Desicritics Category: Politics: Governance

The Left are Better Left Behind

Suresh Naig — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:10:57 EDT

Two prominent news items caught my attention, both involving the Left Front, read together reinforces my belief that Left, when left behind augur well for the country.

The first incident involved Jawaharlal Nehru University. The Leftist Students’ organization of JNU on Wednesday forced the varsity authorities to call off a lecture by the US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, Richard Boucher.
Boucher, who is on a visit to New Delhi, was invited by the JNU’s Centre for Canadian, American and Latin-American Studies to speak on Indo-US relations. But the varsity authorities had to cancel the programme following protests by the JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU), which is dominated by the All India Students’ Association (AISA) and Students Federation of India (SFI).

Mr.Boucher instead met nearly 30 students in the US embassy and had an interaction on bilateral relations between the two countries. The JNUSU president Sandeep Singh said the cancellation of the lecture is a victory for not only for JNU, but also for all who have been raising voices against US imperialism.

The second news item is about West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb’s remarks about bundhs. The CM said on Tuesday that he would not support bundhs and gheraos and that he would no more support such modes of protests even if his party gave a call for it.

The Left parties condemned Buddhadeb for his remarks, terming it as his personal opinion. Not to be “left behind” everyone protested vociferously that they would never give up their “fundamental right”, to refrain from bundhs and strikes.
Analysing these two news items, I could arrive at the following conclusions and I am sure everyone with the right mind would concur with me.

The Students Unions dominated by the Left wing ideologues are scared that the students would listen to the “right” lecture and the Left would be left behind. So much of respect they have for the discerning faculties of the student community of JNU. If the Students Union is so convinced about the misdeeds of US, it is left for the students to decide on listening to different lectures. One more proof of the lefts controlling and conditioning academia of our country.

When the CITU said they cannot give up their “fundamental right” to strike, I couldn’t help laughing. For neither they had any understanding of the “fundamentals” nor the “rights”. If bundhs are fundamental rights, how the apex court has banned it?

What is “right” for the “left"? If left behind, the country can go “right forward”.

Revolution? You Kill My Guests I'll Kill Yours

temporal — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 02:25:13 EDT

The sudden surge in violence after Musharraf resigned is significant and telling.The Fasadi Pakistani Talebans are exploiting the leadership vacuum and making inroads. The losers are the civilians, who face death unexpectedly, the army whose morale is sagging, and the fledgling civilian administration trying to rebuild democratic institutions.

There is a way out, but the political and military rulers and their Western backers have always ignored it: serious land reforms, the creation of a proper social infrastructure and the establishment of at least a dozen teacher-training universities to lay the basis for a proper educational system. Malaysia has done so. Why not Pakistan?Tariq Ali's Way Out of Pakistan's Impasse.

In response to above iFaqeer wrote:...who's going to bell the cat? That's the basic question...Pakistan's headed for a revolution. The question is of what nature it will be and when it will happen. Today...the obvious option is scary...

Until recently my definition of revolution in the Pakistani context was: transfer of power from one un-elected representative to another.

But given the rise of religious militancy and extremism this definition is out the window. The revolution alluded to by iFaqeer will be unpredictable, chaotic and murderous.

I had heard this story growing up. The Pathans were very hospitable people and in one of their village they had a tradition. After sunset the villagers would head for the outskirts. If they found a tired hungry traveler headed in their direction they would jostle with each other for the privilege to play the host to the traveler. One evening, in the jostling between Badshah Khan and Peer Khan to play host to the lone traveler, the old Enfield rifle went off accidentally killing the traveler.

Said Badshah Khan to Peer Khan, "Khocha tum fik'r mut karo. Tum nay amara aik maimaan mara hum tumara dus maimaan maray ga." (Don't worry friend, you killed one guest of mine I will kill off ten of yours some day.)

Earlier today, near the entrance to a high security ordnance factory at Wah, suicide bombers killed 70 plus Pakistanis. [Death toll in Wah blasts climbs to 70]

Later on ARY TV, Maulvi Omar (not the one eyed Afghan Taliban leader) admitted responsibility for the suicide attack. He claimed that that suicide attack was in response to the government attacks in Bajaur and Kurram Agency. He also boasted that his forces were capable of carrying out attacks anywhere in Pakistan.

So in this political game, of killing guests the innocent Muslims are killed.

