Ummid Assistant

Mumbai NGO, top experts join hands to train students for civil services exams

Welcome Guest! You are here: Home » Views & Analysis

India is not a civic nation: Jaswant Singh

Sunday September 30, 2012 11:09:26 PM, Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS

New Delhi: Twenty-first century India is no longer Nehru's India; it is confident, optimistic and on the move, says BJP heavyweight and former union minister Jaswant Singh, but questions whether "it is a civic nation".

"It is not," he replies in the same vein.

"For example, Nehru's dictum in a response to a question that he wanted to achieve a more civilised India through civilised means begs the question whether we are a more civic India? There is another aspect of Nehru's India that do those who professed to follow his political thought now respect the institution of parliament just as much as he did," Jaswant Singh asked during an interview to IANS.

"In the functioning of our kind of representative, participatory form of government... a very disturbing trend has come into being... It is the rendering impotent of, as illusory, even a maligning of any kind of alternative, of any contrary viewpoint or a thought that opposes indeed of the whole concept of opposition," he said.

And why "at the government's cost we are taking out full-page advertisements about the Congress, its president and the late Motilal Nehru, who lived 150 years ago (to mark his 150th birth anniversary)", he demanded, while referring to a recent ad blitz by the ruling party.

"We need some moderation in public life," Jaswant Singh mused.

The 74-year-old parliamentarian from Darjeeling, who has courted controversy and expulsion from the BJP for his book "Jinnah: India Partition Independence", released his new work, "The Audacity of Opinion: Reflections, Journeys and Musings" last week. It is an anthology of his writings for various publications for more than two decades, reflecting on aspects of the country's socio-political life and the portfolios he has handled.

Jaswant Singh, in his book, says there are some continuities from the Nehruvian era. "We do continue to see a faded reflection of residual Nehruvism in the country, but that is neither here nor there because even when he was alive, it was difficult to define what this Nehruvism was".

The former minister says he has outgrown many of the views that he expressed in his columns. Blame it on experience.

"There is a famous and fine saying by Arthur Chrysler that I am appalled by the views that I held this morning. Change is the uncertainty of life... So, why should a change of views be looked down upon or treated with derision?"

What has altered is his thinking, Jaswant Singh said. "I was 30 years younger when I wrote the columns. So I am that much more experienced. I don't think I have rejected any specific political philosophy or view over the years... perhaps some angles of political thought I might have modified through experience and I presume learning," he added.

The BJP leader, who held the defence and external affairs portfolios during the two NDA regimes (1998-2004), looks back at the Bofors gun deal of the mid-1980s, saying "it was in a sense a precursor of the denigration of the institution of Comptroller and Auditor General".

"That's where the rot of a partisan of a political wrong first set in. But C&AG has not lost its credibility though it has been attacked politically. It is a national institution, and for heaven's sake, preserve it," Jaswant Singh said.

In his book, he dwells at length on the role that the CAG played in presenting uncomfortable questions to the government through its reports and observations - and at times stowed under the carpet by the government.

Then, the disparity between the urban and the rural becomes palpable in Jaswant Singh's descriptions of Indian villages. "India has not been able to bridge the gap between village and towns. The National Democratic Alliance in its six years introduced a measure of reforms PURA (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas). It was successful as long as it was pursued. But as it was an NDA programme, its success was abandoned after NDA was voted out of power," he says.

"The entire blueprint of the model exists...All that is required is an executive-administrative order from the union government for the provision of some fund from the government for its implementation," Jaswant Singh adds.

Eight essays in his book probe the developmental and political impasse of northeastern India that he visited during his days in the army.

"I fell in love with his beautiful land and its incredible beautiful people. But it sadly remains a forgotten frontier. That sums up the pain of the northeast. It suffers from deprivation of neglect and from this all other problem arises... What kind of a prime minister do we have who falsely designates himself a resident of Assam. That is the insult which causes me to say that this is a forgotten frontier," Jaswant Singh says, very conveniently forgetting that though a resident of Rajasthan, he represents Darjeeling in West Bengal in the Lok Sabha.

