Washington sees reason
The USA is talking in the idiom of realism with regard to the recent coup in Pakistan and its wide ramifications in the subcontinent.

Ambitious reforms agenda
It had taken all of three hours for the Union Cabinet to usher in financial sector reforms.

Thackeray's ranting
Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray is back to playing his favourite role of a man who even after being vanquished does not accept defeat.

by Tavleen Singh
Cynicism even after fall of Sena-BJP govt
IN Mumbai on the day the new Chief Minister and his ministers were sworn in last week, the mood was one of cynical resignation.

by Amita Malik
An apology for channels
Those who are buying TV sets at tempting bargain prices in the festive season are probably being assured by clever shop assistants that they can get 100 plus channels.

Federal assertions
by K. Gopalakrishnan
Federal India asserted itself in no uncertain terms in the recent elections by sending as many as 200 members to the 13th Lok Sabha. In fact, the so-called national parties like the Indian National Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Left found the going tough.




UN prepares for millennium
by A. Balu
AS the world celebrates United Nations Day (October 24), it is an occasion for stock taking by its member-states of the organisation’s achievements and failures through 54 years of its existence and to project its role in the international arena in the 21st century.

75 Years Ago

Press Report Contradicted
A Press communique says:- The attention of the Government of India has been drawn to a Press report that Mr Macdonald and S. Bahadur Ladenia are now on a political mission to Tibet and besieged Lhasa.

Washington sees reason

The USA is talking in the idiom of realism with regard to the recent coup in Pakistan and its wide ramifications in the subcontinent. The trend is welcome and one should accept the face value as the real value in this context. In the course of Wednesday's hearing at the Asia-Pacific meeting of the House International Relations Committee, Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Karl Inderfurth acknowledged a few pragmatic points: Washington would tell Islamabad to"avoid" fuelling cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. The possibility of restarting military supplies to Pakistan had receded. The waiver in respect of India would continue despite the fact that the "authority" on the Glenn Amendment sanctions expired on Thursday (October 21). This authority could not be signed into law immediately by any existing method but a bridge could be built between the expiration of the old dispensation and the birth of a new law. The one-year Brownback Authority is subject to presidential persuasiveness. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Principal Secretary Brajesh Mishra is creating a climate of genuine mutual understanding between his government and the Clinton administration while preparing a road map for the US President's visit to India. Nuclear non-proliferation has ceased to be the sole point of discussion. Security, trade, energy and commerce have emerged as potent issues inviting bilateral attention. There is, in American jargon, "a broad-based engagement between the two countries". This, in New Delhi, should be interpreted as a positive foundation stone to build a friendly edifice upon.

Mr Inderfurth is categorical in his assertion: "We will be pursuing, in the days ahead, far more commitments from General (Parvez) Musharraf... including cross-border terrorism. The Indians have said that they cannot resume the Lahore process unless cross-border terrorism ceases. We believe steps like that should and must be taken. We will press very hard for that ...." American utterances in general amount to the realisation that Pak-US cooperation is important. Stability, or the lack of it, in Pakistan does and will have an impact on the neighbouring countries, the region and beyond. Of course, the backdrop of the USA's Taliban policy, the extent of belief one can safely like to visualise in the promise of General Musharraf to put a civil government in place "as soon as possible", the post-coup tightening of the military stranglehold on the people and institutions — like governorship — and the selective pursuit of Mr Nawaz Sharif's confidants do indicate a disturbing shape of things to come. But even if the Americans are able to see the materialisation of the withdrawal of Pakistani troops from the Line of Control and credible proof of a let-up in Islamabad's proxy-war manoeuvres in Jammu and Kashmir, they will have achieved a modicum of success for the world's largest democracy and the most powerful one. The very fact that the Clinton regime is now ready not to treat India and Pakistan in the same, or a similar, manner in matters of regional politics shows a marked attitudinal change. Mr Mishra's visit is obviously doing some good to Indo-US relations.

