He?s a seasoned politician, often given charge of ministries in crisis. He?s also a poet, who deals with subjects as varied as love and international affairs. Kapil Sibal, minister of communications and information technology and the new law minister, was the guest at the latest edition of Express Adda in Mumbai. In a conversation with Shekhar Gupta, Editor-in-Chief, The Express Group, and filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj, he spoke about development and corruption, as well as on being a poet and a member of the ruling establishment
On governance at the centre
When asked about issues that have crippled the government in Delhi, Kapil Sibal shifted the blame to the nature of the polity, the complexity of the nation and institutions in the country. ?You want to take them on board but they don?t come on board, polity is fractured, there is no meeting ground,? said Sibal, adding that other than the three Ds ? debate, discussion and decision ? the opposition has adopted a fourth D ? disruption. ?Even on issues such as education, where everyone is together, the Parliament is not able to pass simple bills. So, the answer is, ?It?s (the problem) not with the government, it is the nature of our polity, the way in which we run our institutions and the lack of principles on the basis of which the nation has to move forward,?? he said.
On CAG and the courts
Sibal took on Vinod Rai, days after the latter completed his term as the CAG. He said that the reasons given by the outgoing CAG as the basis of a loss of R1.76 lakh crore to the state exchequer due to spectrum allocation was flawed.
Sibal also took a swipe at the judiciary claiming that the courts do not know the government?s functioning and cannot get involved in policy making. Stating that those who are assigned to do the job must be left to do it, he said that, under the Constitution, the government is assigned to delineate the economic policy and it should be left to do that. The courts are required to strike down things if these are unconstitutional and they should do that and weed out any corruption they find. ?No institution is doing what it is supposed to do under the Constitution. The executive is not responding in the appropriate manner, the legislature is not functioning and the courts are going beyond their jurisdiction. In this situation, how does the country move forward?? he asked.
Taking on the media
Sibal was critical of 24/7 news channels. He claimed that he rarely watches news channels and seldom appears on TV shows. He also raised concern over the
perception that electronic media builds up among
people and the judiciary. ?When somebody gives a figure of `1.76 lakh crore and the electronic media talks about it 24/7 for months, then public discourse gets vitiated. Courts, too, believe that something dreadful has happened and take it up. The atmosphere created makes the courts some times do things in context of the massive outrage expressed on television channels and that is a very worrisome thing,? he said.
Being both, a poet and a politician
Sibal recited some of his poems including the one he had written on the Delhi gang rape in December. He told the audience that he had inherited poetry and his house has always been full of poems by Mohd Iqbal, Mirza Ghalib and others. Filmmaker and music composer Vishal Bhardwaj and filmmaker-lyricist Gulzar pointed out that Sibal appeared to be pained at the state of the country but was constrained even though in power. The minister answered that changing the lives of 1.2 billion people would not take five or 10 years, but 30 years. He said ?change will come, we will become a great country and give the people the rights they deserve?.
He added that, on the one hand, there is a poet who feels and, on the other, there is a politician who wants to do something to make a difference. ?Our job out there is to decide; if I do it with a clean heart, 30%of my decisions may be wrong. Fine, I am
fallible, mortal, but at least, I must feel for my people and decide for my people and those are my obligations,? he said.
On the Opposition
Sibal highlighted the problems of working with a non-co-operative Opposition. Drawing parallels with a company, Sibal said that one can provide the required leadership, treat the opposition as family and make them understand one?s vision. ?But that is very difficult in politics as your vision is not in sync with that of the Opposition.You can?t treat them as family because they treat you as an enemy, you can hear their views but many of their views are only because they are in Opposition,? he said. ?This is not a river that runs down together. These are streams that enter into the ocean and you don?t know which stream is doing what and you have a confluence where there is no commonality of interests because the only desire is to come to power in 2014,? he added. When Shekhar Gupta interjected, ?Or, if I may put it the other way ? to stay on in power in 2014.? Sibal responded, ?Come to power also means to stay on in power. We also want to come to power.?
On the need for quality education
Having seen the situation of education closely as human resources development minister in the past, Sibal said that huge investments are needed in the field of education. While 220 million children go to school in India, the number of children going to university in the age group of 18-24 was 12.4% while the global average stood at 28% and more than 40% in developed economies. He pointed out that if the children don?t get the education, health and skills they need, ?we will become a nation where people will be roaming the streets and there will be no jobs?.
On legalising betting
On the subject, Sibal said, ?Is the nation ready to accept it? Is it willing to legalise it? I don?t know. The states will decide that. If you ask me, in principle, ?Yes, but is the country ready for it? But, on fixing we will make a law.??