Why India Needs BJP

The ideology that the Bharatiya Janata Party represents and its pan Indian appeal makes it an important cog in our democracy, argues Tarun Vijay.

In a nation where most of the political parties are known by the names of their 'owners' turning the political process into a kind of family fiefdom, the existence of a party that still runs on democratic norms and represents a completely different ethos, must be valued as a need of the society. That is the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is useless to indulge in the contemporary dichotomies and scuffles that mar its current framework.

These are trivialities and have been a part of every political party, including the Jan Sangh that saw much bitter scenes involving top guns even when that was hardly as strong as its new avatar the BJP has become.

The basic question is -- do we have a future for a party that symbolizes Hindu aspirations and civilizational rejuvenation through political instruments and acts as a part of a larger saffron brotherhood that has grown stronger by each year since its emergence in 1925?

Suppose if there was no Jan Sangh or the BJP there would have been no Kashmir movement, no demands to scrap two flags and two constitutional provisions for an Indian state and abolishing two Constitutional heads system for it. Who would have taken up the cause of an invincible Indian security and carried out the Pokaran II nuclear tests while preparing for Pokaran III?

The last millennium saw the foreign attacks on Bharat that is India and the target of these barbaric assaults were essentially the Hindu population and their temples. The truncated independence should have given them the highest freedom to flower and come to their own as a free and fearless nation would have honored the great spirit of resistance that made Allama Iqbal write 'Kuch baat hai ki hasti mit-ti nahin hamaari (There is something extraordinary that we -- the civilization -- survived centuries of assaults)'.

But after the massacres during Partition/independence in Calcutta, Noakhali, Muzaffarabad and Rawalpindi, Hindus got the secular marginalization and a State apparatus that looked down at anything representing their age old-bruised ethos. That is why to uphold the dignity of being a Hindu and ensure equal attitude of the State for every citizen without any discrimination on the basis of caste or religion, the Jan Sangh was founded in 1951. The principles were unity in diversity, one nation, one culture and one people and justice to all, appeasement of none.

At the first all India session of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh, its founder president Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee had said, 'India has been for centuries past the homeland of diverse people pursuing different faiths and religions. The need to preserve and respect the personal laws of such people especially in matters of religion and fundamental social obligations is undoubted. In all matters concerning the rights and duties of citizenship as such, there must be complete equality for all. We must be able to carry all sections of the people with us by creating in their minds a healthy and progressive attitude of co-operation based on true equality of opportunity and mutual tolerance and understanding. Our party's door remains open to all who believe in our program and ideology irrespective of considerations of caste and religion.'

'Our party,' he added, 'believes that the future progress of India must be based on a natural synthesis between its full economic advance and the development of mind and character of the people in accordance with the highest traditions of Indian culture and civilization. The political freedom that we have achieved will be meaningless without economic freedom. It is a tragedy that a vast country such as India, with its almost limitless resources and raw materials, should be steeped in poverty, disease, ignorance and degradation. Our party believes that without plunging the country into the vortex of violent chaos and conflict, it should be possible for us to readjust the conditions of our economic life so as to bring to an end a shameful era of exploitation and silent human suffering.'

Without mincing any words he declared, 'Our party though, ever prepared to extend its hand of equality to all citizens, does not feel ashamed to urge for the consolidation of Hindu society, nor does it suffer from an inferiority complex to acknowledge proudly that the great edifice of Indian culture and civilization, which had stood the test of thousands of years, has been built, most of all by the labor, sacrifice and wisdom of Hindu sages, savants and patriots throughout the chequered history of our motherland. We are not so mean as to forget that in this gigantic process our country came into contact and conflict with many foreign races and ideologies and our great ancestors had the courage to fashion and refashion the country's structure in accordance with new ideas and with the changed conditions of our society. If India's freedom is to be purposeful, a correct appreciation of the fundamental features of Indian culture -- the discovery of that unity in diversity, which is the keynote of her civilization -- is highly essential.'

These lengthy quotations are essential to understand the real purpose behind the BJP, which has accepted Dr Mookerjee and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya as its sources of inspiration showing the ideological path.

In pre-Partition days, the independence movement essentially drew from Hindu nationalist symbols and writings expressed through Mahatma Gandhi's Ram Rajya, Sri Aurobindo's Bhawani Bharati concept which saw India as Durga incarnate and declared Sanatan Dharma as the nationality of India, Vivekananda, Lokmanya Tilak, and Subhas Bose. They were all deeply Hindu spiritual personalities who espoused the cause of freedom, liberty, equality and democracy.

There was less ideological apartheid that we see today and newspapers like The Hindu and The Hindustan Times were not looked down just because they bore a word Hindu and parties like the Hindu Mahasabha, Ram Rajya Parishad etc were in the mainstream without experiencing any kind of 'ideological untouchability'.

It's only after Independence under the influence of Nehruvian left-to-centre policies that the assertive Hindus segment was sought to be humiliated and segregated.

In the contemporary political scene, the Congress, which once represented the federal liberal character of Hindu nationalist ideas advocating equality to all, has turned into a family oriented party where internal democratic process is completely subjugated to the wishes and whims of a supreme leader who also happens to be a family head. Except for the Communist parties and the BJP there is a hardly a party that is democratically run and controlled from the grassroot levels.

Hence, in spite of internal bickering and trivial issues cropping up, a party that was born post Independence representing a distinct ideology and programmes can only be a strengthening factor for democracy. Its amazing growth and power to rule the nation quite successfully have further added to its credibility. Those who oppose it must look at the fact sheet it has so far built -- giving India the best of the highways, an IT and technological revolution, best run states in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and above all a credible opposition that has a vast acceptability at an all India level, giving a pan India character to the polity.