Ambitious reforms agenda

It had taken all of three hours for the Union Cabinet to usher in financial sector reforms. Needless to say, it will take several wrangling days and weeks for the clutch of Bills to become law. And given the undiplomatic mood of Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan, the much-needed and equally much-talked about consensus and cooperation may not materialise. He congratulated Mrs Sonia Gandhi on her first day in the Lok Sabha on becoming “a leader from being a reader”. Obviously, this attitude is not designed to encourage the main opposition party to shed its traditional role as a carping critic of the government. Apart from this, some delay will also result from the ambivalent attitude of the government and the time-consuming procedures. This is true of the proposed Insurance Regulatory Act. Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha wants to push it through in the winter session but another Minister has indicated that the budget session next year is the more likely time. Anyway, it will take a year after it is in place for private companies to really enter the insurance field. The changes in the telecom policy, another star legislative work, is controversial and is sure to spark an angry response. A persuasive approach by the treasury benches can buy peace and goad the opposition members to forget all the serious accusations made during the election campaign and adopt the new policy. Unfortunately, nobody seems to realise this and everyone in the government banks on a slightly enlarged majority in the lower House to ensure a smooth passage of all Bills. Experience, however, shows that obstructionism has become the sole occupation of a few small parties which lack ideology but nurse big egos. They need careful handling and senior leaders from the BJP should lend a hand in this delicate task.

Out of the other measures the one on restructuring the securities trade and the other on virtually scrapping FERA will face least resistance. Many members will have difficulty in understanding the implications of these two proposals. The first will introduce trading in derivatives, a pure form of gambling which Nick Leeson employed with such a deadly effect on a venerable bank in London. The second makes foreign exchange shenanigans a non-crime, while allowing prosecution in ongoing cases. But the Prevention of Money Laundering Bill is sure to provoke old-fashioned liberals. From a concept to crackdown on all those sitting on heaps of black money, it now stands transformed into a toothless provision threatening only the hardened criminals indulging in narcotics, gun-running and assorted crimes. In its original form the Bill was so draconian that many dubbed it the TADA against economic offences. Obviously that was the reason why so many wanted it to just go away; in the event it has become quite crime-friendly. In the winter session much noise will be made on this Bill alone.

Thackeray's ranting

Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray is back to playing his favourite role of a man who even after being vanquished does not accept defeat. His success in politics is largely based on his singular ability to mix elements from the theatre of the absurd and the art of rabble rousing and make them work in his favour in real life. That is why whenever his bluff and bluster fails to get him the undeserved lead role in the "tamasha of politics" in Maharashtra he climbs the rooftop and raves and rants about the dire consequences for those who even think of making him pay for the countless acts of political trespass listed against his name in official records. Like most tin gods his actions are predictable. He may have surprised only himself when he issued the by now familiar threat to the new Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government in Maharashtra about having to pay a heavy price if it tried to dig up the Srikrishna Commission report on the riots in Mumbai following the demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. When the report was made public during the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party rule Mr Justice Srikrishna of the Bombay High Court was described as "anti-Hindu" by Mr Thackeray's minions. The Shiv Sena chief chose a Dasehra rally in Mumbai to issue the warning to the new government. Whether resurrecting the Srikrishna Commission report would be accorded priority by Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh [of the Congress] or Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal [of the NCP] is not clear. It is indeed true that both the Congress and the NCP had included action on the findings of the Srikrishna Commission in their election manifestos. Mr Thackeray is among those who have been indicted by the commission for having incited people to violence and rioting in Mumbai which revived memories of the almost forgotten Bhiwandi communal holocaust. The Shiv Sena-BJP government had even scrapped the judicial enquiry. It was resurrected by Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee under pressure from the Opposition during his 13-day first spell as Prime Minister. There is substance in the charge of the sufferers of violence that no individual or organisation has ever been tried and punished for engineering Hindu-Muslim riots in post-Independence India. Must a handful of misguided elements be allowed to cause internal insecurity by pitting Indians against Indians for avenging real or imagined atrocities of the past? On the flip side is the philosophy which discourages even new wounds from being opened for it impedes the process of healing and adds to the mental trauma of the victims. The Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra should weigh carefully the socio-economic consequences of fulfilling the poll promise of filing criminal cases against Mr Thackeray and his minions on the basis of the findings of the Srikrishna Commission. It should not back out from honouring a promise the combine made to the electorate because of the threat of a fresh round of violence by Shiv Sainiks under the able guidance of Mr Thackeray. The Congress-NCP combine should put balm on the wounds of the sufferers and reduce the emotional trauma of the families of those killed in the communal riots. These objectives can be achieved by offering them substantial financial assistance for starting life afresh. There is another reason why the government should abandon the promise of proceeding against Mr Thackeray and others. If the prosecution fails to secure their conviction, their potential to cause mayhem in Maharashtra would increase manifold. And even the sharpest legal brain is not likely to bet on the prosecution proving its case against Mr Thackeray in a court of law.

