Kashmir has a Jammu problem

A gloomy present fact stares at us. Whereas history bequeathed a J & K pickle , domestic politics kicks in a Jammu logjam as well . 

BJP’s ‘ Beauty and the Beast’ betrothal to PDP hoisted the saffron flag in Srinagar but did not have the same fairy tale ending. It was as ephemeral as Elizabeth Taylor’s  seven wedlocks. Neither could it quell militancy-pelleting, bulleting and cross-border surgical strike muscularity notwithstanding , nor win the heart and mind of Kashmiris. In its short-lived existence it notched up some dubious firsts - use of a muslim as a human shield by the army, letting ISI into Pathankot airbase to investigate without a reciprocal permit for Indian agencies to do likewise into Pak terror camps, longest ever curfew in the valley, the strange spectacle of ruling party legislators and party men protesting arrest of alleged Kathua rapists by its own government, surge in home bred militancy and ceasefire violations, a total lack of political initiatives or dialogue to abate militancy, appointment of an unseen and unheard interlocutor, and not the least of all , reignition of virulent militancy in the valley. No tears will be shed over its untimely demise. Deservedly it ended ignominiously, so did subsequent dalliances between even more unnatural partners to  cobble up a majority. 

However the moot point is , why political parties bitten by power lust are unable to forge subsisting fruitful political relationships ? The changing texture of electoral politics in recent times has the answers. Under the sway of Sangh’s polarising weltanschauung assembly polls in Dec 2014 emboweled Hindu votes in BJP ( of the 25 Hindu dominated seats,all of it in Jammu region, BJP won 22 ) and the muslim ones in PDP/NC/INC ; a scenario starkly reminiscent of the 1945 voting pattern for central legislative assembly where congress won 91% of votes in non-Mohammedan seats, Muslim League over 86% in muslim seats.Today, while Hindu Jammu is lustrously saffron coated, ‘secular’ parties are acquiring deeper shades of  green. That is the unmistakeable story emerging from the last  three assembly elections over the past 18 years.

The state has four distinct electoral colleges - Jammu (Hindu dominated)-25 seats , Jammu (Muslim dominated) 12 seats , Kashmir (only Muslim now) 46 seats and Ladakh (Buddhist and Muslim) 4 seats. Let’s ignore the last two - Kashmir ,here seats shift only between INC/NC/PDP,( BJP has a meagre vote share of less than 3%) and Ladakh with four seats doesn’t really count. The electoral data firmly point to growing alienation of moderate muslim voters from BJP+ (BJP+JKPP) and increasing marginalisation or irrelevance ,whatever, of INC+ (INC/NC/PDP) to Hindu voters. While BJP+ has spiralled upwards from 5 to 22 seats in Hindu Jammu, INC+ has nosedived to 3 from 17.

Region                    Party                 2002                  2008.                        2014                    

Jammu (Muslim).    BJP+                   0.                        0.                              3

                                  INC+                   8.                        12.                            9

Jammu(Hindu).       BJP+.                  5.                         14.                           22

                                  INC+.                 17.                         9.                             3

Maharaja Hari Singh by dithering on accession to the Indian union sucked it into a J&K problem - illegal occupation of a third of its area by Pak and questions about legitimacy of India’s soveignty over J&K. But so long as Sheikh Abdullah’s stars lighted the state’s political firmament, J&K had a semblance of political cohesion. His appeal cut across territorial and religious divides. Notwithstanding Pak sponsored militancy state parties singly or in alliances won a fair smattering of seats across territories making governments of the day fairly representative of moderate opinions. Over time greater participation in the electoral process bolstered legitimacy of elected governments. Now sporadic cries of Azadi in the valley are interspersed with whispers of balkanisation on territorial and religious lines, making J&K a state look more like one welded in only by force. 

To the ‘external’ boil , Kashmir issue, festering on the body politic of South Asia is added a ‘Jammu problem’, Hindu exclusivity foisted in a predominantly muslim state , for like it or not J&K is 70% muslim. If secular parties are pilloried for muslim appeasement in ‘Hindu’ India , BJP is no saint, it is equally culpable of Hindu appeasement in the only ‘Muslim’ India. 

Pursuit of Identity politics buries all hopes of ‘Kashmiriyat, Jamhooriyat and Insaniyat’ taking fresh roots. What the recent developments fortell is that J&K isn’t governable sporting  a Hindu diadem and chanting Ram. A ‘love jihad’ist outlook brooks no ‘unnatural’ marraiges. To govern Kashmir with any modicum of legitimacy one needs embed the soul of Ram-Rahim within. Only then will militancy suffer exsanguination. The nation can ill-afford a ‘Jammu problem’ sinking J&K deeper into political morass. 

Mr Modi’s third midnight surgical strike

While NidraDevi casts her spell over rest of India, Mr Modi creates defining moments of his reign-midnight  surgical strikes. One strike across the border sobered Pak and its jihadis and we no longer have a Kashmir problem, another demonised and commandeered all black money and the nation is now rid of it.  The last one beheaded top two directors of CBI . The moot question is will that have solved the CBI problem, whatever that implies ? That the SC may decide today. 

Meanwhile the development gives an insight into the peculiarities of regime’s menagerie of binaries, the ‘-ables’ and ‘un-ables’ like expendables-unexpendables ,knowables-unknowables, touchables-untouchables. For example ,a #MeToo taint in an election year compounded by a flawed political pedigree (a Congress deserter ) makes MJ Akbar not great rather readily expendable, so sloughed off . However , Rakesh Asthana , with the right lineage - Gujarat cadre parentage , a Godhra saviour and PM’s personal choice brushing aside all insinuations of corruption is an unexpendable, a fish not fried  but cooked delicately and exotically. His being drawn into yet another graft whirlpool is a ricocheting hit-wicket jeopardising his Godfather’s assiduously self-cultivated, saffron hyped, media chiselled ‘unsmirched’ image. He needs rescuing, burnishing and restorating to pristine resplendent splendour. 