The poet who wrote, 'Gagan mein laharta hai bhagwa hamara (The saffron flies high in the sky)' became the most admired prime minister, the first genuinely non-Congress one and his regime saw the best of relations with neighbours. Atal Bihari Vajpayee allowed Pokaran II, yet maintained better ties with the US, China and Pakistan without compromising on national interest.

This party has another distinct feature -- it can boast of a galaxy of national leaders who command a mass following unlike others who have none but their 'eternally elected' chiefs alone for the posters and platforms diminishing any second or third rank leadership.

And you don't have to belong to a family or a family's durbar to aspire for higher goals and posts in the party. Someone who was a village level worker and did his bit to gain acceptance could become party president and was never told, oh you don't have a particular last name hence can rise this far and no further.

Pardon me if in this context, to clarify a bit more, I recall a Q&A session I had in China where I was asked in a university by students – 'What's the use of your democracy if it can't deliver? See Bihar and Orissa and UP's rural areas and farmers suicides? We may not be having the democracy you like to ape from the West but our one party system is delivering fine.'

I was not surprised. The value of democracy can be understood only when you lose it after enjoying its fruits. I simply said, even with half filled stomachs and often self defeating noises, we prefer freedom more than a totalitarian regime guaranteeing prosperity to all.

Liberty can have no alternative. And that's exactly the most powerful factor that makes the BJP indefatigable and invincible. The party's inner core promises to rise like a Phoenix if the outer shell fails to translate the ideals it was born to achieve.

It may look a bit preposterous to say these high pedestal things when the party is making news not for some happy reasons. It is sad, but it will pass. The party is not built by those who were adherents of a family, but by those small yet strongly committed young hearts who built it on their shoulders because they shared a vision and a dream.

I have seen three generations working together, first for the Jan Sangh and then for its new avatar, the BJP. They never aspired to make it big in Delhi but from Silchar to Shimoga and Doda to Port Blair, they have been working. These workers are the strength of the party and not those who make big speeches and then wash dirty linen in the media. They must be powered and their moral needs to be boosted by a united commitment to principles leaders claim they accept.

Today these workers have emerged taller because they have lived the ideals espoused by Deen Dayal Upadhyaya who had merged his identity with the common cadre and lived by his principles through his own life's example. He gave the alternative ideology of integral humanism before the two alien ones namely capitalism and communism. That almost supplements and complements Gandhi's Hind Swarajya whose hundredth year is passing so unceremoniously in the raj of the 'Gandhis'.

It is this perfectly ideological rock of our civilisation represented by the BJP in politics that India needs fervently.

Tarun Vijay is Director, Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation.

(As was published on Rediff.com )

How to Vote?

The Election Commission has come up with the dates for the biggest event in the biggest democracy in the world. In response, all the political parties are in process to announce their agendas or plan of action they will follow if they win.

There is no doubt that the 'plan of action' is going to be as usual with promises of Water, Electricity, Roads, Education, Healthcare, Reservation, Economy and with a new punch word 'Terrorism' control.

As far as I can remember, there used to be 2 major parties to contest elections in the past and rest all to just support. Nowadays local parties, which were formed and had their own agenda for local development and local issues, are contesting big time. I wonder what these local parties from one zone know about the rest of India and their issues.

With all due intelligence, one for sure can say this time too, not a single party is capable to pull off majority and definitely going to seek support from the minnow winners, who in turn will held the government for ransom for very personal and local issues.

Indian politics has been infected with prejudice since the birth of the republic.

This is the time to re write what we will call history in a few years. Do you want to know how?

First, VOTE.

Second, Vote for a party who has presence and interests nationwide. Yes, either BJP or Congress (I).

Third, check the background of the candidate. If not sure, go to http://www.nocriminals.org to check if your candidate is clean from any criminal activity. IF find both the candidates at fault, Vote for the next clean option available.

Sounds too cheeky? Yes it may, but this the only way we can eliminate all the politicians with any criminal record out of the whole political system.

Now, if your both major candidates are clean, check their education qualifications. Choose an educated person over illiterate. Thinking caps do matter.

Next, IF your hopefuls have contested any elections earlier, check what work they did when they got the opportunity in the past. It may be college, Municipal, Panchayat or Local Assembly elections.

And to the last, IF the outcome of this whole analysis is coming just the opposite to what you have expected, do not, I repeat, DO NOT hesitate to vote for the candidate you did not like in the beginning but came out clean, educated and development friendly.

Still confused? Then I recommentd you to visit http://www.jagore.com for additional information.

This is our time to declare - CHANGE!

Say No To Criminals

Mass Hysteria

Despite the bad reviews and bad word of mouth, I went to watch Delhi-6 over the weekend. I loved the film. I was the only one in the group of 4 who actually liked the film and was chatting about it even after reaching home.

People, rather understanding the whole point or say all the points from the movie, just stuck on the whole Monkey Man episode and got irritated.

I am no official reviewer of Bollywood nor I find this place proper to chitchat about movies, but would love to point out the biggest strength of India which lies in its people.

Their Unity.

India never was, is and will be about individuality. It is all about the force which keeps people together. Call it family ties, social ties, commitments and devotion.

India, in the principle idea, is always about masses, the multiplicity and a multicultural, multilingual rainbow.

We love to see many people around all the day long. In buses, trains, offices, streets and even in the movies. Imagine a Indian movie dance number without unnecessary backup dancers!

Happiness grows when shared.

BUT is this togetherness always leads to any social good?

I doubt.

Sometimes it translates into mass hysteria.

Hard to control and unbelievably insane. People do things just because everyone else is doing the same. be it beating of a roadside Romeo or pick pocket, vandalizing public property, cricketing loss disappointments, death of a popular film star, communal riots or the whole Monkey Man episode of Delhi-6.

Whoever crosses the dictates of the mass comes under the hammer and feels the heat.

---

A personal experience to elaborate the whole point

---

There was a old tree in front of my childhood home in a small town in central India. One day someone sighted a snake under it and devotionally colored the stones beneath the tree in saffron. The tree died and the whole neighborhood decided to build a temple at the place where the saffron stones were placed.

