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Politics and Public Policy in India

May 8, 2012 • 8:00 am 0

Evolving a Federal Consensus on National Issues like NCTC – Column in Rediff

Originally published in Rediff.

Background reading material

 October 1949 edition of the Sunday Indian Express on Sardar Patel’s efforts to integrate states and provinces. 

12th January 2010 OpEd in The Pioneer on why India needs a NCTC

The proposed National Center for Counter-terrorism is as much a casualty of politics as it is a casualty of the singular failure of the Central Government – the inability to negotiate interests across stakeholders to forge a consensus. It is bizarre that anyone in the UPA seriously thought that the mere mechanical act of circulating a memo would produce a consensus on the NCTC. It perhaps is a reflection of the deep cynicism underlying the political inertia within the UPA, which it went about the mechanical act of holding a discussion on NCTC knowing fully well a breakthrough was unlikely.

Who in their right mind would expect a forum that is about more talking than any listening to produce a consensus of any sorts ?

While it is true that there is little political interest within the UPA to pursue a consensus it is also true that the UPA lacks leaders who can actually negotiate and produce a consensus. The current impasse between the non-UPA ruled states and the UPA ruled Center calls for perhaps something more than a patient negotiator. It calls for a unique set of skills combined within a persona that inspires trust, awe and confidence.

Integrating the many Princely states and provinces into the Indian Republic was perhaps the most complex consensus building act in the political history of Modern India. Unlike the writing of the Constitution, consensus in which to large effect was accomplished thanks to the legislative majority enjoyed the Congress Party in the Constituent Assembly, the integration of the provinces was a different ball game. It involved negotiating a diversity of interests across a plurality of stakeholders. With a variety of instruments at his disposal, ranging from pressure and diplomacy Sardar Patel’s welding together a Federation to be governed by the Republic holds many lessons for the current impasse between the states and the Center.

While Patel’s appeal to national interest in bringing around the Princely states is well understood of particular interest is a statement made by him in the Constituent Assembly in October of 1949. The Sunday Indian Express in its edition of October 13th 1949 carried the statement at length.  In that statement it is noteworthy that Patel went on to reinforce the case for integration by not just limiting himself to the political and moral aspects but more specifically the economic benefits ranging from improved tax revenues to a massive boost to the treasury. The unique skills employed by Patel in this task become clear in the same statement as he sought to make a case to the Constituent Assembly to accept the terms negotiated by him with the states and provinces.

From NCTC to GST and from economic reforms to targeted subsidies/entitlements the political need of the present times is Leadership in Patel’s mold that can engage, negotiate, build trust and confidence where possible, awe and overwhelm when necessary.

Much has been made of Acceptability as the defining trait for triangulating on a future alternative to the Congress lead UPA. The reality of this much touted “Acceptability” is that it gets us the exact opposite of what the current impasse demands. It will give us the least common denominator of all insecurities. It will produce an alternative that is least threatening to status quo. Such an alternative will have practically no political capital to spend on altering status quo.

The minimum common path of “Acceptability” will not get us where we need to go to bring about the kind of reforms we urgently need. To get there, we will have to choose a path that is unpleasant to many. We will have to first make a clear and decisive choice for without such a clear mandate, there will be no political capital to expend on complex issues. This is a necessary precondition but barely sufficient as the UPA’s second term has shown conclusively. The political capital earned from a clear if not decisive verdict in 2009 has been frittered away by a timid leadership within the UPA incapable of communicating with the nation at large to push across a complex agenda.

From the manner in which the UPA has also allowed itself to be steamrolled by apolitical actors ranging from NAC Left Liberals to Lokpal activists there is yet another dimension to the leadership choice that needs to be made. It has to be a choice that is not easily overawed by pressure from vocal special interests.  Few politicians have mastered the art of turning an adverse political climate into an advantage by staking it all on an issue, turning it into a personal referendum. Those leaders who’s appeal is largely sectarian, try to get by making it about identity victimhood as we have routinely seen with caste based parties or linguistic/sub-regional identity parties. The more effective of these leaders are those who have been able to turn an issue around into a personal referendum by appealing to an entire state’s identity. Little wonder that it is these leaders who have stood up to the pressure from vocal special interests far more effectively than others.

The current impasse between the states and center is partly the result of this dynamic. Mass leaders at the state level are pushing their agenda by expending well-earned political capital, turning key issues into a personal referendum while simultaneously appealing to a statewide identity to push their case. A government stripped of mass leaders of any consequence has thus been clueless about dealing with them. The way out of this impasse lies in a Mass Leader at the national level who is capable of exercising similar leverage albeit at the national level to bring around the states. Someone who can appeal to a national identity, carry its weight to the negotiation table to accommodate legitimate interests on his or her terms while at the same time overwhelming the unreasonable ones into submission with the weight of that same political capital.

