Round The States

New Delhi, 15 July 2010

Another Meet On Naxalism

CENTRE, STATES FOR UNIFIED PLAN

By Insaf

The Centre and the Naxal-hit States have decided on a new roadmap to tackle naxalism. Unity is the Centre’s latest mantra to these States. After repeated failures and indulging in blame games, the Centre was able to impress upon four of the seven States—Chhattisgarh, Orissa, West Bengal and Jharkhand-- to form a Unified Command in the Red corridor. At the second meeting of Chief Ministers of affected States on Wednesday last in New Delhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urged the CMs to remain “united” and not let “inter-personal issues” come in the way. The “urgent necessity” he elaborated was for the Central and State forces to work in “total coordination and without any misunderstanding about each other.” Other than additional force, the new strategy lays equal emphasis on development. Importantly, Singh set the ball rolling by saying: “For far too long our tribal brothers and sisters have seen the administration in the form of rapacious forest guard, a brutal policeman, a greedy patwari….” It was time to provide a better delivery of services, one which is “sensitive and caring.”    

Though the CMs were in sync with the Centre they too had their piece of advice to offer to Singh and Union Home Minister Chidambaram, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister Antony, who were present. Bihar’s Nitish Kumar was critical of the Centre for not providing adequate support to his State to tackle Naxalism. The Planning Commission’s integrated approach, according to him, was warped as it covered only 35 of the 83 such districts. “How can we then solve the problem”, he asked. Chhattisgarh’s Raman Singh insisted on a “concerted national strategy” as it was not the concern of a single State alone, whereas his Orissa counterpart Naveen Patnaik demanded enhancing of security-related expenditure. Making a note of the advice, the Centre has promised among other things 22 additional helicopters, establishment of 400 police stations, (there are 97,000 vacancies in the police forces of the seven States) Rs 950 crore for improving road connectivity et all. The coming weeks should be a test for the Centre whether its revisited strategy works. 

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Illegal Mining Haunts Karnataka

Karnataka is once again on the boil ---this time over illegal mining. The Opposition Congress, together with the JD (S), has pushed the BJP Government into the dock demanding a CBI inquiry into illegal mining by the Bellary brothers-- Tourism Minister G. Janardhana Reddy, Revenue Minister G. Karunakara Reddy, and MLA G Somashekara Reddy. The Governor, H R Bhardwaj, has dropped a bombshell by ignoring constitutional restraint on his high office and demanding publicly the dismissal of “corrupt ministers”. However, Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa has refused to yield so far. At best he has offered a probe by the Lok Ayukta, who recently withdrew his resignation saving the BJP government major embarrassment. At the same time Yeddyurappa conceded in the Assembly, which is under siege by the Opposition by way of a day-night dharna since Monday, that illegal mining has been in place for the past 10 years. In 2007-08 alone 4.7 million tonnes of iron ore was illegally exported from the State and 1.05 crore metric tones in the two-year tenure of the BJP Government. The Opposition claims the scam is worth around Rs.60,000 crore.

Meanwhile, in New Delhi the mining issue has escalated into a full-scale war between the BJP and the Congress. The former has accused the Governor of being hell-bent upon destabilising its Government in the State and in bringing the Congress into power “through the backdoor.” It asked Bhardwaj to decide his role: “Whether you are the holder of the constitutional office of Governor or the political agent of the Congress.” The outburst follows Bhardwaj’s talking to the media after meeting President Pratibha Patil on Tuesday last. He said he had asked the CM to take action against the ministers as their conduct had raised a basic question: “Whether ministers can indulge in this kind of corrupt practice. Whether they can continue as ministers and yet continue illegal mining and make profits.” With Bhardwaj clearly “overstepping his brief”, the State BJP has decided to petition the President for his removal. A delegation will now hold a dharna to press its demand. Which side will yield is the question doing the rounds.   

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Belgaum A Union Territory?

Maharashtra’s anger over Belgaum has exploded into a major issue, causing embarrassment to the UPA government. Its Congress-NCP Government in the State has demanded that the disputed areas be placed under Centre’s control till the Supreme Court gives its verdict. On Tuesday last, Chief Minister Ashok Chavan informed the Assembly that he wanted the centre to declare Belgaum and 865 villages with majority Marathi-speaking population on the Maharashtra-Karnataka border a Union territory. Accordingly the Assembly passed a resolution. The State government also threatened that it would not allow Karnataka to suppress its agitation and sought the intervention of the National Human Rights Commission in the matter. Though Chavan led an all-party delegation to New Delhi to petition Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday last, he could not cut much ice. While he may need to reconsider his strategy, Chavan can get some consolation that the BJP unit in the State (unlike Karnataka) has surprisingly supported the resolution saying if the Centre is ready for Central rule “then we are also ready.”    

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J&K Seeks PM’s Help

Jammu and Kashmir is ironically looking up to the Centre to bail it out of the current mess. The troubled State, which has been clamouring for more autonomy and withdrawal of security forces saw itself urging Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s intervention to improve the critical situation. An all-party meeting called by young but immature Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in Srinagar on Monday last ended with an appeal to the Centre to strengthen peace in the State through dialogue, both internal and external, among other solutions. This is so because the moderate separatists are apparently inching closer to the hardliners and need of the hour is restoration of trust and credibility. A common feeling is that it is up to the PM to bring back “credibility to the institution of dialogue.” However, there is little that Singh can offer as the mainstream political parties continue to add to the strife. While the BJP has accused the NC-Congress of losing control over the administration and is vehemently against unconditional talks with the United Jihad Council and release of Hurriyat leader Syed Shah Geelani, the PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti rebuffed the PM’s ill-advised gesture by turning down his plea to attend the all-party meet. What next? 

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)