Ich bin ein Berliner Redux
By Susenjit Guha
With the Cold War threatening towards a WWIII in the early sixties, John F Kennedy got rock star status in Berlin in 1962 with his famous one-liner, Ich bin ein Berliner or I am a Berliner.Teutonic-ally tuned under the watchful former Chancellor Willy Brandt who was then the Mayor of Berlin, John Kennedy spoke to a deafening applause.
That was when communist Russia had divided Berlin with the wall to stop the flow of East Germans rushing towards freedom in the western part of the city. West Berliners, trapped inside the Iron Curtain, feared an invasion from East Germany.
Another much trumpeted Democrat nominee for the White House, Barack Obama drew crowds over 200000 in Berlin's Tiergarten park recently during a PR exercise tour to test the soil across the Atlantic and perhaps rubbish claims by Republicans about being a foreign policy greenhorn.
Berlin is the hub where the post WWII US-Europe relations kick started with the famous airlift in 1948 and where in 1989 the wall fell.
Pollsters cited over 70% support for Obama in Germany and 80 in France % just before his visit. John McCain trailed far behind at a paltry 10% deciding to shore up support in a German restaurant in the US.
Chancellor Merkel may have veered towards Bush unlike predecessor Gerhardt Schroeder, but German anger is best summed up by Berlin's foreign policy think-tank DGAP's Jan Techau who said "many Germans see Mr Bush's stance on a range of issues almost as an insult, and therefore see Mr Obama as something of a saviour".
Bloomberg's Margaret Carlson's wondered how it could be bad if the earth's 6.7 billion inhabitants liked Obama while cowboy diplomacy was at odds and voters in Kansas distrusted him as his popularity swelled in Middle East and Europe.
But times are different. Germany like Western Europe had looked up to the US for defense against a common communist enemy. Now Old Europe may still be looking for US protection despite absence of a threat from communist invasion, but, they are highly critical of the unilateral and interventionist American foreign policy of George W Bush and his Iraq invasion.
Now the enemy to some extent has multiplied, is untraceable and perhaps has become more belligerent due to an imperial US presidency.
The threat has become common for nations allied with Bush in his unilateral surge.
Obama may have highlighted the common enemy of terrorists and the need for more German troops for Afghanistan, but critics are apprehensive whether European nations will be game for greater involvement financially and militarily in Middle-East, for counter-terrorism and climate change.
Loud applauses greeted him when he spoke about climate change, pullout from Iraq, humanitarian issues and multi-literalism, but fell silent when he urged for more German troops in Afghanistan.
Although Germany had sent troops to Afghanistan in NATO's first involvement outside Europe, but like others in old Europe except the UK, consider Iraq invasion interventionist. New nations carved out of a disintegrated USSR are the only safest bets for the US.
German energy resources are dependent on Russia still viewed by US conservatives through the prism of the Cold War and Wall Street baulks at anti-US Schroeder for heading Gazprom.
Is Europe capable of remaining at a distant remove from the US financially and militarily?
Both the US and Europe can really compliment each other.
Although increasingly multi-cultural, it is still hard to find a non-European in their parliaments. Even Germany does not have a Turk despite their large presence and fairer skin. Americans are bracing up for a path-breaking change not only with Barack Obama's vision, but also societally, defined by sharp dividing lines only 40 years ago.
Americans are most religious and the Judeo-Christian lobby impacts US foreign policy---it virtually led from the front during the early Bush II years--- while Europeans are least god fearing having kept church and state poles apart.
Still, all religious groups are free to practice and dress according to their customs in the US. Despite large scale immigration from their former colonies, Europeans, being the least religious themselves, find strict adherence to non-Christian faiths disconcerting and rabid. They wonder why other faiths too cannot go under the scalpel.
Free market leaps and bounces freely in a government wary US, but European humane, social capitalism acts as a bulwark against corporate predatory deluges.
A cohesive Europe needs to get both the old and new nations together in a continent known till the early years of the last century as not made up of individual countries, but identified more by world famous cities.
Getting Europeans on board for a common enemy will depend how the US reacts to future provocations in West Asia from where sizable immigrants have long made Europe their home. Europeans are still not at ease with multiple cultures like the US.
Obama's formula for de-addiction to Middle Eastern oil to lessen dependence on an anti-American region---which would lessen chances of conflict and NATO's involvement--, may also impact future US-Europe relations.
Till then the rock star status of nominee Obama in Europe will hang in limbo even if he wins the nomination.
This article is also published by Eurasia Research Center, USA
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Mr. PM - A Bonded Slave?
Mr. PM - A bonded slave?
by Seema Mustafa
by Seema Mustafa
Dr Singh wants to bow out of office - he does not know if he is ever going to be Prime Minister again, with accolades from the US and the international community (read the west). His constituency is outside
India, and through this deal he wants to meet its every requirement. As for what the country is going into, there are many here who have spelt it out but the government has decided not to listen. The government says that the nuclear deal is not part of a strategic alliance. Every US official, from Rice to Burns, has said it is.
The government has lost the trust of the nation. And if the abstentions and cross voting is taken into account, it has also lost the trust vote in the Lok Sabha. The wheeling dealing paralysed politics in the capital for weeks, as party leaders and their flunkeys went through the Lok Sabha list to identify vulnerable MPs. Not just vulnerable in terms of their anger or resentment with their party bosses, but also vulnerable in their approach to money.
The money bags moved into the capital meeting the demands of hard cash. Rs three crores, ten crores, 15 crores, 25 crores, even 30 crores were the figures in mention, as the MPs were approached by top political leaders and offered ministerial posts, tickets, the moon for their support. CPI leader A.B.Bardhan put a figure to it, "Rs 25 crores," and this stuck. No one from even the Samajwadi party or the Congress was able to successfully erase this and when the three BJP MPs walked into Parliament holding a crore of rupees as the initial down payment for abstentions, there was no protest from the treasury benches. It was only later that the Samajwadi leader Amar Singh and political secretary to the Congress president, Ahmed Patel who were named by the BJPs, faced journalists to insist that they were not involved. Singh accused the BJP trio of being "political prostitutes", while Patel offered to resign if any of the charges against him were proved true.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi were all smiles at the end of the vote, as were sections of the corporate media. Singh was probably happy that he entered Parliaments record books as the first prime minister who did not vote on his own confidence motion as he is a member of the Rajya Sabha; and is also the first Prime Minister who was not able to respond to the debate and had to table his speech. Just as well as the content of what he had to say would have brought the House down. The pettiness was reflected in his response to the debate, with the result that two institutions of Parliamentary democracy were degraded in the process. One, of the Prime Minister for using language that did not add to the stature of the office or to Parliament and in fact dragged it down to a base level. Two, of the Leader of the Opposition who was shown little respect by the Prime Minister, with the present incumbent L.K.Advani being attacked and ridiculed in cheap terms. Both were a first insofar as debates on confidence motions in Parliament were concerned, and reflected the sordidness of the drama staged in and outside the Lok Sabha.
Dr Manmohan Singh stature might have grown for those who believe that every trick in the book should be utilized to become a subordinate ally of the United States. But it has diminished dramatically in the world of real politics, where the question being asked with increasing resonance is: why is he in such desperate haste, what is he getting out of it, what is he getting us into? The answers are all in the negative. The haste, as everyone by now knows, is being determined by the most unpopular President in US history, George W.Bush. India is rushing to meet the deadline imposed by Bush and his administration regardless of the fractured verdict that even the current vote in Parliament threw up.
Dr Singh wants to bow out of office - he does not know if he is ever going to be Prime Minister again, with accolades from the US and the international community (read the west). His constituency is outside India, and through this deal he wants to meet its every requirement.
As for what the country is going into, there are many here who have spelt it out but the government has decided not to listen. The government says that the nuclear deal is not part of a strategic alliance. Every US official, from Rice to Burns, has said it is.
>>The government says, India will have the right to test. The US has made it clear over and over again that India does not have this right, and if it does it will lose the nuclear reactors (procured at exorbitant cost) and the fuel.
>>The government says that the deal is not bound by the Hyde Act. Then why did the US Congress spend so much time and effort in passing a Act that is not binding? Every single Congressman knows that the Hyde Act is the enabling legislation, and Indian governments for the next 40-50 years will have to abide by its provisions if they want to continue the nuclear cooperation.
>>The government insists that it is not required to follow a foreign policy congruent with the US. It has already fallen in line on this with the vote against Iran at the IAEA Board of Governors.
>>The government claims that the nuclear deal will answer the country's energy crisis by generating 40,000 megawats after ten years. Every Indian expert, in government or outside, is agreed that this figure will not be met in ten years and it will be more realistic to prune this down to 20,000 megawatts. Besides nuclear energy will meet at best only six per cent of the country's requirements, and will be far more expensive in generation than any other form of energy.
This is just part of it. India will lose her voice, and her right to take sovereign decisions. The US, like the rest of the developed world, is looking for a market. India's huge consumer class provides this but instead of bargaining, we the buyers are accepting the terms set out by the seller. Instead of negotiating a nuclear pact as a straight commercial transaction we have allowed our foreign policy and our strategic autonomy to be tied in knots. I am not going into details here as this part has been elaborated over and over again not just by some journalists, but by strategic experts, nuclear scientists and political parties. Not a single claim of the government has withstood scrutiny on the nuclear deal, leading to falsehoods, lies and now engineered horsetrading where MPs have named key persons. The issue is being enquired into reportedly, but the results of this are still to be known.
The US has perfected the art of manufacturing consensus. Nowhere was this more visible than when Bush decided to invade Iraq. Key domestic lobbies, including the embedded media, were put into the field to manufacture and project a "consensus" through various arguments given by the State Department. The lie became the truth - for instance Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction - and was accepted by the silent majority unchallenged. This is a devious ruse of neo-conservatism and for the first time since independence is being put to good play in India by unscrupulous governments.
The NDA government used terrorism for justifying the worst kind of action. To a point where the susceptible Indians living in cities have admitted, in a recent survey, that for them even torture of the innocent is acceptable in the name of checking terror. The UPA government has further strengthened this, with activists like Binayak Sen, minorities and villagers bearing the brunt of unjustified and brutal state action. A consensus supporting these atrocities was manufactured through careful propaganda, in which the corporate media played a valuable part.
The same strategy has been used for the India US civilian nuclear energy agreement. Of course, the manufactured consensus relies heavily on the ignorance of the chattering classes and the media, as well as on its susceptibility to corruption. Parliament had debated the deal and the consensus last year clearly saw the UPA isolated in both Houses. Despite the control on the propaganda machinery - from the official to the private - the government found itself on the losing side of the debate, and unable to move ahead without serious consequences. In the process, its ability to manufacture consensus was crippled as the majority of parliamentarians opposed the nuclear deal and the unseemly rush to get it through. It was then that the government decided to launch a new operation, where money and muscle power was reportedly used to coerce the consensus. The revelations by the three BJP MPs in the House came as a surprise, but the government and the Speaker decided to ignore the episode altogether and continue with the trust vote. A television channel that was expected to play the tapes, decided not to, and currently it has been left to the Speaker to investigate the allegations.
Of course in the meanwhile, everything for the poor and the oppressed remains as before. Electricity, a prime demand till a few years ago, has taken a back seat as the poor are now finding it impossible to even get one meal a day. Kalavati, who earned Rahul Gandhi a big round of applause in the House, is not waiting for nuclear energy as he said. Even when it comes, if it comes, she will not be able to afford it. She is waiting for just sufficient food to keep her nine children from going to bed hungry. To keep them alive.
This dear Prime Minister is the real India that the Left parties were trying to educate you about. And which is not visible to you or Washington. It is unfortunate that instead of learning you felt like a bonded slave. Perhaps some one should send you the variations of the same thought circulating through SMS. These point out: the PM does not mind being a bonded slave to Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. And again, is the PM a bonded slave to Washington? Are you?
