MONTH-IN-PERSPECTIVE-AUGUST 2021

BIHAR:GRBR, is an acronym used in some yappy circles, but has its contextual relevance. GRBR extends to read as Good Riddance of Bad Rubbish. It’s a tongue in cheek tribute or at best a left-handed epitaph to the soul dead and gone. Some weeks ago, there was this news in the print media, probably was on electronic media as well, that the 53 year old Don-turned-Politician Mohammad Shahabuddin died of Covid-19 at a Delhi hospital. TOI’s Sunday Times carried this news on the top of the front page. For a Don-turned-Politician (D-t-P) as Sunday Times called him, who according to innumerable Indians was eminently qualified to be forgotten as GRBR, for this “INDIA’S LARGEST ENGLISH NEWSPAPER” to top bill the news of the death of this D-t-P make a mockery of press freedom. This person, who has been described as convicted gangster, has reportedly killed 16 public figures from the Communist Party of India including student leaders, who raised the banner of opposition to his nefarious activities. He was very sadly supported by likes of Chara Ghotala hero Lalu Prasad Yadav. Times of India accorded this ‘garbage’ of a human, a celebrity status by giving a place of prominence in one of its Sunday Times edition. What a fall for Times of India, as a premier newspaper of India. This D-t-P had over 30 cases, including those of murder, attempt to murder, possession of illegal arms of foreign make, unaccounted foreign currency, violation of wild life act, exploding bomb in Dayanand Anglo Vedic College, a local educational institute, threatening jailor of Siwan jail, where he was lodged and other cases. It’s only politics that legitimises power and hence, just about anyone who wants to wield power wants to be in politics. For this D-t-P, his strong-arm life-style was not enough, he wanted to ‘rule the roost’. So what else but politics was the way ahead! From 1990 to 1996, he was MLA twice, and from 1996 to 2004, he was 4 times Member of Parliament courtesy Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal(RJD). With people like this D-t-P and his God Father Lalu Prasad Yadav, if Bihar remained a BIMARU state, is it surprising! This is Yeh Mera India in its multiple shades. WEST BENGAL:Dr. Shyama Prasad Mookherjee has been a father figure for both Indian politics and for BJP. A barrister and academician so also the youngest Vice Chancellor of Calcutta University at the age of 33 was the first Minister of Commerce & Industries in the first cabinet of free India. He resigned from the ministership protesting against the Nehru-Liaquat Pact. He had serious differences with Nehru & Sheikh Abdullah on Kashmir issue. On a visit to Srinagar in May 1953 he was arrested by the J&K police despite being a Member of Parliament, since he did not have a pass to visit Kashmir. Soon thereafter he was declared dead under police custody in a hospital in Srinagar on 23rd June 1953. There is no explanation available on his mysterious death under questionable circumstances when he was only 52 years old and in robust health. Sadly and unfortunately, nobody including the party that he founded, Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) which later became Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have done precious nothing to find out what really happened that led to the untimely death of iconic Dr. Shyama Prasad Mookherjee. And comes this story of a PIL being filed in Calcutta High Court by a monk turned lawyer Sanjay Roy Chowdhury. The story was filed by Shantanu Guha Ray, the India Editor for Central European News. According to the story, advocate Chowdhury has asked for a Commission of Inquiry headed by a retired Chief Justice of India. The application is expected to come up for hearing soon. Advocate Chowdhury informs that Dr. Shyama Prasad Mookherjee was detained by the Sheikh Abdullah’s government in J&K without trial, after he was arrested in Kathua on May 11, 1953, and died in the custody of J&K police on 23rd June 1953. Heart attack was the cause of death as per police record and J&K government statement. Virtually nothing is known about the cause of Dr. Mookherjee death, informs advocate Chowdhury. Accusing BJP of silence in wanting to get to the truth of the matter he says “I am surprised at this silence of BJP, the party he founded as BJS. We must know how Dr. Mookherjee died”. This latest initiative by advocate Chowdhury is likely to open a Pandora’s Box, with unknown and unheard details of the passing away of likes of Lal Bahadur Shastri and Subhas Chandra Bose, the national icons. Hope Calcutta High Court bites the bullet and admits the PIL; so that the last word may be heard on one of India’s all-important political mysteries. WEST BENGAL: Vidhana Parishad or the legislative council is an aberration in a democratic set-up like that of India. But politicians being politicians have always tinkered with every possibility, however