Anna fills leadership vacuum

After about 240 hours of the fast of Gandhian Anna Hazare, there appears a clear sense that there is leadership vacuum in the country. The state of the affairs is such that the Parliament and government are not only paralysed but even discredited.

Anna Hazare is fighting a just cause. People in a spontaneous way have got behind Anna. Still, the government is searching for an escape route, as has been the tradition of the ruling party.  

For over five years there had been quite an astonishment among some, that why the people are so tolerant. The price rise has not only broken the backbone of the middle class but has confronted them with a number of existential questions. A spate of corruption came in a way as some floodgate has been opened. Still, the government had only one or the other explanation to give to find an escape route.

It appears that the Opposition parties failed to provide leadership to the simmering anger of millions of people. The leadership vacuum appears being filled in by Anna, who swears by the name of Mahatma Gandhi, whose ideals had caught the imagination of the youth of the country in an unexpected manner by Sanjay Dutt starrer Munnabhai MBBS movie.

Anna is in the midst of a serious business. It appears that the Jan Lokpal Bill is just igniting a people's movement to cleanse the very political set up in the country, which is not only muddied but has failed the aspirations of well informed people.

There is a similarity in the state of Yamuna in Delhi, which is a dead river here, and the political class, which claims to represent the people. Every year water flows into Yamuna during Monsoon, as is the case with MPs and MLAs at the times of elections, but the massive garbage stays at the bottom of the dead river as does the rot in the political system.

A report of the Lt. Governor of Delhi Tejendra Khanna to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about two years back had recommended physical cleaning of Yamuna along with creating a reservoir to ensure continuous flow of water into it.

The political system too requires a physical cleaning and regular flow of people of character and integrity to ensure that the rotting democracy comes back to life again.

The sad commentary on political class is the arrogance that the MPs have irrespective of the fact that they are the product of a flawed system. They have not bothered to introspect that none of them could inspire the youth of the country nor they have any answer to the burning issues of the mass.

Anna appears to have his fingers on the pulse of the people. He has correctly diagnosed the malaise. His solutions are not only logical but much needed. A Lokpal, which can deter the acts of corruption, has to be there. Madhu Kodas, A Rajas, Suresh Kalmadis are not individuals but representatives of the rotten system. 

Anna has rightly said that this is just a beginning. Much needs to be done. Electoral reform must come on the table next to ensure that politics does not remain the last refuse of the scoundrels.

The good thing about Anna's campaign is that it is blessed with right people who appear committed to their cause. An IRS officer friend of this author said Arvind Kejriwal used to tell them to forget relations when they joined government service so that they could remain clean. "If you are trapped in relations, you will fall in a pitless well of corruption," Kejriwal used to tell his fellow colleagues when he was in IRS.

One could just wish that the Anna bandwagon continue to roll till there is a complete physical cleansing of the system. May God give him long life.      

Arrogance isn't permanent

West Bengal and Tamil Nadu Assembly election results have one verdict in common, that arrogance is not everlasting and voters have their own ways to ground politicos who are out of their minds.

Mamta Banerjee had won West Bengal almost a year ago. May 13 results only made it official that she ended 34 years of uninterrupted Left rule in West Bengal.

The M Karunanidhi clan led Tamil Nadu government with the blessings of the Congress shamed all with their insatiable corruption. It's only a matter of time to see how many of the clan member go to jail in the aftermath of the election results. 

Born and sworn to die Leftists had begun throwing their towels not so recently. Decisive turn of the tide came when the Left cadres began switching loyalties to Mamta.

Once confronted a die-hard Leftist on a question why the Left cadres would switch over to the Mamta, he had to say that they are tired with the "arrogance" of the Marxist leaders.

"Once people had sought to know from a top ranking Marxist leader should Nobel laureate Amartya Sen be brought to educate the Left cadre, the prompt answer came from him, that they had better economists then Sen," he said to explain his point.

But  the bigger question is whether the people have elected Mamta or rejected the 34-year-old Left government! The Bengalis do not hide their frustration that they do not have leaders to look for.

"We needed leader like Nitish Kumar but there is none like him in Bengal," said one news photographer.

"In Bengal there is no ambition. People earn Rs 20 and spends Rs 10 on meal and goes to play card in the evening at adda. This is what there is in the state. We have slipped behind even Bihar," further added the news photographer.

In fact Mamta has bigger challenge at her hands now that she has to prove that she was worthy of the people's mandate. The Marxists would be counting days to see how she blunders out the popular mandate.

"The Left had conceded defeat long back but they think that after five years of Mamta's rule the Marxists would again come to power to stay in the Writers' Building for over 70 years," said one of those sworn to die as Leftist.

