, it would be too optimistic to hope that Beijing will sever its comprehensive all-weather relationship with Pakistan. South Block is clear. It has no intention to fight both simultaneously — on its eastern and western borders. Mr Jaswant Singh’s assertion that India does not consider China a threat does not in any way amount to a shift in real terms of distrust and mutual suspicion, but of differing perception. Asserted a South Block official: “The overall reality remains the same. Basically, while the Defence Ministry perceives China in security terms the Foreign Affairs Ministry fulfils its job of establishing good relations and enhancing cultural ties. This is the practice followed in the USA as well. While Mr Clinton speaks in one voice, the Pentagon (Defence Headquarters) speaks in another. As matters stand today, the crux of the entire process of normalisation remains on the question of China’s occupation of Indian territory. China still claims 30,000 sq km in the western sector and does not recognise the McMahon Line. While New Delhi asserts that 90,000 sq km in the eastern sector and 2,000 sq km in the middle sector are part of India, we are nowhere closer to clarifying the Line of Actual Control even after six years of the peace and tranquillity pact of 1993. Till date no territorial maps or zones have been demarcated. Also, New Delhi cannot shut its eyes to Beijing’s stubborn and unfriendly stance on Sikkim, which clearly illustrates the dichotomous nature of relations. China has still not recognised Sikkim’s merger with India. At another level, India’s vulnerability has increased following China’s alleged secret positioning of nuclear and non-nuclear arms on the Tibetan Plateau. The international campaign for Tibet (ICT), based in Washington, in its report suggests the possibility of nuclear bases on the border between the Xinghai and Siachuar provinces, at the Baidam, Xaio Qaidam and Delingha (in the North-East). There is a dichotomy in Beijing’s position on Kashmir too. Since the Nehru era it has not clearly spelt out its stand. During the “Hindi-Chini-bhai-bhai” days whenever New Delhi broached the subject, Beijing tacitly accepted Kashmir as a part of India, asserting that it had never stated that it was not a part of India. After the 1962 Sino-Indian conflict when relations between the two neighbours plunged to their lowest level, Beijing took the position that it had never said that Kashmir was a part of India. Importantly, even today China seems to be doing just the same. Additionally, the Chinese statement on the need for Indo-Pak restraint on the LoC issue is a calculated move. Pakistan’s blatant intrusions had limited its area of manoeuvres. It did not want to annoy Islamabad by making a positive statement. Nor did it want to send back Mr Jaswant Singh empty-handed. So it got its Foreign Minister to make a gesture by spending an extra hour with him also by personally ordering dumplings for the banquet that was to follow. It would be naive for New Delhi to be taken in by this tokenism. Pakistan’s place in the Chinese scheme of things remains static — that of a close friend. Besides it would be wise for South Block to remember that pre-Chagai Hills President Zemin had rung up Mr Nawaz Sharif not to exercise his nuclear option and, in turn, offered him a nuclear umbrella, asserting that in the event of an Indo-Pak war, China would surely get involved. Also, as the Kargil tapes establish, it is strange that Pakistan Army Chief Musharraf would brazenly instruct his junior of Pakistan’s future strategy from Chinese soil and that , too, from a government hotel in Beijing. It defies logic that General Musharraf could have made the call without the Chinese coming to know of it sooner than later. Or, ready already having blessed it earlier. Tapping of satellite phones is child’s play in the present global information scenario. It would not be far-fetched to imagine that Washington too may have had access to this conversation. The question that arises is: was China willy-nilly using Pakistan to send a signal to the USA? Are both playing games with each other, using India and Pakistan as pawns? Should one dismiss Mr Clinton’s activism on Kargil after the Musharraf-Aziz talks of May 26 and 29 as mere coincidence? Why is the USA threatening to go public with more evidence of Islamabad’s involvement in Kargil. What does Mr Jaswant
Singh’s visit add up to? If it has not multiplied
the existing cobwebs of misunderstanding, it has also not
substracted from Beijing and New Delhi’s known stand
on various issues. It is, undoubtedly, a step in the
right direction of hard realism — of building
India-China relations to a level where there is no
distrust. It is now for New Delhi to use the abacus to
decipher the Chinese structure and inscrutability. New
Delhi must not be taken for a ride once again. —
INFA |
