Two days after the inauguration of the Eastern Peripheral Expressway, the first half of an ‘outer-outer’ ring road which is intended to bypass the national capital, was propelled open. It was the time to give the road a thorough search to find out the faults and defects.

Turning onto the new road at Kundli, a few kilometres ahead of Delhi’s Singhu Border in the north of the city, the Eastern Peripheral Expressway sweeps eastward initially towards Meerut before heading southward towards Dadri through the heart of western Uttar Pradesh, behind Greater Noida, passing over the Taj Expressway until it eventually ends at Palwal, south of Faridabad. Eventually, the Western Peripheral Expressway that  passes through Haryana through the industrial hub of Manesar will connect to this road, creating an approximately 275-kilometre ring of six-eight lane highway that bypasses the national Capital.

The Expressway(s) three decades in the making got a push from the Supreme Court when they banned older diesel vehicles from entering the capital during the winter of 2016 due to the heavy pollution in the city. The Eastern Peripheral Expressway built in a record 17 months has been in no small part pushed by Union Roadways Minister Nitin Gadkari. And at first glance, the road is superb. An excellent, albeit concrete surface, the road quality is on par with the best expressways in the world. A posted speed limit of 120 kilometres per hour for cars for the most part puts this stretch of Expressway on par with global high-speed roads which have the same speed limit.

But there are some drawbacks. The first of course is that older vehicles and India’s lower-power smaller cars will find it difficult to keep up with the higher speed traffic. Unintentionally, the higher speed limits might actually drive sales of more modern vehicles as it sets a template for other such expressways in India such as the proposed Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway.

But, there is another problem with the road, it is clearly not ready. Detractors of the Prime Minister will claim that he should not have inaugurated the road so soon and that the timing of the opening was due to the recent bypolls in the seat of Kairana in Western Uttar Pradesh. But the fact is that following a Public Interest Litigation, the Supreme Court had ordered that the road should be opened by May 31.

There is much more to an Expressway than just the road surface, which it must be mentioned is complete the entire stretch. But the finishing work clearly is not. While on the initial stretch from Kundli till the Dasna exit is more or less complete with the exception of one carriageway on a bridge, work south of Dasna is relatively incomplete with huge gaps in the restraining guardrail and on some bridges.

While the road is open to vehicular traffic, there are hundreds of workers on the road completing the job, with construction trucks and tractors blissfully parked on the fast lane. At the same time as the access-control toll gates are not ready, Indian drivers very happy to take a ‘shortcut’ are driving down the wrong side.

This is not just a problem here but across Indian roads, including Delhi’s Barapullah elevated road. This is a danger and needs to be tackled immediately before there are major accidents on this road. Your writer drove in the middle of a clear day with over five kilometres of clear visibility, but a moments distraction, particularly in a time when people use mobile phones all the time can lead to tears for a few families.

On the face of it, this is a fabulous bit of infrastructure, one of the best roads built in India ever. Period. But it might have made a bit of sense to have opened the road after it was fully complete, with all the toll gates and access control ready and preventing slower moving vehicles on the road. While the speed limit is a great step forward, there appeared to be no infrastructure for speed and vehicle monitoring installed on the road as yet. That has to be built pronto. Frankly, after waiting three decades, surely the country could have waited two-three more weeks for a fully complete Expressway.  

Writer: Kushan Mitra

Courtesy: The Pioneer

Former PM Nawaz Sharif’s confessional interview has smashed the traditional deceitfulness of Pakistan’s official positions. The fact is that in Pakistan, every institution need enemies to withstand importance and relevance for itself.

The confessional interview of  former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif  has the Pakistani establishment in knots and squirming in its seat to cover up for the embarrassing candour and plain-speak by the three-time Prime Minister who has busted the traditional-duplicitousness of the official Pakistani positions. From confirming the Pakistani hand in terror infrastructure, facilitation process, dilly-dallying and specifically its nefarious role in 26/11, the rooster of honest self-goals by Nawaz Sharif was unprecedented in its admission.

The expected fallout included disruption in distribution of the concerned media house which initiated the interview, red-faced denials by the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) spokespersons, including Nawaz Sharif’s own brother and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif who said, “The report has incorrectly attributed certain remarks to PML-N Quaid Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, which do not represent the party policy.” Above all, he hurriedly, called a meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) to consider the situation arising from Nawaz Sharif’s damaging remarks.

Major General Asif Ghafoor, the official spokesperson of the Pakistan Army tweeted a cryptic: “NSC meeting suggested the Prime Minister to discuss recent misleading media statement regarding the Bombay incident.” However, the cat was out of the bag and for once, the entire spectrum of the Pakistani ‘establishment’ and Opposition leaders were united in slamming the obvious shame coming out of the spilling of sovereign beans — this time from the longest serving Prime Minister of Pakistan and the ‘Quaid for life’ (leader for life) of the ruling party, PML-N in Pakistan.

Sophistications of terror infrastructure aside, the concept of ‘non-state actors’ that Pakistan routinely pedals to rationalise terror that is invariably traced back to it, is riling the sub-continental neighbourhood and the global community committed to the ‘war on terror’.

The martyr-syndrome on terrorism that Pakistan has appropriated for itself in recent times has very few takers as the background and the continued involvement of the Pakistani establishment is well-documented. Calling the bluff on track of Pakistani victim-card, the Assistant to the US Secretary of Defence for Public Affairs, Dana White, clarified at a briefing held at the Pentagon that Pakistan was both a victim of terrorism and guilty of “sponsored terrorism”.

On Nawaz Sharif’s specific revelations, White agreed that Pakistan was now at an “inflexion point” of choices that it needs to make. Such disconcerting observation from the US Administration aside, almost daily accusations from both New Delhi and Kabul on Pakistan’s insincerity and complicity in terror is acquiring a global chorus that usually falls on deaf ears in Islamabad, which still attributes all wrongdoing to the convenience of ‘non-state actors’.

Earlier in February, it was not India but a combine of the US, the UK, France and Germany that co-sponsored a move to put Pakistan on the ‘grey list’ of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for international money-laundering and terror-financing.  The convenient charade of ‘non-state actors’ that seeks to absolve the state of Pakistan from the blame-game in all terror attacks from Mumbai, Pathankot, Uri among others, was fully exposed much before Nawaz Sharif’s soul-cleansing act of clever politics.

Deep down, the entire Pakistani establishment knows the deceitful logic of ‘non-state actors’. Following the Uri attack,  Pakistan Peoples Party leader Aitzaz Ahsan had slammed the Pakistani Government when he said, “The Government has been completely unsuccessful in imposing restrictions on non-state actors according to the National Action Plan.”

He further deplored the rote move to blame ‘non-state actors’ by saying that the standard position that Pakistan has no hand in the Uri attack is not a categorical denial. He added that the phrase implied: “We don’t know if our non-state actors are behind it.” Similarly, Awami National Party leader Asfandyar Wali Khan wondered at the establishment’s unexplained laxity by saying, “Why the Government is helpless before non-state actors?”

However, Pakistan’s only practical recourse to relevance in its so-called ‘jugular vein’ of Kashmir is through these home-grown and nurtured ‘non-state actors’. This tactic has offered the Pakistani state to claim plausible (though no longer believable) deniability for the violent acts of terrorism by these ostensible ‘non-state actors’ — this tact fits in perfectly with the previous dictator General Zia-ul-Haq’s infamous doctrine of “bleeding India through a thousand cuts.”

