Fire disaster in Delhi
THE death of about 30 jhuggi-dwellers near Rajghat in Delhi on Sunday brings out the apathy and lack of preparedness of the administration to combat major fire disasters.

Joshi in land scam
POOR Mr Manohar Joshi. Within weeks of being shown the door, the High Court has thrown the rule book at him. He won’t go to jail as two other former Chief Ministers, Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav and Ms Jayalalitha, had to.

Jaya in the news
MS Jayalalitha knows that the secret of political longevity is to somehow remain in the news. Her countless detractors may hate her with the same intensity with which her followers adore her, but a politician who can afford to ignore her is yet to be born.

POVERTY & THE BUDGET
by T. N. Kaul
FINANCIAL experts, industrialists and the rich and upper middle classes as well as the media have written and said quite a lot on how the budget proposals affect them. However, little has so far been said about how the budget proposals affect the poor, especially those below the poverty line.

American designs in Asia
by P. K. Vasudeva
THE USA is seriously thinking of deploying theatre missile systems to protect its forces in Asia, especially in Japan, South Korea and probably also in Taiwan. This is, however, not so easy as China will fight tooth and nail to exert its supremacy in Asia. It is already moving fast towards achieving this status both militarily and economically.

In Kalyan Singh’s Ram Rajya
by P. Raman
THE BJP manifesto had pledged to establish Ram Rajya when it came to power. A brief visit to Kalyan Singh’s ‘model state’ this week revealed how Ram Rajya is working in the great epic hero’s own former kingdom.

Age refuses to mellow Shekhar’s fire
THE frown on Mr Chandra Shekhar’s face is real. This is an admission of the former Prime Minister. “Humko bhi bahut gussa aata hai” (I also get angry), Mr Chandra Shekhar told the Lok Sabha recently after his remarks on the Patents (Amendment) Bill evoked a strong reaction from the Union Industry Minister, Mr Sikander Bakht.

Rise & fall of the moustache
by D. K. Mukerjee
THAT the moustache may well be the “signature” of a civilisation I learnt from my father’s humorous account of the “Rise and Fall of the Moustache” modelled on Gibbon’s momentous work on the “Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire”.

75 Years Ago

Babbar Akali conspiracy case
AFTER two days’ recess, the enquiry in the Doaba Babbar Akali conspiracy case was resumed this morning by Mr Louis A. Bull, Special Magistrate. At the outset, the learned defence counsel put in two petitions, in the first of which he prayed, the court might accord its permission to the relations and friends of the petitioner’s clients in the dock to be present in the court room, during the enquiry.

Fire disaster in Delhi

THE death of about 30 jhuggi-dwellers near Rajghat in Delhi on Sunday brings out the apathy and lack of preparedness of the administration to combat major fire disasters. Jhuggi clusters are prone to such mishaps, what to talk of those having combustible building materials in their narrow lanes. People dying without any rescue arrangement being effective in a fire in the national Capital is shameful for a country aspiring to become a developed nation by 2020. Delhi has any number of jhuggi-jhonpri clusters spread all over the metropolis. They have very narrow lanes and bylanes, which is obvious. Such places of residence cannot be expected to have streets wide enough to allow easy movement of fire engines. Thus to say that the fire could not be extinguished soon because there was no way fire engines could reach the affected area, is pointless. This is, of course, a practical problem. But a method should have been found long ago to meet such an eventuality, as these serpentine clusters have become a part of Delhi. If those in charge of fire-fighting operations in the Capital had ever thought on these lines, the incident could not have turned into a disaster of this scale. The leaping flames, noticed at 3.30 p.m., had a free run for a long time as the battling jhuggi-dwellers were unequal to the might of the fire because of being unequipped. Personnel of the Delhi Fire Service came to know of the disaster at 4.05 p.m., according to one report, whereas the blaze took over 45 minutes to reach the Yamuna Pushta mosque where most of the deaths occurred. Thus there was a chance to prevent the fire from taking such a heavy toll. But that required pre-planning which was missing.

Accidental fire is a major threat for almost every jhuggi-jhonpri cluster. With Home Minister L.K. Advani’s announcement that the government would now create a system to effectively deal with such eventualities, one hopes people will not be losing their lives and property in the manner they did on this black Sunday. But going by past experience, it should not be forgotten that there is a big difference between what the politicians in power say and do. Leaving that aside, the first thing that the Central and Delhi governments should do is to chalk out a concrete plan about unhindered construction of jhuggi-jhonpri clusters. Most of these, specially those on the banks of the Yamuna, deserve to be shifted to safer areas. The Yamuna Pushta jhuggi-dwellers also suffer a considerable loss when the river is in spate. Delhi cannot afford to have more of such tenements. Vote-bank politics should not be allowed to destroy Delhi which is the main reason why jhuggis and other unauthorised constructions come up on a large scale. This is, however, not to say that the poor, who live in such localities, should be banished from the Capital. There is need to reorient the country’s economic policy so that the poverty-stricken people who mostly come from villages to cities like Delhi in search of livelihood could find a source of sustenance in the areas from where they are forced to migrate.

