The fruits of bilateral diplomacy

Polls looming, Bihar DGP plays safe

Bihar DGP Ashish Ranjan Sinha, under criticism for not arresting Siwan MP Mohd Shahabuddin, has found an escape route. Lest he be blamed for possible violence in the state ahead of the Assembly elections, Sinha has requested the Centre to revert all Bihar-cadre police officers who are now on deputation to the Centre. His logic: there are not enough officers to man the districts.

Now it is up to the Home Ministry to act. IPS officers here say that most of them left the state as they had been made redundant or were kicked upstairs in sinecures like the non-existent Bihar Military Police. Similar requests by the Rabri Devi government have been rejected twice earlier on grounds that deputation was done keeping in mind the state’s strength and requirement. Sinha’s request is being seen in Delhi as his way of playing safe, just in case.

At Lodhi Garden, all in the family

The Lodhi Garden has been called Asia’s best urban oasis with tombs of 15th-16th century Sayids and Afghan Lodhi rulers of Delhi. Many have contributed to the development of this garden and some have even tried to put their stamp on it. It was christened Lady Willingdon Park towards the end of the Raj and in 1968 was landscaped by J A Stein and Garet Eckbo. The latest contribution of Rs 1 crore comes from the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), which was told by Secretary (Steel) Mano Ranjan to contribute the amount to the Culture Ministry for development of the garden. Incidentally, Secretary (Culture) is Neena Ranjan, both batchmate and lifemate of Mano Ranjan.

For PM in Kabul, it’s about trust

For security agencies, PM Manmohan Singh’s two-day Afghanistan trip, from August 26, had one potential problem—his venturing out of Kabul, to Jalalabad. In their initial assessment itself, the agencies were against the PM travelling out of Kabul. This was accepted and a shorter affair was being planned. In fact, the agencies felt that it would be safe if the PM left Delhi in the morning and returned by evening. The only problem was this schedule would have been extremely tight, given that planes are not allowed to leave Kabul after 4 pm.

While they felt a few programmes could have been struck off the list to facilitate an early departure, the PM is said to have turned down the suggestion. As a gesture to show trust and confidence, Singh has decided to stay Sunday night in Kabul and leave the next morning—he will be Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s guest. The PM will also be present at the foundation laying ceremony of the new parliament building, which India helped build. While the agencies are quiet on the details and so is South Block, it’s understood that the PM will attend four to five functions in the city besides meetings with Karzai.

After Denel, back to Square One

Although the UPA government has referred 38 defence deals, including the Denel’s anti-material rifle deal, to the CBI for investigation to score political points, it is facing a problem on another front—Defence Ministry officials have virtually refused to initial any significant purchase.

Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who was against this ‘witchhunt’ from the beginning, was overruled by his fellow Congressmen who preferred the politics of vendetta. Now PM Manmohan Singh and his senior advisors in the government are trying to find a way out so that critical defence acquisition is not affected.

While the CAG and the CVC have refused to scrutinise defence deals before they are inked, the PM has revived the idea of an ‘‘oversight committee’’ to make deals more transparent. The ‘‘oversight committee’’, which will comprise the PM and Leader of Opposition, will whet all documents before a military hardware deal is cleared by the Cabinet. All eyes now are, of course, on Opposition Leader L K Advani, whose colleague, George Fernandes, has been made the target by the UPA. But will he oblige?

The right way to handle Left?

A former Communist sympathiser, Mani Shankar Aiyar has not forgotten the Marxist jargon he learnt in his distant youth. Except he uses it now to take digs at the Left and garner support for cutting subsidies. Replying to a Left-sponsored calling attention motion on shortage of LPG in Lok Sabha last week, Aiyar said the government subsidy was close to Rs 200 per cylinder. Then he pointedly asked the the CPI(M) ‘‘ as a proletarian party, to weigh the interests of the proletariat with the interests of the bourgeoisie, which is the larger consumer of LPG.’’

In typical Manispeak, he added, ‘‘I would hate to see the party of my friend Comrade Krishnadas and Comrade Basudeb Acharia turned into a middle class party. Please look at this issue in a larger light and do help us to continue being able to supply larger quantities of kerosene at subsidised prices to the genuinely poor, even if it means some increase in the burden of the middle class petit bourgeois consumers of LPG…’’

Krishnadas’s plaintive cry that in Kerala ‘‘ the entire working class is using cooking gas only ’’ went unheard.

Tailpiece

The Petroleum Minister’s office corridors in Shastri Bhawan resemble those of a five-star hotel (minus the carpets) with copies of art masters adorning the walls and Ellora replicas sitting in corners. Highlighting them are sharp strobes from newly fabricated false ceilings that throw soft lights on the pathway. The upgrade, costing Rs 20 lakh, was financed from the Ministry’s outlay, said a circular issued to the staff. Last time, the Ministry got a facelift was in 2001 when Ram Naik got oil companies to change the floors and the ceilings. Some things don’t change.