He still touches the right chord

By Prafulla Das

SAMBALPUR (Orissa), JUNE 8. The former Prime Minister, Mr. Chandra Shekhar, on his gruelling car yatra from Puri to Porbandar to feel the pulse of the people and ingratiate himself to the teeming thousands who line up to see him, is not leaving anything to chance.

It is just dawn and while his aides are still yawning the sprightly septuagenarian is up and all set to hit the road. He has already covered around 600 km over the first four days of his yatra, across Orissa's heartland, before vanishing into the rugged terrains of Chhatisgarh this morning.

It will be another 11 days before Mr. Chandra Shekhar, accompanied by the Special Protection Group personnel, his brother, Mr. Kripa Shankar Singh, his son, Mr. Neeraj Shekhar, and a group of party workers, reaches his destination in Gujarat.

Ostensibly, the road-show is for moulding popular opinion against the ``myopic'' economic and agricultural policies of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government, its decision to disinvest public sector undertakings and make the people aware of the dangers of `liberalisation'.

Though this is easier said than done in times of globalisation and market economy, going by the impressive turnouts along the yatra route there is little doubt that he is touching the right chords. ``He is the Jayaprakash Narayan of our times,'' says an onlooker as he watches the 15-car cavalcade zipping by in Deogarh district.

His party does not have a strong base in Orissa. Yet, people kept waiting to greet Mr. Chandra Shekhar and hear about the objectives of his yatra. Be it in Puri, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack or even distant Talcher, Pallahara and Sambalpur the turnouts were inspiring and even the normally expressionless Mr. Chandra Shekhar smiled wryly.

Compensating for the lack of his party strength during the yatra was the former Prime Minister's charisma as a do- gooder. Another factor which won kudos for him was his punctuality. Wherever he spoke, the audience heard him with rapt attention.

His speeches dealt with issues concerning liberalisation, the challenges facing the farmers, the working class, poor masses and unemployed youth. He, however, drew the biggest applause when he reminded the people that ``the country did not belong to Atal Behari Vajpayee or Chandra Shekhar. It belongs to all of you.''

Years ago a younger Chandra Shekhar, he stormed into the hearts of millions by undertaking a pada yatra from Kanyakumari to Delhi. Nearly two decades later, the 74-year old leader has still not lost the old fire.

``Our small-scale industries are being killed. Foreign goods are flooding the market. What happens to our own people?,'' he raised his voice in seeming anger.

The more he raised his voice, the louder and frenzier grows the applause.

Mr. Chandra Shekhar, who criticises the then Congress government for initiating the process of liberalisation and the present NDA Government for vigorously pursuing the same, warned that the country was fast losing its economic independence with the sale of profit-making PSUs and entry of foreign companies in every field.

He, however, is hopeful that the people would come together to make the Government and the Opposition realise the harm liberalisation would cause. ``It is high time the Government looked towards the villages where the real India lives and not towards the cities and multinational companies.''

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