Daily Excelsior... Editorial

India need not throw
away its bargaining chips
By: Lt. Gen. (Retd) Harkirat Singh

The seventh round of Jaswant Singh - Strobe Talbott talks in Rome was a total washout. India has taken a strong exception ....more

Crime, judicial reforms
and activism
By : Joginder Singh IPS (Retd.)

Judiciary is an important umpire in the functioning of the Executive and Legislature. At the apex is the Supreme Court created.. ....more

Tamil Nadu a flash point of civilisational clash
By Jayant Muralidharan

It was the war cry of those who laid down their lives for the independence of this country......more

EDITORIAL

WRONG SIGNALS

Some Central agencies are apparently overzealous in creating some or the parallels which lead to many awkward questions difficult to explain or accept. Needless to say that Jammu & Kashmir is a border State having common borders with China, Afghanistan and Pakistan. It happens to be the State already subjected to three regular wars in 1947, 1965 and 1971. The fourth war which is more sinister and damaging is yet on to what one calls as 'proxy war' although it has all the ingredients and inputs of regular war. International pressure groups which have vested strategic interests also fish in troubled waters of Jhelum every now and then to keep Kashmir on the boil. There are then those protagonists of human rights which continue to prick us rather than do something to neutralise the initiators and motivators of human rights violations- the terrorists and the nations that sponsor State terrorism in one form or the other. Again, J&K happens to be the State which has constantly been exposed to intrigues by successive Governments with almost 'no policy' status which indeed remains the root cause of alienation of the people from the main stream. The other consequences of such 'no policy' or day to day policy manifest their ugliness in rampant corruption and lawlessness which obviously affect day to day life of the people adversely. Such corrosion of administration's credibility in public esteem is something that cannot be digested so easily when the need of the hour is establishing full rapport with people through people friendly treats. All such faults and lapses which cannot be ignored or removed overnight however continues to be accepted by the people as lesser evil than what they witnessed during the horrendous 10 year long insurgency. They do nurse the hope that one day things would look up under popular dispensation. It is this hope and desire for peace, progress and prosperity that keeps them somewhat restrained.

With the above scenario it is just as well that forces hostile to rapid normalisation process or neither propped up nor encouraged in any manner whatsoever. Unfortunately, history of this State has been bad enough in terms of such props. The latest conclave of Awami National Conference led by estranged brother in law of Dr Farooq Abdullah calls itself democratic and yet opts for supporting or seeking support of Hurriyat, Hizbul Mujahideen and even Harkat-ul-Ansar besides that of the Congress Party. Congress leader Mufti Mohd Syed has been very vocal as regards dialogue with Hurriyat and other militants to usher in peace in the troubled State. It is now the turn of ANC leader G M Shah, an erstwhile Central prop ably supported by none other than Mufti and subsequently ditched, likes to forget the old history when he asks all these outfits and parties with fissiparous tendencies to join hands in ousting National Conference Government led by Dr Farooq Abdullah. Not that he offers any alternative other than saying providing good governance, corruption free, when his past credentials speak otherwise. So Mufti, Shah and Hurriyat now speak identical language. Such bonhomie and overt and covert patronage from the Centre was okay with Congress Government in power at the Centre. This time round it is the BJP led Government which proclaims to be more nationalists and concerned as regards J&K State in particular.

At this stage attempt to create power alternatives or parallels is suicidal. Agencies normally do not operate at the behest of specific political directions but derive sadistic pleasure in projecting themselves as the 'king-makers' and 'king-breakers'. It seems to be just one of those attempts. It must be recognised that Dr Farooq Abdullah is one person who has never challenged accession of the State to India even when out of power. He is the one who not only lashed Pakistan and weakened its case at Geneva Human Rights Conference but also hardly a day passes when he spares Pakistan from choicest invectives which no other Kashmiri or even Indian leader has ever done. Above all he is the CM by virtue of getting mandate of the people with more than two-third majority. If he talks of autonomy sometime, it is no different from what Vajpayee has told during his recent visit to the State that more autonomy for all States is under active consideration of the Government to strengthen the federal system. As long as things happen within the framework of Indian constitution, it is just fine for democracy. It however does not mean that entire National Conference works on same frequency. To be precise barring a couple of cabinet team-mates and as many party stalwarts, others opt for muteness 'to keep their options open' or save their skins and those of their kins by not looking to be hostile towards Pak or its cronies operating in the State. It is also a fact that corruption is rampant and despite desire to remove this cancer, it continues its unabated growth. This is equally true that gap between the people and the administration instead of narrowing down has indeed widened during the last two year of popular rule, courtesy bad role of the party which should have acted as a bridge. But all these lapses do not justify any destabilising moves, least of all looking for alternative props who have indeed proved to be more dangerous in the past.