The Pakistan Army is at the receiving end and failing miserably. Like other classic armies, its Achilles heel is a sustained guerrilla fight. Their training and motivation becomes suspect and they open themselves up to ridicule. And with the fledgling civilian politicians bashing them openly, their morale suffers.

The Pakistani Talibans have the edge. Theirs is a guerrilla movement. They do not need planes and tanks and heavy artillery. They are mobile. They can disappear in the crowd. And they are armed with belief. Belief in their cause that may appear suspect and unfounded in western and Muslim scholarly eyes, but is unshakable and firm like K2.

Lessons learned fighting the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan have been polished. They have also demonstrated formidable political savvy. The weak Gilani government, under pressure from the West, from their own people, is desperate to find a solution - any solution that may work. And when they open negotiations, these Taliban groups use the pauses to regroup and re arm. Ho Chi Minh would have chuckled.

With encouragement and support from the Indians and the Iranians, the Mayor of Kabul accuses the Pakistani Administration of being spineless. The Pakistani government bristles. They opened their homes and welcomed millions of Afghan refugees. They still play host to nearly three million of them. The embattled and lame duck US Administration leans on Pakistanis to do more.

The civilian government of Yusuf Raza Gilani, rife with infighting and intrigues, and plagued with incompetence and inexperience is rowing furiously with one oar. Mohsin Hamid, author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist disagrees:

The US, for its part, will need to adjust to a Pakistan in which anti-America sentiment could seriously undermine US interests. The US can best do this by offering Pakistan not the appearance of an alliance but the equality and mutual respect that constitutes the substance of one. Pakistan's people have already demonstrated through the ballot that they reject the Taliban worldview, and the number of Pakistanis who died in terrorist attacks last year alone exceeds the number of Americans killed on 9/11. Pakistan should be allowed to determine how best to fight extremists on its soil. Pakistani solutions are likely to be slower and more cautious than US ones, but also, crucially, more sustained and popular, and therefore more effective in the long run. Pakistan is at last finding its voice. The US would be wise not to gag it - Mohsin Hamid.

Through ballot the people have turfed out the fundamentalists for now. But the key question is whether the people can withstand their bullets?

It is well to remember that for a short while after the lawlessness, mayhem and chaos in Afghanistan, following the Soviet withdrawal, the Afghanis did welcome Mullah Omar's Talebans the first time around. Will it be repeated in Pakistan? Will there be a rural-urban divide? One embracing the neo-Talebans the other rejecting them?

The population is divided. If there is a retrogressive Fasadi Revolution the rural population I suspect would welcome it, much like the Afghans did. But I suspect the Fasadi would have a tougher fight on their hands in the urban centers. For they have learned what havoc the orthodox and rigid Talebans have caused in Afghanistan earlier.

Meanwhile, in this revolution to come expect murder and mayhem in the name of Allah the Merciful.

The Human DNA

Shantanu Dutta — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:48:48 EDT

As the violence in Jammu and Kashmir escalates beyond what bounces of our television screens, the vibrations are also cascading across our borders. Pakistan has of course reacted harshly to the “excessive use of force” to control the civil unrest there and in a typical knee jerk response, the Indian government has condemned the comments from the Pakistani Foreign Minister as an interference in India’s internal affairs.

There is this much to be said in that all countries in the sub continent are from the same genetic make up very literally and all can be blackened with the same brush. A lot can be perhaps said about Pakistan or any other country around making pious statements about human rights considering the overall record of every one here. But still the question begs to be asked – when do political boundaries blur and our human identity begins asserting itself?

When do we feel free and are given the freedom to express a genuine agony and anguish at the violence, broken and bereaved families that every unplanned funeral brings in its wake? This is not about fishing in troubled waters or scoring political brownie points at all. But I wonder - does it become treason to mourn the loss and grief of another because they live across a border that is not even a century old when cultural and ethnic bonds go back a thousand years or more?

When a lament from a neighboring country at the violence that is prevailing here and is flashing globally across television channels and internet news sites is understood to be interference, then the question arises for Indians as to what should they do. People with ethnic backgrounds and languages spoken in India live in all countries that surround us – Bengalis – even Bengali Hindus (for those whom this distinction matters) in Bangladesh, Tamils in Sri Lanka being the most prominent but by no means the only ones.