Joshi in land scam

POOR Mr Manohar Joshi. Within weeks of being shown the door, the High Court has thrown the rule book at him. He won’t go to jail as two other former Chief Ministers, Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav and Ms Jayalalitha, had to. But then he is not a leader like them, but only the shadow of a leader, Mr Bal Thackeray. That has saved him since he is not important enough to make anyone bay for his blood. What has done him in is not the nature of the illegal act, but the sheer audacity of tampering with laws and the blatant lies he uttered to feign innocence. First, at the centre of the case is prime land in an important part of Pune. Two, it was earmarked for a school and, finally, it was taken off the public purpose and sold to an outfit controlled by his son-in-law, all within hours. The heads of the departments concerned shifted their office to Pune to finalise the transfer. It was this arrogant display of disregard for the law that provoked a public interest litigation and earned for the former Chief Minister some searing remarks from the High Court. The two-Judge Bench, headed by Justice B.N.Srikrishna, added to his woes by dictating the long judgement in the open court, leading to daily reporting of the critical observations. In the case of a written judgement, the ordeal would have been over in a day, with the media focus shifting to the striking down of the deal.

Mr Joshi has sought to minimise the damage to his image and that of his party by resigning from the Assembly. But that is only a gesture, not particularly appealing in these days of devalued politics and desensitised administration. As for the Shiv Sena, Mr Joshi’s retirement from politics is largely meaningless. For one thing, it will not alter the popular perception of its roughneck politics. For another, he is just another MLA who has vacated his seat in a moment of acute embarrassment. Had he remained a Chief Minister, his act of contrition would have carried some moral weight and offered political mileage. His action may indeed damage the Sena. It looks bedraggled and beaten. The new Chief Minister, Mr Narayan Rane, is singularly lacking in charisma (that is the reason why the party chief deposed faith in him). The election to the assembly is due next year and the opposition Congress is regaining its elan by the day. The latest High Court order will revive the memory of an earlier one when the letter of intent to a private company to build a holiday resort in a hill station was set aside. There is a problem though. It will be a pity if the multistoreyed building standing on unauthorised land is demolished in the wake of the court pronouncement. The state government should take over the building at a fraction of the cost of construction and put it to some socially useful purpose. It is better to resort to heavy financial punishment than launching the bulldozer to take care of wrong-doers. Pune has seen brisk demolition work last week and a repetition will be a criminal waste.

Jaya in the news

MS Jayalalitha knows that the secret of political longevity is to somehow remain in the news. Her countless detractors may hate her with the same intensity with which her followers adore her, but a politician who can afford to ignore her is yet to be born. The latest reason for the AIADMK leader being in the news has something to do with the alleged murderous attack on Mr Rajasekhar, a Chennai-based chartered accountant. The story has all the elements which may have been missing in the films in which Ms Jayalalitha has acted before becoming the political superstar of the South. Mr Rajasekhar has been handling her highly complex income and expenditure accounts for the past several years. Logically only those who enjoy her trust are allowed to handle her accounts. Therefore, it is difficult for a non-political mind to understand the reason why Ms Jayalalitha and her close friend Ms Sasikala Natarajan and the latter’s nephew Mr Mahadevan pounced upon Mr Rajasekhar which compelled him to file an “attempt to murder” report with the police. The only plausible explanation is the one offered by her and which is as predictable as the heat wave in Rajasthan in June. In a statement she said that the story is baseless and accused the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi of implicating her and her supporters in “another false case”. Be that as it may, but the alleged attack on Mr Rajasekhar is not the only Ms Jayalalitha-related story of the day.

