TALES OF TRAVESTY
By DR. JITENDRA SINGH
Post-poll deals after 16 May !

If politics indeed makes strange bed fellows, there could be no better times to prove this dictum than the weeks ahead of current Lok Sabha elections with so many political alliances competing with one another and so many political parties seeking new alliances.

The UPA and the NDA, the two national coalitions had occupied a large part of the political spectrum until recently. But the announcement of elections spurred political parties to reassess positions and even look for new partners. Incidentally, these shifts in political parties have more to do with the fragmentation of political space and less with ideological concerns.

Even though ideology was thrown out of the realms of Indian politics several years ago, whatever little semblance of it remained is also now shamelessly shown the door. And so, while ideology and principles are no longer a consideration, political parties have blatantly opted for state-level alliances with the intent of bolstering individual seat tallies for post-poll bargaining if not black-mailing. None of the socalled alliances has issued a common manifesto whereas most of the constituent parties have come out with separate manifestos. Clearly, each of these parties, including the Congress and the BJP, want to improve individual seat tallies so that they can bargain from a position of strength in the event of a hung Parliament. Until then, they want to keep options open. No wonder, therefore, Messrs Sharad Pawar, Lalu Yadav, Mulayam Singh, Mayawati, Ram Vilas Paswan etc as also the Marxist Karate have chosen to test the waters at individual level even while not severing relationship with their existing allies.

Betrand Russel warned us over half a century ago that when the democracy is newly established, it brings the virtuous and meritorious to the fore but as the years go by, careerists and lesser deserving ones take over. In the Indian context too, not only the first two generations of politicians in post-independence India commanded a higher credibility but in the initial few years of coalition politics represented broadly by the UPA or the NDA, alliances were struck on the basis of atleast some ideological commonality or certain common minimum agenda. But, after over a decade of coalition politics, the alliances are now motivated by sheer political expediency, adhoc pursuit of power and mutual blackmail.

When the 15th Lok Sabha election results are declared on 16 May, it is unlikely that any one party or pre-poll coalition will secure a simple majority in Parliament. Therefore, a realignment among political parties is likely in a bid to form the new government. The role of the regional parties and regional leaders cannot be under-stated in such a situation. One also shudders to think of the kind of give-and-take that may come into play. Offers of undeserved ministerships, offers in kind and coin , sale-purchase of MPs and much else that could only mark a new deterioration in the standards of political practice in this country.

Nevertheless, let this not be forgotten for a single moment that a cohesive and stable government is what India urgently needs to address challenges posed by global economic downturn and tensions in the neighbourhood. Can the common man expect his political masters to rise above narrow selfish interests and attend to his day to day problems ? Can Umapathy expect his political masters to look beyond themselves instead of following the poetic perversion ‘‘Nizaam-e-Jahan Uljhe To Uljhe, Zulfon Ko Suljhaate Rahiye !’’

Anti-Indian indoctrination in Pakistan

By Samuel Baid

Unreasonable hatred stunts the growth of the hater. Successive rulers of Pakistan have promoted hatred of India in their country in the past 61 years to prove the two-nation theory; but more so for usurping political power and denying people their rights. The anti-India indoctrination begins when a child enters his school. Its success can be gauged from the fact that even when the people rise up against their rulers, their anti-India orientation remains almost intact. Their occasional outbursts for friendship with India are only emotional: it does not mean they have unlearnt the anti-India lessons taught to them in schools and in their work life. In 1972 when Mr.Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was in Shimla to sign a peace agreement with his Indian counterpart Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, he was asked by Indian journalists why his country would not accept the principle of bilateralism in India-Pak relations. His reply was that Pakistanis would consider it as an act of surrender to India.

There are a number of ways in which anti-India feelings are generated and kept alive. One is Kashmir. Educated Pakistanis cannot look at it honestly in the light of its history and facts. They will not like to be told about the genocide, rape and kidnapping of women in Kashmir by Pakistani Army-backed tribal invaders in 1947. Every evening the Pakistan TV tells them lies about the human rights situation in Kashmir. The common Pakistani is given to believe that genocide of his fellow-Muslims is going on and Muslim women are being raped in Kashmir by the Indian Army. The common man is also told stories of atrocities on Muslims in India. He is supposed to be thankful to God for giving him Pakistan where he is safe and thriving.

Pakistan has four provinces: Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). There is unrest and militancy in all the four provinces. But what amuses one is that India is accused of supporting unrest in Sindh, Balochistan and NWFP but Punjab is not mentioned because it is rulers' province. Thus, Sindhis, Baloch and Pushtuns are all projected as traitors in the eyes of Punjabis.The Sindhi and Baloch nationalist organizations, which are not in the net of the ISI, are accused of being Indian agents; but ISI's own Punjab-based creations, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, are never accused of Indian connection. It looks only Punjabis are not traitors in Pakistan. Has Mr.Mohammad Ali Jinnha's Pakistan become Traitor-istan?