Of necessity, Alok Verma thus becomes expendable. In a midnight coup reminiscent of Nixonian ‘Saturday Night Massacre’ in 1973 that saw a President electing to oust FBI special prosecutor, Mr Archibald Cox, rather than hand over unedited Watergate tapes, the CBI director, Alok Verma was ordered to sit at home. Investigative heads world over need to seriously consider propitiating the nocturnal god, Rahu - Mr Cox’s head rolled on a Saturday night, James Comey,FBI Chief, lost it on a Tuesday when it was night here, and now Alok Verma. 

Abnormal circumstances often sprout ‘accidental’ Knight Templars . In the Indian ecosystem such Knight Templars are Nayaks and true to form one reincarnated in Mr Nageshwar Rao. Unlike Bollywoodian ‘Nayak’ though this man’s baggage stinks but like a true Nayak he arrives on the scene with an understandable display of state panoply- ensconced within a motorcade escort of Delhi police to assume charge. Within hours the IO of Asthana case , Mr Bassi, is sentenced to kalapani ( got off lightly, Mr Cox had lost his job), thirteen other officers receive marching orders. Mr Tarun Gauba, recipient of President’s Medal for outstanding investigation in Vyapam case that failed to unearth complicity of  Shivraj Singh Chauhan, CM, gets a chance to do an encore. He now investigates the Asthana case. Oh ! the amount of turmoil the unexpendable cause. 

The expendable -unexpendable binary , some call it cronyism, extends to  other spheres as well. Of the many suited-booted who cleave to PM on foreign visits the unexpendables, Ambanis and Adanis walk away with creamy business deals. Others in the entourage being expendables make do with minor crumbs. Even in matters of Education other private institutions must wait for Mukesh Ambani’s Jio Institute of Eminence to take roots and achieve true Eminence before they think of seeking Eminence for themselves. 

Truth that arraigns the ruling dispensation or unsettles its applecart is expendable, its seekers consigned to ‘reformatories’. Rajeev Singh and three more investigating the Nirav-Mehul bhai PNB scam or the CIO who ordered DU to furnish documents of Mr Modi’s degree, Maj Gen B C Khanduri, Chairman of Standing Committee on Defence pointing out dangerously depleted levels of stock of defence armaments now inhabit it. 

Among the unknowables is the genuiness of PM’s academic degree. Notwithstanding CIC and Court orders his degree in ‘Entire Political Science ‘ remains entirely shrouded in mystery, so are the names of his co-students that fateful year. Disclosure of names of delegates who accompanied PM on foreign visits is another unknowable, as are the price elements of renegotiated Rafale deal or the price discovery mechanism in Government-to-Government defence purchases. Cash donations exceeding ₹2000 to political parties is knowable but those by way of electoral bonds is unknowable. 

And those who feigned ignorance of the binary  of touchable-untouchable had hard landings for not picking out the untouchables and turning their faces the other way. However this narrative isn’t intended to be a catalogue but just a ‘Zaika Modi ka ‘.  Savour it.

Ravana never dies

Bad days for demons and rakshas ! Goddess Durga annihilated the Mahisasurs ,Chandas  and Mundas yesterday, Rakshas turn comes tomorrow. Yet, next year , and the year after till doomsday the demons will resuscitate to repeatedly torment us, like the new heads of Ravana sprouting as often as Rama chopped them off. Why ? Maybe Ramkien holds an insight. . 

Ramakien, is the retelling of Ramayana by king Rama I of Thailand in 1807. The narrative is captured in a kaleidoscopic explosion of colours in 178 mural panels on the wall enclosing the huge Emerald Buddha complex in Bangkok. But let’s be clear, Ramakien has no religious import in Thai culture ; for visiting Hindus, however, the murals are an edifying sight for it closely follows the Valmiki epic. ( Rama I is the founder of the present Chakra dynasty, with its new capital at Bangkok after the old capital, Ayudhya, was ransacked by the Burmese) 

Ramakien recalls the ancient times when there were two principal cities -Ayudhya populated by men and ruled by descendants of Narai (Narayana) and Lanka settled by Brahma for giants and ruled by his relative Chaturpak from whom Totsakan (Ravana ) traced his descent as ruler of Lanka. In his previous incarnation Ravana was a giant named Nonduk in the service of Shiva whose abode was atop the Krailat hill. Nonduk’s job was to wash the feet of any visitor who took the first step to climb up the hill. While getting their feet washed gods used to tease and playfully pull his hair. One day Nonduk found out that the gods had made him bald as a coot. Enraged he complained to Shiva. To placate him Shiva gave a boon that made his forefinger as strong as a diamond and if pointed at anyone that person would immediately drop dead. Now when visiting gods teased him Nonduk simply pointed his forefinger and that would be the end of him. Gods panicked, went to Shiva who tells Narayana to kill him. 

Narayana takes the form of a beautiful damsel, a Mohini, and lures Nonduk to a dance. Gradually, Narayana so manoeuvres dance gestures that Nonduk’s forefinger points inwards. The moment it does, Nonduk suffers death pangs and Narayana resumes his original form. Nonduk feels cheated and calls Narayana a coward for killing him through deceit. Before Nonduk dies, Narayana tells him that in the next birth Nonduk would be born with ten heads, twenty hands and endowed with powerful weapons, while he would be reborn as a normal human being only to do battle with him. So a Ravana-Rama war was pre-ordained. 

In his present birth Ravana suffers humiliating defeats and loss of face in a number encounters with Palee (Bali) and Orajun, so he goes to his guru, Kobut, and implores him to somehow make him strong and invulnerable. Kobut takes out Ravana’s soul ,encases it and keeps it securely in his hermitage. Unless body and soul is killed simultaneously Ravana cannot die. He becomes invincible and immortal. 