Federal assertions
The phenomenon of regional parties
by K. Gopalakrishnan

Federal India asserted itself in no uncertain terms in the recent elections by sending as many as 200 members to the 13th Lok Sabha. In fact, the so-called national parties like the Indian National Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Left found the going tough. While the Left and the BJP struggled to retain their position, the Congress just could not even hold on.

The phenomenon is nothing new. Even in the elections of 1952 parties like the Akali Dal took part directly, while the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam played an indirect role. But these forces became a factor in national politics in 1991 when they got 55 seats in the Lok Sabha, bagging 14.17 per cent of the votes cast. Today over 34 per cent of the electorate have shown a preference for them, a development hard to miss. Though some politicians may like to paint a fiery picture of these regional assertions, it is nothing dangerous. In fact, it is a positive development.

India’s federal polity is a historical fact. Before August 15, 1947, the day the country assumed its present geographical and political status with a unitary Constitution, federal in its spirit, the map of the subcontinent was dotted by 600 and odd principalities, culturally diverse, plural in character, populated by people of different castes, religions, social systems, economic patterns and language-dialect clusters. These diversities continue even today.

As historian and member of the States Reorganisation Commission, Sardar K.M. Panikkar put it, “not one can conceive of India except in terms of the great regions. Any other image of India would be something abstract without flesh and blood”. India without its federal polity and cultural diversity cannot be thought of and, though it may sound unpleasant, cannot survive.

It was only natural for Jawaharlal Nehru to evolve a way to preserve this diversity and rich cultural heritage, dating back to thousands of years. Nehru chose to preserve and cherish these, through linguistic provinces at the administrative level and giving the rule of the regions in the hands of strong leaders of the provinces at the political level. Veterans like Dr B.C. Roy, K. Kamaraj, C.B. Gupta, T. Prakasam, to name a few, were loyal to the Congress, but when it came to the issue of protecting the interests of their states they spoke fearlessly and fought with the Centre.

Some of these leaders did not see eye to eye with Nehru on various issues. Some were even opposed to him. But Nehru entrusted the responsibility of running the states to these regional satraps, who could administer well and protect the ethnic values and culture. In the process, society became homogenous and everyone felt a sense of belonging. There was no room for other forces to grow as Congress leaders provided little scope for others to operate.

Indira Gandhi, lacked the vision of her father. Faced with the complexities of power and challenges, she preferred a ready way out, to impose a unitary form of government, which ignored the legitimate regional aspirations. Suffering perhaps from a sense of insecurity due to disappointments in personal life, she preferred to rule through loyalists. In the process she ignored regional balances, rejected strong regional leaders with some following. The Congress party became just an election-time phenomenon. She tried to disturb and suppress regional movements in places like Punjab and Andhra Pradesh but when the numbers game favoured, tried electoral alliances with the Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu, playing one against the other.

Rajiv Gandhi was no better. He too treated regional leaders with contempt. Insulting the late T. Anjiah, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, at Hyderabad Airport cost the Congress dearly in the state. His comments on Calcutta alienated the Bengalis as a whole. Frequent changes of Chief Ministers without reason only pushed the people in the region to look towards other parties and leaders. Home-bred politicians from regions could not vibe with the public school products, who began surrounding Rajiv. Consequently, chosen men of Rajiv felt accountable to New Delhi and not to the region.

Certain provisions in the Constitution, which weighed heavily in favour of the Centre also administered severe knocks on the federal spirit at regular short intervals. The overall supremacy of the Centre provided through provisions like power to dismiss state governments, appoint and sack Governors, appoint High Court judges and sweeping financial powers, made the country unitary, at the cost of regions.

What is more, a unified Indian Administrative Service, successors to the steel frame, provided tighter control of the country in the hands of New Delhi as these covenanted officers looked upto the Centre for career enhancement. Central administration became a revised version of colonial rule. The failure of the founding fathers to usher in a new administrative culture and system resulted in a centrally-controlled authoritarian set-up taking roots in New Delhi, which became lord and master and not the headquarters of a federal polity. So much so that every year, on an average, at least two state governments were dismissed, often without assigning any credible reason.

