For the past few days and in a desperate attempt to counter the middle-class euphoria over Anna Hazare, a beleaguered Congress has been cashing many of the IOUs it has accumulated over the past seven years. NAC member Harsh Mander, the unchallenged King of sanctimoniousness and the great proponent of communal budgeting of state resources, has denounced Anna’s crusade as “a Right-leaning, fascist campaign to push for an extremely regressive legislation”. Aruna Roy, another NAC member and the Queen Bee of the NGO movement, has proffered her own version of outsourced legislation – one that apparently travels the middle path between the official Lokpal Bill and Anna’s Jan Lokpal Bill. To cap it all, former Infosys chief and the present head of the UID scheme (with the status of a Cabinet Minister) has made TV appearances expressing his unhappiness with the “uni-dimensional” approach of Team Anna and the need for a “much more strategic, holistic” approach.

Nilekani’s critique of the Anna movement can’t be dismissed lightly. He issued a testimonial to Indian parliamentary democracy and particularly the functioning of parliamentary committees. At the same time, he mocked the simplistic bantering that has characterised Team Anna: “Which Kool-Aid are they drinking?” Kool-Aid, I was informed by Wikipedia, is a “brand of flavoured drinks owned by Kraft Foods.” Nilekani could, perhaps, have been less global with his choice of metaphors to state his astonishment with Team Anna’s certitudes. Yet, if Twitter is any indication, he was berated for allowing himself to become a “mouthpiece” for the Government. A few months ago, India’s middle-class twitterati would have treated every word and sentence he uttered as Gospel truth. Today, he is being viewed as part of the rotten elite that is In the coming days, and irrespective of whether the Anna campaign turns more strident or begins wilting, the Government bid to create a less excitable public mood will intensify. From August 16 to the installation of Anna in Ram Lila Maidan three days later, the entire focus was on the Government’s ill-conceived preventive detention, the assault on the Government in Parliament and its unconditional surrender to Team Anna. The Government stood discredited, with a large omelette on its face and its authority in shreds. Most important, for three days the Government successfully turned a populist, anti-corruption movement into an anti-Congress movement. In just three days, the Congress frittered away the goodwill of Middle India.

Yet, no Government capitulates so easily. Manish Tewari’s assault on the integrity of Anna Hazare didn’t click and neither did Rashid Alvi’s comic attempt to locate an American hand behind the movement. At the same time, the abrupt elevation of Anna into a “hero” and “hero of heroes” by Sanjay Nirupam and Harish Rawat has looked patently disingenuous, coming as it did with the news that the Government actually wanted to ‘deport’ Anna back to his village in Maharashtra on August 16. The Congress (and, in fact, most political parties) often forget that people aren’t fools and will believe whatever drivel is served to them. It is easier to persuade courtiers to forgive past sins and come to the aid of the party than to regain lost public goodwill instantly.

I can say with near certainty that the next few weeks will see reports of weariness with street protests, exasperation with unreasonable politics, the unresponsiveness of minorities and Dalits to middle-class protests and, finally, the silent majority’s wish that the Government gets on with the job of governing. Apart from the difficulties of maintaining sustained inter- est in one story, the media too is susceptible to official cajoling and arm- twisting. This matters in times of economic difficulties.

On August 20, for example, Government departments issued 69 advertisements spread over 41 pages in 12 daily English newspapers to commemorate Rajiv Gandhi’s birth anniversary. It is said that the total expenditure for this occasion last year was between Rs 60 crore and 70 crore. And this was a commemoration that excluded the electronic media. When that is brought into the purview of campaigns like Bharat Nirman and advertisements made by agencies with close ties to daughters-in-law and nephews of Ministers, the sums involved can be mind boggling. In short, it doesn’t make business sense for the media to persist with the shrill anti-Government campaign of the past week. This isn’t a matter of politics; it’s prudent business.

In the coming days, the stage will be set for Team Anna to undertake suicide missions and become increasingly reckless. Actually, that is not asking for too much. The sight of doting crowds spontaneously assembled, 24×7 news coverage and a belief in their own manifest destiny can turn many heads. Kiran Bedi’s “India is Anna” remark, Prashant Bhushan’s sneering espousal of plebiscitary democracy that is calculated to generate anarchy, Swami Agnivesh’s slipperiness and Anna’s own innocent understanding of public life will come under sustained gaze. The hyenas are waiting for them to slip up, and slip up they will. The Anna movement may well falter, but will it restore the Government’s credibility? That, unfortunately, is history. Unless a political miracle takes place, India seems set for a long innings of lame-duck governance. Anna may not get to taste success, but he has begun the halal killing of this Government.

 – Swapan Dasgupta: Courtesy The Pioneer

UPA's trouble-shooter faces no challenge

PA Sangma no match to Pranab's popularity across the spectrum

United Progressive Alliance (UPA) candidate Pranab Mukherjee wins the presidential race by beating NDA-backed PA Sangma by a huge margin as he scored more than 558,000 votes crossing the required half-way mark of 5,25,140 votes.His rival, former Lok Sabha speaker P.A. Sangma, was way behind with 239,966 votes as counting continued, Mukherjee's polling agent Pravin H. Parikh said. "He has crossed the halfway mark. He is the president-elect," Parikh said.

The win was anticipated as Mukherjee had the backing of the Trinamool Congress, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the DMK, the Forward Bloc and Samajwadi Party but also National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ally Janata Dal-United and Shiv Sena. "I am very happy. I thank everybody for their love and support. I thank all the people of my country," Mukherjee told a Bengali news channel.

"In the last one month I have covered the entire country. And with the emotions and feelings that I have sensed in the common people revolving round this presidential election, it felt like it was not a presidential election but a general election. "I am very happy, and I will strive to live up to the expectations and faith that people have bestowed on me," Mukherjee said in his first comments.

Officials opened the ballot boxes in Room 63 of Parliament House with representatives from both candidates present.The first wooden box that was opened contained the votes of MPs cast in Delhi Thursday when the election took place. Congress leaders including Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office V. Narayanasamy and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Shukla were in the room.

Mukherjee will be administered the oath of office by the Chief Justice of India on July 25 at the Central Hall of Parliament.

The contest was between UPA candidate Pranab Mukherjee and opposition-supported Purno Sangma, a former Lok Sabha speaker. The odds were heavily stacked against Sangma the man who has never lost any election from 1977 till 2008. And Sanga's defeat to Mukherjee, would mean that for the first time in 35 years that he would be left without any 'current' designation. Ever since he threw his hat into the presidential ring, Sangma has been clinging on to the 'conscience vote', 'miracle' and 'hope' rhetoric. Sangma had indubitably brought in an element of excitement into the 2012 presidential poll which even made former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav fumble during Thursday's poll, rendering his vote invalid'.