The need of the hour is unity of purpose to achieve the desired objectives. The objectives are continuation of popular Government to silence international critics, to neutralise the left-over of militants, to go for rapid development with employment oriented programmes and to remove corruption at least to the level of 'national average'. Although National Conference led by Farooq has been long on promises but short on delivery, it is in the overall national interest to extend all material and political support to the popular Government as the alternatives being conceived, proposed or attempted are disastrous as manifested by the combinations now suggested by GM Shah- the combination of Congress, Hurriyat, HAU and HM- to give up bullets and come unto ballots to oust NC Government with more than two-third majority so that full autonomy is restored. And thereafter if people want 'more' it could be pursued to its logical culmination. Easier said than done. That means even after full autonomy the mischief goes on with that option left open 'if people want more' which is synonymous with annexation by Pakistan as 'Azadi' can neither be obtained nor sustained since Pakistan does not support it. Far-fetched dreams of Governance for the future, a scenario that promise everything but solving peoples accumulated problems like employment, like development, like drinking water, like cheap electricity, like price control. The entire drama however has but one silver lining. The option for trying their luck at the husting for capturing power. But the specified and secret agenda after capturing power is sinister.

It is time that BJP Government firmly puts down such attempts by its agencies and out-of-date props which sends misleading signals leading to destabilisation and dealienation. The people too have to be watchful of such ulterior designs.

India need not throw away its bargaining chips
By: Lt. Gen. (Retd) Harkirat Singh

The seventh round of Jaswant Singh - Strobe Talbott talks in Rome was a total washout. India has taken a strong exception to the US Entities List blacklisting 80 public sector and 200 private sector enterprises engaged in one way or the other in strengthening self - reliance in our defence technologies.

India, as the principal opponent of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) regime, has become a major target of American export controls and US-led multilateral cartels, such as the Wassenaar Arrangement, London Club, Missile Technology Control Regime and Australia Group.

Export controls focus not just on military technologies but on all leading-edge technologies at the heart of commercial competitiveness. Thanks to rapid technological advancement since the advent of the Information Age in the 1980, nearly all advanced technologies now has civil and military applications. By continuing to talk about "dual-use" technologies, a concept overtaken by events, Indian negotiators are unwittingly playing into the US justification for stringent barriers to technology flow. In a reversal of the traditional pattern, commercial innovations today military modernisation. India has been liberalising its economy without a lowering of barriers that deny it access to advanced commercial technologies.

Prime Minister Vajpayee has said his Government is determined to fight technology controls. But since the Jaswant Singh-Strobe Talbott talks began, the United States, instead of easing its technology sanctions, has tightened the screws on India. As if the expulsion of Indian scientists and denial of a visa to national icon R. Chidambaram did not constitute sufficient provocation, the US Government has issued new orders strengthening and broadcasting its export controls against India. Now, to add insult to injury, private Indian companies, along with more public sector firms, have been blackballed by Washington. They have been accused, not of breaking any US or international law, but of contributing to the strengthening of their country's strategic programmes. Last year, escalating its technology - denial drive, America inaugurated its foreign firms blacklist (innocuously labelled the "Entity list") by naming Bharat Electronics.

India has been subjected to country - specific export controls since its 1974 nuclear test. That event spawned US laws and secretly formed multilateral cartels aiming at tightly restricting high -technology flow on non-proliferation grounds. Prior to that, India was subject to informal export controls because it did not share the US cold war objectives. That gave Washington a pretext to claim that technology could leak to the former Soviet states.

The on-going Indo-US talks are only the latest in the long series of endeavours over the decades to reach a strategic understanding so that, among others, the rigours of high-tech curbs against New Delhi are eased. There has been just a single instance when India and the US managed to reach an accord, but its implementation ran aground after only one supercomputer, the Cray XMP-14, and some low-tech systems were sold to New Delhi under tight safeguards. The 1984 'Memorandum of Understanding on Sensitive Technologies, Commodities and Information' was a product of the 1982 Indira Gandhi -Ronald Reagan 'Science and Technology Initiative'. The MOU on civilian technologies paved the way for a loose 1986 defence-collaboration understanding, under which the now-stalled technology transfer to India's light combat aircraft (LCA) project occurred. With the Agni test in 1989, all talk of high-tech cooperation evaporated.

