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Round The
States
New Delhi, 30 January
2021
Farmers Agitation
CALM
BREACHED, WHAT NEXT?
By Insaf
Peaceful agitation
turns violent. Tension has gripped the air around the farmers’ protesting
sites. Is patience running out or is there a sinister government conspiracy?
Nagging question alright but guesses won’t do. Both sides need to find a
resolution as remaining cussed or getting involved in a blame game doesn’t
help. The incidents of Republic Day have cast a shadow more on the intent of
the Government, but the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee can’t
absolve its responsibility too. There is need for calm, which may just turn
elusive. Fortunately, the Committee has cancelled the planned march to
Parliament on Budget day, February 1, and shall continue with public meetings
and hunger strike across country. But Thursday night at the Ghaziabad border
has been tense and hundreds of farmers are descending there following UP
government’s orders to vacate the site. Friday afternoon saw a clash at the
Singhu border between anti-farmer protestors and the farmers. The farmers must
watch against getting egged on. There is support s was seen across the country
in various forms of protests in different States. In New Delhi, the Opposition
boycotted President Kovind’s address to Parliament to express solidarity with
farmers. Expectedly, he sought to dispel fears on the farm laws and insists that
through these agricultural reforms, the Government has “provided new facilities
to the farmers and has empowered them.” Really? What needs to be remembered is
that action and not words shall speak. ‘Let all citizens move forward together,’
is an advice the government must facilitate.
* * * *
TN
& Amma
Is it going to be
Amma, the phoenix, the flavour of this election season in Tamil Nadu? Recent
developments suggest an affirmative yes. On Wednesday last, when Amma’s (late
Chief Minister Jayalalithaa) close confidant, Sasikala was out of jail, Chief Minister
Palaniswami inaugurated a memorial for Amma on Marina beach with all senior
ministers, party leaders and hundreds of cadres in attendance. Palaniswami’s entire
thrust was on TN’s ‘golden era’ under Amma’s four tenures; ‘winning the polls
in May would be the biggest sign of gratitude to her...We are committed to
retain Amma’s government…let’s win this election for Amma...’ However,
Sasikala, expelled from the party by her then most trusted aide, Palaniswami,
may upset the applecart. Her nephew and leader of Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam
(AMMK), Dhinakaran has sounded the bugle with ‘time has come to re-establish
the real Amma government’ and ‘recapturing AIADMK.’ As of now Palaniswami has ruled
out her return to AIADMK, but it’s said ally BJP wants him to engage with her.
Will he offer an olive branch, to counter DMK or will there be a third front to
play spoilsport?
* * * *
Vaccine
Safety
Wield the stick
against those indulging in running down the efficacy of vaccines, is the
Centre’s terse message to all States and Union Territories. In a letter, Home
Secretary Bhalla has said take ‘penal action’ against those “spreading rumours”
as well as have a mechanism to deal with such misinformation. Apparently, since
the vaccination drive took off on January 16, North Block is peeved over ‘unfounded
and misleading rumours’ circulating in social and other media, ‘creating doubt
about the safety and efficacy’ of Covaxin and Covishield. Quote the National
Regulatory Authority which has found both vaccines safe and immunogenic,
advised Bhalla and haul up rumour mongers under the DMA or IPC, which sadly is
increasingly becoming a rule rather than an exception. Meanwhile, the Health
Ministry has asked six States -- Delhi, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand,
Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra -- to “improve their performance” on vaccinating
their priority group as these are just 20 per cent than the targeted 50 per
cent, as done by Lakhswadeep, Haryana and Odisha. But there is good news too.
The country it is said has ‘flattened its Covid-19 graph” as no new cases were
reported in 146 districts in past week.
* * * *
Bengal
Poll Picks Up Steam
In this election
year, West Bengal ensures it joins other States seeking withdrawal of the three
farm bills. Its Assembly passed a resolution on Thursday last, making it the 6th
State following Punjab, Kerala, Delhi, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. While Left Front
and Congress supported the resolution, they used the opportunity to hit out at
the Mamata Banerjee government demanding it too withdraw similar laws passed few
years back. Clearly, the battle lines are drawn and there are no ifs and buts
whether the LF-Congress combine would play ball with Didi. Same Thursday, the two firmly spurned her
request to lead a united front against the BJP this Assembly election and
finalised sharing of 193 seats of the 294. Of these, the LF will contest in 101
and Congress in 92 seats, which include the 77 seats they had won in 2016 poll.
The decision on remaining 101 seats shall follow later, as the two will need to
burn the midnight oil to see winnability of their candidates, given that the
BJP has made huge inroads into the State. Interestingly, the saffron party has
put on hold the completion of NRC exercise in Assam till these elections are
over, as it turns out that majority of those left out in the final list are
Hindu and not Muslim Bengalis! What card Didi will play to keep the turf is
worth a watch.
* * * *
MP’s
Christian Conversion
Madhya Pradesh gets
its first case against the Christian community since the passage of the Freedom
of Religion Ordinance 2020. On a woman’s complaint, the Indore police arrested
nine persons, including her parents, on Tuesday last for allegedly ‘forcing her
to embrace Christianity.’ She said she was tricked into visiting a ‘conversion
event’ at a Christian community hall, Satyaprakashan Sanchar Kendra, where the
organisers told the gathering that ‘under guidance of Lord Jesus all problems
will be resolved’. Getting wind of the programme, Bajrang Dal workers stormed
into the meeting, creating ruckus claiming that 250-odd people were being
‘brainwashed by constantly being told that Christianity is a better religion
and it provides all answers...They even lured people into embracing
Christianity by offering to provide for them.” But the Christian community
representatives’ counter saying it was a prayer meeting and the Hindu
right-wing groups are ‘misusing the newly passed law and manipulating the word
conversion to harass the Christian community.’ Predictably, the storm brewing
over the conversion bill, as in few other States, is bound to grow in not just
one community.
* * * *
U’khand’s
Bad Authorities
Can’t meet people’s
expectations, out you go, is a message that Uttarakhand has sent out to its
rural district development authorities. Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat announced
on Tuesday last that their dissolution is round the corner, following large
number of complaints against their haphazard functioning. While the next step
is under consideration, Rawat has obviously taken a leaf out of BJP State chief
Bansidhar Bhagat memorandum, wherein he had sought dissolution ‘in public
interest’ as these were ‘not fulfilling the purpose for which they had been
created!’ Apparently, these authorities had little to show by way of
contribution towards development in their respective areas. Worse, people are
said to have complained that instead of making procedures easier, the
authorities had made these more difficult and at some places complaints of
indulgence in corruption did emerge. Not acceptable alright, but Rawat needs to
do more. It’s one thing to show the officers the door and another to make them
accountable. Plus, the government must see what went wrong in its scheme of
things. How else does it propose to meet people’s expectations?---INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
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