The more direct and head-on approach of the sort in 1965, 1971 and more recently ‘Kargil’, resulted in humiliating defeats for Pakistan and it is only through these covert  proxies or ‘non-state actors’ that the Pakistani establishment has been able to keep the violence and unrest brimming.

This practice was first deployed within days of Pakistan gaining independence when it slipped in tribal raiders and marauders into the Kashmir valley, in its first of the multiple failed attempts at taking Kashmir.

Even the precursor to the full-fledged 1965 Indo-Pak War had seen Pakistan sending jihadis in the mistaken belief that they would be able to instigate a local uprising. While this practice was fine-tuned to an art in the Afghan war of the 80’s, nurseries and infrastructure continue to bedevil both New Delhi and Kabul till date. Despite the unbelievable human price that the Frankenstein monster of Pakistani terror industry has afforded on the Pakistanis, the establishment still pursues running with the hare and hunting with the hound, on terrorism.

Afghan President unequivocally pointed fingers at Pakistan’s benevolence and hospitality to these ‘non-state actors’ when he said, “Some still provide sanctuary for terrorists. As a Taliban figure said recently that if they had no sanctuary in Pakistan, they wouldn’t last a month.”

The ‘non-state actors’ manifest in the form of the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network for Kabul and Delhi continue blaming Islamabad for propping the likes of Lashkar-e-Tayyeba, Jaish-e-Muhammad, Hizbul Mujahideen etc, and politically, even the Hurriyat parties.

In Pakistan, everyone from the revivalist clergy, the over-fed military to the opportunistic politicians needs an ‘enemy’ to sustain relevance for itself and that is the invaluable service provided by these ‘non-state actors’ who do the Pakistani establishment’s bidding even if occasionally the embarrassing truth spills out, like it did in the case of Nawaz Sharif.

(The writer, a military veteran, is a former Lt Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, and Puducherry)

Writer: Bhopinder Singh

Courtesy: The Pioneer

The revolution by the Deve Gowda must have elevate the hackles of Mamata Banerjee. It doesn’t promised for her dream of being Prime Minister as she may be suspended if Mahagathbandhan wins in 2019. She could be ‘made to walk’ to the ‘swearing-in ceremony’ only to see a Mayawati or a Gowda take over.

The Gowdas cordially invited West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee to the swearing-in-ceremony of HD Kumaraswamy in Bengaluru. Then, they created a traffic jam and forced Didi to walk all the way to Vidhana Soudha. Banerjee, the future Prime Minister of India, had to walk. Who in the Front (if it is second or third is yet undecided) wanted to humiliate her? Was it the Gowdas? Should Mamatadi remain in the Front with visible signs of a coup emerging?

In the Lok Sabha, Mamata Banerjee’s TMC has 34 seats but Deve Gowda’s Janata Dal (Secular) has none. If this trend continues in 2019, and going by what happened in Karnataka, it is obvious that  JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda will be the Prime Minister because he will have fewer seats than Banerjee. As if to prove this premonition right (yeah it is scary), he has started renovating his House in Delhi.

The Congress is accused of bringing lakhs of Bangladeshis to Karnataka and spending money like water to allegedly get them fake voter-id cards besides jobs and homes. This helped it win many seats, it is said. Yet, Deve Gowda bulldozed the Congress’ 78 MLAs to install his son, Kumaraswamy, who had only 37 MLAs, on the Chief Minister’s chair.

Similarly, Didi is accused of bringing a huge illegal Bangaldeshi immigrant vote bank into West Bengal and pampering them like the Congress and the JD(S) did to their MLAs in 5-star resorts. Of course, instead of resorts, Banerjee gave them entire districts like Malda, Dhulagarh and Basirhat to play jihad. Will she be rewarded for her hard work? Not so sure because the Gowdas simply got National Conference chief  Farooq Abdullah and AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi to address the Bangladeshis, who morally belong to the Congress and grabbed an entire State for themselves.

The Congress Government in Karnataka very smartly turned a blind eye to the murder and attacks on BJP and RSS workers. They like their ideological opponents to be dead. But Banerjee has surpassed them, going by the ‘well-orchestrated’ violence unleashed on the locals before, after and during every election in West Bengal ever since she became the Chief Minister. But the Gowdas are smart. They engineered a bloodless coup and in a game of thrones, usurped one that was not even theirs. Very Gandhian, actually!

‘Games’ remind me of hobbies. We all know that Didi sells her ‘priceless’ paintings to fund her elections and win enough seats to become the Chief Minister. It was no mean achievement (if you have seen her paintings you would know) until the Gowdas started showing interest in the race tracks, except that they were the horses. They did not even have to fund or win the elections. All they had to do was loiter on the track after the elections and wait for Sonia Gandhi to come shopping. Has Sonia Gandhi ever bought Didi’s paintings? No, and that greatly reinforces the theory of a coup.

Then there is the ‘divine’ hand. Remember the Archbishop’s letter calling for prayers in churches ahead of 2019 elections in the face of a “turbulent political atmosphere threatening democracy and secularism?” Coincidentally, the call by the Archbishop was made two days before the Karnataka election results. A great and rare example of a secular Church, indeed! Wasn’t a similar letter written during the Gujarat election? Not to be left behind in the ‘secular’ race, Didi even strongly supported the call for prayer. All their congregations prayed and yet, the Congress was demoted from the king to a king-maker. In contrast, Deve Gowda and his family organised year-long prayers in several Hindu temples and the kingmaker became the king. This is such a bad omen for Didi who simply dislikes Hindu gods and goddesses. The Gowdas are so communal. How can Didi compete with that?

There also arises an issue of caste. Karnataka’s leaders love caste and religion more than the nation. There is a possibility that the Gowdas may object to Didi becoming the Prime Minister as she has a Brahmin surname. If she converts to a secular religion, the problem can be solved. Fair, socialist and secular politicians, who thrive on creating new religions, will find her to be a worthy aspirant to any post.

Well, coming back to the coup theory. As if to add salt to the freshly erupted blisters on Didi’s feet, Sonia Gandhi hugged Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati tight but displayed no such affection for Didi. After all, Mayawati has zero Lok Sabha seats which is 44 less than the Congress’. What if Sonia Gandhi installs her as the Prime Minister in 2019?

Firebrand Mamatadi should be worried. She can be sidelined after the Mahagathbandhan wins the 2019 election. And she could be made to walk to her oath-taking ceremony, only to arrive on the scene to see Deve Gowda or Mayawati take oath as the Prime Minister. The walk to Vidhana Soudha could even have been a rehearsal, cruelly planted by the Gowdas.

Such serious concerns… must be conveyed to Didi by her fans if they wish to see her become the Prime Minister. But the rest of us want to convey our support to Karnataka’s DGP Neelamani Raju, a dignified officer, who was reprimanded in public by an arrogant woman, who happens to be the Chief Minister of West Bengal, for having had to walk a few metres.

Banerjee cannot be our Prime Minister and neither can anyone else in the motley crowd that turned up on the dais at Vidhana Soudha to congratulate a man who has no mandate to be the Chief Minister of Karnataka.

Another day we shall talk about Naidu and KCR; and yet another about the Yadavs and Mayawati. We will need a few reams at least to discuss egos, ambitions, insecurities and political journeys of each one of the Prime Minister wannabes in the Mahagathbandhan. India surely has elected better and deserves better.

(The writer is with non-profit organization, Samartha Bharata, Bengaluru)

Writer: Aparna Pathwardhan

Courtesy: The Pioneer

FIFA World Cup, one of the world’s most popular sport, is starting in Russia in a couple of weeks. Though it will not top over the international games schedule decline but will still be enthralling on television.

