The modern thinking Indian

This must have been the shortest austerity campaign in recent times; the Congress Government, in a measure to try to get some political points, decided to try and make a show of an austerity program. Hence, 2 ministers were evicted from their hotels (even though they were apparently paying for their stay out of their pocket) and told to stay in the State Guest houses, ministers were told to fly economy (and the whole country had fun when the apparent discussion inside the cabinet where many opposed this campaign was exposed); then you had the spectacle whereby Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi went by mass consumer transport - Sonia Gandhi by an economy ticket, and Rahul Gandhi by train. It was soon that the press highlighted the costs, with many more tickets booked inside the plane and train for security reasons. Further, there was grumbling about how SPG security is based on surprise trips where no one knows the exact transport, and here there were press people along with Rahul Gandhi.
The press took up this campaign in right earnest, with the first fun involving a Congress MP on the same flight as Sonia Gandhi, who had to give up his first class seat in order to come back to economy. And then the press took up the actual costs that politicians spend on their office, on their vehicles, and so on, to the extent that the Government would have regretted going on such a campaign. None of our politicians of the day are the renunciation type, the saint type, and all of them like their luxuries.
In some cases, it is downright foolhardiness. When a Minister goes abroad for a conference or a discussion, you need the Minister to be rested and relaxed, now bone-weary after multiple flights cramped in economy.
The biggest problem is that instead of focusing on areas where the Government can really save money, it is looking at cosmetic show effects. If the Government were to focus on leakages in social sector programs such as the Employment Scheme, the PDS, do project completion in time and without cost over-run and try to reduce the corruption endemic in the Government, it could save incredible amounts of money. But there is no gain in taking such an effort, that removes money from middlemen down the line.

Labels: Austerity, Congress, Corruption, Finance, Governance, Leakage, Money, Politics

It is always said that justice delayed is justice denied, the very fact that the criminal justice system in India takes decades to wind through and deliver justice. In that time, people either give up on justice, die, or implemented their own form of justice; conversely, it becomes easier to thwart justice by either witnesses being bought or scared away, their testimony becoming hazy, or witnesses simply not being present anymore. All these reduce the effectiveness of the judicial system as a way of delivering justice to society.
India has had a history of massive riots in the past, even starting from Partition where riots between Hindus and Muslims were horrendous in terms of casualties. After partition, there were cases of riots where the police and administration either were unable to control the riots, or played a partisan role. It is the cases where the administration played a partisan role that are a blot on society, and the inability to judicially address these crimes is actually criminal.
The 2 biggest such cases were the 1984 Sikh riots, and the 2002 Gujarat riots. In both cases, the administration let the riots happen (and it is accused with a lot of testimony and circumstantial evidence) that functionaries of the ruling party played a big role. In the 1984 riots, after Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her own bodyguards (who were Sikh), there were mobs of people (primarily in the city of Delhi) hunting down Sikhs (on the streets, and in their homes) and killing them by burning them or by cutting them down. Congress leaders (primarily HKL Bhagat, Sajjan Kumar, and Jagdish Tytler among the more well known) were accused of leading these mobs, and it was only after 2-3 days that the situation was brought under control.
By then, a community had been horrified, but this was not the only crime. The bigger crime was that this situation was never taken quickly through the criminal justice system, and the perpetrators of such a genocide were never brought to justice (even the Gujarat riots cases are having a tough time in being brought to justice, and it is many years now). It is only occasionally that you hear of a court decision in the 1984 cases, or you hear of the CBI deciding that there was no evidence against Jagdish Tytler, so that he could be rehabitilated.
Why all this ? Well, I read of a judgment where a sessions court sentenced 3 people to life imprisonment for their involvement in attempt to murder during the riots (link to article):

A Delhi court awarded life imprisonment to three people for attempting to murder members of a Sikh family here in 1984 anti-Sikh riots and came down heavily on ‘contrived inaction’ of the police and the Government of the day which led to loss of "priceless lives".
The court slammed the Delhi police and the Government for its inability to tackle the riots that followed the assassination of the then PM Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984. "History would never forgive the police officials who were at the helm of affairs and the government of the day for their unprecedented slothful and quiescent role.

The court also criticized the role of the police, the administration, and the local Government of the day. However, the fact remains that these were all failures, but how can the court just not comment on the fact that this judgment is being delivered 25 years after the cases; where it is possible that family members of the victims may have died, where society is totally sensitized about the incidents that happened a quarter of a century back. I watched areas of Delhi burning from the top of a high rise, and can never forget the scene, but in the overall memory of society, I believe the 1984 riots are a forgotten incident.

Labels: 1984, Administration, Case, Congress, Delhi, India, Judgment, Justice, Police, Riots, Sikh Riots, Trial

Taslima Nasreen does not find it safe in India, nor does the Government really want her to be here in India. Every time she comes to India, the Government is stuck as to what to do with her. Given the feelings of repulsion and hatred she inspires in a section of the Muslim community and the vociferous protests that are held, the Congress Government is certainly not going to give the impression that she is a honored state guest; or even worse, that the Government supports or condones her views. Instead, in the past, various spokespersons of the Government and the Congress party have sought to convey the impression that they are only doing something that they don't like; whether it is to give her a visa or provide her security.
In this feeling, except for the BJP (which supports her actions, but would not like to encourage the equivalent of Taslima for the Hindu community, MF Hussain), all other parties are the same way. They would not like to do anything which could be meant to believe that they are supporting the author in any way.
At the same time, it is unwise for the Government to actually reveal its desires, and prevent her from coming to India for renewal of her visa. India has a tradition of being a liberal country, and the concept of not supporting a lady who is being threatened by fundamentalists would expose the Government to severe and trenchant criticism, and severe indictment by the media and large sections of the middle class, a battle that the Congress Party would rather not fight. Consider what happened when the last time she came here (link to article):

Taslima had left India on March 18 last year for Sweden after she was kept in a safe house in the national capital for more than four months. Taslima, who had not been allowed to see any visitors during the period, had described her confinement as living in "a chamber of death". She had come in February earlier this year but was asked to leave immediately after visa was granted to her till August 17 because of the general elections in the country.
Recipient of various awards, Taslima was shifted from her Kolkata residence after violent protests marred parts of the metropolis over her controversial book "Dwihondito" (divided into two). Taslima was packed off from Kolkata and shifted to Jaipur. The Rajasthan government decided to shift her to Delhi after some Muslim organisations threatened state-wide protests against her stay there. Despite the writer's wish to return to Kolkata, the Left Front government in West Bengal did not pay any heed to her request.

