THE GRAB

In the past George had taken great pains for the people ... but Jaya (Jaitly) started casting her spell on him. Mrinal Gore, Janata Dal leader

Why does this man evoke so much hatred? It was 2001: A Forgettable Odyssey for George Fernandes, defence minister twice over. He had to resign when the Tehelka tapes showed "arms dealers" confabulating with Samata Party President Jaya Jaitly in his drawing room. But the resignation did not yield political dividends. Few hailed it as a moral gesture and the Trinamool Congress which had left the NDA demanding his resignation showed no sign of unbending.

After months in hibernation, Fernandes made a controversial comeback in the wake of 9/11 only to get boxed in by the coffin scandal. A CAG report pointed fingers at the various purchases made by the Defence Ministry for the Kargil war, most notably the special aluminium caskets imported from the US for ferrying dead bodies. It made little difference that Fernandes had ordered the CAG review in the first place. An exit in disgrace and a comeback amidst allegations have been Fernandes' only achievements this year. Unless you count the Samata's prolonged sulks to get its leader back into the cabinet. Yesterday's streetfighter is on the hard road.

OSAMA BIN LADEN
Bushed!

The villain of September 11 rose to soaring heights of stardom in 2001. Osama bin Laden's previous attempts at blowing up US embassies faded into nothingness in the blaze of the WTC attacks. His name launched a thousand terror in billions of hearts, a mini clash of civilisation and the first war of the 21st century. He singlehandedly redrew the world map of diplomacy where terrorism became the touchstone of survival.

Bin Laden's videotapes were too hot to handle for the free press of the West, while his masks and posters sold like hot cakes. For the anti-US Islamic extremist he became a demigod and for the thousands whose world had been shattered by 9/11, the devil incarnate. The Islamic world was pushed to the ropes trying to redefine their moderate faith as the onslaught of the anti-terror campaign pushed the West Asian crisis to the brink. Bin Laden's empire of fear has started to come apart at the seams, but the core is yet to be breached. The champion of Islamic extremism sounded the death knell of his brothers in arms, the Taliban, whose oppressive regime in Afghanistan was overthrown by a blitzkrieg of US bombing and Northern Alliance advance. But even as the war draws to a close and Kandahar, bin Laden's capital, has been reduced to rubble, the mastermind of terror and his extended family (four wives and 16 children) continue to evade capture. Nevertheless he's right there in the same pantheon as Hitler, and Mullah Omar.

GENERAL PERVEZ MUSHARRAF
Saving Brace

THE GRAB

Musharraf entered the lion's den and emerged with his audience purring like pussycats. A report in The News

It may seem almost unpatriotic to say this but at one level every Indian must wish his country had a leader like General Pervez Musharraf. Pakistan's military dictator-he assumed the civil(ian) title of president as well this year-spent 2001 becoming Planet Earth's ultimate Artful Dodger, snatching triumph from adversity with an exasperating regularity. On January 1, 2001, the General was on the ropes, an anachronism in the new world order, his country a pariah. As usual, India-patron saint of the world's luckless-gave him his chance. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee surprised everybody-Musharraf and three-fourths of India not excluded-by inviting the General for a summit in Agra. What followed was a dexterous display of public relations that ended up making the Indian Government look obstinate and the country's top editors-whom Musharraf met for a "quiet" breakfast and then cannily exposed to the cameras-downright duplicitous.

Musharraf's test by fire was September 11. What should have invited the wrath of America on him-Pakistan was the Taliban's friend, philosopher, bankroller, puppet master-became the reason to ditch Osama, Omar and company, sell the dream of American aid to his country and grab Uncle Sam's hand. Photo-ops with everybody from George Bush to Tony Blair to Colin Powell followed. The post-nuclear sanction vanished, replaced by promises of fund flows. It was all capped by a visit to America that was-or should have been-to Vajpayee's people a tutorial in image management. Of course, all good things must pass. Ol' Mush's lovely little war came to a rude end when the Taliban was displaced and the Northern Alliance marched into Kabul. Today the General faces a hostile neighbour in the east (India) and the west (Afghanistan) and freelance homegrown jehadis over whom he has apparently no control. For all the crests of the past year, Musharraf finds himself in the same trough he was in when it began. He's still negotiating multiple minefields, still a leader in search of a nation and still missing his true calling. He doesn't deserve to head a confederation of warring tribes masquerading as a country. Put him in charge of a global pr firm.