Many countries will come to a stop later this summer as the 21st edition of the world’s largest sports tournament gets cracking in the world’s largest country, Russia. This is the first time that the country is hosting the World Cup. While the way in which Russia and the 2022 host, Qatar, were awarded the World Cup rights remain shrouded in controversy, the 2018 tournament is upon us, questions that need to be asked more important in the eyes of some than the corruption scandal or Russia’s brutal crackdown on dissent or even the crisis in the Eastern Ukraine and the annexation of the Crimean peninsula.

For 90 per cent of the sports watching population across the world, such questions can wait out the six weeks of the tournament, which is a pity because hosting the tournament usually can put a lot of pressure on the hosts to behave themselves, but other than forcing Russia to ‘suspend’ some homophobic laws for the duration of the tournament, FIFA and the world, particularly Western Europe, which misses no opportunity to hector their giant Eastern neighbour, have been quiet. In Germany and the United Kingdom, more pressing issues have emerged — that is how will their national men’s football teams perform in Russia, spy poisoning scandals be damned. Such is the hypocrisy of the Western media.

However, World Cup tournaments themselves during their durations have a way of altering the worldview and the world’s view of nations. Germany, for example, got a massive economic and social boost following the 2006 World Cup they hosted. The world’s image of the Germans as a stiff teutonic nation was irrevocably changed into one of a hip, modern and inclusive nation. The foundations of Germany’s 2014 World Cup win and their unquestioned leadership in Europe today were laid in 2006. However, the 2014 World Cup in Brazil had the opposite effect — it was the catalyst that laid bare the social strife at the heart of the nation that spent money they did not have to host the tournament. Today, Brazil is in political and social turmoil.

However, it was the deep-rooted corruption in the global football federation FIFA and the world body’s failure to spread the sport more successfully into China and India that is becoming a huge issue going forward. Even though the Indian Super League has had some commercial and viewership success, it pales in front of the runaway success that is the Indian Premier League in cricket. Indeed, football’s spread to several new territories will be challenged by cricket, as the IPL has demonstrated India’s soft power in neighbouring countries. But much like the IPL and other T20 leagues across the world have gnawed away at the core of the international game in cricket, overload and competitiveness of the club game, especially the European club game, is challenging international football.

Unlike international cricket, where players can play beside each other as much as a hundred days in a year, international football players barely spend a few weeks together in a year once their professional careers start. The European football season officially comes to a close on Sunday at the conclusion of the Champions League final between Spain’s Real Madrid and England’s Liverpool Football Club, which will be a highly competitive match between two clubs loaded with talent. But one reason the club game has become so popular is because of the mixture of talent and the fact club football is the only space for some of that talent to really shine through. Take Liverpool’s talismanic Egyptian striker Mohamed Salah. While he will play at the World Cup, it is unlikely that he can raise the rest of his team to the level they need to be to get into the second round. But when surrounded by talent from all over the world, he will win several trophies in Liverpool.

And Salah is not the only example, Leo Messi, who along with Cristiano Ronaldo is a superstar and one of the best to ever have stepped onto a football pitch, has not won a major international tournament. And this is where things have changed from the times of the previous Argentine football God, Diego Maradona. Messi is no less of a legendary player because he has won nothing in the blue and white of Argentina because he has won everything a club player can in the ‘Blaugrana’ of Barcelona. Maradona was defined by his performance at Mexico, 1986. Messi has been defined by his time at Camp Nou alongside other superstars like Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta.

Lack of frequency of international football matches, particularly compared to the fifty-plus games a year that some of the top clubs play, almost all of which are broadcast in high-definition into our homes have changed the game of football. That coupled with the rot inside the global football federation which spent, among other things, $25 million producing a movie about themselves ‘United Passions’ instead of promoting the game properly has been a problem, FIFA and for that matter the Indian football federation have not built on the back of the successful Under-17 World Cup hosted in india last year. If India is to be successful at the sport, much more money and coaching talent is needed from FIFA. However, it is almost certain that an Indian-born player will succeed at the top of the club game, it is almost certain that player has been born already. Because it is easier for one or two to succeed than a whole team.

FIFA plans to expand the World Cup Finals to a truly incredible 64 teams going forward, quite the opposite solution of the International Cricket Council which is reducing participation. This runs the risk of making the international game even more unrelatable and irrelevant. No country is particularly fond of failure in an international sporting event, so with more countries failing and it might turn people away from the sport. One could argue that a lot of Brazil’s current turmoil started after their horrendous 7-1 defeat by Germany. Smaller, tighter and highly competitive tournaments might be the best way for the international game to stay relevant at a time of the club game.

That said, I for one will certainly be enjoying this tournament, which on the face of it it seems the most open tournament since 2006. Despite all the controversy and the issues surrounding the federations and the hosts, the tournament ought to be a success. Here is wishing all the players, coaches and volunteers all the best for Russia, 2018.

(The writer is Managing Editor, The Pioneer)

Writer: Kushan Mitra

Courtesy: The Pioneer

The preceding ten years of the UPA rule had unquestionably witnessed the most corrupt Government since Independence. Prime Minister Narendra Modi created transparent systems through legislative and institutional changes which have given this country a scam-free governance. Unlike the UPA, the Prime Minister is the natural leader of both his party and the nation. We have witnessed a journey from indecisiveness to clarity and decisiveness. India has transformed from being a part of the “fragile five” to the “bright spot” on the global economic scene. A regime of policy paralysis has been transformed into one of decisions and actions. India, which was on the verge of becoming a “basket case” has today been transformed into the fastest growing major economy in the world and is likely to hold that position in the years to come. The country’s mood from despair has transformed into hope and aspirations. Good governance and good economics have been blended with good politics. The result of this has been that the BJP is more confident, its geographical base has become much bigger, its social base has expanded and its winnability has hugely increased. The Congress is in desperation without the perks of office. From the dominant party of Indian politics, it is moving towards the “fringe”, its political positions are not of a mainstream party but one usually adopted by “fringe” organisations. Fringe organisations can never hope to come in power. Its best hope lies in becoming a supporter of regional political parties. State level regional political parties have realised that the marginalised Congress can at best be either a junior partner or a marginal supporter. Karnataka had witnessed a telling example of this. A regional political party whose base at best is confined to a few districts was able to extract a Chief Ministership of the Congress to which the Congress meekly surrendered. It had even lost its bargaining capacity. It is today putting on a brave face in Karnataka where the losers are masquerading as a winner.

Scam-free Governance Prime Minister
Modi has institutionalised a system where discretions have been eliminated. Discretions lead to abuse of power because they can be misused. Allocations of contracts, natural resources, spectrum and other Government largesse which were being distributed through discretions, are now allocated through a market mechanism. Laws have been changed. Leaders of the industry are no longer seen repeatedly visiting the South Block, the North Block or the Udyog Bhawan. Environmental clearance files don’t pile up. FIPB has been abolished.

statutory mechanism.For cleaning up the economy, India has to transform from a tax non-compliant society to a tax-compliant society. The enactment and implementation of the Goods and Services Tax, the impact of demonetisation, effective tax compliance are all steps against black money, steps which are formalising the Indian economy. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code has changed the lender-creditor relationship. The creditors no longer have to chase the debtors. If you cannot pay your creditors, you have to exit through a statutory mechanism.

