The Festival of Democracy in India: Pranoy Roy and Navin Chawla

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

India is the world's largest Democracy and in spite of the antics of political parties like the Congress,, DMK, the Communist factions and identity based political groups like the Akali and the Muslim League. And that is not a mean achievement in itself. Navin Chawla, the well known biographer of Mother Theresa, has said in as many words that the Election Commission of India is the real pillar of Indian democracy. He may not be off the mark as the Election Commission is universally feared by political parties across the political spectrum. Its ability to enforce a modicum of discipline in the conduct of elections shows that what it lacks by means of man power it makes up with robust moral authority by establishing its absolute independence from the Executive. The book Every Vote Counts: The Story of India's Elections is a racy highly readable gallop across all General Elections starting from 1952. He documents in rich details the trials and tribulations faced by the Election Commission in the early years under Sukumar Sen. The Election Commission has insisted on a set of practices in order to make the election process free and fair and the Model Code of Conduct in one such measure. There has been frequent allegations that the EVMs ( Electronic Voting Machines) are susceptible to hacking. This is an absurd allegation and given the fact that our political parties are filled with semi  literates such baseless allegations keep gaining traction come every election season. A stand alone machine manufactured to the specifications of the ECI by Bharath Electronic Corporation cannot be hacked as they are not connected to the internet and they are not compatible with blue tooth technology.

The Verdict: Decoding India's Election by the well known election analysts, Dr Pranoy Roy and Darob Sopariwala is a good introduction to the delicate business of election forecasting. They have done a commendable job of looking at the aggregate data relating to General Elections. Does Incumbency provide an advantage to the sitting MP. Do voters vote for political parties or on the basis of their perception of the merit of the candidates contesting. Do political parties decide on candidates on the basis of the winnability or other factors. Does party and its ideology play a major role in determining the outcome. What is the SWING factor and how can it be measured. How do votes get translated into seats. What are the major advantages and disadvantages of the first past the winning post system that we have. A major disappointment in the book is that it does not address the important issue of proportional representation. How does turn out on election day help or hinder the outcome. All these issues are discussed in great detail with a plethora of facts, tables and analyses.

Both these books must be read by everyone interested in Indian politics, particularly the Election process. Navin Chawla raised a very important point in his book and that needs to be further researched. There is no reference to political parties in the Constitution of India. In legal terms a political party has the status of an unincorporated Association. What kind of  democracy was envisaged by the founders and if we remember that Gandhi wanted the Congress to be dissolved, it is certain that the founders had a partyless democracy in mind. We have move a long way from that ideal.

Both these books are worth a read. Lucidly written and with a faint touch of humour I commend these writers for their worthwhile contributions.

FLIGHT OF DEITIES AND THE REBIRTH OF TEMPLES

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

Flight of Deities and Rebirth of Temples
Meenakshi Jain
Aryan Books International, New Delhi 2019.

One of the most tragic and neglected aspects of medieval historiography of India is the fate of Hindu, Buddhist and Jaina Temples. Sita Ram Goel several years back addressed this issue and indicted the medieval rulers for following a political strategy of destroying Hindu places of worship and the systematic destruction od Hindu, Buddhist and Jaina centres of worship and pilgrimage, he argues was party of the political and imperial ideology stemming from Islamic ideas of conquest and conversion of Darul Harb into Dar ul Islam, from Land of War to Land of Islam. Hence the destruction of Indian religious institutions cannot be view in isolation of the ideological underpinning of the Turkish, Afghan and Mughal rule over India. This interpretation was, of course, attacked by a whole host of historians from Alighr Muslim University, Delhi University and of course, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Is this interpretation a "communal" one or, even if not politically correct have the weight of historical evidence behind it.


The deliberate underplaying of Moslem vandalism in parts of India which were conquered may have been a political necessity in the years after Partition when Hindu Moslem tension were high and it was prudent to avoid contentious and identity laden issues. However, 70 years after Independence if the same platitudes are trotted out, it becomes necessary to re investigate the issue and assess the question on the basis of evidence. In short, the time for political correctness is past and it is time to seize the historical moment even as it disintegrates before our very eyes. Meenakshi Jain has produced a scholarly and eminently well researched work on this question. She starts where Sita Ram Goel left and her work is a fitting riposte to all those historians who live in a state of denial about the tragedy the befell India. After reading the work under review it will not be possible for anyone either to deny the political underpinning of the reign of vandalism unleashed against Hindu and other Indian religious structures or belittle the cultural and civilizational chaos it engendered.