Let us see whether things are going to change. I am however very skeptical that there will be any change in the ground situation, and she will be encouraged to leave the country and go back to Europe. The interesting point is, in her case, there are no protests in Parliament against the treatment being meted out to her, no support by feminist organizations, and so on.

Labels: Author, Congress, Controversy, India, Islam, Political, Taslima Nasreen

How often is that the Government, and the party that runs the Government, speak in different voices ? And yet, that is what is happening recently. India has a long history of taking steps that seem like buckling down under pressure, or which don't seem to be fundamentally sound. One can name the letting go of Occupied Kashmir by Nehru, of letting the victories of 1965 and 1971 preventing the dictating of terms to Pakistan, and so on. One now needs to put Prime Minister Manmohan Sing on the same pedestral, as having concluded an agreement with not many apparent benefits.
So, what did the PM do which the party refuses to comment on, and noticeably, does not support even when asked a direct question ? Even since the Mumbai attacks of 26/11, the Indian position has been that it wants to see steps taken to ensure the trial of people involved in Pakistan, as well as significant steps taken to eliminate the support structure for terrorism. Pakistan takes steps forward and backward at the same time. It for examples refuses to take decisive steps against the Lashkar-e-Toiba.
In this environment, the Prime Minister signs a statement with the Pakistani PM Gilani that stated that the discussions could not be held bound to a single issue such as terrorism, and also, controversially, acknowledged Pakistan's concerns about Balochistan, an insurgency that it claims is supported by the Indian Government, primarily through RAW. The PM claimed that there was no mention of Kashmir, that Pakistan has been significantly cooperating including acknowledging the role of the LeT and its nationals in the Mumbai attack. However, much to the discomfiture of the party, the Pakistani Government started raking up the issue of Indian support to Balochistan right after this statement.
Quite clearly, the PM has given a significant handle to the opposition parties, and they are using this opportunity to the maximum, attacking the Congress with glee and gusto; the Congress is not defending the statement, but this cannot go on. The party will obviously not let the PM be defenseless for too long, and this issue would have raised Sonia Gandhi's hackles also a bit.

Labels: 26/11, Congress, Declaration, ISI, LeT, Manmohan Singh, Opposition, Pakistan, Political, Politics, Sonia Gandhi, Statement, Terrorism

Mukesh Ambani would never have thought that finding a massive gas would continue to cause him so much problems; maybe, to make huge amounts of money, you need to have massive problems at the same time. A few years back, Reliance had participated in the Oil exploration scheme of the Government, and got allotted some of the deep sea blocks of the Krishna-Godavari basin fields, and in some time, struck a massive gas field. This promised untold riches to the company, and to the Government of India, since the Government of India owned the gas field and Reliance was the operator. As per the agreement, the Government controls who can get the gas, and at what price; and since the Government gets a cut of the price, the Government has a key stake in the price.
The Ambani brothers got into a huge dispute, which was eventually resolved after a settlement involving the division of the family controlled business. As a part of this agreement, the more complex agreement involved the provision of gas from the RIL to the Anil Ambani controlled RNRL at $2.34 mmBtu for 17 years from the setting up of the Dadri power plant. This price was based on the then decided price (the same price at which the gas was to be then provided to the Government run power utility). This was an agreement between the 2 brothers and their controlled entities, and did not seek any approval of the Government, which after all, owns the gas.
However, with the revision of the gas price upwards all the over world, Reliance eventually refused to supply the gas to RNRL when the gas came online last year. The Government also refused to hold the agreement as valid, since it was not consulted and the price was deemed to be decided by the Government. The case, as everybody knew it would, went to the court (and everybody knows that the case would go to the Supreme Court). Reliance also has a lot of political power, which means that for the Government to decide in favor of either brother, would mean that it would have to take the risk of alienating the other brother (and the political power wielded by the brother). Further, if the Government sided with either side in a way that seemed to lose money, the opposition would attack it very strongly (along with the media).
Amidst all this, the High Court in Mumbai ruled that the family agreement was valid, and that RNRL was entitled to get the gas at the low price. This was a shock to RIL, since this would mean a lower earning, and also meant that the gas available for the Government to allocate to fertilizer and energy units would be that much reduced. Now, the case heads to the Supreme Court; will it decide in favor of the family agreement, or will it hold that the gas is owned by the Government and it has the right to decide on the price and allocation.

Labels: Congress, Court, Oil and Gas, Reliance, Resource, Supreme Court

It is common knowledge that Dalits in India were a oppressed lot (and still are), being treated as a political base by the Congress party. It was the emergence of Kanshi Ram, who resigned from his Government service and setup the Bahujan Samaj Party for giving the Dalits a voice. In our modern word, it is hard to believe that a politician would not have ulterior motives for doing what he did, and it was not easy to understand fully the acts of Kanshi Ram, but his actions (including the fact that he did not actively seek any political power for himself) lead to a suggestion that he did in fact not hanker for power for himself.
It was Kanshi Ram who started the process of making the Dalits believe that they could wield political power, and as a part of taking this process forward Kanshi Ram handed over the actual power wielding to Mayawati (wikipedia). It has been Mayawati who has taken the party much further in its quest to become a major political power in the country, starting with the critical state of Uttar Pradesh. It is also true that among the urban class, there is a certain negative feeling against Mayawati. Mayawati projects that as an upper class-lower class divide, and there may be some truth in that; at the same time, there is also a deep feeling of rejection against the image that Mayawati projects. She flaunts her corruption, she flaunts her grab of power, she flaunts her image of wanting to make it big (the images of big diamonds, asking partymen to contribute money for election tickets and for her birthday party), all of these are images that people do not normally see in politicians. It would be that she is like any other politician in corruption, but she does not hide it like others do.
This is further exemplified by her fixation on setting up statues for herself, something that no other politician in India would encourage while they are alive, to the degree that she does:

Opposition parties on Friday slammed Mayawati for unveiling statues and parks of Dalit leaders ahead of schedule, saying it was aimed at pre-empting the Supreme Court from putting these projects on hold. “The manner in which the Chief Minister hurriedly unveiled the statues and parks yesterday is indicative of her guilt at misusing government funds for party work,” Congress spokesman Akhilesh Pratap Singh said in Lucknow.
Mayawati had unveiled the 15 statues, which included that of BSP founder late Kanshi Ram and her own, and parks at a hurriedly-organised function in Lucknow on Thursday, nine days ahead of schedule.

Mayawati does this statue making and naming of parks to an incredible degree, naming them primarily for Kanshi Ram and for herself. The level to which she does this, and the money and effort spent on these efforts is remarkable. Naming objects after leaders is not new, given that the Congress names almost all things after Nehru, Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi, but they do name projects; they do not destroy existing structures for this. Mayawati has destroyed existing green areas for setting up huge statues as for example in Noida, and tried to pull down sections of a stadium in Lucknow for the same reason. But who would stop her ? Do people expect her to spend effort on development, or to create memorials for herself ?