The Social Sector Priority
For the first time in history, the poor and the marginalised are holding bank accounts as part of the world’s largest financial inclusion programme. The MUDRA Yojana has made cheaper credit available to the weak and the marginalised. The biggest beneficiaries of this have been women, SC/ST, minorities and other weaker sections. Rural roads with a hugely increased expenditure are a success story. That every village must be connected with road and electricity, affordable rural housing, toilets and gas connections in all homes, are intended to change the quality of life in villages. The Crop Insurance Scheme and the Government’s decision that farmers must get 50 percent above cost are steps intended to eliminating agricultural distress. The UPA Government had sanctioned Rs.40,000 crores under MGNREGA but with budget cuts spent only Rs.29,000 crores. Today that expenditure has been doubled. Under Food Security Programme, the expenditure has been increased to Rs.1,70,000 crores to ensure cheaper food-grain availability to the eligible. On the healthcare front, the destiny of India’s poor will change when 40 percent families at the bottom of the ladder will get a treatment upto rupees five lakhs for hospitalisation at the cost of the Government scheme.

The Economic Management
During the UPA Government, India had fallen off the global radar. In its initial years when the world economy was booming, India grew on the strength of global tailwinds. When the global situation became challenging, the UPA’s decisiveness and performance collapsed. The last two years of the UPA had witnessed substantially lower growth rates. From the very first year of NDA, India is the world’s fastest growing major economy with the highest GDP growth rates. This is also the global projection for the next few years.

The Current Account Deficit (CAD) saw an unprecedented 6.7 percent deficit in the year 2012-13. The NDA has consistently maintained a CAD of under 2 percent on an annualised basis. The poor economic management was visible when under the UPA fiscal deficits remained alarmingly high. The Government was spending more and earning less. We witnessed fiscal deficits of 5.8 percent, 4.8 percent and 4.4 percent in the UPA’s last three years. Having inherited the mess, the NDA, year after year, has brought it down to 3.5 percent and shall, this year, try and deliver a 3.3 percent fiscal deficit. The UPA’s economic management was such that even when fiscal deficits were high, expenditure cuts of over rupees one lakh crores were done in order to make fiscal deficit optically look slightly better. Cut in expenditure means cut in growth. During the NDA years, Revised Estimates of expenditure were always been higher than Budget Estimates. The UPA provided India in its last years an inflation figure upto 9 percent and at one stage even crossed into double digits. The NDA has tried to contain inflation and on most occasions has remained within the target of 3 to 4 percent. The poor economic management of the UPA resulted in the high cost of borrowing for the Centre and the State Governments. The bond yields had touched an incredible 9.12 percent in April, 2014. We have been, on an average, able to contain it between 6 to 7 percent with a low of 6.3 percent on one occasion and rarely in the 7 percent range only when global factors impacted either the currency or the crude prices.

From the last year of the UPA, the infrastructure expenditure to this year has increased by 134 percent during the current year. The Congress President must remember that taxes don’t go into the pocket of the Government. They go back to the people for better infrastructure, better social sector expenditure and poverty reduction programmes. The social sector expenditure has seen a substantial increase by both the Central and the State Governments. The road sector programmes has witnessed a 189 percent increase between the last year of the UPA and the current year of the present Government. Resources are transferred to the States with 42 percent devolution of taxes, Finance Commission grants and assistance through the CSS schemes. Notwithstanding the perpetual grumbling, last year of the UPA witnessed Rs.5,15,302 being transferred to the States. This year the proposed transfer is 145 percent higher and will be at 12,62,935. crores. This is over and above what the States earn from the GST where they have been constitutionally protected with a 14 percent annual increase. The States independently levy their own taxes.

Institutional changes thus being enacted and implemented are putting the Indian economy on a far stronger wicket.

The Fifth Year Debate
As we enter the fifth year of the Government, the NDA’s priorities are clear. This will be our year of consolidation of the policies and programmes which we have implemented. In our Prime Minister, we have a strong leader with a mass appeal. His capacity to change India’s destiny is globally recognised. His insistence on integrity, his infatigable capacity to work, his clarity of policy and direction, his boldness in taking steps in larger national interest gives the NDA a natural political advantage. Clarity and credibility are hallmarks of the NDA Government.

The last few days have witnessed a discussion about a “fictional alternative”. A group of disparate political parties are promising to come together. Some of their leaders are temperamental, the others occasionally change ideological positions.

Writer & Courtesy: The Pioneer

Indonesia and India are the two major powers both on the sides of the Indian Ocean. Both the countries when come together, can play a balancing role in an unbalanced region during tensions regarding the South China Sea.

A public lecture by HE Luhut Pandjaitan, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia on ‘Indonesia’s Maritime Policy and Thinking of ways forward for India-Indonesia as Maritime Neighbours’ on May 17, organised by the Nehru Memorial Library and Museum, envisaged a plethora of strategic scenarios where India can choose to play a significant role in the region. In fact, the South China Sea (SCS) dispute has prompted a re-look at India as a balancing factor.

Besides drawing a wide canvas of India’s probable roles, Luhut  Pandjaitan substantiated all components of foreign policy of Indonesia, which provide congenial environment for India, to forge stronger economic and strategic ties. He also highlighted common issues such as poverty and terrorism faced by the two countries. His visit to India is important as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to make a three-day visit to Indonesia later this month in reciprocation to the recent visit by Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

The Prime Minister’s upcoming visit will bring both the countries closer as a number of agreements are on the cards. Among the known agendas, as revealed by Luhut Pandjaitan, is that Modi will lay the foundation stone for a hospital at the Sabang port which is the westernmost coastal location of Sumatra Province and is strategically perceived to be important for both countries. Prime Minister Modi is also expected to announce several investments to strengthen the Sabang Port and its economic zone, which, with its deep harbour, is capable of hosting submarines along with other Naval vessels.

This development is seen to be accentuating India’s probable role as a balancer in the region amid brewing unstable situation in the SCS through which an annual trade of $5.3 trillion passes and where the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has continuously been installing several strategic bases in an attempt to build its war effort in the SCS.

The precedence of the Chinese establishment in SCS shows PRC’s adamant behaviour and closely echoes a popular Indian proverb: “If an elephant passes through a market, barking of dogs is natural.”

Indonesia is itself facing issues with its Natuna islands located in the southern part of SCS which were partially claimed by the PRC. China also had a tiff with the Indonesian Navy in 2016. Though, according to Luhut Pandjaitan, situation is now under control, it seems he is not fully convinced as the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), off the coast of Natuna, is partially within China’s SCS claim, which is indicated by the so-called “Nine-Dash Line.”  

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), whose basic agenda was to promote political and economic cooperation and regional stability, never achieved a consensus on any commonly perceived external security threat. This because each and every country in the region reels under different kinds of pressures, either economic or strategic, mounted by the PRC. In reality, they are reeling under diplomatic pressure, which the PRC has augmented in recent years by seriously engaging directly with individual countries in the region at different levels ie, bilateral trade, investments, political and domestic affairs as well.

Some global think-tanks term the formation of Asean as a security community since no significant war has taken place among themselves. The reason for the Asean being a peaceful place may be attributed to Indonesia, the largest country in the region which suffered for 32 years under the dictatorship of Suharto  who was rather an inward-looking person and depended mostly upon the US for its external security issues. The rest of Asean nations were concerned with domestic issues such as insurgency, political instability, economic stability and state-building. Another factor that has prevented Asean from becoming a security community is non-interference in each other’s internal affairs which is its sacred principle.

The second factor was proved by the experience of the two countries in the region viz  Philippines and Vietnam, who are major stakeholders in the SCS and are equally bullied by the PRC. However, they hardly found any shoulder from Asean to support their genuine claims. This was clear when the Hague Ruling (under Article 287, Annex VII of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) debunked the PRC’s so-called historical claim on the SCS and the islands that it encompasses.

