Round The States
New Delhi, 18 June 2009
Reds Vs Reds
FIGHT TO LIBERATE
LALGARH
By Insaf
Three States-- West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Nagaland are
gaining notoriety for being the badlands of the country. In the first, it is
Reds vs Reds with the Maoists taking on the CPM’s (red brigade) for control of
villages in rural Bengal. Emerging from the
Bengal- Jharkhand border, the Maoists audaciously struck Jhargram town followed
by laying siege of two police stations in West Midnapore
district aided by the local tribals. As it stands the Maoists have turned 100
sq km and 1100 villages into the country’s second ‘liberated zone’, after
Dantewada in Chhattisgarh. The Maoists are seeking to increase their sway from
next week by laying siege on Goaltore and Salboni 50 km away from Lalgarh.
Already in Lalgarh district the
Maoists brigade has taken position of the villages and are hounding out the CPM
cadres and leaders, targeting their party offices and digging roads and setting
up barricades to block access to security force.
Clearly, the Naxal game plan is to create liberated zones in
the State. Against the backdrop that a demoralized police force and a wary
State government which refuses to take action. It does not want a repeat of
Singur and Nandigram. In West Midnapore
district, Maoists have laid siege on two police stations into the tribal police
station areas. Underscoring as never before how administrative institutions,
systematically subverted over the years by the CPM, collapse when there is a
threat of a power-shift reducing party cadres to sitting ducks. Clearly, the
CPM’s cup of woes continues to overflow post its electoral debacle. It is a
moot point whether the red brigade will be able to curtail the Maoists fire or
will the State erupt into a full-fledged civil war. A worried New Delhi has dispatched the CRPF’s new
anti-Naxal commando force to the State. Notwithstanding the Central forces
continuing operations to rid Lalgarh of the Maoists, the siege once again exposes
the unpreparedness of both the State and Centre to tackle growing Naxal menace.
* * * *
Dacoit Throws UP
Police In Turmoil
If it is the Maoists on a rampage in West
Bengal, it is the dacoits who have wrought havoc in Uttar Pradesh.
Imagine, a lone dacoit in Jamauli village in Chitrakoot district of the Hindu
heartland took head-on around 400 police personnel, led by top UP officers in a
deadly encounter on Tuesday last, killing three cops and injuring an Inspector
General and Dy. IGP. Shockingly, it took the police 50 hours to battle and ‘smoke
out’ the dacoit, who hid in a cluster of 40-odd houses and eventually kill him.
Notorious Ghanshyam Kewat aka Naam has indeed made a name for himself in the
annals of notorious dacoits. Many in the heartland dub him as an incarnate of
the dreaded Phoolan Devi. The drama however, highlights the miserable
performance of the State police force.
* * * *
Nagaland’s Ethnic Inferno
In Nagaland, the North Cachar hills continue to be engulfed
in an inferno of ethnic violence which erupted in March last. Leaving over 50
dead as unidentified miscreants alternatively targeted Zeme Naga and Dimasa
tribal villages. The Dimasas comprise about 35 per cent of the hill district’s
population, followed by the Zeme Nagas who are about 11.5 per cent. The Tarun
Gogoi State Government already grappling with the twin menace of
insurgency-induced violence and a nexus between the politician and insurgents
is now working overtime to bring things under control. Towards that end, it has
placed the North Cachar Hill Autonomous Council under suspended animation and
deployed additional forces.
* * * *
Uttarakhand Adds To
BJP Woes
There seems to be no respite from the bitter infighting in
the BJP, engulfed as it is in a tough war between rival internal factions. If
the stark differences within the Central leadership were not bad enough,
Uttarakhand is in the throes of a fresh crisis. This follows former Chief
Minister Bhagat Singh Koshiyari’s resignation from the Rajya Sabha, ostensibly
to go back and work among the masses. Notwithstanding his taking back the
resignation a day later, the entire drama is an ill-conceived attempt to mount
pressure on the party for beleaguered Chief Minister B C Khanduri to quit.
Adding to the all-round confusion, the State Legislative party is reportedly
split down the middle between the rival factions. Undoubtedly, Khanduri gained
a breather by winning the Kapkot bypoll following the 0-5 defeat in the Lok
Sabha elections. But with the Koshiyari faction asserting that the issue of
leadership change was alive, despite show cause notices to 21 members,
everything seems to be up in the air.
* * * *
Mumbai Division
Over ATR
The Mumbai 26/11 carnage refuses to die down on the
political stage. What with the Maharashtra Government continuing to play havoc
and politicizing the terror attack. The latest is its refusal to table the Ram
Pradhan Committee report to inquire into the bloodbath. Instead of tabling the
entire findings of the two-member Committee, the Government chose to table an
abridged Action Taken Report (ATR).
Thanks to serious difference within the Cabinet over its findings.
Primarily, why Mumbai Police Commissioner was shunted out when the report had
given the Mumbai Police a clean chit? Worse, replacing him with an officer who
was Commissioner of State Intelligence Department indicted for intelligence
failure. Resulting in not a few Ministers wanting another committee to study
the report! Politicians will be politicians.
* * * *
Orissa’s Five-Year
Perspective Plan
Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has decided to take a
cue from none other than Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in improving his
governance report card. On the lines of Singh asking his ministers to plan a
100-day action plan, Patnaik has instructed his secretaries to prepare a
five-year perspective plan. They have to act fast and do the needful in
consultation with their ministers in just 15 days! In the first meeting of
secretaries last week, the CM asked the officers to implement bijli, sadak and paani programmes. “We
cannot yield the fruits of welfare schemes if officers make reviews in AC
rooms,” was his clear message. The officers are to now head to the villages
and ensure the schemes serve the people’s
purpose.
* * * *
‘Sleepless Nights’
For MP CM
Worried over poor performance in the Lok Sabha poll, Madhya
Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has turned into a workaholic,
stretching his days at both ends. After bagging 25 out of 29 seats in 2004 and
winning a State election comfortably last year, the party was sadly down to 16
seats this general poll. In a damage control exercise, the BJP CM has
particularly set his eyes on the rural folk, which let him down. On Saturday last,
he surprised everyone by spending the night in tribal-dominated Saheli village
of Hoshangabad district, listening to grievances, sanctioning a higher
secondary school and promising to provide wheat at Rs 2 a kg to BPL families.
Back in Bhopal on Sunday, Chouhan preferred to restructure the Rural
Development Department, dealing with schemes for the girl child and women,
rather than rest. Hope the hard work pays off.---INFA
(Copyright, India News and Feature
Alliance)
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