Interview with Amar Singh/India Today, July 28, 2008

"Mayawati, Modi, Advani more lethal than Bush"

The Samajwadi Party (SP) will contest the forthcoming elections under the leadership of Manmohan Singh, says general secretary Amar Singh.

Q. Why this change of heart—from angry Amar Singh to sweet Amar Singh?

A. There is no political change of heart. We have been constantly wedded to secularism and are firm about our political stance. We wanted to withdraw support but didn’t because we want to keep communalism at bay.
Q. You realised this only recently.

A. In spite of our differences with the Congress, we never withdrew support. I have never abused or attacked anyone, be it political or personal. We have mutually understood that attacking each other without any rhyme or reason will not benefit either of us. There is a convergence of political interest. So we have come together.
Q. In the last UNPA meeting, we saw a united face of the alliance in the morning, but by evening, things had changed.

A. In the meeting, I had endorsed the views expressed by Om Prakash Chautala and said that if need arises, we will meet Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. I also said that Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was the right person to make a statement on the nuclear deal issue.
Q. It seems that you are using Dr Kalam’s name for your own convenience. You spoke against the deal on the floor of the House even after Dr Kalam had endorsed the deal in national interest. Isn’t that a volte face?

A. The UPA regime never consulted us, formally or informally. But after M.K. Narayanan approached us, we decided to consult a defence expert. And undoubtedly, Dr Kalam is far more knowledgeable than all of us on this issue.
Q. Earlier, you were misled by Prakash Karat on this issue.

A. I respect him. Their point of view on the Indo-US nuclear deal may be right from their own perspective and ideology. I did support them, but when I met Narayanan, and later our missile man and former president Kalam, we were forced to change our stance.
Q. You were not on talking terms with the Government. Suddenly they get in touch with you and seek support for the deal and you give it. Is this a permanent arrangement?

A. As far as the SP is concerned, we will not do anything to thwart our relations with the Congress leadership, be it at the national level or state level. Whether we will be able to forge an alliance with Congress, we are not too sure. If it happens it is fine, if it doesn’t, still in Rae Bareli and Amethi, we will give unconditional support to Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
Q. But critics say both of you are afraid of Mayawati.

A. Many people are saying that BJP is petrified of Manmohan Singh. Jaswant Singh approached UNPA leaders and asked them to support the BJP to oust the Congress-led Government. Isn’t this what we should call opportunism? If they do, it is politics. If I do it, I am called opportunistic.

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The Magic of Maya / Mail Today, July 21, 2008

The Magic of Maya

Sometime late tomorrow night, or maybe Wednesday morning, we will know how much of a cliffhanger the much awaited confidence motion is. I am not going to make predictions because as the Congress-SP tie-up shows, anything can happen in politics. For much of the last week, several politicians that I know were looking beyond the trust vote to try and catch a glimpse of what the future would look like. Far from clearing the fog, the close vote— and I will stick my neck out on that— is likely to leave them more bewildered. Many seemed to agree that the future is a eight letter word — Mayawati. We have had a woman prime minister before, and now a Sikh prime minister. So is the country ripe to accept a woman, and a Dalit at, that as its prime minister? After her astounding victory in last year’s assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the lady herself has not kept her long-term ambitions secret. The custodians of the working class, the CPI(M) now seem keen to make up for their original historic blunder in not backing a Dalit for prime minister. The year was 1979, the Morarji Desai government was tottering and wise men, then not so old, met and decided not to support Jagjivan Ram for the premiership and ironically enough threw their lot with the Congress. The Jan Sangh component of what was then the Janata Party had sought out the CPI(M) to support Ram, but they emurred. The rest is history. Comrade Prakash Karat’s meeting with Mayawati last week has nothing to do with repenting for that 29-year old mistake. Until recently, the Left had nothing but scorn for her brand of politics. But suddenly Mayawati is the cynosure of all Red eyes and others have been quick to follow. She controls the state that sends every seventh MP to Parliament. In the last assembly elections, the BSP won 206 seats but had leads in 55 parliamentary constituencies. Her revolutionary social engineering made nonsense of political calculations made in the drawing rooms of Lutyens Delhi by psephologists and such like. She is known to drive a hard bargain, she also does what she says. Her style is unorthodox by the standards of politicians: she won’t think twice before sending her own MPs and MLAs to jail.
And with Mulayam set to suffer an erosion of the Muslim vote, even his own Muslim MPs are revolting, Mayawati could be the gainer. Though the BSP’s growth has not been as spectacular as her own rise in UP, it is slowly garnering the votes — 5.33 per cent in 2004. And unlike the Left
which has never grown beyond Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura, the BSP is a factor in at least 10 states, including Maharashtra, MP, Rajasthan, Punjab. Its leaders think 70-80 seats should be an easy target. Add to that the TRS, TDP, Chautala et al and the tie-up with the Left and the combine could end up with 150 seats. If that happens, then there is no stopping her from reaching South Block since the Congress will have no option but to support her, if just to keep the BJP out. No wonder there is a line of limousines outside her Humayun Road residence in New Delhi and everyone is talking about the young girl from Kalindi College whose dream was to become an IAS officer.

