.

EDITORIAL

Liberal Package

The J&K-specific meet to review security and fiscal problems of the State holds the promise of liberal package to bail out the resource starved State during the current fiscal year. Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah is more than satisfied in that his approach has been appreciated and the need for giving this State all that it needs is duly recognised. Centre's sincerity in helping the State to the extent possible stands manifested in that no time is lost in framing the sub-committee which will have its first meeting on Monday. This committee will go through all the demands put forth ..more

The Pope dispels all doubts !

By Arun Shourie
One thing to be said for the Pope's visit : he has silenced secularists, as well as missionary-...more

Revamping the
nuclear power sector

By Jyotshna Pandit
Considering the extremely poor quality of our coal and the inevitable compulsions to ...more

How to convert the
voter in one easy step

By M J Akbar
Permit me to introduce you to Ram Prakash Gupta, the Sushma Swaraj of Uttar Pradesh......more

EDITORIAL

Liberal Package

The J&K-specific meet to review security and fiscal problems of the State holds the promise of liberal package to bail out the resource starved State during the current fiscal year. Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah is more than satisfied in that his approach has been appreciated and the need for giving this State all that it needs is duly recognised. Centre's sincerity in helping the State to the extent possible stands manifested in that no time is lost in framing the sub-committee which will have its first meeting on Monday. This committee will go through all the demands put forth by the State. Chief Minister has asked Rs 1000 crore package. Most of it under various heads is legitimately due to the State like unpaid militancy related expenditure which has to be reimbursed by the Centre in full. There was also commitments by successive Governments at the centre to meet full expenditure of the State incurred on recurring account as the State is in the thick of insurgency and there is very little scope for raising fresh resources. Unfortunately, even as State expenditure has been burgeoning year after year, this promise of reimbursing the deficit remains largely unfilled. The State had also been clamouring for waiver of outstanding loans amounting to Rs 1200 crore. Here again promises made by Narasimha Rao, Deve Gowda, I K Gujral and even Vajpayee Government have not been redeemed. Only now there is a ray of hope in that Central Government is almost now in mood to waive off at least 40% of this loan which would reduce the recurring interest liability payable by the State. All these concessions, package, waivers to be considered by the sub-committee formed thus relates to bailing out the State during the ongoing fiscal year which has just four months more. One expects that the same yardstick would apply during subsequent years so that grossly deficit State looks up fast towards attaining self-sufficency. It is safe to surmise that good and liberal package could reach the State as early as this month end so that current liabilities can be met and credibility of the Government which is at its lowest ebb improves in public esteem.

Of particular relevance is the simultaneous stress during discussion that J&K State must follow strict fiscal discipline which in other words means setting the house in order. As things stand even though accruals to State coffers have increased but the wasteful and unproductive expenditure has also increased much faster than accruals. That fiscal management is bad and accountability is at a discount cannot be disputed. The Centre appears to be well informed that benefits of all the funds given by the Centre over the years have failed to percolate to the targeted population. It is also well known fact that plan funds have been very largely diverted for non-plan expenditure by the successive rulers in the State which explains tardy development and the resultant unaccountability as highlighted in CAG reports. It is precisely because of this that the meeting simultaneously entrusted the task of ensuring fiscal discipline in the State with appropriate recommendations. The theme is that Centre is prepared to go two step forward for every single step taken by the State in fiscal discipline which in layman's language imply avoiding wasteful and unproductive expenditure. It is precisely because of this that some sort of monitoring mechanism is going to be in place soon so that benefits start following to the people and its impact is fully felt. One such suggestion amongst others include despatching of probationary IAS officers to each of the 14 districts of the State to ensure judicious use of funds and expeditious completion of development works/projects. It may be recalled that even during Rajiv-Farooq accord when a package of 1400 crore was promised to the State the concept of monitoring committee had tacit approval the then State Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah. To that extent he obviously has no objection to any monitoring as long as funds flow and development takes place. Therein lies the credibility of the State Government as also that of the Centre.

