The next Prime Minister?

The next Prime Minister?

Manmohan Singh did well in saying that it was not yet time to decide whether or not he would run for a second term. There are still a few months to go before the next general election and the political scenario may change. He did even better by saying that there were others in his party as well, if not better-qualified than he to be Prime Ministers. He is a modest man not given to boasting. There are Pranab Mukherjee, Chidambaram, Kamal Nath, Arjun Singh and Kapil Sibal who have as much right to stake their claims to the top post as he. There are also outsiders like Digvijay Singh who have to be taken into reckoning. We are all aware that the final decision will rest with the President of the Congress Party. She knows our countrymen are not yet willing to have a foreign-born Indian at the helm of affairs. This is unfortunate but true. It is more than likely that she will choose Manmohan Singh for a second term because she can trust him and values his construction to the country. She will have to find him a safe constituency from where he can be elected to the Lok Sabha.

Manmohan Singh has his plus and minus points. A comparison with Pandit Nehru, our first and best Prime Minister, are pertinent. Nehru had a rich father who sent him to Harrow and Cambridge university. Manmohan comes from a poor family and won his way to Cambridge on scholarships and got the highest academic distinction. Nehru had no experience of administration. Manmohan Singh is a distinguished economist, has been a teacher, worked for the World Bank, was Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, head of the Planning Commission and Finance Minister. Nehru made some miscalculations in planning his economic policies. Manmohan had a clear vision of what the country needed and put them into effect. Nehru indulged in nepotism and cronyism. He imposed men like Krishna Menon on the country, appointed his sister Vijaylakshmi Pandit as governor and ambassador. He appointed Padmaja Naidu as governor. Manmohan has shown no favour to his relations or friends; he has no cronies. Most people don’t even know that he has three daughters, all highly educated. There is not a breath of scandal of financial skulduggery associated with his name.

Singh’s minus points should also be kept in mind. He has no constituency or political base. He will have to rely heavily on Sonia and Rahul Gandhi to win votes for the Congress Party to put him back in the Prime Ministerial chair. He has little charisma. He is not the paradigm of a martial sardar. He is not a great orator. He is very measured in his speech, never shoots his mouth, shouts slogans or indulges in rhetoric as most politicians do.

The principal contender for the post of the Prime Minister will be ex-Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani of the BJP. Since the time his party lost the last election, he has been prophesying Manmohan Singh’s imminent downfall, called him nikamma (useless). His record as far as money-making and kunbaprasthi (nepotism) is concerned is above reproach. He is also a good debater. The one thing I have against him is fouling the communal atmosphere in the country. He was the principal architect of the destruction of the Babri Masjid. All that has followed — bomb blasts in public places, attacks in trains, the pogrom of Muslims in Gujarat can be traced back to the horrendous crime committed in Ayodhya, and the fact that none of those who took part in it were punished. I have said many times and say it again: crime unpunished breeds criminals. The fall of the Babri Masjid has bred criminals, both Hindu and Muslim. Advani has to atone for his sins.

Of the BJP leaders the only other possible contenders for the post of Prime Minister that I can think of are Narendra Modi, Arun Jaitley, Vasundhara Raje, Jaswant Singh and Yashwant Sinha. All of them will have to cope with the minority animosity against Advani.

The Left parties are not likely to have a candidate of their own, but in combination with other parties may pick on Somnath Chatterjee, as the most acceptable candidate. 


And finally there are the two ladies, Mayawati and Jayalalitha, with ambitions and firm political bases. Both ladies have ego problems and lack national vision: their willingness to be deified may be their undoing.

At the moment, it seems the cards are stacked in favour of Manmohan Singh to pre-eminence and his performance as the leader of the nation, one rarely hears sardarji jokes which portrayed them as simple-minded buffoons and the only culture they knew was agriculture or soldiering. In his own quiet and unassuming manner he has gained respect for his community as well.
Bomb terror and mob terror
How long and how many lives will be lost
In one after the other serial bomb blast?
Will it be till our towns and cities vanish,
Asks a nation dazed and aghast.
How long shall we out of fear die?
How long shall we go on blaming the ISI?
How long will the State its duty skirt?
How many times shall we declare high alert?
And who will answer this uneasy question:
Have Gujarat riots and Babri demolition
No connection with our young and bright jehadis’ perception,
Their underground wrath, their evil intention,
Of unleashing death and destruction?
And with churches all across the country burnt,
Has the Parivar any lesson learnt?
 (Courtesy: Kuldip Salil, Delhi)
Deafness
Teacher: “What do you call a person who cannot hear anything?
Student: You can call him anything and even abuse him, because he cannot hear you.”

