BRP BHASKAR
Gulf Today
Mark Twain prefaced one of his popular tales with these words: "It may have happened, it may not have happened but it could have happened." These words may be echoing in the minds of Keralites as the media bombards them with particulars of two scandals.
One of the scandals has embarrassed the Congress, which heads the government in New Delhi, and the other has caused discomfiture to the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), which heads the Left Democratic Front that rules the state.
At the centre of the first scandal is Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor. The central character of the second one is Tomin J Thachankary, an inspector general of police who is reputedly close to the state CPI-M leadership.
Tharoor got into trouble following the disclosure that Dubai-based Sunanda Pushkar, whom he reportedly plans to marry, obtained sweat equity in Rendezvous consortium, which won the Indian Premier League's Kochi cricket team for US$333 million in an auction last month.
Tharoor admitted to mentoring the consortium. However, he said his sole interest was to get an IPL team for his state. He asserted he had no financial stake in the consortium.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, the main opposition in Parliament, and the CPI-M charged Tharoor with misusing his office. The BJP stalled the proceedings of Parliament last week and vowed to keep up pressure until the Prime Minister made a statement.
Thachankary's troubles began when it came to light that after seeking leave to go to Sikkim on holiday he visited some Gulf States. Janata Dal (S) leader M P Veerendrakumar linked his travel with that of CPI-M State Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, who is currently on a fund-raising tour of the Gulf region.
A former United Nations bureaucrat who failed in his bid for the post of Secretary General, Shashi Tharoor was nominated by the Congress to contest for the Lok Sabha from Thiruvananthapuram. A section of the party, viewing him as an outsider, took a hostile position, but the city's middle class voters, viewing him as a change from the conventional politician, plumped for him. Early in his ministerial career he encountered some tweeting troubles but the party leadership stood by him.
Thachankary, an Indian Police Service officer and a lyricist, is known to have helped the CPI-M in setting up the television channel it controls. He is facing some serious charges like illegal detention and torture and possession of wealth in excess of his known sources of income.
Did Tharoor misuse his position? Did Thachankary travel in aid of the party? The material on record is not enough to go beyond Mark Twain's words.
When Tharoor came under attack in Parliament, no colleague rose to defend him. However, the controversy has not affected his standing among the middle class. A survey by the New Indian Express showed that 57 per cent of the respondents considered Sunanda Pushkar his proxy but 58 per cent still regarded him as an honest man.
The Thachankary affair revived the sectarianism in the CPI-M which had subsided after VS Achuthanandan's demotion from the Politburo to the Central Committee in July last year. Asserting his authority as Chief Minister, he ordered the officer's suspension even as Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan was seeking to close the matter with his transfer from the post of Inspector General, Kannur range.
Four years ago the anti-piracy cell of the state police had raided a recording studio owned by Thachankary's wife in connection with piracy allegations. The officer conducting the raid was recalled before he could complete the mission. Achuthanandan intervened on his behalf but the party thwarted him.
Lately the state party leadership had been ensuring Achuthanandan's compliance with its wishes on controversial issues by issuing directives to him ahead of Cabinet meetings. By acting against Thachankary while Pinarayi Vijayan and Kodiyeri Balakrishnan were away from the capital, he has presented them with a fait accompli.
While Achuthanandan has primacy in the government, as Politburo members, Vijayan and Balakrishnan now rank above him in the party.
The final episodes of the Tharoor and Thachankary serials are still awaited as these lines are being written. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who heard Tharoor's explanation and discussed the matter with Congress President Sonia Gandhi and senior party colleagues, will take a decision on whether or not to retain him in the council of ministers. The state CPI-M is expected to look into the Thachankary affair after Pinarayi Vijayan returns next week.--Gulf Today, Sharjah, April 19, 2010.
Showing posts with label Shashi Tharoor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shashi Tharoor. Show all posts
Monday, April 19, 2010
Monday, April 6, 2009
High-profile candidate comes under fierce attack
BRP BHASKAR
Gulf Today
Of the 217 candidates seeking the 20 Lok Sabha seats from Kerala, there is one with a name that may be recognised beyond the Malayali diaspora: Shashi Tharoor, former Under Secretary General of the United Nations.
Tharoor, who quit the UN bureaucracy after losing to Ban Ki Moon in the election for the Secretary General's post in 2006, is the Congress candidate in the Thiruvananthapuram constituency.
His website describes him as an author, peace-keeper, refugee worker and human rights activist and the recipient of several awards, including a Commonwealth Writers Award and the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, the highest honour for Overseas Indians.
In 1998, the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, named him a "global leader of tomorrow" As it happens, Tharoor is also the one who has attracted the most vicious attack.
His detractors include, apart from the Left Democratic Front, various Islamic groups and anti-Coca Cola agitators.
