Dynastic politics is deep rooted

 

VIEWPOINT

AMITABH SHUKLA

Dynasty and politics have gradually become natural bedfellows in the country. This is what we have seen in the last few years. Rahul Gandhi’s rise to the Number two slot in the Congress is the natural process of the malaise which has been set into motion by not only his party but a host of other regional parties in the country.

Except perhaps a handful of regional players, none of the other parties in the country can afford to criticise the rise of Rahul as they too are beset with the problem of dynastic politics and just cannot look beyond the sons of the main leaders. If you traverse the length of the country from Kashmir to Kanya Kumari, you will find a series of dynastic leaders at the helm of either governance or the regional parties. 

Congress is merely the symptom of the disease which runs deep, across political divide and ideology. None of these regional parties have any system in which leadership quality is scrutinized or the leader is chosen from a talent pool which is wide and deep. It is only taking birth in the right family which determines political fate.

In the northern most state of the country—Jammu and Kashmir—it is the father-son duo of Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar who are in control. One is a Union Minister and the other is the chief minister. The chief minister’s grandfather Sheikh Abdullah was the one who made a mark with his leadership qualities, something which continues to be milked by the father-son duo.

Cross over to Punjab. Here, the father-son duo of Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Badal has practically monopolized the entire political space of the Akali Dal. While the father is the chief minister of the state, the son is the Deputy Chief Minister and also the President of the Akali Dal. The older generation of the Akalis has been gradually marginalized and beyond the two, there is hardly any leadership except perhaps Bikram Majithia, brother-in-law of the junior Badal. Nephew of the chief minister, Manpreet Badal was important for a while but when he fell out in the succession plan of the senior Badal, he revolted and formed his own party. “A son is important, not a nephew,” says the saying in the Akali Dal.

Punjab’s neighbor Haryana isn’t any different. Here, the father-son duo of Om Prakash Chautala and Ajay Chautala of the Indian National Lok Dal has been convicted for ten years each for their role in the JBT scam. With hardly any line of leadership in the party, the mantle has now fallen on another son of the jailed leader and former chief minister, Abhey Chautala. It was former Deputy Prime Minister Chaudhary Devi Lal, the father of O P Chautala who started this dynastic tradition which continues in the party without any hitch. State Congress is no different, while Bhupinder Singh Hooda is the chief minister of the state for the last over 8 years, his son Deepinder is being groomed and is presently the MP from Rohtak. The third party in the state – Haryana Janhit Congress also boasts of dynastic politics with Kuldeep Bishnoi taking over the reins of his party after the demise of Chaudhary Bhajan Lal, a former chief minister of the state.

Haryana has two immediate neighbours – Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. In the hill state of Himachal, Prem Kumar Dhumal is the Leader of Opposition and was the chief minister till December 2012. His son Anurag Thakur is an MP from Hamirpur and in the BJP, this is a rare occurrence. There is hardly any other example in the BJP where both father and son have made it big into politics. Virbhadra Singh became the chief minister of the state in December 2012 and is clear that his son Vikramaditya Singh is being groomed now. As the son is only 23-year old, he did not contest but the moment he is 25, the junior Singh could well be either in the state Assembly or Parliament. Vikramaditya was elected as the Indian Youth Congress President of the state under direct elections, a scheme conceptualized by Rahul Gandhi. It is a different matter that the election was set aside after issues of rigging and bogus membership came to limelight.

In Uttar Pradesh, Bahujan Samaj Party remains the only party which is bereft of dynastic politics. Kanshi Ram started the party and never encouraged any family member. Instead, the leadership mantle fell on Mayawati who remained single and can rightfully take a swipe at dynastic politics of her arch rival in the state—Samajwadi Party. The entire family of party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav is in politics with son Akhilesh as the chief minister and daughter-in-law Dimple as an MP. Then there are brothers and nephews, all in prominent positions in the party and government. It seems there is no talent beyond the family for the Yadav patriarch.

Dynastic politics came to Uttarakhand too but the voters here rejected attempts to foist Saket, the son of chief minister Vijay Bahuguna from Tehri constituency in a bye-election. The present chief minister himself is the son of former UP chief minister Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna though he never benefitted from this politically.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of the JD(U) in Bihar has not encouraged his son Nishant in politics but his rival Lalu Prasad made his wife Rabri Devi the chief minister after he was jailed.

West Bengal is relatively free from dynastic politics. With Mamata Banerjee at the helm, Trinamool Congress can rightfully take a swipe at Congress and Rahul Gandhi. Her main opponents in the state, CPI(M) too does not have any tradition of son taking over the mantle from father. Though, Congress still believes in the same tradition in the state as Abhijit Mukherjee fought a bye-election and won narrowly from Jangipur, the seat vacated by his father Pranab Mukherjee when he became the President of the country. 

In Odisha, you have Navin Pattnaik as chief minister who benefitted from the legacy of his father Biju Pattnaik. In Andhra Pradesh, Jagan Mohan Reddy sought the chair of chief minister as a matter of right after the death of his father YSR Reddy. He was denied the post by the Congress leadership, leading to revolt and formation of a separate regional party. The other party in the state TDP too has shades of dynastic politics though for a change it was the son-in-law of NT Rama Rao, Chandra Babu Naidu who inherited or rather snatched the political legacy in a Machiavellian move almost two decades ago.