Earlier in the day his daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee said the family will celebrate only after he was sworn in. However, celebrations began at Mukherjee's native village Birbhum in West Bengal much before the results were announced. Party leaders have also been visiting his residence with boxes of sweets to be distributed when the results are announced. The counting of ballots were conducted amidst tight security in Parliament House in the presence of authorised representatives of both Mukherjee and Sangma. The ballot boxes of votes cast in Parliament House were taken up first for counting after which those from the states were opened.

Pranab Mukherjee's win will bring an end the lament of Bengalis of not seeing a local boy occupying the highest constitutional post of the country. Mukherjee, often referred to as the best Prime Minister India never had, began his political career in 1969 and has served in every Congress cabinet since Indira Gandhi was Prime Minister.Trinamool Congress (TMC), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), JD (S), CPI-M, YSR Congress and Forward Bloc have also extended their support to Mukherjee along with NDA partners Janata Dal-United and Shiv Sena. About 95 percent of the 4,896 electorate exercised their franchise to elect India's 13th president at polling centres set up at Parliament House and 30 state and union territories. 

The president is elected by an electoral college of MPs and members of state assemblies. All MPs except those nominated to parliament are eligible to vote. There are 776 MPs; each MP's vote equals 708 votes.There were 4,120 assembly members eligible to vote. The value of a legislator's vote is variable depending on the population of the state the member represents.

Besides the support of the UPA led by the Congress, Mukherjee enjoyed the backing of the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Janata Dal-Secular. Constituents of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, Janata Dal-United and Shiv Sena, also extended their support to the former finance minister besides the CPI-M and Forward Bloc. Sangma, a member of the Meghalaya assembly, is supported by the BJP, Akali Dal, Asom Gana Parishad, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, AIADMK and Biju Janata Dal.

P.A. Sangma, a former Lok Sabha Speaker, jumped into the fray playing the tribal card with the initial support of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). The BJP and Akali Dal decided to back Sangma, who quit the NCP, the party he founded with Sharad Pawar, to contest the election.

Profile

Son of Kamada Kinkar Mukherjee and Rajlakshmi Mukherjee, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, born on 11th December, 1935 in a small village, Mirati of Birbhum District in West Bengal. Kamada K Mukherjee was a respected freedom fighter spent more than 10 years in British jails. Pranab's father was an active member of Indian National Congress and was also a member of West Bengal Legislative Council from 1952 to 1964. So, it was quite obvious that K K Mukherjee's son Shri Pranab Mukherjee would join active politics following his father's footsteps, after brief career in academic world (after obtaining masters degree in Political Science and History and degree of Law from Calcutta University, he joined as a professor in a college of Birbhum District of West Bengal).

Shri Pranab Mukherjee's parliamentary career begun as a Rajya Sabha member from Congress Party in 1969. Thereafter, he re-elected in 1975, 1981, 1993, and 1999. His ministerial career begun in 1973 as the Deputy Minister, Industrial Development. After that he hardly looked back. When he was the Finance Minister of India during 1982 to 1984, Euromoney Magazine rated him as the best Finance Minister of the world. Thereafter, barring a brief period, Shri Mukherjee, served the country as a cabinet Minister, more or less in every National Congress Ministry, At present, he is the External Affairs Mnister of Dr.Manmohan Singh's cabinet and as a senior member of the Ministry, he is consulted by the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh before taking any major decision regarding welfare of the country and his valuable comments and suggestions made him practically indispensable.

Only second VP to get the second term

History repeated itself on Tuesday after five decades when United Progressive Alliance nominee Hamid Ansari was re-elected Vice- President. He became the second Vice- President to get a second consecutive term after S. Radhakrishnan, who enjoyed two terms from 1952 to 1962. Mr. Ansari won with a thumping majority against the National Democratic Alliance candidate Jaswant Singh. He polled 490 votes against Mr. Singh’s 238. There was never any doubt about the victory of Mr. Ansari, given the numerical strength of the UPA and other parties supporting him.

The NDA zeroed in on senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Mr. Singh essentially for political reasons. Having faced dissensions within its ranks in the presidential election, the alliance wanted to demonstrate that that was a one-off incident and no meaning should be read into it. Its purpose was served as it managed to line up all the constituents behind Mr. Singh. The JD(U) and the Shiv Sena broke ranks with the BJP and voted in favour of Pranab Mukherjee in the presidential election.

Out of the 790 members of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha who form the electoral college for the vice-presidential election, three are vacant — Mr. Mukherjee was elected President, Vijay Bahuguna became Chief Minister of Uttarakhand and the election of BJP MP J. Shanta was set aside by High Court. Of the remaining 787 members, 47 MPs did not cast their votes. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said 21 members from the Biju Janata Dal, 11 from the Telugu Desam Party, 6 from the Congress and supporting parties, including ailing Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, and two nominated members did not cast their votes. T.K. Vishwanathan, Lok Sabha Secretary General and Returning Officer, said eight votes were declared invalid.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi had named Mr. Ansari as the second choice of her party for the Presidential election after Pranab Mukherjee. As Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Mr. Ansari faced criticism when the Opposition parties expressed unhappiness at the manner in which he “abruptly” adjourned the House on the night of December 29, 2011 during the debate on the Lokpal Bill. Barring that one occasion, the first stint of the 75- year-old former IFS officer and Vice- Chancellor of Aligarh University was devoid of controversy.

– OE News Bureau

Proponents of strong Hindu nationalism view GujaratChief Minister Mr. Narendra Modi as their icon and India’s future hope. Progressive and secular forces view him as a dangerous threat to the nation’s unity. Both views seem to be misconceived. There seems to be a great difference between Mr. Modi’s image and his reality. Either wittingly or otherwise his actions are harming the prospects of so-called Hindu nationalists and helping those of so-called progressive and secular forces.

Mr. Modi swung into an overdrive in the last week of May this year. The pact he sealed with BJP President Mr. Nitin Gadkari to enable the latter get a second term was on the precondition that the party administer humiliating treatment to BJP leader Mr. Sanjay Joshi. The party’s surrender provoked three quick responses in these columns that predicted what eventually occurred. Dissidence in the Gujarat BJP grew. Mr. Joshi started an anti-Modi poster campaign from which he dissociated him- self only after the damage was done in order to avoid disciplinary action by the party. And Mr. Modi’s growing stature as the future prime ministerial candidate created serious misgivings both in the central parliamentary leadership of the BJP as well as among the NDA allies.

Mr. Modi bulldozing his party up to this point may be attributed to nothing more than vaulting ambition. Corporate India that owns media solidly backs him. Mainstream media commissions opinion polls that hail him as India’s greatest living vote getter. It must be pointed out though that his vote-getting prowess has never yet been demonstrated outside Gujarat. Mr. Modi’s impatience to get ahead was understandable. What is less understandable is his unprovoked attack on Bihar politicians as recently as June 11th.

