Disappointing Monsoon session

VIEWPOINT

AMITABH SHUKLA

Assembly and Parliament sessions are gradually becoming a battleground for scoring brownie political points. Rather than debating burning issues and making laws on the floor of the House, the Opposition and the ruling parties have been trying to score points over each other by shouting at those opposed to them in the TV studios.

Monsoon sessions of Parliament and the Haryana Assembly are a case in point. While the Congress led ruling UPA does not want to climb down from its stated position on the so called Coalgate, the BJP led NDA too does not want to listen to what its opponents are saying. The result is logjam and Parliament has not seen any business.

No one knows what is the truth behind the Coalgate - Whether the opposition is right or the ruling party. No one knows whether the CAG has arrived at the correct figures on the scam as BJP insists or whether additional zeroes have been added to the scam figures and the loss is notional as Congress would like us to believe.

Television studios have become the new debating clubs where the politicians come and engage in a verbal duel – similar to the physical duel which Olympics Silver medal winner Sushil Kumar would do with his opponents on a wrestling mat. The viewers are left gasping for breath and do not know who is speaking the truth. They still cannot take an informed view either way unless they are aligned with one party or the other and have one ideology or the other. None of the viewers, I presume, have become richer with the debates in TV studios as truth is somewhere in between the assertions of the ruling party and those of the opposition. While one side is calling the glass “half full”, the other side is saying that the glass is “half empty”.

What is the way out? Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is not going to resign as the opposition wants. Similarly, the opposition is not going to attend the Parliament session like obedient school students as the ruling coalition wants. I fail to understand, why can’t there be some meeting point where both the groups agree and end the logjam? Will Parliament pass bills with a voice vote without any debate or will the session end sine die without any business? People of the country obviously want answers which are not forthcoming.

The opening day of the Monsoon session of Haryana Assembly was no different from what is happening in both the Houses of Parliament. It had to be adjourned three times in a day without much business. The only time, there was unanimity amongst the opposition and the ruling benches was when obituary references were made. Members from both the Opposition INLD and the ruling Congress jumped into the Well of the House at the slightest pretext to shout at each other and make noise. Both the leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition had to make their statements outside the House rather than on the Floor. Again, important Bills would have to be passed by a voice vote rather than through a debate.

Haryana is face to face with a shortage of rainfall and the possibility of farmer distress. Then there are issues like farmers’ opposition to land acquisition, pros and cons of setting-up of nuclear power plant, violence in the Maruti plant at Manesar, uncertainty in the industries, farmers protest and violence at Rewari and of course the arrest of former minister Gopal Kanda in the Geetika Sharma suicide case. A minister in the Bhupinder Singh Hooda Cabinet, Capt Ajay Singh Yadav has alleged that there is discrimination against southern Haryana. The Opposition can corner the government on this. But is it bothered? All these issues and more await discussion so that the people of the state have an informed opinion on the issues. Ironically, with both the opposition and the ruling party engaged in a slanging match, the real issues take the backseat even as the frivolous ones dominate.

The Monsoon sessions of Punjab assembly along with that of Himachal Pradesh is also slated to begin this week. In Punjab, we hope there is meaningful debate in the session and a consensus reached to find a solution to the ongoing drought in the state. Then, the problem of empty coffers stares the state like never before. Instead of a blame game, people of the state would expect that both the ruling and the opposition parties add meaning to the debate and offer solutions for the cash strapped state. At one point, Punjab was the sporting Capital of the country. Now, sporting talent has simply deserted the state as the youth is in the grip of drug abuse and easy money. Both the ruling SAD-BJP and Congress should ponder over the issue to bring back the sporting glory and end the menace of drugs. Problems in persisting with the paddy-wheat cycle, diversification of agriculture, attracting industries to Punjab, increasing cancer cases and groundwater pollution are the other burning issues which need to be debated and deliberated on. You simply cannot afford to blame each other for the mess in which the state finds itself.

In poll bound Himachal Pradesh, the Monsoon session should not be the one in which both the opposition and the ruling party flex their muscles ahead of the polls and engage merely in verbal battle. Both the parties should use the opportunity to explain to the people what they did in the last five years and what they intend to do if voted to power. The Congress should ideally corner the ruling BJP for its acts of omission and commission and the BJP on the other hand should target the Congress for its numerous failures both at the Centre and in the state. Being the last session of the current House, larger issues may not be debated but both the ruling and the opposition has one last chance to explain to the people why they are better to rule the state. That is how the people of the hill state would have an informed opinion about their parties and their leaders ahead of the polls.