remote, to have power and more power. In a democracy, it’s the people’s money, as taxes and other levies that provide the resources for public expenditure, including maintenance of legislature, executive and the judiciary. So there need not be accountability, politician would think, although accountability is the primary requisite of democratic governance. We all know, before the election, these politicians not just bend but would even crawl to get votes. Once elected, they will become less and less accessible and show off their political power. They all say they are in politics to serve the country and they want all their kith and kin, friends and cronies too, to get the pie of ‘national service’. Most of them if not all of them, serve only themselves, their families, friends and cronies. For them nation is not a priority. In their scheme of things to share the power with their men and women is this Vidhana Parishad or the Legislative Council. India has 29 States and 7 Union Territories, which makes them 36, but only 6 states in India have this legislative council, and they are Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. So the remaining 30 states including union territories do not have this council and function without it. Now West Bengal is trying to have this council to accommodate those who have lost, including the Chief Minister Mamata Bannerjee, in the last Legislative Assembly election. Thus, it is clear that a government can function even without Legislative Council. It saves precious resources, making it available for more productive purposes. This government of NDA at the centre must take on board all those states which do not have legislative councils and get a Supreme Court order to scrap this legislative council and amend the Constitution of India. We have the infamous case of former CM of Karnataka H D Kumaraswamy of taking crores of rupees for giving a seat in the legislative council to a business man. If nothing productive, or least it gives opportunities to likes of Kumaraswamy to reap crores on the quiet. Such wheeling-dealing should stop for the better health of Indian politics. Can that happen! MAHARASHTRA: On 21st June when Fr.Stan Swamy was hospitalised after being denied bail by Bombay High Court we wrote a post in the FB mentioning "with failing health and advancing age it is difficult to fathom what can happen ". And sadly the inevitable happened. He left for his astral abode this afternoon. He was a known activist among marginalized section of Jharkhand. He was arrested some 9 months ago on charges of his activities being detrimental to the democracy and integrity of the nation. Court felt there indeed existed a case. His friends accused the union government of fabricating false evidence. Only time will tell what is the truth. But he is beyond all these as of now. He was 84 years old and lived his life albeit with fragile health. For sure he couldn't have survived the rigors of a prison term. His was a fit case for conditional bail with police monitoring. At least he could have enjoyed some freedom with his friends in the evening of his setting life. Government may be at fault, that's for the courts to decide. But judiciary failed in not granting him bail. May his soul rest in everlasting peace. MAHARASHTRA: The system, whether political, economic or administrative, everywhere, all over the world, work faster and better for the haves of the society than for have-nots within the same society, is an universal truth, or so we believe. We all have taken this harsh truth for granted with more than a pinch of salt. Nobody debates it, including our ‘very intelligent & committed’ journalistic fraternity. One Dipti Singh, writing from Mumbai reported a couple of weeks ago in the print media, “In 6 months retaining wall at Hughes Road ready”. She was generally writing on the reconstruction of a crashed retaining wall in central Mumbai. Hughes Road as it is known, now named as NS Patkar Marg, is an arterial road connecting the island city of Mumbai with the hinterland, climbing up on a portion of the famed Malabar Hill, had a retaining wall to protect the portion of the hill, which houses famed Hanging Garden. The road has high density of car usage and the area around it is the residential area of ‘high and mighty’ of Mumbai’s Commerce & Industry and Maharashtra politics. It was on 5th August 2020, the retaining wall separating Ridge Road leading to Hanging Gardens and traffic infested Hughes Road, had come crashing down after a massive landslide due to heavy monsoon down pour. So, the traffic had stalled on this link road. This had certainly affected the users of the Hughes Road, besides the life of those ‘high & mighty’. It had to be attended without delay for the affected road is not only a lifeline for Mumbaikars, but more importantly, there should be no disruption or least disruption to the life of rich & powerful-who’s-who-of