Sex, Neta and the Indian Media
SEX, NETA AND THE MEDIA
By Sanjay Jha
( Published in TEHELKA/ Financial World)
If Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK) , the former managing director of IMF had read Lord Chesterfield’s poetry on sex (“ the pleasure is momentary, the position ridiculous , and the expense damnable” ) , he would still be in his chic Manhattan hotel contemplating French presidency. Instead, he is right now cooling heels in the impregnable Rikers Island for alleged sexual assault and attempted rape of a young thirty-two year old housekeeper. Joining the spiffy DSK is Anthony Weiner, US Congressman who committed Twittercide ( suicide on Twitter) for his kinky self-exhibitionism on public broadcast instead of his targeted object of virtual fantasy. Silvio Berlusconi of Italy has taken his lascivious predilections to a cinematic level. Welcome to the world of stealthy sexual predators in Brooks Brothers dapper suits.
Albeit DSK is behind bars and Weiner headed for political obscurity , it has brought to center-stage the habitual susceptibility of powerful people to clandestine affairs, weird passions and a desperate urge for instant gratification. Including with highly vulnerable chambermaids. But Kahn is hardly a conspicuous exception; the problem plagues many, hidden in dark closets. Ironically, Kahn’s past philandering ways were legendary, but were studiously ignored as frivolous dalliances . The French media feigned ignorance with skilful chicanery. The most convenient attribution is that men are biologically engineered to succumb to tight thongs. So if you are not in an extra-marital affair, it is a genetic deficiency. But when the Sofitel catastrophe blew up, their initial reaction was that of shock and awe. Really? .
The decline of the great American presidency began long before cowboy George Bush Jr said “Wanted Dead or Alive”. It commenced with the seductive charms of Mr Bill Clinton and his rather enlightening declaration that “I did not have sex with that woman”. On Mumbai’s busy traffic intersections , the US President’s raunchy joke books sold like hot bun-maska. The US for all its nuclear arsenals and sole superpower status became a universal object of ridicule. John Edwards, Rudy Giuliani ,Newt Gingrich , they were all appropriately asphyxiated from their political ambitions when their alliance paramours became public. Men are prone to many a slip between the belt and the trouser in a moment of weakness ( which occurs with effortless ease) but is usually self-inflicted. The other reason is that people in the higher echelons are made to feel more powerful than they really are in a celebrity-driven world , eulogized into illusions of infallibility.
Francois Mitterand, former French President had a mistress maintained at public exchequers expense. A garrulous taxi-driver in Chennai once pointed out to a large double –storey bungalow of a famous politician to me and said: “Tax- payer pays for his girl-friend”. Ordinarily, that should have been a massive scandal, where government subsidized private fornication. But obviously no one reported that “personal space”. The media has hummed and hawed, and let grass grow under their feet. It actually encourages further licentiousness from the erring cheats. We are egregiously self-righteous; if we hear queer sounds from behind bedroom doors we will put our ear to the key-hole.
Public figures must have zero-margin error rates in their social conduct because they affect society’s multiple-layers. The current corruption brouhaha in India manifests the catholic influence of personal perceptions of leading lights. Sexual immorality in our conservative , “cultured” society is more damaging to reputation than financial embezzlement. In the 1970’s Maneka Gandhi’s Surya magazine had caught former Congressman Jagjivan Ram’s son between his mistress and the mattress. In those days, when red roses shook violently in Bollywood to signify a French kiss, that was tantamount to sacrilege. While Surya vanished into the dark sunset, Ram’s prime ministerial ambitions were rudely nipped in the bud. Even in a liberal society like the US everyone becomes extremely pious come presidential nominations. You don’t want a role model who is a bed-hopper.
We are being fairly jejune in believing that just because we have Sheila-Amma-Maya-Mamata as chief ministers , Mrs Pratibha Patil as President and Mrs Sonia Gandhi at 10, Janpath that women’s emancipation and growth is on the cards. Far from it. In Mayawati’s backyard, the repugnant rape and killing of a 14 year old by state officers happened in broad-daylight. In corporate offices, sexual harassment is commonplace but never talked about. Job insecurity, future prospects, fear of revenge attacks, inadequate legal framework, lop-sided media intervention and likely social stigma prevents free verbal expression of personal humiliation. In effect, it encourages further bad behavior from the scurvy rat. We compound a problem by pretending it is inconsequential given “ prevalent systems”. The predator’s tentacles expand. But as France has shown, encouraged by the wronged chambermaid’s intrepid prompt disclosure , women’s associations have taken to the streets demanding greater transparency ,saying “ we are all chambermaids”. The Slut-walk is symbolic of the new-found momentum.
Amar Singh’s rather lurid intimate dialogue with dusky Bipasha Basu and party colleague Jayaprada, ND Tiwari’s novel experimentation in the Governor’s official bungalow were only cursorily mentioned in the breaking news obsessed TV channels. The Indian media blushes crimson when addressing issues tinged with titillation. A former Prime Minister was rumoredly in a live-in relationship , but nobody reported that cozy arrangement. It is like Barack Obama having a secret lover and Fox News celebrating his abstinence instead. Vidya Charan Shukla of the Congress apparently went banging at the door of a famous actress, saying : You Vidya, me Vidya! It is obvious that many leaders have hour-glass shaped skeletons in their cupboard. It indeed must be seriously lonely at the top, hence the groping acts to address that melancholy state. But there is also this misplaced feeling of ownership, that the constituents under you are at your beck and call. The arrogance of power can assume deleterious proportions. DSK reflects that scourge.
We have created a sacrosanct ring around ourselves that inhibits /prohibits from reporting nocturnal trysts of well-known public figures. Or their dangerous liaisons. It is an unspoken, unwritten understanding amongst the elite crowd that liberates the amorous politician, suave industrialist , and super-star celebrities from public investigation. But this self-imposed embargo needs immediate reexamination Otherwise, in the long-run women will remain permanently exploited, treated with contemptuous disinterestedness instead of the respect they deserve. Worse, the freedom to err can take on more disturbing dimensions. The depressing figures on female infanticide , frequent crimes of passion, domestic abuse, eve-teasing and sexual harassment at work reflects our regressive attitude towards women.