She is also in the news because she has asked Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to bring about a complete change in the telecom policy, including reconstitution of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. Understandably like most other politicians she too is unhappy with the telecom tariff structure announced by TRAI last week. So far Ms Jayalalitha has not touched a single issue in which the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition has not treated her commands as the commands from important political allies should be treated. Once the basic structure TRAI is changed beyond recognition she would be among those who may organise victory parades to mark yet another triumph of the allies over the “rollback government”. Those who under-estimate Ms Jayalalitha’s ability to move and shake things up at the Centre should read the strange story of the Madras High Court Judge, Mr Justice C. Sivappa, who was hearing some of the cases pending against the “Tamil Tigress”. Another issue on which she has made the Centre dance to her tune is the Coimbatore bomb blast case. Some days ago she accused the government (she is supporting) of going soft on Abdul Nasser Mahdani, the main accused in the case. The Centre has now clarified that Mahdani continues to be in jail on charges of murder and criminal conspiracy and it was only his detention under the National Security Act which has been revoked. A loud whisper doing the rounds in Delhi is that without the JALAMA factor Indian politics would become dull and predictable. The JALAMA factor is made up of the “Ja” in Jayalalitha, “La” in Laloo Prasad Yadav and “Ma” in Mamata Banerjee. Who can reason with them that politics is supposed to be serious business and not part of the country’s entertainment industry.

POVERTY & THE BUDGET
Fixing the nation’s priorities
by T. N. Kaul

FINANCIAL experts, industrialists and the rich and upper middle classes as well as the media have written and said quite a lot on how the budget proposals affect them. However, little has so far been said about how the budget proposals affect the poor, especially those below the poverty line. I live in a rural area where 40 per cent people are Harijan and more than a third below the poverty line. I have asked many in my area. They have lived so long in poverty and want that they no longer believe in the promises made by various political parties. Their reaction is one of distrust and disdain. They put their feelings in one question, “What is there in the budget for us?” They have every right to ask this simple question, because they are the worst hit by any crisis, as their margin of safety and survival is very minimum.

It is, therefore, necessary to answer their simple question in a manner they can understand and appreciate. Most of the proposals relate to the increase or decrease in internal taxes, import and export duties, investment and disinvestment, bank rates of interest on deposits and loans, which do not touch or concern the poor and especially those below the poverty line. They have neither bank deposits nor any other investment. They live a precarious life from day to day and from hand to mouth. The slightest rise in the prices of essential commodities such as foodgrains, tea, sugar, salt and cooking oil affects them much more than it does to any other section of society because their domestic budget is so tight that there is hardly any margin or cushion left. They say that most of the government schemes for rural development benefit the richer farmer who has more land and can afford the extra inputs and investment to increase and improve his agricultural production. The poor farmer has only one or two bighas of land “which does not yield even the bare necessities of himself and his family of five or six members. What he needs and needs badly and urgently is a roof over his head, and even more, enough food to survive, medical and health facilities, clean drinking water and, above all, employment for six to nine months in the year when he is idle.

Grants and loans under various schemes are inadequate to build a shack, or buy and feed a cow or sheep, or grow vegetables and fruit. He is, therefore, forced to borrow from the village Baniya, to meet the cost of his food requirements, which he promises to pay back with interest when he reaps his meagre harvest, which again depends on the vagaries of the weather. He is keen to work as a hired labourer on the road, but even there the vacancies are limited and he can only get a temporary chance occasionally. Even the richer farmers now use mechanical pumps, sowers, harvesters and even tractors to save labour costs.

The loans and grants provided by the government are channelled through officials who usually take one-third as their “dues” to line their pockets. Even panchayats and their Sarpanches have to bribe the BDO and his staff to get any financial help under the government sponsored schemes. These are reports which anyone visiting villages can check. But who has the time or interest to do so?

Cooperative societies, which could help the poor farmers, are so hidebound by rules and regulations that they cannot overcome bureaucratic hurdles without greasing the palms of the State as well as Central agencies. Unfortunately, all our development programmes are still run by bureaucrats, as they were during British days. Panchayats and cooperative societies must be given more power and authority, and bureaucratic controls must be reduced to the minimum necessary to ensure that funds are properly used. Bureaucrats must be told that it is their duty to help and guide the panchayats and cooperative societies and not hinder them, as most of them are doing today, especially at the BDO and lower levels.

The Collector or the Deputy Commissioner must be made responsible to see and ensure that funds sanctioned are actually used for the purpose for which they are granted. Their promotion and that of their subordinates must depend on the actual development that takes place in the areas under their charge. What we see today is a sad picture. Even the funds sanctioned by the Centre lapse and have to be returned unused because people both in the state secretariat and in the field take little or no interest in the implementation of various development schemes.

Politicians are too busy politicking and feathering their own or their henchmen’s nests. The intellectuals are too busy holding and attending national seminars. Or going abroad as guests of foreign governments, to spare any time to visit villages and study problems, of poor villagers. Media persons are more interested in getting scoops or investigating sensational stories. No one bothers to investigate the actual living conditions and problems of the poor farmer and those below the poverty line.