Mumbai skyline. Of course there isn’t the legendary ‘Aladdin’s Magic Lamp’ to change things instantly. Everything takes time. However, immediately an expert group of structural engineers of IIT-Bombay were deployed to design the reconstruction of the fallen retaining wall. It had to be a high standard quality job, since the possibility of pulling all those responsible for the ‘Turn-key’ aspect of the job- over the coal-by the ‘all powerful lobby’ was very much there. So, all Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials from top to bottom were involved. The result was, ‘in less than 6 months time, a fairly large work, involving 160 mtrs long and 5 mtrs high protective wall was erected with road being concretised and widened with attendant storm water drain of similar length, despite starting the job in January 2021’ stated BMC Additional Commissioner P. Velrasu, informs the report. It was a pretty fast job by any standard of comparison. It was so showcased that MVA government’s Environment Minister inaugurated the reconstructed show piece, attended by Mumbai Mayor, a Shiv Sena MP and a local BJP MLA! Could this ‘near miracle’ have happened anywhere else where aam aadmi lives and travels was involved!? In a system, where ‘all are equal but some are more equal than others’, such aberration in the treatment of issues of relevance is sadly an accepted norm without any demur. Aakheer unka khoon khoon hai-Aur hamari khoon paani hai! This is Yeh Mera India! ANDHRA PRADESH: Strange are the ways of the world. Some time truth can be stranger than fiction. In our political life there are characters, who are criminals, but only because they are not convicted by the court as yet, they are allowed to context elections, hold positions once elected. Strangely they could be bossing over the very same people who have complained against them. India has many such ‘mahaashays’ across the national spectrum, in every state assemblies to even both houses of the parliament. Comes this news from Andhra Pradesh, which was the originally undivided Telugu speaking state. Now it’s divided into two-Telangana being the newly born. There is no other Indian language having two states and believe it or not the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh is an accused out on bail! Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy of Andhra Pradesh is an accused in a 2012 CBI case for Money Laundering and is reportedly on bail. A powerful man as Chief Minister can influence just about anybody in his state that too in a case like ‘money-laundering’ where it is easy to tamper proofs, if available at hand, so also influence witnesses from the position of strength. It’s not just surprising but shocking that courts and CBI have not recognized this imminent threat to the veracity of the case! To make matters worse, one Raghurama Krishna Raju, an MP from the Chief Ministers party – YSR Congress Party- openly revolted and filed a petition in CBI court to cancel the bail of CM Jagan Mohan Reddy. This RK Raju charged that CM Jagan Mohan Reddy is influencing witnesses and tampering with evidences in the case. Reportedly there was speculation in Andhra political circle and media that CBI court may cancel Jagan Mohan’s bail. Grapevine has it that the Andhra CM visited Delhi and met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and some other Union Ministers. May be it had its ‘desired’ effect, and nothing seem to be happening to YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, as he has continued to remain as Andhra Pradesh CM. CBI is under Home Ministry. An MP-Member of Parliament- files a petition to cancel the bail of a Chief Minister of his state and his party supremo. CBI moves to act, but stopped on the track by its Minister-in-charge because the accused calls on the minister. What happens between the Union Home Minister and Andhra CM is unknown. But like P. V. Narasimha Rao’s famous observation “no action is also an action”, carries the day. Obviously the accused Chief Minister comes back unscathed. Result was MP Raghurama Krishna Raju was arrested by Andhra police on his return, clearly under the instruction of the accused Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy. MP RK Raju was allegedly assaulted while in police custody. As MP, he managed to move Supreme Court and got bail. But what about ordinary mortals, aam aadmi citizens! How can they withstand such powerful accused in cohort with powers in Delhi and still save the case against money-laundering by the Andhra CM! BJP is at ‘war against corruption’, we are told! But what is this! Do you hearken Mr. Prime Minister! WORLD: Going thru some old news papers of November 2020, there was this report quoting New York Times “US Hits a record over 121000 cases on 4th November after hitting 100,000 for the first time since pandemic began”. Report also informed that some 16 states of US set a