Battle of Delhi: Kiran Bedi vs Arvind Kejriwal

VIEWPOINT

AMITABH SHUKLA

Perhaps one of the most high decibel polls after the Lok Sabha battle is being fought in Delhi, the result of which could have far reaching implications for all the contesting parties. BJP, on a dream run, knows that symbolically Delhi may be a half State but the outcome would suggest consolidation, winning momentum and would herald positive vibes for the crucial Bihar Assembly polls later this year. That perhaps explains why Kiran Bedi was inducted despite having the style and an image of a non-conformist and is being projected as such a good catch by the party when the poll battle is on a feverish pitch.

For the Aam Aadmi Party, it is perhaps now or never. The party has realised that if it doesn’t win Delhi this time round, its cadre would start dwindling and begin desertions towards other parties. It also knows well that the space which Congress has ceded is vacant and it was the opportune time to step into that. Congress is hardly in the picture to present a triangular contest this time round. Its vote base is consistently slipping and in Lok Sabha polls, it failed to take a lead in even one of the 70 Assembly segments.

Though it has brought in Ajay Maken as the leader in Delhi and tried to aggressively counter both its rivals — AAP and BJP, it is not cutting much ice. It will have to do a major overhaul, undertake an image building exercise and needs time to get back the space it has ceded to AAP and the momentum which is with BJP. A section in BJP perhaps thinks that by getting Bedi on board and projecting her as the chief ministerial candidate, it has won half the battle. The way her entry in the party was publicised with party chief Amit Shah, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and who is who of BJP, it is quite clear that if the party comes to power, it won’t look beyond her when it comes to making her the Chief Minister.

Bedi has built her image assiduously over the years. She knows how to communicate and involve the media and people in her causes. She also knows the pulse of the middle class being the first woman IPS officer of the country. But despite the hype, as an IPS officer, her track record has not been bright. That perhaps explains how she didn’t get Delhi Police Commissioner’s job. The disappointment of not becoming the Delhi Police Commissioner is still there with her as she mentioned this in her Press conference when she joined BJP.

Senior journalist Pankaj Vohra, who knows Delhi by the back of his hand and has reported and analysed all aspects of the metropolitan for three and a half decades, wrote a not so charitable article about her listing her failures in successive postings. He says it was her poor track record that came in the way of her becoming the Commissioner of Delhi Police. Only her stint in the United Nations, as DG of Tihar Jail and her winning the Magsaysay award helped her get to where she did in the service.

Vohra says Bedi must be one of the very few IPS officers in the country who has not been awarded the two medals — the Police Medal of Meritorious Service (after 15 years service) and the Police Medal for Distinguished Service (after 21 years), which everyone gets as a matter of routine. He goes on to say that she has had difficulty in completing her tenures anywhere. She has always left her postings under circumstances which would have attracted extreme disciplinary action had Bedi not been a woman and media darling.

According to Vohra, she was in Goa during the CHOGM in the early 1980s and left her post after a disagreement with the Secretary, R&AW and DIB without informing her immediate superior. She was in Mizoram where an agitation erupted because of her and she left for Delhi quietly without informing her boss who discovered to his horror that the operational officer was missing from her post only when he enquired about her the following day. In Delhi, she had a controversial tenure in the West District. As Traffic DCP, she is remembered as “Crane” Bedi, but she had to vacate the position on account of her mishandling of the traffic problem.

As DCP North in 1988, she got into a major problem with Tis Hazari lawyers. A committee headed by Justice DP Wadhwa, then a sitting Judge of the Delhi High Court, passed severe strictures against her. After that, was never allowed to hold a field posting and was never made additional or joint commissioner of either the Range or Traffic. Her stint as Inspector General in Chandigarh was also shortlived when she returned after differences with the administrator.

So given her track record of the past and deserting key responsibilities as an IPS officer, some in the BJP are questioning the merit of bringing Bedi as the chief ministerial candidate. They say that even if she could swing the middle class votes to some extent, most of which is in any case with BJP at this point, she should serve her time in the party and show discipline as a party member for a while before being elevated to a position like the Chief Minister.

AAP is dusting out the track record of Bedi to project her poor record vis-à-vis Arvind Kejriwal, another former civil servant and a colleague of Bedi in the Anna Hazare movement. Kejriwal had a rather short tenure in the Indian Revenue Service and he spent some part of it on Right to Information activism. So in public domain his mistakes are all in the political field ever since he formed AAP and became the Chief Minister and deserted the chair. His rivals in Congress and BJP have described him as a “Naxalite”, a “deserter”, an agitationist who does not know the basics of governance, a person with a single-point agenda, a dictator, the muffler man, so on and so forth.

But no one can accuse Bedi or Kejriwal of corrupt practices either when they were in government service or in social life. Both Bedi and Kejriwal have a lot of similarities. Besides having excellent communication skills, they have a charisma due what many call as “image management”. That perhaps explains why BJP brought in Bedi to counter Kejriwal. Both negate each other well, AAP would find it difficult to attack Bedi, The former IPS officer too would not be able to convincingly attack Kejriwal in electioneering. But the difference would be in the post poll scenario. While Bedi will have to go by the party dictum of the BJP and the rules framed by its bosses, Kejriwal writes his own political rules and is extremely innovative as we have seen over a period of time.