Mandela’s retirement:the message “CHARISMATIC leaders who can move from revolution to governing are rare enough; those who can do so and then gracefully retire are even rarer,” observed The Washington Post in a recent editorial in a tribute to Mr Nelson Mandela’s action in willingly ceding power and his deliberate preparation of a new generation to take over. Mr Mandela is probably unique in this regard in a world where politicians are reluctant to leave the stage at the appropriate time and allow younger people to take charge of the nation’s affairs. Mr Mandela has not only stepped aside as President of South Africa but has also announced his plans to retire to his little hometown in southeastern part of his country. “I have reached the end of my political career, and I now hand over to a younger man,” Mr Mandela, 80 declared at the inauguration of his successor, 56-year-old Thabo Mbeki, in Pretoria on June 16. The crowds that had thronged to witness the ceremony shouted a full-throated “no”. Mr Mandela told them that the country’s future lay with its youth, and that the best weapon that the youth can have is education — a message that India after 50 years of Independence still needs to take and mull over. There are many facets of Mr Mandela’s life that call for fullsome praise, but his greatest achievement and triumph is the spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation that have marked his five-year presidency. Prior to his release from 27 years of prison in the infamous Robben island on February 11, 1990, radical opinion among the black activists in South Africa was to hold Nuremberg-type trials of white leaders who had tormented and tortured the majority blacks. “Try the bastards” was the prevailing mood, but Mr Mandela set the tone for a more mature and humane approach as he assumed office as South Africa’s first black President on May 10, 1994. “The time for the healing of the wounds has come”, he declared. “The moment to bridge the chasm that divides has come. The time to build is upon us.” True to his words, Mr Mandela ensured that South Africa was transformed into a peaceful and multi-racial democratic nation. As The Los Angeles Times noted in an editorial last week, Mr Mandela taught black and white South Africans that forgiveness need not be confused with weakness. “His Truth and Reconciliation Commission led to significant healing, amnesty, justice and, most important, truth, long suppressed under white minority rule,” the American daily said. No wonder, the white opposition Democratic Party hailed Mr Mandela recently as a President for all South Africa. In a speech at the farewell that the country’s parliament gave, to Mr Mandela, Mr Marthinus Schalkwyk told the retiring Head of State: “You understood the need to heal the wounds of the past. Is it not one of the great ironies of life that those who suffered greatly so often have the capacity to forgive greatly?... You are living proof that no jail can ever keep an idea imprisoned.” The leader of the Democratic Party, Mr Tony Leon, was equally effusive. He placed Mr Mandela in one of the three categories of remarkable leaders of this century. The first category, he said, included monsters such as Adolf Hitler and the second the great and good such as Franklin Roosevelt. “And then there is the third category, also of good, but of a leader born with a special kind of grace, who seems to transcend politics of his age,” Mr Leon said. “Our respect and admiration for him is unconditional. He graces this House. He graces this country. He graces humanity.” The tribute from a representative of the white apartheid could not have been more handsome of genuine and Mr Nelson Mandela, needless to say, fully deserved it. If the world today admires South Africa for its success as a nation in rising to new challenges, it is entirely because of the policies of reconciliation pursued by Mr Mandela. Those challenges, according to Mr Mandela, were to avoid the nightmare of debilitating racial war and bloodshed and to reconcile the people on the basis that South Africa’s over-riding objective must be together to overcome the legacy of poverty, division and inequity. The new President, Mr
Mbeki, has a daunting task before him, and his agenda is
a different one what with rising crime, huge black
unemployment and largescale poverty. He has promised a
“better life” for millions of black South
Africans who had led miserable lives under white minority
rule. Technically, Mr Mandela may have retired from
public life, but his charisma and wisdom will still serve
as elixir for South Africa’s hopes for a better
future. |
George
