A WAKE-UP CALL FOR THE NATION

B.RAMAN

In a personal  Blog post titled “BJP: A Hub of Hope”, Shri L.K.Advani, former Deputy Prime Minister and senior leader of the BJP, has stated as follows: “I had said at the Core Group meeting that if people are today angry with the U.P.A. Government, they are also disappointed with us. The situation, I said, calls for introspection.” (http://blog.lkadvani.in/blog-in-english/bjp-a-hub-of-hope )

2. Even as the analysts were discussing the significance of his Blog post, an article in the latest issue of “Panchajanya”, the journal of the RSS, has also expressed openly disquiet over certain recent developments in the BJP focussed on the efforts of some elements supporting the candidature of Shri Narendra Modi as the next Prime Minister to force their will  on the RSS and the BJP.

3. The article states that the  BJP has several chief ministers and central leaders who are capable of being its prime ministerial candidate and hence the decision on this matter should be made after the general elections. (http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-why-only-modi-bjp-has-many-pm-candidates-rss/20120602.htm )

4. While Shri Advani’s Blog post talks in general about the public perception of the state of affairs in the party without naming anyone, the “Panchajanya” article makes no secret of the fact that it has been triggered by the pressure tactics adopted by the supporters of NaMo to force the party to accept NaMo as the prime ministerial candidate even before the next elections.

5. While it would be unreasonable to expect the BJP and the RSS to be more specific in their concerns, these have come to the fore in the context of the recent stepped- up efforts of the supporters of NaMo---many of them NRIs based in the US--- to see that NaMo is accepted by the BJP and the RSS as the prime ministerial candidate.

6. Since the beginning of last year, I have been drawing attention to the Nazi Storm Trooper-like methods adopted by many followers of NaMo to impose their will on their party and then the nation. Anyone aware of the methods used by the Nazi Storm Troopers to force the German people to accept Hitler as their leader would be struck by the similarity of the rhetoric and PSYWAR methods used by these pro-NaMo elements whom I have been referring to as the NaMo Brigade.

7. They  do not call themselves the NaMo Brigade, but they make no secret of the fact that they support NaMo as the next Prime Minister of India. Their worrisome methods, reminiscent of the methods used by the Storm Troopers, consist largely of abuse, vituperation, disinformation, character assassination and psychological pressure. Whereas the Nazi Storm Troopers did not have the benefit of the computer and the Internet, the NaMo Brigade, which has established a dominance over the means of propaganda through the Net in the absence of any opposition to their methods from secular and liberal elements, has been using the social media networks in their PSYWAR.

8. Nobody can object to their campaign in favour of NaMo as the Prime Minister despite his perceived misdeeds of the past. But one has reasons to be concerned over the ways adopted by these elements in an attempt to enforce their will on the nation. If they succeed due to lack of adequate  public knowledge of the sinister implications of their strategy and the inadequate attempts to counter their methods, the nation may have to pay a heavy price.

9. India needs a strong, efficient and effective ruler, but not a Hitler. That ruler has to be chosen by the people through their free will and not imposed on them through stage-managed and orchestrated pressure.

10. It is time to sound a wake-up call about the dangerous implications of the pressure tactics and Storm Trooper methods being  used to force the BJP, the RSS and the Nation to accept NaMo who is being sought to be projected by these elements as God’s own choice to rule India at this critical juncture.

11. While it is up to the political parties to draw up their respective strategy to ensure that such methods do not find a place in our political landscape, it is important for others too to educate public opinion on the activities of these elements and the great harm that they can cause to our democracy.

12. The new strategy to be worked out should focus not on the past misdeeds of NaMo, but on the  future misdeeds that are likely to be committed by these elements if their methods succeed. ( 3-6-12)

( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate, Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-Mail: seventyone2@gmail.com . Twitter: @SORBONNE75 )

LIVING & SLEEPING WITH MY CANCER

B.RAMAN

I will be 76 on August 14. On October 24, it will be three years since the metastasised  cancer in my urinary tract was detected and the hormonal therapy ( total androgen blocade) started.

2. The therapy is based on the discovery that any cancer of prostate origin shrinks if it is denied the male sex hormone that acts as a fertiliser for the tumour. I had to undergo an injection once in three months and take a hormonal tablet called Calutide 50 every day. The course of injections was stopped after two years in November last. According to my doctor, if the injections are continued for more than two years, the bones tend to get brittle.

3. This was the least aggressive of the therapies available and I chose it. The other options, that were more aggressive and often more effective, were surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. They cause considerable side-effects and hence I decided not to have them.