Most of the state governments are bankrupt, the Centre is heavily in debt, the ministers and ministries both at the Centre and in the states are over-staffed. Yet no effort is made in the budgets of the Centre or the states to cut down unnecessary expenditure. More money is placed at the disposal of members of the Central and state legislatures to spend in their constituencies; the pay scales and allowances of the legislators and others are raised to meet the cost of living index, but little or no attention is paid to the needs and urgent requirements of the poor and in particular of those below the poverty line who need relief the most.

Seventyfive per cent of our people still live in the rural areas and depend on agriculture and manual labour to eke out a living. Of these, more than half, or 40 per cent of the total population, live below the poverty line. The gulf between the rich and the poor is widening, particularly in the rural areas. India does not levy any income tax on agricultural income. Why? Because most of the politicians at the Centre and in the states come from land-owning families. There is no reason why agricultural incomes beyond a certain limit should not be taxed, and the money so collected reserved for the benefit of those below the poverty line in the rural areas. Has any political party dared to put up such a proposal? And yet they talk about removing poverty and raising the living standards of the poor.

Even indirect taxes affect those below the poverty line much more than they do those above it. For instance, an increase in diesel price is going to push up freight charges for all goods and lead to a rise in the prices of commodities vital to those below the poverty line — such as coarse cloth, cooking oil, tea, sugar, lentils, gram, rice, wheat and vegetables. I have seen some of the poorest villagers working in the fields of rich farmers eating a thick loaf of corn with green chillies once a day and a cup of tea with sugar once a day. They live at the lowest subsistence level and have to work for eight to 10 hours a day. Theirs is a miserable existence with no margin for medicines, clothing and housing, let alone education or gainful investment or employment.

Why cannot the Central and state governments tax the richest and richer people such as industrialists, well-off farmers, traders and businessmen, and improve tax collection so that they may have more funds for the relief of those below the poverty line?

By all means let us increase and improve industrial and agricultural production and productivity, in order to compete in the global markets and increase our exports. It is not easy but we can do it. However, to whom will go the benefits of such an increase in exports? Mainly to industrialists, traders and businessmen and richer farmers and middlemen, and very little to small and medium entrepreneurs, and almost nothing to poor farmers and nothing to those below the poverty line.

Are exports the main consideration and more important than first meeting the essential internal demands and requirements of the people, by increasing the manufacture and production of essential commodities such as cheap cloth, foodgrains, cooking oil, tea and sugar and salt for the common man? The recent onion crisis should be enough to teach us a lesson. We must give top priority to the urgent needs of the poorer sections of society, first and foremost of those below the poverty line. The test of poverty should be the means available to and the ability of various sections of society to improve their living conditions, and not on the basis of caste, creed or social status. Does the Union Budget meet this test?

(The author, a retired IFS officer, is a former diplomat.)

American designs in Asia
by P. K. Vasudeva

THE USA is seriously thinking of deploying theatre missile systems to protect its forces in Asia, especially in Japan, South Korea and probably also in Taiwan. This is, however, not so easy as China will fight tooth and nail to exert its supremacy in Asia. It is already moving fast towards achieving this status both militarily and economically.

The Clinton administration disclosed its plan in January, by declaring that it would spend $ 4 billion on researching and testing a national missile defence programme over the next six years. A sum of $ 6.6 billion is to be set aside for possible creation of the system, specially in Asia. US strategists are more worried about the nuclear programme of North Korea, because in August last it tested its nuclear missiles. This shows that North Korea is making faster progress than expected in developing its nuclear missiles, which are capable of attacking not only Japan but also American territory. After the Cold War, there does not seem to be any serious missile threat from Russia, though a limited threat cannot be ruled out. At the same time, the USA does not want to give alarming signals to China by overt talks of missile systems in Asia. But Beijing does understand that most of the talk regarding the North Korean threat is actually pointed towards China for neutralising its nuclear missiles.

Mr Gerald Segal, Director of Britain’s Asia-Pacific Programme, said, “Chinese officials react vehemently to any talk of American missile defences. Washington will not let Beijing have a veto of defining what is in the US strategic interest. Japan’s willingness to begin serious exploration of theatre defences shows that it is getting fed up with China trying to dictate the future shape of Asian security.

It is an open secret that China has not been restraining North Korea in the development of nuclear missiles. It is also helping in the unabated proliferation of nuclear technology by assisting Pakistan and Iran to keep India at bay. It feels that the USA would have to compromise with China on strategic issues for the fear of making matters worse on the Korean peninsula.

The defence policy of China is not transparent, and it refuses to open a dialogue with either Japan or America on Asian security. However, it is growing stronger day by day and clandestinely proliferating its nuclear knowhow to Pakistan to become a super power in Asia. There are some indications that China is willing to talk to the USA on the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and national missile defences, which is a sensible development.

