NewsX Exclusive: Videos of Discord – Exposing The Lies (Part-2)

NewsX Exclusive: Videos Of Discord – Exposing The Lies (Part-1)

Pranab’s Chaos Theory?

In a few hours from now, the UPA’s constituents will meet in the wake of a bruising 48 hours that has seen a calculated whittling away of Sonia Gandhi’s position of sway. On the agenda will be a choice. Not as much a choice of a consensus candidate for the Presidential election, but a choice of direction in which to head.

Consider the turn of events.

Mamata Banerjee, a UPA ally, who till 24 hours back, was just another dissatisfied constituent of UPA-II, demanding a rather uncommon and questionably unconstitutional waiver of fiscal assistance, in the form of a three-year waiver on interest on debt. Yes, she had run through the Left in West Bengal, unceremoniously uprooting their decades-old rule in one fell swoop. Yes, she had swept the bye-elections and the local body elections in West Bengal. Yes, she ought to have been given more respect by the UPA leadership. Instead, she and her Ministers had to resort to a few dozen trips to Delhi, for meeting after meeting with the everyone in the corridors of power, from Sonia Gandhi to the Prime Minister to the Planning Commission. And all the while, as her frustrations grew visibly, and the media – and government – treated her with increasing amusement, one man never lost touch. In fact, on occasion, he would fly down to Kolkata to pacify her when her usual combative statements would lead to her going into a huff. A man who many would point out, played a willing mentor to her, as she prepared a platform from which to take on the Left in Bengal, starting with Nandigram way back in 2007. Her political astuteness grew, in leaps and bounds, especially as the 2011 Assembly elections grew closer, and even still, many wondered about her political transformation.

In many ways, they are similar political creatures. Pranab Mukherjee and Mamata Banerjee. One a seasoned veteran of many a political battle over the decades, well versed with the intricacies of the sinuous corridors of power in New Delhi.  The other a seasoned veteran of many a political battle in the villages and towns of India’s Communist citadel. The man who stood up in Parliament at the peak of the Anna movement, and somehow managed to tame his brethren across party lines. The woman who showed the wise old Bhadrolok in Writers Building how it’s done, when she walked to office on her first day as Chief Minister, surrounded by lakhs of her supporters.

Indeed, they both are politicians whose time has come. But more importantly, in a season where leadership is being ‘wrested’ and not ‘conferred’, they are both leaders who are aware that the time is NOW.

With the Congress weakened by its own allies and the Sonia-Manmohan combination failing to evolve in step with the changing political scenario, Pranab Mukherjee has evolved from being the Mr Fix-It-All for Sonia Gandhi, into a very real power center in the UPA. Perhaps, the only power center in the Government that matters today.

Sonia Gandhi’s health is certainly not what it used to be… and Rahul Gandhi is nowhere where he should be, politically. Sonia and her trusted lieutenants are fighting fires in every corner of the Congress estate, and the only real ‘Gandhi’ in sight is Priyanka, who herself is years away from coming into her own. Dr Manmohan Singh is a careerist and the title of President of India would fit very nicely into his resume.

All this put together creates a power vacuum in the government, and it was only a matter of time before the laws of nature kicked in.

Caught between a rock, a hard place, mushrooming fires and a failed political progeny, the Congress President could not afford to be seen as grudging an elevation to Pranab Mukherjee. Indeed, her move may well have stemmed more from a sense of self-preservation, and motherhood, rather than anything else. But what it has done, is force her hand.

Little surprise then, that when that moment finally arrived, Mamata Banerjee was at hand.

UPA’s Stick Approach Forces A ‘Civil’ Rethink

My right thumb!

“Unfortunate but unavoidable”, was how Prime Minister Manmohan Singh put it yesterday, when pushed to react to public outrage over the midnight raid by Delhi Police on the Ramlila Maidan, where Baba Ramdev was staging his satyagraha. Three words, which when coupled with Kapil Sibal’s ‘hurt and outrage’ expressed yesterday, seem to have settled the balance of power firmly in favour of the government. A government that is now in no mood to benevolently allow the politics of fasts to continue. The immediate fallout: The government frowning upon Anna Hazare’s proposed protest fast in support of Baba Ramdev at Jantar Mantar.

Simultaneously in Haridwar, Ramdev was in a conveniently forgiving mood. His brand of fast-politics has been repelled in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh by the UPA and Mayawati respectively. Faced with the ominous threat of multiple investigations into his organisation and its functioning by various Ministries of the government, Ramdev now says he has “followed his sanyasi dharma and forgiven the Prime Minister”.

