Burying the BJP, bureaucratically

Similarly, in the case of Naval Chief Vishnu Bhagwat, I don8217;t think the matter8217;s as simple as him refusing to implement Cabinet orders to appoint Vice Admiral Harinder Singh as his Principal Staff Officer. The much-touted Cabinet order, after all, was based on papers processed by bureaucrats in the Ministry of Defence who thought nothing of the fact that there8217;s no point foisting a deputy on a Navy Chief why have a Navy chief if he can8217;t even decide who will look after the daily operations of the Navy in times of war? Having processed the papers their way, the bureaucrats convinced the Cabinet that it was their decision which Bhagwat was challenging. Vajp-ayee reacted exactly as his bureaucrats wanted him to!

Nor is this the first time that the bureaucracy has made a fool of the government this way. In the CVC ordinance, it was bureaucratic mischief which ensuredthat the way the ordinance was drafted, the Chief Vigilance Commissioner could be appointed from only their ranks. Sure, some bureaucrats got transferred around for this as well as mishandling of the Bezbaruah case the first time he was to be transferred, that is. But so what? It8217;s not as if their annual performance reviews indict them for any major goof-up. I8217;m willing to bet that, when ex-defence secretary Ajit Kumar8217;s annual review is done, there won8217;t be any black-mark for his role in the Bhagwat episode either 8212; the fact that he8217;s been transferred though, does seem to indicate that the government feels that he was somewhat guilty. Unless, of course, he was just moved to show that the government was being even-handed 8212; but, for that, they8217;d have to sack Harinder Singh as well.

Or let8217;s take the various goof-ups in the budget which gave the government a bad name. Apart from the rollback of the urea subsidy, where the BJP itself was to blame for developing cold feet, the other fiascos, such as the oneon the petrol price hike, or not explaining the full impact of the special import duty to the finance minister, were the fault of bureaucrats, and the poor co-ordination between them. So, what happens? There8217;s this big reshuffle, but no one8217;s really hurt, some even moved up the pecking order.It is this very refusal of the bureaucracy to accept any curtailment in its awesome powers that is responsible for the fact that, despite setting up a regulator for the telecom sector, the Department of Telecom is fighting a pitched battle to prevent this regulator from exercising any real powers. It is also this very DoT, along with other friends in the ministry, which is trying its best to scuttle the proposal that the Prime Minister8217;s Office PMO is working on to scrap the existing and out-dated system of licensing, and to replace this with a more modern and flexible system which takes into account the rapid technological advances in telecom the world over.

Bureaucrats in the civil aviation ministry, similarly,ensured that when Ananth Kumar sacked the boards of Air India and Indian Airlines, their powers increased. So, the civil aviation secretary becomes the chairman of Air India and a joint secretary gets to head Indian Airlines. And, no, Anil Baijal, the joint secretary in question, an honourable man otherwise, doesn8217;t see it fit to quit the bureaucracy after getting the job 8212; the way that, say, Jagdish Khattar did when he joined Maruti. So, if things don8217;t work out at the airline, Baijal will just go back to being a bureaucrat somewhere else 8212; exactly the way his predecessor P.C. Sen is doing nowadays. Unless Baijal is a man with extra-ordinary qualities 8212; I must confess, I don8217;t know him that well 8212; there seems little reason why he should really want to stretch himself to the limit to get the airline to excel. After all, it8217;s only a part-time job. And since he has to go back to being a bureaucrat after a few years, at most, there is also very little reason for him to take on his colleagues in the ministrywho, like all bureaucrats in different ministries, insist on interfering with the airline8217;s functioning.

What8217;s really sad is that this should be happening to a BJP government, when the party has, since its inception, been a strong proponent of doing away with bureaucracy, and freeing up the economy. To free itself from the choking grip of the country8217;s steel-frame, the government needs a lot more iron in its soul. Unfortunately, my nutritionist friends tell me, onion soups don8217;t contain any iron. Nor do sweetmeats, the other BJP staple.