© 2006-2017 Kasturi & Sons Ltd. -vijay kumar [email protected] - EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

CHENNAI THE HINDU 10 EDITORIAL TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2017 EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Sardar Patel, a shared inheritance The Congress’s de-option of Patel was an error, Hindutva’s co-option of Patel is an execration

which people belonged, not a realism of both leaders has to be place in which people assembled thanked. Their realism, and their for a drill. Its sifat, to use a Persian sense of ‘India rst’. #Makeover word that stands for essence or India rst was part of their idea ethos, was its diversity. And its of India. And ‘India rst’ was integ- Rahul Gandhi displays a new Working Committee embodied ral to their sense of patriotism, that sifat. It had, Gandhi apart, their Congress patriotism. and humorous energy on social media gopalkrishna gandhi Nehru the socialist and agnostic, Four days after Gandhi’s assas- ongress vice president Rahul Gandhi set social Patel the conservative, C. Rajago- sination, in a letter to his senior in media alight last weekend with a tweet stating his allabhbhai Patel (1875-1950), palachari the liberal, Rajendra politics, in the party and in age, Cpet dog Pidi was the author of his suddenly eer- whose birth anniversary it is Prasad the traditionalist, Abul Nehru wrote: “With Bapu’s death vescent posts. The sarcasm had his detractors scram- Vtoday, is sorely missed. He Kalam Azad the scholar, J.B. Kripa- everything is changed… I have bling to portray him, on the one hand, as frivolous, and has been, ever since he died at the lani the scoer. At dierent times it been greatly distressed by the per- none-too-great an age of 75, in had Subhas Chandra Bose the na- sistence of whispers and rumours doing so, on the other, without sounding humourless 1950. He was the keel that the boat tionalist, Sarojini Naidu the poet. about you and me, magnifying out and stodgy. The hashtag #Pidi trended all Sunday, cap- of the freedom struggle needed so Each Congressman and Congress- of all proportion any dierence we ping Mr. Gandhi’s makeover since the summer. The as never to tip over, the ballast that woman was himself or herself rst, may have.”

numbers speak for themselves: his followers on Twitter the ship of state required to stay IMAGES POPPERFOTO/GETTY and then a soldier of the party. Patel replied on May 5, 1948: “ I have shot up from about 2.5 million in July to more than steady, move safe. represented and represents on its the Congress, can dispute and Each person was ‘rare’. Which is am deeply touched…We both have four million now. The change is clearly a result of the This is because he was, rst and register a very large number of Mo- much less deny that basic and in- why, describing Acharya Narendra been lifelong comrades in a com- last, a patriot. A Congress patriot. hammedans. Several thousand controvertible fact. No one, how- Deva in his obituary speech in Par- mon cause. The paramount in- Congress’s recently revamped social media team; more And then, a man who knew India. Mohammedans went to jail last soever desperate to annex his leg- liament, Nehru spoke of him being terests of our country and our mu- interestingly, also perhaps its strategy. The playfulness, The India which the Congress was year under the banner of the Con- acy to that of another body, “…a man of rare distinction — dis- tual love and regard, transcending the self-deprecatory humour, the regular-guy under- seeking to dene for itself, for gress… The Congress has Indian cultural or political, like the Hindu tinction in many elds — rare in such dierences of outlook and tone in Mr. Gandhi’s social media messaging are aimed India. Christians also on its register. I do Mahasabha or the Rashtriya spirit, rare in mind and intellect, temperament as existed, have held at creating a new public persona, a plan that was evid- What was that India? Let us have not know that there is a single com- Swayamsevak Sangh or the Bhar- rare in integrity of mind and other- us together.” ent since his tour of American campuses last month. Gandhi answer the question. In munity which is not represented atiya Janata Party, can succeed in wise.” The Congress’s ranking lead- The very previous day, address- What political dividend this will pay is not clear, but it’s 1931, the year that Patel, for the rst on the Congress on its re- staging so ridiculous a trapeze ers, as indeed its countless ‘le’, ing the Congress Party in the Con- time, became Congress president, gister…even landlords and even show. diered, debated, wrangled and stituent Assembly, Patel described unsettling the ocial narrative. From being mocked as Gandhi went as the Congress’s sole mill-owners and millionaires are Sardar Patel was the Congress’s even warred, but stayed true to the Nehru as “my leader” and said: “I a princeling of Lutyens’ Delhi, Mr. Gandhi is trying to re- representative to the second represented there…” spine. The Congress was Sardar