It seems easier to reach out across borders when natural disasters strike – like tsunamis or earthquakes or cyclones; but some how there is an insurmountable barrier when it comes to even making statements of empathy and condolence when the tragedy is manmade. Even a word can impute a motive when at least at the level of the common man or woman, none is intended,

Most of us are it the political establishment or those who are part of civil society will find it well nigh difficult to look the other way in the guise of non interference in the internal affairs of another country. If Tamils were to be in the midst of widely publicized media footage be subjected to violence or the Bengalis were, it would be politically inexpedient to sit back and do nothing.

If non interference in the affairs of others is the norm, then nobody in the international community should be speaking into what is happening in Zimbabwe, or Sudan, and India itself should not have moved resolutions in the United Nations when South Africa was still practicing racism. But it is good at times, indeed necessary for people to speak up, take note and make a point in the international communities and forums so that what would otherwise have gone unnoticed and remained hidden in shadows

Of course there is such a thing as undue interest in the affairs of another country; as perhaps best exemplified by the US invasion of Iraq. But there is also such a thing as too little of an interest in the affairs of the world. After all, it is only those who live in glass houses who are scared of stones and so they do not throw any. The world’s largest democracy should not be fighting shy of facing criticism when there are plenty within the country’s own borders who are concerned. Let us own up to the fact there is a common human DNA that makes us all speak up.

India - Winter in August

Shantanu Dutta — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 14:41:18 EDT

The loud euphoria that we experienced when Abhinav Bindra won the Gold medal made me wonder about what might be the level of excitement that one might expect in countries where winning medals is a little more common. Are they the same? How is it in China where at this time, they are leading the United States. Long considered the lead medal winner in the Olympics. When some in say the US or South Korea wins a model what would it be like? I am sure that victory is cherished every where but do things go berserk as they seemed to do in India?

Watching the television channels meant going through the usual inane experience of the breathless and overwhelmed anchors grabbing the parents of the shooter and discussing his status on being further elevated among the ranks of the eligible bachelors of India.

It probably reveals the levels of pain in the nation that we are happy and ready and willing the tiniest wisp of good news that comes around. After all every morning’s news just makes for escalating bad news. Every one seems to be holding on mere shreds of hope. Even the Olympics have been stained. Witness the upheaval for example when Monika Devi of Manipur was subjected to a dope test and implicated only to be told too late that the test was flawed. That agony has been drowned by the rapidly escalating violence in Jammu and Kashmir.

Ever since the early days of the New Year when first the stock market started crashing, it would seem that nothing has gone right for India. The rising crude oil prices, the accompanying inflation, the rising interest rates on loans, particularly housing loans, the continuing terrorist attacks, instability in the Central Government, numerous incidents have rocked the nation, literally leaving it battered and bruised.

This Independence Day that will be upon us in a couple of days will be the bleakest in years. Most parts of the country are disturbed and traumatized in one way or the other. The situation in Jammu and Kashmir looks to be so bad that the government is short of its weapon of last resort – the armed forces are in short supply and there is talk of shifting troops from the Line of Control into areas like Kishtwar in J&K.

The newspapers are running advertisements that trains are being “regulated” in Assam. Night running of trains is being halted and when they do run they will run with bullet proof coating as befits a country and a railway system in siege. Because this year likes many others, the ULFA is bleeding Assam to death. Any one else calling a bundh on Independence Day would have run the risk of being accused of sedition but not them.

In Jharkhand, Shibu Soren is proclaiming openly that he should be made the chief minister of Jharkhand replacing the present incumbent practically overnight or else like a petulant child, he would again withdraw support potentially plunging the beleaguered central government into yet another crisis and in the process reducing the already polluted market place politics to the haggling and bargaining that goes on in the village haat. In every place there is nothing but gloom except in that one gold medal that was our destiny this year. Even the silver medalist of the last Olympics, Lt.Col. Rathode failed to qualify for the finals in his particular shooting event. Meanwhile, in Delhi, the skies are often overcast in that broody way, that casts a pall of gloom every where. The rains have ensured that there is a slight nip in the air and the temperature is many degrees below the normal. May be it is time to get the sweaters out….. it looks like it might be winter in August…..

Justice Delayed for Dalit Girl Burnt Alive in Uttar Pradesh

Madhu Chandra — Thu, 7 Aug 2008 11:48:36 EDT

The world was shocked by recent news of a six year old Dalit girl thrown into a burning bush by the upper caste villagers in India’s largest state of Uttar Pradesh in April, for which justice, even after three months, is still delayed.

