As you like it

Azmi vs Raj Thackeray

Abu Asim Azmi is not the first politician to take oath in Hindi in Maharashtra.

But he surely is the first politician to publicise in advance his intent to do so, very well knowing Raj Thackeray and his MNS will react to it in the manner they did.

Very clearly, then, Azmi is guilty of provocation, and is far from the victim, or nationalist, that he is portraying himself as.

Frankly, I don�t understand his insistence on taking oath in Hindi, on the specious excuse that he doesn�t know Marathi. But the script is the same, Devnagri, and if you can read Hindi you can read Marathi too. It is not difficult to then take oath in Marathi.

I have said it before and I will say it again. Mumbai�s cosmopolitanism is the ticket for the rest of India to piss on Mumbai. Its cosmopolitanism is the excuse proffered to not learn Marathi, to not speak Marathi, to be unmindful of local sentiment; in short, the rest of India has a conquistador mentality towards Mumbai and Marathi using cosmopolitanism as the excuse.

The point is not if Azmi was in the right or wrong taking his oath in Hindi. The Constitution ensures that all languages are favoured equally. The point, however, is how Azmi went about exercising his right.

He could have easily done so quietly. But no, he wanted a confrontation, and a confrontation is what he got in the assembly today.

If the authorities see fit to punish the MNS legislators, fairness demands that the law apply equally to Azmi who is the provoker in this case.

The Vande Mataram non-issue

I am sure Madhu Koda -- as was Sukh Ram, or any of the damned politicians you can think of -- was in the forefront of singing Vande Mataram whenever the occasion so demanded it.

It�s possible that Rukhsana, the braveheart from Rajouri, has qualms over singing the national song. For the record, I love Vande Mataram the song; its background, which has led many Muslims to have unease over it, seems anathema to me, howmuchever you like to gloss over it.

I have no hesitation is choosing the Rukhsana and her ilk over the first-mentioned category as my ideal of a better Indian.

Many patriotic Indian do not sing the song. Most unpatriotic ones, I am sure, idolize it, for it is a simple charm to sell a benighted lot like Indians that yes, their lot is in safe hands. Oh how we have allowed ourselves to be gulled�

I won�t even make the point that the Vande Mataram was, is, and will be a non-issue. Patriotism is not about wearing badges; if that were the case we are one billion + patriots � but only on August 15 and January 26.

The other 363 days of the year we go around abasing the very nation we claim to love above all � above our religion, above our language, above our family, above ourselves.

If you reduce a glorious concept to the level of trivia, then the nation you inherit will amount to little more than a triviality.

The rascals going around castigating Muslims for their refusal to sing the Vande Mataram, which to them shows the Muslims� betrayal of the nation, do we need lessons on patriotism from such specimens?

Gimme a break!

Why India can never shine

Madhu Koda is one provincial politician who�s clearly unfortunate to be caught out; he is by no means the first, nor will he be the last, to be found with his hand in the till.

And that, alas, is the sad sad story of India that wants to be a superpower but is clearly being torn apart from within by the very souls entrusted with the task of building a new nation.

Think for yourself, if a small-time politico from a small-time state can milk the nation dry thus and amass Kubera-esque wealth, what about the big-time politicos from big-time states?

10 days since the election results were announced, at which they were victors, the Congress and the NCP have been unable to come to terms over who will get what portfolio. If you think the squabble over is over getting the choice ministries that will make life better for the citizens, then you are not seasoned enough in the ways of our democracy. The fight clearly is over the remunerative ministries; after all, political parties don�t run on charity. Like all other endeavours they too need money, money that was spent on the recent elections, money that needs to keep the organisation going till the next elections. In the process, if development gets short shrift, as it invariably does, then so be it.

Similar is the case with Karnataka. The Reddy brothers are not gunning for Yeddyurappa because he is bad for the people or because they have a better vision for them. There are other issues at stake here than what comes through from the various statements issued from time to time. The bottom line is, rare is the intra-party rebellion launched over inadequate service to the people. Usually there�s good money at the centre of it all. Mostly someone is raking it in to the exclusion of others, or someone is being denied access to the moolah.

