കോണ്‍ഗ്രസിന്റെ തോല്‍വിക്ക് സോണിയയും രാഹുലുമാണൊ കാരണക്കാര്‍? അതോ ഉദ്യോഗസ്ഥരുടെ തോന്നിയവാസവും അതു തടയാന്‍ കെല്പില്ലാതെ പോയ മന്ത്രിമാരുമോ?
ജന വികാരത്തെ പുല്ലു പോലെ കണക്കാക്കിയ മന്ത്രിമാര്‍. അധികാരം കിട്ടിയപ്പോള്‍ കുട്ടി രാജാക്കന്മാരായി മാറിയവര്‍. ഇതിനു പുറമെ അഴിമതിയുടെ നാറുന്ന കഥകള്‍...
നരേന്ദ്ര മോദി ഗുജറാത്തില്‍ ഉദ്യോഗസ്ഥരെഅവരുടെ സ്ഥാനം എന്തെന്നു മനസിലാക്കി കൊടുത്ത നേതാവാണു. ഉദ്യോഗസ്ഥര്‍ ജോലിക്കാരാണു. അല്ലാതെ ഭരണാധികാരികളല്ല എന്ന സത്യം. അതു തന്നെ കേന്ദ്രത്തിലും ആവര്‍ത്തിക്കുമെന്നു കരുതാം

മന്ത്രിമാര്‍ ജനദ്രോഹനടപടികള്‍ സ്വീകരിച്ചതാണ് പരാജയ കാരണമെന്നു കൊടിക്കുന്നില്‍
ന്യൂഡല്‍ഹി: മൂന്ന് വര്‍ഷംമുമ്പ് തന്നെ പരാജയം മനസ്സിലാക്കിയിട്ടും ചില മന്ത്രിമാര്‍ കൂടുതല്‍ ജനദ്രോഹനടപടികളുമായി മുന്നോട്ടുപോവുകയായിരുന്നുവെന്ന് കേന്ദ്ര സഹമന്ത്രി കൊടിക്കുന്നില്‍ സുരേഷ്.

ഉദ്യോഗസ്ഥരുടെ നിര്‍ദേശങ്ങള്‍ കണ്ണടച്ച് നടപ്പിലാക്കിയ മന്ത്രിമാര്‍ക്ക് അധികാരത്തിന്റെ മത്ത് പിടിച്ചിരുന്നതായും 'മാതൃഭൂമി ന്യൂസി'നോട് കൊടിക്കുന്നില്‍ സുരേഷ് പറഞ്ഞു. ജനജീവിതത്തെ ദോഷകരമായി ബാധിക്കുന്ന തരത്തില്‍ േെപട്രാളിയം ഉത്പന്നങ്ങളുടെ വില വര്‍ധിച്ചപ്പോള്‍ പെട്രോളിയംമന്ത്രി നോക്കിയിരുന്നു. ജനങ്ങളോട് മറുപടി പറയേണ്ടിവരുമെന്ന കാര്യം മറന്ന് മന്ത്രിമാര്‍ കൂടുതല്‍ ജനദ്രോഹനടപടികള്‍ സ്വീകരിച്ചതാണ് കോണ്‍ഗ്രസിന്റെ പരാജയത്തിന് കാരണമെന്നും യു.പി.എ സര്‍ക്കാറില്‍ തൊഴില്‍സഹമന്ത്രിയായിരുന്ന കൊടിക്കുന്നില്‍ സുരേഷ് കുറ്റപ്പെടുത്തി.

യോഗ്യതയില്ലാത്തവര്‍ക്ക് സ്ഥാനമാനങ്ങള്‍ നല്‍കുന്ന രീതി കോണ്‍ഗ്രസ് പാര്‍ട്ടി മാറ്റണമെന്നും അദ്ദേഹം ആവശ്യപ്പെട്ടു. സംഘടനാസംവിധാനത്തില്‍ സമഗ്രമാറ്റം വരുത്തണം. പ്രവര്‍ത്തിച്ചില്ലെങ്കിലും സ്ഥാനമാനങ്ങള്‍ നഷ്ടപ്പെടില്ലെന്ന അവസ്ഥ കോണ്‍ഗ്രസില്‍ ഉണ്ട്. ഈ അവസ്ഥ മാറി യോഗ്യതയുള്ളവര്‍ക്ക് അര്‍ഹമായ സ്ഥാനം നല്‍കണം- കൊടിക്കുന്നില്‍ സുരേഷ് ആവശ്യപ്പെട്ടു.

Who Caused UPA-II’s Ignominious Defeat?

Vappala Balachandran

How far has our bureaucracy contributed to UPA’s ignominious defeat? A national daily has said that our bureaucracy has started analyzing which major policy decisions of UPA-II had gone wrong and should not have been taken.

This is strange. Bureaucracy is supposed to advise policy makers beforehand the “pros” and “cons” of each decision. They did not advise so when the “Aadhar” (Unique Identification) scheme of Nandan Nilekani was introduced without legal basis and which had to be dumped after wasting crores of rupees. In this respect I would tend to agree with former Minister Kamal Nath when he said on May 17 that the “rights based entitlement schemes of UPA” had hurt the party.

Aadhar was introduced by the UPA without any infrastructural support, which finally put the rural and urban poor against them. I had pointed out on September 8, 2013 that this would recoil on UPA in the next general elections as “the promised benefits have not yet started flowing to the needy due to the mismatch between promises (glitzy television commercials promising a better life for the poor) and the hard reality on the ground when thousands needy are still waiting for their cards”.

