Telangana 28: Telangana still awaiting its liberation

Irrespective of the whatever agendas the Congressmen, Communists had in their fight against the Nizam in Nizam's dominion and in the subsequent Hyderabad State, the path Telangana took since the liberation is unfailingly that of a colony. For decades now, in face of such utter regard to the aspirations of the people of Telangana, it is time the truth has to be spoken unambiguously and treated as such. 

Over the decades, the protagonists of Telangana movement maintained that their fight is against the Andhra plutocrats and not against the commoners in Andhra. Some even went ahead and said that the commoners in Andhra would not care if the State is de-merged. The events of the last 50 days must have made them wonder if there are any commoners left in Andhra! The few intellectual voices from Andhra which empathized with the the just cause of Telangana have been drowned in the orchestrated cacophony in the name of Samaikyandhra agitation. The Govt employees, businessmen of Andhra for their vested interests are doing their bit in the drama.  It needs more than a sense of justice and fair play in them to take Telangana agitation in its present sugarcoated words seriously. That is why truth, not diplomacy matter now. That is why I see a ray of hope when Prof. Kodandram says TJAC wont accept Hyderabad as a joint capital. And that is what the ruling Congressmen from Telangana should be saying and acting upon. The message the Andhras should get is that Telanganas wont flinch for their unscrupulous behavior. That Telangana wont again, surrender.

When visiting the AP Bhavan in Delhi, I am sure every person from Telangana would wonder, as to why he/she is welcomed by the statue of first Andhra Chief Minister Prakasam's. Ideally, Burgula's statue too should have been there, that is if the merger between Andhra and Telangana were that of equals. It is not and the Andhras were always clear about it, that it was not a merger but an acquisition! So they put up the statue of their first Chief Minister. Also, they keep harping on Potti Sriramulu as the 'father' of AP, knowing all too well the history of Andhra and AP. And Telangana's activists rather naively keep telling them history lessons, repeatedly. The fact is that Andhras think AP is just a continuation of Andhra state that Potti Sriramulu is associated with, with a few districts added to it, just like Maharashtra and Karnataka added a few from Hyderabad State! Andhra State occupied Telangana and they seriously think they replaced the Nizam and his elite as the new age rulers and act in the same vein. Did we not see leader after leader berating Sonia Gandhi on how she is tearing down the Andhra empire her mother-in-law helped Andhras continue to rule despite the 1969 uprising? That is how Andhras see it, like a property matter between them and Delhi rulers! Andhras are the regional satraps given charge over the Telangana subjects by Delhi rulers! In this whole debate, Telangana's own voice does not figure anywhere. 

And the Telangana politicians have been mincing words calling a spade a spade, burdened by what they think is propriety. When a particular senior Telugu actor settled in Hyderabad enacted a real life drama in front of media sometime ago in a dispute with TRS partymen, he remarked 'Hyderabad was the city of Muslims before the Andhras arrived here and that if they (Andhras) are forced out of state, they would hand it over back to Muslims and go!' Now, how clearer can it get?

Meek challenge to these claims all these years, to some extent, is understandable, with the tyranny of majority the Andhras have handy, in the legislature and their successful Andhra-Seema collaboration. But I believe this situation Telangana politicians (especially in Congress and TDP with Andhra leadership in the state) have been in, will change if they seize the opportunity provided by the CWC resolution to assert the Telangana identity. One such way is to immediately demand for demerging the PCC making Telangana politicians independent of pulls and pressures of Andhra leaders, especially in granting tickets during election. That would also cut down the chances Andhras have to do horse-trading with Telangana legislators, especially from Hyderabad, in the event of a dispute over Hyderabad in future.

The bottom-line is that Telangana has to be assertive NOW and reclaim its freedom to really get liberated. Sept 17 every year is a reminder for that and more so this year with the direct challenge being mounted onto Hyderabad. There is nothing to be expected from TDP on this front and TRS has its own limitations in Delhi. It is up to the Congressmen to stand up and take the colonial rulers head-on and push for the continuation of the process triggered with CWC resolution. The duty of handling the Andhra political rulers who are obese with accumulated power, right from the days of Madras presidency, rests clearly on the shoulders of Telangana Congressmen. 

India has long stopped working based on its ideals. The ruthless ruling elite in Delhi is not cowed down by agitations. Only pragmatism during some windows of opportunity, like the CWC resolution (or the BJP's political necessity for MPs in south) supported by the agitations and logical argument would get things done. That is how Andhra rulers sustained their rule all these years and that is what they are banking on even now. It is time leadership of Telangana learn and tackle them.

Telangana 27: How statehood for Telangana already made a difference!

As the Congress finally decided to take the parachute to escape the plunge into a political oblivion in Telangana and announce the state today, a multitude of feelings swept over me. The statehood is a historic victory of a genuine people’s movement, a rarity in modern India. I am proud to be associated with it. It is probably one of the largest ever non-violent mass movements in the world. This has been a life changing experience for people like me who have been highly involved in the movement for last few years. After witnessing the massive state repression, especially since the Dec 9 statement, this is a kind of closure to a churning part in me that was engaging with continuous thoughts about democracy, politics, media and most importantly mass people’s movements, in the Indian context.

People of Telangana had to brave a formidable opposition and win over it to fulfill their long held wish. Chapter 8 saga from Justice Srikrishna’s report showed all too well how the opposition was manipulating all institutions we rely upon in a democracy – executive, police, judiciary, media and political parties.  Yet, the common man of Telangana persisted and showed time and again (in the elections too) that they would punish the parties that opposed statehood, without fail. Thanks to TJAC and the TRS, it is their long-drawn out agitation that they could sustain that ultimately cornered the UPA government into conceding the state.

At this moment, I can’t help but think how ideologues like Late Acharya Jayashankar and Late Prof. Biyyala Janardhan Rao so selflessly passed on this spirit to fight for Telangana, to this generation.  They serve as inspiration to all the millions of Telanganites who are determined to make a better future for them in the new state. They serve as reminders of what the present generation of Telanganites owe to next generation.  I already see many of the young agitators forming groups and enthusiastically do their bit in rural Telangana in education, drinking water etc. It is this spirit of active public participation that would make Telangana a better state.

By clinching the statehood, Telanganites proved they can force their public representatives to listen to them, even if it meant they had to come onto the streets. While there are no stalwarts among their MLAs and MPs, it is their collective and persistent pressure that forced their politicians, especially from Congress, to fight unitedly for statehood and outmaneuver their much powerful Seemandhra counterparts. Telanganites have united across caste and religion to achieve this. This offered a glimmer of hope that even as electorate in the new state, they would exercise their franchise rising above those divisions.