While India's Agni launch shook US non-proliferation policy, its 1998 nuclear weapons tests have cast a dark shadow over the future of the NPT regime. It is no surprise that the current Indo-US talks are stuck, even though India is willing, on the basis of mutual give-and-take, to acquiesce in the very regime it has traditionally opposed tooth and nail. Still to fully grasp the long-term implications of India's emergence as a declared nuclear-weapons state, Washington believes it can contain the damage to the regime by persuading New Delhi to "recess" the development of its supposed "credible minimum deterrence." Against this backgound, it will not be easy for the ongoing talks to open up the US high-technology market to Indian importers.

The reason why technology sanctions have grown against India is not that it has been exporting sensitive technologies like China. In fact, India has an immaculate record that even America cannot claim. When concerns have been expressed by the United States and others, India has cancelled the planned export of items for legitimate industrial or peaceful uses, including some chemicals to West Asia and a tiny nuclear research reactor to Iran that would have been under international safeguards. The rationale behind technology sanctions is to punish India for its unrelenting opposition to the NTP. That is why China, despite its scandalous proliferation record, gets special access to US high-technology market and India remains in the dog house. The NPT, as the key obstacle, will continue to haunt India. By expressing a readiness to accept, on a quid pro quo basis some of the NPT's subsidiary arrangements and cartels, the Vajpayee Government is inadvertently lending support at a critical time to a weakend treaty whose collapse would be very much in India's interest.

Indian negotiators need to tamp down expectations that they can coax Washington to eliminate its export controls against their country. The host of US export-control laws constraining such cooperation will not be repealed. However, there is scope for interpreting them more broadly so that a limited flow of high technology to India becomes permissible. That is what Indian diplomacy should try and convince Washington to do.

A liberal interpretation of existing US laws and guidelines would throw open for export to India many high-tech items, including in the energy, computing, space, conventional military and information technology fields. When it has suited its strategic objectives the US Government has given elasticity to tough national laws. Washington has been cooperating with Moscow, ever since before the Soviet Union collapsed, on nuclear command and security despite its McMohan Act.

An excellent way America can show that it desires deep engagement with India would be to licence some special exports of advanced technology. That would raise India's stakes in developing close ties with it. Without offering tangible technology incentives, Washington cannot hope to change Indian attitudes or build a strategic relationship with India. A forwardlooking US policy can promote high-tech cooperation with India without increasing proliferation risks. For such a realisation to dawn on Washington, India has to skillfully build and employ leverage to its advantage, and not throw away its bargaining chips as it has lamentably done. Indian negotiators have not strengthened their bargaining position by pledging their country's adherence to Western export controls without linking the action to an easing of such controls against India. (INAV)

Crime, judicial reforms and activism
By : Joginder Singh IPS (Retd.)

Judiciary is an important umpire in the functioning of the Executive and Legislature. At the apex is the Supreme Court created by Article 124 of the Constitution. The Supreme Court has the original jurisdiction in the disputes between the Central Government and any State Government. Law as interpreted by the Supreme Court shall be binding on all courts in India. All civil and judicial authorities shall act in the aid of the Supreme Court. Both the Supreme Court and the High Courts have been declared as courts of record and they have the power to punish for contempt.

As per the laws interpreted and followed, the final say in the appointment of the judges of the High Court and Supreme Court vests with the judiciary itself. It is in line with the desire of the Constituent Assembly to secure an independent judiciary. No judge can be removed from his office, except by impeachment. Fortunately, the concept of committed judiciary has died a natural death. It is supremely important to redress the citizen's grievances through a process of speedy and prompt justice. No amount of activity by the Executive can improve the situation, unless those guilty of violating laws are brought to book quickly. Nearly 60 lakh crimes under the Indian Penal Code are reported every year. Crime goes up every year from 3 to 4 per cent. All-India disposal of the Indian Penal Code cases by the Police is 79 to 80 per cent and all-India chargesheeting of the cases for 1995 worked out to be 74.3 per cent. As per Crime India publication, the all-India percentage of disposal of the cases worked out to be 18.3 per cent for the year 1995. In the case of Maharashtra, West Bengal, Arunachal and Manipur, the court disposal is less than 10 per cent.