Like the Akali Dal in Punjab, Shiv Sena of Maharashtra also saw the rejection of the claims of the nephew in favour of the son. The late party supremo Bal Thakre chose his son Uddhav over nephew Raj to continue the dynastic tradition. Now Uddhav has roped in his son Aditya to groom his as a leader. NCP too is not bereft of this as both the daughter and nephew of Union Minister Sharad Pawar are practically the Number 2 and 3 of the party. In Tamil Nadu, it is the extended family of M Karunanidhi which holds forte as the vanguard of dynastic politics. 

So wherever you look, you see dynastic politics all around. Except perhaps BJP and the Left parties, the political outfits have limited talent pool when it comes to leadership. Congress and Rahul Gandhi are only the symptoms of the malaise which runs deep. “Don’t throw stones when you live in a glass house,” a Congress leader said on the criticism after Rahul was made the party Vice President. (January 28, 2013) 

CPI(M) to work for creation of Third force

Amitabh Shukla

New Delhi, April 11

In its bid to create a separate national political space for itself, the CPI (M) on Monday said that it would work for the creation of the third force in national politics away from the Congress and BJP led formations.

Newly appointed General Secretary of the party Prakash Karat hoped that the third force, comprising of secular and democratic parties, would come together under a common minimum programme. "Some of these parties had been with us in the past," he said. Karat was addressing an impressive rally on the conclusion of the 18th Congress of the party at Ramlila Grounds here. He was elected as the general secretary earlier in the day replacing the septuagenarian Harkishan Singh Surjeet.

This was the first Congress of the left party in a Hindi speaking state since its formation indicating the eagerness of the party to spread its base in the cow belt. "We have nine lakh members in our party now," said the general secretary amidst "Lal Salam" from the party workers and cadres who had come from the neighbouring states in large numbers.

Karat said the performance of the Congress lead UPA was assessed in the party Congress. "The ruling party has not implemented policies for workers and farmers as promised," said the general secretary, adding that "basic differences existed between the Congress and the CPI(M) as it was following the capitalist policies". He, however, did not reveal any plan of action against the UPA government. For the party land reforms, improvement of the public distribution system and generation of employment opportunities are the issues on which a sustained movement would be launched in the next few days.

The change of guard in the party, however, did not mean any paradigm shift in the party line. Karat reiterated the party line of opposing the liberal economic policies of the government and said a movement would be launched for an alternative economic policy. On foreign policy too, the general secretary described US as an "imperialist country" and accused it of triggering an arms race in the subcontinent by selling F-16s to both India and Pakistan.

Two chief ministers – Buddhdev Bhattacharya of West Bengal and Manik Sarkar of Tripura addressed the rally. Surjeet and politburo member Sitaram Yechury were the other speakers. Foreign delegates from China, Nepal, Pakistan, Cuba, Vietnam, Korea, Sri Lanka, Brazil, Australia, Vietnam, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Japan, Germany, and Greece amongst other countries too participated in the Congress and the rally. (2005)

BJP blasts Congress

Amitabh Shukla

New Delhi, March 7

Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) President Rajnath Singh on Wednesday came down heavily on the Congress for its “appeasement policy”, price rise and failure to curb terrorism. He said there was a “crisis of confidence” in the people of the country due to the policies of the ruling party.

Singh was speaking at the “Parivartan sabha”, organised by the Delhi unit of the party to motivate and enthuse the workers in the run up to the MCD elections next month. The BJP had assembled top leaders of the party to give lessons to the workers in discipline and how the fortune of the party was on a roll after the victories in the civic polls in UP and Maharashtra and Assembly elections in Punjab and Uttarakhand.

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani was a star attraction for the workers of the party. The entire BJP team from Delhi – state party president Harsh Vardhan, Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha V.K. Malhotra, former CM Sahib Singh Verma, former Union Minister Vijay Goel, amongst others were present in the rally.

Advani referred to 1958 civic polls in the city and said it brought him to the Capital permanently from Rajasthan. He said 1989 was the turning point in the history of the party as the number of MPs rose from 2 to 86. “The same phase has come after the recent victories,” he told the gathering of around 10,000 at the Talkatora Indoor Stadium.

Referring to the Congress President as the “super Prime Minister”, Advani said corruption has become predominant and the party is responsible for it. He also underlined the importance of discipline for the elections and gave a stern warning saying that the party will not tolerate it in any form.

Advani’s speech was not hard hitting, however, Rajnath Singh was to the point in espousing the issues on which the BJP will hit the poll mode. “We brought POTA but they repealed it without any alternative law. This has only helped the cause of the terrorists,” he said. On the Prime Minister’s statement that the Muslims have the first right on the resources, Singh said: “Only due to such people, the country was divided in 1947. We do politics based on justice and humanity, they do it on the basis of caste and religion”.

Singh thundered: “We will not allow reservations on the basis of religion”. The Muslims in the gathering, hankering for the BJP tickets, applauded. “See, the Muslim brothers too are with us,” he added.

The BJP president urged the party workers to get the majority in the civic polls. “If we win this election, no power in earth can prevent us from occupying the seat of power in New Delhi in the 2009 elections,” he said amidst sloganeering. (2007)

Haryana stares at ‘political tsunami’

Amitabh Shukla / Chandigarh

The 10-year sentence awarded to Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) chief Om Prakash Chautala and his son Ajay Chautala for corruption is set to trigger a political upheaval in Haryana and change the existing political equations.

While supporters of the jailed leader claim that there would be a “political tsunami” in the state which will blow away the Congress, the ruling party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) combine find little merit in the statements saying that the days of INLD in the state are over.