Labels: BSP, Congress, Governance, India, Mayawati, Memorial, Parks, Politics

When the Congress Government came back to power with an enhanced mandate and higher numbers (and consequently, a less dependence on allies to make up its numbers), the markets welcomed the step, with people talking about a re-start of the earlier stalled divestment process. In fact, with the amount of money that the Government has committed towards its ambitious social welfare programs, it needs to arrange for large sums of money to fund these programs. The disinvestment program seems a good way to arrange money for these programs. However, not everything seems to be going the same way for the Congress; even though the allies are lower in number, the opposition from them is still prevalent.
Right now, the 2 main allies of the Congress, the Trinamool Congress of Mamta Banerjee, and the DMK of Karunanidhi seem to have problems with the policy of disinvestment. The DMK is opposed to the policy of disinvestment for those Public Sector Units that are located in Tamil Nadu (these PSU's are a source of public patronage, and the DMK needs to ensure that continuous patronage opportunities remain). The poltician belonging to DMK and Karunanidhi's daughter, Kanimozhi, made a statement against the process of disinvestment as well (link to article):

In the Rajya Sabha, the Congress-led government's new agenda for disinvestment faced opposition from its key ally DMK. The DMK's opposition to the government's disinvestment policy echoed in the Upper House with party MP Kanimozhi arguing that generating revenue by divesting the PSUs would not help. "I welcome that the UPA government has laid a lot of emphasis on welfare schemes and on social sector spending. But we also have to keep away from the temptation of generating revenue by disinvesting our PSUs," Kanimozhi said
Another important ally, Trinamool Congress, has already made it clear that it would not allow rampant disinvestment of the PSUs. Though the party has not yet made its stand clear in the House, party chief Mamata Banerjee opposed some of the `radical' ideas when the draft of the President's address was discussed among the cabinet ministers, Trinamool sources said.

Principally, the Government has no role to play in many of the sectors of industry ? After all, why is the Government in the business of running airlines and having to spend huge amounts from taxpayer's money to prop up Air India, or be in the business of telecom, or in financial industry, or many other similar areas. These are then totally dependent on the whims and fancies of the Minister (even for a critical area such as Road building where the previous Minister had a big hand in the slow down of road expansion).
Further, when the Government does want to disinvest, for sectors of industry where the Government should have a zero role, it should get optimum return. This is not possible through the normal case where the Government disinvests its shares while maintaining a 51% stake in some of the PSU's. For PSU's where a Government stake is not critical, it is better to follow the earlier Government (NDA) policy of strategic sale whereby the Government sells its controlling stake to bidders. This results in a much higher return, and is the optimum way to get returns from the disinvestment process.

Labels: BJP, Congress, Disinvestment, Finance, Money

So, the bitterly contested election results of the Indian Lok Sabha (Parliamentary elections) are out, and it is the incumbent party, the Congress Party that is the decisive winner. During the course of the campaign and even during the month long multi-stage voting process, it seemed that there was a tight fight between the Congress and the BJP led camps. It was also projected that there would be an incredible fight for support from the smaller parties all over the country. This prospect saw these parties salivating over the prospect, and over the demands they would make from the major parties for this support.
So there was a constant tussle about whether existing partners are viable or not, and some parties made gambles. The Biju Janta Dal gambled that it would come back to power without the support of the BJP, the Congress gambled that it would need to build long-term in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh (and in Bihar, it did not have much of a choice, since Lalu gave the party only 3 seats). The Congress gambled about going with the DMK even though Jayalalitha seemed to be the one riding the victory wagon. However, as the election result day came closer, nervousness gripped the Congress and it talked about changing partners, soliciting the support of the Left, looking to Nitish and Jayalalitha for support, and even trying to get closer to the Samajwadi Party.
The exit polls that started getting published once the stay on them was removed after the 13th (the last phase of election) were again off the mark, since they all projected that the Congress will have a narrow lead over the BJP and would need support from many parties. The BJP of course refused to believe such polls and stood fast in projecting that they will be the victors.
And then came the election results - and they were shocking to everyone. The Congress led poll, the UPA, is almost at the point of having half the seats, while the BJP led alliance, the NDA, is way behind. The Congress gained seats all over the country, with the party looking to reach 200 seats on its own (its best result since it started declining in the 1989 polls); it trounced the BJP in many states that the BJP should count as core constituencies such as Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi, Uttranchal, and made gains even in states such as Madhya Pradesh and Gujrat. The Congress made real good in states such as Andhra Pradesh, with the partners, the DMK, in Tamil Nadu.
However, the major surprises in this election happened in multiple states; in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress needs to get back its core constituency and it seems that the gamble it took seems to have paid off (it has got 20 seats on its own), in Maharashtra, the MNS seems to have bitten into the seats of the Shiv Sena and the BJP and led the Congress to victory. The biggest surprise has been the Left strongholds of Kerala and West Bengal. Kerala frequently changes between the Congress and the Communist, and in this election, the fight between the different factions of the Communist party propelled the Congress to victory. The biggest surprise seems to have been in West Bengal where the Congress combination with Mamta Banerjee blew away the Communist party in the state where the Communists have held sway since 1977.
What are some of the conclusions from this election:
- Manmohan Singh re-emerges as the Congress Prime Minister with a much stronger support and with less interference from supporting parties
- The BJP leader LK Advani will slowly fade away - he is already 81 years old and unlikely to be the leader in the next election
- Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi are the unquestioned leaders of the country now - even people such as me who do not believe in dynastic based leadership have to acknowledge that they have led their party to a genuine victory
- Nitish Kumar and Naveen Patnaik are new emblems of victory, with strong shows of performance and low individual corruption levels
- The Left, having been used to a much stronger influence in the last Parliament will be a pale self with questions about the leadership becoming much stronger
- Mayawati has faced a severe setback in her quest for national leadership; the same goes for former influential leaders such as Mulayam Singh Yadav (who suffered after inducting Kalyan Singh), Lalu Prasad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan
- Economic policies and world related policies should remain the same and in fact become more clear and without the holding back due to the Left

Labels: BJP, Congress, Election, India, Left, Mayawati, Parliament, Politics, Ram Vilas Paswan