Mr. Modi criticized Bihar’s politics for being caste based and therefore the reason of the state’s backwardness. Surely Mr. Modi knew that the nation was in the thick of a Presidential election for which reason unity within the NDA was absolutely essential? Even allowing for his unconcealed ambition to be the prime ministerial candidate in the next general election what need was there for Mr. Modi’s tearing hurry to initiate a dispute with his chief rival, Bihar chief Minister Mr. Nitish Kumar? Was he such a political novice as to be oblivious of the crucial need for NDA unity at this point of time during the Presidential poll? Inevitably Mr. Kumar responded to tear NDA unity to shreds. BJP’s Bihar leader Mr. Sushil Modi’s lame explanation that Mr. Narendra Modi was referring to the RJD and not the JD-U did not wash.

The question arises:

Is Mr. Narendra Modi so apolitical as to be unaware about the need for NDA unity at this point of time? Indeed there are several past developments related to Mr. Modi that con- tinue to puzzle. There was no compulsion for Mr. Modi to allow Mrs. Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary, and acquaintance of accused money launderer Hasan Ali, Mr. Ahmed Patel, to get elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat. The fact that Mr. Patel subsequently reciprocated by his intervention to help Mr. Modi get the central government to lift the ban on cotton export in March this year is another matter.

The Karachi Chambers of Commerce invited Mr. Modi to address them in Pakistan to expound on Gujarat’s model of economic development. This invitation could not have been extended without the blessing of the Pakistan army and the ISI. China’s Ambassador to India was feted in Gujarat where he promised substantial Chinese investment in the state. This followed Mr. Modi’s several earlier trips to China seeking investment. The Ambassador also expressed satisfaction with Gujarat schools for teaching Mandarin to their students. Beijing of course continues to violate its solemn written assurance given in 2005 that precluded China’s claims on Indian territories with settled populations as exist in Arunachal Pradesh. All this does not bother Mr. Modi.

It seems not to bother self-professed proponents of strong Hindu nationalism or cheer the self-professed proponents of secular and progressive policies. One suggests that both sides review their opinions. They should ask: whom does Mr. Modi help, and whom does he harm?

20-Jun-22012

Sir, can anyone deny the existence of caste and religion based politics in India particularly when elections are round the corner ? And if Nitish is a messiah of development and not caste why was he flustered with a remark that was aimed at his predecessor and at the shameless politicians of UP ? Everyone seems to have ignored the fact that Modi had mentioned UP also in the same breath.

The fact is that so far Nitish did not see any challenge to his position in the NDA, because Advani, Sushma, Jaitly, Gadkari are busy pulling each other down. But now he sees Modi as a challenge. So he grabs the easiest-to-use stick “secularism” to hurl at Modi. In one of my earlier comments I had mentioned that “secularism” has been shamelessly used by politicians only at the time of elections to frighten the Muslims who vote en-bloc. And do you believe the denials of many commentators about the existence of Muslim vote bank ?

Let me try a prediction. If Modi does not back down then Nitish will join hands with the Congress before 2014. Congress will not mind because it has no hope of coming to power in Bihar. What happens to BJP is difficult to say because dreams of many of its leaders have been shattered with the rise of Modi.

Krish 06/21/2012

Modi IS a politician. Even Gandhi,opposing Bose,supported Seetharmiah for APCC President.Nehru totally blacked out Patel,Bose and many others. Why is it not feasible that ISI and Pak Army supported Modi’s invitation to sow doubts about his character in his supporters’minds When Center,responsible for our borders over- look Chinese double game and invite their commerce,why not Modi?

v.haribabu 06/21/2012

 –  Rajinder Puri

It’s time Manmohan Singh must understand that silence and inaction can be equally harmful as dishonesty

The expression “Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion,” is used by Dr Manmohan Singh while addressing the AICC session in New Delhi. Forget Caesar’s wife; should the Prime Minister, like Caesar, remain silent when people like A Raja and Suresh Kalmadi run away with aam aadmi’s money?

His honesty and integrity have never been on the debating table or questioned. On these grounds he has been well above the watermarks of doubt; but his silence has not been so. Dr Singh place in Indian history is assured with a sure credit must go to late P V Narsimha Rao who gave him a chance to become the Finance Minister, the image as the ‘Deng (Xiaoping) of India’ the reformer who liberated India from the shackles of the command economy and unleashed the entrepreneurial forces that transformed this ancient land.

We, the people of India, know that your integrity is beyond question. In a world and time when ethics and honesty are at a premium, we rest assured that we are led by a person who, in his moral convictions, is pure as the driven snow. This is a given. Nobody needs to tell us how. Here are some occasions when Manmohan Singh could have acted in time, but never did:

2G SPECTRUM SCAM

It took over a year for the Prime Minister to act; it took over a year for the CBI to wake up. Had it not been for the PIL in the Supreme Court, the scam would have dragged on and on. Why did Singh not act when the then Telecom minister A Raja refused to listen? Why did the PM not act when Raja ignored Cabinet colleagues and asked them to keep off the Spectrum turf? Why did the government not bring out the facts when the issue was debated in the Rajya Sabha over a year ago? Why did the PM act only after the Supreme Court comments on the tardy progress and questioned the CBI on its monumental silence? Another point: If the PM had nothing to hide, why not agree for a JPC probe? On the point of the demand for a JPC in the 2G scam by the Opposition, PM have castigated the Opposition for disrupting a whole session of Parliament.

“One wonders what kind of politics the Opposition believes in when they do not have faith even in Parliament,” he thundered. While wasting a whole session of Parliament is ‘despicable’, surely the Joint Parliamentary Committee or the JPC is also a tool in the hands of Parliament. Demanding a JPC is surely not unparliamentary.It has been conceded before, notably in the Before and the Securities scams. Why the reticence now? It’s not only the Opposition, but even your own allies. Mamata Banerjee for instance, has let it be known that she would not be unhappy if the UPA accepts a JPC probe.

 NIIRA RADIA TAPES

How come the Prime Minister was not aware of the fact that private conversations were being secretly taped? Such acts are allowed only for national security. Even if they were taped,who leaked it to the media and why? The conversations were taped by a government agency and the tapes were in the possession of this agency. How come the tapes were leaked and what was the motive?

The PM was visibly upset while addressing the captains of the industry this month. But that shows that he was not under control of things. Even now, he is not able to pin-point who leaked the tapes to the media and why. Now that the content of the tapes are in public domain, what action plan is prepared by you to hunt down culprits incidentally all of them are high and mighty. Sir, this is a historic opportunity for you to act tough to ensure people have faith in democratic values practiced by us.

