The Independent's Goof-up

It's quite hilarious that The Independent, a UK daily newspaper, that carried a political critic on India's prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on its website, could only able to settle the final headline “Manmohan Singh - India's saviour or just 'the underachiever'?” after faltering twice. The other two headlines were “Manmohan Singh: Saviour or Sonia's Poodle?” and “Manmohan Singh: Saviour or Sonia's Puppet?” Such a glaring editorial blunder though not uncommon in media, the pith of the problem here is internationally media houses have lost their editorial intellect. Rather a newspaper or a news channel is more like a consumer product with the shortest shelf life. You can have many versions of a story throughout the day with changes here and there. No wonder then a small-time daily like The Independent having a circulation well below two-hundred thousand deliberately modified the headline twice before taking a cue from Time magazine's cover story. And Andrew Buncombe, the Asia correspondent for The Independent and the author of this story, might not feel embarrassed at all, for “the err is human.” Journalists can commit mistakes, blunders, report misguided stories, and in the next moment come out with a rejoinder, admitting to the fact that it's “an inadvertent error.” But the politicians don't have that journalistic privilege. Any wrong decision taken by them are unforgivable.

The story may have many merits while blaming or accusing Dr Manmohan Singh given the current state of governance, but do these journalists ever question their own intellectual paucity? Whatever reported in the story has nothing new in it. It's rather a patchwork of scores of news stories published in Indian media over last few years. By the way, what's the score of Mr Andrew Buncombe, as a correspondent – ethically should be a seeker of truth? Hasn't he been stifled under pressure to overshadow the ethics of a journalist and behave “poodle” or “puppet” of management? Hasn't he ever made disservice to the profession by planting stories or blowing a story out of proportion in his life time? He might have done many times, but those are unreported, censored from the public eye. Because the mistakes of a journalist, even if reported, can't generate hullabaloo or public outcry. That hardly impacts our society. People are list interested what journalists do, how they do, and why they do. The only interest they keep in the actions of hero or villain of the story. In this case, Andrew Buncombe might have portrayed a hero as a villain and that short-lived contrast is the essential doping that many journalists have overused to give a new soprano to readers' imagination.  

The “Underachiever” Conundrum

The man who has been lauded long for his epochal economic liberalization in India is finally burning out his last trace of fuel. The gargantuan thrust once achieved by him in a time when India was struggling hard with economic devolution has of late lost its sparkle. Perhaps that's the ubiquitous pattern of any economic progress irrespective of geography. But the Time magazine's Asian edition has taken a deeper dig at Manmohan Singh and flaunts its next cover with a photograph of Manmohan Singh coupled with a funky title “The Underachiever” and a more flaky subtitle “India need a reboot. Is Prime Minister Manmohan Singh up to the job?” And that has as if pronounced the gospel of god, the entire media circle and politicians from the Opposition have gone berserk on a normal political commentary of a magazine that aspires to penetrate further during a time when the print magazine industry is receiving a tight competition from its digital and electronic siblings. There is nothing unusual in this piece though. Whatever reported there is nothing more than the essence of myriads of reports on the prime minister published in Indian media during last couple of years. Two things that catches up instantly are the intent and the timing. Though Time is a popular magazine for its unusual coverage and fantastic research on any subject, the usual sin with this media as well is a passion for circulation and undoubtedly that prompts the editorial team to pump in offbeat stories week after week relentlessly.

It's true that India is passing through a turbulent economic phase and for that matter all other countries whether developed or developing are experiencing the same pain due to global recession. The US, the UK and the entire Euro zone, Russia, Brazil, and China are on the same bracket as far as macroeconomic indexes are concerned. So what really prompts the Time magazine's editorial team to zero in on Manmohan Singh is another media scoop. Historically, the Time magazine has a culture to weigh “timing” above the “issue”. Here the issue is about economic fledgling, widespread corruption, and policy paralysis in India. And this hasn't erupted overnight. It's a long process and one wrong decision begetting another. So why then Time has chosen July 16 issue of Asian edition to carry this bomb? Certainly, it's more about the opportunism and like hitting the iron while it's hot. The Time's editorial team has been observing deeply on the economic slowdown of India for a long time and now that it senses the boiling point of commoner reactions is reaching the peak, it chooses the opening of pandora's box. That's a media strategy often used by all and sundry. Although the message is clear and circles around hard facts, the intent is otherwise. Time is no different either.  

