Race Course Road/ The Sunday Standared Magazine/ September 18, 2011

Manmohan Set to Fly, But who'll Play PM?

It’s quite amazing that many Union ministers are more interested in who will perform the duties of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh when he is out of India, rather than how is he doing at home. The Prime Minister is leaving for the US to attend the United Nations General Assembly session early this week. He will be away for almost a week. At the same time, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will also be in the US to attend the annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Though there is no constitutional provision for an acting prime minister, it has always been Mukherjee, however, who calls emergency Cabinet meetings in Manmohan’s absence. Now with both away, various ministers are speculating on who will be authorised by Manmohan to stand in for him. According to convention, the Prime Minister nominates one of his Cabinet colleagues, in writing, to coordinate on his behalf with all other ministries, and preside over full Cabinet meetings to discuss and decide on matters of importance. So far, the finance minister was performing this role. Now the Prime Minister appears to be in a dilemma as he has to choose between Home Minister P Chidambaram and Defence Minister A K Antony. Since the Prime Minister’s decision has political implications for both the party and the Cabinet, he has to consult Congress President Sonia Gandhi before taking a final call. In normal circumstances Chidambaram would have been a normal choice. Since he was nominated as one of the four members of the committee to deal with political affairs during Sonia’s absence, the Prime Minister may find the decision justified. But Manmohan isn’t sure whether he will be able to meet Sonia before his departure. He also has the option of not nominating anyone, and leaving it open until a situation that needs a stand-in arises.

Will the CAG be gagged?

The Congress party already stands accused of subverting various constitutional institutions like the judiciary, the Chief Vigilance Commission and even the Election Commission of India. Now an attempt is being made to undermine the authority of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. Vinod Rai, a 1972 batch IAS officer from the Uttar Pradesh cadre, has rubbed the ruling establishment the wrong way with his highly critical reports on 2G, Reliance, and CWG. He has made the CAG the country’s most feared and respected audit agency. Stung by Rai’s reports, a section of the ruling party is encouraging some of the smaller parties to mobilise MPs for moving an impeachment motion against him. Rai, who was appointed in 2008 has three more years to go and can be removed only with the consent of both Houses of Parliament. A legally correct representation is being drafted to collect at least 80 signatures, which is to be submitted for discussion during the Winter Session of the Lok Sabha. What angered the Congress was the CAG’s greed for excessive publicity and the premature leakage of some of its reports. Only extraordinary precautions taken by the Government ensured that the last two reports on Reliance and Air India didn’t find their way to the media until the last day of Parliament. However, some others smell an attempt to intimidate the CAG so that his reports don’t make headlines in the near future.

Uncle Sam trains India spooks

It’s surprising that both Indian and Pakistani counter-intelligence agencies are being trained by the US to tackle terrorism. Last week, American spooks concluded a two-week-long counter-terrorism programme at the Indian Detective Training School in Chandigarh. They trained agents how to decipher and decode digital evidence. The training was partnered by the US Embassy and the Home Ministry and led by US State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security under its Anti-terrorism Assistance (ATA) programme. Over two dozen officials from the National Investigation Agency and other covert organisations from the Indian Central and state police participated. More importantly, senior diplomats from the US Embassy, New Delhi, were allowed to address the Indian security establishment. The US has been conducting similar training sessions in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Though the course was altered to fit Indian needs, the excessive access given to the US by the Indian counter-terrorism establishment has raised eyebrows, since the US has failed to contain terror emanating from Pakistan. Indian officials also suspect that it may use the information collected from India to its advantage in dealing with Pakistan.