I do not know the reasons why Dr Harsh Vardhan, the soft spoken doctor from Krishna Nagar and Union Minister was dumped as the chief ministerial candidate this time round. He was BJP’s face in 2013 Assembly polls and almost got the party near the half way mark. He was then asked to contest Lok Sabha elections, made Union Health Minister but soon dumped and given an insignificant portfolio. He could have been a good choice but if someone like Jagdish Mukhi or Satish Upadhyay had been projected as chief ministerial candidates versus Kejriwal, the party would have certainly lost in the initial round itself when a build up takes place for polls. Remember, in 2008 polls, BJP projected Vijay Kumar Malhotra as the chief ministerial candidate against Sheila Dikshit and the day the announcement came, party lost the polls.

Clearly the battlelines are drawn in the Kiran Bedi versus Arvind Kejriwal battle. If one scrutinizes the track record of both, it does not inspire great confidence. But then, electoral battles are fought on public perception and on that count, both Bedi and Kejriwal are on an equal footing. This increases the possibility of a real photo finish in the most keenly watched elections after the Lok Sabha polls. (January 19, 2015)

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/dehradun/battle-of-delhi-kiran-bedi-vs-arvind-kejriwal.html 

The snow trail of Himachal Pradesh

VIEWPOINT

AMITABH SHUKLA    

In winters when the people in the plains are shivering due to cold wave, foggy conditions and Sun refusing to come out, I have one simple advice for them— head for the hills. I have a suggestion; take the snow trail of Himachal Pradesh, not far off from the State Capital Shimla.

There could be several other exciting options but for me, hills give what I need— thrill, adventure, a feeling that I can relate to the lofty peaks and above all a sense of belongingness which nothing else can give.

This is what I did to take a short New Year break, drive besides snow clad mountains and also to figure out how off-beat travel rejuvenates the body and the mind. You don’t really have to be adventurous to try this as the weather up in the hills is not only sunny but also relatively warm in the day. Of course, the evenings there are colder than say Chandigarh or Delhi but then, switch on the efficient room heaters, sit on the sofa with whatever you drink— nimbu paani, Brandy, Rum with warm water, plain warm water or nothing at all and you will start feeling warm. Think about the snow all around you, how people of the region enjoy this and how beautiful nature is.

The colors of nature 

I started from Chandigarh on a foggy morning when the visibility was down to around 50 meters. Knowing the hills well by now, I was sure that the visibility would get better and only better. On the Himalayan expressway, fog was there and so were huge trucks, meant to intimidate you. Don’t get intimidated by their size and driving skills of the drivers.

Make your way up slowly and steadily on the beautiful drive from the Pijnore crossing to Parwanoo. The well-crafted road looks like a poet’s dream. Carved out of fragile mountains on the Shivalik foothills, I am sure if you spend an hour here just gazing out, poetry would automatically flow from the pen.

Snowed forest

Just after timber trail, the landmark where the four-lane expressway gives way to a two-lane National Highway 22, known at one time as the Hindustan-Tibet Road, the weather turned bright. The Sun which was embarrassed to come out in Chandigarh due to fog which was there in all its pristine beauty. And believe me, the feeling of Sun on your body is wonderful in the winters and nothing can beat this.

There is a symbiotic relationship between fog and depression. Several studies have linked depression in winters on fog and lack of sunshine. I realised it again, the moment I drove past Parwanoo and reached Dharampur, the small town, bustling with activity and traffic. My depression was gone by now and in the distant, I got a preview of the visual pleasure in store— this was snow-peaked mountains. I celebrated the occasion by having a cup of steaming hot tea at Giani da dhaba, the popular eatery run by a Sikh family for years. It is normally full and one has to wait for a table but in the morning, it wasn’t difficult to find one.

The snowed road to Hatu Peak

 

Kumarhatti, Solan, Kanda Ghat, Shoghi…I was now in the outskirts of Shimla in three and a half hours. Shimla was never in my mind as I been to this place umpteen times and there was no point now when the idea was to live besides snow for a short while. On a Friday afternoon, driving past Shimla was relatively a breeze, bustling as it is all the time with tourists, taxis and of course the locals on their routine.

Past the Police Headquarters and the Himachal Government Secretariat, you are on the beautiful drive to Kufri. Reserve forest areas, greenery all around and more snow peaked mountains add to the driving pleasure.

A walk in snow 

Now you can see a smattering of snow on both sides of the road. Winter Special of Himachal Pradesh was here. The snow trail of Himachal Pradesh started soon after the run of the mill tourist tamasha at Kufri— Yak rides, amusement park, taking pictures on snow and inebriated youths dancing to the tunes of Punjabi music, blaring from their cars.

A thick layer of snow greeted us on the side of the mountains this moment in Kufri and beyond it. Some of the snow was melting but the entire side of the hill was white, covered as it was with snow. I have been to this area earlier also but this was unbelievable. The white carpet of snow was having a magical impact on me.

Driving had become slightly difficult as there were still a few centimetres of hardened snow on the road despite being cleared by the PWD. On both sides of the road, the cleared snow was 1-2 metres in height and as the hillock was not Sun facing, it would remain there for a while.

Soon I reached, Himachal Tourism’s Hotel Apple Blossom in Fagu, 4 kms from Kufri. The driveway to the Hotel, around 60 metres, was all white due to snow but pressing the accelerator firmly I find myself in the parking of the hotel, surrounded with snow from all sides. I prefer Government owned hotels as they always have plenty of space and parking and the staff too is trained and courteous.

