Bansal's "Pipli Live" saga

Politicians are generally blessed with spring in their feet. The sacked railways minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, hours before he finally quit, covered a distance from his office to the lift, about 100 meters in all, at a speed that gave a near stampede. While reporters ran after him, 65-year-old Bansal was much younger than any of the scribes despite being hounded for about a week.

While politicians are thick-skinned, reporters are equally audacious in their pursuit to extract bytes. So, quite a few reporters forced themselves inside the lift, leaving ashen looking Bansal stunned. "You are not invited here. It's very unfair of the media," Bansal muttered.

Downstairs, Bansal's ambassador car was banged by cameramen, as he attempted to speed away. No bytes to confirm that he had resigned; but leaving scribes stunned of their own deeds.

Earlier in the day, reporters were watching tv channels flashing Bansal and his wife with a she-goat, giving a semblance of a little prayer. A dozing reporter was not excited. He texted a tv reporter standing firm at the residence of Bansal, that it should be a goat, as she-goat is never sacrificed. 

"Abhi-abhi maalum chala hai ki ye bakri nahi bakra hai jiski bali dene ki taiyari hai (just confirmed that it's not a she-goat but a goat, which is on the way to be sacrificed)," a tv reporter shouted on a channel.

The message was picked fast by other channels and the story of a sacrificial goat became the story of the day. 

A dozing reporter does not really switch off his fertile mind and has enough in him to set on fire wild imagination. So, the story of the goat and Bansal's sacrificial plan sent the media on a wild chase. 

A day before, the sacked law minister Ashwani Kumar was being shown on news channels having met the Prime Minister. But the minister was maintaining that he had not met the Prime Minister.

The puzzle was solved by another reporter, with his reason that "Kumar must have gone to the PMO but the Prime Minister must have refused to meet him". In 10 minutes, this was on the channel. And later it was that Kumar met officials in the PMO.

But Bansal saga had the real masala to keep the channels on goose chase. He is a "mama", with his nephew landing him into a soup. So, the channels stationed their OB vans round the clock at his residence. Some of them were audacious enough to position high resolution lenses on the top of the OB vans, which were taking shots of even his bathrooms and toilets. "This is too much. There is something called privacy," an aide of Bansal pleaded with the channel, after which the bathrooms and toilets were not shown.

In about a week till Bansal quit, he became a parallel of the Princess Diana, whose death was blamed onto the insatiable interest of the media in her.

Six days after the CBI arrested the railway board member Mahesh Kumar and Bansal's nephew Vijay Singla in a Rs 90 lakh bribery case, the railways minister finally quit.

But just a couple of days before the arrests, Bansal was quite confident and had gone after Ashwani Kumar in a meeting of senior Congress leaders called by the law minister. "I am a collateral damage," Ashwani Kumar had told the huddle and sought better defence for him from the party.

"You are not a collateral damage. You are the main damage," quipped all the leaders, including Bansal, one by one in the meeting.

Future is quite unpredictable and so was the case with Bansal too, who also became the "main damage" for the party. But his case bewildered many within the Congress, as Bansal had apparently an image of a clean man.

Trying to understand Bansal's fall, one Cabinet minister took refuse in the dark underbelly of the Chandigarh man's quite large family. "Bansal has six sisters and as many brothers-in-law and going by an average of three off-springs, he must have had 21 nephews, beside his son. Also, his being a typical Punjabi baniya family, which is usually close knit, staying together, he was taken for a ride," proffered the minister in his defence.

Bansal is said to have told a reporter a couple of days back that "haramzadon ne 30 saal ka career barbaad kar diya (buggers destroyed my 30 years of political career)". Clearly, the political class will take a hard lesson to keep a close eye on the deeds of their relatives.

Conspiracy theory

The Punjabi quartet of Pawan Kumar Bansal, Ashwani Kumar, Kapil Sabbal and Manish Tiwari have been the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's men. There had been perceptibly corrupt ministers in railways earlier too, but the CBI had never dared to spread its dragnet on a Union minister. Out of four Chandigarh men, two have gone, after the Congress and its chief Sonia Gandhi cracked the whip.

Who benefits the most with the weakening of the Prime Minister? It's none other than the Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who knows in his heart that the Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalitha would not allow him to win the next Lok Sabha elections. It's the right time for Chidambaram to strike and position himself as the saviour of the sinking UPA ship.

Disclaimer: Journalists are infected with conspiracy theory virus too often. But enjoy the Pipli Live on news channels in the meantime.