People know the difference between wheat and chaff and it is here that the political parties would have to act responsibly and differently. Congress has to watch out for overconfidence and ridiculing the obvious. BJP would have to watch for repetition of the same political strategy again and again. The year 2014 and the month May is not too far away. (August 27, 2012) 

http://dailypioneer.com/state-editions/dehradun/90300-disappointing-monsoon-session.html

http://dailypioneer.com/state-editions/chandigarh/90320-disappointing-monsoon-session.html

Procrastination rules the roost in Congress

VIEWPOINT

AMITABH SHUKLA

Congress knows the waiting game like no other party. The problem now is that indecision and procrastination has taken over like never before even as ground level political realities and understanding have taken a backseat. No wonder, the base of the party has been shrinking consistently and the tragedy is that the party bosses simply look the other way round. It is like closing your eyes to ward off imminent danger.

In Punjab, state Congress President Captain Amarinder Singh had offered to resign after the shock defeat of the party in the March 2012 assembly polls. Central leaders of the party had officially given him time till the municipal polls. Again, the party suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Akali Dal-BJP in the local body polls but the Captain blamed “rigging” for the defeat and absolved himself of all responsibility. If that were not enough, the party lost by a massive margin in the Dasuya assembly by-polls. Again the logic of “rigging” was put forward and the issue of removal of the Captain has been conveniently put under the carpet.

Many in Punjab Congress believe that retaining Capt Amarinder as the PCC President is helping the Akalis and BJP not only consolidate their vote base but also make inroads into the Congress support base. “The Akali Dal wants the Captain to remain at the helm of the state Congress till the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. They know for sure that this will help them make a clean sweep,” a frustrated Congress leader said. He had made several trips to New Delhi to convince the high command that political leaders presiding over such defeats should be made accountable in a bid to motivate the workers and make then fighting fit again.

Congress leaders sympathetic to the PCC president believe that the Captain is on the edge now and there is no motivation for him to work and resurrect the party once again as the high command has kept him on a notice. They say that if there is a statement from the central leaders that he would head the party till the Lok Sabha elections, the uncertainty would end and the party workers would again start their preparations in right earnest. But that is perhaps too much to expect of the high command – taking a decision either way. More so, when nondescript leaders like Gulchain Singh Charak is the AICC in-charge of the state and no one is bothered about his reports to the headquarters.

Neighbouring Haryana is no different. No one for sure knows when the PCC President Phool Chand Mulana resigned from his post. He resigns at the drop of a hat knowing well that the party won’t take a call on it. Mulana’s term ended long time back and he formally resigned following the humiliating defeat of the Congress in the high profile Hissar Lok Sabha by-polls last year. Poor Mulana does not know when will the high command end his agony and appoint a fresh candidate. For almost a year, the central leadership has been toying with various names for the post but is yet to take a call on the successor of Mulana, who had a rather lackluster tenure so far as the PCC chief in the state.

The party is yet to decide whether it wants a dalit as the PCC chief or a woman.  It is toying with ideas like appointment of a youth, a leader from the upper caste or a combination of a woman who is also a dalit. Having failed to arrive at a decision, the high command has simply decided to pursue “masterly inactivity”.  Even if one considers the logic put forward by some Congress leaders that there is no need for a strong PCC President in a Congress ruled state where the chief minister is the only source of power, one fails to understand why a replacement cannot be found when the person himself is unwilling to do the job.

In poll bound Himachal Pradesh, PCC President Kaul Singh Thakur is on the tenterhooks and does not know for sure what role would he play in the selection of the party candidates for the assembly election. Five-time chief minister Virbhadra Singh is breathing down his neck and trying to persuade the high command to appoint a Working President to have a say in ticket distribution and get party nomination for maximum number of his supporters. The result is there for all to see. The party is in complete shambles and pulling in different directions at a time when it could politically prove suicidal for it.

The three northern states could simply be the symptoms of the disease which the Congress is face to face. It simply does not take a decision unless it becomes absolutely necessary. It has become like a patient who refuses to go to a doctor till his disease becomes incurable.

Take for instance the issue of “bigger role” for Rahul Gandhi in Congress. It was announced with much fanfare over a month ago with Congress leaders falling over each other to welcome the move. But still, no one knows what the bigger role would be - whether it would be a membership of the Congress Core Group or Acting President or Vice President of the party. Since then, the vacancy arising out of the resignation of Pranab Mukherjee has been filled with the limited talent Manmohan Singh has in his Cabinet so there is little possibility now of Gandhi moving in the government. The party bosses and Rahul himself cannot even decide what role the heir apparent has to play in the party or the government. 

The classic case of Congress procrastination could be Mehboob Ali Kaiser, the PCC President of Bihar where the Congress does not even have a handful of supporters in most of the constituencies. Kaiser resigned from the post after the party managed to win only 4 of the 243 seats, its worst performance ever in the state. The party has failed to find a replacement of Kaiser even after two years and the way things are moving it could be another few years before it realizes that it indeed has to have a new state President. But by then, Congress voters would have moved to the other parties.

