Author:
Publication: The Statesman
Date: October 16, 2012
URL: http://thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=427061&catid=38

GAFFES GALORE
But little comic relief

MIND-BOGGLING is the brazenness at the core of a series of gaffes committed by stalwarts of the ruling party. Sushil Kumar Shinde’s quip that the furore over coal block allocation would dissipate like the Bofors controversy is rooted in the same belief that mantrijis are above the law that prompted Beni Prasad Verma to assert that Rs 71 lakh was too trifling an amount for a central minister to siphon off. Though not corruption-related, Sriprakash Jaiswal’s sexist comment that a wife lost her charm after five years of marriage ~ even Hollywood suggested it took two years more to feel the “itch”  ~ also points to gross insensitivity to the public mood. For, while Arvind Kejriwal, and earlier a unified Team Anna, have offered more sensation than substance, people are now openly displaying their revulsion at corruption securing political endorsement. The least expected from netas was making pretence to fostering probity in public life; instead they find inspiration for a sick brand of humour. Jaiswal’s stupid remark only endorses the archaic male-dominated mindset that trivialises rape ~ a mindset also reflected in observations from non-Congress leaders in a sweep extending from Haryana to West Bengal. There are, to be fair, silly outbursts from members of all political parties, but people in power have additional responsibility: a responsibility they shrug off, the arrogance of power providing them a negative immunity. When the nation is “churning”, such loose talk offers no comic relief.

The Congress party now wields magnetic attraction for the needle of suspicion. Admittedly far from proven, and insubstantial is the evidence to back up allegations against Virbhadra Singh and Salman Khurshid’s NGO, yet the man in the street would believe the old saying about there being no smoke without fire. A fire fuelled by the refusal to order a probe into the coal fiasco, and determined bids by Congress MPs to scuttle probes by parliamentary committees into the 2G Spectrum allocation. Not to mention that the report of the Shunglu Committee into the CWG swindle is not being pursued: expectedly, the few cases the CBI had registered have into “contrived” roadblocks. True that Rs 71 lakh, by comparison, would be chicken-feed but Khurshid’s going ballistic ~ as the Congress’ loyalists did when defending private-citizen Robert Vadra ~ does send out a message. Alas, to cite a cliché, rather than “get” the message the Prime Minister seeks to disarm the messenger. The circle of criminality is completed.

‘KING FATHER’
End of a towering presence

CAMBODIA’S “King Father” is no more. Norodom Sihanouk’s death in Beijing at 89 ends a chapter in the country’s tumultuous history and indeed that of South-east Asia. Ruthless, mercurial and yet charming, there aren’t many such leaders in the world today. The decision to display his body for three months before the State funeral is testament to the extent to which he had endeared himself to the people. By any reckoning of history, his was an extraordinary reign, indeed a towering presence that covered half a century of independence, war and genocide. The lessons of Cambodian history are as bloody as profound. In his role as a ruthless monarch and the hero of independence, King Sihanouk was able to see through the games that the world powers play. Having ascended the throne at 18 after being crowned king by the French, he witnessed the twists and turns of Cambodia’s evolution, most profoundly its transformation from a French colony to a kingdom. He was a witness too to the transformation of a US-backed regime to an American bombing zone, and above all from the gut-churning killing fields of the Khmer Rouge to its present status in the comity of nations. Both in terms of domestic and international relations, it was a delicate balance that he strove to achieve as ruler. In a sense, he personified a contradiction in terms ~ an absolute monarch cast in the feudal mould who yet preferred to call himself a democrat.

There was a certain unpredictable streak in his personality as he shifted his allegiances and saw his country transformed from a quiet kingdom to a US-backed regime during the Vietnam War. Indeed, the rise of the Khmer Rouge ~ which seized power in 1975 ~ is embedded in the American bombing of Communist bastions in Vietnam. He fled to China after being ousted in 1970 in a US-backed coup. An anxiety to regain the throne drove him to join the Khmer Rouge, was placed under house arrest by the Maoist rebels, and reduced to a titular monarch for one year during their rule. Norodom Sihanouk’s political ideology remains an unknown quantity as he finally returns to Cambodia from China.

LAME NO LONGER
Brand preferences persist

WITH the south-west monsoon having withdrawn from the subcontinent, people in all but the southern and eastern regions of the country will have put away their raincoats, shopkeepers have certainly done so. When the “market” reopens next season both sellers and buyers of waterproof clothing/footwear could be a somewhat happier lot than they have been these past couple of years ~ the once near-iconic “Duckback” range should be available again. Its khaki/beige raincoats, ankle-length boots and the traditional gum boots (“macs” and “wellies” as the Brits call them) had been sorely missed by those unimpressed by what had been on sale recently. For good reason too: that brand had established a reputation over more than 80 years ~ some folk couldn’t sleep on chill winter nights without a Duckback hot water bottle, or bag as some prefer to call them, warming their icy toes. Shortage of working capital (not orders) followed by labour problems had resulted in a two-year shutdown of Bengal Waterproof Ltd, a firm established in 1920 when Calcutta (sorry, Kolkata) and West Bengal were at the forefront of commerce and industry. Perhaps aware of the brand-value of Duckback, the West Bengal government has stepped in with a financial package and other back-up.