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EDITORIAL
Romancing The General
Agra? Indo-Pak engagement is not an expensive love
story, please
 Summitry
in Agra, against the monumental backdrop of Taj Mahal? Indo-Pakistan romanticism
could not have taken a more topographically silly leap. No matter who
chose the locale, they have succeeded in turning the Vajpayee-Musharraf
summit, billed to be historic by the summiteers, into a picnic worthy
of picture postcards. After the Yanni concert (Clinton in Agra was pure
sightseeing), it looks like the General on the Yamuna is the next big
entertainer. Is it what India wants the summit to be-more spectacular
and less substantial? Some far-fetched symbolism instead of no-nonsensical
business? A provincial pageantry instead of national purposefulness? Really,
a classical case of bungling before the beginning. It betrays a particular
mindset: the momentousness of the occasion calls for a stereotypical setting-a
bit of history, lots of colour and a sense of contrived remoteness. In
short, the plot should be subordinated to the setting.
It should not have happened-making this summit
prematurely "monumental". From the logistical and security point
of view, Agra is going to be a nightmare, and in terms of costs, the exercise
is unwarranted. After all, what is wrong with Delhi, the national capital,
as a no-nonsense business venue? It can't be the lack of facilities. It
can't be, for that matter, the lack of monuments either. It can only be
a determination to be trivial and reduce a serious diplomatic encounter
to predictable photo opportunities before the Taj Mahal. If the place
to some extent defines the event and sets the tone, Delhi can give the
Indo-Pak event not only some national gravitas but a sense of clinical
detachment that blends well with a purely business agenda. And with the
General-cum-President, India has lots of business to talk. If things go
well, there will be opportunities to undertake what both India and Pakistan
are naturally good at-a tamasha.
Elsewhere Syndrome
How to reduce the emotional distance between Delhi and
the Northeast
 In
the charred remains of that fiery day in Imphal lies a story of regional
remoteness and national indifference. The ethnic anger against the extension
of the Naga cease-fire (between the Muivah faction of the National Socialist
Council of Nagaland and the Centre) to the Naga-dominated areas in Manipur,
Arunachal Pradesh and Assam cannot and should not be seen as an isolated
incident, despite its size and intensity. It is yet another reminder to
Delhi, which continues to be far far away from places like Imphal and
Guwahati: the Northeast is elsewhere. And Delhi has done nothing to reduce
the distance between the idea of India and the identity of the Northeast,
and the sense of resignation continues to be expressed in that shopworn
term for every bad season in almost every godforsaken region-popular alienation.
But what are you doing to remove this, well, alienation?
Give the wretched more dollops and keep them
happy. That is the so-called economic package. As per a special status
under the Constitution, the Northeast gets 20 per cent of the total Central
assistance to the states. What has it achieved? Certainly not a scenario
of development repudiating the gun. Rather, the situation there is one
of less development and more underground guns. You cannot win over a people
by bread alone, and in this case, it is not a case of a separate people
either. And you cannot bring the Northeast to the national mainstream
by treating the regional crisis as a law and order problem. Emotional
integration is the issue here. That cannot be achieved at gun point, or
by more economic packages. Reach out to them and redeem them from a corrupt
political class. Make them feel at home, the name of which is India, India
alone.
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