Hamara Congress

( Delivered in the Lok Sabha on 26th August 2011.)

Madam Speaker,

I have been deeply distressed at the developments of the last few days.  Many aspects of the situation have caused me anguish.

We are all aware that corruption is pervasive.  It operates at every level.  The poor may carry its greatest burden but it is an affliction that every Indian is desperate to be rid off.  Fighting corruption is as integral to eliminating poverty as is Mahatma Gandhi NREGA or the Land Acquisition Bill.  Yet it is equally imperative to the growth and development of our nation.

Madam Speaker, we cannot wish away corruption by the mere desire to see it removed from our lives.  This requires a comprehensive framework of action and a concerted political program supported by all levels of the state from the highest to the lowest.  Most importantly, it requires firm political will.

Madam Speaker, in the past few years I have travelled the length and breadth of our country. I have met scores of countrymen, rich and poor, old and young, privileged and disempowered who have expressed their disillusionment to me.  In the last few months, Annaji has helped the people to articulate this same sentiment.  I thank him for that.

I believe that the real question before us as representatives of the people of India today is whether we are prepared to take the battle against corruption head on?  It is not a matter of how the present impasse will resolve, it is a much greater battle.  There are no simple solutions.  To eradicate corruption demands a far deeper engagement and sustained commitment from each one of us.

Witnessing the events of the last few days it would appear that the enactment of a single Bill will usher in a corruption-free society.  I have serious doubts about this belief.

An effective Lok Pal law is only one element in the legal framework to combat corruption.  The Lok Pal institution alone cannot be a substitute for a comprehensive anti-corruption code.  A set of effective laws is required.  Laws that address the following critical issues are necessary to stand alongside the Lok Pal initiative:

(1) government funding of elections and political parties,

(2) transparency in public procurement,

(3) proper regulation of sectors that fuel corruption like land and mining,

(4) grievance redress mechanisms in public service delivery of old age pensions and ration cards; and

(5) continued tax reforms to end tax evasion.

We owe it to the people of this country to work together across party lines to ensure that Parliament functions at its optimum capacity and delivers these laws in a just and time bound manner.

We speak of a statutory Lok Pal but our discussions cease at the point of its accountability to the people and the risk that it might itself become corrupt.  Madam Speaker, why not elevate the debate and fortify the Lok Pal by making it a Constitutional body accountable to Parliament like the Election Commission of India?  I feel the time has come for us to seriously consider this idea.

Madam Speaker, laws and institutions are not enough.  A representative, inclusive and accessible democracy is central to fighting corruption.

Individuals have brought our country great gains.  They have galvanized people in the cause of freedom and development.  However, individual dictates, no matter how well intentioned, must not weaken the democratic process.  This process is often lengthy and lumbering.  But it is so in order to be inclusive and fair.  It provides a representative and transparent platform where ideas are translated into laws.  A tactical incursion, divorced from the machinery of an elected Government that seeks to undo the checks and balances created to protect the supremacy of Parliament sets a dangerous precedent for a democracy.  Today the proposed law is against corruption.  Tomorrow the target may be something less universally heralded.  It may attack the plurality of our society and democracy.

India’s biggest achievement is our democratic system.  It is the life force of our nation. I believe we need more democracy within our political parties.  I believe in Government funding of our political parties.  I believe in empowering our youth; in opening the doors of our closed political system; in bringing fresh blood into politics and into this House.  I believe in moving our democracy deeper and deeper into our villages and our cities.

I know my faith in our democracy, is shared by members of this House.  I know that regardless of their political affiliation, many of my colleagues work tirelessly to realize the ideals upon which our nation was built.  The pursuit of truth is the greatest of those ideals.  It won us our freedom.  It gave us our democracy. Let us commit ourselves to truth and probity in public life. We owe it to the people of India.

MADNESS IS THE METHOD

By Sanjay Jha

On www.HamaraCongress.com

“ If you had the freedom of choice to invite whoever you wished for dinner home, who would be your first guest ?”. My answer was instantaneous : “Mahatma Gandhi”. This was during those nerve-wracking campus interviews in business school when your energy levels were kinetic. Ergo, imagine my dismay, acute discomfiture, anger even when bombarded by grotesque comparisons of the great Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi with other pretenders to his brilliant, impeccable legacy. But I felt rather foolish, like a singular isolated character with a flawed sense of history. I prefer the serene solitude to the unbearable cacophony though.

Anna Hazare’s advisors have missed the woods for the trees . Besides inspiring us with their sizzling PR skills and media management strategies, they have done tragically nothing to get the anti-corruption debate forward, embroiled as they are in an entrenched egotistical war with the government. The real issues lie obfuscated amidst trite sound bytes and much gobbledygook. His movement has slipped from the once sublime to the sub prime. Ram Lila grounds manifests a dangerous intransigence.

I am pointing out two glaring loopholes in the Jan Lokpal Bill, given that the latter pre-supposes immaculate perfection:

1) Are public servants in the government sector the only sleazy lot? If yes, who ensnares them with monstrous financial blandishments? The needle of suspicion will invariably move to large business corporations who spend fortunes ostensibly in political lobbying to grease palms. But surprisingly, the much vaunted Jan Lok Pal Bill is conspicuously silent on what ought to have been it’s raison detre; the largest influencer of public policy and spectacular corruption is the formidable industry lobby. But Kejriwal & Co have studiously given a charitable concession to big fat sugar daddies. Without providing for coverage of large corporations which use India’s natural resources ( land, oil-reserves, mines, minerals, water, forests etc ) either directly or in public-private partnerships the Jan Lokpal Bill is a sham. Public assets need careful protection. Bhatta Parsaul, Lavasa, Vedanta/Posco in Orissa, may have received national limelight but that needs to be addressed beyond the RTI Act. How can one be mysteriously silent on that ? These significant omissions , it is crystal –clear are cases of willful oversight that raises serious questions on the comprehensiveness of the Jan Lok pal Bill. We need answers.

2) Why is there such a great reluctance to have NGO’s receiving private funding to be included in the Jan Lok Pal Bill? The grave corruption levels in NGO’s is well-documented, and often, their large donors have their own suspicious agendas, which are assiduously promoted using sophisticated stealthy operations. How can anyone take Team Anna seriously when they pretend to be so sanctimonious and above-board when their own backyard stinks of filthy stench? Anyone has a viewpoint?

Whenever a social movement has a sudden preponderance of Bollywood fraternity, fashion jet-set , Page 3 mascara tribe endorsing it, I get prodigiously nervous. Since then some dubious elements have attempted self-purification; BS Yeddyurappa, Lalit Modi, Mayawati , — an eclectic crowd in an electric cocktail. Of course, the omnipresent trouble-shooters who preach the Art of Living and one-bearded proponent of complex yoga completes this august gathering. India has reasons to get profusely perturbed.