When the Lanka Yudha reaches its zenith Rama is wonder-struck that Ravana’s brothers and sons, other kith and kin,seasoned generals and stalwart warriors fall but he remains unscathed. Puzzled he asks Bibhishan who lets him in on the most well kept secret. Hanuman is told to find a way out. Hanuman and Ongkot (Angad) hatch a ploy. They meet Kobut and spill out a litany of mistreatment, slights, insults, and abuses the two brothers had meted out to them despite their unflinching loyalty and dedicated service. Better to serve Ravana than such a master.  Seething with bottled up rage they had come to offer their services. Only he could convince Ravana of their sincerity to help his cause and their own selfish one of seeking revenge and settling scores with Rama. 

Kobut decides to take them to Ravana. 

Hanuman asks , “would it be safe to leave behind Ravana’s soul ?”

Kobut agrees and carries along the soul cage.

On way, Hanuman asks “why is the soul cage kept so far away, isn’t it inconvenient ?”

Kobut explains, “soul has an innate affinity for its body so must be kept away.” 

They reach the gates of Lanka city. 

Hanuman queries “wouldn’t it be better to leave the cage here instead of taking it close to Ravana ?” 

Again Kobut agrees. Ongkot stays behind with the soul cage while the two go to meet Ravana who is delighted beyond words to enfold a renegade as powerful as Hanuman. Meanwhile, Ongkot using magical powers makes a perfect replica of the soul cage and hands it to an unsuspecting Kobut. 

Now Hanuman goes to war on the side of Ravana and battles Laxman most creditably and returns to a hero’s welcome. Ravana rewards him with slain Indrajit’s property and widow and declares him heir of Lanka. Next day, Ravana brings up the rear of Hanuman’s forces. At the battlefield Ravana sees Ongkot handing over the real soul cage to Hanuman. He now knows Hanuman has duped him. His time is up . Rama shoots an arrow that pierces his chest ; at that very instant Hanuman tramples upon his soul pulverising it to dust . Ravana is dead. 

Yes, one Ravana died, but souls of many remain intact. No wonder, Ravanas revivify. Ramakien itself is proof enough. Bibhishan is challenged by Ravana’s sympathisers and Rama has to rescue him. Ravana’s anonymous son, however, dethrones him and Hanuman has to do battle again. Ravanas never die. 

#MeTooIndia-A Unique Exercise in Women Power

Among the many manifestations of Womanhood revered in Hindu mythology the one of Shakti, the embodiment of divine powers of purificatory destruction, is uppermost in our national consciousness just now. For Hindus these are days of supplication to Shakti as Goddess Durga to slay the buffalo-demon Mahisasur and proclaim eternal victory of goodness over evil. More earthy interest will, however, centre around the unfolding of #MeTooIndia movement . Is it Shakti playing out in real life on ground Zero ? 

The movement draws both its inspiration and format from #MeToo in USA. Alyssa Milano, a Hollywood actress and victim of sexual harassment, tweeted on 15th Oct 2017 “ If you have been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet. “ By next day, 30000 had responded with tweets of  #MeToo opening the flood gates to a unique form of social protest -cum-solidarity movement in human history. Women from all theatres of human activity poured out sordid tales of sexual manipulations by their superiors, even co-workers, both at work places and home. A volcano had burst and its lava flowed all over singing men at the lowest level of power exercised by a foreman to a Hollywood director, a mogul, a senator and even the President.The accusations of sexual infractions were multiple -  lewd comments, forced kisses, opportunistic gropes , pats, pinches, grabs, propositioning to bed, sexual assault and even rape. The malaise of demanding sexual favours was both rampant and deep-seated. In a symbolic acknowledgement of their show of courage in disclosing their horrific demeaning experiences ,Time magazine under the collective of ‘The Silence Breakers’ named them “Person of the Year-2017 ” overriding other weightier nominations. 

The potency of the movement lies in its unorthodoxy. It is a hashtag movement, entirely apolitical, leaderless, and amorphous giving a measure of anonymity to its participants. That encourages others 

to freely share their own horrendous moments with co-victims and generate widespread solidarity and a collective voice. Given that social media has grown into such a behemoth, voices on it can no longer be ignored by decision-makers in any field.

#MeTooIndia is therefore bound to affect the manner in which men in positions of authority or even co-workers will henceforth interact with female subordinates, colleagues. The veil of innocuity hitherto overlaid on what were truly sexually inappropriate acts will no longer be available. Will even innocent light-hearted acts be tolerated ? How it will pan out no one knows. But its relevance as an instrument of social change can’t be ignored. It will compel tremendous soul- searching among policy makers. 

Its Indian edition, #MeTooIndia, is yet a toddler. A long way lies ahead of it. But already a few reputations lie besmirched . Amitabh Bachchan is hit by actress Sayali Bhagat’s allegation that when she bent down to touch his feet to seek  blessings, he put his hands on her butt and felt it up, blessings with an unwanted freebie. M J Akbar  allegedly took recruitment interviews of aspiring journos in hotel rooms sitting close enough to put an arm around their shoulders. Vikas Behl director of ‘Queen’ is alleged to have taken non-consensual sexual liberties with many real queens. Some other named culprits doing the rounds are- Alok Nath and Sajid Khan from Bollywood, Harinder Baweja, KRSreenivas, Gautam Adhikari and Prasant Jha from print media ,Chetan Bhagat and Kiran Nagarkar both authors. More skeletons keep tumbling out of old closets of many other eminences.

It all started with actress, Tanushree Dutta, raking up her decade old complaints. Vivek Agnihotri, whose famous tweet wisdom ‘ staring at boobs extends male life by five years.’ still rankles, asked her in 2008 to ‘ kapde utar ke naach’. Nana Patekar forced her to do lewd,vulgar,and uncomfortable dance steps with inappropriate touches thrown in at the sets of ‘Horn Ok Pleassss’. From thereon the
 hashtag movement took off. 