My hometown is changing

My hometown is changing

The second half of September 2008 will go down in the history of our country, for reasons good and bad. Good was finalising the nuclear deals with France and America. Its benefits will accrue soon and silence their critics for ever. 


The bad took place in Delhi: the encounter between the police and students of Jamia Millia University, followed by bomb blasts in Mehrauli a few days later. They poisoned the cordial atmosphere that had prevailed in the city. Hindus and Sikhs began to eye Muslims with suspicion and use hurtful language.

I also had the experience of the deteriorating law and order situation in my hometown. My daughter had her pocket picked at the Delhi Railway Station and had to return home. I have begun to believe that pickpockets operate with the help of the police. I also found the change that had taken place in identity verification by the police. I had to go to the Parliamentary Annexe to receive an award from Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee. I had to go through three barricades set up by the police to prove my identity before I was allowed to enter. It was like a city under siege. I could well understand the general feeling that if you have to go out to buy vegetables in the market, you can’t be sure if you will get back home in one piece.

I’m particularly worried about the change in atmosphere at Jamia Millia. It is one of the three major institutions for higher education for Muslims. The first was Aligarh Muslim University set up by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. It was pro-British, anti-Congress and in favour of a separate Muslim State — till the separate Muslim State became a reality. 

Jamia Millia Islamia was set up by nationalist Muslims who were pro-Congress and against Partition. It has had many eminent men associated with it, including Zakir Hussain, Saiyidain, Prof. Mujeeb, Jamal Kidwai and others. The historian and scholar Mushirul Hasan is its Vice-Chancellor. The third is Osmania University in Hyderabad which has been, and is, free of political overtones.

What causes me anguish is the way the media, both print and electronic, accepted the police version that, as usual, depicts Muslims as subversive and links them with militant outfits. Jamia, which has a proud record of patriotism, has been tarred with the same brush. I am glad Mushirul Hasan has undertaken to defend students of his university against this calumny.

Nizamuddin Auliya, patron saint of Delhi, is said to have prophesied, ‘Hinooz Dilli Door Ast’ (Delhi is a long way away), referring to a ruler who intended to take him to task when he returned to the capital. He was killed before he could get to the city. I invoke his blessings to protect us from evil-doers.

‘Who has Tejpal gone for this time?’ 

“How many cases are there going against you?” I asked Tarun Tejpal. I had not met him for two years. He raised both his hands in a gesture of resignation and replied, “I have no idea. Quite a few all over the country. Every time I expose some skulduggery, the fellows involved file a criminal case against me. Nothing comes of them because I have solid evidence to back my charges.”

That is true. Tejpal is one of the most daring of the tribe of journalists in the country. When he launched Tehelka, he did it in grand style with Nobel-laureate Vidya Naipaul and mega-star Amitabh Bachchan on his board of advisors. He rented a swanky office in a leafy suburb and hired a large staff of investigators, reporters and sub-editors. But he soon came to grief. He took on too many of the so-called VIPs. 

Tejpal was the father of sting investigation. Whatever his staff investigated was recorded by spy cameras and hidden tape-recorders. His victims included Cabinet Ministers, police commissioners, army officers and others who granted licences in exchange of hard cash. They did their worst to ruin him. Business houses were scared to place ads in his journal. He had to close down. 

Tejpal took to writing. His first novel, The Alchemy of Desire (Picador), sold over 300,000 copies worldwide. Naipaul wrote: ‘At least — a new and brilliantly original novel from India.’ He found a champion in Ram Jethmalani and re-launched Tehelka. He also took on book publishing — three selections of the best of Tehelka are out.

Tejpal’s recent exposés have been the State-sponsored anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat. He got not only accounts of victims but also photographs and voices of perpetrators of diabolical crimes to prove his allegations. In a recent issue, he exposed the oft-repeated slanders against the Students of Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) made by Home Ministry officials at the time of LK Advani, when he was Home and Deputy Prime Minister of India. Scores of young Muslims were arrested and charged with crimes they had not committed. The only incriminating evidence was of recoveries made by the police and confessions made under torture. The courts refused to convict the accused on such fabricated evidence.

It needs a lot of courage to take on the police and people in power. Tejpal has the guts to do so. Every week as I open the pages of his Tehelka, I ask myself, “I wonder who he has gone in for this time.”

God versus Satan
God’s plan made a hopeful beginning,
But man spoilt his chances by sinning,
We know that the story,
Will end in God’s glory,
But at present the other side’s winning.

