Daily Excelsior... Editorial

EDITORIAL

By Brig. (Retd.) S.N. Sachadeva

The parliamentary committee attached to the Ministry of Defence has pointed out that the procurement of modern equipment has not been at an appropriate pace in the past and consequently ..more

The Ujjain murder

By Tukoji R. Pandit

The way Prof H S Sabharwal who taught at a college in Ujjain was beaten to death by a mob led by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad was a chilling reminder of how ugly student . .......more

Women themselves
to blame?
TALES OF TRAVESTY

By Dr. Jitendra Singh

Is the BJP out of
‘bad patch'?

By Sunil Gatade

Ahead of the Assembly elections in four states, especially Uttar Pradesh, the question being asked in political circles is whether the BJP is out of the bad patch ?. .......more

EDITORIAL

Lage Raho Vidhu

People in the State can only tell Vidhu Vinod Chopra, a son of the soil, "lage raho" (keep it up). He has made Gandhi simple to understand for millions across the country. His "Lage raho Munnabhai" could not have been a more easy presentation of the Mahatma's philosophy. It was natural for him to have picked up "Munnabhai" as the main character of his theme. After all, "Munnabhai" had become a household name after the resounding success of his own "Munnabhai MBBS". One can argue that Gandhi is so uncomplicated in any way that he does not need a film to explain his perception. He talks of truth. He preaches ahimsa. He says that all of us should stand up to our convictions without returning violence in the same kind. One should not yield the ground just because one is slapped or even given threats of being physically eliminated. Of course, he has made a difference between violence and cowardice and indicated his preference for the former. But all that he has said is in a different context and is certainly not among his priorities. His emphasis is on just being a human being who is expected to be honest, truthful and straightforward and who is prepared to be counted on the strength of these virtues. In fact, there lies the problem. These qualities are in short supply. Nothing proves it more than the fact that in this country Gandhi is being put on the same high pedestal as any other god. The people are doing this knowing fully well that they can't follow him in letter and spirit. This is ironical for he was born and raised as an ordinary man. Only a few decades ago --- there are many eyewitnesses around --- he had proved by personal example that it was possible for a common person to live up to his beliefs and follow them to a logical conclusion. The lesser mortals like us have adopted the comfortable option of segregating him from us. Perhaps we can't be blamed for thinking on these lines. Even a great scientist like Albert Einstein was confused. He was convinced: "Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth." Such adoration is too obvious these days but that does not in any way detract from the reality that Gandhi was born like any other individual: he became the Mahatma only by dint of single-minded pursuit of his ideology that was unique in conception and required tremendous amount of patience and backbone in execution.

The strength of Vidhu's "Lage raho Munnabhai" is that it gives Gandhi's message in a plain manner. The use of novel expressions like "Gandhigiri" may have touched the nerve of some. But it can't be denied that it is the most potent weapon against "goondagiri". Gandhi's "My experiments with truth" speaks of repeated conflicts in his mind and how he had overcome them on every occasion. As Ahmedabad-born Abhijat Joshi, dialogue and screenplay writer of the motion picture, has said in an interview: "Gandhi is drawn into stealing but later confesses his crime to his father." Having grown up in Gandhi's home State, he admits: "Many ideas inflicted in the movie were instilled in me during my childhood." One of the first actions of Dilip Prabhavalkar who plays "Bapu" in the film was to stop its pirated version in a bus in which he was travelling from Pune to Mumbai. Lage raho! The truth will prevail in the end come what may.

Single integrated command?

By Brig. (Retd.) S.N. Sachadeva

The parliamentary committee attached to the Ministry of Defence has pointed out that the procurement of modern equipment has not been at an appropriate pace in the past and consequently the modernisation programme of the armed forces has suffered.

That is indisputable. But what is modernisation of the armed forces? Is it only acquisition of modern hardware? The Kargil Committee had pointed out that the decision-making system in the Ministry of Defence and the intelligence system had not been updated since 1947 when the organisational set-up and procedures were prescribed by General Lord Ismay. The NDA Government took some action to modernise the procedures and set up a group of ministers (GOM) and four task forces. Finally, The GOM came up with a set of recommendations to update the procedures. That related to the Ministry of Defence and intelligence agencies.