However, social movements don’t just erupt, the causative disquiet lies smouldering, building up steam before a spark releases its fury. In 2005, when Shakti Kapoor talked of sex for screen time requirement in Bollywood industry, or when Mahesh Bhatt admitted to the casting couch as "Bollywood’s best-known secret" nothing stirred. Nor did Tanushree’s complaint in 2008 cause

 more than a storm in a tea-cup. But a decade later the same complaint resurfaces to find sufficient resonance and solidarity to spearhead a movement. 

So what changed to precipitate #MeTooIndia ? Maybe larger  participation of women in economic activity without matching changes in societal mores and attitudes towards the female gender has something to do with it. We continue to revere womanhood in temples but outside its precincts subordinate a woman’s status to a male-serving creature . That translates into more male predation simply because there are more females around in work places to cast the net. A decade ago women bore insults silently. Not any more. Their upbringing makes them more assertive today, they claim their free space and stamp their individuality. She knows how to say ‘No’ to unwanted overtures and to make ‘No’s stick. Laws relating to sexual harassment aid her. 

Also #MeTooIndia is a budding of simmering angst among the urbanised female over a patriarchal social order that presumes female guilt in any situation of sexual infractions - must have dressed provocatively, why stayed late, she had it coming when she went out alone; female culpability is deemed as obvious as male’s preserve to exploit such situations for sexual gain. A right leaning polity makes matters worse by soft pedalling gender issues. When sexual offenders adorn ministries, officials disciplined for sexual harassment find more honoured places elsewhere , or the connoisseur of ‘boobs’ , Vivek Agnihotri , gets an invite to World Hindu Conference the message to public at large is not one of deterrence but of ‘chalta hai’. 

And of course #MeToo USA showed  the way to ventilate repressed anguish and frustration. The Indian redaction is yet in its incipient stages. Rainmakers are not falling off like ninepins as in USA . But one hopes it generates the motive power to demolish deeply ingrained gender prejudices, something our politicians have neither the will nor inclination to do. Hopefully a bit of the ‘The Dirty Picture’ may be cleaned up and its perpetrators shamed. A unique experiment in social change is underway.

Defining what precisely constitutes sexual harassment is impossible. What is inappropriate behaviour as distinct from a mere banter, or a flirtatious engagement is so dependent on contextual interpretation that many #MeToo allegations will inevitably fall through, some rightly, some wrongly. It doesn’t matter . What matters is for #MeTooIndia to chorus loudly and long enough to create widespread awareness of a problem only whispered in shadows for fear of acknowledgement. 

PM, Mr Modi, Gandhi means more than sweeping streets and building toilets

Gandhi Jayanti is the VIP’s day out. Broom in hand, facial cavities,nose and mouth, safely masked, body bedecked in freshly starched spotless kurta pyjamas adorned with flashy bundies the VIP waits expectantly on some non-descript street. A battery of cameramen facing him jostle for space. A hump of pre-strewn litter on an otherwise clean stretch separates them from the VIP. On cue, he starts waggling the broom over the litter. Cameras explode with sounds of shutter clicks. Video cameras capture every twitch of his body fibre and the glitter of litter. Mikes are thrust into his face, someone shouts, Sir, take off the mask else the voice will get garbled. He graciously obliges with a condescending grin suffusing his countenance. Gandhian cliches, homilies and resolves for citizens flow into those mikes as ritual messaging of Swacch Bharat to be passed over, loud and distinct , instantly to masses through the idiot box. 

Next pic ,he stands before a newly built toilet instead of the litter on the road, and the rest follows. Later in the day, he will say much the same thing with greater eloquence,duly embroidered with seminal Gandhian quotes and thoughts in meets, seminars, conferences, other such events. Over to next year. 

That’s how Gandhi Jayanti manifests itself - cleaning streets, and building toilets to shit at home rather than in open spaces ; and mouthing platitudinous references to Gandhi and affectations of faith in his  principles. 

In reality, Gandhi is a forsaken God ,a  ‘Father of the nation’ who competes for reverence in some states with the cow as the ‘mother of the nation’. He practiced what he preached, his followers only preach what he practiced. He advocated a simple living humble enough to earn the epithet of ‘half-naked fakir’. Today’s ‘fakir’ netas present fashion spectacles in  monogrammed suits, Bylagri specs, Movado watches , Mount Blanc pens et al costing lacs of rupees. 

But on a serious note, Gandhiji has been more read than acted upon. He denigrated capitalism for its exploitative excesses and demeaning competition. Nehru agreed but did not embrace his Gram Swarajya , the self-governing self-sustaining entity, for being impractical. So he plumbed for a via media ,Fabian socialism. Even this Gandhi ji rejected ‘No amount of socialisation can eradicate the evils of capitalism.’ 

Ironically, Modinomics has swung to a more vicious concoction of capitalism - crony capitalism, where the commanding heights of economy pass increasingly and inexorably to fewer and fewer chosen hands. The levers of state power emasculate public sector by doing little to salvage and revitalise ailing PSUs like BSNL, MTNL, Air India , LIC that facilitates entry and growth of crony capitalists. At the extreme, it displaces public enterprises totally like HAL by Reliance in Rafale deal. The new DPP reserves production of four categories of defence equipments for private entries selected by the state thus hobbling defence PSUs. If Gandhi disfavoured capitalism but he intensely abhorred  plutarchy. 

Indian footprints in capitalism were made in the 1980s. Since then the top 0.1% of earners have captured more growth than all of the bottom 50% put together ,while the middle 40% 

have not benefitted at all. India remains among the most unequal nation in the world. And the income/wealth gap is only widening, and more worryingly none seems worried. The Gandhian conception of property being held in trust by owners for managing in common interest now does not even merit a public debate. Property is privately held by a few for only self aggrandisement. As one third of Indians go to sleep with just one meal a day ,more and more enter the millionaires club every year. Gandhi foresaw this long ago ,but none believe him even now. 