With the sentence, both O P Chautala and his son Ajay stand debarred from contesting either the 2014 Lok Sabha elections or the Assembly elections later in the same year. Unless a superior court discharges them and pronounces them “not guilty” before the elections, the political career of the 78-year old senior Chautala is as good as finished. His other son Abhey does not have the political mettle to consolidate the primarily Jat support base of the INLD, the way his father and brother and before that Chaudhary Devi Lal did effectively. Moreover, Abhey himself is embroiled in an ongoing Disproportionate Assets case, being probed by the CBI.

Congress has already started the damage control exercise and also an attempt to dispel the feeling amongst a section of the people of the state that the CBI was used by the party to finish off Chautala politically. The reaction from the Congress camp has been rather muted. “No one is above law. The CBI has acted as per the directions of the Supreme Court after a private complaint and not on the directions of the Congress,” AICC General Secretary in-charge of the state, BK Hariprasad said. State chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda merely said, “Law has taken its course”. He said the enquiry was initiated during the reign of NDA and there are options in law for appeal.

Abhey Chautala, however, alleged that there was “a conspiracy between CBI and Congress” and launched a scathing attack on the ruling party. “Congress has always misused the CBI. We have the examples of Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati, Jagan Mohan Reddy…Congress and the CBI has conspired to defame us. We will move the superior courts,” he said.

The judgement and the 10-year jail term to the Chautala duo has obviously come as a shot in the arm for the fledgling BJP-HJC alliance in the state. In the run-up to the 2009 Assembly polls, BJP had repeatedly spurned offers from the INLD to enter into an alliance with the party for the polls and fought separately. It helped Congress to return to power. BJP subsequently entered into an alliance with the Kuldeep Bishnoi led HJC to cement a non-Jat political platform, something which Bhajan Lal did successfully for over two decades.

Now with the opposition space practically vacated by INLD by default in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, BJP-HJC alliance has got the necessary ammunition to take on the Hooda government. The two have already decided on seat adjustments for the next Lok Sabha elections (BJP- 8, HJC-2) and the Assembly elections (45 each) and an aggressive campaign to increase support base is now on the cards.

“The arrest and conviction is a positive step for democracy in the country. No one is above law,” BJP in-charge of Haryana, Dr Harsh Vardhan said. He, however, said that there are still hundreds of corrupt politicians in the country and the Congress government should also ensure that their own ministers and allies go to jail. The BJP leader said that it was the duty of the government to prove that it was not misusing CBI for political purposes as is the belief of a large section of people. Asked whether the party felt elated as the opposition space has been vacated by default, Harsh Vardhan claimed, “After the formation of the BJP-HJC alliance, the support base has increased tremendously as people are fed up with the successive corrupt regimes in Haryana”.

An elated BJP’s alliance partner and HJC chief Kuldeep Bishnoi said the punishment will affect the politics of the country. “No one will now afford to indulge in corruption,” he said, adding that the fate of INLD leaders would be before them.

As there is hardly any line of leadership left in the INLD with Abhey Chautala also under CBI scanner, party sources said that they would appeal against the order immediately and use all legal channels so that the party supremo is absolved of all charges before the next elections. (January 23, 2012) 

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/chandigarh/123751-haryana-stares-at-political-tsunami.html

Punjab coffers bank on booze lovers

A fortnight ago, Navjot Kaur Sidhu, BJP MLA from Amritsar, asked the Parkash Singh Badal Government in Punjab to declare it a “dry State” like Gujarat, the Government was amused and so were the booze lovers. They wondered how such a statement could even be thought about in a State where liquor has gradually become a part of life of almost two-thirds Punjabis and for a majority of them, an evening bereft of booze cannot even be thought of.

Sidhu wears several hats as a crusader, a doctor, Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) in the Badal Government and also the wife of cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Sidhu. But she failed to get support from anyone in the Government.

The disdain for Sidhu’s demand in the Government is understandable. For the cash-strapped Punjab Government, excise from liquor is one of the most important components of its revenue and the State Government heavily banks on the booze lovers to swell its coffers. It contributes over 12 per cent of the income of the Government.

The target of the State Government is `3,638.40 crore for 2012-13, the financial year ending in March this year. The figure was `3,068.40 crore for 2011-12. A year back in 2010-11, the amount was `2,373.07 crore. The figures of three years show that there has been a continuous increase in the revenues from sale of Bacchus. If we take 2005-06 as the base year, the revenue was `1,568.16 crore, indicating that in six years, the income has more than doubled. It is one of the few trades where there is a captive market and profit is guaranteed. Records suggest that per capita consumption of liquor in Punjab shot up from 2.518 proof litre (PL) in 2005-06 to 4.009 PL in 2010-11, up by 59.2 per cent. Official estimates say that it would be over 5.5 proof litre by the end of the current financial year.

Punjab presently has 7,900 liquor vends in the State in which 5,400 are for country liquor shops and 2,500 vends for IMFL, quite a few of them on the highways which has led to the serious problem of drunk driving and deaths in road accidents. The figure of vends has remained unchanged for the last two years. Though the number of vends was not increased in the Excise Policy of the State Government in March last year, but liquor quota was raised by 5.5 per cent to 8.98 crore proof litres for Punjab Made Liquor (PML) and 4.36 crore Proof litres for IMFL.

