Advani finally hangs his boots

By: Subhadeep Bhattacharjee

In politics there parties centred around individuals and parties centred around values. In Bharatiya Janata Party’s case the party is a mix of both. Rising from the ashes of Jan Sangh in just three decades BJP rose to become a potent opposition to the Congress. Two individuals Lal Krishna Advani and Atal Behari Vajpayee built this party to ashes to give the nation an alternative to the Congress. The grand old party of Indian politics in absence of any stiff challenge had become arrogant and patronised corruption and sycophancy for decades turning into an unaccountable political force.

Indira Gandhi’s call for National Emergency displayed this arrogance. This surely was the lowest point of Indian Democracy. Here is where the genesis of the BJP was sown in Advani and Vajpayee serving jail terms. From mere two seats in the 1984 Lok Sabha polls, to 80 odd in 1989 and emerging as the single largest party in 1996 and two more elections thereafter, the Atal-Advani duo defied many odds in Indian politics and ran a full term for the first non-Congress government at the centre.

If Vajpayee was the front face of the party having more mass appeal, Advani organizational skills were magnificent. Nobody can deny the fact that it was Advani gave life to the Sangathan. While Vajpayee ran the government, it was Advani with the support of the late Pramod Mahajan ran the party and brought the Saffron swing in the country in the earlier part of the decade winning State elections as far as states like Nagaland despite being branded a Hindutwa centric party.
Be it for his several Rath Yatras and the Ayodhya moment, Advani had also been branded as a communal leader but event the Congress can be held responsible for slaughtering the Sikhs in 1984. The notion that BJP’s rises and that of Advani’s were just based on the Hindutva is wrong. The country tired of Congress’ functioning needed an option and the BJP provided that. BJP pushed the Indian politics to the next level of competition in turn even pushing the Congress.

Advani’s greatest legacy will remain making the BJP the most Democratic Party from within unlike any other party in India barring the Left. BJP as a party doesn’t have unchallenged Presidents running the show for decades. It is not a party that worships Prince and Princess like the Congress and most regional parties around the country do. Bloodline is not adored in the BJP unlike the other parties which have turned into modern day monarchy in the disguise of being democratically elected.

Advani might not have achieved his vision of Raam Rajya (doesn’t necessarily mean a Hindu rule but a more efficient administration) but he will surely go down in the history as a leader who gave more vibrancy to the Indian politics by giving the people of this country an alternative to choose from. It is now up to leaders like Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley to lead the party in years to come and take it to the pinnacle as Atal and Advani had done.

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Lalu faked Railways profit

By: Subhadeep Bhattacharjee

In what could scare Satyam's Ramalinga Raju, former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad might have forged accounting procedure to show profits during his five years tenure. The only difference is unlike Raju, Indian politics' most celebrated icon did not land up in jail and did not fill his personal accounts, or did he? For now we give benefit of doubt to the former Bihar Chief Minister although his name figured in the multi-crore fodder scam famous in India as 'chara ghotala'

He was hailed as the most efficient Railway minister India had in its history. From starting kulhars (earthen pot) to delivering lectures at the top B schools in India and around the world Lalu was the star of the UPA-I government. He had claimed a cash surplus of nearly Rs 90,000 crore during his tenure. He took pride in claiming he had managed to turn around the same Indian Railways which experts said was heading towards financial disaster.

The country lay shocked in disbelief as to how one of the worst Chief Ministers the country had ever seen overnight transformed into one of the best Central Ministers. The cosmetic changes in the stations and coaches and less delays for trains earned Lalu praise from across the nation. Many of his worst critics were left speechless as he increased profits while reducing fares. An economist like Amartya Sen would have had to scratch his head to find the co-relation.

When maverick Mamata Banerjee took over the ministry many were skeptical about her methods of functioning. After delivering many goodies to Bengal, Mamata has come out with a white paper which questions Lalu's tall claims. The report which was tabled in the parliament claims that changes were made in the accounting procedures during her predecessor's tenure to show some questionable cash surpluses, which were also not stacked away but spent.

This might open a Pandora's Box for the government as Lalu was so highly praised that his feat became case studies at the Harvard Business School and the Indian Institute of Management at Ahmedabad. It is still questionable how much of Mamata's claims are true but most of Lalu's claims seemed unbelievable too. Since Lalu is still an ally of the Congress a lot of things might have been considered before tabling this report which suggests more authenticity.

Just a little over a year left for the West Bengal polls Mamata doesn't want to be seen as an inefficient minister carrying the lies of her predecessor. Her claims might turn out to be true as the last thing Mamata Banerjee could be associated is with Corruption. Lalu's act once again shows how low politics in this country can go. It is understandable that he fooled the Aam Aadmi but how did he manage to fool geniuses from the IIMs and Harvard?

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