Latest news with #AnUnlikelyFriendship:TheChiefMinisterandtheSpy
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Business Standard
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Standard
Best of BS Opinion: Crossing the river with memory, not just momentum
Progress rarely comes with a paved path. More often, it's like crossing a river barefoot, feet probing for stones beneath cold currents, steadying after each slip. The smarter ones don't just step; they remember where they slipped last time. Today, India also stands midstream, doing just that, feeling its way forward with care, learning from the stumbles of its past. Let's dive in. Start with the country's economic statistics. The overhaul of the GDP, CPI, and IIP, long overdue, could finally give policymakers a clearer view of the real economy. With e-commerce data, digital payments, and wider price tracking entering the frame, the next set of figures will be sharper. Yet, as our first editorial notes, we risk stepping on old stones: relying on outdated 2011 Census baselines and omitting a Producer Price Index. We've wobbled here before. This time, better grip is non-negotiable. That same caution guides India's approach to the gig economy. A projected 61 million strong by 2047, this workforce could transform livelihoods or fracture under neglect. Gig jobs have grown fast, but their foundations are shaky—lacking basic protections or benefits. A regulatory slip like that of the textile mills could be disastrous, highlights our second editorial. This time, the challenge is to step smart, offering security without crushing the spirit of innovation. But even smart feet need firm ground. As M Govinda Rao argues, India's economic leap, from overtaking Japan to chasing developed-nation status, needs more than momentum. Without reforms in judiciary, contract enforcement, and governance, we'll keep slipping on the same institutional stones. Foreign capital won't wade into murky waters, no matter how tempting the destination. Kanika Datta adds another layer, that real reform, especially on land and labour, demands political consensus. The ghosts of Singur and stalled SEZs show what happens when politics turns rocky. India needs not bravado abroad, but bipartisan clarity at home, consensus-crafted policies that prevent tripping over turf wars. And Aditi Phadnis offers a quieter, emotional reminder in her review of An Unlikely Friendship: The Chief Minister and the Spy by A S Dulat. In Kashmir, where Delhi's distrust repeatedly unseated Farooq Abdullah, a more sensitive step could have built lasting bridges. That too was a stone misjudged, and remembered. Stay tuned, and remember, if we move with memory, not just momentum, we may just reach the other bank steadier!
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Business Standard
2 days ago
- Politics
- Business Standard
A S Dulat's new book explores betrayal, belief and Farooq's Kashmir
An Unlikely Friendship: The Chief Minister and the Spy Published by Juggernaut 289 pages ₹79 Anyone who knows A S Dulat will know that there cannot be a more unlikely spy: He is amiable, friendly, and operates on trust. His book about his friendship with one of Kashmir's tallest leaders, Farooq Abdullah, is as much a window into some of the most tumultuous and defining decades in the politics of the state as it is a gentle and non-judgemental appraisal of a complex and unpredictable political personality. Sheikh Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah have been the subject of many fascinating studies, including an outstanding biography of the Sheikh by Chitralekha Zutshi (though Mr Dulat differs with Zutshi on some facts and interpretations of events). The relationship between the father and son is important as it is part of Farooq's political inheritance: A mistrust of Delhi and a perennially thorny relationship with Pakistan which never forgave the father or the son for siding with India. The book explores Farooq's relationship with New Delhi under different dispensations. But on one point it is unequivocal — that he never, ever considered independence of Kashmir as a solution. The book describes his meeting with secessionist leader Yaseen Malik of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) at which Farooq lambasted him for violence against Kashmiris and about the JLKF's dreams of 'azaadi', telling him he was naive and living in a fool's paradise. Given this reality, the book argues, Delhi should have trusted Farooq unquestioningly — which it did not. In full knowledge that Farooq's succession had not been smooth and was challenged by his brother-in-law, Gul Mohammad Shah, in 1984, Delhi put its weight behind the Gul Shah faction of the National Conference, deputing Congress leader Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to support a coup against Farooq's government, dislodging him. There was a background to this, as there always is. But Mr Dulat notes regretfully that Kashmir ought to have been kept out of the kind of power politics that was in place elsewhere in India — it was too important to be trifled with. Farooq got the full-throated support of the Opposition. But it was, at the end of the day, the Opposition. He felt he had been betrayed twice over, Mr Dulat writes: Once by his family and then by the Congress led by Indira Gandhi, his extended family. Other betrayals followed. His right hand man, Saifuddin Soz, was working to undermine him by conducting a dialogue with the Kashmiri underground and the government. Rajiv Gandhi had little time for him, though the two had been good friends. The V P Singh years came and went but Farooq did not get his due. The problem was: No one knew whom to talk to in Kashmir. Dialogues with separatist leaders of the Shabir Shah variety were the flavour du jour. But Mr Dulat says he knew that the only currency that would work, both for Delhi and Srinagar, would be Farooq Abdullah. In 1993, P V Narasimha Rao's government installed the Department of Kashmir Affairs, headed by Rajesh Pilot. In 1994, the US changed its position, openly calling Kashmir disputed territory. Mr Dulat moved minor mountains to persuade the government to see reason and bring Farooq back in from the cold. This was done by making Farooq part of an all-party delegation to clarify to the world that no human rights violations were taking place in Kashmir as alleged by Pakistan. Farooq was superb. Not only did he speak as an Indian, he also challenged Pakistanis to speak to him in Kashmiri The 1996 Assembly elections in Kashmir were a turning point for the state and for Farooq himself — not the least because of kindly, understanding and benevolent statesmen in power in Delhi for however short a tenure, such as H D Deve Gowda and I K Gujral. When Atal Bihari Vajpayee came to power the Jammu & Kashmir Assembly passed a resolution seeking autonomy. Mr Dulat emphasised that the demand was for autonomy, not independence. At around this time, Farooq was made an offer that made his eyes sparkle. What if he were made vice-president of India? Vajpayee was agreeable, and things might have been different if that had happened, Mr Dulat says. It didn't and one more betrayal was added to the layer of mistrust. The National Conference lost the 2002 polls. By now, Omar Abdullah was set to replace Farooq. But as with the Sheikh and Farooq, Omar and Farooq too had their ups and downs.