Didi shows her might to Pranab

After snubbing the PMO by withdrawing from the Indian delegation to Bangladesh, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is now setting the tone for dealing with the next man in command at the Centre. According to the bureaucratic grapevine, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee wanted a particular junior officer from West Bengal to replace Manoj Pant, his private secretary in North Block who is due to retire soon. But when the name was sent to the chief minister for the final relieving orders, she decided to put it on hold. Suddenly, the concerned civil servant serving as a district collector in Birbhum had become indispensable to the state Government! The suspicious Banerjee was given the impression that the officer was being rewarded for services rendered to Abhijit Mukherjee, the finance minister’s son, who won the election from that district. If a section of the local Congress is to be believed, Didi’s decision is aimed to cut the stature of the finance minister to size in his own state, where he still commands more respect than she does. Didi’s message is clear: ‘When it comes to West Bengal, I am the reigning deity’.

Power & Politics/ The Sunday Standard /September 19, 2011

Turning Threats into Political Opportunities is the Modi Way

Indian politics has acquired the image of a fine-dining restaurant in a five-star hotel. Unless one changes its look and feel every now and then, politics loses both clientele and attraction. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has mastered the art of repackaging himself according to the times. Come elections, he is ready with a new slogan, a story board and the medium to gain maximum political mileage. When he began his fast on Saturday, his wasn’t a confrontationist stance. Instead, Modi was a politician in search of reconciliation. The aggression was replaced with humility; the hard Hindutva posturing with a passionate appeal for an inclusive partnership in governance and development. Short of saying sorry for the 2002 riots, Modi left no one in doubt that he was deeply hurt by what had transpired. He was seeking an endorsement from six crore Gujaratis for what his government has done post-2002. The biting sarcasm and veiled threats to his political opponents were missing; not even once did Modi attack his rivals. From the image of a leader who divided Gujarat, Modi is out to establish himself as a leader who unites Gujarat. And when L K Advani quoted from a positive report by a US think-tank on Modi, he was sending clear signals to his party and the nation—it isn’t he but Modi who is the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate. Others were just poster boys. And it was Advani who announced Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the NDA’s prime ministerial candidate in 1995 without even consulting the BJP.

During his three-day Sadbhawana fast, Modi’s eyes have not been on Gujarat alone. His speech had much to with his future mission. After the successful implementation of the Modi Model of governance, he is now seeking a bigger audience and wider acceptability. With state elections a year away, Modi has unleashed a new action plan to catapult himself on to the national platform. Emboldened by the presence of Advani and many chief ministers, including Parkash Singh Badal, Modi left no one in doubt that he was the only Opposition leader with a clear agenda and a robust, positive blueprint for taking on the Congress and its allies nationally. All future prime minister hopefuls were conspicuous by their mandatory presence. A sour note, however, was stuck by the absence of a representative from JD(U).

Modi’s move took his own partymen by surprise. Since he usually refrains from celebrating his birthday, none, including his foes, had expected Modi to launch such a lethal political weapon. Both his admirers and detractors now feel that Modi’s fast is meant to divert attention from the legal challenges his government was facing from human rights activists and the courts. For the past nine years, Modi has been battling on many fronts. But each time he has devised a new strategy to floor his challengers. In 2003, it was the slogan for the protection of Gujarati Pride; in 2007, it was the Development Mantra and in 2011, the Unity of Gujarat. He has ensured that he remained prime news on prime time for the most part of the year. But his most successful achievement has been his ability to attract huge investments to Gujarat. Even corporate giants like Ratan Tata, who had distanced themselves after 2002, now stand behind him. As the India Story fades away, the Gujarat Story shines worldwide. Those who opposed granting Modi a visa are now singing paeans of praise. They see in him a future prime minister. For Modi, it is a question of do or die. He realised that massive emotional support of the people is needed to thwart conspiracies. His decision to go public with a plan that would get him nationwide live publicity dwarfed the feuding leadership of his own party. Let down by the BJP that failed to protect him from the UPA’s onslaught, Modi’s fast is meant to marginalise party leaders further and polarise non-Congress politics. So far, Modi was a national leader who was confined to the geographical boundaries of his state. Now, by announcing that a developed Gujarat means a prosperous India, he has chosen India as his karmabhumi. In spite of his stratospheric popularity ratings in various opinion polls, the BJP’s leadership actively connived with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to publicly insult Modi. Two years later, it is Modi’s turn to cock a snook at those who underestimated his skills to convert threats into opportunities. For Modi, the end of his fast will begin well. prabhuchawla@newindianexpress.com

Advani_ Rath Yatra_Prabhu Chawla_Karan Thapar

Is Advani's Yatra to salvage BJP or to revive career?

