The Accidental Prime Minister Must Speak Up Now

By John Cheeran

So who did not know that Manmohan Singh was an accidental prime minister? Everyone, including Dr Singh, knew it. Manmohan Singh’s strength--that he had no political constituency of his own--was his apparent weakness. Only Dr Singh could have overcome it, no number of wise men could have worked a transformation.
Dr Singh was no stranger to Congress when he was given the nation’s reins by Sonia Gandhi. He had been working with the party since 1991 and should have known how much independence and power he would be rationed out by Ms Gandhi.
Much as Dr Singh’s former information adviser Sanjaya Baru laments in his new book The Accidental Prime Minister—The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh (Published by Penguin | Viking, Price Rs 599, Pages 301) how the prime minister frittered away the opportunity to assert himself, you cannot be blind to political reality.
In 2004, there was no one else in Congress party who had Dr Singh’s qualities of competence and compliance. As is public knowledge, without Baru saying so, Sonia was certainly not prepared to name Pranab Mukherjee as prime minister or deputy prime minister.
A disillusioned Baru, to buttress his argument, recalls that in 2011 Mukherjee told him--by that time Dr Singh’s stature had taken a severe beating thanks to the 2G scam and policy paralysis--that the image of the government and the country is inextricably linked to the image of the prime minister. Baru writes: “With the emasculating of the prime minister, not just Dr Singh himself, but his government and, ultimately, the country, became the losers.” 
Despite the PMO’s and Congress party’s outlandish reactions that termed Baru’s book as “fiction” the author has tried to ‘project’ Dr Singh’s image as a competent prime minister during UPA-1, with him being around as information adviser. 
At many levels, this is a kind and considerate account of Dr Singh. Baru reminds us that Dr Singh is the only Indian prime minister not from the Nehru-Gandhi family to have served two terms in office. But the raison d’etre for The Accidental Prime Minister is the public perception that Dr Singh accomplished this feat through unquestioning submissiveness. And Baru’s book confirms the public perception.  
Where Baru scores his points is when he writes that Dr Singh ignored his advice to stand on his own feet, especially not contesting the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, which would have added to his political legitimacy. It was, in fact, a piece of very sound advice but Baru unrealistically bet too high on Dr Singh. Now it is a moot question that with Baru as ‘adviser’ (as a Sanjaya) to the PM (as he was pitching for), would Dr Singh’s second term would have been any different?
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Trust Vote Cup: UPA chasing a winning target of 271

By John Cheeran
The chase for the Trust Vote Cup India-US Nuclear Championship has begun a few minutes ago at the Parliament House in New Delhi.
After winning the toss, UPA Captain Manmohan Singh has decided to chase the target of 271, set by Left-UNPA-NDA captain Prakash Karat.
The match will finish only late tomorrow (July 22, Tuesday).
Left-UNPA-NDA bandwagon captain Comrade Karat sounded confident of preventing the UPA achieving the coveted mark of 271 in the two-day Test, which would give the green signal for the Congress and Manmohan Singh to go ahead with India-US nuclear deal.
But UPA Captain Manmohan Singh ruled out any absence of MPs in his coalition and was upbeat that they will win by a handsome margin tomorrow.
Mr Vayalar Ravi, an emerging spin doctor in the Congress ranks, even went to the extent of predicting the runs UPA will hammer against the Combined Opposition Team. “280 will be a winning score on a wicket like this,” Ravi ascertained.
With brilliant all rounders such as Amar Singh and Mulayam Singh Yadav, one cannot rule out the UPA’s chances though they are battling on a sticky wicket made more sticky by the latest move by the Western Uttar Pradesh Jat leader Ajit Singh to the Left-UNPA-NDA camp.
“We are in terrific form,” beamed L K Advani, the leading middle order batsman for the Left-UNPA-NDA bandwagon. “Our pinch hitters like Ajit knows the UPA game inside out. And our new teammate Karat’s ideological googlies are difficult to score off. Madam Sonia knows how difficult to bat against the Left. And our dark horse, Mayawati, can outclass Sonia in the crunch overs, “ Mr Advani added.
Both teams, however, are worried out about weather conditions in New Delhi. Though political temperature has risen, visibility is low owing to hazy seat-sharing arrangements and counter offers. Abstaining by MPs in certain parties is quite likely and will have an impact on the outcome of the Trust Vote Cup.

Somnath Chatterjee: Old man and bomb

By John Cheeran
Why has Somnath Chatterjee struck a defiant position and refused to quit as the speaker of Lok Sabha as per his party’s instructions?
Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Comrade Prakash Karat has made the party’s stand clear very early in the nuclear issue and had told Somnath to quit speaker’s post and strengthen the Left’s numbers to pull down the UPA government led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Somnath’s refusal to do so, even as of July 21, is a major embarrassment for Karat and CPI (M).
I welcome the India-US nuclear deal.
I’m not a CPI (M) member and I’m entitled to hold an independent political opinion, which comrade Karat will agree.
But Somnath was elected to Parliament on a CPI (M) ticket. He has professed to be a communist throughout his 70-plus active political career. Communists, at least in theory, do not set much store by parliamentary practices, essentially a bourgeoisie exercise. They are revolutionaries. So why has Somnath fallen in love with parliamentary frolicking?
I, however, want to state that in India, starting from A. K Gopalan, India’s first Opposition Leader, to Indrajit Gupta, communists have been nation’s finest parliamentarians both in principle and practice.
But a Parliamentarian has to listen to his Party and its position, rather than indulging in conscience somersaults.
Somnath has taken a moral high ground saying that as speaker of the house he is above party politics. I must remind him that he owes his high horse to CPI (M) and as a true parliamentarian has to acknowledge and strengthen his party’s position. The only way he can do is that by quitting as speaker.
But Somanth today does not look like a communist. Somnath comes across an old man who has been enamoured by media attention in the twilight of his political life, and taken in by delusions of playing an impartial role in Indian history.
Please not mistake Somnath Chatterjee for a rebel with a cause.
He is the self-seeking rebel not much different from Ajit Singhs of this world.
His defiant position that if he is forced to quit as speaker he will quit as MP too, shows what an honest communist he has been! He even raised the quibble that Karat is forcing communist to vote along with Hindu right wingers, Bharatiya Janata Party.
It many not be pertinent at this juncture, but Somnath’s father was one of the founding members of Hindu Maha Sabha in Kolkata.
So much for ideological purity.

