Shaming the Shameless

  

 

Roughly 800 million people, more than the populations of the US, Indonesia, Brazil, Russia and Bangladesh combined will be eligible to vote, making the upcoming election the largest since Independence in 1947.Fervent hope of every common man/woman is to elect representatives who have the fundamental virtues that are essential for a statesmen: integrity, courage, perspicacity, vision, empathy etc. Regrettably all political parties, especially the major ones, playing assiduously by the rules of realpolitik, throw up candidates whose antecedents are far from desired, yet they get elected.

 These stalwarts are that special breed of turncoats, the Aya Rams Gaya Rams, whose singular aim is to stay in power or close to the seat of power, whatever the cost. They bloom during the election season and have no compunctions in party hopping, like honeybees in a garden, for the political nectar. The end result is that more than 35% MPs in the current Lok Sabha were tainted with charges ranging from murder to rape, theft, misappropriation of public money etc. They turned our Parliament into a “nest of crooks”, where lies are considered truth and truth is considered seditious.

 

 Given the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of such leaders, the craft of governing well has been forsaken and disrespected and replaced by scams, indecision and unethical compromises. No one can deny the truism that the political standards have been falling over the years. But the yawning holes which the decline has opened up indicate the dearth of their cerebral and ethical caliber.

The country has for years been ruled by this small clique of pettifogging, wire pulling, self centered and opportunistic political elite, who have yet not developed in the people a sense of true citizenship in which national identity trumps any other allegiances to religious, ethnic, or tribal identities nor they have succeeded in tackling the underlying political, economic, and social challenges the country faces.

Now that the ever growing deficiencies of our political elite are out in the open, one wonders whether the popular elections, which we are so proud of, an adequate criterion to judge our country’s commitment to democracy. What is the way out for a country of 1.3 billion people from the machinations of the likes of Jaswant Singhs, Jagdambika Pal and Sabir Alis et al who having been denied ticket by the parent party (whose virtues, ethos, policies and programmes they eulogized 24/7) suddenly become unbearable and abhorrent to them. Wonder what their patriotic values are and the small price they will extract to sell their country to the enemy? Should they ever get into the Parliament is what every Indian needs to introspect.

Henderson Brooks Report - The Shame of 1962

A Report that lay in the never dusted and dingy cupboards of MoD for over six decades has been finally revealed, ironically by a foreign journalist, Neville Maxwell. Tens of Defence Ministers,Defence Secretaries and their acolytes must have read it out of sheer curiosity, but most regrettably kept it hidden from Indian public and the Indian Army as it was classified "Top Secret". 

How bizarre that after knowing the truth of the catastrophic debacle it never occurred to any Indian Govt, over the last 60 years,to face the truth and redeem the prestige of one of the top rated Army's in the world, the Indian Army,that was humiliated in a crushing defeat due to the ineptness and alter ego of the Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru and the maniacal stupidity of the Defence Minister, Krishna Menon. Entire political class, who has been at the helm of affairs for last six decades, is answerable to the Indian nation and its people, for their skulduggery in hiding the truth that sharply contradicts the popular version floated by the successive Govts, "India as the aggrieved party".

 As revealed by Maxwell, the McMahon Line is not a legal boundary; it is an Indian claim line which was never recognised by the Chinese.Yet, as Maxwell says, the Chinese were willing to negotiate with Indian Govt  and perhaps, ratify the same as a recognised boundary between the two countries.But then Nehru took this nonsensical absurd approach: “I won’t negotiate, I’ll tell them where the boundary is. Tell them “That’s our boundary. There’s no question about it, there’s no dispute, it’s non-negotiable. You must accept it.” This no brainer was most unfortunately followed by the ill conceived ‘forward policy’ which precipitated the dispute - a lasting curse for both countries. An act of great personal folly for which Nehru was not excused by Mao who said,"Since Nehru sticks his head out and insists on us fighting him, for us not to fight with him would not be friendly enough;courtesy emphasizes reciprocity.(Henry Kissinger in his book "On China")

Well, that is history now,but what about the successive Govts, who because of their unwillingness to accept the truth and share its lessons with the nation took a holier than though approach towards China, "the aggressor"and continued to shape their policy as a victim of China's wrong doing. On the other hand, having known the facts of 1962 and historical truth of McMahon, Caroes’ alignment, could our Govts have taken a more measured/nuanced and mutually acceptable, practical and rationale approach towards  resolving the boundary dispute with China.This would be possible if custodians of  peoples faith and hopes, the politicians, unremittingly look out for the country's interests above all else.