Can Dr Manmohan Singh do the magic again?

Who doesn't know the growth story India achieved during early nineties when Dr Manmohan Singh joined the cabinet as finance minister? Scenarios then were different. The foreign currency reserve was in a complete disarray (a mere $1 billion), balance of payment was a huge problem, fiscal deficit was nearly 8.5 % of GDP, current account deficit was close to 3.5% of GDP, and the license raj was at its peak. India was just dolloped with crisis and more economic crisis. Dr Singh along with then PM Narsimha Rao focused on a major agenda – economic liberalization. Despite immense opposition from political and bureaucratic circles Dr Singh paved the path for privatization. From a socialistic economy to a capitalist one, India has achieved a lot in these two decades of transformation, but this transformation is not complete yet.

What Dr Singh achieved in those five years as finance minister has overshadowed his role as prime minister. As a prime minister, his achievements are not worth mentioning except civil nuclear deal. In the last eight years he had hardly intervened in the financial matters and the results are thrown on the face. Both P Chidambaram and Pranab Mukherjee have failed to influence the sentiments of FIIs. The reason: coalition politics. This has just propelled huge corruptions in the system.

With Pranab Mukherjee leaving the MoF and racing for presidential poll, what's more pertinent now for Dr. Singh is to first keep him insulate from the effects of coalition politics. And literally he should behave like a superman and forget politics for sometimes. Instead he should first move FDI bill for the retail and insurance sectors. Similarly, FDI in agriculture, infrastructure, telecom, civil aviation, and media should be opened up. At least the foreign investors can come forward to invest hugely in these sectors. And of course there in an inherent problem in our system – the bureaucratic hurdles. To transform India to the next economic superpower, we must do away with absurd business procedures. That could be possible only when PM will act in tandem with other ministries. Let's see how our PM is playing his magic wand.

NCTC Imbroglio

The growing hiatus between non-Congress chief ministers and the Centre on the NCTC issues conspicuously reflects the underbelly of federal structure enshrined in the Constitution of India. The sad part is that despite clarifications from Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram on the role of NCTC as a nodal agency for counter terrorism, the chief ministers have consciously agreed to disagree on the operational points of this new framework. Touted as a draconian enactment by the Centre to encroach upon State powers, many chief ministers like Naveen Patnaik, Mamata Banerjee, Nitish Kumar, J Jayalalitha, and Narendra Modi have raised their concerns that this will act as an autocratic body with boundless powers to supplant state authority on law and orders issues. Now the moot question is whether it's a valid concern over Centre-State relations or a well thought-out collective strategy by non-Congress chief ministers to buckle down UPA by playing the federalism card. Nevertheless, the politics from policy making in India can't be ruled out.

Now come down to brass-tacks. Whether the states can singularly handle modern-day terrorism issues without support from Centre is the big question. The growing instances of terrorist attacks in India including Maoist problems unambiguously suggest that the states are extremely vulnerable to these fringe groups within and from outside the borders of Indian territory. Dealing them with kid gloves as states think is just laughable and a matter of extreme impracticability. The recent incidents like taking hostage of Italian tourists in Odisha and abduction of Alex P Menon, district collector of Sukma (in Chhattisgarh) unfold the menace of Maoist violence in states. What these states have done? Simply, the state administration has surrendered to the demands of Maoists. How long the innocent civilians of this country would pay price for the afflicted state governance?