Finally, in all the churn and turn of last 4 years, most of the Telanganites have become more aware of the politics and its many shapes – the deceit, the opportunism and learned the patience required in dealing with it. Time and again, the Government and parties with their actions, shown them hope that there demand would be considered, only to be disappointed. As and when they planned an event in the agitation, the government used brute force to suppress and harass them. Sakala Janula Samme, the momentous and defining event of this agitation percolated the aspiration and angst of this agitation into each and every home in Telangana. No wonder, the Congress caved in; instead of daring this angst hit them at the ballot. All these factors taught patience to Telanganites and they would need loads of it to see positive changes in the new state.

While the delay and suppression of Telangana movement after December 9, 2009 in forming the state has caused unspeakable suffering to the moral fabric of Telangana and resulted in hundreds of deaths of youth, it did make a whole new generation wiser, mature and ready to be active participants in the new state.  Professor Jayashankar used to say that while Telanganites campaign for the cause, they would face questions from 2 kinds of people. The first kind are genuinely innocent and ignorant of the grievances of the cause. The second kind are the chauvinists who do know the truth. The amiable professor thought irrespective of the kind of people asking, the onus lies with the agitators to patiently listen and answer. This is what scores of committed activists have been doing in last few years, being patient and responsible. I myself have been fortunate to meet and collaborate with many such activists, in turn making lasting friendships. On the other hand, a few of my Andhra friends distanced themselves from me due to my open stand. So the Telangana movement truly has been life altering. So when a curious North Indian friend asked me ‘How does a new state matter’? (As I was receiving congratulatory calls from Telanganites when news poured in today from New Delhi), I couldn't help but think it already mattered, even before inauguration!

Telangana 26: How Hyderabad was handed over to Andhra State!

Photo: Make-shift tents in Kurnool town – capital city of erstwhile Andhra state

As the Centre’s self-imposed deadline to arrive at a discussion on Telangana is fast approaching, there is heightened lobbying in Delhi on the impending decision and the contours of it. An experience with recent events and a look at our history shows how backroom deals influence these decisions and the consequences of these. In light of the debate over Capital city, it is all the more relevant to go back in history and see how a protagonist in one such backroom deals operated and engineered the coup, that ironically, resulted in the present mess in Telangana.

Rajaji was one of the most respected statesmen of this country. He was the chief minister of Madras state when the Andhra state was carved out of it. What is public knowledge is that he not only vociferously opposed the Andhras’ claim over Madras as their capital but also did not accept their request to make Madras as a temporary capital while they make a transition to their new capital within Andhra. However, some lesser known facts mentioned in his biography ‘I meet Rajaji’ by Monica Felton shows the covert deal made on this historic moment. These details were written about by Shri Gautam Pingle sometime back and this should serve as cautionary tale for Telangana agitators who are naïve enough to trust the Congress or other political parties in making a just and rational solution for Telangana’s statehood and its capital.

Sometime after the merger of Hyderabad state and Andhra state in 1956, Monica Felton who wrote Rajaji’s biography: ’I meet Rajaji’ was in Hyderabad when Rajaji arrived there and had met with Ayyadevara Kaleswara Rao, who was the first Speaker of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly. Mr. Rao was a close confidante of Rajaji for many years and also served in various positions in Rajaji’s cabinet in erstwhile Madras state (He was also President of Vishalandra Maha Sabha and Vice- President of the Andhra Provincial Congress Party by the time the erstwhile Andhra state was inaugurated in October 1953). He invited Rajaji to tea with a small set of friends, including Dr. Jayasuriya and Pattabhi Sitaramayya. Ms. Felton mentions in her book that Rajaji began to talk about the disputes over separation of Andhra from Madras State and the then demand for the inclusion of Madras City in Andhra. Monica Felton describes the conversation as below.

He (Rajaji) said: “You were determined to have Madras”.

They laughed “Indeed, yes”, somebody chuckled. “But you gave up the idea at once”, Rajaji said, “when I offered you Hyderabad as your capital”. “Ah, yes”, said another, “we never thought of that possibility”. (Rajaji said) “No that was a real surprise, wasn’t it?”

It is clear from the excerpt above that even while Hyderabad was operating as a separate state from 1948, influential Andhra leaders bargained and got a deal from Rajaji, the towering figure in INC, that they would have Hyderabad city as their capital if they stop claiming Madras. This also confirms what Rayalaseema leaders like MV Ramana Reddy have been repeatedly saying - That making Kurnool as capital of Andhra was just posturing and was never a serious attempt in building a new capital for Andhra. The Andhras were playing a waiting game from the tents of Kurnool for the dismantling of Hyderabad state and formation of so-called ‘Visalandhra’ with Hyderabad as its capital. Hyderabad politicians like Chief Minister Burgula Ramakrishna Rao were just collateral damage and had to just make way for the more influential Andhra congress leaders. So out went the Fazal Ali’s 1^st SRC recommendation on letting Telangana survive as a separate state. Hyderabad state has been merged with Andhra and Andhras gain control of it's capital . And the rest we know is history.

Today, In case of demerger, while it is next to impossible to make Hyderabad a union territory, any talk about Hyderabad being made a joint capital or one with ‘special status’, should be taken with a pinch of salt. They would just form an excuse for another coup for the Andhra plutocrats to perpetuate their control over Hyderabad.

Contrast Manmohan's indifference with Obama's empathy

Some days ago, when the Connecticut school shooting tragedy struck, within a few hours Obama gave this moving response at White House. More than his promise of action, it is his human response that touched many reassuring them that the leadership felt the enormity of the grief the common man felt. That is the immediate objective of any address a leader makes in any nation soon after a tragedy. Indian PM Manmohan Singh woke up from sleep days after angry protests against the gangrape in Delhi and addressed the nation yesterday. Contrast Obama's speech with that of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan's below and you can't help but wonder whether our mechanical Robot Singh would do anything ever without a choreographed word. Will anything ever at least move this man or anyone in the ruling elite into words (We, of course know, he is incapable of any action). After stoically trotting out a few lines, he asks 'theek hai?' to the guy recording it! So the response reveals itself as a forced one rather than one that came out of a real concern. 

Rape, Honour Killing, Acid throwing are all faces of same malaise

“I would blame the women who try to wear certain clothes just to keep in tune with the trend. They are the ones who provoke men.” - KPS Gill

4 years ago, in the city of Warangal in Andhra Pradesh, a girl studying B Tech was attacked with acid by 3 boys on her way back from college. That girl had her face disfigured and suffered severe burns. There was outrage all around. The YS Rajashekar Reddy government ordered 'stern action'. The 3 youth were nabbed and paraded before media. They confessed for the crime. Then the police shot and killed them. Instant justice, it was called. It was supposed to be a 'deterrent'. Or was it? Hardly 2 months later, there was another. And another. They continue as we speak.