First thing they did is to chop off one of the trees I planted on the same ground. The excuse was there they will have the front gate of the temple. Even people came to my house asking for money in return of the labor they did to cut that tree. They cut the tree when my whole family was out to summer vacations.

Money pooled from the colony, but it was insufficient to build a temple.

So they just prepared the basic structure of the temple which was without walls and plaster. It was just four pillars of concrete with a roof.

6 years went by.

One day on his death bed, one wise man decided to donate Rs.5,000/- to the community temple which was originally a Lord Shiva Temple, but now positioned as Lord Krishna's future home.

SO, in hopes to raise more money from the whole town, the colony people went ahead and made the city goon the caretaker of the future temple. This fellow, with more than a dozen cases filed against him in the police records, came to the colony of teachers and raised money from all over the city to finish the whole thing.

After almost 10 years since my dear tree was chopped off, there was a main gate of the temple, encroaching 2 feet on the street, without leaving any parking space for the devotees who are going to visit the temple. Also in addition, covered two more trees in the campus which gave them additional 5 feet encroachment on the street. So there was no space left in front of my house. A big branch of the 18-year-old Neem tree, which was also planted by me, was chopped of as it was coming in the ways of long view across the street for the temple.

My family told me not to utter a word against them as they are the people with whom we lived for almost 20 years.

Then they got speaker systems, which went loud every morning, evening, festival days and special occasions.

We shifted to another house.

The reason: I protested to the priest that I am sleeping at 6 AM on a holiday; your loud speaker disturbs me. Please turn it off. He got the goon of the city to threaten my life.

Reason given by the neighbors of 20 years: 6 AM is too late to sleep. Name one resident of the neighborhood who has any problems with these arrangements apart from you.

--

Now I heard that there was another brawl among the committee member, who lives in the neighborhood upon the usage of the loudspeakers. 3 teenage couples eloped after a musy affair which took place in the temple. 2 Kids failed examination as they were busy serving the temple full time.

--

I miss my childhood home.

--

It is up for sale.

--

Of the V-Day, Lovers, Culture and Bajrang Dal

Hi Friends!

Here is something that I wrote last year but it is still relevent! 

--------

‘Atithi Devo Bhava’, that is what Indian culture has been since the origin of the Vedas. Many festivals like Holi, Vasantotsav and Bhaguria celebrate the spirit of love and sharing. Shri Krishna’s Ras-Leela with several Gopies sends the straight messages that to love is not enough. One has to express the feelings also.

The text from Mahabharata and Ramayana, at several places, talks about marriage, affairs and seduction. Be it of Ahilya, who was seduced by Indra under a fake identity or of Droupadi, who had five sons from five different husbands or the best example of how Dhritrashtra, Pandu and Vidur were fathered by the same man. One’s mother closed her eyes while mating so Dhritrashtra was blind. The other turned pale, so Pandu was born pale. When the aide of the queens reached to finally meet the man she faced him with confidence and she got Vidhur as son.

I am not criticizing the holy text but just want to make a few points about how the Indian Culture or Bhartiya Sanskrati should be defined. Let’s just leave the seduction stories. The feeling of love and the expression of it was always encouraged in old Indian mythology.

Starting from the point where the teacher, Maharshi Valmiki took Prince Ram and his brothers to Janakpuri to contest for the Princess Sita, is one of the finest examples of how her heart was beating when Ram went ahead to hold the Dhanusha of Lord Shiva. The story of Lakshaman and Urmila is one of the best tender love stories I have ever come across. The tension and the force of love can be easily felt in the verses of ‘Panchvati’ by Maithili Sharan Gupt.

The Love story between Arjun and Subhadra, which ended in a very cool and exciting love marriage with support and blessings of Lord Krishna and the bond between Krishna and Radha, who never got married still, is one of the most beautiful examples of true love.

So what is the problem?

The only fact that lovers, young and old, students, middle class Indians are aware of a day when they can just call someone and actually can say I love you or if two adults spent sometime together in the middle of the chaos of life, is considered against Indian culture by these so called protectors of Indian Culture.

Yesterday on Valentines Day, Bajrang Dal activists, who were protesting against the celebrations at Bhopal, got their hands on some foreign tourists and painted kohl on their faces, beat them up and announced the world that how illiterate, immoral and how insulting we Indians are. We never feel the shame. We never feel sorry.

Well I asked my friends who had qualified dates about their plans to celebrate the V-Day and they pat replied about celebrating the V-Day one or two days earlier. Before someone all cracked up, with no knowledge whatsoever and brain washed by some politician shows up at gift gallery and smashes the shop in to pieces.

Moral of the story:

1. St. Valentine was hanged till death by Italian government ages ago because he helped lovers to get married which were illegal in those times.
2. Sohni-Mahiwal, Romeo-Juliet, Heer-Ranjha, Laila-Majnu, Veer-Zaara and many others in different times faced and are facing the world to make their love complete
3. So, be smart and have your V-Day in advance (Next Year), because these idiots are never going to learn.
4. Prey that they die until your kids are born, just to see how beautiful this world can be with everyone being able to show and express their love to the other.
5. NEVER vote for SHIV SENA and BAJRAND DAL in elections.

To The World Peace!

Why New Delhi fiddles when Lanka burns

When I was in high school, the then Tamil Nadu government used to shut educational institutions for a few days as a mark of protest against the genocide in Sri Lanka . Closing down schools and colleges was supposed to be our 'strategy' of dealing with the Lankan government; our version of 'shock and awe'.

 This practice continued even when I was in college. Decades later now my children are in school and as I write this piece, I understand, that the state government is contemplating closure of educational institutions on the Lankan issue. After all, habits die hard. 

