Author: Virendra Kapoor
Publication: Afternoon Despatch & Courier
Date: December 11, 2006
URL: http://cybernoon.com/DisplayArticle.asp?section=fromthepress&subsection=editorials&xfile=December2006_insidestory_standard183&child=insidestory
Introduction: Manmoahn Singh's reputation
for honesty might have already become a liability following the recent conviction
of his Coal Minister Shibu Soren on a charge of murder
The Government is well and truly in the throes
of a mid-term crisis. The Prime Minister's own image for financial honesty
has receded in the background what with him most unabashedly providing shelter
to all the crooks and criminals in the government. Indeed, there is a growing
realisation in the ruling party circles that Manmohan Singh's reputation for
financial integrity might have become counter-productive for the Congress
Party since he is widely seen to be harboring under his wings, as it were,
some of the worst criminals and corrupt elements in Indian politics. In fact,
the argument that Singh is the weakest ever prime minister that the country
has had is fully buttressed by the presence of tainted ministers in key positions
in his government. "An honest man is not supposed to shelter crooks,
is he?" goes the opposition propaganda.
Just as Rajiv Gandhi's much tom-tommed image
as Mr. Clean had cost him and the Congress Party dear following the Bofors
bribery scandal, perceptive politicians are agreed that Manmoahn Singh's reputation
for honesty might have already become a liability following the recent conviction
of his Coal Minister Shibu Soren on a charge of murder. Since he had accommodated
Soren in his government not once, not twice, but three different times in
the last two- and-a-half years before a Delhi court held him guilty for the
murder of his own personal assistant. It is argued that Singh is unwilling
and unable to take a tough stand against those who are widely known to by
the worst offenders in Indian politics. In short, people have no use for a
politician who sups with the crooks to stay in power.
Quite aside from the disastrous policy of
accommodating crooks and criminals in government, the increasing disparity
between the haves and the have-nots and the relentless rise in prices of everyday
items such as lowly atta, dals and vegetables is beginning to alienate the
ubiquitous 'aam aadmi' from the ruling Congress Party. Add to the above the
failures of the government to be seen to be shining on any front other than
the share markets and you have a recipe for disaster for the ruling party.
Indeed, it seems like a replay of the disastrous Shining India jingle of the
previous NDA Government. That would explain why the future appears bleak to
a lot of people in the ruling combine while, surprisingly, despite their own
internal problems, smiles are back on the faces of BJP leaders.
When Laloo was left speechless
Only Indian politicians can be so brazen.
A senior member of the Lok Sabha of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Raghunath Jha,
was heard abusing his party leader and Railway Minister Lalloo Yadav while
the latter, for once, sat tongue-tied. The reason for Jha's anger? Apparently,
the previous day five companions of the RJD member from Bettiah in Bihar were
caught traveling without ticket by a special checking squad of the railways
and were duly penalised. Jha was angry with Laloo for not ensuring that 'at
least members of your own party are not set upon by the railway inspectors
and humiliated openly.'
When Laloo tried to defend himself, Jha raised
his voice even louder, shouting angrily at the Railway Minister for all in
the central hall of parliament to hear. He accused Yadav of sending the ticket
inspectors to go after him continuing in that vein for a long time, while
Laloo sat speechless, he claimed that Yadav was a cipher without his support
and would become cipher if he (Jha) were to turn against him... A number of
RJD MPs including, of course, the Minister for Company Affairs, Prem Gupta,
witnessed the one-way tirade of abuse and invective unleashed by Jha against
his leader.
Ill-informed RSS boss
RSS Chief K. C. Sudershan is a sucker for
sycophancy. Goaded by a dubious television-entrepreneur, he recently showed
up at the wedding celebrations of a controversial TV journalist who only a
couple of years ago was in the headlines following the death of his former
wife in highly suspicious circumstance. The family of the deceased had lodged
a case of murder against the TV journalist who most appropriately anchors
a show on crime and criminals. In fact, following the death of his wife in
suspicious circumstances, a newly launched weekly magazine had laid bare the
alleged acts of fraud and criminality committed by the anchor.