If the states are so equipped with power to handle these grave issues, then why do they send SOS message to Centre during crisis? Federalism is one issue and handling terrorism with iron fist is another. A zero tolerance policy is only the need of the hour. Despite all political differences the chief ministers must understand that the state police are nowhere close to the desired capability to handle serious security issues like terrorism. Without sufficient and actionable intelligence the state police can't even trace out terrorists, forget about bringing them into justice. So, what's urgently required now a broad consensus among states and the Centre to form a nodal agency like NCTC and work cohesively to act tough against terrorism.  

Race for the President

Amidst all kinds of hypes and hoopla for the race of next President of India, many names those are doing rounds in political consultations among various parties maybe a deliberate part of a larger facade that UPA has conscientiously floated in public to obfuscate the real winner for this race, which anyway Sonia Gandhi, the President of UPA, will unfold it as a last minute surprise. Whether the media is consciously meditating over any viable name, be it Pranab Mukherjee or Hamid Ansari, the Congress party will certainly repeat it tricks as it did cunningly last time.

With growing factions among NDA allies, the BJP has already lost its golden chance to gather unanimous consensus for giving another opportunity to our ex-President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam when SP was even eager to support an apolitical person like Dr Kalam. It's now obvious that NDA has hardly any major role to play in this Presidential election other than supporting the candidate to be finalized by the Congress party towards the end of this month. Till then all types of media hypes around this will only buttress UPA's secret plan.

Well, as Sonia Gandhi has already started consultations with leaders of UPA's major allies, it seems she is garnering absolute consensus on her decisions, not on the candidatures for the poll. And the interesting part of this consultation process is that once the magic mark is achieved and decisions of various regional party leaders are converged to a potent winning strategy, Ms Gandhi will pull out the final pigeon from her sleeve.

The chances are that neither Pranab Mukherjee nor Hamid Ansari would be the final choice of Sonia Gandhi. They are just the decoy candidates. So, who is that luckiest one? It's a million dollar question. Given the current political situations, Pranab Mukherjee is the most sought-after politician in UPA who's not only an astute trouble-shooter, but also he is equally bankable in all seasons.

Remember, Pranab Mukherjee has some higher aspirations in politics and that's only possible before 2014 general elections. How is that feasible then when Dr Manmohan Singh has held the highest position? So it won't be very surprising that when Sonia Gandhi would ask Dr Manmohan Singh to move to the Rashtrapati Bhawan and bless Pranab Mukherjee with the dream job of his life. And both these decisions of Sonia Gandhi will act as a game changer for UPA's success in 2014 elections. Till then all are speculations.

Cabinet reshuffle or coalition compulsion

The much-awaited, big-ticket cabinet reshuffle that the prime minister once created disproportionate hype in media circle has finally ended in a jocular political musical chair trivia, nothing exciting or forward looking given a poll-bound government three years down the line. What our prime minister was initially claiming that the rejig could weed out the non-performers and tainted ministers has eventually sent a message that political and coalition compulsions outweigh the merits of reshuffling and probity in governance.

In the same vein, he once again painted him a subdued follower of a political leadership who neither has vision nor tact in managing the most complex political coalition with iron fists. Every time when political crisis lambasts governance, we hear a well-rehearsed cliché – coalition dharma. But the moot question here is how long this coalition dharma would mar the future of an emerging democracy? No one has a legitimate answer to this. The problem here is that either this government has a serious fear psychosis against the present scenario or there is something serious flaw in the political leadership in this country, both ways the Congress party is a loser.

Well, if cabinet reshuffling is a prerogative of the prime minister, Dr Manmohan Singh has given a blatant disservice to the nation in terms of subjugating to the political compulsions. As the prime minister, he could have endorsed to inducting a couple of brilliant technocrats like Montek Singh Aluwalia to his cabinet through lateral entry or he could have infused some capable young leaders by entrusting them with certain major responsibilities. On both fronts, he failed to achieve that. When inflation, corruption, decelerated FDI, and subsided industrial growth have plagued the macro economy of this country, as a renowned economist he has deliberately overlooked at them and simply accommodated changes a layman can perceive in the current political turmoil.