Rahul's Vasundhara nightmare

Exultation is granted to foot soldiers of political parties to unwind. In less than an hour of beginning of counting of votes in Karnataka, 24, Akbar Road office of the Congress woke up to the sound of crackers. The Karnataka verdict even though outcome was known before the Election Commission set the date for votes gives the Congress a little sleep to dream. 

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been quick to credit Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for Karanataka victory. "He (Rahul) took a leading role in the campaigning and worked hard," Singh tweeted. The man in light blue turban is clearly wishing Rahul Gandhi, the boy not keen to become a man, a sweet dream before the little sleep.

However, the quality of dream depends on the longevity of sleep. Still, the dream will set in, with the government rushing in with the Rs 1,26,000 crore (annual cost) Food Security Bill. But little while later, Vasundhara Raje Scindia is set to terrorize the Congress, while turning the dream into a nightmare.

The Haryana and Rajsthan chief ministers Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Ashok Gehlot respectively are said to have rolled the red carpet to the son-in-law of 10, Janpath, Robert Vadra, in his land grabbing spree. The scale of land grabbing in Rajsthan is said to be of much larger scale than Haryana.

"The Congress is set to lose Rajsthan. Scindia will make public all documents to implicate Vadra. Therefore, the Congress to avoid the Scindia trap will go for Lok Sabha elections along with state elections or before that this year," said a senior Congress leader.

Indeed, the Karnataka verdict has shown that the corruption is now a major issue. A lot of credit must go to India's Julian Assange, Arvind Kejriwal. The NGO man, that Kejriwal is, would hunt in pack once the Vadra land deals roll out from Rajsthan. 

Additionally, the Jharkhand will go to polls during rains. The Congress has been out of the political ring in this state for quite a long time. Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh are test cases of BJP's good governance. 

Arguably, the "sweet dream" most likely has all the recipe to turn into horrendous nightmare by the time the first cold wind blows down from the Himalaya. 

So, the foot soldiers can enjoy their exultation. But the crowd on the street is being joined by Prime Minister and all, which should be taken for much needed relief after prolonged deprivation of electoral success. 

Not long ago, Rahul Gandhi and his mother, Sonia Gandhi, had gone to Gujrat during election campaign to register their presence. The same was done by Narendra Modi in Karnataka. For Manmohan Singh, the Karnatka verdict is "rejection of the BJP ideology", which was, however, not stated by Modi for the Congress.  

But, Karnataka verdict does call for soul searching even if claim of “rejection of ideology” amounts to Manmohan Singh aiming to hit the moon with his turban.

First and foremost is the harakiri of the RSS in installing the man who did not know the gas in him – Nitin Gadkari – as the BJP president. He came along as a petty trader and went off as a business man not knowing his art.

But all the while the fat man gave the BJP mortal blows with his dubious deals in Karnataka, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh. In the 2012 UP Assembly elections, a number of BJP stalwarts, some of whom are now general secretaries, were openly supporting the Samajwadi Party.

The RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had begun oxygen transfusion into the BJP with Nitin Gadkari. The BJP ended up with lung infection. The party is in a curative phase now. It has to take some hard pills. The RSS should first admit that it’s not a doctor specialising in lung infection. And, it should admit that with modest humility.

The doctor is neither the man in his eighties – Lal Krishna Advani. 

As of now there is only one who can cure the BJP of its defeatist ailment. He is from the land from where Advani had begun his Somnath to Ayodhya Rath Yatra, propelling him into the thick of Indian politics.  

Human life begins like sun rise and sets thereafter. Advani is walking into his sun set. The earlier he declares the sun rise for his deserving heir, the better it would be for the BJP to keep the dark cloud away.

The Congress can enjoy a little sleep till then.

Worshiping poverty

There is much to gain from poverty. In contrast to Mao's war cry in China that "power flows from the barrel of the gun", the political power in India flows from the hungry mouths. There is no better shortcut in politics than being seen fighting the war against poverty.

But in the last 66 years, the war against poverty has only added more poor to the population. This has worked well for those who reap political dividend out of the growing numbers of poor. Those concerned with questions of their bellies in variably would not ask larger questions of erosion of their collective prospect.

Therefore, it's understandable why the Sonia Gandhi lead Congress, with drum-beater Rahul Gandhi, and the "famed" economist Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are keen to thrust Food Security Act at a cost of Rs 1,30,000 crore a year on the nation. The China model of growth is naturally brushed aside by the priests of poverty temple with one single broom called "democracy with socialism". Therefore, any comparison with China is largely "thinking aloud" or day-dreaming by the "idle" academician.. 

