Let India, not Time, judge Manmohan

It was only a few days back that Time magazine had branded Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as an ‘underachiever’ on its cover. The grave fault the US magazine found with the economist PM was that he ‘refused to stick out his neck’ for the liberalisation reforms.
Well... The magazine is entitled to its opinions as it operates from a free country. We regret to tell you that majority of the 1.3 billion citizens of our country live on below $1 per day (Though according to Planning Commission that might be upscale lifestyle) and their priority is not exactly rolling out red carpet welcome to Wal-Mart and other global giants circling the Indian retail skies.
The BJP was quick to grab the new stick to beat the Centre with, but seems to be oblivious to the fact that the same magazine had described its stalwart and former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee as ‘asleep at wheel’ in 2002. The main Opposition party must not forget that it is not in the best of health and is yet to catch its breath after putting out fires in its Southern base Karnataka, where a local caste strongman got the national party on its knees.
The BJP constantly uses terms such as ‘weak, puppet, indecisive’ to describe Singh but forgets that the ‘strong’ NDA prime minister was comparatively less effectual. The Parivar campaign of going ‘swadeshi’ was the first casualty when the NDA government overtook the Congress in the road to liberalisation and selling off PSUs.
While in the Opposition, the BJP was always ranting about how it would strike at terrorist camps in Pakistan if elected to power. The much-touted nuclear tests failed to stop Kargil intrusions.
When terrorists attacked Indian Parliament, the government launched the biggest ever troop deployment to the Western border in Operation Parakram, but chickened out when generals on the other side of the border threatened to use nukes.
Terrorists continued to strike with impunity and the controversial anti-terror law Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act (POTA) was used mostly for political vendetta. But the biggest blot was the Gujarat riots of 2002. In a well-planned and methodical manner, thousands were butchered while the state machinery looked the other away or acted in complicity.
And for the regional outfits, caste parties and Mao-worshippers, they have all proven their hypocritical sides by diverging from declared policies and ideologies to retain power, fatten wallets and woo vote banks. Media is a vital constituent of democracy, but it is not the last word.
The Fourth Estate is not devoid of vested interests. Most media houses have business interests and this reflects in their analysis of news. In India, the most recent example was regarding the implementation of Wage Board recommendations for journalists.
The publishing houses, who are otherwise at each others’ throats, united in publishing story after story about a grand conspiracy to bleed the industry — and never implemented the recommendations. If Singh’s hands have been tied, it’s due to coalition compulsions.
When your government’s survival is dependent on people like Mayawati, Mamata Banerjee and Karunanidhi, the elbow room available is little.
 Despite all that, Singh has steered the country through economic doldrums in different capacities. He is free of corruption (though not the same can be said about his colleagues and allies), a gentleman and a statesman of international standing. He has never responded to vicious criticism by stooping to that level.
He might have several shortcomings, but is still the prime minister and the hope for this country to ride out of economic and political storms. And those baying for his blood must come up with credible alternatives (no, not the BJP).
Let Indian public, and not Time, be the judge of its prime minister.
(This article was published as the editorial column in Postnoon on July 11, 2012)

Uncle Sam roars at terror, India purrs

The US announcement of $10 million bounty on Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafeez Sayeed has sent the entire Indian government, security and diplomatic circles into an applause overdrive. Little time was lost in appreciating the US gesture while reiterating New Delhi’s demand to Pakistan to bring the mastermind of 26/11 attacks to justice.
However, India’s reaction and subsequent rhetoric from various quarters resembles a kitten baring its claws in the shadow of a roaring lion and expecting to generate equal amount of awe.
Global diplomatic circles and definitely Pakistan are not fooled by the Indian sabre rattling. India has an abysmal record of following up its threats of punitive action and retaliation.
This was last evident when Pakistani terrorists attacked the Parliament in 2001. India mounted its biggest ever mobilisation, termed Operation Parakram, threatening to react with force if Pakistan did not rein in the terror operatives.
However, India chickened out in the face of Pakistani threat of first use of nuclear weapons. The massive operation which saw almost half-a-million troops and war equipment moved to forward offensive positions fizzled out — the balance sheet was thousands of crores wasted, several lives lost in accidents and loss of face in front of the international community.
More than a decade has passed and there has been no dearth of Pakistan-sponsored terrorist attacks on Indian soil. India has been liberally handing out warnings and threats at each occasion — hot pursuit a favourite phrase.
Even on this doctrine, the Indian establishment has not been able to speak in one voice. When a General talks about targeting militant camps across the border, the bureaucratic and political leadership openly declare their commitment to self-restraint.
The ultimate result of lack of political will to pursue the country’s national interests is that neither Pakistan nor the terrorists groups it nurtures take India seriously. And we have an inglorious legacy of letting every terrorist group to slaughter and walk away with impunity.
The chiefs of all Pakistan-based terrorist outfits have been travelling all over Middle East raising funds and the super-secretive RAW’s operatives have not even plucked a hair of any one of them.
Indian public could watch only with helplessness when Dawood Ibrahim and his confidants, who engineered the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, were seen LIVE on TV cheering during a Sharjah Cup match. This was at a time when Indian sleuths and international agencies such as the Interpol were following every procedure in the book to get him extradited (if they could locate him in the first place) for crimes committed in India.
No country allows terrorists to mess with it and walk away unscathed. After 9/11, the Americans launched a global war on terror and did not rest till Osama bin Laden was killed. The Russians, the French, the British and the Israelis go to any extent to seek and destroy the elements who threaten national security.
However, India is content with cumbersome procedures and strict adherence to international covenants, and that too in a complacent manner which would make the techniques of the 19th century Congress moderates look like militant nationalists.
After begging all over the world for information and extraditions, our result is always blank. India’s ‘most wanted’ criminals and terrorist operatives continue to ply their trade without any interruption. At times one can’t help but wonder if our government is waiting for god to punish them.
For all the touting of our military might and the elite special forces, we remain toothless by choice while the enemies of the country continue to bleed us through a thousand wounds.

(This article was published as the editorial column in Postnoon on April 4, 2012)