Pa- party’s sifat, because the party am one with the Prime Minister on cast himself as a humorous, almost subversive, insur- Round Table Conference in Lon- Serving the nation through that tel’s life. gave them that ‘play’, not as a all national issues. For over a gent taking on the formidable powers-that-be. Refer- don. He dened at that Confer- party representing ‘the whole na- Does that mean that the Sardar’s policy but as an inherent personal- quarter of a century, both of us sat ring to the GST as the “Gabbar Singh Tax”, he harnessed ence, the nature of the party, and tion’ and its various communities, membership, leadership and stew- ity trait, India’s trait. at the feet of our master and the lm Sholay’s capacity to myth-make, and to project explained to that gathering how strengthening that party at its ardship of the Congress was free of The mutual dierences between struggled together for the freedom the indirect taxes overhaul as an extractive, arbitrary the Congress represented the en- plural grassroots, shaping the res- tensions? Of course not, because Nehru and Patel are no secret. The of India. It is unthinkable today, tire country. He explained, in fact, olutions and decisions of its Work- he was human and his party was Congress did not believe in when the Mahatma is no more, that reign reminiscent of Hindi cinema’s memorable villain. their inextricable oneness. ing Committee and helping it form led and peopled by other humans, secrecy. Their mutual trust was no we should quarrel.” Mr. Gandhi and his social media team are still a light ministries in eight of the 11 each with tempers and tempera- secret. The Congress believed in The Congress’s rank and le presence in the Indian social media space — Mr. Modi Under a big tent provinces in the elections of 1936- ments that were distinct. Despite trust. should ponder these observations has 36 million followers, and this machine’s drive to In Gandhi’s words: “In as much… 37, Patel then guided it as it took Gandhi’s pre-eminent position in it Their dierences are not to be of Nehru and Patel and rectify take the battle to every post is the stu of case studies in as I represent the Indian National over the reins of the Government and in the hearts of the people of exaggerated. They are not to be years of neglect, post-Nehru, of the political campaign. But perhaps it is this mismatch that Congress, I must clearly set forth of India in 1947. Working for and India, the Congress was not a hege- minimised. They are to be contex- Sardar’s legacy at the false altar of has given Mr. Gandhi’s campaign the oxygen it seeks. its position. In spite of appearances through the Congress was the Al- monic party and its most charis- tualised. In the democratic spirit of political cronyism. That neglect to the contrary, especially in Eng- pha and Omega of Patel’s political matic leader, Jawaharlal Nehru, that plural party. has lubricated the crassly oppor- During the second UPA government, as an anti-estab- land, the Congress claims to rep- career. was, by instinct, self-training and Sardar Patel led a party as its tunistic co-option of Patel by the lishment mood swept the streets, Mr. Gandhi appeared resent the whole nation and most That made him what he was, the practice, its most natural demo- Ursa Major that was anything but a Hindu Right which has no right, lo- equally keen to be seen as a dissenter — for instance, in decidedly the dumb millions ‘indomitable’ iron man of India. crat. Nehru’s was a lunar luminos- homogenising factory. It was as gical, political or moral, to that leg- 2013, when he angrily tore into the UPA’s ordinance to among whom are included the That also made the Congress, in ity in Gandhi’s Congress. Nehru’s plural as it was because it saw itself acy. What the Congress invalidate a Supreme Court curb on convicted legislat- numberless untouchables who are very great part, what it was — an all- glow could brighten and lessen, in the words Gandhi used to de- squandered, Hindutva is shovel- ors. Then, his assertion of power over his party’s Prime more suppressed than depressed, India organisation. and on a moonless light plunge the scribe its eclectic rolls in London in ling in. Minister smacked of dynastic entitlement. Now, he is as also in a way the more unfortu- party in inky gloom. Patel, with his 1931. The Congress’s unwitting de-op- nate neglected classes known as Congress was Patel’s life seven great skills — resoluteness, tion of Patel was an error, the everyman blocked o from the corridors of power, backward races…” No Patel, no national Congress. No clarity, direction, focus, loyalty, ‘India rst’ Hindutva’s calculated co-option of highlighting the depths of his failure after the dismal And again, at the Conference’s Congress, no Sardar Patel. Con- grounded-ness and guts — was the Gandhi, who knew the meaning Patel is an execration. summer of 2014 to give an assurance that he is on the Minorities Committee: “…if you gress patriotism was his patriot- party’s saptarshi, its Ursa Major. and action of