A disturbing feature is the number of crimes against women, which has been rising every year. The gender bias places women all over the world in a disadvantageous position. Women have been subjected to physical and psychological violence. Crime against the women can be considered to include the following offences- rape, kidnapping and abduction, dowry-related deaths or torture, both mental and physical, sexual harassment, prostitution, social evils like the sati or indecent representation of women. Despite all the publicity that the rape or dowry death or harassment cases get, the time taken for their disposal is the same as any other IPC case. In 1995, there were 13,754 rape cases reported all over the country.

Torture and molestation stood at 59,602 cases, followed by dowry deaths and sexual harassment numbering 9,848 all over the country. There were 28,579 cases of cruelty by the husband or relatives against women. Other serious cases for 1995 were 37,464 murders, followed by 29,571 attempt to murder. Besides, 2,94,306 theft and 1,16,507 burglary cases were registered in the country, as against 96,520 riots and 2,03,812 cases of injury/grievous injury. Cheating accounted for 30,678 cases. A total of 1,08,99,327 persons were facing trial in the Indian Penal Code cases, including those from the previous years. At the end of the year, trial still remained pending in respect of 89,66,124 persons, that is to say, 82.3 per cent of the accused persons.

Under special and local laws 78,78,737 persons faced trial in 1995, including those from the previous years. At the end of the year, in respect of 36,85,729 persons, the trial still remained pending. Thus it may be seen that at the end of 1995, cases involving 1,26,51,853, almost equal to the population of Australia had still to be decided. This figure does not include the traffic offenders or others charged by other enforcement agencies like Customs, Excise, Income Tax, municipalities, electricity boards, forest authorities, Sales Tax violators, rent control cases or vacation of houses of the owner,s or those charged with the petty offences under the Police Act or other local laws for curbing public nuisances.

It can be safely estimated that the violators of the aforesaid laws would not be numbering less than the persons involved in the Indian Penal Code cases. The figures of the persons facing prosecution are staggering. As the matters stand at present, there does not seem to be any likelihood of improvement in the scenario. In other words, whatever may be the urgency, the legal process cannot move at a faster rate.

However, for those who wish to delay, it is easy to do so by going in for repeated appeals to higher and higher upto the highest court on one technical ground after another. It there be twenty accused, it is still better for further delaying. It has been noticed, in some cases, that each one of them has gone in appeal on the same or slightly different points to courts after courts, not for getting any legal clarification, but for delaying as long as possible. Much as it is essential to render justice to the accused, at the same time the rights of the aggreived and the wrong done to him have to be kept in view.

The informal committee of the Chief Justices (1984-85) observed as under: ''While dealing with the second appeals, the Law Commission in its 9th report observed in para 10.6- 'We would again like to point out an essential difference between a first appeal and a second appeal. The primary purpose of an appeal on the facts is justice in the individual instance. On the other hand, the primary purpose of an appeal on law, at least in the case of a second appeal, is the affirmation or reaffirmation of a particular rule of law. The principal aim, in this case, is the production of certainty in the law. The mere dissatisfaction of litigant with the judgement on the merits does not itself furnish a ground of second appeal''.

The committee observed : ''Experience is that inspite of the right of second appeal being confined to a substantial question of law, many frivolous second appeals are filed and argued with vehement persistence at the admission stage, to obtain an interim order. There is often a nagging feeling in the minds of judges that a serious scrutiny of second appeals at the admission stage is liable to make a judge unpopular, leading sometimes to agitational methods by the members of the bar. The embarrassing reality today is that a large number of second appeals are admitted because of such pressures, though they do not raise even the semblance of substantial questions of law.

In order to avoid these unseemly features, the committee suggests that for second appeals, a procedure similar to section 256 of the Income Tax Act be adopted. The jurisdiction may be advisory, instead of appellate. The application to refer stated substantial questions of law may lie to the district court, which decided the first appeal. In case the district court refused to make the reference, the litigant may approach the High Court. If the district court finds that in the involved point of law there is a conflict of decisions of the various High Courts, it should have the power to refer the questions of law directly to the Supreme Court... Since the mere dissatisfaction of a litigant with the merits of the judgement is not a ground for providing second appeals (but only to settle and stabilise the law), the provision for staying the execution of passing interim order should be deleted. The provision of articles 225/227 should be inapplicable to such second appeals''.

