Crack open the gated communities of bureaucrats

When a certain section of people build walls around their society and restrict access to the general public, it develops into a ‘gated community’. The Indian bureaucrats have been one such restricted society that they have lost touch with the ordinary people. The legacy of this elite group goes back to 1774 when Warren Hastings, the Governor-General of India, created special institutions to train the civil servants for his administration in India. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the first Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of India, recreated the same civil service by just changing the name to Indian Administrative Service. The independent India inherited the ‘steel frame’ of the British Empire without changing its mission from rulers to administrators. Even today after 62 years of independence, these little rulers of India are oblivious of the needs of the governed. The District Magistrates are these little ‘Rajas’ of India.

Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda, better known as Dr Sam Pitroda cracked open this gated community in 1984 when he was invited by Rajiv Gandhi to join the Indian government and revolutionize the telecommunications sector. He established the Center for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) and the rest is history. India, where it took 10-15 years to get a telephone connection, is today the second largest mobile-phone user in the world. Nandan Nilekani is another high-powered outsider just drafted by Dr Manmohan Singh to radically change the social security system in India. It took India 25 years to enlist another entrepreneur to invade the still powerful gated community of Indian bureaucrats. Just like Sam Pitroda in 1980s, Nandan Nilekani would face tremendous pressure from the ‘little rajas’ of India to leave them alone. My wife and I have some shocking experiences with these IAS, IPS and IFS officers who shamed India at the Syracuse University, New York.

The majesty of Indian government taking oath of office

Indians should be proud of their democracy and the majesty of its traditions. Last Friday, May 22, 2009, the elected members of the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) and the opposition Members of Parliament gathered in the Ashoka Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan in central Delhi for the swearing-in ceremony. The historic Ashoka Hall was packed to the capacity, the bugles sounded and the Presidential Guard marched in, escorting the President of India to the chambers. The national anthem was played and the entire Indian leadership stood in honor. Indian President Pratibha Patil administered the oath of office and secrecy to the prime minister and 19 cabinet ministers. The new Congress-led government was sworn in for a second term of five years, with Dr Manmohan Singh taking oath as the next Prime Minister of India. Manmohan Singh is only the second Indian Prime Minister after Jawaharlal Nehru to be returned to power following a full five-year term. The Congress party won a decisive mandate in the recent polls and Dr Manmohan Singh has emerged as an honest and a popular leader. This was Indian democracy at its best!

The evolution of India’s foreign policy – Part VI

Vishwanath Pratap Singh and his National Front formed a minority government on December 2, 1989 with outside support from Bharatiya Janata Party and the communists from the left. This was not a viable government to begin with. Just the opposition to Rajiv Gandhi was not enough reason to hold these disparate groups of over-ambitious politicians together for long. He lost the vote of confidence in the Indian Parliament on November 10, 1990 and resigned as the 10th Prime Minister of India. Chandra Shekhar with just 64 MPs staked the claim to form the government; he had the tacit support of Rajiv Gandhi, the leader of the opposition. Just like his mother in 1980, Rajiv Gandhi withdrew his support to Chandra Shekhar government on June 21, 1991. Just like the Janata Party (1977 – 1980) this non-Congress experiment barely lasted for 18 months. India was sending bad signals to the world community about the resilience of its opposition parties and its democratic institutions.

Meanwhile, Mikhail Gorbachev was elected General Secretary by Politburo in 1985 in the Soviet Union. He came with a new idea of “Glasnost” (openness) and “Perestroika” (restructuring) and a determination to dissolve the oppressive Soviet Union. Gorbachev pulled out his troops from Afghanistan and ended the “Cold War”. This distant development changed everything for India. The left-leaning mandarins in Delhi were left like orphans and had no fall-back positions. India’s foreign policy drifted for the next few years as the socialist India was pushed into unchartered waters. Neither V P Singh nor Chandra Shekhar was a born-again ideologue like the Nehrus. They both cooperated with the United States of America during the first ‘Gulf War’ and were willing to expand trade and commerce. American establishment was also directed to move forward kicking and screaming under Reagan and Bush.

India’s foreign policy post Rajiv Gandhi looked a bit more humble in terms of its immediate neighborhood, except Pakistan. Prime Minister V P Singh pulled out the discredited IPKF (Indian Peace Keeping Force) from Sri Lanka and extended a hand of friendship towards Nepal. Pakistan as usual was the spoiler and managed to have bad relations with 10 Prime Ministers of India. Relations with China were moving slowly but in the right direction. The most important post independence relationship for India with former Soviet Union was on a more realistic level. India for the first time started looking to develop bilateral relationships with European Union and Japan. The Indo-US dialogue was moving forward as America was looking at the subcontinent with renewed anxiety about the developing nuclear capabilities of India and Pakistan.