The path to consensus on critical issues of national interest lies not in the timid pursuit of “acceptability” but in a bold return to mass politics as was once attempted by Sardar Patel.  In this lies the difference between an “acceptable leadership” that is incapable of delivering on anything tangible and a “mass leadership” with the ability to push through and deliver on a complex agenda.

Filed under: federalism, Gujarat Polls 2012, Narendra Modi, UPA-II Critical Appraisal, War on Terror

September 16, 2011 • 8:00 am 4

Sadbhavana Mission of a personal kind inspired by Ambedkar

Originally published in Rediff.Com on 15th Sept 2011, this must be read in conjunction with the series on National Reconciliation Part 1 and Part 2.

‘In this country both the minorities and the majorities have followed a wrong path. It is wrong for the majority to deny the existence of minorities. It is equally wrong for the minorities to perpetuate themselves. A solution must be found which will serve a double purpose. It must recognise the existence of the minorities to start with. It must also be such that it will enable majorities and minorities to merge someday into one.’

That was Dr B R Ambedkar speaking in the Constituent Assembly on November 4, 1948 while introducing the Draft Constitution. In the same speech, Dr Ambedkar went on to lay out a vision for an assimilated India [ Images ] where identity based demographic faultlines cease to exist.

‘To diehards who have developed a kind of fanaticism against minority protection I would like to say two things. One is that minorities are an explosive force which, if it erupts, can blow up the whole fabric of the State… the minorities in India have agreed to place their existence in the hands of the majority… they have loyally accepted the rule of the majority which is basically a communal majority and not a political majority.’

‘It is for the majority to realise its duty not to discriminate against minorities. Whether the minorities will continue or will vanish must depend upon this habit of the majority. The moment the majority loses the habit of discriminating against the minority, the minorities can have no ground to exist. They will vanish.’

Dr Ambedkar’s vision of an assimilated India where communal distinctions become irrelevant is neither utopian nor alien to India.

In fact this kind of fusion is what resulted in the way of life that we today broadly label as Hinduism. Without getting into a detailed discourse it would suffice to pin point the Intellectual Thought Leaders who made that fusion possible by reconciling ancient animosities through a compact that created a new way of life — modern for its times.

Vashishtha who lost his son and Pulastya who lost his many kinsmen found it within themselves to forge that compact. A testimony to that compact which is the foremost of Puranas — the Vishnu [ Images ] Purana that has Vashishtha’s grandson Parashara overcoming his victimhood (for his father’s murder) to receive insights from Pulastya.

The process of assimilation and fusion over the years in this way of life is best appreciated by the vast pantheon of symbols and icons where there is always room for the modern and the ancient.

Unfortunately over the past few decades no serious and sincere attempts have been made to accomplish such an assimilation or fusion. While one has seen many government initiatives in the name of ‘national integration’ they have been superficial at best. The ‘National Integration Council’ has become a vestige, as was exemplified by charade that played out in Delhi [ Images ] last weekend.

If there is one lesson we can take from that charade it is that government cannot be the vehicle to deal with what is essentially a socio-cultural phenomenon. This, however, puts us in a quandary for identity based demographic faultlines have been the basis for a perverse culture of politics.

Should India be condemned to suffer vote bank politics forever?

It is a tragedy that we have allowed demographic faultlines to be used as a political wedge issue. It is time to attempt a mission that will over time permanently bury these demographic faultlines.

We lament corruption, yet we fail to recognise that when immoral politics are accorded moral sanction using identity as a wedge, such corruption is an inevitable outcome.

For far too long the Muslim community in India has been emotionally blackmailed into voting out of fear even if it meant voting against the socio-economic interests of many within the Muslim community.

Make no mistake — this week’s orders by the Supreme Court on the 2002 Gujarat riots, will be twisted to pursue even greater fear mongering, in upcoming state elections — especially the all important Uttar Pradesh [ Images ] assembly election.

The moment calls for creative and imaginative political moves to ensure the process of reconciliation takes a visible and concrete shape. A dialogue must begin on why the Indian Muslim community must always condemn itself to voting out of fear. A dialogue must also begin on why the Indian Muslim community, in doing so, must continue to hurt its economic interests while patronising vested interests who use that fear as a wedge to sustain themselves politically.

