Congress complacency
United party, positive administrative policy, will boost confidence at polls, says ERVELL E MENEZES
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Cashing in on the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) lack of cohesion or direction, the Congress Party too has been lulled into a complacency that can be dangerous because resting on one’s laurels can both be contagious and counter-productive. It must project a cohesive, united front devoid of any signs of disunity and must adopt a clear cut administrative policy with which they can confidently face the next general elections.
If Rahul Gandhi is to take over as Prime Minister in 2014, the groundwork must begin now. He must be initiated in all aspects of governance, especially the working of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). Telling the Dongia Gondh tribals “I will always remain your siphai in Delhi” is all very well but will he be able to reverse the current Congress policy of distributing tribal lands to the many corporations that are seeking it? Will there be more Vedanta reversals to follow or is this the one swallow that does not a summer make? The Congress should go about getting to the root of its problems, not its symptoms, as in the case of Kashmir, which is burning and the Maoists insurgency that is fast spreading.
It has to fix its administrative problems from within the party. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh keeps switching from politician to bureaucrat far too often. He began well but after the nuclear issue seemed to get on a needless high. At the moment, he is almost ineffective, as his lacklustre speech on Independence Day clearly proved. But he doesn’t have to prove his worth as he is firmly ensconced in the government, without having to go to the electorate.
There also should be a tacit understanding between Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh before announcing policies. The Prime Minister must institutionalise his government’s interaction with the party and the NAC. There is no point in the government announcing a decision or policy and then stalling it in the face of criticism from within the party.
If the party is to go to the 2014 elections brimming with hope, it should also set its State Governments in order to say nothing of boosting its opposition in non Congress states. Kashmir and Goa are both in a pathetic state of affairs. May be the Abdullahs have had too long a reign there, and it must change. They cannot deal with the current wave of insurgency. As for Goa, we know only too well that the party is in shambles, heading in different directions and Chief Minister Digambar Kamat depicting the picture of a leader, to say the least, – one who only makes promises but never keeps them. Easily, the weakest CM we ever had. The party should send Rahul Gandhi himself with sweeping powers to try and check the glaring nose-dives of the Congress. The AICC observers they keep sending are either impotent or claim a share of the corruption pie.
But the Cabinet is due for some changes. There are some who under perform and others who over perform, but incorrectly. Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar must go. The escalating rise in the prices of food stuff is a clear example. Even the Supreme Court has stepped in and told the government to distribute grain instead of letting it rot in the godowns.
It is a wonder that the BJP has not taken up the issue, considering that they oppose many lesser or even non issues. Then there is the issue of the farmers’ suicides, and nothing seems to be done about it for years. May be his post as president of the Board of Control of Cricket in India is too demanding and takes too much of his time to attend to the Ministerial portfolio that he carries.
Then P Chidambaran hasn’t proved as effective as Home Minister. Not only has he allowed the Maoist movement to thrive, but he also seems to have made a mess of the Kashmir problem. We haven’t had a good Home Minister for a long time. The previous incumbent Shivraj Patil was quite ineffective. One wonders who the last competent Home Minister was ?
But all this will be overshadowed by Babri Masjid court ruling on Friday which is clearly a red letter day for the country. It will surely be shades of the Emergency declaration in 1975, in which a whole band of Opposition members were arrested.
The sad part of it all is that the wheels of justice grind so slowly in our country. The Union Carbide Bhopal gas tragedy dragged on for over 30 years and that judgment too was watered down by political considerations. The Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson should have never been allowed to leave the country at any cost.
The Babri Masjid demolition took place in December 1992 and the case is still delayed for nearly two decades. It was the Narasimha Rao Government that allowed it to take place. Will this Congress Government be strong enough to do the just thing?
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) is already telling the BJP leaders to go into hiding. And stalwarts like L K Advani, Bal Thackeray and Company must surely be marking time, and deservedly so. Looking back in retrospect, don’t we know that it all began with Advani’s Rath Yatra? Like a Frankenstein monster it rolled on, crushing all opposition in its wake. It was a day to forget in our history. That a democracy like ours should have allowed these religious bigots to ruin the secular fabric of our country, is an absolute disgrace.
It will, surely be a landmark judgment, which is looked forward to by the whole country, and it is time to show its true mettle. Will we be strong enough to go through with it?
We have cowed down to threats by the Shiv Sena for too long, which, in the past, has threatened that Mumbai will burn, if Bal Thackeray is arrested. And our Maharashtra Chief Ministers were too scared to act. This only made the Sena stronger and more belligerent. Now, of course, the Sena is divided and is not even half as strong as it once was.
So that may help in decision making. We sincerely hope that good sense will prevail and so will justice because any responsible government should do what it has to or else what is governance for?
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Mind plays such unkind tricks
By Marc de Souza
Have you ever suffered from a morbid dissatisfaction with your daily life, or been haunted by the feeling that the years are slipping by too fast and you are not becoming the person you always wanted to be? If you have been feeling down, it could be you are sending yourself negative messages. I seem to be going through that phase in a depressed mood, when everything seems depressing.
Recently, I have been finding myself standing uncertainly in the middle of a room, or staring blankly into a cupboard, because I have completely forgotten what I wanted to do, or to find. Or dial a number, and just as some one answers, forgotten who I was calling.
I wonder where words go when you want them. “Get some butter out of the …”. You snap your fingers, “Out of … you know, the place to keep things cold”. “The freezer!“ Someone asks. In exasperation you shout out, “No! That thing over there in the corner!” “Oh, you mean the fridge?” “Yes, the fridge”, you reply in a tone which implies that, though you have forgotten its name temporarily, there is no reason why everyone else should have done so.
Worse luck! I remember the time I had the birthday party. “Meet my best friend…”. I searched frantically for his name, looking glassy eyed into my best friend’s smiling, expectant face. I made so many mistakes that I had a complete mental black out. As the poet says: The mind can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.
This was my lucky day, or so I thought. On three occasions, I looked down and found a coin lying at my feet. Three times! Then I found a fourth coin, it hit my ankle before resting on the floor. It was then that I knew I had a hole in my pocket.
I must confess I often don’t keep appointments, show up for events, or even the RSVP to an invitation. This happened recently on two occasions on the 90th birthday of two inspiring dear ladies Dolly D’Souza and Doulu Sequeira of Miramar. There was a time I used to fume when people didn’t keep their word.
Once everything seemed as fresh and new, but we cannot be teenagers forever. It is hard work being an adult. I seem to have embarked upon a voyage of discovery quite unlike any other. Well, the times as they say, are a changing. I don’t know why our minds play such unkind tricks on us at such inopportune moments. Should I put it down to encroaching old age? Would I be right? But I hope that my prospective will be clear and concise about the true worth of things in the days to come.
Just when I felt like giving up and thought that things could not possibly get worse, positive thoughts crossed my mind: like it or not, to feel better, you need to think better. There is always room for improvement, whatever your age. There is no such thing as defeat.
Being a little concerned about the ability to remember things, I embarked on a memory training course where pupils are taught to memorise more than 50 unrelated objects in a certain sequence. I enjoyed doing the course and thought I learned a lot.
The other day, a ceremony was held at the completion of the course. Very proudly I attended and was presented with my graduation certificate. After leaving, I spent the next hour or so searching the parking lot, streets and by streets. I couldn’t remember where I had parked the car.
That’s the tale of my woes!