If after five months of insane, relentless media consumption , which would have even made Ram Gopal Verma’s Aag into a super-hit like Sholay, if Kiran Bedi has to resort to Tarantino-style hand-held video shoots in Tihar Jail to hit the You Tube, you know we are talking of desperate measures. Over-sold euphoria on synthetic foundations is unsustainable. But it was positioned as a master-stroke in social media marketing. Nobody remonstrated against an act, remarkably tacky, if not, totally unwarranted. After a transitory applause, the law of diminishing returns sets in rather quickly.

The obdurate stand of IAC has clearly created a perceptible divide; paradoxically enough, almost every Indian citizen is actually united on anti-corruption. This I believe has been the greatest blunder made by Hazare’s team. Sure, they have rounded up an impressive Sunday picnic gathering at Ram Lila Ground, but there has been a serious erosion of balanced thinking population from their constituency. The irrational obstinacy of Hazare & Co has not gone unnoticed; frankly if there is going to be such bitter contentiousness now, imagine the insurmountable obstacles that might come up when bruised egos negotiate its actual implementation? God bless us! Electoral, police and judicial reforms need to happen concurrently too, right? Polarization, remember is a double-edged weapon, its razor sharp edges can often lead to an inadvertent deep incision on oneself.. For the thousands on Delhi’s streets, there are millions who are tight-lipped, taciturn, watching a great TV spectacle with a poker-faced countenance. The ballot-box moment is two years away in a distant future. Even if earlier, they will act. They will vote.

Large sections of the media are indulgently back-slapping each other in gratuitous self-congratulations, as if they have been party to a great social revolution. That might be a trifle premature. They may have actually also contributed to an early demise of stimulating animated intellectual debate on real issues that never got mentioned. In a country of a billion people with multiple challenges, it is not difficult to instigate mass popular discontent on a core, central issue such as corruption. The media has merely played along with the self-righteous crusaders like a handy accessory with insouciant ease. Anti-government tirade always creates both high-pitched decibel levels and dizzying velocity.. Some myopic, pseudo liberals even dream of a Tahrir Square! I guess we are entitled to our obtuse hallucinations.

Many political commentators have berated UPA for being incommunicado with the urban middle-class. The hard fact is that India’s middle-class is a nebulous fraction , as it has far too over-stretched a definition. It includes that well-paid urban driver , a modestly compensated TV mechanic, a government clerk as well as the corporate whiz-kid, , well-heeled professionals and affluent businessmen. Are their daily grievances the same? Does the skilled worker from Rae Bareli watch Kiran Bedi’s You Tube? Whatever, this notional middle class as is popularly understood , is in reality the first beneficiary of UPA’s economic reforms. The malls, multiplexes, mobile phone changing generation of the new rich is the social media segment that everyone believes is the new game-changer. Really? These are the same shouting brigade that lionized MS Dhoni on April 2nd 2011, but now wants his head chopped off after the England wash-out. It’s the nature of the beast. They are easily dissatisfied; hence politically maneuverable. The UPA has not failed the real middle-class; but it may have the disenchanted hard-to-please upper middle class.

For Team Anna, the You Tube generation is their “ target segment”, because they are constantly wired, reading text, retweeting them, creating corny limericks. The English-speaking internet savvy crowd is ideal to also provide further fodder to all media outlets. Thus, Anna’s team rumoredly has several ex-media professionals providing off-the-shelf cheesy sound bytes which are reproduced with rehearsed panache by its vociferous proponents. Sure, it helps to have the mighty Fourth Estate on your side, but its over-reliance on vitriolic anti-UPA abuse has begun to boomerang. Symptoms of delusions of grandeur have begun to set in. Thus, belligerence and bellicosity; Jan Lokpal Bill or nothing! Lassitude has crept up on many as human sensibilities cannot endure mindless incongruous assaults. Team Anna actually believe that they can overthrow a democratically elected government of the Indian republic. And several editors have quietly chickened out on the “ great maturity of the Indian voter” line that they magnanimously mouth post-elections. Because the Anna agitation is not about the disaffected tribal , the landless labor, unemployed Muslim, or the immigrant in Mumbai. For the Indian media too there is a lesson, you may be the watch- dog, but even you are being watched.

There is a simple way forward:
1) Anna Hazare should stop his fast forthwith ( after all, no one wants his life to be endangered, and he has already succeeded in drawing attention to the corruption virus).
2) The Government should introduce all the three versions of the Lok Pal Bill ( including that of Aruna Roy ) before the Standing Committee
3) The Standing Committee must engage with other NGO’s and the public at large by taking their feedback on the website for the purpose ( already done) as well as direct dialogue.
4) Parliament ( including all opposition parties) must declare that the Bill we be passed latest by the winter session of Parliament.
5) Once passed, they will outline milestones for its implementation

India is witnessing a sudden outpouring of opportunities, a near gold-rush syndrome. In a country which is work-in progress , imperfect and inchoate , battling hostile contradictions in various stages of its growth , the fissures which are uncovered become coveted spots. Suddenly everyone wants to dominate its shape, its destiny, its character; some for power in the state, others for commerce, and some for societal reasons. Thus, what India needs now is the classic cliché, method in the madness. But currently , the only method is madness.

Dear Reader,

Whether you support the Indian National Congress Party’s ideology or manifesto is not a limiting factor. We are keen to listen to your views on matters and issues that affect India. As a concerned proud Indian. Like the Jan Lok Pal Bill, Land Acquisition, Right to Food Security, and on other relevant issues such as electoral reforms, etc.

It does not matter even if you support other political ideologies or party. Often, we lose both sight and perspective by getting mired in our narrow short-term objectives.
In the process, we miss the woods for the trees. India and Indians must be strong and prosper – that is the bottomline behind the initiative. It is what HamaraCongress.com stands for.

While we are supporters of Congress party’s secular principles and it’s focus on an inclusive India, we do believe that there needs to be a constant dialogue with our larger active citizen base.

We invite your:  -

1. Continuous feedback
2. Reasoned and practical recommendations
3. Ideas and suggestions to improve society, politics, economy, etc
4. Highlight issues that impact us on a broader scale
5. Post problems / difficulties experienced by you.

Please keep your inputs free of abuse and maligning anyone at a personal level by slanderous comments. Avoid references with provocative statements on sensitive matters such as caste, creed, gender, religion, etc

HamaraCongress.com reserves the right to accept / reject / edit or modify and amend your piece as deemed appropriate in the interest of readers and the larger community without impacting the core essence of your message.

Send us your articles / photos / comments along with your full name and email id at our interim email id at Sanjay@SanjayJha.com.

We look forward to hearing from you.