CWG SCAM

For four long months, all the dirt on Commonwealth Games was out in the open.The stink too was there for everyone to ‘smell’ and squirm. But for the best part, the PM adopted the three wise monkey strategy with a twist in the tale: see-no-scam, hear-no-scam, tell-no- scam. Why did the PM not step in early and stem the rot? He appointed an overseeing committee only after the mess had spun out of control. Even now, Suresh Kalmadi is talking stupid; the CBI raided his establishments after full three months of uproar in the country. Sir, we are sure that 90 days are enough to put any house in order that we expect Kalmadi must have done to destroy evidences. Surely, he plans to bid for the Olympics.

THE CVC ROW

The Central Vigilance Commissioner is appointed by taking into confidence the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. Three persons were shortlisted for the CVC post but the government ignored the dissenting note of Opposition leader Sushma Swaraj and appointed P J Thomas as the CVC. This despite the fact that he is an accused in the palm oil import scam in Kerala.

Sushma Swaraj had openly said that the Government was free to choose any one among the two other officers on the list of three, not Thomas. But the PM paid a deaf ear and went ahead. The government knew all along that Thomas, as the CVC, will not be in a position to investigate the 2G spectrum allotment scandal in which his own ministry was involved. An official with such a shadow of doubt should not have been made the CVC.

Now, the matter is before the Supreme Court which has questioned the manner in which Thomas got the job. Why was the PM so keen on Thomas who was under a cloud of controversy? He could have picked up the next good officer on the list.W ell, like Caesar’s wife, the PM should be above suspicion. But fact of the matter is that in all the serious corruption cases, it is Supreme Court rather than the government that is controlling the events hence leading to an impression that government has lost credibility and strength to stop the corruption and punish the guilty. The country has lost over Rs 2.5 lakh crore ( over $50b ) just because PM choose not to act in time.

ON FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION

Dr Singh has argued that there multiple agencies investigating the various aspects of the 2G scam and therefore a JPC is unwarranted. “We have always strives to eradicate corruption and we will continue to do so. Our approach to corruption also gets clearly reflected in our actions,” “These inquiries will be pursued vigorously And it is my promise to you that no guilty person will be spared – whether he is a political leader or a government official, whichever party he may belong to and howsoever powerful he may be.”

Really, Prime Minister? “No guilty person will be spared”? Sorry to say, Prime Minister, we the citizens are not so sanguine. How many public servants have been prosecuted in Independent India for corruption? We can’t think of any And,.it’s nothing to do with our collective memory. We are waiting for your action plan to track down the culprits that are mentioned in Radia tapes.

Therefore, if as you really say, that your “approach to cor should actually be renamed the “Prevention of Prosecution of Public Servants”. Allow me the audacity to suggest four simple amendments to give teeth and substance to the Act and make it a real deterrent for public servants from going to the devil, now that your government has not thought of it.

One: Shift onus of proof on to the public servant. If Sukh Ram or Raja or any public servant is caught with assets disproportionate to his known sources of income, make it incumbent on him or her to show that the monies or assets were earned through legitimate means. If he can’t, that should be a ground for guilt and prosecution.

Two: Ensure that there will be no stays granted or adjournments in cases involving public servants. They should be ones fast-tracked with continuous hearing. Otherwise, like the case against Sukh Ram, even after a decade and a half, the culprits will have the last laugh to the bank, or wherever they have stashed the cache.

Three: Prime Minister, mere fines aren’t enough for public servants who indulge in illegal gratification. Physical incarceration should be the minimum penalty for what amounts to looting the nation. Just these three amendments to the Prevention of Corruption Act should go a long way in instilling the fear of consequences in the public servants who are tempted to reach into the national exchequer. If you claim to be acting against corruption, I wonder why your government has not even taken the first baby steps. Unfortunately, Prime Minister, the impression we get is that you are hemmed in by the allies on the one side and the moods and whims of your party and its President on the other. To her credit, Sonia Gandhi has made it known publicly that you have her full support. We wonder why the Congress party and the allies don’t get the message!

We urge you to stand up and be counted. And believe me, Prime Minister, we get this sense that the people of India will be with you, whatever your party and your allies may say. It’s said that the only time you acted out of conviction was on the nuclear deal with the US. The grapevine has it that you even threatened to resign; if the Congress and your UPA allies don’t throw weight behind the deal in Parliament. And, Prime Minister, you know what happened. Did the heavens fall or did you get your way? Should not that be a pointer to the way you should go? And, when and if you do go that route, of playing by your convictions, and hounding out the corrupt and those who bring us shame, we have no doubt in our mind that the citizens of India, to the man, will be behind you.

Sir, this is a historic opportunity for you to act tough to ensure people have faith in democratic values practiced by us in India, you are representing aspirations of over a billion people that is one sixth of human population hence the responsibility is enormous. God has been kind to you for providing you with a platform to deliver extraordinary service to our nation please act!!

-BY PRASHANT TIWARI

The people have delivered their verdict and before the 2014 General elections, the message is loud and clear - a wake-up call for the national parties.

Several factors have contributed to the SP's kitty, anti-incumbency being just one of them. The Upper Caste or Brahmin vote which had aligned with the Bahujan Samaj Party enabling it to form a Government of its own, failed to work this time.

The 'Social Engineering' flopped though Chief Minister Mayawati rehabilitated the party's Brahmin face Satish Mishra and gave tickets to large number of Brahmins as the community felt that the development, if any, was confined to Ambedkar villages and perceived as provocative and wasteful the lavish spending on statues of Dalit icons.

Added to that was the Dalit leader's total disconnect with the masses, communication gap with the media and growing dependence on a motley crowd of bureaucrats and sycophants.

On the other hand, the Congress concentrated solely on the Muslim card and this last-minute rhetoric and aggressive wooing only proved counter-productive. The party, which till date, never took cognizance of the Sachar Committee Report or implemented the Rangnath Mishra Commission report was suddenly concerned about their plight. Statements about UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi weeping over the Batla House encounter victims, though later clarified, only served to distance the community further besides alienating the majority Hindus as well. The BJP, on its part, was a deeply divided house, seeking to cash in on the popularity of an 'imported leader' even as it ignored its own charismatic state leaders such as Varun Gandhi. The party's poster boy Narendra Modi avoided the state altogether exposing the chinks in its armour. The Kushwaha episode also did not add to its credibility.

Apart from restoring its credibility among Muslims, who had divorced Mulayam after his 'unholy' alliance with Kalyan Singh, the credit for SP's performance also goes to the emergence of Akhilesh Yadav as a leader to reckon with, one of the major highlights of this election. With his earthy wit and style, Mulayam junior was able to charm the large number of young voters, who saw in him a fresh breeze and a future leader.

Of course, the promises of unemployment and health doles, computers and other sops also contributed immensely in adding to the SP's kitty and if the party falters on these, the same voters would show it the door in the 2014 general elections.