If the money allegedly hoarded away by Koda through not so ingenious means were to have reached their intended beneficiaries, trust me, there can be no better way of disarming the Maoists. Why is it there�s no Maoism in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai or Bengaluru where we live in an artificial bubble of plenty while the countryside is starving? Why are Maoists so active in the hinterland where, for seven decades since we decided to govern ourselves, there is little sign of governmental activity or any prosperity?

The honourable home minister can indulge in all the bravado he wants that he will not allow violence to overrun the country till his last breath; I wish he had instead said he will not allow his compatriots to loot the people�s wealth, till his last breath, as they have been doing all the time.

It makes for heroic copy when he says the kind of things he does about tackling the Maoist menace, but I will give my right arm and leg to hear some sane words from officialdom about addressing the issues that the Maoists have been trying to get the government to see, in vain.

After all, it is so much more easier to shoot the messenger rather than read the message, isn�t it?

Indira Gandhi, 25 years later. What if...?

Was Indira Gandhi the best prime minister India has had only because she is the longest serving prime minister till date (1966-1977 and 1980-1984, at 15 years longer than Nehru�s 12 years in office, 1952-1964)?

Was Indira Gandhi the worst prime minister India has had only because of what she did in Punjab, where to contain the Akalis a demon was unleashed that ultimately consumed her?

Or was there an Indira Gandhi somewhere between the two extremes?

In her life Indira Gandhi evoked either intense hatred or profound admiration. Unfortunately, my father belonged to the former group and, I suspect, denied a teenager a proper appraisal of her. All I heard was day in and day out of vituperation.

It�s remarkable that 25 years since she was gunned down by her praetorian guard, Indira Gandhi continues to evoke deep-seated passion. I may have been too young to evaluate her term in office even while living through it but having seen her successors, I think I am in a better position 25 years later to comment on what she would have done differently if the events of October 31, 1984, had not come to pass.

First off, she would not have made the scathing attack on the Congress party that her son and successor did at the party�s centenary celebrations in Mumbai in 1985. No way. She knew the importance of the organisation. She must, since she broke it to suit her needs.

Nor would she have fired her foreign secretary in a live press conference. Yes, she was imperious when she wanted to be, but she also knew the importance of maintaining a proper public image. In all probability, had she felt that A P Venkateswaran had overstepped his brief, she would have called him to 1, Safdarjung Road, and ticked him off. Not sacked him in public.

She definitely would not have been caught in the messy Bofors scandal. This is not to say her government was not venal; all governments are. But the trick is not to get caught. Put it down to Rajiv Gandhi�s immaturity, or trust in the wrong friends, the howitzer scandal exploded in his face. That wouldn�t have happened with Indira Gandhi; her government knew how to cover its tracks before the expose, not after.

Nor would she have allowed herself to be outflanked by Vishwanath Pratap Singh, Arun Nehru et al. As someone who took on the powerful Syndicate in the Congress, she knew the art of survival in politics. She trusted no one, and thus could not be betrayed.

Would she have buckled under the orthodox Muslims� protests over the Shahbano verdict? One of the main factors that went against the man who succeeded her in all these above cases was his political immaturity and lack of acumen. No doubt he came in with a clean heart, but the right place for a clean heart is the monastery. Indira Gandhi had no illusions about the nature of the beast she was dealing with, and dealt with it in a strong-handed manner. I think she would have handled the Muslim disquiet better. Probably used a mix of carrot and stick policy for the leaders, and reached out to the community directly as Jawahar�s daughter.

If she didn�t give in to the Muslim obscurantists, there was also no question of supping with the Hindu devils. The lock would have stayed on the Babri masjid, and there would have been no shilanyas on the eve of the 1989 elections either. Mind you, Indira Gandhi wore her faith on her sleeve, but she knew when she had to rise above religion.

The Congress�s dismal show in 1989 was the culmination of all these factors, and if they had been dealt with in the manner that I think she would have, the party I daresay would have returned to power in 1989 too.

Which means the nadir we touched as a nation in the next two years, when the 1977-80 period seemed like a picnic, would not have come about. There was, nevertheless, one silver lining to the dark cloud of 1989-91: that willy or nilly, the government had to go in for economic liberalisation. So, if we were not faced with the wolf at our door like we did in 1991, and the Congress party � under a new prime minister, for I am sure she meant the 1984-89 term to be Rajiv Gandhi�s internship � was still in power comfortably, would the economic liberalisation still have come about?