LK Advani’s announcement that he will soon launch an anti corruption ‘rath yatra’ has taken the BJP by surprise and created wide spread consternation. Yesterdays developments regarding Narendra Modi could further stir the BJP cauldron.

Party spokesperson for the BJP, MP Prakash Javadekar, the editorial director of the New Indian Express Prabhu Chawla and well known columnist Ashok Malik discuss with CNBC-TV18’s Karan Thapar whether these events strength the party or are they likely to divide its leadership as individual ambitions rise to the fore.

Below is a verbatim transcript of their interview. For complete details watch the accompanying videos.

Q: Was LK Advani prescient and was he rash and selfish to announce a ‘Rath Yatra’ on corruption at this particular point of time?

Chawla: I don’t think it was a rash. It was a well thought of decision because he has been watching the party go from bad to worse and being the party leader he almost created the party, brought it back to power. This yatra’s ideology seems to be again important. Individuals go as they came and ideology will replace these individual leaders. It’s time to revive the party. I call it the - Bharti Janta Party Bachao Yatra because he is going to save the party which is almost going through its own downfall.

Q: Is this a salvage operation?

Chawla: Yes it is. A Yatra is meant for connecting people and organizational setup. All the leaders sitting right in Delhi or wherever they are, they were meant for these small TV columns, newspaper journalists basically.

Q: They haven’t lived up to their job?

Chawla: Look at what happened at the elections. They lost Calcutta, they lost Assam, they lost UP, they lost almost all elections which were relevant last time. Advani is trying to revive the party once again. It was a late decision; he should have taken it earlier. He is the only credible leader left.

Q: The BJP needs a generation change but is one going back in age rather than to the youth?

Chawla: If 74 years old Anna Hazare can revive the country why can't 84 year old Advani?

Q: Can Mr Advani rework the magic of 1990 or given his age and given the fact that the world has changed dramatically, has he failed to take that into account?

Malik: His motivations are more individual rather than institutional. He feels that just perhaps you may have an election before 2014 and he could give it one more throw of the dice. Frankly, all of us have a shelf life; every phenomenon has a sell-buy date. The Advani appeal has a sell-buy date which it has passed. I am a little disappointed that he has decided to play Arjun rather than Bhishma Pitama.

Q: Are you saying this is not to salvage the BJP but to salvage his own flagging career?

Malik: It’s to give his career one last lease of life.

Q: And that the sell buy date is actually over and so he is unlikely to succeed?

Malik: I would think so because in 2009 he was the unqualified Prime Ministerial candidate. He lost, he should respect that.

Q: The problem is this, after Yeddyurappa, the Reddy brothers and the recent change in Chief Minister in Uttarakhand, can the BJP credibly hope to actually harness corruption as a party issue?

Javadekar: The fact is that our party is always an active party on the issue of corruption. Right from 2009 we raised the issue of black money snatched away in foreign country on big way, congress and many others scoffed at it first but ultimately they had to promise yes, we’ll take action within 100 days after coming to power. They failed to do so. So we have to pursue our agenda and we are pursuing for the last two years continuously with agitations.

Q: There is no doubt that you were the first to launch the issue of black money abroad but now in the wake of Yeddyurappa having to give up office, your chief Minister in Uttarakhand having to give up office or the association with the Reddy brothers who after all are former BJP MLA’s and ministers do you have a credible stand on corruption any longer?

Javadekar: Yes, because of that stand only and because of the action we have taken at an appropriate time and at appropriate place we have the credibility. Advani epitomizes that credibility. He is the senior most leader of the party and everybody, this second generation and your whole description earlier that everybody was surprised, no one was surprised.

