Avoid Unilinear Comprehension of Events

The winter session of Parliament has opened on November 22 with the apprehension that it could meet the fate of its monsoon session when practically no business was transacted in both the Houses on account of the Opposition’s (read the BJP’s) adamant stand on ‘Coalgate’ demanding the PM’s resignation taking moral responsibility as the Coal Minister for the scam—a demand no government enjoying reasonable majority in the Lok Sabha could ever accede to. The first day of the winter session found the Opposition—notably members of the BJP and Left parties—unitedly sticking to the position that there should be discussion in both the Houses on the issue of FDI in multi-brand retail under rules that entail voting at the end of the debate while the Congress, leading the ruling UPA coalition, was prepared for discussion under rules that did not involve voting. Even PM Manmohan Singh’s dinner with the BJP leaders in the evening failed to break the deadlock with the latter making it clear that it was not going to relent on the demand for voting on FDI in retail.

But as we go to press there are reports that the government was having a rethink on the issue and the possibility of the PM and his ministerial colleagues accepting the demand for discussion on the subject with voting at the end of the debate had brightened. This could reportedly take place on November 27 in case the government really backtracks in the matter.

In the wake of this stalemate influential sections of the media have opined that the “only positive note for the government” on the first day of the session was the failure of the Trinamul Congress to gather sufficient number of MPs to move a no-confidence motion against the Manmohan Singh dispensation over a variety of issues including inflation and price rise but capped by the question of FDI in retail which the party is vociferously opposing. The embarrassment for the Trinamul on this count led the Congress, Left parties and the media to drive home the point that TMC chief Mamata Banerjee had once again taken a false step even as the latter underscored that the TMC’s humiliation notwithstanding, the episode only magnified the other major and minor Opposition parties’ inclination to ensure the survival of the Union Government.

Be that as it may, the fact remains that the government continues to be isolated on the issue of FDI in retail in Parliament especially when one of the coalition partners of the Congress (namely, the DMK) and one of the principal supporting parties of the UPA (namely, the SP) have publicly expressed their opposition to the move. Nevertheless, the government has decided not to bend under pressure; rather it is learnt to be contemplating going ahead with other reforms measures like raising the FDI cap on insurance and permitting FDI in pension funds. All these provide further evidence of the government’s “don’t-care” attitude in the face of its near-total isolation from the people at large. In the meantime the same attitude has been reflected in the government’s hasty step to appoint the CBI chief, something the BJP leaders in both the Houses have decried on grounds of propriety; this too threatens to disrupt the winter session.

The jubilation over the execution of Ajmal Kasab, one of the terrorists who carried out the 26/11 Mumbai attack, a day before the reopening of Parliament has caused widespread concern. This concern is not confined to only those opposed to capital punishment but has also spread to those who supported the execution on the ground that justice had eventually been meted out and thus blind hostility towards Pakistan should not hence-forth blur our vision. As for the jubilation, it was visible among those political elements articulating rabid anti-Pakistan (and also anti-Muslim) sentiments as well as certain sections of the media pandering to jingoist ideas and outlook.

They (with the BJP and its associates giving political sustence to such views) are now urging the authorities to execute the 2001 Parliament House attack accused Afzal Guru (who was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court despite not been directly involved in the operation; only his indirect complicity with that assault was reported to have been confirmed). On the other side of the border, even as the Taliban have predictably called for ‘revenge’ (presumably through terror strikes in India in the days ahead), the media in general has exercised exmplary restraint; but some Pakistanis have fallen prey to the ‘tit-for-tat’ approach and are demanding that Islamabad should show ‘reciprocity’ by likewise hanging Sarabjit Singh, the Indian death-row convict in a Lahore prison (turning a Nelson’s eye to the fact that Sarabjit’s case is completely different from that of Kasab).

At the same time the huge outpouring of grief at the death of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray (who for all his ‘popular’ image was regarded by many as the symbol of Hindu fascism) in Mumbai has been accompanied by fresh signs of intolerance manifest in the vandalism after two young women expressed their disapproval on Facebook of the bandh enforced by Shiv Sainiks in the metropolis following the demise of their revered Balasaheb. Their arrest by the Maharashtra Police for having “dared” to convey their disapproval of the bandh has outraged several personalities including Press Council Chairperson Justice Markandey Katju who did not mince words in roundly condemning this incident and demanding immediate action against the police personnel in question.

And while all these mar the domestic scene, one is witness on the international plane to renewed Israeli lawlessness with savage assaults being conducted on Palestinians in Gaza under the US’ unalloyed patronage on the alibi of military offensive by the Hamas militants. After the killing of countless Palestinians Washington was finally forced to broker a ceasefire with the help of Egypt’s new leadership but how long it would hold is anybody’s guess since the Israeli Government appears to be in an unrelenting mood and is ready to deploy armed troops in Gaza in a bid to crush the Palestinian resistance thus resulting in innumerable civilian casualties.

The latest developments at home and abroad only heighten the complexities we face all around us. One has thus to avoid making any unilinear comprehension of events as such an approach cannot help us grasp the basic reality staring us in the face.

November 23 S.C.