National parties have always had problems with the concept of partners in different states, since the concept of having a partner who is strong in a state is that the national party has to play second fiddle in the specific state. The BJP faces this to some extent in Punjab (where the Akali Dal believes that it is the stronger party), in Bihar (where the JD(U) is the stronger party), in Maharashtra (where the playing second fiddle to the Shiv Sena is something that the party does not really like), in Orissa (where the senior member, Naveen Patnaik's BJD moved away suddenly); however, the BJP has less scope for such problems in the southern states where it needs to expand since it does not have much of a base in Andhra, Tamil Nadu, or Kerala. Similarly, states such as West Bengal are out of its reach for some time.
However, the Congress is running into far more problems with respect to its alliance, especially as it publicly (and in full media awareness) pitches for more allies post-results. For 5 years, the Congress lived with alliance partners without much problems except for the Left (whose morals always caused them to have problems with the policies of the Left). However, as it approached the election, it started shedding allies, until it is primarily right now left with just a few - Mamta Banerjee in West Bengal, the DMK in Tamil Nadu and IUML in Kerala.
In other states, the basic problem is with having to search for allies who are either in competition with the Congress, or are in competition with the current allies of the Congress. So, for example when Rahul Gandhi suggested that the Congress is open to new allies, he was scouting for support from the left, from Nitish Kumar's JD(U), from the AIADMK, from Naveen Patnaik's BJD, he immediately ran into trouble. The Congress is allied with Mamta Banerjee in West Bengal, and in both Kerala and Bengal, the Congress is pitted in a battle with the Communist Parties. Mamta did not appreciate the comments by Rahul inviting support from the Left, and neither will the DMK about any potential support from Jayalalitha. Similarly, Lalu Prasad Yadav will certainly not be happy about any overtures to Nitish Kumar.
In states such as Orissa, the Congress is in bitter competition with the BJD, and similarly with the TDP in Andhra Pradesh. It will difficult for it to accept support from these parties, since the state units of the Congress will find it difficult to support these changed circumstances, but they will not have an option if the Congress needs support for the Central Government. And a number of such parties will provide support since they will also get their pound of flesh from the Government formation. The next few weeks will be interesting to watch, people will truly understand the meaning of the phrase, 'nothing is impossible'.

Labels: Alliance, BJP, Congress, Deal, Election, India, Left, Parliament, Politics

In the last election, the NDA was the dominant party, and with the 'India Shining' campaign, it seemed that nothing could stop the BJP led front from coming to power. However, the people of India had different ideas, and did not give the BJP the required number of seats so that the BJP could come to power as a part of the NDA. It was the Congress that had a larger number of seats; it was at that time that the Congress, probably for the first time in its long existence, developed the ability to form coalitions. The Congress looked far and wide, and allied itself with a number of parties that would have earlier opposed the Congress (with some of the alliances being before the election, and some after the election). So the Congress allied itself with people as varied as Sharad Pawar's NCP, the Bihar parties of Laloo Prasad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan, DMK, PMK, and a few other smaller parties. More importantly, the Left parties, who are sworn allies of the Congress in Kerala and West Bengal were also induced to be supporting parties due to prevent the coming to power of the BJP.
Most of these alliances existed almost till the end of the Congress term, with remaining in power being a great inducement for all involved. However, these stable alliances now seem totally in disarray as we are now in the midst of polls. Take a sample of what one of the most trusted allies, Laloo Prasad Yadav says (link to article):

The Railway Minister, who all along has maintained that Manmohan Singh was the UPA candidate, on Tuesday sang a different tune against the backdrop of his party RJD and the Congress going their own ways to fight the elections in Bihar. "UPA is a confederation of secular parties and does not belong only to the Congress. We will sit together (after the elections are over) to chalk out a common minimum programme and in consultation with all our partners select a leader who will be the prime minister," Prasad told reporters in Patna.
Asked about the strained relations between the RJD-LJP alliance in Bihar and the Congress, Prasad said, "These things are natural during elections. Do you expect us to worship each other. There is a famine of candidates in the Congress, which is busy rebuilding and reviving its organisation. But despite the presence of Congress candidates in the fray in large numbers against nominees of secular parties the NDA will be wiped out," he said.

In addition, everybody knows how the Left is already in open opposition to the Congress, and has been so ever since Manmohan Singh made his effort to push for the India-US nuclear deal. The UPA has also other constituents such as the PMK, and has managed to make enmity with both Mayawati and Mulayam Singh.
Part of the reason for this strain in relations, especially in the Hindi heartland states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, is the need for Congress to remake itself in these states. It was in the 1989 election that the Congress downfall in these key states became apparent, to the extent that the Congress is almost non-existent in these states. It is the dream of Congress strategy makers to make the Congress more powerful in these states again, and the only way they can do that is to regain the support of many caste groups that were with them, and are now with these parties. It is also for the same reason that the caste groups are fine with allying with the Congress as long as the Congress plays second fiddle, and gains ground in other states.
The irony of the disintegration of the UPA as a pre-election alliance is that it was the BJP that has been suffering the jolts earlier. They were deserted by Chandrababu Naidu earlier, and on the eve of this election, it was the close partner, Naveen Patnaik of the Biju Janta Dal who deserted the BJP (and it was the Congress which was being gleeful when all this happened).
However, does something really change ? If the elections throw up a hung parliament, one can be sure that these parties will come together, as the need to throw up a 'secular' alternative to the BJP will still remain as a glue to make sure that they retain their power.

Labels: Alliance, BJP, Caste, Conflict, Congress, Election, India, Laloo, Left, Parliament, Political, Politics, Ram Vilas Paswan

Maybe the name should be changed to that of the NRI Premiere League now; given that more NRI's will now be watching the match live at the ground rather than Indians. Last year, the Indian Premier League (after initial criticism of the high costs involved), turned into a spectacular crowd fest, with huge audience participation. The T-20 cricket tournament was a huge TV success, to the extent that movie makers were reluctant to release movies in the same time frame. So, when the cricket tournament was planned for the second run this year, there was a wide spread anticipation that the tournament would be even bigger and more spectacular this year.
And then the attack on the Sri Lankan cricketers in Pakistan, the neighboring country where attacks by militants are common. The attack was the first manifestation that radical elements were starting to attack the popular game of cricket; the first reaction was to lay out the differences between India and Pakistan in term of security and to emphasize that playing of the game was safe in India. One does not want the perception that the security situation in India is so bad that the Government cannot ensure security for international sportspersons. After all, the Commonwealth Games are planned for 2010, and security is one of the critical points.
However, it soon became clear that the Government did not really care about this logic; the argument that was becoming clear was that holding the IPL in India would not lend anything positive to the Government; however, if any security incident happened during this duration, the BJP would pounce upon the incident as another symptom of the Government being soft on terror; so the apparent simpler option was to get various Congress states to announce that they could not arrange for the proper security of the event. Here is an extract from an article that criticizes the action by the Government of India (link to article):