Born in London of non-resident Keralite parents, he has spent all his life outside the state.
After higher education in the US, he joined the UN service in 1978, at the age of 22, and went on to become its youngest Under Secretary General.
Tharoor was India's official nominee for the Secretary General's post.
Many considered the government's decision to sponsor him impolitic.
The post has never gone to a person from a big country and the decision to seek the post for an Indian was inconsistent with the country's known desire for a place in an expanded Security Council.
Since leaving the UN, Tharoor has been spending time in New York, Dubai and Kerala.
Afras Ventures, a Dubai firm, of which he is the chairman, has taken up educational activity in Kerala with a view to helping migrant jobseekers to upgrade their skills.
Tharoor publicly expressed his desire to enter parliament last year. The Congress party in the state offered little encouragement. However, the national leadership picked him for the prestigious Thiruvananthapuram seat.
Shashi Tharoor is a candidate who will appeal to large sections of the educated middle class voters of Thiruvananthapuram, especially those who loathe the common variety of politicians.
This constituency had warmly welcomed the late VK Krishna Menon, who, like Tharoor, had spent most of his life outside the state, after being rejected by Mumbai.
Some young bloggers are among the non-party voters who have come forward to support Tharoor. They met the candidate and came away impressed with his vision for the city and the state.
But a candidate cannot limit his appeal to any one section. So, Tharoor, donning traditional Kerala costumes, has been sweating it out in the open, wooing the likes of slum-dwellers and fisher folks.
Thiruvananthapuram is a constituency which one cannot take for granted. Former chief minister Pattom Thanu Pillai (PSP), former Communist Party of India (CPI) state secretary MN Govindan Nair and poet ONV Kurup are among those whom the city's voters have rejected in the past.
The seat, which has changed hands several times, has been with the CPI since 2004. The party's district secretary, P. Ramachandran Nair, is the candidate this time.
The main thrust of the Left Democratic Front's attack on Tharoor is that he is pro-American and pro-Israel.
Being pro-American is a cardinal sin in the eyes of Left supporters and being pro-Israel is an equally cardinal sin in the eyes of Muslims. Tharoor has sought to rebut the charge of being pro-American by pointing out that it was the US which had blocked his election as the UN chief executive.
To counter the charge of being pro-Israel, he is distributing an article he had written declaring that a sovereign Palestine state was his dream and circulating photographs he had taken with Yasser Arafat.
As a candidate handpicked by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Shashi Tharoor is seen as a likely central minister in the event of the party heading the next government.
This gives him a natural advantage over his rivals, who include two former state ministers, A. Neelalohithadasan Nadar (Bahujan Samaj Party) and MP Gangadharan (Nationalist Congress Party). Who would not like his representative to be a minister?
That Tharoor may become a minister is what worries those who have been agitating against the Coca Cola plant at Plachimada in Palakkad district. He is a member of an advisery committee of a foundation set up by the Coca Cola company for charitable activities.
While defending his association with the company's charitable work, he also publicly endorsed its position on its disputes with the Plachimada agitators.
Gulf Today
Of the 217 candidates seeking the 20 Lok Sabha seats from Kerala, there is one with a name that may be recognised beyond the Malayali diaspora: Shashi Tharoor, former Under Secretary General of the United Nations.
Tharoor, who quit the UN bureaucracy after losing to Ban Ki Moon in the election for the Secretary General's post in 2006, is the Congress candidate in the Thiruvananthapuram constituency.
His website describes him as an author, peace-keeper, refugee worker and human rights activist and the recipient of several awards, including a Commonwealth Writers Award and the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, the highest honour for Overseas Indians.
In 1998, the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, named him a "global leader of tomorrow" As it happens, Tharoor is also the one who has attracted the most vicious attack.
His detractors include, apart from the Left Democratic Front, various Islamic groups and anti-Coca Cola agitators.
Born in London of non-resident Keralite parents, he has spent all his life outside the state.
After higher education in the US, he joined the UN service in 1978, at the age of 22, and went on to become its youngest Under Secretary General.
Tharoor was India's official nominee for the Secretary General's post.
Many considered the government's decision to sponsor him impolitic.
The post has never gone to a person from a big country and the decision to seek the post for an Indian was inconsistent with the country's known desire for a place in an expanded Security Council.
Since leaving the UN, Tharoor has been spending time in New York, Dubai and Kerala.
Afras Ventures, a Dubai firm, of which he is the chairman, has taken up educational activity in Kerala with a view to helping migrant jobseekers to upgrade their skills.
Tharoor publicly expressed his desire to enter parliament last year. The Congress party in the state offered little encouragement. However, the national leadership picked him for the prestigious Thiruvananthapuram seat.
Shashi Tharoor is a candidate who will appeal to large sections of the educated middle class voters of Thiruvananthapuram, especially those who loathe the common variety of politicians.
