Congress: A political outfit or political business of a family?

After Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s “well-orchestrated” dramatics over the ordinance on the convicted politicians, the politics has taken a curious turn over the issue. Rahul Gandhi may have wanted to distance himself from the Congress party and the UPA government by publicly denouncing an orchestra of the Congress core-group and the union cabinet thinking that the credibility of the party and the government is eroding, but in the process he has also inflicted some damage on his own credibility as a political leader. His Rambo-act on Friday at the Press Club of India in New Delhi reflects the politician within Rahul Gandhi and not a leader.

It would be foolish to think that Rahul did not know anything about the Congress and the government’s move to annul the Supreme Court order dated July 10th. The Supreme Court had  held that convicted MPs and MLAs would be ineligible to contest election if sentenced to more than two years’ jail term in a criminal case.

But, if Rahul really did not know about it, he proved himself an indifferent and pathetic parliamentarian as a bill to this effect had been introduced in the Rajya Sabha during the monsoon session after due clearance.

Or, if he knew yet let the party and government do what they wanted to do, he proved himself a politician not sincere in fighting criminalization of politics. And, on all counts, the theatrical appearance and castigation of the deeds of the government was an act of a politician, who was trying to do some damage control. In the process, however, he has exposed himself, his party and the government.

Let’s consider another if. Suppose, Rahul Gandhi was genuinely concerned and anguished at the attempt by his party and the government at shielding some of the convicted or to be convicted criminals among politicians, and he only reacted late gauging the public sentiment, which gave him courage to speak out in public against his party and government.

What does this convey?

Rahul’s stand is a public negation of the policies of the Congress president and his all-powerful mother Sonia Gandhi, who approved of the Ordinance on the convicted politicians to nullify the apex court order. If Rahul prevails, which seems to be the only option available before the government now, it would mark an end to Sonia regime in the party. But, this comes with a rider that the Friday’s storming the Sonia bastion of Congress by Rahul must not have come without her underlying approval and thus, an end to her regime with her approval.

So, Sonia appears to have approved of quite a few things in past one week: an ordinance to perpetuate criminalization of politics, putting credibility of the party and the government at risk, Rahul’s elevation to the super-politician level and an end to her own supremacy! Contrastingly incredible!

Friday also deliered some message to the Prime Minister, who is travelling abroad apparently on an important job. He is left with two options, either to withdraw the ordinance on convicted politicians and confirm what he said concluding his last foreign trip that he was ready to serve under Rahul. That he is actually serving under Rahul, who would be seen like the Super PM. Second option is to go down fighting after having faced so much political humiliation and seen audacious insubordination in full public view.

Moreover, Manmohan Singh's is not a standalone case. Some other senior leaders of the Congress party and ministers in the UPA government have complained of humiliation. But the question is, will these leaders make an attempt to salvage the prestige of the grand old party? Most unlikely. Will they come out and make Rahul fall in the line? Will the collective wisdom of the Congress leaders convince people that the Congress is political organization not political business of a family?

A mess called General VK Singh

Did General VK Singh try to do a Pakistan in India? This question is raking up in the minds of scores of people and has left them concerned with heavy cloud of uncertainty keeping the secret of secrets of India military establishment. They say, ambition has no limits and knows no barriers. India has seen several manifestations and ramifications of such an ambition going ‘rogue’ in its neighbourhood with all the bordering nations having been a victim or beneficiary of that. Was India about to be one such example just a year ago? This is scary question for the lovers of democracy and indifferent people like me.

Let’s first understand the issue. The present controversy erupted after The Indian Express carried out a report saying that the Technical Services Division (TSD) created by the then Army Chief General VK Singh was involved in covert anti-political operations citing a secret inquiry report submitted by a Board of Officers of the army led by Lt Gen Vinod Bhatia, DG, Military Operations.

The basis of this inference was the contents of the Bhatia report, which was submitted to the then Defence Secretary and present CAG of India, Shashi Kant Sharma in March earlier this year. The report has since been supposed discussed at the highest level in the Defence Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office. NSA Shiv Shankar Menon is also reported to have chaired at least one meeting to discuss the Bhatia report, about which the Army establishment says that the matter is close from their side. No one knows what this stand means at this point of time.

