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Two men and a ray of hope

Two men and a ray of hope

Author: Wilson John
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: February 7, 2001

There are two men in the Vajpayee government who stand apart for their stature, their initiative and integrity. Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani and Defence Minister George Fernandes.

Be it an earthquake or a State under terrorist siege, these two men promptly slip into their mantle as fire fighters and rush off even before others could summon their drivers. When Gujarat crumbled on a January morning, the first thing on their minds was not to call a meeting of the Crisis Management Group but to reach the devastated spot. Advani flew to Ahmedabad. George to Bhuj. These men reached the quake-hit areas long before the local ministers chose to make a visit.In Kashmir too, both of them, unwittingly perhaps, gave themselves individual areas of functioning. Advani chose to make known, in a forceful manner, India's stand on Kashmir. Though a man of few words, he left no one in doubt about what India thought of Musharraf and his games. George, on the other hand, went around the Line of Control, looking up the troops, giving them pep talk, keeping their morale high and letting them know that the government is not oblivious to their needs.

And yet, these two men are so different in their nature, their viewpoints, their attitudes. Advani is more of a traditional politician, quite particular about his appearance and impression, chooses words carefully, a lot of thought goes behind every sentence uttered;a man who thinks. George gives the impression of a maverick politician, an unironed kurta worn without a care for any sartorial elegance;highly articulate, a sharp mind and a sharper tongue. He brooks no non-sense, knows exactly what to do and does what he thinks is right. What makes them true statesmen is their integrity, will power and immense energy to act when the nation calls upon them to.

There are quite a few reasons why I have chosen to extol the virtues of these two men. One, they are exceptional in many ways. Second, in them I see a hope of governance, the kind of governance India requires so desperately to reach where it belongs in the constellation of nations. Third, they are men with ears on the ground and eyes on the future. In the last five decades, we have been ruled by men and women of questionable integrity; rulers who chose the interest of their caucus or coterie before the nation's; rulers who believed in perpetuating dynastic rule; rulers who chose to follow a particular economic agenda for their mutual benefit. It is time we, as a nation, got better politicians, better ministers, better rulers-men and women with integrity, with vision and energy to push ahead. George and Advani are two such men. They are not stereotype politicians; not the pan-chewing,abusive men in crisp white kurtas and Gandhi topis. Their actions could be questioned or debated but their integrity remains unquestionable.

Leaders like Advani and Fernandes assume even greater significance in the current political context when the Congress is so assiduously cultivating and packaging an alternative Prime Minister whose only claim to fame is of being the daughter-in-law of a Prime Minister. I have no personal grudge against Mrs Sonia Gandhi. I respect her as the torch-bearer of the Gandhi family but if she harbours any hope of becoming the Prime Minister, she should shy away from gimmicks like the half-dip in the Sangam. Mrs Indira Gandhi, perhaps, could have pulled it off. Not her clone. Mrs Sonia Gandhi, instead, should have camped at Gujarat, summoned all her fawning associates and told them to get on with the rescue and relief work. A very conspicuous absence from the quake scene,if you care to notice Mrs Gandhi, has been the Seva Dal workers, otherwise so diligent in arranging rallies and protest marches for their leaders. I am sure Mrs Gandhi would have noticed, at least in network news bulletins, the guys first to jump into rescue and relief measures wore khaki shorts. My point is we can, for the time being, do without leaders like Mrs Sonia Gandhi.

That leaves us with a Mayawati, a Kanshi Ram, a Jayalalita or a Mulayam Singh Yadav. They are all petty chieftains, lording over their selective constituencies of caste and creed, afraid to step out of their narrow political horizons and too eager to stoke pent up feelings of the underprivileged. I remember the days of Mulayam Singh as the Defence Minister. He blindly went by what the bureaucrats passed on to him; he dished out favours to his kinsmen like a turf leader. Admitted he was always on the move-not to any frontier or Siachen but to Lucknow and Manipuri on air force helicopters. The only thing he felt comfortable in was to mouth a select few phrases-dushman ke daanth katthe kar denge (teach enemy a lesson) variety. Do a quick comparison to George Fernandes' tenure as the Defence Minister and it leaves no one in doubt the manner in which the latter has managed to do some long overdue stable cleaning in South Block.

LK Advani, likewise, has given a direction to the functioning of the Home Ministry. It is fast shedding the image of being a controller of police organisations. The only noticeable happenings from its North Block office were the frequent transfers and postings and appointments of heads of police organisations, especially Delhi Police. I am sure the Home Ministry is still giving as much importance to such organisational necessities. It certainly is giving due attention to matters like counter-insurgency operations, ways and means to bring about peace in the north-east, activities of the ISI and other similar organisations across the country. In Kashmir, the ministry is looking beyond mere deployment of central security forces. Advani, for instance, is a frequent visitor to the valley, fearlessly holding forth on the Indian point of view, clearly neutralising the propaganda from across the border. I agree with his stand. Kashmir is an Indian State and peace or no peace, it cannot be sliced off either to Pakistan or a handful of senile self-styled leaders.

These two men have another common factor. Both attract passionate criticism. Advani is often portrayed as a rabid politician and George as the one who shoots of his mouth at the drop of a hat. Facts belie this characterisation. Advani is as much of a Hindu politician as Vajpayee or for that matter any one. It is like saying someone is a Muslim politician and therefore cannot be anything else but a fundamentalist. George was pilloried for saying China was a Threat Number One and mind you not Enemy Number One as the media, always on the look out for a chance to sensationalise, reported it. If you really look at the current geo-strategic equation, China is a bigger threat to India than Pakistan will ever be.

People, not surprisingly, have high expectations from these two leaders. One of the foremost task before Home Minister Advani is to clear the existing misgivings in the hearts of the non-Hindus. He should see to it that construction of a religious place should not become a focal point of polarisation between two religious communities in a nation where both have co-existed for ages. His clarity and authority is required in handling the Kashmir situation before it gets out of hand. Peace in the valley is at a delicate stage; Pakistan is under tremendous international pressure to stop at least the overt aid to terrorists; local populace is desperate for peace and secessionist but popular leaders want a way out of the quagmire. What it requires is a firm but sympathetic handling of the peace process.

There is no way we can tolerate Lashkar threats but it is the responsibility of the Home Minister to ensure that locals should not become more alienated in the process. George, on his part, should bring about a more cohesive and strong defence structure which can safeguard and ensure India's rise to become a Super Power in the present century.
 


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