A Central government servant in Kolkata had told this author in October last year that though the Left would be voted out, what he dreaded most was of a couple of years of blood-letting in the state. If this happens at all, it would be the saddest things to happen in West Bengal.

The verdict in this summer of elections is not very decisive either ways for those who matter in Delhi.

Assam went for peace talks with Ulfra and good governance. Kerala left the pundits scracthing their heads. Pudduchery went for self-respect of their popular leader. West Bengal was an eruption of long suppressed anger and frustration.

It's only Tamil Nadu which matters in Delhi, as it indicates popular anger against the UPA-II which has unleashed corruption unlimited. This is a mere indication and a lot of churning out process would unfold in coming months.

Who rules Delhi after 2014 Lok Sabha elections would be known in some definite ways after the mother of all electoral battle in UP next year. A very strong lady is holding out there strongly amid frontal attacks from all the opponents.

Delhi: A city of beasts

The popular perception is that law and order in Delhi has collapsed. This is not triggered just by yesterday's broad daylight murder of a 21 years old Delhi University student Radhika Tanwar.

The law and order in Delhi has collapsed because there is a systemic breakdown in the enforcement by the police. Delhi police is a one big fat organisation full of corrupt people lacking in the policing character to do anything to redeem the lost cause of making the capital of the country crime free.

The spate of crime in Delhi is mind-boggling. No one is safe. Anyone can become victim of crime in the capital of the country anytime.

Delhi police and its master, the Union home ministry along with the top man P Chidambaram, are in love with statistics. To any question on law and order in Delhi having gone down the barrel, these shameless custodian of people's safety fall back on statistics. This is a fraud on the people.

Delhi police is not accountable to the people of the city. This is with the Union Home ministry. Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit and P Chidambaram have contradictory perceptions on city law and order. While the former calls its shameful that people are getting killed in big number, the latter says all is well as he has statistics to prove.

Delhi government has its own Home department, which keeps a close eye on the law and order situation in the city. Top bureaucrats of the Delhi government are of the opinion that 98 per cent of the crime incidents do not result in registration of FIRs. This explains the cooked up statistics of P Chidambaram and Delhi police.

The malaise is much deep rooted. Delhi has borders with western UP, which is already worrying the state chief minister Mayawati for abnormally high crime rate, and Haryana. To top them all Delhi itself has villages littered across its length and breadth. The people in Delhi's villages have made mullah due to their properties. But their young generation is a breed of uneducated, uncultured and lawless lot.

Further, Delhi police gets most of its man power from the rural areas of the capital from the ranks of constable up to the inspectors. This is reflected in the whole approach of the Delhi police in dealing with lawless people, with whom its manpower is on friendly terms.

So, do not be surprised when you find that the Delhi police most often mediating at crime scenes in place of nabbing the law-breakers. You may be shocked that more often the Delhi police personnel side with the law-breakers and persuade you not to insist for registration of an FIR. This author has experienced all these first hand.

It's very unfortunate that the people whom the voters elect in Delhi do not have any say in the policing. With no accountability Delhi police is a force of "lathmaar" and having no intent to break the bone of the growing lot of law breakers. In the past it has been seen that senior officials of the Delhi police have been in collusion with the property dealers, majority of whom are source of a number of crimes and get away with their acts with impunity.

It's not that the senior citizens and women alone are living in Delhi with a sense of fear. All law abiding citizens in the capital live with a sense of insecurity. And worse is that they do not trust the police. Delhi makes a fit case of lawless city and redemption is not even in the immediate future as there is no intent.      

Governance deficit and taint

Common refrain now is that thieves are ruling us. High ranking industry body yesterday shouted governance deficit. Stock markets, flush with FII money, tanked over a 1000 points in a month, indicating that global perception of India is on slippery grounds. Forget about global perception, people in the country are chanting "sabh chor hai" more often. India is facing the worst crisis with erosion of people's trust in government which they had elected just recently. More saddening is the fact that the government is just in the denial mode, with pathetic arguments dished out by its ministers on a regular interval.   

It has been almost two decades that Indian embarked on the path of new economy. With the crumbling of inspector raj, the ministers at the Centre, however, made a mullah with their discretionary powers. The example is that of A Raja, former telecom minister, who allegedly handed the country a loss of whopping Rs 1.75 lakh crore in 2G spectrum scam. A senior income tax official told this author that Rs 1.50 lakh crores have been stashed away in Swiss banks in the last two decades since the economic liberalisation. It's not a tough guess to think who could be the people having shipped away Rs 1.50 lakh crores in two decades' time. However, we shall soon be knowing the names of the thieves. A Swiss banker has given the Wikileaks a CD with details of people having kept their money in the Swiss banks. The Central government too here has given a list of 20 people with money in Swiss banks to the Supreme Court with a rider that the list if "privileged" and names can not be made public. Let's hope that sooner the names of the scamsters come in the public domain.