The critical point would have been the shift in power. If Indira Gandhi had indeed made way for her son to succeed her, economic liberalisation would have come about as sure as night follows day. On what do I base this conviction? In Rajiv Gandhi�s own past, that�s what.

Not many remember that India�s first �liberal� budget was presented in 1985, by Finance Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh � no doubt on his prime minister�s orders. Rajiv Gandhi was not a shibboleth-bound politician, he was impatient to have India join the developed nations of the West, and liberalisation was just one of the first things he would have opted for. If the Bofors beast had not got him, forcing him to return to the socialist path in order to win his party�s support, then economic liberalisation could well have come about sooner.

So if Shahbano was a non-issue, and the Ayodhya issue did not erupt, where would that have left the Hindu Right represented by the BJP who rode on these two issues to boost its numbers in the 1990s?

Interesting question. If the 1984 election was not a shraddanjali one, the Opposition as we knew it would not have been decimated by a tidal wave, then either the left of centre Opposition or the BJP could have still gained in strength, and who knows could have toppled the Congress in 1994.

But yes, all this remains in the realm of wondrous wishful thinking, simply idle speculation, thanks to the deadly spray of the assassins� bullets exactly 25 years ago.

Lessons from the verdict

Andher nagri chaupat raja sums up the post-poll scenario in Maharashtra. Everyone is agreed that a listless government was let off by a listless opposition, so there�s no need to expend more words on what led to the election results. Instead, it would be fruitful to see what awaits the major players.

The Congress first. After years in the wilderness the party seems to have found its rhythm, helped as much by the triumvirate at the top � Sonia Gandhi, Dr Manmohan Singh and Rahul � as by the downfall in the BJP�s fortunes. Narendra Modi had disagreed with my poser to him about the BJP�s rise coinciding with the decline in the Gandhi-Nehru dynasty and fall similarly matching the dynasty�s rise, but I believe it to be the case.

The stars clearly don�t favour the BJP right now, and the worry for the party is that there is nothing on the horizon to give it hope. The BJP could have handled Haryana better; it didn�t, and paid the price. Arunachal was never on its radar. And in the two states facing elections next, Kerala and Bengal, it is not a major player � while the Congress is. What the BJP should do is use this respite to rebuild itself -- a task that is easier said than done. A bi-polar polity is very much needed in India, and the BJP should work to not cede this territory through inaction.

The Nationalist Congress Party will find itself being increasingly squeezed. While Sonia Gandhi may not do anything to make Sharad Pawar uncomfortable, despite their past, the party will find itself rudderless after the Maratha strongman, a situation another regional party floated by another satrap found itself in. G K Moopanar broke away in the 19990s to form the Tamil Maanila Congress, which gravitated back to the parent party after him. The same is likely to be the NCP�s future.

The Shiv Sena will obviously go through a rough patch. Uddhav has dropped a sitter and the party stalwarts, well aware that the younger generation are attracted by the cousin, would not like to see their decades-long effort go waste. A rapprochement between the warring cousins is unlikely, unless Uddhav sacrifices himself for the party and lets Raj have the top job � an unlikely scenario, yes, but stranger things have happened in politics.

Which brings us to the new kid on the block, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. Raj Thackeray has walked the talk, but the next major test of strength for him is still three years away �the Brihanmumbai municipal corporation elections. That is a long time in politics. Yes, he and his party are on a high after their impressive performance in last week�s elections but they should not lose sight of the expectations they have aroused, or the fact that they are still on trial. How effectively they address the people�s concerns will determine how far they go in 2014.

Personally I don�t have much hope from our political class but I am happy at the MNS�s rise since finally Maharashtra seems to have gained an Opposition.

Independents Day in Maharashtra

Tomorrow is the counting of votes in three state assembly elections and, while it is clear that the Congress is at an advantage in Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh, my state Maharashtra is a little complicated.

In Maharashtra the pre-election scenario was a replay of what it was for the general elections a few months ago: an ineffective government whose misrule plagued the people and offered no dearth of issues for the opposition; an effete opposition that was unable to convert the opportunity so presented on a platter into an election victory.

The general election was not won by the Congress; it was lost by the BJP.