The ongoing outrage about the shocking Delhi rape is following the same pattern. People want justice, instantly, now, on public television, if some have their way. They say the guys responsible have to be hanged, and it should be telecast 'live' on TV. They started an online petition too. Some believe that would be a 'deterrent'. Would it be? And what exactly are people implying when they suggest capital punishment for rape? That the crime is so grave that the girl raped is herself as good as dead!? Are they not perpetuating the myth that a woman loses everything when she is physically violated? Are they not making life more difficult for the victim? Is that not why victims turn to suicide? The whole campaign about hanging the rapists does more damage than good.

The focus of this campaign, unfortunately, has neither been about finding the cause of these ever increasing cases of rape nor has been about preventing it. It is so full of emotion, but no reason.



Crime Against Women in India - 2011              Courtesy: savedaughters

 When KPS Gill said those words above, what emboldened him? What could have emboldened him to do what he did with a woman IAS officer? Surely he knows law and that she knows it too. So it is not about punishment. It could only be something ingrained, something very much a part of his being, his daily life, his upbringing. Maybe he just thinks he is entitled, as a stronger sex, as a male. How else could we explain honour killings? The male thinks he is entitled to control the female - wives, sisters, daughters. How they live and who they live with. If the daughters and sisters elope with a lover, they will be killed. Some are beheaded – the taliban way. The boys they elope with will, in turn, get their sisters raped. What a gruesome culture we live in. Can we just hang it, on live TV? I wish it were that simple. According to National Crime Records, in 2011, rapes formed 10.6% of total crimes against women. There are more cases of molestation - 18.8% and even more cases of domestic violence from husband and relatives - 43.4%. As shown, rape is one face of the grave problem.

If an IPS can comment like this, we can imagine how that Delhi bus driver behaved with that educated girl. He must have thought he was entitled to pass lewd comments and physically abuse. When resisted, the male chauvinism his upbringing imbibed him with got threatened and he responded with rage. He might be thinking he was 'teaching her a lesson'. He just extended into the streets the household rule that man has the power over women in the house. He is not an alien. He is a violent brute, but very much the regular Indian.

In the acid attack case above, the police had evidence, they had a confession too. Yet, they preferred not to go by book and set an example. An example of how law would take its own course, convict and deliver justice. Instead they preferred to give instant gratification to the blood-baying public, 4 months before the elections. And in the process, actually strengthened the belief that courts won’t deliver! There is every possibility, the Congress could try something similar now, especially after how they seemed to deny a final appeal to Kasab, before the Gujarat elections. It serves their purpose but does not solve the problem.

Unless there is a broad realization that these crimes against women are not exactly law and order issues and that they stem from a soft discrimination against the girl child that is always prevalent in majority of Indian families, we would not be on a path to solution. Unless the Indian society starts accepting and inculcating a sense of respect and dignity for the female as an equal, things won’t get any better. Unless we put a stop to presenting a woman as an object, as a commodity, or furniture in our popular culture like TV and movies, they would never be seen for persons. And when such crimes occur, what we need is a support system, within and outside law, to cope and get back to normal, not the hue and cry we are seeing now that deludes the into believing that they ran into irreversible bad fate and are doomed for life.

"Are all World War films set in Germany shot in Germany?"

"Though a lot has changed now, people here in India had a different mentality from those in the West those days. Not many people here wanted to push themselves in order to excel at something. They were satisfied with okay stuff. So I really, really respect people like Mani Sir who had raised the bar here, in those conditions with our limited resources and technological talent." -  An excerpt from AR Rahman’s foreword in ‘Conversations with Mani Ratnam’.

Courtesy: Madras Talkies

There could have been nothing more apt for a foreword to a book on Maniratnam’s film-making than one from his greatest discovery – AR Rahman and the above words sum up briefly the zeitgeist that Mani Ratnam was for those who grew into their cinematic awareness in 80s and 90s. When mediocre stuff was being churned out as mainstream movies, it was Mani Ratnam who raised the bar and blazed a trail.

‘Conversations with Mani Ratnam’ stays with that spirit and focuses on the auteur’s craft of film-making single-mindedly. The book does not even inadvertently run into any juicy tidbits or controversies about any actor or film personality, even while discussing all of Mani Ratnam’s movies and the milieus in which they were made. No ‘Making of’ discussions, thanks to the author Rangan Baradwaj who seemed up for it and who was ‘well prepared’ for this exercise. Anyways, when the creative mind produces such wit, glimpses of which were in my previous post, who need tame tidbits?

What made me say ‘exercise’ could be what I saw a few years before on TV when Mani Ratnam was in Hyderabad promoting ‘Guru’. With the typical stupidity commonly seen on TV, the program’s lady anchor, even while expressing her awe for him and his movies, told Mani that it is ‘unbelievable’ that he, so eminent, worked with ‘someone like Mallika Sherawat’. Mani firmly shot back ‘Why?’ His seriousness and matter-of-fact voice made the anchor almost sweat while she sheepishly tried saying something about Sherawat’s image not being for his respectable movies. Mani, of course, enlightened her that what she saw on screen was Mallika playing different roles! And that he had a role in ‘Guru’ she was apt for and so she accepted and did a very good job. Rangan Baradwaj seemed to be around for quite some time as a film critic (although I never heard about him before this book), he knows all too well the non-nonsense man. So the first time he went to Mani Ratnam’s office to discuss the book project, while the filmmaker was speaking to him, he in turn spoke to the desk in front of Mani Ratnam! He admits in this book’s introduction that he confessed this experience with Gautham Menon and they instantly became friends, because Menon has had the same experience in his first encounter!

Considering this start, the author did a good job by the end as he seemed to have confidently engaged ‘Mani Sir’ on his vision behind each of his movies in 30 odd years, the style he kept evolving and the thinking that went into each of his characters. That is not to say that he didn’t have his share of moments like those faced by the lady above. Some of them are here giving a glimpse of the kind of riveting conversations the book records.

While discussing ‘Thalapathy’ -

RANGAN: Your location was Mysore (even though the story takes place in an unnamed location) and your characters are Tamilian. How important is geographical correctness to a film, especially considering the importance you gave to visuals and backgrounds?

MANI RATNAM: "..Do you think all World War films set in Germany are shot in Germany? It has to evoke Germany. It is like saying that the camera in a fight scene should be placed exactly where the punches land on the opponent…”

While discussing ‘Anjali’ -

When Rangan delving all too deep, says he thinks Anjali has ‘ghosts’, Mani quips that he hopes they are both talking about the same film! He adds ’If I had known that Baradwaj Rangan would raise this question, I would have placed that card’ referring to a card ‘A few years later’ that could have been placed to avoid Rangan’s wild assumptions.