Rajiv Gandhi at this time was hell-bent on playing dirty politics. He lambasted Prime Minister Chander Shekhar for allowing the refueling of American aircrafts at Bombay airport for the Persian Gulf. Had he been the Prime Minister at that time, he would have done exactly what the Indian government was doing. But morals have never been the virtue of Nehru-Gandhi family. They are all political animals and would do just about anything to gain power. It was not long before Rajiv Gandhi withdrew Congress Party’s support to the Chander Shekhar government and plunged the nation once again into a costly general elections. This irresponsible action by Rajiv Gandhi was very damaging to India’s relations with the US led coalition against Iraq since Chandra Shekhar government was negotiating billions of dollars from the IMF and World Bank. Mercifully President George H W Bush understood the Indian government’s dilemma and did not make an issue out of it. Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on May 21, 1991 by LTTE at a rally while campaigning in Tamil Nadu.

Has India’s stature shrunk after the crisis?

The media coverage of the three day seize of Taj and Oberoi Trident Hotels as well as Nariman House was absolutely unprecedented and extensive. Why was that? The simple answer should be that this kind of hostage situation is rare, but the more important reason is that now India matters! Americans were quite shaken-up by the scale and intensity of the carnage. They have a better appreciation of the danger and their own vulnerability after 9/11. Americans may not admit this but they depend on India to keep the sub-continent under control. Indian democracy is a major component of United States’ sense of it’s own security. What the world saw during the wall-to-wall coverage of Taj Hotel’s seize was the rag-tag outfit called ‘Bombay Police’ and a belated entry of ill-equipped National Security Guard.

The worst picture that India presented was that of state and federal politicians. The Maharashtra politicians took the incompetence to the next level. Their Marathi-English laced with ‘ani’ after ever word was not bad enough; Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh had the nerve to show his dentures to the grieving population. The other yo-yo was the little R R Patil, the disgraceful deputy chief minister and also the home-minister of Maharashtra. When caught on camera, trying to slip away, denied any responsibility to the carnage what-so-ever. He not only refused to resign his undeserved position but was seen arguing with the media over it. Mercifully few in America and the rest of the world would consider them important enough. Only the Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh or the Foreign Minister, Pranab Mukherjee is seen as the face of Indian Government. Both came across as weak and ineffective. Mukherjee and A K Antony (Defence Minister of India) do not have much stature to begin with, literally. They both stand tall at 4’11” a piece. They look like midgets standing next to the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. So in that sense India did not have much stature to loose in the first place, but if they continue to diddle and not take some decisive action against Pakistan, then India would certainly loose its stature and credibility in the world. ‘Enough is Enough’, it is time to act!

Lalu Prasad Yadav is no “Lulloo”…

Lalu Prasad Yadav is a very savvy politician today. Was he always so shrewd or not, is difficult to judge but he has certainly grown in his job. Lalu has a very solid base in his home-state of Bihar and therefore brings a huge political capital to the Union Cabinet. Unlike the political gigolos like Shivraj Patil (Union Minister for Home Affairs) and Pranab Mukherjee (Minister for External Affairs of India) who have zero base in their home-states and bring absolutely nothing to the Central Government. These two characters are disgustingly loyal to Sonia Gandhi (Congress Party President) and pose no regional or national challenge to her unqualified writ on the Indian Government. Unlike Lalu Prasad Yadav, Patil and Mukherjee are more of a liability than any kind of an asset. This is no way to provide a stable central government.

Yadav was born on June 11, 1947 in Gopalgang, Bihar. He was a student leader at Patna University and a staunch follower of Jai Prakash Narayan during the 70s. He was only 29 years old when he was elected a Member of Parliament of the 6th Lok Sabha. He won the seat on a Janata Party ticket, specifically promoted by Satyendra Narayan Sinha (the erstwhile Chief Minister of Bihar). Lalu Prasad Yadav belongs to a backward caste and so became a formidable force in Bihar state Politics. He was elected the Chief Minister of Bihar in 1990 and from there he and his wife, Rabri Devi, ruled the state for the next 15 years. Lalu and his family behaved like the local Rajas of their fiefdom (Bihar) and were involved in a politically toxic ‘Fodder Scam’. He was sent to jail five times. His wife took over as Chief Minister of Bihar.