One argument that white scholars like Richard Davis and Richard Eaton are quick to advance is that the Turks, Afghans and Mughals did not indulge in any sort of vandalism and destruction which Indian rulers had not done in the past. This line of argument is absolutely incorrect as there is not a single instance in which a ruler of India be he Jain, Buddhist as Harsha or Hindu/Shiva like Rajendra subjected the images captured for religious sites and appropriated for relocation in their own imperial repertoire ever showed an attitude of anything less than reverence. Thus when Krishnadevaraya captured Udayagiri and acquired the green granite Balarama image, he had a Krishna temple constructed in his capital, Vijayanagara, and had the image installed with reverence. Similarly, when Rajendra Chola brought back the image of Durga from the territories of the Western Chalukyas he had it enshrined in his new capital, Gangaikonda cholapuram. Such example can be multiplied. However after the Islamic conquest, temples were detroyed and the sanctity of the temple violated by the shedding of blood and was usually accompanied, as was the case with the Vaishnava Temple of Srirangam, a whole sale massacre of the temple priests. To deny the cold facts of history, recorded in the medieval Chronicles is to deny the very validity of History as a field of study.

Meenakshi Jain has produced a fine piece of historical research. It is true that the academic climate for a free investigation of India's tangled and tortured past has opened up only recently and I fervently hope that historians of India cease to function as servitors of political parties, start researching the past without fear or favour.

:The Mullaperiyar The Dam that Divided Two States Water War: A Review

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

The Mullaperiyar: Water War The Dam That Divided Two States
Pradeep Damodaran
Rupa,2014

Water War

The Water War is a journalistic account of the political and ethnic clashes that broke out in Kerala and Tamil Nadu over the sharing of the water of the Periyar River. The Mullaperiyar Dam which was built across the Periyar has become a bone of contention between Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The water from the Periyar river which has been diverted by the Mullaperiyar Dam irrigates several thousand acres of agricultural land in the five southern districts of Tamil Nadu including Madurai, and Ramanathapuram. Indeed  the prosperity of the five districts rests on the water supplied by the Mullaperiyar Dam. The book under review is an extremely biased and ill informed work which dwell on the political and ethnic side of the conflict overlooking the legal and the historical aspects of the dispute. The Supreme Court of India has declared the 118 year old dam to be safe and Kerala politicians keep raising the fears of the people regarding the safety of the Dam. In fact the Iddukki Dam acts as a safety valve for the Mullaperiyar Dam and in the unlikely event of the Dam bursting or breaching much of the water will be held back by the downstream dam. This vital fact is not brought out even as politicians in Kerala vie with each other to raise public fears about the safety of the Dam, And Pradeep Damodaran a Malayalam speaking Keralite residing in Coimbatore avoids this issue even as he documents the plight of Tamil pilgrims caught  in the turmoil and passion unleashed by the Dam. There is absolutely no damage or structural weakness in the masonry work and the Central Irrigation Commission has also certified that the dam is safe.

The Mulaperiyar Dam is a technological marvel and it is the first complete basin transfer project ever attempted in the world.  The map given below represents in some detail the Periyar Project. First, was the construction of a dam in close proximity to the valley to store 300,000 acre feet of water, The excess water is led through a series of spillways through a tunnel into the Vaigai River. Interestingly enough there is evidence of medieval waterworks in the area which suggests that the tributary of Periyar called Surulli was being used in the medieval period as well. The total area irrigated by this dam was around 85,000 acres. The project was first suggested by Major Ryves in 1867 wascompleted by John Pennycuick who was resposible for designing the thick masonary dam. The cross section of the wall is given below to show the technical sophistication of the dam. The headworks that distributed the war of the Periyar into the Vaigai Basis was extremely intricate and I have given the plan below.

Plan of the Headworks

Add ccross section a

The book under review is extrmrly weak on the historical and social and economic context of the dam. He the author keeps harping on the fact that the lease over the Dam extends to 999 years. He fails to understand that in Anglo Saxon law perpetual lease was couched in that language.

It is time to rethink Partition of the Indian Subcontinent

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

The Partition of the Indian Subcontinent by the British Government of Atless and the Congress Party headed by Jawaharlal Nehru left behind a trail of blood gore and bitterness. The fact that the Congress under Nehru was impatient for power left little time for a settled peaceful and civilized transition of power. Nehru exultant speech about his "tryst" with destiny insults  the victims of Partition on both sides of the Border. Gandhi in his own way tried to preserve the Unity of India by offering the Prime Ministership to Jinnah. It was the utter obscenity for political office that made Nehru reject the suggestion and though the Congress Working Committee rejected Jawahrlal Nehru as the candidate for prime Minister , Gandhi the doddering dutch Uncle of Jawaharlal Nehru ensured that the opposition to Nehru's elevation is brushed aside and his chosen favorite mounted the throne.