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Overpowering Maya
Overpowering Maya
By Susenjit Guha
By Susenjit Guha
Why was the BJP crestfallen and uncharacteristically muted when there were several gaping warts in the UPA’s governance on which salt could be sprinkled at random? Does the Congress and the BJP have similar interests and common foe?
Sometime back L K Advani lamented on a television channel after his book was released that there was no connection---the leaders of two major national parties literally do not see eye to eye--- between the BJP and the Congress party of the ruling UPA.Dialogues between the ruling and the major opposition parties are considered essential for a healthy democracy.
L K Advani also mentioned in the interview that Rahul Gandhi once asked him how to combat the rise of so many regional parties. He tried to impress upon Rahul the need for more contacts between Congress and the BJP to stem the growth of regional players.
Perhaps they had a premonition that Mayawati from India's largest state Uttar Pradesh, a state which can make or break governments at the centre was single-handedly capable of giving them sleepless nights.
And while delivering his speech on the morning of 21st as leader of the opposition before next day’s most infamous proceedings for the trust vote in the nation's history, L K Advani, the projected Prime Minister of the NDA coalition, never expected Mayawati also to stake her claim at the same time for the post with just 17 MP’s.
She let herself loose form the confines of UP politics and deliberated on the N-deal, a major foreign policy issue or obsession, which warranted a trust vote in the first place.
Unconsciously, Advani had conceded defeat on the first day itself by saying, the government may win the trust vote.
Why was the BJP crestfallen and uncharacteristically muted when there were several gaping warts in the UPA’s governance on which salt could be sprinkled at random? Does the Congress and the BJP have similar interests and common foe?
The BJP was never against the N-deal apart from the clause that India could do another nuclear test at her own peril. If UPA fails to come to power in the next election, the NDA and BJP would be saved from the dirty mess of doing the deal.
And two major political parties at the national level can have two prime ministerial candidates contending each other. And of course, if a third front can cobble up a coalition, there would be at best another one to contend with from the fringes.
In the Vedanta of the Hindus, Maya or illusion is best elucidated by a rope and a snake. A rope is mistaken for a snake and feared. But this Maya or Mayawati of UP as per M J Akbar’s byline few months back is no illusion.
After all who would make a bid for the Prime Minister’s office with just 17 MP’s from a single state?
She can, because her traditional electorate, the Dalits, represent 16% of the population and if SC/ST’s, also clubbed under Dalits are included, it would be around 40%. Then there are converts discriminated in their own communities---the Sikh, Muslim, Christian and Buddhist Dalits. Poor people, farmers on suicide mode and outside the NDA’s rurally- elitist bank loan waiver scheme and Dalits naturally careen towards her. Sudden pontifications on economics by Rahul Gandhi, discovery that poverty and energy needs are inter-twinned inspired by ‘Bharat darshan’ was bereft of any cost-benefit analysis for the villagers.
Mayawati has made life safe for them in UP from the higher caste law-keepers and engineered social interaction across castes unthinkable in the past. Even though she is confined only to UP, Dalits in other states will impact election results favoring political parties allied to her. In Andhra Pradesh with a sizable Muslim population, her alliance with TDP, TRS and the Left is formidable.
And she is neither uncomfortable wearing bigger shoes nor treading on huge toes. Both the two major political parties in India cannot ignore the reality by mistaking her for a harmless rope.
The combined percentage with her latent electorate can be mind-boggling and capable of upsetting anybody’s applecart.
Mayawati, quick on the political uptake, will go on an overdrive on the deal issue to counter allegations of BSP’s former alliance with the BJP in UP.
But the NDA’s obsession with Bush and the trust vote win will feed complacency that the deal is not anti-Muslim even though Muslims around the world despise him and are pinning their hopes for an on-the-ground perception change of the US administration with the next president.
Sardar Dr.Manmohan Singh may have braced up after the trust vote and Mayawati may have been over-powered for now, but accidentally a can has been quietly prized open, the contents of which will spill out gradually and perhaps warrant more dialogues between the major national political parties of India.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Bootlickers
Bootlickers
By U. Mahesh Prabhu
I wasn't able to jot down my weekly column last week for the reason that: I was, according to a doctor, suffering from 'hypertension' or 'blood pressure'. I had some pain in my forehead and heart, besides was also not able to respire properly. On meeting the doc, he took my blood pressure reading and 'confirmed' that I had hypertension.
However, I grew a bit skeptical when he showed his reluctance to convey me my Blood Pressure reading and instead asked me to undergo some medical tests. 'No you first conduct these three tests and then only I will tell you the readings.' He declared. And the first thing I did to elucidate my suspicion was to telephone my friend, who is an Ayurvedic Surgeon from Hubli, Dr. Bhargav, for a second opinion. He asked me a few questions and without more ado concluded that it (symptoms) hasn't got anything to do with my Blood Pressure but with Sinus. He suggested me some home remedies on resorting to which I was hale and healthy in less than two days! I was just in good health without undergoing those tests, which would have cost me a good deal of money.
I am now confirmed that the Doctor had found that I had no BP – at all. And that, all he wanted he wanted to earn a few extra cash through the commission he would be receiving from the laboratory on my fees. Yes, that's true. This is how our doctors are functioning these days.
When I discussed this happening with one of the doctors I was told that it was the only way by which they would repossess their sum exhausted on their medical education. True, medical education in this country costs a fortune. When I sought, causally, advice of a premier educationalist in the region, who runs a distinguished medical college, as to what was the reason for his college to charge such a hefty fee, his remarks were 'Well we have invested in our infrastructure how do you think we are to recover our investment?' besides blaming 'corrupt government officials and red tape.'
Being a political monthly editor I am acquainted with officials in the Government's Health and Education Ministry and thus decided to seek out their rejoinder in this regard. 'This is how the things are!' exclaimed a bureaucrat.
Everyone had, what they called, 'credible raison d'être' to rationalize their actions, but what about those pitiable and monetarily destitute populace? 'Who cares?' said one. Yes, that's right 'Who cares'!
When sought a way how the medical education and treatment could be brought down drastically my educationalist friend's response was 'Do you know in comparison with US and UK we have the most cost-effective education and treatment?' Nothing for me could be more bizarre than this vindication. In the wake of making India 'global health destination' by means of 'Medical Tourism', we have made medicine a trade, affordable but only for the global elites.
As the rich get richer they have hardly any reason to be upset about the rise medical bills. After all, for what are their hefty health insurance policies for? But has someone ever thought of millions of our countrymen who live below the poverty line? What about them? There are several questions for which answers aren't obtainable, at least as of now. And this is all in arrears to our growing inclination to the west, America and UK in specific - Our proclivity towards 'Capitalism'. We are busy madly imitating their way of life.
When I was pursuing my Masters in Business Administration (MBA) my specialization subject was marketing. We were suggested but one book which was to serve as our curriculum for the next two years. It was entitled 'Marketing Management', written by a 'great marketing mind' Philip Kotler. It spoke so nicely about marketing, almost everything from water to wine and from safety pin to satellite in simplicity. If it hadn't had something, it was ethics and morality. That's very true; we hadn't had anything called 'ethics' in our entire curriculum. And if there was something, it was just for the heck of it. Everywhere in it were case studies from the Americas, the 'greatness' of American corporations and their corporate 'czars'. We were taught management fundamentals from corporations with wretched and dismal track records, especially, when it came to essential 'humanitarian' and 'environmental' obligations. We were given such a 'rosy' picture of these conglomerates in a way, as if, they could do, or have did, no wrong.
Why just marketing, to the best of my knowledge, no field of education in this country is today untouched by the American and/or British culture. Let me cite here the example of dentistry. Repairing or fixing a tooth which is, most certainly, such a simple process is being made to look byzantine. A person with an average annual income of 40,000 INR a month, under which most of our nationals fall in, can never afford complex dental rehabilitation treatments. It's that costly, not because of the instruments or procedures, but due to 'fees' paid by dentists for their education. And the way in which they recover their 'fees' is no dissimilar than their American counterparts.
Some time back I met a retired Lt. Gen. and I happened to asked him 'Sir, do you think India is prepared militarily, in case Americans attack us?' he laughed. 'I'm not joking sir' I vowed. 'Come on son, why on earth do you think Americans are going to attack us?' 'Aren't we a large and resourceful nation, Sir?' 'They are already plundering our resources, can't you see? What kind of journalist are you?' 'But… still…' 'Look Mahesh, if Americans want to know any of our secrets they can just go to our politicians or to our senior commanders and bribe them with a admission for their kids in Harvard or Princeton or a Green Card and, trust me, these rascals will just give it to them… why do you think these people will ever need to invade a country which they are ruling so easily?' 'But how do you say that they are ruling us?' I was intrigued.
'Look at the Indo-US Nuclear deal, every able person in this country can understand that Nuclear deal is against our national interests and is mostly a con trick, if not completely. We are to loose our independent foreign policy should only we sign it. But, who cares? Our people love to lick the boots of the Americans instead of arduously working for the greatness of this land.'
True, we have been so much enthused by the glitters of the America that we seldom care for our own country, let alone our impoverished country men. We are willing to sell our souls in exchange for their green cards.
These corrupt medical practices, lack of moral ethics in business and our countrymen's support to Indo-US nuclear deal fairly justifies that we are all prepared to be bootlickers of the Americans.
By U. Mahesh Prabhu
'Look at the Indo-US Nuclear deal, every able person in this country can understand that Nuclear deal is against our national interests and is mostly a con trick, if not completely. We are to loose our independent foreign policy should only we sign it. But, who cares? Our people love to lick the boots of the Americans instead of arduously working for the greatness of this land.'
I wasn't able to jot down my weekly column last week for the reason that: I was, according to a doctor, suffering from 'hypertension' or 'blood pressure'. I had some pain in my forehead and heart, besides was also not able to respire properly. On meeting the doc, he took my blood pressure reading and 'confirmed' that I had hypertension.However, I grew a bit skeptical when he showed his reluctance to convey me my Blood Pressure reading and instead asked me to undergo some medical tests. 'No you first conduct these three tests and then only I will tell you the readings.' He declared. And the first thing I did to elucidate my suspicion was to telephone my friend, who is an Ayurvedic Surgeon from Hubli, Dr. Bhargav, for a second opinion. He asked me a few questions and without more ado concluded that it (symptoms) hasn't got anything to do with my Blood Pressure but with Sinus. He suggested me some home remedies on resorting to which I was hale and healthy in less than two days! I was just in good health without undergoing those tests, which would have cost me a good deal of money.
I am now confirmed that the Doctor had found that I had no BP – at all. And that, all he wanted he wanted to earn a few extra cash through the commission he would be receiving from the laboratory on my fees. Yes, that's true. This is how our doctors are functioning these days.
When I discussed this happening with one of the doctors I was told that it was the only way by which they would repossess their sum exhausted on their medical education. True, medical education in this country costs a fortune. When I sought, causally, advice of a premier educationalist in the region, who runs a distinguished medical college, as to what was the reason for his college to charge such a hefty fee, his remarks were 'Well we have invested in our infrastructure how do you think we are to recover our investment?' besides blaming 'corrupt government officials and red tape.'
Being a political monthly editor I am acquainted with officials in the Government's Health and Education Ministry and thus decided to seek out their rejoinder in this regard. 'This is how the things are!' exclaimed a bureaucrat.
Everyone had, what they called, 'credible raison d'être' to rationalize their actions, but what about those pitiable and monetarily destitute populace? 'Who cares?' said one. Yes, that's right 'Who cares'!
When sought a way how the medical education and treatment could be brought down drastically my educationalist friend's response was 'Do you know in comparison with US and UK we have the most cost-effective education and treatment?' Nothing for me could be more bizarre than this vindication. In the wake of making India 'global health destination' by means of 'Medical Tourism', we have made medicine a trade, affordable but only for the global elites.