Faith, no more

Faith, no more

Recent incidents of violence and vandalism against Christians and their churches deserve to be condemned unreservedly. They have blackened the fair face of Mother India and ruined the reputation of Hindus being the most religiously tolerant people in the world. At the same time, we must take a closer look at people who convert from one faith to another.

To start with, let it be understood that these days there are no forced conversions anywhere in the world. India is no exception. Those who assert that the poor, innocent and ignorant of India are being forced to accept Christianity are blatant liars. A few, very few educated and well-to-do men and women convert to another faith when they do not find solace in the faith of their ancestors. Examples are to be found in America and Europe of men and women of substance turning from Judaism and Christianity to Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Sikhism.

There are also men and women who convert to the faith of those they wish to marry. We have plenty of cases of Hindu, Muslim, Christian and Sikh inter-marriages. However, the largest number of converts come from communities discriminated against. The outstanding example was that of Dalit leader Bhimrao Ambedkar who led his Mahar community to embrace Buddhism because they were discriminated against by upper caste Hindus. This is also true of over 90 per cent of Indian Muslims whose ancestors being lower caste embraced Islam which gave them equal status. That gives lie to the often-repeated slander that Islam made converts by the sword. 

An equally large number of people converted out of gratitude. They were neglected, ignorant and poor. When strangers came to look after them, opened schools and hospitals for them, taught them, healed them and helped them to stand on their own feet to hold their heads high, they felt grateful towards their benefactors. Most of them were Christian missionaries who worked in remote villages and brought hope to the lives of people who were deprived of hope. 

To this day, Christian missionaries run the best schools, colleges and hospitals in our country. They are inexpensive and free of corruption. They get converts because of the sense of gratitude they generate. Can this be called forcible conversion? Why don’t the great champions of Hinduism look within their hearts and find out why so many are disenchanted by their pretensions of piety? Let them first set their own houses in order, purge the caste system out of Hindu society and welcome with open arms all those who wish to join them. 

No one will then convert from Hinduism to another religion. 

The Great Indian Chew

Niccolao Manucci of Venice came to India as a boy of 14 in 1655, and spent the rest of his life in the country. After living in Delhi, Agra and Goa, practising as a self-taught doctor, he returned to Pondicherry where he died in 1717. His Storia di Mogor has a lot of salacious gossip about the goings-on in the harems of Mughal kings.

On his first journey from Surat to Agra and Delhi, Manucci was much intrigued by Indians’ favourite indulgence. He wrote: “Among other things, I was much surprised to see that almost everybody was spitting something red as blood. I imagined it must be due to some complaint of the country, or that their teeth had become broken. I asked an English lady what was the matter, and whether it was the practice in this country for the inhabitants to have their teeth extracted. 

When she understood my question, she answered that it was not any disease, but a certain aromatic leaf called in the language of the country — paan, or in Portuguese, betel. She ordered some leaves to be brought, ate some herself and gave me some to eat. Having taken them, my head swam to such an extent that I feared I was dying. It caused me to fall down; I lost my colour, and endured agonies; but she poured into my mouth a little salt, and brought me to my senses. The lady assured me that everyone who ate it for the first time felt the same effects.

Betel, or paan, is a leaf similar to the ivy-leaf, but the betel leaf is longer. It is very medicinal, and eaten by everybody in India. They chew it along with arecas, which physicians call Avelans Indicas, and a little katha, which is the dried juice of a certain plant that grows in India. Smearing the betel leaf with a little of the katha, they chew them together, which makes the lips scarlet and gives a pleasant scent. It happens with the eaters of betel, as to those accustomed to take tobacco, that they are unable to refrain from taking it many times a day. Thus the women of India, whose principal business it is to tell stories and eat betel, are unable to remain many minutes without having it in their mouths. 


It is an exceedingly common practice in India to offer betel leaf by way of politeness, chiefly among the great men, who, when anyone pays them a visit, offer betel at the time or leaving as mark of goodwill, and of the estimation in which they hold the person who is visiting them. It would be great piece of rudeness to refuse it.” 

(From Beyond the Three Seas, 

edited by M.H. Fisher, Random House)

Wrong bus

Returning from a theka, Santa says to Banta, “I can’t walk all the way home.” 

“I know,” says Santa, “but we have no money for a cab and we’ve missed the last bus.”

“We could steal a bus from the depot,” Santa suggests. 

They arrive at the bus depot and Santa tells Banta to go in and get a bus while he keeps a look-out. After shuffling around for ages, Santa shouts, “Banta, what are you doing? Have you not found a bus yet?” 

Banta shouts, “I can’t find a No. 91.” 

Santa: “You thick sod, take the No. 14 and we’ll walk from the roundabout.”

(Contributed by Vipin Bucksey, New Delhi)