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Round The States
New Delhi, 8 July 2010
CM Queers The Pitch
KASHMIR SITUATION WORSENS
By Insaf
Kashmir is menacingly becoming too hot to
handle for both the State and Central Governments. For the first time in over a
decade, the Army was called out on Wednesday last, to restore semblance of
order in the Valley, stricken by violent protests and riots for the past one
month. A nagging fear is that the Valley may slip back into the 90s, when
pro-azadi movement was at its peak. However, the Cabinet Committee on Security
which met in Delhi following calls from Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Home Minister P Chidmabaram, decided the Army
should stage flag marches in Srinagar and be kept out of towns and populated
areas. It left it to the civil administration to deal with the situation and to
decide when and where it wanted the troops deployed. The Ministry of Defence
too has made it clear that it wants the Army deployed for the shortest possible
period. On its part, a dazed State government continues to impose curfews in
entire Srinagar
and separatists’ stronghold towns of Sopore and Baramulla. Unfortunately, the media
too has come under attack. Curfew passes have been withdrawn for the first time
ever.
Meanwhile, Omar Abdullah has ill-advisedly queered the pitch
and added fuel to the fire by stating the other day: “The aspirations of the
people of Jammu & Kashmir cannot be assuaged only by development, good
governance and economic packages but need a political solution”. Pleading the case for more autonomy, the
Chief Minister added: “But I am not averse to move beyond it, if there is a
solution other than autonomy that is acceptable to both India and Pakistan and meets the aspirations
of the people of Jammu & Kashmir”. Whether he is extending tacit support
for the Opposition PDP’s espousal of “dual sovereignty” involving India and Pakistan is unclear. What is significant,
however, is that the CM has challenged the belief mouthed by many well-meaning
Indian liberals that a long dose of good governance could bring an alienated Kashmir Valley and its people back to the
constitutional mainstream. Leading analysts have pointed out that the
significance of this assertion should not be under-estimated. Not least because
it loosely corresponds to the position taken by some of the ‘moderate’ sections
of the Hurriyat Conference!
* * * *
Big Relief for
Karnataka
Hope is not all lost for Karnataka and importantly for the
country in its battle against corruption. After 11 days of suspense whether he
would or not, the State’s Lokayukta, N Santosh Hegde finally withdrew his
resignation on Saturday last conceding to the request of senior BJP leader L K
Advani. Speaking to the media after a visit by Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and
the BJP President Nitin Gadkari, Hegde said: “Advani is like a father. He was a
close friend of my father (former Lok Sabha Speaker KS Hegde). I cannot go
against his wish.” At the same time, Yeddyurappa assured him “all cooperation
to fight corruption,” thus making amends and saving the BJP a national
embarrassment. Hegde had resigned on June 23, peeved by the constant “neglect”
shown by the BJP-led Government to the authority of the Lokayukta. His was the
first case in the country where a Lokayukta had quit blaming the Government.
Sadly, the Lokayukta institution exists in only 17 States
and even among these there is no common legislation. In an interview to a daily,
Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily has opined that the Lokayukta be accorded a
constitutional status to safeguard the institution from the “whims and fancies
of the State Government.” Accordingly, he should be vested with the powers to
prosecute bureaucrats and politicians and the Centre was considering a collegium
to appoint the Lokayukta, who will be a retired Supreme Court judge “with an
impeccable track record.” However, this apart, a section of the judiciary feels
the Lokayukta requires an efficient and effective infrastructure. He should be
able to handpick his officers and have offices in every district. If the
institution has to function meaningfully then it must have an independent
budget. Above all, the Hegde episode has also put the spotlight on the Centre’s
half-hearted fight against corruption. Successive governments have failed to legislate
for the appointment of the Lok Pal at the Centre even after four decades since
a bill was first introduced as far back as 1968.
* * * *
Maharashtra Is Livid
Maharashtra is livid against the UPA Government at the
Centre for having let it down badly in its decades-old dispute with Karnataka
in the Supreme Court over Belgaum.
New Delhi has opposed Maharashtra’s
application of 2004 in the Apex
Court challenging the constitutional validity of
certain provisions of the State’s Reorganisation Commission Act 1956 and the
Bombay Reorganisation Act of 1960. It has told the Supreme Court that Belgaum, where the majority population speaks Marathi,
should stay with Karnataka as Maharashtra’s
claim over it has no merit. The dispute has caused considerable tension between
the two States. In 2006, the then ruling coalition of Karnataka, led by HD
Kumaraswamy, son of HD Deve Gowda, even held a special session of the State
Assembly in Belgaum, provoking Maharashtra to move an application in the
Supreme Court seeking imposition of Central rule in the State. The Centre has
stated that “the language of the people has been one criteria but not the sole
criteria for inclusion of any area in a State.”
* * * *
Trouble in AP Congress
Trouble appears to be brewing for the Congress in Andhra
Pradesh. Its young MP, Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, son of the late YSR started his
Odarpu yatra on Wednesday last, his father’s birth anniversary, much to the
chagrin of the party High Command. This
follows his inability to get the requisite go ahead from the party President
Sonia Gandhi, whom he met last week in New
Delhi along with his mother. In a letter in his paper Sakshi, Jagnamohan wrote it was his
“moral responsibility” to finish the yatra, to console the family members of
those who had committed suicide following YSR’s death. In fact, the MP from
Kadapa has even ridiculed the party’s suggestion that he gather all families at
one place and meet them by stating: “When my father died Sonia Gandhi flew down
to console me and my family instead of asking us to come to Delhi.” So far, the Congress is unsure how to
deal with the situation. At best, Chief Minister K Rosaiah has warned party
ministers, MPs, MLAs and MLCs not to participate in the yatra, which will be
closely watched.
* * * *
Bandh In Opposition
States
Opposition-ruled States have finally brought the nagging
price rise issue into sharp focus.
Importantly, the Bharat bandh called on Monday last also wittingly or
unwittingly may help the Opposition parties bury their ideological and
political differences for a larger cause. While the CPM sought to distance
itself from the BJP and insist that there was no coordination for the bandh,
facts suggest otherwise. Left-ruled West Bengal and Kerala were literally shut
down, and in NDA-ruled Bihar, Gujarat, Orissa, Punjab,
Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh normal life too was disrupted.
As expected, the call had no major impact in UPA-ruled Andhra, Tamil Nadu and
Haryana, but the Shiv Sena and the BJP did manage a good response in
Congress-NCP ruled Maharashtra. While industry
outfits have given different figures ( Rs 3000 crore to Rs 300 crore) on the
financial loss suffered by the country, the big question before the common man
is whether it will make the UPA
government sit up and roll back prices? ---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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