This list of corruption is so long that people more often may yawn. The list is only adding up with new disclosures. The wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNAREGA) has been revised upwardly, with the Centre asking the state governments to foot the bill for additional cost. MNAREGA is such a pot that it has innumerable holes and makes a fit case for splurging public money for political purposes. It must be taken into account that MNAREGA gave a big boost to the Congress in the 2009 general elections.

A journalist friend on a visit to Tripura saw how the loot under MNAREGA is taking place. A close relative of him had a marriage party where professional dancers were invited. The journalist here thought of sharing the cost of the dancers to which the host,who is a sarpanch there, said " don't bother NAREGA ka paisa hai naa". Hmmm. Such examples could be found anywhere. A large number of Mukhiya and Sarpanch due to "economic empowerment" thanks to NAREGA had been seeking tickets to contest polls in Bihar Assembly elections as well as the upcoming UP Assembly polls.

In the last two decades if Rs 1.50 lakh crores have been shipped to tax havens, a much bigger share has been accounted for by the black money within the country. The cost of each and everything has zoomed in multiples. The nation is crying against the price rise but the fact is that people at large even if they are in decent jobs earning their livelihoods in lawful manner can not afford most of the things that they might dream of.

It's a fact that most of the black money gets invested in land and properties. However, the government is least interested in making the registrars' offices transparent and linked to the offices of the income tax. A friend from South had an interesting tale to tell. A farmer in the Nilgiri area from here A Raja comes wanted to sell six hectares of his land. Agents came and he closed a deal for Rs 20 lakh. When he reached the registrar's office he was handed over a suitcase containing Rs 1.20 crores. Shell shocked, the farmer wore a face of disbelief to which the agent shout at him saying "you agreed for Rs 20 lakh each hectare, so the sum if Rs 1.20 crores, you wont get anymore". The farmer's fortune saw a six fold rise, thanks to the scamster whom the agent represented rushing in to dispose off his black money. Why is the income tax not going after the land and property deals despite being aware of the well known facts. Is it because the masters of the department do not want this.

It's a long way for the country to start dealing with black money, which makes lives of common man much harsher. For the time being India faces a credibility crisis, though the government is oblivious of the fact.  

Assertive Manmohan Singh?

A write up on a new book "Ayodhya: Battle For Peace" by Nirendra Dev. (Mr Dev happens to be a very good friend of this blogger and appreciates his keen interest in India's socio-political moores )

There is an apparent gap between the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the UPA chairperson Sonia andhi of late. Dr Singh is apparently struggling hard to come clean on the 2G\spectrum scam. His offer to appear before the PAC headed by BJP leader M. M. Joshi also appears to have been taken without taking the Congress leadership into confidence. A confirmation to this came from none other than the Congress' poster boy Pranab Mukherjee who on Sunday stated in Kolkata that had he been consulted he would have advised Dr Sigh against such a move. To put in the perspective, if Dr Singh belives that the mandate in the 2008 elections was for him, then he is not wrong. The Congress got a boost because of his image. But his personal record is at stake now as one of his ministerial collegaue, A Raja of the DMK, an alliance partner of the UPA, allegedly masterminded mother of all scam in the history of India, which Congress, sadly, is attempting to brush under the carpet. There is a palpable unrest within the Congress, as the leaders reading the Bihar verdict know that the party is headed for electoral disaster in the next elections.

Nirendra Dev in his new book "Ayodhya: Battle For Peace" by Nirendra Dev" reveals that the "gap" between the 7, RCR and 10, Janpath began just after the Lok Sabha elections in 2008. The book states that even Dr Singh reject Sonia's nominee as Lok Sabha Speaker. Mr Deb writes that Dr Singh into his second term is getting more assertive and "persuasive in pushing his personal preferences".

"Grapevine is a senior parliamentarian was denied the Lok Sabha Speaker’s post in 2009 even after his name was cleared formally by UPA alliance in a joint sitting," says ‘Ayodhya: Battle For Peace’.  "If the conjectures are to be believed, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee and even top Congress leaders had reportedly complimented the said member for being chosen for the coveted office in June 2009; when Dr Singh threw in the Dalit-woman card to elevate his ‘Water Resources Minister’ Meira Kumar for the key job," says the book. , a publication of New Delhi-based Har-Anand Publication.

"Slowly but certainly, minor scuffle has started between Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and the party – even if not Congress president Sonia Gandhi herself. She is still considered too powerful for ‘non-political’ character like Dr Singh, though his admirers and adversaries feel slowly the ‘underestimated’ politician in him is showing some glimpses of verb." It further says, Dr Singh’s admirers are reported to have floated the theory that the 2009 mandate for UPA was in effect a mandate for him. His media advisor has already

spoken against Congress in a public function; and yet continues to enjoy the Prime Minister’s confidence."