The murky circumstances surrounding BJP leader Pramod Mahajan’s death, including several insinuations on his colorful life remains undocumented even as hushed whispers grew into a crescendo. Power is the greatest aphrodisiac, said Henry Kissinger. It can also be the ultimate self-destruct. Truth be said, but we are extremely squeamish when it comes to matters between the sheets; the Indian media actually practices abysmal double-standards and appears like a paranoid prude. “The protection of private life should not be a pretext for hiding entire sides to the personality of politicians who are candidates to leading the country” writes Pierre Haski , co-founder of Rue89, a popular news website in the Economist.
A cozy elite is ensconced in its debauchery , but the media becomes silent conspirators and licentiousness gets a comfort zone. Any surprise that India is the fourth most dangerous place for women in the world? It is time to stop pretending that our “ leaders” wear chastity belts. Since politics nowadays is driven by relentless 24×7 media surveillance, it is astounding that the ticklish subject of sex has not touched any of our holier-than-thou national icons. I think we need to rebalance our moral barometer. In an era of change and greater accountability, it is time to push the envelope further.
Sanjay Jha is co-Founder of HamaraCongress.com. He can be reached at Sanjay_Jha@DaleCarnegie.com
THE MANGO REPUBLIC
By Sanjay Jha
Published in Tehelka/ Financial World on 14th June 2011
( India is not a banana republic. No country can grow at over 8% for a decade by just doing monkey tricks. Instead, it is like a “ mango republic” full of promise but delivering only seasonally).
Over the last week-end as a peculiar lunacy spread its contagious wings, I wondered if India was one of the fantasy lands in JK Rowling’s Harry Potter. When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh talked of the “ magic wand”, my apprehensions mounted. A diagnosis of the insanity follows.
The large economic divide between India and Bharat is assuming alarming proportions. India’s well-off now aspire to a 54” LED TV with 3 D glasses, while the vast majority worry about food inflation. The contrast is conspicuous, and disturbing. Just think about one of life’s greatest paradoxes; we pay obscene bonuses to our corporate high-fliers already on a millionaire list but there is much intense acrimonious dialogue over giving the poor driver/ housemaid a 20% increase. After all, how can that poor soul get such a prodigious windfall? Even paying those periodic bribes for instant remedies has now become unaffordable for the lower middle class. Now they are getting restless, their frustrations mounting to unbearable levels. When they read about the gargantuan corruption levels , they are aware that the misallocation of resources hurts them the most. The silent majority suffers in silence, succumbing to hopelessness. Suddenly self-appointed messiah’s emerge. Outside influencers like Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev are channelizing that disgruntlement. Unfortunately, they have raised outrageous public expectations and appeared deliberately provocative. That is a dangerous trend. The panicky capitulation to Anna Hazare by the government opened a Pandora’s box , and now quasi-revolutionaries each with their own axe to grind have surfaced . Ramdev was waiting with the controlled breathing of a yoga expert. Others may be queuing up.
The Hazare hullabaloo perhaps made the government become paranoid about “the butterfly effect”, a small innocuous event that escalates into a crisis which incapacitates. While initially it considered Hazare an exasperating fly in the ointment, it soon discovered that he could sting like a bumble bee without much of a fumble. Thus, the dramatic knuckling under to the dubious Ramdev. It was so bizarre that I almost thought I was watching a Ben Stiller spoof . For the record, Hazare is not a patch on Mahatma Gandhi; his constant self-glorification by repeatedly talking of “the second freedom struggle” sounds grating to normal human sensibilities.
The public disenchantment is further fuelled by a media on hyperbolic overdrive. In India we are witnessing the death of intellectual debate and the rise of acerbic carbon dioxide emissions. Unlike the politicians who are sometimes confronted with a Hobson’s choice with both feet on a banana peel, the media has the advantage of having theirs in both warring camps. But if not careful they will realize that one of them is in a swamp. How come no one had the perspicacity to see through the Ramdev humbug? . Of course, the UPA blundered. And the media justifiably reported the asinine, embarrassing genuflection. But better judgment and a balanced perspective vanished soon into the blue. The Fourth Estate sometimes displays as if it is itself not aware of its vital role in India’s democracy. The media surely matters. So does their good discretion.
Corruption is hardly a new phenomenon, and is not even India-centric. In five days, Ramdev wanted complex legislative rules framed on illegal foreign assets . It was outlandish to the core, like shooting fish in a barrel.. There were certain lynch-mob features incorporated in that piece of absurdity; hang the guilty. Worse, senior ministers misunderstood appeasement to mean obeisance. A tactical error. Compounded further by their expectation that a gentleman’s agreement with Ramdev will be duly honored. He did not. All hell broke lose, and UPA cried for heavenly benedictions .
Congress may have been ensconced in New Delhi for several years, but many non-Congress states have managed to set gold standards in corruption. Mumbai is the hub of hush money and slush transfers. By prevaricating on corruption measures , however, UPA actually subsidizes BJP/ Mayawati etc and their squalid ways. There is a remarkable paradox; despite the daylight fraud in Karnataka of the much exposed Yeddyurappa , the BJP does a salsa at Raj Ghat on corruption. Ramdev has a laundry list of suspiciously funded trusts, but no one cried foul play.
Everyone these days over-reacts to everything. India is not in any grave crisis. Half those protestors who travel on the metro and Delhi’s flyovers do so on government-created infrastructure. Somebody came up with a new socialist description; call the Congress a “ serving party”. Whew! Of course, the GOI too joined the frenzied bandwagon, by either appearing extremely clairvoyant ( pre-empting the Anna Hazare kind of effect ) or not even studying the polemical subject they were dealing with in Ramdev. Democracy is not a license to abuse or misuse. But in India, we are seeing preposterous manifestations of the same. The civil society with all its sanctimonious exhibitions is a fastidious lot suffering from delusions of grandeur , and hijacking core democratic processes.
Obviously, everyone castigated the “ missing” leaders in front of a million microphones. . 75% of India lives in the rural areas and 700 million face hunger pangs daily. They don’t watch TV to hear political parties go for each other’s throats at primetime. But UPA’s biggest voters in the 2009 elections was also the urban voter from the big metropolis. The UPA does not need to have the verbal diarrhea of BJP, but communicate they must.
What should worry the GOI is that corruption, like war, price-rise, terrorism, and natural calamities is a unifying factor; it cuts through ideological barriers, and therefore makes one susceptible to various forms of political blackmail ably mastered by some on fast forward. Civil society has mutated into a self-appointed kangaroo court. India needs to restore respect for its honored institutions.