Before moving further, it would be prudent to have a look at the crucial findings of the Bhatia inquiry board. According to the inquiry report, Rs 1.19 crore was given by the TSD at the behest of General VK Singh to Agriculture Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Ghulam Hassan Mir to engineer a change of Government in Jammu and Kashmir. This means toppling a democratically elected government in an Indian state. According to law, this is comparable to sedition, and if it indeed was the case, this was committed by the serving Army Chief of India.

Next, the Bhatia report says that Rs 2.38 crore was given on orders from Army Headquarters to Hakikat Singh of an NGO named ‘Jammu and Kashmir Humanitarian Service Organisation’ (JKHSO) which Bhatia report says has links with another NGO, ‘Yes Kashmir’ that filed a PIL against the then Army Commander and present Army Chief General Bikram Singh in the fake encounter case in Jangalat Mandi when he was a Brigadier. However, the PIL was later dismissed by the court. But, the PIL, when it had been filed last year, was widely believed to be an attempt, as the Indian Express reports, to scuttle Bikram Singh’s appointment and change the line of succession in the top brass.

This came at a time when General VK Singh was fighting his own battle of date of birth with the Government of India and took the matter to the court as well. His moves were then seen as an attempt to secure one more year at the helm of the affairs of the army and much to his chagrin, the court rejected his case forcing him to demit the office of the Army Chief a year earlier than he wished to. Consider his fight for securing one more year of power in the light of recent revelations suggesting he had acquired political ambition.

The Bhatia report also says that Rs 8 crore was spent on purchase of state of the art interception equipment from a Singapore-based company in November 2010 ostensibly meant to be deployed in the J&K 15 Corps. In March 2012, following orders of the then DG, MI, Lt Gen D S Thakur, the equipment was physically destroyed after reports of snooping of the govt. establishments in the North and South Blocks.

Again spare a thought for General VK Singh’s attempt to extend his regime by one more year. If the emerging picture is not scary enough, consider one incident reported last year revealing that at least two units of army from Agra and Meerut moved towards Delhi and reached to the outskirts of the national capital in 14-15^th January last year without notifying its movement to the government establishment. The move was so alarming that the National Security Advisor, who was abroad had to fly back curtailing his visit and the Prime Minister was informed about the development in the wee hours or the early morning of the fateful winter.

Let’s refer to the Bhatia report for the last to know that the officials of the TSD, who reported directly to the then Army Chief, undertook frequent foreign travels to places like London and Dubai using their personal and not official passports. The report also says that TSD officials doctored documents of other Army officers to travel abroad. Since the motive behind creation of the TSD was to carry out interception and secret operations, the details of the same were not to be found documented as clearly as others. And, all this was done at the direction of General VK Singh!

Now, for the third time recall General VK Singh’s attempt to get an extension in the office by one full year. If all the reports signaling some kind of political interest, if not ambition, of the General have some amount of truth, the picture was definitely scary for a complacent democracy like India’s. But, the same democracy allows one to look at the other side of the coin.

The report was submitted in March, some six months ago. Reading the highlights of a report of and on such an alarming situation by the then Defence Secretary and even by the Defence Minister and the PMO could not have taken much of time. So, why this report is being talked about even by the government for an action? Was the government waiting for the press to get its hand on the report before it acted? The answer should be negative.

So, is the principal opposition party, the BJP is right in saying that this is a political vendetta against Gen VK Singh because he shared dais with its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi at Rewari in Rajasthan? 

The persons alleged to have been benefitted by the TSD at the behest of General VK Singh have denied having been benefitted. They may be or may not be telling the truth because in either case the expected answer would be the same. One of the beneficiaries is a present minister in the Jammu & Kashmir government. He cannot practically expect himself to become the Chief Minister of the state given the strength of his own party, whose name is not even known by all Kashmiri people. He got the portfolio on the Congress’s quota. Thinking all the ministers in all the governments are corrupt and honesty is only an exception, Ghulam Hasan Mir was said to have been given Rs 1.19 to topple the Omar Abdullah govt. The amount offered for the purpose seems unconvincing.