on display IN the last book of his trilogy, Return to Punjab, Prakash Tandon, the first Indian chairman of Hindustan Lever, tells of his encounters with George Fernandes, very much in the news as I write because of the fighting in Kashmir. In the mid-sixties the colourful union leader had his first encounter with Tandon when he tried to take over Lever’s Sewri factory union. Having won control he began — rather like his Bofors guns are doing now — firing one broadside after another (says Tandon), seizing on small issues and making big causes of them. “He wrote me brief, staccato letters, each more urgent than the last.” The chairman then asked him to have a cup of tea with him in the office. The firebrand was obviously taken aback both at the bare room in cream and light mauve, and also at the bare desk, and not least at the bushshirt and chappals worn by Tandon. “Yes”, he admitted, “I expected to see one of those large offices, with a couple of peons outside, and you in one of those Bombay chairman’s dark suits, collar and tie, and with a patronising manner.” On being asked which unions he controlled, Fernandes laughed and said it would be easier to list those he did not control. When pressed, he revealed that the secret of his success was his fluency in languages: English, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi and Konkani. Workers felt at ease with him. Tandon must have got the measure of Fernandes at that meeting (though he does not say so) because the latter remarked to the personnel director he was asked to see: “Whew, that was sophisticated”. The following year saw the union leader’s incredible victory at the hustings over S.K. Patil, political czar of Mumbai, who had spent crores on his electioneering, even hiring an aeroplane with streamers (says Tandon) while George Fernandes knocked at doors. Why then did he not make his mark in the Lok Sabha? The author asked him this some time later. His reply was: In Parliament today you need to behave in a special way to make your mark. If I really do my homework and study a subject to make a well-reasoned, thoughtful speech, then all the press reports is, ‘Mr Fernandes also spoke.’ But if I fulminate and accuse, refuse to sit down, and generally show great agitation — well, the next day in the press Mr Fernandes will hit the headlines. Our press, its readers and even my colleagues are only interested in display and excitement. Prakash Tandon found this rather strange coming as it did from one who had loved the hurly-burly of trade unionism in India’s biggest commercial centre. “He loved excitement, crowds and battle, but there was some innate niceness about him. Excepting once — when a strike got out of hand, the men rushed some expensive and complex atomic power generation machinery, and the subsequent police firing left some 10 persons dead — his struggles in those days were always highly charged but peaceful.... He was tough but avoided tough tactics. He fought clean, and managed to keep the Mumbai strikes orderly. His power at one time was absolute. The year then was 1961.
By an amazing coincidence the Chinese attacked that year,
and the Defence Minister was the much reviled Krishna
Menon. |
No takers for all-party arrangement
LAST week, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had firmly contradicted his party president Kushabhau Thakre’s remarks that elections will have to be postponed if the Kargil war continued until October. Next day, BJP General Secretary Venkaiah Naidu was quick to assert that the party stood by Vajpayee’s views, and not Thakre’s. As yet we really do not know who will ultimately prove right. Things look so uncertain that no political party dares to risk its chances by seeking either an all-party arrangement at the Centre or postponing the elections. Under the Constitution, the new Lok Sabha will have to sit before October 21. Even if the elections could be put off to as late as the first week of October, the elaborate preparations for it should begin immediately. In the normal course the formal announcement of the elections should come by July end. The Election Commission has not so far made any public comment about its preferences or cited problems ahead in conducting the world’s largest free elections. But those in Nirvachan Sadan point out several serious practical problems in the way of such massive mobilisations if a warlike situation prevailed. Its major worry is the availability of sufficient number of police force to maintain law and order and check poll violence. Any slackness in the physical presence of the police will invariably encourage a takeover by the anti-social elements. In identified sensitive areas, forces will have to be deployed in strength. Over the years, the commission and the respective state police departments have gained considerable expertise in preventing poll violence and rigging. Already there are reports that the police and paramilitary forces are being withdrawn from regular duty from the sensitive pockets of various states for deployment in the border states. They include the central reserve police and Border Security Force. States like Assam, Tripura and Bihar have expressed concern over the sudden withdrawal from terrorist and extremist affected pockets. There could be more retaliatory killings by the upper castes and the land hungry Dalits in the vast Naxalite belt around Gaya. Adding to the Union Home Ministry’s worry is the need to keep a closer vigil all over the country in view of the ISI’s game plan for creating troubles. Normally, the Election Commission draws up the schedule in such a way as to facilitate quick deployment of police forces immediately after the polling in a specified election zone. For this purpose. elections are held in three stages taking