This constituency had warmly welcomed the late VK Krishna Menon, who, like Tharoor, had spent most of his life outside the state, after being rejected by Mumbai.
Some young bloggers are among the non-party voters who have come forward to support Tharoor. They met the candidate and came away impressed with his vision for the city and the state.
But a candidate cannot limit his appeal to any one section. So, Tharoor, donning traditional Kerala costumes, has been sweating it out in the open, wooing the likes of slum-dwellers and fisher folks.
Thiruvananthapuram is a constituency which one cannot take for granted. Former chief minister Pattom Thanu Pillai (PSP), former Communist Party of India (CPI) state secretary MN Govindan Nair and poet ONV Kurup are among those whom the city's voters have rejected in the past.
The seat, which has changed hands several times, has been with the CPI since 2004. The party's district secretary, P. Ramachandran Nair, is the candidate this time.
The main thrust of the Left Democratic Front's attack on Tharoor is that he is pro-American and pro-Israel.
Being pro-American is a cardinal sin in the eyes of Left supporters and being pro-Israel is an equally cardinal sin in the eyes of Muslims. Tharoor has sought to rebut the charge of being pro-American by pointing out that it was the US which had blocked his election as the UN chief executive.
To counter the charge of being pro-Israel, he is distributing an article he had written declaring that a sovereign Palestine state was his dream and circulating photographs he had taken with Yasser Arafat.
As a candidate handpicked by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Shashi Tharoor is seen as a likely central minister in the event of the party heading the next government.
This gives him a natural advantage over his rivals, who include two former state ministers, A. Neelalohithadasan Nadar (Bahujan Samaj Party) and MP Gangadharan (Nationalist Congress Party). Who would not like his representative to be a minister?
That Tharoor may become a minister is what worries those who have been agitating against the Coca Cola plant at Plachimada in Palakkad district. He is a member of an advisery committee of a foundation set up by the Coca Cola company for charitable activities.
While defending his association with the company's charitable work, he also publicly endorsed its position on its disputes with the Plachimada agitators.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Environmental campaigns to the fore as poll approaches
BRP BHASKAR
ALL over Kerala, agitations have been on for years to assert the people's right to clean air and clean water. By and large, the authorities' response to their struggles has been unsympathetic.
With the Lok Sabha elections approaching, the long-suffering people are planning new campaigns to draw the attention of the political parties to their plight.
The Theeradesa Paristhiti Samrakshana Samiti (Coastal environmental protection committee) of Pallithura, near Thiruvananthapuram, held a convention on Saturday as part of the plan to step up their agitation for closure of a clay factory, which has been polluting their neighbourhood.
Many residents of Pallithura are fisher folks who had moved there from Thumba after making way for the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre. They have been up in arms against the clay factory from the time it was set up. They allege that the factory obtained clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests by making false representations. They also claim that it started operations even before it received consent from the state pollution control board.
According to the Samiti, about 30,000 people live within a distance of two kilometres from the factory. It says hundreds of people had to be taken to hospitals after breathing obnoxious gases emitted by the factory when it began trial run. The police registered a case against the Samiti leaders and other villagers after an agitated mob reportedly stormed the factory premises. Later, there was an explosion in the factory, resulting in two deaths. While the factory management said it suspected sabotage, the Samiti attributed the explosion to lapses on the part of the management.
On a petition by the Samiti, the High Court directed the district collector to inspect the factory along with the complainants to ascertain if the management was abiding by the conditions stipulated by the ministry of environment.
The inspection turned into a unilateral affair as the district administration denied the Samiti permission to take with it an expert to guide it on technical matters. The management said later the inspection team had found everything was in order.
In the adjoining district of Kollam, the Paristhiti Samrakshana Ekopana Samiti (Environment protection co-ordination committee) has been agitating for nearly five years demanding an end to clay mining at Velichakala.
According to the Ekopana Samiti, mining was done up to a depth of more than 30 metres. This led to a drop in ground water level, causing acute water scarcity. Chemicals used by the company which was engaged in mining polluted the Palliman river and the nearby canals.
Following protests by the people of Velichakala, the company suspended operations at one stage. At a meeting convened by the district collector, it was decided to allow it to resume mining, subject to conditions stipulated by the state pollution control board and the mining and geology department.
The Ekopana Samiti is agitating also on other issues like protection of the Sasthamkotta Lake, ban on sand mining in west Kallada and declaration of Maruthumala as a wild life conservation centre.
The agitation by residents of Plachimada in Palakkad district against the multinational Coca Cola, which is said to be the longest popular struggle in the state's history, will enter the eighth year next month.
The Coca Cola plant at Plachimada was set up in1999. On April 22, 2002, villagers, led by Mylamma, an Adivasi woman, took up cudgels against the soft drinks giant, alleging it had depleted and polluted their water sources.