Overenthusiastic, about ‘Dil Se’ -

RANGAN: Again, while loquaciously discussing the love between Shah Rukh’s and Manisha’s character, Rangan goes as far as to say “,,She's like a man - or rather, desexualized. So it's even more of a leap for him (Shah Rukh’s character) to fall for a girl who is pretty, but who is otherwise so 'unfeminine', so aloof. You can understand this exuberant Delhi boy falling for Preeti, who's equally exuberant."

Mani cuts him swiftly “You cannot come up with a commandment about whom a Delhi boy can fall in love with and who he cannot. Why do you think that falling in love has to be only with the stereotypical other?”

Again later Rangan puts his foot in his mouth by asking whether Mani Ratnam became ‘part of the establishment’ somewhere between ‘Roja’ and ‘Bombay’ because the latter was more political. Immediately, he retracts saying it was a ‘wrong thing to say’ after Mani Ratnam tears him down “Why should any concern for what is happening around be labeled as an ‘establishment’ way of thinking? I just don’t get it.” In context of Rangan’s comment that ‘Bombay’ has rabble rousing, Mani goes on to say Rangan seems to believe anything anti-establishment, whether true or not, relevant or not, is good and that the rest is rabble-rousing.

While the above reactions are caustic, they are but a part of the whole exercise of making the very private Mani Ratnam open up and speak about his craft. Rangan did a good job. Even while he was in awe of the filmmaker, he probed and took his chances in making Mani Ratnam react, explain, defend or evade and in the process reveal a little of the enigma he has been. Yes, only a little of what maketh the maker! More about that in my next post.

'Conversations With Mani Ratnam' is a delightful read

Mani Ratnam's movies are the ones I have grown up watching. They were for real, urbane and intelligent. So when I got a chance to read film critic Baradwaj Rangan's newly released book 'Conversations With Mani Ratnam', I leaped on it. Considering the many questions I had and the many details I would have loved to know about all those delightful movies he churned out over the years, it is not practical for me to get satisfied with the book. But then, getting the reticent filmmaker to talk itself is a huge achievement. This is a delightful read, but is found wanting in the end. More about my opinion later, possibly in another post.

However, here are some gems from the filmmaker (Quote unquote from the book) I wanted to share with you. They show his wit and razor sharp insight and of course the high standards he set for himself and his movies. These are a series of delightful quotes and responses from him. For some, I paired them with Rangan's question to get the context.

• "But during the first public screening, you understand everything that you did not understand during the making of the film."

• "Watching the film with the audience was unadulterated torture. You want the film to move faster and arrive at the best shot and dialogues (at least, as per your judgement) and the humorous parts as quickly as possible. You want to run to the projection room and turn the reels faster. There was always a second's delay before the reaction could be heard or felt. That second was quite unbearable." 

• RANGAN: When was the last time you saw Nayakan?
• RATNAM: "Probably at the time of release. I've seen bits and pieces of its   afterwards, but I see only the flaws in it. Why go through that? I don't see any of my films after they are released. I can't bear them for more than five minutes. Honestly, I can't. For those five minutes, I'll think, 'Hey, this isn't too bad.' But the sixth minute, I'll see something that will make it turn it off. At the Venice film festival, I was trapped into watching Raavan. Otherwise, I watch my films so many times while making them that I don't want anything to do with them afterwards. That's why I sometimes can't remember the things that you are talking about..." 

• "When you saw jaws for the first time, you just saw the tail fin. You never saw the shark till the end. What gave you a high while watching were the music and the shark's fin, and with just these elements, a director could create a pop sensational cross the world. The more he held back, the better it was....it would have had much less impact if they'd been fighting throughout the film. Action is just gratification. The promise of action is much more potent..." 

• "Right or wrong, we all get influenced not only by life but by other actors. Something that Brando did or Sivaji Ganesan or Kamal Haasan did will stick around somewhere in the mind and influence you. But kids are without burdens. They are just themselves. If they are angry, they're angry like they would be angry."

• "Anjali is about your own resistance to seeing something that's happening around you. I don't know if i'd like this revealed in a book, but I had a close neighbor who had a child with a small problem. for years, I could not look the child in the eye. It's something that bother you. You don't do it, and the fact that you are trying to avoid it is always there at the back of your mind. I think those feelings came together in this story, trying to understand why we try to hide from such a person and then, when we cross that mental barrier, how we build a rapport with that person."

• RANGAN: Your movies never have expletives though. I can't recall any offhand. 
• RATNAM: Perhaps I save them for real life. 

• "They said Mouna Raagam had to be given an 'A' certificate because this girl is asking for a divorce. It came out of the blue. A lady on the board asked me how a housewife could ask for a divorce. After that I stopped being surprised by anything the censor committee would throw at me." 

• "When we did Alaipaayuthey, we had a song at the beginning of the film, with the hero and his headphones. We shot it using a bit of a Backstreet Boys song, and we used the song while editing. We asked for permission to use that bit...they quoted a fancy figure of 1 crore rupees. We said, 'Forget it!' We composed a new piece and it worked absolutely fine. Much later, they asked us permission to use Chaiyya chaiyya. Till then, none of them had ever paid anything to an Indian film unit. So we quoted exactly the same figure. The music company was ready to give it to them for nothing, but we said no. If they can charge us this much, then we'll charge them as much. And we got it." 

In fragmented AP, clandestine politics is now the norm!

Naidu with 2 of the 3 MPs in controversy
Photo Courtesy: The Hindu/Md.Yousuf

The role of 3 TDP MPs in the recent vote for FDI has again bought into fore the clandestine politics that are now underway in Andhra Pradesh. The 3 MPs Sujana Chowdary, Devender Goud, G Sudharani are from financially strong background and none have them have the UPA’s CBI breathing down their neck for any case. Therefore, there isn't a reason for them to get either tempted or intimidated by the UPA. In fact, all 3 were handpicked by Chandrababu Naidu for Rajya Sabha despite stiff opposition from within his party. There is every reason to believe that the MPs did what they did, upon Naidu’s direction.

How the main political parties like Congress and TDP have made covert politics as a norm, rather than an exception, would be understood if we look at events of the past 3 years. It has been 3 years since the Indian government’s Telangana statehood declaration on Dec 9, 2009. The clandestine and manipulative politics that started that midnight unleashed a chain of events that are still unfolding today, further degenerating AP’s politics, reducing it to backroom deals rather than a public display of people's democracy.

While it is not unthinkable that now and then a politician gets some clandestine support from the opposing party, especially during elections, the kind of cross-party secret dealings presently underway in AP are astounding and hard not to notice.