Governance is never easy. Not the least in the worlds’ most diverse democracy of a billion mad-hatters, accentuated by economic inequalities, explosive non-Hindu growth rates and fractured electoral verdicts. Even with a magic wand, Manmohan Singh would struggle. Anybody would. Congress/UPA needs repositioning; it appears unnecessarily apologetic at the drop of a hat. Even a government has the right to correct its mistakes. Leadership, they say, is like swimming; you don’t learn about it by reading books. You got to get your feet wet. Jump into the waters. For a moment there is that sinking feeling, and then in a few strides you begin to float. And you stay afloat. The body refuses to sink. No matter what. The UPA must learn the freestyle quickly.
Ever since Ratan Tata said it, the poor fruit dominates political debate: Is India a banana republic? Actually, no! Not at all! It is more like a “mango republic”; it shows extraordinary majesty when in form like King Alfonso in the summers , but unfortunately, like the imperious yellow pulp it does so in seasonal installments. It remains for inordinate periods in hibernation as if it does not exist. As if it has lost trajectory, direction and motivation. India needs an enduring presence, a consistency; it cannot be constantly inchoate , chaotic or amorphous. Like the great fruit, it needs to reappear in various shapes and forms throughout the year even post the seasonal triumph. This is a perfect time for it do so.
BABA ( RAMDEV) BLAH BLAH
By Sanjay Jha
( As the Baba Ramdev imbroglio shows, the Congress has for long let the tail wag the dog. It must start now to bark orders. And perhaps look for a Deputy Prime Minister ).
Baba Ramdev is the new nocturnal creature of the electronic age post-the midnight eviction from Ram Lila grounds , ably supported by one right-wing political party threatened by increasing obsolescence , and the latter’s ideological masters in incandescent saffron. The fact that the Congress-UPA made a terrible miscalculation by giving the Baba a red carpet welcome added enormously to the Baba’s mythical aura. The regrettable attack on innocent citizens, even if inevitable in the mayhem, was something that the UPA could well have done without.
The main issues ( which included grotesque calls for death penalty for the convicted corrupt ) were always a subterfuge for the larger game-plan of augmenting Brand Baba Ramdev and his rising ambitions, who was obviously not satiated with the TRP ratings of his Aastha channel. The overwhelming legitimacy given to another rank outsider Anna Hazare perhaps also emboldened him to join the bandwagon.
Naturally the principal subject of black money was ingeniously obfuscated by the constant blabbering Baba, who seemed to have emerged as the proxy President/ spokesman of the BJP. Suddenly he erupted with vicious lava by making hackneyed references to Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origins ( a BJP-RSS favorite that boomeranged in 2004) and spreading the canard that the simple humble Sardar had plans of physically obliterating him. Ramdev’s utterances sounded like a comical script as if he was auditioning for a role in Pirates of the Caribbean.. The Dark Lord of the Emergency was resuscitated. A laundry-list of grumpy grievances rolled out. It was like one of Smriti Irani’s many soap operas in fast forward at sputnik speed with everyone uttering emotional monologues simultaneously. Not surprisingly, Sadhvi Ritambhara adorned the guest-list in pure party colors. The last I heard, the recent “assumed resurrection” has led to Uma Bharati rejoining the BJP. Ramdev finally ended up being the CEO of BJP’s BPO, an outsourced specialist.
LK Advani , forever loquacious, called the Ram Lila evictions the “ blackest day in India’s democracy”. Of course, like he momentarily blanked out on the Kandahar hijackings, he forgot December 6th 1992 and the illegal destruction of a certain mosque called Babri Masjid that literally ripped apart our social fabric, plunging post-Independent India into dangerous communal turmoil. Needless to add, but the irrepressible Narendra Modi, similarly affected by Alzheimer’ s , forgot the merciless brutality of the Gujarat riots. Elsewhere, Sushma Swaraj was caught doing a semi-salsa choreographed indigenously by the Sangh Parivar on a tune that would have impressed Lady Gaga. The entire drama , paradoxically enough, was held center-stage at Raj Ghat, a symbolic statement to make indeed, given BJP’s love for the Father of the Nation. This then was the gravitas on display by the party founded by the venerable Shyama Prasad Mookerji. Lord Ram bless us all.
What amused and astonished me was that no one asked the fundamental question ( particularly the UPA itself) : Who was Baba Ramdev to become the self-appointed bogeyman of overseas black money? Sure, everyone in a democracy has the right to protest on issues of public interest ( the standard prescription that practically everyone expostulated) , but does that mean that tomorrow any Tom, Dick and Haridwar can use that democratic freedom to make ridiculous demands ( an instant ordinance ) and exploit it for totally different reasons? Frankly, everyone is aware of the dubious nature of asset-base of Ramdev’s innumerable trusts ; so how can the pot call the kettle black, folks? At least until Ramdev’s own monetary credentials are transparently cleared, what moral right does he have to champion the fight against ill-gotten wealth?
While obviously giving the suspect Baba Ramdev the platform for yoga practise was a monumental lapse, the intemperate and unreasonable utterances and attitude of Team Anna have only accentuated the discomfiture of the UPA and severely damaged the sanctity of our democratic institutions. I suggest Team Anna itself should now be scrapped from the Lok Pal panel draft committee and substituted by members from other political parties as it always should have been. Of course, their inputs , if any novel ones are offered should be taken up for consideration. Only Team Anna can achieve the dubious distinction of throwing the baby out with the bathwater becoming the best palatable solution.
The BJP apprehending political atrophy has displayed intellectual myopia, moral ambiguity and electoral desperation by its flagrant advocacy of Ramdev’s charade. With the Babri Masjid case now in Supreme Court and unlikely to become an election issue in 2012 ( UP elections) or 2014, BJP is clearly looking bereft of any logical explanation for its existence itself . The recent ignominious rout in assembly elections is clearly hurting too. The foolhardiness as a result is showing.
