BEHIND THE SCENES

Poll Goodies: Carrots And Sticks

S K Pande

HAS a new phase of carrot and sticks been declared? This is the question being asked in both government and non-governmental circles as the stage gets set for Election 2004, which can turn out to be one of the costliest elections ever seen in India. In fact, they are already being compared to elections in America for sheer razzle-dazzle. But beneath the surface are ominous pointers.

PROSECUTOR AS JUDGE

For the first time a controversy has entered the Human Rights Commission, which is making human rights activists ponder about what is happening to this body. As high-tech election fever starts gripping the country, rubbing shoulders with the entry of a high-tech super ‘Rath’ manned by the deputy prime minister, L K Advani, and set to hit the roads for 33 days, we have this time a new entry into the NHRC which probes violation of human rights. The former CBI director P C Sharma is the new entrant into the Commission. It has to be noted that the post of member of NHRC is considered equivalent to that of a Supreme Court judge. One is yet to hear of an ex-police officer appointed to such a post and that too when the elections process has been set in motion.

For the record, the NHRC for some time had been quite active. Even during the Gujarat turmoil, it was not silent. What makes the matter more intriguing is the fact that the appointee is known to be closely connected with the episode of sudden withdrawal of the Babri demolition case against Advani.  In the NHRC, time and again the police have to be taken to task for any inhuman acts they indulge in. Can an ex-police officer be part of the judging scene? With the entry of a controversial former CBI director, one wonders whether a new era has begun for the NHRC when even it can be policed.  By the same yardstick, one would not be surprised if the ‘honourable’ chief minister of Gujarat is entrusted with the task of deciding the fate of the Best Bakery case! 

It is well known that members of the statutory body are picked by a high level committee headed by the prime minister. The key question remains, who lobbied for a former CBI director, and was the appointment a token of appreciation for services already rendered? All this when institution after institution is being slowly infiltrated and their autonomy eroded. This naturally is being questioned.

LA AFFAIRE PIO

La affaire Principal Information Officer (PIO) episode that rocked Shastri Bhavan last week is not yet over. The man who helped to build the shining India image, PIO Sahib Singh, has been stripped off his portfolio. He is now on “compulsory wait” while the government is looking for some more hits among his senior colleagues. Three senior officials are on the watch list. For the present, the ads on TV are stopped, but other lobbies are reportedly at work to get them resumed. The issue is not over yet. One thing is clear, this is a rare instance when in the government-controlled Press Information Bureau, which got its first taste of authoritarianism during the Emergency, broke quite a few records as ministry after ministry tried to outdo the other in making “India shine “before the polls through  morale-boosting fudged figures.

But other things are happening even though many presspersons may not be knowing all of it. A series of media outfits, known to be close to the BJP, have cropped up and are flush with funds. The famous Indian Institute Of Mass Communications, once known to have some stature, has now been reduced to a virtual saffron outfit. Its scope has indeed been widened to even discuss media policy matters and the faculty too has been injected with ‘new blood, and new guest lecturers.’ From Ghaziabad to Noida to Delhi, there is an upswing in media and management institutes. It is small wonder that from the Rajya Sabha to these bodies, media persons ready to dance to the saffron tune are being   sought after and they are increasingly available. The list of journalists going abroad even on Track 2 diplomacy, with politicians has to have a RSS quota, benami or otherwise, if it has to take off. Similarly, moves are again afoot to ensure further changes in the Press Council, kept far way from the glare of the press, while journalist bodies vie with one another for nomination. The hunt is on for a compromise behind the media glare. The common joke is want an appointment with PM, then confederate with us, praise us or get muzzled. A new variety of journalists have been inducted into even the accreditation committees and constitution of some has been stalled. Some housing lists have been cleared and for select editors, the sun is shining all over. If you can hail the BJP and chip in the Mission 2004, sky is the limit. If you can’t toe the line you may be derecognised.

In the next fortnight, while the Rath yatra takes off, there may be the unfolding of the BJP ‘Vision 2004’. And it’s a desperate gamble on a slippery ground. All helicopters, barring less than a dozen, have been booked for the BJP. The leftovers remain for the Congress and others. Some are even shirking the question where is the money coming from. In none too distinct horizon are memories of what was done to Gujarat.  The charity commissioners even in Britain are hearing pleas for the deregistration of organisations like VHP (UK chapter). There is open talk that much of Hindutva funding to the saffron brigade is coming from abroad. The coming days will see the super cyber election campaign begin in India as never before.

POSTSCRIPT: AND NOW THE RSS

The coming days will see the NDA slowly being further shown its proper place. As the Advani yatra begins, the RSS  Pratinidhi Sabha, its apex council, is all set  to meet in Jaipur from March 12 onwards for three days. This time the session is  likely to be converted into a poll strategy session where the final poll contours will be discussed at length and guidelines evolved.  And hardcore Hindutva would naturally top the agenda. It is clear that as never before the RSS would be monitoring and trying to ensure that  the RSS would be having a more direct role to play in these polls than ever before. In Madhya Pradesh, the  RSS headquarters is already the virtual centre of power. Finishing touches for some more camouflaged stratagems are bond to be there and some more public shows of defections cutting across communities. Amidst adverse reports of anti incumbency wave and fears of shock reverses all round – the founding fathers of the BJP and the erstwhile Jana Sangh are set to play a more direct role than ever before, not only for operation salvage but for more active intervention.