The landscape

Finding a room overlooking the snowed mountain slopes was easy. What added to the delight was a 25 per cent off-season discount by HPTDC. The spacious concrete lawn of the hotel was full of snow and so was the slope on which it was perched. You couldn’t have asked for more. This was the snow trail in true sense.

Next day, it was time to move ahead to Narkanda, the apple belt of Himachal Pradesh where I had last visited in the apple season four months ago. You find all the slopes painted white by nature the moment you move ahead of Fagu towards Theog. The town is small and busy and nothing remarkable about it but the moment you move ahead, nature is there in all its pristine beauty. Now you can see the apple trees on the slopes where it has snowed earlier.

Locals say that the more snow you have on the roots of the apple tree, the yield would be better and the fruit would be more crunchy and juicy. In the distance, you can see bright Sun shining on the snow peaks. At several places, I get down just to absorb what I was looking at into myself like a sponge absorbs water.

An apple orchard 

Less than two hours from Fagu and driving past a landscape which I had never seen earlier,  I find myself at The Hatu, another Government owned hotel at Narkanda, perched atop a hillock, overlooking a beautiful valley. It was sunny and despite snow all around, there was no chill in the air. There was snow on the mountain slopes, rising from the valley below, in the distant and even in the backyard of the hotel and on its roof. Snow, snow and snow…This is what I found there.

Trek in the snow, play with snow, acres of snow for skiing…It was a visual delight. Trying to absorb all this was an exercise in itself. The only promise which I made to myself was simple— I will take to this snow trail every winter. (January 12, 2015)

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/chandigarh/2015-01-11-79078.html

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/dehradun/the-snow-trail-of-himachal-pradesh.html

BJP, Akali Dal flex muscle in Punjab

VIEWPOINT

AMITABH SHUKLA     

Assembly elections in Punjab may be a little over two years away but the political manoeuvrings, with an eye on possible permutations and combinations have already started. The game of one-upmanship is expected to get all the more intense this year as BJP, the alliance partner in the Government, is looking for a place under the sun on its own, without the strong crutches of Shiromani Akali Dal.

The posturing for break-up from BJP in Punjab is real. It has all the ingredients which broke the quarter of a century old alliance with Shiv Sena in Maharashtra. Almost every BJP leader whom you talk to in Punjab is ready for the eventuality, motivated and hopeful as they are due to the emergence of brand Modi all over the country. They hope and genuinely believe that the Modi magic which worked so well in neighbouring Haryana, Jammu region of J&K and in Rajasthan in both Lok Sabha and Assembly polls and in Himachal Pradesh in the Lok Sabha elections, would work wonders in Punjab as well. These are the States with which Punjab shares its boundary.

No wonder Punjab politics is going for a rapid tailspin. BJP is trying to occupy the Opposition space despite being in the Government as it has been consistently questioning several decisions of the Punjab Government for a while now.  It is also looking to cash in on possible anti-incumbency votes against the Government after a possible split with Akali Dal, perhaps a year before the Assembly polls. Moreover, BJP is also looking into the possibility of some senior Congress and Akali leaders joining the party to give it a foothold in the rural and semi-urban areas of the State.

Congress does not know how to react to the emerging ground situation due to the cold vibe between the alliance partners SAD-BJP and also BJP eating into the urban vote base of the party. Even though Congress in Punjab is split between Capt Amarinder Singh and Partap Singh Bajwa, both have a genuine fear. They do not want BJP to split from Akali Dal as this would divide the anti-incumbency votes which Congress hopes to pocket alone. In fact, Punjab remains the only hope for Congress high command in the near future for a national comeback as this is one State where the vote base of the party has not shrunk beyond a point. Perhaps, party Vice President Rahul Gandhi kept this in mind while nominating his Giderbaha MLA, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring as the President of the Indian Youth Congress. 

But what has come as a surprise to many is the acrimonious relationship between ruling partners Akali Dal and BJP soon after Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister. While BJP got a booster dose of confidence following the results, Akali Dal felt slighted soon after as it felt it was not kept in loop in decision making on matters pertaining to Punjab.

When Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had made it a habit of meeting him once a month with a list of demands which he then tom-tommed in Punjab. The situation has now changed as Modi preferred to meet Badal only in official meetings with other Chief Ministers of the country rather than having one to one with him and acceding to his list of demands.  Badal might have hoped that with his alliance partner at the helm in New Delhi, he will have easier access and more concessions for the cash strapped State. Nothing of that sort has happened as some in the Akali Dal now say that Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister was more receptive to the demands of the State rather than Modi.

With drugs issue dominating politics of the State, the relationship has only turned bitter. Top leaders of Punjab BJP demanded the resignation of Bikram Majithia when he was summoned by Enforcement Directorate for questioning, triggering protest from SAD which retaliated by saying that the party was not following coalition dharma. The relationship of mistrust started after verbal volleys of former Amritsar MP, Navjot Singh Sidhu. The Akali Dal thought that despite Sidhu repeatedly targeting the father son duo of Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Singh Badal, top BJP leadership never reprimanded Sidhu. The SAD leadership thinks that, he was allowed to attack the chief minister and the Deputy Chief Minister along with Revenue Minister and Majha strongman Bikram Majithia as part of some hidden political strategy.