It is just not that the country became unitary. The Congress party too became unitary. Its influence in the regions took a nosedive. Challenges to the Congress oligarchy came from all around. The Congress steadily slipped and the regional parties entered the vacuum. The alienation of the Congress was too glaring but the party leaders were unwilling to see, rather blinded by power.

The eighties saw a new awakening in the regions. Even the regional political movements had undergone changes. Though originally they began as separatist and even militant movements, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Akali Dal and the regional parties in the North-East did change as they tasted power off and on. True, some splinter groups still nurse hopes of independence and secession. But by limiting their functions with the Indian Union, these parties have shown that their content and canvass have undergone sea-change. This is a distinct difference from the regional political movements of the erstwhile Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and the Ottoman Empire where the centre could not hold.

The regional parties were also slowly realising the benefits of being part of a larger union. Its demand became autonomy and more financial powers. Its survival depended upon the support in the region and the focus became the development of the region. Politically this meant cooperation with the Centre. One saw regional parties which bitterly fought the elections with a national party seeking cooperation for a better developmental share.

Liberal economic policies also helped some regional parties like Telugu Desam to demonstrate their commitment to the people, better than any national party. With states getting a better say in investments and development, many regional party Chief Ministers ventured outside the country in search for investors and capital. Those who could perform well could retain power too.

In the process the regional parties, after the elections, started wooing the Centre. With development as the main objective, the anti-Centre approach underwent changes. Over a period of time regional parties are confined to an area, in most cases a state. Those trying to extend their spheres of influence to other areas did not succeed. The DMK, the AIADMK and the Samata Party did try but have not succeeded so far. The late N.T. Rama Rao attempted a federal party — Bharat Deshom — but without much response.

The only national level political phenomenon that emerged was in the latter half of the nineties when these parties formed a front for better bargain with the national parties. The results of 1999 show that there is scope for such a front, which can hope to play a far more important role at the national level in future.

In short, the national parties nursing ambitions of ruling the country cannot afford to ignore these regional parties. The Bharatiya Janata Party realised this and moved in fast to forge alliances. Interestingly, in spite of her authoritarian style and preference to the unitary form, Indira Gandhi forged alliances with either the DMK or the AIADMK depending on the political climate and worked out a power-sharing arrangement in which the regional party was given a free hand in Tamil Nadu in exchange for support at the Centre. Sonia Gandhi, however, perhaps due to lack of experience or misplaced vaulting ambitions, ruled out any such power sharing and paid the price.

Whatever be the attitude of national parties, they may have to accept these federal realities sooner in their own interests. Suppression of these political forces is no more possible. In fact, its growth is within the federal spirit of the Constitution. On the other hand suppression may only lead to the path of militancy and secession.

The writing on the wall is clear. If the national parties fail to recognise the regional realities and aspirations, the day is not far off when these parties will come to dominate New Delhi. This in itself may not be a bad development as it will integrate the country better and enable the Centre to attend to the basic problems of all the people.

UN prepares for millennium
by A. Balu

AS the world celebrates United Nations Day (October 24), it is an occasion for stock taking by its member-states of the organisation’s achievements and failures through 54 years of its existence and to project its role in the international arena in the 21st century. As the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, notes in his message to mark the day, it is a special one — the world’s population has just passed six billion and we are about to enter a new millennium. Next year around this time, leaders from all over the world will go to New York for the millennium summit to consider the challenges ahead and what the UN can do to face them.

In the recent two-week General Assembly debate on the international situation, Heads of State or Government and foreign ministers from more than 180 countries highlighted the concerns and expectations of the peoples around the world. As summed up by the President of the General Assembly, Mr Theo-Bin Gurrirab, Foreign Minister of Namibia, the clarion call was the need to create a world of peace and security and the development of humankind.

The United Nations has seen many successes as an instrument of peace and periods of serious erosion of confidence and credibility. During more than half a century of its presence, the world body has been praised as well as reviled, but as it enters the new millennium, no one questions its utility.

At the birth of the UN in 1945, a diplomat, musing about its future, said: “At the end of five years, you will think the UN is the greatest vision ever realised by man; at the end of ten years, you will find doubts within yourself all through the world, at the end of 15 years, you will believe the UN cannot succeed, you will be certain that all the odds are against its ultimate life and success, it will be only when the UN is 20 years old that we will know that the UN is the only alternative to the demolition of the world.” The diplomat did not venture to look into the future of the UN beyond that period, but 50 years later, even its detractors will agree with the observation of Jawaharlal Nehru that if there is no United Nations, we will have to invent one.