Will the same result be seen in Maharashtra as well?

One doesn't have to be a pundit to posit that the Congress will more or less hold on to its numbers in the assembly. Which will be sad, since I don't think the state has been underserved more than in the last 10 years of Congress-Nationalist Congress Party administration. You don't have to go to faraway Vidarbha, where farmers are still killing themselves, to know how bad the situation is. Just step a few km out of Mumbai, into neighbouring Thane, to know the horrors facing Maharashtra.

Power supply? Even within Mumbai, an island of plenty surrounded by a vast lake of destitution, there are areas that go without power for hours a day. Malnutrition deaths? You don't have to travel far from Mumbai -- where crores are won and lost on just one Diwali night -- to see them.

The Congress-NCP misgovernance is as legendary as it is short-sighted. Its ministers and MLAs see nothing, hear nothing and, tragically, do nothing too. Like all previous administrations they have burnished a small area in South Mumbai, where they live, to excellence, and delude themselves that the rest of the city, and the state, are on the fast track to similar status.

Nothing can be, nor is, farther from the truth.

I had once asked on Facebook what it will take for the rulers to transform the suburbs into island city-like condition and one of my friends, I think it was Madhavan Pillai, had replied that it will be done only when it is mandated that the state legislature and municipal corporation hold their sessions in the suburbs for half the year. Let them commute to the suburbs and see the change, he had said.

Yes, I too believe it will work for the city, but will such a solution work for the state?

The state assembly session is held regularly in Nagpur, apart from Mumbai, but Vidarbha still sees farmer suicides.

Unfortunately, what has helped the Congress-NCP has been the disarray in the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party. The BJP has lost its stalwart leader in the state, Pramod Mahajan, to intra-family rivalry, and the Shiv Sena is seriously hobbled by the emergence of Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. Given this, it should be a cakewalk for the Congress-NCP, but it won't be.

Because the Congress is carrying a passenger along in the NCP. Apart from Sharad Pawar's fading luminescence, the party is also the worst hit by dissidence, with some 60 rebels in the fray against the official nominees. Clearly the Pawar writ doesn't run as it once did. Possibly the party will woo back the rebel independents, but it will all boil down to numbers.

Specifically, how much damage the rebels inflict on the Congress-NCP, and how much damage the MNS causes to the Shiv Sena-BJP.

The million-vote question is, will the damage to the Congress-NCP be more or less than Raj's blow to the Shiv Sena-BJP?

We will know in 24 hours, but I expect the MNS to make a mark in these elections. My guesstimate may surprise Raj himself, but I think � and want � the MNS to win around 50 seats. This is clearly OTT compared to estimates that put the MNS winning barely 10.

I want the MNS to do well for a couple of reasons. One, of course, is that the party will put the native first, which is how I would like it to be. This is how it is in every other state, this is how it was in my home state of Tamil Nadu, and I don't see why it should be any different in Maharashtra. Cosmopolitanism has for long been a tool to screw the Marathi spirit out of Maharashtra and it is high time this changed.

Another reason I would like the MNS to do well is so it would be part of any new power equation in the state. A stint in administration, I believe, will confer a sense of responsibility on it, and tone down its rhetoric. There's a great deal of difference in being out of power and inside, just look at the change in the Shiv Sena then and now. Five years
in office and it knows the futility of violent agitations. Similar will be the case with the MNS. Plus, of course, being in the power structure will help it realise its native plank.

But, yes, all this is up in the air, till tomorrow! Then we will know which way Maharashtra will go in the next five years.

Election-eve musings

The highway on my way to work was so unlike what it usually is on a Monday morning. All it took me to reach the office today was 30 minutes; obviously Mumbaikars have made the most of tomorrow�s holiday declared to enable them to cast their vote, combined it with the weekend and have fled the city to cooler climes.

I don�t think I have encountered any election more low-key than this one.

How many of you know who your local candidate is? I was up and about this weekend and didn�t come across one single campaign anywhere. Possibly it was happening in the innards, not on the main road. That could be one reason I missed it.

But why blame the people for their lack of interest when the politicians themselves are not exactly behaving like a stick of dynamite!

