Round The
States
New Delhi, 23 February 2019
Pulwama Aftermath
ARE WE A CIVILISED SOCIETY?
By Insaf
A big question mark
hangs over India’s civilised society. The ongoing shocking persecution of Kashmiris,
be it students, workers, tenants, professionals etc in the aftermath of the
Pulwama attack is simply not acceptable. Further, it is a sad reflection on the
government of the day that the Supreme Court has had to intervene to remind it
of its duty to protect the nation’s citizens. On Thursday last, it directed 10 State
governments/UTs and their Chief Secretaries, DGPs to ensure “prompt and
necessary action to prevent any incidents of threat, assault, social boycott
etc. against Kashmiris and other minorities.” This notwithstanding the Centre
claiming it had already taken steps and issued requisite advisories and the HRD
Ministry denying ‘incidents of Kashmiri students being attacked.’ Obviously,
the petition had merit. While it alleged ‘mobs and vigilante groups were engaged
in vitriolic hate speech and were attacking and threatening Muslims and
Kashmiris throughout the country,” media reports with photographs covering
incidents in some States these past few days is additional evidence.
The States put on
alert are Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, UP, Haryana, Bihar, Meghalaya,
Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Punjab and Maharashtra. Instances of Kashmiri
students being forced to flee back to their homes and administrators of their
colleges being made to pledge they won’t admit Kashmiris first hit headlines
from Dehradun. What followed was a barrage: 10 Kashmiri students booked and 24
others suspended/rusticated from colleges across the country over
“anti-national” social media posts; students in Haryana asked leave after cases
of some being assaulted; a senior faculty member of Kashmir origin dismissed
from his post; six Kashmiri students of Kushabhau Thakre Nursing College in
Bihar expelled under pressure from Bajrang Dal activists; in Ambala’s Maharishi
Markandeshwar University Mullana campus, around 110 students forced out of
their rented accommodation by locals et al. While the apex court has asked the
Home Ministry to give wide publicity of nodal officers’ contact details so that
those who need help can approach them easily, there is reason to doubt whether
the exercise will succeed. The fear that has gripped the Kashmiris needs to be
addressed first. The hate and revenge attacks on ordinary citizens are
certainly no traits of nationalism.
* * * *
Controversial
Governor
Meghalaya and
Rashtrapati Bhavan must be cringing. Governor Tathagata Roy’s tweet “I am
inclined to agree” with a retired colonel’s boycott call of Kashmir and
Kashmiris following Pulwama tragedy, is simply unacceptable. He forgets he is
holding a Constitutional office, is expected to act as the custodian of the
Constitution and is a representative of the President of India and no longer of
the BJP. Though the saffron party has finally distanced itself from the tweet
of Roy, its former head of West Bengal unit, there appears to be no word of
caution from President Kovind. Far from being reigned in, Roy as Governor
openly identifies himself as a ‘Right-wing Hindu socio-political thinker,
writer, ideologue,’ in his Twitter profile and his outrageous and insensitive
remarks continue to go unchecked. A question that needs an answer is how is his
right to free speech different from those university students, who are booked
for sedition for their social media posts? His bigotry is said to have helped
him get to the Constitutional office, starting with Tripura, where his remarks
too raised controversy. The Left, PDP, NC has demanded his sacking When will
enough be enough?
* * * *
Southern
Gathbandhan
Southern Gathbandhan takes off. Both the BJP and
Congress have managed to stitch a pre-poll alliance with the big two regional
parties in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. On Tuesday last, the AIADMK agreed to give
five seats to the BJP and seven to PMK and keep 27 of the 39 Lok Sabha seats in
TN. PMK will also get a Rajya Sabha seat. A day later, DMK formalised its
partnership with Congress, finally giving it 10 seats (9 in TN and one in
Puducherry). This after it failed to clinch the deal with PMK. However, it
hopes to make up by partnering with VCK, MDMK and Left parties given that talks
are underway. On its part, the BJP has committed itself to back the AIADMK in the
by-polls to 21 Assembly seats. The people, however, have a third option. Actor-turned-politician
Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) is in the arena, but opted to go it
alone. Celebrating the party’s first anniversary, Haasan sees himself as an
important ‘tool’ and that people must make ‘good use of him for the State’s betterment’.
Though time is short and lot’s to be done, Haasan promises “tomorrow is ours.” Is
it?
* * * *
Maha
Words, Diff Action
Words come cheap for
the Shiv Sena. And who other than its partner, the BJP, would know best. Perennial
threats of breaking the alliance and going alone were hogwash. Sena did the
opposite. Looking for greener pastures in Maharashtra, the BJP-Sena team pledged
togetherness and agree to contest an equal number of seats in Assembly polls
and for Lok Sabha, Sena will contest 23 seats and the BJP 25. But, within 48
hours of the signed deal, both are heard bickering again. The Sena claims a condition
for the alliance was “sharing the Chief Minister’s post for half-terms each,” whereas
the BJP remains firm that whoever wins more seats shall wear the crown. Will
there be a walkout? No, as both know that sheer maths forced them to stick with
the alliance to beat rivals Congress and NCP and the anti-incumbency factor. Neither
should miscalculate and heed what Uddhav Thackeray said after sealing the
alliance: “I have already won in the treaty, now we should win the real battle
of election.” For only then can he claim his CM crown!
* * * *
Home
Misuse
Stop misusing public
money and live in your private bungalows, is a directive former Chief Ministers
of Bihar can no longer ignore. On Tuesday last, the Patna High Court not only
sought to ensure the Supreme Court’s order issued last year is followed but
that the ‘have been’ take a cue from their counterparts in Uttar Pradesh such
as Mmulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati and save the State exchequer unnecessary
burden. The Bill allotting these bungalows for their lifetime, the court said
was ‘unconstitutional’ and wondered why they did not live in their private homes
when they were provided security there. Records show former Bihar Chief Ministers
Satish Prasad Singh (CM for three days in 1968), Dr. Jagannath Mishra (1975-77,
1980-83 and 1989-90), Jitan Ram Manjhi (CM for nine months in 2014-15), Rabri
Devi and her husband Lalu Prasad Yadav (1990-2005) enjoying this privilege. How
soon they will vacate and oblige is anybody’s guess given Elections round the
corner and their luck just might change. --- INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
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