BJP on its way to burying its future

Its just about a month and a week since this blog post by Swapan Dasgupta where for the first time something interesting was shared.

So, who is likely to be the next president of the BJP?

As of now, NITIN GADHKARI is the clear favourite.

With his amiable disposition, he has the advantage of being liked by everyone, including the LKA camp. If the BJP-SS does well in Maharashtra, his prospects will improve.

But then a week later Kanchan Gupta in his blog wrote this (before Maharashtra counted the ballots)

Irrespective of Maharashtra Assembly election results (the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance could suffer heavy reverses and losses and be left in the cold yet again)it is likely Nitin Gadkari will be brought in as president.

That the BJP lost badly in Maharashtra is now history. But the fact that the backseat drivers of the political Hindutva movement had pre-determined the outcome of events to play out in Delhi tells us a lot on the premium they put on performance and the faith they repose in the democratic process.

For the last few days  Putting the BJP on notice, Offstumped had called for a phone-in and SMS campaign into the BJP’s National Headquarters in Delhi asking why the BJP was shying away from holding a real election to decide its next President.

Many of you responded to this call for action.

Akshar100 wrote – Sent several SMS no replies. Planing to send handwritten letter. I think we are “begani shadi mein abdulla diwana” types.

Swabhimaan wrote – sent SMS to the three mobile nos. Dilli Chalo karein? contact arun shourie and get him on our side for this campaign. i don’t think he will refuse

Vivakermani wrote – Spoke to someone who said it will be held in Dec but call after 12 noon for more details

CenterOfRight wrote – was able to speak to one number dang please call up

AaIndian wrote – Got an answer on 1 phone, hello and bang!

CBCNN wrote – Why not send bouquets to the BJP high command asking them to do the right thing? Gandhi-giri perhaps, reverse psychology.

Acorn wrote – You are onto something with call the BJP HQ idea. Add postcards for more effect. Rock the backroom! Postcards might work better because they are physical. Or maybe you should send them smelly socks by post.

NareshBahrain wrote -  if bjp even thinks 1% of wht u think, they wld have done somethign correct. they R just closing their eyes & making it dark. 

A big thanks to all of you.

It is clear from these media reports in the Times of India and the Hindu that a repeat of the backroom manouvering of 2005 is all but set.

With the imminent choice of Nitin Gadkari for BJP President we must take it that the BJP has Institutionalized its practice of embellishing electoral failures as Resume enhancers to coronate an Outsider least likely to threaten status quo.

If the rationale of “collective leadership” offered for this choice was dubious, what is dishonest is the rationale of “too hot to handle” for not making the one choice by backroom consensus that could have been palatable.

At the risk of sounding repetitive and redundant here is what it all comes down to

• the BJP in its current avatar has lost all moral purpose
• the BJP leadership in its current avatar is plagued by the 3Is of – Incoherence, Incompetence and Insecurity
• any rejuvenation will have to be on a Center Right Agenda with a decisive and purposeful leadership that suffers no fools
• there was only one process by which such rejuvenation with a forward looking aspirational agenda could have happened – through the ballot
• there was only one leader perhaps who embodied both the forward looking Center Right Agenda and decisive leadership – it was Narendra Modi

By neither opting for a ballot and nor opting for Narendra Modi the BJP has practically buried its future.

Once again at the risk of sounding repetitive and redundant

•  all talk of a Narendra Modi lead campaign post 2012 is pointless.
• It reeks of a semi-finals mindset where the present doesnt matter and where all tough decisions are postponed to the future lest they disadvantage those who are invested in status quo.
• If the BJP has to be viable in 2014 and a serious challenger in 2019 it has to break new ground and that can only happen with purposeful and decisive leadership with a coherent philosophy
• Narendra Modi’s Minmum Government Maximum Governance offers the best hope for the BJP to chart that Center Right path to rejuvenation
• While a Modi choice would have been polarizing from a perception standpoint Mr. Modi could have pre-empted it with a detached moral stance on not holding Public Office to take the moral high ground

It is all but final that none of these are likely to happen as the BJP prepares to coronate Mr. Nitin Gadkari.

While Mr. Gadkari may have the right resume from an Administrative experience standpoint the fact that he has never contested a real election and has been unsuccessful in propeling the BJP back to power in Maharashtra in spite of disastrous Congress Governments speaks volumes about his political acumen or rather lack of acumen.