What about modernisation of our Army, Navy and Air Force in respect of their combat organisations, tactics, strategy and fighting doctrines? By and large the organisation of our Army for combat remains what it was during the Second World War - the Army, the corps, the division, the brigade etc. All over the world in the last 50- years other forces have undergone major changes in their structure, composition, equipment etc. To a lesser extent the same is true of the Air Force and the Navy.

The trend it towards increasing the firepower of the individual soldier, his survivability, his ability to communicate with his fellow soldiers and other formations, including the aircraft operating in the area. In other countries, increasingly it is recognised that when armed forces are deployed in military operation, irrespective of the service to which they belong they are fighting to achieve a war aim.

During the Second World War the Army, the Navy and the Air Force coordinated their activities to achieve the common goal. Today technology has made it possible for the three services to fight a single integrated operation in many, not necessarily in all cases.

The accuracy of weapons launched from air has improved so much that the target destruction that needed several scores of aircraft can be achieved by a single aircraft. In that sense aerial combat support today has a totally different meaning than what it had during the Second World War or even the Bangladesh war and the Vietnam War. Similarly the Navy deployed hundreds of miles away from the land targets can aim its missiles accurately. Its carrier-based aircraft can play the kind of role that land-based aircraft do in aerial combat support.

It will no doubt be pointed out that these technologies are still under development and various claims about accuracy made have not been realised on the ground. While that may be true, the trend in regard to technology of war is unmistakable. The US is the foremost military power and it attempts to ensure that it leads the rest of the world not only in military equipment but also in military doctrines tactics and strategy.

The US aims at being the sole superpower. It has plans for intervention against scores of countries all over the world. Though it may deny it has assumed the role of a global cop. It spends more on military expenditure than the rest of the world put together. Therefore, the US cannot be a military role model for India. However, it should be possible to derive what are called the best practices from the US armed forces and adapt them for the Indian armed forces.

India has already started having military exercise of different kinds with the US forces and senior Indian officers of the three services should be deriving their own conclusions on the pluses and minuses in respect of their tactics and tactical doctrines vis-…-vis the US forces.

The idea of fighting a single war integrated with other three services is instilled in US services and officers from the early stage. They are trained to conceptualise, plan and execute such integrated operations at all levels. The various officer training institutions of different services are coordinated by a National Defence University where the philosophy of fighting an integrated war is instilled. The university has such prestige when the President has a major policy pronouncement to make - such as the missile defence or the national security doctrine; he uses the university for the purpose.

The concept of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff or that of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) is related to the doctrine of different services fighting an integral campaign. Unfortunately, in India the demand for CDS has been viewed one for a five-star post for the services. The philosophy of integrated functioning of three services is still to make adequate headway. That in turn will need some revolutionary thinking in the structure and composition of our three services. A modern armed force for India would need an expanded Air Force and Navy and somewhat reduced Army, all equipped with the state-of-art equipment. It would, no doubt, take a long period to carry out such transition.

The proposal to set up a National defence University has been gathering dust for over more than four years. Modernisation of the armed forces is an appropriate subject for the National Security Council. The council will have to take a long-term view about the future evolution of the three services in the light of the global security environment, the kind of wars likely to be fought and challenges this country will face. If such tasks have to be undertaken, the very first step will have to be for out Chiefs of Staff to shed their roles as force commanders and become national security planners. Without this step, there can be no modernisation of our armed forces since the Chiefs of Staff will have no time to devote to a long-term, future-oriented modernisation programme. INAV

The Ujjain murder

By Tukoji R. Pandit

The way Prof H S Sabharwal who taught at a college in Ujjain was beaten to death by a mob led by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad was a chilling reminder of how ugly student politics have become in our colleges and universities. The sheer arrogance of the ruling party in Madhya Pradesh which dismissed it as an 'accident' at the very outset shocked the consciousness of the nation.