As the rich get richer they have hardly any reason to be upset about the rise medical bills. After all, for what are their hefty health insurance policies for? But has someone ever thought of millions of our countrymen who live below the poverty line? What about them? There are several questions for which answers aren't obtainable, at least as of now. And this is all in arrears to our growing inclination to the west, America and UK in specific - Our proclivity towards 'Capitalism'. We are busy madly imitating their way of life.
When I was pursuing my Masters in Business Administration (MBA) my specialization subject was marketing. We were suggested but one book which was to serve as our curriculum for the next two years. It was entitled 'Marketing Management', written by a 'great marketing mind' Philip Kotler. It spoke so nicely about marketing, almost everything from water to wine and from safety pin to satellite in simplicity. If it hadn't had something, it was ethics and morality. That's very true; we hadn't had anything called 'ethics' in our entire curriculum. And if there was something, it was just for the heck of it. Everywhere in it were case studies from the Americas, the 'greatness' of American corporations and their corporate 'czars'. We were taught management fundamentals from corporations with wretched and dismal track records, especially, when it came to essential 'humanitarian' and 'environmental' obligations. We were given such a 'rosy' picture of these conglomerates in a way, as if, they could do, or have did, no wrong.
Why just marketing, to the best of my knowledge, no field of education in this country is today untouched by the American and/or British culture. Let me cite here the example of dentistry. Repairing or fixing a tooth which is, most certainly, such a simple process is being made to look byzantine. A person with an average annual income of 40,000 INR a month, under which most of our nationals fall in, can never afford complex dental rehabilitation treatments. It's that costly, not because of the instruments or procedures, but due to 'fees' paid by dentists for their education. And the way in which they recover their 'fees' is no dissimilar than their American counterparts.
Some time back I met a retired Lt. Gen. and I happened to asked him 'Sir, do you think India is prepared militarily, in case Americans attack us?' he laughed. 'I'm not joking sir' I vowed. 'Come on son, why on earth do you think Americans are going to attack us?' 'Aren't we a large and resourceful nation, Sir?' 'They are already plundering our resources, can't you see? What kind of journalist are you?' 'But… still…' 'Look Mahesh, if Americans want to know any of our secrets they can just go to our politicians or to our senior commanders and bribe them with a admission for their kids in Harvard or Princeton or a Green Card and, trust me, these rascals will just give it to them… why do you think these people will ever need to invade a country which they are ruling so easily?' 'But how do you say that they are ruling us?' I was intrigued.
'Look at the Indo-US Nuclear deal, every able person in this country can understand that Nuclear deal is against our national interests and is mostly a con trick, if not completely. We are to loose our independent foreign policy should only we sign it. But, who cares? Our people love to lick the boots of the Americans instead of arduously working for the greatness of this land.'
True, we have been so much enthused by the glitters of the America that we seldom care for our own country, let alone our impoverished country men. We are willing to sell our souls in exchange for their green cards.
These corrupt medical practices, lack of moral ethics in business and our countrymen's support to Indo-US nuclear deal fairly justifies that we are all prepared to be bootlickers of the Americans.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
SOS from the sinking ship
SOS from a sinking ship
By Susenjit Guha
Never before in the history of Indian politics had money flown around so freely and blatantly before a trust vote which will rehabilitate or perhaps take away whatever credibility remains of the Congress party in national politics.
And the time has come for some serious stock taking of the esteem with which Dr. Manmohan Singh is held. Criticism has been stepped up since he went ahead with his one point agenda of doing the N-deal with the US. Signs of gratification--- seen whenever Musharraf met Bush---did not sit well on India's Prime Minister when he met the most unpopular US President on the sidelines of the G 8 summit few weeks back.
That brings us to the inevitable question of the Congress party's credibility which is on the wane.
Nowadays, Rahul Gandhi looks more like his father: a be-spectacled Rajiv Gandhi, when he rode the crest of popularity among India's youth. Tired of vintage Congressmen and their politics, the youth in the eighties took to him like ducks to water.
Congressmen are now banking on a repeat performance from his son---which in these trying times they make themselves believe as there cannot be any other alternative---which may have urged Rahul Gandhi to try and separate the old from the young across party lines. According to him, all young MP's of India support the deal while---which he did not say, but it was implied---fossils in the Left and across other parry lines vehemently oppose it.
Some time back Rahul Gandhi played to the gallery in his ancestral constituency of Amethi by lauding the Congress read his grandmother's achievement of deciding and then managing to break up Pakistan in 1971. All this happened when Indo-Pak relations were on the mend. But the head honchos of the government failed to turn up at former Field Marshall Sam Maneckshaw's funeral. He saved precious lives of Indian forces by refusing to attack East Pakistan in April and drown them in the deluge that characterises the nation's monsoon.
If the Congress is what it was many decades earlier, then, why the fate of the Congress party is dependent on nondescript small players with whom it had refused to have any truck in the past?
Why convicts have to be brought over to be present on D-day, the make or break day of the trust vote?
Why one MP political parties on the fringes of state politics have to be compensated more than they are worth?
And we all know the past of Shibu Soren and the stand taken by Dr. Manmohan Singh against him in the past. Does he know anything about the N-deal, leave alone having a clear stand on the issue? But his support of 5 MP's is vital for a sinking Congress party even if it means foregoing the coal ministry for his sake.
Banking on the Akalis to go with a Sikh Prime Minister has not worked. They will vote against the Congress.
In West Bengal, at this critical juncture, a major Congress leader has broken ranks to float another party.
Even the Samajwadi Party, the professed saviour and antidote for the Left's withdrawal, is finding it difficult to keep its flock together with the general secretary and some other MP's careening towards Mayawati who looms large in Uttar Pradesh.
If something new has come about in this power play in Indian politics, it is her name for the candidature of Prime Minister. We have had a Dalit President, so why not a Dalit Prime Minister if she can outgrow UP and come out of the confines of UP politics?
If at all we have to emulate a big power like the US, we should take a lesson how a black man came into reckoning for the White House for the first time in the nation's history along with a woman who may have lost the nomination, but cleared the ground for a future woman President. Real changes on the ground for perhaps more path-breaking changes Americans can really believe in.
And what have we been doing? Trying hard to get into the good books of a US President, who is regularly breaking new records in unpopularity not only in the US, but in nations considered as their traditional allies.
Why the overkill to get through the deal when it is nearly impossible for the most unpopular US President in the world to impact or see through its successful outcome?
Or, is there a fear that the next president may strike it off since many in the US are against the deal?
Can we ignore growing US involvement in Pakistan which may directly impact India if we slide under the so called strategic cover or alliance which critics are talking about?
There have been very few debates about the hazards of nuclear reactors in the US and other developed countries. It is common practice by the developed nations to pass off polluting and disastrous industries to developing countries eager to eat out of their hands.
But now the events of July 22 should be eagerly watched. Anything can happen in politics and in India; parameters are getting lower and lower during crunch times.
One thing is for sure.
The Congress is very unsure about the future which is a far cry from the heady magic of the past which had helped it to romp home with resounding victories. It is evident from the ludicrous logic and arguments put forward by some commentators on prime time television which may have gone down well in a monarchy with moronic subjects, but not with an emerging India where the electorate can only be taken for granted by political parties closeted in the past, not ideologically, but practically.
After all who would argue that money into politics was nothing new since Gandhiji too had accepted money from industrial houses? That is the problem. Confusing the nationalistic compulsions with the present trust vote at a time when the Congress cannot stand by itself.
The real enemy of the Congress is not the BJP or the Left. It is the inability to realize that it has ghosted.
Stakes are different in 2008. Nearly every state has its share of regional players itching to assert themselves and get whatever they can all that they could not have bargained for earlier if the country had not been brought to this state for the N-deal when inflation, around 12% with no signs of going down, is hitting stomachs across India.
Meanwhile the price bar for MP's is on the rise.
By Susenjit Guha
If the Congress is what it was many decades earlier, then, why the fate of the Congress party is dependent on nondescript small players with whom it had refused to have any truck in the past?
Never before in the history of Indian politics had money flown around so freely and blatantly before a trust vote which will rehabilitate or perhaps take away whatever credibility remains of the Congress party in national politics.And the time has come for some serious stock taking of the esteem with which Dr. Manmohan Singh is held. Criticism has been stepped up since he went ahead with his one point agenda of doing the N-deal with the US. Signs of gratification--- seen whenever Musharraf met Bush---did not sit well on India's Prime Minister when he met the most unpopular US President on the sidelines of the G 8 summit few weeks back.
That brings us to the inevitable question of the Congress party's credibility which is on the wane.
Nowadays, Rahul Gandhi looks more like his father: a be-spectacled Rajiv Gandhi, when he rode the crest of popularity among India's youth. Tired of vintage Congressmen and their politics, the youth in the eighties took to him like ducks to water.
Congressmen are now banking on a repeat performance from his son---which in these trying times they make themselves believe as there cannot be any other alternative---which may have urged Rahul Gandhi to try and separate the old from the young across party lines. According to him, all young MP's of India support the deal while---which he did not say, but it was implied---fossils in the Left and across other parry lines vehemently oppose it.
Some time back Rahul Gandhi played to the gallery in his ancestral constituency of Amethi by lauding the Congress read his grandmother's achievement of deciding and then managing to break up Pakistan in 1971. All this happened when Indo-Pak relations were on the mend. But the head honchos of the government failed to turn up at former Field Marshall Sam Maneckshaw's funeral. He saved precious lives of Indian forces by refusing to attack East Pakistan in April and drown them in the deluge that characterises the nation's monsoon.
If the Congress is what it was many decades earlier, then, why the fate of the Congress party is dependent on nondescript small players with whom it had refused to have any truck in the past?
Why convicts have to be brought over to be present on D-day, the make or break day of the trust vote?
Why one MP political parties on the fringes of state politics have to be compensated more than they are worth?
And we all know the past of Shibu Soren and the stand taken by Dr. Manmohan Singh against him in the past. Does he know anything about the N-deal, leave alone having a clear stand on the issue? But his support of 5 MP's is vital for a sinking Congress party even if it means foregoing the coal ministry for his sake.
Banking on the Akalis to go with a Sikh Prime Minister has not worked. They will vote against the Congress.
In West Bengal, at this critical juncture, a major Congress leader has broken ranks to float another party.
Even the Samajwadi Party, the professed saviour and antidote for the Left's withdrawal, is finding it difficult to keep its flock together with the general secretary and some other MP's careening towards Mayawati who looms large in Uttar Pradesh.
If something new has come about in this power play in Indian politics, it is her name for the candidature of Prime Minister. We have had a Dalit President, so why not a Dalit Prime Minister if she can outgrow UP and come out of the confines of UP politics?
If at all we have to emulate a big power like the US, we should take a lesson how a black man came into reckoning for the White House for the first time in the nation's history along with a woman who may have lost the nomination, but cleared the ground for a future woman President. Real changes on the ground for perhaps more path-breaking changes Americans can really believe in.
And what have we been doing? Trying hard to get into the good books of a US President, who is regularly breaking new records in unpopularity not only in the US, but in nations considered as their traditional allies.
Why the overkill to get through the deal when it is nearly impossible for the most unpopular US President in the world to impact or see through its successful outcome?
Or, is there a fear that the next president may strike it off since many in the US are against the deal?
Can we ignore growing US involvement in Pakistan which may directly impact India if we slide under the so called strategic cover or alliance which critics are talking about?
There have been very few debates about the hazards of nuclear reactors in the US and other developed countries. It is common practice by the developed nations to pass off polluting and disastrous industries to developing countries eager to eat out of their hands.
But now the events of July 22 should be eagerly watched. Anything can happen in politics and in India; parameters are getting lower and lower during crunch times.
One thing is for sure.
The Congress is very unsure about the future which is a far cry from the heady magic of the past which had helped it to romp home with resounding victories. It is evident from the ludicrous logic and arguments put forward by some commentators on prime time television which may have gone down well in a monarchy with moronic subjects, but not with an emerging India where the electorate can only be taken for granted by political parties closeted in the past, not ideologically, but practically.
