The news item (click on the title of this write-up to see that) is indeed heartening: Law Ministry is pushing for poll reforms. The world’s largest democracy – as India is – needs more teeth so as to be optimally effective. The vital player of the democracy – the voter- is left high and dry because the politicians of today have exploited the situation and either you vote or not, they are going to rule over you! What we need today most are:

1.Criminals should not be able to gain entry into electoral politics. Thus the move to debar charge-sheeted persons to contest is a welcome move.
2.The prrovision for ‘negative voting’ so that a ‘bad’ person could be precluded from getting elected.
3.Vote to ‘recall’.
4.Anti-defection law should be made much more stringent.
5.Post-poll alliances should be governed by certain rules. Similarly there could be many more reforms to sharpen our electoral system.
Wheras electoral reforms are the need of the hour, here is a write-up by noted commentator Khushwant Singh. He has aptly described the ground realities- taking Punjab as an example – as far as our democracy is concerned. And his summation of the facts is real and this is what is happening actually. As it reads:

All in the name of elections
by KHUSHWANT SINGH

IN a few days three states will go to the polls. Of the three, the outcome of one which may indicate what the people think about the performance of the Sonia Gandhi-Manmohan Singh Government in the Centre will be Punjab.

It is a border state which reacts sharply to changes in India-Pakistan equations. It has seen three wars fought in its territory. It has India’s third largest religious minority, the Sikhs, in majority. The outcome will indicate whether or not the Central Government policies are, or are not, even-handed in its treatment of other minorities, the Muslims and Christians.

Punjab remains the most go-ahead and the richest agricultural state of the Union. The results will indicate whether or not its farmers are, or are not, satisfied with what the state government is doing for them. Other issues like the future of Chandigarh and distribution of river waters will be shelved for the time being. The demand for Khalistan is dead. So is militant activity perpetrated in its name. Relations with Pakistan have never been better. The Sikhs have never had it so good as they have today. Credit for these achievements go to the Congress.
The main contenders for power are the same: on the one side the Congress is led by Captain Amarinder Singh, erstwhile Maharaja of Patiala, on the other the Akali-BJP combine is led by Parkash Singh Badal, head of Punjab’s wealthiest family owning vast tracts of farm lands and real estate.

Amarinder Singh has the state’s resources behind him. Badal controls the mini empire of Sikh temples managed by the SGPC and thousands of schools, colleges and hospitals run by it.
From what one can gauge from full-page advertisements in Punjab papers launched by both adversaries, money will be no problem for either party: it will flow like the waters of the Sutlej and the Beas. So will desi sharaab. Punjab retains its position as the number one state in the consumption of liquor and drugs.

So far only the names of candidates have been announced. They follow the old feudal pattern: sons, sons-in-law, nephews and other relations come first, next come caste affiliations: Jats, Khatris, Mazhabis (Dalit) for reserved seats. In larger cities like Ludhiana, Amritsar and Jalandhar, they are from the rich creamy layer. Elections need money; they have it.
Starry-eyed youngsters who dream of modernising India by ridding it of its pseudo-religious clap-trap do not appear in the lists of aspirants. For them no matter who wins or loses, it will be as the French put it: plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose (the more it changes, the more it remains the same thing).

The latest (February 19,2007) bomb blasts on the Samjhauta Express- which runs between India and Pakistan- are another addition to the series of terrorism-related attacks which India has been facing since decades. This train was headed towards Pakistan and the blasts killed atleast 66 people , majority of them being Pak nationals.

This incidence is kind of unusual in that Pakistani nationals have been the victims on Indian soil and the incidence comes on the heels of Pak Foreign Minister Kasoori’s visit to india.
Click the BBC link to read more about this.