Amid high drama in national polity over scams and alleged 'Hindu terror' under RSS, the book also cautions Congress against going overboard on ‘Hindu terror’ saying in the process Congress is only preparing the ground "for political polarization (based on religions)" "The Hindus in general are anguished as well as shell-shocked at the allegation that their faith, known for its tolerance, is being linked to terrorism. They believe the Congress party led by a Christian and that too a foreign lady is indulging in politics to defame the Hindu

organizations and thus win over its lost support base among the Muslims. There was a deliberate attempt to blow up the issue of ‘Hindu terror’ just on the eve of beginning of monsoon session of parliament in 2010," writes Dev, who had started his career in journalism from Nagaland in 1990s.

He argues the Congress attempts have failed as the opposition parties including the traditionally diametrically opposite planks the BJP and the Left had "remained united on price rise and the corruption". The government of the day would do well to realize that it is only playing a dangerous game, it says.

Dev, who has also authored a book on Gujarat riots of 2002, ‘Godhra –A Journey To Mayhem’ and 'The Talking Guns: North East India', claims that the perceived Muslim appeasement of the Congress party and the secular brigade "without working genuinely for Muslims uplift is only bound to increase hate-Muslims approach among Hindus".

From the government of the day in centre led by Dr Manmohan Singh and other parties like Samajwadi Party and even Trinamool Congress from Left-ruled Bengal all are only indulging in vote bank policies – "at

least the people, a large section of Hindus, think so", the book says Even in the past, the Muslims fell into a political trap of appeasement by secularists and communists from quite beginning. Indira Gandhi’s secular agenda only sought to pamper the Muslims and slowlythe political division only engulfed, it says.

"The Muslims should learn to live in harmony as the confrontationist path does them no good," it says adding

the intellectuals and the upwardly mobile Muslims have failed to educate their common masses and the vibrant community "has been reduced to a mere political tool for garnering votes".

On communal tension in South Asia

The rise of Hindutva communalism in 1992 with the Babri Masjid demolition had its "worst ever" affect in Bangladesh and Pakistan with helpless Hindus getting victimized, says a new book in India even as it claims that fundamentalism would bury its ugly head soon in South Asia.

"The communal problem and violence in one country often triggers a chain reaction in other countries. Therefore, it made a lot of sense when Bangladeshi documentary film maker Shameem Akhtar said a few years back, the rise of fundamentalism in many South Asian countries is simultaneous," says ‘Ayodhya: Battle for Peace’, first book in India on the post September 30, 2010 verdict on the protracted temple-mosque dispute.

"The overall future cannot be very good for the communal forces in South Asia" and cites the illustration of the return of Sheikh Hasina regime in Bangladesh in 2008 as a glaring instance, it says.

"The manner in which people responded to the September 30 (2010) ruling on Ayodhya verdict offers enough reasons to keep the secular disposition optimistic that the days of fundamentalism are numbered for the common man has had enough of it and long since rejected the same," writes journalist Nirendra Dev, who had also authored a book on Gujarat riots of 2002 titled, ‘Godhra – A Journey To Mayhem’.

Even in Pakistan, take a closer scrutiny and one would find that in "a country created in the name of religion, people have refused to play for long in the hands of religious fanaticism", says the book adding firstly, Bengali Muslims decided to carve out an independent nation for them. Muslims in the then East Pakistan proved that they had tremendous pride in past achievements and distinct linguistic and cultural identity. "The religion, the only link between the people of two Pakistans, was thus easily broken and on March 27, 1971, Sheikh Mujibar Rehman proclaimed the creation of an independent nation."

Maintaining that communalism has a lot to do with power politics, the book points out how the Vajpayee government in India had turned "a blind eye" to continuous attack on Christians and later to the 2002 infamous Gujarat carnage.

"In Pakistan, the Late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was once known for his liberal approach. A staunch opponent of Ayub Khan’s fanaticism, in 1970 election campaign in Rawalpindi Bhutto galloped Scotch whisky publicly to decry the ban on drinking. But the same Bhutto after attaining power took up anti-India stance, emulated fanatic mullah practices and declared Friday as weekly holiday instead of Sunday.

The same yardstick would apply to Nawaz Shariff, who was given a massive mandate in 1996 for promise to improve relations with India, gradually started swearing by India bashing phrases. He resorted to Islamisation of the country following the collapse of Pakistani economy after the nuke tests at Chagai in 1998 and allowed Kargil misadventure on the face of sustained pressure from military-mullah combine."