Of Mice and Lions

This breed, he felt, has the unfailing knack of becoming a law unto itself and grandstanding. Singh was referring to the government’s past experience with bureaucrats like T N Seshan, V K Shunglu, N Vittal and M S Gill, who were meek as mice and deferential to their ministerial masters while in service but turned into lions who liked to roar at the establishment once they were assured of secure tenures.

Jaswant Singh’s remark came as an aside at the meeting and none of those present paid much heed to it. But in the light of Chief Election Commissioner J Lyngdoh’s subsequent tour of Gujarat, and the EC’s decision to hold the Gujarat Assembly elections during November-December, Singh’s observation sounded rather prophetic.

Professor Pramod

On the eve of the vice presidential vote, dinner at the Prime Minister’s residence was preceded by a 15-minute lecture by Pramod Mahajan at the Panchwati auditorium.

Apart from the prime minister and deputy prime minister, all the NDA ministers and MPs had to listen to the Parliamentary Affairs minister demonstrating how to fill out the ballot paper and fold it with the use of a big screen and slides. Several MPs were furious at being treated like half-witted school boys.

During the dinner, one or two asked Vajpayee sarcastically how he would manage to vote without the benefit of Mahajan’s long-winded wisdom. The PM laughed heartily. Incidentally despite the lecture, four NDA ballots votes were invalid because of faulty procedure followed.

Cultural Round-about

Najma Heptullah’s appointment as president of the Indian Council of Cultural Affairs was cleared after mollifying Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. It was explained that the practice of the vice president heading the ICCR is a recent innovation. In fact, if anyone has a right to feel dispossessed, it is Culture Minister Jagmohan.

When the ICCR was founded in 1950 by then Education and Culture Minister Maulana Azad, the council was under the control of the ministry of education and culture and the minister was automatically its president.

But when M C Chagla moved from the education ministry to the ministry of external affairs he took the ICCR along with him. Rajiv Gandhi as prime minister transferred the council president’s post from the foreign minister to the vice president, though the MEA continued as the nodal ministry. Ever since, vice presidents have headed the council though there have been exceptions like Vasant Sathe.

The dynamic Heptullah hopes to revive some aspects of the council which have been neglected, such as the collection of valuable books and manuscripts on culture donated largely by Heptullah’s grand-uncle, Maulana Azad. The Nehru Peace Prize has not been awarded for several years and even the Maulana Azad Memorial lectures are held sporadically.

Pressing Bills

Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha planned to take a press party of 25 on his recent trip to Afghanistan, but the PMO vetoed the inclusion of journalists.

Although there is a two year-old prime ministerial order forbidding ministers from taking pressmen on foreign trips, Jaswant Singh had flouted the rule with impunity. Sinha is being discriminated against, partly because he has to pay for the foibles of his predecessor.

Sometime back there was a question in Parliament to the finance ministry about the number of trips abroad in which journalists had been invited to accompany the minister despite the PM’s ban.

The MEA had then told the finance ministry that it was still collecting the relevant information. In the meantime, it obtained the PM’s clearance for the trips with retrospective effect. The MEA is now in the process of settling the long pending bills of journalists who travelled by commercial flights along with Jaswant.

The total adds up to a very handsome amount. In the light of this, it was felt that it would be unwise to permit Sinha to invite presspersons to Afghanistan.

High-flying Sharad

Ramakrishna Hegde suggested that industrialist and Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Mallya be inducted into the moribund Janata Dal(U) and party president Sharad Yadav was only too happy to oblige.

Yadav had earlier criticised the influence of money power in the parties of his rival Yadavs, Laloo Prasad and Mulayam Singh, but he now is dazzled by the lifestyle of his rich and famous party colleague.

Yadav accompanied Mallya from Delhi to Bangalore in his private jet and was greeted at the airport by a fleet of Mercedes. Sharad maintains there’s a difference between the JD(U) compared to the Samajwadi Party and the RJD. Mulayam and Laloo rely on what he terms as ‘‘power brokers,’’ while he has recruited a genuine industrialist in the hoary tradition of Mahatma Gandhi!

The newest JD(U) recruit has straightaway been appointed senior vice president and joint party spokesperson. He has even been favoured with the office room in the JD party office which once belonged to Nijlingappa.

Illustrations by Ajit Kumar