Deniable,Despicable and not Desirable

                        The cacophony preceding the elections is growing shriller by the day. Nothing unusual at such times except that the Electronic media is more ubiquitous than ever before as it is freely engaging in games of rhetorical brinkmanship with each other and the political protagonists. In doing so it is also trying to retain its niche and self declared freedom, which at times is jarring as it defies decency and morality. 

Is it, therefore, possible, that to curry favours, some media houses operate a hidden agenda, to promote someone/ some cause, in  the oft contrived and fascinating headlines, as suggested by Arvind Kejriwal. Most have taken a strong exception to AKs remark that owners of such media houses and their journalists, who act as mouthpieces for a price, would be jailed if his Party came to power. Some among the not so "holy media" driven by their intrinsic guilt have unleashed a tornado of controversy and 24/7 vitriolic against the audacity displayed by AK in stating the obvious. 

My take is that AK is bang on target and is fearlessly chartering his anti corruption agenda, with concessions to non. What seems to pique the media, the most, is some kind of perception/remorse/call of conscious that they may have created a Frankenstein by promoting AK and his AAP. Needless to say that, what the media did was not gratis and no favours were showered on AK as the media was paid in full, enough and more through the TRPs they garnered by covering every small/big action of his.

It is for all to see that the Media was totally supportive of AK till Delhi elections. Soon after that, just prior to formation of his Govt the media began to sing the BJP's and  Congress's tune to decry the AAP for shirking its responsibility in not forming a minority Govt. After formation of the Govt for the next 49 days, in concert with the BJP and Congress, it was constantly bickering and relentlessly hounding the AAP for immaturity, ineptness, irresponsibility et al. Neither the Media nor the BJP/ Congress attempted to seek any accountability from the Govts in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh that were formed along with the AAP Govt in Delhi. Isn't that a partisan and prejudicial approach of the media? 

AK is not wrong in calling media to account. The domineering ,know all attitude displayed by ,almost all anchors to pursue their agenda, at times totally biased and partisan, is abhorrent, unethical and unpatriotic. To retain its edge and to be eulogized the way it wants to be, the media would have to stay neutral, above board and totally non partisan. Failing which, they should not grudge the nation if it seeks accountability from them and brings the defaulters to book.The Media must not forget that Freedom can not last long unless it is coupled with Order. Order can exist without freedom, but freedom can never exist without order.

Maoism/Naxalism, India's Achilles Heel

The all too familiar headlines On Tuesday read “Naxalites/Maoists kill 15 security personnel and a civilian in the restive Bastar region near Tongpal in Chhattisgarh. The incident took place just four km from the spot where rebels had targeted a convoy of Congress leaders in May 2013, killing key party functionaries”.

Acting on a tip-off about the presence of a large number of Naxalites in the area, a team of 40 troops from the 80th battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Chhattisgarh police left Tongpal on a search operation on Tuesday. When the team reached Takwada, about three km from Tongpal, it came under heavy fire.

What is irreconcilable and inexplicable is that this was a pre planned search operation. How come it ended in such a shameful failure of the establishment and the boots on ground, where sixteen innocent lives were lost? The alarming regularity with which we face this de javu is becoming depressingly predictable like our crime films - direct pick offs from an Alfred Hitchcock or Agatha Christie blockbuster. Regrettably, true to their style the Central Govt, the State Govt and the bigwigs in CRPF, who planned and executed these ops, are conveniently passing the buck. Why haven’t any heads rolled so far, who is accountable?

 Common lament of deprivation and exploitation of locals, based on caste and class is sighted as the primary driver for their isolation and motivation to take up arms against the State. This is a social problem requiring pragmatic policy formulation and implementation to overcome the same. Unfortunately the Centre has, over the years, only papered over the hard truth than face it squarely. Wonder when will they get their act together and understand the dynamics at work, stop crony capitalism and integrate the masses in the main stream?

On the other hand attempts at fighting and eliminating Maoism/Naxalism in the cavalier manner that the Home Minister, Shinde suggested have ended in a dismal failure and the rot of Maoism/Naxalism  has spread in more than 250 districts of India, termed as the” red corridor”. Yet we continue to undertake these ill conceived half hearted ops to prove that we mean business and will not accept the people’s right to resist/challenge their exploitation.

Why didn’t the CRPF mount surveillance ops prior to sending in the troops? They could have asked the IAF for UAVs to gather the requisite ISR to locate any surreptitious movements. However, if the policy is to eliminate Naxalism/Maoism then why not equip the troops appropriately, to combat such situations. UAVs carrying Synthetic Aperture Radars and hyperspectral imaging that detect objects underground, especially the IEDs, and state of the art personnel weapons should be inducted in the Central Para Military Forces assigned with such tasks.