In the interregnum the state has been witness to several bandhs, strikes and hartals. In fact, at the last count, there has been more bandhs in Tamil Nadu for the Sri Lankan Tamils rather than for the Tamils in TN! 

Needless to emphasise, the Sri Lankan Tamil issue has more or less occupied the electoral centre stage since the early eighties when the ethnic crisis erupted in that country. So has it been a part of mainstream Tamil cinema since then. Naturally it has come to occupy the collective psyche of the people of the state. 

It may be noted TN is a state where political parties have grounded their appeal on the basis of regional, racial, ethnic, language and of course a separate identity. In fact, certain political parties had taken things so far as to appeal for cessation from India. But that was in the fifties. 

It took the sagacious leadership of late Annadurai in the early sixties for the then unified Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam to give up this call. In fact, after the Chinese aggression in the early sixties, the DMK gave up this call and pledged to work for the unity and integrity of India. This remarkable political about turn ensured that the DMK (and the breakaway groups) emerged as a potent political force in Tamil Nadu for the next five decades. 

Nevertheless, even to this date certain radical groups in TN dream on and are reportedly working for a separate country for Tamils. And for this group a separate Eelam for Tamils in Sri Lanka is the first step in achieving a separate country for Tamils, which would include parts of Tamil Nadu and possibly other countries too! 

Therefore, even to this date, for some the Tamil problem in Sri Lanka was meant to be an acid test to these political parties on proving their allegiance to the "cause of Tamils" -- never mind what it actually meant. After all, as someone brilliantly put it, if it is jo bole so nihal in Punjab, it is jo hyperbole so nihal in Tamil Nadu.  

The root of the civil war 

The Sri Lankan constitution (unlike the Indian constitution which guarantees equality to all its citizens) positively discriminates against the minority Tamil population of the island country. This is at the heart of the decades-old ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. 

Disagreements between the two dominant communities -- the Sinhalese and Tamils -- can be traced to the then PM Bandaranaike's declaration of the "Sinhala Only Act". This language policy is at the root of the present-day conflict and dates back to the independence of Sri Lanka in 1948. Confrontational policies adopted by both sides since then have actually pushed the country to a precipice. 

This diffused situation was ripe for several armed groups to emerge and fight for their rights. One of the groups to emerge was the deadly Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. By the mid-eighties this group had virtually eliminated other major Tamil groups and emerged as the sole representative of the Tamils in Sri Lanka. 

This is where the plot goes awry. As a consequence of this development, many representatives of the Tamil groups ended up working with the Sri Lankan government or simply denounced violence and joined mainstream politics. Either way most of them remain opposed to LTTE's  vision of an independent state. 

Nevertheless, the LTTE was seen as a savior of the Tamil race at least by some in TN. So did some in the Tamil film industry, which over the years has developed a cozy relationship with the LTTE, just as Bollywood has done with the Mumbai [Images] underworld. Crucially, that blurred the distinction between the LTTE and Sri Lankan Tamils. 

Using nationalistic sentiment and pandering to Sinhalese demands, successive Sri Lankan governments have been directly and indirectly party to pogroms on Tamils. Caught between a marauding Sri Lankan army on one hand and a merciless LTTE on the other, it was a losing battle for Sri Lankan Tamils right through. 

As a tragic consequence of all these, several innocent Tamils were killed there and many more fled the Sinhalese-majority areas, some into neighboring India. This in short, is the sad, pathetic story of the Sri Lankan Tamils. 

W(h)ither Rajiv's vision? 

This was in 1987. This continuous flow of refugees from Sri Lanka pitchforked the Indian government into the conflict. It was the visionary leadership of Rajiv Gandhi who saw the emergence of India as a regional power and thereby sought to play a proactive, positive and decisive role in putting an end to this vexatious issue. The airdropping of food and medicine in June 1987 was a case in point -- India flexed its regional muscle. 

This in turn led ultimately to the Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord in July 1987 between Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President Jayewardene. Under this accord, the Lankan government made a number of concessions subject to certain conditions to Tamil demands, including devolution of power to the provinces, a merger of Northern and Eastern provinces and official status for the Tamil language. 

India in turn agreed to play a guarantor's role by establishing order in the North and East through a peacekeeping force (IPKF). Militant groups including the LTTE, agreed initially to surrender. Later on the LTTE reneged on its commitment as its realized that the IPKF was in effect a deterrent to its plan of an independent Eelam. 

While Sri Lanka brilliantly used the IPKF to settle other internal uprisings within, the IPKF would in the next two years become an unwanted force for the LTTE, Sri Lankan government and of course the Sinhalese majority. But it may be rather captivating for the reader to note that the IPKF was equally the villain of the piece in India -- for some political parties in India as well as our human rights groups. 

And in the process, the IPKF, in the absence of role clarity as well as political direction suffered heavy causalities. In the withdrawal of IPKF, the vision of Rajiv of India playing the role of a regional power withered. Crucially, when the IPKF withdrew, the Sri Lankan Tamils lost. 

Politics makes strange bedfellows indeed 

It may be recalled that the DMK (which consistently had a soft corner for the LTTE), which was an integral part of the V P Singh-led National Front government, engineered the withdrawal of the IPKF in 1990. Subsequently, the LTTE assassinated Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 fearing that if he was re-elected he would send the IPKF back to Lanka. 

Since then, the Congress party held the DMK guilty of having a hand in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. In fact, by 1997, the Congress toppled the I K Gujral-led United Front government precisely on the point that the interim report of the Jain Commission that was probing into the conspiracy angle indicted the DMK. 

Mysteriously, the final report was silent on the involvement of the DMK in Rajiv's assassination. Why did the commission indict the DMK in its interim report and keep silent in the final report is one of the most intriguing aspects of Indian politics. 

But more was to follow. In the next six years, that is by 2003, both the Congress and DMK forgot all this and came together to fight the elections and form the UPA government. Further, in an ironical twist, the DMK depends heavily on Congress for support to sustain its government at the state. 