The truth is that Congress –UPA suffers from one serious handicap that it needs to internally acknowledge. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is indeed an incorruptible man with noble intentions and great erudition , but he is quintessentially apolitical. Wily statecraft, Machiavellian ploys, impeccable oratory, political negotiations and high visibility are not in his DNA. In a free-wheeling parliamentary democracy particularly in the age of coalition politics and regular media surveillance , that is tantamount to an amputated limb. It is like playing golf with one hand, simply impossible. Thus, the perennial trouble- shooting solution in crisis times for the UPA is the magic formula: a Group of Ministers. That instant relief pill can work on a one-off tactical issue, but cannot become a strategic tool. It takes a toll on all participants, as they have differing views and personalities , and frankly, no one can be held directly accountable. That is the precise reason why the four senior Congress leaders blundered their way to the airport. A leader finally has to take that tough call. Leadership is not always about collective brainstorming, or a majority opinion, or an agreed consensus. It is often the decision of one man against the recommendations of several. Like Barack Obama did on Abbottabad; one that could have severely backfired with deadly consequences . The leader has to be prepared to be perpetually in the hot seat under 24 hour scrutiny. .
In cricket, players do play with a niggling injury. Congress needs to overcome the mental roadblock of a “ coalition hamstring pull”. When you govern, you do the right things irrespective of disturbing neighbors. By taking on the corrupt DMK, Congress has demonstrated that it can go the whole nine yards when it wants to . Despite intermittent hiccups and numerous derailments, this UPA regime has achieved significant milestones: RTI and the soon to be passed Lok Pal Bill are and will be truly historic for any democracy world-wide.
The UPA will perhaps benefit for the rest of the term if it alters its leadership command structure. What I would recommend is the creation of a new post of a Deputy Prime Minister, who takes charge of “ real brass-tacks political management” that is currently done by odd assortments of GoM’s. That will deservedly insulate Manmohan Singh from needless exposure to political chicanery and prevent the rising ambitions of all kinds of disruptive forces. The choice could be between Pranab Mukherjee or Digvijay Singh. Or Rahul Gandhi. Or any other.
The UPA needs to act. And fast ( pun intended).
By Sanjay Jha
The clamor to share the news of victory spoils of a six-decade long religious dispute by irrationally exuberant lawyers typified the chaotic, raging passions behind the centuries-old subject. Since the historical narration of events in chronological order since the days of Emperor Babar has already been thoroughly documented in several media essays, it is pertinent to immediately come to the critical question following the controversial Allahabad High Court verdict of September 30’th 2010 : Does India truly believe that it can move on and ahead ?
My personal views :
1) 3 out of 10 Muslims in India lives below the poverty line, and one third earn below Rs 550 a month, thus we miss the woods for the trees if we are naïve enough to delude ourselves that the India of 2010 is really very different from that of 1992. Poverty has perpetuated itself, income disparities rule. Ironically enough, yesterday there were several news- scrolls talking about Mukesh Ambani’s latest top billionaire ranking. A booming Sensex and GDP growth of 9% is meaningless in the absence of fair distribution; it does not detract from the germane, irrefutable fact, has the economic lot of the Muslims truly changed even as India accelerates heavily on the foot-pedal of world commerce ? And remember, religion becomes a comforting cocoon of the vulnerable dispossessed.
2) Was not the contemptible act of December 1949, when through blatant mischief ( courtesy a communal bureaucrat) a Ram Lalla statue was suddenly placed inside the Babri mosque ( claiming the miraculous appearance of the Hindu legendary god-king ) , the triggering point of the whole Babri Masjid –Ram Janambhoomi problem in post-Independent India ? How can the Indian courts quietly condone that flagrant violation of mutual respect for each other’s religious abode? Are not all political parties guilty of willful negligence ? Why did the Allahabad High Court ignore such damning transgressions?
3) Once again in February 1986 there was a surprisingly swift verdict given by the local district judge allowing worship to happen in the Babri Masjid ( otherwise locked for several decades) which was in synchronicity with fast-changing political dynamics of the country. Was that not a motivated parochial decision , and thus have we not made Muslims a sacrificial pawn on our political chessboard?
4) The Shilanayas performed in 1989 , even if on an undisputed location was a tacit endorsement of Hindu territorial claims, and ended up encouraging belligerent nationalism over the Ram Janambhoomi issue. Did not all mainstream parties play the communal card all along? Can we really blame the Muslim community from believing that they are truly part of India’s “ Minority Report? ”.
5) We are all aware of the fact that it was the Congress party’s knee-jerk over-reaction to the Shah Bano verdict that encouraged the BJP to rouse sentiments on the Ram Janambhoomi issue. The whole rath-yatra , the subsequent communal riots and senseless bloodshed that followed was a political strategy that exploited religious vulnerabilities. Thus, does the High Court judgment end up unwittingly perhaps playing into a political minefield by legitimizing the communal designs of our devious national leaders ? Is that fair? If god forbid, there is an eventual backlash, should we be surprised?
6) The fully orchestrated destruction of Babri Masjid in December 1992 via a militant mob of 200, 0000 led by the senior patriarchs of the Sangh Parivaar was universally condemned. But tell me, where does tolerant Hinduism unequivocally or nebulously state that we Hindus should practise our religious chores after destroying a sacred place of worship of another religion? Does not that stand against the very principles of a religion that has several gods, besides Lord Ram ? Is not yesterday’s “ triumph” specious?
7) The quiet burial given to the much-delayed Liberhan Commission’s findings is symptomatic of how India’s political parties have played havoc with minority sentiments in India. Can you genuinely blame the Muslims for being so callously short-charged as even those who have been severely indicted have faced no real criminal prosecution? That the political master-minds of the Babri rubble- plot are now making grandiose plans of a Ram temple must be surely disquieting. Incidentally, what about the Sri Krishna Commission’s report on the Mumbai riots? Are we not living in a fool’s paradise to believe that all that can be just conveniently forgotten?
8) Please do not take the immediate peaceful aftermath of the Ayodhya verdict to mean “ all is well”; that will be profusely myopic. What such arbitrary judgments ( I refer to the emphatic conclusions on some matters highly subjective and faith-related such as Lord Rama’s birth-place) can do is to gradually convert the large mass of borderline Muslim youth into instant hardliners. The damage inflicted is usually imperceptible, and worse, incalculable. We might end up paying a huge price in the long-run.