Barring any unlikely last minute surprises if the BJP were to go through with this choice

Offstumped will formally change its stance from being sympathetic to the BJP at the national level to being neutral and even opposed to it based on what stance the BJP takes under a Nitin Gadkari Presidency in the days to come.

Offstumped will continue to support the planks of Minimum Government Maximum Governance of the BJP in Gujarat and the ABIDE initiative of the BJP in Bangalore hoping they continue to retain their Center Right focus.

Offstumped will persist with its quest for a new Center Right avatar – a new Liberal National Big Tent that embodies the essence of Dharma drawing inspiration from the Shveta Chhatra.

Filed under: DesiPundit, Shveta Chhatra, betrayal of aam admi

India Elections 2009 Results – Live Blogging

With the votes set to be counted for the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, here is what Offstumped is looking forward to today.

#1 Will the BJP overtake the Congress as the single largest party and if so by what margin ?

#2 Will Andhra turn in a hung assembly and if so how will the power equations be re-writtent by the voters. Specifically can the TDP manage the numbers with TRS and others or does the Congress have an outside chance by roping in Chiranjeevi’s PRP ?

#3 Will Orissa turn out a hung assembly. Specifically can Naveen Patnaik’s BJD manage the numbers with others or will he be compelled to a suicidal embrace of the Congress. Will Orissa become the next Karnataka for the BJP ?

#4 Will Maharashtra continue to deliver a split verdict or has the BJP-Shiv Sena combine turned the corner in this key large state ?

#5 Will Tamil Nadu’s unusually high turnout mean a AIADMK sweep or will it be a split verdict for Tamil Nadu’s revolving door politics ?

Specific bellwhether seats of interest are

#1 Mandi in Himachal Pradesh which has voted for the party that has formed the government last 6 elections. A BJP loss here would be ominous

#2 Will Dumka in Jharkhand vote against JMM/Congress/RJD

#3 Will Mayurbhanj in Orissa vote against BJP ?

#4 Will Nandyal in Andhra vote against Congress ?

#5 Will Mahabubnagar in Andhra surprise the TRS by dumping KCR ?

#6 Will Peddapalle in Andhra vote against the Congress ?

#7 Will the BJP sweep Rajmahal, Godda, Jamshedpur and Giridih in Jharkhand ?

#8 Which of these 3 Gujarat bellwhether seats will BJP wrest or retain – Anand, Bulsar, Banaskantha ?

#9 Which way will Kangra in Himachal Pradesh go ?

#10 What about bellwhether seats in Chattisgarh (Mahasamund), Maharashtra (Ahmednagar), Punjab (Jalandher), Rajasthan (Sikar), West Bengal (Dum-dum)

#11 How many of the bellwhether seats in Orissa of Aska, Phulbani, Bolangir, Sambalpur, Deogarh, Sundargarh will go to BJP ?

#12 Finally will any of the 4 bellwhether seats of Tamil Nadu Vellore, Chidambaram, Coimbatore, Nagappatnam fall to the AIADMK lead alliance ?

Also catch all the action via Offstumped on

- Twitter

- Live analysis and debate on this Internet Panel

PS: As this goes to press, a short email exchange with reliable quarters in the BJP reveals fairly high confidence, fingers crossed.

Filed under: CNN-IBN Boycott, Chattisgarh Polls 2008, Chhattisgarh Polls 2008, Delhi Polls 2008, DesiPundit, Dharma-debates, Dharmayudh-2009, Gujarat Polls 2007, India Elections 2009, India Lok Sabha Elections 2009, Karnataka Polls 2008, Lok Sabha Polls 2008-2009, Madhya Pradesh Polls 2008, Madhya Pradesh Polls 2008, Manmohan Confidence Vote, Offstumped, Offstumped on Twitter, Pratibha Patil, Rajasthan Polls 2008, War on Terror, betrayal of aam admi, jeetega-bharat

Morality of Elections

With another 24 hours to go before we learn the mind of the Indian voter, we are once agained regaled with endless speculation on how the Congress has many paths to power and how the BJP has few options.

Looking beyond the many possible deals that can be struck between the ADMK, BSP, SP, TDP, BJD and the rest of the alphabet soup, it is important to not lose sight of the morality of this election.