As a confirmed voter myself the reasons for the public�s apathy are not hard to fathom, and they are what I relate to too. Has anything changed in the city for the better in the last five years? In the last 10 years? In the last 15 years? I know one thing has changed for the better, and that is the assets list declared by the various candidates. Mind you, these lists are by no way comprehensive or final. In most cases, the candidates possess wealth over and above what they have declared, so you can understand the mad rush to contest elections.

Contesting elections is the new reality show for the unwashed masses, with a pot of gold waiting at the end of the rainbow. It is the new career option for our bright young graduates and others. If you are looking for service to the people, forget it. The politicians� first aim is self-aggrandisement; if anything gets done for you and me as an offshoot, as something incidental, it�s fine.

Why do you think 35 per cent of Indians are still below the poverty line? It is not because India is poor, or that we don�t have enough resources. Trust me, there is plenty of money which, if it went to those it was meant for, would make poverty a thing of the past. But it is constantly being waylaid by vested interests who have spent crores on winning an election and who need to recoup their investment, siphoned off by politicians who have taken favours from various persons on election-eve and their IOUs need to be honoured.

Our elected representatives and those waiting to be elected are not merely dipping their hand into the till; they have run away with it. If poverty, illiteracy, backwardness were abolished in the country, what will our politicians promise in the elections? Why will we vote for them? Our backwardness maybe a millstone around the nation�s neck but for the politician it represents a Kamdhenu.

Just a day after Nobel Laureate spoke to our Suman Guha Mozumder about the lack of resources in India for supporting research, a situation which he is now changing, came reports of a corruption case registered against Jharkhand politico Madhu Koda. How much assets is he believed to possess? To the tune of Rs 400 crores. And remember, Jharkhand maybe rich in natural resources but it is still a backward state.

And we don�t have money for supporting research, abolishing poverty etc?

Our apathy is because we know the truth about the elections and politicians, but also realise that we cannot change anything. An Adolf D�Souza in the municipal corporation or a Hansel D�Souza in the assembly is hardly going to change things drastically. I always look back at the Rajiv Gandhi era, the promise and premise on which he came into office and how little time it took for the vested interests � against who he had mounted an offensive in 1985 in Mumbai � to co-opt him. Call me a cynic, but I don�t see change happening in my lifetime and yours. Make it widespread, positive change.

But I will still go out and cast my vote tomorrow. Not because I am a better citizen than the person who doesn�t vote; not because my vote is going to usher in positive change, or because of any such high-falutin� thought.

I will go out and vote, despite all the cynicism, despite the no-hope situation we are in, because this is the only time for the citizen to show that s/he cares for the country, state, city, locality, street, neighbourhood. If you care too, get your vote out.

For a truly Indian Nobel

No doubt, a Nobel for an Indian � or a person of Indian origin � is great news.

Even better, to me personally, is that the recipient, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, is from Tamil Nadu, my janmabhoomi. Make this the third by a Tamilian � Sir C V Raman and Subramanyam Chandrasekhar being the others � and the max by any Indian linguistic group (Bongs have only two: Tagore and Amartya Sen, yeay!).

I am sure the newspapers in Tamil Nadu are going to town, as is the media elsewhere in the country. No doubt it�s a great moment when one of us goes on to achieve fame and recognition on the world stage, and what can be bigger than the Nobel!, but still, I think the true Indian Nobel will be when one of us gets it for stay and research done within the country.

Till that moment arrives, as it will in our lifetime, make no mistake, let�s hold the uncorking of champagne?

Kamal doesn�t outshine Naseer, no way

It was a film that I had been dying to see, Kamal Haasan�s Unnai Pol Oruvan, remake of the powerful Hindi film A Wedneday, but since I had no one to see it with -- I had not touched base with director Mahesh Nair with who I usually see Tamil films; and let�s just say my family doesn�t share my enthusiasm for Kamal -- it had to wait till I was in Chennai for a night and day.

But before I talk about the film, a little about the theatre where we saw the film. It is what we used to refer to talkies as children in Chennai. A wide open auditorium (the picture, if the rediff moderator approves it, should show what I am talking about) with rows of doors on either side, blue curtains like what you see in a photo studio to keep the light out, wall-mounted ceiling fans, wooden seats, a �box� section upstairs which for children used to be prohibitively expensive. A shrill bell heralds the start, break and end of the film. And the canteen sells popcorn for Rs 10, �softy� ice-cream for Rs 10. And the �box� ticket costs Rs 25, which won�t get you parking in a Mumbai multiplex. To get the tickets you stood in a closed, narrow cage like structure, one ticket per head. It was re-living my childhood cinema experience for me, though that was not the reason why we chose the theatre. We went there since it was the closest home and I had a flight to catch in the evening.