The committee of chief justices suggested change in the procedure and said : ''Procedure with regard to petitions, appeals, revisions etc. is cumbersome and dilatory. At present the system of service of summons is that the parties are allowed to go home after the close of each stage of litigation. When an appeal, revision etc. is filed, the parties are called again, by serving notices on them afresh. Experience is that one round of service through a process server takes between six months to one year. Often the process server is nice enough to return the summons unserved at the slightest incentive.. Suggestion is that the first service of litigation should be effected on the litigant in the usual way, i.e through process server as well as by registered post. All other notices, including of appeal/revision etc. should be effected through the counsel, who appeared for the respondcent in the trial court. It also expressed its full agreement with the recommendation of grouping of appeals on the same point of law.

There has been no dearth of good advice. What we have been lacking is in implementaion. A few improvements can be brought about by the judiciary on its own and some will need change in law. It is time that something was done quickly so that a common man may hope to get jusitce in his lifetime and quickly.- CNF

Tamil Nadu a flash point of civilisational clash
By Jayant Muralidharan

It was the war cry of those who laid down their lives for the independence of this country. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee's poem Vande Mataram has initiated yet another battle today, and this time a losing one. Neither the pioneer novelist of Bengal himself nor those innumerable freedom fighters who chanted this hymn addressed to the motherland, could have ever imagined that Muslim leaders and intellectuals of today would be facing an identity crisis due to the very poem which had kindled national pride and a patriotic spirit in every Indian during the freedom struggle. Thus, even though the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Kalyan Singh, has denied having issued any order to make Vande Mataram compulsory in government schools, the leaders of the Muslim community are up in arms. For, according to them, bowing to the motherland is un-Islamic. One cannot help being amazed at the short memory of these supposed leaders of the minorities. For, if Gandhiji was strongly influenced by this poem, so were the leaders of the Khilafat movement. Thus, it was not only in the Congress sessions, but also at the meeting of the Khilafat movements that this poem was the mula mantra. Will the Muslim leaders of today consider Ali brothers any less Muslim than themselves?

Khilafat is, of course, history and no one needs to bother about the past. For these who indulge in today's politics, it is only the present that matters. The leaders of the minorities seem to be at a loss about issues that can serve as grist to communal politics! But alas! they have picked an issue that is most likely to boomerange on them. In a secular country, religious identities are secondary to national identity. By placing their religious identity on top of every other aspect, they are giving an opportunity to their adversaries to convince the masses about the supposed anti-national proclivities of the minorities. Thus, instead of initiating the unity of the Muslim community, this move can end up in alienating them from the mainstream of the country. It is time Muslim intellectuals again read their scriptures, which uphold the status of mother and motherland in the vein that other religions, including Hinduism, do.

Bankim Chandra Chatterjee's novel Ananda Math was published in December, 1882. Vande Mataram which was part of this novel, was written at least six years prior to the novel's publication. The song was first published in Volume 7 of Banga Darshan and first sung at a Congress session in 1886. This year, as many as 20 world leaders, including Yasser Arafat, who is a Muslim, Archbishop Desmond Tutu who is a Christian, the Dalai Lama, a Buddhist, along with several others chanted this hymn in their appeal for world peace. This appeal by the stalwarts of our world -- presented in audio visual medium -- once again proved the universality of the spirit behind the poem. Pity, leaders of a significant segment of society have not realised it; more so politicians, particularly, from Tamil Nadu, who want to divide the country on the Dravidian- vs- the Aryan identities. It needs a deeper pathological study of Tamil Nadu politics. Why were Rajiv Gandhi and L. K. Advani targeted in Tamil Nadu not elsewhere?

True, the LTTE assassins would have felt comfortable against arousing other people's suspicions in the state. But so would have the Keralites been charged with the 'Coimbatore blasts'. That too when Advani was flying down from Thiruvananthapuram.

Does it all mean that the target was not just Rajiv Gandhi and Advani? Maybe by extension, you can argue, the DMK might have been the target, as the party was the loser on both occasions. That would make it an electoral conspiracy, as well.

There is a political theory that 'national parties' can have no say in Tamil Nadu politics, as long as the DMK was around. In comparison, the AIADMK, given more to the political charisma of its leaders than to ideology and organisation, is a lesser enemy that may weaken itself over time.