An overestimation of Manpreet Badal's ability to divide the Akalis, inability to woo Dera Sacha Sauda voters and Captain Amarinder Singh's failure to match up to Badal senior's stature and appeal proved to be the Congress' undoing in Punjab while in Uttarakhand, incumbent B.C. Khanduri's image appears to have saved the day for BJP. Much would also depend on how BSP would play its cards in the state.

Absence of a credible opposition and the entry of Naga People's Front helped the consolidation in favour of the ruling Congress in Manipur while the massive corruption seems to have queered the pitch for the party in Goa.

Of course, the civil society activists or the anti-corruption movement launched by them also hurt the Congress across the country. Congress would certainly be on the backfoot, particularly ahead of the Rajya Sabha and Presidential elections later this year.

The BJP too would do well not to rest on laurels if it retains Uttarakhand and Punjab and wrests Goa from Congress.

The results in electorally crucial Uttar Pradesh shows it has miles to go before the Lok Sabha elections in 2014. There is no credible national leadership that guides BJP today and the state leadership are fighting to build supremacy over each other rather than going to the masses. The every decision made The results in electorally crucial Uttar Pradesh shows it has miles to go before the Lok Sabha elections in 2014. There is no credible national leadership that guides BJP today and the state leadership are fighting to build supremacy over each other rather than going to the masses. The every decision made lacks proper planning and the accountability factor is drastically missing with the party leadership. RSS is an obsolete organization trying to bring wild ideas in a old country but having young population.

As for Congress, it is time for serious introspection. Otherwise they would end up the 'India Shining' way.

The talk in the party is that Rahul's 'Mission UP 2012' collapsed due to off the cuff remarks, controversial comments and raking up of sentimental issues by senior party leaders including Union ministers.

A section of the party contends that the 4.5 per cent reservation for minorities decided by the Congress-led coalition at the Centre just a few days before the announcement of the election schedule did more harm than good for the party. This section says that detractors of the party were quick to project the move as one detrimental to interests of backward Muslims in UP.

The statements of Union Minister Salman Khurshid on the Muslim sub-quota issue added fuel to fire, while, at the same time, antagonising the Election Commission.

The statements of Union ministers Beni Prasad Verma and Sriprakash Jaiswal did not help matters. The raking up of the Batla encounter issue by Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh also appeared to have not gone down well with the Muslims. Such statements appeared to have helped the BJP to polarise the voter to a certain extent. Party leaders insist that sizable support from Muslims in the 2009 elections had ensured the Congress to win as many as 22 Lok Sabha seats giving the first signs of the revival of the organisation in its one-time bastion. But the Muslims may have shifted away this time, they feel.

Congress has been in political wilderness in UP for the past 22 years in the wake of the Mandal and Mandir upsurge.

In almost all of these 22 Lok Sabha seats, Muslim vote was crucial ranging from two to three lakh and in constituencies like Moradabad it was upto six lakh.

At that time, a sizable section of Muslims was having second thoughts in backing Mulayam Singh Yadav as the SP supremo had tied up with Kalyan Singh who was the BJP chief minister during demolition of Babri Masjid in December 1992.

The statements by some leaders of likely imposition of President's rule in UP if the Congress failed to get majority created an atmosphere of instability and sent the signal that the party was not confident to form government on its own.

Congress in UP, a section feels, failed to present a united picture in the campaign as leaders started making one-upmanship to project themselves as the chief ministerial candidates.

As against this, Yadav went methodically to correct his mistakes and win back the Muslim support that had earned him the sobriquet of Maulana Mulayam for the way he protected minorities after the demolition of Babri Masjid. Mulayam brought in his son Akhilesh Yadav as the Uttar Pradesh SP chief giving unmistakable signals that the younger Yadav will battle it out with Gandhi for the UP turf.

Inputs PTI & Courtesy K.G. Suresh is a Delhi-based senior journalist.

The people have delivered their verdict and before the 2014 General elections, the message is loud and clear – a wake up call for the national parties. Several factors have contributed to the SP’s kitty, anti-incumbency being just one of them. The Upper Caste or Brahmin vote which had aligned with the Bahujan Samaj Party enabling it to form a Government of its own, failed to work this time. The ‘Social Engineering’ flopped though Chief Minister Mayawati rehabilitated the party’s Brahmin face Satish Mishra and gave tickets to large number of Brahmins as the community felt that the development, if any, was con- fined to Ambedkar villages and perceived as provocative and wasteful the lavish spending on statues of Dalit icons. Added to that was the Dalit leader’s total disconnect with the masses, communication gap with the media and growing dependence on a motley crowd of bureaucrats and sycophants.

On the other hand, the Congress concentrated solely on the Muslim card and this last minute rhetoric and aggressive wooing only proved counter- productive. The party, which till date, never took cognizance of the Sachar  Committee Report or implemented the Rangnath Mishra Commission report was suddenly concerned about their plight. Statements about UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi weeping over the Batla House encounter victims, though later clarified, only served to distance the community further besides alienating the majority Hindus as well.

The BJP, on its part, was a deeply divided house, seeking to cash in on the popularity of an ‘imported leader’ even as it ignored its own charismatic state leaders such as Varun Gandhi. The party’s poster boy Narendra Modi avoided the state altogether exposing the chinks in its armour. The Kushwaha episode also did not add to its credibility.

Apart from restoring its credibility among Muslims, who had divorced Mulayam after his ‘unholy’ alliance with Kalyan Singh, the credit for SP’s performance also goes to the emergence of Akhilesh Yadav as a leader to reckon with, one of the major highlights of this election. With his earthy wit and style, Mulayam junior was able to charm the large number of young voters, who saw in him a fresh breeze and a future leader.

Of course, the promises of unemployment and health doles, computers and other sops also contributed immensely in adding to the SP’s kitty and if the party falters on these, the same voters would show it the door in the 2014 general elections. An over estimation of Manpreet Badal’s ability to divide the Akalis, inability to woo Dera Sacha Sauda voters and Captain Amarinder Singh’s failure to match up to Badal senior’s stature and appeal proved to be the Congress’ undoing in Punjab while in Uttarakhand, incumbent B.C. Khanduri’s image appears to have saved the day for BJP. Much would also depend on how BSP would play its cards in the state. Absence of a credible opposition and the entry of Naga People’s Front helped the consolidation in favor of the ruling Congress in Manipur while the massive corruption seems to have queered the pitch for the party in Goa.

Of course, the civil society activists or the anti-corruption movement launched by them also hurt the Congress across the country. Congress would certainly be on the back foot, particularly ahead of the Rajya Sabha and Presidential elections later this year. The BJP too would do well not to rest on laurels if it retains Uttarakhand and Punjab and wrests Goa from Congress. The results in electorally crucial Uttar Pradesh shows it has miles to go before the Lok Sabha elections in 2014. There is no credible national leadership that guides BJP today and the state leader- ship are fighting to build supremacy over each other rather than going to the masses. The every decision made lacks proper planning and the account- ability factor is drastically missing with the party leadership. RSS is an obsolete organization trying to bring wild ideas in a old country but having young population.