As Akali Dal too fears that it may well have to go alone in the next polls, it has started hardening its stand on the so called “panthic” agenda or the issues pertaining specifically to the Sikh community, mostly religious issues. So far, the party under the moderate Sukhbir Badal had desisted from such issues and had even tried to broad base its support by fielding several Hindus. The Sant Samaj and Jathedars of the Takhts are gradually raising issues which had been lying dormant for a while and it’s no secret that they are influenced by Akali Dal.

One of the issues is the release of Sikh prisoners in various jails of the country. Supporting the Sant Samaj, Badal has written to Home Minister Rajnath Singh giving a list of all the prisoners, accused of terror acts. He wants them released saying they have completed their sentence. BJP does not agree to this and has never supported Akali Dal on the issue.

Similarly, there is a black list of around 65 Sikhs, maintained by the ‘Foreigners Division’ of the home ministry which Akali Dal wants to be scrapped or reviewed. Sukhbir Badal has already written to the Home Minister saying this was causing harassment to Sikhs because it was full of discrepancies and inaccuracies. BJP is in no hurry on the issue as it has been terming those in the list as terrorists. While the Akali Dal wants this list to be done away with, Punjab BJP wants it to continue as it is. BJP believes it has names of several terror accused and leaders against whom there are cases in the country.

The third issue of conflict is the demand of the organisations supported by the Akali Dal for an amendment in Article 25(B) of the Constitution. This says that reference to Hindus shall be construed as including a reference to persons professing the Sikh, Jain or Buddhist religion, and the reference to Hindu religious institutions shall be construed accordingly. BJP leaders in the state say that they won’t be surprised if the SAD officially asks the Centre to bring a Constitutional amendment in Article 25(B) demanding to separate identity to Sikhs.

Another possible conflict zone is the attempt of RSS and its affiliates for what they call Ghar Wapsi (conversion) programme in Punjab. A function has already been held in Amritsar district where Mazhabi (lower caste and dalit) Sikh families who had converted to Christianity were converted back to Sikhism under the watchful eye of the RSS. A similar function was scheduled for Bathinda but due to the Opposition of local Akali leaders, no Christian family turned up. Such ghar wapasi programmes have invited the ire of the chief minister who has openly voiced his concern for conversions in the country. He says that the Sikh Gurus were against any conversion and fought against it all their lives.

What is clear from the posturing of Akali Dal and BJP in Punjab is that both are looking to flourish without the support of each other. Both parties traditionally complement each other in the state with BJP having support base in the urban Hindus and the Akali Dal being primarily a rural party with the support of Jat Sikhs and the landholders. This combination has served them well for a long time now but now leaders say that the formula may no longer work as both the parties have breached the support base of each other in recent months.

Interestingly BJP has been electorally successful whenever long term alliance partners have left the party. In Bihar when JDU left the 17-year old alliance, BJP gained. In Maharashtra where Shiv Sena chartered an independent path ahead of the assembly polls after leaving the 25-year old alliance, BJP again made rapid strides. It hopes for a similar electoral gains in Punjab and that perhaps explains the storm in the relationship of the two parties. (January 5, 2015)

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/chandigarh/bjp-akali-dal-flex-muscle-in-punjab.html

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/dehradun/bjp-akali-dal-flex-muscles-in-punjab.html

Momentous year, politically speaking

VIEWPOINT

AMITABH SHUKLA   

This will be my last column in a rather eventful year, which saw political changes of unparalleled magnitude in the country.  Though I believe in looking ahead rather than looking back, but given the momentous political changes in 2014, it would be in fitness of things to see how the year 2014 was a watershed in Indian politics and how it promised to change status quo once and for all. How the year saw building of Narendra Modi as a brand, State by State and nationally from the geographical confines of Gujarat and continuity of the brand as an election winning machinery as elections of Jharkhand and Jammu & Kashmir showed.

The year also saw a complete demolition of the Congress making it redundant nationally. All the elections, whether the Assembly elections of late last year in Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to the general elections of May and now the Assembly polls in two States, the Congress has been exposed like never before in its history and is gasping for breath following the onslaught of the Modi and BJP juggernaut in practically all parts of the country where elections were held. As one personality rose in the horizon (Modi), there was another family which bore the brunt of this unrelenting political onslaught—the Gandhi family, comprising Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi.

But as Modi consolidated his hold on the Indian polity, the Hindutva forces came into the forefront sidelining economic issues, those of employment, prosperity and growth. This brought into fore issues and vocabulary either lying dormant or being invented now—conversions, ghar wapasi, Ramzade-Haramzade, comparisons between Mahatma Gandhi and his killer Nathuram Godse, anti-conversion Bill etc. Some of these have been on the agenda of the Hindutva forces for long but are finding expressions now when the BJP has a majority Government at the Centre on its own for the first time ever.

On two of the issues — Ramzade debate triggered by the comments of a Sadhvi and a BJP Minister, Modi had to intervene at the right time to prevent it from becoming bigger. Similarly, Godse-Gandhi comparison was nipped in the bud when Sakshi Maharaj was forced to apologise. But there could be more such issues, which would be highlighted and raised from time to time and obviously it strays from the model of Good Governance of Modi and would prevent building a national consensus on a host of economic issues which stare the Government in the face.