On the contrary if we believe that the cabinet reshuffle is a give-and-take gesture between the prime minister and the chairperson of UPA II, then the latter has completely failed to understand the complex political war that would quite predictably bring disastrous to the future prime minister of the Congress party, Mr Rahul Gandhi, on many counts. Primarily Ms Sonia Gandhi has failed to understand is the pulse of the nation. If at all she has played a role in advising the prime minister to marginalize his wisdom, then she has restored some inheritance of loss for her son Rahul.

For a poll-bound government, the primary political compulsions do not comprise appeasing the present coalition elements, rather it's the high time to restore the faith of common man in overall governance. Beyond stringent political compulsions there are plenty of ordinary issues those have extraordinary impact of the next elections. Nonetheless, both Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi have failed to perceive the truth and showed their naivety again.

An Open Letter to Prime Minister – Part II

Dear Mr Prime Minister,

India is the largest democracy of the world, it's not a monarchy or autocracy where the excess of government can be tolerated by its citizens without blinking an eyelid. What happened on June 4 midnight at Ramlila ground, New Delhi not only reflects the extreme brutality of police forces and atrocities on innocent women, children and old people, but at the same time it exposed the collective base mentality of a government (read a bunch of diehard sycophants of a political dynasty) towards the universal democratic principles that once upheld by the forefathers of our Constitution. It's not only shocking that over five thousand police forces swarmed into action at the midnight to evict a yoga guru who just two days before the incident received a red carpet welcome by the cabinet ministers of this country, but it's equally deplorable that this kind of miscalculated action by your government landed you in a situation where you again committed a glaring blunder by admitting to the fact that “the excess of police action was though unfortunate but unavoidable as there was no alternative” and subsequently lost your credibility as the prime minister of this country.

What your government has done in this incident not only reflects the naivety of statecraft, but also it corroborates to the fact that the collective knowledge of your cabinet on the fundamental rights of citizens empowered by our Constitution is null and void. This is a dangerous proposition for a parliamentary democracy. No amount of argumentation however powerful can justify the brutality of police forces on innocent, unarmed, sleeping women and children that these critical mass can be dangerous to the law and order situation of the capital city of India by immaturely drawing a parallel between Babri masjid incident and an unfounded similar dangerous situation that maybe lurking in the hindsight of your government. No, Mr Prime Minister, this argument doesn't hold any water in the current scenario. What your government has done here to the democratic fabric of this country is irreparable. No amount of apology even from all ranks and files of your cabinet including you can't repair the humongous loss that it has done to the families of victims in this police atrocities.

Mr Prime Minister, there are scores of alternatives to handle the worst dangerous situation even with grace and within the ambit of democratic principles. The Ramlila ground incident is a murder of democracy, which you can't understand it, forget about acknowledging the blunder because you are not an elected representative of people of this country, rather a representative of a dynasty for political convenience. Perhaps, that's the prime reason as to why political compulsions have always overshadowed your intellect and conviction during national crisis whether it's all-pervasive political corruption or crushing of democracy in the recent event. It's still live in public memory when you justified systemic corruption as “coalition dharma” and “political mandate” can even wash away the democratic sins like “horse-trading in the Parliament.” No parliamentarian can claim such immature, unconstitutional statement.

Mr Prime Minister, it won't be quite surprising to notice another emergency during your tenure given the uprising of civil society against systemic corruption and black money issues that have entangled your government in deep soup, and subsequently you will give the same lame excuse that “though this is unfortunate but unavoidable as we don't have an alternative” a cliché that you have got by your heart to fire it whenever condemnations on your actions from public or political parties loom large.

Sir, we are living in 21st century, not in an era of colonial rule where all actions, however dangerous or anti-human or antagonistic, of a ruler stand legitimate. People of India are not subjects of British Raj. We are living in a vibrant democracy where every citizen has fundamental rights to lead his or life with human dignity and grace. Any excess by the government is extremely deplorable and condemnable. As head of the government, you must first oblige to the democratic principles and the Constitution of India, and then probably you can discharge your duty as a prime minister. If you fail to uphold the democratic principles, people of this country will not hesitate to consider you a man of no reason.