Fiscal discipline broadly includes items that J&K has refused to touch although there is no secret about it. First and the foremost is pruning the cabinet to say around 10 ministers, experienced and having good track record of fast delivery. Although CM has been talking about it, this item has not been touched for reasons best known to CM. Compact and small ministry is always beneficial, particularly if it happens to be resource starved State. Everyone knows that ‘small is beautiful’. The second item that continues to drain the State year after year and consumes tax payers money recklessly is the sick public sector units. This State can ill-afford sustaining them anymore. The State must take cue from the Centre and go for disinvestment of those yielding some profit and keeping the production going while winding up and auctioning those that are unviable or otherwise acutely sick. This is in tune with the recommendations of Godbole Committee report. Unfortunately State Government shows no sign of putting this item on priority agenda. The third area is large natural resources which have been squandered away or consigned to flames. The forest wealth has been recklessly looted and timber depots set afire. The Government must ensure that forest wealth becomes an asset rather than recurring liability. The fourth relates to the austerity measures announced by the Finance Minister. A white paper should be prepared to indicate how far these measures have been actually implemented and what has been the net saving. For all one knows, austerity measures thus announced are conspicuous by their absence.

The Centre recognises the dire necessity of putting the State on fast track development so that people feel its impact. Central funds would start flowing immediately under various heads including some waivers. This would provide respite to the popular Government in the State and give it enough of time to set the house in order. The next four months will be the clincher for much more liberal assistance during the next fiscal ie 2000-2001. One expects that State won't have any Y2K problem henceforth and there shall be full accountability. The password should be completion of ongoing projects/schemes be it for rural development, water supply or urban related civic projects. The people should feel the impact of liberal flow of funds from the Centre. For instance once funds are received State should have no excuse for buying more power from northern grid to meet full requirements of industry and domestic consumers alike. Likewise there ought not to be any complaint about inadequate or non-supply of potable water. If people continue to face such odds and indignities galore, flow of Central funds have no meaning for those who continue to reel under darkness even when there are just 40 days more to enter the next millennium. Let the dark period be over and State show earnestness in lighting every home adequately without whimsical and man-made disruptions which negate even the good work of any Government. Let it be a popular Government in thoughts, deeds and performance henceforth.

The Pope dispels all doubts !

By Arun Shourie

One thing to be said for the Pope's visit : he has silenced secularists, as well as missionary-apologists.

Whenever attention has been drawn to the plans the Church has of converting India to Christianity, to its plans of "reaping the great harvest for Jesus", these propagandists and secularists have asserted that a miasma was being manufactured to sow hatred. Now that the Pope has himself declared that the Synod of Bishops was "a call to conversion", now that he has reiterated his call to the Bishops to "open wide to Christ the doors of Asia", now that he has proclaimed the goal of the Church again, "just as in the first millennium the Cross was planted on the soil of Europe, and in the second on that of the Americas and Africa, we can pray that in the Third Christian Millennium a great harvest of faith will be reaped in this and vital continent", now that he, having heard reports of the Bishops has proclaimed his expectation, "the character, spiritual fire and zeal" of Asians "will assuredly make Asia the land of a bountiful harvest in the coming millennium", now that having recalled what he wrote in Redemptoris Missio - "God is opening before the Church the horizons of a humanity more fully prepared for sowing of the Gospel", - the Pope has announced, "This vision of a new and promising horizon I see being fulfilled in Asia," now that the Pope has embraced as his own what his Bishops had proclaimed - "the heart of the Church in Asia will be restless until the whole of Asia finds its rest in the peace of Christ, the Risen Lord" - now that he has again proclaimed that the very purpose of the Church is evangelization, that it is "driven" in this task by "the Holy Spirit" indeed that "the Holy Spirit is the prime agent of evangelization", that the Church is "empowered by the Holy Spirit" to carry out this task, the secularists seem a bit non-plussed about how to make out that the apprehensions which were being expressed about the Church's plans and stratagems are figments manufactured to justify persecution.

And so are the Cardinals and Bishops, I presume ! "We don't want to convert everybody to Christianity", Cardinal Lourdasamy, described by the papers as "the ony Indian Cardinal in Vatican City", told Doordarshan. "We just want to say we are Christians". How touching ! How humble ! And what do the propagandists say after the Pope's explicit enunciation ?