Manmohan and UPA favourites to win trust vote

By John Cheeran
Who will win the trust vote on July 22?
My take is that the UPA and Manmohan Singh will survive.
The parliamentary flotsam in New Delhi stands to gain zilch if the government is defeated on trust vote. If defeated, Manmohan Singh will continue as a caretaker Prime Minister, though nuclear deal will collapse.
But if the flotsam characters such as Rashtriya Lok Dal, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, and Janata Dal MPs vote in favour of the UPA, they can nibble at some sort of power for the next nine months, or till when Sonia Gandhi decides to go for the polls.
Given the political climate, Congress will find it tough to return to power at Centre. Even the NDA will have strenuous times to muster the majority. That’s why splinter formations are in vogue.
That’s why the Price for an MP has gone up to Rs 30 crore.
Democracy is a costly enterprise.
We have to pay for it.

Mohammed Afzal: just listen to the footfalls of the executioner

By John Cheeran
I don’t understand why Mohammed Afzal ‘Guru’ is concerned and confused regarding his future.
Apparently he has given an interview to a wire agency in New Delhi that could be termed a PR coup, by criticizing the UPA government for not cancelling the death sentence on him, delivered by the Supreme Court in 2004.
Afzal finds Tihar Jail a hell and wants to have a decision either way quickly. Afzal Guru tries to put political pressure on UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh through his interview by castigating their ineptitude to make a decision. That is not let him escape from the clutches of gallows.
And interestingly, advised by a spin doctor, he wants L K Advani as Prime Minister, so that the torturer can have a swift decision.
Well, If Mohammad Afzal wanted a quick decision on his life, he should remember that the Supreme Court gave it in 2004 and upheld it in 2005.
There was no dilly-dallying on decision making. Instead of sounding a martyr, Afzal should withdraw the mercy petition filed on his behalf. He should accept the legal terms of India and rest easy.
Every man should seek his own destiny.
Why did Afzal ask for President’s mercy in the first place? Remember Mohammad Afzal has been sentenced for death not for stealing apple from the parliament courtyard. I wish the jholawallahs too remember this.
It is time you withdrew your mercy petition and began the early morning walk to the gallows.
It is quite simple, Afzal. Simpler than your plans to slaughter the Indians.

Oil crisis: How about Rahul Bajaj for Indian Prime Minister?

By John Cheeran
How about Rahul Bajaj for Indian Prime Minister?
The Indian automaker has welcomed the hike in petrol and diesel prices for all the right reasons. On Wednesday he told a television channel that though the sales of his company’s products, mainly Bajaj scooters and bikes, will be hurt as direct result of fuel price rise, in the interest of the nation and the future generations to come we should accept the rising costs.
Yes, I agree, when Bajaj says that money to buy crude oil for Indian refineries will not drop from heaven. It has to be found among the direct users of petrol and diesel, at a time when the price of crude oil per barrel has touched $130, and if you can trust Goldman Sachs’ Arjun Murty’s forecast, it will touch $200 mark before the year turns over.
Bajaj is a member of the Parliament. But he does not belong to any political party. He has no constituency to lose, so unlike our populist politicians, Bajaj can speak his mind, even though it is for the good of the nation.
Don't you think that Bajaj should replace Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister?
BJP wants the federal government to cut duties and keep the prices where they are to shield the common man from the cascading effect of fuel price hike. It is easier said than done, where will the government rise funds for its social outlay?

Simple fact is that, when it rains, as it did in Delhi yesterday night, it is difficult not to get drenched despite your umbrellas. Tough times are upon us.

Different and diverse ideas are needed to tackle the energy crisis. India should search for alternative energy sources. The United States is experimenting with corn ethanol, a move which has been widely blamed for pushing the global food prices up.

That perceptive columnist Roger Cohen has written in today’s New York Times about a better experiment—Brazil’s sugar ethanol.
Allow me to quote Mr Cohen.
“Some 35 years after the first oil shock, Brazil has moved from dependence on imports to self-sufficiency while the United States still relies on imported oil for more than half its needs. In the same period, Brazil has developed the world’s most advanced ethanol program, based on sugar cane, while the U.S. corn ethanol program is essentially a wasteful folly of dubious carbon offset merits….
Sugar cane is not a staple. It’s eight times more productive than corn. It grows year round. It must be processed fast, so CO2-spewing transport to distant ethanol plants is impossible (unlike for corn).
Its leftover biomass can be used to produce electricity, enough, by some estimates, to provide a third of Brazil’s power needs by 2030. Ethanol already accounts for about 50 percent of car fuel in Brazil. The vast extent of unused arable land — only 16 percent is cultivated — offers enormous scope. At $40 per barrel-of-oil-equivalent in Brazil, sugar-cane ethanol makes strategic and economic sense.”
I hope Mr Sharad Pawar, India’s Minister for Agriculture and sugar baron, will take the lead in India to develop sugar cane ethanol.
We need initiatives such sugar cane ethanol, at least till such time, when Mr Bajaj or Mr Ratan Tata comes up with vehicles that run on love and fresh air!