During the run up to Partition, especially during the Cripps Mission a number of important proposals were put forward which aimed at preserving the Unity of the country. The Congress which was wedded to a short sighted policy of agitational  politics rejected the Cabinet Proposals with disastrous effect on the unity and integrity of India. The hang over of the triumphalist approach to Indian History, the one associated closely with Bipan Chandra and his acolytes, avoids all difficult issues pertaining to the Nationalist/Partition Movement. The political errors in mass resignation after India's entry into World War II, the bringing forward of the date of Freedom from June 1948 to August 1947 all contributed to the chaos that ensued and in the process the mistakes and false strategies used by the Congress Party were neither questioned nor assessed. In fact anyone questing the politics of the Congress was labeled "Communal" and hence important questions were neglected.

It is time to pick up the threads from where they were left in 1947. A set of Constitutional proposals need to be debated in order to reduce the hostility between India and Pakistan.Since the creation of Pakistan was based on identity, the Muslims of India and the Hindus of Pakistan should be given the right to choose their homeland and the respective populations can be made voters in their respective Nations of choice. Thus a Hindu from Pakistan or Bangladsh can be a voter in India and a Moslem if he so chooses can ve a voter for Pakistan. Thus this proposal unshackles Partition. A joint Constitutional Council with shared Sovereignty will be the Governing Council and the Military of both countries brought under a common command on the basis of mutual agreement.

These proposals will effectively put an end to partition, solve the Kashmir dispute and help put these two benighted societies on the way to prosperity.

Dr Anirban Ganguly in Pondicherry University

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books


Dr Syama Prasad Mookerji remains one of India's greatest intellectuals. And Pondicherry University was privileged to host a Distinguished Lecture by its present Director, Dr Anirban Ganguly. The Ministry of Human Resource Development of the Government of India has instituted a seies of Lectures on leadership under the Leadership Town hall Scheme. Under this scheme Dr Ganguly visited our University and gave a scintillating Lecture of 50 minutes that held the rapt attention of everyone. In the battle of ideas the vapid stale narrative of the Left has occupied a dispropotionate space in public discourse and the marginalized voices of dissenters like Dr Anirban Ganguly and others have not been heard. Identity politics based on caste, language, community,religion occupy a great deal od attention. But the voice of sanity, reason and science are drowned out by the cacophony emanating from the misguided Left and its hangers on. Dr Anirban Ganguly's Lecture was a refreshing departure.

Dr Anirban Ganguly

The Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation is a Nationalist research organization which has been performing the stellar role of the dissident through much of the 70 years of Indian Independence when the voice from the margins was hardly heard. Public discourse meant singing hosannas to Nehru and the Congress Party and its family. The Left soon became part of this scheme of things as it was co opted by the Nehruvian state. The death of Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee soon after he was taken custody in Kashmir remains an enduring mystery. And Kashmir has been on the boil ever since.

Dr Anirban Ganguly dwelt on the positive changes that jave been introduced in India since the magnificent victory in 2014. It matters little if the so called intellectuals with their vested interest in maintaining the satus quo acknowledge the positive changes or not. The reduction of Corruption and the introduction of schemes that have worked for the common man were stressed by the speaker. In the field of foreign policy, the speaker drew pointed attention to the fact that the days when India did not react or punish the cross border acts of Terrorism are over and he spoke of the resolute manner in which the Government retaliated to the February 14th Pulwama Attack.

The Audience

He spoke of 5 principles that governed the foreign policy of the Government of India:
(1) Samvaad or consultation/consensus
(2) Samviddhi  or mutual concern
(3) Suraksha or Security
(4) Samskritti evam  Sabyata (Culture and Civilization) and
(5) Samaan Mutual Dignity.

These are the five major principles that govern Indian foreign policy and as can be expected there is not even lip service to the cowardly way of dealing with major attacks by sending candy floss files as did the UPA after the 26/11 attack that killed nearly 185 people in Mumbai alone. The reason why the Congress dominated regime was reluctant to name and shame Pakistan lay in their inclination to blame Saffron Terror for the attacks. Then capture of Kasaab by a police constable paid put to the devious designs of the dynastic fascists. After the February 14 th attack, the Nation was well aware that retribution would follow.

The many National Schemes introduced by the NDA Government have proves trans formative: the extension of cooking Gas scheme, the Ayuman Bharat Scheme, The Jan Dhan Yojana and many other schemes. The NDA Government has served India well and its service multifaceted and diverse qwere brought out by the speaker.

Madras Literary Society by N S Ramaswami : A Review

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and book

Madras Literary Society

Interior View

The Madras Literary Society founder in 1817 is one of the oldest Research Institutions in India, and perhaps like St. Mary's Church located in Fort Saint George, which is the oldest Anglican Church outside of England, this society ranks as a pioneering institution. There are references in the Early Chronicles of the East India Company to a House of Curiosities called the Pantheon, perhaps the eponymous road in Egmore preserves that memory. 