Either way, it is amusing to note that both the Congress and DMK travelling together on the same LTTE boat for over five years. Much as it was political expediency that brought these two parties together, convergence this long on this vexatious issue has raised the eyebrows of many political pundits in Tamil Nadu. 

One is indeed flummoxed to note that the DMK that repeatedly used to swear to protect Sri Lankan Tamils has been remarkably silent on the liquidation of the LTTE as well as the attendant genocide in Sri Lanka. Therefore, the empty threat of the DMK to pull out of the UPA government has been the butt of much ridicule in TN. 

The Congress knows that most of the other Dravidian parties in the UPA are hot air. Perhaps the Congress, notably the wily old fox of Indian politics Pranab Mukherjee, is fully aware of their addiction to power. Like the LTTE, these parties are least bothered about Tamils in Lanka (or India), except of course the hyperbole. 

That explains why local politicians who thundered repeatedly to give their life for the LTTE and Tamil cause have not been able to give up even their government post and the perks associated with it. No wonder, cadres will commit suicide, and leaders will continue to deliver elegy in chaste Tamil. 

No wonder Sri Lanka burns, Delhi deliberately fiddles. That is the power of the unspoken words of the final report of the Jain Commission. 

M R Venkatesh is a Chennai-based chartered accountant. Comments can be sent to mrv@mrv.net.in

What 'business as usual' means in India

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.' W B Yeats's line from his poem The Second Coming seems eerily prophetic in the present time. 

Take a look at the state of India's three largest parties today. The Congress prime minister is in hospital, the first time in our history that we celebrated Republic Day without seeing or hearing from the prime minister. 

Kalyan Singh, the erstwhile chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, has walked out of the BJP, to join rival-turned-friend-turned-rival-turned-friend Mulayam Singh Yadav. And in Kerala, one of the bastions of the CPI-M, the Marxists are getting ready to fight for the political career of the local party boss, Pinarayi Vijayan. 

We all know that the dates of the 15th general election will be announced in about six weeks. But it is open to question if the three largest political entities are in any kind of shape to fight the polls. And what happens even if they do win? Does it mean any hope of better governance, or shall it be just business as usual? And just what does 'business as usual' mean in India?

 

The answer to that is the SNC-Lavalin scandal, which offers a snapshot of how things work -- or don't work -- in our country.

 

Readers outside Kerala have probably never even heard of SNC-Lavalin. And even readers in Kerala are probably most familiar with the name because Pinarayi Vijayan, the boss of the CPI-M's Kerala unit, may be involved -- or so the Central Bureau of Investigation reportedly claims. 

Very briefly, for the benefit of those who are unfamiliar with the case, the Canadian firm SNC-Lavalin was awarded a contract for the renovation and modernisation of the Pallivassal, Chengulam, and Panniyar hydroelectric projects. Pinarayi Vijayan was the power minister in the E K Nayanar ministry from 1996 to 1998, and he is now apparently accused of offering undue favours to the Canadian firm. The CBI is now seeking sanction to prosecute him. 

The CPI-M says the case has been cooked up by a pliant CBI to please its Congress masters in Delhi. The Congress retorts that it cannot be blamed if Pinarayi Vijayan is finally facing the music for his misdeeds. You can be sure that both sides will give the case plenty of air with the polls coming up. 

Here is a suggestion: Forget about Pinarayi Vijayan's involvement and whether or not the CPI-M should sack him from his party post. Instead, take a good, hard, long look at what it says about doing business in India.

 

First, we never seem to get what we pay for. The total installed capacity of the Pallivassal, Chengulam, and Panniyar plants put together is 115 MW. Rs 374 crore was paid in order to increase generation of electricity. Today, after all the 'work', I am told not that a single additional MW has been added to the original figure. What has the Indian taxpayer received in exchange for his Rs 374 crore? 

The issue, to my eyes, is not whether Pinarayi Vijayan was at fault or whether, as the CPI-M now alleges, the contract was signed by the concerned minister in the Congress-led A K Antony ministry, G Karthikeyan. The simple fact is that a lot of money was paid out with little or nothing to show for it. 

Second, why do so many government deals always seem to carry peculiar riders attached to them? A team that included both Pinarayi Vijayan and the then Chief Minister Nayanar went to Canada in October 1996 to renegotiate with SNC-Lavalin. One of the items in the new deal was 'raising the complementary grant component of the package from Rs 43 crore to Rs 98 crore. The last component -- the grant from the Canadian aid agencies - was to be arranged by SNC Lavalin for setting up of a modern cancer hospital in Malabar.' (So says the CPI-M weekly newspaper People's Democracy.) 

The construction of a cancer hospital is a good thing in itself but why on earth should it be linked to upgrading power plants? Was this a government project, or was it supposed to be an act of private charity? If the government of Kerala so desired it could have built such a cancer hospital on its own, without dragging a Canadian firm into the picture. Was any land acquired and transferred in the process? 

In the event, it seems that this clause was not legally enforceable. In the welter of charges and counter-charges between the CPI-M and the Congress, only one clear fact stands out -- which is that no such hospital exists today even 12 years after the deal was struck. 

Third, why is it that some third party always pops up when a government is negotiating? In the SNC-Lavalin case, we get to hear of a firm called 'Technicalia Consultants'. Based in Chennai, this was the firm that was given the contract to actually build the hospital. (Apparently, neither the government of Kerala nor SNC-Lavalin possessed the necessary expertise!) And as a result it was through Technicalia Consultants that any Canadian grants of money were to be routed. 

Fourth, and last, why do cases in India drag on and on? And why do they never seem to gather speed except when one party or the other stands to gain electorally? 

Why SNC-Lavalin was paid such high fees to do seemingly little? Why was an extraneous issue like a cancer hospital dragged into the modernization of power plants? And why was Technicalia Consultants, or any other third party, brought into the picture at all? 