The beginning of the ‘support mechanism’

The secret part of SriKrishna report, Chapter 8, put in lurid detail how these covert politics started and were already underway by the time the report was released on 30 December 2010 (The secret ‘Chapter 8’, as you may know, was later leaked inadvertently). To contain the Telangana statehood issue, the SriKrishna Committee’s infamous chapter 8 made the following suggestions (in its own words) –

“.. the ruling party and also the main opposition party ( the TDP run by Chandra Babu) must be brought on the same page, the support mechanisms have a higher probability of becoming successful. The TDP must be advised not to participate in any further meetings that would be called by the Centre. This could be an effective stumbling block for any meaningful dialogue on resolving the Telangana demand. The Andhra Congress MPs belonging to Kamma caste must be encouraged to work in tandem with TDP leadership which is now caught in a bad shape.

Further, on receipt of the Committee’s Report by the Government, a general message should be conveyed amongst the people of the State that Centre will be open for detailed discussions on the recommendations / options of the Report with the concerned leaders / stakeholders either directly or through a Group of Ministers or through important interlocutors and that this process will start at the earliest. But every method must be adopted to avoid giving finality to any discussions to drag on the matter until the agitation is totally brought under control.

(c) Media Management:(i) Andhra Pradesh has got about 13 Electronic Channels and 5 major local Newspapers which are in the forefront of molding the public opinion. Except for two Channels ( Raj News & HMTV), the rest of them are supporters of a united Andhra Pradesh. The equity holders of the channels except the above two and the entire Print Media are with the Seemandhra people. The main editors/ resident and subeditors, the Film world etc. are dominated by Seemandhra people. A coordinated action on their part has the potential of shaping the perception of the common man. However, the beat journalists in the respective regions are locals and are likely to capture only those events/ news which reflect the regional sentiments. This can be tackled by the owners of the media houses by systematically replacing the local journalists by those from Seemandhra wherever it is possible.”

The ‘support mechanism’ flourishes

True to the Chapter 8’s revelations, the Congress and the TDP till now are playing hide and seek in declaring their stand publicly on Telangana and are making sure there is no forward movement on Telangana. Both the parties solidly backed the crackdown on the Telangana agitation which even resulted in fatal injuries to agitators. The result is that both the parties lost all 18 assembly constituencies in Telangana the by-elections were held for, in last 3 years. Their party candidates, In fact, got their deposits only in 2 or 3 constituencies!

Meanwhile, even as the 2 parties crumbled in Telangana, YS Jaganmohan Reddy challenged the Congress leadership for chiefministership and formed the YSRCP, which has been growing in strength in Seemandhra. In this context, the chapter 8’s ‘guidelines’ took a larger meaning for TDP and Congress. The Congress and TDP extended their cooperation beyond the Telangana issue. They needed a policy of continued quid pro quo between them to even politically survive, as their very existence is under threat.

While the Congress helps Naidu get around the CBI investigation unleashed by the High court (just as it did for YS Jagan), he would in turn not press for the no- confidence motion against the Congress government in the state at the most opportune times. Even while the Congress government crackdowns on any meeting, rallies in support of Telangana agitation in ruse of ‘law and order’ problem, it would go out of its way to facilitate Naidu’s yatras into Telanagana with unprecedented police security and thousands of TDP’s armed men. In return, Naidu would let the government just be, even without pressing for a winter assembly session! TDP’s stance with the Congress is once again belied with its MPs’ absence at the FDI vote in Rajya Sabha. True to the spirit of Chapter 8, both the pro-establishment and pro-TDP media continues to propagate how Naidu is ‘hurt’ by this betrayal, while it’s the MPs who were made scapegoats by Naidu, for his own political survival. And the drama goes on. There is nothing anymore that distinguishes the Congress and TDP or YSRCP. All play the same game they mastered in last 3 years. Nothing they say is trusted anymore; it is mere entertainment – an ongoing soap opera.

A real government and a real opposition?

The big question is - would these main parties ever get normal again – into a real government and a real opposition? Or would they continue being under the spell of Chapter 8’s ‘support mechanism’ with these backroom deals? The SKC set about ‘shaping the perception of the common man’ by suggesting manipulative politics and ‘media management’. Instead these strategies it recommended reshaped AP’s political spectrum by destroying the 2 strongest parties in the state. Did they reshape the perception common man? Yes, surely they did, in a large part of AP. So much so that an imminent election would wipe out these 2 parties from their roles in government and principal opposition into 3 and 4 positions and end the ‘support mechanism’ for the good. Till then, the genie unleashed by Chapter 8 would continue to hold its spell on AP’s politics.

AP By-polls: A Jagan vs. Goliath tale

It has been almost 3 years since my post on YS JaganmohanReddy’s handling of the political drama after YSR’s death. The naked ambition and intensity for power in display then by Jagan sustained to fructify into win in 15 Assembly constituencies and 1 parliamentary constituency now.  Even as he is seen battling umpteen charges of corruption while in jail, the party he founded decimated the Congress and TDP in the by-polls.

So what hit the Congress and the TDP the most in the recent by-polls in Andhra Pradesh? Their challenger Jagan was in jail for 15 days before the election making his YSR Congress party literally leaderless. He was interrogated quite publicly, shifting the venues of his interrogation every day and every detail about it was shared with media so that they cover it and publish for the public. Every detail about his arrest and interrogation was made public to create the image of a scamster and a criminal. His properties were attached and other ministers were jailed and interrogated just to send the message out that any minister/MLA who would side with his party would accompany him to jail. His connections with hardcore criminals involved in murders and extortion were made cover stories and prime time news in the powerful pro-TDP print and electronic media, just to remind the public what a devil is, the person they are going to vote is. Yet, the voters elected the devil. Or was it David, as in David and Goliath?

The whole joint exercise of Congress high command, TDP and the powerful pro-TDP media blew up and boomeranged. While these parties wanted to make corruption as the election issue, the core issue subconsciously for the voter has been the unethical nexus of the 2 established 'mainstream' parties and how they launched a witch-hunt against one man, an emerging third party. Too much CBI, too much media, too many speeches about ethics and corruption from Chandrababu, Chiranjeevi and Botsa (interestingly, who all have CBI or other investigative agency behind them in some or other corruption case) etc and their concerted attack on Jagan made the voter feel fishy about the situation and sympathize with the 'underdog' Jagan. In short, Jagan, who already has the financial wherewithal also, was unwittingly made to look like a victim and an underdog by the actions and over enthusiasm of Congress, TDP and the corrupt media. He reminded the voters about the historic NTR's challenge to the then mighty Congress way back in 1984. And naturally the voter sympathized with the uncompromising Jagan in this David vs. Goliath story.