Unnai Pol Oruvan, produced by Kamal along with UTV, is everything the critics said it was. Gripping, taut, has great background score (courtesy the Haasan next-gen, Shruti), wonderful supporting cast, and topping it all were Kamal himself and Mohanlal, the powerhouse of Malayalam cinema, as the two protagonists.

The story stays faithful to the Hindi original, with suitable adaptations in the dialogue for local sensibilities. Police Commission Maarar (Mohanlal) gets a mystery phone call asking for the release of hardcore terrorists or else bombs will go off simultaneously across the city. If you expect songs, bump and grind item numbers or a comedy track, you will be sorely disappointed, as was someone in my row. This is no Dasavatharam.

I have been part of water-fountain discussions over who is a better actor: Kamal Haasan or Naseeruddin Shah, and have always pitched for the former. This was the first time I was seeing Kamal essay a role played by Naseer to perfection, and I was left amazed at the versatility of these two leading actors of India. No doubt, Kamal�s common man leapt at me thanks to linguistic and cultural affinities, but if I were to shed these and look at both the performances dispassionately, I must admit that Naseer�s performance was better than Kamal�s.

And that A Wednesday was better than Unnai Pol Oruvan.

Saying this is in no way meant to belittle Kamal and his latest film. I have not seen a more powerful Tamil film since Paruthi Veeran. I have not seen Kamal essay such a complex role since Kurudhipunal (1996), again a remake of the Hindi Drohkaal.

As we came out of the theatre, sweaty and puffing, my mom asked me, so who do you think is the better actor of the two? In all honesty I told her I have no doubt that Naseer is the better actor but Kamal has greater commercial acceptance so his choice of roles is much, much wider, which is something Naseer will never have.

I hope I am right on that one.

Madame President and her son

At least the first three Presidents were persons of unimpeachable character, their soul tempered in the freedom movement; the rot really began with the fourth incumbent, Varahagiri Venkata Giri.

From then on Rashtrapati Bhavan became a sinecure, part of the politician�s VRS. And with this declined the public�s regard for the constitutional office. Till it took a bold, out of the box decision by A B Vajpayee who nominated a technocrat for Head of State.

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, the previous occupant of the former viceregal palace, is as rare as they come. Which is why the public still adores him. He was and remains a simple man; no entourage followed him into the Bhavan or out; he left as he came in, with a simple suitcase, back into the life of relative obscurity.

Alas, the same cannot be said of his successor. Even granted that standards cannot be the same for everyone, and that serving politicians have their compulsions.

Even granting Pratibha Patil the maximum leeway on this score, the Congress party�s decision to nominate her son Rajendra Shekhawat from Amravati in Maharashtra, is a bad decision.

Bad not because it violates any law; Indian democracy is run on the British model, where tradition plays as important a role as does legality.

Scouring through the names of ex-Presidents, I cannot think of one who had a son/daughter angling for and getting a party ticket to contest elections. And mind you, some of these exes were extremely political animals. They may have played the field themselves while still occupying Rashtrapati Bhavan, but they didn�t live to see a son or daughter become an MLA or MP during their term.

It needn�t be that the President parlayed with the party bosses to have her son nominated from Amravati or elsewhere. But the party�s decision impacts her, and implicates her in the public eye since the perception would be that she engineered her son�s nomination. Facts may well be otherwise, but in politics perceptions count for more, everyone knows that.

In order to not bring the presidency into disrepute, the Congress high command should have steered away from nominating Rajendra Shekhawat; it wasn�t as if there were no winners for the seat.

But the Congress is currently punch-drunk on its Lok Sabha victory, and thinks that public opinion, criticism etc don�t count and it was free to do as it liked. Personally I have little expectations from the Congress bosses -- I include both the Gandhis in this -- never mind their sanctimonious noises over maintaining austerity in governance.

I would say, along with some financial austerity how about maintaining some ethical standards as well?