The saddest part of the whole SNC-Lavalin saga is that, with minor modifications to the details, you could probably come up with a similar scandal in several other states. The names change, parties flit in and out of power, cases are filed and forgotten -- it is just business as usual in India. 

To quote from the same poem by Yeats, when we look at our politics, we can only conclude that 'The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.' 

By T V R Shenoy, As published at Rediff.com on 27th Jan'09

Distinction between 'Bribe' & 'Speed Money'

A businessman I met at an industry body gathering a few years ago narrated this distinction between giving a bribe and paying 'speed money'. "A bribe is payment to a government officer for doing something he should not do and speed money is payment for doing something he should." The discussion was to do with logistics in general and the specific challenges of clearing goods through the log-jammed ports.

I tried arguing, for a moment, about the greater good about not doling out speed money to keep the system clean and transparent. I gave up when I heard a senior customs official present at the gathering acknowledge that speed money had to change hands, if you did not want your products to rot at the docks or your importers to dishonour a time-bound consignment.

A week ago, the World Bank in Washington out of the blue announced it was banning IT services major Wipro from doing business with it for four years for "providing improper benefits to Bank staff". Turned out Wipro had offered New York Stock Exchange listed American Depository Receipt stock to the World Bank, "through the bank's chief information officer and staff."

Three World Bank staffers purchased 1,750 shares for approximately $72,000 at the initial public offer price, Wipro revealed after the World Bank's announcement. And quickly sought to play down the impact of the World Bank's ban on its revenues. The 'broad market', perhaps hands full with the unravelling Satyam scandal seemed to take the explanation with good stead.

So what was Wipro doling out, bribe or speed money? I would assume that like any restricted offering, which is what a Directed Share Programme ought to be, the upside was in the fact that some people could get hold of the shares as against others who did not. The price is incidental. Somewhat like getting a well-priced IPO stock in India in the primary market, with the expectation it will zoom on listing or thereabouts.

So maybe it was closer to speed money. Handing out a favourable allotment in a share offer because a good relationship will help the company in the long term. And what better way to do it than to make your customers a part of the shareholder family? Except that World Bank employees are not customers - the Bank is and it's what I would call a governmental organisation. Nor are they the equivalent of customs officials who can hold up cargo. But then that's the point, the fine line only gets finer.

On the other hand, hear Wipro's pronouncements (on its website) about unyielding integrity. "On integrity there will be no compromise...we will always act to establish the foremost standards of honesty and fairness." And another one: "Integrity is being ethical beyond doubt. It is living the law of the land in spirit. It is what will give us the confidence to stand up to any scrutiny." And so on.

Wipro chairman Azim Premji in an email communication to his employees did stand up to that scrutiny and quite aggressively at that. "Let me reaffirm that Wipro was right from a legal and as well as an ethical standpoint. We believe what we did was right and we did it in the right manner," he said.

I had a thought. What if Mr Premji had 'confessed' that Wipro had indeed provided improper benefits to World Bank staff - since no one is using the word bribes - and that he was prepared to, as key promoter and chairman of the company, face the consequences and the law of the land. Would things have spun a little differently? Maybe, maybe not. But then Mr Premji did not own up. Nor then has he sued the World Bank for slander or improper action.

To be fair, Mr Premji did not engineer a financial fraud a la Mr Raju. Second, it's possible that Mr Premji did not know who the ADR shares were being offered to. And these were mostly given off by the head of the local outpost or thereabouts. Though it's unlikely the transaction would have happened were the internal guidelines on whom to give shares to or not very clearly defined.

Which brings me back to the first point. Businessmen have clearly two kinds of rules and values, one for what they think they can't or should not do and second, what they are entitled to or at least their companies are. I am sure if you are a board member or a senior enough employee you must have heard that oft-used phrase, "We have to do this. It is right and good for the company." So the distinctions between what is illegal or unethical blur.

I am not being naive here to say Indian businesses are the only ones who pay speed money and palm it off as legitimate business expenses when clearly it is not, even from an accounting perspective. But I do find it amusing that every other businessman who has bashed Satyam publicly knows fully fell that Satyam only represents the worst of balance sheet excesses. And of course fraud.

Here is an aside which I am sure some know. Several businessmen have told me privately since l'affaire Satyam erupted that in India (or perhaps anywhere else for that matter) you do not accept your financial follies, at least publicly. Two businessmen from fairly large companies said to me: "We are not saying what he did was right. But Ramalinga Raju was an idiot to have confessed."

The only unfortunate moral of the story is that do what you have to do but don't get caught. And if you do, then leap up in righteous indignation! Or better still, find the right definition or phrase for what you are doing. And, like speed money, wait till that phrase gets institutionalised. And till then, whatever else happens, just don't confess.

By Govindraj Ethiraj as published on Rediff.com on 20th Jan 2009

The Pride of Being Currupt

Raju need not fear ostracism once he's out - society will embrace him.

A friend in Washington told me that Indians working in the World Bank and International Monetary Fund began to swagger around with a new bounce to the step and a gleam in the eye when the Rs 64-crore (Rs 640-million) Bofors scandal broke.

'We are in the big league now' they gloated. 'Not your chota-mota stuff!' The Rs 7,136-crore (Rs 71.36 billion) Satyam fraud must have them bursting with pride.

Size is a national obsession. Indians have stashed away more than anyone else -- a noble $1,456 billion -- in Swiss banks. We thrive on superlatives. Even Jawaharlal Nehru rejoiced in the Suratgarh farm being "the biggest farm in Asia".

A policeman claimed during the nineties' spate of kidnappings in Calcutta he could identify the kidnappers from the ransom demanded.

A crore (Rs 10 million) meant impressive Delhi criminals; a few lakhs suggested dehati gangs in Bihar; a measly thousand or two indicated local street-corner toughs. "Boys who extort Durga Puja chanda" he said contemptuously.