A certain Hakikat Singh, who runs an NGO and who is said to have got a PIL filed against the present Army Chief through another NGO has denied having done so. He had to, in any case. But, if he is telling untruth, this proves just one thing that General VK Singh might have wanted to change the line of succession due to some personal animosity. If that was the case, the same argument could be held for the General Bikram Singh, who instituted the secret inquiry board under Lt General Bhatia and about whose report even the army officials are reported to have raised some questions. It is being said that all the statements made before the Bhatia inquiry board could be retracted before a court martial or during a CBI investigation and therefore do not hold much water. Doesn’t it also suggest that General Bikram Singh engineered something against General VK Singh for the same reason alluded earlier?

This proposition becomes even more interesting given the fact that the then Defence Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma, during whose tenure the inquiry board was instituted and submitted its report, and General VK Singh had crossed swords over the Tatra Truck deal. They have, it has been talked about, had enough bad blood between them. Appointment of Sharma as the CAG of India was also questioned on the same matter with argument that how could a person who presided over the deal can possibly audit it in all fairness. General VK Singh was also supposed to have anguished the defence ministry when he raised the matter of being attempted to be bribed by a retired army officer with the Defence Minister himself.

So, if the other side of the coin is true then the Bhatia report and all the talks of action against General VK Singh could well be a well written script at a very high level. And, the argument that General VK Singh is being persecuted for three prime reasons, that he shared dais with Narendra Modi, that raised the issue of his date of birth with the govt and that he worked to weed out corruption in defence deals by bringing transparency in the arms deals during his stint as the Army Chief.

As of the now, there is mud on the ground and dense cloud in the sky while the truth may be lying somewhere in the power corridors of the country. People are getting restless to know the answers because it concerns their sense of well being. There must be investigation, full and fair. But, who will do it, the CBI, does everyone trust it? Who will get the investigation done, the government, the army or finally, the judiciary?

Narendra Modi: Advani, BJP, RSS, ideology or power play?

There are too many of readable, non-readable, absurd, brilliant and stupid write ups on Narendra Modi being formally anointed the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP, understandably well supported and approved by its remaining two alliance partners. I am only putting an extra piece on the garbage vomited by the intellectuals, though I am not one of them.

The BJP has done what anyways seemed inevitable for the survival of the party, keeping whatever stature it has intact. Narendra Modi has long outgrown the veterans and equally eager so-called national leaders within the BJP. People don't connect with LK Advani anymore. Sachin Tendulkar may still have some fan following but Advani has lost most, if not all, of them to his own protege from his home state. But, much like the great from the game of cricket, the political stalwart of the BJP fails to realize, recognize and admit that he is much much past his prime. At 86, Advani can not afford to harbour a dream to lead an India, whose average age may be some 50 years less.

Is Advani so naive to understand this simple thing? Is ambition of the man be so overwhelming that he can risk wiping out all the good that he may have done in his long career and life? Logic fails to answer the question. May be, 'ambitious' people think, feel and do differently. But, let's suppose for a moment, that Advani realizes this. Then, why is he doing what he has been doing? Why is this posturing, if it is bound to be doomed? Is there really any ideological battle going on? Is the old man trying to correct the wrongs that he committed in his prime for his prime ambition? Is the old man trying to save India's pluralistic identity, which he once attempted to destroy? Or, as many have put it, is he simply misjudging everything? The answers to these question will paint a clear picture. But, there are no easy answers.

Let's try to find a couple of those difficult answers on our own. There has been a non-separable relationship between the RSS and the BJP. They are two, but they are one. However, the two patriarchs of the BJP, AB Vajpayee and LK Advani tried to restrict the influence of the RSS in the business of governance when the two were at the helm of affairs for not less than six years. Vajpayee-Advani duo challenged the authority of the RSS in governance. 

When the BJP-led NDA came to power, the RSS thought to have a free sway but the two formidable leaders of the BJP kept them at an arm's distance on more than one occasion. This was incredible those days considering the historical relation of two organizations. Advani once proclaimed that governance does not fall in the realm of ideology, it is carried out on the basis of ground realities (you may read, coalition politics). The point is the father organization, the RSS was kept at a distance from the corridors of power while its children were managers of power.

