Congress reshuffling an empty deck?
The clock is ticking for the ruling Congress party. Ever since the national auditor’s report blew the lid off the 2G spectrum scandal, the second term of the UPA government has been clouded by incessant talk of premature general elections or who will lead India in 2014.
As rumours do the rounds of a possible reshuffle of the Congress party after the Budget session, one gets the sense that India’s grand old party is starting to prepare for national elections, even if they are two years away. And rightly so, especially after its disastrous performance in Uttar Pradesh, the state that sends the largest number of lawmakers to parliament. While no political party is likely to secure majority if national elections were to be held today, regional parties could hold sway.
The Congress’ present situation is a throwback to the 1960s when the party was trying to revitalise its functioning in the face of declining popularity and vote share. Indira Gandhi ruled India for eleven consecutive years, followed by another term later that was cut short by her assassination. After her son Rajiv came to power and his destiny followed his mother’s, the Congress returned to power for only one term until the UPA government came to power in 2004.
This time it is unlikely the reshuffle will actually revive the party — with a generation of leaders close to retirement and a severe shortage of mid-level talent, Congress has few obvious options. There is still little clarity about succession.
It is also unlikely Manmohan Singh will be the prime ministerial candidate again. There is uncertainty over whether party president Sonia Gandhi’s son Rahul can run both the party and a government, if required. Nor does the party nurture its leaders to lead from the front. And with no other option in sight, Sonia Gandhi ailing and unwilling to lead, and the current PM conspicuously inert, the Congress party is increasingly faceless.
The Congress’ leadership vacuum could boost the fortunes of regional political parties, their rising power evident in the recently concluded assembly elections. As for the BJP, which has its eyes on New Delhi ever since its 2004 India Shining campaign bombed, there could be two scenarios — elections could cost the party dear if it doesn’t put its own house in order; or the unpredictable Indian voter might just have a typical mood swing and decide to elect the pro-Hindu party once again.
Indian politicians and the art of the tell-all memoir
Along with the likes of Shakespeare, Britain has a longstanding literary tradition of a different kind — the explosive political biography, memoir or diary.
Britons can gorge on countless books of their lawmakers who wash their dirty linen — and other people’s linen — in public. The diaries of Alan Clark in the 1980s gave readers a glimpse of the tears and infighting in Margaret Thatcher’s government as well as his own amorous conquests.
The diaries of Alastair Campbell, Prime Minister Tony Blair’s press man, were a sensation, and were followed by the memoirs of Blair himself where he described his relationship with Chancellor Gordon Brown as like being “a couple who loved each other, arguing over whose career should come first”, then calling Brown a “strange guy” with zero emotional intelligence.
But while British parliamentarians willingly divulge what they had for breakfast, in India, the world’s biggest democracy, the opposite is true. Tidbits of news might make for good gossip in the corridors of power in New Delhi, but they rarely get a public airing.
A sizeable chunk of Indian public opinion also says it’s not anyone’s business what their politicians really think or what they get up to in their personal lives. Debate about prominent figures in public life is rare. Witness the furore after the publication of a biography which suggested Mahatma Gandhi was bisexual, which sparked moves to make insulting Gandhi a jailable offence.
Last year, the Congress party came down like a ton of bricks on a Spanish novel “El Sari Rojo” (The Red Sari), purporting to dramatise the “tale of the Nehru-Gandhi family told through the story of Sonia Gandhi”.
What a time it would be for Indian politicians to follow the British example. The country is in the grip of what is probably the biggest corruption scandal India has ever seen, which may have drained up to $39 billion from the public exchequer and which has battered Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government. Imagine a tell-all memoir by Singh — who unlike his European and American counterparts almost never gives interviews.
The common perception is that Indian politicians are ugly, lying scoundrels. So when they finally get pushed out of public life, we say “good riddance”. No one wants to have anything to do with their lives afterwards so their self boasting bundles of lies don’t sell.
Congress’ 2007 leadership whispers underscore 2011 election dangers
Rumblings within the ruling Congress party that suggested the “jettison” of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after the party’s electoral failures in state elections in 2007, cited in a secret diplomatic cable published on Monday, are a timely reminder of the dangerous implications of failure for Congress in elections this month.
The electorates of Assam, Kerala, Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal will go the polls this month to elect new state legislatures, in the first tests of public confidence in India’s ruling party that has been implicated in a string of multi-billion-dollar corruption scandals over the past nine months.
Singh, a 78-year-old technocrat and economic reformist, had his leadership questioned by senior aides to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who mooted a more politically sellable replacement following electoral defeats in Punjab and Uttarakhand, detailed a U.S. state department cable accessed by WikiLeaks and published by The Hindu newspaper.