political variegation, ‘India rst’ believers should be learning curve, using disarming wit to isolate the trolls’ were to examine the register of the ism; Congress politics was his The Congress not only accom- encouraged and succeeded in get- aware of both. violent imagery. The online space has been the staging Congress, if you were to examine politics. modated personality and political ting Nehru and Patel to work with ground for political projection before — most notably, the records of the prisons of India, No one, howsoever anxious to variations, it regarded itself as their coordination and cooperation if Gopalkrishna Gandhi is a former Mr. Modi’s saturation strategy for the 2014 general elec- you would nd that the Congress wrench his legacy o from that of natural home. It was a place to not coalescence. And for this, the administrator, diplomat and Governor tion and Barack Obama’s 2008 “yes we can” challenge. And certainly, skilful use of social media allows a politi- cian to control the message, as well as directly reach her Of bureaucracy and emotions audience unobstructed. But it is not just that an elect- oral battle is ultimately won at the hustings on the If the bureaucracy is not empathetic towards those who are slow to respond, it will be very damaging strength of party organisation and street campaigns. Unsettling the narrative is not enough; a campaigner sifying. More than writing, it was Bureaucracy is new in develop- formal in nature, these institutions must shape it with a social and economic agenda. this method of retrieval that led to ing countries. And we must realise cannot be changed overnight. New eciency. Archaeologists discover that institutionally, people are not laws and regulations introduced in new scripts every decade, but what “bureaucracy-receptive”. In his any society must recognise the in- sets the Sumerians, Chinese and monograph, Danes Are Like That, formal social norms society is pre- Lessons from Kirkuk Egyptians apart were their invest- anthropologist G. Prakash Reddy dicated upon. In societies such as yugank goyal ments in building ways of cata- writes of his experience of living in India, citizen-state interaction is Tensions between Baghdad and Kurds could loguing, says historian Yuval Noah a tiny Danish village called historically built on patronage and Harari in his book Sapiens. Hvilsager in the early 1990s. There, personal relations; bureaucratic undermine the ght against the Islamic State leven-year-old Santoshi Ku- In our brains, data are organised he was struck by the individuality forms of engagement are recent. he conict that broke out in the oil-rich city of mari died of starvation in freely. In libraries, banks and of- and insularity of people’s lives. He The ‘modern’ forms of citizen-state Jharkhand’s Simdega district- ces, we need librarians, clerks writes: “Coming as I do from India, engagement through the bureau- Kirkuk between Iraqi government troops aided E this month. Her ration card was and accountants to organise data. and born and brought up in a vil- cracy do not go well with ‘tradi- by Shia militias and the Peshmerga, the military not Aadhaar card-linked, prevent- In time, this leads people to be re- lage, I am used to seeing people… tional’ citizens. Western societies

T GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO wing of Iraqi Kurdistan, this month is a reminder of the ing her from receiving any food ra- programmed to start thinking like The doors of all the houses were that are individualised, are pre- divisions that run deep in the country. Both govern- tion from the Public Distribution machines, reading and retrieving courages cultivating helpless stu- closed and created a doubt in me, pared to function bureaucratically, ment troops and the Peshmerga are part of the coalition System (PDS) for several weeks. data, rather than thinking like hu- pidity in both state and people. as to whether this village had any and can successfully build inde- that is ghting the Islamic State in Iraq. They are also Many of us cringed on reading the mans. Modern debates of objectiv- Ken Loach’s recent lm, I, Daniel people at all.” pendent regulatory bodies. But American allies. The U.S. provides air cover in the war news. The resulting politicisation ity make our obsession with paper- Blake, tells a horric tale of a help- The Indian villager accesses the collectivist societies like India can- of the debate and the cacophony of work even more brutal. Discretion less plumber trying in vain to work state through a local leader. Every- not, and may be should not, try against the IS and oers military advice to Iraqi troops, who is at fault reminds us again of and free thought are peripheral through the bureaucracy to get one knows everyone else and inde- this. Therefore, shouldn’t we build besides supplying weapons. Likewise, the Peshmerga the hopelessness in public dis- while forms and ling cabinets be- welfare benets. The Taipei Bien- pendent bureaucracy cannot be a framework for emotional bureau- has received