9) For any minority community, the ultimate last resort of fair justice is the land’s judicial system. It is still early days to utter such spontaneous blandishments as “ judicial statesmanship”. Is the split 1/3 rd verdict finally just a crude mathematical formulae for an amicable solution? Is it any surprise that both the Sunni Waqf Board and the Nirmohi Akhara are all pleading to the Supreme Court , each believing that they have been unduly done in , even if the Hindus seem to have stolen the initial advantage ? Expect hardening of positions, and a more acrimonious exchange.
10) There are a lot of seasoned analysts , social commentators and other intellectuals who seem to believe that with the Supreme Court likely to take years to resolve the complex intractable imbroglio , the Ayodhya issue will die a natural death or at least lose its popular mass-base. I think it is a rather superficial presumption for three reasons; firstly, as we all discovered on September 30’th , the nation came to a virtual standstill on the subject even 18 years after its disturbing planned demolition. Expect the same or higher intensity of followers as a whole new generation has now been re-educated on that history lesson in a frenzied world of several media platforms, besides television. Secondly, the Supreme Court may not take that long to come to a final decision. In fact, it might take as early as a mere two years. Thirdly, economic emancipation, social amelioration and material success is not directly related to religious tolerance. Terry Jones, the US pastor is not the only religious fanatic in the Unites States, which corners 27% of the world’s economic output.
Bottomline: India does not possess the political leadership with the apposite moral fiber or the necessary will-power amongst its key battling constituents to create a national reconciliation. Frankly, all that talk is total humbug , wishful thinking and vastly impractical ( I would love to be surprised though). The judicial process, irrespective of its risky assessments on matters as sensitive as religious faith, is therefore by pure fait accompli , our only logical recourse. Even if Lord Ram Lalla himself has to become a legal claimant! Or we ending up creating perennial holy structures side by side , a symbol of either our strong secularism or an unhappy property –dispute resolution. The Supreme Court it is then!
Over to you , My Lord ( pun intended) !
When I Paid Cash To Kalmadi
WHEN I PAID CASH TO KALMADI
( He sat behind a cash counter and returned my change. I thanked him. Suresh Kalmadi smiled . It was a flawless transaction).
By Sanjay Jha
On www.HamaraCongress.com
He sat there behind the cash counter of the new-born Poona Coffee House dressed usually in spotless white shirts, which contrasted with his jet-black hair and well-groomed beard in stark Bollywood style, where in double hero leading roles, Amitabh Bachchan would wear a black trouser and white jacket and Shatrughan Sinha would don exactly the reverse. He personified a hirsute character with a penchant for the grizzly. PCH as it was popularly nicknamed was situated right opposite the Deccan Gymkhana bus-terminus, in the heart of the Pensioner’s paradise city. Pune was a sleepy city that snoozed at every available opportunity like a spoilt puppy; the joke went that outside restaurants at 1 pm in the afternoon the signboard read: Closed for lunch. Suresh Kalmadi’s PCH was amongst the first to protest against that comatose-like reputation. It buzzed like a bee on some bubbly at all hours of the day.
I used to always wonder how people could count rupee notes and coins of different sizes without even looking at them; Kalmadi possessed that same mechanized efficiency. The masala dosas and filter coffee were our usual favorites, and although Fergusson College road had some neat hang-out joints for the sophomore types, PCH was also popular with the middle-class family crowds. Kalmadi smiled at regular intervals and mingled occasionally with the customers, frequently marshalling his resources with a loud order. The disciplinarian streak of the defense-services type was apparent even then in the erstwhile Air Force officer . As his business prospered Kalmadi diversified into the next level, the emerging novelty—-Chinese cuisine . In those days, on all dates of any significance—birthdays, anniversaries, celebrations, marriages, going to a Chinese restaurant was akin to making a social statement. It meant you had arrived. If I am not mistaken, Kalmadi’s Chinese expedition was called Shaolin, probably inspired by the famous film , the 36th Chamber. The American chop-suey was a particular hit , as it seemingly combined the best of Occidental and Oriental by something actually quite accidental ( as we were to discover later). The fried omelet had a delicious aura about it as it spread itself on a rising hill of fried noodles.
My father had begun to educate me in handling monetary transactions, and in the absence of credit cards, I was the family’s scapegoat for the settlement of bills. The fact that the others in the family were awful in arithmetic gave me a legitimate responsibility. So when I paid cash to Kalmadi, he smiled at me as I counted the change to ensure that my Professor father was not being short-charged. He wasn’t. And Kalmadi grinned even wider through the bushy rainforest slopes of his cheeks as he saw that I was happy with my reconciliation. Before long, he had become a prosperous owner of petrol stations, the huge-in-demand Maruti dealerships, and had made a bungalow in the hills that many called as Pune’s White House. He then hustled his way through various sports federations, brazenly assuming suzerainty of multiple bodies, usurping authority and seemed resolute in extending his formidable reign till the cows come home, till the CWG happened. Then the chickens came home to roost.
Kalmadi’s mesmeric change in fortunes was largely on account of the swirling ambitions of local chieftain of Maharashtra politics, Sharad Pawar, who perhaps saw himself as the next YB Chavan in the making and was looking for a talented local lieutenant in his pilgrimage for gratification. For a long-time Pawar and he shared the classical Mahabharata inspired guru-chela equation, where mutual trust , unflinching obedience and fierce loyalty superceded even the impregnable grains of truth and honesty. At that point India was witnessing a political churn, and it was appropriately termed as the age of aaya-Ram gaya Ram. Defections, horse-trading, new formations, and the rise of coterie-groups was the norm. But Pawar and Kalmadi soon went their separate ways, splintered by their own political goal-posts and short-term benefits, but by then Kalmadi had already imbibed some of his mentor’s adroit Machiavellian ways. It was to armor him with sufficient ammunition for the more treacherous waters off the Yamuna in Delhi in subsequent years as he strode off from his tranquil fortified base of Pune to complete his unfinished agenda.
Pune might have become a market-researcher’s favorite destination of a model middle-class city , but it continues to have a small-town’s simplicity. Even today, despite the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, Punekar’s get an inferiority complex when their Big Brother from 160 kms away is in their town. Delhi held an even bigger mysterious halo of power, the magnetic appeal of a stately establishment. Thus, in the local Pune constituency from where he got elected , Kalmadi became a near-titanic force, the dominating voice of a city that was seeing a commercial revolution on account of education, IT, retail and real-estate investment . It is hardly a surprise that in recent times Pune has seen several dubious land scams, insidious terrorist breeding, rising crime against women and the rise of shadowy sleazy characters like Hasan Ali.