A double-column newspaper heading reflected another aspect of the complex.

'Grandpa Dawood celebrates in Pak' reported with no hint of criticism that 'champagne corks popped' and 'hundreds of kilos of pedas' were distributed in Karachi, Dubai and Mumbai to celebrate the birth of India's most wanted fugitive's grandson.

I shouldn't imagine any Mumbaiker refused either the bubbly or sweets. For that matter, Delhi and Mumbai society hostesses would probably scratch out each other's eyes for the honour of lionising Ibrahim Dawood at their parties if he ever appears in India.

Similarly, the poor might flock to gaze on Charles Sobhraj; the rich will fall over each other to shake his hand. As someone said of Britain's royal family, our heroes are famous for being famous.

Fame is the spur, never mind for what, bearing out Wilde's aphorism that 'the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about'.

The frequency with which the phrase 'world famous' is used implies we live not for ourselves but for the world. Even in remote towns Indians frankly confess to absurd doings like eating dahi while turning somersaults in the air to make the hallowed Guinness Book of Records.

A R Rahman put it nicely when he said, "Indians are crazy about Oscars". Slumdog Millionaire would be far more enjoyable if the Oscar judges enjoy it.

Indira Gandhi was uncharacteristically out of tune with this mood when she wanted tax evaders to be ostracised. She must have known that people admire and envy a leading member of a prominent industrial family who pays no tax.

Sir Biren Mookerjee was thought to be inept when the tax people threatened to seize some of the grounds of his Calcutta mansion.

Mrs Gandhi wasn't the only premier with a blind spot. V P Singh's prescription to force corrupt Indians to migrate showed he had no idea that half the population would happily call itself corrupt to escape foreign exchange and travel restrictions.

'India's Enron' has done India proud. It doesn't lead the fraud pecking order with WorldCom (Rs 43,650 crore or Rs 436.5 billion) or Xerox (Rs 29,100 crore or Rs 291 billion) but the real Enron lags behind with only Rs 2,866 crore (Rs 28.66 billion) missing.

Our Byrraju Ramalinga Raju has also beaten the flamboyant daredevil of the derivatives who gambled away the world's oldest merchant bank. Nick Leeson's fun and games cost Rs 346 crore (Rs 3.46 billion) less than Raju's creative accounting.

The pujas and representations by his friends confirm Raju need fear neither ostracism nor forced emigration once he's out. Society will clasp him to its bosom.

Reports say he chatted 'for several hours' with fellow Andhra jailmate, Kosaraju Venkateshwara Rao, former chairman of Hyderabad's Krushi Bank, who allegedly duped depositors of nearly Rs 32 crore (Rs 320 million) and fled to Bangkok.

What did they talk about? Raju may have said that Rs 32 crore was peanuts. "Even Global Trust went under for Rs 812 crore (Rs 8.12 billion)!" Also, that 8,300 Krushi depositors were nothing to write home about since Satyam's 53,000 employees and their dependents probably account for 424,000 jobs.

Rao wondered why Raju, with offices from Toronto to Calgary and Parsippany in New Jersey to Santa Clara in California, hadn't run, like three Satyam colleagues.

'The government runs faster' Raju replied. Bangkok is a hop, step and jump away, but India established diplomatic relations with Costa Rica and sent an ambassador to get Dharma Teja.

Foreign isn't safe. Look at poor Akshay Vishal in America! "Besides, how will anyone know one has refused VIP treatment (even if it wasn't offered), turned spiritual and reads Buddhist books if the Indian media doesn't have access?

As published on Rediff.com, written by Sunanda K Datta-Ray

A Nation Without People

Thanks to the petroleum-truckers strikes the whole nation was almost came to a screechy halt. Fuel pumps were low on inventory waiting for government to cut costs further so that they will buy cheaper fuels to sell on cheaper prices.

Alas! There were no cuts and fewer fuels when it all happened.

Well... for the first time since the local Indore city transport, which is considered as a model for many cities including Delhi, launched, I got a chance for a ride! (My bike went dry!)

It was a small ride and a funny one too. It has only been over two years since the Atal City Transport, named after the great leader of our times, Atalji, has started in the city. But looking at the buses one cannot decide if it is two years old or twenty!

It had big windows, without glasses, wet seats, due to overnight rains, broken holders for standing crowd.

You say... this is India... everything is broken here... They cannot give us the European facilities... They this... They that... Government is all crap... blah blah blah!

I resist.

When the buses first ran in the city, they were beautiful and up to the international standards.

Narrow streets and the residents were not used to these beautiful monsters running right between them.

If by chance there was an accident, people not just beat up the driver... BUT hurled stones at the bus and broke all the glasses.

IF there is some tension in the city, the first thing came under fire were these buses.

People tore off all the advertisements or the radium showing route on the buses to see if it comes out clean.

People also enjoyed calligraphy all over the bus inside out.

It is a matter of pride to have some part of the public property as a privet possession and showing it off.

My friends... do you really think government is responsible for this mess?

No.

It’s us. The proud people of India who say India is great and developing and we do not have international facilities.

How you expect the government to take care of each glass of the bus that you broke for personal pleasure. They gave us a system which is almost became a lifeline to the city over the 'Nagar-Seva-killing-bus' horrors.

We do not break the windows of our house in protest if the food is burned in the kitchen.

If this is our city, we must preserve what we have.

 If this is our country, we must do the same for it in the same way.

And if not... call it A Nation Without People.

Pathetic tale of services sector in India

'A customer is the most important visitor on our premises; he is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so. -- Mahatma Gandhi

Computerization is the latest mantra of bankers, both in the private and public sectors.

Never mind that most times computers don't work. The rest of the time, bankers don't. And when they do work, they work at cross-purposes leaving customers completely exasperated. And from time to time they also employ their other weapon: a strike.  