He had discussed it with party president and the party and the parivar is fully with this Yatra. Advani would have even liked to do it earlier also because we raised the issue and stalled Parliament for 20 days for demanding effective action against corruption on 2G as we were demanding a JPC. That is a continuous fight against corruption and this Rath Yatra also is one more chapter to this fight which will continue even after Rath Yatra.

Q: What about the suspicion that in fact what Advani is seeking to do is to position himself as the prime ministerial candidate for either 2014 or if the elections are earlier and that he believes that on the issue of corruption and particularly with the BJP leadership divided, he has won a good credible last chance. Is he more interested in that than corruption?

Chawla: You have drawn a conclusion without the facts. He is a credible leader no doubt about it. He is the cleanest leader of the party no doubt about it and he can connect with the workers also at the party level that’s also no doubt about it. He is a person who created certain a leadership in the party and when two leaders start fighting with each other you can’t become a national leader by going to TV channels and the newspaper.

Q: Do you mean Jaitley and Sushma?

Chawla: I am not naming anybody I am just saying that people can’t decide on TV channels that they will become the Prime Minister of India. If somebody wants to become IK Gujral I have no problem with that. The question is no one has become the Prime Minister of India by not going to the field and contested elections.

Out of all the Prime Ministers only Manmohan Singh and IM Gujral they are the only holy exceptions in this country. Advani has realized that he created a leadership trusting all of them and they have failed the party. That’s all.

Q: Narendra Modi who the BJP claim got a clean chit yesterday. They are now speculating about whether he will take his rightful position amongst the national leaders in Delhi. How much more will that unsettle the leadership of the BJP because you will have Advani striving for the top post, you will have Sushma, Arun Jaitley, there is Gadkari, Rajnath and suddenly there is Modi who now thinks that he is clean and free to do so?

Malik: If you ask me there are thre serious candidates from the so called gen-next. There is Modi, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley. And of course Advani who is the perennial candidate. Modi’s principle problem is not his party. He has a bonus in his party but he is also very popular in his party. His principle problem is convincing the NDA. That remains his Achilles heel. It is a little lesser of an Achilles heel after yesterday but only marginally less. He is still has to deal with himself.

Power & Politics / The Sunday Standard Magazine/September 11, 2011

The politics of terror cripples the nation

After successfully terrorising India’s financial capital, Mumbai, a couple of months ago, on Wednesday, it was the turn of New Delhi, India’s seat of power, to face the bloody wrath of terrorists. Emboldened by the inefficiency of Indian security agencies to track and nab them in advance, well-nurtured and well-protected enemies of the nation are now targeting even the institutions of justice. It was the second attack on Delhi High Court in less than three months. Cocking a snook at our intelligence system, terrorists had earlier targeted Jama Masjid, Red Fort and Parliament House.

It is evident that when it comes to New Delhi, their aim is not just ratcheting up the body count but also to maim and paralyse all the country’s symbols of healthy democracy and secularism. The judiciary, the legislature, hotels of international repute and places of worship have been chosen as targets to demolish India’s resolve to become a global super power. Predictably, all political parties made the correct noises; the Prime Minister, the home minister and chief ministers made yet another vow to defeat these evil forces in the future. By calling terrorists cowards, our leaders think they have done their duty. By warning each other in advance about another possible attack, they think they have done a great national service. But at the end of the day, dead bodies and crippled human beings are seeking answers to the same question: ‘Why are we being killed?’ But this legitimate question is only answered with more questions.

It is obvious that both our political system and the chatterati have failed to read the ominous message behind the killing of innocent people, month after month. We haven’t been able to identify or detect the perpetrators of any of the terror attacks—small or big—which took place in Maharashtra, Delhi and elsewhere during the past one year. There was a brief spell of two years when Home Minister P Chidambaram was able to drive fear into the mind of the terrorists. For over 26 months, none of them could strike at will. Chidambaram’s no-nonsense but low-key handling of the situation had forced various terror groups to retreat into their shells.