They say you should never forget your roots, those humble origins and nondescript milestones of your past . As Kalmadi , at an age when you are supposed to be playing a doting grandfather , suffers the ignominy of spending many a nights in confinement ( even if in air-conditioned comfort ) , I am sure he will reminisce those early days in PCH when he sat behind the cash counter in immaculate white. When the savory smell from the kitchen wafted onto the dining hall where customers waited with bated breath for their fresh idlis. When only small change mattered. And everything reconciled.
ANNA HAZARE : THE DEATH OF GRADUALISM
By Sanjay Jha
2011 could well be the year of incandescent hysteria, with its own distinctive political personality in India One of the oldest puzzles of politics is who will regulate the regulators , said former economist John Kenneth Galbraith That is what the entire Jan Lokpal Bill hullabaloo is finally all about.
The paradox was palpable; as social activist and passionate crusader Anna Hazare launched his resolute campaign for a corruption free India , some of our leading corporate czars were gingerly descending from their sleek sedans to appear before the Public Accounts Committee to be questioned on the 2 G scam. It is altogether a different proposition though that what was purportedly meant to be an organized effort by civil society members to pressurize the government into immediate action on a mischievously delayed reform by successive political parties turned into a cavalier circus with an incongruous assortment of Bollywood celebrities and other wannabe Page 3 aspirants becoming its principal participants. There was no smell of jasmine in the air, only Armani. Worse, vitriolic fury was on high supply by dubious political prop-groups, and the shockingly condescending demeanor of the supposed guardians themselves, under the mistaken belief that Jantar Mantar was the next Tehrir Square. That only exacerbated matters. Truth be said, it was not a movement, it was just a moment. Hazare, a genuine advocate of good things, was overnight branded as the next Mahatma Gandhi, which I frankly thought was an extraordinarily garbled comparative assessment. But more on that optical deficiency on another sweltering afternoon.
I remember the ordinary mortals of Bihar lamenting their grievous misfortunes in the early 1980’s: “They are corrupt in Maharashtra and Gujarat also, but at least they do some work Here they do nothing” In a nutshell, political corruption and systemic bribery was seen as necessary evils of our social ecosystem. In IPO road-shows abroad, a constant query was on India’s fixed “ 10 percent” under-hand earnings not reflected in PE ratios. But now suddenly our otherwise dormant national sub-consciousness has transformed into inflammatory anger, and albeit it has boiled over into a bizarre plate, it was inevitable though.
There are two principal reasons behind the Jantar Mantar mélange ; one, flagrant inequalities even within the expanded definition of middle-class and secondly, the widespread perception that several listed billionaires and thousands of unlisted million jet-set have increased their net worth through rent-seeking and crony capitalism. The pent-up fury is understandable. Disturbingly, it is a world-wide phenomenon; a mere 6000 politicians, chief executives, and other bigwigs effectively run the world. Of the world’s 100 largest economic entities, 63 are corporations, not countries. The world’s wealthiest 10% possess 83% of global assets. Inequality has an adverse effect on political standards, hence, the dramatic upsurge in national protests across regions on issues that affect the common man.
Corruption is bad for growth, Mr Prime Minister. Worse one cannot imagine the incalculable damage that it brings by lowering efficiency, and worse, human morale. There is a humongous percolation effect, albeit the hapless scapegoat is finally the traffic constable who gets the nasty jibes for those fifty bucks he casually sneaks into his khaki trousers. That’s why poor countries remain poor. That’s why Indonesia is not Singapore despite such neighborhood proximity. And Argentina , once a prosperous cousin , became a basket-case while America blossomed into a global El Dorado . In short, Anna Hazare may be doing the UPA a big favor by forcing a landmark legislation that could like RTI transmogrify our opaque democratic institutions and rid them of their venal , nefarious ways.
While China has apparently lifted 500 million out of the poverty trap , we have 700 million still groveling in that quagmire. Besides providing a better business model, China’s FDI towers tall over India’s because of our red-tape and corrupt culture.
For a trillion dollar economy that has rumoredly USD 450 billion sitting in foreign bank accounts it means that our real national income has been scrupulously punctured. India’s underground economy exists in serene harmony with that of honest tax-payers because of shoddy governance and political patronage. Thus, unless we take strong steps at best India will experience a lower rate of kickbacks and bribe fee, but it will linger on still like a visceral incurable infection. Moreover, even if the Lokpall Bill is a crucial milestone, it is by itself just a deterrent, and does not ensure infallible execution.
The politician plunders his vast loot but is not necessarily a permanent resident of Parliament while the corporate is like a stationary bandit who accumulates untold treasures and grows into a Frankenstein with a sinister avaricious propensity under the subterfuge of being society’s wealth creator. The bureaucrat plays the role of the silent accessory , in full command of technical know-how of myriad laws , conveniently tweaked for tidy windfalls . That is the real stealth wealth story of our economy over several years. India’s exciting entrepreneurial energy gets sullied as it gets complex and big.
Corruption is not a one-off, informal commercial transaction in India , it has become ensconced like a formal SOP in our system . Everyone budgets for operational leakages. Enron created a special P&L category for “ education services” on power distribution for its aborted India operations Rebecca was not way off the mark! . Corruption proceeds are routinely sent upwards in the bureaucrat-politician pyramid. The rot runs deep, but the problem lies at the top. The commonly accepted justification for civil services corruption is that they are paid pittance compared to their private sector counterparts. In that case, the solution lies in reducing unproductive staff and tripling their salaries and benefits.
The hard reality is that those who earn less are the ones who have to pay bribes, it accentuates their prevailing miseries and creates outrage and humongous disenchantment . At Jantar Mantar and elsewhere what we are witnessing is the early symptoms of a collective social backlash, the Jan Lokpal Bill is simply the apposite platform for it. It reflects the desperation of a drowning man wanting to clutch at a straw.
India’s biggest threat is not Maoism as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh believes, it is corruption. And you do not need a magic wand to sort it out, just a determined intent. Integrity unfortunately has no vacations, it needs a constant supervisor. One of the reasons corruption became more widespread was because our social environment was disconcertingly tolerant of immoral conduct It was like “ defining deviancy downwards”. From time immemorial Indians have survived on synthetic optimism, now they want to precipitate a change. The social networking sites may have geek-types, but all are educated, have middle-class sensibilities, and a dream.