In addition, there is a thriving trade of illicit liquor and small scale distilleries in rural areas. A poignant reminder was the death of 18 poor people in a hooch tragedy in the border district of Gurdaspur in August last year. Interestingly, a woman was amongst half a dozen arrests made in this connection. The families of the victims alleged political patronage was the reason for the sale of hooch. In 2010 also, 15 people had died in the neighbouring Hoshiarpur district and they too had bought hooch from Gurdaspur. Ask anyone in rural Punjab, in the border areas, where you can get cheap liquor and they will tell you the address. It is quite rampant.

To give a humane touch to the revenues and perhaps to camouflage the increasing number of cases of liver disorder and liver related deaths in the state hospitals, an amount of `105 crore out of the total excise collections have been kept in a Dedicated Fund for Education and Sports Departments. It is a different matter that this is followed more in breach than in compliance.

In the State where liquor vends open at 7 am in the morning, much before a grocery shop or a chemist opens or a doctor comes to the hospital, Government follows a policy of allotment of liquor vends through draw of lots. Though most of these go to politicians and consortium of liquor barons like Ponty Chadha in the past, the draw of lots are held in the presence of applicants, public and the Deputy Commissioners of the Districts. Officials admit that there are few people in the trade and it is “monopolistic” in nature even though the facade of “transparency” is maintained.

In fact, after Ponty Chadha died, his liquor factory in Gurdaspur district was sealed by the Punjab Pollution Control Board, something which they dared not to do when he was alive. Not long ago, Chadha controlled a significant business in liquor in the State before new players arrived on the scene.

The official timings of the liquor shops in Punjab is 7 am to 11 pm. But ask those who swear by their drink and they would vouch for the fact that they can get it round the clock without any hitch. The liquor shops could “officially” close by 11 pm but from under the shutter of several shops you can purchase your favourite brand anytime after that. The liquor vends’ employees work in multiple shifts and the night shift operator gets in action after the official timings are over. Even on the official dry days, the shops open, albeit at 5 pm, much before the evenings set in and it is time for a drink. Prices of liquor in Punjab too are competitive, aimed to attract more people, get new converts and also to retain the loyal customers.

Coming back to Navjot Kaur Sidhu, CPS (Health) who says alcohol is a drug and need to be rooted out. “The only reason why the government is promoting sale of alcoholic drinks is to raise money. But I fail to understand why revenue from alcohol is so important,” she said, adding, “If a State like Gujarat could be dry and still raise enough revenue to become one of the fastest developing states in the country, why could not Punjab do the same?” she said adding that a “beginning should be made by declaring Amritsar as a dry district”. As of now, there are no takers in Punjab for the theory of the first-time MLA. (January 22, 2013)

http://www.dailypioneer.com/home/online-channel/360-todays-newspaper/123471-punjab-coffers-bank-on-booze-lovers.html

Rahul versus Modi: Battle line 2014

VIEWPOINT

AMITABH SHUKLA

The first time Congress talked about a “bigger role” for Rahul Gandhi was in July 2012. The test balloon was successfully floated then and when the party saw that there is hardly any uncharitable reaction in the six months following the announcement, he was formally appointed as Vice President and crowned Number 2 in the Chintan Shivir at Jaipur. 

Obviously, the people of the country and even the Congress supporters would have liked to have more of Rahul’s views in the intervening period. But surprisingly, the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty preferred to keep to himself all this while and no one for sure knows his views on issues which plagued the country in 2012. Obviously, he knew that his performance as a public speaker, his views on the problems facing the country or his role as a Parliamentarian and also as AICC General Secretary was not on scrutiny. Congress cannot do without a Gandhi and no one knows it better that Rahul himself, the fifth generation leader of the party.

Everyone in his family, right from Moti Lal Nehru, great grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru, Grandmother Indira Gandhi, father Rajiv Gandhi and mother Sonia Gandhi have been Congress Presidents and it is a matter of time that he too is elevated to the position. In that case, Sonia Gandhi could become the patron of the party or the nomenclature of a suitable post could be decided by the top echelons of the party. I do not remember any such political family in any part of the world, whose five successive generations led the party. This happened only in the time when dynasties of kings, emperors and Nawabs ruled kingdoms and principalities in the bygone era. It needs an empirical study to find out why Congress cannot do without a Gandhi and why people of the country keep voting for one. I am not an expert on that.

The Congress Working Committee, the highest decision making body of the party, simply did what was expected of it. The pitch was raised, ground prepared and it waited for an appropriate moment to make the announcement. The Chintan Shivir at Jaipur was the best possible opportunity as the General elections of 2014 are a little over a year away and already there is a clamour within a section of the party that this should be advanced to time it with the Assembly elections in November-December 2013 to keep the momentum of the announcement going.

Interestingly, there are strong views on Rahul Gandhi just like Narendra Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat. On behalf of their parties, the two leaders are likely to be the Prime Ministerial candidates and would challenge each other in the big political bout. While Gandhi has benefitted from his surname, his family and dynastic politics of Congress and leadership of the party was practically vested in him without even working for it, Modi took the long and arduous route – from the RSS to the organization in BJP and finally as the chief minister of a state, winning it three consecutive times on his own strength. Rahul, on the other hand, avoided those states where the chances of the party were bleak like Punjab and Gujarat and placed money on losing cause like Uttar Pradesh and earlier Bihar.

So the battle line has been drawn even though the BJP could take some time to make a formal announcement. It would be Rahul versus Modi for the top job of the country in 2014 or even by the end of 2013 if polls are held six months before the schedule. While Modi will come in the battlefield with three consecutive wins in Gujarat, the tag of a popular chief minister and the head of an administration who gave a definite direction to the state, Gandhi will begin on a clean slate on this front. Even the 2009 victory of the Congress is not credited to him though he addressed a series of meetings all over the country and there is little to show his credentials as an election winning mascot.