After all who would argue that money into politics was nothing new since Gandhiji too had accepted money from industrial houses? That is the problem. Confusing the nationalistic compulsions with the present trust vote at a time when the Congress cannot stand by itself.
The real enemy of the Congress is not the BJP or the Left. It is the inability to realize that it has ghosted.
Stakes are different in 2008. Nearly every state has its share of regional players itching to assert themselves and get whatever they can all that they could not have bargained for earlier if the country had not been brought to this state for the N-deal when inflation, around 12% with no signs of going down, is hitting stomachs across India.
Meanwhile the price bar for MP's is on the rise.
Irresponsible Stand
Irresponsible Stand
By Seema Mustafa
The Congress party, cussedly following the nuclear path set out by US President George W.Bush, has plunged the nation into chaos. The huge grins on the faces of Congressmen, buoyed by the "masterstroke" of getting the Samajwadi party on board have turned into visible despair as the "party managers" rush around, offering everything from cash to kind, to bring the smaller parties on board.
The famous last words of Sonia Gandhi long years ago, "272, and more are still coming" (before the same Samajwadi party killed her ambitions) are again echoing through Congress corridors with the calculators out, as political permutations take over governance. The well publicized handshake between BSP leader Ms Mayawati and CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat came as a major blow to both the Congress and the SP, as neither had expected the Left to reach out to the Uttar Pradesh chief minister. Proving that he is as much a tactician as a theoretician, Karat lost little time in reaching out to all the other political parties in a bid to consolidate opinion against the nuclear deal. The smiles froze on the faces of Amar Singh and his new friends in the Congress, as even they knew that the consequences of this alliance could only spell trouble for the trust vote in Parliament.
The Samajwadi party, despite two trials of strength in Delhi, has been unable to parade all its 39 MP's before the national media. The first time they were ten short, and at the second meeting closer to the trust vote they were 12 to 14 short. The Congress president Sonia Gandhi has had to issue an early whip, and arrange meetings with all her MPs to ensure that no one crosses over to the BSP that is now becoming taller by the day. The BJP has also decided to open its doors to any Congress or other MPs that might come its way, and the party is happy that many are at least stopping to exchange the time of day and see what might be on offer. The UNPA has not split because of the Left-Mayawati understanding, with Telugu Desam's Chandrababu Naidu now in touch with her for a larger alliance in Andhra Pradesh. The other smaller parties in the UNPA are also sticking together for the moment, at least until they have voted against the UPA in Parliament after which they can take a fresh look at the political scenario.
The point is that the walk over has crumbled even as the Congress and the SP were bringing out the crackers to celebrate. The UPA government is now fighting a desperate battle to survive the trust vote, with each new day bringing bad news. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has now joined Sonia Gandhi in personally trying to bring the smaller parties on board, and has been trying to woo Janata Dal (S) Deve Gowda and his two MPs. One JD(S) member has already declared his intention of voting against the government. This in itself is indicative of how close the race has become, with the BJP recalling the one vote defeat of the Atal Behari Vajpayee in Parliament that delayed its rise to power.
It is almost clear that only two possibilities are staring the UPA in the face: one defeat in Parliament, and two, victory with a very narrow margin. This in itself should be read as a defeat, and a verdict against the nuclear deal. Manmohan Singh has been claiming majority support, insisting in even his latest meeting with Bush on the sidelines of the G-8 summit in Japan, that the consensus in India was behind him on the deal. He should know better than any other, that this consensus must be reflected in Parliament and a vertical split after the kind of horsetrading that the UPA has indulged in actually spells d-e-f-e-a-t if the Congress had only learnt how to spell.
The Rs 25 crore per MP figure given by CPI general secretary A.B.Bardhan has stuck, with even Congress leaders being unable to counter this. A rebel Samajwadi party MP has now declared that he was offered this amount to vote for the nuclear deal. So clearly cash has been made available in plenty, and kind has been left for the individuals to determine. The wish list, thus, is long and detailed. JMM's Shibu Soren wants his old Coal ministry back. Alternatively he wants to be Jharkhand's chief minister. Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Ajit Singh, back in the spotlights after a while, wants a ministership (may be even two) but more than this wants the seat sharing alliance in UP firmed up. In that he wants a certain number of seats and expects those he is talking to, to oblige. And so on and so forth.
In fact, even the corporate media working for the nuclear deal has been forced to admit that matters are not that smooth, and perhaps, just perhaps, things are not working out the Congress way. Worried Congressmen privately started blaming the Prime Minister for the mess, but this also did not last, as both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul cleared the picture publicly. Rahul was particularly juvenile when he said with an arrogant shake of the head, "we are for the nuclear deal, if the government goes let it go." This one line reflected complete irresponsibility tinged with classical arrogance, a reminder that those framing policy in the Congress party really do not believe in accountability. His mother followed through the next day where she spoke on similar lines, and her complete support to the nuclear deal, at a public meeting in Andhra Pradesh. The argument was the familiar, "this will give us power for the poor" with no mention, of course, of the pounds of flesh that the US will manage to extract from India in the process.
A word about Rahul Gandhi, now that he has started taking political policy positions will not be amiss. He has not said much, but when he does speak it is clear that he believes, like the Prime Minister, that India can progress only by attaching itself to the US through a strategic alliance that most others in the country still see as debilitating. He is fond of the good life, does not believe in mass struggles, believes ardently in the Nehru-Gandhi's right to lead the Congress and the nation, but lacks the charisma and the leadership capabilities that Congressmen had been so eagerly looking forward to. He is awkward with the political leaders, and often finds it difficult to disguise his dislike for the politician. He has still to grow into the space that his mother and the party managers have created for him. This along with his inability to enthuse the masses is now adding to Congress impatience, particularly in election year.
At the end of the day Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi will have to explain why they took the conscious decision of de-stabilising a government and India in the process, for a nuclear deal that could have waited. What was the hurry, that the people of this country had to be witness to the worst kind of political machinations with the Congress in the lead? Bush would have been kicked out of office without a thought had he brought his government to a standstill, in the manner that the Congress has done for an international treaty. More so, when the nation is reeling under double digit inflation and spiraling prices. What is the hurry? The question has been asked by the Left, by every political leader in the UPA and outside? But the threesome who are pushing the nuclear deal with all their might, regardless of the consequences for the government, have no answer.
By Seema Mustafa
Rahul was particularly juvenile when he said with an arrogant shake of the head, "we are for the nuclear deal, if the government goes let it go." This one line reflected complete irresponsibility tinged with classical arrogance, a reminder that those framing policy in the Congress party really do not believe in accountability. His mother followed through the next day where she spoke on similar lines, and her complete support to the nuclear deal, at a public meeting in Andhra Pradesh.
The Congress party, cussedly following the nuclear path set out by US President George W.Bush, has plunged the nation into chaos. The huge grins on the faces of Congressmen, buoyed by the "masterstroke" of getting the Samajwadi party on board have turned into visible despair as the "party managers" rush around, offering everything from cash to kind, to bring the smaller parties on board.The famous last words of Sonia Gandhi long years ago, "272, and more are still coming" (before the same Samajwadi party killed her ambitions) are again echoing through Congress corridors with the calculators out, as political permutations take over governance. The well publicized handshake between BSP leader Ms Mayawati and CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat came as a major blow to both the Congress and the SP, as neither had expected the Left to reach out to the Uttar Pradesh chief minister. Proving that he is as much a tactician as a theoretician, Karat lost little time in reaching out to all the other political parties in a bid to consolidate opinion against the nuclear deal. The smiles froze on the faces of Amar Singh and his new friends in the Congress, as even they knew that the consequences of this alliance could only spell trouble for the trust vote in Parliament.
The Samajwadi party, despite two trials of strength in Delhi, has been unable to parade all its 39 MP's before the national media. The first time they were ten short, and at the second meeting closer to the trust vote they were 12 to 14 short. The Congress president Sonia Gandhi has had to issue an early whip, and arrange meetings with all her MPs to ensure that no one crosses over to the BSP that is now becoming taller by the day. The BJP has also decided to open its doors to any Congress or other MPs that might come its way, and the party is happy that many are at least stopping to exchange the time of day and see what might be on offer. The UNPA has not split because of the Left-Mayawati understanding, with Telugu Desam's Chandrababu Naidu now in touch with her for a larger alliance in Andhra Pradesh. The other smaller parties in the UNPA are also sticking together for the moment, at least until they have voted against the UPA in Parliament after which they can take a fresh look at the political scenario.
The point is that the walk over has crumbled even as the Congress and the SP were bringing out the crackers to celebrate. The UPA government is now fighting a desperate battle to survive the trust vote, with each new day bringing bad news. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has now joined Sonia Gandhi in personally trying to bring the smaller parties on board, and has been trying to woo Janata Dal (S) Deve Gowda and his two MPs. One JD(S) member has already declared his intention of voting against the government. This in itself is indicative of how close the race has become, with the BJP recalling the one vote defeat of the Atal Behari Vajpayee in Parliament that delayed its rise to power.
It is almost clear that only two possibilities are staring the UPA in the face: one defeat in Parliament, and two, victory with a very narrow margin. This in itself should be read as a defeat, and a verdict against the nuclear deal. Manmohan Singh has been claiming majority support, insisting in even his latest meeting with Bush on the sidelines of the G-8 summit in Japan, that the consensus in India was behind him on the deal. He should know better than any other, that this consensus must be reflected in Parliament and a vertical split after the kind of horsetrading that the UPA has indulged in actually spells d-e-f-e-a-t if the Congress had only learnt how to spell.
The Rs 25 crore per MP figure given by CPI general secretary A.B.Bardhan has stuck, with even Congress leaders being unable to counter this. A rebel Samajwadi party MP has now declared that he was offered this amount to vote for the nuclear deal. So clearly cash has been made available in plenty, and kind has been left for the individuals to determine. The wish list, thus, is long and detailed. JMM's Shibu Soren wants his old Coal ministry back. Alternatively he wants to be Jharkhand's chief minister. Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Ajit Singh, back in the spotlights after a while, wants a ministership (may be even two) but more than this wants the seat sharing alliance in UP firmed up. In that he wants a certain number of seats and expects those he is talking to, to oblige. And so on and so forth.
In fact, even the corporate media working for the nuclear deal has been forced to admit that matters are not that smooth, and perhaps, just perhaps, things are not working out the Congress way. Worried Congressmen privately started blaming the Prime Minister for the mess, but this also did not last, as both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul cleared the picture publicly. Rahul was particularly juvenile when he said with an arrogant shake of the head, "we are for the nuclear deal, if the government goes let it go." This one line reflected complete irresponsibility tinged with classical arrogance, a reminder that those framing policy in the Congress party really do not believe in accountability. His mother followed through the next day where she spoke on similar lines, and her complete support to the nuclear deal, at a public meeting in Andhra Pradesh. The argument was the familiar, "this will give us power for the poor" with no mention, of course, of the pounds of flesh that the US will manage to extract from India in the process.
A word about Rahul Gandhi, now that he has started taking political policy positions will not be amiss. He has not said much, but when he does speak it is clear that he believes, like the Prime Minister, that India can progress only by attaching itself to the US through a strategic alliance that most others in the country still see as debilitating. He is fond of the good life, does not believe in mass struggles, believes ardently in the Nehru-Gandhi's right to lead the Congress and the nation, but lacks the charisma and the leadership capabilities that Congressmen had been so eagerly looking forward to. He is awkward with the political leaders, and often finds it difficult to disguise his dislike for the politician. He has still to grow into the space that his mother and the party managers have created for him. This along with his inability to enthuse the masses is now adding to Congress impatience, particularly in election year.