into account the maximum presence of forces in sensitive areas. Union Home Ministry sources admit that they will find it impossible to make available the usual quota of forces this time. Can election campaigns be conducted in a free and fair atmosphere while bitter battles rage on the border? There seems to be little comparison with the UK which could hold a general election during the second world war. The question before us is whether an election held in the midst of a decisive war will truly reflect the people’s judgement on the performance of a government. The polity remains sharply divided on some of the controversial actions of the present rulers on political, social and economic front. Will not the emotional atmosphere of a border war overwhelm all other issues equally crucial for the country? On the war itself, vital points like the very conduct of the war, its failures and successes, debacles and achievements will naturally become the subject of debate. Issues like accountability for lapses and losses could not be kept beyond public scrutiny during an election. The Opposition has been avoiding such issues on the plea that it is not the time for such witch hunting. Once it begins, it will push all other political issues to the background. It will also lead to mutual accusations and exposures about the preparations and conduct of the war at a time when our troops fight their battles under most difficult conditions. Can we enjoy the luxury of the demoralising effect of such an election campaign in full view of the enemy? Despite such hazards some BJP strategists calculate that the Indian forces will be able to oust the Pakistanis from all posts by August end. This will enable the party to put the war victory to full use to sway the voters. Some even hope to dramatise the military action by timing the decisive victory at the peak of the election campaign. This way the party could counter the Opposition by neutralising their adverse propaganda with a stunning victory at the right psychological moment. This will also give Vajpayee the halo of a big war hero. However, a parallel with Indira Gandhi’s triumph in 1971 will be incongruous because she had taken the trophy for breaking up Pakistan and thereby opening a peaceful eastern border. The realists in BJP are well aware of the political risks staring at the party. Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary and Chief of the National Security Council Brajesh Mishra expects that the war would not end before September end. So far, no other authority has been able to set an earlier deadline. Continuation of the war for four months will have severe strains on the economy. The Finance Minister’s bravado notwithstanding, his senior officials are burning midnight oil to find resources to meet the frantic demands for funds from the defence. A pro-establishment strategic commentator has said that the additional expenses for the war would be only as much as feeding the refugees from the border. But independent analysts put the figure at over Rs 10,000 crore if the war does not end before the winter. It could be even more. Any move to raise such a huge additional revenue is going to prove a heavy burden. Under such pressures, the tendency may be to take to the easy route of imposing an additional surcharge on income tax which is bound to displease the influential middle class on the eve of the election. Unlike in 1971 and earlier, the present government cannot face the ire of the powerful post-1991 corporate lobby. Already there are reports of India placing frantic defence orders abroad. Farooq Abdullah has sought urgent central aid to meet the additional burden on the state due to the war. Why then every political party, including the ruling combine and the main Opposition, repeatedly asking for elections even while they are aware of the innumerable hurdles in the way of genuine polling? Ask any political leader in private. They will reel off various factors that would restrict the poll process. Yet if they are afraid of saying it in public it is the fear of adverse public reaction on the eve of a crucial election. Adoption of similar strategic postures reflects a peculiar trait being developed by the political parties right from the second half of this decade. With the balance of power so delicate and voter assertion so deadly, no one wants to take any political risk. Every political party wants to play safe without even remotely being seen as hurting the people’s sentiments. For some time, voters have begun seemingly displaying consumer assertion while the politicians seek to woo them with all sorts of sale promotions. Asking for the postponement of elections could be branded as running away from the battle for fear of defeat. Gone are the days when political parties formulated their policies and programmes on the basis of ideology and conviction. Now the whole emphasis is on pleasing the voters. The other worry is how will the voters respond to a particular decision and will they be swayed by the adverse publicity by the rival side. Several ideas are being debated in