Around the time of the Ujjain incident (Aug 26), Lucknow was witness to the attack on a senior woman teacher by a student. The lady lodged a complaint with the police and also approached the chief minister. What next? Well, the student was nominated by the ruling party of UP, Samajwadi Party, for contesting as the party candidate in the university election! That effectively ruled out any action against the student leader for his egregious behaviour.

Such incidents do not instil any hope that student politics will be rid of criminal elements. It leads quite a few to demand that politics and elections be kept out of campuses. Whether that will be right or wrong cannot be said but the situation on college and university campuses cannot be expected to improve as long as criminalisation, which affects almost every political party, is not removed from politics.

Incredibly, the BJP continues to claim a high moral ground even when it has been repeatedly exposed of not one but many 'immoral' acts. The Ujjain incident raises some uncomfortable questions about the democratic and moral credentials of the BJP and its sister organisations like the ABVP.

It is, of course, natural for the BJP/ABVP to disown responsibility for the murder of Sabharwal. 'Where is the proof' echoed one and all in the Sangh Parivar after the death of the college professor, rather like some people or countries, either in order to dodge the blame on self or trying to shield someone, demanding 'proof' of terrorists' involvement in dastardly attacks.

The crime committed by the ABVP-led crowd was witnessed not only by many college employees, but also other citizens and a number of policemen. Yet, the local police failed to even register an FIR after the crime. Can there be any doubt that this hesitation arose because of orders from above? The police did not appear to even consider arresting anyone in connection with the assault on the professor. It was only because of media, television to be more precise, coverage that highlighted the callousness and presumptuousness of the administration that culminated in the 'surrender' by two ABVP leaders-four days after the death of the professor.

The BJP/ABVP leadership has been asking people not to believe 'rumours' till 'proof' was brought out by an inquiry. And who is conducting this inquiry? One of the branches of the state police, the Criminal Investigation Department, whose officials do not exactly enjoy the reputation for impartial conduct! Strange indeed are the Madhya Pradesh police. While the TV cameras were able to record accounts of some eyewitnesses, they had failed to locate them. A college peon (since 'disappeared) had told the police that he and many others had seen the attackers whose names they did not know. The peon also said that he saw these people beating the professor with the intention of killing him.

But after seeing how the police had dithered in taking action against attackers of the professor and knowing full well the clout of the ruling party members the eyewitnesses are said to be scared to come forward. So the eyewitnesses were reported 'missing'. Strangely, the families of these 'missing' persons were not worried about their disappearance because, as most of the city believed, nobody had actually gone underground. It was obviously pressure from the police, out to save their political masters that helped the enactment of the 'disappearance' drama. Even after the uproar over 'celebrity' cases in recent days, the phenomenon of witnesses turning hostile remains a fact and a stumbling block in administering justice.

Anyway, more drama followed with the 'surrender' of two ABVP leaders in connection with the murder of the professor. First of all these men were not charged with murder (section 302); that came a day later on court's intervention. The first charge against them was rioting! The charge against the ABVP functionaries had to be 'mild' in the BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh. The thing to note was that police did not arrest them; or perhaps the more correct thing to say will be that the police could not have arrested them and so the staging of the 'surrender' drama.

The normally very vocal BJP spokespersons in Delhi and the state capital went silent though one can bet that had the incident involved men from a rival party the BJP would have gone to town over it. With public wrath rising rapidly, the BJP 'netas' were not willing to say anything beyond the tenuous 'wait for the proof' line. But they were not apologetic about the behaviour of the ABVP leaders and, in fact, defended them. As the public outcry showed no signs of abating, the BJP took a cold and officious stand; 'the law will take its own course' and expressing a belated but contrived 'sympathy' for the family of the professor.

Simultaneously, the BJP-ABVP combine mounted a counter political campaign, blaming the rival Congress and its National Students Union of India for forcing postponement of the college poll. Opposing the postponement, the BJP-ABVP argument was that the NSUI opposed election knowing that the ABVP would have swept the poll. If the ABVP was so sure of winning surely it should be equally sure of winning whenever the polls are held. Why attack college teachers and kill them?