The change in BJP has been faster in the last few years to keep up with the young India. "When we talk of change within the BJP, then the change in the psyche and expectations of the new generation of Indians have outstripped the pace of change in BJP," Jaswant Singh says.



(Madhusree Chatterjee can be contacted at madhu.c@ians.in)




 


 

 

 

Home | Top of the Page

Comments

Note: By posting your comments here you agree to the terms and conditions of www.ummid.com

Comments powered by DISQUS

i

i

 

More Headlines

Egypt football club elects woman as president

Get crime clearance if wanna watch kids playing: British schools

DMK won't nominate anyone for ministerial berth

Man who breaks glasses with his voice

Mobile phones contributing to suicides in BSF

Hyderabad on boil as Telangana march begins amid clashes

Organisation of Islamic Cooperation hails Pakistan-India talks

SARS-like virus no cause for concern: China

You enjoy life at ages nine and 68!

UN misconduct often goes unpunished, reveals study

Several trains cancelled ahead of Telangana march

Bengal government refuses to increase fares

 

Top Stories

Hyderabad on boil as Telangana march begins amid clashes

Tension gripped Hyderabad Sunday as pro-Telangana activists clashed with Andhra Pradesh Police while hundreds of people were reaching the venue of the rally - Necklace Road  »

Several trains cancelled ahead of Telangana march

Naidu writes to PM on Telangana, invites colleagues' ire

 

  Most Read

Haphazard attempts to shore up economies could weaken dollar: Qatar

Qatar, a major investor in U.S. and European assets, worries that haphazard attempts by countries to shore up their economies could weaken the dollar and the euro, its prime  »

SARS-like virus no cause for concern: China

People do not need to panic given because the previously unknown virus still needs probe, and it has not spread widely, the People's Daily Friday quoted the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as saying.  »

Virus threat during Haj: WHO says no need to panic

 

  News Pick

Organisation of Islamic Cooperation hails Pakistan-India talks

The 57-nation Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has praised Pakistan for engaging with India to resolve their disputes, a media  »

Justice system needs immediate remedies: Home secretary

Home Secretary R.K. Singh Saturday said the nation's criminal justice system was at the crossroads and called for immediate remedies. Addressing the 40th anniversary of the Lok Nayak Jaiprakash  »

DMK won't nominate anyone for ministerial berth

The DMK won't nominate anyone for any ministerial post in the central government in any reshuffle, party president M. Karunanidhi declared Sunday. Ahead of the party's executive committee meeting Monday  »

Economic reforms not one-off process: PM

Asked about Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's allegation that the FDI decision had been taken to please the US, the prime minister said India took decisions in its own interests.  »

Why BJP opposes foreign investment in retail

Industry hails PM's determination to see reforms through

 

Picture of the Day

The President, Shri Pranab Mukherjee administering the oath of office of Chief Justice of India to Justice Altamas Kabir, at a Swearing in Ceremony, in New Delhi on September 29, 2012.

(Photo: Manoj Kumar)

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

RSS  |  Contact us

 

| Quick links

News

 

Subscribe to

Ummid Assistant

 

National

Science & Technology

RSS

Scholarships

About us

International

Health

Twitter

Government Schemes

Feedback

Regional

History

Facebook

Education

Register

Politics

Opinion

Newsletter

Contact us

Business

Career

Education

     

 

 

Ummid.com: Disclaimer | Terms of Use | Advertise with us | Link Exchange

Ummid.com is part of the Awaz Multimedia & Publications providing World News, News Analysis and Feature Articles on Education, Health. Politics, Technology, Sports, Entertainment, Industry etc. The articles or the views displayed on this website are for public information and in no way describe the editorial views. The users are entitled to use this site subject to the terms and conditions mentioned.

© 2012 Awaz Multimedia & Publications. All rights reserved.