In the past 61 years the Pakistan Establishment has not allowed the people of Sindh, Balochistan and NWFP to play their rightful role in nation building. But their natural resoures are exploited mainly to benefit Punjab and its powerful people in the Army, landed aristocracy and the bureaucracy. Whenever the people Sindh, Balochistan and NWFP protested they are at once branded as Indian agents. The Press carries planted concocted stories to allege how India is trying to break Pakistan with these traitors. Thus grievances are silenced.

In February 1999, when then Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee went to Lahore to meet his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif, former ISI Chief Gen.Hamid Gul wrote in a section of Urdu newspapers that Pakistan needed an external enemy in India for its national integrity. When the visiting Sri Lankan Cricket team was attacked in Lahore on March 3, he appeared on TV to swear Indians had done it thus throwing a cover of protection over real culprits in Punjab. However, media very well swallowed his argument. He, in fact, represents the core ideology of the Pakistani Establishment, vis-à-vis India.

Sindh, Balochistan and NWFP have been the miserable victims of this ideology right from the day one of Pakistan's creation. As a result, Pakistan has not developed into a modern State. It is widely described as a failed State. There are Pakistan watchers who predict end of this country. Officials of the Barack Obama Administration say Pakistan is facing a threat to its existence.

In NWFP, the persecution of Pushtuns had started right in 1947 because they had elected in 1946 the Congress Party to rule the Province. Mr.Jinnah, as Pakistan's Governor-General, dismissed the Congress Government led by Doctor Khan Saheb and installed his own defeated Muslim League into power. Doctor Khan Saheb, his brother Khan Abdul Ghaffar and their families and Pushtun followers were all declared traitors. By dismissing an elected Government just because it was not a Muslim League Government Mr.Jinnah laid the foundation of future political instability and official high-handedness in Pakistan. Mr.Jinnah's unconstitutional and undemocratic action was promoted by his blind hatred for the Congress/India.

Pushtuns suffered discriminations until their ethnic identity was attenuated by a jehadi culture promoted by the ISI and CIA in the wake of the Afghan war of the 1980s. A corollary of the promotion of jehadi culture emerged in the form of Taliban whom the Pakistani Army helped capture Kabul in 1996. The Pushtun culture received another setback after 9/11 when Pakistani Taliban began emerging in tribal areas. They have no pride in being Pushtuns; they have respect for nothing; they claim to follow Islam but cannot explain what kind of Islam. They worship only gun.

India's Consulates in Afghanistan are also blamed for trouble in Balochistan. On the 22nd of this month, Pakistan's Adviser on Interior Affairs Rahman Malik alleged in the Senate that India and Afghanistan were behind the trouble in Balochistan. He was giving a statement on the murder of three Baloch nationalist leaders in Turbat early this month. Baloch allege they were killed by Pakistan's intelligence agencies. But Mr.Malik's first statement was that they were killed by Indians. In his April 22 statement in the Senate he almost justified the killing by saying one of them was an Iranian and another a terrorist. He also alleged that late Akbar Bugti's son Brahamdagh Bugti was receiving India's help. He forcefully denied it. Baloch leaders said the Zardari Government was parroting the Army's allegations. In the past 61 years, Baloch have been bombed many times, suppressed and maligned whenever they demanded their rights. The hardcore Baloch nationalists say the time for talks has gone: now, they say, they will not accept anything less than liberation of Balochistan from Pakistan.

Sindh contributes about 70 percent of the total revenues that the Centre collects from other provinces. Yet allocations to this province is much below the expectations of the Sindhis. Sindhi nationalist organizations, who follow late G.M.Syed's call for liberation of Sindh from Pakistan, have been working for separation. The Pakistani Establishment cannot give justice to Sindhis, but when they protest it raises the bogey of India.

Besides the anti-India propaganda, the successive rulers, beginning with Gen. Ayub Khan, have tried to keep their people in dark about progress in India. In 1978, Gen.Zia-ul-Haq had allowed limited interaction between the peoples of the two countries. It was then that Pakistanis were taken aback by a news item in one of their newspapers which said India produced tractors. This surprise became news in India.

In the 1980s, a Delhi-based Pakistani journalist travelled many parts of India to hunt for negative stories. This writer advised him that he could help his country by also reporting how India's new Education Policy was working and the strides this country had made in the field of agriculture, science and technology. But, alas, his brief was only negative stories from India.

Ailing Indian economy

By Nantoo Banerjee

Elections bring the worst out of political parties and personalities. Charges and counter-charges, personal attacks, use of official machinery to gag opponents, bribing electorates and, of course, making frivolous promises are some of the tools used freely to impress or confuse voters. The 2009 Lok Sabha election has them all. But, a late burst from none other than Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in an interview is probably the most shocking one so far in this election. The Prime Minister reportedly said that if the Congress was returned to power, he would ensure the country's economic recovery in 100 days and put it on a double-digit growth path.

