Comment : Saree bait: Claims of India Shining sound hollow

Although the Election Commission has acted in a most fair manner, the Lucknow stampede is a stark reminder to all of us that everything is not well in our society.

We must heed this loud and clear warning bell. Politicians, government officials, economists, corporate leaders and industrialists – all must stand up to the grim reality facing us.

India's population is growing rapidly while job opportunities are shrinking. Make-believe poll slogans are fine for publicity, but if we continue to fool ourselves in the illusion of India Shining, we may soon enter a time zone when a saree costing less than Rs 40 will become incentive enough for the poor and deprived to risk lives. The Shining India myth has finally exploded.

The central government spent Rs 4 billion singing paeans about its elusive achievements, while a senior BJP leader herded thousands of women and kids, by dangling baits of saree worth Rs 40 each. In a country where citizens are ready to risk life for something as petty, the tall claims of Shining India sounds completely hollow.

What is even more pathetic is the fact that the game of avoiding responsibility started right over the dead bodies of the victims.

From whatever I have come to know, the event – organised by a BJP leader known for his proximity to Lalji Tandon – was widely publicised with the lure of free saree distribution.

On the day, the organisers actually arranged for fewer sarees than they had promised. And eventually when more than 10,000 women and children gathered, the organisers threw the sarees in the crowd to avoid a situation when their bluff would be called.

Surprisingly, without even attempting to ascertain the facts, the Uttar Pradesh chief minister made an irresponsible statement: These things do happen.

No wonder Lalji Tandon immediately praised Mulayam Singh's magnanimity. Since the organiser was a Yadav, and the BJP's electoral prospects were at stake, the entire state government machinery went out of its way to hush up the tragedy.

While the nation is aghast, Mulayam and Lalji are still trying their best to protect the guilty. And they still want us to take their claim of no under-the-table BJP-Samajwadi Party understanding seriously.

But Tandon must answer a few questions. Lame excuses of birthday celebration apart, he must explain why he organised an event to bribe voters in complete violation of model code of conduct? Secondly, and more importantly, he must explain why the organisers went for mass publicity, which in turn ensured huge gathering, without providing for sufficient stocks of sarees for free distribution?

How could a senior leader like Tandon overlook such a sure recipe for stampede? Was he too busy counting eggs (read votes) much before they were hatched? Tandon should not forget how the late Indira Gandhi's election was set aside just because her private secretary used an official vehicle.

Remember the Vineet Narain case when the Supreme Court had held that the Single Directive of the government, which stipulated that the CBI should take prior approval of the government before probing any officer of the level of Joint Secretary and above under the Prevention of Corruption Act, was not sustainable in law? The legal fallacy that no government servant can take a decision that benefits private parties, made the situation difficult.

When every government decision is meant to benefit the people, this grey area between public and private parties made many government officers shirking responsibility in making crucial decision lest they come under CBI scrutiny.

This obviously meant tossing away files from one table to another and delay in policy implementation.

Now with the Parliament approving the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) Bill with a new clause giving legal status to the Single Directive, we are faced with a conflicting situation when an executive decision tends to override a legal provision.

To find a logical solution to this tangle, a welcome suggestion from many quarters has sought to give the CVC the power to set up Advisory Boards in different departments, which will scan complaints against senior officials before advising the CBI on proceeding further.

The CVC has already constituted such a board for the banks and it has been effectively guiding the CBI.

There has been a mad rush among film stars to join mainstream politics before the run-up to polls. In spite of the huge numbers, they have not enthused the people at large.

But among this lot of jumping jacks there are some serious contenders who have earned the respect of their rivals. Govinda comes right at the top of this list. He is Hero No. 1 in Bollywood, pitted against the veteran BJP politician and five times MP from North West Mumbai, Ram Naik.

Recently, I campaigned for a full day with Govinda to gauge the mood of the people. I was amazed to see the kind of response he was getting amongst the voters of the area, he seems all set to win the seat.

People love his simplicity and frankness with which he approaches any problem. And there is a danger of the veteran losing out to the youngster – the anti-incumbency factor is loaded against Naik. Even Sholay's Veeru (Dharmendra) is drawing huge crowds in Bikaner.

His new, refreshing filmi style of campaigning has endeared him to the people. There is a high probability that he would make it to the Parliament. Moushmi Chatterjee also is putting up a good show in Kolkata.

- Rajeev Shukla is a Rajya Sabha member from the Congress Party