As a way out he evangelised village and cottage industries as the only available option to gain full employment in villages. But there are no takers for his ideation of small is beautiful. The prevailing dogma is big, so big that it is ‘too big to fail’. Production not in villages but for villages, on its vestiges.The unsavoury saga of Land Bill is testimony to it. 

Gandhi’s heart lay in villages and its development . But urbanisation aggressively swallows up more and more of agricultural land. Industrial hubs , SEZs , industrial corridors, highways, bullet trains, progressively and stealthily eat into it as well. That will eventually destroy rural communities ,convert rural labourers, small and marginal farmers into daily wage earners ; their individuality squelched to become slaves of an all embracing modernism. On their ruins will be built highly urbanised gated communities , the smart cities , serviced by slums beyond its gates  ; slums peopled by those displaced from the very lands on which the cities shall stand. 

Admittedly, the world has moved way beyond Gandhiji’s conception of Hind S waraj to have any pertinancy. But why disregard the core principle behind this thought - individualism. The state is soulless ,its power, Gandhi observed “does the greatest harm to mankind by destroying individuality”. The human being has a soul and a conscience which endows him with an innate right to rebel, through acts of civil disobedience, against policies that he considers morally wrong. Today, when the VIP hollers from the podium about Gandhian legacies he needs to answer why protestors showing black flags or shouting anti PM slogans at the venues of his meeting or on the sidelines of his motorcade are blocked, thrashed, arrested and prosecuted ,or explain the even more ridiculous act of requiring people to shed anything black on their body - burka, black dupatta, black hair bands, black pants, salwars, black shirts before entering venues of PMs. It is totally unGandhian. 

Even greater challenge to the individual’s freedom is the entry of state into private homes through technological innovations, be it Aadhar, social media analytics, or internet surveillance. Contrary to the Gandhian precept of decentralised power the state aided by tech is relentlessly burgeoning into one  uncontrollable leviathan. And its power is getting concentrated in one individual both in the state and within a political party. From a cabinet system of governance we have unwittingly moved to a presidential form and one where both executive and legislative initiatives flow from one fountainhead. A cabinet exists, only as a rubber stamp as evidenced by Rafale and Demonetisation episodes, and ministers sally forth as pygmies. 

Lastly, a majority rule, Gandhi wrote, in ‘Young India’ could not run roughshod on issues on which the minority harbours strong views. Contrarily, we see the state energetically rushing through issues of triple talaq and masjid not being integral to Islam, issues hotly contested by the ignored Muslims. The state needs to take them along too. 

While Gandhi wanted Indians to see themselves primarily as Indian citizen but also as Indian Hindus and Indian Muslims, a political entity fertilised in a religious soil. Let it stay that way, Mr VIP even after the Gandhi Jayanti celebs end. 

A toothless wife

Blessed are the men who hold their own  by doing wives’s bidding. That’s how even Lord Shiva held his head high against an irate Goddess Parvati by appearing with a begging bowl before her Kitchen in kashi for food. Again ,had Tulsidas forced himself on an unwilling Ratnavali ,his wife, there would have been no Ram Charitra Manas. She chided him saying, 

“अस्थि चर्म मय देह यह, ता सों ऐसी प्रीति !

  नेकु जो होती राम से, तो काहे भव-भीत ?”

Meaning - If you had half as much devotion for God that you show for my body your life would have been fruitful . 

Stung by these words Tulsidas dedicated his entire life to scholarship and Ram Bhakti.

That’s the way men hold their heads high, not by display of belligerence or male chauvinism but by bearing pecks of the hen. The natural order of things is the henpecked husband. And with age the hen pecks more and deeper. 

I once kept a count of the tongue lashings I bore daily- don’t pick your nose, don’t waggle your legs while sitting, don’t sneeze when I am talking (this one I find particularly harsh ) ,don’t litter the house ( in younger days when we had our litter about us littering the house,she never growled, only smiled and set things right herself), if nothing, why are you keeping quiet speak to me ...... the litany of her pecks is as diverse as it is long. Anyway, the count came to twenty a day . The day I accosted her with this data the count increased by one, 21 for the day. 

Sometimes the repressed male within cries for release from being ordered about, asks for reprieve at least for a few days. But overcoming an ingrained habit isn’t easy. It needs pluck and ingenuity , both I have in only small measure. But fortuity opened a small window last week.

She complained of toothache. I promptly took her to the dentist. He advised two molars needed immediate extraction and root canalling to save the rest. Both could be done together. It would take minimum two days for tooth extraction wound to heal and one week for root canalling. In the healing period the jaws were not to be moved except for intake of liquids in sips. The wily male spirit within me sensed kill. It suggested, extraction now , root canalling later. My wife agreed. 

The molars were removed yesterday. Since then the house has been quiet, very quiet. We do communicate but only in sign language. She knows I am poor at dumb charade, so it’s not me but she who gets exasperated at failure to communicate. But I carry a scribbling pad and a pen with me. In the event of sign language failure she writes down her commands. But it’s all soundless. 

The maids too are are happier, for them a break from her bossing around. Meanwhile, I enjoy the remaining 24 hours of quietude. And savouring the thought of a week more of halcyon days to come when she goes in for root canalling.

A ‘toothless’ wife is a ‘manly’ delight ! 

Understanding Marketing concepts the Rafale way

This piece is illustrative and lays no claim to factual authenticity. 

1. Mukesh Ambani forms a company in 2008 to take advantage of offsets provision in the new DPP-2005. Finally in 2012 Dassault signs MOU with him. That is Direct Marketing 

2. Sanjay Bhandari too forms a company, Offsets India Ltd the same year for the same purpose-a piece of the Offsets pie in defence deals.But he withers away-that is competition 

3. PM recommends Anil Ambani to Hollande -that is advertising 

4. Anil Ambani signs an investment deal with Julie Gayet ,female partner of Hollande - that is public relations 

5. Dassault sees a 12 day old Anil Ambani firm and strikes a deal - that is brand recognition. 

6. Rahul Gandhi cries foul - that is customer feedback 

7 . HAL executives anxiously wait outside the room where Mr Hollande is hosting a meet with Mr Modi. After sometime both emerge with Anil Ambani in tow- that is entry barrier and competition eating into existing market share. 