daily case record, while mentioning that over the past week there has been an average of over 96000 cases per day in the US, an increase of over 50% from the average of earlier two weeks. Report also informed that as of 6th November 2020 close to 10,000,000 with some over 235,000 deaths that is some 20% of the total global infection cases in the US have been spiking for weeks with no hope of receding. In IOWA, exhausted hospital managers pleaded with residents to wear masks and avoid crowds, and in both rural counties and major cities infection continued rising to fearsome levels with no end in sight. NYT also informed that a quarter of a million Covid infection have been reported in College and Universities across the US. The survey by NYT, although was most comprehensive, but the lack of centralized tracking system or consistent statewide data had made the survey non-conclusive, as to the enormity the problem, the report stated. Here we are talking about the world No: 1 economy, with unimaginable resources of both men and money with all its health infrastructural needs in place with population of less than 24% of what India has, still faltered when the Covid-19 crisis hit the country. And none spoke about it, either in the US or in India or ‘any other parts of the world! Because, in short run every set up, big or small, finds crisis difficult to handle, which is a universal norm. You don’t become Banana Republic overnight. It’s the consistent failure to govern that stamps a state as failed. But in India, Indians more than their imported interlocutors, ran done their own leadership, their own government. These Indians sold Indian honour for some money from foreign adversaries, including media outlets and together defiled, degraded, and denigrated the country and its government to the laughter of our adversaries. Why are some Indians so poor and suffer from mental poverty when it comes to national honour? Just because one has political differences, how can any rational human besmirch one’s own national pride? What needs to be understood in such situation of pandemic, if a super power with resources multiple times greater than India with population being not even ¼ of India can fail under pressure, how can India withstand such pressure? Indeed some Indians need to grow up. WORLD: There was this report datelined Washington quoting AGENCIES “Law Enforcement has an impact on overall well being of a community”. Indeed so! In any given socio-political set-up, laws are meant basically to protect those who cannot protect themselves, from the influential elements in society, be it rich, powerful or well connected. Yes, that’s the lofty objective of most legislations. But in reality in most societies, it is the powerful who take the trophy home, that leaves most vulnerable at the mercy of law enforcing authorities, na Ghar ka, na Ghaat ka. University of Washington had conducted a study on ‘how law enforcement impacts the mental, physical, social and structural health and well being of a community. The study concluded that, because law enforcement directly interacts with large number of people hence policing may be a conspicuous yet not well understood driver of population health. The study was published in the journal Social Science & Medicine. The study was conducted by a doctoral graduate Maayan Simckes, for her doctoral dissertation, from the Epidemiology Department of University of Washington. The idea apparently was to create a conceptual model depicting the complex relationship between policing and population health. A specific police action, an arrest or a shooting, has an immediate and direct effect on the individual involved, but how far and wide do the reverberations of that action spread through the community? What are the health consequence for a specific, though not necessarily geographically defined population?, were some of the relevant questions that the study tried to answer. Prima facie, this is a path breaking study that was indeed very essential in a democratic set-up, especially because, police is part of the government of the people, by the people and for the people. But it is a sad reality as envisioned by George Orwell in his ANIMAL FARM, where ALL ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS. In the Indian context there are innumerable stories of how aam aadmi, or the ordinary citizens were given a short shrift for all the 74 years of free India by both politicians and police. The ‘100 crore collection’ story of former Mumbai police commissioner that reverberated through the corridors of power in Maharashtra where dirt & filth spilled over to the open has left the family of petty businessman, Mansukh Hiren who was allegedly killed by API Sachin Vaze gasping for justice. This was only a tip of the ice-berg. Let us hope this study by the University of Washington become a torch bearer in days to come to answer disturbing questions.