Round The States
New Delhi, 30 April
2022
Silencing Loudspeakers
YOGI ACTS,
UDDHAV DITHERS
By Insaf
There is to be no
blaring noise in Uttar Pradesh. Following Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s
orders to remove loudspeakers from religious sites and a compliance report be
submitted from districts by Saturday, the authorities have got cracking. Nearly
21,000 loudspeakers had been removed so far from mosques and temples and volume
of 42500 loudspeakers lowered as per parameters. Yogi explains that while
‘everyone has the freedom to follow his/her method of worship according to
his/her religious ideology and that microphones can be used, the sound doesn’t
come out of any premises. Other people should not face any problem.’ Besides,
no permission is to be given to install loudspeakers at new sites. Importantly,
the urgency being shown may have to do with Eid and Akshaya Tritiya likely to fallon
the same day and that there should no repeat incident as in Delhi during
Hanuman Jayanthi. Indeed, Yogi’s claim of the State excelling in law and order
cannot have a jarring note. What better way than silencing the loudspeakers.
* * * * * *
However, unlike UP,
Maharashtra is dithering, despite the MVA government being egged on by MNS
chief Raj Thackeray who has given an ultimatum that if loudspeakers from places
of worship, especially mosques, are not removed in the State before May 3, his
cadres will ‘read out Hanuman Chalisa outside the mosques.’ In the background
of the trio of SS-NCP-Congress having their own coalition political compulsions,
the government has put the ball in the Centre’s court. After an all-party
meeting on Monday last, to discuss and evolve a ‘consensus’ on the issue, it
has sought New Delhi come up with a law and rules for the use of loudspeakers
at religious places across the country in light of Supreme Court’s 2005
guidelines. A delegation will also go and place this demand. Till then, it
reasons no action to be taken for there is no provision for the State
government ‘to either install or remove loudspeakers’ and that ‘right wing BJP,
MNS are clearly targeting the mosques’ loudspeakers.’ And even though Shiv Sena
has its own hindutva agenda, it can’t upset alliance partners. The Supreme
Court order can be ignored.
* * * * * *
Nagging Suspense
Jharkhand Chief
Minister Hemant is bracing for a political storm which could unseat him. Governor
Ramesh Bais meeting Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday last has sent out
ominous signs. Though he is in a denial mode viz alleged cases of corruption
against him, the Election Commission could at the end disqualify him as an
elected candidate of the Assembly on grounds of holding office for profit. More
so, after Bais had sent a communication to Nirvachan Sadan to examine the
matter under Article 192 of Constitution. The casesare: One, wherein Soren allotted
himself a ‘mining lease’while in charge of mining department and even got
environment clearance while holding charge of environment and forest
department. Two, allotting an 11 acre plot to his wife while holding the Industries
portfolio. The mining case is in the High Court, which was informed during a
hearing that the lease has since been ‘surrendered.’This doesn’t get him out of
the woods. All eyes are now on how the EC interprets documents submitted by
Chief Secretary and how soon. Nagging uncertainty for Soren.
* * * * * *
Coal Shortage, Power Cuts
Several States are
going through blackouts in the backdrop of a record demand for electricity due
to unprecedented heat wave and an acute coal shortage. According to reports,
consumers are facing power cuts ranging from two to eight hours across the
country and factories are the ‘worst hit’ as it’s the industrial sector which
is the first port of call for regulating electricity supplies. Thermal plants
across are grappling with coal shortages, indicating a looming power crisis in
the country, says the All India Power Engineers Federation. The estimated
electricity shortage is 623 m units. Reports reveal that UP has started load
shedding in rural areas and smaller towns; Kashmir valley is facing unscheduled
and prolonged power cuts; industry in Tamil Nadu is particularly hit; Andhra
Pradesh is trying to ensure power supply to agriculture to save standing crops;
in parts of Punjab, farmers are protesting against irregular electricity
supply; Bihar is witnessing frequent power cuts in rural and urban areas;
Rajasthan is having power cuts of 5-7 hours a day...the list is long. But the
Centre is in a denial mode and claims there’s enough coal to meet the demand.
In the same breath it has asked States to step up coal imports for the next
three years to build inventories.
* * * * * *
Tribal Politics
Tripura’s tribal
politics is hotting up. The demand for statehood,‘Greater Tipraland’by The
Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA) Motha is slowly picking
up steam.So says its chief and royal Pradyot Debbarman. On Wednesday last,he declared
plans the party shallfight Dhanpur seat, having a high tribal population and once
held by former Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, in 2023 Assembly polls. He also
appealed to The Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT) and Left leaders to
join in. In fact, a poaching tug-of-war between BJP and Motha has begun--the
former says over a thousand of the latter’s supporters have joined, whereas Motha
claims 4 BJP leaders have left and joined it. Denying practising ‘ethnic
politics’ as accused, Debbarman urges tribal leaders“not to think about their
positions (joining other political parties) but Tiprasa interest” and that
Motha is ‘open to all people.. more important people from different parties
will join…Our women and youth groups are active in the field…We need a full and
final solution from the Centre.” Will small (as his party is called by BJP)
turn big?
* * * * * *
Renaming of Villages
Change their names
rather than develop the villages, is sadly a priority with the Delhi unit of
the BJP. On Thursday last, it asked the Kejriwal government to rename 40
villages with “Mughal era names” after ‘names of freedom-fighters, brave-hearts
of armed forces, those who won laurels for the country in fields of sports,
art, music, and culture.’ Noting that the
villages have names such as Jia Sarai, Zamroodpur, Masoodpur, Jafarpur
Kalan, Tajpur, Najafgarh, Neb Sarai, its President Adesh Gupta said “Delhi is
no longer a sarai (inn). It’s the national capital. The
villagers, including youths, don’t want their villages to be identified with
any symbol of slavery. They want to know who was Captain Vikram Batra,
Bismillah Khan, Ashfaqullah, and Mohan Chandra Sharma who was martyred in Batla
House encounter!” The unit claimed it was not its idea but of villagers who
have approached it. In fact, on Wednesday, the unit chose to rename South
Delhi’s ‘Muhammadpur’ village to ‘Madhavpuram’,on its own after the AAP government
didn’t ‘clear the proposal”. The latter counters saying the BJP doesn’t want
the government to function and was just looking for opportunities to start ‘hooliganism’. Predictably,
it won’t end here. ---- INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
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