Silence on SCS issues, exhibited by the Asean, emboldens PRC’s claim and that’s the primary reason why China continues its belligerence, giving a signal that it was completely immune to all external factors, including world public opinion in this regard. It has increased its patrolling, construction and military installations with upgraded surveillance equipment in the SCS, created fierce geopolitical tensions among big powers and uncertainty among nations in the region.

The paradox is that all Southeast Asian (SEA) nations, even those who do not stake claim to the SCS, are directly or indirectly going to be impacted with the PRC standing vigilant just across its doorstep. On the outcome of the Hague verdict, Philippines, with its allies, was in a celebrating mood while other claimants seemed sceptical in displaying public cheer. The outcome, which was already feared by the countries of SEA before the Hague verdict, was visible in their statements from day one.

India’s swift handling of the Doklam issue with the PRC followed by Modi’s recent visit to PRC and his continuous efforts to balm the escalated injury exhibited by the Chinese military was taken as a role model for Asean countries. Their conviction towards India is getting stronger which is proved by an ever-increasing exchanges of leaders between India and Asean, especially with Indonesia. The change in India’s Look East Policy to Act East Policy seems to be placed at the right time.

Relationship between India and Indonesia is based upon deep shared culture and agama as Indonesian archipelago thrived under one umbrella of Indic fraternity, which is currently termed as the Indic Belt. However, post the formation of nation-states, both the countries got engaged in bigger power alliance politics, overlooking the power of cultural bonding between them. India could not take advantage of this opportunity to strengthen bilateral relations with Indonesia and other countries in the region. The foundation of Indian foreign policy under Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru changed its course frequently and tilted more towards holding Western hands, post Chinese attack on India.

In order to counter aggressive, and assertive hegemony of PRC, India marginalised its approach to strengthen relationship with smaller but strategically powerful nations in SEA at the cost of building economic and strategic blocs. On the other hand, the PRC utilised its diasporic presence in the Asean countries only to exhaust its industrial products, flooding the market with mundane products which could have been easily produced and marketed among themselves.

Thus, leaving India far behind in terms of gross trade, PRC has emerged as a sole economic giant in the region.  India’s trade with Asean reached to $71 billion in 2017 while China’s bilateral trade with Asean stood over 500 billion in 2017. In contrast to China-Asean  trade relations, the Indian trade is not making any rapid growth.

Luhut Pandjaitan called for stronger and balanced bilateral ties between the two countries. Aaccording to him, both countries are very large and powerful and share common maritime boundaries. Indonesia’s westernmost Province, Aceh, is only 100 nautical miles, which translates into 45 miles away from India’s Andaman Nicobar islands. This itself gives a great prospect with an abundance of possibilities of building economic bridge between the two countries.  Sumatra islands of Indonesia seems to be flooded with huge deposits of coal, gas and minerals and India can tap the resources given its geographical proximity. To balance the trade deficit, Indonesia is expected to increase its import on pharma, IT, defence and meat products for which it is dependent on Australia and other Western countries as revealed by Luhut.

(The writer is Assistant Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi)

Writer: Gautam Kumar Jha

Courtesy: The Pioneer

The nonpolitical nature of the army is a support of India’s self-governing and representative institutions. It enables allegiance and faithfulness to the constitution. The political parties and leaders should ensure that it remains the same.

The Modi Government will be celebrating four years of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas this week. It might be useful to factor military lessons from the recent Karnataka election. Prime Minister Modi takes immense pride in his Government’s contribution in strengthening the morale and mettle of the Armed Forces, frequently quoting the surgical strikes, Doklam episode, One Rank One Pension (OROP) and its modernisation through Make in India.

Sadly, this is not the entire truth. If anything, defence is one area where Modi has personally shown minimum interest, which is borne out by the frequency with which he has switched Defence Ministers and ad hocism that has crept in defence management. While he is au fait with the political history of the country, he is comparatively ignorant of the country’s colonial and post-independence history.

My friend, Air Marshal Nanda Cariappa, son of Field Marshal KM Cariappa, India’s first CinC and Army Chief, is quite upset with the faux pas made by Modi about his father’s military record while trying to win over Coorg during the recent Karnataka election.

Even the grand master and wizard of electoral oratory, Prime Minister Modi, in his indefatigable campaign trail in Karnataka, tripped by events of two of Coorg’s military legends to woo the voters. The Kodava is steeped in martial tradition and has been a great warrior from the land from where the Cauvery originates. Modi recalled the gallantry of two military icons and Army Chiefs — Gens KM Cariappa (Kipper) and KS Thimayya (Timmy) from Coorg who set the stage for many of the present-day Indian Army traditions, customs, ethics and coveted values of the military being professional, secular and most of all, apolitical.

By portraying that the two Generals were treated indifferently, even insulted by the Congress Governments in the wars of 1948 and 1962, Modi’s script writers got their military history wrong. Neither was the Army Chief during the wars in Kashmir and China. Timmy was Divisional Commander in Kashmir in 1947 and Cariappa had retired well before the 1962 War.

Modi normally has total command of facts, mastery over the political context and a sharp strategy for shredding the Congress. But earlier this month, he was wide of the target. He said Army Chief Gen Thimayya won the war in Kashmir but was insulted by Jawaharlal Nehru and Defence Minister Krishna Menon. This forced him to resign. The facts are otherwise: Nehru and Timmy were good friends but it was Menon who had problems with him and the other way around.

Menon liked to micromanage the internal affairs of the Army, such as interfere in promotions and posting of officers — an activity which is sacrosanct for any Army Chief. What has not been mentioned in any report are the widespread whispered accounts of an alleged plot of a military take-over by Timmy. One story refers to an interview given by him to a foreign correspondent who asked the ‘C’ question. And he replied: “Search my cupboard for any folder on coup d’etat”. This take-over account was concocted by the Menon camp. Timmy was one of the most dynamic military leaders and one of three Indians who commanded a Brigade in World War II. Timmy was truly a soldier’s General.

Modi messed up the Cariappa episode as well. Cariappa was the first Army Chief, a pucca Brown Sahib and a gentleman’s gentleman. He retired much before the India-China War and rather than being chided and insulted by the Congress for losing the war, was made a Field Marshal 33 years after he had retired. Gen Sam Manekshaw, who was hounded by Menon, was made India’s first Field Marshal, the supreme honour conferred for winning the 1971 War.

It is amazing that nobody in the local media picked up Modi’s slip of the tongue, but I suspect that he did convince the crowds that injustice had been done to the military heroes of Karnataka. Coorg has produced per capita, the highest number of General Officers and their equivalents in India. When HD Deve Gowda was the Prime Minister, he advocated raising a Coorg Regiment in recognition of their service to the country.

The last episode in politicisation of the Army was during the term of Gen VK Singh, now a Minister for rescue and relief in Government, when as Army Chief, he took his own Government to court over his age row. That was unethical on his part. But the UPA Government allowed the affair to be politicised.

More recently, two events have politicised the forces: OROP and surgical strikes. You could add Doklam too. Surgical strikes became the political password to an election-winning spree for the BJP. Pictures of Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh, then Director General of Military Operations, who monitored the operation along with those of Modi, the then Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and BJP president Amit Shah, appeared on banners and posters during the Uttar Pradesh election.