Shifting demographics pose a challenge, but they also present an opportunity. The demographic challenge must be taken head on to make its many faultlines irrelevant. Our response to shifting demographics must not be more vote bank politics. Our response has to be to make politics that uses demographic identity as a wedge, less and less relevant.

Truth and Reconciliation have become a buzzword lately in a different part of the country. But as we have seen with the ‘National Integration Council’, the effectiveness of such a process is highly questionable if government is seen to be the vehicle. Ultimately this is about leadership by personal example and social change where government has a limited or no role at all.

Let me close with an anecdote from a visit to a Parsi family during which I discovered Ganesha and Zarathustra sitting next to each other in a sacred corner in that home. There on that sacred personal bench was assimilation and fusion blurring a 4,000-year-old civilisation faultline.

In keeping with our ancient ethos of assimilation and fusion through inclusivity we must heed Ambedkar’s words so the distinction between Majority and Minority ceases to exist. We can do so with a small beginning that costs nothing.

Let us dedicate an empty corner in our own private sacred bench for a formless god. Perhaps that may give sincerity to this mission to reconcile our true feelings — Sadbhavana.

Filed under: Advani Yatra against Corruption, Ambedkarite Constitutionalism, Anna Hazare, उत्तर प्रदेश २०१२, Baba Ramdev, Internet Hindus, Narendra Modi, Nitin Gadkari, Two Indias, UPA-II Critical Appraisal, Uttar Pradesh Polls 2012, Varun Gandhi, War on Mumbai, War on Terror

September 13, 2011 • 7:48 pm 1

A Victim Advocacy Campaign to combat terror – OpEd in the Pioneer

Originally published in The Pioneer on Monday 12th September 2011 - To be read in conjunction with this blog post after Mumbai 13/7 blast and this one on the Delhi HC blast.

As terror returns to Delhi we may be dangerously close to having exhausted talking about every possible diagnosis, prescription. The anti-terror discourse is close to being reduced to a giant cliché while planned counter-terror initiatives are still-born, much-needed policing reforms continue to be delayed and legislations passed by elected legislatures remain stalled by unelected Governors.

The list of unsolved terror cases is long as is the number of undertrials awaiting convictions, not to speak of those who remain safely ensconced in havens beyond our borders. In successive debates after every terror attack we have attacked Government delinquency, Opposition insensitivity, lethargy in agencies and citizens’ apathy. We have complained about media sensationalism too. One area we have not focussed as much on is victim advocacy and the role media could have played in promoting it.

Noted counter-terror expert B Raman has often written on victim advocacy and the role it could potentially play in 26/11 lawsuits in the United States. Some sections of the print media have carried victim profiles in the past. In the immediate aftermath of 26/11 at least one major national outlet vowed to maintain a sustained focus on terror, a promise that was forgotten even before the Lok Sabha election of 2009.

The Pavlovian manner in which most political debate on terror is conducted has come to mean that nothing any politician or political party says is taken seriously anymore. Every suggestion and critique is viewed through the lens of politicisation. The ‘politicisation’ label has come handy for the Government of the day to escape critical scrutiny. A pliant 24×7 media in Delhi has allowed itself to become an accessory by amplifying the ‘politicisation’ label, in the process of providing ample political cover to the Government.

The culture of leaks has not helped either. The manner in which every case of ‘anti-Muslim terror’ has spawned inspired leaks while not one of those cases has come anywhere close to trial or convictions, is a commentary on the role of the media in putting the Opposition on the defensive, while allowing the Government to deflect hard questions.

It would be facile to suggest that the media has no option but to toe the establishment line when it comes to terror. The media, especially the 24×7 media has proven to be quite adept at exercising a disproportionate influence on public opinion and by extension on the Government. From the high profile media campaigns over mistrials to the high decibel coverage of the anti-corruption fasts, the media has demonstrated that it can be a vehicle for an adversarial agenda.

Why then has the media shied away from a concerted electronic campaign on victim advocacy when most terror attacks impact their prime audience in large metros and urban centers?

If we were to rewind back to 1999 and refresh our memory, the media’s role in victim advocacy even as negotiations were on in the Kandahar hijacking raises interesting questions. Is the media selective in its choice of victim advocacy and mostly errs in its judgement on when such advocacy would be or not be in national interest?

