Jan 25, 1999

A Government where everybody is a brake can never be a self-starter.

For everything that is true of India, somebody once exclaimed, the opposite is also true. Take the cabinet form of government. In theory, the prime minister has the unfettered right to choose his colleagues. In reality, as Atal Bihari Vajpayee came to realise this past week, the prime minister can do anything but that. Some lobbying is to be expected when a cabinet reshuffle is in the offing. What is not on is the division of the Cabinet into little territories, each with its own mini-prime minister -- self-appointed and outside the government. J. Jayalalitha, for instance, has taken it upon herself to decide which Tamil MP will become a minister and which one will be dropped, trifles such as competence be damned. She has also declared certain portfolios her monopoly. Since playing termagant is the flavour of the season, Mamata Banerjee has come up with her own preposterous demands. Having consistently refused to allow her Trinamool Congress to join the Vajpayee Government, she now says she will but only if given the Railway Ministry. Her reason: the ministry can help West Bengal.

There are a few points which the lady needs to clarify. One, by rejecting ministries like surface transport as "inconsequential", is she implying that her state has perfect roads and, in fact, faces no problems other than incomplete railway projects? Two, it may not have occurred to Mamata, but surely South Block is the seat of the Government of India rather than that of West Bengal? There is a difference between regionalism and reductionism. By being primarily responsible -- sundry forces within the BJP and in other allied parties also did their bit -- for postponing the reshuffle, Mamata and Jayalalitha have yet again called the coalition's political management skills into question. Vajpayee's recalcitrant allies would do well to recall the denouement of the United Front (UF) soap opera, 1996-98: the UF prime ministers are non-entities -- but most of their prickly juniors are not doing any better.

Outrage in Kalinga

Anjana Mishra's charges require quick inquiry-not politicisation.

Rape, behavioural scientists have often stressed, has less to do with sexuality than with an assertion of power. In India rape is about power alright -- political power. On January 9 Anjana Mishra, a lady who had earlier accused a former advocate general of Orissa and friend of Chief Minister J.B. Patnaik of molestation, was waylaid and subjected to further assault. The criminals, she said, seemed to know who she was and scoffed at her battle against the ruling establishment. Expectedly, the repeated violation of Mishra has jolted Orissa. There have been public protests, admittedly with some political instigation but nevertheless representative of mass anger. That Patnaik himself has disbelieved Mishra's story and responded with innuendoes rather than firmness has not helped. The most disgusting reaction has come from within the ruling Congress. Dissidents have used the incident to file sanctimonious complaints with the party president. Their inspiration? Patnaik's deputy chief minister who is angling for his boss' job.

In all this the truth has been forgotten. Actually, it interests none. Are Mishra's allegations true? If they are, is the police any closer to arresting her assailants? Is Bhubaneswar increasingly unsafe for women? Nobody in the Government -- actually, in any political party -- seems bothered. As a similar incident in Jaipur a year ago made clear, a rape victim for India's politicians is no more than a political issue, scarcely different from a corruption case. If rape is evil, such insensitivity is vile. It is nobody's argument that the political class' mores can be transformed overnight. Even so, a start could be made if the judicial commission set up to investigate Mishra's charges is told to submit its report expeditiously, in a month at the most. Meanwhile, Patnaik and his friends should stop prejudging the matter and simply shut up.

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