In 2005 the voters of Bihar expressed their disgust at the 15 year corrup rule of the Lalu Yadav lead RJD with the support of the Congress. In a blatant repudiation of the voter’s sentiment the Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP attempted to drive a hard bargain with the RJD with the Congress appointed Governor Buta Singh lending a helping hand.

The LJP, Congress and the RJD had to eventually pay a high price for violating the morality of the Feb 2005 election with the BJP-JD(U) under Nitish Kumar sweeping the October 2005 election.

In 2004 Karnataka voted to punish the S.M. Krishna lead Congress government by favoring the BJP as the single largest party. In a blatant repudiation of the sentiment of the Karnataka voter, the Congress made common cause with the JD-S to form a government by seeking moral sanction under a dubious secularism. Two years later the JD-S parted ways with the Congress to form a government with the BJP before betraying within 12 months.

With its morality violated twice Karnataka voted the BJP to power in 2008 with vengeance that saw both the Congress and to a larger degree JD-S pay a heavy price for their myopic opportunism.

Jharkhand, Goa and Assam have had their morality violated over the last 3 years despite voting to punish non-performing governments.

With all the exit polls pointing to a NDA sweep in Jharkhand it is but a matter of time before the myopic opportunism that gets passed of as “upholding secularism” is repudiated once again by an angry electorate that will brook no more  violations of the morality of their electoral preferences.

With 24 hours to go we are once again witnessing this myopic opportunism practised by the Congress, Communists and others of its ilk rearing its head under the guise of keeping out the BJP at all costs.

This myopic opportunism is being actively fanned by a complicit Delhi based media which continues to conduct itself in a moral vaccum.

So morally bankrupt are these media spinmeisters that they see no immorality in suggesting that an AIADMK even if it sweeps Tamil Nadu on anti-UPA plank should embrace the Congress just because it suits their political bias.

Let us set aside the realpolitik for a moment to reflect on what this means. Tamil Nadu has had its all time high turnout in a Lok Sabha elections. Tamil voters across the state have showed up to vote incensed over what they percieve as a betrayal of Tamil interests by the DMK and the Congress.

By suggesting that the AIADMK, if it indeed it were to be the beneficiary of this punishment by the voters, should just embrace the party against who the Tamil voter in all likelihood has expressed anger and disgust, the media stands guity of the same violations of the morality of elections that we had witnessed in Bihar, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Goa and Assam.

Not only is this myopic opportunism immoral it is also a slap on the face of Indian Democracy for it negates the very purpose of elections. Why hold elections if parties were to violate the morality of those elections to strike opportunistic alliances that are a complete repudiation of the voter’s sentiment.

Let it be very clear to the Congress Party and the rest of the 3rd front campers that any attempts by them to stitch a coalition premised on negativity would come with a heavy political price.

Unless the Congress emerges as the single largest party in this election it would have lost its moral authority to form the next government.  The Congress must desist from attempting to form a government if the BJP emerges as the single largest party. Any attempts by the Congress to stitch a minority government or to prop up a 3rd party government with the sole purpose of keeping the BJP out even if it emerges as the single largest party would be a rank violation of the morality of the election.

Filed under: Chattisgarh Polls 2008, Delhi Polls 2008, DesiPundit, Dharmayudh-2009, Gujarat Polls 2007, India Elections 2009, Karnataka Polls 2008, Lok Sabha Polls 2008-2009, Madhya Pradesh Polls 2008, Manmohan Confidence Vote, Rajasthan Polls 2008, betrayal of aam admi, jeetega-bharat

Open Letter to Sudheendra Kulkarni

Dear Shri Kulkarni

We have exchanged many notes in private but I wanted to make this one public on your latest op-ed in the Indian Express titled “From tutu-mainmain to Tu and Main“.

You have rightly framed the issue on the abject lack of bi-partisanship and lack of respect for the opposite point of view in our national political culture to the point where every political exchange has to be necessarily colored with extreme adjectives like “tears into”, “ridicules”, “snubs”, “mocks” and so on.

While one need not delve into history on this subject, the responsibility over the last 5 years for this clearly rests with the Congress Party for not having gone the extra creative mile to create a national consensus on issues like the Indo-US Nuclear Deal.