As I posted last, the vote for YSR CP was due to lack ofalternatives. As far as the voter is concerned, there was no difference between these traditional parties and Jagan. 49% voted for Jagan (Congress and TDP polled 22% each) as he was seen as a victim braving the odds! Combined with that the traditional congress voters who believed he is the 'leadership material', in this age when parties seem to driven by secret pacts between them and empty rhetoric about public issues. Ever since his father died, Jagan was on road connecting with masses on issues related to different strata of society like students, farmers etc. which made him look like a 'doer' while Chandrababu's attempts to ape him looked uncharacteristic and forced.  With the Congress deciding to attack the ills of YSR rule while claiming credit for the ‘welfare programs for poor’ he launched, not a single Congress leader sounded sincere in their attack on Jagan.  By jailing him, the Congress and TDP could slow down the exodus of MLAs and cadre from their parties but could not stop the migration of votes. YSRCP may or may not retain the voters into the future, but it is unmistakably a permanent third force in Andhra and Rayalaseema regions. And as well be the future Goliath.

What would a vote for Jagan mean?

Would a result of upcoming by-elections in favor of Jaganmohan Reddy indicate whether the people of Andhra Pradesh accepted corruption and loot of public wealth as a way of life and maybe even consider it a virtue?  In other words, would making Jagan a winner show bankruptcy of public morality among the people of AP? When a friend quipped something to this effect, he expressed an opinion of a middle class youth who have come up the hard way and made their lives in an apolitical environment. But such an apoliticalness also blinds them to the ground realities of public life and politics and make them blindly limit their views and opinions to news thrust upon the public by the mainstream media. I think any result in favor of Jagan would show not the bankruptcy of public, but that of other political elite in Andhra Pradesh who failed to challenge him because they are as corrupt or even more.

Overbearing Congress high-command hits a self-goal.

TDP and LokSatta sound hollow with their corporate connections.

Do the voters have an alternative in the upcoming AP by-elections? They don’t. The ruling congress which has now conveniently unleashed CBI in the graft cases against Jagan, has now unwittingly given an impression to the voters that it is the real culprit which allowed the whole loot for 6 years that is now being investigated. The way CBI has been used by the union government is outrageous and these elections would teach a congress a fitting lesson. It has just hit a self-goal with its timing of Jagan's trial.

The opposition TDP which has been hand-in-glove with the ruling congress and which infact saved the state government from collapsing lacks the moral high ground to accuse the Congress or Jagan’s party of corruption. It has redefined corruption in political sphere by changing the dynamics of ruling and opposition party. In its anxiety to scuttle Jagan as an alternate political force in the state, it has transformed itself into Team B for Congress.  It is the TDP which unveiled the contractors Raj in AP by speculating and manipulating on huge government contracts in infrastructure and real estate, while it was in power. YSR, after succeeding Naidu, just elevated the game. Every attack of Chandrababu Naidu on Jagan regarding corruption backfires and reminds the voters of his own large scale corporate dealings and how he elevated businessmen one after the other, his rumored benamis, worth thousands of crores to Rajya sabha. Even the small time Lok Satta party has taken questionable stand on issues linked to big corporations like those of Hyderabad Metro rail and the Srikakulam power plants. 

A negative vote against existing political parties

So no matter what these parties or the media channels/newspapers that support them want the voters to think, the voters in general are aware they are all the same. The result forecasted in favor of Jagan in Andhra and Rayalaseema is in fact a vote against all the political parties in the state. That would be a sign of displeasure by the voter against the Congress and TDP which conspired against democratic ethics to suppress Jagan, an emerging political alternative. It would be a vote against an overbearing congress government at the center. Not considering this history of political bankruptcy and viewing the present political scenario through the lens of the media which owns its roots to the very political setup working overtime to preserve itself against the Jagan onslaught will only give a warped picture and prejudiced opinions about how squeaky clean and progressive parties like Congress, TDP and Lok Satta are. The vote for Jagan, for me, would not be a sign of the voter’s ‘compromised morality’ as my friend tends to think.

Telangana 25: Why Delhi cannot wish away Telangana anymore

No power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come - Victor Hugo


No one knows this better than PM Manmohan Singh, who very often quotes this line. After failing to suppress the Telangana movement with the SriKrishna committee and its Chapter 8 recommendations, the central government now is embattled by the ‘Sakala Janula Samme’ (SJS) launched by the people of Telangana. A million employees of Government, right from state secretariat to Singareni colleries have been on an indefinite strike for 26 days now. They have foregone their salaries too and signaled they are not going to budge till the central government implements its December 9, 2009 decision to demerge Telangana from Andhra Pradesh.

An otherwise bustling Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station (MGBS) wears a deserted look as the RTC employees are on Strike. MGBS is among the 4 largest bus stations in Asia.

So what will Delhi do now? Unlike in the past, there is an ongoing strike which overthrew governance in Telangana and is pushing the state and regions around it into darkness, literally. Cities, towns and villages in Andhra Pradesh are facing electricity power cuts (some up to 10 hours a day) as are cities like Bangalore, Pune and Thiruvanathapuram. There are mounting revenue losses with each passing day and more importantly increasing frustration with these democratic and peaceful methods of agitation. With the SKC episode, the Congress and its central and state governments lost all credibility. As did the mainstream print and electronic media, which played an active role in Chapter 8.  The game is up for Delhi which has no option to dilly-dally now lest the agitation will spiral out of control of its leadership. The NH-9 blockade 4 days ago is a precursor of things to come, in such scenario. Already, the TJAC is under tremendous pressure to ‘harden up’ from its vanta-varpu kind of programs which have made enough of the point about peaceful & brotherly co-existence in Telangana.

In Hyderabad, Seemandhra secretariat employees were taken to their offices with police escort.

What should worry supporters of Telangana is the steady loss of faith of the agitators in our institutions of democracy. The executive, the judiciary, the press all have been corrupted and rights to these institutions have been denied to the movement. The despondence this sparked contributed to 600 odd suicides. How long will it take for this despondence to turn from hurting self to avenging the oppressive rulers? Unmindful of this volatility, those opposing the demerger, like the Chief Minister himself, poke fun at the strike everyday by reminding that the strike would ‘only hurt Telangana’. So what do these guys want?