In the course of just one successful season, IPL had become one of the biggest global brands, comparable to Wimbledon and the football World Cup. An outpouring of meanness drove the Nano plant out of West Bengal. Last week, P Chidambaram donned the mantle of Mamata Banerjee and forced IPL out of India. Like Mamata, who felt that Ratan Tata could be browbeaten because he was a hostage to money already invested in Singur, North Block proceeded on the assumption that the IPL was a helpless captive. And just as Tata had to cut his losses and resist blackmail politics, Lalit Modi inveigled IPL out of a desperate situation with a daredevil flight to South Africa.
It is more than a little curious that the IPL faced resistance only from the Congress-ruled states. It was the firm no from Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Delhi that finally clinched the issue in favour of South Africa. In Delhi, where policing is under the direct purview of the Centre, even chief minister Sheila Dikshit was in favour of hosting matches. Yet, the police chief informed her and Delhi Cricket Association president Arun Jaitley that no permission would be forthcoming before, during and after the polling. As far as the Centre was concerned, IPL could go to hell.

There are multiple reasons why the Congress could have done this. The Congress is not particularly happy with Sharad Pawar, and even less so with Lalit Modi, and would have thought that the IPL would have to be postponed; however, the move to take the IPL out of the country was not something that the Congress liked either. So when the IPL move out of India was announced on security considerations, the Government criticized the move as trying to play politics with sports, and so on. Strange objection, given that the reason that the IPL could not be held as per schedule was that the games were supposed to be clashing with elections and that no forces could be spared for the games (the country cannot arrange for enough security to cover an event such as IPL when the elections are going on ? What happens if something serious take place on the Pakistan border ? Where will the required forces be found then ?)

Labels: BJP, Congress, Cricket, Image, India, Politics, Security

In earlier cases such as the case dealing with Quattrochi and Bofors, or the murder case against Shibu Soren, it was pretty evident that the Congress Government at the Center was quite familiar with the idea of not treating everybody as equal before the law. If a person was needed by the Government or was close to it, it was pretty evident that the case would be weakened, or allowed to die a slow death by not fighting it as strongly as the Government would fight a case where the person facing the case was opposed to the Government. And this is not something that Governments shirk from doing, earlier Governments and State Governments also do the same thing, but they rollback when faced with pressure from the media or from the courts.
However, in the above cases and in many other cases, it was like the Government was willing to brazen out the outcry and continue with its actions; and in cases, you will see how they have succeeded. In the Bofors case, all the outcry eventually fizzled out, in the Shibu Soren case, the case was so badly weakened that the High Court let him go.
And now you have this case about the disproportionate assets of Mulayam Singh and his family. The case seems to have followed the graph of the closeness of the politician to the Congress Government. When Mulayam was distant from the Congress, the CBI followed the case as per a complaint from a Congress worker. However, when the Congress needed Mulayam to provide critical support at the time of the nuclear deal, it was pretty clear that the CBI case would start to weaken, and so it happened; the Government suddenly decided that it has re-evaluated the case and has decided not to proceed. However, the Supreme Court is not amused, and has castigated the Government and the CBI on its flip-flop:

The Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled up CBI for "acting at the behest" of the Centre in the disproportionate assets case against former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav. "You (CBI) are acting at the behest of Central Government and the Law Ministry. You are not acting on your own," a Bench comprising Justice Altmas Kabir and Justice Cyriac Joseph said.
Amid allegations of Centre trying to bail out the former UP CM, the investigating agency replaced Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium with Parasaran to represent it. The decision to replace Subramanium with Parasaran had also surprised the Bench which made it clear that it will not allow any last minute changes in counsel. However, the investigating agency during the hearing on January 6 was criticised by the Bench which had said it would not like the agency to become an instrument of the government.

This is perfect; however, when the Government of the day is not interested, then even the Supreme Court cannot ensure that the investigation is carried out properly and as per law. As a result, it becomes more difficult for other parties to believe the intentions of the Government and hurts the overall judicial and law environment in the country. It may soon come to pass that the CBI is made more distant from the control of the Government.

Labels: Congress, Corruption, Court, Governance, Investigation, Law, Politics

The current Chief Election Commissioner (the CEC, Mr Gopalaswami) set the cat among the pigeons by recommending recently that an Election Commissioner, Mr. Navin Chawla be removed. This recommendation was made on January 16, 2009, but became public news on the 29th of January, 2009 when it got published as headline news. And it set off a political fire-storm with political parties, constitutional experts, prominent lawyers, all jumping into the arena.
The BJP has made no secret about its displeasure with the Election Commissioner Navin Chawla, accusing him of being very close to the Congress (he was closely associated with the Congress during the excesses of the emergency, he took funds from Congress MP's for a charity promoted by him, etc). They have filed petitions against him for quite some time now, and this action by the CEC is a fallout of those protests.
There were questions raised about the timing of the move by the CEC, but it was soon revealed that the timing was dictated by the reply from EC Chawla (which finally came in December after many months of delay). This handles the issue about the timing of the recommendation.
The Law Minister Mr. Bhardwarj made some rather rotten comments about the conduct of the CEC, but that is understandable given that Mr. Chawla is a favorite of the Congress. Conversely it is alleged that Mr. Gopalaswami is close to the BJP, but one does not have too much knowledge or proof of that. What is true that if the CEC has made numerous allegations about the bias that he has seen in Navin Chawla, then it only just that these are investigated.
The question about whether the CEC has the power in the Constitution to recommend the removal of an Election Commissioner is something that is not for the Government ot decide, and given the multiple opinions by constitutional experts and leading lawyers, this is a question to be decided by the Supreme Court of India.