But as compared to his father Rajiv Gandhi, what goes in favour of Rahul is the fact that he has worked in the party in various capacities for the last nine years ever since he joined politics and contested the Lok Sabha polls in 2004. His father was drafted into politics after the death of Sanjay Gandhi and the assassination of Indira Gandhi forced him to become the Prime Minister in 1984. This inexperience proved expensive as despite having the largest ever mandate in the country (4/5th), a feat which remains unsurpassed, Congress under Rajiv lost the battle in 1989. Contrarily, Rahul is now a two-time MP, has a varied experience as AICC General Secretary in-charge of NSUI and Youth Congress, brought democratization in these organizations, worked NGO style in his constituency and seen politics at close quarters, identifying foes and friends within the party and outside.

As an observer of Congress politics for a while, I find the situation very interesting at this stage. Congress does not have a tradition of announcing the prime ministerial candidate before elections. Will it announce the name of Gandhi anytime now and break the tradition? It will risk the course of its politics if it does so as the expectations from Rahul would be too high and given his report card to date, this may not inspire enough confidence to return to power for the third time in a row.

Then, what would happen to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh? The slot in Rashtrapati Bhavan has been filled for the next four and a half years. Perhaps, he may “retire” from politics citing age and health reasons. Then, there is a section which is promoting the name of P Chidambaram for the top slot. Sonia Gandhi refused to be the Prime Minister of the country and chose Manmohan Singh for the job. As Rahul has been reluctant to accept a ministerial responsibility all this while, will Chidambaram, A K Antony or Digvijay Singh be the Manmohan Singh of Rahul Gandhi so that he continues to control both the party and the government which his mother does?

Also, in the corridors of power – from Raisina Hills to 24 Akbar Road – there is talk in a section of the party that Rahul should be the Prime Minister straight away so that he gets at least one year of experience before the main battle and announce a series of populist measures. To support their theory, they say that future of the party lies in the youth and not an octogenarian like the present Prime Minister. They point out what if the party loses power in the next elections and Rahul languishes as the Leader of Opposition till 2019.

The debate within the party and outside will only get shriller as the elections approach. But what seems to be clear is that fact that the next elections could be between two personalities – Rahul and Modi – with their respective parties assuming a secondary role. (January 21, 2013) 

Ups and downs fail to deter Hooda

Amitabh Shukla / Chandigarh

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is no stranger to the ups and downs of politics and governance. But what goes in his favour is that he has emerged unscathed from the crises in recent months and has only strengthened his hold in the state politics. Deft political maneuvering and timely administrative decisions has added to his political clout.

On the day of Lohri followed by Makar Sankranti, what contributed to the “feel good” factor in Haryana was the increase in MSP of sugar and the order of Haryana Speaker Kuldeep Sharma justifying the merger of 5 Haryana Janhit Congress with the Congress after the 2009 Assembly polls.

But not long ago, the party was in a crisis after it lost the high profile Hissar Lok Sabha constituency in 2010 in which the entire Hooda administration had burnt midnight oil. But their efforts had come to a naught as the Congress candidate could not even save his security deposit. Not only Congress but even Hooda lost his face.

A series of rape cases rocked Haryana last year in September and October forcing party President Sonia Gandhi to visit a rape victim’s family.  This was followed by Arvind Kejriwal’s expose on the questionable land dealings of Gandhi’s son Robert Vadra in the National Capital Region. The continuous barbs of IAS officer Ashok Khemka added to the woes of the state government.

Soon several farmers organisation protesting the setting up of a nuclear power plant in Fatehabad intensified their agitation and refused to take compensation, jeopardizing the ambitious project. Then members of the Jat community came together, launched an agitation and threatened to block the national Capital demanding OBC reservations. Sugarcane farmers followed suit and staged protests all over demanding higher Minimum Support Price.

A plethora of issues troubled the government continuously, many of those required quick response. Hooda not only defused the crisis but in some cases even nipped the problem in the bud. Now, even some of the opponents of the chief minister have come around and privately admit that at this juncture, they hardly have any major issue to corner the government in the next Assembly session.

When the protest of sugarcane farmers was gathering steam and their agitation had the potential to bring trouble, Hooda simply accepted their demand and increased the MSP by Rs 45 per quintal, a good 20 per cent hike. This immediately endeared him to the protestors as their grouse was addressed.

Giving OBC status and reservation to the dominant Jat community was much more complex. A Commission to look into the matter was sitting on the report for a while and when the community threatened agitation demanding reservation with the Khaps backing them, Hooda again brought out the report of the commission. His Cabinet recommended OBC status to the Jats, recommended 10 per cent reservation and as the matter pertained to the Centre, lobbed the ball in the court of the central government. Now, when any member of the Jat community asks about it, the government simply says that everything has been done from the state government and efforts are on to persuade the Centre to bring the Jats in the central list to get benefits of reservation in jobs and educational institutions.

Last year when a series of rape cases in the state hogged the limelight, making his position jittery and forcing Gandhi to visit the state, Hooda took a series of administrative steps. These included setting up of women police stations, special helpline numbers manned by lady police officials, cracking the whip on the police to solve the cases, giving district postings to women IAS and IPS etc. Rapes still took place, but it was no longer reported prominently in the media as the government showed seriousness and intent to tackle the issue.