arms from the U.S., Germany, the U.K. and course. come central. nial 2016 expressed how bureau- executed in the web of interde- cracies to emerge? other western countries. The U.S. also has a consulate A fresh, young mind has been cracies have informed the imagina- pendent informal relationships In diverse societies, bureaucra- in Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan where hundreds of its left baed by this. Why did the ‘Cabinetisation’ of the world tion. among the stakeholders. When the cies have to be contextual, and diplomats and their families live. But neither the com- PDS dealer not give some food to a All this took a strong hold rather As opaque pieces of paper with state creates a new bureaucratic therefore emotional. They must be mon American factor nor the shared interests in the dying girl? How dicult can it be? late in history. With economies signatures and seals take hold of framework that trumps local net- designed for everyone, and not just An ‘old’ mind understands. If the growing, this transformation was our world, pain becomes linear works (on which informal societies for the urban elites. Regulations war against terrorists has prevented the conict in paperwork isn’t right, what can the inevitable. In his book Cubed, Nikil and voiceless. Yet, this has worked such as India are built), citizens be- force people to change their beha- Kirkuk, that was captured by the Peshmerga from the IS dealer do? Saval gives us a fascinating account out rather eciently in the West. come confused and nd them- viour and dynamics instantly. If the in 2014. The alliance between the Kurds and Baghdad is of how all-purpose clerks, who ran Societies run by clocks, computer selves at a loss to negotiate their bureaucracy is not empathetic to tactical rather than strategic. In 2014, after the IS scored Thinking like a catalogue most organisations in the U.S. until commands and as queues waiting space. Here is an example. Many of those who are slow in responding, a series of military victories in Iraq, including in the cit- Our society runs on paperwork. the late 19th century, were trans- for their numbers to be displayed our grandparents prefer to go to it will be hugely damaging to soci- ies of Fallujah, Ramadi, Kirkuk and Mosul, both Bagh- Bureaucracy came into being after formed under the spell of a special- on the board. Regardless of the the bank rather than call customer ety as a whole. It will leave so many dad and Erbil were threatened by the prospect of IS ad- the birth of scripts in ancient civil- isation drive, largely inuenced by horrors, the trading of emotions care. Any new conduit of relation- of us distressed, some of us dead, isation. When a large amount of ad- the ideas of Frederick Taylor. In his for the order and regularity of bur- ships makes them recede. and even worse, most of us devoid vances. They set aside their historical dierences and ministrative data was created, a book, The Utopia of Rules: On Tech- eaucratic life has paid o in the rich of compassion. joined hands against a common enemy. But the IS is in system was needed to retrieve the nology, Stupidity and the Secret Joys countries. The question is this: The traditional link retreat. Most of the cities it captured, including Mosul, stored knowledge, which gave rise of Bureaucracy, David Graeber why hasn’t it worked in poor soci- Societies carry a historical burden Yugank Goyal teaches economics at O.P. Iraq’s second largest, have been freed. This receding IS to archiving, cataloguing and clas- writes of how the bureaucracy en- eties? And how can it? of norms and customs. Mostly in- Jindal Global University threat has exposed cracks in the alliance. More immediately, the Kurdish political leadership’s LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters emailed to [email protected] must carry the full postal address and the full name or the name with initials. push for independence from Iraq has alarmed Bagh- dad. Masoud Barzani, President of Iraqi Kurdistan, Rich with possibility Eroding jurisdiction I It is unfortunate to read addressed (OpEd Cartoon, 1950s and 1960s, bringing the background. wanted to mobilise the momentum created in the battle The Indian government’s What is the value of a high that our single integrated October 30). The cartoon laurels to the nation in the Notwithstanding the against the IS in favour of independence. Despite strong successful attempt to ship court judgment if one of the judicial system is fast losing was succinct. Powerful international arena and defeats, India’s spirited opposition from Baghdad and western capitals, Mr. Bar- wheat to Afghanistan was two parties, unsatised with its character by devaluing corporates will continue to boasting of players such as performance should push zani went ahead with a referendum in late September, made possible after talks its judgment, moves to the the highest court of appeal ex their nancial and the legendary P.K. Banerjee, governments and the Sports in which Kurds overwhelmingly voted for