All the very best!

Sanjay Jha
Rajeev Gowda

Co-Founders
HamaraCongress.com

12 REASONS TO BACK UPA

by Sanjay Jha

on www.HamaraCongress.com

Nothing succeeds like failure. Large sections of the social media, intelligentsia, public and especially the urban middle-class seems to be constantly complaining about the UPA government. There is a sense of disenchantment and despondency. Of course, some of the issues could have been handled differently, with greater finesse in appropriate time It is acknowledged that things could be better , but that is a truism that applies to every organized activity in life, be it business, politics, organizations, universally. While grave issues such as corruption, price rise, security, Maoism et al are all relevant that need to be addressed on a high priority, let us not become so jaundiced and blinded by our own exaggerated cynicism that we miss the woods for the trees. We have a predilection for giving pessimism a red carpet welcome.

Without getting into the political mechanics of it, a simple summary of affirmative developments under the Congress-UPA regime that is taking India gingerly ahead in a spectacular global race follows. Some may not be known to the swish Twitterati world ( such as MNREGA / Right to Food Security ) because that does not directly impact them, but believe me, they are changing lives. In more ways than one.

So here goes:

1) RTI : This needs no explanation. It is landmark act in transparency that as a free democracy India should be proud of. In fact, its implementation has become a deterrent to those who would have otherwise attempted to browbeat and circumvent our systems.

2) MNREGA : A well-enunciated policy to create livelihood, and ensure economic support to the deprived sections. Despite execution hiccups and sporadic leakages, it is a consummate initiative that is actually impacting lives in rural areas.

3) Right To Education : A large part of our problems has to deal with illiteracy, poor quality of teachers and learning aids, and inaccessibility to elementary levels of academic exposure. RTE is a genuine attempt to get education to reach those children who cannot afford them by making it compulsory and free.

4) Right of Food Security : Given our huge population living below the poverty line, the Right to Food Security is a step in the right direction, belated perhaps, but one of paramount importance. In a country where many die starvation deaths, this bill restores faith in our concern for the poor. Providing subsidized food to a bulk of India’s poor is a great step for a country that is growing at over 8% GDP for years and where income inequalities have created the India-Bharat divide. The gap needs to be bridged rather quickly.

5) Jan Lokpal Bill: Enough said! Much debated, thrashed and tossed around by the civil society, but it is under UPA that the concept was created and developed till civil society hijacked it in a public relations outburst that has put the UPA on the backfoot . In whatever shape and form it finally gets passed, it will be an epochal moment for our democracy. The current agitation only delays its much-needed launch.

6) Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation Bill : Perhaps the singular reason for large-scale corruption in India, besides election-funding, this Bill marks a salutary beginning to create a viable framework on a sensitive subject that affects both rural landowners and urban dwellers. It could lead to the kind of clarity needed where currently confusion reigns.

7) Indian Youth Congress elections: The transparent elections being held under the auspices of retired CEC’s has meant that today ordinary young people with no family history in politics can now make an entry on pure merit and take up a political career. It is a model that all political parties should adopt. Given India’s demographics, for the aspiring youth an ideal platform to take a giant leap.

8) Arrests of Suresh Kalmadi / dropping of Ashok Chavan: While obviously it is expected that people will complain that too little was done too late, the hopelessness apart, the Congress-UPA did sent out a message that it will take action against those who have failed the ethics test. It is a beginning, albeit there is a long way to go.

9) Coalition partner A Raja in jail: Despite being a critical coalition support for UPA, the former telecom minister of the DMK was arrested and is currently refuting grave allegations from Tihar Jail , as is the DMK President’s high-profile daughter. Unprecedented and a signal that the GOI responds not just to public and media pressure, but to also what is right and ought to be done. The cookie did crumble finally.

10) Corporate bigwigs in the cooler : Heavy-weight corporate honchos from powerful family businesses find themselves in the jail. It manifests the UPA’s resolve to address the unholy nexus between big business houses and politics; an admission that it is indeed reprehensible and a massive problem which needs to be resolved, means we are headed in the right direction.

11) UID :Adhaar: The Unique Identification card for all citizens of India will lead to seamless electronic cash transfers to the targeted needy , which when it is fully operational will cut out middlemen and corruption. It is the need of the hour. Its benefits could be transformational as the earlier gargantuan financial fraud will be automatically negated .

12) NAC : The National Advisory Council, heavily castigated by many, was a sincere effort on the part of the UPA to listen to civil society, take feedback from those who work regularly at the ground-level on various social programs and incorporate worthwhile suggestions when formulating public policies. While it may have backfired politically judging from recent events , the intent was noble and welcome. And maybe in a modified form ought to continue.

1991 and financial bankruptcy seems like bad nightmare best forgotten. Right now we are in a position to create bail-out financial packages to defaulting western world countries in dollar-denominated currencies. At even 7.5% GDP growth rates, we do possess increasingly large share of world income growth in both money terms and purchasing power parity. India has an erudite qualified Prime Minister most apposite for pragmatic economic prescriptions during turbulent times. Kashmir is seemingly serene.

Often blamed for being too conservative, lethargic and media shy, the UPA has actually taken some ground-breaking initiatives. For a country that is such a vibrant young democracy compared to many of its well-entrenched affluent western counterparts, there is much that we should be proud of. Amidst all our mammoth challenges and difficulties, there is reason to feel sanguine. And hope for. India is not yet shining, but if we do not let despair , discouragement and dejection overtake us, shine we will.

BROKE IN THE USA

( As global markets crash to ominous signs of ill-health following the US credit rating downgrade, India needs to wake up and drink the coffee. It will be naïve to pretend that we are insulated from its potential downsides).

By Sanjay Jha

On TEHELKA FW

This quite does not seem to be an august month. At least, not just as yet. Standard & Poor’s casual miscalculation which overestimated the US deficit by a staggering USD 2 trillion ( more than India’s GDP) provided the perfect ludicrous distraction from the feared catastrophe of another economic meltdown, as attention shifted to New York and Washington from the Eurozone after US public deficit took center-stage , a few days ago. Cynics promptly rubbished the AAA downgrade of US debt to AA +; hadn’t these so-called research experts with their cracked crystal balls made those rosy predictions on several mortgage assets , gleefully dishing out AAA certificates as if they were lottery tickets during the halcyon days of booming housing prices in the US which later made them into a laughing “ stock” when Lehman Brothers went bust? . And probably pricked that gigantic bubble ? So S&P rating is got to be taken with a pinch of salt and pepper, shouted an indignant US Treasury. And a perturbed White House.