Land compensation for the Fatehabad nuclear plant too was done in a transparent manner with an enhanced rate and fast pace. So much so that some farmers who got compensation even persuaded those protesting that it was better to take compensation and get other benefits of the state government rather than protest.

The Robert Vadra land dealings too have been dealt with administratively. Committee of officials was appointed, giving the son-in-law of Gandhi a clean chit. There is hardly a murmur on the issue, the only exception being Khemka who had cancelled the mutation of the Vadra-DLF deal.

Politically, after the defeat of Hisar, Hooda recouped in a short span and won Ratia assembly by-election for the party, a seat which was the bastion of the opposition for decades. Recently, he has managed to soften the barbs of his rivals in the state unit – Union Minister Kumari Selja, AICC General Secretary Chaudhary Birender Singh and Capt Ajay Singh Yadav who is in his Cabinet. He has a close confidante, Phool Singh Mullana as the PCC chief and a suave and soft spoken B K Hariprasad as the AICC General Secretary in-charge of the state. Nothing could have been better for Hooda in his second term as chief minister as is the situation now. (January 15, 2013)
http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/chandigarh/122165-ups-and-downs-fail-to-deter-hooda-govt-.html

Moga set to be a watershed in Punjab politics

  

VIEWPOINT 

AMITABH SHUKLA

No bye-election that too of an assembly seat, can acquire such an important political space as the Moga by- poll in Punjab has done.  While the down and out Congress sees it as a platform for its political revival in the state in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, for the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP combine, the seat is important as it has been losing the grip in the state after returning to power in March last year.

The two-time sitting Congress legislator Joginder Pal Jain resigned from the Congress and the Assembly, necessitating a bye-election, scheduled for February 23.  Now Jain would contest from his new party SAD while the entire faction ridden Congress in the state has for the first time in quite some time united to “teach a lesson” to the defector MLA.

The political aspirations of several Congress legislators went topsy-turvy in March last year when the party failed to return to power in a closely fought contest. Punjab People’s Party led by Manpreet Badal walked away with some of the anti-incumbency votes which otherwise would have gone to the Congress, proving extremely costly to the Congress.

Given the bipolar nature of state politics where every incumbent government was being voted out of power for over four decades, the victory of the Akali Dal dashed the hopes of several Congress MLAs who wanted their place in the sun after being in opposition for five years. Now, almost a year after the assembly polls and when the next polls are four years away, several Congress leaders are feeling restless. Clearly Jain was amongst them and broke away from the party at the first opportunity when he was promised “suitable reward”. Several leaders at the local level in all the three regions – Malwa, Majha and Doaba—have already bid adieu to the Congress in the months following the victory of the SAD-BJP combine.

For several leaders in Punjab, Akali Dal is not a pariah and they have effortlessly moved from one party to the other. Even state Congress Chief Capt Amarinder Singh was in the Akali Dal for quite some time and just before the assembly polls last year; his brother Malwinder Singh too joined the party led by the Badals though he remained disgruntled even in his new party. Jain too moved from Akali Dal to the Congress and vice versa seamlessly over a period of time in his political career.

Moga by-poll comes at a time when the SAD-BJP is plagued with several issues and is battling internal contradictions as well. The younger generation of the party led by Sukhbir Singh Badal and his brother-in-law Bikram Majithia cannot have complete control on the apparatus of the government and the party as the towering figure of the senior Badal still overshadows them. A section of the youth leaders in Akali Dal wanted the junior Badal in the top slot, something which happened in Uttar Pradesh when Mulayam Singh Yadav brought a generational shift and got his son Akhilesh as the Chief Minister.  They still nurse the ambitions. In the recent meeting of the NRI’s, the senior Badal brought the issue in the limelight when he gave a dressing down to Majithia and brought into sharp focus the generation gap and the difference in approach to run the government and the party.

Then, there is a feeling that the state government has lost the plot and some of the leaders have become arrogant after being voted for the second time in a row. This led to a series of incidents where the Akali leaders at the local level indulged in activities which eroded the feel good factor. The killing of an ASI in Amritsar, the thrashing of a senior police officer in Ludhiana, the rape incident of Faridkot –all had the involvement of youth Akali Dal office-bearers and those closely aligned with the ruling dispensation in Punjab.

Even as the Akali Dal is battling its own internal dynamics, the Congress too faced a series of crises after the defeat in assembly polls. There was a shrill campaign by several top leaders to remove Capt Amarinder from the top job in the state Congress. Then the party badly lost the municipal polls of almost all cities, exposing once again that its base in the urban areas is not as strong as it used to be some time ago. This was followed by several desertions; the last high-profile case was that of its sitting legislator from Moga which has shaken the party.

PPP, which wants to end the bipolarity of Punjab politics, is losing its relevance at a fast rate so much so that now it has perhaps got reduced to a single person party. Apart from Manpreet, there is hardly anyone with known credentials left in PPP. Almost all of those who deserted the party joined the parent Akali Dal. Manpreet himself flirted with the Congress for a while, wanted an alliance and at least a programme to take on the Akali Dal. Congress simply ignored the overtures.

Moga result would perhaps give a roadmap to the two main parties till the Lok Sabha elections in April-May next year. If the Congress wins Moga despite its legislator joining hands with the rivals, the morale of the party cadres will get a boost. After the loss in assembly polls and bitter infighting amongst the leaders, they have been demoralized and lying low for quite a while now. Already, Congress has shown intent by organizing a rally in Moga and for the first time in recent months, projected a united face with al top leaders present. It is a question of the very survival of the party. It knows that if it loses Moga, there could be more desertions and some of its sitting legislators could take the risk of quitting the party and contesting from the Akali Dal.  

