PM ON AUGUST 15

                                                              Will The Deception Game Work?

                                                                                                                                     Harkishan Singh Surjeet

THE prime minister’s independence day speech this year will go down in history as one of the most lacklustre speeches delivered on this occasion so far. There is no doubt that the rain dampened the spirit of the small crowd in the Red Fort lawns, but this was nothing unusual as raining is a normal feature in this monsoon part of the year. The fact is, Vajpayee himself had not much to show as his regime’s achievements in the last 4 years.

It is not surprising if the prime minister did his usual boasting on the day, as he had to say something in any case. But, as newspapers reported, there was not much new in what he said. For example, he talked of the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana, saying his government has built more roads in the last 5 years than were built in the 50 years after independence. But this is what one has already heard in two of his preceding independence day speeches. Even if one accepts his otherwise exaggerated claim that his government built highways at the rate of 11 km a day, this is not going to improve the plight of the common people. To grasp the point, one has to simply stray a bit outside Delhi to see for oneself the pitiable condition of our rural roads and judge the claim’s veracity. And if this is the situation in the vicinity of the national capital, the less said the better for eastern UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and many other areas.  

FARMERS: CLAIM & REALITY

IT is, then, not without reason if common people have lost interest in what our rulers ritually say on such occasions. This year too, the bulk of the audience comprised just two groups. First, there were government servants, who had to be there in any case. And then there were children in 11-13 age group from government schools who were, according to Hindustan Times, detained in their schools in the preceding night and were then huddled into the Red Front lawns with empty stomachs. They got some refreshment only after Vajpayee had finished with his speech and left. 

That “the makers of tomorrow’s India” had to listen to their present day rulers with empty stomachs, isn’t it a cruel joke played upon them?

Another bombastic claim the prime minister made was that farmers’ income would be doubled in 7 years. Sounds like one asking for vote for the next 5 years! But this illusion was doled out to our farmers in the backdrop of some very disturbing episodes. It was not long ago when there were starvation deaths in Orissa, Rajasthan and some other states, while FCI godowns were stacked with over 60 million tonnes of grain. Nay, a part of this stock rottened and had to be thrown into the sea and another part was exported at a price below what the government charges from common people. (In order to reduce the food stock burden, the government is still bent on pursuing the same strategy instead of utilising that stock to provide a modicum of succour to the people.) Moreover, it was under the Vajpayee dispensation that maximum number of farmers committed suicide in relatively prosperous states like Punjab, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra. And one of the reasons is, their produce has been made to compete with the cheap, highly subsidised imports from western countries, while our own government has gone on progressively reducing agricultural subsidies. The cashew, rubber and coconut growers of Kerala have been worst hit due to the resultant steep fall in prices.   

MASSACRE OF JOBS

ANOTHER claim Vajpayee made was on employment. Nothing new; last year too he had promised creation of one crore jobs in one year and then the tenth plan approach paper talked of creating 5 crore jobs in 5 years. This comes in the backdrop of the regime’s failure to implement its 1999 poll promise of creating one crore jobs every year.

The reality gives this claim a lie. In fact, this government has become notorious for wholesale massacre of jobs in the last 5 years. Nay, on August 7, the government admitted in Rajya Sabha that retrenchment in organised sector has gone up by 10 per cent to 3952 in 2002-03, as opposed to 3594 persons retrenched in 2001-02. The number of workers retrenched in 2000-01 was 3280, and there was an increase of 23.8 per cent in the number of those retrenched in 2001 over 2000. With the spree of disinvestment and retrenchments, this is what one could expect.

And now the cabinet has given its nod to a proposal that the government will not employ anyone on a regular basis in as many as 12 sectors, including health and education. Moreover, if the proposal is implemented, any concern, public or private, can retrench a contract worker by giving her or him 15 days wages instead of 45 days wages, as was the case earlier.

How the regime’s policies are killing jobs is evident from the case of Punjab. Quoting the National Sample Survey data, The Hindu (August 4) reported that in the pre-reform decade of 1983-93 Punjab had a 5.61 per cent growth in employment, ranking 14th in India. But during 1993-2000 post-reform, it ranked 4th with 6.93 per cent growth in unemployment. In the corresponding period, the national level employment growth of 0.62 per cent changed into rising unemployment at a rate of 4.55 per cent.

Rural Punjab seems to have borne the main brunt of ‘reform’ policies. Here, pre-reform, rural areas recorded 7.09 per cent growth in employment, which reversed to a 7.43 per cent growth in unemployment after the ‘reforms’ began in 1991. In urban areas, the situation changed from a 2.62 per cent growth in employment to 6.18 per cent growth in unemployment. Punjab now stands third as far as growth in unemployed men is concerned. The number of such men grew at 7.66 per cent, post-reform, against the national average of 4.96 per cent. In contrast, in the pre-reform period, employment for males grew at 5.64 per cent compared to the national average of 0.50 per cent. For women, the 5.09 per cent employment growth has changed into an unemployment growth at 2.07 per cent. 

The other side of the picture is equally disturbing. The government is hell bent on effecting retrograde changes in labour laws to give the employers a right to hire and fire, while rendering the workers helpless in face of attacks. It is therefore not surprising that while the regime is exploring the possibility of enacting legislation on temple construction in Ayodhya, it has maintained deadly silence on safeguarding the workers’ right to strike in the wake of the Supreme Court judgement. Is there any doubt that this will only compound the unemployment situation in the country?

