Art of reclaiming one’s life...
Harish Khare
The Lieutenant-Governor of Delhi, Najeeb Jung, has done a very un-Indian thing: he has walked away from a significantly important job. And, the reason he cites for wanting to vacate the Delhi Raj Niwas, again, is very un-Indian: he wants to spend time with his family. In a country where every rule and every norm is sought to be bent in the interest of the family, Jung Saheb has done just the very opposite.
As the Lieutenant-Governor of Delhi, Najeeb Jung had landed himself with a rather ticklish assignment and it became a virtually impossible job once the Aam Aadmi Party came to power. And, it became even more problematic an office once the AAP stormed back to power, totally decimating the BJP and Congress. Since the AAP had handed Narendra Modi his first electoral defeat, it was inevitable that the Centre would not let the Kejriwal government do its job. The AAP government was not to get the time of the day from the Centre. Simple. And, since Arvind Kejriwal himself entertains illusions of national leadership, he went about using, rather systematically, his chief ministerial pulpit to irritate and annoy and eventually get under the Prime Minister’s skin.
As Lt-Governor, Jung found himself in the middle of this volatile mismatch of egos, temperaments and agendas. As neither the Centre nor the Delhi Government was averse to being petty and petulant, the Raj Niwas became an unhappy house to live in.
Jung is primarily a decent and cultured man, a sensitive soul and he found himself trapped in this clash between two raw and rough men. And, this quarrel — primarily a political battle — became a daily bruising affair. This could not possibly be his cup of tea.
These kinds of political games take their toll — on body, mind and morals. And, a time comes when a call needs to be taken: whether or not to submit to the demeaning and soul-sapping demands of politicians and their debased preoccupations. Even though he found himself in a job which became a political assignment, he must have been ill at it because he is not a politician. No one becomes a politician at the age of sixty.
It became an unenviable job. It is possible to debate what he did or did not do as the designated hatchet man of the Centre, but I am glad he decided to walk away and reclaim himself. He has not allowed himself to be consumed by the job. And, that is something that needs to be applauded.
CHANDIGARH and its satellite towns Mohali and Panchkula are home to very many former personnel of the armed forces. It is not surprising that the ex-servicemen’s fraternity in the region is much agitated about the treatment that has been meted out to a former Chief of the Air Force and the suppression of the seniormost general in naming the next Chief of the Army Staff.
In both cases, some unwritten code seems to have been given a go-by. All armed forces personnel, especially the officer corps, take considerable pride in having internalised the concept of izzat — that unwritten but well-understood protocol of respect for tradition and hierarchy — that distinguishes the ‘fauji biradari’ from the others. Well-earned izzat is a lifelong badge of honour for a man in uniform.
Suddenly, it is this concept of izzat that is deemed to have been so cavalierly trifled with in both the cases.
The arrest of a former Chief of the Air Force is particularly galling. The CBI brass, whatever its presumed institutional autonomy, is staffed with policemen, most of whom make it to the investigative agency after having already flirted with dubious patrons. A policeman can never be trusted to be respectful to the notions of izzat.
I have never fully understood the great faith the civil society and other self-appointed anti-corruption crusaders tend to put in an “autonomous” CBI as the answer to all our problems such as corruption, black money, etc. It is nothing but a script for a police raj. A DSP-level officer can deviously manoeuvre the “investigation” so that a former Air Force Chief too finds himself reduced to — and, treated as — a common thief. There is something seriously amiss in this bogus obsession with “let-CBI-investigate-this-matter” mantra.
No one knows what prompted the government to overlook Lt-General Praveen Bakshi’s claims. It would be unfair to attribute motives to the government’s decision, though the incumbent political crowd had earlier made a great fetish of the seniority principle. Whatever the calculation, every citizen has an obligation to point out that the government has been needlessly thoughtless. Maybe, such disdain towards the armed forces and its traditions was inevitable once Manohar Parrikar came to preside over the Raksha Mantralaya. Maybe, the government thought it had a right to assert its partisan choices once the outgoing chief has set the template for compliance and conformism to political bosses. Its appetite is whetted.
It is a common refrain among the “analysts” that the armed forces are an institution. No quarrel. Those who demand — and, deserve — institutional respect should have the courage and gumption to stand up to and defend their izzat.
THE other day, the voters in Chandigarh queued up to elect a new municipal body. The BJP scored a very, very comprehensive victory. The Chandigarh civic poll was the first “popular” verdict on this rather curious business of demonetisation. The outcome has been interpreted — not unsurprisingly — as a massive endorsement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. So be it.
The Chandigarh results have regurgitated a very legitimate political question: is it not time for the BJP to get itself rid of the Badals’ Akali Dal burden? The BJP-SAD alliance had lost its raison d’etre quite some time ago, though at one time, Punjab benefited from this entente.
Though nothing is permanent in politics, the SAD-BJP ties endured primarily because the BJP’s three “wise men” — Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Murli Manohar Joshi and LK Advani — had invested heavily in this relationship. The alliance produced a much-needed political stability, after decades of turmoil and violence in this border state. In recent years, the blissful matrimonial alliance had been reduced to an arrangement of convenience. A divorce no longer seems so unthinkable. And the future of this relationship acquired a potency of its own since the BJP parted company with the unlovable Chautalas and won, on its own, an impressive majority in the neighbouring Haryana.
This matter of whether or not to continue the alliance with the Badals has been debated within the Punjab BJP in recent months. The status quoists have, for now, prevailed. The BJP, especially since May 2014, has found the Badals’ company rather embarrassing. The Akalis’ besmirched reputation distracts hugely from the BJP’s claims to be the arbiter of good governance and good politics.
On the other hand, the Akalis have needlessly confined themselves to a Punjab role. In particular, I believe that had it not been for the compulsions of the alliance with the BJP, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal would have had played a much larger role in national affairs. He is by far the most experienced political figure in the country. And, coming from a border state and representing a very important religious community, Mr Badal should have been heard and heeded in these last two turbulent decades. Now age has probably ruled him out from any national role.
Not only that, the BJP leadership has cunningly understood that the senior Badal has now only one ambition: how to ensure a political future for his son.
No one can predict whether Narendra Modi’s popularity would be sufficient to help carry the Badals over the majority line in the next assembly election, but it is reasonably certain that the BJP would not have the alliance albatross around its neck for long.
TODAY we celebrate Christmas. For one day, we can put behind our petty cleverness. The day gives us a licence to be joyous and cheerful. It is also an invitation and almost a command to be good and noble — so, do join me and have a cup of coffee.
kaffeeklatsch@tribuneindia.com