At the end of the day Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi will have to explain why they took the conscious decision of de-stabilising a government and India in the process, for a nuclear deal that could have waited. What was the hurry, that the people of this country had to be witness to the worst kind of political machinations with the Congress in the lead? Bush would have been kicked out of office without a thought had he brought his government to a standstill, in the manner that the Congress has done for an international treaty. More so, when the nation is reeling under double digit inflation and spiraling prices. What is the hurry? The question has been asked by the Left, by every political leader in the UPA and outside? But the threesome who are pushing the nuclear deal with all their might, regardless of the consequences for the government, have no answer.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Failing Power
Failing Power
By Seema Mustafa
Lies and opportunistic alliances are again being used by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Congress to push through the anti-national nuclear deal with the United States. The latest in the long string of falsehoods, used skillfully by the PMO, to build opinion for the nuclear deal is the assurance to the nation that the government would not approach the IAEA for the safeguards agreement until the trust vote in Parliament is secured. Minister of External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee said this in front of the entire media, and within hours he was eating his words as the government under instructions from the Prime Minister had sent the draft to the Board of Governors for consideration.
The MEA of course is now hard at work trying to save its minister, maintaining that only the draft has been circulated and the Board of Governors has still to meet formally. This is absolute rubbish, and yet another indication of the manner in which the executive has manipulated the nation to push through a nuclear deal that the majority in India continues to reject. Just before this the same Pranab Mukherjee had told the Left that no action would be taken on the deal until the Congress-Left coordination committee appointed for this purposed reaching its findings. However, long before this was so, the government made it clear that it had decided to go ahead with the nuclear deal with a sulking prime minister threatening to resign in the face of any other decision.
The first lie in the current series was the claim by the senior ministers of the UPA that they could not show the draft of the safeguards agreement to the Left, or other political parties, as under the international terms and conditions it was a classified document. The IAEA recently made it known that this was far from the case, and so far as it was concerned the draft could have been shared by the government with anyone of its choice. In fact, US non proliferation websites carried the draft of the Indian agreement with the IAEA a good ten hours or more before the harried MEA quickly pasted it on its site, following a scathing attack by CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat. Now rather stupid, and even juvenile arguments are being advanced by the mandarins to justify the political stand that are not acceptable to even the normally pliant media.
The government hid the draft of the IAEA safeguards agreement from the nation with good reasons. For it knew, despite the writings of some, that this did not protect India's interests at any level and that there was a strong independent voice in this country that would not hesitate to point this out. Experts have pointed out that the agreement is not India specific, as the government had claimed, but was modeled on agreements between the IAEA and the non-nuclear-weapons states. The softer words are contained only in the preamble and not the operational part of the agreement that remains silent on India's nuclear military programme, and makes no mention of her special status as a nuclear weapons state that has voluntarily placed its civilian nuclear program under iAEA inspections. Prime Minister Singh had assured Parliament on March 7, 2006 that "an India-specific safeguards agreement will be negotiated between India and the IAEA" but clearly he has little regard for Parliament.
The 123 agreement, as expert Brahma Chellaney has pointed out, did not give India the right to take corrective measures but merely stated that the country would seek such a right in the IAEA accord. The only reference to "corrective measures" in the safeguards agreement is in the preamble that reads, "India may take corrective measures to ensure uninterrupted operation of its civilian nuclear reactors in the event of disruption of foreign fule supplies." But the corrective measures are not defined, and the accord make it clear that under no circumstance will India be allowed to withdraw from its safeguards obligations in perpetuity. As he said, "put simply, India has willingly forfeited the right to enforce perpetual fuel supply."
The safeguards agreement does not guarantee fuel supply and also fails to establish a link between perpetual IAEA inspections and perpetual fuel supply. There is no reference in the text to "fuel supply" or to "strategic reserve of nuclear fuel." Experts thus conclude that the operative parts of the Indian-IAEA safeguards accord mirrors the clauses found in the agreements with non-nuclear-weapons states. The Hyde Act still remains the guiding legislation for the US Congress to operationalise the 123 agreement, with the Prime Minister having failed dismally to bring about modifications to protect India's sovereignty in this nuclear deal.
Karat is not wrong in saying that the Left and the nation, in this case, has been betrayed by an unscrupulous Congress. The last weeks have demonstrated the cobbling together of one of the most opportunistic alliances, with Amar Singh and Sonia Gandhi coming together after years of hate rhetoric, anger and accusations. One has deliberately not mentioned Samajwadi chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, as he seems really out of it, standing beside Amar Singh like the proverbial flunkey and speaking only when allowed a couple of minutes in the spotlights. In fact, Amar Singh has also managed to reduce the PMO to a similar status, asking the Prime Minister of India now to intervene in a feud between two brothers, Mukesh and Anil Ambani. And to ensure that no one is in doubt where his own loyalties stand, he has hit out at the former while maintaining that this bitter rivalry has national dimensions. The silence from the PM indicates a certain willingness to intervene, or a certain fear that denial might cost the Congress the government. Either ways it is particularly reprehensible that now the Prime Ministers Office is being reduced by both sides, to this low level.
The Congress managers are rushing around trying to cobble a majority with the support of one leader parties, and others like Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Janata Dal who are all putting forward a long wish list. Stability will remain the issue, particularly if the government wins the trust vote, with just a narrow margin with every two or three MP party then being in a position to blackmail the Congress for its own ends. For instance, it will be fascinating to watch Amar Singh's reaction if the PM announces that he will not mediate in the Mukesh-Anil Ambani feud, as it is below the dignity of the office that he holds! Disproportionate asset cases against BSP leader Mayawati that had been placed in cold storage while she was in touch with Sonia Gandhi, have now been revived to squeeze the UP chief minister into submission. Amar Singh has said that his party does not want cabinet berths, and perhaps he is right, for the alliance with the Congress will prove beneficial for him in more ways than one. Samajwadi MPs are upset, but not many have the courage to move from the pan into the fire as it were, and the tricky politics of UP has taught them to hunker down and wait for the storm to pass.
The common minimum program has been thrown out of the window, being replaced by the politics of rank opportunism. The government will in all probability survive on July 21-22 as too many powerful interests are at work. This will be projected as a victory, when essentially it is a defeat for parliamentary democracy. The worst kind of opportunism will be endorsed by a section of political parties, clinging together for money and power. The Congress party managers will then set to work with spit and polish to give this new alliance a gloss that they hope will pass muster, and fool the people of India into parting with their votes in the next general elections. But fortunately, the people who vote in this country are not fools, and will not allow the opportunists in power to barter their security---economic, political and social---for 40,000 megawats of nuclear power. And that too in ten years, a figure disputed by all scientists in this country.
By Seema Mustafa
The last weeks have demonstrated the cobbling together of one of the most opportunistic alliances, with Amar Singh and Sonia Gandhi coming together after years of hate rhetoric, anger and accusations. One has deliberately not mentioned Samajwadi chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, as he seems really out of it, standing beside Amar Singh like the proverbial flunkey and speaking only when allowed a couple of minutes in the spotlights.
Lies and opportunistic alliances are again being used by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Congress to push through the anti-national nuclear deal with the United States. The latest in the long string of falsehoods, used skillfully by the PMO, to build opinion for the nuclear deal is the assurance to the nation that the government would not approach the IAEA for the safeguards agreement until the trust vote in Parliament is secured. Minister of External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee said this in front of the entire media, and within hours he was eating his words as the government under instructions from the Prime Minister had sent the draft to the Board of Governors for consideration.
The MEA of course is now hard at work trying to save its minister, maintaining that only the draft has been circulated and the Board of Governors has still to meet formally. This is absolute rubbish, and yet another indication of the manner in which the executive has manipulated the nation to push through a nuclear deal that the majority in India continues to reject. Just before this the same Pranab Mukherjee had told the Left that no action would be taken on the deal until the Congress-Left coordination committee appointed for this purposed reaching its findings. However, long before this was so, the government made it clear that it had decided to go ahead with the nuclear deal with a sulking prime minister threatening to resign in the face of any other decision.
The first lie in the current series was the claim by the senior ministers of the UPA that they could not show the draft of the safeguards agreement to the Left, or other political parties, as under the international terms and conditions it was a classified document. The IAEA recently made it known that this was far from the case, and so far as it was concerned the draft could have been shared by the government with anyone of its choice. In fact, US non proliferation websites carried the draft of the Indian agreement with the IAEA a good ten hours or more before the harried MEA quickly pasted it on its site, following a scathing attack by CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat. Now rather stupid, and even juvenile arguments are being advanced by the mandarins to justify the political stand that are not acceptable to even the normally pliant media.
The government hid the draft of the IAEA safeguards agreement from the nation with good reasons. For it knew, despite the writings of some, that this did not protect India's interests at any level and that there was a strong independent voice in this country that would not hesitate to point this out. Experts have pointed out that the agreement is not India specific, as the government had claimed, but was modeled on agreements between the IAEA and the non-nuclear-weapons states. The softer words are contained only in the preamble and not the operational part of the agreement that remains silent on India's nuclear military programme, and makes no mention of her special status as a nuclear weapons state that has voluntarily placed its civilian nuclear program under iAEA inspections. Prime Minister Singh had assured Parliament on March 7, 2006 that "an India-specific safeguards agreement will be negotiated between India and the IAEA" but clearly he has little regard for Parliament.
The 123 agreement, as expert Brahma Chellaney has pointed out, did not give India the right to take corrective measures but merely stated that the country would seek such a right in the IAEA accord. The only reference to "corrective measures" in the safeguards agreement is in the preamble that reads, "India may take corrective measures to ensure uninterrupted operation of its civilian nuclear reactors in the event of disruption of foreign fule supplies." But the corrective measures are not defined, and the accord make it clear that under no circumstance will India be allowed to withdraw from its safeguards obligations in perpetuity. As he said, "put simply, India has willingly forfeited the right to enforce perpetual fuel supply."
The safeguards agreement does not guarantee fuel supply and also fails to establish a link between perpetual IAEA inspections and perpetual fuel supply. There is no reference in the text to "fuel supply" or to "strategic reserve of nuclear fuel." Experts thus conclude that the operative parts of the Indian-IAEA safeguards accord mirrors the clauses found in the agreements with non-nuclear-weapons states. The Hyde Act still remains the guiding legislation for the US Congress to operationalise the 123 agreement, with the Prime Minister having failed dismally to bring about modifications to protect India's sovereignty in this nuclear deal.
Karat is not wrong in saying that the Left and the nation, in this case, has been betrayed by an unscrupulous Congress. The last weeks have demonstrated the cobbling together of one of the most opportunistic alliances, with Amar Singh and Sonia Gandhi coming together after years of hate rhetoric, anger and accusations. One has deliberately not mentioned Samajwadi chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, as he seems really out of it, standing beside Amar Singh like the proverbial flunkey and speaking only when allowed a couple of minutes in the spotlights. In fact, Amar Singh has also managed to reduce the PMO to a similar status, asking the Prime Minister of India now to intervene in a feud between two brothers, Mukesh and Anil Ambani. And to ensure that no one is in doubt where his own loyalties stand, he has hit out at the former while maintaining that this bitter rivalry has national dimensions. The silence from the PM indicates a certain willingness to intervene, or a certain fear that denial might cost the Congress the government. Either ways it is particularly reprehensible that now the Prime Ministers Office is being reduced by both sides, to this low level.
The Congress managers are rushing around trying to cobble a majority with the support of one leader parties, and others like Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Janata Dal who are all putting forward a long wish list. Stability will remain the issue, particularly if the government wins the trust vote, with just a narrow margin with every two or three MP party then being in a position to blackmail the Congress for its own ends. For instance, it will be fascinating to watch Amar Singh's reaction if the PM announces that he will not mediate in the Mukesh-Anil Ambani feud, as it is below the dignity of the office that he holds! Disproportionate asset cases against BSP leader Mayawati that had been placed in cold storage while she was in touch with Sonia Gandhi, have now been revived to squeeze the UP chief minister into submission. Amar Singh has said that his party does not want cabinet berths, and perhaps he is right, for the alliance with the Congress will prove beneficial for him in more ways than one. Samajwadi MPs are upset, but not many have the courage to move from the pan into the fire as it were, and the tricky politics of UP has taught them to hunker down and wait for the storm to pass.
