Face of Multi-dimensional Crisis

The last few days’ developments have caused serious concern in the country as a whole at one level while shocking the citizens’ conscience and psyche at another. In such a situation one is left wondering whether the post-independence project of building a modern democratic nation-state has turned into an exercise in futility.

Precisely four months after the horrific gangrape of a 23-year-old young woman in a moving bus in the Capital city engendered spontaneous, unfor-eseen protests in Lutyens’ Delhi with youth and students taking to the streets in and around Rajpath and Vijay Chowk to vent their revulsion and express their sense of outrage at the incident, activists joined the young people to once again voice their feelings—this time on learning the horrendous details of the savagery perpetrated through repeated rape, for 48 hours, on a five-year-old minor girl in a neighbour’s flat in an East Delhi colony. The girl had earlier gone missing. Not only did the police take an inordinately long time to register an FIR but, what is worse, once she was found, tried to bribe the girl’s parents into silence with an offer of Rs 2000. These astounding events, even after Parliament had passed a Bill to enforce stricter and more stringent punishment for the rape accused as also the authorities charged with the task of tackling such cases with the objective of minimising their recurrence, doubtless evoked widespread resentment among the people at large with the PM himself sharing their agony and anguish while conveying that he was “deeply disturbed” over the “shameful incident”. He also went on to say that he had witnessed news visuals on TV showing the “completely unacceptable treatment meted out by police officers to some women protesters”—he was actually alluding to a woman agitating against the sexual assault having been slapped by a police officer of the rank of an ACP; this was caught on TV camera and subsequently relayed to the viewers.

Thereafter the protests continued with wider participation of activists beyond the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) members who were the first to record their indignation. These protests converged at the city’s police headquarters with the demand for the Delhi Police Commissioner’s resignation becoming louder with every passing hour. Eventually the Police Commissioner did come out to hold a press conference only to disclose that the culprits responsible for the latest heinous crime had been nabbed in Bihar and the police was registering more cases of such sexual assaults in recent weeks. But he emphatically ruled out his resignation claiming that such a step would not bring down the rates of rape and similar sexual attacks.

The issue also rocked Parliament when it reopened for the second phase of the Budget session on April 22 but the Union Home Minister’s reply to the debate on the subject in the Upper House was pedestrian besides failing to highlight the sense of urgency necessary while tackling the persisting recurrence of such incidents. Sushil Kumar Shinde reiterated that rapes were taking place with increasing frequency across the country even after the December 2012 gangrape in Delhi and the measures taken thereafter. That is doubtless true. In early April itself it was shown on TV channels how the police in Bulandshahr had placed, instead of the rapist, a 10-year-old rape victim behind bars. Reportedly women cops there sought to convinve the child’s family to reach a compromise with the rapist rather than filing an FIR—all manifes-tations of a highly sick society. But what steps are being taken to prevent such developments? There was no convincing reply from the Minister.

The way out seems to be deterrent punishment (not necessarily capital punishment as demanded by some vocal elements including those representing the main Opposition party at the Centre) meted out swiftly so that its efficacy is not blunted by undue delay. At the same time one must pay heed to the points made in T.J.S. George’s article (carried overleaf). Likewise The Times of India has aptly pointed out:

It is no longer enough to pass tough laws against rape and move on as if the job’s done. The new law passed by Parliament has provisions against policemen guilty of dereliction of duty in case of crimes against women. These provisions must be invoked and strictly enforced in the Delhi and other rape cases, so that the message goes down the line that negligence will not be tolerated.

However, it is becoming increasingly clear from the large number of incidents of rape reported from across the country (courtesy the vigilant media) that we are in for a long haul in this regard. The malaise can be effectively fought and rooted out through firm and painstaking efforts without giving any quarter to complacency and indifference. But isn’t that a tall order given the prevailing conditions in society?

Meanwhile the confrontation between the government and Opposition has sharpened in Parliament with the BJP projecting the demand for the PM’s resignation, something with which other parties in the Opposition are not prepared to associate themselves at this point. However, the Opposition is united in their no-confidence in the Chairman of the JPC on the 2G scam, P.C. Chacko, and want to get him removed from the post. Besides other reasons, the Opposition’s antipathy towards Chacko stems from his rejection of the demand to have the PM and A. Raja, the ousted Telecom Minister, summoned before the JPC for questioning. Now that the DMK is no longer in the UPA, it has enthusiastically joined the other Opposition parties on this score.