After Vajpayee's health took him practically out of question, Advani has been waging a lone battle against the attempted coup by the RSS in the BJP. But, the emergence of Modi as a development man, who connects well with the aspirations of the youth despite the taint of communal riots gave the RSS a window to stage a forceful comeback in the courtyard of BJP.

But, this could not have been possible without the active support and calculated moves by Modi, who also saw a window of opportunity for himself with Vajpayee out of question, Advani being on the wrong side of 80s, and none of the next generation leaders at the national level having popular support. So, Modi quickly mended his ways to patch up with the RSS lest Shivraj Singh Chauhan made claim to the national politics. Brand Modi picked up at right time. And, the RSS got a foothold in the door that was threatening to close on its face- of course, not immediately.

If this is true, as I sense it to be, the BJP along with Advani has lost its war against the RSS. The independence of the BJP may have been compromised with in the elevation of Modi.

The RSS could serve well as a pressure group to any government, but it if the BJP, which senses groundswell in its favour across the Hindi heartland, gives the RSS a handle, it is not good for pluralistic model of governance in India. The result may be more damaging as it may give fodder to the hungry jehadis. Modi, obviously, has a tough task at hand even if we presume that he will take the BJP back to power in the two most coveted blocks in the country.

Delhi gangrape case: Nirbhaya, December 16 and after

The verdict of the fast track court is welcome as the four accused have been expectedly held guilty for raping the para-medical student on December 16, last year. Fifth accused died in Tihar jail while the juvenile accused was pronounced guilty and given a three-year sentence in rehabilitation/remand home.

While the verdict must be hailed for it came out in only a week to nine months’ time, it must not blind people’s vision to the spate of crime in Delhi in the past eight or nine months since the 23-year old girl was brutalized on the city road in a public vehicle and left to die. Her friend survived the incident.

Delhi continues to be an unsafe city for women. It has witnessed 239.26% rise in rape cases and 495% increase in molestation cases. This shows that there has been no improvement in this city being unsafe for women even eight months after the Nirbhaya incident.

In 2012, 433 rape cases were recorded in Delhi whereas till 15 August this year, 1,036 cases had already been registered in Delhi. Similarly, cases of molestation have witnessed a rise of 495.01%. Last year, 381 cases of molestation were registered which shot up to 2,267 in the past eight months.

The figures are telling and there is an urgent need to fix responsibility for the spate of crime against women in Delhi. The police had claimed to be enforcing a slew of measures to make the city safer for women. But, it is quite apparent that all the measures announced by the Delhi Police were taken only in files not on ground.

The measures announced by police including new women helpline numbers, creation of women help desk in police stations, establishment of all women police stations and liaison with rape crisis intervention centres have actually created confusion because there has been no coordination amongst the various cells put in place for the purpose.

There are four helpline numbers operational in the city. It is expected that a woman in trouble would choose from one among the four numbers, 100, 1096, 1091 and 181 when she is in trouble. But, if a woman is in the situation as that of the para-medical student, would she be able to make a call? If someone dials a wrong number she is asked to dial to the other number, herself.

While there is an urgent need to fix responsibility for this state of affairs, the Delhi Police lacks adequate number of personnel especially women police personnel. Women officials in Delhi Police are overworked. They have their own issues that hamper providing safety to women in the city.

Contrary to the government’s reply to Parliament on the working conditions for women police personnel in Delhi police, the women officials have no separate room to stay at night in case they work till late or are in the night-shift; they don’t get dropped home even at odd hours; women officials also complain that they do not get enough leave.

If the police personnel work under such condition, they cannot be expected to come to the rescue of a victim of any crime. Moreover, in Delhi itself, a policewoman complained of molestation and was, in turn, told to forget the incident and move over. This is nothing but a crude reminder of the gender disparity and insensitivity within the police establishment and society at large. This mindset is to be fought against alongside taking some real slew of measures ensuring speedy delivery of justice, which intrinsically calls for police and judicial reforms. Some may argue that if the latter happens, the former will definitely follow. But, till that happens, the social and media outrage against cases of crime against women must continue.