The Prime Minister, who has seen his previously impeccable reputation tarnished by a number of government scams committed on his watch over the past nine months, may find himself under similar pressure from the party’s “old guard” — the socialist bloc more closely aligned with the party’s left-leaning past — should Congress stumble in the upcoming elections.
“Following a string of recent local-level electoral defeats in Mumbai, Uttarakhand, and Punjab, Sonia Gandhi and her personal advisors are very concerned that the impending Uttar Pradesh elections will turn out horribly for Congress. As a result, some are advocating that she jettison Prime Minister Singh… and put a more saleable political face at the head of the government,” wrote the U.S. embassy’s Charge D’Affaires Geoffrey Pyatt in the secret cable.
“What seems clear in the aftermath of recent polls is that the reform cadre of Manmohan Singh, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, and Finance Minister Chidambaram are politically diminished, Sonia Gandhi’s inner coterie is deeply worried, and the old line Congress and their Communist fellow-travelers are empowered.”
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.
Sonia Gandhi faces rare criticism of her leadership
In her nearly 13 years as the all-powerful chief of the Congress party which heads India’s ruling coalition, Sonia Gandhi has, of late, rarely faced criticism of her leadership.
If anything, she has appeared to tighten her grip on the party since her early days as its leader when her authority was challenged by a trio of senior Congress leaders, who were subsequently expelled.
So when G. Venkataswamy, veteran Congress leader from southern Andhra Pradesh state, questioned Sonia’s ability to lead on Tuesday, going so far as to even suggest that she step down, it received wide publicity in the Indian press.
Venkataswamy, a member of the Congress Working Committee, the party’s highest policy making body and a seven-time MP, said he doubted Sonia could help the party win in the 2014 general election.
The apparent reason for Venkataswamy’s diatribe against Sonia is the party’s move to align with another regional party opposing a demand to divide Andhra Pradesh. Venkataswamy backs the bifurcation of the state which is home to such global corporations as Microsoft and Google. He also blamed Sonia for failing to curb growing corruption in the government.
But is Venkataswamy’s criticism a lone, isolated voice or does it mask more simmering discontent against Sonia’s leadership beneath an apparently calm surface?
My answer to the following question in the last sentence of the article would be YES:
“But is there a chance he was only articulating what many in Congress party agree with but few will ever air in public?”
The ‘Manmohan’ factor reins in the Congress
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is accused of looking the other way while murky deals were on in the telecom ministry.
He has drawn flak from the opposition and his personal integrity was questioned in what may be India’s largest corruption scandal.
But with few alternatives for his role as a fill-in for the Congress heir apparent, it is no surprise Singh is being stoutly backed by his boss, powerful party chief Sonia Gandhi.
Not having a constituency or political ambitions of his family to nurture, Singh perhaps has little use for the prime minister’s chair and may be tempted to leave it all.
But if not Manmohan Singh, then who?
After all, Singh was such an inspired choice for the prime minister’s post that another nominee may not be able to fill his shoes.
The Congress cupboard seems quite bare if one looks for a face that is nationally known, has political heft and is unquestionably loyal.
Adviser’s attack on Congress shows party tensions
Appearing to signal dissent in the ranks of India’s ruling Congress party, the Prime Minister’s media adviser told reporters last night that the “status-quoist” party was only concerned with winning elections.
“The Congress is by nature a status-quoist, pragmatic party,” Harish Khare, media adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was reported by the Hindustan Times as saying on Tuesday.
“It does not believe in any conviction. (Its) only conviction is to win elections,” the Indian Express added.
The implications of Khare’s remarks are complicated. As the PM’s spokesperson, he’s distanced from the political powerhouse of Sonia Gandhi, the real puller of Congress party strings but privy to the opinions of ruling policymakers.
Indeed, one argument says there’s nothing inherently scandalous in his words. Winning elections is the raison d’etre of political parties and “status-quoist, pragmatic” – perhaps not the exact words party chiefs would use – aligns with the party’s goal of poverty alleviation and social development.
Yet it will surely add to the ripples of discontent that appear to be spreading through the party. A few weeks ago, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul, regarded as a prime-minister-in-waiting, appeared to criticise Singh for his approach to land ownership reforms, and forced him to ensure the party would work toward greater rights for India’s farmers.
Congress, the largest party in India’s parliament and the head of a ruling alliance with some local and state parties, is effectively run by Gandhi. Former finance minister and technocrat Singh was appointed prime minister after she led the party to election success in 2004 and is only involved in government business. The need to appease key coalition partners such as Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Conference has stalled crucial reforms, and crippled the ability of the party to utilise its second consecutive term in power — so far.