But for the past 18 months, political convenience has replaced strong administration. Even terror has been categorised into various colours—red, green, saffron and what not. Even before any of the investigative agencies finish writing their first report, opinion-makers start wielding their brushes to give a colour of their choice to the act of terror. Before any expert agency discloses the source of terror, candle-carrying peaceniks begin to advise the nation to not blame Pakistan or any of its nefarious agencies. The message, ‘India Divided on Terror,’ has derailed both our action and mission.

For the past one year, both the UPA and the BJP have been waging a battle against each other on the colour of terror. While the UPA leadership and some of its prominent leaders have chosen the discovery of few cases of saffron terror as a means to blunt the BJP’s monopoly over the terror cause, the latter has charged its opponents with minority appeasement. Even the laws enacted by a previous political establishment to deal with terrorism are either reversed or replaced with other laws by the next government on the pretext that the earlier laws targeted a particular community. If that wasn’t enough, the course of investigations took exactly the opposite direction to include people from another community to ensure objectivity.

Even the implementation of judicial verdicts has been stalled on the basis of the nametags of the persons involved. It is not just a matter of bureaucratic red tape that not a single person has been hanged during the past decade for his or her acts of terror, even after the Supreme Court has given its final verdict. While terrorists take only 10 seconds to kill hundreds of people, our system takes more than 10 years to decide whether to hang them or not. Only in India, chief ministers, Union ministers and top political leaders can openly plead for granting mercy to those who have mercilessly killed a prime minister and hundreds of poor and innocent people. For the past seven years, none of the parties have transcended their political motives and discussed the ways and means to tackle the terror menace. There has never been a consensus on a stringent law to enable the police to carry out preventive detention. Our prosecution agencies are neither badly equipped nor under-staffed; they are only hamstrung by weak laws, as compared to the ones in other countries. In the name of human rights, the right to life of unarmed people has been happily compromised. Competitive politics has not only vertically split the establishment but it has also united the nation’s enemies.

Even after a decade of uninterrupted mercenary mayhem, our well-heeled political class is wary of discussing laws and other steps to contain the terror scourge. Nowhere in the world has terrorism become a tool in the hands of the political establishment to kill each other. India is perhaps the only holy exception.

Race Course Road/ The Sunday Standard/ September 11, 2011

Manmohan tries to plug leaking cabinet

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is more concerned about the leaks regarding secret Cabinet meetings than the Opposition’s attack on him in Parliament. For the past few months, informal discussions on important issues have been finding their way not only to prominent Opposition leaders but also to TV news channels. The Prime Minister is already peeved over the public display of differences between senior ministers on various issues. Since the Government was under severe attack for its inability to handle graft, a couple of over-enthusiastic ministers mooted the idea of enforcing news guidelines. One suggestion was to impose a time limit on advertisements and mass agitations. A legislation to prevent cross-ownership of various news platforms was also suggested. While there was no formal decision on the formation of an Empowered Group of Ministers, a minister immediately sounded out friendly Opposition leaders. The move to muzzle the media through a regulatory authority were made known to select journalists and BJP leaders; when the news broke, the embarrassed Government beat a hasty retreat. It has also come to the PMO’s notice that a couple of ministers were spotted lunching with Opposition leaders in the south Indian restaurant of a five-star hotel soon after, or on the eve, of Cabinet meetings. They run key ministries, which decide the fate of mega projects. Premature leakages of the Government’s move have given opponents a political advantage. Outsiders know the details of the agenda even before it reaches the Cabinet, as well as of Cabinet notes. The PMO is now evolving ways and means to plug these leaks. To begin with, the Cabinet Secretary will be directed to ensure that those ministers who aren’t entitled to attend a full-fledged Cabinet meeting don’t stay on after their item on the agenda is dealt with. As per rule, all Cabinet ministers are expected to leave their agenda papers on the table after the meeting is over. But many carry them back. The Cabinet Secretary will now keep a count of numbered copies. In addition, the Prime Minister himself will monitor all media coverage on Cabinet proceedings to spot habitual leakers. Since some of them claim proximity to 10 Janpath, Manmohan will have to walk the extra mile to either contain them or get rid of them.