The actions of Army commandos across the Line of Control became associated with the courage and nationalism of the BJP. Parrikar, meanwhile, would tell stories to the media about how as an Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) pracharak, he had instilled the Hanuman spirit in the Army. In short, besides politicising the cross border operations, the BJP extracted maximum political capital from the surgical strikes.

Even to this day, every political leader in the Government invokes surgical strikes as the new political metaphor for courage, decisiveness and boldness.

The apolitical nature of the military is one of the pillars for India’s democratic institutions which enables loyalty and fidelity to the Constitution, regardless of the political party in power. Despite their political aloofness, the majority of military veterans associate nationalism and military power with the BJP to negate the impression and reputation that India is docile and has abundant strategic patience and tolerance.

After the Kargil war, the BJP and the Congress were on opposite ends in matters of defence and national security when a national political consensus was paramount. Unsavoury comments have been made about the Army by the political class for electoral gains. The lesson from Karnataka election is to keep the military outside the political discourse during elections, enabling it to remain firmly apolitical. The Election Commission of India should lay down red lines that will ensure this. Prime Minister Modi understands only too well, the strengths and sensitivity of the Army while frequently eulogising the surgical strikes. India is the only country in this region where the military has been firmly under civilian political control due to its apolitical disposition. The political class should ensure it remains the same.

(The writer is a retired Major General of the Indian Army and founder member of the Defence Planning Staff, currently the revamped Integrated Defence Staff)

Writer: Ashok K Mehta

Courtesy: The Pioneer

As Beijing strengthens the execution of military principle, mainly media manipulation, India must stand organized. Information will be significant for any battle of tomorrow.
In 2003, China’s Central Military Commission approved the concept of ‘Three Warfares’, namely: (1) the coordinated use of strategic psychological operations; (2) overt and covert media manipulation; and (3) legal warfare designed to manipulate perceptions of target audiences abroad.

In recent months, Beijing has been intensifying the implementation of this military/civilian doctrine, particularly ‘media manipulation’. Take the example of an article published last week in The South China Morning Post. It speaks of “large-scale mining operations on the Chinese side of the border with India where a huge trove of gold, silver and other precious minerals has been found.” It argues that it “may create a new military flashpoint with India.”

Though no large-scale mining has yet been spotted in Lhuntse County, north of Arunachal Pradesh, the writer connects it with the Chinese claims in the area: “People familiar with the project say the mines are part of an ambitious plan by Beijing to reclaim South Tibet [the Chinese name for Arunachal], a sizeable chunk of disputed territory currently under Indian control.”

The article mixes the Longju border incident in 1959, the 1962 war with India, the Chinese claims and the supposedly huge deposit of rare earths. The sad part of the story is that the article was immediately copied and pasted by PTI and the next morning, the entire Indian media reported about the issue and linked the happenings on the Tibetan plateau with the Chinese advances in the South China Sea.

Ironically, a day later, the ultra-nationalist Chinese tabloid, The Global Times, called the article “a dodgy report disturbing the Sino-Indian ties.” It said that the article had lit a firestorm but remarked that after Indian Prime Minister’s visit to Wuhan, the two countries have achieved major progress in strengthening mutual trust, further it said China “has no intention of provoking border disputes”.

The Global Times added that though: “the report severely lacked factual evidence and was coarse,” the Indian media “was extremely excited to see such a topic,” adding: “to many Chinese people, their first impression is that the report is not credible, given the vague facts, the geopolitical point quoted by a geologist and the denial by the expert.”

Whether it is an orchestrated move by Beijing to first plant a ‘dodgy’ piece, knowing fairly well that some Indian correspondents in Beijing are experts at copy-paste reporting, and later to throw water on the fire, is difficult to know.

It is not the first time that The South China Morning Post has done it. On October 29, 2017, Jack Ma’s newspaper reported that “Chinese engineers are testing techniques that could be used to build a 1,000km tunnel — the world’s longest — to carry water from Tibet to Xinjiang;” again the Indian media jumped to the bait. There is no doubt that India needs to be prepared for Information Warfare in the coming months.

Another favorite topic of the Chinese media propaganda has been the 1962 War with India. Beijing is keen to rewrite the narrative and sell it to lakhs of its citizens visiting South Tibet; its idea is to prove that India attacked China in October 1962.

At the end of October 2017, as an offshoot of the Doklam episode, Sina.com published an album of photos “to commemorate the 55th Anniversary of the Outbreak of the Self-Defense Counterattack.” Note that for Beijing, it is the ill-equipped and unprepared Indian troops who attacked the Chinese, giving China no option but to ‘counterattack’, killing hundreds of Indian jawans and officers in the process.

One of the photos, showing the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) parading in front of the Potala in January 1963, in Lhasa linked the 1962 War with the 2017 standoff in Bhutan: “The leader of the Chinese Communist Party, Mao Zedong, once estimated that India’s ‘embarrassment’ [of the 1962 War] could usher in 10 years of border security and peace. History has proved that the period of peacetime has been longer than estimated. Today, 55 years later, India once again provoked China.” The message was clear. At the time of the 1962 War, disinformation already existed.

In his Monthly Report for April 1963, the Political Officer in Sikkim informed New Delhi: “Early in the month it was announced by the Chinese authorities that the Chinese frontier guards in Tibet would be releasing 3,213 Indian prisoners which included amongst others one Brigadier [John Dalvi], 26 Field Grade Officers and 29 Company Grade Officers.”

The PO added: “The propaganda machine of the Chinese made out that the Indian prisoners were living in Tibet in a state of idyllic bliss. The detention camp was described as having been established in picturesque surroundings where the prisoners spent their time playing games or fishing and otherwise enjoying themselves. The food was supposed to have been so good that the prisoners had according to the Chinese statement on an average gained 1.35 Kgs per head. The nursing care received by the sick is supposed to have so overwhelmed the recipients as to have induced them to say that even their parents had not bestowed more loving care on them.”

The Indian PoWs reported the opposite; they ate only radish and immensely suffered during their months of captivity on the cold Tibetan plateau. Today, the Chinese propaganda is using the 1962 conflict to its benefit.

Che Dalha (alias Qizhala), the Governor of the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) recently visited Zhayul, north of the McMahon line in the Lohit Valley. Some 50 km south in the same valley, the famous Battle of Walong took place in November 1962; here Indian troops and particularly the six Kumaon regiment of the Indian Army managed to stop the Chinese advances and paid a high price for it; the Chinese too suffered heavy casualties.

China has built a Hero Memorial Park to honour its deaths in Zhayul. During his visit, Che told the villagers that the masses should always cherish the memory of the revolutionary martyrs; he laid a wreath for 447 Revolutionary Martyrs at the War Memorial.

The story will now be told to thousands and thousands Chinese visitors, how ‘the Indians attacked our troops’. Incidentally, Che took the opportunity to urge the villagers to watch for strangers or suspicious persons (Indian?); he asked them to cross-examine them and send a report to the PLA manning the Indian border.

Another memorial stands north of the Thagla ridge in Tsona County. The Forward Command Post of General Zhang Guohua, who commanded the PLA operations in 1962, has been reconstituted and opened to tourists. It is located in Marmang village, the first hamlet north of the McMahon Line.

This gazetted national-level historical site also mentions the ‘Sino-India Self Defense Counter Attack Battles’, hotels are already mushrooming to receive the visitors.   ‘Information’ will certainly be an important part of any battle of tomorrow. Has India grasped this? Not sure. In the meantime, Indian journalists should scrupulously verify the facts when they write.

(The writer is an expert on India-China relations and an author)

Writer: Claude Arpi

Courtesy: The Pioneer

PM Narendra Modi and Russia’s Vladimir Putin summit is a big proof of New Delhi showing promptness in answering to global power play.

The fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, welcomed warmly by Russian President Vladimir Putin to Sochi for an informal bilateral summit on Monday, leads an Indian administration that is refreshingly responsive to the rapidly shifting sands of contemporary geopolitics is beyond doubt. Even the Prime Minister’s severest critics ought to concede that he is doing a spirited job of keeping India in play at a time when the US, Russia, China and the European Union are all re-calibrating their tactical plays and/or redefining their strategic objectives. It isn’t an easy job, especially because both multilateral and bilateral relationships of the above-mentioned are in state of, let’s say redevelopment. Additionally, for India, we happen to live, to paraphrase the late King Hussein of Jordan, in a tough neighborhood, which makes it incumbent upon New Delhi to pay close attention to what’s going down in South Asia as well as what’s happening in Indian Ocean rim-countries.

Some strategic experts trace the current state of flux in the context of which Modi and Putin have met to iterate the strategic level of the longstanding Indo-Russian partnership with an emphasis on defence ties to the moves made by the US under President Donald J. Trump. The argument goes that it is a result of Washington no longer being willing to go along tail tucked neatly between its legs with accepting the inevitability of China’s rise as a fait accompli or Russia’s attempts to reclaim the Soviet legacy in terms of heft on the world stage and is entirely unwilling to continue with one-sided economic ties — especially its trade deficit with other nations/groupings — as a price for being feted as a so-called leader of the free world. Indeed, it is true, that the US under Trump – who promises to make America Great Again — has resulted in others reacting to protect their own national interests in turn thereby strengthening an emerging multipolar world. But it would be facile to put it down this trend to merely a change in US administrations. No, what many have missed but India for once has not, is that these developments are a manifestation of deeper shift in world politics after the end of the Cold War and perhaps the most fundamental rejig of the premise on international relations have been conducted after the end of World war II than is commonly recognized. We are, not to put too fine a point on it, going back to the future in a sense, with the nation-state once again as the primary unit of interaction globally and multilateral alliances increasingly becoming tactical rather than strategic in nature. India, which was a subject nation in the era of empire, has, thankfully, got it right this time around.

New Delhi’s outreach to Moscow at a time when US sanctions are a real threat for the latter while simultaneously deepening its ties with Washington is a reflection of that understanding. Its balancing act in terms of engaging with Teheran, another object of Trump’s ire, and making clear its sympathies lie more with the Russia/EU position is another example. India has also been quick to respond to China’s accommodative overtures given the US pushback against Beijing’s growing global influence which has forced the latter to show some flexibility towards its lesser adversaries. In sum, while all political parties in India have long accepted the primacy of our national interest, it has taken a Government with an ideological commitment to the idea of the nation-state in general and the Indian civilizational nation on which a modern, democratic state is being crafted in particular to walk the talk.

Writer: Pioneer

Courtesy: The Pioneer

The fight for the future of India is against three major assemblies: those who enact political terrorism, those who permit it to continue persistently, and from self-satisfied rootless leaders.

One of the most heart wrenching, irony-soaked episodes during the Karnataka election campaign was the ludicrous spectacle of a few superannuated Congress leaders — led by Manmohan Singh — writing to the President of India directing him to ‘caution’ Prime Minister Modi on the kind of language he used during the campaign. The letter, a prattle of sorts, had three categories of signatories — the superannuated — cold storage leaders of the Congress — Motilal Vora, Karan Singh and the like; those who looked the other way when mega scams were rocking the UPA II boat — Manmohan Singh, AK Antony et al; and those who aided and actively abetted corruption — such as P Chidambaram and Kapil Sibal. One thing that unites all these signatories in one category is the fact that they are all rootless durbaris who, instead of trying to re-invent the Congress after its worst debacle in 2014, have kept paying obeisance to an increasingly erratic dynastic scion determined to wreck the pillars of our democracy and undermine the democratic spirit.

However, why do I bring notice to an irrelevant piece of rag that should have ideally found its way into the dustbin? It is because, right when these Congress ‘stalwarts’ were writing to the President of India to ‘caution’ Modi, their own partymen in West Bengal, led by their leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, were being bludgeoned, intimidated, abused and assaulted by goons and lumpens of Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC). They, like all other opposition parties, were in the fray for the panchayat elections in the State and their grassroots workers were eagerly looking forward to be part of the panchayat polls.

Thus, while Mamata Banerjee’s lumpens knifed and hammered Congress workers on the ground — though the most brutal assault was reserved for the BJP workers — their rootless leaders in Delhi — all leading durbaris of the party’s ‘first family’ themselves living in the vacuum of a Lyutens mindset, deluded by visions of grandeur and relevance, some of whom have spent a lifetime lecturing on humanism and democracy, were complaining to the President of India, not against the bloodletting that Mamata Banerjee’s TMC had been indulging in by preventing the legitimate exercise of democratic rights. They were, instead complaining against a false scenario of a Prime Minister not living up to the dignity of his office. The Congress leadership has never been particular about protecting and standing by its workers and those who struggle on the ground to keep the party functioning and relevant. For them, it is the ‘family’ which matters, the rest is incidental — the concept and design of the ‘parivaar party’ has been clearly delineated.

Similarly, while Mamata’s goons had unleashed a reign of terror in which Congress workers were also victims, Abhishek Manu Singhvi was appealing to the Supreme Court on the Karnataka issue, having being elected to the Rajya Sabha on ‘Didi’s’ munificence, he had become a slave, he dare not sympathise with his party’s workers who were being intimidated. It took a Narendra Modi to speak of the panchayat poll violence in West Bengal as the ‘death of democracy’ and to reiterate the point that workers and candidates from all parties, except the one ruling in Bengal, were afflicted and being prevented from exercising their democratic rights.

While the Congress’s philosophers and economists were busy in trying to interpret and examine Narendra Modi’s lexicon — they were hurt because Modi had actually taken head on the Congress dynast — their workers in West Bengal were being brutally done away with by one of their close allies — the TMC. Another irony-cased issue for the Congress in West Bengal is that Mamata Banerjee has, since the Assembly election in 2016, poached 11 Congress MLAs. While the party in West Bengal is gradually disintegrating, while the once formidable Dr BC Roy’s legacy is being wiped out with the decimation of the Congress in the State, its philosopher and economist leaders are playing fiddle and paying obeisance to the ‘dynasty’, they dare not protest Mamata’s poaching of their party in Bengal.

However, the issue here in the space of this column is West Bengal and the near 45-day trauma that the State and its democratic space had to undergo. One thing clear from the panchayat poll results is that the BJP has emerged as the principal opposition party in the State. BJP chief Amit Shah’s repeated exhortation, that the more the Lotus is sought to be crushed, the more will it bloom has actually been proved right. Despite severe repression, assault and intimidation, with the BJP’s workers being killed, its women workers assaulted and molested;  despite being victims of targeted bombing by TMC lumpens, the BJP workers resisted political terrorism and proved their mettle. Across a vast swathe, including the Jangalmahal areas, the BJP has registered its presence at the grassroots. The shocking footage of ballot papers being stamped on counting day by TMC lumpens has revealed the actual condition of democracy in the State. The fact that BJP ballot papers were being singled out for this exercise at invalidation is indicative of the heat that the ruling TMC has begun to feel at the BJP’s expansion at the grassroots.

