Anna’s last chance

I am surprised by the public outpour of support for social activist Anna Hazare’s fast against corruption. Perhaps the supporters are unaware of Mr. Hazare’s weak credentials as a crusader. Readers following Maharashtra politics will remember how Mr. Hazare had launched several such fasts in the past against thugs in the Maharashtra Government, only to withdraw them after a token assurance from the state’s chief minister. Like Shane Warne’s complete mastery over Daryl Cullinan, the rioter and businessman Manohar Joshi (appointed as the Maharashtra Chief Minster by Bal Thakre in the mid-1990s) had Mr. Hazare’s  number: every time Mr. Hazare undertook one his fasts, Mr. Joshi made a few random reconciliatory noises, to see Mr. Hazare immediately give up his fast.  The only goon Mr. Hazare succeeded displacing in Mr. Joshi’s time was Baban Gholap, then Maharashtra’s social welfare minister.

This fast is therefore Mr. Hazare’s last chance for redemption, and I believe he has gotten the timing right: India’s civil society is looking for its Egypt moment, and being too secure and worldly-minded to come to streets and protest, the middle-class and the urban elite are searching for an icon to lead the fight, and Mr. Hazare provides them an opportunity. I only wish that Mr. Hazare fights until the end and does not frustrate his supporters once again.

An ideology's transformation

In an outstanding article in the Caravan magazine, Vinod K Jose outlines the character arc of Tamil Nadu chief and dynast M Karunanidhi, showing the transformation of a Dravidian writer to a politician whose ideology starts and ends with family:

"IT WAS IDEOLOGY, after all—the persuasive force of the Dravidian awakening launched by Periyar and refined by Annadurai—that brought the DMK to power. But the party learnt quickly that retaining power could not be achieved by ideology alone—and decided, over time, that the spoils of its power were too good to waste pursuing ideological

ends. It was under Karunanidhi that the DMK embraced power for its own sake, and the younger members of his dynasty naturally came to regard power and money as the only worthwhile pursuits.

In this lies the greatest irony of Karunanidhi’s long reign: that a man who believed—and continues to believe—with all sincerity, in the ideology of Periyar and Annadurai is the same man who willfully presided over its debasement and decline. Karunanidhi still knows how to pay lip service to Tamil nationalism, and does so with verve and gusto when the situation demands it. But his political descendants, whose utter lack of ideology he finds distasteful, learnt their ways under his tutelage."

The essay is insightful and evocative, and after reading it I even detected in myself a glimmer of sadness for the dynast – I am sure Karaunanidhi started with good intensions of upholding Dravidian pride, and certainly didn’t want to end up what he is today: a reincarnation of the very feudal lords and Kings whom he wanted to usurp. Karunanidhi is a vastly more dangerous and lethal version of the Kings from historical India we (and perhaps he) desisted: like old kings and feudal lords, Karunanidhi has fathered several children from several wives, owns substantial amount of property, has (by his own admission) amassed crores of Rupees, has powerful enemies like Jayalalithaa, has won the loyalty of strongmen and courtiers, and his family openly bickers and fights amongst itself for the spoils of power. And like those kings, Karunanidhi will be loathed and remembered for what he really is: a petty, venal politician mired in countless ill-deeds:

“Karunanidhi will be remembered for the three to four institutions that are working decently in Tamil Nadu—the public distribution system, healthcare and a few social welfare programmes,” N Ram concluded. “But he will be mostly remembered for institutionalising corruption in all spheres of the state.”

No names policy

Yesterday the Maharashtra assembly was thrown into turmoil over this report, which claimed that fraudster Hassan Ali laundered money for three former Maharashtra CMs:

"In those years, especially the late 1990s and early 2000s, the stock markets had huge black money riding on it, which was often untraceable. Ali smartly bought participatory notes which were not required to be registered with SEBI. In the same fashion, some of the money would also come into companies that would have a beneficiary of the politician's family or in some cases, a completely new business entity in the name of a beneficiary of the politician," said a source close to the probe agencies. Through this strategy, Ali is believed to have pumped in money into the businesses of the son-in-law of one of these former CMs."