4. By the time my cancer, which started in the prostate, was detected, it had spread to the urinary bladder, nearby bones and some lymphnodes.  Surprisingly, my PSA (Total and Free) levels, which give the first indication of the presence of the cancer in the prostate, were normal. The scans showed the cancer in the bladder, but not in the prostate. It was detected only during a diagnostic procedure. The spread of the cancer to some bones and lymphnodes was detected during a scan with radioactive isotopes.

5. It was graded as high grade cancer of prostate origin, but the cancer had no effect on my energy, weight and appetite and I had no pain anywhere in the body. The first external symptom that led to the detection was the presence of heavy blood in the urine.

6. The only two discomforts caused so far by the cancer and therapy are constipation and a slight pain in my right feet since last November. The doctors had cautioned me that the spread of the cancer to some bones could cause heavy back pain and radiating pain in the upper parts of the legs. This has not happened so far.

7. The therapy caused the cancer in the prostate to shrink totally and in the bladder partially. Since I never took a bone scan, I do not know anything about the cancer in the bones or lymphnodes. The doctor has also not insisted on a bone scan. Since I have had no pain, I have presumed that it has not spread.

8. Before the cancer was detected, I used to be a daily drinker of Scotch and Soda---taking two large pegs every day and three on Saturdays. After the detection, on the doctor’s advice, I reduced it to three or four days a month, but during my recent visits to Delhi I was drinking almost daily with friends.

9. In July last year, the Government of India sought my assistance in an advisory capacity to enable the Task Force on National Security headed by Shri Naresh Chandra, former Cabinet Secretary, complete its work. My elder brother was strongly against my accepting it since he feared that it might render me weak, but I accepted it. I used to travel to Delhi three times a month spending about 12 to 15 days every month there. In May, I spent 18 days---- 11 of them continuously.

10. During my stay in Delhi, I used to work from 10 AM to midnight---- with an one-hour break for lunch and two hours for dinner. I withstood the strain remarkably well as if I was a 40-year-old healthy person. I was amazed by my energy level despite the two discomforts mentioned above which continued.

11. Normally, human reactions to the detection of cancer vary from individual to individual. Many withdraw into a shell and avoid sharing with friends and others except close relatives the news of their cancer. Some share with relatives, but not with friends. Some share with everybody. I am told the majority of the cancer patients tend to become depressed when the disease is detected.

12.In my case, I have remained cheerful from the beginning. I share freely all details of my cancer and the treatment with whoever is interested on my own without their having to ask me questions. An American friend of mine once jocularly remarked: "Raman is the first cancer patient known to me who brags in public about his cancer as if he has achieved something great by getting cancer.”

13.My cheerfulness and my readiness to share have kept my morale sustained. Sometimes, some of  my Twitter buddies are surprised by the loud-tweeting I do about my cancer and think I must be depressed, but I am never depressed.

14. But I am bothered often by the thought  not of pain starting, but of my developing a dependence on others if the cancer spreads further. I have always been a self-reliant person. Never in my life have I been dependent on others in personal matters. The feeling (not fear) that I might one day become dependent on others bothers me.

15. My calm disposition and my habit of always looking at the brighter side of life have helped me in my fight against the cancer. I felt proud of myself when my Doctors remarked last year that I have driven the cancer out of my body through sheer will power and not through the therapy.

16. All human beings like to be praised. Cancer patients are no exception. The morale of cancer patients goes up when they are told  that they are looking normal and do not look like cancer patients. During my frequent visits to Delhi, my morale used to go up every time I was complimented on my normal  energy level. I was myself amazed by it and I used to feel very happy when others noticed it and remarked on it.

17. Please don’t tell a lie to a cancer patient. By doing so, you are not helping him or her. But if you find a cancer patient looking good and doing well, don’t hesitate to tell him as sincerely as you can.

18. Cancer patients have their good moments and bad moments. I too though I try not to show my mood changes. If you find us occasionally irritable or nasty, try to understand us. Those are passing phases.

19. There are two things I miss greatly—my daily S & S and my foreign travels. Inside India, I have been travelling as frequently and as vigorously as I used to do before the cancer was detected in October 2009. I used to travel abroad for discussions and seminars seven or eight times a year. I have stopped all my foreign travels since September 2009. My doc has been encouraging me to resume my foreign travels. But I am hesitant due to a fear that if internal bleeding or pain starts during my stay abroad, my hosts might be put to difficulty.

