Political Diary
New Delhi, 31 December 2010
What’s There To Celebrate?
ANDHER NAGRI
CHAUPAT RAJA
By Poonam I Kaushish
How does
one begin an epitaph of the year gone by? Uncork the champagne and roll out the
drums? By welcoming 2011 on the wings of new hopes, dreams and promises? Not at
all. Clearly, 2010 will go down in history as annus horribilis.
The year India
morphed into the Republic
of Scams. Exposing the
ugly face of the subversion of our democracy. From IPL-gate, Adarsh housing
scandal, PJ Thomas CVC bungle down the Rs 70,000 crore CWG swindle to Radia-tapes
topped by the mother of all swindles Rs 1.76 lakh crore 2G spectrum scam. What
to speak of Parliament’s paralysis, ‘communalising’ terror, skyrocketing prices,
rising disparities et al.
Who could have imagined at the beginning of 2010 that Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh would be fighting a political battle to save his famous
personal honesty, integrity and credibility? Wherein he had to evoke Caesar’s
wife being above suspicion. True, none doubt his truthfulness but can he deny
that he heads the most corrupt Government since Independence? As the aam aadmi’s chief guardian did he do everything to stop the
flagrant and crude diversion of public funds into our polity’s private pockets?
Did he stop Raja? Was he unaware that the 2G scam would result in monumental
financial loss to the exchequer?
One may cynically argue, when was Indian politics about
political integrity, any way? What is the use of having a Prime Minister with impeccable
credentials if he has to carry for political compulsions tainted baggage in his
Cabinet? Such is the appalling state of our rajniti
that we have hit rock bottom politically, administratively and socially. Making
India
reel in disgust and anguish.
Underscored by the ‘adjournment’ of Parliament’s winter
session over the Opposition’s demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee to
unravel the 2G spectrum scam. The longest shutdown for the first time in
independent India.
Overall, there was full or partial shutdown of Parliament for as many as 38 of
the total 83 days, costing the exchequer around Rs 240 crore. Ironically, the
very year when MPs rewarded themselves with a manifold increase in salaries and
allowances.
Overall, the Congress-led UPA II is directionless and has failed
on all fronts. The main Opposition Party, BJP is boxed in by grandiose
pretensions of being a ‘party with a difference’ but is in fact a party with
differences with votaries of the Sangh
Parivar pulling in different directions. The Left parties are divided over
economic policies and most of the regional parties are faced with simmering
discontent. All hurting for satta.
Nothing highlights this more than the tu-tu-mein-mein between political rivals over terror. No, I am not
talking of the in-decision over hanging Parliament attacker Afzal Guru on the
facetious plea that his file for Presidential clemency is pending. Or that it
is costing the Indian tax payer large sums as Mumbai 26/11 attacker Kasab
awaits justice. Since when do Pakistani terrorists qualify for clemency under
the Indian Constitution? The US did not squirm when they had to hang Iraq’s President
Saddam as in American perceptions he had waged war against it.
Worse, our polity has stooped to a level of communalizing
terror. Whereby, in the name of secularism, political parties tended to
blatantly exploit religious sensitivities. Obviously, to woo the minorities and
deflect attention from scandals plaguing the party, scandalously the Congress
General Secretary Digvijay Singh suggested that Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism
Squad chief Hemant Karkare had called him a few hours before he was killed
in 26/11 to discuss the threat to his
life from Hindu extremists linked to the Malegaon bomb blast. No matter that he
was playing into the hands of Pakistan
and its hand maiden Laskkar e Toiyba.
As a result, instead of nation security issues transcending
politics and uniting parties to set effective institutional capacity to fight
the ever-more sophisticated terror networks, we first blame the outside forces
and then training guns at ourselves. It has once again become a Hindu vs. Muslim debate: Whose terrorists are
better, mine or yours?
This is not all. The aam
aadmi plank of the party appeared to be coming unstuck, bringing onion
tears to the Congress leadership, as price rise continued to give a tough time
to the common man. Will ending the financial year with GDP growth of 7.2-7.5%
and achieving 8% in 2010-11 alleviate the misery of the aam aadmi, crippled by the onslaught of rising prices and
sky-rocketing inflation?
Look at the irony. The country has frittered over Rs 35,000
crore on the 14-day razzmatazz CWG, lost over Rs 60,000 in the 2G spectrum
scam, and spent $2.1 billion on Delhi’s
new airport terminal, written-off over $107 billion of the super-rich and
boasts of over 50 billionaires in the Forbes list. Yet, has no funds for the
sick, diseased and hungry. Notwithstanding that India
ranks 66 among 88 in the Global Hunger Index and 134 in the UN Human
Development Index below tiny Bhutan
and Laos.
Forget Brand India,
see Asli Bharat which is in the grip
of the Bolangir-Kalahandi syndrome – hunger, poverty and suicides. According to
the Global Hunger Index 2010 recently released, India is placed at the 66th spot
out of 88 countries surveyed. Of which 12 States fall in the ‘alarming’
categories. With 87% of the population living below the poverty line, the
struggle to eke out a living is an onerous task. Shockingly, nearly one million Indians die every year due to
inadequate healthcare facilities
Importantly, who will put an end to the miseries of 762.9
million people earning less than Rs 20 a day who satiate their starving bellies
by longing looking at the neon signs of sumptuous pizzas and burgers? Or for
that matter, the 74 million ‘Nowhere Children” who are neither enrolled in
schools nor accounted in the labour force or the 44 million children aged
between 5-14 years engaged in economic activities and domestic and
non-remunerative work? What to speak of the much-touted National Rural
Employment Guarantee Scheme which is mired in corruption wherein the benefits
are not accruing to the end user.
Needless to say the economic policies of UPA II, far from
being able to address the central problems of inflation, agrarian crisis
(agriculture production has dropped) and rising unemployment are adding new
ones for the Indian economy. Disillusionment and discontent among the aam aadmi is spiraling. Borne out by
rising farmers’ suicides, despite doles by the Prime Minister, chakka jams and bandhs.
True, we get the leaders we deserve. But at the same time
are the netas worthy of us? The time
has come to bell the political cat of convenience. And bring probity and
morality into our national life.
As India
enters the next decade our netagan
must see the writing on the wall. Time to
stop getting their shorts in knots over excessive trivia, get their act
together, take responsibility, amend
their ways and address real serious issues of governance. The aam
aadmi wants change. He has blown the conch against the fraud repeatedly
wrought on him: Enough is enough. Tough times call for tough action. But the
moot point: Are the leaders capable of tough action? Do they have the will to
assert: Yes, we can! ---- INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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