Labels: Congress, Court, EC, Politics

The Jammu and Kashmir issue remains complicated. The state was signed into the Indian Union in difficult circumstances, at a time when Pakistani invaders wanted to conquer the state for eventual integration into Pakistan. At the time, the Maharajah of the state finally changed his stance from trying to be independent and signed the instrument of Accession and the state officially became a part of the Indian Union. The State however had a status that was separate from almost any other state in the Union (some states have special status that prevent outsiders from being able to buy land and so on, but no other state has the level of autonomy that this state has), and which is something that continues to irritate many Indians. The basic question remains as to why the state has been granted the special level of autonomy ? It is proclaimed that it is so because it has a special character, but the basic doubt remains as to whether this is because it is the only Muslim majority state in the Indian Union. However, this is an endless debate, and just like many other issues, it is very doubtful as to whether these provisions will ever be repealed.
The last 1 year has seen many strange things happening in the Valley. The Congress was in command, with Ghulam Nabi Azad being the Chief Minister (as part of the agreement with the PDP of the Mufti where the Chief Minister's post revolves between the PDP and the Congress 50:50). However, like similar arrangements in many other parts of the country, this one also had its strains, with the PDP not particularly satisfied once it had to hand over the Chief Ministership to the Congress (and the PDP never liked Ghulam Nabi Azad). And then the Amarnath issue blew up.
At some time in the past, the High Court had ordered the Government to improve the facilities for devotees visiting the Amarnath shrine in Kashmir, and eventually the J & K Government under him made a cabinet decision in that regard by transferring some amount of land to the Amarnath committee for preparing temporary structures; however, this decision caused a major upheaval in the valley. Separatist sentiment got invoked, and even the PDP essentially backed away and Azad also resigned. However, once the transfer of land was put on hold, residents of the Jammu area launched a major agitation. For a long time, the residents of Jammu have felt like second class citizens. With the Kashmir valley being a political concern due to its Muslim majority, Jammu has always felt that it has been treated as an unequal partner. It was the cancellation of the transfer of land that somehow made these sentiments burst out (there must have been a lot of incitement, but there was a genuine display of anger by people as well), and an agitation that showed no way out for the Congress Government forced it to bend towards the Jammu agitators and transfer the land to the Committee.
In this environment, it was felt that elections would not be a good idea, what with separatist sentiment having been very vocal in the previous months, but the elections surprised everyone. Inspite of calls by the Hurriyat Conference and the separatists, people turned out to vote in large numbers. It is speculated that this voting should not be seen as an under-cutting of the sentiment towards freedom, but more about local governance issues. I believe that we should see this as a right step, since elections are meant to show that the will of the people is paramount in electing politicians who can govern, and the election of the National Conference young leader (and a former Central External Affairs Minster of State) Omar Abdullah is a step in the right direction. Even though the NC is tainted with having helped cause the rise in azaadi sentiment by having rigged the elections in 1987, it is a party that has always seen the future of Kashmir with India. If Omar Abdullah delivers good governance, it will go a long way in destroying the separatist sentiment.

Labels: Congress, Democracy, Discrimination, Election, Governance, Kashmir, NC, Problems, Responsibility, Separatist, Terrorism

The subject of this post can be captured using the word 'Critical'. Are the highways projects being undertaken by the National Highway Authority of India critical for the development of the country ? And does the current pace of development so bad that it can be termed critical. The answer is yes to both questions, and outlines the problems that this country faces in terms of infrastructure.
The development of good, fast highways is an extremely important part of the infrastructure of the country; it helps in keeping the movement of goods across large distances, enables greater mobility of people, reduces the dangers of perishable items expiring, reduces cost fluctuations caused by distance factors, improves the life of vehicles and tyres, reduces fuel consumption, and a few others. In India, one of the best things that the BJP Government is remembered is for the massive road projects that it launched, and with the Highways Minister Col. Khanduri running it, the projects were on track. Given the importance of this area, one would have thought that the Congress Government would ensure that the projects are on track. However, for some time now, it has been clear that these projects are not on track, and here is a severe admonishment of the Government from the Delhi High Court:

The Delhi High Court seems to have hit upon the root cause of why crucial highway projects across the country have been moving at a snail's pace in the past few years. And the discovery has left the court both shocked and angry. The HC found that the ministry of surface transport and highways was indulging in "day to day interference" into the affairs of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), a statutory body granted functional autonomy by Parliament.
"The actions of the Union of India...indicates that not only autonomy granted to NHAI by Parliament through a statute enacted in this regard has been curtailed and eroded, but NHAI is sought to be reduced to a mere department of the ministry of road transport and highways," an anguished HC noted. The court discovered through evidence tabled before it how the ministry kept forwarding bidders to NHAI, asking the latter to re-evaluate their applications even though NHAI had finalized its bidding process for the Hyderabad project.

Unfortunately, this is not the only case where the Congress Government interferes with institutions. The strictures on the Health Minister over its interference in AIIMS, the severe crippling of the autonomy of the CBI, and numerous other cases are already there; in many of these cases, there has been adverse opinions from various courts that the Government shrugs off.

Labels: Congress, Court, Development, Governance, India, Responsibility, Transport

Ever since the spate of bomb attacks in the last couple of years, leading to the extraordinary spectacle of bombs across Jaipur, Delhi, Bangalore, and Surat, there has been an element of insecurity building up. One would never be sure of where the next attack would come from, and any place or mode of transport was considered insecure. There was a lot of public anger, but the Congress Government had the policy of try to calm things down, promise that this would never happen again, and then wait for people to forget the enormity of these attacks, and continue with their normal politics. Taking a stricter action against politics was fraught with risks, since a number of terrorists doing these bomb blasts were driven by a radical Islamist agenda, where these attacks were a way of retaliation, a way of terrorising the country. And making stricter laws or digging much deeper into the roots of these conspiracies could expose the Congress to the charge of "being against the Muslim community", something that causes jitters to the top leadership of the Congress, including the Madam at the head. Or maybe, the Ministers and the Cabinet were not upto the job of taking steps to make the country secure. So, when the bomb blasts in the BJP ruled states, and then Delhi took place, there was massive pressure, but quickly died away, since "the resilient country absorbed these attacks and moved on, showing their spirit".
And now this unprecedented disaster that was the terror attacks in Mumbai take place. First there were cries of intelligence failure, and then it slowly emerged that the intelligence agencies were apparently doing their job, and were reporting signs from all over about something going to happen. It was not apparently a real failure of intelligence, but a failure of the intelligence analysis system, which is commanded by the Home Ministry, and supposed to be supervised by the National Security Advisor. Both have failed beyond the wildest nightmares that anybody could have. It now turns out, as reports have started coming out, that inspite of so many reports, the Government did not take any action. It is quite obvious that no Government in the world will ever really get to know that terrorists are coming to the beach at this time, on this day - you need to be prepared to handle such an eventuality; this is not a banana republic, this is a massive economy undergoing huge development, a potential super-power.
And what was this super-power incapable of doing ? One does not fault the police or the commandos who did a great job in actually going in and fighting the terrorists, and took casualties themselves, including the head of the ATS, Hemant Karkare. However, one cannot get around the problems that are being reported, and which will dog us the next time something like this happens:
- The NSG, because of logistical reasons, took 9 hours to reach. 9 hours in a terrorist situation allows the terrorist to setup a solid base, harass the hostages, and overall make the job much more difficult. With 9 hours, the NSG cannot be called a Rapid Reaction Force. They need to be spread out over the country, and if politicians can command their own planes, surely the NSG can also have a couple for these needs.
- It has been reported again and again that the NSG and Marine commandos did not know the layout of the buildings. This is inexcusable. Before going in, commandos need to know the layout of the building they are attacking, otherwise you end up giving the terrorists a huge advantage. Given that it took the commandos some time to reach, the plans for the buildings should already have been arranged for them when they were to reach.
- It is reported from time to time that the media reported on the times of attacks, from where the commandos were going to attack, and so on. If the attackers indeed did have satellite phones (or even simple mobile phones), it would have been simple for them to get information about the goings-on from their associates watching on television. Typically a media blackout with a perimeter cordon should have been in place (with one person being the overall spokesperson for the various Government agencies, to avoid confusion). News now available seems to indicate that they used this mechanism, and used satellite phones for this purpose and normal cell phones that they took from hostages. Why are there no jammers (I am not real technical on this, but it seems logical) employed at such times ?
- There are negative reports already on the level of communication between different intelligence agencies and the armed forces, with finger-pointing and blame-evading happening at a high speed. After the Kargil War, one of the major recommendations of the post-war report was that intelligence sharing was flawed, and needs much better coordination.
- Reports from Maharashtra state that the state of police training and equipment is abysmal. They don't have modern weapons, no training, no firing range to practise, so it is hard to believe that even when motivated, they would be able to take a stand against Ak-47 armed dedicated and well trained terrorists.
So what is the way ahead ? This act of terrorism has exposed the inability of the country to have a unified security mechanism that can effectively handle such incidents. You cannot prevent terrorism, but the problem in this case is that the lack of security (and consciousness regarding security) is such that terrorists in this case felt that they could easily commit all these tasks, and even go away. There is a lot of skepticism about whether, besides changing some people, there will be any action taken. The fight against terror, as seen by policies of the US, Britain, etc, can be messy, and needs to happen on a continuous basis.