At least, did someone in Delhi wake up to the reality that this strike is not just going to ‘hurt Telangana alone’. And that, besides hurting the democratic and social fabric of this region and country, this strike could also create a real, day-to-day crisis. Did someone realize that Telangana is no Manipur. Bang in the middle, if the agitators turn restless, the north and south of this country gets disconnected. What if the Rail-Rokos get indefinite? What if the national highways get blocked indefinitely? Are they then going to bring the army in!? The media owned by Andhra plutocrats definitely want us to believe so. They have been on a propaganda spree for last few days that center is geared up for President’s rule in the state to ‘control’ the spiraling unrest. Wishful thinking, I would say or just another trick to demoralize the striking citizens into believing that their efforts are futile and the strike needs to be withdrawn. The media also created a controversy out of Pranab Mukherjee’s comments on Telangana agitation.

In fact, the very fact that this media, after a prolonged silence on Telangana, as per SKC’s Chapter 8 instructions, now started talking about possible Centre’s action shows the success of the strike. The strike has successfully untied the Chapter 8 blockade on Telangana debate. And it is poised to push all the Andhra plutocrats into a corner, despite their media empires.

Nothing short of demerger and inaugurating the state of Telangana is going to stop this movement. The agitators have risked their lives and livelihood, Delhi has to succumb. While the Andhra Pradesh government seems to have released nearly 80 crores to Police to ‘control’ the Telangana stir and marked the same GOs as confidential, it would be fallacy to assume this agitation can be contained anymore through police and paramilitary forces. The SJS is the inflection point and Delhi cannot wish away Telangana anymore. The time for the idea of Telangana has come.

Telangana 24: Sakala Janula Samme and our Gandhian CM Kiran Kumar Reddy

I should say I am ‘moved’ by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister’s singing paeans for Gandhism in the Vijayawada meeting today on the occassion of Gandhi Jayanthi. This tribute to Gandhian principles ‘Vandhe Gandhiyam’ is choreographed and produced by our prime gandhian and honorable MP Lagadapati Rajagopal, whose latest gandhian act has been to trigger a police attack on the genitals of a Government employee, a leader of the NGO union. Nonetheless, off late Kiran Kumar Reddy has been showing outstanding gandhism and deserves to be understood for his spirited speech today. Here is something that illustrates how ardent a follower he is of Gandhi. 


When Govt. employees gave a hartal notice, an instrument advocated by mahatma himself, this gandhian’s government made no efforts on their demands and now after 20 days of strike, it is not paying the 7 lakh employees on strike. What is particularly notable is that this is the festive season, with bathukamma and Dussera, the two most important festivals in Telangana. While the employees go without the festive joy, our Gandhian CM is busy pouring his heart about peaceful protests and Gandhi’s methods – like hartal and satyagraha!
With the ongoing Sakala Janula Samme (SJS), the CM took a very gandhian approach of ‘divide and rule’ and violent police oppression. When the drivers and employees of the state road transport corp (APSRTC) went on strike, he made no attempts to have a dialogue and instead pushed unlicensed and inexperienced home guards to drive the city buses in Hyderabad. His gandhian actions killed 3 people and injured scores of pedestrians when the rookie drivers created mayhem on the road in few separate accidents like this.

The most gandhian action is how he is tearing down the livelihood of millions of farmers in Telangana at this moment. While the water reservoirs in the state are full and can generate 65 million units of electricity, this gandhian Government chose to generate only 30 million, thereby creating an artificial electricity deficit and cutting off power in Telangana. The Gandhian CM tells the farmers in Telangana, in this busy season when they are expecting to harvest their crop, that the daily power cut is due to the strike of his Telangana brethren in Singareni colleries. By robbing the Telangana farmer their hard-earned crop, this gandhian proved how to commit genocide without raising a knife! Can anything get more gandhian than this - destroying the livelihood of millions of farmers? Think about their families, the debts they got to pay, the marriages they have to do,..

Of course, I won’t even attempt to start discussing the many other gandhian acts of police repression on peacefully agitating MLAs, MPs – no less. Only the other day, a group of MLAs who resigned months ago in protest against the delay in forming Telangana, shut themselves in the premises of the state legislature to get their resignations accepted. The Governments and the speaker who threw the spirit and procedures of the constitution to the wind won’t accept the resignations, because accepting them would open another front for people of Telangana, through the by-election, to reiterate their right for statehood. This must be the only instance of its kind in the world where supposedly democratic governments won’t accept a resignation of a public representative but instead would kick them around and arrest them!

Even as you read this, soon after the meeting, the chief minister must have gone into a huddle with the esteemed guest Gulam Nabi Azad, the numero uno gandhian Lagadapati and other prominent gandhians like KVP Ramachandra Rao, Botsa Satyanarayana, Devineni Nehru etc to discuss the status of Delhi parleys on Telangana and the more advanced gandhian means and methods to suppress the Telangana movement while deciding on a date and time to reenact the Samaikyandra drama.

Mumbai attacks and the lessons we refuse to learn

There they come again. Just like millions of Indians, I feel deja vu. The same feeling now haunts me as it did 31 months ago. The same apathy of the political elite, the same outrage of civilians, the same candle lights and then the same 'Mumbai spirit', resilience, blah blah blah..Every problem India faces today is reduced to a news story, consumed for a day and disposed the next, even the 17 dead and 131 injured on this black Wednesday. Perhaps, the story of the Minister, in-charge of Mumbai's security, best illustrates this point.


Raosaheb Ramrao Patil, as the home minister of Mumbai, infamously opined after 2008 Mumbai attacks " "They (the terrorists) came to kill 5,000 people but we ensured minimal damage". In a further proof of the callous stuff he is made of, he said after a few days "It is not like that. In big cities like this, small incidents do happen. It's is not a total failure." Just as it does, the government succumbed to public outrage over his comments and removed him from office then. When the heat is out, he was bought back in after 10 months. And here he is presiding over, as Mumbai is attacked again! And add to that this visual news 10 months ago that the honorable home minister was at a social gathering hobnobbing with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's aides. I am not implying having this guy as home minister made the attacks possible. What I am pointing at is the callousness and a lack of logical centre in playing around with such a vital portfolio. Why was he moved out and back in? Are there any lessons learnt for him from his previous experience? If so, it did not show. What did Indians do to deserve this? And what are the lessons terror in Mumbai and elsewhere in India teaching us which we are failing to learn?


The first lesson is that nothing now happens in India unless the government is forced to. The Lokpal bill is a case in point. Things seem to happen only when people come on to streets. We need the civil society to pressurize the state and central governments into coming up with any lessons they possibly could have learnt and the remedial measures planned. Let them come up with clear decisions on enforcing the measures and let the follow up to these measures be in public domain. The union home minister said "There were no prior intelligence inputs for the attacks”  and yet he adds it is not an intelligence failure! It is clear that projects like National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) and the National Counter-Terrorism Center (NCTC) aimed at bettering our intelligence gathering did not take off, even after 31 months. And that is despite a mammoth budget. It is a shame that the union home minister says the same 31 months passed without an attack because the authorities did well. That is like saying, on scales of efficiency, a next attack after 32 months is okay! In hindsight, I feel we were plain lucky for all these months.


