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Round The States
New Delhi, 1 September 2010
Kashmir Imbroglio
HURRIYAT RAISES BAR
ON TALKS
By Insaf
Peace continues to play
hide-and-seek in strife-torn Kashmir.
Notwithstanding, curfew being lifted from the entire Valley barring Anantnag on
Wednesday and people clogging markets after nearly three months of stone-pelting.
Trust Hurriyat hardliner Syed Geelani to play party pooper. Raising the bar for
political engagement with the Centre, the separatist leader laid down five tough
conditions to call-off the massive protests in the Valley. Demands which are
not only regressive but also totally unacceptable to New Delhi as it would put the
clock back by 60 years on the contentious State issue Clearly, parroting Pakistan’s
favourite line, Geelani asserted that the Centre must acknowledge Jammu and
Kashmir as an international dispute.
Worse,
describing the killings of the stone-pelting youth as “war crimes”, the
Hurriyat leader sought the “forthwith” conviction of troops responsible for the
“State violence” and that the Prime Minister publicly commit to an end to killings
and arrests. Not only that. The Central
Government begin the process of complete de-militarisation which would be
monitored by a “credible agency” like the United Nations. Scandalously, among
the 44 political prisoners Geelani wants released include Parliament attack
convict Afzal Guru and several separatist leaders. There is no gainsaying that
the conditions put by the hardliner leader are an obvious non-starter for
arriving at any political consensus to usher normalcy in the Valley.
* * * *
Vidarbha Demand
Revived
Top Congress leaders from Vidarbha have revived their
long-pending demand for a separate State. Led by veteran Congressman, Vasant
Sathe, and including Vilas Muttemwar, former Minister, these leaders called on
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last week and strongly pressed once again for
carving out a separate State of Vidarbha out
of Maharashtra. The PM gave them a sympathetic
hearing and urged them to call on the Congress President, Sonia Gandhi. These
Congressmen believe that Vidarbha would otherwise continue to suffer as a
backward region of the State with the lowest per capita income compared to Maharashtra and metropolitan Mumbai. Vidarbha, they
pointed out, had a tragic and shocking record of 40,000 suicides by farmers
since Independence.
Another 22,000 children had perished due to malnutrition. Five of the 11
districts of Vidarbha were already hit by Naxalism due to “criminal neglect” of
the region by self-serving Maharashtrian rulers. They would thus like Vidarbha
created as a separate State alongside Telengana.
* * * *
Centre’s Order On Tribals
Tribals’ welfare is the buzz word at the Centre these days. Nine
States in particular were told last week that the tribals should not be evicted
from national parks and sanctuaries “till their rights under the Forest Rights
Act are settled.” The directive was shot off by Union Tribal Minister, Kantilal
Bhuria, to Chief Ministers of Bihar, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Himachal
Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra
and Uttar Pradesh, which have a sizeable tribal population. While the Ministry
says the step follows “complaints of eviction”, the timing coincides with Congress
Rahul Gandhi embarking as the “soldier” of the tribals in Niyamgiri, Orissa,
where the Vedanta bauxite mining project has been shelved. Likewise, the Mining
Ministry under BK Handique too has stalled bauxite mining in tribal Araku
region of Vishakapatnam. The voice of the tribals finally reaches New Delhi.
* * * *
States Upset With
CBI
The “misuse” of the CBI by the Centre is back on the front
burner in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat. On
Thursday last, the CBI told the Supreme Court that it had “unimpeachable”
evidence of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati having amassed assets
disproportionate to her known sources of income and there was a fit case for
her prosecution. Recall in April last, the CBI was willing to consider her plea
to accept the I-T department’s clean certificate. Given that the BSP bailed out
the Centre during voting on the cut motions on the Finance Bill in the Lok
Sabha. Likewise, the BJP in Gujarat is up in
arms against the CBI. On Monday last, the Party stalled Parliament’s
proceedings following additional DGP, Geeta Johri’s claim that she was being
pressed by the CBI to implicate former Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah in the
Soharabuddin fake encounter case. It has demanded a debate on the functioning
and “misuse” of the CBI. Will the Centre yield in the winter session of Parliament?
* * * *
CPM Woos Muslims
With the Trinamool Congress giving the CPM a run for its
money in West Bengal, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya is going all out to
save his chair in Writers
Building. Taking a leaf from the stormy petrel’s vote-bank
book, he did a “me too” by holding a meeting in Lalgarh on Sunday last. The CM
also went all out to woo the Mulsim voters by declaring a grand 10 per cent
reservation for the OBC Muslims in the State. This follows the Cabinet’s approval
to issue OBC certificates to the Muslims in September last. The CPM has its fingers crossed that the 1.4
crore Muslims in the State would come back to the Party fold. However, the
announcement is being viewed as “pre-poll gimmick.” The Muslims no longer
believe that the Left can maintain a secular Administration and environment in
the State.
* * * *
Big Boost For
Bhojpuri
Bhojpuri enthusiasts in the Hindi heartland have reason to
rejoice. The UPA Government’s Minister of State for Home, Ajay Maken, indicated
in the Lok Sabha before its adjournment sine die on Tuesday that it would
consider including Bhojpuri in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. The
matter came up when Congress member Sanjay Nirupam raised the issue and pointed
out that Bhojpuri was widely spoken and ranked only next to Hindi. A visibly
surprised House was informed by him that Bhojpuri’s history dated back to the 7th
century and it was spoken in 12 countries across five continents. That was not
all. Former RJD Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh claimed that the language was
spoken by 17 crore people in India
and another eight crore abroad. Bhojpuri was the main language of the common folk
in 14 districts of UP, nine of Bihar and two
in Madhya Pradesh. Importantly, UPA Chairperson, Sonia Gandhi was present in
the House and appeared supportive of the demand. ---- INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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