There is uncertainty about the American move, but Japan, South Korea and Taiwan will certainly welcome the US deployment of anti-missile systems in Asia. The reason is that this move will benefit its friends in the region.

The Chinese leadership must not forget that the best way to neutralise American influence in Asia is to give a serious thought to Russia’s suggestion of forming a “strategic triangle” involving China, Russia and India to ensure geopolitical stability in Asia. “A lot depends in the region on the policies of China, Russia and India. If we succeed in establishing a strategic triangle, it will be very good”, said Russian Prime Minister Primakov during his visit to India in December last.

The offer was very “revealing” of Moscow’s determination to play a greater geostrategic role, according to Mr Ted Galen Carpenter of the Ted Cato Institute of the USA, a leading think-tank. He said, “this reaction suggests Russian hostility to what it sees as American global hegemony... and an escalation of its determination to undermine the US strategic hegemony”. It is surprising that India’s reaction was luke-warm to the proposal, and China outrightly rejected it.

“India and China”, The Washington Times said, “are major rivals in Asia, and Indian leaders have openly expressed alarm at China extending its naval reach into the Indian Ocean and its influence into neighbouring Myanmar and Thailand. India has also expressed anger over China’s reported aid for Islamabad’s nuclear programme and sale of missiles to Pakistan. India is convinced China will continue to back Pakistan, while building up influence to the northeast.”

The author is a retired Colonel and defence analyst.

Rise & fall of the moustache
by D. K. Mukerjee

THAT the moustache may well be the “signature” of a civilisation I learnt from my father’s humorous account of the “Rise and Fall of the Moustache” modelled on Gibbon’s momentous work on the “Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire”. Unfortunately, that paper with my father’s jottings, like the Roman Empire and the fast vanishing growth on the upper lips of men, has been lost to posterity by the ravages of time. Only the signature remains.

It is the signature of an era that laid great store on the quality, quantity, arrangement and flourish of the moustache. Signatures vary from the sublime to the ridiculous, from the clear plain legible ones to the wriggly illegible scribbles, and to the bold mighty flourishes of the flamboyant. Each signature is a key to ones personality much like the way a man’s moustache adorns his face. The era gone by laid great stress on the importance of the moustache. The dominant strata of society — the warriors and conquerors — gave the upward twirl and curl to it, whereas there was a droop in the growth on the lips of the meek and the poor. In any case the way the moustache was flaunted was the hallmark of the past epoch.

My father, a Professor and writer, treasured his moustache, and carefully and tenderly each day he waxed it at both ends, not merely to give a point to his personality but more to tickle. His students adored him and hung on every word that dropped from his lips. Apart from his profound scholarship and other versatile talents, he was an expert in Kathak dancing, and in this dance recital he could, whenever he wanted to strike a humorous note, make the pointed ends of his moustache dance in accompaniment.

My elder brother tells me how sorrowfully he had once to part with his entire moustache in 1928 when his father, Rai Sahib Kali Krishna Mukerjee, had died leaving it to him as the eldest son to perform all rites including the shaving off of all hair. He soon regrew his famed moustache, and the twinkle was back again in his eyes as he scanned the faces of his students from behind his gold pince-nez.

This signature of the culture of the past age is almost on the list of “endangered species” but for some heroic upholders of our glorious heritage. Two humorous encounters, one impersonal and the other personal, come to my mind while relating the account of these heroes. One happened in a milk bar where a venerable person with snow-white ample moustache was drinking milk from a glass tumbler. Another customer dropped in and ordered a tumblerful of creamy milk. When the bar attendant brought the glass, the customer shook his head and said “No, this is not so good. You bring me the same pure milk with ‘pheni’ in it as you have served to that gentleman over there”.

The other is about the mistake I had made in evaluating a VIP. I had been attracted by his martial bearing and his thick bushy curled up moustache which marked him out as one of the gallant breed of men who guard our frontiers and our security. Finding myself in his proximity at a function, I ventured to strike up a conversation with him and in its course asked him as to which wing of the armed forces he belonged to. He seemed a little disconcerted as he replied “No, I am not in the Army. I am a Judge of the High Court”. I staggered back ruminating on the possibility of having committed some sort of contempt of court.

In Kalyan Singh’s Ram Rajya

by P. Raman

THE BJP manifesto had pledged to establish Ram Rajya when it came to power. A brief visit to Kalyan Singh’s ‘model state’ this week revealed how Ram Rajya is working in the great epic hero’s own former kingdom. This writer has been to Ayodhya in Faizabad many times during those heady days of frenzy, including once as a member of the Press Council’s special inquiry committee.