Even senior RSS apparatchiks were unhappy
with Sudhershan for attending the wedding function of the controversial TV
anchor earlier this month. On his part, the groom has tried to capitalise
on the presence of the RSS chief at his function as a "better way of
improving Hindu-Muslim relations than government-managed shows of communal
harmony." What next? Sudershan at the birthday felicitations for Abu
Salem and Dawood Ibrahim?
Ambica Soni a faux doctor
The occasion was the centenary celebrations
of the late Oriya poet, Mayadhar Mansingh. The Kamani auditorium in the national
capital was packed like sardines, with standing room only for late entrants.
On the dias, among others, were the Minister for Tourism and Culture, Ambica
Soni, the head of the Indian Council of Cultural Relations, Karan Singh, and
the ruling Congress family's trusted cultural doyenne, Kapila Vatsyayan. A
speaker paying tributes to the great poet, got carried away and while thanking
` doctor Karan Singh, doctor Vatsyayan' also thanked 'doctor Ambica Soni.'
Now Soni holds no doctorate degree, real or
honorary. She showed her embarrassment for being made a doctor in the august
presence of over 2,000 distinguished guests but could do nothing to correct
the impression since the compere had moved on to the next item on the evening's
agenda, that is, a scintillating three-in-one Odissi - Bharata Natyam - Kathak
dance performance.
Of patriotic and non-patriotic profiteers
The Rajya Sabha was debating the amendment
to the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial Trust, which stipulates that the
president of the Congress Party would ex-officio be a member of the trust's
board. Predictably, members of the BJP vehemently opposed the provision, raking
up Sonia Gandhi's foreign origins to question the wisdom of her being made
one of the trustees. Notably, in the wake of the recent controversy over the
office-of-profit, Sonia had resigned as the head of the trust.
However, pandemonium ensued when a senior
Samajwadi Party member criticised the proposal, asserting that if the Congress
President could be a member of the trust of the Jallianwala Bagh, the same
privilege ought to be extended by rotation to leaders of other parties. This
led the Congress member, Rajiv Shukla, to interject loudly that if a Samajwadi
Party leader was appointed a trustee, there was likelihood of the historic
Bagh being parceled out to dubious builders for pecuniary gains.
Shukla's provocative remark soon had Amar
Singh on his feet. The SP leader said that Shukla's remark was contemptuous
and defamatory. He had dubbed the SP leaders as agents of builders and questioned
their patriotism whereas the charge was far more valid for the Congress leaders,
and so on and so forth. The `tu-tu-mein-mein' went on for some time before
the chair managed to restore order.
Sycophants all
Indians' penchant for sycophancy reflects
itself in many ways. There is this dubious promoter-anchor of a television
news channel who insists on being addressed by reporters and others with the
suffix `ji' after his name, while other anchors, some years older than him,
are addressed simply with their first names.
Likewise, having duly internalised the culture
of sycophancy, the Congress leader R. K. Dhawan in a recent interview to a
news magazine instinctively added `ji' each time he mentioned the name of
Sonia Gandhi or her son, Rahul, while pointedly choosing to call other leaders,
some far more senior in age and experience, as plain Natwar or plain Arjun.
Interestingly, during the Narasimha Rao interregnum
in the Congress Party Dhawan was also a champion sycophant. At a meeting of
the Congress bigwigs, taking offence at the anti-Rao noises being made by
the late Rajesh Pilot, he bluntly told the ambitious Young Turk that he should
be the last person to talk of ` public image and corruption'. "Remember
the time you would come to me on your battered down two-wheeler, seeking Congress
ticket… now you talk of corruption…"
This plain talk had effectively silenced the
late Gujjar leader, while it had earned for Dhawan a place in the Rao Ministry.
Once again, Dhawan is itching for attention of the 10 Janpath establishment.