The issue of conversion or ghar wapasi as it is being referred to in a section which advocated it, has even irked a long-term ally of the BJP — Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal says that the Sikh Gurus fought against forced conversion of Hindus to Islam all their life and therefore the party was against conversions now. “The Sikhs never accepted forceful religious conversions. Entire Sikh history is replete with several episodes where our great Gurus and valiant Sikh warriors never bowed to the pressure exerted by the mighty rulers,” he said at a religious-cum-political function at Fatehgarh Sahib. As the year comes to an end, Home Minister Rajnath Singh talks about anti-conversion Bill. But the debate seems to be a meaningless exercise at this point when other pressing issues need immediate attention.

Coming back to politics, Assembly elections of late last year — Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh set the trend for the country. These elections were held soon after Modi was anointed the prime ministerial candidate and results were a vote of confidence for the decision of the BJP top brass in doing so.

There was no looking back for Modi and BJP juggernaut after that. Even the hardcore BJP supporters had not expected the party coming to the power on its own and even on the eve of election results in May 2014, were discussing possible permutations and combinations if the party was left 40 short of the magic figure. After 30 years, a single party got the mandate of the country and a guarantee to rule for five years without the artificial support and blackmail of allies, which had been the hallmark of Indian politics since 1989 Lok Sabha polls. In the Hindi heartland of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, where the BJP was considered relatively weak, it won 90 per cent of seats with allies, a dream performance, which gave cushion of a comfortable majority for Modi. His decision to contest from Varanasi proved to be the masterstroke which won him votes in UP, Bihar as well as Jharkhand, the most populous areas, which together have 134 seats.

The victory march of the BJP continued in the year and ever since the party was founded in 1980, it never had it so good. In Maharashtra, the party broke its quarter of a century old alliance with the Shiv Sena and went to polls but still was just a little short of majority and formed a Government on its own. Uddhav Thackeray, who ridiculed the existence of a Modi wave, had to eat a humble pie and he may not yet have accepted but now must have realised that this indeed was the case in Maharashtra as well. In the State, the BJP won from several constituencies from where it had not even contested in the last 25 years indicated a groundswell of support for the “tea boy”- turned-RSS pracharak-turned Prime Minister.

In Haryana, the magic was similar. The BJP was never a strong player in the State but riding the Modi wave, it won the polls for the first time. Even life-long members of BJP had not imagined this happening six months ago. Similarly, Jharkhand will see the first majority Government in almost 14 years under the BJP. The party won in alliance with AJSU and now there is a guarantee that the Government would last for five years — something which had never happened in the State after it broke from Bihar in the year 2000 and was plagued by political instability. In Jammu & Kashmir, the BJP becomes an important player for the first time and hold the balance of power. It was in this State that Syama Prasad Mookerjee, one of the founders of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh, the predecessor of BJP, died in a jail trying to cross the borders of Punjab without official papers as was the norm then.

In all the three States — Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand, there was another experiment. This was putting political greenhorns as Chief Ministers who do not have any baggage of the past. The youthful Devendra Fadnavis was chosen for Maharashtra and claims of other seniors with past baggage were brushed aside. Haryana saw a first-time MLA, Manohar Lal Khattar as Chief Minister who comes with a fresh set of ideas and is pleasantly different from run of the mill politicians. In Jharkhand, Raghubar Das is the first non-tribal Chief Minister and this would never have happened had the BJP been dependent on allies for support. This opens the talent pool in the State and is a complete break from the past political practices.

As the BJP was in upswing and 2014 was the best year ever for it politically, the Congress was on decline and the year proved to be the worst in the history of the 129-year-old party, founded in 1885. The figures of Congress came down to 44 seats in the Lok Sabha, a figure so low that it could not even get the post of Leader of Opposition. The worst performance since the parliamentary elections of 1952 saw almost all its Ministers losing polls and the party had to faced the ignominy of not even opening its account in 12 States. The party must be drawing a revival plan and a strategy to reinvent itself now and it better be fast as the BJP is steadily eating into is support base.

For political historians, 2014 would perhaps remain the single most important year in the history of Indian Republic electorally or otherwise. Of course, there are comparisons with 1977 when single party rule came to an end in the country. But what is different from 1977 is the fact that a new political trend, a new political language and icon is here to stay, promising a sharp break from the past. Perhaps 2015 would be a year of building of this new lexicon. (December 29, 2014)

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/chandigarh/momentous-year-politically-speaking.html

Roads are Lifeline, need to recognise their significance

VIEWPOINT

AMITABH SHUKLA    

For me, the black bitumen on roads, unbroken stretches and the vast expanse unfolding in the countryside and the hills, send the adrenalin pumping.

Driving and travelling is not only a stress buster but also makes you learn so many things about nature, about people, about the aspirations they have and quality of life they lead, about food, economy and what not. Being in Chandigarh is of help due to its geographical advantage. It lies on the footsteps of the Shivalik range and the great Indian plain ends here. The joint capital of Punjab and Haryana is on the edge of the vast expanse of the Indo-Gangetic belt, the mainstay of Indian agriculture since the age of civilisation. So you have best of both the geographical worlds — the hills and the plains in front of you, a diversity which is rare in any part of the world and coaxes you to see it in all its myriad charm.

I may be a travel junkie when not working and may be driving for the most part only for the fun of it and can select the road to drive, but for a majority of the people in the country, the use of road is an everyday necessity. You cannot have a quality life anywhere in the country without quality roads. Whether you go to schools or for work on cycles, whether you go to the local mandi to offload your produce in a bullock cart or a horse cart or whether you drive a tractor or one of the fast moving cars. The first contact of a person with the effectiveness of a Government is obviously the road.