Yours sincerely,

An honest citizen

An introspective period for the Congress

Everything is not hunkydory in the current hot political space of India. The ruling party is literally battered by a series of corruption scandals, many have been unfolded internally and many are peeping out of the holes of WikiLeaks, and the most astounding fact aligned to these trails of corruption is the support of Congress in the UPA alliance in betraying the trusts of a billion plus people and forcing this great nation to a state of despair. The shimmering political instability due to the furore over wide-ranging corruptions, coupled with idiosyncratic disillusioned coalition partners, has tightened the noose around this government. There are many reasons to the evolving political turmoil that has bugged the UPA in general, and the Congress party in specific. If we can remember the history of Congress, as the frequented ruling party at the Centre, it's quite conspicuous that the last three coalition governments led by Congress including the current one have been involved in large-scale corruptions. That said it also doesn't suffice the sanctity or integrity of the Congress as a political party either led by Indira or Rajiv. India has been a silent observer of highhandedness of this party at different points of history including the internal emergency during 1975.

The coalition government, as initiated by the then VP Singh, the crusader of political corruption in India, has lost its true sense. Now it's more dangerous a political option to govern the largest democracy of the world with whims and fancies of regional parties which in every now and then gamble the political decisions in difficult times, whether it's civil nuclear bill or any other bill. The recent government, despite being headed by an honest, intellectual, wise statesman like Dr. Manmohan Singh, has revealed the wildest dark zones of coalition politics. Instead the cognizance of many political offenses happening under his nose, he stands helpless and stoic, for the simple reason that he has to follow his coalition dharma. And the irony is that despite all corruption charges against various UPA coalition partners, he still manages to share a mysterious smile that reveals much of his expression than what he intends to hide from public. That's his eternal magnanimous character to stay cool and keep a blind eye to the political rampage stirred by the coalition partners, and perhaps that's his most preserved strength, which has impressed Sonia Gandhi for last two elections and compelled her to choose him the right candidate as the prime minister. At least, he understands the reality, and has also experienced it many times, that he, being the prime minister of the largest democratic country, is still not an elected representative of people. What could be more exciting than this? But the Congress party will never accrue any long term benefit as Sonia Gandhi aspires a smooth dynastic power transition to Rahul Gandhi in the next election. It seems, as the current political equations are brewing up, Rahul will be the most unfortunate scion of Congress losing a golden chance to rule this nation.

The evidences are clear now. Rahul Gandhi's down-to-earth personality and hardwork haven't even charmed the states across India. Over these years the Congress has lost contacts with the states, and if the regional political upsurges are any denominator of current power matrix, it's quite evident that the next Parliament elections will be disastrous for the Congress. The major states including UP, Bihar, Gujrat, West Bengal, Odisha, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu are either ruled by a regional party or BJP. UP most of the times was ruled by Congress; however, in last two decades, the regional parties took control of the state politics. So, if we seriously analyze the political dynamics of India, the mushrooming regional parties in reality have understood the pains of state citizens, and hence their continued success is an indicative of drastic failure of central parties like Congress and BJP. If anybody in the Congress could seriously understand the importance of state political leadership was none other that Rajiv Gandhi. His unfortunate demise was a turning point in the political aggressiveness of the Congress. And the post-Rajiv Congress party has been absolutely directionless, nonstrategic, and tactless. Both Sonia and Rahul have failed to understand the gravity of reorganization of the party at the state level. Sonia's selection of Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister for consecutive terms was a grave mistake, especially in the lights political standpoints. Though Sonia's fear of losing her leadership control over the party could have been imminent given an alternative to Manmohan Singh, but her worst fear has yet to come, when Rahul will be betrayed by Indian voters in the next election. Though I don't vouch for any senior leadership in Congress for the post of Prime Minister, Rahul Gandhi could have been the best bet at least for the 2009 elections, despite his naive and immature stint in politics. Moving away from this option was the grandest mistake executed by Sonia Gandhi, maybe due to fear for some unknown reasons, but those were necessarily irrational. In India, and exclusively in political race, the charisma of any dynasty has been highly effective. If Rahul could have been the Prime Minister, he would have immense power not only in drawing policies effective for state levels, but also could have helped reorganizing the state leadership for the Congress party. The so called grassroots development and especially state concerns have been sidelined by the Centre in last two elections. Being just a remote control of power, Sonia Gandhi has under-weighed the serious reasons in political game, which could bring in devastating results in the next Parliament elections. Still she has time for course correction to evade the imminent danger, if at all she wishes to do. Are you listening, Sonia Ji?