The common minimum program has been thrown out of the window, being replaced by the politics of rank opportunism. The government will in all probability survive on July 21-22 as too many powerful interests are at work. This will be projected as a victory, when essentially it is a defeat for parliamentary democracy. The worst kind of opportunism will be endorsed by a section of political parties, clinging together for money and power. The Congress party managers will then set to work with spit and polish to give this new alliance a gloss that they hope will pass muster, and fool the people of India into parting with their votes in the next general elections. But fortunately, the people who vote in this country are not fools, and will not allow the opportunists in power to barter their security---economic, political and social---for 40,000 megawats of nuclear power. And that too in ten years, a figure disputed by all scientists in this country.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Unholy P Alliance
Unholy P Alliance
By Susenjit Guha
Ever wondered why the Congress led UPA government is obsessed with the N-deal when the most pressing issues like inflation---hovering above 11% after creeping up and up for months and several weeks in a row---and price rises are forcing the average Indian to skip his basic necessities?
Average Indians outnumber the above average gung-ho about the N-deal several times over.
Again, isn't it ridiculous that a Prime Minister of India could not reply to a query about going ahead with the deal when he was on Indian soil, but did so 35000 feet above ground on an Air India flight which Congressmen believe to be India in mid-air?
And the Congress's allegation that the Left is insensitive to national mood at the time of the gory incident in Kabul does not hold when the party's top brass could not attend the greatest Indian war hero Sam Manekshaw's funeral recently. Wasn't he the architect of India's greatest hour when shestood firm in the face of the entire western world's insensitivity towards genocide perpetrated by Pakistan and their ally, a drunken general?
But times have changed and sovereignty is passé.
Congress party wants to fulfill one single mission and see it through during its tenure: the Indo-US nuclear deal. For that, the dogging problems which are affecting us to the core can remain our problems for the time being. We will have to pay more or go without not only some basiccommodities but for construction material like cement and life saving drugs also.
After all, we shouldn't expect the nation's Prime Minister who is also a venerable economist to solve our economic problems, leave alone apprehending and taking the right decisions to avoid them. Similarly the Left which has opted out of the UPA alliance shouldn't have expected the text of the safeguards agreement with the IAEA revealed to them.
To go through the plan, turncoat ideologues or political parties bereft of ideologies can be best alliance partners during crunch time. Even one or two MP's on the sidelines would count and their support would come at a price.
What an alliance would that be!
Mulayam Singh Yadav has suddenly re-educated himself about the benefits of the N-deal from none other than former scientist- President Abdul Kalam. In one fell swoop, the SP, a party whose heart bleeds for the Muslims hasattempted to placate the Muslims. Some Muslim MP's of the party are having second thoughts, but Mulayam Singh needs to get the CBI probing his disproportionate assets off his back. He and his man Friday are defending their decision to support the Congress by magnifying BJP's threat over Bush's.
You don't have to be a Marxist or a renascent Hindu bigot to be intrigued at the government's one point obsession with honouring the commitments to George W Bush.
With barely half a year to go, Bush is the most unpopular President in US history according the US Gallup polls. He was booed and heckled by his own countrymen during his recent US Independence Day speech. The rest of the world and the media call him a 'toxic Texan' with a 'pea sized brain' or a'kid who never grew up', and someone who devastated America's global image and standing trying to outdo his father.
Much has been written about the hazards, exorbitant charges for electric power---which is being hard sold---from the N-deal and off course the abundance of untapped uranium in India which can keep us non-aligned and upright.
Surely, the Left's concern of India ultimately morphing into a security ally of the US is not unfounded. Indians cannot be used as a buffer or even a listening post of the US for China. Chinese support at the NSG was expected since the N-deal would stop any further tests by India and would serve US' security interests in the region. Traditional South Asian ally,Pakistan, is now a client state of the US. They may outsource the job of helping Pakistan Frontier Corps to
India. Emerging India will be made to take the load of US embroilment in South Asia.
We shall be following in the footsteps of US vassal states and shouldn't be concerned about the opposition brewing in Taiwan and South Korea.
And 'change' peddler Barack Obama flip flopping on his way to the finals is time and again playing to the conservative American gallery about Iran, the mid-east and the blinkered view of Israeli atrocities.
We shall sacrifice our own traditional allies Iran and Central Asia's vital energy sources for the sake of George W Bush. We will cease to maintain an independent China policy which may be tampered with once US links India to its security interests.
According to media reports, India has 60000 tons of proven uranium reserves to last 50 years and with improved mining technology more untapped, even deep seated deposits could be unearthed.
So why does India have to depend on the 40 odd nations for raw material whose supply hinges on the N-deal?
Keep wondering.
By Susenjit Guha
Congress party wants to fulfill one single mission and see it through during its tenure: the Indo-US nuclear deal. For that, the dogging problems which are affecting us to the core can remain our problems for the time being. We will have to pay more or go without not only some basiccommodities but for construction material like cement and life saving drugs also.
Ever wondered why the Congress led UPA government is obsessed with the N-deal when the most pressing issues like inflation---hovering above 11% after creeping up and up for months and several weeks in a row---and price rises are forcing the average Indian to skip his basic necessities?Average Indians outnumber the above average gung-ho about the N-deal several times over.
Again, isn't it ridiculous that a Prime Minister of India could not reply to a query about going ahead with the deal when he was on Indian soil, but did so 35000 feet above ground on an Air India flight which Congressmen believe to be India in mid-air?
And the Congress's allegation that the Left is insensitive to national mood at the time of the gory incident in Kabul does not hold when the party's top brass could not attend the greatest Indian war hero Sam Manekshaw's funeral recently. Wasn't he the architect of India's greatest hour when shestood firm in the face of the entire western world's insensitivity towards genocide perpetrated by Pakistan and their ally, a drunken general?
But times have changed and sovereignty is passé.
Congress party wants to fulfill one single mission and see it through during its tenure: the Indo-US nuclear deal. For that, the dogging problems which are affecting us to the core can remain our problems for the time being. We will have to pay more or go without not only some basiccommodities but for construction material like cement and life saving drugs also.
After all, we shouldn't expect the nation's Prime Minister who is also a venerable economist to solve our economic problems, leave alone apprehending and taking the right decisions to avoid them. Similarly the Left which has opted out of the UPA alliance shouldn't have expected the text of the safeguards agreement with the IAEA revealed to them.
To go through the plan, turncoat ideologues or political parties bereft of ideologies can be best alliance partners during crunch time. Even one or two MP's on the sidelines would count and their support would come at a price.
What an alliance would that be!
Mulayam Singh Yadav has suddenly re-educated himself about the benefits of the N-deal from none other than former scientist- President Abdul Kalam. In one fell swoop, the SP, a party whose heart bleeds for the Muslims hasattempted to placate the Muslims. Some Muslim MP's of the party are having second thoughts, but Mulayam Singh needs to get the CBI probing his disproportionate assets off his back. He and his man Friday are defending their decision to support the Congress by magnifying BJP's threat over Bush's.
You don't have to be a Marxist or a renascent Hindu bigot to be intrigued at the government's one point obsession with honouring the commitments to George W Bush.
With barely half a year to go, Bush is the most unpopular President in US history according the US Gallup polls. He was booed and heckled by his own countrymen during his recent US Independence Day speech. The rest of the world and the media call him a 'toxic Texan' with a 'pea sized brain' or a'kid who never grew up', and someone who devastated America's global image and standing trying to outdo his father.
Much has been written about the hazards, exorbitant charges for electric power---which is being hard sold---from the N-deal and off course the abundance of untapped uranium in India which can keep us non-aligned and upright.
Surely, the Left's concern of India ultimately morphing into a security ally of the US is not unfounded. Indians cannot be used as a buffer or even a listening post of the US for China. Chinese support at the NSG was expected since the N-deal would stop any further tests by India and would serve US' security interests in the region. Traditional South Asian ally,Pakistan, is now a client state of the US. They may outsource the job of helping Pakistan Frontier Corps to
India. Emerging India will be made to take the load of US embroilment in South Asia.
We shall be following in the footsteps of US vassal states and shouldn't be concerned about the opposition brewing in Taiwan and South Korea.
And 'change' peddler Barack Obama flip flopping on his way to the finals is time and again playing to the conservative American gallery about Iran, the mid-east and the blinkered view of Israeli atrocities.
We shall sacrifice our own traditional allies Iran and Central Asia's vital energy sources for the sake of George W Bush. We will cease to maintain an independent China policy which may be tampered with once US links India to its security interests.
According to media reports, India has 60000 tons of proven uranium reserves to last 50 years and with improved mining technology more untapped, even deep seated deposits could be unearthed.
So why does India have to depend on the 40 odd nations for raw material whose supply hinges on the N-deal?
Keep wondering.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Nuclear Deal & National Polity
The Kautilyan Perspective: Nuclear Deal & National Polity
By U. Mahesh Prabhu
Congress led UPA government is chaos. It is now living amidst fright of loosing its majority in parliament after the row over Indo-US nuclear deal. The intimidation to the Congress, in specific, doesn't seem to be easing down – in any way. And it is all happening because of Indo-US nuclear deal. Left's revulsion to the deal is due to its inborn anti-American sentiments, owing to its Marxist ideology and proclivity towards the Communist China. Samajwadi Party's certitude to stand by the Congress Party owes to its depreciating popularity Uttar Pradesh, after the surge of Mayawati led BSP. BJP, on the other hand, is now gradually varying its stance towards the covenant. It is all but prepared to set aside its disagreement for 'certain minor changes' in the agreement.
The recently held assembly election has established the growing influence of the BJP in the national political scenario. The party is stronger than ever. If the elections are held, 'saffron party' is most certain to be voted back to power. This is mostly because: All throughout the rule of the UPA, the BJP has been fed with enough of opportunities to revitalize its ideology and strengthen its propaganda of 'Hindutva', through the controversies like that of Ram-Sethu, Negation of the existence of Lord Ram and the recent hullabaloo over leasing of land to Amaranth Shrine Board in J&K.
It's indeed surprising to observe the ideology of Hindutva gaining momentum in recent times after the catastrophic media publicity against it, especially in the 1990s after the demolition of Babri structure and Godhra riots. That apart, the party has also been smart enough in selling its ideology to the voters, coupled with economic developments. Contrary to this, the Gandhi Socialism of the Congress, Marxist ideology of the CPI (M), Minority Politics of others doesn't seem to be working. Instead they are today being perceived as 'bunch of expedient, opportunist, rogues and shady' political parties by many, if not all.
The drama that is being staged by these allies of the UPA owes more to their despair, than for their 'commitment' to 'national interests' over the Indo-US nuclear deal. Amidst this chaos it is exceedingly tough to distinguish as to 'who is genuinely concerned about the interests of this nation?'
On 26th of July 2006 the US House of Representatives permitted a legislation to endorse a 'ground-breaking' pact that which permitted the United States to sell civilian nuclear technology to India. This legislation was to revise Section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, which would make a one-time exception for India to keep its nuclear weapons without signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). This amendment reversed a 30-year-old US embargo on supplying India with nuclear fuel and technology, implemented after India's first nuclear test in 1974. As per the amendment, India is to divide its 'civilian' and 'military' nuclear facilities, and open up civilian facilities for inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
This deal turned controversial, internationally, when critics alleged that 'it would undermine the NPT, which holds that 'only countries which renounce nuclear weapons would qualify for civilian nuclear assistance'. Some also feared that the accord would send the 'wrong message' as it would undercut a US-led campaign to curtail Iran's nuclear program, and open the way for 'a potential arms race in South Asia'. They also held that 'the pact could make bomb making at the other eight facilities easier, as civilian nuclear fuel needs will be met by the US'. Yet, US President George Bush termed the deal essential towards reflecting the countries' improved relations.