20. As I often say, I have learnt to peacefully co-exist with my cancer. There is a lovely song of Georges Moustaki, the French singer of Greek origin, titled “Ma Solitude”. He sings: “ I never feel alone because my Solitude always keep me company and sleeps with me in bed.”

21. I never feel depressed  because my cancer and I have learnt to live and sleep with each other. My cancer is my live-in companion. ( 2-6-12)

J&K : MOVING FORWARD

B.RAMAN

( Written at the request  of the "Times of India" and published by it on June 2,2012

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/Now-for-political-normalisation/articleshow/13709349.cms )

The Government of India has done well to release the text of  the report of the three-member team of Interlocutors headed by Shri Dileep Padgaonkar constituted by it in October 2010 to suggest ways forward  for facilitating the normalisation of the political situation in Jammu & Kashmir.

Any further delay in the initiation of follow-up action  might have created an  impression in the State that the entire exercise was an eyewash to gain time. The perceived past inaction of the Government of India in the face of accumulating grievances contributed to a deep sense of alienation followed by the insurgency. The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan exploited the alienation to sponsor a proxy war.

There is an insurgency fatigue in the State, but It would be unwise to misinterpret the growing normalcy in the ground situation as indicating a political fatigue too. The grievances have not withered away. They will not unless  meaningful action is taken  to identify the legitimate ones and act to remove them.

Bringing the insurgency under control was only one aspect of the problem. An equally important aspect is to set in motion a process of dealienation through appropriate political and psychological measures.

The constitution of the Interlocutors’ team was indicative of  a recognition by the Government of India that operational normalisation  has to be followed by political normalisation.

The report is  comprehensive  and  deals with all aspects of the problem---political, operational, economic, humanitarian etc. There is a huge humanitarian aspect  due to perceptions of unchecked and unaddressed violations of the human rights of the people by the security forces despite their better control of the ground situation now.

The Interlocutors have come out with ideas and concepts--- the setting-up of the Constitutional Review Committee is one such idea---- which may not be acceptable to all sections of the people of the State and political forces in the rest of India.

Some of these ideas are likely to be opposed by those  who had always argued that the original sin in the State was committed by the founding fathers of independent India who agreed to grant a special constitutional status to the State. They are likely to oppose  any attempt to reverse the process of the dilution  of the special status. There could be other issues relating to Jammu and Ladakh and the return of the Hindu Pandits to their original homeland which might encounter difficulties in implementation.

Fears of likely controversies should not be allowed to inhibit the implementation process. Political compromises in the over-all State and national interests will be necessary. What is important is to create a positive momentum towards implementation.

The Government of India, in consultation with the State, should identify those recommendations that can be implemented quickly through executive orders  without the need for time-consuming political consultations and take time-bound action to implement them. Among such recommendations one could mention those relating to the re-deployment of the security forces, re-evaluation of the need for special powers for the Army and improving the human rights situation.

If this is done, it will restore the confidence of the people in the sincerity of the Government and pave the way for a more non-emotional examination of the controversial recommendations.

Interestingly, the Interlocutors’ report has been released a day after the Task Force on National Security headed by Naresh Chandra, former Cabinet Secretary, submitted its report to the Prime Minister. The Task Force has, inter alia, given its assessment of the ground situation in J&K and made a number of well-considered recommendations for political normalisation.

The recommendations of the Interlocutors should be examined in conjunction with those of the Task Force and a process for implementation set in motion. The dealienation of the people of the State would depend on the sincerity of the follow-up drill. The Prime Minister should take over the leadership role for monitoring the follow-up process.

He should nominate a small Group of Ministers to examine jointly the recommendations of the Interlocutors and the Naresh Chandra Task Force, in consultation with the State Government and the political parties in the State and Centre to draw up a plan for the implementation of acceptable recommendations without delay.

The BJP and other right-wing forces should resist the temptation to politicise the follow-up. Nothing can be more short-sighted and counter-productive.

We have a very short window of political opportunity in the State. The thinning down of the NATO forces in Afghanistan is likely to make available to the ISI surplus trained cadres and leaked arms and ammunition from the dumps left by the departing NATO forces for diversion to Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir in an attempt to re-kindle the dying insurgency. The implicit Chinese recognition of Gilgit-Baltistan as Pakistani territory and the increasing Chinese interest and presence in the Kashmiri  territory under the illegal occupation of Pakistan are likely to create new geostrategic dimensions of the problem.

National and State interests  demand that this window is intelligently and constructively utilised. If we do not do so, we may find ourselves back in 1989. We have a welcome respite in  J&K. Whether it endures or not would depend on the political initiatives of the Prime Minister.

