The Vajpayee Bharat Ratna frenzy

The way the Nation’s highest civilian award Bharat Ratna – The Jewel of India – has been dished out over the last few years by the respective ruling parties is questionable is well known. 

Personally speaking, I have stopped being bothered by politicians making a mockery of awards – even the highest one of the land.  And once an award has been handed out, I have decided not to debate the merits and demerits of the awardee.  But media, at least, should remain balanced and should not dish out utter rubbish. 

So, it remained till today, when I happened to chance across the latest issue of Thuglak, the one dated 07 Jan 2015.  In it, there is an eulogy on A.B. Vajpayee and on the award (page 7).  Here is a snapshot.



For rubbish it was, of the worst kind.  A loose translation of the highlighted paragraph which is supposed to prove Vajpayee’s greatness, reads thus:  ‘Vajyapee was the most virulent critic of Sonia Gandhi’s politics.  But when Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated, Vajpayee eulogised, ‘We lost one of the best sons of soil’, & so on.’

The only problem is that Sonia Gandhi entered politics only in 1997, while Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated six years before in 1991.  Of all the magazines, I never expected that blooper in Thuglak.

Overall it appears that the media has decided to bend over backwards to please the present BJP regime, and the Vajpayee’s Bharat Ratna is being used as one opportunity.  On 26 December, an even worse eulogy appeared on the Opinion Pages of the Deccan Chronicle.  To my utter surprise the author was Ashok Malik, normally a very balanced, forthright and objective writer.  But the eulogy ‘The measure of a man’ was unbelievable. [http://www.deccanchronicle.com/141226/commentary-columnists/article/measure-man]

It is an author’s right to put together his views on political issues and personalities, and thus his painting of most administrations before Vajpayee (and after) in unkind terms are his perspective.  But when he attempts a white-wash of Vajpayee regime as one of the most virtuous, it is galling.  Again, except for the utter rubbish provocation in Thuglak, I would have let even Malik’s article go.

While Malik is correct that the Vajpayee regime’s crowing glory was the Golden Quadrilateral or ‘Vajpayee’s Sadak’, he has conveniently forgotten the other drowning blows of the same man and his regime. 

Here are the 3 that are well known, and dismissed:

• the Kargil War, the intelligence failure, and failure to set it right
• the Pokhran-2 Test, the sanctions, and the resultant setback
• the 2002 Gujarat Violence, when Vajpayee could *not* teach Raj-Dharma or Justice to the present Prime Minister

Here are the 3 which are not so well known, and are brushed – under the carpet:

• the sale of VSNL, with Cash Reserves of around Rs. 1500 Crores, (Market Capitalisation of estimated Rs. 10,000 Crores) sold out for Rs. 3,000 Crores. 
• Did you know that Tatas immediately siphoned Rs. 1300 Crores of that Cash Reserve to improve Tata Teleservices?
• Or, that CAG raised objections almost similar to that of 2G scam, of financial decisions taken *after* parties made their interest known?
• Or, Bank guarantee amount was *reduced* after the bidder was decided?
• the sale of Centaur Hotel for Rs. 83 Crores in April 2002, which was re-sold for Rs. 135 Crores within six months?
• Did you know that the CAG report of 2004 clearly stated that the Centaur deal caused ‘loss’ to the exchequer?
• Perhaps it reminds you of Swann Telecom in 2G Scam?
• And, the biggest, most lousiest, most devastating act in the history of Modern India -
• the highjack of Indian Airlines flight IC814 and subsequent release of the 3 most wanted Terrorists in 1999
• Did you know that of the 3 terrorists released by Vajpayee government:
• Maulana Masood Azhar went on to form Jaish-e-Mohammad, which masterminded Parliament attack of 2001, & is suspected of the Mumbai Terror Attacks of 2008
• Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh is suspect in Daniel Pearl beheading (2002) & the 9/11 attacks

In the light of these six, off-the-cuff reminders, is this sentence by Malik any good? ‘Of the Prime Ministers who have served a full term, three stand out as India’s finest: Nehru, Rao and Mr Vajpayee. They left India better off than they found it.’

If you think, ‘OMG!  Give me Manmohan Singh anytime’, you would not be alone.

Was it a VSNL Scam: [http://www.frontline.in/static/html/fl2805/stories/20110311280513200.htm]
Was it a Centaur Scam: [http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CAG-smells-scam-in-Centaur-sale/articleshow/500477.cms]

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