It is not clear what the Prime Minister meant when he said if the Congress party comes to power singularly, or collectively, leading a coalition group such as the UPA after the election. The first possibility looks remote. Therefore, it is rather shocking that such a tall promise should come from an otherwise cautious Prime Minister, who has been associated with the government for decades and knows the weaknesses of the Indian economy which have been standing in the way of its high growth for years. He is no trickster or a magician. Nor did he ever leave an impression that he possessed a magic wand to produce an economic miracle within 100 days in power. Obviously, he is out of balance like many of his ilk - L.K. Advani, Sonia Gandhi, Prakash Karat, Karunanidhi, Mayawati, Mulayam Singh and Lalu Prasad Yadav.

The first question that comes to ones mind is this: if the Prime Minister is really capable of playing an economic magician should he get another opportunity to lead the national government after the Lok Sabha polls, what prevented him from doing the same to avert the present the economic slowdown and huge loss of jobs in the private sector across the country in the last 180 days? Why has his Rs. 60,000 crore investment package failed to take off? Why have lakhs of employees in the private sector lost their jobs in the last 100 days? And why are executives forced to take pay cuts while his government and semi-government employees, bureaucrats, ministers and judges are given 30 to 50 per cent pay and pension hikes? Why are the people losing faith in the electoral system as was evident from the poor turnout in the current election?

Not many would disagree that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had failed to run the government with full authority and power. Some of his ministers, holding important economic portfolios, seemed to have been pursuing their personal agenda. The high rate of economic growth in the last five years is not due to the government. It is, in fact, despite the government. There was no contribution by the government to the growth rate, except for opening the control sluice gates to flood the economy with unaccounted foreign funds from Mauritius and other international tax havens into the primary and secondary markets which buoyed the economy. Singh's cabinet colleagues are still at it trying to circumvent FDI restrictions in the sectors where Indians are holding majority stakes, at least on paper, even when the election process is on.

The economic performance had nothing to do with the government's performance, which remains the worst in memory. The government did not invest in power and petroleum energy, the country's biggest stumbling block for economic progress and growth. This has been left to the corporate sector. It did not invest enough in telecommunications and infrastructure, which were again left to the corporate sector. The entire country is reeling under unscheduled power cuts and drinking water crisis. Public health service continues to be the most neglected area. The less one talks about the state of urban and rural sanitation, the better. Almost all national rivers have been turned into public sewage. Although there was a boom in group housing for the middle and high-income group in the urban areas, the living conditions in rural India continue to be deplorable.

The worst performing area is the manufacturing sector, the growth rate of which has dwindled to barely one to two per cent as against a double digit growth witnessed during the 1980s. Foreign debt has escalated to alarming levels, keeping pace with the free foreign exchange reserves with the country's central bank. Dwindling exports combined with massive import growth despite a 60 per cent fall in international crude oil prices in the second part of the last financial year has left a yawning trade gap. With remittances from Indian workers abroad set to take a nosedive in 2009-0 as they are returning to the country in hordes, jobless, India may soon be in the midst of a balance of payment crisis. The oil price crash and the effect of global depression have led to economic slowdown in West Asian countries, and the first major victim of the development is the Indian workforce engaged there.

The anti-public sector policies pursued by some of the important economic ministries like telecom, civil aviation, petroleum and power have weakened the country's core strength in these areas. The country's national carriers Air-India and Indian Airlines were systematically pushed out of business to make room for powerful private operators having roots abroad. The mindless merger of the two public sector airlines and planned gagging of their operations turned the merged entity so sick that the company has to borrow to pay the salaries and wages to its employees. The public sector telecom companies like BSNL and MTNL too are in a shambles, after being gagged by the authorities for the benefit of private operators. Originally promoted in the public sector, India's two top professionally managed banks, ICICI and HDFC, are no longer Indian-owned enterprises. Overseas entities have quietly acquired majority stakes in both the banks. ICICI is the country's second largest bank after SBI.

Manmohan Singh has let the control button of the economy go out of the government's hands, perhaps willingly. The government's liberal import regime has led to the flood of foreign good of all kinds into the Indian market sweeping away even the most reliable Indian brands in the manufacturing sector. Even a Rs. 9,00,000-crore national budget has little for infrastructure and rural development. The situation is so bad that no government can reverse the process and take control of the economy to drive its growth in a situation as bad as this, taking a leaf out of more affected economies such as the USA, China, Japan, Germany, France and the UK and the actions taken by those governments to fight economic slowdown. Manmohan's election campaign on the basis of his performance in economy can certainly be contested by other political combinations. (IPA Service)