On emerging political alternatives

The Congress desperately wants to improve on its negligible presence in Uttar Pradesh by pandering to the political and personal demands of Ms Mayawati, ignoring the disastrous implications such moves hold for governance and security. It has permitted the rise of a caste bogey in order to settle political scores, and has turned a Nelson’s eye to the large-scale corruption and nepotism practised by the BSP government in the name of social justice and the rights of the marginalised sections.

While foodgrain productivity is already on the decline and the Green Revolution areas are facing serious bottlenecks to growth and productivity, it is the financially weak farmers who are at the receiving end of both nature’s fury and the government’s apathy. The spate of farmer suicides, which go on unabated, has forced Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to admit to the magnitude of the agrarian crisis. Despite the government’s projections, the fact remains that the majority of farmers are keen to abandon agriculture and move to urban centres looking for jobs, however menial they may be. In the cities they are confined to the slums. To add to their agony, their very presence is resented by the same government, which perceives them as eyesores to the infrastructure development projects in the cities. Ironically, rural infrastructure is in a pathetic state: the roads are in bad shape, there are frequent power cuts, the unavailability of drinking water is widespread, and sanitation is poor.

But this does not seem to be on the list of concerns of Minister for Agriculture Sharad Pawar, who is busy with his pet project of selling the sport of cricket and the players to the largest bidder. His project has certainly added to the coffers of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Meanwhile, in the countryside our farmers look with muted anger for some respite and hope from the UPA government to fight ever-increasing indebtedness, endemic hunger, extensive under-nutrition, illiteracy, abject poverty and deprivation.

Mr. Pawar has the luxury of refusing to acknowledge the harsh realities that confront the farmers, by means of his attempts to vulgarise and commercialise the game of cricket. He has clearly displayed his indifference to the agrarian crisis by trying to create a make-believe world for the common masses, while ignoring the pitiable plight of the marginalised sections and poor farmers in the rural areas, who are not only vulnerable but are heading towards a catastrophic situation. One survey said Mr. Pawar has travelled around 1,00,035 km for the promotion of cricket. But he has hardly undertaken any significant visit to address the problems of farmers in Akola in Vidharbha. Mr. Pawar can do a great service to the nation, the way he has stood for the cause of ‘cricket’, by being magnanimous enough to quit as Minister for Agriculture. The UPA government can appoint him as Minister for Sports to manage “cricket and its commerce.”