8. The leaders make a joint announcement of purchase of 36 jets instead of the earlier deal of 126 - that is demand supply gap 

The Rafale implosion

The Rafale rigmarole rumbles, grumbles, tosses up, turns and twists, spinning new yarns like an invisible onion shedding fresh peelings every day.  Everyone seems to have a story to tell , yet none knows the whole story. The few who are privy to the deal do not tell. And like all onions the peelings leave behind a repelling, teary stink. What was once the glowing “deal of the century” risks being derided as “mother of all deals”. 

Yet if the little tales within the peels are collated a plausibly coherent narrative shorn of rhetoric and bombast does emerge. This is just one such attempt. 

The UPA deal 

On 31.1. 2012 UPA announced award of contract for purchase of 18 jets in fly away condition and manufacture of 108 more by HAL under licence, with an option for 63 more, to Dassault. Purchase price - € 7.8 billion or $10.4 billion on life cost basis that reckoned cost of acquisition, operating cost for 40 years, and cost of transfer of technology. A ‘workshare agreement’ for ₹36000 cr  towards fulfilment of its offsets obligation was inked with HAL by Dassault on 13.03.2014, but it cringed from giving warranty for planes made in HAL thus violating tender terms. Further, it wanted to add cost of some critical items that it had left unpriced in its bid, GOI felt the purchase price was all inclusive. Thus UPA bequeathed to NDA a stalemated deal if not one in throes of exsanguination. Meanwhile the deal value rose , by some estimates, to $30 billion. By this figure the price of each jet works out to $24 million. Obviously there are other unimputed costs that is not available in public domain. 

The NDA deal 

In April 2015 PM ,Mr Modi and Prez Francois Hollande announce a government to government package for purchase of 36 jets off the shelf as a ‘critical operational necessity’ in abrogation of the old stalemated deal. The French government gives guarantee for delivery and quality of  equipment. HAL is dumped. Dassault chooses ,instead, Reliance Aerospace Corp of Anil Ambani as its Offsets partner. The inter governmental agreement puts the deal cost at €7.87/$8.7 billion with the basic cost of jets as;

28 single seater jets - € 91.1 million each 

8 double seater jets  - € 94.0 million each 

There are other add on costs for additional features included in the deal value -India specific enhancement,Establishment of two maintenance facilities, Weapons package cost, Performance & logistic agreement , aggregating € 4.66 billion. Thus total of basic price and add ons for the 36 jets comes to €7.96. The nation will in effect shell out €221 million per jet. The offsets obligation is 50% amounting to ₹30000 crs.

The NDA deal does not meet the minimum requirement of IAF pitched at 126 planes way back in 2008. Hence the nation’s defence preparedness continues to deteriorate. Even the off-the-shelf purchase will not add to IAF’s fleet until 2022 if there are no further hiccups enroute. One could be the pending PIL in SC. Congress too is queuing up to follow suit. The deal stymies augmentation of India’s combat aircraft manufacturing capability as no critical tech transfer is envisaged. HAL would have been a big gainer in this respect under the old deal. The new Indian partner has Zero experience in the line. Will it delay production or worse , compromise flight worthiness of the planes ? Only time will tell. 

The stink of controversies:  

1.Price of each jet is three times the original deal, alleges Congress: In 2015, MoD, Mr Parrikar
 said on DD that the UPA cost was ₹ 715 crs, a year later his junior informed LS that the negotiated NDA price would be 670cr. On 16.2.17 Reliance Aerospace Corp, issued a statement putting cost at ₹1660 cr apiece, much higher than the UPA purchase price. 

The counter view is of add ons not provided for in the UPA deal inflating the purchase price. Yet Shri R S Prasad ,law minister arrives at a UPA price of  €100.85 million for a jet against the NDA price of €91.75 million per jet. He doesn’t divulge the cheat sheet for the UPA figure, so one can’t really rule out his stretching the UPA line to make the NDA line look smaller. If we include the cost of add ons the NDA cost is $221 million per jet ,double of what Sri Prasad credits UPA. 

The big question looms, if cheaper why stop at 36 and not the 126 IAF sorely wants?  A bulk deal attracts even greater discounts. Curiously, the indo-France joint statement issued in Paris in April 2015 states “the same configuration as has been tested and approved by the IAF”.If the transfer of technology costs are removed for comparison purposes would UPA not have been cheaper besides conducing to making the country more self reliant ?

2. GoI insisted on Anil Ambani as Offsets partner as Ambanis are close to Mr Modi’s heart. An instance of crony capitalism ? 

Besides the ₹30000 cr offsets money, the deal also lands a ₹1 lac cr life cycle cost contract, in all a whopping $ 20 billion. For the sinking Ambani, the offsets would be a “Khulja ja sim sim” mantra to financial rejuvenation. So did his friend whisper the mantra ? 

The French President , Francois Hollande who struck the NDA deal told Mediapart on 21st Sep 2018 “The Indian government proposed this partner and Dassault negotiated with Anil Ambani.” “We were given no choice. We took the partner which was appointed.” The French now say the choice of Reliance was made by Dassault, and the latter confirms. Both however do not deny that the choice was influenced by GOI. 

On canons of financial and technical prudence Anil Ambani would not have been a ‘love at first sight’ choice for Dassault. A track record of failed, abandoned industrial projects ( Dadri,Tenughat, Rcom to name a few ), heavily indebted ,zero exposure to defence manufacturing make him  an ugly groom. Moreover his defence company formed on 28.03.2015 was a mere 12 day old on the announcement day, held no licence and  land to manufacture on. Did mere clairvoyance impel  Anil Ambani to set it up or for some reasons he believed himself snazzier than the HAL executives as a suitor in Paris on the day deal was struck ?  One will never know. 

