The Hindu : Replay at Red Fort

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 16, 2002

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Replay at Red Fort

INDEPENDENCE DAY ADDRESSES are invariably combed through with a fine brush for subtle hints, likely pointers and meaningful allusions — the exercise of decoding them holding out the possibility of discovering a clue here about a new policy initiative or getting some fresh insight there into the Prime Ministerial mind. Viewed in this context, Atal Behari Vajpayee's latest address from the ramparts of the Red Fort contained very little to read between the lines — by and large, the sum of the text was the sum of the substance. On Pakistan and the crisis in Jammu and Kashmir, the principal focus of all recent Red Fort speeches, Mr. Vajpayee's comments were for the most part a virtual replay — a reiteration of well-known and already stated positions. His declaration that no talks with Pakistan would be held until the situation in Jammu and Kashmir improves was coupled with a thinly veiled warning to Islamabad against trying to interfere with the democratic process in Kashmir, momentarily represented by the imminent State Assembly elections.

Contained in the mass of familiar rhetoric, however, was one bold admission — namely, that the mistakes which have been made in Jammu and Kashmir would be rectified. This is tantamount to conceding that the Centre is also responsible for the crisis in Jammu and Kashmir, an admission which will be welcome by all who believe that the battle to retain Jammu and Kashmir does not stop with restraining Pakistan but includes winning over the hearts and minds of the alienated people. Mr. Vajpayee indicated he was ready for an open-ended dialogue with those elected to the new Jammu and Kashmir Assembly — a suggestion that he is prepared to talk devolution with the State's political representatives. But his belief that the elections will usher in a new era in Jammu and Kashmir is overly hopeful in a situation where the polls have been boycotted by those representing a section of political opinion and where the threatening shadow of the (jehadi) gun is a strong deterrent against the very exercise of franchise.

This year's Red Fort address also took place against the backdrop of the communal carnage in Gujarat and a continuing drought which threatens to cause even more devastation in widespread areas of the country. On Gujarat, which like Jammu and Kashmir is also due for polls, the Prime Minister said the right things, but much too briefly, his fleeting remarks being grossly disproportionate to the appalling enormity of the crime that was perpetuated in that State. It is impossible to disagree with Mr. Vajpayee's statement that no civilised society can have a place for such violence or that it is the duty of the Government to provide security to the minorities. But at the same time, it is impossible to ignore the fact that the credibility of such remarks stand seriously eroded in the light of the inexcusable latitude his Government gave the Narendra Modi administration while Gujarat burned for weeks on end.

Finally, in keeping with practice, the Prime Minister announced a slew of developmental measures, this year's initiatives being largely influenced by the drought. Among other things, what is promised includes more handpumps, more drinking water connections and more work to improve natural water bodies. The inclusion of a development package is now de rigueur in Independence Day addresses, but the gulf between promise and performance has been woefully large. Consider for example, last year's grand announcement of an ambitious Rs. 5,000-crore food-for-work programme which was supposed to generate rural employment even as it provided foodgrain and cut into the country's embarrassingly large buffer stocks. An audit of the various promises made by successive Prime Ministers from the ramparts would prove that the business of their fulfilment has been far less important than the business of making fresh promises with every passing Independence Day.

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