As for Congress, it is time for serious introspection. Otherwise they would end up the ‘India Shining’ way. The talk in the party is that Rahul’s ‘Mission UP 2012’ collapsed due to off the cuff remarks, controversial comments and raking up of sentimental issues by senior party leaders including Union ministers.

A section of the party contends that the 4.5 per cent reservation for minorities decided by the Congress-led coalition at the Center just a few days before the announcement of the election schedule did more harm than good for the party. This section says that detractors of the party were quick to project the move as one detrimental to interests of backward Muslims in UP. The statements of Union Minister Salman Khurshid on the Muslim sub- quota issue added fuel to fire, while, at the same time, antagonizing the Election Commission.

The statements of Union ministers Beni Prasad Verma and Sriprakash Jaiswal did not help matters. The raking up of the Batla encounter issue by Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh also appeared to have not gone down well with the Muslims. Such statements appeared to have helped the BJP to polarize the voter to a certain extent. Party leaders insist that sizable sup-port from Muslims in the 2009 elections had ensured the Congress to win as many as 22 Lok Sabha seats giving the first signs of the revival of the organization in its one-time bastion. But the Muslims may have shifted away this time, they feel.

Congress has been in political wilderness in UP for the past 22 years in the wake of the Mandal and Mandir upsurge. In almost all of these 22 Lok Sabha seats, Muslim vote was crucial ranging from two to three lakh and in con- stituencies like Moradabad it was upto six lakh. At that time, a sizable section of Muslims was having second thoughts in backing Mulayam Singh Yadav as the SP supremo had tied up with Kalyan Singh who was the BJP chief minister during demolition of Babri Masjid in December 1992. The statements by some leaders of likely imposition of President’s rule in UP if the Congress failed to get majority created an atmosphere of instability and sent the signal that the party was not confident to form government on its own. Congress in UP, a section feels, failed to present a united picture in the campaign as leaders started making one upmanship to project themselves as the chief ministerial candidates.

As against this, Yadav went methodically to correct his mistakes and win back the Muslim support that had earned him the sobriquet of Maulana Mulayam for the way he protected minorities after the demolition of Babri Masjid.Mulayam brought in his son Akhilesh Yadav as the Uttar Pradesh SP chief giving unmistakable signals that the younger Yadav will battle it out with Gandhi for the UP turf.

Inputs PTI & Courtesy K.G. Suresh is a Delhi-bbased senior journalist .

Admitting that “some compromises” have to be made in managing a coalition, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said that his government will bring the wrongdoers in scams to book, but ruled out quitting from his post. In his opening remarks Dr Singh said, “An impression has gone around that we are a scam driven country.” He added “This is weakening the self confidence of the people of India, and denting the image of the country. We owe it to our country that at least in dealing with facts, we should be as objective as possible.”

“I wish to assure the country as a whole that our government is dead serious about bringing to book all wrongdoers regardless of the position they occupy,” he said. less of the position they occupy,” he said.He asserted that his government was not lame duck nor was he a lame duck Prime Minister and it was a functioning government that would go after the scamsters.

“I have never felt like quitting, I will stay the course,” the Prime Minister told television editors and bureau chiefs at a media interaction at 7 Race Course Road, his official residence. “I never felt like resigning because I had a job to do,” Manmohan Singh said in response to a question on whether he felt like quitting over the many allegations of corruption against his government. (Read: Never felt like quitting as I have a job to do, says PM) “In a coalition government, there is a coalition dharma,” he stated. Manmohan Singh said he was not afraid of appearing before any committee, including a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC). There is, he said, an “entirely wrong impression that I was blocking the agreement on a JPC. I have always said my conduct should be, like Caesar’s wife, above suspicion”.

During the 70-minute interaction, the Prime Minister fielded a wide range of questions covering mainly issues of corruption including the ISRO’s deal on S band spectrum, governance deficit, economy and Parliament stand off. “I don’t deny that we need to improve quality of governance, ” said the Prime Minister, admitting, ” I don’t say I have never made any mistake. But I am not that big a culprit as being made out to be.” To a question what was his biggest regret in UPA-II, Singh said that “these irregularities have happened. They should not have happened. I am not very happy about these developments”.

– OE News Bureau

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh defends himself against accusations that his government had become a lame duck amid corruption scandals that have weakened his ruling coalition.

CORRUPTION CASES SPIRAL, LEADING TO MORE POLICY PARALYSIS

The prime minister is facing a slew of corruption scandals, including accusations that his Congress party-led government lost up to $39 billion after telecom licences were sold to companies at rock-bottom prices in return for kickbacks.There could be a repeat of 1989, when Congress lost a general election due to the Bofors scandal over gun contracts involving close associates of then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who were accused of taking bribes.

Given that a general election is not due until 2014, Singh may have hoped the current scandals would ebb. But an aggressive media, an assertive Supreme Court and an opposition tasting political blood means momentum into probes has grown.More graft probes could also increase tensions between the Congress Party and its regional DMK ally, accused by federal police of being linked to the telecoms scam.

The government appears close to agreeing to a parliamentary probe in return for the opposition allowing the parliamentary budget session to operate unhindered from late February.That probe could see months, even years, of ministers being called to give evidence, overshadowing Singh’s second term.That could halt any reform bills, including land acquisition reform, which attempts to reconcile the interests of farmers and corporate India in a country where tussles over ownership can scupper billion-dollar project.

That may compound investor problems in India. Foreign direct investment has fallen for three consecutive years, from 2.9 per- cent of GDP in 2008/09 to around 1.8 percent of GDP in 2010/11. Some of this has to do with the global economic slow- down, but regulatory uncertainty is also a factor.

The Congress Party is unlikely to move faster on long-pending economic reforms such as opening up supermarket or financial sectors to foreign investors. The government may introduce changes to the telecoms sector, such as giving more muscle to the telecoms regulator.

If those scandals were not bad enough, the Congress government faces a host of state elections this year that will take the political temperature of an electorate ahead of the 2014 general election.These include West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, two crucial states that help give Congress a majority in parliament. If Congress does badly in these elections, it could convince coalition partners it is time to jump ship or at least distance them- selves from the government, meaning further policy paralysis.Congress has a rough 18 seat majority in parliament. If the ruling Congress ally, the DMK, loses the Tamil Nadu election, it saps strength from the coalition.

Many commentators expect a more populist budget on Feb 28, to give the government some chance of doing well in the elections. But more spending on Congress’s main social welfare programmes would come amid high inflation and signs of fiscal strains. That could mean the government failing to deal with fuel subsidies, more cash for food programs as well as education and health. The government bases its plans on jumps in tax collections on high economic growth.

