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EDITORIAL
Genetic
Disorder
George
Fernandes must check the natural wildness of his Samata colleagues
 The
threatened split in the Samata Party over its proposed merger with the
Janata Dal(U) may have been momentarily averted following the intervention
of George Fernandes but there is little reason to believe that the last
has been heard of in this factional dispute. At the heart of the problem
is not merely a personality clash involving Nitish Kumar and Raghunath
Jha, or even the adventurism involved in a palace coup to oust the Rabri
Devi Government in Bihar. Much more fundamental is a genetic problem that
has impaired the political functioning of the inheritors of the late Ram
Manohar Lohia's mantle. In plain language, it has meant the utter inability
of the socialists-now attached to various splinter groups-to operate as
a cohesive group. Whereas other political formations like the Congress
and the BJP manage to combine factional disputes with a semblance of common
purpose, the instinctive response of socialists to any disagreement and
tactical differences is to split. No wonder the socialists are considered
temperamentally disruptionist and a potential threat to any coalition
government. Certainly, this has been the record of the movement since
1977. Laloo Prasad Yadav in Bihar and Naveen Patnaik in Orissa have escaped
political devastation by forming regional parties with no apparent links
to the socialist ideologues.
To be fair,
Fernandes is the honourable exception. Regardless of his colourful past,
his conduct in the A.B. Vajpayee Government has been exemplary. Far from
being a coalition wrecker, he has become the focal point of the non-BJP
parties in the NDA. He has matured as a minister and a political strategist.
Which is why the dissidents had to think twice before taking him on frontally.
But Fernandes cannot afford to rest on his laurels. Given the natural
wildness of his Samata colleagues, he must try and inculcate in them a
sense of restraint and responsibility. That's a tall order but for the
sake of the larger good, he must try.
Poverty
Brokers
With NGOs
playing politics, development takes a back seat in Orissa
 Orissa
is a state where the disaster industry not only thrives but acquires international
dimensions. Devastated by the 1999 supercyclone and paralysed by poverty,
indolence and corruption, it has become a favourite hunting ground for
organisations that have a vested interest in the perpetuation of backwardness.
Guilt-tripping being a useful ploy for the mobilisation of international
funds, there are innumerable "voluntary" groups in the state
that have made governance and development virtually impossible. With the
yields from the difficult task of cyclone reconstruction down to a trickle,
the poverty brokers have shifted their gaze to an agitation against a
proposed bauxite mining project in the Kashipur region of Rayagada district
in southern Orissa. Last December, the movement-led by a militant NGO
with a track record of disruption-turned violent and police firing led
to the death of three tribals. Sensing a political opportunity, other
NGOs and state opposition parties have taken up cudgels against bauxite
mining in the region. Adding to the emotive fervour is the fact that Utkal
Aluminia, the promoter, is a consortium of both Indian and multinational
companies.
For the
opponents of the project, the agitation is crucial. They hope to sufficiently
vitiate the atmosphere so there is pressure on the MNCs to pull out. Such
a strategy has worked well in the past in Orissa, a state that suffers
from a lack of industrialisation. It may work again in Kashipur, despite
the fact that the total number of families likely to be displaced by the
project won't exceed 250. But there is a larger question that has to be
asked. Must the development of poor regions be held to ransom by the activities
of a motivated handful? The issue is no longer rehabilitation. It is politics.
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