Politics and political leaders dominated the magazine covers this week. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh found himself at the center of many stories that highlighted his government's predicament and his own loss of credibility. Outlook's cover carried the words “King is Singed,†a play on the title of a popular Indian movie. “Manmohan Singh's integrity was the Congress's USP in 2009,†it read. “By making the P.M. the target of the coal scam, the BJP has turned the middle-class mascot into an electoral liability ahead of 2014,†when the country will hold its next national elections.
The story quickly pivoted to the B.J.P., whose own ranks are far from corruption-free, the article said.
When a leader like Sushma Swaraj states that the Congress got ‘mota maal' (lots of cash) from coal allocations, she also opens her flanks to a counter-attack. Which is why one must pause and ask, why has the BJP taken the pitch so high? Why has the party risked middle-class censure for further undermining an institution like Parliament? What has got them so worked up that even someone like [Arun] Jaitley - who enjoys the thrust and parry of a good parliamentary debate and usually opposes disruption - has made an argument for disorder?
The author, Saba Naqvi, attributes the B.J.P.'s tactic to “a simple political calculation†â€" “the belief that the Congress is sinking and this is the opportunity to corner it. Senior party leaders concede that the muck is also being flung at them. But they feel it is not sticking and the greater damage is being done to the Congress.â€
Tehelka, too, looks at the role of the prime minister in fixing “the mess around the use of natural resources.†The article sinks its teeth into the report of a committee set up in January 2011 “to suggest changes in the legal, institutional and regulatory frameworks required to switch over to a clean and transparent system.â€
The Ashok Chawla committee, which submitted its report in June last year, recommended sweeping changes in national policies surrounding minerals, coal, petroleum, natural gas, spectrum, land, water and forests, the story pointed out. The report criticized the present legislative and regulatory framework as “arbitrary, non-transparent and prone to manipulations,†and recommended a competitive bidding process for the allocation and pricing of natural resources, Tehelka wrote. “In short, it said that the regime of whimsical and discretionary powers of governments both at the Centre and states has to go,†the article said.
It went on to slam the government's di thering and flip-flops on the implementation of the report's recommendations. “One is ready to concede that Manmohan inherited bad policies, weak institutions and moribund legislations,†the writer said before asking, “But what stopped Manmohan from scrapping crooked policies and replacing them with the ones that are fair and transparent? What is stopping him from strengthening institutions and regulatory mechanisms?â€
In a story titled “The Departed,†The Caravan looks at the lives â€" the aspirations and the disappointments â€" of former Kashmiri militants, who crossed over to Pakistan-controlled Kashmir as young men to receive arms training, and returned nearly two decades later to the state “they once dreamt of liberating from Indian rule.â€Â Mehboob Geelani wrote of their disillusionment:
They find themselves back in a place they hardly recognise, transformed by decades of grinding conflict most of them did not witness. Many of the men they knew have been lowered into graves, and the simpler, even innocent, ways of life they grew up with are now long gone.