Add another Rs 30,000 crore annually (Rs 1,50,000 crore, $ 38 billion, so far in six years) sucked in by Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), which would imply that India commits over Rs 1,60,000 crore ($ 40 billion) annually in the political battle against poverty. Further add another Rs 60,000 crore ($ 15 billion), which the banks let go in bearing the cost of the loan waiver of the farmers' debts, which was pushed through to buy votes for the UPA-I. The nationalized banks had taken a body blow from this act so much so that the government had to infuse more capital into them later.   

Incidentally, projects worth Rs 1,50,000 crores ($ 38 billion) of the railways are stuck for want of funds. No wonder the railways minister Pawan Kumar Bansal yawns when he speaks on the subject of bullet trains to an audience, which is largely foreign.

He knows the money in India goes to perpetuate poverty and not to build the nation. Over Rs two lakh crore ($50 billion ) is locked into unproductive activities essentially designed to "buy" votes. They create their own web wherein the life-breath of India struggles for oxygen (investment).

Admittedly, the bullet trains would not bring the poor out of their poverty curse but the infrastructure development does lift a lot of people out of the vicious cycle. 

Thirteen years ago former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his birth day, 25th December, launched the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY). A large number of states have actually

A PMGSY road in the Puri district of Odisha which brought
in apartments amid paddy fields, while helping the villagers
to engage in a number of economic activities like
poultry farms, etc. 

been able to make remarkable changes in the lives of the poor who now engage in gainful employments through a host of economic activities.

If the rural road connectivity can give such windfall to the people in villages, one may imagine what could be the spin off if large projects are executed without waiting for years for the World Bank and Japan to sanction loans.

No wonder India's famed growth is now tottering at fiver per cent rate. "If India has to grow at eight per cent rate, the railways will have to grow at 11 per cent, which is currently three per cent. The funds have to be pumped into the railways infrastructure. It's not just desirable but unavoidable," said Mr V. K. Gupta, Managing Director, Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC).

But the money is locked in activities which buy votes. "We are going to give you legal rights for foodgrains. We have given you MGNREGA. We waived off Rs 60,000 crore of the farmers' loans," Rahul Gandhi tirelessly reminds his audience everywhere; be it Karnataka or Uttar Pradesh or Bihar.

The government would like people to believe that Food Security Bill, which would cover 67 per cent of India's population, would ensure a savings of an average Rs 4,400 in the hands of the poor, which would consequently be spent in their additional consumption.  This would spur demand!

But the government avoids mentioning that by sucking 62 million tonnes of the foodgrains out of the market, the massive price spiral and the collateral damage in inflation could starve the very engine of the growth in the end. The savings of Rs 4,400 in one hand would be outmatched by erosion of a minimum Rs 10,000 from another hand, who would not spend on their demands. So, the demand may not be spurred but spiked.

For the last four years, the high inflation has baffled all. It has left the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) clueless, while drying up credit for businesses to expand and in the end bringing down the Indian economy to its feet.

One is compelled to believe the maxim that "speak as if your audience consists of idiots"; and such speakers apparently abound in the UPA dispensation.

The Bihar leader Lalu Prasad Yadav was shocked to find the Tughlaq Road, where he resides in Delhi, lined up on both sides by the SUVs on which the Sarpanch and Mukhiya (village headmen) lined up to seek tickets to contest the Assembly elections recently. 

The MGNREGA helped the petty politicians in amassing wealth. It's not confined to Bihar but is a feature of India.  In a recently held conference of the Panchayati Raj at Vigyan Bhavan, the Union ministers kept staring at rural women leaders. It was not for lust but for the fact that the rural women leaders were loaded with heavy gold jewellery. "That's what the MGNREGA has done," quipped one Union minister, with lips pressed hard against each other to stifle a laughter at the state of India's policy making.

Politics in India demands "quick-fixes". It does not matter if such "quick-fixes"further fortify the temple of poverty. The analogy of the head of the ruling party being the chief priest of the temple of poverty and her son being the conch-blower may not be far off the reality.

Habits die hard and the Congress leaders would like to continue worshiping poverty in place of commissioning programmes, which can actually take out the poor from the vicious cycle of poverty. 

The power truly flows from the empty stomach of the poor.