The US still remains the powerful Big Brother, our sole superpower, but its mighty reign is reaching a moral nadir, its once vaunted reputation , a crestfallen cul-de-sac. With consumer confidence also touching a depressing low, US President Barack Obama will need all-party support to increase personal/business taxes to pass on the rising cost of interest bill which is inevitable given lower ratings. Of course, competing research agencies such as Moody’s and Fitch are at least so far, deafeningly silent and status quo. But in these times, circumspection is common-sense. Expect the worst. After all, America nearly defaulted on its honored sovereign commitments.

Dysfunctional governments is an ecumenical issue; you can see it as Silvio Berlusconi continues his midnight orgies amidst ballooning fiscal deficits, as Italy nonchalantly queues up alongside Greece, Ireland and Iceland, in imminent danger of joining that notorious default club. Quintessentially, the reason behind the current global crisis is the somnambulant policy-making of governments which has matched the reckless flamboyance of the Wall Street fat-cats of 2007. There seems to be a suicidal predilection, with each making gargantuan blunders with effortless comfort. What we need is seminal path-breaking statesmanship ; what we have instead is conventional politicians, not even possessing what the classical writers would call, bare-bones verisimilitude. Political leadership world-wide needs not just a rejuvenation, but a renaissance. Obama , amongst the lot, is still our best hope. We need him. Because the world needs America, despite all the hullabaloo and hype surrounding the coronation of the China-India axis. The Asian giants need to be patient.

Noticeably, Standard & Poor’s downgrade of US credit rating is perhaps less on account of pure economic fundamentals, and more with perceived political risk, its luminous skepticism of it’s inability to take swift, corrective measures. The Republican-Democrat shadow punching on matters ostensibly commercial such as tax increase and cut in public spending have assumed a palpable political flavor , with the looming Presidential elections next year. After all everyone remembers; It’s the economy, stupid! In effect, the S&P downgrade neutralizes the extraordinary public relations surge in Obama’s popularity ratings following the Osama bin Laden mission. In the world of politics, success is as short-lived as your last breath.

Greed is good, said Gordon Gecko. But for America greed has become God. It was that breathtaking avarice that plunged the world into it’s first ever serious depression a few years ago since that memorable gold-rush fantasy of 1929 , when Wall Street hubris turned investment banks into dismal financial ghettos. Their intrinsic absurdity is impacting us yet, all over again. The ghosts of the past still roam in immaculate suits. Crisis cascades, and takes long to evaporate. Moreover, it is cross-border. But nothing stops man from the ultimate déjà vu; self-destruct. The fear of a US double-dip recession is genuine, but hopefully politicians, , policy-makers, regulators and commercial and investment bankers have learnt their lessons. Hopefully. The Tea Party may have begun in deadly earnest . But the party might still come to a premature end.

As the crisis reveals, there never can be a fully laissez-faire capitalist system as deemed in microeconomic theory , or an asphyxiating communist one. Both possess grave downsides when carried to extreme lengths. China embraced modern capitalism, but managed that with inelastic government intervention, resulting in China today owning 40% of US debt and buoyant reserves. America, obsessed with free markets and liberal policies , has always decried government control perhaps backed by compelling GDP data. But as 2007 and Alan Greenspan were to prove, it doesn’t work to drive effective regulatory controls to the periphery . The two will need to co-exist, but at least until the world economy stabilizes, which might yet take some more time, the role of government in fiscal and monetary management will need to primordial. Politicians to survive will need to understand economics. The voters will expect them to. Even inspirational speeches need tangible bottoms, and I dare say, tangible bottomlines, to sit on.

America is paying the price for gluttonous consumption, not backed by genuine spending power but unbridled debt , accentuated by disastrous international forays in Iraq and Afghanistan, besides humongous mindless funding of a duplicitous Pakistan. Somebody needs to pay for those profligate excesses and inane political experiments . Finally, the beleaguered American tax-payer will end up paying more for those myopic misadventures. It should be expected. It will be tough living in Minnesota or Maine.

In India, we are beginning to relive the pre-1929 American era of hysterical, artificial exhilaration. The first signs of delusion are the collective chorus; “We are generally insulated by transatlantic seismic shocks”. Sure, we are relatively better off, but severe infrastructural shortages, insufficient reforms, inchoate, obsolete land acquisition laws, poor skill quality and rampant corruption hang precariously like an albatross round our necks. We need both FII ( a strong equity market lowers cost of borrowing) and FDI investments ( for long-term funding which is not hot money) . Worse, at 36 US cents per- day per- person income covering 700 million, we have a lot to worry about. A 8% GDP growth in India is nothing to get excited about, we need that just to address basic human needs yet. The social/economic cost of even a hundred basis points drop in GDP for India is astronomical. So we need to care about the mood of Moody’s.

Exponential growth of Indian stock-markets is a media-created mirage, everyone happily forgets that a collapse also works in reverse geometrical series. Sometimes I feel we are carelessly sandbagging ourselves. The “ jugaad” mentality is disconcerting. In a wired commercial world , there are no overnight naps to be taken. We have clear advantages, but complacency and procrastination , has been our perennial nemesis.

For India the worry would be high inflation ( caused by food prices and short-supply of oil) co-existing with a slower economic growth as interest rates remain on the upper side and capital markets become sluggish. It may not be stagflation yet, but flat growth is possible, unless US recovers quickly or the current apprehensions are exaggerated. Monetary policy, reforms, ruthless execution of projects, public-private partnerships in infrastructure and cutting down on government -funded leakages will be necessary. Discipline ought to dominate our discussions.

For Dalal Street market punters unnerved by the sudden pessimism, it is good to borrow from boring empirical evidence. August, September and October are not good months for stock-market investing. The others equally worse are January, December, February, November, March, April, May, June and July.

FINDING EMO

By Sanjay Jha

Published in Tehelka/Financial World
Also on www.HamaraCongress.com

There was an outrageous outpouring of flagrant cynicism last week; the disgraced former boss of CWG and Congress MP Suresh Kalmadi was apparently suffering from dementia. Promptly there was frenetic speculation that Kalmadi had pulled off a rather creative subterfuge, loss of memory, which would give him warm protection from legal hawks and gnashing prosecutors. It soon turned into a universal media diatribe precipitating into logorrhea, simply unstoppable . The ersatz Kalmadi was seemingly putting up a Broadway performance, impersonating the first symptoms of Alzheimer. A perfect malinger, so to say. As it turns out, the controversial sports czar has perfect mental constitution; he said so himself, in what seemed as genuine relief to him. To give the man his due, at least he cannot be accused of spreading the canard himself. But the sadistic hounding of Kalmadi, even one of a casual tea encounter, was in repugnant taste.

