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Making of the 13th President

By Sidharth Mishra

Scholarly research is all about citations. But do citations tell the correct story? Not always, especially when it pertains to the political history of the country. Like the official records of the 14 elections held for the post of the President of India, in their bare form would seldom reveal the politics which went behind the choice of a particular candidate. Same would be true for the election of the 15th president.
In the case of the election of the 13th President, then Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had preferred Congress candidate Pranab Mukherjee over Opposition's choice PA Sangma. What was the real story of several who practiced politics of anti-Congressism deciding to go with the candidature of Pranab Mukherjee, including West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee?
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Unnecessary wail over Kashmir Vale

By Sidharth Mishra

Your reporter’s acquaintances teaching on the various campuses tell him that he doesn’t have the requisite credentials to be part of the intelligentsia. His observations on matters of interest are dismissed by intellectuals to be that of a journalist’s superficial views. Well, they are a journalist’s views. Having essentially been trained as a grassroots reporter the observations may be lacking in nuance but certainly not in honesty.
The training to question an incident and seek an answer for the same is the ultimate test of a reporter’s skill; lack of fieldwork is the ultimate testimony of an academician’s intelligence in this country. Like there is this question – why is there such a hue and cry in the valley; and its cantankerous resonance in the corridors of the intelligentsia. Well, your reporter hasn’t found an answer to it all these years, and theorems held forward by the likes of Partha Chatterjee are all bogus.
However, here I must make the distinction between reporters and television anchors. The television anchors, howsoever, urbane or garrulous, have seldom done the necessary legwork to develop that “instinct” which comes from years of spending time in the field and not lecturing in the studio.
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India cannot witness an Ayub Khan moment

By Sidharth Mishra

Historian and political theorist Partha Chatterjee cannot be expected to applaud the efforts of Government of India, which is led by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party. The portal, which published his article, is known for following an editorial policy promoting the dismemberment of the Indian state. The article, “In Kashmir, India Is Witnessing Its General Dyer Moment” was a product for a perfect stage for a protagonist wedded to a particular ideology.
The cacophonous media debate which followed the article made the portal and author popular for having taken a large number of ‘hits’. In our Google ‘moment’, it’s the ‘hit’ which one takes makes one the person who should be ‘followed’. Again the follower may not necessarily be your admirer. But the followers and the hits make good business and ‘The Wire’ must have emerged much richer by having demolarised not just the serving Army officers but even the community of the veterans.
I do not recall, the editor of ‘The Wire’ or Partha Chatterjee having written an article titled “India’s Florence Nightingale Moment,” when the Indian Army goes nursing from one corner of the country to another helping people in times of natural and manmade calamities.
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Right winning by going Left

By Sidharth Mishra

It is seldom that I concur with enunciations of psephologist-turned-politician Yogendra Yadav. However, his comments on the completion of three years in office of Narendra Modi government deserve a partial consideration. He wrote on twitter, "Public mood of Modi@3. Modi critics must accept: he is popular; Modi bhakts must accept: he is yet to deliver."
In fact, even his pocket organisation Lokniti, under the aegis of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, has in its latest findings failed to pinpoint the reasons for "Narendra Modi being on the roll" despite not having allegedly delivered on his promises. There has to be logic behind the conclusion and Yadav cannot let the expression of opinion hide behind the veil of the word limit set by the micro-blogging site.
To be fair, the Lokniti-CSDS does also mention that among 11,373 randomly sampled voters in 19 states nearly seven in every ten voters (69 per cent) were satisfied with the performance of Modi as Prime Minister. This satisfaction rating was found to be higher than the satisfaction ratings recorded for Modi's predecessor Manmohan Singh at the end of the first two years of the UPA I and II governments. When Lokniti-CSDS had conducted similar nationwide Surveys in 2006 and 2011, satisfaction levels with Singh's performance had been lower at 61 per cent and 56 per cent, respectively.
If the findings about the satisfaction with the performance of the Prime Minister were so high, then why is Yadav questioning on delivery. The answer for that is better given by him.
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Another year wasted for the Congress

By Sidharth Mishra

During his farewell speech in Lok Sabha during last Budget session, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath Yogi made a very pertinent political observation. He said that he was a year older than his predecessor Akhilesh Yadav and a year younger to Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi. In making this observation, he underlined the fact that their (the UP CM and his predecessor’s) political maturity was not subservient to their age and that they were the masters of their move.
This was a telling remark on Rahul Gandhi’s lack of leadership qualities, especially his failure to pose any serious challenge to the Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre, or for that matter the BJP governments in the states. Ever since Rahul Gandhi emerged as a person of eminence in the Congress leadership pantheon, the Congress beat has always resounded with the talk about who currently enjoys influence over him.
In the past few years, there has been a progressive perception about him that he is unable to act without the crutches of advisors; and more sadly, his public pronunciations are never taken to be his own. In fact they are not; all tutored by some advisor. This has also reflected on the political stance which the party has taken on different issues in the past year.
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Blame divided Opposition, not EVMs, for BJP surge

By Sidharth Mishra

The past week, from news point of view, could be dedicated to the continued controversy which a few political parties have tried to create around the innocuous Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have been specially vociferous in their criticism of the voting machine claiming that they have been manipulated to ensure the trail of victories which the BJP has registered in the Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand and municipal polls in New Delhi.
In the case of both parties, the political rout has brought in internal turbulence, with BSP supreme leader Mayawati dropping her longtime confidant Naseemuddin Siddiqui and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal removing his powerful water minister Kapil Mishra from the Cabinet. In both the cases, the dropped leaders have struck back with serious charges of corruption against their party leaders, which may give arch rival BJP a stick to beat them with. Today's Notebook comes to the defence of the EVMs.
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As politicians spar, Delhi cries for governance

By Sidharth Mishra

Last Sunday was extraordinary from “news point of view”, whatever that may mean. The prologue for the same was written the night before when Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia announced sacking Cabinet colleague Kapil Mishra for “having failed to deliver on the water front.” Mishra responded by saying that he will hold a “reveal all” press briefing the next day.
Indian politics has come to witness a fair degree of dramatics ever since Anna Hazare launched his anti-corruption movement in 2011. Delhi in the past six years has proven to be the laboratory of dramatised politics. Thus, no wonder that Mishra on Sunday first travelled with “evidence of corruption” to the Lieutenant Governor, then went to Mahatma Gandhi’s last resting place and then dropped, what many media headlines called, the “bombshell”.
With the script delivered, it was time for media, especially television, to go as cantankerous as possible.
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Delhi poll results: Barometer for national mood

By Sidharth Mishra

It's been a week since the results of the municipal polls were declared. It has given Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a reason to continue to feel upbeat about its political fortune. It has expectedly created a turmoil with the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the disparate Congress rank and file.

In the case of the former, party leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is facing ire of the rivals which now has a new face in his close friend Kumar Vishwas. Within the Congress party, the going was never easy for its Delhi unit president Ajay Maken, given the history of his long-standing political feud with former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and her former parliamentarian son Sandeep Dikshit.

During the course of the campaign, the fissures came to the fore with former Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely and Mahila Congress chief Barkha Singh quitting the party to join the BJP just ahead of the polling day. Understandably, Maken and the party general secretary in-charge for Delhi PC Thomas resigned from their position, which party leadership refused to entertain.

On the other hand, the state BJP president Manoj Tiwari is being celebrated as a political leader of immense talent, taking the party to a resounding victory. But beneath the surface lies a very different story.

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