However, poll postponement is a separate matter altogether. How does it justify the extreme step of a mob fatally attacking a professor? And worse, how does it justify the state administration turning a blind eye to the crime?

(Syndicate Features)

Women themselves to blame?
TALES OF TRAVESTY

By Dr. Jitendra Singh

Every now and then, one comes across reports of one or the other group of women activists protesting against what they describe as wrong or ‘‘exploitative’’ projection of women in media particularly the electronic media. On most such occasions, invariably, these women leaders also succeed in motivating public support in their favour because as Henry Kissinger once put it, in a gender war it is difficult for the man to win because he feels disarmed even before the war has begun.

In the heat of debate on the subject, the point often overlooked is that in most of the alleged cases of women exploitation by media, it is one or more women who are actually responsible for it either wholly or substantially. Take the example of popular women dominated TV soap operas playing today. First, most of these popular drama serials are produced and directed by none other than women themselves---the popular operas like ‘‘Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi’’ produced by Balaji Telefilms are a brain child of Ekta Kapoor, the young daugher of film star Jeetendra, who has made a fortune out of stories depicting women either as conniving, conspiring and manipulative at one extreme or as helplessly exploited and sacrificing at the other extreme thus failing to depict an average middle class Indian woman who is rather a harmonious combination of several diverse and at times contradictory traits. Taking cue from Ekta Kapoor, several other women producers have also jumped into fray to churn out spicy operas which sensationalise polygamy among rich and elite women.

Another charge made by socalled women activists is that some of the private TV channels are giving undue coverage to what they describe as obscene or seminude item numbers. The point again missed is that most of the film and TV studios in metros like Mumbai and Chennai are a witness to a bee-line of young ambitious girls aggressively pushed in by their own mothers for a break on the screen and often desperate to achieve no matter even if they are asked to drop a couple of clothes for a competitive skin show. Now, just think of the composition of audience which sustains such TV serials and other shows denounced by socalled women activists. It has been observed that the largest share of audience that Ekta Kapoor receives is also from the womenfolk. In other words,most of the women dominated TV serials are produced, conceived and directed by women, fiercely sought after by women actors for a role to perform and voraciously devoured by women audiences.

Be that as it may, looking at the issue dispassionately and without engaging in a game of accusations, it is imperative to understand that the media projection of women cannot be viewed in isolation without taking cognisance of the overall change in social milieu witnessed over the last one decade or so. There is today much more permissiveness in women related matters and also women relationships. Meanwhile the Indian society is still coming to terms with the impact of sudden exposure to globalisation hitherto unknown to it. Obviously, this could not have left unaffected the orientation and working of the media. Before the arrival of electronic media, in the days of print media the dictum in journalism was ‘‘news is sacred, comment is a privilege’’. But, the dictum fails to hold ground in electronic journalism where not only the news is combined with comment but the emphasis is on visuals which sometimes end up imparting prime slot to a report that might have otherwise qualified for just a brief reference in the inner page of a newspaper. Hence a female model clandestinely luring clients for flesh trade may earn a headline on television but no slot in a daily newspaper.

Finally, it is for the woman herself to take up cudgels and free herself from being subservient to the priorities laid down by a male dominated mind-set. An independent strong woman could infact also be an asset to menfolk and superimpose the strength of Umapathy too. Kaifi Azmi, in one of his famous poems, reminds woman of her independent potentials with the words ‘‘....Jannat Ek Aur Hai Jo Mard Ke Pahlu Mein Nahin’’

Is the BJP out of ‘bad patch'?

By Sunil Gatade

Ahead of the Assembly elections in four states, especially Uttar Pradesh, the question being asked in political circles is whether the BJP is out of the bad patch ?

This is so because there has been nothing to write home about the saffron party since its ‘feel good’’ bubble burst in the Lok Sabha polls in May 2004.

The question has assumed importance in view of the Assembly polls scheduled early next year and Uttar Pradesh happens to be the key state where the saffron surge on the Ayodhya issue less than two decades back had propelled the BJP at the centrestage.

