By Dilip Cherian
Modi sarkar is moving along in post-Congress India to ensure that the Nehruvian-era institutions are relegated to the past where it thinks they belong. After the Planning Commission makeover and re-emergence as NITI Ayog, it could be time for other institutions set up by Nehru to receive the same treatment.
Buzz is that the government is now planning to restructure University Grants Commission (UGC) to “give it more teeth” and to face new challenges. If followed up, be sure, the move will generate much heat, as in the case of the creation of NITI Ayog or the restructuring currently underway at the prestigious Indian Council for Historical Research (ICHR).
Clearly, the ideological battle has only begun, with the government ensuring the induction of Sangh-affiliated intellectuals and academicians in these powerful institutions. The “restructuring” exercise may soon spread to other venerable institutions, fear many of those who still yearn for olden times, but they seem to be on the wrong side of politics and history!
Kiran factor
The last-minute induction of former cop and Team Anna activist Kiran Bedi in the BJP has electrified the battle for the next month’s assembly elections. There is new life in the party’s campaign which had so far been rather low-key as opposed to the barn-storming methods of arch-rival the Aam Aadmi Party. But has BJP president Amit Shah pulled out an ace, as he clearly would like to believe?
Though the BJP refuses to explicitly state it, clearly Bedi will be the “face” of the party’s campaign and also the most likely chief minister candidate, who enjoys the support of Shah as well as Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Kejriwal once slugging it out with Bedi, and now in opposing political camps, has certainly changed the dynamics. For now, AAP is on the back foot and will have to change tactics to meet this new threat. However, whether or not Bedi indeed turns out to be the game-changer she is meant to be remains to be seen. Suddenly, the upcoming elections seem a lot more interesting, from the voters’ point of view!
Defence call
Dilli is gearing up for US President Barack Obama’s visit on Republic Day. While security agencies are on an unprecedented drive to “secure” the capital for the high-powered summit, the buzz is that Obama’s pre-arrival demands may include a slew of defence deals. Though on a tough schedule, it is expected that the US President and Prime Minister Modi will re-ink the 10-year bilateral defence framework agreement which is about to expire. Though nuclear and other energy pacts are also on the discussion table, the focus is clearly on broadening the defence engagement. So, expect a series of deals coming through.
In this backdrop, the nervous French are hoping that the long-delayed fighter jet deal that has hit a last-mile snag goes through smoothly, two years after Rafale won the bid. So, merely days before Obama and the US delegation descends upon Dilli, the French government has sent a high-powered delegation to salvage the agreement and ensure that all loose ends are sewn up. Negotiations broke down over the issue of local assembly of the aircraft, but apparently the delegation is empowered to make decisions on the spot to resolve the dispute.
Charlie and after
In the aftermath of the terrible Charlie Hebdo tragedy in France, India too is in the grip of a seething debate on freedom of expression, primarily in the media. The result, to the surprise of those who believe that the question is purely theoretical, found a media split between those who favour untrammeled freedom from those (even among the liberal set) who would like reasonable restrictions on this freedom. To stand alongside the Charlie Hebdo journalists in solidarity or to argue in favour of restrictions on expression, the media stood divided.
The indecision or split in the ranks showed when a Dilli-based TV news channel chose to broadcast the offending cartoons, a leading financial newspaper published some cartoons in the spirit of defiant protest only to subsequently remove them for having “offended some people”. The government too stepped in when cops in Mumbai blocked offensive posts related to the cartoons and Charlie Hebdo on social media, amidst protestations about democratic rights. Unfortunately, while the Constitution having originally guaranteed freedom of speech and expression, this lasted only 17 months! The first amendment placed many restrictions on expression, and that is how things stand today.