Bihar elections post-mortem

The main cause for Nitish Kumar8217;s thumping victory was public disgust with Laloo-Rabri misrule. People saw through the political gimmic...

The main cause for Nitish Kumar8217;s thumping victory was public disgust with Laloo-Rabri misrule. People saw through the political gimmickry and theatricals of Laloo Prasad Yadav. After all you can fool some people for some time but not all the people all the time. The strong anti-incumbency mood prevailed despite vigorous electioneering campaigns for Laloo by the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi.

A major factor was the firm and impartial role of the Election Commission which exploded the myth that booth-capturing and violence are unavoidable in Bihar elections. That indeed was a victory for constitutional democracy and the Rule of Law. Another reason was the fatal Himalayan blunder by the UPA government in yielding to Laloo8217;s insistence that Nitish Kumar should at any cost be prevented from even staking a claim to form the government and in dissolving the Bihar Assembly. And that too at midnight, hustling the President who was in Moscow to approve the Proclamation of Dissolution, forgetting the thundering words of late Justice Tendulkar, a great judge of the Bombay High Court, 8216;8216;dark deeds are associated with dark hours of the night8217;8217;.

The Governor could well have rejected Nitish Kumar8217;s claim on the ground that in his assessment there was no reasonable prospect of formation of a stable government. But mere staking of a claim by Nitish was anathema to Laloo who had to be placated. And the rest is history. In retrospect Nitish owes a debt of gratitude to Laloo remembering Shakespeare8217;s admonition: 8216;8216;Blow, blow thou winter wind/ Thou art no so unkind/ As man8217;s ingratitude.8217;8217;

We cannot overlook the courageous role of the Supreme Court declaring the dissolution to be unconstitutional in its order dated October 7, 2005 which stated that reasons would follow. Till date, reasons have not been pronounced.

What could be the reason? By now, the endless round of parties for the outgoing and incoming Chief Justices and the ever popular Justice Sam Variava which severely encroached on extra judicial time is surely over. The people of India are anxious to know the grounds and the basis of the Supreme Court judgment and may not be kept in the dark any longer.

UN balance sheet

The UN has not been a dazzling success but neither can it be dismissed as a hopeless failure. In Voltaire8217;s vein about God, if the UN did not exist we would have to invent it. The 2005 World Summit Outcome Final Report records some encouraging developments. For example, the unambiguous acceptance by all governments of the collective international responsibility to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. More importantly, the willingness to take timely collective action for this purpose, through the Security Council, when peaceful means prove inadequate and national authorities manifestly fail to act. Another notable development is the entry into force of the Convention against Corruption. We should implement the Convention in right earnest and if necessary modify the existing laws to bring them in tune with the Convention. The commitment to eliminate pervasive gender discrimination, violence against women and girls and to end impunity for such violence is heartening.

The big disappointment is the failure to address the problem of proliferation of nuclear weapons given the danger of such weapons being acquired by terrorists. The Secretary General8217;s appeal to world leaders to make an urgent effort to find common ground to resolve this issue should be heeded seriously. World leaders must stop indulging in, 8216;8216;you first-no you first8217;8217; game.

Sex taboos

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The root cause of the hounding and persecution of Khushboo and Suhasini by intolerant bigots is the silent untenable premise that mention of sex in public is taboo. Fortunately, our Prime Minister does not subscribe to that heresy as is evident from his statement that India must shed its inhibitions about discussion of sex in public. Congratulations, Prime Minister. It is high time we also demolish the hypocrisy, 8216;8216;No sex please, we are Indians8217;8217;.