But take the National Highway No 1 as an example — the all important road which connects Delhi to the two prosperous States of Punjab and Haryana and also which takes you to Himachal Pradesh on one side and Jammu & Kashmir on the other. I don’t think there would be any decision maker in the national Capital and the four northern States who has not used this road in more than last four years. The stretch between Panipat and Jalandhar should have been converted into six-lanes three years ago. Despite the top politicians and the bureaucrats travelling via this road, it was left to the Supreme Court to issue directions to the concessionaire to complete the project by the end of this financial year on March 31, 2015.

This project should now be used as a showcase how not to build new road projects. It should be used as a case study to give contracts for other road projects so that they do not get into legal wrangles and cost over runs. Hopefully, the project would be complete on the given deadline this time and the lessons learnt by the officials and all those associated with the road network in the country.

What perplexes me the most is the fact that the National Highways in most of the places are perpetually under construction. They are being six-laned at most places like the stretch from Panipat to Jalandhar. When I visited Jaipur from Delhi sometime go, construction and expansion of the road was on. When the new millennium dawned, 14 years ago and I went to Jaipur, the NHAI was four-laning the road then. I wondered whether construction and widening would be a permanent feature of the roads of the country. Not long back, these roads were four-laned, when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister and gave a new thrust to road infrastructure in the country. Now it is being six-laned. Half a decade from now, the need would be felt for eight-lane roads and maybe 15-20 years from now, the volume of traffic would force the authorities to have 20-lane roads.

I don’t understand what prevents the authorities from constructing 12-lane roads straight away in the important stretches keeping in view the traffic scenario of 2025. It does not require rocket science technology to know that the number of vehicles on roads keep increasing everyday and they need space to move. I am sure after the six-lane of NH-8 which goes to Jaipur and Mumbai is complete, there would again be a need to make eight-laned and then 10-laned. There would be construction activity going on all the time and we would hardly find a 200-250 km of expressway free from any construction or broadening activity.

The Ambala-Zirakpur (Chandigarh) stretch was four-laned only recently and already a need is being felt to widen it with multi-storied housing complexes coming in the vicinity of the Chandigarh and accompanying vehicles clogging the road. What has worsened the situation is the fact that whenever a new stretch of road comes up, there is heightened economic activity around it. Housing colonies are built, shops, eateries and small scale establishments come up and even the rural population shifts towards the road to take benefit of the new economic activity.

In the last few years, I have only seen hectic construction on NH-1 from Delhi to Amritsar and the NH from Delhi to Jaipur and Delhi to Lucknow via Moradabad and Bareilly. The shifting of economic activity in and around the roads would lead to a situation where only a few stretches alongside the highway would be left for paddy or mustard fields as the remaining space would be gobbled up by some commercial activity or one earmarked for the purpose.

Coming back to the joy of travelling on the road, nothing can beat the hilarious banner of “child bear” being sold openly on the roadside. When you go there and find a liquor shop you know the reason. Obviously the semi-literate painter had never heard or seen an English dictionary in his lifetime and was told to paint “chilled beer” by the owner, another semi-literate or illiterate person who did not know the correct spelling himself.

Trucks, however, rule the roost when it comes to innovative slogans. Most appeared like works of fledgling litterateurs who could not get their works published and, had rather taken to writing slogans on trucks as a career! Himmat hai to aage nikal, warna bardasht kar (if you are brave enough, overtake me, otherwise tolerate me), warned one with his frightening slogan. I was brave enough and overtook the truck without any fuss. The driver merely brought out an extended palm from the window of his huge vehicle and facilitated the overtake without seriously taking the slogan written on his truck.

Imagination ran wild in some of the slogans. Recently on a trip to Shimla, I thought the owner of one of the trucks or its driver was using abusive language when the slogan at the back said, Teri Ma ki. But, in equally bold letters followed Jai Ho. So the entire slogan was Teri Ma ki jai ho. I had never come across such a slogan anywhere.

Another slogan said, Amiro ki zindagi biscuit aur cake par, driver ki zindagi clutch aur brake par. There were hundreds more. Tata phir milenge and buri nazar wale tera muh kala seemed to be written on a maximum number of them and sort of a national slogan of the big Indian beast that were the trucks with number plates identifying vehicles from far and wide including Orissa, West Bengal, Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab to Gujarat, Maharashtra and Kerala.

One fuel station on NH-1 was giving a bathing soap free for every 100 litres of diesel and the limit was 400 litres. Half a dozen trucks and their drivers lazing around early morning in the vicinity of the fuel station indicated that the marketing strategy indeed worked. At another, if a driver wanted to use a clean toilet, you had to fill in fuel first. Fill the tank, get a slip and then show it to the guard in front of the toilet to ease yourself. Business on roads is quite innovative. (December 22, 2014)

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/dehradun/2014-12-21-76794.html

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/chandigarh/roads-are-lifeline-need-to-recognise-their-significance.html

The Janata Parivar is an old political farce

VIEWPOINT

AMITABH SHUKLA  

Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad are old political enemies. Despite being together in the hastily formed Janata Dal in the late 1980s, they never sailed together politically.