THE PRIME MINISTER GOES

Unlikely, but possible. The 78-year-old Singh is widely seen as an honest elder statesman who plays second fiddle to Congress head Sonia Gandhi, the real power behind the throne. But the scandals may have taken a heavy toll on the prime minister, concerned his legacy is transforming from one of being the founders of India’s economic boom to someone who did nothing to stop corruption or policy paralysis.

Singh, who underwent a second heart operation in 2009, could step down some time before the 2014 election to make way for a successor. Sonia Gandhi could also push him out. While family scion Rahul Gandhi is seen as prime minister in waiting, he is still young and has rejected ministerial jobs in Singh’s government – instead focusing on the youth wing of the Congress Party. Some say he is too inexperienced to run India.That may mean Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee or Defence Minister A.K. Antony could become prime minister, perhaps on an interim basis.

THE GOVERNMENT RECOVERS

It may be too early to count out the Congress Party, especially with three years to the next general election. It is still the biggest national party and has the Gandhi family name and an extensive network of political influence.

One thing that could bolster the government this year would be a good performance in state elections and there are signs the party or its regional coalition allies could do well, mainly because it is fighting some unpopular incumbents.Congress is likely to do well in Assam, Kerala and West Bengal states. The latter state election could see the end of the world’s longest ruling democratically elected communist government. The opposition is Trinamool Congress, a Congress ally.It could do well in Tamil Nadu, where its regional DMK ally is under pressure from the opposition but still may win.Congress can also spend more money on social welfare schemes, such as the rural employment scheme that is seen as helping the party win re-election in 2004. It could also start new schemes such as one giving cheap food grains to the poor. The government agreeing to a joint parliamentary probe may also take the wind out of the opposition’s sails.”If the elections come off reasonably well and the BJP is robbed of an issue, the Congress can cover some ground. But it has to work quickly. Fast track investigations, convictions that will send out a positive mes- sage,” said political analyst Amulya Ganguli.

THE OPPOSITION IMPLODES

One of the biggest advantages for the government may be the poor quality of the opposition, led by the Hindu nationaist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).While the party has been vocal in its condemnation of corruption, it straddles uneasily between its modern focus and grassroots Hindu nationalism. A failed march by the BJP to place an Indian flag in disputed Kashmir, for example, was widely seen as a political mistake that alienated middle class voters.Remarks by former BJP telecoms minister Arun Shourie on Monday, which accused senior party leaders Arun Jaitleyand Sushma Swaraj of not doing enough to make publicize the scandal, exposed further cracks in the opposition.The BJP also has its own corruption scandals to tackle in the southern state of Karnataka, where the party is in pow-er. And some of its leaders, like Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat state, are also highly controversial for their alleged role in fomenting religious violence against Muslims.

CORRUPTION CASES SPIRAL, LEADING TO MORE POLICY PARALYSIS

The prime minister is facing a slew of corruption scandals, including accusations that his Congress party led government lost up to $39 billion after telecom licenses were sold to companies at rock-bottom prices in return for kickbacks.There could be a repeat of 1989, when Congress lost a general election due to the Bofors scandal over gun contracts involving close associates of then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who were accused of taking bribes.

Given that a general election is not due until 2014, Singh may have hoped the current scandals would ebb. But an aggressive media, an assertive Supreme Court and an opposition tasting political blood means momentum into probes has grown.More graft probes could also increase tensions between the Congress Party and its regional DMK ally, accused by federal police of being linked to the telecom scam.

The government appears close to agreeing to a parliamentary probe in return for the opposition allowing the parliamentary budget session to operate unhindered from late February.That probe could see months, even years, of ministers being called to give evidence, overshadowing Singh’s second term.That could halt any reform bills, including land acquisition reform, which attempts to reconcile the interests of farmers and corporate India in a country where tussles over ownership can scupper billion-dollar project.

That may compound investor problems in India. Foreign direct investment has fallen for three consecutive years, from 2.9 percent of GDP in 2008/09 to around 1.8 percent of GDP in 2010/11. Some of this has to do with the global economic slow- down, but regulatory uncertainty is also a factor. The Congress Party is unlikely to move faster on long pending economic reforms such as opening up supermarket or financial sectors to foreign investors. The government may introduce changes to the telecom sector, such as giving more muscle to the telecom regulator.

STATE ELECTIONS WEAKEN RULING COALITION

If those scandals were not bad enough, the Congress government faces a host of state elections this year that will take the political temperature of an electorate ahead of the 2014 general election.These include West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, two crucial states that help give Congress a majority in parliament.

If Congress does badly in these elections, it could convince coalition partners it is time to jump ship or at least distance them- selves from the government, meaning further policy paralysis.Congress has a rough 18 seat majority in parliament. If the ruling Congress ally, the DMK, loses the Tamil Nadu election, it saps strength from the coalition. Many commentators expect a more populist budget on Feb 28, to give the government some chance of doing well in the elections. But more spending on Congress’s main social welfare programs would come amid high inflation and signs of fiscal strains. That could mean the government failing to deal with fuel subsidies, more cash for food programs as well as education and health. The government bases its plans on jumps in tax collections on high economic growth.

THE PRIME MINISTER GOES

Unlikely, but possible. The 78-year old Singh is widely seen as an honest elder statesman who plays second fiddle to Congress head Sonia Gandhi, the real power behind the throne. But the scandals may have taken a heavy toll on the prime minister, concerned his legacy is transforming from one of being the founders of India’s economic boom to someone who did nothing to stop corruption or policy paralysis.

Singh, who underwent a second heart operation in 2009, could step down some time before the 2014 election to make way for a successor. Sonia Gandhi could also push him out. While family scion Rahul Gandhi is seen as prime minister in waiting, he is still young and has rejected ministerial jobs in Singh’s government instead focusing on the youth wing of the Congress Party. Some say he is too inexperienced to run India.That may mean Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee or Defense Minister A.K. Antony could become prime minister, perhaps on an interim basis.

THE GOVERNMENT RECOVERS

It may be too early to count out the Congress Party, especially with three years to the next general election. It is still the biggest national party and has the Gandhi family name and an extensive network of political influence. One thing that could bolster the government this year would be a good performance in state elections and there are signs the party or its regional coalition allies could do well, mainly because it is fighting some unpopular incumbents.

Congress is likely to do well in Assam, Kerala and West Bengal states. The latter state election could see the end of the world’s longest ruling democratically elect- ed communist government. The opposition is Trinamool Congress, a Congress ally .It could do well in Tamil Nadu, where its regional DMK ally is under pressure from the opposition but still may win.