Be that as it may the 2009 elections mark a significant turn in this culture of political debate when a senior most aide to the most important political leader to one side of the political divide is able to seek the middle ground on issues of national interest in the middle of a bitter political campaign.

Some in the media may color this election season as highly personal and vicious and most in the media may attribute it to the characterization of Dr. Manmohan Singh’s conduct in office.

However this blogger being privy to facts that they are not can say without doubt that Mr. Advani’s Campaign has conducted itself in the most honorable and dignified manner while chosing not to hit below the belt even when opportunities have presented themselves even after one of the worst scandals on the floor of Parliament.

At this time it is anyone’s guess what the ballots will reveal on May 16th but this blogger hopes that no matter what the outcome is on May 16th a beginning can be made on bi-partisanship in New Delhi. You have made the first move and this blogger hopes the Congress reciprocates appropriately over time.

Wishing you all the best and congratulations on a campaign executed honorably with dignity.

regards

An Aam Admi

Filed under: Chattisgarh Polls 2008, Chhattisgarh Polls 2008, Delhi Polls 2008, Dharmayudh-2009, Gujarat Polls 2007, India Elections 2009, Karnataka Polls 2008, Lok Sabha Polls 2008-2009, Madhya Pradesh Polls 2008, Rajasthan Polls 2008, betrayal of aam admi, jeetega-bharat

India Elections 2009 – Focus on the Finish Line

With the final 48 hours before the fifth and last phase of polling for the 2009 Lok Sabha elections upon us Offstumped shifts focus to major states West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, where politics is conducted beyond the national political faultlines.

The Telegraph has carried a scathing editorial on the culture of political violence in West Bengal that saw an infant killed in the arms of its mother.

The rot in West Bengal has less to do with the violent cadre in the heartland but more to do with the culture of accomodation within the so called intellectual bhadralok of Kolkota and New Delhi who have given the CPI-Mafioso a free pass for the last 5 years for some of the worst acts of violence while the Sonia, Rahul, Manmohan lead Congress looked the other way.

It is amazing that the Delhi based media elite have been debating breathlessly the various permutations and combinations that would see the Congress and Left without giving a single thought to the immoral and unconstitutional excesses that have been the fallout of this opportunistic axis of evil.

The Congress and the Left constitute an evil political alliance and the many muslim victims of Nandigram stand testimony to that inconvenient truth. The Delhi based elite can put all the lipstick they want but this alliance is a Pig and it stinks.

As West Bengal goes to polls it perhaps has little to choose between one culture of political violence over another, but the elite of Kolkota who live in denial would themselves and their state a lot of good with some honest introspection on how they have accorded moral sanction to one of the worst political regimes for over two decades.

The culture of politics in Tamil Nadu is marginally different from West Bengal but for the fact that the voters have been far more unforgiving if not sagacious.

As Tamil Nadu goes to polls one must not forget that while Karunanidhi’s bigotry and Baalu’s nepotism have come to define politics in Tamil Nadu in the last few years, it was Jayalalitha’s arrogance that saw one of the worst abuses of political power on an ancient Hindu Institution with no accountability to date.

West Bengal and Tamil Nadu represent the failure of the BJP and the Congress to offer credible regional alternatives having ceded ground by default to what can unarguably be characterised as the worst Indian Politics has to offer.

As the month long Indian General Elections draws to a close it is with shame and despondency this blogger wraps up the Campaign Season lamenting the rotten state of politics in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

Filed under: Chattisgarh Polls 2008, Chhattisgarh Polls 2008, Delhi Polls 2008, DesiPundit, Dharmayudh-2009, Gujarat Polls 2007, India Elections 2009, India Lok Sabha Elections 2009, Karnataka Polls 2008, Lok Sabha Polls 2008-2009, Madhya Pradesh Polls 2008, Madhya Pradesh Polls 2008, Rajasthan Polls 2008, betrayal of aam admi, jeetega-bharat

India Elections 2009 Phase 3 & Phase 4 Analysis

The month long election has reached an interesting juncture with the first four phases of voting done with barely over a week to go before the votes are counted.

The turnout figures for phase 4 seem quite encouraging in stark contrast to the less than impressive turnout in phase 3.

West Bengal, where polling was held in 17 constituencies, the voter turnout was “large” (about 75%). In Jammu and Kashmir where the Srinagar constituency went to the polls, there was a low turnout (around 24%), he said.