That does not mean the United Nations has done a marvellous job in every field in which it is concerned. Mr Annan was candid enough to note in his UN Day message that it is shocking to think that nearly half of the world is entering the new era in abject places poverty and that people in so many places today are exposed to violence and brutality. “We must make sure the 21st century is more peaceful and more humane,” he said.

In his address to the General Assembly last month, the Secretary-General focused special attention on the aspects of human security and intervention in the next century. He pointed out that the recent crises from Sierra Leone to Sudan to Angola to the Balkans to Cambodia and Afghanistan, have cast in sharp relief the dilemma of the so-called “humanitarian intervention” between the legitimacy of action taken without a UN mandate and the need to stop violations of human rights with grave humanitarian consequences. In the ensuing general debate, there was divergence of opinion on humanitarian intervention, but the point that was strongly urged by many delegates was that the nations could not intervene in the internal affairs of other countries without a specific security council mandate. Most speakers agreed that the subject of humanitarian intervention needed to be discussed in depth by the General Assembly.

The one issue that has brought a strong consensus among member-states is the reform of the UN Security Council through enlargement to make it more effective representative and responsive to the challenges facing the world now and in the next millennium. The UN has been engaged in a long drawn-out exercise of trying to reconstruct the 15-member Security Council, currently dominated by the five permanent members with veto power — namely the United States of America, the United Kingdom, France, Russia and China. Although there is consensus on the need for making the Council more representative in order to enhance its legitimacy and effectiveness, member-states hold divergent views on the expansion of permanent membership and the veto power.

For instance, the Malaysian Prime Minister, Mr Mahathir Mohammed, holds the view that the results of the last world was 50 years ago should not determine the composition of the UN forever. He made the cynical comment in his speech to the General Assembly last month that “for small countries, yearly speeches and various anniversary speeches will be allowed. Occasionally, there will be membership in the Security Council.” He wants the veto power to go. Many other leaders share his view in this regard, but the stark reality is that it will take the unanimous agreement and consent of the permanent members to abolish the veto provision.

The permanent members may agree to the expansion of their exclusive club with the veto power in tact, but there are so many claimants for permanent membership that the ultimate outcome is anybody’s guess. In the General Assembly debate, Japan and Germany — two industrialised countries — found many supporters for permanent membership, and occasionally India too was mentioned for possible inclusion in the permanent category. Latin American countries and the African continent are also in line for this privilege. Three years ago, India failed to secure a non-permanent seat in the Security Council as Japan won the election thanks to its money power. It will take Herculean diplomatic efforts on the part of New Delhi to gain a permanent seat when the expansion is decided. But as things stand, it is unlikely, as the General Assembly President admitted recently, that “the last chapter and verse” would be written before his term ends in September next year.

It will be pertinent to conclude with the observations made a decade ago by a senior UN official. In his paper, “An Insider’s View”, the official, Mr C.B. Rao, wrote: “The United Nations” is not an E.T; it has all the failings of an earthly entity....The pressure for transformation should come from the far reaches of the world. The first step should be for governments to stop treating the United Nations as a necessary nuisance or an opportunistic option and instead start contributing confidence, commitment and cooperation.” Food for thought indeed on the occasion of UN Day.

“We are not going to tear up the Charter and write a new one,” Mr Kofi Annan said, while charting out the task before the millennium General Assembly next year. “Nor will we produce a blueprint for utopia. What we must do is identify a select few of the world’s most pressing problems, and set ourselves a precise, achievable programme for dealing with them.”

Cynicism even after
fall of Sena-BJP govt

IN Mumbai on the day the new Chief Minister and his ministers were sworn in last week, the mood was one of cynical resignation. Not a good beginning for any government but can you expect anything other than cynicism when two parties that fought each other bitterly through the campaign should come together, immediately afterwards, to fight over the loaves and fishes of power.

“Why did Sharad Pawar decide to fight the Congress if this was going to happen?” The comment came from a Mumbai businessman but was echoed by almost everyone else when they saw Maharashtra’s former strongman smiled happily before the cameras as he stood between the Congress Party’s new Chief Minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, and his own Nationalist Congress Party’s Chhagan Bhujbal who became the Deputy Chief Minister as a result of the power-sharing agreement.