[emphasis mine]

What do you think is the chance that these three CMs would be named? Last week Tehelka magazine had reported that not naming Ms. Kanimozhi in the charge-sheet was a strong pre-condition for the DMK to re-extend its support to the UPA government. This is what is likely to happen: today’s Mint mentions indications that Kanimozhi, one of Tamil Nadu CM Karunanidhi’s several children and an influential politician, will not be named in the first charge-sheet to be filed in the 2G scam case.  If things get too hot, the NCP would withdraw support from the UPA/Maharashtra government, and then watch things return to normalcy.

Cash for votes: in Parliament and polling-booths

The India Cables, accessed by The Hindu via WikiLeaks, confirm many of the self-evident truths Indians know about their politics. Cable 206688 describes, in simple and chilling detail, how Azhagiri, one of Tamil Nadu CM Karunanidhi’s several sons, distributed cash:

"8. (C) After long relying on political muscle to enforce his will in Madurai, Azhagiri has added money to his arsenal and is using it to a degree previously unseen in Tamil Nadu. Azhagiri's approach debuted in the January assembly by-election held in Thirumangalam near Madurai, which he managed for the DMK. This race was marked by unprecedented bribes to voters (ref A). M. Patturajan, the former Mayor of Madurai and a confidant of Azhagiri, told us that ""it is no secret at all, Azhagiri paid 5,000 rupees (approximately USD 100) per voter in Thirumangalam."" S. Kannan, a mid-level Congress party official in Madurai, told us ""the 5,000 rupees per voter in Thirumangalam changed everything,"" noting that previous bribes to voters had topped out at 500 rupees. S. Annamalai, Madurai editor of The Hindu, also confirmed the 5,000 rupee figure, telling us that all of his employees who live in Thirumangalam received the money."

Letters received in today’s Hindu confirm these stories. The cable also details politicians in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, including the Home Minister PC Chidambaram, allegedly distributed cash to lure voters. This Tehelka story lists even more incidents.

Given that our voters expect money from politicians to vote during elections, isn’t’ it ironical that the same voters are perturbed when our legislators accept cash to vote in favor/against governments during trust votes? The 2008 price for a MP was a paltry 10 crore per vote in trust motion (as per WIkiLeaks). The 1993 price of a MP vote (as discovered during the JMM MP bribery scandal) was approximately 2.2 crore – a rise of just ~450% in 15 years. Voters of these MPs should have therefore demanded that their MP maximize his/her returns by auctioning his/her vote during a trust motion, and then distribute the gains more evenly to the voters. Voters need to be better educated to be aware of their new rights in today’s market-driven democracy.

Why Guwahati is India’s next boom-town

A Marathi writer once told me how to identify the next investment hot-spot in India: watch where the politicians are parking their money.  If you see politicians investing large sums of time and money in an economic activity, no matter how obscure, expect that field to grow, he had said. The author provided many examples, of which I quote two: cricket, which the Indian politicians discovered as a lucrative investment option years before the IPL boom, and mining. (He also mentioned human-trafficking, but apart from the noble Indian ex-MP Babubhai Katara, there are no other known trailblazers right now).

Using this measure, one can also track the next geographical growth location: watch where corrupt politicians and bureaucrats buy land. By this measure, Guwahati seems to be India’s next boom-town. Arvind and Tinoo Joshi, corrupt IAS officers recently suspended by the Madhya Pradesh government, bought 18 apartments in Guwahati:

“SUSPENDED IAS couple of 1979 batch, Arvind and Tinoo Joshis’ reported amassing of assets worth Rs 300 crore has been the talking point among bureaucrats across the country on Wednesday, but what has intrigued many is why this Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS couple with stints at New Delhi and Bhopal chose to purchase 18 of out of 25 flats in far-flung North-East city of Guwahati? What’s their Assam connection? Or has Guwahati with its new property boom become a safe route to park unaccounted money of politicians and bureaucrats? No wonder, Guwahati’s property market witnessed a boom even when there was a dip across major metros thanks to global downturn and economic uncertainty.”

   

Even by the standards of corrupt Indian babus, the Joshi couple’s loot is eye-popping:

"The income-tax department here on Friday attached the bank accounts and properties of billionaire IAS couple Arvind and Tinu Joshi who are estimated to be worth Rs 360 crore.

As many as 77 bank accounts belonging to members of Joshi family, their real estate and other properties have been attached under the provisions of section 281-B of the Income Tax Act 1961."

Perhaps the Joshis were doing their bit towards national integration, addressing the growth imbalance in the North East.