In J and K the polling this time was better. In 2004 it was 18.57 per cent and in the 1999 Lok Sabha poll it was 11.93 per cent. Separatists had given a poll boycott call in the State.

This phase covered Haryana – for 10 seats, Rajasthan 25, Punjab 4, West Bengal 17, Bihar 3, Jammu and Kashmir 1, Uttar Pradesh 18 and NCT of Delhi 7.

Bihar recorded a turnout of 37 per cent. It was 63 in Haryana, 65 in Punjab, and 50 each in Rajasthan and UP.

With this phase, polling has been completed in 457 of the 543 Lok Sabha constituencies and an average of about 55.5 voters had cast their votes

Continuing with Offstumped analysis of bellwhether seats there are about 4 seats that are of interest across phases 3 and 4. (click here for analysis of bellwhether seats in Phase 1 and Phase 2)

#1 Banaskantha in Gujarat

#2 Anand in Gujarat

#3 Bulsar in Gujarat

#4 Sikar in Rajashthan

Of these the 3 seats in Gujarat can be considered the most reliable indicators of the BJP’s prospects of forming a government at the Center. The 3 seats in Gujarat voted 5 out of 6 times for the party that either formed the government in Delhi or for a party that supported it. More importantly every single time these seats voted for the BJP a Non-Congress government was formed at the center. If this report is anything to go by the Congress is clearly not fancying its chances in Banaskantha. However the Satta market seems to punt for the Congress in Anand.

Sikar in Rajasthan too got it right 5 out of 6 times and has not voted against the BJP in the last 3 elections. It can be considered a reliable indicator of the anti-Congress sentiment except for 2004.  The big unknown this year in Sikar is the emergence of the CPI-M making it a triangular fight. No data yet on the turnout figures in Sikar, it will be interesting to see if a high turnout is an indicator of red and saffron mobilization.

Two other seats in Delhi which have reliably voted for the party that forms the Government were Delhi Outer and Delhi Sadar both of which have been transformed in the post-delimitation era making seats in Delhi less reliable an indicator of which way the wind is blowing.

Phase 5 has some interesting bellwhether seats in Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh and an odd seat in West Bengal.

In retrospect it must be said that we need to come to terms with the reality that Lok Sabha elections are no longer a referendum on national issues but are really about control of the national power structure. End of the day the choice that has to be made by each voter is about which coalition has earned their trust to be vested with that control.

When viewed through the prism of power structures, the post results game of bluff becomes as important as the prepoll agenda. It is clear that no matter what the outcome is on May 16th BJP’s best chances lie in the rather outcome of the game of bluff that will be played between the Congress and the Communists after May 16th.

More on that game of bluff in the next post.

To post comments click here

Filed under: Chattisgarh Polls 2008, Chhattisgarh Polls 2008, Delhi Polls 2008, DesiPundit, Dharmayudh-2009, Gujarat Polls 2007, India Elections 2009, Karnataka Polls 2008, Lok Sabha Polls 2008-2009, Madhya Pradesh Polls 2008, Rajasthan Polls 2008, betrayal of aam admi, jeetega-bharat

Pappu’s Wily Strategery

He did his best to win friends and influence potential partners

Who is Pappu ?

He even transformed his own image from a soft-spoken, platitudinous Clark Kent-like figure to a wily strategerist

Who is Pappu ?

He reached out to praise Nitish’s governance and bestow a more qualified approval of Naidu

Who is Pappu ?

He gave jitters to both the BJP and the Third Front

Who is Pappu ?

He didnt force an attempt to stitch up a meeting of flexible ideologies

Who is Pappu ?

he signalled that what matters more in a stable coalition is compatible working styles and a commitment to delivering governance rather than perfect philosophical understanding

(That is one long sentence Pappu can never construct or utter, nevertheless)

Who is Pappu ?

He aimed to portray the Congress as the indispensable party, and dealt a body blow to the NDA

Who is Pappu ?

He also administered a deft reality check to competition, squashing NCP’s pretensions,

Who is Pappu ?

He has patented a disarming straight-talk technique

(Really he is an inventor ?)

Who is Pappu ?

With his vehement, oft-stated, antipathy to dynastic politics…..