Labels: Anger, Congress, Governance, India, Intelligence, Pakistan, Responsibility, Security, Terrorism

For the first time in the country, the term 'Hindu terrorist' has come into common usage. It all started with the Malegaon blasts of September 29, outside the office of SIMI where 6 people died in the explosion, and many others were injured. As it turns out, this was not a case where terrorists, inspired by the word of radical Islam, had committed the crime. While the blast is under probe, all information that has been revealed so far by the ATS, and by the press, is that this was in the nature of a retaliatory attack (retaliation for the bomb attacks carried out by terrorists inspired by radical thought). While investigation is being carried out, this incident and the investigation has already led to a huge amount of hue and cry.
For once, both the BJP and the Shiv Sena are on the defensive. One of the main accused, the Sadhavi, Pragya Singh Thakur, was apparently a fiery speaker who was capable of rousing the spirits of people; incidentally, she was also a former national executive president of the Durga Vahini, and has been shown in the same photo as Rajnath Singh and the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister. The BJP has disowned her and her actions, claiming that this was done after she left the organization (and this part may be true). However, many constituents of the Sangh Parivaar are not happy with this and are pitching for the BJP to support the accused. The Shiv Sena is in total support of the accused (one can always consider the Shiv Sena to have a sense of irrationality in their actions).
This is where the BJP should have been a party with a difference. Having a plank of National Security would mean that the party should stand firm against anyone who indulges in matters such as riots and bomb blasts. In this case, the refusal of the party to take a firm stand against the alleged bomb plotters means that the actions of the party are similar to the actions of the Congress, Samajwadi Party and are personally very disappointing. No matter what the reason, there cannot be any justification for supporting any brand of terrorists, whether they be terrorist inspired by radical Islamic theology or Hindu terrorists inspired by some concept of revenge. The bigger worry (based on current police reports) is that a senior army officer is involved, against their duty of protecting the nation:

Public prosecutor Ajay Misar said in the court that Purohit had attended most of the meetings organised by others accused at Kashmir, Pune, Bhopal, Nashik, and Deolali. "Since he is a senior army officer, he could have been the source for the RDX used in the bomb. We also have evidence that he distributed money to several people through his organisation through cheques and cash. The financial transactions are through hawala as well," said Misar, adding, "Purohit also trained several youths in bomb making."
Those arrested also include retired Major Ramesh Upadhyay and former Durga Vahini national executive president sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur. The ATS completed all the formalities regarding the arrest of Lt Col Purohit — the first instance of an armyman being booked for a terror act — on Tuesday evening. Purohit came in contact with Upadhyay when he was posted at Nashik as liaison unit officer. Sources said he used the Nashik stint to fraternise with the extremists in various radical Hindu outfits and to draw them into Abhinav Bharat fold.

It is incumbent to nip such attacks and planning in the bud. The country already faces enough problems from terrorists and separatists in many corners of the country without having more people join this front (and there are terrorists who are Hindu as well - the ULFA, Naxalities, and many others). The BJP and other parties should take the lead in cutting such misguided people from getting public support and that there is no sympathy for them. Else, there is no justification in the BJP blaming people for showing support for the terrorists killed in the Jamia Nagar shootout in Delhi.

Labels: Army, BJP, Congress, Hypocrisy, Investigation, Military, Police, Politics, Responsibility, Security, Terrorism, Violence

In a landmark deal that broke many facets of the international nuclear embargo on NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) non-signatory nations, the US has finally signed a nuclear deal with India. This has been among the most heated and debated agreements in recent times. Part of a mission to make US-India ties closer, and to relax some of the restrictions on India in the nuclear area, the deal took a lot of diplomatic effort to get through, and the final legal step of the deal was signed in by President Bush. This last step was not necessary for India to go ahead with nuclear deals with other nations, but in light of the recent efforts by the US administration to push the deal, the Indian side decided to wait for the US Congress approval.

US President George W Bush has signed into law a nuclear deal with India, which ends a three-decade ban on US nuclear trade with Delhi. The landmark agreement was approved by the US Congress nearly a week ago. The deal will give India access to US civilian nuclear technology and fuel in return for inspections of its civilian, but not military, nuclear facilities.
India says the accord is vital to meet its rising energy needs. Critics say it creates a dangerous precedent. They say it effectively allows India to expand its nuclear power industry without requiring it to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as other nations must. The US restricted nuclear co-operation with India after it tested a nuclear weapon in 1974.

