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Journalism of Courage
The Supreme Court order last year calling for the eviction of 2,000-odd government employees who had obtained government accommodation through bribery and wangling was hailed as a path-breaking judgement, which would set a resounding example for those trying to jump the queue through unfair means. But a year later, the government employees singled out by the court have yet to vacate their quarters. While one bench of the Supreme Court under Justice Kuldip Singh passed the eviction order, a new Supreme Court bench has decided the order need not be implemented.
The deadline for eviction was June 23 this year. On June 22, the government issued an ordinance that the employees could retain their houses. All political parties were persuaded to support the bill which was meant to replace the ordinance. The plea put forward was that the eviction would render poor peons homeless. When it emerged that there were no representatives from the really downtrodden in the out-of-turn allottees’ list — in fact no class IV employees — the BJP and the left backed out. An embarrassed Government decided to withdraw the bill.
By mid-September, the ordinance automatically lapsed so one assumed that the SC’s eviction order would be implemented. But the Attorney General has apparently advised the Urban Development Ministry to permit the favoured government employees to continue in their houses and the court does not feel there is any need to intervene.
Poor country, excess baggage
A recent visitor to the Norwegian Parliament was charmed to find Gro Harlan Brundtland queueing up with a tray to get her pizza heated for lunch just like everyone else. Brundtland was Norway’s Prime Minister for 10 years and an internationally renowned statesperson who is now a candidate for WHO president.
In India, unfortunately, such simplicity is perceived not as a sign of humility but as an indication of one’s non-VIP status. Here everyone wants to impress by being surrounded by the trappings of power. Security guards these days are there more to boost a person’s self importance than for actual protection.
During the CHOGM meet in Edinburgh, the party accompanying the Indian Prime Minister was a veritable circus: Scores of securitymen and self-important bureaucrats and secretarial staff from Delhi and the High Commission in London, over three dozen journalists and other officious-looking individuals.
The basement of the Hilton hotel, including an auditorium, was hired for three days as a media centre for the Indian press. A string of shiny limousines for the Indian contingent was parked outside both the Hilton hotel and the Royal Terrace hotel. Doordarshan spent a fortune booking highly expensive satellite time so that the folks back home could have the thrill of live coverage of the Prime Minister’s visit, since the natives in Scotland were not interested. Telephones and faxes between India and the UK were busy constantly and wastefully, one member of the Indian party chatted for 10 minutes to Delhi inquiring whether her niece was enjoying her new school!
In contrast, rich countries like Australia and Canada had a very modest presence at Edinburgh. Even our neighbour Nawaz Sharief, a believer like us in “shaan”, travelled with far less baggage. At the Commonwealth Secretary General Emeka Anyaoku’s welcome party for CHOGM delegates from 54 countries, it seemed as if every fourth guest was an Indian.
BJP’s brain trust
UP Chief Minister, Kalyan Singh sent an SOS to the BJP’s trouble-shooters in Delhi to bail him out of the bad publicity he had received for the jumbo-sized ministerial team he had installed. The party’s new brain trust, namely journalists Balbir Punj, Dinanath Mishra, T.V.R Shenoy and Mohan Guruswamy, flew to Lucknow to offer advice.
The policy input they provided was a masterful job in justifying the indefensible. One argument they suggested was that 93 ministers in a State Assembly with 425 MLAs and 108 MLCs works out to only 20 per cent of all the legislators, which is merely the national average. In fact, Punjab has 50 per cent of its’ MLAs as ministers, while in smaller States like Manipur and Sikkim, practically the entire ruling party has been accommodated in the ministry and nobody points a finger. Another argument is that since Mayawati created 95 districts in the State, you need to have one minister per district.
Gang goes bust
Ram Vilas Paswan is reconsidering his partnership with Sharad Yadav and Deve Gowda. The gang of three came together to prevent Laloo Yadav from continuing as the JD president, but it now serves little purpose. Yadav is president without a party and Gowda is taken more seriously by the Left than the JD. As part of his earlier game-plan, Paswan had been cultivating Mulayam Singh Yadav, but at Meerut a fortnight back, Paswan publicly objected to Yadav’s remarks on the SC/ST Act. Paswan realises that the JD in Bihar has no future, and he has really only two options. Either to join the Samta Party or smoke the peace pipe with old antagonist Laloo Yadav.