For the Akali Dal, a loss would mean a serious introspection on the way governance has been carried out in the months following their victory. It would also mean that the party needs to have a better coordination amongst the younger generation of leaders and the seniors who were part of numerous morchas in the past. The party would also get a message that poaching would not pay political dividends in the long run.

A loss for the Congress would have disastrous consequences for the party, confirming the steady erosion of its support base before the Lok Sabha Polls. More desertions would follow and it would be a weak party pitted against SAD-BJP in the home state of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

An Akali Dal victory would ensure that its target 2014 is on the right track, people have re-imposed their faith again and the party would monopolise the political space of Punjab for a significantly longer period. (January 14, 2013)   

Delhi Gang Rape: Time to make judiciary and the Police accountable

  

VIEWPOINT 

AMITABH SHUKLA         

In the recent memory, nothing caught the collective imagination of the country like the brutal and violent gang rape and death of the 23-year old girl in Delhi. Protests continue unabated, debates are being carried out in the media, on the social networking sites and every possible platform.

My fear is that the plethora of debates, hundreds of platforms and bringing in a host of issues from women liberation, dowry, bringing down the age for conviction of the juveniles, summary punishment to the accused, chemical castration, etc could lead to a situation where the seriousness of the law makers on the issue would be lost. They would be as confused as the common citizens of the country.

 No one knows who wants what but everyone nevertheless is making a point.  Hundreds and thousands of points have been made on the issue. But very few are talking about the core issues which lead to crime, the certainty of punishment as a deterrent for such brutal crimes, the accountability of the police and the judicial system and the need to overhaul them.

 Even as the candle march protests go on, another hapless woman was raped in Noida and thrown out on the roads, a rape victim committed suicide in Patiala, a police ASI was killed in Amritsar in a bid to protect his daughter from the eve-teasers, a woman had to jump out of a moving train in Bihar to save herself from the eve-teasers.

 All of a sudden, there has been a spurt in reported rape cases throughout the country after the tragedy in Delhi. It seems that the candle light vigils and the protests had not had the desired impact of changing the mindset and creating awareness against the crime.

 My point is simple. No amount of candle light vigil and protest would prevent crimes of this nature. In fact, in a recent incident in Chandigarh, a woman protestor herself became a victim of molestation even though her friends caught the culprit and thrashed him.

 One has to go deep into the malaise of crime, the criminal justice system and investigations and overhaul them completely. Protests make a point but it doesn’t provide solutions.

 Even if the law provides for Capital punishment for rape, I doubt how many people would be caught, convicted and then hanged. The last hanging which took place in the country was of Mumbai terror convict Ajmal Kasab and before that you will have to take the help of the search engines of Internet to find the right answer.

 Everyone in the country knows that there is death penalty for murder but has it acted as a deterrent and stopped murders in the country. So even if you make changes in the Indian Penal Code and provide for death to the rapists, the heinous crime is not going to stop. The rapists know that first it would be difficult to catch them, then get evidence and finally convict them. There is no certainty of punishment.

 This was the time to bring in a system where there is certainty of punishment. If a rapist knows that there is certain that he would be caught, convicted and sent to jail for the period prescribed in the IPC, I am sure he would think ten times before committing a sexual crime. But has the issue been taken seriously. I am afraid that it hasn’t been. The vacancies in the lower and higher judiciary have existed for decades. No one is bothered. Cases linger on for years and sometimes decades. Why can’t a system be devised wherein a cap is put on the number of days a trial would run and judgment announced.

 In the Delhi gang rape case, the trial would be swift and I am sure given the attention the case has got, the guilty could well get Capital punishment. But this case would be an exception. There are hundreds of rape cases registered in the national Capital alone, trial of which have been going on for months, years and even decades. Has anyone ever thought about that? And why Delhi alone, thousands of rape cases are going on in the lower courts of the country without any logical conclusion. Why can’t the government or the higher judiciary decide once and for all that a rape case has to be decided and judgment pronounced say within 90 days of filing the charge sheet.

 The fear of swift and certain punishment clearly is an answer. Our law makers and higher judiciary will have to think about it seriously. It is now or never. Also, wasn’t it time that changes brought in the police system and it is made an autonomous institution, out of control of the political bosses. In Delhi gang rape case, there was the worst kind of verbal spat between the police controlled by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Delhi government headed by Sheila Dikshit. Even as the girl was fighting for her life, she had to record her statement twice and both the police and the politicians played to the gallery blaming each other for the fiasco. Nothing could be more shameful.

 In 2006, the Supreme Court had issued a series of guidelines for police reforms. These have not been implemented yet. Instead of being independent and autonomous, police continues to be a tool in the hands of the respective state governments and in Delhi, the tool of the MHA. Why can’t the government take steps to professionalize it and let go its control on it. The British had invented this system of policing for a colonial India and here we are, continuing with the system which the colonial master had devised to strengthen and prolong their rule.

 When the friend of the rape victim questions the police theory and says that it was late in reaching the spot and police officials were squabbling under whose jurisdiction the case came, a case is lodged against the channel which shows the interview. You have to grow out of this mindset. Ask any journalist who has seen the functioning of the Delhi Police or a citizen who made a call to the PCR or reported a crime, you will find similar response as the friend of the rape victim got. Professionalizing it and taking it out of control of the political bosses, the way erstwhile colonial masters, the British have done in their own country, is the answer not knee-jerk reaction.