The evils of popular perceptions

Popular perceptions are a major evil in a progressive society. The recent unfolding of corruptions in all walks of life has betrayed the trusts of people hinged on the actions of most powerful and prominent personalities in public domain. Let's examine the merits of confronting the popular perceptions. Two events, although the similarity of problems is bit different in each case, that have rocked India recently embroil the public faith, which only accentuated by media through popular belief, rather not evolved by the rationality of substantial arguments. The first case is being the rise and rise of Rajat Gupta in corporate world and eventual fall by an allegedly normal human attribute that we often call greed. The second one is the cloud-clasping integrity of Manmohan Singh haunted by the megalomaniac passion for power even through unscrupulous means like horse tradings in the parliament. Although both cases are different to judge, the common parameters that have generated humongous confusion in public mind are the popular perceptions.

Now, analyze the case of Rajat Gupta, a prominent figure in the corporate world. His alleged involvement in the insider tradings, as levied by USSEC, and passing critical information to Rajaratnam has now captured the attentions of middle class Indians across the globe. In India, Rajat Gupta is like a god figure for any aspirant of management education. His success trajectory is so gargantuan that any corporate leader can hardly touch or emulate his management contributions in a lifetime. His relentless efforts in making India proud in global business and political forums are unthinkable. His involvement in establishing global institutions such as ISB, WEF, PHFI, and many others, spells his leadership charisma. During pre-liberalization era, when racial apartheid in American corporate domain was a subject of extensive scrutiny, he could rise from a consultant to the top boss at McKinsey, breaking the popular contemporary trend. But after such an illustrious journey, if he is convicted of a financial crime like passing crucial information for insider trading, it's not only his credibility at great risk but also his popularity as prominent corporate leader has triggered a reverse gear. I wish he should prove him innocent in the court of law, but at the same time it's a cautionary remark for those emotional Indians who still believe that their global corporate idol can't be corrupt or erroneous is not at all rational.

Secondly, the WikiLeaks overwhelming exposure on Indian political sins during a political mandate for passing the nuclear bill reveals the darkest side of democracy. The most concerning factor is that a clean personality like Dr. Manmohan Singh is also entangled into the corruption whirlpool. As Prime Minister, his contributions to the Indian economic development is paramount. His professional journey from a professor in Economics to the Governor of RBI to the Finance Minister, and finally the Prime Minister of India in two consecutive terms, is legendary. No middle class person can dare to traverse on a mission with so much conviction, precision, and perfection that Dr. Singh has done in his life. Especially, his personal integrity as a public servant has been exemplary and indisputable. However, irrespective of all his glories, the recent unfolding of corruptions in his cabinet and essentially the vote-for-cash episode for passing the nuclear bill in his previous term trigger some uncomfortable questions against his integrity and team practices. Moreover, to dissuade the Opposition in the Parliament from the charges, he has exposed his irrational side by claiming that a popular mandate in the Parliament is an enough evidence of his party's innocence. Mr. Prime Minister, perhaps, you have forgotten a fundamental premise on integrity, which is always a subject to proof, and I hope this is the high time for you to prove your innocence. No popular perception has any logical place in a rational progressive society.