From cliche to cliche

From cliche to cliche
S.C.N. Jatar

In his article, `From crisis to crisis' (September 1), Suhel Seth laments the ease with which India can be brought to her knees by bandits and militants. But are not Indian citizens being constantly harassed due to lawlessness? On August 30, the Supreme Court said, ``No religion prescribes or preaches that prayers are required to be performed through voice amplifiers or beating of drums''. From September 1, in Maharashtra, the mandals are performing prayers on voice amplifiers and by beating of drums for the Ganesh festival well beyond 11 p.m. The organisers will not think of the old, the infirm, the students, or the infants. They argue that only those sitting in ``ivory towers'' oppose the noise pollution! The authorities are coy in enforcing even Supreme Court judgements for fear that this will create a law and order problem.

The prevailing ethos has nothing to do with ``an opposition, which is yet to find its feet''. After all, Tamil Nadu, in the ruling NDA and Karnataka in the opposition, are bending over backward to meet the demands of Veerappan. Farooq Abdullah being a ``ticking time bomb'' is a cliche, just as the slogans that ``good governance'' would solve most of the problems in J&K or that ``Abdullah government has alienated the people''. Which state has ``good governance'' and has not alienated the people? Maharashtra, the most industrialised state, which is on the verge of bankruptcy? Or do we wish that only militancy-affected states have ``good governance'' and be citizen-friendly?

It is not that the talks in Kashmir failed because of ``the glare of publicity''. They were doomed even before their start. Notwithstanding the Kashmir issue, Pakistan will continue its sinister activities against India. Pakistan perceives a strong India with a Hindu majority as an enduring threat to her security. We should therefore develop a capability stronger than Pakistan, and demonstrate that capability when the occasion so demands. Only a strong posture would make sense to Pakistan and Pakistan-supported militants. The alacrity with which the government sacked Bhagwat and Jethmalani, who essentially spoke in favour of ``good governance'' is worth noting. Both wanted to abide by the law. Both were willing and did ``take a stand''. They were sacked precisely because they raised the question of accountability.

Leave alone action ``for our lapses in Kargil'', we do not even learn any lessons from these lapses. The Kargil Review Committee's view that ``the issue of setting up an integrated defence intelligence agency needs examination'' has fallen by the wayside because of internecine quarrels between the bureaucracy and the Services. The committee was scathing in its remarks about the civilian intelligence agencies and rued the fact that ``a generalist non expert culture has permeated the intelligence community''. With the pathetic state of the knowledge of a large majority of the MPs and their reluctance to even discuss the KRC report, Pakistan can indeed rest in peace.

Where then is our salvation? What we need is a well-informed constituency across the country, which can elect the best out of our people. The majority of our ills stem from the basic distortion in our system of our electorate, being largely illiterate, not electing the best amongst our people. To have a well-informed constituency, we need to ensure free primary education up to the age of 14 to all citizens. Along with it, the government should launch a massive literacy programme for all adults with elementary education in civic responsibilities.