Mamata Banerjee-led TMC had unleashed a cycle of violence against the BJP candidates as well as their family members. Pursuing typically fascist methods, once used by the Left front cadres to threaten and subdue Opposition candidates, the TMC lumpens too began threatening and dissuading Opposition candidates from filing their nominations. The main targets of their attacks and intimidation have been BJP workers who were forcefully prevented from contesting the panchayat elections.

So gruesome has been the TMC violence  that it has seen workers being killed, women being molested and manhandled — in fact, TMC goons had gone around villages, threatening BJP workers, telling them that if they dared to contest, they should first buy for their women at home bales of white cloth used to cover cadavers and then proceed for filing their nominations. This was the exact modus operandi adopted by the CPI(M) harmads — armed and hired lumpens — who would, at gunpoint, threaten Opposition workers and make a mockery of democracy. The TMC cadres and the party’s mercenaries, with express support of TMC supremo, unleashed exactly such a cycle of violence.

So intense and thorough has been TMC’s terrorisation of democracy in Bengal that in Mamata’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee’s Lok Sabha constituency, Diamond Harbour, the Opposition was unable to file nominations in over 93 per cent of the seats, while in Birbhum, overseen by Mamata’s favourite henchmen, the district president Anubrata Mondol, the picture is similar.

In fact, Anubrata coerced and threatened candidates from withdrawing their nominations or having filed them, to switch over to the TMC. Both Abhishek and Anubrata — Mamata’s favourites in her control for Bengal — have actually lived up to her hope of controlling Bengal through terrorising the people and by ensuring that the democratic space in the State keeps shrinking. In this, she has surpassed the communists, who adhered to the philosophy of limited terror and limited violence in order to keep the proletariat in line and disciplined.

By resorting to violence with the help of anti-social elements, Mamata Banerjee has, while she keeps lecturing us on the need to protect the Constitution, put together by Dr Ambedkar — has herself defiled the sanctity and purity of the Constitution by turning the election process into game of muscles, fear and blood. TMC goons and lumpens with country made arms, batons and iron rods have been knifing, bombing BJP workers, vandalising shops, manhandling women workers and terrorising localities. BJP party offices across the State, especially in rural areas, are being vandalised and torched. The case of Raiganj was for all to see, where TMC harmad groups went on a rampage, breaking shops, openly wielding arms, hurling bombs and expletives. CPI(M) cadres too have been at the receiving end of what they have themselves meted out people during their three decades in power. Strangely, their leaders in Delhi blame Modi for the violence and are very reluctant in naming the actual perpetrators on the ground!

BJP workers were beaten up inside the SDO offices while trying to file their nominations or were prevented from entering the SDO offices for filing their nomination. A case in point is that of Bilash Lakshman, BJP leader from Khanakul’s Gobindapur in Hooghly. Lakshman had come to collect his nomination paper for the No 49 Zilla Parishad seat of Khanakul. BJP Kisan Morcha leader of Khanakul Tapan Mondal accompanied him. They were abducted in front of the Deputy Magistrate, taken out of the office and badly beaten up and manhandled by TMC goons.

While Keshab Koyal of Sandeshkhali-1, of Basirhat Subdivision, in N 24 Parganas too faced a similar situation when armed TMC goons picked him up from the BDO’s office and prevented. BJP workers who were filing the nomination form sitting in the BJP office at Minakhan, Basirhat Subdivision, N 24 Parganas, were attacked and their forms torn, the party office vandalised and workers badly beaten up. The Minakhan BJP office is next to the police station. BJP worker in Purulia, Bhim Sen Nandi had to be hospitalised after being severely beaten by TMC goons.

Such incidents have occurred and are occurring in large numbers across the State. Incidents of knifing and bombing has become rampant, the police forces are unable to or are unwilling to bring the situation under control. With the rise in nominations on BJP symbol, the TMC got rattled and resorted to unleashing violence against BJP workers and their families. However, BJP workers have also resisted TMC lumpenism and have, in areas, recovered inch-by-inch lost ground, it is this that makes the TMC and its leadership nervous, they wish to control Bengal unchallenged but lack the capacity to do it in a democratic manner. Both the TMC and Mamata Banerjee have failed the Indian Constitution, and the struggle against them must be further strengthened for democracy in West Bengal to be able to survive. While she poses as the foremost protector of the Constitution, Mamata Banerjee has consistently displayed that she is an inveterate fascist when it comes to controlling the politics of West Bengal.

But the most deafening silence on the ruling party sponsored IS-like violence in Bengal is from those who have consistently spread false and malicious propaganda against Prime Minister Modi and the BJP. Those placard carrying professional protestors and marchers, those five star activists, who have always created false narratives, have been conspicuously silent, they do not have the gumption to challenge Mamata, they are comfortable with attacking Modi and just because there is no Modi in West Bengal, they keep silent when democracy is being throttled in that State, they are complicit in this subversion.

The challenge for us is from three quarters: Those who perpetrate political terrorism and cover it with a veneer of being respectful to the Constitution — as Mamata Banerjee has done and is doing in West Bengal; from those who allow that kind of terrorisation to continue unabated because protesting against it will not serve their larger hate-inspired goal of demonising Modi; and finally from those self-professed rootless leaders — now mostly found in the Congress — who instead of trying to rein in their increasingly imbecile and volatile party president, continue showering plaudits on his effort at destablising the country, compromising our Constitutional institutions and at subverting democratic mandates. The larger struggle for the future of India, therefore, is against these three elements.

(The writer is director, Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee, Research Foundation, New Delhi. Views expressed are personal)

Writer: Anirban Ganguly

Courtesy: The Pioneer

BJP president Amit Shah on Sunday shown confidence of winning the upcoming Assembly elections in Mizoram and announcing it to be the eighth northeastern state that would join the BJP in its aim of a ‘Congress-Mukt Northeast’.

Shah said this while addressing the third conclave of the BJP led North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) at Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra here on Sunday and added that all the eight Chief Ministers of northeastern States will be sitting in the next NEDA conclave after the Mizoram elections.

Shah’s visit to Assam witnessed protests by Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) whose members waived black flags to Shah in protest against Centre’s move to pass the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 on the stretch from airport near Guwahati to Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra, where the conclave was organised. Police also arrested KMSS chief Akhil Gogoi and some of his colleagues from near the meeting venue to be release later.

“This is only the third conclave of NEDA and I can see representation from seven northeastern State here including the Chief Ministers, Deputy Chief Ministers, MLAs and MPs from our constituent parties,” said Shah while adding that all the eight Chief Ministers of northeastern States will be sitting here together after the Mizoram elections.

“NEDA was formed after we won the elections in Assam in 2016. Following Assam, we formed Governments in Manipur and Tripura. In Nagaland and Meghalaya, NEDA constituents NDPP and NPP respectively has formed the Governments with support from the BJP,” Shah said.

The BJP president also launched an attack on the Congress and said that all the Congress Chief Ministers of northeastern States have amassed bunglows and huge properties outside the State and in many Indian cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore etc. “The BJP Government has ensured that every paisa sanctioned by the Centre reaches to the people in the grassroots in all the States,” he said.

Shah said that the NEDA is not only a political platform but geo-cultural platform which have brought together all the northeastern states to discuss and implement ways to ensure development.

“Earlier northeastern states are used to be known for corruptions. Now due to the presence of NEDA governments, the northeastern states have gone beyond ‘briefcase politics’ and new milestones of developments are being achieved in different states,” he said adding that the youths of the northeastern states are now looking up to NEDA with a hope.

It may be mentioned here that the conclave on Sunday was participated by Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh, Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and others. Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling could not attend due to other engagement.

Writer:  Anup Sharma

Courtesy: The Pioneer