Has India lost its ‘cartoon’ humour?
The Indian government’s decision to withdraw a controversial cartoon from a political science textbook this week couldn’t have been more ironic. Just a day earlier, India had observed the 60th anniversary of the first sitting of its parliament, seen as one of the pillars of the world’s largest democracy.
While it is best left to our imagination as to why the cartoon, roughly as old as the Indian republic itself, created the controversy now, the government’s reaction to the row is alarming and sets a dangerous precedent. The cartoon shows India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, holding a whip as the father of the Indian constitution, B R Ambedkar, is seated on a snail. It was first published in 1949, and was reprinted in a textbook a few years ago – without anyone batting an eyelid. The cartoonist’s intent was to caricature the slow pace at which the constitution was being finalised.
The government’s decision now to withdraw the cartoon and subsequently review all textbooks could be perceived as an attempt to pacify a certain section of society. Ambedkar is an icon for the cause of the Dalits — India’s former “untouchables” – and is deeply revered by millions in the country today.
But has the Indian state gone too far to regulate the freedom of expression?
A few instances in the past are a case in point. In 2011, the government passed a law to regulate content on the Internet.
In June, New Delhi police sparked an outcry with a heavy-handed crackdown on anti-corruption protesters camped out overnight.
Last August, Gandhian activist Anna Hazare was arrested ahead of his fast against corruption — drawing thousands of protesters onto the streets of the capital. And most recently, the government asked a TV network to move the premiere of the National Award winning ‘The Dirty Picture’ to the late night slot.
Sachin Tendulkar: from Wankhede to parliament
So it’s just a matter of time, according to media reports, before Sachin Tendulkar swaps his India jersey for starched white and walks into the Rajya Sabha.
While the clamour was growing to honour him with the Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian award, few expected him to be nominated to the upper house.
That too when he is not yet done with cricket.
Tendulkar’s meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi at her residence on Thursday was probably the early inkling of a new innings and by afternoon, political parties were falling over each other to congratulate him.
In a cricket-crazy country that considers him ‘God’, the reaction was pretty much on expected lines.
Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien said in a tweet that former Hindustan Lever chairman Ashok Ganguly, who occupies seat number 100 in Rajya Sabha, is even ready to vacate it for the 39-year-old Mumbaikar who has scored 100 international centuries.
For a man not really known for speaking his mind out on issues other than cricket, not many are sure how much Tendulkar can contribute as a parliamentarian.
Amid parliamentary impasse, MPs cheer more perks
On the way to New Delhi’s international airport, three armed men lean out of the windows of a jeep, furiously waving at the steady stream of traffic to pull over.
As the cars swerve to the dusty edge of the highway, a convoy of a dozen sleek sedans zips past in a blaze of whining sirens and flashing red beacons, breaking all traffic regulations and leaving behind a tangle of vehicles in its wake.
A local politician is late for his flight.
Such situations are likely to become even more commonplace in Asia’s third-largest economy, thanks to a committee that this week submitted a report calling for all MPs to have flashing lights put on their cars to allow them to speed through the country’s clogged streets.
While India’s lawmakers cannot reach a consensus on key economic reforms in parliament (thanks to party infighting) due to shouting across the aisles and drowning out of the speaker, they unanimously rooted for a status upgrade on a list of India’s VIPs.
“MPs have zero work to show on their report card & yet have no hesitation in demanding increase in official status! Earn your increment Mr MP,” tweeted Rahul Kanwal, the executive director of Indian news channel Headlines Today, while “MPs” trended on micro-blogging site Twitter.
Unfortunately in India, there are no pre-set eligibility criteria for becoming a politician. Unlike other government jobs political leaders need no educational or extracurricular qualifications in order to hold the position of a minister.These are small positions but a politician or minister has huge responsibilities, then why not there is an criteria or exam set to judge the qualities of a political candidate?
The dog days of India’s bizarre summer of politics
Perhaps the government’s decision to push back the opening of the upcoming monsoon session of parliament was not the best idea. For as the dog days of the sub-continent’s sweltering summer drag on, the parliament-less politicians sweat from the sublime to the ridiculous in the baking heat.