Try depositing a cheque at, purchase a draft from or deposit cash in a bank; you would know what I mean. Remember, these are routine matters that the banks are supposed to handle day in and out. God forbid, if you have to handle some stray cases of foreign remittances or expect some other exotic services from banks!

  

No wonder, every time after his monthly visit to his bank my aged father, a retired banker himself and a Gandhian -- who never believed in violence all his life, tells me -- "I need to shoot these guys!"

The most obnoxious part in the entire exercise is that bank employees often join us in our ranting about the abysmal quality of services. Little do we realize that in the process they claim a co-victim status when they are in effect responsible for the mess in the first place? 

Should you think that you could get things rectified by lodging a complaint with a superior on the dismal state of affairs, you are sadly mistaken. Most of the superiors would invariably in some meeting or out of town. One wonders whether it is a ruse to run away from ground zero.

  

Once we often chided our nationalized banks for the poor quality of services. Then came foreign banks and private banks in India. The whiff of fresh approach to banking brought about by these organizations flattered to deceive. 

While the nationalized banks have learnt to bill virtually for every 'service' provided by these new generation banks (the only thing banks do not charge their customers is for the air you breath and water you drink inside their premises), the latter have learnt the art of providing abysmal service and getting away with it.  

In effect, the lines that separated the nationalized and the private banks, between Indian and foreign banks and between the old and the new generation banks have become increasingly blurred. In the process, the Mahatma's quote about customers -- that used to be displayed so prominently in the main business hall of banks -- has become a mockery.

Incompetence compounded by negligence 

According to Indian system of governance, kings, along with their senior ministers, used to travel incognito in their kingdom to get a first hand feel of governance. On most occasions, they realized that most of their well-laid plans, policies or programs were laid to waste by some callous officer responsible for implementation.

This idea, though it may sound outlandish in modern times, is perhaps more effective than the best laid systems for quality control, supervision and public relations. I am sure that a visit to a branch by a chairman, incognito, would actually tell him the poor quality of service dished out by his bank that it is a classic case of incompetence compounded by negligence.

All with a grimace

Let me hasten at this point in time to add that this piece is in essence not about bank and bankers, alone. In fact, this is true of India’s entire services sector. The reference at the outset, to banks, merely provides a context to the overall discussion.

Cellular service providers, insurance companies -- especially health insurance, vehicle service stations, annual maintenance contracts, mutual funds and other such service providers have one thing in common with our banking sector: obnoxious quality of services. In fact, most times it is non-existent.

Usually, signals provided by our cellular companies are so poor that often one feels that it would be better to send homer pigeons rather than talk on cell phones. Ditto with vehicle maintenance. Credit card service providers make you wonder if the great robber barons are still well and alive even in the 21st century. 

If you think you could get your claims on medical insurance settled as easily as the agent warranted, you are wrong. Remember, complying with the fine print is the most difficult thing on earth. 

And in a medical emergency -- you usually end with two choices -- tackling the imperial demands of the insurance company or taking care of the ill. Usually we end up with the latter. And if you think you can complain later, invariably the official would be inaccessible.

Sometimes, such officers are out for training; sometime, overseas too. One wonders why anyone would want to train someone who is already doing an excellent job at obfuscation.

In effect, in most cases one cannot walk into the office of these service providers and expect that they would deliver what they themselves had warranted. And given the modern trend in management, most of the components of services are outsourced -- including receipt of complaints -- making a mockery of the concept of ownership and responsibility!

In the alternative, one could often get to see some kids (usually aged in their early twenties), completely oblivious of even the fundamental operations of the organizations they represent, manning these vital desks.

The idea of posting a kid is obviously a well-thought out strategy -- you lose even your fundamental right to protest. The net consequence of all this is that we can only grimace.

If you assume all these are products of incompetence or negligence you are mistaken. I am sure some may disagree, but given the pathetic levels of services we suffer, one is indeed at liberty to assume that perhaps these organizations just don't care. Providing services is merely a ruse.

Remember, most of these are manned, managed and run by well-educated Indians. And most economists, oblivious of all this, assume that India will be a service powerhouse in the next few decades. Wonder whether they have ever been on the receiving end of these services.

Sivaganga, the pilgrimage centre

I began with the poor services of banks. Let me return to the latest bug that seems to have hit the nationalized banks -- a mandatory pilgrimage to Sivaganga. Yes, Sivaganga, the constituency of the former finance minister P Chidambaram. Most readers may be aware that for the past couple of years, virtually every bank opened a branch in Sivaganga.

Those who already had branches there contrived to open an ATM, or -- as the joke goes -- a second cash counter. And for this non-event full page advertisements are inserted (don't worry, we footed the bill) in national dailies and the entire top management descends on Sivaganga to ensure that the function is a grand success.

The obvious intention of the bankers is to please political masters and move to greener pastures! Perhaps, such use of national resources for personal aggrandizement is not within the definition of corruption in India. But definitely it is within the definition of customer service for our bankers.

In the process little do bankers realise that Sivaganga is one of the hundred districts -- and the only one in Tamil Nadu -- named by the Radhakrishna committee that went into farm distress in India.

Wonder where is the need for such intensive and extensive banking in Sivaganga which is under extreme economic duress!

For improving their quality of services, some banks have hit upon the idea of a getting a new logo, so as to give the impression of having acquired a new image to the general public.

A visit to such banks is enough for one to be deflated. After all, old habits cannot be cured with a new logo. But bankers are a mere reference point to the manner in which our services sectors function. 

Most of them -- there are, of course, some exceptions -- invent innovative reasons for non-performance and negligence.

We, the people of India, as customers continue to suffer in silence. Obviously, we are aware that you are a victim of my poor service as much as I am of yours. No wonder all of us collectively have decided that nothing can be done at an individual level, and individually understood that at a collective level, nothing can be done.

The author is a Chennai-based chartered accountant. Comments can be made at mrv@mrv.net.in