My Columns: Without Fear and Favour

Saradha Scam – the Sordid Saga By  Deepak Parvatiyar September 22, 2014 The Saradha scam has all the ingredients of a Hollywood pot-boiler. The Rs 20,000-crore scam that has rocked West Bengal for about last one year now has many skeletons tumbling out of the closet. Interrogations of top rival politicians in two states (Bengal and Assam) including film director-turned politician Aparna Sen; interrogation of the lawyer wife of former union Finance Minister P Chidambaram; arrest of a ruling party’s Rajya Sabha Member as well as of a retired West Bengal Director General of Police and an Assamese singer; suicide by a former Assam Director General Police for his alleged involvement; suicides by the investors as well as agents of the fraudulent company (the company had over 3 lakh agents who now fear for their lives from angry investors) ; litigations; demonstrations; and political bickering! Sudipto … Debjani … Scheming Scamsters You may also like to read A...

Chinese President Xi Jingping’s India Visit : Impact on Bilateral Relations    By  Deepak Parvatiyar September 22, 2014 Notwithstanding the enduring image of Chinese President Xi Jingping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi swinging together at the banks of River Sabarmati in Ahmedabad, the intricacies involved in India-China relationship demand translation of such apparent bonhomie into stable, deep-rooted bilateral relations at the ground level. Jinping and Modi met for the second time in less than 100 days, yet Jinping’s visit to India was only the third such visit by a Chinese President since 1996. This does suggest a welcome thaw in the relationship at the political level, but much more is needed to take the relationship to the desired level of trust and openness between the two neighbours not at ease with each other. Incursions Marred Jinping-Modi Bonhomie You may also like to read Expectations of Chinese President's Xi Jinping's Indi...

BJP – Shiv Sena : Uneasy Alliance for Maharashtra Assembly Polls 2014 By  Deepak Parvatiyar September 20, 2014 Birds of same feathers flock together. So, didn’t it come as a surprise that the ‘rightists’ Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena (SS) might severe their over-a-quarter century partnership just for a few seat adjustments in the run up to the ensuing assembly elections in Maharashtra? Here is a quick recap – Riding the crest after its victory at the last Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had demanded an equal share of seats – 135 each – from the SS. In a 288-member Maharashtra assembly, it wanted the remaining 18 seats to be given to the junior partners in the alliance that included the Republican Party of India (Athavale), the Swabhimaani Shetkari Paksha, Rashtriya Samaj Paksha (RSP) and Shivasangram. The SS has rejected such a proposition and instead wants to contest 155 seats, leaving in the process, 119 seats for the BJP and other alliance ...

Election Funding : Negative Impact on Economy By  Deepak Parvatiyar September 19, 2014 We know there is a cap on election-related spending. The rules stipulate that a candidate contesting the Parliament election can spend up to Rs 70 lakh in a big state and Rs 54 lakh in a smaller state (after an upward revision in poll expenses from the earlier Rs 40 lakh and Rs 22 lakh respectively). If we take the higher figure into account, even then the total campaign cost for a House with 550 elected members (two more are nominated) should not exceed Rs 385 crore. Yet, a study by the Centre for Media Studies showed that the total expenses in the 2014 elections were estimated to be a whopping Rs 26574 crore. Add the government expenses of Rs 3,426 crore (which more than doubled from  Rs 1,483 in the last general elections of 2009) – and the total reaches an astronomical Rs 30,000 crore (or Rs 5 billion) – second only to the US Presidential election of 2012 that the U...

Indian Elections: Hostage to Corrupt Politicians By  Deepak Parvatiyar September 18, 2014 We often talk of corruption pervading the electoral system in our country. We rue the criminals entering politics as we point out that 13 cabinet ministers in the present Union government face various charges of corruption. Further, as many as 186 MPs got elected despite facing criminal charges. In desperation, we expect a messiah a la Anna Hazare to stem the rot. Yet, corrupt and criminal elements manage to win elections, because we, the voters, elect them, even though we are fed up with corruption and criminalisation of politics. Do People Patronise Corrupt Politicians? Given a choice, don’t we voters most of the time opt for a benevolent crook who we perceive as a smart go-getter? Don’t we loathe an idealist simply because (s)he tends to go “too much by the book”?   Ask the Reserve Bank of India Governor, Raghuram Rajan! While  delivering a speech at...

September By-Poll Results : Is Modi Wave Losing Steam? By  Deepak Parvatiyar September 17, 2014 Poll reversals in Assembly by-polls in nine states have jolted the BJP after its splendid performance in the General Elections. What comes as the biggest blow to the party is undoubtedly losing grounds in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state Gujarat, where it lost three Assembly seats to the Congress. It also lost three seats in its stronghold, Rajasthan. In Uttar Pradesh, where the success in the Lok Sabha elections catapulted Amit Shah – the party’s then in-charge of the crucial state – to the elevated position of the BJP president, the party could win just three of the eleven seats in the by-elections. The only rosy picture presented to the party was in West Bengal where it could finally win a seat after 15 years! The by-poll results are the second such setback in quick succession to the saffron brigade. Only last month it had sustained poll shocker in the Assemb...

The Making and Breaking of Alliances in the Indian Political System By  Deepak Parvatiyar September 16, 2014 Recently, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ended its association with the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) and decided to go all alone in the upcoming state elections in Haryana. Obviously, the party was guided by its unprecedented success in the state in the last general elections. It had won seven of the nine seats that it had contested while the HJC failed to open its account. The HJC unsuccessfully tried its best for the continuation of the alliance. But why should the upbeat BJP yield? It is true that under a powerful general there are no feeble soldiers! And it is equally true that the powerful are never faithful! Political Alliances : The Game of Possibilities Isn’t the craving for power a great uniting force? I recall a speech by L K Advani at a BJP meeting soon after the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance was dethroned after the 2004 general electi...

Haryana Elections 2014 : Tough days Ahead for BJP and Congress By  Deepak Parvatiyar September 15, 2014 The common thread between Haryana and West Bengal is that none of them is a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bastion. While the party is yet to gain a foothold in West Bengal politics, the only time it could do well in Haryana was when it had a pact with late Bansi Lal’s Haryana Vikas Party (HVP) at the insistence of Narendra Modi, who was then the BJP national secretary in charge of the party affairs in Haryana. Sujoy Dhar, Kolkata-based correspondent of a foreign news agency who has covered the West Bengal elections for the last two decades, says that  he had never before seen such a ‘charged up’ BJP cadre as he discovered recently while covering the assembly by-elections for the Basirhat South seat in North 24-Parganas and the Chowringhee seat in Kolkata. Will Modi Effect Work in Haryana? Can the same be said about Haryana where Assembly elections...