Uf Shifts Arc Lights Away From Congress

A government seeped in anti-Congressism has dampened official efforts to celebrate 50 years of the countrys independence.

Leading lights of the United Front government are loathe to highlight the over 40 years of Congress rule since 1947, and have ensured that official celebrations do not eulogise the partys dominant role in shaping post-independence India.

For the record, the government has been politically correct and has set up the required number of committees, and appointed the right kind of people on them. But there is a clear lack of enthusiasm among those involved in organising the celebrations. With the result that unofficial efforts are likely to be more appropriate and spectacular than the official ones.

Virtually the entire United Front is constituted by forces that have fought against the Congress; indeed, thrived on anti-Congressism. How can you expect us to vigorously portray the Congress in a favourable light for their role in the last 50 years? The party may have been pivotal during the freedom struggle, but we think most of the countrys ills today are due to the fact that the Congress has been in power during most of the last 50 years, a senior cabinet minister told Business Standard.

He agrees that the manner of official celebrations would have been far different if the Congress were in power today. A convenient excuse for the lack of official enthusiasm is the host of problems faced by the 13-party coalition ever since it came to power in 1996. Not much attention has been paid by senior ministers to the task of organising the celebrations. The primary task of setting up various committees was done during the tenure of former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda. The nodal agency for the celebrations is the Union ministry for human resources development. S R Bommai retained the portfolio when Gujral took over as Prime Minister, but the stated intention of maintaining continuity at the top has contributed little to the task of organising the celebrations.

A senior official involved in the organisational efforts remarks: For one, we have an inarticulate minister. Then, the officials drawn from various ministries for the celebrations are not equipped to handle such tasks or are simply not interested. At the political level, they have seen to it that a poor structure is in place to organise the celebrations.

The institutional arrangements include a National Committee, Cabinet Committee, Implementation Committee and a host of advisory groups on various themes. The National Committee is headed by Gujral, and has 227 members on it. The Cabinet Committee is headed by the Union home minister, and has six ministers on it while the key Implementation Committee is headed by Bommai and has 27 members.

United Front sources said two officials recently went on a round-the-world trip at government expense to see how the 50 years is being celebrated in various countries. Officials remain sceptical if the celebrations planned would be befitting the significance of the occasion.

Some MPs have threatened to stage a walkout during the special session on the midnight of August 14-15 in the Central Hall of parliament. The reason is that they do not want undue importance to be given to British representatives at a function intended to celebrate 50 years of freedom from British rule.

According to former Prime Minister Chandrashekhar, some MPs are upset that the speaker of the House of Commons would be seated on the dias alongwith the President, Vice-President, Prime Minister and the presiding officers of the two houses of parliament.

If the British speaker shares the dias, they have threatened to walk out, Chandrashekhar said.

Among other events, Bhimsen Joshi and Lata Mangeshkhar are scheduled to perform on the occasion.