political circles to overcome the emerging political-constitutional crisis. One such proposal aims at insulating defence from the purview of the election campaign. Apparently, the Opposition parties do not buy this argument as it would deprive them of the opportunity to expose the government for its intelligence failures and inability to take preventive steps. This is especially so when the Opposition claims to possess ‘stunning’ evidence to grill the Prime Minister for the lapses. It is widely feared that a contrived election without free and fair campaign will be worse than no election. The quality of the election is as important as holding it. The BJP firmly rejects all such proposals to overcome the present political crisis. Its discreet suggestion for holding timely elections with restricted campaign is obviously intended to dodge proposals for an all-party arrangement at the Centre. It fears the ideas being mooted for a national or all-party government to meet the war situation would only erode its own role as a caretaker government. Hence it has been carefully discouraging all those who favoured collective wisdom to meet such emergency situations. Even R. Venkataraman, an ardent advocate of the national government before the BJP wrested power, is conspicuously silent. Significantly, the Opposition too has not made any serious effort to replace the present government by an all-party alternative. Limited to a brief period, they do not find it worth trying. Once they become part of such an arrangement, they will naturally lose their right to lambast the Vajpayee government for its lapses. Apart from the avoidable communal stigma, they visualise too many complications. The left would not do business with the BJP. The Congress, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Laloo Prasad Yadav, etc, would not like to sit with them as junior participants. Obviously, no one finds
any political advantage in such a brief marriage of
convenience. All this seems to have dissuaded K.R.
Narayananie from taking any initiative in this regard.
The issue will crop up again if the war prolongs or get
complicated and when holding of free elections turns out
to be difficult. At that stage, the political options
will become really tough. |
Two men against corruption TWO men in Maharashtra have been on the rampage against rampant corruption in the ranks of the elected representatives of the people, who occupy positions of power. While Anna Hazare has forced one minister of the Government of Maharashtra to resign, the bureaucrat Arun Bhatia has just earned his 26th transfer in a career spanning 30 years. Talking to the two men, one returns with some hope for the future of the country, which today despairs at the roots corruption has struck in our social and political life. To force the resignation of Baban Gholap, Shiv Sena Minister in the State Government, Anna invited on himself a three-month prison term and spent one of them in Yeravada Jail. With pressure mounting on it from national and international organisations and personalities, the government was forced to release him within a month. Anna created history when he walked out of prison, refusing to sign a bond of good behaviour for two years, to file an amnesty petition or even to sign the prison’s discharge register. The government appeared to be relieved to see him out of the historic prison gates at Pune. The gates were hurriedly shut behind his back. But the minister who had him sent to jail had to tender his own resignation when clinching evidence surfaced of his guilt in amassing unaccountable wealth, accumulated through questionable means. That is not, however, the end of the Baban Gholap story. The case is still in court. The reverberations of the Gholap case could end up as an indictment of the four-year Shiv Sena-BJP government, claiming to be the ideal Shivshahi. Members of the legislature, from whose ranks men like Gholap are selected, are one rung above members of civic bodies. It was disgraceful that as many as 118 elected representatives of the Pune Mahanagar Palika supported a resolution that said they had lost confidence in Arun Bhatia because of his “dogmatic, dictatorial and unaccommodative manner of functioning.” Their emphasis was on the ungrammatical “unaccommodative” style of function of the Commissioner. In plain words, he refused to be party to squandermania, utilisation of public funds for the benefit of the rich, more than that of the poor and vested interests in awarding contracts for civic works. When Rs 38 crore was needed for construction of toilets in slums, conversion of open gutters into closed drains in slums, and in 38 newly included villages, development of a garbage depot and land acquisition and construction of approach roads, 700 garbage containers, three bulk carriers, provision of medical equipment in hospitals and dispensaries, pipes for distribution of water, an electrical crematorium and an intensive care unit at the Kamala Nehru hospital, it was found that the Mahapalika had no funds. Bhatia, therefore, suggested that about Rs 38 crore