The lame duck UPA, which has faltered and failed the nation on every count over the last five years, is not expected to do anything other than churn out incendiary rhetoric. One can only hope and pray that the next Govt would give this burning issue the due consideration and move  ahead to resolve it amicably with the affected people, rather than take up arms against its own citizens. 

Admiralty immortalized or sacrificed.

Headlines in the print and the electronic media immediately after the resignation of the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) read, “Taking moral responsibility for the accidents and incidents that have taken place during the past few months, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral DK Joshi today resigned from the post”.

In the days that followed the CNS,s resignation, lot has been said and written about the nobility and rarity of such action based on ones dictates of conscience, loyalty, integrity and a deep sense of service before self. Though being from an earlier genre I subscribe to such values, I am inclined, rather convinced that contemporary India finds them hollow and untenable. All this divinity may have influenced the India of late 50s and early 60s. But post the demise of Lal Bahadur Shastri and the machinations of Indira Gandhi, to come to power and stick to it, the entire moral fabric of this country has been soiled and shredded to smithereens by our self serving politicians and continues to hurtle downwards in an irretrievable abyss.

 Would it therefore, be too contrarian to assume that the  moral high ground taken by Admiral Joshi in claiming responsibility for acts which were neither of his own omission or commission was premature, ill conceived and dismally unproductive.

What was the end state that the Admiral had in mind while resorting to such extreme action? Would it set/refresh the intellectual and moral tone among Indians or make them true and devoted citizens of the country giving them the vision and the knowledge of what the Navy and the Defence Forces are all about, thereby enhancing the virtues of patriotism, responsibility and devotion to duty. Or would it in anyway help the future Defence Commanders penetrate the impregnable labyrinths of bureaucracy and political chicanery.

 Or was there no end state and the decision was intuitive driven by sheer desperation, helplessness and cognitive decapitation in the face of recurring adversities that afflicted the Navy in the recent past. Only Joshi knows the truth.

But one thing is certain his sacrifice will make no difference to anyone but himself.

 The immediate aftermath of his resignation caused some ripples in Indian media and gave them enough fodder to garner TRPs for two days. It certainly caused a sense of discomfort, discontent and consternation, against the political class and the bureaucracy, among the Armed forces, especially the veterans. Yet nothing concrete has been heard or read about how the MoD, controlled by the all powerful bureaucracy, feels about the accident and the resignation of the CNS. The political class, of course, found another chance to exercise their vocal chords and indulge in polemics of blame game, to earn few Brownie points prior to the forthcoming general elections.

Wonder when will they understand that it is the function of the civilian policy makers (NSA, NSC,MoEF and the MoD) to determine the ends of national policy and to allocate the resources which the military needs to achieve those ends. Has this ever been done to the satisfaction of the Armed Forces? It doesn’t require Solomon’s wisdom to understand that India faces constant threat from two hostile neighbours, which could lead to a two front war and that we have to guard a 7500 km long coastline besides our well spread out Island Territories?

I hope I am wrong, but with the frenzy that is gripping the nation prior to the elections, national focus will be shifted by the Media ,for easy pickings, to Misa Bhartis, Ram Kirpal Yadavs ,Lalu Yadavs, Rakhi Sawnts et al. In the milieu that ensues, Joshi’s resignation will amount to no more than self – flagellation. Regrettably, he has prematurely become a part of unsung veterans who sacrificed everything they held dear in the interest of the nation. I wonder if he ever read these lines by Francis Dan Quall,

God and Soldiers men like adore,

When at the brink of danger, not before

Danger past alike are both requited

God is forgotten and soldier slighted.

Given the very nature of the Armed Forces and their tasks, accidents/incidents will continue to occur and not stop because someone chooses to resign. Two incidents in the last two days at Mazagaon Docks, Mumbai and Vishakhapatnam prove the point. So was Joshi singularly responsible and accountable for the various accidents in the Navy over the last ten months. No. His immediate subordinates, in the line of succession, Vice Chief of Naval Staff( VCNS), Vice Admiral Dhowan,FOC in C, Western Naval Command,Vice AdmiralShekhar Sinha and FOC in C, Eastern Naval Command, Vice Admiral Chopra are equally and directly responsible and accountable .So who succeeds?

 It would be in fitness of things that the PMO recognizes the high moral standard set by Joshi and reinstates him. This will not only help overcome the present impasse but also send an ethical message to the country and equally cover the UPA in some glory that has deserted them over the past years.