In the same column I had also said that all the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe employees of Maharashtra government were very upset at the fresh verification done on them, even after several years of service, consequent to a 2000 court decision, which was coming very surprisingly before the General Elections.

How far was the Congress responsible for its own defeat due to arrogance and deceit? In my view, the lowest point of UPA’s moral decline was not during its second incarnation (2009-2014) but when the “Cash for Votes” scam happened on 22 July 2008. This incident exposed its attempts to cover up a massive fraud which led to a murky chain of events, all highlighted by print and visual media, thereby sinking its prestige and integrity to the lowest, finally ending with severe public opprobrium: (1) Its dubious victory in the “Confidence Vote”, (2) questionable decision of Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee in not taking cognizance of this himself but handing over the case of display of cash in the House to the Delhi Police,(3)  his expulsion from the Communist Party(Marxist) of India,  (4) parallel Parliamentary investigation,(5) Supreme Court’s displeasure at the tardy police investigation,(6) arrests only two days after Justice Lodha’s strictures and (7) acquittal of all the accused in 2013. In between Wikileaks published self-styled Congress worker Nachiketa Kapur’s boast to US Embassy officials that his Party had funds to bribe voters.

UPA’s re-election in May 2009 made it so arrogant as to ignore public criticism even when scams after scams hit the nation beginning with the 2010 Commonwealth Games swindle.

That defiant attitude was also evident during the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe on the 2G Spectrum scam under Congress MP P.C. Chacko whose tactics reminded us of the 1987 Bofors JPC under Congress MP, the late B. Shankaranand, which went nowhere, but which contributed to the late Rajiv Gandhi’s defeat in 1989. Later an avalanche of scams erupted, some affecting even sensitive defense sector, like purchases of VIP helicopters, electronic air surveillance system worth US dollar 350 Million and VSAT monitoring system. Along with this, controversy over questionable appointments to the highest vigilance bodies like Chief Vigilance Commissioner (2010- Struck down by the Supreme Court) shook public confidence in UPA and its pliant bureaucracy. Even earlier there were indications of unseen hands manipulating sensitive appointments like the last minute change of the choice of the CBI director in August 2008 or even of some intelligence chiefs in 2007 and 2010. UPA-II and its bureaucracy adopted an ostrich like attitude towards these controversies.

The Anna Hazare agitation for “Lok Pal” (2011) which came close on the heels of sporadic anti-corruption movements (“India Against Corruption”) since October 2010 was a public expression of this anger. 

In November 2010 the “Adarsh” Housing scam erupted involving politicians, defence officials and bureaucrats who had twisted all rules to allow themselves luxurious houses. In December 2010 a huge protest was organized at Ram Lila grounds by “India Against Corruption” against the 2 G Spectrum scam.

On 18 January 2011 we saw an unusual protest by big businessmen like Azim Premji and Kesub Mahindra drawing Prime Minister’s attention to the “Widespread governance deficit, in almost every sphere of national activity, covering government, business and institutions”. The UPA, bureaucracy, media and even some intellectuals ridiculed Hazare’s agitation as “undemocratic” as in their opinion only elected representatives could draft a law.

Our Delhi police also lent their helping hand to put the public against the government through brutality and to raise the level of public discontent. The Baba Ramdev agitation coinciding with Hazare “fasts” was brutally suppressed. On June 5, 2011 nearly 5,000 policemen including Rapid Action Commandos, who should have been battling armed Maoists, forcibly chased away unarmed men, women and children at midnight who were sleeping. In the resultant melee, 75 protestors were injured and a 51-year-old lady was paralyzed.

The authorities tried to justify their action with a ludicrous explanation that the venue was cleared to prevent a terrorist attack on the public including Ramdev! Even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh chose to defend the midnight crackdown as “an operation that had to be conducted”. The “Nirbhaya” rape & murder protests in December 2012 which evoked strong condemnation all over the world were met with unusually harsh police measures like lathi charge and tear gas.

On 19 April 2013 an Assistant Commissioner of Police publicly slapped a young girl protestor in full public view when the Aam Admi Party (AAP) was protesting against the rape of a 5 year old girl. This incident forced our Supreme Court, while taking suo motu cognizance, to remark on 25 April 2013 that “Delhi Police has gone berserk”. The then Delhi Chief Minister’s pathetic appeals to her own Central leaders that the police, over whom she had no control, was causing much anti-government feelings were ignored.

Read also from Salon:

How optimistic or pessimistic are you that Modi represents a new normal for India, or that this is kind of an anomalous moment?

My short term is very pessimistic. With the BJP having an outright majority, they basically have a free hand on the neoliberal front and also on the communal front. Not necessarily to incite riots, but to change personal laws. And there’s a lot of other ways that they can really tinker with the makeup of society. So, in the short term, the prognosis isn’t good. But I also think that, at some point, the BJP will run up against the falseness of its propaganda — and the kind of promises they’ve made, the aspirational claims that they’ve made, sound plausible because Congress has done such a terrible job, but I think it will be very clearly evident very quickly that they can’t deliver on those promises, that what they’re actually promising are advantages that accrue to a very small segment of the population. So I’m a pessimistic in the short term, but I don’t think this necessarily means that the BJP is the dominant power for the next several decades.

So this is not the end of India as we know it?

No, I’d say it’s a very low point, and it’s a very disturbing prospect, but it was moving in this direction [before], and it’s not a radical break or anything like that with the Indian political scheme.

http://www.salon.com/2014/05/23/worse_than_reagan_meet_the_violent_chauvinist_now_leading_india_narendra_mo