( The writer was Additional Secretary, Research & Analysis Wing, Cabinet Secretariat)

SIGNIFICANCE OF SELF-IMMOLATIONS IN LHASA

B.RAMAN

There were two incidents of attempted self-immolation by young Tibetan monks in their early 20s in Lhasa in the so-called Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) on May 27,2012. One of the incidents was fatal, while in the other the police managed to put out the fire. The protester suffered burns, but survived.

2. The dead man was identified as Tobgye Tseten, from the Tibetan-populated Gansu province which was separated from Tibet by the Chinese authorities after occupying Tibet. The injured, Dargye, is from the Kirti monastery area of the Sichuan province where the wave of self-immolations in protest against the continued Chinese occupation of Tibet started last year.

3. Since the protests through self-immolation started in the Kirti monastery area of Sichuan in the beginning of last year, there have been 37 attempted self-immolations---- 34 of them outside the TAR and three in the TAR. The majority of the self-immolation attempts have been reported from the Sichuan Province.

4. From the TAR, only one incident was reported last year as against 34 from the Tibetan areas outside the TAR  (Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai ). No satisfactory explanation has been forthcoming as to why the TAR, which saw widespread Tibetan protests against the Han occupation  before the Beijing Olympics in 2008, has remained the least affected.

5.Even in the two incidents of May 27, which took place outside the sacred Jokhang Temple, the protesters had come from outside the TAR and were not local residents. This would indicate that while the Tibetans outside the TAR continue to defy the Chinese authorities, the Tibetans of the TAR, who were subjected to brutal suppression after the violent incidents of 2008, have continued to remain subdued. There have been no copy-cat self-immolations in the TAR by local Tibetan residents.

6. The Chinese authorities seem more confident of their ability to keep the TAR under control than the Tibetan areas of the other three provinces. The Tibetans of the TAR maintain regular interactions with Tibetan refugees in Nepal, India and the West and the radical Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC), with its leadership based in the US, was in the forefront of the revolt of 2008 in the TAR.

7. One would have expected that the Tibetans of the TAR would have been in the forefront of the current wave of protests and non-violent satyagraha, but this has not been so. What one has been seeing since the beginning of last year has been a spontaneous movement with no central organisation behind it. It is the anger of the young monks in Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai, outraged over the virtual Chinese occupation of the Kirti monastery of Sichuan last year and the arrest and forcible detention of many of the monks in a PLA detention centre, that has kept the protest movement sustained. The effect of this anger and outrage is still to be felt in the TAR. ( 30-5-12)

( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com Twitter : @SORBONNE75 )

J&K INTERLOCUTORS’ REPORT : CREATING A POSITIVE MOMENTUM

B.RAMAN

This is not meant to be a detailed critique of the report of the three-member team of interlocutors headed by Shri Dileep Padgaonkar constituted by the Government of India in October 2010 to suggest ways forward in dealing with the various aspects of the alienation of the people of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) which led to an anti-Government of India insurgency there.

2. The insurgency was the result of accumulated grievances and anger over a long period of time. There were various factors responsible for this accumulation--- perceptions of a dilution of the special status granted to the State when it acceded to India after the partition of the country, malgovernance, perceptions of a distortion of the democratic process by successive Governments of the National Conference without the Government of India doing anything to check such distortions etc.

3. Political and not economic factors were at the root of the insurgency. The Government of India and successive State  Governments of the National Conference have to share the blame in equal measure for wittingly or unwittingly creating a negative political atmosphere marked by a growing alienation of the people that was exploited by the Pakistan Government for sowing the seeds of an anti-India insurgency in the State.

4. What started as an anti-Government insurgency due to our mishandling of the affairs of the State was turned into an anti-India insurgency by Pakistan with the collaboration of some elements in the State which gave a religious dimension to what started as an essentially political movement and took up the Pakistani cry of “Kashmir Banega Pakistan”.

5. The introduction of the religious dimension by these elements led to brutal attacks on the Kashmiri Hindu Pandits and their being ejected from their traditional homeland .Thus, what we faced in J&K was a three dimensional problem consisting of a political dimension due to our own mishandling, a religious dimension injected by Pakistan with the help of its supporters in the State and an operational dimension caused by the widespread outbreak of violence by elements instigated, trained, funded and armed by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

6. After over 20 years, our security forces led by the Army have succeeded in bringing the operational dimension under control. There has been a significant decrease in violence and a steady movement towards normalcy on the ground. The successful holding of State and Panchayat elections and the resumption of the domestic tourist traffic to the State are indicators of this movement.