With all this familiarity with the anti-mosque agitation and its main players, it was amusing to see the sadhus in saffron and white indulging in mutual mudslingings and open fisticuffs. They use choicest ashudh words to rebuke each other in the raging group war for more wealth, power and domination. The word Ayodhya means a place without warns or tension. Now the revered purushottam’s own followers are merrily engaged in crude land grabbing, blackmailing, shoot-outs and murders while the BJP Chief Minister sitting at Lucknow without knowing how to deal with this unsaintly war of attrition.

As a result, temples and ashrams of Ayodhya store the best of firearms, both for defence and offence. Rich mahants and sadhus — the VHP had variously described them as sants, saints, sage and seer to enhance its public acceptability — speeding fast in trendy vehicles along with government security and private gunmen has become a common sight in the temple city. Instead of kamandal, they wield cellphones and guns in their hands. Some even keep kamandal-shaped flasks for cold water. We were told some big ones even use bullet-proof jackets for protection from the rivals.

By all account, if crime is the criterion for the use of Article 356, it is the Kalyan Singh government, not Rabri Devi’s, that should have qualified for the presidential axe. The degeneration of Ayodhya had begun with the mindless politicisation of the sadhus and mahants towards the end of 1989 by the BJP with a view to expanding its support base. The VHP-Bajrang Dal leaders went round the akharas and temples to recruit the men in saffron for ‘liberating’ Ram’s birth place. The same sadhus are now indulging in criminal activities. In this era of dirty nexus, politicisation invariably leads to criminalisation — even of sadhus.

About 150 sadhus from Ayodhya have been on fast in front of the Assembly in Lucknow seeking action against the firebrand Bajrang Dal chief Vinay Katiyar for land grabbing and other criminal activities. The sadhus allege that Katiyar’s henchmen had forcefully seized the keys of Lakshman Quila temple, considered one of the most sacred in Ayodhya. Built by Reva Maharaja in 1821, Katiyar is alleged to be trying to grab the two-acre land of the temple trust at Rohana on Faizabad road. “He wants to set up a petrol pump at the site,” says Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, vice-president of the Ramjanmabhoomi Nyas. He charged Katiyar with misappropriation of temple funds and grabbing other land.

Curiously, the old VHP sadhus of Ayodhya are sharply divided into factions and gangs. At least two trustees of the Ramjanmabhoomi Trust — Nritya Gopal Das and Baba Dharam Das — have met Kalyan Singh to seek action against Katiyar. But Mahant Ramchandra Paramahams is in the Katiyar camp. In the Lakshman Quila dispute, after the death of its mahant, its seven-member committee nominated Maithili Shankaracharya as the successor. But Katiyar wanted his man Sanjay Jha, who was the trust’s driver, to become the mahant of the rich trust. In March last year, the new mahant had a miraculous escape when a crude bomb was thrown at him. On February 16 this year, Katiyar’s men allegedly came with a gun, snatched the keys and took control of the property. Then driver Jha was given the name of ‘Maithili Raman Saran’.

Nritya Gopal Das alleges that the police filed an FIR only after a team of sadhus met Kalyan Singh at Lucknow. But no action was taken due to the pressure from the other VHP group led by Paramahams and Katiyar. The latter asserts that Sanjay Jha was the ‘rightful’ heir to the dead mahant and his succession was as per rules and convention. He also met the Chief Minister. On the other, the fasting sadhus allege that Katiyar-Paramahams duo has been ‘filling’ the karsewakpuram with criminals. As a result, the genuine sadhus were finding it unsafe to live. The other grievance of the fasting sadhus pertains to the loss of livelihood for hundreds of their tribe due to the clearing of large tracts of land for construction of the Ram temple.

The devotees no more give them offerings as about 20 temples where they sat, were demolished. The revolting sadhus also get full support from these deprived sections for the Lucknow fast. On March 6, Swami Haridayal and Baba Dharam Das said on the record that they have asked the Chief Minister to order a survey to find out the fake and criminal sadhus. “How can a murderer or a rapist be a mahant? We want to clean up Ramnagari (Ayodhya), they said and began narrating the gruesome tales of criminalisation. “There is a mahant,” reading out from a list Swami Haridayal mentions the name. “He killed his guru and became the mathadheesh. He was booked under Section 377.”