The stick approach clearly seems to have worked for the UPA government, with Karnataka Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hedge now saying that the Civil Society Representatives will participate in negotiations with the government on the drafting of the Lokpal Bill on June 15, 16.

It’s the right approach by Anna Hazare and his followers. The representatives of civil society have won a hard-fought victory by forcing the government to the negotiations table over the Lokpal Bill. Their place, now, is across the negotiations table and not on the streets on New Delhi. Their responsibility is to accurately reflect the opinions and demands of the civil society that they represent, in the negotiations over the Bill. The only way they can be true to their cause, is by participating in the negotiations, not boycotting it. The stakes for civil society are too big to be frittered away in petty politicking and childish boycotts.

And involved engagement of the UPA Government with the aim of protecting civil society’s interests are paramount and must remain so.

But these are also testing times for the UPA Government. Giddy with the success of its stick-approach having worked, the government now needs to ensure that it doesn’t gloat in victory. The UPA must remember that it is a popularly elected government of the people, for the people and by the people.  Acts like imposing Section 144 in New Delhi and refusing permission to Anna Hazare, to fast in protest at Jantar Mantar, are signals of the government tottering dangerously on impinging civil liberties.

Governance is as much about acting in national interest as about protecting the people’s interests, and the UPA will need to prove through the Lokpal Bill and its decisions on the black money issue, that it is truly a progressive alliance, equally adept at both.

A Cross-Dressing Yogi Does Not A Hazare Make

Ramdev's 'Dupatta' politics

Forgive me if this treads heavy on your yogic sensibilities, but there was something intrinsically ludicrous when cross-dressing yogi Baba Ramdev launched himself from his perch at the Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi, into a gaggle of women and senior citizens – all to save himself from the Delhi Police.

Here was a man who had been wooed by the high and mighty of the UPA. A man received at the Delhi airport by no less than four of the Congress’ top leaders, ready to kow tow before his whims and fancies. Here was a man whom the RSS and Govindacharya had praised for his gumption and willingness to tread where the BJP has feared to step.

But shortly past the midnight hour, like Cinderella’s pumpkin chariot, Ramdev’s beanstalk began to quietly whither away. Perhaps it was the giddy heights of swimming with the power sharks of the capital, that eventually did the right honourable Baba in.

There is no doubt that Ramdev has political ambitions. Ambitions that at one point had drawn such praise from the RSS, that his yogic halo had outshone a blundering BJP stricken by internal strife. There were whispers in the corridors about how the next elections in Uttarakhand would perhaps pitchfork Ramdev from the yoga mat to the political throne. Verily, it was a scenario that had many in the BJP quivering in the state.

Suddenly, somehow, civil society seemed to have forgotten what the Ramdev phenomenon had been all about over the years. Here was a man who has a while back, claimed to have developed a cure for AIDS and for cancer. Here indeed, was a man who said homosexuality was a “bad habit”. A yoga guru who swore he could “cure homosexuality with yoga asanas”. Here was a man who had miraculously morphed into the ‘new age’ poster boy of civil society, bring saffron fervour to the common man’s cause in a manner that only a Baba Ramdev could.

And all of a sudden, Ramdev could do no wrong. So much so, that even a reticent Anna Hazare found himself hitching a ride on the Ramdev-wagon.

For me that was the tragedy. Allow me to speak my mind. I find something intrinsically fishy about Ramdev. I find him a slippery character. I don’t have a problem with him taking up the common man’s cause. It is a just cause and will work miracles for our economy if the fabled black billions come home to roost. Somehow, I can’t seem to bring myself to trust him. And its got nothing to do with his saffron robes or his Hindi. I have a problem with his reasons for taking up the anti-black money cause.

The UPA government and the Congress in particular, has not yet given me a single plausible reason for not revealing the names on the ‘black’ list handed to them by Swiss authorities. Their reticence smacks of an amateurish attempt at shielding the guilty. Even the Supreme Court was unforgiving in its opinion about the UPA’s reasons for not revealing the ‘black’ list.

But I’d rather put my faith in the unassuming Anna Hazare and his warriors, when it comes to fighting my cause – be it the Lokpal Bill, black money or anti-corruption. When Hazare puts his name to a cause, chances are I will be ready to consider it. Perhaps, even support it. Hazare too speaks in Hindi. His means are simple. So are his ideas. Perhaps too simple. But isn’t that simplicity what we should be looking for in our search for solutions to seemingly complex problems?

Such is Anna’s credibility, that it wouldn’t make a sliver of a difference if he were to ditch his white kurta and Gandhi topi, in favour of saffron robes. And I’m sure, he’s puritan enough, not to choose to slip into a salwar-kurta at the first sight of the police. Now that’s something I buy!