Hypertension and chest pains has become the rudimentary ruse indulged in by criminals on the loose in handcuffs being unceremoniously paraded to Tihar Jail and elsewhere. It gives you breathing time ( pun intended). Ergo, the contemptuous dismissal of Kalmadi’s alleged dementia has an intriguing history of cry wolf, and is logically understandable. In a country so cynical it even perhaps reads the dates on the newspapers carefully before the headlines to make sure it is true , such a bitter reaction should be expected. But alas, it is also unfortunate. Our EQ ( emotional intelligence) levels are abysmal, and we are getting increasingly susceptible to casual generalizations; the “ sab chor hai” ( everyone is a thief) mentality. If you are on the wrong side, you are swiftly condemned, in one lethal stroke. A virulent lynch mob will then do a celebratory war -dance round the inanimate object of ridicule. It is becoming a pattern. Kalmadi is just a pit of the iceberg.

We are all essentially brought up to care, commiserate and show concern for our fellow beings. It is a normal human trait. Man, I learnt in civics while in school, is a social animal. I remember driving my daughter to school some years ago when she suddenly spotted a disconsolate sparrow refusing to budge despite angry honks from our impatient driver. The poor bird was unable to fly as it had a broken wing. So she gingerly picked up the fluttering thing and we sent it home to recuperate , even if it meant that she missed her crucial mathematics class. Of course, some thought that was the “height of emo(tional) overdose”. But must innocence, faith and goodness necessarily get obliterated as we grow up or mutate in a harsh world? Do we surrender to the practical demands of daily existence, compromising with our deep, innermost convictions? Must we really transmogrify into obnoxious ogres unaffected by the state of the others around us? Frankly, does that make us feel happy?

From my personal experience, EQ in employees and leaders is a more valuable asset than their IQ, technical brilliance or strategic planning. It keeps you grounded, builds better relationships and creates a vibrant work culture. The positive emotional energy is infectious. They say EQ is visceral, inherited, which often cannot be taught in classrooms. I disagree, it actually can be, even if some of us are inborn with tear ducts. When watching the train scene between Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai my daughters were terribly embarrassed because my eyes glistened.

EQ and empathy are inextricably intertwined; that’s why the Titanic and disaster movies are a big success. Because we imagine what it must be like to be in the middle of the turbulent Pacific ocean, slowly but surely submerging into icy cold waters, with a large white ice slab being the sole witness of our final destination. It is why the Jessica Lal/ /Aarushi murder cases committed with beastly brutality angered an otherwise placid public. The vicarious experience of horror. And then complete helplessness. I remember the hellish Kanishka plane bombing of 1985 left us aghast, horrified. We cared. We don’t know them, the victims might as well have been faceless strangers from another planet , and yet we share in their anguish, and grief. It’s the way we human beings are meant to be. It gives a tonic shot to our own emotional health, even if it flickers just momentarily like it did in candle-lights post-26/11. Every gesture, however ephemeral, can have a tectonic impact on those who need those words of comfort from us that assuage their hurt souls.

But these days we seem to be in a strangely disturbed world, forever tentatively poised, nervous and restless, inhabited by a kangaroo court culture; there is a swift synthetic trial, a homogenous jury cries bloody murder, and ghoulish creatures lead the victim blindfolded to be guillotined. It is dreadful ,personified by undisguised antipathy. In a rat race world , we breed a dog eat dog culture; in every aspect of our lives there seems to be traces of mutual assured destruction. Our own growth seems less important than the extermination of our competitor. It manifests an appalling state of morality besides a seriously flawed way of thinking. In urban India, the prevalent psyche is one of daily evaluation of where one is on the corporate escalator, personal net worth, market value of stock portfolio and the size of the latest sedan in the garage. Nothing else matters. Usually we utter well fabricated tokenism to demonstrate our larger societal and human commitments. But we wouldn’t care less. We are looking for new targets to shoot, and I dare say, we have multiple choices these days.

Kalmadi is in jail because he probably deserves to be there; his crime cannot be described as bagatelle, it was maybe bountiful. The media was fully correct in pursuing his misdemeanors with unflagging zeal. Looting the public exchequer is wrong, illegal and unfair. He deserves his just desserts. But let us also remember, Kalmadi did not kill anyone. He did not slaughter a lifeless limb into grizzly dismembered pieces , like a bone collector, for heaven’s sake. Like everyone else, and all alleged criminals, he deserves a chance to defend himself, get the best escape route within the judicial framework. Indeed the oppressive loneliness caused by solitary confinement can easily lead to atrophy, a gradual decapitation of nerve cells in any human being . If Kalmadi had indeed been afflicted with dementia, I for one, would not have been surprised, given that his age is beyond average Indian life expectancy. Would you? We must remember that human beings have an extraordinary capacity for a bounce-back, for renewal. Everyone must have equal opportunity for rehabilitation. Remember, even criminals have children, families, grandparents and friends. They have a life. We need to respect that.

The Norwegian killer Anders Behring Breivik’s parents wished he had killed himself. That was empathy for those who were cruelly slain for inane personal philosophies of a madman. They deserved better. And believe me, no jury or court verdict can match the damnation of parental indictment. Politicians are often the butt of wicked humor; there are liars, damn liars and politicians, perhaps topping the charts. And yet, many live a life on the edge, one of extreme vulnerabilities. Like the 24×7 nightmare of deadly assassins plotting a suicide attack. The cynic may dismiss that as an occupational hazard, but that actually reveals our low EQ and empathy levels.

It is generally assumed that high EQ reflects a soft syndrome, a weak construct that we must adroitly camouflage. We have allowed imperceptibly a culture of being hard-boiled, overtly passive, and professionally clinical. It is de rigueur to be mealy-mouthed, tight-lipped, poker-faced. Expressing yourself, sympathizing, trying to take a little extra time to understand and listen to the problems of those around us seems to have become a Himalayan endeavor. The danger lies, not in overlooking the obvious, but in being oblivious to our own delusions.

But yet finally at the midnight hour when the head hits the pillow, we have someone who invariably furtively crawls next to us for a late-night chat, whispering in a contralto voice; How was your day? The voice of our inner conscience, that intangible force that defines us all . Stark naked, the façade put away, the pyrrhic victories set aside, we need to confront those little dark demons, in that moment of truth. Unless we pretend we are suffering from transient dementia ourselves. And forget that nice guys do finish first. Sorry Mr Murphy.

SILENCE OF THE SPIRIT

By Sanjay Jha

In TEHELKA FW

I had just stepped minutes away from the Air India building after a leisurely post-lunch stroll when the bombs exploded. Death and destruction lay interspersed in a macabre heap, cars twisted into an incongruous piece of metallic architecture, and in flames. That was on March 12th 1993. Within hours, the gruesome serial attacks masterminded by Dawood Ibrahim were methodically executed , with deadly precision. It was planned devastation, the minds of malicious men burning the midnight oil, quite literally . It was to be a horrendous nightmare for Bombay ( as it was called then). The city and India seemed nonplussed, petrified, shell-shocked. Babri Masjid was in rubbles, India was financially bankrupt, Rajiv Gandhi had been brutally assassinated, and communal tensions were reaching dangerous proportions. Eighteen years later, a sense of déjà vu pervades amongst the denizens of a battered down city.