(How incredible is he the 3rd coming of the messiah, unfortunately Obama has usurped the second coming ?)

Who is Pappu ?

He has a well-worked operating procedure

(Awesome)

Who is Pappu ?

(Papa is this Clark Kent like Pappu really Superman that he can do all this ?)

(No Beta he cant be, he doesnt wear his unmentionables on the outside but he is a wily strategerist)

Filed under: Dharmayudh-2009, Fiction, India Elections 2009, India Lok Sabha Elections 2009, Lok Sabha Polls 2008-2009, betrayal of aam admi, jeetega-bharat

The Indian Express’ Political Correctness

Having resurrected the Ghost of Bofors, the Indian Express, it seems  feels compelled to resurrect the Ghost of Babri Masjid in an exercised aimed apparently at restoring the balance of political correctness.

How else must one interpret this headline in the Indian Express “On Babri, it was BJP which made CBI crawl“.

The headline and the opening paragraph suggest that the Indian Express had obtained concrete confidential information on the BJP lead NDA government’s political interference of the CBI on the issue of filing a review petition against Mr. Advani’s discharge in the Babri Case.

But here is the rub.

There is not a single factoid the Indian Express presents in the entire article to either suggest or prove that a Political Office in the NDA Government interfered with the CBI.

What is worse the other allegation of making the CBI crawl also comes a cropper ?

While the headline seems to suggest that the CBI was deliberately made to go slow on the case, the timelines presented in the article reveal a different story.

Here is the chronology.

#1 The article starts the sequence of events of December 4th 2003.

#2 The Attorney General, a politically appointed office refers the matter to an outside lawyer to avoid even a hint of bias on 11th December 2003

#3 The outside Lawyer gives his opinion within 6 days on 17th December 2003

#4 The Solicitor General another politically appointed office, acts on the basis of the outside opinion to not file a review petition on 23rd December

So the entire matter is settled is less than a month with external opinions sought and an Executive decision made.

So where exactly is the evidence the Indian Express calls “carefully calibrated in which the CBI was forced to abandon….” ?

It is one thing for the Indian Express to make a case for or against the merits of the external opinion that recommended not seeking a review of the discharge. But the article in the Indian Express makes no such case. Instead it imputes motives to the then BJP lead NDA government which too one could be persuaded to accept if backed by facts to substantiate the charge of clear political interference. 

With the only politically appointed office by the Indian Express’ own narrative recusing itself from offering an opinion on the matter, this article appears to be an exercise in political correctness rather than the sensational scoop based on confidential documents, that it makes it out to be.

Filed under: Dharmayudh-2009, India Elections 2009, Lok Sabha Polls 2008-2009, betrayal of aam admi

India Elections 2009 – Focus on Delhi

Offstumped analysis for phases 3 and 4 will appear together later this week.

With the 7 seats of Delhi Offstumped is turning the spotlight on the debate in Delhi which so far has been lack lustre.

It is ironical that the National Capital Territory despite being over-represented at all 3 levels of government is a victim of chaotic Urban Management with one of the worst records on Violent Crimes against Women.

In a way Law and Order in the National Capital is a case study on the tyranny of Centralized Bureaucracies. With Law and Order in the National Capital being the responsibility of the Union Home Ministry it is little wonder that the Local Law Enforcement has a better track record with VIP security than in securing the Aam Admi.

From BRT to Law Enforcement, Offstumped invites its readers to join the Delhi Debate  over the next few days.

An Offstumped rerun from 6th November 2006 when the Supreme Court denied the Government the opportunity to invoke the Ninth Schedule on the Delhi sealing issue.

A meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) has decided that the Supreme Court’s order on sealing would be implemented. The Supreme Court had refused to grant any relief to traders from the sealing drive in the Capital. In all 44,000 traders had filed an affidavit giving undertakings to stop the misuse of premises in residential areas for commercial activities. But in a strongly worded statement, the SC has directed the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to resume sealing of illegal commercial premises. The apex court has ordered the MCD to use police or other kinds of force, if necessary, to carry out the drive. It also came down heavily on the government officials for not implementing its orders. President of Confederation of All India Traders Praveen Khandelwal has urged the government not to drag the case any further and find a solution to the crisis by ammending the Constitution. Congress leaders have come out in support of the traders saying their livelihood must not be snatched away. BJP has said the decision will lead to unrest in Delhi and has blamed the Congress for the state of affairs. Resident Welfare Associations, who have been opposed to commercialisation of residential areas, have welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision.