A Fact Finding Team consisting of an International Human Rights group met Kamlesh and her parents along with Dalit leaders from her village. The story of justice delayed and the denial of medical and financial aid have been reported to the fact finding team.

Kamlesh’s parents are still in shock, suffering trauma and feel great fear of what will happen, if the accused happened to be released from jail.

On April 29, 2008 in the morning, in a village called Trauali Jhanauti in Mathura District of Uttar Pradesh in north India, Kamlesh was thrown into a burning bush by upper caste fellow villagers for the alleged crime of passing through a house which lies on the roadside toward the open fields where Dalit women and children used to go for open toilet.

When Kamlesh’s mother Manju, eighth months pregnant, attempted to snatch her from burning bush, she was thrashed at roadside and fell unconscious. When Manju came to her senses, she yelled for help. She pulled her daughter out from the burning bush, by the time 80% of her body was burned.

Kamlesh’s parents did not have a single penny to afford taking their daughter to the Hospital; rather they took her to the local police station with the expectation that the police would help them get some medical assistance.

The local police, after registering the complaint, took Kamlesh to the Government District Hospital at Mathura. She suffered five hours at the hospital before proper medical attention was given to her. After 36 hours, she was transferred to a bigger hospital in the district headquarters and later referred to Safdarjung Hospital in New Delhi, where she was treated up to her present condition.

The physical condition of Kamlesh is still grim. No proper medication has been given to her. Her right hand remains crippled, the right leg and skin all over the body are cracked and unhealed. She still groans with pain. Immediate treatment is needed to fully heal the burns.

The little financial aid from government has not been enough to cover the medical cost. Kamlesh’s parents have taken loans from known friends and relatives to pay for the necessary medicines.

Kamlesh’s parents Saudan and Manju are illiterate and do not have any regular job nor fields to cultivate. They depend on their daily wages, which they hardly get 8 to 10 days in a month.

A local Dalit activist and leader of All India Confederation of SC/ST Organizations told the fact finding team,

“For years, Dalit community in the village have been the receiving end of caste instinct crimes such as the case of Kamlesh, but this is the first case that the police has arrested the culprit.”

Justice to Kamlesh and her parents for the crime committed against them is very shaky at this point. The accused and the upper caste communities are wealthier and have better connections with government authorities, through which the crime could be manipulated.

Kamlesh’s father Saudan says,

“Out of four names of the culprits registered in police complaint, three have been removed from the complaint and only one is arrested and put behind the bar without trial. We could be forced to withdraw the complaint against the culprits to compromise the case.”

The lack of sanitary facilities in the village was one of the root causes for ongoing crimes faced by Dalits of the village from upper caste communities. The Dalit village leaders feel that such incidents could be avoided in future, if sanitary facilities for Dalit communities were provided in their village.

Illiteracy, poverty, social oppression and lack of medical accessibility to the Dalits in the villages are the root causes of such atrocities and crimes. Economic and education empowerment of Dalit communities will play a vital role in delivering them their fundamental rights. Failing which, the economic condition of Kamlesh’s parents and alike of other Dalit families; will always fall short to give education to their children in the village.

Ignorance caused by the lack of education could be one of many factors for caste-based discrimination and atrocities, which Dalits have been suffering for years. Surely the stories like that of Kamlesh could be prevented in future through proper community-based education and amelioration of living conditions.

The Grey Lady of Bagram: Dr. Aafia Siddiqui - Kidnapped, Tortured and Now Arraigned

temporal — Thu, 7 Aug 2008 00:33:36 EDT

Dr. Aafia Siddiqui

One day in March 2003, Dr. Aafia Siddiqui ordered a cab to take her and her three children (oldest 4, youngest an infant) to the Karachi Airport from her residence in Gulshan. She had not been seen since until her arraignment in US District Court two days ago, Aug. 5.

Her recent appearance has to do with a series of events that began with an appeal by the Asian Human Rights Commission.

Aafia Siddiqui has a biology degree from MIT and earned her PhD in cognitive neuroscience from Brandeis University. The only charge claimed by FBI (Newsweek June 23, 2003) against Dr. Siddiqui is one of renting a post office box in the name of a Majid Khan, an alleged Al Qaeda suspect.