The next day following the bomb attacks in 1993 , our Bank of America staff recorded hundred percent attendance at Express Towers, standing tall alongside the famous Air India building where several innocent people had been killed less than 24 hours earlier. Few customers trickled in, not to withdraw cash but to satisfy curiosity perhaps, but our front-office client service representatives were smiling profusely, ready to make overseas remittances. I believe similar stories of Mumbai’s unflagging zest for life played out across the bustling metropolis. The great legend of Mumbai’s resilience was born. It was for real. A city impregnable in character, defiant in the face of adversity, was overcoming its grief with dignity. Poetic compositions flowed, and esoteric prose on its human endurance were recited. Spirit of Mumbai is unconquerable , said society columnists in their Espirit labels. They missed the point by a mile.

What many perhaps inadvertently overlooked was that beneath that bold exterior a mammoth fear had planted itself imperceptibly, which had ballooned like a gigantic membrane, enveloping its soul during the dreadful Mumbai riots earlier. A city that had always boasted of its insatiable commercial zeal, its astounding ethos of unflagging punctuality, the creative madness of Bollywood artists, risk-taking financial warehouse, and a cosmopolitan hue was suddenly engulfed in incendiary flames. Fear cascaded on creased faces, people huddled in narrow alleys discussing the furtive movements of erstwhile friendly neighbors. Hate filled the air. Suddenly Mumbai resembled a tormented mohalla on a murderous spree. No Shamiana of the Taj or Bade Miya of Colaba frequented by dapper suited foreign bankers , office-goers and the college brat alike would restore its ripped confidence.

The subsequent killings in local trains, Ghatkopar, outside of Taj Mahal hotel kept Mumbai’s appointment with death at intermittent intervals, a perpetual reminder of its vulnerability. People resigned to a certain inevitability given the impeccable manner with which terrorists attacked the city periodically, and got away unscathed. It was the three-day long internationally televised barbarous slaughter at Taj and Trident Oberoi ( amongst others such as CST railway station) that ultimately raised the terror profile of Mumbai . Everyone noticed. Terror tourism is now Mumbai’s magnetic draw. There are more people taking photos of the Wasabi restaurant on the first floor of Taj which saw some bloody exchanges, with their backs turned to the historical attraction of Gateway of India. I think now Mumbai is acknowledging its helplessness, in a pragmatic down-to-earth reconciliation to reality. Hence, the houseful boards outside theatres over the week-end. The anger that you see is transitory; it is subsumed by the emotion of surrender.

In the meantime, all that Bombay’s politicians changed about the city was its name; they called it Mumbai. They renamed the Victoria Terminus. And a handful of hard-core local voters did a crossover to their constituencies. It was day-light ruse , which assumed that the world is populated by gullible fools. When the economic boom happened, real estate rates skyrocketed, and corruption took center-stage. Politicians were so busy peddling in property transactions, Mumbai’s public infrastructure got totally neglected, reducing the city to a veritable decaying vegetable; clogged traffic, nauseating garbage dumps, insufferable healthcare and worsening slum conditions exacerbating its bursting seams. Delhi overtook its once perennial competitor.

Tragically , Mumbai’s woes aggravated and it damaged its own reputation for social tolerance, but this time it was not cross-border incursions to blame. We allowed our own poor country cousins from North India to be thrashed by local political thugs masquerading as our regional leaders. The city’s cognoscenti maintained a dubious silence. Shah Rukh Khan was prevented from releasing My Name is Khan by a new quasi-government behind protected fortresses. A city was held to ransom for pedestrian gamesmanship. I went through metal detectors at INOX theatre , not because of Pakistani insurgents but because of parochial patriarchs of our political system and their perverse ways. It was as sad a moment as 1993. We were doing it to ourselves.

As the evening of July 13th suddenly turned into one of misery, Bollywood’s staple-favorites emerged with clockwork preciseness from their woodwork , looking suitably agitated, uttering angst-filled prose to near- rehearsed perfection. Their prescriptions for solving Mumbai’s problems could create a nuclear holocaust. Everyone wants to annihilate “rogues” Pakistan, preferably an aerial attack with Manmohan Singh in the fighter pilot’s seat . Ridiculousness personified. The tragedy of the English speaking, Blackberry-Twitter class is that it has on-tap panacea for every problem. Usually its suggestions manifest a novel approach; if you have a headache, just cut the head-off. Practically all fell prey to the specious argument of how the US has prevented attacks since 9/11 but we have not. And even as Mumbai bled, two political heavyweights and former Chief Ministers of Maharashtra battled collectively to enthrone themselves on a cash rich cricket body of MCA.

India needs a desperate catharsis; almost all our vital institutions of a free vibrant democracy are currently suffering from low credibility. We are in a peculiar transition phase, often looking impatient , hurried, where even a momentary pause for reflection is deemed a state of paralysis. Worse, we are so self-obsessed we look at everything else with a jaundiced eye. Stroking negativism is our new national past-time, symbolic of a self-destructive streak or at best an inchoate society yet to discover itself. Despite recent successes, many Indians seem to lack faith. I know butterflies cannot fly in formation, but we must at least try.

In calm waters, every ship has a good captain, but leadership skills are really tested in moments of crisis and doom. After decades, in uncustomary circumstances perhaps, but Maharashtra seems to have found a good leader in Prithviraj Chavan. Chavan is calm-headed, candid, and seems to possess an unassuming, sensitive disposition. He even broke recent Congress traditions and promptly encountered media editors with cool aplomb, navigating them adroitly, but above all, with straight-faced honesty. He was relatively unknown and low-profile before coming to Varsha , and many confused his name with that of the valiant Rajput warrior Prithviraj Chauhan, a great fighter with a lion-heart who ruled Delhi many centuries ago. In the days and months ahead, Chavan will perhaps benefit by going back to history-books. As will Mumbai, giving it a sliver of hope.

Sanjay Jha is Co-Founder www.HamaraCongress.com

BREAKING NEWS OF THE WORLD

By Sanjay Jha

( The closure of the News of the World has lessons for the media industry world-wide. Including India ).