So it is a surprise that the two Yadav leaders of the Hindi heartland, one from Uttar Pradesh and the other from Bihar, have decided to take the lead and forge an alliance against the BJP. Of course, the Congress is a sort of dead entity as of now, so this ragtag, yet to be formed, coalition is not anti-Congress. Historically, all such formation, the Janata Party in 1977 or the Janata Dal in 1989 had been against the Congress. Some of these experiments were born out of the frustration of the Socialists of the Lohia brigade and lone rangers against the Congress which dominated the political landscape then.

Mulayam Singh is losing the battle of the minds very fast in UP where his son has ruled for the last almost three years. He was hoping for a national role after the Lok Sabha elections but the wave in favour of the BJP and Narendra Modi dashed all his hopes once and for all. Now when Assembly elections in UP are just over two years from now, he hopes that such a desperate exercise would help revive his dwindling political fortunes.

Lalu Prasad is thinking like Mulayam Singh. So he decided to marry his daughter with the grand nephew of the UP patriarch. In the ancient and medieval periods, marriages took place between two kingdoms to forge lasting ties for strategic reasons. Here too, the reason looks obvious as the two warring Yadav leaders have joined hands after the announcement of the wedding.

Of course, this nuptial tie-up would mean that Lalu Prasad would have to call Mulayam an Uncle. In any case, the former Bihar Chief Minister and a convict in the fodder scam, hardly has any political option now. Ever since he became the Chief Minister almost 25 years ago, this is his worst political phase. He can no longer contest any election after being convicted in the fodder scam. To make matters worse, no one from his family managed to win in the Lok Sabha polls. His wife Rabri Devi and daughter Misa Bharti lost the polls, making it a political nightmare for the leader know more for his wit and sarcasm and not by governance.

Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United (JDU) is the third constituent of this fledgling alliance. As both Kumar and Lalu Prasad have conflicting interests in Bihar and a history of political oneupmanship, the only reason they are together is to consolidate the Muslim-Yadav-Kurmi vote bank to take on a resurgent BJP in the Assembly polls, a little over six months from now. Without its alliance with the BJP, the JD-U has lost its social base completely and is heavily banking on the RJD for a face-saving result in the Assembly polls. Of course, they will fight bitterly for each and every seat if an alliance is ever stitched. They will also tear each other out on who would be the big brother in the alliance, who will fight which seat and who will be the Chief Minister if such an alliance wins. Unless the leaders control their ambitions, the alliance is doomed to be a failure for the Assembly polls. They did well together in the by-polls of Bihar as they won 6 of the 10 seats in alliance with the Congress. But then, stakes are high in the Assembly polls and to expect that they would stick together by keeping aside their mutual distrust of decades is a tall exercise.

The Haryana-based Indian National Lok Dal, another party, expected to be in the alliance, has already indicated that it is not comfortable with the formation. Though its MP Dushyant Chautala attended the first meeting, his party members now say that it was futile to join such an alliance which has no impact in Haryana. Another partner, Janata Dal (Secular) in Karnataka has been reduced to being a part of the father-son duo of H D Deve Gowda and Kumarswami. They will go to any political platform wherever invited given their political irrelevance even in Karnataka.

Ironically, these parties are coming together without any promise, ideology or a vision for the future. They have no economic policy, nothing for the youth, job creation or catering to the aspirations of the people. All they are offering is an old outdated model of caste coalition, something which the youth of the country has been repeatedly rejecting. To counter the BJP, it will have to come out with an attractive proposition with a new idea and philosophy. But then to expect something of this sort from the tired and tiring Mulayam Singh, Lalu Prasad and Deve Gowda is a tall order.

All these leaders have already milked the formula of "social justice" to the hilt. I am sure, there is nothing more left to milk from it. There is reason for skepticism. The people of the two States of the so-called social justice experiment - Bihar and Uttar Pradesh - have seen how the votaries of the idea have got neck deep into corruption, nepotism and bad governance. For them social justice over the years has been a theory to gobble the votes of the OBCs, Dalits and minorities. After coming to power, they impose family rule with an inefficient Government thrown in which lacks any idea or vision, neck deep as it is in corruption. Interestingly, the Left is out of all equations at this moment.

Perhaps the Left is facing the same dilemma like that of the Congress - failing to reinvent itself, steady loss in support base, failure to connect with the youth and refusing to read the ground situation. Even this Mulayam-Lalu-Nitish-Deve Gowda front sees no potential in either the Left or the Congress as of now. Ironically, when it was ruling West Bengal and Kerala, the Left Front was the one which always took the lead in the creation of the third force in national politics. Almost everyone conversant with national politics would remember Harkishen Singh Surjeet of the CPI(M) who was always present at such meetings. The Janata Parivar expects to rope in Biju Janata Dal, Trinamool Congress and Nationalist Congress Party in due course as and when the need arises. However, this rag tag effort would remain a compilation of regional parties if it ever materializes without any purpose.

As days, weeks and months pass following the May 2014 verdict and the Opposition gets more desperate, perhaps more experiments to counter the BJP would be made. However, any anti-BJP front would succeed only if the Congress and Left join it at some time or other making it the Front versus the BJP. But Indian politics has never seen such a scenario in the past due to multiplicity of parties, interests, conflicting personalities and demands and peculiarities of one State as compared to other. That is a silver lining for the ruling BJP at this point as it was for the Congress when it was strong. (December 15, 2014)

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/dehradun/the-janata-parivar-is-an-old-political-farce.html

Girl child no longer a burden in Haryana

VIEWPOINT

AMITABH SHUKLA

When I went to cover Assembly elections in Haryana a few weeks ago and hit the hinterland of the State, it was strange to see that the youth in some areas demanding that there should be a movement to increase the ratio of the girl child and they would vote only for those who do that. They had also demanded that politicians should first arrange for mass weddings of these youths before seeking their votes.