Somnath: Is it a moral or a personal issue?/Mail Today, Jul 21, 2008

LIKE any other member of Parliament, the Speaker is elected on a political ticket but he/she is different from a mere MP. But not entirely, it would seem. Somnath Chatterjee is among the finest to have occupied the high office. But now towards the fag end of his illustrious career both as a parliamentarian as well as a barrister, Chatterjee finds himself embroiled in a controversy that is entirely of his own making. On the day that it was announced that the government would seek the trust vote, Chatterjee’s office issued a press statement underlining the impartiality and the independence of the office of Speaker. Nobody questions the contents of the statement which were entirely in order. It is the timing that led to rumours of a possible rift between this committed Marxist and his party comrades. Chatterjee may have been livid with his party for including his name in the support withdrawal list given to the president, which made a mockery of the concept of the speaker’s independence. But he tied himself up in knots by later writing to Prakash Karat that he will not vote with the BJP, an argument that is hardly convincing since twice in the past, the last being in 1993, as a CPI(M) MP he had joined the BJP in voting against the Narasimha Rao government. This has led to speculation whether Chatterjee is being guided by the personal relations he shares with Manmohan Singh. Whenever the two meet, the prime minister never tires of reminding the speaker that it was from his father, the late NC Chatterjee, lawyer, parliamentarian and one time Hindu Mahasabha leader, that he received his bachelor’s degree. Chatterjee is too seasoned a politician to be swayed by such trivia, but when you are 79 and nearing the end of a long career, even dyed-in-the-wool Marxists may be tempted to make their own choices.

Snippets / Mail Today, July 21, 2008

Throw out the rascals

TWO weeks back I had written about the new belligerent mood of our men and women in uniform. Last week’s attack on policemen in Malkangiri which left more than 20 killed, coming as it does after the attack on Andhra Pradesh’s greyhound commando force that took 40 lives, is likely to see them become more combative. To add insult to injury was the home secretary’s statement that the attacks “were a result of the tactical blunder by the forces” which has left
senior police officers fuming. The IPS officers association, which met a fortnight ago, will again meet sometime soon and among their demands will be that postal ballots be made available to the 1.4 million armed forces and the nearly twice that many that serve in the central paramilitary and the state police forces. So far, only about two to three per cent of those in uniform have been able to vote in elections because they are mostly on poll duty. Now police chiefs will demand that the government make postal ballots available to men and women
serving even in the remotest corners. “Vote according to your conscience, without fear or favour, is what we are telling our men,” an officer told me. In other words, “throw out the rascals”.

**************

WE Indians have a fetish for renaming. We don’t think twice before junking hundreds of years of history to rename a road, an airport, a city or even a state to satisfy someone or a group that is
politically crucial. So Madras becomes Chennai, Bombay Mumbai, Calcutta Kolkata, Bangalore
Bengaluru and Trivandrum becomes the tonguetwisting Thiruvananthapuram. At least until now, I assume some thought went into such decisions but today, even that fig leaf is finally off. Last week, the Centre decided to rename Lucknow’s Amausi airport, named after the village in
which it is located, as the Chaudhury Charan Singh Airport. The demands for its renaming had
been piling up for long. In 2002, Charan Singh’s only son, Ajit Singh had written to the NDA government reminding them it would be a befitting gesture considering that it was the birth centenary year of the late prime minister. Three years later, Mulayam Singh Yadav wrote to Praful Patel making the same demand. In 2006, Akhilesh Das, then junior minister for industry in the UPA government, wrote to Patel demanding that Amausi be renamed after Rajiv Gandhi since the former prime minister who started his political journey from Lucknow was also an ex-Indian Airlines pilot. It brought the stock reply from the minister: the matter was under consideration of the government and a decision would soon be taken. But all the files were tucked away in some forgotten cabinet and it wasn’t until last week that the government acted and when it finally did, Rajiv Gandhi had to yield to Chaudhury Charan Singh. If the circumstances
were different, I would have admired Sonia Gandhi for showing amazing grace and not adding to
the list of roads, chowks, avenues, institutions that already sport her husband’s name. But it’s the urgency to woo the three MPs of Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal that made the difference. A novel way of horse trading.

*************

“ Let the lobbies be cleared”. After scores of our honourable MPs have exhausted their vocal chords over two days of the trust vote, starting today, the Speaker will, just before the motion is put to vote, ask the marshals to clear the House of all but those elected to the Lok Sabha, who are eligible to take part in the voting process. As prime minister, Manmohan Singh occupies Seat No 1 in the treasury benches. But having never sought election to the Lok Sabha, he is not the Leader of the house. Pranab Mukherjee is. Singh will speak on the motion at the end, after which it will be put to vote. Will he leave the house before the vote is taken, or will he resume his seat on the front row without enjoying the privilege of casting his vote? A tragedy
either way.