Every time they are confronted with what the Church has itself proclaimed is its one and only purpose - to enlarge the empire of Christianity - these propagandists have insisted that after Vatican II such a view is untenable. Vatican II marked a radical break with the past dogma, they have insisted. It acknowledged that other religions too can be paths to salvation. It explicitly embraced ecumenism, it explicitly asked Christians to develop respect for other religions. Vatican II did nothing of the kind, of course. But, confident that few in countries like India would have gone through the documents put out by the Council, the Church here has been putting out such fables. In any case, we now have the Pope himself clear up what he calls "a certain confusion about the true nature of the Church's mission."

Yes, the Church respects the traditions to the found in Asia, the Pope says. Yes, it respects "the rights of consciences". "Respect, however, does not eliminate the need for the explicit proclamation of the Gospel in its fullness", he states. "Especially in the context of the rich array of cultures and religions in Asia", he says, "it must be pointed out that ‘neither respect and esteem for these religions nor the complexity of the questions raised are an invitation to the Church to with-hold from these non-Christians the proclamation of Jesus Christ." He reiterates the play on words by which he had camouflaged the matter during his visit to India in 1986.

He recalls that he had "stated clearly" then, "the Church's approach to other religions is one of genuine respect.... This respect is twofold : respect for man in his quest for answers to the deepest questions of his life, and respect for the action of the Spirit in man." What does that mean ? The Pope explains : "Indeed, the Synod Fathers readily recognised the Spirit's action in Asian societies, cultures and religions, through which the Father prepares the hearts of Asian peoples for the fullness of life in Christ."

Yes, Asia has many religions. Yes, the Asian people have sought answers to the deepest questions of life. But these religions are just a preparation for their becoming Christians. That is the essential point. Asia has given birth to the major religions, and to many others, and millions in its still espouse traditional and tribal religions, the Pope notes, and says, "The Church has the deepest respect for these traditions and seeks to engage in sincere dialogue with their followers. The religious values they teach await their fulfilment in Jesus Christ." "The Church in Asia finds herself among peoples who display an intense yearning for God", he acknowledges, only to add, "The Church knows that this yearning can only be fully satisfied by Jesus Christ, the Good News for God for all the nations." And again that "The Church is convinced that deep within the people, cultures and religions of Asia there is a thirst for ‘living water’...., a thirst which the Spirit himself has created and which Jesus the Saviour alone can fully satisfy".

True, these peoples have their ancient traditions and beliefs. But it is the Church which by transmitting "her truths and values" which "renews" them "from within", the Pope asserts. It strengthens "the positive elements already found in them", he maintains. It "refines" them, it "renews" them "in the light of the Gospel". In a word, it is in their own interest that the Church strives to bring the poor souls into Christianity ! "The peoples of Asia," declares the Pope on our behalf, "need Jesus Christ and his Gospel. Asia is thristing for the living water that Jesus alone can give.... The disciples of Christ in Asia must therefore be unstinting in their efforts to fulfill the mission they have received from the Lord..."

In India we are taught to believe that God is everywhere, that He has manifested Himself in many forms and that, therefore, we must subscribe to sarva dharma sambhav, etc. The Pope has no time for such syrupy make-believe. In his eyes this is no virtue, it is one of the difficulties in making Asians accept that Jesus is the one and only Saviour, it is a notion that has to be put out of harm's way. Nor, he warns is the notion that God is universally present to be allowed to become "an excuse for a failure to proclaim Jesus Christ explicitly as the one and only Saviour." Indeed, he asserts emphatically, "the presence of the Spirit in creation and history" points only to Jesus as the one "in whom creation and history are redeemed and fulfilled." The Jesus, and to the Church, he adds for good measure !

It is in this background that the Church's invitations to "dialogue" must be seen. Much is made of its invitations, they are projected as proof of its openness, even of its modesty - see, we are willing to learn from others ! Almost without exception such non-Christians are invited for exchanges who have little knowledge of the workings of the Church, and even less of their own tradition. They feel compelled to recite the usual homilies about "the essential unity of all religious", they repeat the same platitudes about the Sermon on the Mount. And the Church's purpose is served : it can show that it is open, that it is tolerant, that it respects people of other faiths.