THREATS TO NATIONAL UNITY

IN his speech, Vajpayee again talked of India’s unity in diversity as our strength --- a case of the devil quoting the scripture for his purpose. No doubt our unity in diversity is the basic source of our strength. But if those like Vajpayee talk of it, it only means that they are in search for a façade for the heinous crimes their cohorts are committing. The fact is, the Vajpayee regime saw the highest number of attacks on minuscule Christians who have been living in India since the first century A D, much before the Roman empire adopted Christianity. Yet, what of making an attempt to stop such attacks, our sagacious prime minister sought to divert attention from the real issue by pontificating on the need of ‘a national debate’ on conversions!

This period also saw the worst ever killing of Muslims in Gujarat; in fact the process is still on there even if in a low key. But our prime minister who twice dismissed the elected government of Bihar on the law and order issue, did not see any breach of law and order in BJP-ruled Gujarat. As Goswami Tulsidas said, par updesh kushal bahutere (many are adept in pontificating to others) and, clearly, our so-called moderate is no exception.

The Vajpayee regime also bears the infamy of packing all the educational and research institutions, like the ICHR, ICSSR, IIMC, NCERT etc, with men who have only one qualification --- their loyalty to the fascistic RSS that is remote controlling this regime. In what has come to be termed as saffronisation of education, myth making is fast replacing scientific research; Karmakand and Jyotish Shastra are the new courses this regime is out to push down our throats at the cost of public money. Hindustan is becoming Hindusthan and the Arabian Sea has become Sindhu Sagar. And if a new history textbook describes the glorious Russian revolution as a coup, one could term it as an example of the Sangh Parivar’s bias. But what would one say if a history book describes revolutionary Rasbehari Bose as the elder brother of Subhash Chandra Bose? Is this the stuff our younger generations will be taught?

The aim of saffronisation drive is amply clear --- to produce a generation of bigots and fanatics whom the brigade may exploit for its fascistic project.

The rampant commercialisation of education under this regime completes the picture. An example is the way the Gujarat government hiked the fees for various courses in the state. (See People’s Democracy, July 13.) It means only one thing --- that an overwhelming bulk of younger generations will either remain deprived of education or will be ghettoised in low quality institutions where they will be more receptive to saffron brainwashing.

The other claims the prime minister made, like his government not discriminating against the opposition-ruled states, do not even deserve a mention. Even when there was a severe drought in Rajasthan and people were starving, the centre for weeks together did not give any additional grains to the state. The centre also withdrew many army and paramilitary battalions from Tripura, thereby encouraging the extremists to kill innocent people with impunity. These forces have not yet been fully restored, despite repeated requests from the state government.

It is clear why our national unity is under much strain today, as never before.

DODGING THE REAL ISSUES

IT is in such a situation that, bereft of any credible achievement, the regime is out to divert the people’s attention from the real issues facing them, and the RSS has pushed all its outfits into this game. One such non-issue is the ban on cow slaughter for which they are seeking to enact a central legislation so as to exploit the people’s sentiments. This too is not a new game; way back in November 1966 they had brought to the capital a number of sadhus who created an ugly scene here. The purpose was to use the issue in the March 1967 general elections; it is another thing that they miserably failed. That a central legislation on the matter involves a number of economic and constitutional issues is simply not their concern.

But the most nefarious game the regime and the RSS-BJP are out to play in order to cross the vaitarni of the impending elections is to rouse the people’s passions on Ayodhya issue. It was the same Vajpayee government that approached the Supreme Court for transfer of some land in Ayodhya to the temple trust, though the court did not oblige it. Moreover, Vajpayee assured a group of VHP brand sadhus that the way for temple construction would be paved by July 6, for which he had moved a pawn in form of the Kanchi Shankaracharya. But whether the brigade will succeed in this rabble rousing game, only future will tell; the greater probability is that they will not. A recent survey by Hindustan Times tells as many as 84 per cent respondents preferred to have a “secular solution” to the vexed issue; more than half opined that the law must take its course in this regard.

Here, the point raised by our president, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, on August 14 deserves attention. The popular perception is that, even if in vain, the BJP has been trying to present the president as its own benign face. But what the president said on the day was in effect a noble advice to the regime. He said the posterity would not remember us for how many temples or mosques we built; it would only see how far we were able to take the country ahead on the development path. If only the powers that be pay some heed to the president’s advice! 

Is it anything too big to be expected? In fact, not. But going by Vajpayee’s speech next morning, it was evident that he took no note of the president’s advice. True, his speech did not raise the temple-mosque issue. But was it enough? The nation was expecting that he would play his due role as the defender of the constitution, as custodian of peace and amity in the country, and issue an unambiguous warning to communal forces that they would not be allowed to play with national unity. But Vajpayee did nothing of the sort. Does it confirm that he is a swayamsevak first and a prime minister later, as he himself said some time ago? No conclusion seems possible except that he is inseparable from the RSS.

In sum, what Vajpayee said on August 15 was part of a deception game all along. Unfortunately, however, some of the journalists, including some progressive ones, were swayed by his rhetoric and reported the speech in glorifying terms without any basis.

It is in this situation that the opposition served a no-confidence motion against the government --- the first in the 13th Lok Sabha. The question is not whether the motion will be carried through or fall. The thing is that opposition parties have thrown the gauntlet and are at one in defending national unity, differences on other issues notwithstanding. This issue of the paper carries an editorial on what took place during the debate and voting. The main thing is that the opposition’s morale is high and it is determined to put the government on the mat on issues like economy, CVC report on defence deals, the farce of a trial in the Best Bakery case, the court verdict on strikes, the proposed anti-labour legislations and many others. But, most importantly, the debate and the voting will also make clear as to who among other parties stands where.                                

August 18, 2003