“Then there is another mahant”, he gives the name. “He eats only fruits but carries a loaded pistol with him.” Recently, mahant of Guptar Ghat was killed. Preliminary investigations showed that the killers were harboured by a state Cabinet Minister. Baba Pagal Das, known for speeding on a Hero Honda, was shot dead at a crowded market. This was allegedly at the behest of a former legislator. The list, in Hindi, is too long and it is difficult to ascertain facts without an on-the-spot investigation. After losing faith in Kalyan Singh, the fasting sadhus have decided to conduct a tantric anushthan from March 19 seeking godly help to free Ayodhya from the grip of anti-social elements. Tantriks from different parts of the country are scheduled to take part in it.

The BJP MP from Gorakhpur, Mahant Adityanath is also in the midst of a controversy for his alleged involvement in the killing of a service gunman last month. Three FIRs were filed in the case. The first was by the police which said that the mahant had shot the gunman. The second was by Samajwadi Party leader Talat Aziz confirming this. The next day, Adityanath also filed a counter FIR contradicting both. The Samajwadi Party has threatened to obstruct the Assembly proceedings to seek firm action against the guilty.

All this comes in the wake of the BJP government’s failure to tackle the increasing incidence of elite crime and worsening of the law and order situation. Paradoxically, creation of a bhaya mukt samaj (fearless society) has been an important pledge in the BJP manifesto. The party had ridiculed the earlier governments for their failure to protect the people. The party now finds itself in a worst dilemma. They can neither displease the sadhu factions nor the cabinet colleagues many of whom are hand-in-glove with the dons and hardened criminals.

About a dozen UP ministers are widely known to have a criminal background. At least half a dozen still keep contact with the dons. This has been a major reason for the increasing bhay. On February 23, a gunman of the Chief Forest Conservator was shot dead right near the office of the Director-General of Police in Lucknow. The “next day, a cycle rickshaw puller was shot dead in front of the Assembly in full view of the crowds. Apparently, the target had been the occupants of the rickshaw. Early last month, Lucknow jail superintendent R.K. Tiwari was shot dead near Raj Bhavan. An upright officer, the murder is believed to be the handiwork of certain mafia dons in the Lucknow central jail.

On February 26, a search party led by the District Magistrate found firearms, cellular phones, diaries and an English book on making explosives from a locked room. It revealed the dons’ links with the ministers of the BJP Cabinet. Fear of colleagues’ wrath forced the Chief Minister to keep mum. Finally, he decided to shift the most dangerous ones to the jails which were not within the reach of cell phones. Investigations into the activities of the dreaded don Shri Prakash Shukla, who was shot dead near Delhi, showed his close links with at least half a dozen UP ministers.

The law and order situation in UP has gone so much out of control that the government last week took decision to drop home the gunmen assigned to the VIPs in armed vehicles after their duty hours. They have been told to deposit their guns in police stations after duty. The decision came after several cases of gun snatching from the security guards and their murder and a few assaults on sub-inspectors.

In western UP, over a dozen businessmen and others, including eminent surgeons, have been abducted or killed by the mafia gangs. A senior police officer in the state capital admitted that dreaded criminals were freely directing kidnappings, extortion rackets and murders from the jail. Just a week before, relatives of a surgeon paid Rs 30 lakh as ransom near Hardwar. Much of it goes unreported. The only solution suggested so far has been to keep on shifting the dons to far-off jails.

The BJP government has apparently become a prisoner of its reckless policy of wresting power at any cost. The public perception is that Kalyan Singh has been sucked into the network of the criminalised defector-politicians whom he had encouraged for his own survival. They are now seeking their pound of flesh. The deadly mix of politics, power, religion and criminalisation has already caused immeasurable damage. Now the other parties have also begun wooing the rival factions of sadhus into their fold.

Age refuses to mellow Shekhar’s fire

THE frown on Mr Chandra Shekhar’s face is real. This is an admission of the former Prime Minister.

“Humko bhi bahut gussa aata hai” (I also get angry), Mr Chandra Shekhar told the Lok Sabha recently after his remarks on the Patents (Amendment) Bill evoked a strong reaction from the Union Industry Minister, Mr Sikander Bakht.

Mr Chandra Shekhar and Mr Bakht were found gesticulating at each other in the House after the former Prime Minister charged the government with bypassing Parliament by refusing to take the Lok Sabha into confidence about certain recommendations of the Law Commission on the Patents Bill.

Mr Bakht’s contention that he was interacting with the Law Commission at the personal level drew an angry response from Mr Chandra Shekhar, who said the Law Commission’s recommendations were not a matter for personal convenience and the Lok Sabha should have been taken into confidence. The action of the government amounted to dereliction of duty, he thundered.

The Young Turk may be catching up with age but his spirit remains the same.