7. The successful handling of the operational aspects of the problem by the security forces so far should not be over-assessed  to mean that the original causes of alienation in the hearts and minds of the people have disappeared and that the Pakistani machinations in the State have been defeated once and for all.

8. There has been an insurgency fatigue in the State caused by the skilful campaign of attrition waged by the security forces against the anti-Government and anti-India elements which had taken to violence with the support of Pakistan. This fatigue indicates that these elements have now been convinced that violence, with or without the support of Pakistan, has not taken them anywhere.

9. While there is insurgency fatigue, there is no political fatigue. The anti-Government and anti-India elements remain politically active and there are no irreversible signs of a dilution of the state of alienation of large sections of the people. Bringing the insurgency under control was only one aspect of the problem. An equally important aspect is to set in motion a process of dealienation through appropriate political and psychological measures.

10. It was to address this important second stage of dealienation that the Government of India set up the interlocutors’ team to interact with large sections of the population and political and non-governmental forces in the State in order to create a positive momentum towards political normalisation in the State. The constitution of the interlocutors’ team was indicative of  a clear recognition by the Government of India that operational normalisation alone is not sufficient; it has to be followed by political normalisations so that the feelings of alienation wither away.

11. The setting-up of the interlocutors’ team was greeted with considerable scepticism by sections of the non-mainstream Kashmiris who tended to view the exercise as an eyewash by the Government of India to buy time. This scepticism ran the risk of being strengthened due to the delay in the release of the report of the interlocutors by the Government.

12. In this context, one has to welcome the belated release of the text of the report by the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India on May 24,2012. The report is both comprehensive and complex. It is comprehensive in the sense of dealing with all aspects of the problem---political, operational, economic, humanitarian etc. There is a huge humanitarian aspect to the problem due to perceptions of unchecked and unaddressed violations of the human rights of the people by the security forces despite their better control of the ground situation now.

13. It is complex in the sense that the interlocutors have come out with ideas and concepts--- the setting-up of the Constitutional Review Committee is one such idea---- which may not be acceptable to all sections of the people of the State and political forces in the rest of India. Now that the text of the report has been released for widespread public discussion, it is necessary for the Government of India to initiate steps to convince the people of the State of its sincerity and determination to persist with this process for achieving political normalisation in the State.

14. It needs to be admitted that some of the recommendations of the team could be controversial and might be opposed by those sections of the political forces who had always argued that the original sin in the State was committed by the founding fathers of independent India who agreed to grant a special constitutional status to the State. They are likely to oppose firmly any attempt to reverse the process of the dilution  of the special status. There could be other issues relating to Jammu and Ladakh and the return of the Hindu Pandits to their original homeland which might face opposition to their implementation.

15. Fears of likely controversies should not be allowed to inhibit the implementation process. No sensitive report of this nature can be implemented in toto.  Political compromises in the over-all State and national interest will be necessary. What is important is to create a positive momentum towards implementation.

16. The creation of such a momentum will be facilitated if the Government of India, in consultation with the State, identifies those recommendations that can be implemented quickly through executive orders  without the need for time-consuming political consultations and takes time-bound action to implement them. Among such recommendations one could mention those relating to the re-deployment of the security forces, re-evaluation of the need for special powers for the Army and improving the human rights situation.

17. If this is done, it will restore the confidence of the people in the sincerity of the Government and pave the way for a more non-emotional examination of the other more complex and controversial recommendations.

18.  We have a very short window of political opportunity in the State. The thinning down of the NATO forces in Afghanistan is likely to make available to the ISI surplus trained cadres and leaked arms and ammunition from the dumps left by the departing NATO forces for diversion to Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir in an attempt to re-kindle the dying insurgency. The implicit Chinese recognition of Gilgit-Baltistan as Pakistani territory and the increasing Chinese interest and presence in the Kashmiri  territory under the illegal occupation of Pakistan are likely to create new geostrategic dimensions of the problem and our relations with Pakistan.

19. In my assessment, we may have a window of not more than two years for creating a positive momentum towards political normalisation in the State. We must pay serious attention to the process for identifying the feasible follow-up action on the basis of the report and initiating that action. Any impression that we are dragging our feet and were never sincere in undertaking this exercise can be counter-productive. Don’t add substance to the campaign of the separatists that the whole exercise was an eyewash. (27-5-12)

( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com Twitter : @SORBONNE75 )