Thus, what India needs is a drastic, overnight metamorphosis, a robust foolproof plan that simultaneously implements unprecedented anti-corruption measures against all susceptible forces that compound it; politicians, bureaucrats, and the judiciary. It will willy-nilly force an RTI on the self-righteous private sector as well. A restless population treated with contemptuous indifference by the power administrators at different levels and duplicitous middlemen wants change, but with a shock and awe effect. Gradualism, won’t work. That really is the message emanating from Jantar Mantar.
Sanjay Jha , Executive Director, Dale Carnegie, co-founded www.HamaraCongres..com . The views expressed are his own
THE HELICOPTER MAN
By Sanjay Jha
( As the world goes bubble-headed over MSD, the unassuming man from Jharkhand moves ahead, seemingly unaware of the brouhaha around him ).
He has that peculiar benignant smile of an endearing country-bumpkin. And an imperturbable countenance of someone who personifies congenital honesty. Many sarcastically sniggered when he said that he is grabbed often by exuberant fans in “ red light areas” in Chennai at a post-match conference during last year’s IPL tournament ; what he meant was the traffic signal. That innate yokel-like earthy luminosity is trademark Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India’s cricket captain. Sachin Tendulkar’s best ever leader. Corporate India’s latest CEO-inspiration. The former long-haired piece of beefy incongruity who once worked as a neophyte ticket-collector at the Kharagpur station in South Eastern Railways is the country’s current lodestar and with incontrovertible reason.
The unalloyed concentration was palpable in those still eyes of the Indian skipper as he almost contumaciously lifted the hapless Sri Lankan bowler Kulasekara , trying valiantly to go through a perfunctory exercise of providing the match its finishing moments. It turned out to be the bowler’s last great act of redemption. The fairly muddied white ball soared sky-high like a mini-UFO into a balmy summer night in Mumbai , as several hundred million eyeballs traced its loop-like trajectory as it descended into buoyant crowds at the MCA Pavilion, Wankhede Stadium on April 2nd 2011. 28 years of excruciating waiting, interspersed with several agonizing interludes was at last over. India, carrying the gargantuan onus of tournament-favorites from the crystal-ball gazers , cricket pundits and the brazenly nationalistic sort alike , had actually delivered. We are the world, sang the joyous multitudes. Kapil Dev’s daring Devils had a worthy successor, the Captain’s Champs, all!
As the country erupted into expected unfettered euphoria , the Jharkhand boy , in a rare exhibition of footloose emotion, let his tear ducts flow. Yuvraj Singh , his dependable deputy feeling resurrected himself from a bottomless precipice was lachrymose as well. Harbhajan Singh, a soft heart behind that recalcitrant façade broke down too. Next to me, an elderly man stood choked, paralyzed with a stroke of happiness. Soon Sachin Tendulkar joined them, running excitedly like a young kid on being told that he has just got his new bicycle. The Men in Blue were like a bunch of adventurous trekkers who having pursued a treacherous trail on high altitude were now returning home after scaling dizzying heights.
Not long before, Dhoni had been severely castigated for an almost bizarre batting collapse at Nagpur in a league match against South Africa and the devastating aftermath of a shock loss. 9 wickets for 29 runs was literally falling like nine pins, that had even the bookies flabbergasted. . Dhoni’s response to that was both laconic and acerbic: play for your country and not for the gallery . His choice of the toothy Ashish Nehra as the last-over bowler was considered tactless. No one asked: is there any foolproof strategy in sports? About stock-markets? About tomorrow? About life? Did anyone have a prescience of the Japanese tsunami despite sophisticated forecasting technology? Couldn’t Harbhajan Singh have been clobbered mercilessly for four sixes despite his intriguing doosra?
Dhoni has been remarkably candid; he is aware of the fickle, almost tempestuous engagement that people have with India’s cricketing success. And failures. His sardonic demonstration of that came in the T 20 World Cup in England when he paraded the entire Indian team in front of a stunned media to showcase the Indian team’ s unity allegedly splintered down the middle. It was perhaps the most calculated statement laced with caustic wit. His team clearly stood by him and his unconventional methods. .
Until Dhoni’s remarkable calisthenics with triumphs happened, Jharkhand was more famous for tribal exploitation, a maligned Chief Minister accused of murder charges and horse-trading, and another who ran a mafia empire across the African continent with looted funds from the state exchequer. He has also blossomed Indian cricket amidst the hugely publicized sleazy scams involving the highest officials in India’s cricket administration. MSD possesses sangfroid that would embarrass inveterate practitioners of meditation.
At a young age, he has handled an Indian team which represents India’s distinctive diversity, it’s multi-cultural hue and religious ethnicity, perhaps explaining cricket’s mesmerizing hold in the public imagination. The famous Pathan brothers hail from Narendra Modi’s Gujarat. Once the
senior versus juniors rift had threatened to rupture dressing room camaraderie. Today, the young Turks happily coexist with master veterans. Dhoni has effortlessly destroyed internecine politics.
From his several attributes the most singular management lesson that emerges is that Dhoni has no fear of failure. Perhaps unwittingly, he is a follower of FDR’s classic aphorism; the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
Warren Buffett , amongst the world’s most sagacious, visionary capitalists with incisive life experiences recently said that the world’s best talent comes from the IIT’s of India. There is one in Kharagpur. Perhaps it is time for them to invite the city’s erstwhile ticket-collector on the platform to explain the magic behind that helicopter shot.
FROM WORDS TO CLICHES
By Sanjay Jha
( Published in edited version in Hindustan Times dated April 7th 2011).
In the tense days of JP’s Total Revolution in the mid-1970s when I was still in high school, All India Radio always seemed reassuring, the situation is tense but under control. There is nothing more powerful than the predictable impact of a cliché. It is like a stealthy rogue who emerges with monotonous regularity on appropriate occasions without causing any sweat beads. Best, it works. Compounding them is the never-ending supply of esoteric terms that subtly replace our old hackneyed ones . The first time someone told me to take a rain check, I sneaked a furtive look outside of my window. It was an incandescent day.
The usual guilty culprits are those financial sharks, business managers, hyperventilating media, and even creative copycats, like Bollywood who come up with regular bursts of originality. Add cricket analysts to that list, and you have a veritable mix. Here is a select sample.