So, it's the DMK that needed to be targeted, if the idea is to 'restore' national parties in the state -- not that anyone of them could even dream of having anything to do even remotely with the targeting of Rajiv Gandhi, or Advani, or both. Yet, targeted the DMK was.

Interestingly, it's Tamil Nadu that has been at the centre of national politics, at least since 1991. True, the DMK had its contributions to keep the Indira Gandhi government afloat after the 1969 Congress split, and even played a key political role in the formation of the Janata Party, first and the National Front, a decade later.

They were basically political roles, not electoral contributions. But come 1991, and that changed. As the poll results showed, Rajiv Gandhi's assassination did not have much impact in the northern states. Yet, but for the Rajiv Gandhi assassination wiping out the DMK-National Front in Tamil Nadu, and bringing in additional seats from the neighbouring states, the Congress(I) might not have come close to the magic number of 272, for forming the government, even in 1991.

Likewise, but for the 'Coimbatore blasts', the BJP-led coalition might not have been able to form a government at the Centre this year. As pre-poll surveys showed, BJP was losing both in Maharashtra and Rajasthan -- the pollster was proved right at the end, despite the 'Coimbatore blasts'. Tamil Nadu, with its 40 Lok Sabha seats alone, made the difference on both occasions.

Incidentally, it was Tamil Nadu again that made the difference to national politics after the 1996 elections. But for the DMK-TMC sweeping the polls, and deciding to stake claims to power through the United Front, contemporary political history might have been re-written. Here again, the Congress(I) -AIADMK defeat, if not revival of their alliance and consequent formation of TMC, could have been easily foreseen.

If the cruel assassination of Rajiv Gandhi alone saved the day for the Congress(I) in 1991, the attempt on Advani possibly ensured a BJP-led coalition government, after two long years of 'United Front experiment' that very badly failed the nation. Maybe the BJP was the only alternative, but it should not be given a free run. Thus was possibly spared Advani's dear life. Or, was it so?

There is no denying the fact that the BJP's electoral success and the tough Congress(I) posturing vis-a-vis other anti-BJP formations have together led to 'political stability' of some sort at the national level. At least as of now. That means, India may after all be heading for a two-party system of the coalition variety, give or take a few minor shifts, here and there until it all settles down.

There is also no denying the fact that 'economic liberalisation' came crashing from the roof tops, as none else had done before it. Even granting the national mood that was ready to accept any answer to the nation's woes, the speed with which the 'liberalisation regime' was thought about and worked out, should put any country of India's 'socialistic' history to shame.

Once political stability of some kind could be achieved, then it could also lead to economic stability of an equal kind. That's the kind of climate that could induce the overseas investor to park his billions in India based on what the country has to offer the international market. Especially now that his South-East Asian pipe dream is going up in smoke.

Targeting Tamil Nadu -- if that's the syndrome in national politics, then 'factoring in' the DMK, with its long innings under a single leader with a predictable ideology-based vote-bank mindset, would not have been difficult. First, it was the Sri Lankan Tamils, then came the Muslims, and now the 'Dalits' choosing one after losing another.

That way, it could again be a coincidence that Tamil Nadu is now in the centre of a series of unending caste clashes, involving Dalits. And there is political predictions about the ruling DMK's electoral compulsions in adopting a soft line towards Dalits, whatever be its administrative apprehensions against their Islamic links.

Violent voter swings in successive elections since 1991 have shown that Tamil Nadu is in the middle path, deciding each poll on the issues before it. You can safely conclude, through calculations, that there is a near-40 per cent share of 'non-committed' voters in the state, explaining the electoral changes since 1991.

At one level, this means the 'Dravidian vote-bank' is thinning out with time, socio-political achievements and electoral compromises taking their toll -- just as it had happened to the Congress a generation earlier. The 'resurgence' of the TMC and the BJP, though to a very limited level, is also indicative of this.

There is another development. The BJP-TMC indecisiveness could lead to sub-regional forces like casteist organisations filling the emerging political vacuum, and consolidating at least a segment of the 'non-committed vote-bank'.

The poll wins of the Vanniar-strong Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), which is siding with the BJP, and the political challenge thrown by the Dalit-strong Puthiya Thamizhagam, with its Islamic links and international conferences in places like Kuala Lumpur, should be read in this context. A 'civilisational clash, wherein India is the field, not a factor? The protest over Vande Mataram by Tamil Nadu Education Minister describing it as an "Aryan gift" to the south, is an attempts to divide the nation which should be resisted by all right thinking people. INAV