One can understand the party not taking a decision in Uttar Pradesh where the PCC President Rita Bahuguna Joshi resigned in March following the assembly election defeat. Here, Rahul Gandhi practically headed the campaign and took all important decisions. Removing Bahuguna would have led to fixing responsibility at the doors of Gandhi or the AICC General Secretary of the state Digvijay Singh himself.  So the party has wisely decided to ignore Bahuguna’s resignation. But there is no such compulsion in other states where the rank and file is looking up to the high command to revive the grand old party in their states.(August 20, 2012) 

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/dehradun/88557-procrastination-rules-the-roost-in-congress-.html

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/chandigarh/88382-procrastination-rules-the-roost-in-congress.html

Lifeline Railways: Much to answer

VIEWPOINT

AMITABH SHUKLA

Last week, I had to travel on a short notice and I realized the enormity of the problem at hand. It was next to impossible to get a confirmed railway ticket, there was no bus service for the over 1200 km journey and there were no direct or even indirect flights available for the destination as there was no airport in and around the place I intended to visit.

Then, I thought of driving down to the place, some 1200 kms from Chandigarh. As I was mentally preparing for the drive, one of the persons whom I had talked to earlier, informed me that my Railway ticket could be confirmed through the “Head Office” quota of the railways, meant for those who can pull their strings.

I opened the computer and tried booking a ticket so that the details could be given to an acquaintance in the Railway ministry. The site of IRCTC refused to open and when it eventually did, there was a “time-out error”. Frustrated, I decided that driving down was a better option as compared to the options which I was trying.

Then, I got a phone call from an assistant who informed me that Railway tickets under the Tatkal quota were available in the train which left Chandigarh late in the night. The ticket was bought. It was a different matter that the train which was supposed to leave at 11.15 in the night finally left three hours late making my plan go haywire. But given the shortage, who is bothered about the timings as long as you get a confirmed ticket?

What an exercise it was. I was left wondering what would happen to a common man if he/her has to plan a travel on a short notice of a day or may be a few hours. They will have to get ready to be packed like animals in the general compartment. Mind you, there are laws to prevent cruelty to animals and packing them in a vehicle beyond capacity. There is no such rule in the Railways and it merrily inflicts cruelty to human being day in and day out. The general compartments are filled ten times their capacity and no one books a railway employee for “cruelty to human beings”. At least, I knew a few people and someone helped me in the exercise. Over 99 per cent of the people do not have any such privilege.

Clearly, there is an economy of shortage. This shortage is not in purchasing consumer goods or food items but in the travel sector. In the long distance sector, the government has complete monopoly through railways. Here train tickets are booked four months in advance. I don’t know in this age, how many people can afford to plan their journey four or three months in advance. Try booking a railway ticket in a long distance train in the period around the festivals in October and November. You will be told that the tickets were sold out the moment they were up for sale.

To rake in the moolah in this economy of shortage, now the government itself is in the business of “Black Marketing”. By selling tickets in Tatkal, it simply wants to keep its margins of profit high.  I remember, few years ago - before the days of multiplexes – if you wanted to see a new movie, there were toughies roaming around the theatre who used to sell you movie tickets on a premium. This was called Black marketing and was thriving before the multiplex boom. I have never seen cinema tickets being sold in Black now in cities where the multiplexes exist.

The reason was simple. The availability of tickets and the flexibility of movie timings in the multiplexes sounded the death knell for the species called “Black ticket seller”. The supply has outstripped the demand.

I fail to understand why the Railways could not understand the phenomenon that more and more people would travel for work, leisure, getting treatment, education or simply for the joy which visiting new places bring about. As the economy grows, people travel and here the mandarins of the Railway ministry simply failed the people of the country. They could not visualize 30 years ago that more and more people would travel once the economy grows and failed to lay new tracks to cope up with the traffic or introduce measures which could increase availability of seats as per the demand.

This failure is colossus. Even now, there is no planning to build new tracks and routes to cope up with traffic now or ten and 20 years down the line. Imagine what would happen when twice the number of people who are traveling now, are looking for tickets in the year 2025 and 2030. What will the Railways or the government do then? Leave them to their fate and look the other way round!

I remember, two years ago, in the peak of summer season, I was stranded at Benares Railway station. The train which I intended to board did not even have a place to stand. They were packed in a manner where you cannot even find space to breathe.  In the AC compartment, those having reserved accommodation were on their berths while the rest of the space was occupied by unreserved passengers standing like statues. The Railway Protection Force failed to evict the passengers from the AC compartment who simply pleaded that they had to travel and they had bought tickets for that. The hapless RPF constables let them travel and did not use force to evict the passengers. I can visualize a similar and far worse situation in all the trains if the transport scenario of the country does not improve. And so far, there is no sign of improvement.

