Thursday, November 25, 2010

Bihar's date with history

Bihar has finally broken out of its regressive cycle of backwardness. Four fifth majority to an incumbent NDA government on the plank of development is a trend setter and is also full of hope. Some have called that Bihar has entered the age of renaissance. Nitish Kumar is much taller now. He deserves all accolades. We has seen what he has delivered on the ground in terms of roads and law and order. Now the time has come for him to work for electricity. A friend called amid counting of votes with suggestion to buy land near Patna as software companies would start locating there to cut their costs (I do not have that much of money to buy land, given the kind of hand to mouth living that I have). Many commented that Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and other states' land lords may find difficult to get Bihari labourers, with one colleague stating that this is already being witnessed in Punjab. It's a beginning of a journey of hope and Nitish Kumar has been charged with the task to leap-frog Bihar into front ranking states in the next five years.

There was never a doubt that Nitish would come back to power. My estimate was that NDA would cross the 150 mark, which I had later revised to 170 but had never thought that it would cross 200. Such a decimation of opposition has not been seen in any of the state in India. It has no parallel. The dread of Lalu Yadav must have made the people to turn out much stronger to reject him, thus helping the NDA more strongly.

Lalu and Paswan never stood any chance. But the way the Congress contested the polls is open for review. Such a large party could have fought such an important election in such a manner was quite idiotic. The Central ministers parachuting to charge that the Centre gave so much of money and not much of them was spent must be taken up by the Election Commission for abuse of power by the ruling party at the Centre. The transfer of funds to the states is anyways a statutory provision and not just a prerogative of the ruling party at the Centre. The decimation of the Congress was a fitting reply by the people to the joke of the Congress. A Congress state leader who had earlier contested the poll told this author that the party gave Rs 35 lakhs to each of its 243 candidates, with some pegging that party having spent to the tune of Rs 200 crores in Bihar elections. This seems believable given the way all resources that the party had put in use in the state. If Congress goes this way only, UP in 2012 could give it another shiver down its spine.  

Jobs have begun being created in the state. People there are much more informed. The state has real resources to make an economic turnaround. It is also blessed with immense human resources, with a large number of them educated and energetic. Nitish has to keep to the basics and rest will follow. He has given roads. He has to give reliable supply of power. And also he has to convince the banks to give loans to people who can take up enterprises, which they have been avoiding. Bihar figures at the bottom of the list on the banks disbursing its deposits to the people as loan. This has to go up. Nitish needs to talks to the RBI. Also, without rushing in to invite the big business honchos it would be more prudent to revive the jute, silk, sugar industries which have deep roots in the state but were killed over the time.

Millions of people in Bihar and outside wihsh Nitish that he further delivers on the promises. The hope must translate into reality. This can be done, as it's not a big asking.  

Monday, November 01, 2010

Mayawati's Ayodhya booster

The UP chief minister and BSP supremo Mayawati appears to be taking leads by miles over her political adversary. The Panchayat election results indicate that none of her political adversary is anywhere near her. She is marching ahead in a way which may see UP going ahead for political stability in her. Though having no stake in Ayodhya controversy, Mayawati appears to be the only benefitiary with the Congress and Samajwadi Party faced with the task to save their sinking boats. 

September 30 Allahabad High Court verdict on Ayodhya land title and December 6, 1992 Babri mosque demolition were perceived to have similar kind of consequences. Former UP chief minister Kalyan Singh let the mob take control of the state in 1992, while Mayawati ensured that the police had full control over the mob in the run up to the September 30 court verdict. The results of the two actions were in contrast. In the first case riots ensued with hundreds losing their lives, while in the second not even a single stabbing case was reported. The political ramifications are also in total contrast. While the BJP is floundering in UP, Mayawati is gaining strength from strength so much so that her opponents are faced with prospects of political disasters.

Continuing with Kalyan-Mayawati comparison, it's important to bring certain facts here. On December 5, 1992, the BJP had staged a huge rally in a sensitive area of Lucknow, with three of its top leaders namely L. K. Advani, M. M. Joshi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee leading three rath yatars from different parts of the state which converged at the rally ground. Amidst addresses by leaders in the rally, Kalyan Singh left the rally and headed to his residence. After a while, Advani, Joshi and Vajpayee also left, which brought the rally to an abrupt end. They all headed to Kalyan Singh's residence, where Kalyan was reportedly nervous with the kind of intelligence inputs he was getting from Ayodhya.

A top official, still serving, who was privy to what was transpiring at Kalyan's residence revealed that Vajpayee let out his anger on others by saying that he had warned to bring so many kar sewaks at Ayodhya. Vajpayee left Kalyan's residence for the railway station and left for Delhi. All the BJP leaders left for Ayodhya. "Advani, Joshi and others were manhandled by kar sewaks on December 5 mid night when they tried to bring sanity among lakhs of foot soldiers who had come from all parts of the country. They had lost control. The consequence was demolition and ensuing communal riots," the official revealed, saying that the riots intensified after the news was broken that the Kalyan Singh government was dismissed by the Centre.

In the run up to the September 30 High Court verdict on Ayodhya title suit saw similar kind of build up. In fact the police found a bomb placed in a market in Lucknow on that very day and even all the news channels had the footage but they chose bot to broadcast. Two more bombs were found and diffused in two different towns in the state. "The media should be thanked that they voluntarily chose not to break these stories. The state government had not given any such diktat to them," added the official.

The icing on the cake was Mayawati herself stealing the show by hurriedly calling a press conference at 5.30 pm amidst all kinds of confusion. She ensured that all electronic channels headed to her presser and she ensured that the channels broadcast her live and there she delivered her master stroke, that none would be spared for any kind of trouble. She conveyed the message that she would enforce law and order "ruthlessly". She won the day and is now counting the political windfalls. Muslims in UP need her kind of leaders, just like Nitish Kumar in Bihar, who can guarantee security.

People in UP, particularly from the minority community, immediately trashed Mulayam Singh Yadav's attempt to fish in the troubled water, when he termed the court  verdict unjustice to the Muslims. People in Ayodhya effusively thanked Mayawati for saving the day and keeping the monsters at the bay. The Congress is fast losing the plot in the state. Though there are about one and a half year to go for UP state elections, the winner for the now is just one and she is the iron lady of the BSP.