Perhaps victim advocacy is a matter of culture as well with respect to the society at large. The care with which each victim’s identity and memory has been preserved at the site of September 11, 2001 attacks needs to be particularly highlighted here.  Coinciding with the last high profile terror attack in Mumbai were two train accidents that saw far greater causalities. Mumbai of course attracted VIP visits and headline-grabbing political statements from the likes of Mr Rahul Gandhi on how 99 per cent of terror attacks can be stalled but a few will slip through. The irony, of course, was that no such certitude was expressed over the much more fatal train accidents where factors of safety lend themselves to credible guarantees from politicians.

A victim advocacy campaign on terror by the media will perhaps not get us far beyond a high decibel campaign and dramatic assurances from Parliament. A poignant question was posed by Sidin Vadukut on Twitter if anyone (within the voices on social media) had ever lost someone to a terror attack. In as much it was a personal question it was also a profound comment on how distant most victims of terror attacks are to the population at large. Maybe such a high decibel campaign will bridge some of that distance.

A common yardstick to compare the magnitude of terror attacks is to look at the number of deaths when we often forget the large number of casualities and barely even register the larger number of family members whose lives remain impacted for a long time to come. Our big cities have become too big, too dense, numbing our sensitivity to that human cost. If we managed our cities with a greater sense of community with smaller units of governance, perhaps we may become culturally more sensitive in preserving identities and memories as well as in accounting for the human cost.

The geopolitics of our neighbourhood and the demographic fault-lines within our hinterland will continue to offer safe havens to terrorists. We must gird ourselves for a long jihad without any apparent end as we seek short-term fixes and long-term defences. A victim advocacy campaign through the media may be our best bet at sustaining our commitment through this long arduous struggle. It may perhaps be the only solution to holding the Government accountable from a morally unexceptionable vantage point.

Filed under: UPA-II Critical Appraisal, War on Mumbai, War on Terror

September 12, 2011 • 9:29 pm 6

National Reconciliation – Part 2

Before getting into this post:

First read these posts on the need for a visible and demonstrable move on reconciliation:

#1 A Saffron Perestroika

#2 A Game Changer

And then read this post on – National Reconciliation Part 1 as the starting point for this process.

 

At the risk of reducing these words of caution to a cliche, let is be said one more time that “India cannot afford another lost decade”.

For far too long Demographic Fault-lines have been used as a Political wedge issue. It is time to make deft political moves, that will over time permanently bury these demographic fault lines. We lament corruption yet we fail to recognize that when immoral politics are accorded moral sanction using Identity as a wedge, such corruption is an inevitable outcome.

For far too long the Muslim Community in India has been  emotionally blackmailed into voting out of fear even if it meant voting against the socio-economic interests of many within the Muslim community. Make no mistake today’s orders by the Supreme Court, will be twisted to pursue even greater fear mongering, in upcoming state elections – especially the all important Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. The moment calls for creative and imaginative political moves to ensure the process of reconciliation takes a visible and concrete shape.

A dialogue must begin on why the Indian Muslim Community must always condemn itself to voting out of fear.

A dialogue must also begin on why the Indian Muslim Community, in doing so, must continue to hurt its economic interests while patronizing vested interests who use that fear as a wedge to sustain themselves politically.

Shifting Demographics pose a challenge but also present an opportunity. The demographic challenge must be taken head on to make its many fault-lines irrelevant.  Our response to shifting demographics must not be more vote bank politics. Our response has to be to make politics that uses demographic identity as a wedge, less and less relevant.

Ultimately this is about Leadership and social change. Our ancient history is testimony to how sagacious leadership can help forge a compact that will not just ensure lasting reconciliation but will help create a new order.

In closing we must recollect that ancient compact forged byVashishtha and Pulastya that has manifested in all that we understand to be Hinduism today. The former lost his son, the latter many of his kinsmen. Both found it within themselves to strive for reconciliation that not just buried ancient animosities but resulted in the creation of a new way of life – modern for its times. The Vishnu Purana stands testimony to that ancient compact forged by Vashishtha and Pulastya through the twin agencies of Vashishtha’s grandson Parashara for authorship and Pulastya for divine insight.

To keep our way of life going, modern India needs another such compact. Hope leadership emerges that draws from Vashishtha and Pulastya’s sagacity and wisdom to find ways to permanently bury these fault-lines.

Filed under: Advani Yatra against Corruption, Ambedkarite Constitutionalism, Anna Hazare, Assembly elections 2011, उत्तर प्रदेश २०१२, Baba Ramdev, Flat World Hindutva, Internet Hindus, Narendra Modi, Nitin Gadkari, Shveta Chhatra, UPA-II Critical Appraisal, Uttar Pradesh Polls 2012, Varun Gandhi, War on Terror

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