CROWN PRINCE DIPENDRA
Fatal Attraction

THE GRAB

Dipendra is innocent. We don't want Gyanendra as king. Crowds outside the royal palace in Kathmandu

If there is a method to madness, Crown Prince Dipendra of Nepal definitely knew of it. The man who would be king-he did nominally rule his land for 54 hours though comatose in a hospital room-scripted the bloodiest royal massacre in recent history when, on the evening of June 1, he exterminated the royal clan-King Birendra Shah, Queen Aishwarya, Princess Shruti, Prince Nirajan, royal sisters Sharda and Shanti, Sharda's husband, Khadga Bahadur Shamsher, and Dhirendra, the king's youngest brother. All in the name of love. Dipendra, or Dippy as he was known at Eton, was passionately in love with Devyani Rana, the daughter of prominent Nepalese politician Pashupati Shamsher Rana and Usharaje, scion of the Scindia clan of Gwalior. However, Queen Aishwarya was opposed to the match ostensibly because Devyani's family had a history of discord with her's, and also because Devyani, at 32, was three years older than the prince. Frustrated and furious at not getting his way, Dipendra took the extreme step. Next, with a Heckler & Koch MP5 gun he shot himself. For two days, he lay clinically dead-it was in that state that he was declared the 12th Shah monarch on June 2-and finally gave up at 3.45 a.m. on June 4. Oedipus, Ajatshatru, Dipendra-regicide had a new name to flaunt. Nepal had a new wound to heal.

One is smooth as silk, the other tough as rawhide. Together they ruled not a tailor's shop but the prime minister's office. Mid-year N.K. Singh-arguably the politically best connected Indian civil servant since one A.O. Hume and the man who had been moved as revenue secretary only to emerge as officer on special duty in the PMO-lost his new job. In what must rank among the most beneficial superannuations in human ingenuity, he was appointed member of the Planning Commission. His friend and most recent mentor, Brajesh Mishra, remained the principal secretary in the PMO, Atal Bihari Vajpayee's eyes, ears, voiceover, mousepad, SIM card, everything. He fought off attempts by the RSS and the BJP-including some of Vajpayee's cabinet ministers-to remove him, weaved his way past every rumour and innuendo, matched newspaper plant with newspaper slant and proved his credentials as the consummate survivor.

THE GRAB

I wondered whether Brajesh Mishra could be invited to meet the G-8 foreign ministers. G.P. Hinduja's 1998 letter to Tony Blair's office

What did the Awesome Twosome survive? A series of accusations that they were influencing economic policy to suit certain business lobbies. The most celebrated case was, of course, the Wireless in Local Loop (will) affair, in which Singh was charged with bypassing the supposedly autonomous Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. Corporate battles aside, Mishra and Singh somehow emerged with the reputation of the real faces of economic decision-making. Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha was in this reckoning the mukhota (mask).

In the aftermath of the Tehelka and telecom scandals, the PMO under a cloud, the political class baying for their blood, Mishra and Singh took the unprecedented step of addressing a press conference clearing themselves of all allegations. It was irregular but then what's regular about these guys?

Next "Supercrat" Mishra was accused of "privatising" foreign policy. Documents released in London indicated Mishra had travelled to the United Kingdom in 1998 and initiated the post-Pokhran dialogue with Tony Blair in rather unorthodox fashion. He had ignored the Indian High Commission and used the good offices of the ubiquitous Hinduja brothers. Again there were the calls for resignation, the ritualistic outrage. Again there was the prime minister's backing. Yawn, yawn.