CHOGM is taken to stand for Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting such as the one currently taking place at Malta. But in Australia where I attended the meeting at Melbourne in 1980 as a member of the Indian delegation led by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the media expanded the acronym derisively as Chaps Holidaying On Government Money!

Having sat through the four-day proceedings, including the posh retreat in scenic surroundings and a dinner by the Queen on the Royal yacht Britannia, I could not dismiss the description as something undeserved.

The only thing that could be said in its justification is that it is, as the Queen this time also, addressing the glittering gathering at Malta, put it, a "colourful spectrum of nations, faiths, cultures and people."

Colourful it certainly was and is: The Heads of Government drawn as they are from diverse continents, come in their own exotic native robes. Other than that, it is a bizarre blend of contrasting political systems and governing practices having precious little in common.

For instance, at each meeting, there will always be some Heads of Government who would have throttled democracy, imprisoned or killed opponents and crowned themselves rulers for life.

The Malta meeting too is being attended by the President of an African country, whose authoritarian rule has gone on for 19 long years and who has slapped terrorism and treason charges, carrying a penalty of death, against the main opposition leader for mounting the most serious challenge to him.

In size and population too, the countries are poles apart: Some of the size of one of India's districts with a population in mere thousands or tens of thousands at one end to India at the other whose States are bigger than some countries of Europe and whose population exceeds a billion.

This imparts a dash of comicality to the deliberations. I noticed at Melbourne that the smaller a country, the longer the speech that its Head was prone to inflict!

If all that it is meant for is to enable participants to vent their stale views to end poverty and make global trade free and fair, there are already other more effective and relevant forums working to bring this about.

Winding up this hokum of a CHOGM and dismantling its bloated secretariat will free millions of dollars wasted on the empty show for better purposes.

B. S. Raghavan

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