On http://www.HamaraCongress.com

Rupert Murdoch , the emperor of media leviathan News Corporation shuttled on a transatlantic flight over a tumultuous week-end that saw a popular British Sunday tabloid bite the dust, never to rise again. News of the World ( NOTW ) was founded prior to the Great Indian Mutiny of 1857, but closed with a 72 hour notice period in tragic infamy on account of startling revelations about its surreptitious hacking of private mails and messages, in a manner both macabre and sleazy . For Murdoch, the closure was not a generous act to protect the Holy Grail but a calculated trade-off for acquisition of the more alluring BSkyB. Greed is a driving ambition, often meeting a ruinous end. It could happen in India too.

Despite much heart-burning and pious pontification, the Press Council of India report on paid advertising accumulates dust in dark dungeons, like used files. It does manifest our questionable standards, the media’s inability to smother its own insuperable demons. While we hyperventilate to the world, our own backyard emits a sordid stench. Paid coverage is stealthy advertising, which legitimizes self-promoting campaigns on unsuspecting readers posing as dispassionate reporting. It is indeed an ethical violation of astronomical proportions, but everyone seems nonchalant, blissfully blasé about it.

Dilip Padgaonkar once famously stated that The Times Of India editor was the “second most important man in India”. That was not hubris or a silly exaggeration , it was a near-factual assessment. But today no media big gun can make such lofty claims. Multiple channels and news publishers have made mass distribution of news our new business reality. Once I waited every Sunday morning to read Khaled Mohammed’s review of a Bollywood blockbuster. Now several experts miserly dole out glittering stars on Friday itself, even as thousands of faceless bloggers become the new film critic. It’s literally first day, first show. Media is now truly democratized; so truly there are no king-makers. With Facebook, Twitter and blogs gathering high-speed on the social networking highway, media activism has also assumed formidable power to influence public opinion, so far considered the sacrosanct preserve of an elite club. India’s subterranean media revolution is underway.

Media organizations must also frequently take core ideological or strategic positions on sensitive issues, it will enhance their quality. That’s what often distinguishes the print media from television. The snarling watchdog needs to be just that; it can’t have a shrill bark, a toothless bite and lazily snooze when Rome burns, reacting only under extreme provocation. For instance, last year when Shiv Sena became a quasi-Sarkar in threatening to black-out Shah Rukh Khan’s My Name is Khan, the conventional protocol of TV channels of giving both sides a voice was rather superfluous , even preposterous. Even to a naïve outsider, Shiv Sena was indulging in unlawful transgressions exploiting media platform shamelessly to espouse its parochial claptrap. The worst indictment of the media is when it willingly succumbs to made for TV manufactured events. Whatever happened to professional discretion?

Aren’t leaked reports also obtained often with at least moral illegality with an in-built clause of quid pro quo? In a country bedeviled by innumerable scams, a deadly diabolical nexus between criminal elements, political leaders and business-builder behemoths, media is critical. But discharging that onerous responsibility is not a child’s play. Like Wikileaks, one foresees alternative mediums to emerge to fill the gaping vacuum created by status quo coverage these days . Investigative journalism has become comatose in a commercially dictated news content age. Something is gone missing.

Are we becoming tabloid-like, allowing any bearded spiritual free-agent, violent wife-beater or a just-released bone chopper to capture India’s attention? Can we then be so self-righteous as to take umbrage under “mere reporting”?. Oh, come on! For all the political faux pas of the government, the media should have used its own gray cells to fathom Baba Ramdev’s bona fides. The modern-media is society’s crucial “ influencer”, not a reseller of titillating tales. Media integrity is a non-negotiable instrument. We need to enforce it.

I hear several grumble ; why does the media never do a comprehensive follow-up to serious unresolved issues instead of chasing the next wife-thrashing maverick promoting his televised marriage? Whatever happened to several disproportionate assets cases against powerful CM’s? Who really covertly leaked the Radia tapes, and why ? How is Lalit Modi “ officially absconding” and purchasing large mansions in downtown London without a valid passport? Whatever happened to the Srikrishna report on the Mumbai riots ? Narayan Rane had publicly stated that he was aware of powerful people who knew about 26/11 terrorist attacks—really? If so what happened? Despite singular success stories like Jessica Lal , the CWG/ 2 G scam, Gujarat riots and several successful petitions, paradoxically enough, media itself is losing the perception battle. Aamir Khan’s Peepli Live ridiculed media to atrocious levels but to appreciative applause.

In India, where our daily lives resembles a cacophonous collage of absurd and horrendous tales, news television often degenerates into infotainment category. The truth is that good news is boring. It’s like breathing. It’s predictable, monotonous, rhythmical, but it is also bloody necessary. Or else we have the kiss of death. We are too often celebrating India’s unseen imminent demise, our own pornography of grief. It is time we appreciated that even thorns have roses. At least one channel has begun to share a daily dose of cheer.

Competitive journalism is natural marketing warfare , after all, newspapers and TV channels are not in the charity trade. But intent is pivotal. Phone hacking is unambiguously unethical. Bribery pay-offs of police personnel is contemptible. Killing news to protect favored parties is equally lamentable. But isn’t paid advertising also guilty of disingenuous, distorted presentation of facts? In the long-run , media houses that practice quintessential consecrated ethical behaviour will survive. Others will flounder.

The editor is media’s conscience-keeper, its guardian angel. They are the ones who must separate the wheat from the chaff, and ensure that the chaff does not get headline attention. But the quarter to quarter pressures of EPS for the publicly listed media companies can result in editorial compromises. The editors need to be sacrosanct, inaccessible to advertisers and CEO’s business plans , working behind a Chinese wall. Editors should have no employee stock options, and must not be on boards of these companies either; that will eliminate conflict of interest issues. Instead, they should be compensated by equitable fixed salaries, benefits, bonuses, and given flexibility for research projects, reimbursed higher learning expenses and encouraged to author books and take up teaching assignments. We need to de-link organizational bottomline numbers with editorial policy. Editorial independence is a must; they cannot be the brand managers with brains. Also, celebrity editors could do with relative anonymity . Anonymity powers the personal brand. Proximity to suave glib talking industrialists or political power-brokers can be jeopardous as was evident in the Radia tapes. David Cameron flushes crimson on his selection of the just arrested former head of NOTW, Andy Coulson. Tony Blair too is red-faced. And more is still to surface.

Every media company must make public its own independent advisory board with an ombudsman , besides an industry watchdog. Ethical workshops are needed, as young recruits can be susceptible to short-cut methods for quick career windfalls. Press, public relations , big business and the politicians will have to tread with circumspection as there could be grave overlaps on account of the vested , conflicting interest of each. The unholy nexus is no longer a well-concealed secret. The path is slippery , shaky and serpentine. It is easy to become the news of the world. Very easy.

Good night and good luck!