As per the Congress Party 'India, which relies on 70 per cent its energy needs, will need nuclear power to help feed its rapidly expanding economy.' Several critics, contrary to this, have held that this deal would not be of much use as India would then be consistently forced to rely on the fuel for nuclear reactor from the Americans and could thus force us to agree to take part in all of the American's military expeditions, like that of Iraq, the world over.
It is a known fact that US wants to engage India in its global military schemes. India is already a military partner of the US. Since 2001, i.e. from the time of the BJP-led NDA, it has carried out over 40 joint military exercises at sea, land and air, both in US and in India. As per some sources India's naval liners are already providing escort and security facilities to the American military ships passing through the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean on their way to and from the Pacific through the straits of Malacca in Southeast Asia.
The only raison d'être behind the ongoing joint military drills is that: there are certain plans for joint Indo-American action in future. It is also true that US wants to use India as a bulwark in Asia against the Chinese dragon. This is exactly the reason which is making pro-Chinese CPI (M) furious and raged over the deal.
Another interesting facet of this is also the fact that: Pakistan had sought a similar deal with the US but was refused in March of 2006. But in the field of nuclear cooperation Pakistan has already acquired the support of the China, which has been supportive of the country's nuclear weapons program since 1980s. It is true that withdrawal of sanctions, as a part of the deal, will emphatically help India in numerous ways. Most importantly the lifting of sanction will open gates for Indo-US co-operation in lucrative space research and scientific cooperation in many fields which are currently barred to Indians. This is the reason for our eminent scientists, including Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, for favouring the deal.
India's signing of the deal is sure to bring a tectonic shift in its foreign policy. After signing it India would no longer be a 'non-aligned' power and could no more continue to have its own independent foreign policy. India's Ministry for External Affairs (MEA) would then be forced to follow the order of American Presidents, in several crucial domains of international affairs, for years to come.
By U. Mahesh Prabhu
The drama that is being staged by these allies of the UPA owes more to their despair, than for their 'commitment' to 'national interests' over the Indo-US nuclear deal. Amidst this chaos it is exceedingly tough to distinguish as to 'who is genuinely concerned about the interests of
this nation?'
Congress led UPA government is chaos. It is now living amidst fright of loosing its majority in parliament after the row over Indo-US nuclear deal. The intimidation to the Congress, in specific, doesn't seem to be easing down – in any way. And it is all happening because of Indo-US nuclear deal. Left's revulsion to the deal is due to its inborn anti-American sentiments, owing to its Marxist ideology and proclivity towards the Communist China. Samajwadi Party's certitude to stand by the Congress Party owes to its depreciating popularity Uttar Pradesh, after the surge of Mayawati led BSP. BJP, on the other hand, is now gradually varying its stance towards the covenant. It is all but prepared to set aside its disagreement for 'certain minor changes' in the agreement.The recently held assembly election has established the growing influence of the BJP in the national political scenario. The party is stronger than ever. If the elections are held, 'saffron party' is most certain to be voted back to power. This is mostly because: All throughout the rule of the UPA, the BJP has been fed with enough of opportunities to revitalize its ideology and strengthen its propaganda of 'Hindutva', through the controversies like that of Ram-Sethu, Negation of the existence of Lord Ram and the recent hullabaloo over leasing of land to Amaranth Shrine Board in J&K.
It's indeed surprising to observe the ideology of Hindutva gaining momentum in recent times after the catastrophic media publicity against it, especially in the 1990s after the demolition of Babri structure and Godhra riots. That apart, the party has also been smart enough in selling its ideology to the voters, coupled with economic developments. Contrary to this, the Gandhi Socialism of the Congress, Marxist ideology of the CPI (M), Minority Politics of others doesn't seem to be working. Instead they are today being perceived as 'bunch of expedient, opportunist, rogues and shady' political parties by many, if not all.
The drama that is being staged by these allies of the UPA owes more to their despair, than for their 'commitment' to 'national interests' over the Indo-US nuclear deal. Amidst this chaos it is exceedingly tough to distinguish as to 'who is genuinely concerned about the interests of this nation?'
On 26th of July 2006 the US House of Representatives permitted a legislation to endorse a 'ground-breaking' pact that which permitted the United States to sell civilian nuclear technology to India. This legislation was to revise Section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, which would make a one-time exception for India to keep its nuclear weapons without signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). This amendment reversed a 30-year-old US embargo on supplying India with nuclear fuel and technology, implemented after India's first nuclear test in 1974. As per the amendment, India is to divide its 'civilian' and 'military' nuclear facilities, and open up civilian facilities for inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
This deal turned controversial, internationally, when critics alleged that 'it would undermine the NPT, which holds that 'only countries which renounce nuclear weapons would qualify for civilian nuclear assistance'. Some also feared that the accord would send the 'wrong message' as it would undercut a US-led campaign to curtail Iran's nuclear program, and open the way for 'a potential arms race in South Asia'. They also held that 'the pact could make bomb making at the other eight facilities easier, as civilian nuclear fuel needs will be met by the US'. Yet, US President George Bush termed the deal essential towards reflecting the countries' improved relations.
As per the Congress Party 'India, which relies on 70 per cent its energy needs, will need nuclear power to help feed its rapidly expanding economy.' Several critics, contrary to this, have held that this deal would not be of much use as India would then be consistently forced to rely on the fuel for nuclear reactor from the Americans and could thus force us to agree to take part in all of the American's military expeditions, like that of Iraq, the world over.
It is a known fact that US wants to engage India in its global military schemes. India is already a military partner of the US. Since 2001, i.e. from the time of the BJP-led NDA, it has carried out over 40 joint military exercises at sea, land and air, both in US and in India. As per some sources India's naval liners are already providing escort and security facilities to the American military ships passing through the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean on their way to and from the Pacific through the straits of Malacca in Southeast Asia.
The only raison d'être behind the ongoing joint military drills is that: there are certain plans for joint Indo-American action in future. It is also true that US wants to use India as a bulwark in Asia against the Chinese dragon. This is exactly the reason which is making pro-Chinese CPI (M) furious and raged over the deal.
Another interesting facet of this is also the fact that: Pakistan had sought a similar deal with the US but was refused in March of 2006. But in the field of nuclear cooperation Pakistan has already acquired the support of the China, which has been supportive of the country's nuclear weapons program since 1980s. It is true that withdrawal of sanctions, as a part of the deal, will emphatically help India in numerous ways. Most importantly the lifting of sanction will open gates for Indo-US co-operation in lucrative space research and scientific cooperation in many fields which are currently barred to Indians. This is the reason for our eminent scientists, including Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, for favouring the deal.
India's signing of the deal is sure to bring a tectonic shift in its foreign policy. After signing it India would no longer be a 'non-aligned' power and could no more continue to have its own independent foreign policy. India's Ministry for External Affairs (MEA) would then be forced to follow the order of American Presidents, in several crucial domains of international affairs, for years to come.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
A Poona Diary
A Poona Diary
By Mubasshir Mushtaq
What do you do when a torrent of thoughts keep pouring in like Poona's intermittent raindrops? You try to store them in transient human memory. But human memory is no safe deposit vault. Reliance on human memory is untenable in today's fast-paced world where history is being digitally recorded. So how does one treat the torrential thoughts? Should the thoughts be allowed to fall like Niagara Falls or should we make those thoughts still like dam water? Words are the only way one can standstill the moments.
As the rain gods emptied their water drums, I was compelled to uncork my bottled thoughts. If rains can wash away the layered dirt, thoughts can cleanse one's conscience. Poona is the city of purity!
Poona, once a grand empire of Maratha emperors, has become an emperor of education. It was Nehru who had crowned Poona as "Oxford of the East." Poona is a towering educational hub for Easterners who look at Oxford with awe and reverence. I was lucky to be part of the great Indian "Oxford" which taught me common sense as well as the fine art of unravelling a communal mind. When Gujarat 2002 genocide took place under the edgy knife of the great Indian butcher, I was in the second year of my graduation. In those days the best way to recognize a communalist was to give him morning newspaper and observe his wrinkles making various angles. Most of the student faces wouldn't frown; they would develop some uneasy lines and the lines suggested a sinister smile. That smile was a defeat of human conscience.
In the last six years Poona has transformed into an adult city. If adolescence creates hormonal imbalances adulthood makes visible signs of its arrival. Poona, no doubt, has become adult, but it suffers from mall mentality; the newest economic disease plaguing India. High-rises do not reflect a city's growth; it mirrors corporate greed. Should we measure a city's growth by abundance of malls and high-rises or by number of beggars on a posh M.G. Road? The answer lies in the economic principle of moderation. In economics, too much of anything is bad.
Poona is Bombay's competing cousin: frequent traffic jams, rising pollution levels, sudden increase in crime and violence. But yet Poona is a far better cousin than Bombay. The difference between Poona and Bombay is that of a noun and an adjective: Poona is fun, Bombay is funny!
Was 'Poona' a spelling mistake? Or a result of colonial hangover?
No. Poona is more civilized than Pune.
Raj Thackeray's threat is visible on nameplates of foreign fast food giants like Pizza Hut and Dominos: they have learned to write their names in Marathi. It is altogether a different matter that Maharashtra assembly has passed a resolution to this effect. I am not against Marathi language; I am against the compulsion. Raj threat can result in electoral loss of the ruling class so there is a race to appease the Marathi Manoos. Not long ago, Uddhav Thackeray and Ramdas Athavale were at loggerheads to appease the Marathi Manoos: Shiv vada pav versus Bheem vada pav! Can vada pav economically uplift a community? My Marathi friends don't think so!
A short visit to Symbiosis, my alma mater, reveals that it has changed completely. Printed forms are history and internet is no longer a mystery! There are no queues. It offers an excellent lesson to Bombay's colleges.
Poona is a city of endless opportunities where opportunity knocks as well as lingers.
Afterthought: Why is Mulayam getting really Mulayam for Sonia Gandhi? Because he is the velvet carpet of UPA chairperson!
By Mubasshir Mushtaq
In the last six years Poona has transformed into an adult city. If adolescence creates hormonal imbalances adulthood makes visible signs of its arrival. Poona, no doubt, has become adult, but it suffers from mall mentality; the newest economic disease plaguing India. High-rises do not reflect a city's growth; it mirrors corporate greed. Should we measure a city's growth by abundance of malls and high-rises or by number of beggars on a posh M.G. Road? The answer lies in the economic principle of moderation. In economics, too much of anything is bad.
What do you do when a torrent of thoughts keep pouring in like Poona's intermittent raindrops? You try to store them in transient human memory. But human memory is no safe deposit vault. Reliance on human memory is untenable in today's fast-paced world where history is being digitally recorded. So how does one treat the torrential thoughts? Should the thoughts be allowed to fall like Niagara Falls or should we make those thoughts still like dam water? Words are the only way one can standstill the moments.As the rain gods emptied their water drums, I was compelled to uncork my bottled thoughts. If rains can wash away the layered dirt, thoughts can cleanse one's conscience. Poona is the city of purity!
Poona, once a grand empire of Maratha emperors, has become an emperor of education. It was Nehru who had crowned Poona as "Oxford of the East." Poona is a towering educational hub for Easterners who look at Oxford with awe and reverence. I was lucky to be part of the great Indian "Oxford" which taught me common sense as well as the fine art of unravelling a communal mind. When Gujarat 2002 genocide took place under the edgy knife of the great Indian butcher, I was in the second year of my graduation. In those days the best way to recognize a communalist was to give him morning newspaper and observe his wrinkles making various angles. Most of the student faces wouldn't frown; they would develop some uneasy lines and the lines suggested a sinister smile. That smile was a defeat of human conscience.