From the haphazard ensemble of senior ministers that flocked to New Delhi’s airport to greet yoga guru turned social activist Swami Ramdev with more fanfare than is reserved for visiting heads of state, to the current conspiracy swirling New Delhi surrounding espionage chewing gum found in the finance minister’s private chambers, it has been a bizarre summer for politics fuelled by the hungry media in the world’s largest democracy.
Kapil Sibal, as Human Resource and Development minister, could have spent his summer break drawing up plans to overhaul an education sector that looks dangerously inadequate to deal with the demographic dividend of millions of young Indians that New Delhi likes to trumpet. Instead, he spent his days holed up in five-star hotels begging Ramdev not to stop eating, and playing it coy in press conferences after quietly ignoring veteran activist Anna Hazare’s demands for a stronger anti-graft bill.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who has seen a series of economic data releases over the past month pour cold water on optimistic growth prospects, spent the majority of his summer trying to chair what appeared to be most unruly meetings on the anti-graft legislation, but has stolen the headlines recently with a mind-boggling story involving government secrets, ministerial rivalries and old-school espionage — all bonded together with chewing gum.
With TV channels and opposition politicians dubbing it “India’s Watergate”, and political figures from across the spectrum weighing in on the sticky mess, there appears little evidence to go on than a few errant pieces of gum stuck under various desks in Mukherjee’s chambers. With the minister himself telling the media to take their conspiracy theories elsewhere, it appears more a case of unhygienic office visitors than dastardly undercover spies.
Outside of the cabinet, the summer bug spread as the mercury rose.
Since over last 40 years Indian governments could never contain corruption comprehensively with any effective political/legal systems through the defaulters could be booked. As a result a large amount black money could easily take a ‘flight’ to foreign destinations and stashed by several corrupt officials, businessmen, politicians etc. Indian civil society has realised that Indians are still enslaved unnder corrupt government who has already proved limbless on containing corruption. Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev too this bold initiative to awaken the people of India on rampant corruption. Ministers representing government on Lokpal Bill drafting committee have started throwing misleading comments, impressions, casting aspersions on honest members of the civil society. None of the elected members of the parliament could ever come out openly against the ruling government on the issues of corruption. Now the government is holding a hot brick of pressures from civil society in one hand, while trying to keep corruption in place by the other. Civil Society’s draft is simple, straight forward, fit for implementation. In short the government is inviting a stiff stir and revolution from the people of India. This situation will indeed shatter Indian economy and security. We all shall have to pay a heavy price ultimately, and learn good lesson in a hard way.
Disruptive opposition blames government for parliament woes
A lack of accountability from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a failure of consultation by his ruling Congress-led coalition and too few days of legislative business, rather than opposition protests that smothered months of legislative debate, are to blame for the paralysis of India’s parliamentary democracy, the leader of India’s opposition party wrote on Monday.
Making no reference to the weeks of protest by his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that saw opposition members shouting, chanting and waving placards in the well of both houses to force the cancellation of an entire legislative session and threaten the passage of the 2011-12 budget, Arun Jaitley called for more “proper conduct” from Indian MPs in an opinion piece in The Indian Express that appeared to lay the blame of parliamentary disruption at the government’s door.
“In the last few decades the participation of prime ministers in parliamentary debates has declined. Their effective intervention is confined to reading written texts prepared by their offices. This is unacceptable… The PM has to be the most accountable in a democracy. His depleting presence in Parliament compels one to suggest (the British system of Prime Minister’s Questions) be successfully replicated in India,” Jaitley wrote.
Reticent Singh is typically media-shy, but a slew of corruption charges against his party compelled him to hold a rare press conference live on national television in February, where he vowed he would not step down despite increasing pressure from Jaitley’s party.
“To meet for less than 70 days in a year is inadequate. Short durations lead to paucity of time available for debates, issues of public importance and legislation. When members, particularly from the opposition, want to raise several issues, the privilege is denied for paucity of time. The gagging of debate leads to obstructionism. Parliamentary obstructionism then becomes an acceptable mode to highlight an issue of public importance,” Jaitley wrote, without making reference to the BJP protest of parliament.
“The government and the opposition both have a key role to play in Parliament. Conflicting opinions and at times even tensions between the two bring out the best in Indian democracy. However, there must be healthy communication between the political leadership in government and the opposition,” Jaitley continued.
Government has a responsibility to see parliament runs smoothly irrespective of conditions prevailed. I think as a citizen the Government utilizing opposition protests as an opportunity to evade issues in the parliament.