In TV studios, the most famous wife is not Aishwarya or Angelina but the nameless one of the great warrior, Julius Caesar. Every day some pontificating pundit will shake his head in acute disbelief and say “ he/she must be above suspicion like Caesar’s wife”. Hardly anyone knows the real contextual relevance behind that salacious origination.
Of course, the corporate-world and the tired media is nowadays obsessed with deficit; poor Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the erudite economist and former finance minister had perhaps never contemplated that he would have such a permanent engagement with deficit financing . .
The new family and friends scheme in corporate India is called crony capitalism; as in Noah’s ark they swim or sink together, their ill-gotten wealth in tow. The IPL association is strong. The real bane of India is the often heavily promoted short-circuit attitude called jugaad .Mostly uttered by frequent fliers in business class to display their understanding of agrarian India, it has great sound byte value especially at frozen destinations like Davos. Like Harbhajan Singh’s doosra by Anglo-Saxon ESPN commentators.
Due diligence is usually overdue, and corporate governance just sounds so Harvard even the Golden Peacock spreads its majestic feathers in hearing that pious item-number.
In India, it is chronically the “ systemic malaise ” that fails us, despite tech experts like Infosys, Wipro and Cognizant.
In every brainstorming session ( you always wonder where the brains snooze during this supposed blizzard ) the boss energetically pumps up the blank expressions sitting in a semi-circle staring at him open –mouthed ; think out of the box. After a pregnant pause, somebody says, Can I go to the bathroom, please? Perhaps , a preferred place for intellectual stimulation. Ever since finance pros talked of leveraged buy-outs, the management consultant , the other competing avatar for the buzzword-factory created a “buy-in”, fed up with getting people to just agree.
Personally, I would have sued those consumer marketing guys for sexual harassment for suggesting customer intimacy so liberally in a public platform. But following CRM, the jargon-obsessed had to create a little more familiarity. Next what ; have sex with the customer? Everyone wants to grab that “low-hanging fruit”, not knowing that the crawling worm and fuming competition gets there before your claws do.
If you are simply ill-equipped for that arduous task, you just don’t have it in your DNA; it’s a congenital deficiency. Poor you! Make do, with The Times of India and HT instead.
I have never quite fathomed why HR guys constantly chant competencies, when all they mean is relevant skills.
At the end of the day , say many , especially in early morning meetings with a sense of foreboding finality. Others have just two things to share, and then proceed with a laundry-list of interminable story-telling. It’s not rocket science, says the pin-striped boss, whenever he wants you to feel foolish. Not that he knows rocket science either or do those NASA engineers.
I find silos silly, because actually instead of feeling in water-tight compartments I could name my next dog with that Occidental sounding name. Despite the 2 G scam, bandwidth commands a huge spectrum amongst modern-day managers. If you don’t have it, there is no deal, man ! Who cares for the over-used resources these days?
And if you are indeed not duplicitous, why start every sentence with –Let me be honest ? Everytime someone makes a long monologue but switches seamlessly to having said that , you know they are master of irony and some bad news is in the offing. Notwithstanding is passé.
The metrosexual is the marketing man’s mantra for creating lifestyle market segmentation for the yuppie-type. While some believe that this is a high on testosterone randy fellow residing in cosmopolitan cities like Mumbai or Delhi, he is actually the guy who does those mask-like facials every alternate day and blow dries his fluffy tresses, while his nails are immaculately clipped and the chest clean-shaven.
In the long run we are bullish .Sure, but by then you will not remember that flawed forecaster and his short-term grotesque stock recommendations. Your banker will nowadays never take a haircut, meaning a loss. But I thought hair grows back, right ( I maybe an odd exception)?
The IT crowd suddenly introduced us to deliverables, while making their valuations scribbled cursorily in the form of back of the envelope calculation. They also don’t want your contact details anymore, they want your coordinates.
And frankly if those Wall Street greedy sharks can at best come up with a financial product ominously branded as credit “default” swaps, wasn’t the world expected to not pay-back?? Now you know why the global meltdown happened? By the way, decoupling does not mean removing a pair of smooching lovers in Bandstand.
Transparency is what I remember we needed in those days when we made presentations before the PPT took over. But nowadays the T word is like the T-Rex, omnipresent, gigantic, oppressive. Raja, Kalmadi, judges, police, politicians, Lalit Modi are all responsible for this monstrous mess. Best practices are usually best ignored.
Everyone wants to leave behind a footprint , and whether you have a driving license or not, you need to have it all in a dashboard .Its not just the razor blade, but everything has to be cutting edge, especially those PPT’s. Anything small is now giving that Tata car costing around Rs 2 lakhs some free publicity and is nano, the new mini- midget. So go beyond nano-thinking, folks ! Think big! Relationship managers were created by foreign banks to forge equations for further monetary fulfillment but under the soft touchy feely designation.
And after those thought-showers, a paradigm shift is the next step to get traction. Isn’t it far less exquisite and so boring to say , let’s just think differently to create results? And all companies, whether or not in the energy business requiring to transfer gas from the Godavari basin needs a leadership pipeline .
My mind goes into the world of Hughes Hefner over-drive every-time they say Shah Rukh Khan and Priyanka Chopra spent “ quality time together in his vanity van ” . Sure, does it mean Baskin Robbins has no chance whatsoever? But this one has replaced being “ just good friends” by far. Whenever the object of ridicule is targeted in those gossip-infested tabloids, they are not available for comment
A batsman is usually clean bowled , says Ravi Shastri, but I noticed a hell of a lot of dust and dung on that last stump standing. He is also plumb LBW , never flat-footed or plain lazy. And India has recently shirked its past habitual hangover of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
And when my daughters say, Dad, stop being a loser, they are only affirming what my wife has been stating all along; Speak up, my friend, even if I am not hearing you.
Sanjay Jha is Executive Director of Dale Carnegie Training India. The views are personal.
The tough act of being good
For many companies in India , Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a mere cosmetic social obligation.
By Sanjay Jha
Curtesy - Tehelka Magazine, Vol 8, Issue 14, Dated 09 Apr 2011.
Please click here to read the article:-
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main49.asp?filename=Ne090411PROSCONS.asp
“Women as Agents of Change”
Sonia Gandhi’s Commonwealth Lecture, London, March 17, 2011