What does the Pope say is the purpose of such "dialogues" ? "Ecumenical dialogue" - by which he means dialogue with non-Catholic Christians - "is a challenge", he declares, "and a call to conversion for the whole Church, especially for the Church in Asia where people expect from Christians a clearer sign of unity." The reason he gives for attaining unity among different denominations of Christians is itself revealing : "The Synod of Bishops acknowledged," he recalls, "that ‘the scandal of a divided Christianity is a great obstacle for enangelization in Asia". For us, of course, what he says about the form and purpose of "dialogue" with non-Christians is even more important.

"From the Christian point of view", he declares candidly, "interreligious dialogue is more than a way of fostering mutual knowledge and enrichment; it is a part of the Church's evangelizing mission, an expression of the mission ad gentes." "Christians bring to interreligious dialogue the firm belief", he continues, "that the fullness of salvation comes from Christ alone and that the Church community to which they belong is the ordinary means of salvation".

He recalls that he has already written in an earlier communication to the Asian Bishops, "Although the Church gladly acknowledges whatever is true and holy in the religious traditions of Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam as a reflection of that truth which enlightens all people, this does not lessen her duty and resolve to proclaim without failing Jesus Christ who is ‘the way and the truth and the life’ .... The fact that the followers of other religions can receive God's grace and be saved by Christ apart from the ordinary means which he has established does not thereby cancel the call to faith and baptism which God wills for all people."

Those not accustomed to the circumlocutory enunciations of the Church would do well to note the condescending phrase, "whatever is true and holy in the religious traditions of Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam as a reflection of that truth which enlightens all people." What is true and holy in these religions ? That which conforms to Christianity ! The rest is but a groping, a preparation for being fulfilled in Christianity !

Therefore, the Pope reminds the assembled Bishops that he has earlier instructed them in Redemptoris Missio, "There must be no abandonment of principles nor false irenicism" - that is, Christians engaged in "dialogue" must not fall for false attempts to create peace. He is explicit, what he wants Christians to strive for is, to use his words. "Evangelization in dialogue and dialogue for evangelization."

As this is the purpose, he declares that "only those with mature and convinced Christian faith are qualified to engage in genuine interreligious dialogue." Only such persons "can without undue risk and with hope of positive fruit engage in interreligious dialogue." And therefore he urges the Church in Asia "to provide suitable models of interreligious dialogue.... and suitable training for those involved."

And he draws attention to some devices that are already yielding "good results". "Scholarly exchanges", "common action for integral human development", "defence of human and religious values" - friends who get so enamoured at being called to seminars and workshops on such topics would remember what the purpose of such get-togethers is. Exactly what the purpose of the erstwhile Comintern used to be in setting up "Peace Conferences" and "Peace Committees" !

But there is more that the Pope has dispelled, as we shall see, more for which we must be grateful to His Holiness.

Revamping the nuclear power sector

By Jyotshna Pandit

Considering the extremely poor quality of our coal and the inevitable compulsions to use clean-coal technologies in the future, the cost of thermal power, the mainstay of electricity production in India, will invariably rise. In this context, we have to take a serious look at nuclear power, since it could become a potentially viable option in the future. In fact, comparative studies of the long-term cost-effectiveness of different modes of electricity generation show that in would be profitable to increase nuclear-based electric supply to a level of about 15-20 per cent of the total demand by 2015 AD, if the country is to maintain an adequate pace of industrialisation and overall economic growth.

Over the past four decades, India has invested considerable public funds in the nuclear sector. The expectation was that the department of atomic energy (DAE), which has been responsible for this sector all along, will produce returns commensurate with these investments in the long run, especially through the delivery of safe and economic nuclear power in good measure. But, it is now evident that the DAE has so far failed in this task.