Mylamma is no more, but the agitation she launched continues.
The plant is not operating at present. The villagers have vowed to continue the struggle until the company pulls out altogether.
Plachimada has cast a shadow over former United Nations under secretary Shashi Tharoor, who is reportedly seeking the Congress ticket to contest for the Lok Sabha from Palakkad.
Last month, Velur Swaminathan, secretary, Plachimada Adivasi Samrakshana Sangham (Tribal protection council) and R. Ajayan, convener, Plachimada Samara Aikyadardya Samiti (Agitation solidarity committee), in an open letter, took exception to Tharoor's association with the Coca Cola company. In an open response to the letter, Tharoor said he was associated not with the Coca Cola company but with a philanthropic foundation set up by it. He also took the opportunity to put across the company's response to the agitators' demands.
This provoked S. Faizi, who has been expert member of the Kerala Groundwater Authority, to join the debate. He said Tharoor's contention that the company had done nothing wrong was not correct. --Gulf Today, Sharjah, March 9, 2009
ALL over Kerala, agitations have been on for years to assert the people's right to clean air and clean water. By and large, the authorities' response to their struggles has been unsympathetic.
With the Lok Sabha elections approaching, the long-suffering people are planning new campaigns to draw the attention of the political parties to their plight.
The Theeradesa Paristhiti Samrakshana Samiti (Coastal environmental protection committee) of Pallithura, near Thiruvananthapuram, held a convention on Saturday as part of the plan to step up their agitation for closure of a clay factory, which has been polluting their neighbourhood.
Many residents of Pallithura are fisher folks who had moved there from Thumba after making way for the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre. They have been up in arms against the clay factory from the time it was set up. They allege that the factory obtained clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests by making false representations. They also claim that it started operations even before it received consent from the state pollution control board.
According to the Samiti, about 30,000 people live within a distance of two kilometres from the factory. It says hundreds of people had to be taken to hospitals after breathing obnoxious gases emitted by the factory when it began trial run. The police registered a case against the Samiti leaders and other villagers after an agitated mob reportedly stormed the factory premises. Later, there was an explosion in the factory, resulting in two deaths. While the factory management said it suspected sabotage, the Samiti attributed the explosion to lapses on the part of the management.
On a petition by the Samiti, the High Court directed the district collector to inspect the factory along with the complainants to ascertain if the management was abiding by the conditions stipulated by the ministry of environment.
The inspection turned into a unilateral affair as the district administration denied the Samiti permission to take with it an expert to guide it on technical matters. The management said later the inspection team had found everything was in order.
In the adjoining district of Kollam, the Paristhiti Samrakshana Ekopana Samiti (Environment protection co-ordination committee) has been agitating for nearly five years demanding an end to clay mining at Velichakala.
According to the Ekopana Samiti, mining was done up to a depth of more than 30 metres. This led to a drop in ground water level, causing acute water scarcity. Chemicals used by the company which was engaged in mining polluted the Palliman river and the nearby canals.
Following protests by the people of Velichakala, the company suspended operations at one stage. At a meeting convened by the district collector, it was decided to allow it to resume mining, subject to conditions stipulated by the state pollution control board and the mining and geology department.
The Ekopana Samiti is agitating also on other issues like protection of the Sasthamkotta Lake, ban on sand mining in west Kallada and declaration of Maruthumala as a wild life conservation centre.
The agitation by residents of Plachimada in Palakkad district against the multinational Coca Cola, which is said to be the longest popular struggle in the state's history, will enter the eighth year next month.
The Coca Cola plant at Plachimada was set up in1999. On April 22, 2002, villagers, led by Mylamma, an Adivasi woman, took up cudgels against the soft drinks giant, alleging it had depleted and polluted their water sources.
Mylamma is no more, but the agitation she launched continues.
The plant is not operating at present. The villagers have vowed to continue the struggle until the company pulls out altogether.
Plachimada has cast a shadow over former United Nations under secretary Shashi Tharoor, who is reportedly seeking the Congress ticket to contest for the Lok Sabha from Palakkad.
Last month, Velur Swaminathan, secretary, Plachimada Adivasi Samrakshana Sangham (Tribal protection council) and R. Ajayan, convener, Plachimada Samara Aikyadardya Samiti (Agitation solidarity committee), in an open letter, took exception to Tharoor's association with the Coca Cola company. In an open response to the letter, Tharoor said he was associated not with the Coca Cola company but with a philanthropic foundation set up by it. He also took the opportunity to put across the company's response to the agitators' demands.
This provoked S. Faizi, who has been expert member of the Kerala Groundwater Authority, to join the debate. He said Tharoor's contention that the company had done nothing wrong was not correct. --Gulf Today, Sharjah, March 9, 2009
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