Congress can also spend more money on social welfare schemes, such as the rural employment scheme that is seen as helping the party win re-election in 2004. It could also start new schemes such as one giving cheap food grains to the poor. The government agreeing to a joint parliamentary probe may also take the wind out of the opposition’s sails.”If the elections come off reasonably well and the BJP is robbed of an issue, the Congress can cover some ground. But it has to work quickly. Fast track investigations, convictions  that will send out a positive mes- sage,” said political analyst Amulya Ganguli.

THE OPPOSITION IMPLODES

One of the biggest advantages for the government may be the poor quality of the opposition, led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). While the party has been vocal in its condemnation of corruption, it straddles uneasily between its modern focus and grassroots Hindu nationalism. A failed march by the BJP to place an Indian flag in disputed Kashmir, for example, was widely seen as a political mistake that alienated middle class voters. The BJP also has its own corruption scandals to tackle in the southern state of Karnataka, where the party is in power. And some of its leaders, like Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat state, are also highly controversial for their alleged role in fomenting religious violence against Muslims.

 – OE News Bureau

She can talk casually about a designer gown she hasn’t found an occasion to wear with industrialist Ratan Tata and chat up with the same ease with some of the most powerful people in politics, business and media to allegedly fix the telecom ministry for A. Raja Kenya-born and London educated Niira Radia was perhaps destined to fly high, but little did she know that she would be trapped by tell-tale tapes one day and be come the face of a multi-billion dollar scam.

Not many knew about her till Open magazine three weeks ago blew the cover off 5,800 reported taped conversations from Radia’s phone over a six- month period in 2009 that stunned the nation with intimate disclosures about the incestuous world of the powerful and power-mongers.

The tapes show the chameleon lobbyist talking with top industrialists and star journalists, hard-selling DMK politician A. Raja’s bid for the second stint at telecom ministry. Even as more skeletons tumble out of the closet and insinuations are being made about her being an agent of a foreign intelligence agency, there is very little known about her background and her meteoric rise to fame. Radia, said to be in her fifties, movedto London from Kenya in the 1970s and schooled at the elite school Haberdashers’ Aske’s in northern London. She graduated from the University of Warwick and got married to UK businessman Janak Radia, a Gujarati. The marriage did not click and the divorced Radia moved to India in midnineties. She started off as Sahara liaison officer and soon became India representative of Singapore Airlines, KLM, UK Air.

It is during this time she forged her powerful contacts in the civil aviation ministry, the government and the media. By this time, Radia’s sprawling Chhattarpur farmhouse was generating much buzz among New Delhi’s bold and beautiful.Some of her prized contacts included Ananth Kumar, civil aviation minister during NDA’s tenure in 1998-99, and Ranjan Bhattacharya, foster son-in-law of then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. She tried to float an airline, Crown Air, in 2000, but the plan did not take off. In 2001, she set up Vaishnavi Communications, followed by Noesis, Victom and Neucom Consulting. Radia’s big-ticket break came when she bagged all 90 Tata group accounts in 2001. She is rumored to have such an influence over Ratan Tata that the top industrialist does not tolerate anyone speaking ill of her to his face. Another crowing moment was when Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Limited joined her clients’ list in 2008.

What made her tick?

“She was leveraging the power of her clients who are some of the most powerful businessmen in the country,” Prashant Bhushan, a senior lawyer who filed a public interest litigation seeking the prosecution of Raja on the basis of the taped conversations of Radia, told IANS. In 2009, her ambitions soared further as she moved from corporate lobbying to fixing the lucrative telecom ministry, resulting in a scam that depleted the national exchequer by billions of rupees. Her overarching ambition perhaps became her nemesis when a suspicious IT department taped her conversations at the time of cabinet formation last year in UPA-II. Those tapes have now become part of the national conversation, showing a small elite subverting the system with impunity.

Fresh tapes of Radia’s conversations released by Outlook magazine reveal her telling Tarun Das, then chief mentor of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), that DMK chief M. Karunanidhi was insistent party member Raja retain his portfolio, despite questions over the manner in which airwaves were allotted to telecom firms. The government has told the Supreme Court that it authorized the tapping of PR executive Niira Radia’s phone.The government’s response was filed by the Ministry of Finance.

It said that the process of tapping Radia’s phone began on August 19, 2008 after a complaint received by the Finance Minister on November 16, 2007. The complaint had alleged that Radia in a span of just nine years built up a business empire worth Rs. 300 crore.It also alleged Radia was an agent of foreign intelligence agencies and she was indulging in anti-national activities.The affidavit states, “15 telephone lines including cell phone and SMSs of Radia and her associates were intercepted after the finance minister in November 2007 had received a complaint that the lobbyist had within a short span of nine years built up a business empire worth Rs. 300 crore and she was an agent of foreign intelligence agencies and was indulging in anti-national activities.”

The Finance Ministry then sought the Home Ministry’s clearance to tap Radia’s phone lines. 5800 phone calls were tapped during two periods: 120 days in 2008 and 60 days during 2009. A spokesperson of Radia’s firm, Vaishnavi Corporate Communications, has denied these allegations, saying she has never indulged in anti-national activities. The statement says, “There are queries arising from a case which is subjudice before the Honorable Supreme Court to which we are not a party. Therefore it is not within our knowledge and we cannot comment on the veracity of this. There are corporate vested interests which circulated an inadmissible and forged letter with malicious, baseless and derogatory content in November 2007. We had reached out to the media then and denied the same. We have complete faith in the investigative agencies. We hope that the forces working over time to harm us will be duly identified and punished. As responsible corporate neither we nor our promoter have ever indulged in any anti national activities.”

The affidavit also states that the tapes were not leaked by the Income Tax Department. The government has also said that while the leak should be investigated, it cannot stop the media from publishing transcripts of the conversations on the leaked tapes. 

Some of those conversations with politicians, industrialists and others have been leaked to the media and have been reported on widely. Rata Tata, who is one of Radia’s biggest clients and was on the leaked tapes, had last month filed a case against the government in the Supreme Court on the grounds that the leaked tapes encroached upon his right to privacy. Tata said that while he had no objection to any investigation by the government, his conversations with Radia that were made available to the public were of a personal nature and are irrelevant to charges like tax evasion and foreign exchange violations, which are among the reasons why Radia’s phone was allegedly tapped from 2008-2009.

The tapes are also being used by the CBI to investigate the details of the 2G scam. Believed to be India’s largest-ever scam, it saw 2G spectrum being given at what are described as inexplicably low prices by former Telecom Minister A Raja to companies who were later found to be ineligible by experts. CBI raided Niira Radia and former TRAI chief Pradeep Baijal in the on going investigation of 2G scam that rocked the nation. The Raja Radia saga led the team to DMK doors wherein high profile Kanjimori connections are getting investigated.

-BY J GOPIKRISHNAN for OPINION EXPRESS