The governments' lethargy and ill intentions in not acting on the existent laws of the land should be questioned. The government should be forced to answer on why Afzal Gurus and Ajmal Kasabs are not given the punishment the courts have condemned them to, after exhaustive trials. Why are the clemencies pending with the President for years altogether (In fact, it was reported Afzal Guru's clemency petition was not at President's office, despite news to the contrary).


The way he said there are 'inherent difficulties' in avoiding these acts of terror in Mumbai, because of its density, is appalling. Why does he think cities more dense than Mumbai have not become victims of terror? It does not a Harvard brain to answer that. The appalling attitude of Indian political elite shows just how irrelevant Indian politics has now become to the basic need in this country - security and the right to live. 


As long as Indians think their duty starts and ends with voting for one of the devils in election, these attacks wont stop, just as the corruption, nepotism and misgoverning in governments wont stop.The lesson Mumbai attacks teach us is that we can no more leave our welfare and security solely in the hands of these rogue politicians. We have to take a role. Any debate now should be on what and how that role should be, not on how the media stooped low in reporting, or how resilient Mumbai is, or which minister has to be booted out, which anyway would not avoid the next attack on us that is probably being planned somewhere at this very moment.

Manmohan Singh - The Manchurian Candidate

4 months after his disastrous meeting with electronic media editors, which I blogged about, Mr. Manmohan Singh decided to speak again, this time only with print media editors.  After all we are a democracy, unlike North Korea (where Kim Jong II is seen once in few years), so Mr. Singh decided to give darshan and speak to his subjects once in 4 months. And how!

The robotic, stoical Manmohan Singh reminds me of the character Raymond Shaw in Hollywood flick ‘The Manchurian Candidate’. Shaw, a soldier of the US army, also hailing from an affluent political family, is ‘programmed’ with an implanted chip in his body to campaign and become the president of the US. Shaw’s mother, a senator and a multinational company masterminds this operation. We all know how Mr. Singh is planted in as PM to do his Madam’s bidding. For all practical reasons, he is an ‘acting PM’ who did well not to apply his acclaimed mind over the affairs of this country. As in the movie, Mr. Singh is remote-controlled to work and deliver for someone else. But then in the movie, at least towards the end, the remote-controlled candidate realizes the trap he is in and applies his mind for once, bringing to an end the whole operation of a few powerful guys to control US. Unfortunately for us, Mr. Singh seems to be losing more of his mind with each passing once-in-four-months public appearance.

In his last appearance with news editors, Mr.Singh compared the 2G scam losses with ‘losses’ due to food subsidies. This time, Mr. Singh gave use few more gems. This post has his latest opinions, marked in blue. My comments follow. The full Transcript of the meeting is here.

Considering newspaper reports about scams and investigating them would ‘greatly weaken the (entrepreneurial) forces that we have unleashed’ and ‘install a police raj’.

So the 2G scam is unleashed by ‘entrepreneurial forces’! And investigating them would make this country a ‘police state’? Is there no need in this country to at least pretend being honest anymore? Such a blatant stance by the supposedly ‘clean PM’.

He tells us he trusted his cabinet colleague after he assured ‘utmost transparency, fairness and objectivity’ in 2G allocation. Even after this scam, he conveniently forgets there is something called ‘collective responsibility’.

Bringing prime minister within ambit of Lokpal will make the country ‘instable’.

Earlier, talking about TRAI, he said ‘Quite frankly, I felt TRAI exists to advise the government, it is an expert body. And therefore, I left it at that.’ As frankly, why can’t he just trust the Lokpal? His faith in institutions set up by constitution and legislation seems literally blinding. He can use some of that faith for Lokpal. At least 1.2 lakh crores is not at stake here.

Besides, his ‘concern’ that foreign powers would take ‘control’ over Lokpal and destabilize the country is laughable, excuses which even his grandkids won’t buy.

The Prime Minister of India ‘is equally covered by the anti-corruption act’ and that he can be ‘dismissed most easily’.

Oh really! How many corrupt ministers ended up in jail? CBI, the investigative agency is under PMO’s control and Mr.Singh wants us to believe the Prime Minister himself would sanction CBI to investigate against him and his cabinet colleagues! And the CBI is retrained under Section 6A of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, which requires it to get Central Government’s prior approval before it can start any investigation against Joint Secretary or higher level bureaucrats. Obviously, all scams like 2G are executed with active connivance of these babus – (who Mr.Singh considers experts in policy making). CBI cannot investigate them without PMO’s approval and without access to these executives, Mr. Singh says ‘we have mechanisms, much more effective mechanisms, in place’ than Lokpal to tackle corruption. Who is Mr.Singh kidding?

CAG should not hold press conferences on the reports they tabled and should not comment on policy decisions (even when crores are being swindled as in case of KG gas)

It is this ‘selective amnesia’ we are trying to fight against with Jan Lokpal bill. Madras High Court  in 2005, in the P.G. Narayanan vs. CAG case (W.P.No.23408 of 2004 [2005] RD-TN 714), said salient features of an Audit Report can be explained to the Press by the auditor to make the public know about the same after the Audit Report is placed before the law-making bodies – parliament or assemblies. So Mr. Singh lied when he said CAG is overstepping its mandate. And yes, the CAG must have commented on policy issues because Mr.Singh admits, quite pathetically, at every step that he is not an expert.  In his latest briefing, he said he is neither an expert in law nor ‘telecom matters’. He even said ‘As Prime Minister, it is not that I am very knowledgeable about these matters. Or that I can spend so much of my time, to look after each and every ministry.’ So why complain about a helping hand from CAG!?

How will the Supreme Court pronounce on complex issues, if it is subject to restrictions of the Lokpal? I am not a legal expert.

If ‘pronouncing on complex issues’ means what retired chief justice KG Balakrishnan did, these restrictions are just what we need. According to advocate Prashanth Bhushan, half out of the last 16 to 17 Chief Justices of India had been corrupt and he produced documentary, oral and circumstantial evidence, material and information to back his claims. So why stonewall bringing the judiciary within the ambit of Lokpal?

This 'clean' weak PM worse than a corrupt PM

Mr. Manmohan Singh should instead realize to pronounce his real self rather than singing the lines his political masters are imbibing into him. Notwithstanding his personal integrity, he is doing more damage to the nation than any other PM ever did, by serving as a Trojan horse for the real perpetrators of financial crime and public treachery. We hope Mr.Singh removes the political chip on his back and regain his conscience, just like the presidential hopeful Raymond Shaw did in ‘The Manchurian Candidate’.