The just concluded meeting of the party's national executive at Dehradun showed that it is making desperate attempts to get its act together, overcome internal turmoil and put its best foot forward in the polls.

The problem encountered by the party is of the leadership despite proclamations that the organization was solidly behind Rajnath Singh, who took over the stewardship from L K Advani on Dec 31 last year after the veteran leader had to bow out in not so honourable way when he fell out with the RSS on the Jinnah issue.

Though Rajnath appeared to be getting a second term as party chief with former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee signalling his support to him by praising his handling of organization affairs at the Dehradun meet, it has not put a lid on the ambitions of several of its second rung leaders. These leaders feel that Rajnath was only one among them and should be considered a stop gap arrangement at a time when the party is passing through a crisis.

Despite the powerful backing from the RSS, Rajnath has not been able to make an impact as several heavyweights in the party are attempting to pull his legs for their own reasons.

A view in the party is that there could not be ‘feel good’ until the organization comes out of its internal turmoil. The statements and actions of the RSS including its chief KS Sudershan in the last over one and half years showed that all is not well in the relationship between the saffron outfit and its mentor organization.

Besides, the fact is that despite the setback in the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP has not been able to come out with a ‘new agenda’ to expand its constituency.

Dehradun did not give any hint of BJP looking afresh at the national scenario and coming out with a new strategy to upstage the Congress in the polls ahead. Inspite of the earlier National Executive held in New Delhi in May underlining the need for introspection and calling for firm discipline to maintain BJP's image of party with a difference, there appeared to be hardly any such thing in evidence.

Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh, who brought much ignominy to the party on the ‘‘mole-in-the PMO’’ issue, chose to be away reportedly on a Parliamentary delegation abroad while Murli Manohar Joshi made it to Delhi from his home turf in a day amid reports that he was not given his due as a senior leader at Dehradun.

Beleaguered Arjun Munda could not come as he remained battling for survival of his Government in Jharkhand.

Elder statesman Atal Bihari Vajpayee's plea at the meet not to ignore the leaders who have grown old also showed that all is not well in the organization. Vajpayee's remark in his inimitable style left many a political analyst wondering why the former Prime Minister was taking potshots at the second rung leaders. Perhaps, it was his way of telling the younger crowd of party leaders not to be overambitious and tell them in a subtle way that he was still around.

The BJP made all the predictable noises at Dehradun. In fact the Congress and especially its President Sonia Gandhi helped the saffron party in the limelight by her action of staying away from the function to sing ‘Vande Matram’ on September seven, which even a section of her faithfuls felt was ‘not politically correct’.

A redeeming feature of the Dehradun meet was that the public rally showed that the BJP was very much in the race in the Assembly polls in the hilly state of Uttranchal, where Congress has ensured that veteran ND Tiwari continue as the Chief Minister for full five years.

Assembly polls in Punjab would see BJP riding piggyback on Akali Dal headed by Parkash Singh Badal who is giving sleepless nights to Chief Minister Amarinder Singh of Congress.

While Manipur is a different cup of tea, Uttar Pradesh holds the key to judge whether the BJP has come out of the bad patch.

An ear to the ground in the Hindi heartland gives clear signals that it is literally a tough task on hand for the ‘Lotus’’ to bloom again in Uttar Pradesh in the immediate future despite the JD-U helping it to become a relevant factor in neighbouring Bihar due to the erstwhile ‘jungle raj’ of Lalu Prasad Yadav.

Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh will be heading the campaign in the crucial state from where the party chief Rajnath Singh also hails. Much water has flown down the Ganga and Yamuna since Kalyan's hey days in power which came to an abrupt end in the wake of the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December six, 1992.

The fact of the matter is that the saffron forces have failed to come up with an emotive issue after Ayodhya to rebuild its core constituency and is groping in the dark. How much ‘Vande Matram’ would come to its help is doubtful.

It appears that unless the main opposition comes up with a ‘new deal’, a fresh agenda to attract the people, its days of deliverance are not in sight unless the Congress and its leader Sonia Gandhi make terrible mistakes. PTI Feature