The US was forced to admit that it had Dr. Siddiqui when two weeks ago in a press conference British journalist Yvonne Ridley demanded that the US hand over Prisoner 650, whom she dubbed The Grey Lady of Bagram. Yvonne Ridley quoted Elaine Whitfield Sharp, A human rights advocate and Dr. Aafia Siddiqui's lawyer: "We believe Aafia has been in custody ever since she disappeared and we're not willing to believe that the discovery of Aafia in Afghanistan is coincidence."

Teeth Maestro writes:

"Ms Ridley, who went to Pakistan to appeal for help, said the case came to her attention when she read the book, The Enemy Combatant, by a former Guantanamo detainee, Moazzam Begg. After being seized in February 2002 in Islamabad, Mr. Begg was held in detention centres in Kandahar and Bagram for about a year before he was transferred to Guantanamo Bay. He recounted his experiences in the book after his release in 2005. Mr. Imran Khan, the leader of Justice Party (T.I) suspects that prisoner 650 is Dr. Afia Siddiqui and USA and Pakistani authorities are hiding facts of 'Prisoner 650'."

Three months prior to her kidnapping on March 30, 2003 she divorced her husband, Dr. Amjad Ali, a US based anesthesiologist. In May 2003, Mazhar Abbas wrote for Newsline:

"In yet another twist, her husband Amjad Khan, whom Afia divorced three months before her disappearance, is also apparently under suspicion*. According to Ismat Siddiqui, Amjad had wanted his eldest son to go to a madrassa, while Afia wanted her children to get an "English education." Mrs. Siddiqui hinted that her former son-in-law was wanted by the FBI, but was not sure in what connection. Amjad Khan has no political background nor is he affiliated with any group, but his staunch Islamic beliefs may have motivated him to back or support Islamic extremist groups. According to Mrs. Siddiqui, he used to call his wife and mother-in-law "American agents." [* Dr. Siddiqui’s husband allegedly purchased night-vision goggles and body armour on the internet.]

In a news report filed Aug. 5 from New York City, Khalid Hasan writes: "According to a FBI announcement, officers of the Ghazni province Afghanistan National Police arrested Siddiqui when they searched her handbag and found numerous documents describing the creation of explosives, excerpts from the Anarchist’s Arsenal, and descriptions of various US landmarks. It says that on July 18, a party of US personnel, including two FBI special agents, a US Army warrant officer, a US Army captain, and US military interpreters, arrived at the Afghan facility where Siddiqui was being held."

The kidnapping, detention, and allegations of rape and torture of this frail woman, her disappearance from Karachi in 2003, her reappearance in NYC Tuesday under intense public scrutiny, the "ridiculous" statements put out by FBI, all led to a travesty of justice for this woman.

If there was a fair trial, the truth would come out.

And while the truth would emerge, it is too far fetched to speculate that all the participants — the Agencies in Pakistan, the Afghan Agencies, the FBI and US forces and the Bush Administration official involved — will face the music they should if found guilty.

The Hague, anyone?

Do Bigha Zameen: A Modern Retelling

Shantanu Dutta — Wed, 6 Aug 2008 20:11:26 EDT

It is more than a matter of the 400 acres of land at Singur. The Tata plant running into labor trouble at Singur is an example of several tectonic shifts in our politics.

We have here a bizarre situation where a party committed to the welfare of the toiling masses provides police protection to a capitalist firm — after being accused of having acquired land by force using the party muscle to coerce the local "peasantry" into parting with it.

The peasants are being led by a party comprised of more or less one person, Mamta Bannerjee, whose ideology on most matters is unknown except that she loves to oppose any thing and any one with a passion. Of course, her supreme passion is to hate the Left Front. But, she opposed the Congress leadership when she was in it, opposed the NDA when she was part of it and retains an ambivalent relationship with it even now. And, of course, she opposed several in her own party who tried to give it an identity and an ideology.

The irony is probably all the more jarring because the Left Front’s once stellar record in land reforms must be staring it glaringly in the face. Although most of the country has passed laws paying lip service to the “land to the tiller” concept, it has been the earlier Left Front governments in the Jyoti Basu era that took the matter of land reform seriously and single mindedly pursued it.