independ- with the U.S. Secretary of Supreme Court, thereby in the State. In Chandra political muscles in the it is now a sad reality that Authority of India to revive State. consuming more time and Kumar (1997), the Supreme appointment of CEOs of the zeal for the game and the past glory of Indian ence. Though the vote is not binding on the Kurdish re- This step will give a huge increasing the pendency of Court laid down that their choice. talent has remained football. Football academies gional government, it has undoubtedly strengthened impetus to India- other cases? appeals against the orders The Banks Board Bureau is conned by and large to should be opened. Due Kurdish nationalist politics across borders. Prime Min- Afghanistan relations, and A way has to be evolved to of the Central turning out to be a damp local and State levels. attention needs to be ister Haider al-Abadi rushed troops to retake Kirkuk. in turn India-U.S. relations. appoint a separate bench of Administrative Tribunal squib. However, the Under-17 accorded to the game right Mr. Barzani’s move was politically counter-productive The point to be noted is that judges to deal with those shall lie before the division The decision on the infusion football World Cup has from school. (Editorial – as he is not in a position to achieve independence for the shipment is through cases that come from the bench of the high court was a knee-jerk reaction provided much needed “Splendid goal”, October Kurdistan. Taking responsibility for the mess, he has Iran’s Chabahar port and high courts. When the law is concerned. This power which stemmed from the relief for a cricket frenzied 30). that the U.S. has supported the same for all courts, the should be extended to other government’s need to be nation such as ours, where B. Suresh Kumar, announced he will step down as President in Novem- India’s use of the Iran route dierence lies in the tribunals also, ensuring the seen as doing something to cricket has taken Coimbatore ber. This actually aggravates the crisis. The new Kurd- to reach Afghanistan, perception of the case and relevance of high courts. stop the economy from centrestage and almost all more letters online: ish leader may lack his charisma or authority but will despite deteriorating U.S.- the conclusive evidence Muhammed Faizal T., sagging. Unless steps are sport have been relegated to www.hindu.com/opinion/letters/ have to deal with stronger nationalist aspirations. Bagh- Iran relations. The route can presented. The quality of Kollam, Kerala taken to plug accretion of dad has sent a tough message to Erbil by sending troops also be utilised to enhance judgments by the various fresh NPAs, recapitalisation corrections & clarifications: In a Science and Technology page article titled “Did Asians to Kirkuk: if the Kurds go ahead with plans to secede, it economic activity later. high courts should be Bank recapitalisation will only amount to Signicantly, this could be a improved to avoid conicts The infusion of fresh capital throwing good money after cause the Haitian cholera outbreak?” (Oct. 29, 2017), a sentence in would invite a strong military response. The cracks in the sixth paragraph read: “India is a cholera-endemic zone and solution to India’s desire for later. Moreover, the large into public sector banks will bad and provide an escape the coalition would be good news for the IS. The only many Indians are immune to the virus.” It should have been bac- connectivity to energy-rich pendency of cases in all be without purpose unless route to wilful defaulters. teria — not virus. country that could constructively intervene in the con- West Asia without being courts should be disposed long-standing governance Manohar Alembath, ict is the U.S., which enjoys good ties with Baghdad Kannur, Kerala It is the policy of The Hindu to correct signicant errors as soon as possible. Please specify aected by Pakistan (“India of expeditiously issues such as political the edition (place of publication), date and page. The Readers’ Editor’s office can be and Erbil. It should mediate between the two sides on ships wheat to Afghanistan (“Devaluing high courts”, interference in lending and contacted by Telephone: +91-44-28418297/28576300 (11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to the Kurdish national question. Unless that is addressed, via Chabahar”, October 30). October 30). remote control of decision- Second chance Friday); Fax: +91-44-28552963; E-mail:[email protected]; Mail: Readers’ Editor, The Hindu, Kasturi Buildings, 859 & 860 Anna Salai, Chennai 600 002, India. the chances for another civil war in Iraq remain high. Mayukh Devadas, T.S.N. Rao, making processes using For a country that had All communication must carry the full postal address and telephone number. No personal Thrissur, Kerala Bheemavaram, Andhra Pradesh pliable appointees are excelled in football in the visits. The Terms of Reference for the Readers’ Editor are on www.thehindu.com

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