One of the strategies employed by the western world to enhance the reach of knowledge and gather the information about the world at large was through the establishment of Learned Societies. Charles II was the founder of the Royal Society and the model of having an institution which linked networks of commerce, shipping, military and scientific expeditions was keenly replicated in the territories of the East India Company. Thus Penang, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong all sprouted Royal Societies dedicated to the pursuit of archaeological and historical research. In this we may regard the Madras Literary Society as a pioneer.

The building in which the present Institution stands was probably built in the middle of the nineteenth century. The Society itself was much older. The precincts of the Madras Literary Society, along side the Kovum, was shared in part by the Directorate of Public Instruction which was mandated in the Charter Act of 1833 and the Madras Observatory which was one of the pioneers in the emerging science of Meteorology. Goldhigham  who worked here for several years was in many ways a pioneer in celestial Astronomy. It is really wonderful that such a historic Institution is now gaining attention.

The Madras Literary Society started publishing a Journal from 1833 which grandly called itself the Madras Journal of Literature and Science. Lasting until 1894, this journal was a remarkable venture. Supported entirely by public subscription it published some of the best pieces of contemporary research. Unlike today's API driven academics, the early contributors were men and yes, occasionally women who asked difficult questions and pursued them with passion. One of the most remarkable character was Col Colin Mackenzie who collected Historical documents from the entire length and breadth of the Company territories and the Manuscripts were first housed here before they were shipped off to London. Rev Taylor a Chaplin of the Anglican Church who presided over St Georges Cathedral for some time prepared an excellent catalogue of these documents. The collection of antiquities which included a hoard of Roman coins discovered near the Nilgiris were transferred to the Museum.

The book recently republished by the Society is an excellent introduction to the multifarious intellectual activities of the MLS.

The Terrorist attack at Pulwama, Kashmir: Politics vs Reality

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

The attack on the CRPF convoy by a Kashmiri youth who drove his Scorpio packed with 350 kilograms of explosives into a bus carrying soldiers resulted in the massacre of 40 soldiers. The pictures circulated on social media show lifeless mass of flesh strewn all over the national highway. It makes shocking visuals. The Nation was shocked and numb with pain that is now turning to anger. The Pakistani terrorist organization, Jaish-i-Mohammad has claimed responsibility and there is growing clamour for resolute action. The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi speaking on behalf of the Nation has stated that this attack will not go unpunished. The immediate withdrawal of the Most Favoured Nation Status for Pakistan seems to be the beginning and it is likely that the River Waters Treaty which guarantees the flow of water into Pakistan will be invoked to reduce or curtail the waters. The support for the militancy in Baluchistan will be stepped up and the long standing demand that the Pahstuns who are divided by the Durand Line be freed from the tyranny of Pakistan will also see some traction. However all these measure lie in the future. What are the realistic options to Punish Pakistan?

After the attack on the Indian Army e at URI, India launched a series of attacks against Pakistani militant targets across the Line of Control. Unfortunately the Congress Party and its allies politicized the reprisal attacks so thoroughly that is now unlikely to be used. The major attack on the Prime Minister was that he chose to launch the surgical strikes across the Line of Control in order to bolster his political image. This line of criticism is wrong because it attributes a political motive of a rather crass kind to a major decision. The objective behind the surgical strike was two fold: firstly, to demonstrate India's willingness to cross the LOC in hot pursuit and secondly to demonstrate Indian military and tactical capability. For tha past few years Indian special operation forces are being trained in the Negev Desert by Israel and the success of the surgical strikes proves that Israel has been helping India in every respect. As a long term policy India may try to develop the ability to strike first at known militant targets in Pakistan but as of now does not have the ability. Training troops such operations across the border is not an easy venture because the fractious nature of India's social fabric and also the lack of a unified political opinion across the spectrum. Paries like the Congress, the regional dynastic parties, the communist factions will start attacking the policy of defense through offense and thereby compromise Indian policy. Indeed the degradation of Indian Intelligence assets in Pakistan started with I K Gujral who was Prime Minister for a brief time. The 2019 General Elections must ensure a strong and stable Government if India has to deal with pakistani challenge successfully.

The most disheartening aspect of the present crisis is the senseless and tragic politicization of the tragedy. The former Hom,e Minister of India who served under the dynastic fascists, one Sushil; Shinde even blamed the Prime Minister's surgical strike as the provocation for the attack. In order to protect their vote banks in India the dynastic Fascists are even willing to give aid and comfort to the enemy. A resolute response can be expected but it will not happen immediately.

India I think is finally opening its eyes to the fact that if Pakistan survives as a nation it is a threat to India and the fact that the Islamic identity has not prevented Pakistan from falling apart in the past is now being given some traction. Pakistan is a highly militarized state armed with nuclear weapons. This fact alone atays India. But now, the time seems to be running out and gradually a political consensus which eluded India for long is emerging.