The fights in the streets of Delhi raise 3 important questions about the kind of democracy we want to be ?

1. Do we want to be a Democracy where Law Enforcement is compromised to appease special interests ?

2. Do we want to be a Democracy where the Governments blissfully abandaon their duty and when compelled to act by the courts resort to legislative workarounds ?

3. Do we want to be a Democracy where the Constitution is rendered irrelvant via a blank cheque in the form of the 9th schedule to allow the politicians to pander to any group they want to while being accountable to none ?

The events in Delhi over the last many months and specifically the conduct of the Congress and the BJP leads Offstumped to believe that the answer to all of the above is resounding YES.

The current political debate in Delhi is not unlike the earlier during the 90s on court mandate adoption of Compressed Natural Gas, CNG and before that on unleaded petrol. 

What we have here is Executive delinquency creating the problem, Judicial Activism attempting to fill the vaccum which eventually leads to grudging adoption or Legislative perversion as we are now seeing with the attempts to ammend the Constitution and to take refuge in the 9th schedule to avoid Judicial Scrutiny.

The hallmark of the Manmohan Singh Government has been Executive Delinquency highlighted by an unusually long list of empowered Group of Ministers (GoM). On every political hot potato, Manmohan Singh has come across an indecisive Prime Minister incapable of taking a firm stance and selling it politically within his Government and beyond. The bureuacrat in him has time and again taken recourse to constituting a GoM and then allowing the issue to fester till either the courts or overwhelming public opinion swings the issue one way or the other, thus sparing the Prime Minister from taking a firm stance.

Offstumped takes a critical look at the Executive Delinquency of the Manmohan Singh Government leading up to the Delhi sealing issue.

First a look at how many GoMs the Manmohan Singh cabinet had constituted.

Dec 2004 – eGoM on Dabhol Fiasco, eGoM on Patents Act, eGoM on integrated relife post Tsunami

Jan 2005 – eGoM on Airport Modernization, eGoM on FDI, GoM on SEZ bill, GoM on Commonwealth Games

Feb 2005 – GoM  on Naga Talks, GoM on food safety bill, GoM on tourism for Visa on arrival, GoM on reservations in private sector

March 2005 – GoM on disaster management, GoM on center state relations,

April 2005 – GoM on Administrative Reforms, GoM on i-cards

May 2005 – GoM on FDI in print media, GoM on Natural Gas Pricing, GoM on NTC restructuring

Jun 2005 – GoM on celebrating 1857 revolt (first war of indian independence)

Jul 2005 – GoM on Purchase Preference Policy for Central PSUs, GoM on uplinking policy, GoM on education cess, GoM on replacement for IMDT after the Supreme Court struck it down as illegal in Assam

Aug 2005 – GoM on women’s reservation bill, GoM on PSU autonomy, eGoM on Indian Airlines Fleet expansion to conduct final round of price negotiations

Sep 2005 – GoM on how far Delhi Metro should run

Oct 2005 – GoM on community radio expansion, GoM on National Urban Renewal Mission, NURM, GoM on WTO

Jan 2006 – GoM on spectrum allocation

Apr 2006 – GoM on Prasar Bharati, GoM on Narmada issue

July  2006 – GoM on freight corridors, GoM on bill to enable foreign universities to setup campuses,

And so on the story goes with a whopping 40 GoMs including the one dealing with the issue of sealing unauthorized businesses operating in violation of zoning laws in Delhi. It must also be noted that Pranab Mukherjee chairs most of the GoMs which leads one to question what stellar contributions he managed while in the Defence Ministry, juggling as he was the GoM musical chairs. We are now told that he has 9 bureuacrats (Officers on Special Duty, OSD) to manage his GoMs. So in effect the GoMs are not exactly Groups of Ministers working on issues, but Groups of Bureuacrats on special duty, having long abandoned what was supposed to be their primary duty. Given the number of GoMs and the range of issues from buying aeroplanes to giving permission to setup private universities, it makes one wonder what purpose Cabinet Portfolios serve any more. Manmohan Singh might as well strip all his Ministers of their portfolios and instead maintain a rotating pool of Ministers who will get assigned to GoMs in a round robin fashion.