No Urgency for Core Group Meet

Though Congress President Sonia Gandhi is back after her successful surgery, she didn’t attend the party’s core group meeting held last week. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh decided to hold it at his residence the day after terror struck the Delhi High Court, instead of calling an emergency sitting on last Wednesday’s terror attacks. Home Minister P Chidambaram, Defence Minister A K Antony, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and political adviser to the Congress President, Ahmed Patel, attended. Besides discussing the terror attack, the group also confabulated on the confrontation between the BJP and the UPA over the appointment of a Lokayukta in Gujarat. But some of the Congress leaders are surprised over the delay on the Prime Minister’s part to convene a meeting on terror soon after his arrival from Dhaka on September 7. He had landed in New Delhi by early evening, and various officials in the Home Ministry, Cabinet Secretary and intelligence agencies were kept waiting for a possible review meeting. But the call never came. However, the home minister had briefed the Prime Minister when Manmohan was still in Bangladesh.

Teesta Fiasco Endangers NSA

The relationship between the Prime Minister and a chief minister is a sensitive one. It has now acquired much more importance in view of coalition compulsions. Chief ministers are becoming more powerful than the Prime Minister. The recent fiasco over the Teesta water allocation to Bangladesh has exposed the disconnect between the PMO and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had disclosed that Banerjee was fully involved in finalising the agreement. On the other hand, Didi made it clear that the final draft was at variance with what was approved by her. Then who is responsible for the embarrassing miscommunication? National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon is the usual suspect. He had met Banerjee a couple of times to discuss the finer points of the agreement. Now, both the Congress and Trinamool leaders feel that Menon exceeded his brief and was pushing his own agenda. Since Menon is the Prime Minister’s most trusted adviser, he has often been found wanting in striking a balance between political compulsions and diplomatic concessions. He has been blamed for ignoring national and state elements while drafting statements and agreements. Earlier, for the Sharm el-Sheikh fiasco—the joint Indo-Pak statement on delinking terror from dialogue and Baluchistan—he had to be reprimanded for including a few phrases which were against the spirit of the dialogue. Recently, his overt eagerness for a dialogue with Pakistan hasn’t been taken kindly by the Congress leadership. Not surprisingly, the voices seeking his resignation are getting louder.

More Politics Please, It’s the PMO

With National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon on a sticky wicket, the PMO is under heavy pressure to re-examine the role of his office. Congress leaders are peeved with the dominance of officers drawn from the Indian Foreign Service in the PMO. According to insiders, Menon wasn’t alone in drafting the aborted Teesta water agreement with Bangladesh. Another IFS officer who claims expertise over geographical history aided him. Now the party wants people with political grounding to advise the Prime Minister. Manmohan has already appointed Pulok Chatterjee, a Gandhi loyalist, as his principal secretary, replacing TKA Nair who has been elevated to adviser. Chatterjee is likely to join on October 4. Contrary to popular perception that Chatterjee stayed back in New York to look after the Congress president, he was holidaying in another country and planning the wedding of his daughter before he plunges into his new high-voltage job. But he is unlikely to have the full run of the PMO his predecessor enjoyed. Manmohan has decided that Nair, a Singh loyalist, will reign supreme over a Gandhi loyalist.

Teekhi Baat_Prabhu Chawla_Kiran Bedi/IBN7

'राहुल गांधी का भाषण लिखने वाला ही उनका दुश्मन'

किरण ने कहा कि सबसे पहले तो यह पता करना चाहिए कि वह भाषण लिखा किसने क्योंकि जिस शख़्स ने भी लिखा वो नहीं चाहता कि राहुल गांधी राजनीति में आगे जाएं।