Meanwhile,  Dassault Reliance Aerospace Ltd,  joint venture formed a fortnight after the announcement , goes about the business of acquiring licence,  and land for setting up a manufacturing base to fulfil Dassault’s share in the offsets obligations at a place dear to Mr Ambani’s alleged benefactor, Nagpur. Other OEM suppliers of Dassault like Safran, Thales too are tying up with other Indian manufacturers like  BTSL, Kinetic, Mahindra Samtel and scores of others to meet their share
 in offset obligations.

3.   Procedural violations  It is alleged that in terms of the Aircraft Procurement policy, External         Affairs and Defence Ministers are to be taken into confidence. However Mr Parikkar reportedly said
 on 10th April 2015 “ Modiji took the decision. I back it up “ evidencing no prior consultation. The offset agreement, some say, needed vetting by the Defence Ministry.

4. Quid Pro Quo : There is a collateral spin off from the deal that stinks as well. Was the € 1.6  million investment by Reliance Entertainment in the film ‘Tout la-haut’ co-produced by Julie Gayet, partner of Francois Hollande a Rafale quid pro quo ? This deal was struck on the very day Hollande landed in India, 24 th January 2016. Interestingly, the inter governmental Rafale agreement was inked the next day, 25th Jan,2016. 

5.  The stubborn refusal to disclose cost elements citing the security pact clause “ to protect the classified information provided by the partner that could impact the security and operational capability of the defence equipments of India and France.” keeps the suspense afloat. However will the CAG and PAC scrutiny skip deal’s financial side ? Unlikely,   so what prevents  disclosure  today? 

What confounds matters further is the legerdemain deployed to deflect or counter criticism of the deal. Mrs Sitharaman says HAL was dropped by UPA, whereas HAL signed a workshare agreement in March 2014. She says offsets contract not awarded whereas Dassault’s annual report for 2016-17 categorically names its offsets partner.  The Defence Ministry insinuates that Dassault had chosen Anil Ambani way back in 2012, whereas it was the senior Ambani’s RIL that had signed an MOU for mutual cooperation that later expired. All along only HAL stayed in the Rafale  deal, 

Meanwhile  connoisseurs of Indian  political rhetoric are regaled by some exquisitely exhilarating political rhetoric that puts both Donald Trump and his equally trenchant baiters to shame.

56”friend  , clown prince  , crooks chaperone ,  court jester ............

Ps “We did not have a say in that," Hollande told investigative website Mediapart. "It was the Indian government that proposed this service group (Reliance), and Dassault who negotiated with Ambani.

"We did not have a choice, we took the interlocutor who was given to us," added Hollande, who was president of France from 2012-2017.

Speaking to AFP on the sidelines of a meeting in Canada on Friday, the former French leader insisted that France "did not choose Reliance in any way".

When asked whether India had put pressure on Reliance and Dassault to work together, Hollande said he was unaware and "only Dassault can comment on this".

An abstract of the AFP report breaking the story. I don’t see a retraction or an inherent inconsistency in Hollande’s statements . Full report available at afp.com

"रुपया कमजोर नहीं हुआ, डॉलर मजबूत हुआ है" : जेटली

Did I hear a similar refrain sometime ago from someone else ? Oh , yes ,it was Virendra Shehwag tweeting-he did not score triple centuries, only his bat did. That’s pretty witty play of words that even @mrsfunnybones would love. But stay put ,Mr Jaitley is a FM who is fully ‘immersed’ in his job, he won’t exchange pleasantries over matters as grave as foreign exchange. So, what did he mean ? 

In less than six months, 21 weeks to be precise, of this financial year, the rupee has depreciated from 65.14 to 72.11 against the dollar, that is by 9%. Against the Euro and £ it has fallen by 3.8% and 2.1 % respectively. As most of India’s international trade is dollar denominated, on the face of it, it means inflow of more rupee per dollar of exports and correspondingly more outflow of rupee per dollar of purchases by businesses. 

If our only trade relations were with US and trade in balance ( exports and imports identical in dollar terms) it wouldn’t matter at all whether rupee weakened or dollar strengthened. Incremental losses and gains of rupees from dollar movements would even out. But we live in a world where dollar is just an accounting unit for trade with scores of nations, (leave aside the case when USSR once traded with India in rupees). So cross country rates against dollars affect us too. 

What really matters is the value of rupee against currencies of our trading partners . Their currency exchange rates (based on cross rates with dollar) against the rupee stood as: 

(Price in rupee  of one unit of foreign currency )

Currency               01.04.18.            08.09.18.           % change 

Us $.                    72.11.                   65.14.                  9.0

€                           83.35.                   80.26.                 3.8

£.                           93.18.                  91.26.                 2.1

Yuan.                     10.54.                  10.38.                1.6

Aus.                        51.27.                 50.03.               2.5

Canad.                   54.83.                  50.53.                8.5

Emirate.                 19.63.                  17.74.              10.7

Hong Kong.            9.19.                    8.3.                 10.7

Indonesia.              0.004864.            0.0047.             3.5

Iran.                        0.001716            0.001725.       (-) 0.52

Yen.                         0.65.                  0.61.                     6.6

Kuwait.                   237.45.              216.75.                9.6

Malaysia.                 17.39.                16.86.                 3.1

S Arabia.                   19.23.              17.37                  10.7

Singapore.               52.30.                49.68.                 5.3

SAfrica.                     4.72.                 5.5.                 (-) 4.2

S Korea.                 0.063949.           0.0614.               4.2

Swiss franc.            74.43.                 68.30.                 9.0

Venezuela.              7.22.                   6.52.                  10.7

Qatar.                      19.81.                 17.90.                10.7

Nigeria.                  0.19919.             0.1812.               10.0

Iraq.                        0.06054.            0.5498.                8.9 

Clearly, the rupee shows significant depreciation not merely against the dollar but all other currencies that matter to the nation. The argument that dollar is strengthening thus devaluing all other currencies affords little  comfort. The Indian rupee has slid a notch further, that is the worry. In fact it has fallen steepest among all other Asian currencies during this period. To say dollar has strengthened but rupee

 not fallen implies all other currencies have fallen uniformly against dollar ; and to say rupee has weakened not dollars means other currency rates vis- a- vis dollar remain unchanged, only rupee has fallen. Published rates show that currencies have fallen against the dollar, undeniably dollar is on an upward trajectory. But  the table shows that the rupee has fallen not only against the dollar but all other currencies. The rupee  thus, has weakened against all currencies. To calm emerging jitters the FM may say otherwise , but the fact is rupee has weakened, AND, dollar gone north. 