The Executive Delinquency of the Manmohan Singh Government on key issues is appalling. The result of this delinquency is another GoM on the Delhi sealing issue chaired by Shivraj Patil which has spent more time in pandering to the political pressure from the Traders and entertaining speculation on constitutional ammendments and ninth schedule than in politically resolving the issue outside of the courts. After all why resort to the GoM mechanism on politically hot button issues. It is to build that political consensus. If the GoM rather than build that political consensus on what is essentially a matter for the Executive to resolve and instead spend its time challenging the courts, the constitution and the Judiciary are both undermined by drawing them into an unseemly emotional debate bereft of reason.

Offstumped Bottomline: The Delhi sealing issue is a litmus test for how the Congress and BJP propose to shape Indian Democracy in the 21st century. Relenting to political pressure and ammending the Constitution would be a disgrace. Will they show the spine and the fortitude to let the citizens of Delhi decide what kind of Urban Quality of Life they would like or will they pander to pressure groups and undermine the courts and the constitution ?

Filed under: Delhi Polls 2008, DesiPundit, Dharmayudh-2009, India Elections 2009, India Lok Sabha Elections 2009, Lok Sabha Polls 2008-2009, betrayal of aam admi, jeetega-bharat

Dharma of Investigation

It is hard to tell what is worse – the ghost of Bofors returning in the form of Quattrochi or the ghost of Indira Gandhi returning in Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s wardrobe ?

Nevertheless they both make a joint appearance in this story in the Telegraph with these incredible remarks attributed to Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

“Absolutely not. It’s out of question,” she retorted when asked about the BJP’s allegation that the Congress had pressured the CBI

But then the public debate on the CBI’s role has not been any more intelligent either.

It makes one nervous when the Law Minister of the land makes this astounding claim that the CBI doesnt run under the government.

The nerves are frayed even further when one reads remarks like these in what is meant to be objective news analysis in a Business News paper.

The CBI’s image as an independent and autonomous investigative agency…….

All of this gets compounded by further talk of ammending the Constitution to make the CBI more independent and autonomous.

Somewhere we seem to have missed the plot on the role of Government.

If every Executive function that fails our confidence is to be hived off as an autonomous function why bother with electing a Government ?

We seem to have missed that the basic problem with CBI is not one of independence and autonomy but one of a deficit of credibility.

It is the job of the Executive to uphold the rule of law.

This means it is also the job of the Executive to investigate and bring those guilty to trial.

To treat this fundamental Executive function as something that requires Independence and Autonomy is to miss the basic point on the responsibility of the Executive.

It is the responsibility of the Executive to ensure its investigations are credible. It cannot run away from this Dharma by blaming the politics that are the foundation of any democratically elected Executive.

If today questions are being raised of the CBI’s conduct it is not because the people of this country want the CBI to be yet another runaway body of unelected bureaucrats who are a law unto themselves.

Today questions are being raised of the CBI’s conduct because the government stands guilty of not discharging its Executive Dharma in conducting criminal investigations.

The solution to this lies in finding fixes that will force the Government to not violate Dharma in its conduct rather than allow it to abdicate its responsibility by providing it with constitutional exit strategies in the name of autonomy.

We in India suffer a unique situation where the Executive on account of its Legislative majority can abuse its privilege with very little oversight or accountability.

If any Constitutional improvements are desired it would be to first delink the Executive’s survival from the Legislative majority  and to next provide for a constitutional role for the Legislature to maintain oversight of the Executive’s functions.

We dont need the CBI to be independent and autonomous we merely need the CBI to discharge its Constitutional duty or Dharma in an honest and credible manner while the full responsibilty for ensuring it does so rests with the Executive Government which in turn is accountabile to the Parliament. 

If the Executive Government and Parliament are guilty of not discharging their responsibilities, making the CBI independent and autonomous solves nothing it merely passes the buck to a constitutional grey area inviting the Judiciary to intervene in Executive functions rather than limit itself to passing  judgement on Constitutional Issues.

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Filed under: DesiPundit, Dharmayudh-2009, India Elections 2009, Lok Sabha Polls 2008-2009, Manmohan Confidence Vote, betrayal of aam admi, jeetega-bharat