If corruption charges continue to plague the Manmohan Singh dispensation, these have been heightened by the utter lack of transparency in coal block allocations. This has been underscored in the latest findings of the parliamentary Standing Committee on these allocations. The Committee has unambiguously maintained that all coal blocks allocated between 1993 and 2008 were unauthorised thereby reinforcing whatever was asserted in the earlier CAG report on the subject.

In the meantime West Bengal has been shaken to its roots by the exposure of the chit fund fraud. It is a multi-crore scam that came to light in the wake of the spectacular collapse of an alleged Ponzi scheme run by the Saradha Group whose head (CMD) has finally been picked up in Kashmir Valley’s resort town of Sonamarg and brought to Kolkata to be remanded to a 15-day police custody. This will have a massive political fallout even as thousands of small investors have been rendered destitute with the loss of their lifelong savings. Already an investor and a collection agent have committed suicide and more are likely to follow. As these small investors, both in urban and rural areas, vent their wrath, there is no gainsaying that it is the ruling Trinamul Congress, which had gone out of its way to promote the Group, that is facing their anger. The Saradha CMD, Sudipto Sen, has in a 18-page letter to the CBI named several key persons in the political, bureaucratic and legal community who, he claims, milked the company for money. If Sen’s letter is any indicator, one Congress Minister in Assam, the wife of the Union Finance Minister (herself an advocate), a Congress Union Minister from West Bengal as well as some former CPM Ministers were allegedly involved with the enterprise; but it is the Trinamul Congress which will suffer the most as two of its Rajya Sabha members were directly associated with the company and promoted its interests (exceeding the status of a salaried employee), and if Sen is to be believed, he says he was ‘blackmailed’ by them. No doubt West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has announced a Rs 500-crore relief package for the poorest of the chit fund investors, who constitute the backbone of her vote-bank in the rural areas, and for this purpose is imposing an additional 10 per cent tax on tobacco to mop up part of the money (about Rs 150 crores)—at present the State Government charges 25 per cent tax on tobacco. She has also set up an investigating body headed by a retired High Court judge, Shyamal Kumar Sen, to inquire into the scam. But if she declines to take appropriate action against the two TMC MPs mentioned by Sen in his letter (they are likely to be taken in for questioning during investigation), the public suspicion of her collusion with the company will get strengthened and result in substantive erosion of her rural vote-bank; and that is expected to be reflected in the forthcoming panchayat elections in the State, as is being widely feared by the district leaders of her party.

Mamata, however, continues to play partisan politics, blaming the Left and Congress for having furthered the interests of the firm. These rhetorical statements would have no effect on the public whatsoever in case she chooses to ignore the chit fund operators within her party (and they include at least one TMC Minister)—this will politically affect her in a large measure. There is also largescale discontent within the TMC on this count. She can ignore this discontent, which can take the shape of a revolt in due course, only at her peril.

Side by side the Centre too needs to initiate effective measures, as the SEBI has already laun-ched, to prevent recurrence of similar Ponzi schemes going bust and thus landing countless small investors in acute distress.

While these developments in the country have led to considerable anxiety among the public at large, the recent Chinese military incursion in Ladakh has come as a renewed offensive by the new leadership in China to test India’s patience and resolve. The Chinese platoon not only intruded into Indian territory but also set up a camp 10 km inside our borders. It is by now clear that this was not a routline incursion as on previous occasions when the troops were withdrawn sometime after such intrusion. This time the Chinese platoon chose to stay put leaving New Delhi with no option but to send military reinforcements into the area. But that is not all. Beijing now wants New Delhi to destroy its fortified positions in the so-called disputed territory in eastern Ladakh in return for their PLA removing its camp in Ladakh’s Depsang area, while officially China goes on denying any incursion. This brings out once more Beijing’s double-facedness that has been on display for a long time.

This of course does not mean any over-reaction on India’s part. But as The Times of India has correctly observed,

It is unfortunate that New Delhi’s foreign policy continues to lurch from crisis to crisis. In order to negotiate from a position of strength with China, our Foreign Office must become more proactive.

As we go to press it is learnt that External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid is visiting China next month to discuss the evolving situation on the Sino-Indian border. That trip may be worthwhile; but one must always be wary while dealing with a neighbour like China. And the Government of India needs to employ tact and strategic deftness to ensure that we are not caught unawares and on the wrong foot.

In this setting, when we are confronted with multi-dimensionsl crisis at home and beyond, it is necessary to exercise utmost caution in handling unforeseen developments in the national, regional and global realms threatening both stability and integrity in the long run.

April 25 S.C.