This fine morning I had the distinct pleasure of attending an event that I've been looking forward to for months. Fashionably titled, "India & Pakistan: Designing New Futures" this was the second in a series of London summits organised by Tehelka, the progressive, liberal, left-leaning, babu corruption-busting media house.
I turned up to the event in my Sunday finest. Which in this case was a long, red, floral kurta from FabIndia. I soon came to realise that this was not the favoured attire of all the other Subcontinental men present. Anyway, the day began with Jaswant Singh, the intellectual pillar of BJP Foreign & Defence policy delivering the keynote speech. Although the grand old man did slur his words quite a bit...he was lively, impassioned and delivered a stellar performance complete with such essentials as "India and Pakistan are from the same womb, of course we can talk to each other" All in all, it was a lot more accomodating of the other side than I expected.
Coffee Break (me drinking orange juice)
Upon returning to the seminar room, we were treated to a 10 minute "Vision Statement" by Nawaz Sharif, a video recorded especially for the event. While I have got over the sudden proliferation of hair on Mr Sharif's scalp, his speechmaking serves as a constant source of comic relief. Unsure as to whether the camera is on, he asks in delicately sedate Punjabi "hainjee?"which is later followed by a consistent inability to pronounce the word "swift" and long, embarrasing doe-eyed glances to his aide. This of course robs the rest of his speech of any seriousness and severly dents his credibility as a statesman in my eyes. Admittedly, the speech was concilliatory, "mistakes on both sides were made" and there were constant references to the region's civilisational greatness. To put this into context, post-Musharraf both Sharif & Zaradari have softened their public stance on Kashmir, leading to frantic finger-wagging by the likes of Lashkar-e-Toiba and Hizbul Mujahideen. This is part of a concerted tilt towards India and the realisation of her potential as a trade partner.
Then follows the first panel discussion on Kashmir. This included an excellent articulation of the conservative Indian position by Arun Jaitley, a more liberal Abhishek Singhvi, an emotional, eloquent yet slightly over the top speech by Farooq Abdullah and a painfully dismal effort by Mehbooba Mufti. Mehboobaji frankly looked like she wanted to be somewhere else and muddled her entire speech, leafing through a mass of papers. Perhaps I am being churlish and equating an inferior command of the English language with low political intellect. But, a true statesman or stateswoman gets her point across, whatever her disposition to the medium. This is perfectly illustrated by Tarun Vijay, RSS stalwart and not the most predisposed individual to English I have come across. He made his points forcefully and with vigour, despite the clear language barrier.
To return to Mr Jaitley's speech, he countered Ms. Mufti's call for greater autonomy by stating that the balance between the centre and the state is heavily tilted in the latter's favour in J & K's case. Furthermore, he raised the spectre of Kasmiri Pandits much to the glee of the cadre of Overseas Friends of the BJP (OFBJP) present there.
Before I go any further, let me say this: I had forgotten how hierarchical (we) Indians are. If you're young, we won't take you seriously. If you're not a recognised part of the establishment, we won't take you seriously. Perhaps the creeping osmosis of the Western values system was inevitable, it's been 5 years now...but however much I might bash the West for myriad xenophobic reasons, you have got to give them this...they are egalitarian. The reason I'm fuming is simple: I didn't get to ask any questions or get close to any of the political head-honchos. I had expected to cultivate contacts within the Indian political establishment and impress them with my precocious knowledge and understanding, that was not to be.
I turned up to the event in my Sunday finest. Which in this case was a long, red, floral kurta from FabIndia. I soon came to realise that this was not the favoured attire of all the other Subcontinental men present. Anyway, the day began with Jaswant Singh, the intellectual pillar of BJP Foreign & Defence policy delivering the keynote speech. Although the grand old man did slur his words quite a bit...he was lively, impassioned and delivered a stellar performance complete with such essentials as "India and Pakistan are from the same womb, of course we can talk to each other" All in all, it was a lot more accomodating of the other side than I expected.
Coffee Break (me drinking orange juice)
Upon returning to the seminar room, we were treated to a 10 minute "Vision Statement" by Nawaz Sharif, a video recorded especially for the event. While I have got over the sudden proliferation of hair on Mr Sharif's scalp, his speechmaking serves as a constant source of comic relief. Unsure as to whether the camera is on, he asks in delicately sedate Punjabi "hainjee?"which is later followed by a consistent inability to pronounce the word "swift" and long, embarrasing doe-eyed glances to his aide. This of course robs the rest of his speech of any seriousness and severly dents his credibility as a statesman in my eyes. Admittedly, the speech was concilliatory, "mistakes on both sides were made" and there were constant references to the region's civilisational greatness. To put this into context, post-Musharraf both Sharif & Zaradari have softened their public stance on Kashmir, leading to frantic finger-wagging by the likes of Lashkar-e-Toiba and Hizbul Mujahideen. This is part of a concerted tilt towards India and the realisation of her potential as a trade partner.
Then follows the first panel discussion on Kashmir. This included an excellent articulation of the conservative Indian position by Arun Jaitley, a more liberal Abhishek Singhvi, an emotional, eloquent yet slightly over the top speech by Farooq Abdullah and a painfully dismal effort by Mehbooba Mufti. Mehboobaji frankly looked like she wanted to be somewhere else and muddled her entire speech, leafing through a mass of papers. Perhaps I am being churlish and equating an inferior command of the English language with low political intellect. But, a true statesman or stateswoman gets her point across, whatever her disposition to the medium. This is perfectly illustrated by Tarun Vijay, RSS stalwart and not the most predisposed individual to English I have come across. He made his points forcefully and with vigour, despite the clear language barrier.
To return to Mr Jaitley's speech, he countered Ms. Mufti's call for greater autonomy by stating that the balance between the centre and the state is heavily tilted in the latter's favour in J & K's case. Furthermore, he raised the spectre of Kasmiri Pandits much to the glee of the cadre of Overseas Friends of the BJP (OFBJP) present there.
Before I go any further, let me say this: I had forgotten how hierarchical (we) Indians are. If you're young, we won't take you seriously. If you're not a recognised part of the establishment, we won't take you seriously. Perhaps the creeping osmosis of the Western values system was inevitable, it's been 5 years now...but however much I might bash the West for myriad xenophobic reasons, you have got to give them this...they are egalitarian. The reason I'm fuming is simple: I didn't get to ask any questions or get close to any of the political head-honchos. I had expected to cultivate contacts within the Indian political establishment and impress them with my precocious knowledge and understanding, that was not to be.
Now that I have had my rant I did have the opportunity to engage with veteran statesman, Ram Jethmalani. He taught me a simple, yet significant lesson about Indian politics: You can't enter it unless you have the financial backbone (which Mr Jethmalani gained by practicing Criminal Law). To aspire to be a career politician India is to aspire to a life of honest, abject poverty.
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