Chanchal Sarkar wrote about it:

“When Benoy Choudhury became Minister of Land and Land Reforms when the Left Front came to power in 1977 after two short earlier spells be began ‘Operation Barga’, Bargadar being the word used for sharecroppers who had no security of land. West Bengal’s reforms turned out to be the best land reform and distribution system in India. The so-called land reform schemes in the other states like U.P. and Bihar had just been a hoax, the landlords continued to rule their empire with an iron hand. Benoy Choudhury and the team he created saw to it that sharecroppers had tenure over their land and could not be evicted.”

From the time of Benoy Choudhury the journey was long. In the early days of Left Front rule, land reforms were of such high importance that in the West Benga "quota" of the CPI (M) politburo a seat was held by the land and land reforms minister and, of course, the portfolio itself was awarded to a senior minister. That the same “seat” is now occupied by the industry minister since the last party congress speaks a lot about the distance covered.

The situation of the Left is understandable. Industrialization may be a necessity, but it has to live up its own formidable legacy in giving land to the landless and not taking it away as it is doing now. The trouble is compounded by the fact that today there are no leaders of the stature of a Benoy Choudhury who would command the credibility that he and others like him with a mass base did. That would have allowed them to have communicated with the people in a vocabulary of their own and be believed. Today, the few mass leaders that the Left has are pygmies compared to the giants who preceded them.

And meanwhile, as the Left Front sorts out its fractured identity, we will be treated to the spectacle of the party of the “toiling masses” providing protection to merchant princes even as the Trinamool Congress, a part of the right-wing NDA committed to free enterprise, agitates for the aspirations of the poor. Keep your television sets on in the coming days. A “worker’s party" using police to keep agitating peasants at bay will be a sight to behold.

Gulzar's Hu Tu Tu - Misplaced Idealism?

Shantanu Dutta — Fri, 1 Aug 2008 13:38:48 EDT

In the midst of the 25 crore per MP conversation going on all over, I returned to Gulzar’s Hu Tu Tu, which explores political venality so well. Even the name of the film has been conveys a meaning – Nana Patekar, who etches a key role in the film explains that politics is like Hu Tu Tu – the Marathi name for Kabaddi- politicians grabbing, dragging and pulling each other down as often as possible and the one who pushes and shoves most successfully gets to win.

Gulzar’s film was made in 1999, close to a decade ago and watching it today, and then watching Parliament in session last week and then reading all these news pieces about the horse trading and the alleged barter of parliamentarians in 2008, it would lend credence to the quote that the more things change, the more they essentially they remain the same.

Since Hu Tu Tu, other films on a similar subject have been made = most notably recently Aamir Khan’s Rang de Basanti and Hazaron Khwaishen Aise-  all dealing with the same subject and delivering a similar message – that politicians are vile and that the youth are unsullied and pure and broadly sinless.

That conclusion is no longer entirely true unfortunately. Youth may be idealistic as they entirely adulthood but if their seniors are sullied, it does not take too much time for the young people to be sullied too. To give an example, the emergency and the Total Revolution movement of JP brought to the fore front a whole generation of young people into politics – people who upset the hitherto followed caste and class equations in Indian politics. Leaders like Mulayam Singh, Lalu Prasad and many others were products of the student movement offshoots of the JP movement. If they were ever inspiring idealists – even in their youth, that period of their life has been left long behind in shadowy mists. Here and there a Nitish Kumar or an Arun Jaitley might be different but no more.

Take a look at university life today to dispel any remaining myth that the youth of today are honest and idealistic and the grey haired seniors are alone the villains. University life today is not essentially about academics in several places; it is about delinquency of the worst order. Look at Lucknow University, Aligarh Muslim University, Jamia Milia Islamia, Meerut, Agra and Patna Universities for examples.

So why are our movies so clear cut in their solutions – so black and white – young is good and noble – and old is dying and decaying? I guess it is because probably it is nice to throw some light of hope as you end a movie and hold up the youth as symbols of change and metamorphosis even if it is not entirely true. In all the movies cited, Hu Tu Tu, Rang De Basanti and Hazaron Khwaishein Aise, the young people are disgusted by the decadence all around and end up wielding the gun in quasi revolutionary style as if solutions to complex social and moral problems really lay in the barrel of a gun.