Ask Prabhu: Indiatoday.com, July 22, 2008

On the Vote of Trust in Parliament

Question & Answers..........
Q: What will the Congress achieve if it wins the trust vote in Parliament?
A: It will be able to save the personal prestige of the Prime Minister who had signed the civilian nuclear deal with President Bush. -Asked by Satish, sarawagi@gmail.com
Q: Who will form the next government in case the UPA government falls now?
A: No one in this Parliament because both the leading formations, like the NDA and the UPA, will not support any other political party to form a government.-Asked by Prasad. nasmac12@yahoo.com
Q: What do you think about a great economist-turned Prime Minister begging for votes?
A: I pity him. He has a good reputation and a good cause to fight for. Unfortunately, he has mistimed his adventurism by depending on those who are behind bars for being a threat to national security. Now, they have become the safety net for his government. -Asked by Narasimhan , reniyengar@yahoo.co.uk
Q: The PM is also involved in horse trading to save his government and has bought Shibu Soren. Will he still be considered as "Mr Clean PM"?
A: I won't call it horse trading as Shibu Soren is a part of the UPA. But I would definitely call it a political deal-making. If Soren is fit to be a minister now, then why was he kept out for so many months? It was because Mr Clean Prime Minister thought Soren was not clean. -Asked by Ramesh, rameshmaya2007@rediffmail.com
Q: Legally, can a minority government take the N-deal forward? If so, can't the UPA seek an honourable exit instead of imposing the current political farce on the nation?
A: Once the government has lost the majority, it is not expected to take decisions which may bind the country for eternity. I think Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has followed the correct route to seek the endorsement of Parliament. -Asked by Ramesh, rna69@rediffmail.com
Q: Can't the UPA proceed with the N-deal without the trust vote? Will its conduct be above board if it wins the trust vote? Can it continue with the deal if it does not win the trust vote?
A: The Prime Minister has done the right thing by going to Parliament which he should have done a year ago and saved his reputation. Now, if he wins the vote of confidence, people will suspect the conduct of his government in securing a majority in the House. If they lose the confidence vote, the government will not proceed with the deal as promised by the Prime Minister himself. -Asked by Dwarak, rdwarakanathan@hotmail.com
Q: Will the BJP support Mayawati's candidature for the PM's post in case the Congress loses the trust vote in Parliament?
A: If they do, what will happen to their prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani? They have announced that they will not be supporting Mayawati. -Asked by Rajeev, sharmar_1968@yahoo.com
Q: Sibhu Soren is reported to be making unreasonable demands on the Congress for voting in its favour. What would Mahatma Gandhi have done had he been alive?
A: In fact, Mahatma Gandhi wanted to wind up the Congress and he would have done precisely that. We should not blame Shibu Soren for asking ministerial berths and other concessions, don't you agree? Ab sabka dil maange more! -Asked by R.D. Nathan, rdwarakanathan@hotmail.com
Q: Politicians are wasting their precious time to bring down a government and setting a wrong example of governance for the new generation. Can't the President call a meeting of these MPs and tell them to behave, or if necessary, impose President's rule to discipline them till forthcoming elections?

A: Our Constitution doesn't give any right to the President to call MPs and tell them to behave. And there is no provision for President's rule in India. -Asked by Rajendra
rdkhimesra@gmail.com

Seedhi Baat with Amar Singh/Aajtak, July 13, 2008

Amar Singh has said that the UPA government will comfortably sail through the trial of strength in the Lok Sabha on July 22. "I won't reveal to you my strategy for saving the government, but I'm confident that we will get support of more than 290 MPs on the floor of the house", the Samajwadi Party General Secretary, told me in an interview for Aaj Tak. (Watch Video)

Singh, who was instrumental in making the leaderships of the Congress and the Samajwadi party bury and hatchet and form an alliance that could prove to be the lifeline for the UPA govermnment expressed the hope that the new tie-up would continue beyind the next Lok sabha elections. When asked whether his party would have an alliance with Congress in UP for next general election, Singh said, "We want to have pre-poll alliance with Congress in UP and won't field candidates against Congress at Raebarelly and Amethi. ." The constituencies are currently being represented in the Lok sabha by Sonia and rahul gandhi. But asked to choose between Manmohan singh, Sonia and Rahul gandhi for prime minister, he indicated the SP was quite content with the leadership of manmohan Singh. "We will cont elections under leadership of Manmohan singh who remains our candidate for prime ministershiop". he brushed aside sufggestions that he will take mup a cabinet portfolio after the government wins the trust vote.

Asked about reports that he was trying to work out a compromise between the fueding Ambani brothers and whether he had sought the prime minister's intervention in the matter, Singh, who is known to be close to the younger brother Anil, said he "was too small a fry" to intervene in such a matter. But he said it was in the national interest that the brothers forget the bitterness of the recent past and work together. "The cumulative wealth of Mukesh and anil combined is about five percent of the country's GDP and as such any fight between two such persons can only harm the country. I feel it is in the nation's interest if bitter fued is brought to an early end", he said.