In the last six years Poona has transformed into an adult city. If adolescence creates hormonal imbalances adulthood makes visible signs of its arrival. Poona, no doubt, has become adult, but it suffers from mall mentality; the newest economic disease plaguing India. High-rises do not reflect a city's growth; it mirrors corporate greed. Should we measure a city's growth by abundance of malls and high-rises or by number of beggars on a posh M.G. Road? The answer lies in the economic principle of moderation. In economics, too much of anything is bad.
Poona is Bombay's competing cousin: frequent traffic jams, rising pollution levels, sudden increase in crime and violence. But yet Poona is a far better cousin than Bombay. The difference between Poona and Bombay is that of a noun and an adjective: Poona is fun, Bombay is funny!
Was 'Poona' a spelling mistake? Or a result of colonial hangover?
No. Poona is more civilized than Pune.
Raj Thackeray's threat is visible on nameplates of foreign fast food giants like Pizza Hut and Dominos: they have learned to write their names in Marathi. It is altogether a different matter that Maharashtra assembly has passed a resolution to this effect. I am not against Marathi language; I am against the compulsion. Raj threat can result in electoral loss of the ruling class so there is a race to appease the Marathi Manoos. Not long ago, Uddhav Thackeray and Ramdas Athavale were at loggerheads to appease the Marathi Manoos: Shiv vada pav versus Bheem vada pav! Can vada pav economically uplift a community? My Marathi friends don't think so!
A short visit to Symbiosis, my alma mater, reveals that it has changed completely. Printed forms are history and internet is no longer a mystery! There are no queues. It offers an excellent lesson to Bombay's colleges.
Poona is a city of endless opportunities where opportunity knocks as well as lingers.
Afterthought: Why is Mulayam getting really Mulayam for Sonia Gandhi? Because he is the velvet carpet of UPA chairperson!
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Nuclear 'Ambiguous' Deal
Nuclear 'Ambiguous' Deal
By Seema Mustafa
Prices are spiraling out of control. Inflation has hit a record high. The Maoists are spreading their influence in the districts of India. Kashmir is burning, with the PDP pulling out of the government. The north east continues to simmer with all issues unresolved. The Congress has lost 13 Assembly elections in a row. But all this matters little to the Prime Minister who is determined that his government must be sacrificed for a nuclear commitment he made to US President George W.Bush regardless of the fact that the latters popularity rates have hit an all time low, that he is on his way out of office, and the Indian Parliament has long since rejected the agreement that the two signed soon after the UPA government came to power.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi, in her usual confused state, has decided this time to support the sulking Prime Minister regardless of the fact the Congress will be left without the government and without the deal. She could have taken the decision a year ago, when the Bush administration was in a position to push the deal through the Nuclear Suppliers Group and the US Congress, and the inflation figures had not entered the double digit mark. But at that time she, in her wisdom, thought it was best to wait and persuaded Dr Manmohan Singh to agree to the decision and wait for a more opportune moment. That moment, according to her calculations has come now, at a time when Bush has little to no authority, and when a general election can prove very expensive for the Congress party here.
Why are Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh so very keen to oblige President Bush? And it is just President Bush, not the US administration as otherwise they would have waited for the elections in the US and dealt with the new team in power. In fact, a thinking government would have dropped the nuclear deal for the moment, and concentrated instead on opening valuable links in both the Obama and McCain camps in a studied preparation for the post election period. Instead our Prime Minister and the Congress President are both still chasing a President who is barely heard by his own people, and mention of him remains virtually restricted to jokes and anecdotes. It is clearly a question now of prestige….and that too of just the two or the one individual, and not the nation. A responsive and accountable head of government at this stage, would have turned to Washington and declared, "look here, I want to pursue the deal but the majority in Parliament is against it and I have to consult all the concerned parties. No one wants an early election, and I owe it to my country and the people to first tackle the economic problems before I push India into yet another poll."
But clearly these very simple words are very tough for the Prime Minister, who would rather strike work, and sulk and paralyse both the government and the nation than turn around and tell President Bush that the deal is off for the moment. The Left, to be fair, has been more than consistent in its response and has maintained right from the first day that it is opposed to the nuclear deal and the enabling Hyde Act and will be left with little option but to withdraw support if the government goes ahead with it. For this basic position the Left leaders have faced a frontal attack from the middle class that is still dreaming the American dream, and the new generation media that has borrowed its definitions and yardstick of responses to communism from the phobic western world. This despite the fact that the senior Left leaders have over and over again explained their reasons for opposing the nuclear deal and because these make sense and cannot be countered effectively through argument, the scribes and the middle class have turned deaf. But not mute. And taking the lead from the Congress and the advisors to the PM insist in shrill tones that the Left is anti national, and when this does not convince the people, insist instead, "oh they are just talking they will not withdraw support."
It has now dawned on this "mass base" of the Congress that the Left does mean business, that it will withdraw support and the party (of making big money through big deals) will soon be over. So now there is a sudden scrambling for positions, with anti-deal statements by minister Mani Shankar Aiyer and Salman Khursheed going unchallenged in the process. One now learns that the Congress is now optimistic that it will get the support of the Samajwadi party and will be able to survive as a legitimate government even after the Left withdraws support. This is necessary not to govern the nation, oh no such little issues are far from the Congress mind. This is necessary so that the member nations of the NSG cannot question the legitimacy of the government, as they hope it will not be reduced to a minority because of Samajwadi support and will have the locus standi to help the US steer the nuclear agreement through this international body.
Politicians are unscrupulous, but this emerging Congress-SP alliance perhaps takes the cake. Both were bitter enemies till the day Mayawati took over in UP, with SP honcho Amar Singh leading the criticism that often turned into direct attack. His quotable quotes made the headlines as he questioned the Congress on everything it holds dear, in particular the Dynasty and even attacked some of his own colleagues in the party as being Congress agents. And now he is more than willing to break bread with Sonia Gandhi, who will now have to seat him at her table (remember at the last dinner the SP leaders were seated with the PM and not her) and accept his every wish as her command if her government is to last through the months on Samajwadi support. Congressmen opposing the Samajwadi party will have to swallow the bitter pill, even as the vote bank of Mulayam Singh Yadav turns to new pastures. Incidentally Mulayam Singh is barely able now to take a decision without consulting Amar Singh, who has graduated from chief lieutenant to the de facto president of the party.
Prime Minister Singh wants to go to the G-8 summit where he will meet with President Bush only if he has the deal in his pocket. He will not go otherwise is the rumour spread cleverly through the media through the usual sources. Why not? Because he wants to keep his word. To whom? To President Bush. But what about the nation, what about Parliament that he gave his word to as well? Complete silence. No one gives a damn.
By Seema Mustafa
Congress president Sonia Gandhi, in her usual confused state, has decided this time to support the sulking Prime Minister regardless of the fact the Congress will be left without the government and without the deal. She could have taken the decision a year ago, when the Bush administration was in a position to push the deal through the Nuclear Suppliers Group and the US Congress, and the inflation figures had not entered the double digit mark. But at that time she, in her wisdom, thought it was best to wait and persuaded Dr Manmohan Singh to agree to the decision and wait for a more opportune moment. That moment, according to her calculations has come now, at a time when Bush has
little to no authority, and when a general election can prove very expensive for the Congress party here.
Prices are spiraling out of control. Inflation has hit a record high. The Maoists are spreading their influence in the districts of India. Kashmir is burning, with the PDP pulling out of the government. The north east continues to simmer with all issues unresolved. The Congress has lost 13 Assembly elections in a row. But all this matters little to the Prime Minister who is determined that his government must be sacrificed for a nuclear commitment he made to US President George W.Bush regardless of the fact that the latters popularity rates have hit an all time low, that he is on his way out of office, and the Indian Parliament has long since rejected the agreement that the two signed soon after the UPA government came to power.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi, in her usual confused state, has decided this time to support the sulking Prime Minister regardless of the fact the Congress will be left without the government and without the deal. She could have taken the decision a year ago, when the Bush administration was in a position to push the deal through the Nuclear Suppliers Group and the US Congress, and the inflation figures had not entered the double digit mark. But at that time she, in her wisdom, thought it was best to wait and persuaded Dr Manmohan Singh to agree to the decision and wait for a more opportune moment. That moment, according to her calculations has come now, at a time when Bush has little to no authority, and when a general election can prove very expensive for the Congress party here.
Why are Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh so very keen to oblige President Bush? And it is just President Bush, not the US administration as otherwise they would have waited for the elections in the US and dealt with the new team in power. In fact, a thinking government would have dropped the nuclear deal for the moment, and concentrated instead on opening valuable links in both the Obama and McCain camps in a studied preparation for the post election period. Instead our Prime Minister and the Congress President are both still chasing a President who is barely heard by his own people, and mention of him remains virtually restricted to jokes and anecdotes. It is clearly a question now of prestige….and that too of just the two or the one individual, and not the nation. A responsive and accountable head of government at this stage, would have turned to Washington and declared, "look here, I want to pursue the deal but the majority in Parliament is against it and I have to consult all the concerned parties. No one wants an early election, and I owe it to my country and the people to first tackle the economic problems before I push India into yet another poll."
But clearly these very simple words are very tough for the Prime Minister, who would rather strike work, and sulk and paralyse both the government and the nation than turn around and tell President Bush that the deal is off for the moment. The Left, to be fair, has been more than consistent in its response and has maintained right from the first day that it is opposed to the nuclear deal and the enabling Hyde Act and will be left with little option but to withdraw support if the government goes ahead with it. For this basic position the Left leaders have faced a frontal attack from the middle class that is still dreaming the American dream, and the new generation media that has borrowed its definitions and yardstick of responses to communism from the phobic western world. This despite the fact that the senior Left leaders have over and over again explained their reasons for opposing the nuclear deal and because these make sense and cannot be countered effectively through argument, the scribes and the middle class have turned deaf. But not mute. And taking the lead from the Congress and the advisors to the PM insist in shrill tones that the Left is anti national, and when this does not convince the people, insist instead, "oh they are just talking they will not withdraw support."
It has now dawned on this "mass base" of the Congress that the Left does mean business, that it will withdraw support and the party (of making big money through big deals) will soon be over. So now there is a sudden scrambling for positions, with anti-deal statements by minister Mani Shankar Aiyer and Salman Khursheed going unchallenged in the process. One now learns that the Congress is now optimistic that it will get the support of the Samajwadi party and will be able to survive as a legitimate government even after the Left withdraws support. This is necessary not to govern the nation, oh no such little issues are far from the Congress mind. This is necessary so that the member nations of the NSG cannot question the legitimacy of the government, as they hope it will not be reduced to a minority because of Samajwadi support and will have the locus standi to help the US steer the nuclear agreement through this international body.
Politicians are unscrupulous, but this emerging Congress-SP alliance perhaps takes the cake. Both were bitter enemies till the day Mayawati took over in UP, with SP honcho Amar Singh leading the criticism that often turned into direct attack. His quotable quotes made the headlines as he questioned the Congress on everything it holds dear, in particular the Dynasty and even attacked some of his own colleagues in the party as being Congress agents. And now he is more than willing to break bread with Sonia Gandhi, who will now have to seat him at her table (remember at the last dinner the SP leaders were seated with the PM and not her) and accept his every wish as her command if her government is to last through the months on Samajwadi support. Congressmen opposing the Samajwadi party will have to swallow the bitter pill, even as the vote bank of Mulayam Singh Yadav turns to new pastures. Incidentally Mulayam Singh is barely able now to take a decision without consulting Amar Singh, who has graduated from chief lieutenant to the de facto president of the party.
Prime Minister Singh wants to go to the G-8 summit where he will meet with President Bush only if he has the deal in his pocket. He will not go otherwise is the rumour spread cleverly through the media through the usual sources. Why not? Because he wants to keep his word. To whom? To President Bush. But what about the nation, what about Parliament that he gave his word to as well? Complete silence. No one gives a damn.
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