 As the core issues of making the judiciary and police accountable are difficult to implement, various state governments are continuously making one popular announcement after the other. A minister in Haryana says he wants death for rapists, the chief minister of Punjab wants to recruits 5000 women constables, some leader wants to punish the juvenile in Delhi gang rape as an adult. Do not look for short cuts. Please address the issues of judicial and police accountability. Populism would be short lived. Look for the long term measures which can actually help prevent a crime as brutal and violent as the Delhi gang rape. (January 7, 2012) 

Delhi gang rape: Rarest of rare

VIEWPOINT

AMITABH SHUKLA

The death of the Delhi gang rape victim in a Singapore Hospital and the suicide of another such victim in Patiala district of Punjab, has made us hang our heads in shame, brought tears to the eyes and made us think why the Homo Sapiens indulge in acts of bestiality.

Or are these beasts on the prowl in the cities and towns still in the process of evolution and have not yet become Homo Sapiens? Do they have their place in the jungles, away from human civilisation and interaction even though they accidentally acquired two hands and two legs and do not walk on all fours but on their two legs? 

But then these perverts and mentally-physically-emotionally sick individuals would even spoil the serenity of the forests and jungles. No one has ever heard animals perpetrate bestiality on another animal in a forest without reason. Even the carnivorous kill and eat other animals only when they are hungry. That is their normal behavior. They do not kill for fun.

But in the national Capital a few men killed a girl simply for fun because they were out on a joyride on a bus. To call them beasts would be bringing shame to the animal kingdom. They raped the hapless girl and then perpetrated the worst kind of torture one could imagine without any reason. Perhaps her intense pain and cries for help gave them a pleasure. One has to invent words to describe such people because there is nothing there for them in the existing vocabulary. It is too horrifying even to recall the incident as it causes pain and anguish. Any person would know the consequences of his act. They knew that what they were doing with the girl would lead to her death - penetrating a foreign object in her body, hitting her with an iron rod and then throwing her out of the moving bus.

Clearly, what they did was “rarest of the rare”. I may not be a legal expert but this case has all the ingredients of the Supreme Court definition of rarest of rare for giving Capital punishment. I have been a journalist for over a decade and a half now but had never even heard about such an incident ever. If this incident does not come under the category of rarest of rare, then nothing perhaps could. It is similar in nature, in fact much more brutal than the rape incident in which one Dhananjoy Chatterjee was found guilty and hanged a few years ago in Kolkata.

So when the protestors in New Delhi and the rest of the country are calling for awarding death punishment to the perpetrators of the ghastly crime, they are not entirely off the mark. As a citizen, I have my reservations against capital punishment in general but in this case, I simply do not have any argument. I have lost the argument on Capital punishment in this case. Here, the law of the land should be followed to its logical conclusion and from the very beginning the premise of the trial should be the invocation of the clause of “rarest of rare”.

The legal proceedings should be done swiftly so that the potential rapists and killers get the chilling message that they have no place in this society, in the cities and the country. While writing this, I got an SMS from a friend which said that if the victim could be sent to Singapore for “better treatment”, though she lost her battle with life, why the accused can’t be sent to a country which awards instant punishment for “better justice”. Nothing could be more telling - an indictment on the judicial system of the country where delay is the norm. Despite the high octane outburst of anger on the streets and the television studios, the protestors in Delhi and citizens in the rest of the country is still skeptic whether justice would be done at all and wouldn’t be delayed.

The way the protestors were treated, kicked, abused and got water cannons and police batons, are still fresh in memory. They were common students, citizens and activists who wanted to vent their anger against the system in which cases linger on for decades, punishment is a rarity as courts keep on giving one date after the other on the flimsiest of excuse. They needed to be reassured and told that look this is a “rarest of rare case” and what happened to the Mumbai terror accused Ajmal Kasab and before that to Dhananjoy Chatterjee would be repeated in this case.

But the problem is that the Home Minister, other ministers and even bureaucrats and police officials are completely out of sync with the realities which exist today. The Ministers in their 70s simply cannot understand the language of a 20-25 year old and do not even make an attempt to do so.

They just don’t know how to react to the situation where youth are protesting and directed the police to bring in the Standard Operating Procedure prevalent in the British rule in the country before 1947. That was to abuse, kick and baton charge the protestors. Come on, you have to give up this colonial mindset. You are not dealing with your “subjects” or the “ruled”. You are neither the emperor nor the colonial master. You are dealing with your fellow citizens who have sent you to the position where you are in. These very people have sent you to the legislature and it is because of them that you move in beacon fitted vehicles with security personnel in and around you. Making a mockery of the protests and then lip service to the cause is not going to help. Part of the anger is also against this mindset of the ruling politicians.

It was almost the same people who had joined Anna Hazare’s anti-graft movement at Ramlila Maidan last year. The Government then promised to call a session of Parliament and pass the Lok Pal Bill. Entire Parliament discussed the issue and what happened to the Lok Pal Bill. It still lies in limbo. I may or may not agree with the Lok Pal Bill but the entire episode exposed the intentions of the Government. The Government applied techniques of “anger management” then when the youth had joined Anna and now when the same youth wants to know the answers, wants to know why the Government is so cut off from them and wants to know if there is sincerity behind the assertions of ministers. You have to reach out to the youth. You have to engage them and find the way forward together. (December 31, 2012) 

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/chandigarh/119320-delhi-gang-rape-rarest-of-rare.html

 http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/dehradun/119339-delhi-gang-rape-rarest-of-rare.html