Following the Pokhran explosion in 1974, the developed countries isolated India and blocked it form deriving the benefits of global technological field. But, this also gave the necessary impetus to indigenous development. In this backdrop, the DAE has indeed made some valuable contributions in different segments of activity. For example, the R&D institutions of DAE have been developed into some of the best of their kind, even though much is yet to be learnt about effective management of their functions and personnel. DAE institutions have successfully adopted the technologies for crucial aspects of the pressurised heavy water reactor (PHWR) based nuclear fuel cycle. They have also groomed a large number of talented scientists and engineers at the working level.

Thus, with the mixed performance of distinct success in patches along with the concurrent failure in meeting their primary mission on nuclear power, the DAE today stands out as an enigma among the scientific departments of the government. What then are the reasons for DAE's current predicament with the management of its nuclear power programme?

Unfortunately, there is no comprehensive analysis of the performance of the nuclear power sector which is openly available from the DAE and Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC). No detailed data or information on the performance and safety status of this sector are available, with which others can carry out an independent evaluation. An assessment done by one of the past members of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), at the request of DAE, has been kept confidential even within the department. Such unwarranted secrecy about civilian nuclear activities has prevented the DAE institutions from receiving any technological inputs or management advice from elsewhere.

In the area of safety, the DAE is yet to learn that the functioning of a truly independent Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) to oversee the safety of their nuclear installations will not only ensure a standard of safety comparable to international levels, but also help enhance its own credibility and public confidence. Instead, DAE is insistent on keeping the AERB a subordinate organisation, so that it can continue to influence and control the regulatory decisions in its favour.

Interaction between DAE's R&D managers and NPC engineers is another area which needs substantial improvement. It has to be realised that the nuclear power sector is the primary customer for DAE's R&D output and, therefore, the relevance and priority for such work should be mainly determined by the NPC. But, today NPC finds itself at the mercy of organisations like the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), which set their own priorities and agenda with little concern for the pressing needs of the power sector. While not meeting NPC's targets for development inputs. BARC also wields the veto power to block NPC's proposals to acquire technological assistance from any non-DAE sources.

The time has definitely come to clearly delineate and separate our civilian nuclear activities from those which relate to the perpetuation of our nuclear weapons' option. Today, the DAE appears to be responsible for both these areas, which gives in an added excuse for keeping the nuclear power sector under a cover of secrecy.

The country has waited long enough for the DAE and the AEC to take the necessary corrective steps to salvage the nuclear power sector. It is now imperative that the highest levels of the government directly intervene and carry out an in-depth evaluation and policies, plans, organisational structures and management practices of the nuclear sector, in order to set matters right without further delay. The Prime Minister's Office, the Planning Commission, and the ministry of power must be fully involved in this exercise. DAE and NPC should be asked to furnish their detailed suggestions, plans and milestones in this connection.

With bold new policy initiatives, NPC should be able to succeed in attracting technical and financial participation from the private sector, both from within the country and abroad. Long-term planning for this sector has to be comprehensive and it will require an assured stability and continuity in essential elements of our nuclear policy.

Activities in the nuclear power sector have to be sequenced and dovetailed appropriately, taking into account realistic time schedules and the resource position for key nuclear materials. The current uranium reserves in the country may not be able to sustain a programme in excess of 6000 MW of PHWR-based power generation. Also, approximately 45,000 MW-years of PHWR operation has to take place before enough plutonium can be produced to fuel one 500 MW fast breeder reactor. Obviously, accelerating the uranium exploration programme and seeking substantial policy changes which will permit acquisition of fuel from abroad should, therefore, take precedence over many other matters.

Today, we have about 1100 MW of nuclear power available to the grid on an annual average. The four 220 MW reactors at Rajasthan and Chennai will have to be shut down at least for three years in the near future for changing their deficient pressure tubes. DAE's 40 MW fast breeder test reactor which should have gone to full power a decade ago as per plans, is still to go beyond the 10.5 MW power level. Under these circumstances, DAE must relent from making misleading promises and grandiose projections without undertaking a detailed planning exercise.