The Indian side faced tremendous challenges in getting this deal through. The process was started by a discussion with the BJP ruled Indian Government and the Bush Administration, and was then negotiated by the Congress Government with the US Administration a couple of years back. The Indian Government was a minority Government, and dependent on the Communist Parties and many other parties. The Communist Parties, although against the nuclear policies of the Indian Government, have always despised a closer relationship with the United States and refused to flatly support such a policy, warning of a end to the Government (and since the Government was in a minority, an end seemed quite natural if their support ended).
For a long time, it seemed that the Government had given up, after all the nuclear deal was not a vote-winner, the deal also seemed to be against the interests of the Muslim minority vote that the Congress wants, and so on. And then, after many months, Dr. Manmohan Singh finally decided that enough is enough; he literally forced the Government to agree to his stand that they back the deal; to the extent that manipulations were allowed in order to make sure that the Government retained a majority in Parliament.
Getting the deal through the Nuclear Suppliers Group was another difficult task. There were many nations wedded to the cause of denial of technology to anybody who had not signed upto the NPT, and it required intensive effort by the US to get the group to agree. China in the end tried to prod other nations, but the US pressure (and a small amount of Indian pressure) was enough to get the member to eventually agree, even though it was totally under pressure.
The United States also had to face opposition internally, both within the Administration, and outside in the strategic community; people were reluctant to approve any exemptions to the NPT; thought was that this gave India the right to use its uranium resources to push its military weapons program; also that this gave the wrong signal to others such as Iran and Pakistan.
Overall, this deal will provide a vast impetus to the nuclear energy commercial business; with India planning a large number of reactors to meet a portion of its energy needs, a number of companies worldwide will benefit.

Labels: Congress, Deal, Energy, India, Nuclear, Politics, US

In yet another vivid depiction of the poor state of security in the country (and especially in the capital city), a bomb blast happened in the Mehrauli region of Delhi; this blast killed a young boy (he had stopped to pick up the tiffin in which the bomb was kept) and injured many more. This is shocking because of many reasons:
1. With some major bomb blasts having happened in Delhi only a fortnight back, one would have expected the security level to have been very high. However, it shows for the contempt that the bomb makers and deliverers have for the level of security in the city that a bomb was placed and exploded
2. The way in which this bomb was deployed was like the ultimate in arrogance. From reports, there were people who came in a motorcycle to a crowded street, came and dropped the bomb in broad daylight (unlike in other cases where the bombs were placed with some concealment)
3. Defensive nature of the police and Government response was apparent. There was an attempt to prevent people from feeling that all the arrests and terrorist module breaking claims of the previous weeks were not in vain - so instead the police talked about how these were not connected with the IM terrorists. It was left to the media to raise the frightening thought that if these were not the Indian Mujahideen, then how many terrorist groups were there who were planting bombs in Delhi ?
4. Within a span of a few hours, there were television crews standing on the exact spot where the bomb had exploded. I am not an expert on police methods, but I thought that securing the site of such explosions for further forensic analysis was required.
5. One wonders about the resolve of the Government to really push for anti-terrorist efforts vs. their worries about perceived loss of minority vote-banks. Here you have the Delhi Police (controlled by the center) arresting some students who belonged to Jamia Milia, and the VC of Jamia promises them legal aid (the university is also central government funded). And you have the inane comparisons being made by the Congress that Jamia has also paid for students arrested for vandalism ! Incredible, vandalism = terrorism. Next, if a Jamia student is arrested for murder, the university should also come to his aid.
6. Anti-terror laws. Enough already discussed, but every time an explosion happens, the Government says now we will go in for strict measures; then the allies remind them that Muslim votes will be affected if they go in for strict laws, and the ministers backtrack (instead of promising better safeguards)
Already, the country is not very easy to secure. We have a huge country, with a diverse set of citizens, and determined terrorists are difficult to stop. However, with lack of improper intelligence, and problems similar to what are described above, it's almost like open season for terrorism.

Labels: Congress, Governance, Intelligence, Investigation, Politics, Responsibility, Security, Terrorism

The recent attacks (bomb blasts) in Delhi that killed 10's of people seem to have finally made the Government realize how its hands are being burnt with respect to having an anti-terror law. Over the past many years, most observers have come to the realization that any policy change in India happens only for political reasons, and the same is true with respect to having a much tougher anti-terror law.
When the BJA (NDA) Government was in paper, it had brought in the tough POTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act) that curtailed many civil liberties and made it easier for the security agencies and the police to keep people in custody whom they believed were important for their investigations. It is also doubtless true that there would have been cases of misuse of this law, and such instances (and many other accusations) would be more true in the case of the Muslim community in India. Consequently, the law was soon proclaimed as against minority interests, helped by the fact that the 'anti-Muslim' BJP was in power. Any party wanting to court the Muslim vote would have to adopt a policy of anti-POTA, something that the Congress party adopted, and they quickly fulfilled this pledge after they came to power.
Fast-forward a few years, and the UPA (Congress) Government is on the mat in terms of internal security; bombs go off as if the terrorists just have to pick a place and they can cause numerous explosions, the security agencies make almost public appeals that they need a stronger law, and the Congress Home Minister (Shivraj Patil) is seen as a very weak and incompetent minister. The Congress seems to have even weathered the continuous bomb blasts in Bangalore and Ahemdabad and the many other bombs found in Surat (and many other bomb blasts earlier, including Jaipur); they were criticized and the Gujarat Chief Minister embarrassed the center by getting his police to quickly arrest some of the alleged conspirators.
However, the media by now had taken to savaging the Government's political driven need not to bring in a more enhanced anti-terror law, and it were the Delhi blasts (in open places and prominent locations) that seemed to have currently broken the political will of the Government. The Congress seems to have realized that they are being taken as weak on internal security, and for the first time, the Prime Minister seems to be talking about intelligence failures and other measures:

In the wake of continuing terror attacks in the country, the UPA government has mooted a "tougher-than-Pota" law. Although the recommendation has come from the Administrative Reforms Commission, the timing of its release — when the government is struggling to shake off a "soft on terror" tag its rivals have sought to pin to it and ahead of state polls — is seen to be loaded with significance.
Implementation of the law is not going to be easy because the Congress has not just opposed Pota, it has campaigned for its repeal. It will also have to contend with allies who remain opposed to a special anti-terror law. More crucially, special terror laws have been a fraught issue evoking strong negative vibes from the minority community, which has maintained that these have been used to frame innocents.

It is very much possible that the Government is seeking to dissipate some of the current pressures on it by talking about a law, and will slowly let all this talk slide when the situation seems to come under control, and there are non-bomb related other issues that occupy the attention of the country.
The BJP also uses the refusal of the Central Congress Government to sanction a Gujarat special anti-terrorism law based on similar lines as the current Maharashtra one. The BJP argues that the Congress is doing it for political reasons, and it really does not care about the security of the country, a trap that the Congress wants to avoid as we draw near to elections.

Labels: BJP, Congress, Intelligence, Investigation, Law, Police, Security, Terrorism