Inside Track

A section of the urban, middle-class blenches at the thought that in a population of nearly one billion, one of the two main contenders for prime-ministership is foreign-born. But Indian villagers do not find this remarkable, since they adopt the rather chauvinistic attitude that a wife automatically assumes the caste and nationality of the man she marries. Congress workers haveincidentally been coached to recite the names of Annie Besant, Alan Octavian Hume, Mother Theresa, Sister Nivedita and Anita Bose as instances of eminent foreigners who are regarded as Indians. 8220;When did Sister Nivideta or the others rule the country?8221; protested a BJP worker. A Congress supporter, a Muslim at that, rebutted this with a tale from the Mahabharata of Rani Kidwanti who was born in Kabul. A BJP sympathiser countered by recalling Chanakya8217;s advice to Chandra Gupta Maurya not to eat the food prepared by his Greek wife Helen or allow her progeny to inherit the kingdom.

The BJP cites the example of the US constitution which debars foreign-born citizens from standing for President. Actually the clause was inserted not for security reasons but reportedly because Thomas Jefferson wanted to eliminate his political rival Alexander Hamilton, who was born in the West Indies, as a presidential candidate.

Personalised law

Law Minister Ram Jethmalani8217;s former junior S. Jaisinghani, who wasrecently appointed Additional Solicitor General, has already created a stir. It is not, however, Jaisinghani8217;s courtroom performance which is the cause of comment. It is the fact that he wrote letters of complaint against a Mumbai magistrate to six senior judges on the Law Minister8217;s letter head. It seems the magistrate8217;s fault was that he had been rude to Jaisinghani8217;s son.

Humble beginning

In spite of the outcry over his chequered career, controversial former MP M.K. Subba will in all probability get the Congress nomination from Tezpur. Other Congress candidates from Assam have pleaded that without the well-heeled Subba, they will not have the resources to fight the election.

Apart from the Nagaland lottery case, the CBI is also probing whether Subba is a citizen of India or Nepal. Actually, former Sikkim Chief Minister Nar Bahadur Bhandari was the first to question Subba8217;s citizenship and registered a case against him on this count in the early 1980s, after the two men fell out. In hisdefence, Subbha quoted a court record from Assam which proved that he had been convicted for petty theft in Assam back in the 1960s.

Absenteeism rife

Work in Central Government offices comes to a virtual standstill during the polls. This time the problem is aggravated because of the long-drawn-out election schedule. The ministers are away campaigning and joint secretaries and directors, who really run the departments, are on election duty. The secretaries and additional secretaries have consequently little to do. Most leave the office by early afternoon or take a nap and the peon informs visitors that the sahib is not to be disturbed.

Doordarshan is the exception to the rule since the work load increases during election time. But strangely, DD news chief Deepak Sandhu has gone abroad on holiday for over a month. Perhaps she feels her presence is not required as Iamp;B Minister Pramod Mahajan8217;s OSD Ajay Singh is calling the shots anyway.

Last hurrah

Election Commissioner G.V.G.Krishnamurthi is to retire at the end of September, but he would dearly love an extension so that he could share the limelight when the election results are declared and formally handed over to the President in October. Though GVG has made his desire known, he has not, however, put the request in writing.