Vajpayee & bhangra

The occasion was to felicitate Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for his successful bus journey to Pakistan. The programme was organised by the Shiromani Akali Dal MP and party’s youth wing chief, Mr Amrik Singh Aliwal and the BJP Rajya Sabha member, Lala Lajpat Rai.

After the round of formal ceremony and speech-making, the Prime Minister surprised many by deciding to mingle with the nearly 1,000- strong delegation which had come all way from Punjab. The crowd was a mix of SAD and BJP workers and most of them did not let go of the opportunity.

Mr Vajpayee clearly enjoyed being in their midst, allowing the participants to tie a turban, apply tilak and garland him. So much so that he spent quite some time enjoying the vibrant notes struck by a group of bhangra dancers even as the delegates started milling around him.

The Prime Minister ensured that all those who wanted to meet him got a chance, while most did not miss the opportunity, some who were in a hurry to rush to the refreshments counter made a double turn, this time with packets in tow.

The participants were delighted that the only persons who had a tough time were the members of the Special Protection Group to keep followers at a respectable but handshaking distance.

A gender war avoided

During one of the debates in the Lok Sabha the other day, a suggestion by the Speaker nearly triggered off a gender battle.

It began when some members were interrupting and not allowing the BJP member, Mrs Sumitra Mahajan, to put across her viewpoint.

Just then the Speaker, Mr G M C Balayogi, requested the members to cooperate and let Mrs Mahajan speak and then added helpfully that at least when a woman was speaking the members should hear her out.

The remark, however, was not taken as it came with Mrs Mahajan insisting that being a MP she too had a large constituency of her own and that being a woman there was no need to be treated differently.

Not only that, she took exception to a former Prime Minister making an exit from the House after his speech, saying that at least the person should also sit and listen what she had to say.

Left-handed comment

The presence of regional parties in Lok Sabha sometimes adds fuel to the verbal duel during debates specially when comments with regional connotations are thrown in by members.

Recently participating in the debate on the motion of thanks to the President, the Trinamool Congress leader, Mr Ajit Panja, was distracted when a member of the Left party from West Bengal commented on more than one occasion while he was speaking.

After a couple of occasions, Mr Panja decided to even it out. While congratulating the Prime Minister for taking the bus to Lahore and complimenting the government for the Calcutta-Dhaka bus, he said that the Left parties were regretting having missed the bus to Dhaka. All they could do now was to take a bicycle to Dhaka. That put an end to all slanging match.

MPs’ chore during session

The roster duty for ministers during Parliament can be quite a chore. At times ministers are seen catching up with paper work, with some signing letters or perusing notes on issues.

The Minister of State for Social Justice and Employment, Ms Maneka Gandhi, is often seen reading a book which at times is a thriller.

The other day one saw the Minister of State for External Affairs, Ms Vasundhara Raje leafing through the catalogues of a leading publisher ticking titles presumably for reading at a later date.

PM’s up-the-sleeve quip

That the Prime Minister has a witty remark up his sleeve is well-known and often his remark at most unexpected place adds to the occasion.

Recently while attending PTI’s golden jubilee celebrations, the Prime Minister was presented with a framed enlarged colour photo of him with his Pakistani counterpart, Mr Nawaz Sharif, taken during the historic bus journey to Lahore.

“What picture would you have presented had I not gone to Lahore,’’ Mr Vajpayee quipped drawing peals of laughter from the select gathering.

(Contributed by S B, T V Lakshminarayan, K V Prasad and P N Andley)

75 YEARS AGO

Babbar Akali conspiracy case

AFTER two days’ recess, the enquiry in the Doaba Babbar Akali conspiracy case was resumed this morning by Mr Louis A. Bull, Special Magistrate. At the outset, the learned defence counsel put in two petitions, in the first of which he prayed, the court might accord its permission to the relations and friends of the petitioner’s clients in the dock to be present in the court room, during the enquiry.

The petitioner submitted that the sole purpose was to be able to receive instructions from the accused and that, if such purpose could be achieved through interviews between the clients and their relations, before or after the court hours, the petitioner would not insist upon the presence of the accused’s relations and friends in court.

He added that section 352 of the Criminal Procedure Code, read in the light of Halsbury’s Laws of England (Vol. IX, page 362), ruled out the propriety of holding the trial in camera.

The learned Crown counsel said that if the object of the petitioner was to receive instructions, he laboured under no handicap whatever. If the Priestley case could be conducted in camera for reasons of decency, the Babbar Akali case was to be held in camera, for reasons of danger — a danger of a peculiar and exceptional nature.

The learned Public Prosecutor reminded the court that they were dealing with a set of dangerous criminals, and drew its attention to the recent Jullundur incident, where the Babbars had openly attacked the forces of law and order with the help of bombs.