After independence, only 20-25 per cent additional railway tracks have been laid in the country even though the number of people traveling has jumped by 3000-5000 per cent. This is a criminal neglect—a neglect which continues unabated.

In the developed countries, no one is bothered about the Railways. You either take a flight or drive down. Here, it will take at least 3 decades to have that kind of vehicle penetration and availability of affordable flights and airports. Even then, the sheer number of people and the increase in population would mean that the Railways would be the main career—30 or 50 years down the line. But is there any preparedness? The answer is simply No. (August 13, 2012) 

End of road for Team Anna

VIEWPOINT
AMITABH SHUKLA

Forcing the government to bring in a Lok Pal Bill, whatever its defects, and making the people of the country take note of rampant corruption, Team Anna is finally battle ready. As the first step of its new political avatar, Team Anna faces two elections – Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat later this year.

Taking a cue from Jai Prakash Narayan who was the father figure of the anti-emergency protests who steadfastly refused to contest elections, Anna Hazare too has decided not to contest and instead provide political direction to the team he heads.

While members of team Anna compare the former army man turned Gandhian and anti-graft crusader with JP and are looking to recreate the same magic, clearly Anna is no JP. Any comparison would be a farce as the situation is not the same and there is no political backing for him. JP could channelize the anger of the people triggered by emergency, unemployment, corruption and the economy of shortage into a mass movement which dislodged Congress from the seat of power in New Delhi for the first time since Independence. Team Anna does not inspire that kind of confidence and there would be few takers for the theory that it could repeat such a show.

JP was practically disowned by the power hungry and warring leaders of the Janata Party even when he was alive. It was a similar situation when Mahatma Gandhi found himself isolated after the country’s freedom and had started a debate on disbanding the Congress to convert it into a social service organization saying its role was over. While Congress leaders perched on seats of power, refused to heed to the Mahatma, so did the warring leaders of Janata Party who betrayed not only JP but also the people of the country as they could not even fulfill the mandate to rule for five years.

Much water has flown down the Ganges since then. Team Anna has already realized that people of the country do not take things for granted. It saw a dwindling crowd support first in Mumbai and then in New Delhi and obviously saw the futility of hitting the streets every now and then on Lok Pal and corruption triggering the decision to form a political party.

With no grassroots structure, minimum resources and dwindling support base, Team Anna would enter the poll arena in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat where elections are scheduled in November. These two elections will be ‘make or break’ for the fledgling political party which is yet to be named.

Interestingly, both Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat have a lot of similarities. Both have practically a two-party system and both are ruled by the BJP. Both the states have some breakaway groups of the BJP – the Himachal Lokhit Party in the hill state and Keshubhai Patel’s new party in the Narendra Modi ruled state.  Team Anna intends to be the fourth or fifth player in this quagmire if at all it contests the polls.

The team hardly has a couple of months to build a structure, spot honest candidates to contest the polls, look into the possibilities of entering into alliance with likeminded parties, find issues to corner both the Congress and BJP and then emerge as a credible alternative to the two seasoned parties.

Talk to any Congress or BJP leader and they are amused about Team Anna entering politics. Team Anna had mocked at politicians during its campaign at Ramlila Maidan last year. The same politicians are now mocking at Team Anna for its decision of becoming one of the 1300 odd parties registered with the Election Commission.

So far, the Team seems to have a single agenda that of Jan Lokpal through which it wants to end corruption. For making any serious bid at power, they will have to come out with their economic policies and take a position on myriad issues ranging from social, educational, farmers’ problem, land acquisition, naxal problem, reservations, etc. to reach out to the people. Nothing is known about the stand of the Team Anna on these issues as so far it has been a single agenda organization.

As Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat go to polls, there would only be a handful who would vote for Lokpal or corruption. People would judge the state governments or their opponents by their performance or non-performance, development, economic growth etc. The performance or lack of it of every candidate would be under the scrutiny of the voters. Caste and regional considerations as usual will play a role. Local and state level issues would dominate the polls and definitely not Lokpal. Corruption would obviously be an issue but the fact is that it has remained an issue for the last few decades and Team Anna cannot bank on it as the sole issue which can get it votes in the polls. Dominating the air waves on television and contesting polls are different ball game altogether. This is what Team Anna would realize as it stares at the two assembly elections this year.   

Now the performance of Team Anna would be judged from the number of votes its candidates get in each of the assembly segments. If the Team manages to open its account in the assembly polls of Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat and gets at least 5 per cent of the popular votes in each of the two states, it may be counted as a political player with potential for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. If it doesn’t and gets 500 to 1000 votes in each of the segment in contests, it will simply fade away to oblivion and few tears would be shed. (August 6, 2012)
http://dailypioneer.com/state-editions/chandigarh/85727-end-of-road-for-team-anna.html
http://dailypioneer.com/state-editions/dehradun/85739-end-of-road-for-team-anna.html