Revamping the organisational structures and management approaches in the nuclear sector will involve substantial changes, going beyond mere tinkering with the prevailing outmoded practices in DAE. It would also be wise to consider the induction of experienced personnel with proven techno-managerial capabilities from the department of space. DRDO and the major power sector companies into DAE and NPC. The infusion of fresh talent and thinking from outside will indeed help the nuclear sector at this juncture. These changes must be aimed at bringing in the required dynamism, accountability and vision, without which NPC cannot survive much longer as a power sector business enterprise. INAV

How to convert the voter in one easy step

By M J Akbar

Permit me to introduce you to Ram Prakash Gupta, the Sushma Swaraj of Uttar Pradesh. Sorry : that seems unfair. Unfair to Sushma Swaraj, that is, who is certainly the most capable BJP leader to reach nowhere.

The moral of our contemporary Lucknow parable, otherwise known as Shooting Kalyan After the Vote has Bolted, is that no one ever learns anything in politics. You cannot change the vote by changing the chief minister after the vote has bolted. The trick is to shift a chief minister before the voter has despaired, when he may be angry but is still in the same room as you. That is proper political response. But political high commands learn nothing, not even from their own mistakes. It now seems a distant past, but just about a year ago the BJP feeling desperate, tried to save itself in the Assembly elections of Delhi by replacing Sahib Singh Verma with Sushma Swaraj. The party thereby achieved two things; it sabotaged Sushma's ascendant phase, and wounded Sahib Singh Verma. Both are in the margins now; and the results of the Delhi Assembly did not change either. In fact, the BJP could have done better if it had kept Sahib Singh Verma. It would have still lost the elections, but it would have got more seats. Barring some unpredictable miracle, the BJP will lose the next Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh no matter who is sent as chief minister, but Kalyan Singh would have got the party more seats.

The problem is not exclusive to the BJP. If J B Patnaik had become unpopular in Orissa then he had become unpopular long before Mrs Sonia Gandhi discovered the virtues of Giridhar Gamang. There was not very much that Mr Gamang could have done, even if he had any talent, which so far he has not shown any sign of. Moreover, the excuse that Mrs Gandhi chose to remove J B Patnaik was just that- an excuse.He was punished for not being able to arrest Dara Singh the killer of missionaries. Giridhar Gamang has not been able to arrest Dara Singh either, but no one seems to be bothered any more. This is transparent dishonesty and it does not work. Which is why Gamang got fewer Lok Sabha seats than J B Patnaik.

This colum is not an argument for the permanent residency of chief ministers. All chief ministers become unpopular; that is a law of political life. But there is a way of dealing with them which combines logic with good manners. When you remove a man, you do not humiliate him. It is not merely a matter of courtesy. Even the most unpopular chief minister sustains a support base, and no political party can afford to lose any votes- certainly not one that is already in electoral trouble. There is a traditional formula devised by the old warhorses of the Congress which has more experience of crisis management than any other party; when a chief minister was changed he was always given an alternative job in Delhi, a place in the Union Cabinet, or a high position in the party. The purpose was served, and medicine placed on the wound.

These days, rejected chief ministers are treated with a contempt they do not deserve. Sahib Singh Verma is still waiting for the Cabinet berth that Prime Minister Vajpayee promised more than a year ago. Maybe Sahib Singh's mistake was to extract this promise in writing and then announce it to every friendly or even unfriendly journalist. Or maybe he should have asked for a slightly longer promissory note. The Prime Minister said that he would make Sahib Singh a Cabinet Minister, but he never said when. Given that the BJP and its allies believe that their government will last for ten years, Sahib Singh Verma's turn could well come in 2008.

Why have high commands- clearly of all parties- become so insensitive to state leaders? This is counterproductive, even if we leave discourtesy out of the argument, assuming that decency and politics are no longer on speaking terms. One reason cold be that high commands no longer feel the pain of accountability. Once you become high, you remain in command Atal Behari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani have been the twin poles of the BJP, with no third magnet in sight, for the last two decades, irrespective of whether the BJP got two seats in the Lok Sabha or 180. (I was going to write two or two hundred- it sounds better- until of course I realised that even in its greatest triumph the BJP had not got two hundred seats.) Similarly, nothing will shift Sonia Gandhi's absolute rule, whether Congress gets two hundred seats or two. However, there is a difference between the BJP high command and the Congress high command: the former understands how to make a political agenda work. The Congress is bereft of ideas, and is therefore also at a loss for answers.

