[Assam] from the Sentinel

[Chan Mahanta]

*** Let us assume for a moment that Tavleen Singh is exaggerating. 
But could it be much? And if not, if even half of it is for real, 
does it bode well? Is it surprising? Is it unusual?

No wonder therefore, how GoI is clueless about how to deal with the 
ULFA 'problem' ( see 
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1823732.cms ).

cm






The Sense of Drift
ON THE SPOT
  Tavleen Singh
Sometimes you need to go away from Delhi to notice the subtle 
political changes that occur under a seemingly normal surface. The 
bombings in Mumbai and travels in foreign lands kept me away from 
this city for a few weeks, and when I returned last Monday on the 
first day of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, I found the political 
mood quite changed. It is more despondent than it has been in years. 
Where there was till a few weeks ago a sort of cheerful sense of 
political drift with people joking about how India's maximum progress 
always happened under weak prime ministers, there is now real 
despondency. It comes from the growing sense that nobody is in charge 
of the government, that governance has ground to a standstill. In the 
words of a usually perceptive analyst, ''It is clear that the Prime 
Minister is not in charge, quite clear just from the number of his 
ministers who publicly defy him. But, if you conclude from this that 
Sonia Gandhi is the real boss, you would be wrong because it is 
becoming increasingly clear that she is not running the government 
either. All she does is intervene on behalf of those NGOs she hangs 
out with.''
  Her interventions have resulted in two or three clear initiatives. 
The Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the Right to Information Act 
and the possibility of a law that will give Adivasis the right to own 
forest land. On the terrible bombings in Mumbai, her only response 
has been a midnight flying visit to that city. On the almost civil 
war-like situation created by Naxalite violence, we have had no 
response at all, and on the subversion of the Prime Minister's 
authority by ministers whose loyalty to her is unquestionable, we 
hear not one single word. Instead of helping her handipicked Prime 
Minister, she has lately taken to publicly berating him. She did not 
like the price of fuel going up, and objects to prices going up in 
general; so she could have called him to 10 Janapath for a quiet 
cuppa and a chat, but chose instead to write him letters that 
mysteriously found their way into the hands of journalists. Aha, they 
said, she does not like him any more. Then came rumours that he was 
on the verge of handing in his resignation.
  When Arjun Singh, a loyal servant of the Gandhi family, chose to 
make mischief for the Prime Minister by raising the controversial and 
divisive subject of caste quotas, she could have distanced hereself 
from a move she is believed to have had nothing to do with but chose 
to remain silent instead. Not a wise decision when the Prime Minister 
is so weak that on something of such serious national concern as 
terrorism, he dithers.
  After the Mumbai bombing, he made a strong statement about 
Pakistan's inability to control terrorist violence, but within hours 
he was pussy-footing and backtracking. By doing this, he ended up 
strengthening Pakistan which, while we drift rudderless, seems to go 
from strength to strength and certainly from failed state to emerging 
economy. According to a recent special report in the Economist, the 
Pakistani economy ''has been transformed'' in the past six years. 
''In the Financial year to mid-2005, it grew by 8.6%, the highest 
figure for two decades, followed by a 6.6% rise in the financial year 
just ended. The stock market index in Karachi has risen by over 1,000 
since 1999. Pakistan has $13 billion in foreign reserves up from $1.7 
billion in 1999.''
  In other words, it is strong enough economically to wage with 
renewed venom its covert war against India. In other words, we cannot 
afford to have a government that is not governing. In other words, we 
cannot afford to have a government that thinks caste quotas are more 
important than economic reforms and terrorism. In other words, we 
cannot afford to have a Prime Minister who appears so unnervingly 
weak.
  The sense of drift at the highest political levels is exacerbated by 
the tragic reality that our main opposition party has reduced itself 
to a bad joke. Last week, as usual, the Bharatiya Janata Party 
prevented Parliament from functioning and took to the streets to beat 
empty vessels and gongs outside Rashtrapati Bhawan to protest against 
rising prices. Surely, if they were really concerned about something 
that never pinches them personally, they would have done better to 
demand a debate in the Lok Sabha and contribute to it effectively by 
pointing out why they think prices are rising for artificial rather 
than real reasons.
  The BJP has spent nearly all of its years as a political party on 
the opposition benches, so you would think they would understand 
intimately the tactics of being an effective opposition party; but it 
seems that all it took was six years on the treasury benches for them 
to forget. How else can we explain their inability to understand that 
terrorism, Naxalite violence and the nuclear agreement with the 
United States are national issues that require serious debate and not 
politicization? So, the only good news from Delhi at the moment is 
that the rains have finally come, but cloudy skies make a fitting 
backdrop to the atmosphere of gloom that pervades political and 
government circles.