But why all the hullabaloo, what’s the big deal in a falling currency ? In the past many countries including China as a conscious policy allowed free float of their currencies resulting in sharp falls . For it is a boon for exports and remittances (more rupees against the same unit of sale/remittance of a dollar ) if imports aren’t a worry. Is India on that path, letting rupee find its own level  ? We don’t know, the establishment has chosen to live in a denial mode. 

However, gains from a depreciated rupee accrue only if the economy raises the level of exports high enough to counterbalance losses from costlier imports. Have we reached that stage ?  On current form, the picture isn’t assuring. Exports in dollars as a percentage of GDP has fallen from 17% in 2013-14 to 11.65% in 2017-18. Moreover, between the same period exports in absolute terms fell from $ 312 billion to $ 303 billion. Imports ,on the other hand, rose , though marginally, from $450 billion to $459 billion. 

Recent trends in foreign trade too aren’t enthusing. In 17-18 merchandise exports in dollar terms grew 9.78% whereas imports by double that amount, 19.59% . Going forward a hardening crude would only make matters worse. 

So is a falling rupee not a matter of concern ? 

The Downslide in quality of democracy in India

The Democracy Report 2018 report released by the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute, the international democracy watchdog headquartered at the Dept of Political Science,University of Gothenburg, Sweden, makes a startling revelation ;

Autocratization is now manifesting in a number of large countries including Brazil, India, Russia, Turkey, and the United States. It affects one third of the world’s population - some 2.5 billion people. 

Exclusion due to socio-economic status has continuously become more severe since the 1970s. Intensified political exclusion now affect poorer groups in countries home to one-quarter of the world’s population, or almost 2 billion people. Despite gradual advances, inclusion remains an illusion.

Anna Lührmann, leader of Democracy Report group makes a further discomfiting observation :

 “....the aspects of democracy that make elections truly meaningful are in decline. Media autonomy, freedom of expression and alternative sources of information, and the rule of law have undergone the greatest declines among democracy metrics in recent years.” 

The report based on world’s largest data set on democracy including the assessments of more 3,000 democracy experts for 201 countries goes beyond the simple presence of elections to delve into universally accepted attributes of democracy. Working in association with Kellog Institute of international Studies, V-Dem project measures five high-level principles of democracy: electoral, liberal, participatory, deliberative, and egalitarian. 

For India, the implications of the study are perturbing- quality of democracy is in sharp decline since 2014 under the present regime , and the debasement is disquietingly uniform across almost all the attributes that contribute to the five core principles. See the graphs below. 

A deterioration in these indices imply diminishing degrees of respectful dialogue at all levels from preference formation to final decision ; higher impact of emotional appeals ,solidarity attachments, parochial interests and coercion in decision making; lesser distribution of political power across social groups particularly in the  material functions of agenda-setting, protection under law, and influence over policy making; lower responsiveness and accountability between leaders and citizen, the bedrock of electoral democracy; reduced protection of individual and minority rights against tyranny of the state and the majority : growing exclusion of citizen in political processes ,electoral and non- electoral.

The graphs highlight major erosion in elemental attributes of democracy like Freedom of Expression, Rule of Law, Freedom of Association. The Liberal Index, steady at 0.52 -0.53 between 2010-14 ,slid down to 0.43. Among its components, the freedom of expression nosedived from 0.85 to 0.65, and so did civil society participation from 0.85 to 0.65.

Equally worrisome is the auto-censorship by media moguls that puts a protective shield over the establishment. Criticism of governance or the governing elites is deemed blasphemous and gets  self-censored. Complete laissez-faire, even propagating fake news and doctored videos, however, prevails for broadcasts/reports inimical to opposition parties. The moguls have no qualms about It. Many journos who chose to follow their journalistic conscience rather than the mogul’s bible are now on streets. M/s Prasun Bajpai ( exposing that the video chat of PM with beneficiaries of state welfare schemes in Chattisgarh was scripted ), Harish Khare (pointing flaws in Aadhar database). Bobby Ghosh (not taking down the web page Hate Tracker in HT ), Krishna Prasad (story ‘operation baby’ on RSS) , Angshukanta Chakravorty ( refusing to take down a personal tweet............

There are several other incontrovertible signposts that point to a qualitative change for the worse in our democratic polity. Not the least is a studied refusal by the ruling party to share political power with minorities at all levels of governance. Citing one more instance, thousands of NGOs engaged in protecting tribal rights, or agitating for constitutional rights of weaker sections, the dispossessed and disadvantaged, or in making them self sufficient have been forced to close shop. All of this and much more lends strong support to the findings of V-Dem 2018. With GINI coefficient ,a measure of wealth inequalities , touching 0.83 (coefficient of 1 is max inequality) India already has a big social problem on hand - ranking among the most unequal nations in the world. Therefore ,the country’s interest are  best served by making a dispassionate dissection of the report and taking necessary ameliorative measures instead of living in denial or standing on pride.

Marginalised minorities, strident trumpeting of  majoritarian ethos in socio-political life, reduced freedoms of expression and association do not conduce to a meaningfully vibrant democracy. The rallying cry of the times shouldn’t be ‘ Hindus Khatre mein’ , if anything, it should reverberate with   ‘democracy khatre mein’ .