THE MAN IN 12, TUGHLAQ ROAD

By Sanjay Jha

( Published in TEHELKA FW on June 29 th 2011)

In early 2009, a revolutionary breakthrough, unprecedented in India’s democracy was quietly unfolding in Punjab. But Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s team looked discombobulated ; their unique mammoth exercise for grass-root participation of young aspirants interested in a political career had found little media support. But Congressman Digvijay Singh’s utterances on Rahul’s 41st birthday about his future prospects as India’s Prime Minister predictably stirred a hornet’s nest. A bedlam followed.

To understand Gandhi, rewind to 2004. Popular opinion polls indicated a calamitous rout of the once venerated Congress, some sniggering at a historic double-digit low. Pramod Mahajan, BJP’s photo-shop man dismissed electoral prognostications of 330 seats for NDA as chaff, puffing away on a five-star treadmill.

Frankly, tell me, which perspicacious political analyst expected the Indian Shining hyperbole to be so rudely terminated ? When Atal Behari Vajpayee called millions of mobile numbers with his pre-recorded sales pitch, India disconnected. The rest is history. It was against such humongous odds that Gandhi made his political debut, fully aware that opposition benches perhaps beckoned. It was going to be a long hard journey. Even today, as UPA is in its second term, that’s how he looks at it. Gandhi has an inherent inner strength to take the bull by the horns; a fact, many conveniently overlook, or inadvertently ignore. They shouldn’t .

The BJP which committed harakiri borne out of either misplaced optimism, absurd logic or plain hubris in 2004 elections, was given a classroom lesson on cutting out its penchant for hyperbole. Again in 2009, despite dodging world-wide recession and recording stunning GDP growth during its first tenure, Gandhi stated the obvious truth: India is not shining. Because for him India had to look beyond just BPO jobs, FII investments, SUV sales ,shopping malls,the world’s biggest IPO and the super elite on the Forbes billionaires list. Too many Indians still exist precarioulsy on a survival help-line. For Gandhi, that is a high priority. It is difficult to argue with that economic rationale.

The new buzzword post-2009 was the Rahul Doctrine, but frankly Gandhi is not in any hurry to create private labels. He has a singular, uncomplicated agenda—national resurgence can only happen if economic polarization and political purification is addressed . For him, income redistribution is India’s paramount challenge, not dividend pay-outs to corporate shareholders alone. Even per capita GDP conceals lopsided wealth concentration.

The Youth Congress, for several years carrying cash-rich bullies with nefarious reputations, had to be promptly revitalized, re-ignited. For Gandhi, the transformational drive is a mission; Congress must go back to the people, like in pre- 1947 Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru days. Of course, there have been sporadic mischievous oddballs who have infiltrated the massive democratic exercise, but that hardly detracts from its substantial ground impact. The democratization of the Youth Congress is a bottom-up process of change, it will create values-based principled- political leadership in the future, is Gandhi’s fervent hope. To expect an overnight metamorphosis is being naïve, but its long-term impact could be tectonic. In 2014, the demographics will favor him by a wide margin.

By shunning cabinet positions, Gandhi has sent an unambiguous message; the Congress needs grass-root resuscitation, and that cannot be achieved by winning televised evening debates against animated lawyers on a vituperative roll from the saffron brigade. The real electoral battle is in the dusty interiors of rural India where electricity transmissions are still deemed as divine intervention.

The handicap of having an apolitical leader as Prime Minister in the UPA adversely impacts official communication. The UPA has been saddled with heavy baggage; corruption charges on coalition partners, price rise, Maoism, antiquated laws inhibiting infrastructural investments, and some silly faux-pas such as legitimizing self-appointed civil society members on an insatiable public relations drive. The fine line between party objectives and government compulsions becomes blurred; in an aggressive media world circumspection is seen as circumvention, silence is misconstrued to be guilt. Neither is true. Manmohan Singh in his most effusive state is intrinsically laconic; Mrs Sonia Gandhi genuinely prefers non-interference. Hence the media focus on Rahul Gandhi.

Bhatta Parsaul is a manifestation of the larger critical national issue of land acquisition, not just a western UP electoral ploy, one that Gandhi champions with passionate zeal. I think Gandhi’s critics are essentially flabbergasted at his steadfast adherence to larger complex issues as opposed to power-grabbing.

The problem with vociferous armchair critics with intellectual pretensions is that they cannot decipher the term “charisma” ( it is not easily quantifiable in statistical charts). They believe it is mere synthetic gloss/ruse borne out of congenital blue-blood; an erroneous conclusion. Rahul’s great-grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru was a freedom fighter who graduated to be a perfect world statesman in a troubled global era, Mrs Indira Gandhi may have made some monumental blunders, but the emphatic victory in the Pakistan war in 1971 made her a Durga incarnate. Rajiv Gandhi’s much-caricatured laptop was a precursor to India’s IT revolution. Rahul is aware of his charismatic lineage. In a world prone to cosmetic confabulations, and instant assessments, he knows the power of magnetic appeal. It increases responsibility enormously on his young shoulders.

He is aware of the treacherous territory of Indian politics; his father Rajiv Gandhi’s cataclysmic collapse from 403 seats in 1984 is an irrefutable reality. The handling of Shah Bano case,shilanayas ceremony, were tactical mistakes that were to jeopardize Congress and help a non-existent BJP into becoming a monstrous nemesis. Hence, he has relied heavily on self-introspection and first-hand discovery of the real India that he stands for.

He candidly admitted that India has a “rotten system”, and that public disenchantment with politicians is disconcerting. Gandhi is not just helping Congress, but attempting to bring respectability to the abused political class commonly perceived to be a vulpine lot. Politician bashing is assuming dangerous proportions, which several interest groups are craftily exploiting.

The world’s most sophisticated democracy elected two of Bush and almost two Clinton’s to the White House. In India, we are flogging a dead horse by the ad nauseam reference to political dynasty. Rahul openly acknowledges his political head-start, but is himself attempting to break that asphyxiating stranglehold by bringing in new faces in a free democratic environment shorn of ancestral priveleges. He deserves the country’s fullest support in that genuine endeavor.

RTI, NREGA, Aadhar, ,Right to Education, the impending Jan Lokpal Bill, transparent dealings with civil society, arrests of corrupt corporate chieftains and political colleagues, voluntary disclosures of assets, have been extraordinary successes of the excessively criticized UPA. At its optimum, never a great marketing organization but this government has voluntarily executed democratic process of dialogue and transparency like no other before. I think Rahul needs to take the wind out of the sails of those who ridicule authentic accomplishments of UPA by a stronger counter-propaganda. The gathering whirlwind of speculation about a leadership vacuum needs to be smothered.

Finally, if and when the Congress finally asks him to take the big plunge, I guess he will. The drive from 12, Tughlaq Road to 7, RCR is a short one.

(The author is Co-Founder, HamaraCongress.com. He can be reached at Sanjay_Jha@DaleCarnegie.com )