Sharad Pawar may believe he had no choice but to do a deal with the Congress but next time he faces voters he may find he has a lot of explaining to do. The same is true for the Congress. What explanations can either party give? Why did they need to fight each other at all if in the end they were going to come together to form a government after squabbling publicly over who was going to get which ministry? The irony of the situation became even sharper when the new Chief Minister flew off instantly to Delhi to consult the Congress high command over distribution of ministerial portfolios. After all, was it not just the other day that Pawar broke the Congress on the ground that Sonia Gandhi’s Italian origin made her an unsuitable candidate for Prime Minister.

Unsurprisingly, there has been less excitement over the new government than there has been irritation over the traffic jams caused by the swearing-in ceremony at the Governor’s magnificent residence. In a city in which traffic problems are severe at the best of times, the swearing-in ceremony caused so much extra disruptions that it took commuters hours to traverse routes that usually take less than 15 minutes. It reminded Mumbai’s citizens of how little governments actually manage to do to improve the life of the average voter. Half-built bridges and flyovers currently dot the city as a reminder of the BJP-Shiv Sena’s attempts to improve the city’s infrastructure and it is in this area that the late government is given a measure of credit.

Businessmen agree the shining star of the last government was Public Works Minister Nitin Gadkari, who history will credit with having finally built the Mumbai-Pune highway. The building of this road has been under discussion in Maharashtra for more than 20 years. During this time traffic on it increased to such an extent that it was routine for traffic jams to last more than a couple of hours. Gadkari, who many credit with having not just a vision but a will to do things, has built the road in record time. It has taken less than two years to come up and should be ready for use by early next year.

Other than this there is little that the BJP-Sena Government will be credited with. On the debit side, though, there is a long list of unpleasant things that it will be remembered for. There is, for instance, the new concept of governance that got introduced whereby Bal Thackeray and his family ruled the state by “remote control”. He appointed two Chief Ministers to handle routine administration but even the politically illiterate know that real power in the state of Maharashtra has not with the Chief Minister but at “Matoshri”, the Thackeray family abode.

The arrangement was an unhappy one and had Sharad Pawar not decided to revolt against Sonia Gandhi there is no doubt that the BJP-Shiv Sena government would have been roundly defeated in the election. Had this happened the Shiv Sena would have been responsible for most of the blame.

In the five years that the Shiv Sena ruled Maharashtra it never managed to rise above the extortionist tactics that initially gave it a bad name in Mumbai. Extortion became so much a way of life in Mumbai that ordinary people learned to accept it as an integral part of governance. Shopkeepers paid Shiv Sena collectors regularly as did businessmen who found themselves targeted if they organised lavish weddings or even bought themselves a new car. By the end of the BJP-Shiv Sena reign, even professionals found themselves being drawn into a system of payments which nobody dared complaint for fear of repercussions Shiv Sena style.

Speaking of which a story that comes instantly to mind is of a high official in Ulhasnagar who was stabbed by Shiv Sena thugs when they thought he was trying to resist payment of dues. How he found out that they belonged to the Shiv Sena is even more interesting. He had been on a routine call of duty when a group of extortionists arrived to extract payment from the man he was visiting. When the official rose to leave he put his hands in his pocket and the thugs, fearing that he might have a weapon, pounced. He did not realise that he had been attacked by Shiv Sena workers until a senior member of the party came to the hospital to inquire after his health. In the course of his solicitous inquiries he let slip that he would perhaps not have been attacked had he not put his hands into his pockets. How would he have known this had he not heard it from one of the attackers?

The terror that the Shiv Sena spread, though, is so great that nobody is prepared to go public with their complaints so anger against the party has seethed and simmered under the surface.

There will be no tears shed then at the passing of Bal Thackeray’s “remote-controlled” government. At the same time there is no great joy at the advent of the new one. The Congress, in various guises, has ruled the state long enough for people to realise that it is a party that is more interested in politics and politicking than in governance. If Mumbai is today a city in which half the population lives in slums and shanty towns it is mainly because Congress leaders believed that it was politically expedient to allow slums to exist since removing them meant losing votes. If it is also a city that is desperately short of vital infrastructure it is also because Congress leaders believed that money earned in the city would be better spent in rural Maharashtra where the votes lay.

