Faith Accompli

The BJP has run several governments — at the Centre and in different States — in the last one decade. What exactly has it done for the Hindus? Actually, nothing. Forget mortals, the BJP has even used Lord Rama, milking the Ayodhya temple issue each time it faced an election, only to conveniently forget it when it came to power. No other party has played with the emotions of Hindus or made such false promises like the BJP. It is political opportunism at its worst.

But the voters are not the losers. They can’t be fooled everytime. The Gujarat experiment endeared Narendra Modi to the hardliners in his party. But it cost India $65 m only in IT business that got diverted to countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. The voters who supported Modi in the 2003 Assembly polls called his bluff in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls. Still, instead of learning its lessons, the saffron family is trying to dig up what it considers its ancestral property — the Hindu support base.

In any democracy, electoral defeat offers opportunity for introspection and hard work. The BJP’s best chance in the future would be to project the NDA as a national alternative. But by plotting to fan religious fanaticism once again, it will only spoil its chances at maintaining a national pluralist alliance. With the BJP top brass busy professing the Modi brand of politics, I am anxiously awaiting the next moves of its secular partners like Chandrababu Naidu, George Fernandes, Sharad Yadav and Nitish Kumar. They can make or mar the Opposition politics.

The Raj Hangover

It has become rather fashionable to ridicule Air India. I know the shortcomings of AI and its problems. What surprises me is how we happily stomach major inconveniences dished out to us by foreign airlines, but throw tantrums at the slightest snags by the national carriers. This duality can be explained only by a negative mindset reminiscent of the Raj. Sadly, even after a decade of globalisation, we are yet to overcome our fascination for anything foreign.

Recently, I had to wait 45 minutes for my luggage to appear on the conveyor belt, courtesy the British Airways. This was in London. Then on a BA flight to Paris, I had a full paid ticket and yet I was downgraded. I came to know that as a policy, BA double-books their J class. So when there are excess passengers, the airlines randomly downgrades some. That is not all. BA has no staff earmarked to look after passengers stranded at airports.

Consider the experience of an old lady, who belongs to India’s top business family which gives BA millions of dollars worth of business every year. Flying first-class, she requested a wet towel after her meal. The BA staff refused to oblige, curtly telling her to walk down to the toilet.

As for those who keep complaining about the ‘‘mess’’ at our domestic airports, remember how the new airport in Paris caved in within six months of construction.

However, all this doesn’t mean that improvement should not begin at home. New Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel has been trying to usher in changes. The Congress is the only party that dared to purchase aircraft in the face of allegations of corruption and other controversies. Thanks to that decision, AI and IA are still functional. It’s almost been two decades since Rajiv Gandhi’s bold decision, fleet enhancement has become necessary once again. To avoid controversy, aircraft can be purchased under the supervision of the CVC or any other competent panel.

Welcome Aboard

It’s always heartening to have professionals as colleagues in Parliament. Our polity needs active participation of professionals from all walks of life — economists, scientists, industrialists, lawyers, journalists, bureaucrats et al. For one thing, they know the pulse of their respective fields and strongly advocate the benefit of the same. Besides, professionals generally bring in practical and informed perspectives to what otherwise would have been rather abstract or amateurish debates. I honestly believe that the presence of professionals in the polity helps career politicians broaden their horizons.

After a long time, we have an economist as the Prime Minister and quite a few professionals in key government offices. While there has always been healthy professional representation in Parliament, particularly the Rajya Sabha, we hadn’t seen sufficient representation from the industry in the last few decades. In the present House, we only have R P Goenka and Vijay Mallya. Now, Anil Ambani will be making a strong representation of the industry.

The writer is a Congress MP