So am I some kind of prophet of doom, seeing gloom where others see different? Not really. I see hope; but the thing is I see hope every where- in the old and also in the young. To end with an example; in the recent parliamentary debate, I saw hope in the 80 year old Somnath Chatterjee and I saw hope in the 38 year old Omar Abdullah. Where I did not see hope was in the relatively middle aged 60 year old Prakash Karat, incidentally another product of the emergency era. Perhaps middle age indeed is the fountainhead of cynicism and the period to beware of.

CPM Expels Speaker Somnath Chaterjee

Ashish — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:46:19 EDT

This was one of the most anticipated news in recent times on an individual politician level. The Speaker, Somnath Chaterjee has been a member of the CPM for over 40 years, having been a Member of Parliament from the party for 10 times now. From all appearances, he has been an articulate and devoted member for the party. At the same time, as the party drew up its leadership over a period of time, it was clear that Somnath Chaterjee was not going to be a candidate in the succession chain, and given that he is 79 years, not likely to happen in the future also.

There was a lot of buzz that he wanted to the President, but the CPM did not agree to this (leading to some disappointment with the party politburo). At the same time, even though the BJP keeps on accusing him of acting in a biased manner, he seems to have given the office of the Speaker his best effort. It was a familiar sight of the Speaker trying his best to bring an unruly house to control (and mostly failing). So, there must have been the feeling that he enjoyed a constitutional post, with the prestige associated with it, and above the dictates of any party.

Even then, it was a matter of surprise that he refused to obey the diktat of the CPM that he quit the office of the Speaker and became defiant in his attitude.

This must have been very unsettling for the party; a Communist party likes to believe that once the Politburo has spoken, then there is no cause for dissent; even if it is the holder of a constitutional post. So, the party backed down a bit, keeping his name off the whip, but the action was predicted. It was the timing that was to be considered, and it was fast:

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee was on Wednesday expelled by CPM climaxing a fortnight-long defiance of the veteran parliamentarian to quit at the call of the party with which he was associated for four decades. The party invoked Article 19 (13) of its constitution to expel him under summary procedures without any notice on the charge of "seriously compromising" the party position.
The 79-year old barrister and ten-time MP, Chatterjee rejected both subtle and explicit hints from the party leadership, which asked him to quit the post to which he was elected unanimously after the 2004 elections, saying he was above party politics given the post he held.

Somehow, this action also gives a hint of the anger that is bubbling within the CPM over the vote loss and consequent loss of influence, that it took a fast and quick action against a leader who has been with the party for long.

Cash For Votes Allegations - No Surprises

BangaloreGuy — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 11:18:45 EDT

When Desicritics invited opinions on the "cash for votes" scam - my internet search engines hadn't picked up on the one crore rupees displayed by BJP MPs in Parliament for apparently abstaining from the Trust vote on the UPA Government - still a small sum, going by the recent talk of an MP's or an MLA's worth in the Karnataka Assembly.

That said, I think the average Indian is probably resigned to it - the horse trading, the relatively large sums of money exchanged etc; Shibu Soren, who got convicted for one such act for Narasimha Rao's government is still around, still an MP - and is being promised ministries while in the process of deciding this government's fate as well.

I don't see why people would be surprised about Horse-trading when we see murderers, rapists, arsonists and rioters as MLAs/MPs. At least 4 of those are prominently highlighted in the media with 3 currently in jail. Why would one expect any of those members not to be available for cash/positions - after all, those would help "cement" their illegal lifestyles. (Only self-interest, no national interest)

Even the not-so-tainted MPs would be available for sale, wouldn't they? After all, the honourable PMO no less sent 8 letters for a specific company's profit to one PSU oil company - there was nary a trust vote over that - some edits, some TV debates, Karan Thapar haranguing a couple of "TV politicians" (politicians with little other political 'base') - and that was about it.

On the specific issue that this trust vote is over, I can count on my fingers the number of times it came up for debate in Parliament, and the clarifications issued by the PM - twice that is, excluding the current debate. If my Prime Minister cannot brief Parliament on what is referred to as a "game-changing" agreement more than twice, or create a consensus why advocate for it - or go to a trust vote over it?

Another reason for actually needing to curry the MP's favour with cash is the ridiculous laws governing defection, lack of inner party democracy/meritocracy and the so-called "party whip". What's the point of the "party whip" - I mean, come on, if you need a "whip" to convince your party members that they need to vote for your government (or against the other party's government) - surely something's wrong there?