Nobody seriously believes that things will change dramatically this time which is why despite Dasehra, and its reminder of the triumph of good over evil, the mood remains one of cynicism. Not an auspicious beginning for a new government but possibly the only kind we can expect in these cynical times.

An apology for channels

Those who are buying TV sets at tempting bargain prices in the festive season are probably being assured by clever shop assistants that they can get 100 plus channels. We have not yet quite reached that figure, but the question to ask is: What are even 30 channels, which most of us twiddle with, worth?For instance, I am getting two French channels because, I am told by my cable operator,“There are two ladies who speak French in Sunder Nagar”. Not that he was able to save the much-watched fashion channel, with its willowy models and see-through dresses when it came to the crunch. By then, DD had started wielding the big danda and it has vanished for some days. Then there is sport, such a surfeit of it that non-sport lovers have been sent up a tree. On a particular day, there were something like four cricket matches being played or re-played on Star Sports, ESPN, the new Sony Sports channel and Ye Olde Doordarshan, fumbling along with bad colour and sound and sometimes huge gaps. How much sport can one take except that mercifully the foreign satellite channels throw in things like golf and baseball, which have a smaller following than cricket, football and tennis. But all kudos to the Sony channel which is fast becoming the Indian TNT and the last refuge of the Indian film buff. There was the Raj Kapoor bonanza and one can watch films like Junoon which are woefully absent of the “popular” channels.Then there are the regional language channels. I must say I quite enjoy the Punjabi one with typically boisterous anchors, loud and simplistic serials with much melodrama including girls and boys singing at each other with gusto while dotting the Punjabi landscape which seems to have a surfeit of artificial foliage and flowers. The Bengali ones are the worst. DD’s channel looks like a poor relation with endless black and white vintage films of no particular value, stagy acting and sets in serials and endless mediocre music and dancing of the old-fashioned variety. The Zee Bengali channel, on the other hand, tries to go all hep with women in hats and so-called modern life. I can’t bear either of them, except that the independent news on the DD Bengali channel is better presented than by DD itself. The Telugu channel looks opulent by comparison. Sometimes one gets unexpected interviews in English on the South Indian channels but for porn nothing can touch Sun TV after midnight.

More disturbing are the foreign channels. They go completely violent and gory after dark and sometimes in broad daylight, with much violence on women and shooting and guns all over the place. With car accidents thrown in for good measures. They are sometimes revolting and pointless. This is the foreign invasion one does not like. TNT and Discovery and National Geographic make up somewhat. But one should keep a look-out for the fast-multiplying channels for children. That they can barge in like this and be invited by India-based channels is a sad reflection on the sort of home-grown TV programmes for children which are woefully absent on Indian TV.

I was asked by the BBC in London how I liked their election coverage. But without waving the flag for India I asked how much importance they would attach to an Indian media person covering their elections? I said that while Mike Gowing was working very hard, what he said and did would possibly be of more interest to other countries which watch BBC World rather than Indian viewers, because Indian commentators know so much more about Indian politics that I, for one watched the BBC more out of professional interest. And my final word on channels is that while DD is slouching over putting its act and channels together, one is hard put to find something worth watching.

Tail-piece: I have been following the career of Barkha Dutt with interest and now that she has done so well in reporting she better brush up her anchoring, which was breaking all the rules in Question Time India has become obtrusive in the news. First, the anchor is not the star and should talk the least — just watch Prannoy Roy, quietly and unobtrusively steering the discussion. Then it is the audience which asks questions of the panel. Ms Dutt started asking six supplementaries to their one question and then herself started interrogating Dwidevi and Pilot, to whom she allotted less time and then kept on cutting them short. The first minutes became a dialogue between Dutt and Jaitley, who was never interrogated or cut short. In fact, I cannot think of anyone who has had the professionalism to fill in during Roy’s absence. Time they found someone who can do India proud on a foreign channel.

75 YEARS AGO
Press Report Contradicted

A Press communique says:- The attention of the Government of India has been drawn to a Press report that Mr Macdonald and S. Bahadur Ladenia are now on a political mission to Tibet and besieged Lhasa.

The statement has no basis in fact. No political mission is at present in Tibet. Mr Macdonald, who has been for the last 15 years the British Trade Agent at Yaung, has been granted long leave of which he has by now probably availed himself and Sardar Bahadur Ladenia, who is a Bengal official of Sikkimese extraction, recently on deputation with the Tibetan Government, left Lhasa for India on the 9th instant.