A rare news conference by the PM
“The prime minister of India rarely gets to speak, face-to-face, with the people of India,” writes historian Ramachandra Guha.
We might add the next-best-possible substitute ‘the media’ to this plaint.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will indeed have a rare conversation with the media on May 24, while presenting a report card on his government’s first year in office.
This is only the second time in six years the media gets to interact with the prime minister on a many-to-one basis.
So what prevents him?
Sonia Gandhi hardly ever gives interviews but then she is not a part of the government.
Manmohan Singh occupies a constitutional post being the de facto leader of the country.
I can not but highly appreciate the main and governing key point affecting our growing economy.It is corruption only corruption which is the root cause of our poverty,hunger ,backwardness and what not.The corruption is also in the root of poor, careless and slack administration.Until and unless we get over this ghostly and devastating problem ,we can not make speedy progress.The administrative reforms committee’s report is still lying unimplemented.As long as the administration reform is not done ,there is no hope of good development.So the need of the hour is to uproot the corruption from its very root.
Should Nalini be released?
(UPDATE: Media reports say Nalini Sriharan may soon be freed)
Nalini Sriharan is currently serving a life sentence for her role in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Part of Nalini’s plea is that she does not expect to live long due to her deteriorating health after spending nearly two decades in prison.
Nalini, her husband and two others were sentenced to death for conspiring to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.
But her sentence was commuted to life imprisonment at the pleading of Sonia Gandhi, head of the ruling Congress and widow of Rajiv, so that Nalini’s young daughter would not be orphaned.
Priyanka Gandhi met Nalini in jail last year and later said the meeting helped her come to terms with her father’s loss.
The Gandhi family appears to have made peace with Nalini.
Nalini must be released.
She has been punished for 18 years now. It is more than enough.
Valmiki was a dacoit and went on to write the Ramayana.
Nalini has also completed MCA – she can do wonders if given a chance.
To err is human to forgive divine.
Will the Congress party’s austerity drive work?
When India’s ruling Congress party asked ministers and bureaucrats to cut down on needless expenses at a time of recession and deepening drought, many in the country had one question on their lips: will the austerity drive work?Rahul Gandhi tried to set an example by travelling by train as an ordinary passenger. His mother, Sonia, abandoned her private army plane and flew economy class on a commercial flight for a party rally in Mumbai.But there is still a great deal of scepticism among people. Some of the doubting was fuelled after the train Rahul was travelling in was pelted with stones. Experts said Rahul’s train trip was a security risk, which could cramp the austerity drive.But it’s not just the security concerns alone. The austerity drive also drew ridicule following a controversy over two senior government ministers staying in luxury hotel suites priced at $1,000 and $1,500 a night until their official residences were ready.Both ministers said they’d paid for their suites themselves, but stung by criticism amid the government’s austerity drive, they moved to more modest temporary homes.However, it was too late to change the mind of ordinary Indians who over years of Nehruvian socialism had begun to associate Congress politicians as leaders in simple hand-spun cotton, or khadi, clothes who drove around in old-fashioned Ambassador cars.Now, the question many are asking is: will the austerity drive last with election campaigns for Maharashtra and Haryana about to begin?True, with the economy in trouble, the government is making an effort with the finance ministry appealing for fewer overseas trips and smaller entourages as well as a ban on conferences in luxury hotels.But it isn’t easy: one minister protested he was “too tall” to fly economy while another said their positions demand they entertain in style.So, will the government’s austerity drive last? The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) doesn’t think so. A BJP spokesman said it was just an “election gimmick” and they would go back to their usual ways once the state elections were over.Will they?
Ganesh Naik duo clean sweep in Navi MumbaiIT WAS a clean sweep for the Nationalist Congress Party in Navi Mumbai with the father-son duo of Ganesh Naik and Sandeep Naik emerging victorious in Belapur and Airoli, the two Assembly constituencies in the satellite city.While it was a smooth ride for three-term MLA and state excise, labour and environment minister Ganesh Naik against BJP’s Suresh Haware, son Sandeep Naik faced nervous moments as Shiv Sena’s Vijay Chougule steadily garnered more votes in the initial phase of the counting. Despite having lost to Sandeep’s brother Sanjeev Naik in the Thane constituency in the recent Lok Sabha elections by over 40,000 votes, the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance had again fielded Airoli corporator Chougule to challenge the Naik supremacy. http://www.ganeshnaik.com/http://navimum bai-ganeshjinaik.blogspot.com/ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Ganesh _Naik