It is obvious- at least to me- that the BJP will not give up power in Uttar Pradesh without a serious revival plan. Here is another tip: Lucknow will have very little to do with that plan. Lal Krishna Advani won Uttar Pradesh for the BJP without much assistance from Lucknow when he turned a mosque at Ayodhya into a national issue. Those who have watched his dress code over the years know that Lal Krishna Advani wears very wide sleeves; he generally has more than one idea up that sleeve.

The BJP's problem in Uttar Pradesh is the most difficult one in public life: how to hit the right nerve with the majority of the voters. But it is less complicated than that of the Congress. It does not have to worry about Muslim voters. It may, as a government, have to worry about Muslims and their concerns, but not as a party looking for votes. The Muslims in Uttar Pradesh are going back to Mulayam Singh Yadav in full measure in the next Assembly polls after their abortive flirtation with the Congress in the general elections, and the BJP's problem is to create a majority against a backward-Muslim combination.

The common perception is that the BJP cannot go to the polls in Uttar Pradesh without a commitment on a date for the construction of a Ram Temple. Kalyan Singh has been sending frantic signals of this sort. He did it before the general elections closed; and he has done so again before leaving office.

That would be too common an option. Mr Advani has not been described as the finest intellectual in contemporary Indian politics by this column bcause he brings out tired cards from up those large sleeves. Mr Advani wants a BJP government in Lucknow far more than anyone else, but it is doubtful if he is ready to sacrifice his own job in exchange for the party's welfare in Uttar Pradesh: a return to the temple is the one issue that could take the ruling alliance of Delhi apart. All the partners of the BJP have made in clear that temple construction is a non-negotiable issue: they will break the alliance rather than accept any change in the BJP commitment that nothing will be done as long as the partnership lasts.

The government is preparing legislation for the winter session of Parliament it will offer a package of reforms that have the spirit of urgency about them. The Cabinet has already decided that the women's bill will be introduced in the House in the next session, another bit of legislation that will go through with the support of Mrs Sonia Gandhi. Added to this could be a constitutional amendment providing for a fixed term of five years for Parliament. This is a concept which would never have been accepted if, say, Mrs Indira Gandhi had presented it: it would have been called dictatorial, particularly by George Fernandes. But in the context of three governments in three years such a proposal would certainly get popular support.

What if the home minister of India added a third constitutional amendment to those who popular proposals? Something appealing, like a ban on conversions? Very little happens in politics by accident. The campaign against conversions was launched by the fundamentalist elements within the Hindutva parivar more than a year ago, reviving an issue that has long been on the agenda of such forces. The campaign had its merits. Being a ''Christian'' rather than a Muslim issue, it was less politically volatile. Among the principal minorities. Christians have neither the numerical strength of the Muslims nor the geographical consolidation of the Sikhs. It was a good way of appealing to majority sentiment without bonfire consequences like Hindu-Muslim riots. I do not know if government was aware that Pope Paul would announce the evangelisation of Asia from Indian soil, but nothing could have better served any move towards an amendment of the Indian Constitution.

A ban on conversion has a further merit: none of the allies of the BJP has taken a stand on it. For many ordinary people, who are not fundamentalist and would never dream of becoming so, find some virtue in the view that missionaries should not be permitted to convert helpless or isolated tribals. It is an issue more comparable to the Shah Bano case, in terms of larger acceptability, than the mosque-temple confrontation. The BJP's partners would think more than once before suggesting that they would like to break the government over a ban on conversions.

As for the Congress: how, and to what extent, would it oppose such an amendment with Mrs Sonia Gandhi being a Roman Catholic herself? The party will tie itself up into lurid knots as it struggles to be both ''secular'' and electorally expedient. Such a dilemma has always been its problem; on this issue the contortions could be mindboggling.

For the BJP it would be a win-win situation: what better way to meet the future than with the slogan that it had made the future safe for a Hindu majority India?
 
 



| home | state | national | business | editorial | advertisement | sports |
| international | weather | mailbag | suggestions | search |
subscribe | send mail |