The bitter truth behind BJP’s deafening budget silence
To some, the parliamentary walkout by India’s opposition prior to the vote on the country’s annual budget motion marked the failure of India’s ruling Congress party to engage with its primary adversary, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), over its claims that the Prime Minister had lied to parliament to protect his own reputation.
To others, the sight of BJP leader Sushma Swaraj leading her MPs out of the chamber as Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee prepared to deliver the most important parliamentary bill of the year encapsulated the sorry state of India’s increasingly bitter partisan politics that show no signs of repair since trumpeting corruption became the opposition’s raison d’etre. Swaraj would later tell The Hindu that her walkout was to avoid disrupting the passage of the bill, but the damning point rang out loud and clear: the opposition had decided the corruption drumbeat was more important than the budget.
Mukherjee had earlier pleaded with senior BJP leaders to allow the budget to be debated prior to any discussion on a parliamentary privilege motion submitted against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by Swaraj, promising a two-and-a-half hour debate on the issue after the budget had passed.
But as the budget was given precedent over the privilege motion, out trooped the opposition in protest, leaving a half-empty chamber to pass the bill that will keep the country financed on April 1.
India’s parliament was paralysed in November by opposition protests demanding an inquiry into allegations a minister had lost the exchequer up to $39 billion in a telecom spectrum scam, which eventually resulted in the entire winter session being abandoned. Since it reopened in February, after extensive negotiations between Congress and the BJP, various protests from the opposition over other corruption charges have resulted in adjournments and cancellation of parliamentary business.
With a slew of economic reforms seen crucial to India’s continued growth momentum gathering dust as MPs exchange insults and chants across the floor of both houses of parliament, the partisan politics that have turned India’s much-vaunted parliamentary democracy into a slanging match between government and opposition risk ruining far more than just the reputation of the primary belligerents.
India is witnessing the most corrupt and arrogant government meeting the most week and divided opposition. The prime minister says on the floor of parliament that he is not aware of most of corruption charges and opposition has not been able to put enough pressure on president to get the governmnent adjourned or at least sack the current PM. Soniya has broken all records in corruption that were set by her mother in law back then. God save us!!
Wikileaks cash for votes allegations implicate India’s Congress
India’s ruling Congress party offered cash for votes to pass a crucial 2008 confidence vote in parliament, a secret U.S. state cable released on Thursday said, embroiling Manmohan Singh’s beleaguered government in yet another corruption scandal that risks further opposition attacks on the graft-smeared coalition.
The secret U.S. state department cable obtained by WikiLeaks and published by The Hindu newspaper on Thursday details a conversation between a senior Congress party member and a U.S. Embassy official surrounding the payment of almost $9 million by a government facing a crucial confidence vote to members of a regional political party to secure their support.
While the cable could not be independently verified by Reuters, its contents threaten to expose illegal practices that many fear are part and parcel of Indian politics.
Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj, who has in recent months led a scathing attack on the Congress party-led coalition government for failing to tackle corruption in India, posted on Twitter: “The wikileaks details in today’s Hindu about payoffs to MPs are shocking. I will raise this issue in Parliament today.”
Both houses of parliament were adjourned after 30 minutes on Thursday after uproar over the cable’s contents.
The cable details a conversation between an aide of Satish Sharma, Congress party MP and close associate of party chief Sonia Gandhi, and U.S. Charge d’Affaires Steven White in which the aide states that four MPs belonging to the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) party had been paid 100 million rupees ($2.2 million) each in order to secure their support for the government in a tight confidence vote over the Congress party’s support of a nuclear deal between India and the U.S.
White, who authored the secret cable, described how Embassy staff were shown two chests containing 500-600 million rupees ($11-13 million) that had been earmarked for “use as pay-offs”.
Wikileaks, increasingly through partnerships with national newspapers such as The Hindu, is impacting government in many ways. What strikes us at Wikileaks-Movie.com is that the Wikileaks revelations, despite the challenge of independent verification, are forcing politicians, diplomats and the governments they serve through a process of self-examination and improvement in practices. The emerging disputes and conflagrations may be like an unhealthy forest which has had fire suppressed for too long and then, for a time, burns out of control until a balance can be restored.