These youths, some of them clearly on the wrong side of youth — in their late thirties and forties — were yet to get a bride and had remained bachelors. For them, bachelorhood was a compulsion and it was also a sort of social ostracism in the conservative society where “normalcy” meant that you had a wife, children and you were supporting them as a family.

I finally called one of the bachelors with whom I had spoken for the story, which I did for The Pioneer. I asked him which party he voted for and was there any candidate who supported their cause. He did not name any party or candidate but said gradually, people in Haryana were realising how bad female foeticide was and the sex ratio was improving. “Our generation has suffered but the next generation has seen the reality and the girl child was no longer a burden on the family,” he said.

It was a pleasant surprise to find that the district administration in Rewari, considered a backward district in the State, deciding to celebrate the birth of girl child from now on. Anganwadi workers have been directed to distribute sweets and cut cakes by organising a get-together with the villagers in their centres after the birth of the girl child to celebrate the occasion. All expenditure will be provided by the district authorities.

In Rewari district there are 856 girls against 1,000 boys, a figure considered quite low by any standards. This is one of those districts where the population of unmarried males in their late 30s and 40s is quite high. Apart from the celebration of the birth of the girl child, the authorities here would also celebrate first birthday of all female children born after November 2013. There would be cake-cutting ceremony to celebrate the first year of the girl child in the entire district. Obviously, this would force the people to have a rethink on the way they were behaving earlier and what should be the way forward. 

I have been observing Haryana for a while and this was one of the pleasant experiences when we reported the story. The Rewari example should be replicated all over the state as a success story as this is the way forward.

Sometime ago, what caught my attention was the exploits of a con woman who was taking advantage of the extremely skewed sex ratio in Haryana. The con woman was perpetually “marrying” people and then running away with the booty from her so called husband’s house. Taking advantage of the fact that men in the marriageable age, particularly those from the family of marginal farmers, find it extremely difficult to get a bride, the con woman used to “marry” a person after taking amount ranging from Rs1 lakh to Rs1.5 lakh. This was not all.

She used to decamp with valuables of the house when no one in her “marital” home was around.

She “married” five times but was caught when trying the trick for the sixth time in a row. The woman, with the help of her accomplices, had another trick up her sleeve. She used to threaten her “husband” that she will approach police for harassing her for dowry lest he part with an agreed amount and set her free. The hapless “husband” used to part with the money and that was the last he saw of his “wife”.

Given the social conditions prevailing in parts of rural Haryana, there could be several such con women going around with their “business” without any problem. The “unfortunate” lady was caught even though she “married” in different sub-divisions of the state. The modus operandi was an eye opener. In my career in journalism, which took me to different parts of the country over the years, I had never come across a situation where such a trick was used to con people.

Then there are numerous “marriage bureaus” in most of the towns which too are doing brisk business in the state. Such marriage bureaus do exist in other parts of the country as well but what is unusual about Haryana is that all of them only have eligible male bachelors on their records. While in other parts of the country, groom seekers seek the services of such bureaus, in Haryana, it is mainly the bride seekers who are ready to pay through their nose, to get a bride using the services of such match makers. Many of these “marriage bureaus” are fly-by-night operators who run away with the  money of those male bachelors who are desperate to get brides.

Haunted by the dubious distinction of being a State with the lowest sex ratio in the country at 877 females per 1,000 males as compared to the highest of 1084 males per 1,000 males in Kerala, the marriageable men of Haryana had never had it so bad.

While the rich farmers still manage to get wives for their sons, though with great difficulty, the marginal farmers and those on the edges find it extremely difficult to find a bride. No wonder in their desperation, they resort to buying brides as they have to have for somebody to do the domestic chores at house, look at their farms and animals and also to meet their biological needs and desire for progeny. Here, caste system goes for a toss. Nor is religion or the state from where the girl hails from given any consideration. “After wedding, women belong to the caste and the religion from where their husbands hail from,” goes the saying in the rural belt. The “bride purchasers” have another reason and logic. “Beggars are not choosers,” they say. And indeed in the marriage market, the eligible males in some regions of the States are beggars.

With such a demand, triggered by years of sex determination tests and resultant female foeticide, the traffickers had never had it so good in the state, known otherwise for its agriculture, sports and hardworking people. Recently, the Delhi Police busted a gang that used to abduct young girls and sell them off to middle-aged men and their brothers in Haryana as brides.

Ironically the sex ratio of 877 in Census 2011 is the highest since 1901. This perhaps explains why there are few females in the marriageable age in this northern State. Among the neighbouring States, sex ratio of Punjab is a poor 893 though Himachal Pradesh is impressive with 974.

With the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT) Act being enforced strictly and the State being watched closely, optimists insist that things could improve say after 10-15 years. But experts and gender analysts say that it could take at least 50 years to make up for the loss and maintain a gender balance and that too only when things continue to improve each passing month and year. It is here when a movement needs to be built on celebrating the birth of a girl by the community and also her first birthday. (December 1, 2014)

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/chandigarh/2014-11-30-74316.html

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/dehradun/girl-child-no-longer-a-burden-in-haryana.html