earmarked for a swimming pool, garden, landscaping and such other concessions to luxury and the entertainment of the rich be relocated. The elected representatives of the people raised a hue and cry. “The real reason for opposing the proposal is that the corporators will lose their illegal patronage over funds to the extent of Rs 10 crore,” says Bhatia. The Pune Corporation, he adds, has “a strange system of allocating funds to each ward for works which are not specified. A lumpsum amount is allocated for general development works which are not specified, with regard to type of work or its location. The budget is approved by the general body and later the corporator decides the work to be done and accordingly the work is executed during the year without ever obtaining the sanction of the general body.” Bhatia considers this an illegal procedure, as do many right-thinking citizens. Not so the elected representatives of the people or their dominant organisation, the Pune Vikas Mandal, which organised two tea parties to celebrate the ouster of Arun Bhatia. The same corporators had spat on the Municipal Commissioner, assaulted him and roughed him up outside the house after passing the no confidence motion. A move is on now among various citizens’ groups and organisations to demand the dissolution of the Pune Municipal Corporation. Bhatia has been accused of high-handedness, abrasive behaviour, approaching the slum dwellers directly to explain his stand and refusal to condone irregularities committed by Pune’s politicians and some officials. Bhatia has, in fact, gone to the other extreme of filing a written complaint at the Deccan Gymkhana Police Station against a Commissioner of “illegally approving contracts worth Rs 2 crore for road construction.” That former incumbent in the office is today Chief Secretary to the Government of Maharashtra. He and other officers of the PMC, a civil judge had found “had approved tenders illegally, arbitrarily and in a manner that smacked of favouritism.” The judge also found that “the elected persons through the standing committee of the corporation are seen to have acted hand in hand with the appointed authorities in perpetration of illegalities, which are apparent from the record.... which is really a sad state of affairs.” Bhatia, in his FIR says: “We would like an honest Chief Secretary who controls our careers, who writes our assessment reports, who judges our honesty, who promotes, transfers and enforces disciplines on thousands of officers in the state.” Bhatia’s failure, no doubt, was due to his hurry to cleanse the system. He sought to take everyone in his stride — all at one time. His intentions cannot, however, be questioned, as are Anna Hazare’s. India figures among the most corrupt countries in the world listed by Transparency International. There are enough laws in the country to deal with corruption, but the problem arises in their enforcement. The Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 provides for confiscation of assets of public servants, beyond their known sources of income. The loophole is that the forfeiture can only follow conviction for offences under the Act. Forfeiture of ill-gotten wealth under the Criminal Laws Amendment Act, 1944 also comes about only after conviction for corruption. The Lok Ayuktas also suffer from similar deficiencies. The Central Vigilance Commissioner has recently suggested the adoption of a new Act for forfeiture of properties of public servants found guilty by departmental inquiries. Till more laws are made
and they are enforced, public agitators like Anna Hazare
and Arun Bhatia need to be supported wholeheartedly by
citizens who have the good of society at heart. They must
at least be encouraged to use the existing legal system
to take known corrupt politicians and public servants to
account for their malfeasance. |
Colony for clerks THOSE who are interested in the question of the proper housing of Government servants and the clerical staff will be glad to learn that the Madras Government has arranged to build a separate colony for clerks at a distance of about 6 miles from the city connected by railway. It is stated that there are three classes of buildings, the first class being intended for Superintendents receiving Rs 300 and above, the second class for clerks of the upper grade getting Rs 200 and above, and the third class for lower grade clerks receiving about Rs 100. The cost of constructing one house of each of the three classes is Rs 4,400, Rs 2,800 and Rs 1,800, respectively. Of the 162 houses proposed to be built 54 are nearing completion. Evidently, the clerks will be enabled to purchase the houses by paying small instalments out of their salary and suburban trains run at convenient hours to enable them to attend their offices in the city and go back to their homes. It would not be
impossible to provide similar facilities to clerks and
others in other principal cities but it is to be
regretted that the Governments concerned have not so far
planned any suitable scheme. |
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