Congress looks to seize the initiative as budget looms
It has been a winter to forget for India’s ruling Congress party, as a series of corruption scandals have muted its ability to control parliament, dented its popularity ratings and dappled the formerly dazzling-white kurta of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
But rumours of a deal with the emboldened opposition to launch a parliamentary probe into corruption allegations that would end months of paralysis, and a surprise attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership by one of their former ministers could signal a ceasefire in the war of words and a light at the end of the tunnel for Congress.
TV channels, citing party sources, reported a compromise deal between the warring parties on Tuesday, as Singh announced he would be conducting a broadcasted press conference with the editors of India’s leading news channels on Wednesday, in a move to clear the air over graft allegations and restore confidence in his leadership days before parliament opens on Feb. 21.
The BJP have had their tails up since October, when the 2G telecoms scam, estimated to have cost the Indian exchequer $39 billion, first made headlines. Since then, parliament has been washed out and Congress has been barraged by a never-ending series of allegations and criticisms over its rejection of a joint parliamentary enquiry, which could see Singh hauled before an investigatory committee.
But remarks by former BJP telecoms minister Arun Shourie on Monday, which accused senior party leaders Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj of doing nothing to expose the scandal, exposed cracks in the opposition that Congress may have looked to exploit in its negotiations over the scope of any investigation.
Congress have continually stressed that the scandal began during the BJP-led government; prior to Congress’ 2004 general election victory. Any agreement between Congress and the BJP — the Hindu-nationalist party that promotes a free-market economy and conservative social policy — will be announced by the Speaker in parliament itself, news channels reported.
Congress takes comfort in DMK smiles, for now
Smiles, handshakes and declarations of friendship abounded during a meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and DMK leader M. Karunanidhi on Monday, as the investigation into a $39 billion telecoms scam that has centred on the Tamil Nadu party appeared to have been forgotten in favour of coalition camaraderie. With parliament paralysed and DMK MP Andimuthu Raja sacked from his role as telecoms minister as a result of the scam, the last thing Singh needed was signs of dissent from a key member of his Congress party’s ruling coalition.
After appearing to snub the Prime Minister on his arrival on Sunday – choosing instead to “meet a poet” – Karunanidhi, also chief minister of Tamil Nadu, was all smiles during a 25-minute meeting, telling reporters afterwards that the relationship was “strong”.
Singh returned the favour, telling national broadcaster Doordarshan: “The alliance remains as strong as ever”.
It’s the first time that Singh has met Karunanidhi since raids by the Central Bureau of Investigation targeted the homes of Raja and other senior DMK politicians, and raided the non-governmental organisation in which Karunanidhi’s daughter is a director.
The sincerity of Karunanidhi’s smiles is crucial for the ruling Congress party.
Singh has pledged to appear before the Public Accounts Committee investigating the scandal in an attempt to end the parliamentary deadlock, but opposition politicians have continued their demands for a joint parliamentary committee probe.
And while reaching a compromise with the opposition is essential to get parliamentary business moving in the crucial upcoming budget session, maintaining the 18 votes that the DMK brings to the coalition is far more imperative for his government’s survival.
No longer business as usual for India’s parliament
The least productive parliament session in 25 years — this is not a milestone to be proud of in the world’s largest democracy.
Worse, next year’s budget session might bear the brunt of the present logjam, which is far from being resolved.
The deadlock raises questions beyond the usual debate about political ramifications. Are India’s MPs squandering public money, shelled out in the form of taxes, by stalling parliamentary proceedings?
Are they justified in holding parliament to ransom and using their positions as a political tool?
Newspapers reported two billion rupees were lost because of adjournments and interruptions in the lower house, the Lok Sabha, and more than 200 hours wasted in both houses of parliament.
Close to 500 questions were admitted in the Lok Sabha but only five of them could be answered during the 23 sittings of the winter session.
That is a Public Gimmick by Congress to forego the allowances. To coverup the everseen corruption. A PAC,CAG or even a CBI enquiry will not give light in to this corruption. So the JPC need of opposition is acceptable. It is not a loss to Indian Democracy.
we are not former untouchables we are untouchables in our motherland please verify facts and report.my suggestions to reuters is not to hire moorons and amateurs.i challange reuters make a cartoon on prophet and then see what sought of humour can happen Baba saheb is no less than a prophet to our communities be careful when reporting such issues or else it wont be any more a humour.