Whereas both nations’ media have tried to diffuse the situation by maintaining that this savage act of terrosrism is intended to derail the peace process and is in no one’s interest, there have been blame games also on both sides: Pak blaming Hindu organizations for this attack, while Indian side blaming Jehadi outfits for this! More will be out in days to come as the events unfold.
No one is the winner, of course. But India is a big loser! In this train, there were approximately 783 passengers and almost 75 % of them were Pak nationals. The rationale behind continuation of bus and train links is beyond my comprehension. Neither India is dependent on Pakistan for economic development,nor India needs Pakistan for any other urgent issues. When two neighbors donot go along, what is the best way out: chill out! Why are we dealing with Pakistan and for what! We cannot change geography, but we can try to maintain peace by not inter-acting with each other because there is great lack of mutual trust on both sides. India is the biggest victim of terrorism and particularly Pak-sponsored terrorism as our Indian media and government agencies make us believe. Then why are we dealing with this state which has no democracy and is a ‘rogue’ state in all likelihood! What are we reaping? I state that public or common people on both sides have mutual respect and good-will for one another,but that does not solve the issues related to security and governance.

The latest mechanisms (being worked out by both countries) to jointly fight terrorism may
win us cheers from Western media,but look ludicrous when we realize the ground realities. The cross-border terrorism by Pakistan and its often changing contours on Kashmir are enough evidences that these talk will lead us no where!

If we chill out in our relation with Pakistan, deal firmly to secure our borders ( as China did with us in last 4 decades): there will be more peace and less animosity in long term! Whereas on international screen, Pakistan’s involvement in propelling jehadi terrorism is increasingly becoming established, our misplaced zeal to bring more harmony with our relations with Pakistan will be a diplomatic defeat in years to come.

Stop playing cricket with Pakistan, donot deal with this state until democracy is established ( the typical USA ‘mantra’ while measuring countries on their foreign policy scale!), deal with your borders firmly (give Kashmir in the free hands of military and let it wipe out terrorism)! As far as people -to -people contact is concerned, there are enough messangers now on neutral grounds to build up the goodwill- if we have any in our hearts! Neutral grounds? Yes, donot Pakis and Indians meet daily on Devon street like Chicago where business goes as usual! And we have many such avenues in the world now that NRI and NRP (Non-Resident Pakistani: I am not sure whether such a phrase exists!) communities are growing! Letus see what they can generate for the two nations!

Jammu & Kashmir Assembly has passed the shariat bill. This news has really got unnoticed in the media or has it not cared about it? What are the implications? While there is an increasing need to implement a uniform civil code for all the citizens and scrap religion-bsed personal laws, what are the fallouts of these legislations? It is ironic that in a secular country, people are treated by the judiciary based upon their religion! What kind of secular state are we,then? In USA, for example, polygamy is il-legal for everyone, but in our country polygamy may be il-legal for one citizen,but may be entirely legal for another citizen.

Here is the link to the full article.

I often hear people saying that India is a soft state. True! Now Brahma Chellaney says that India is a lamb state. Doubly true!! I am a great admirer of vajpayee but could not disagree with Chellaney’s description of Vajpayee as far as our foreign policy is concerned. The exact passage reads:

“Vajpayee’s foreign policy was in reality an updated,post-Cold War version of Nehruvian diplomacy.
Nehru and Vajpayee mistook casuistry and word gamesfor statecraft, with the latter addicted to parsingand spinning his words. Both valued speech as asubstitute for action or camouflage to concession. Vajpayee’s fascination with telling the world about the ‘greatness’ of Indian culture was his rendering of Nehru’s moralistic lectures to the mighty and powerful. Like Nehru, he was so enthralled by his own illusions and desire for international goodwill that he could not deal with ill -will from India’s implacable adversaries. Even in war, Vajpayee declined– unlike Lal Bahadur Shastri — to take the fightingto the aggressor’s territory, battling the enemy on the enemy’s terms and relying on the United States to midwife a ‘victory’ in Kargil.”

Yes, indeed! even while India was fighting kargil, it decided to give a ‘safe passage’ to the Pakistani soldiers to return to Pak. Not long after, we had an attack on our Parliament and the famous Kandhar air -plane hijack and then attack on Akshardham temple. But yes, we are still running buses and rails to our neighbor country. In between we seem to wake up to the reality and look upto USA to declare Pak a ‘terrorist state’. Why India does not do it first if it is so convinced that Pak has a hand in every problem that we have at our domestic front!! What is preventing us to contain Kashmir and handle the terrorism with a iron hand? Why are we talking to separatist organizations like Hurriyaat and ULFA who are no better than parasites being fed by neighboring countries! What else do we need to call us a lamb state!

This article is a wonderful expression of India’s confused foreign policy since 1947. Here is the link to the article.