Round The States

New Delhi, 22 July 2010

Mulayam’s Apology

UP LEADS IN MUSLIM COMMUNALISM

By Insaf

Uttar Pradesh now leads the other States in brazen Muslim communalism. Mulayam Singh, former Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party chief swears day in and day out by secularism. However, last week he went all out to play the communal card in his desperate bid to win back the Muslims’ support. On Thursday last, he publicly apologised to the country in general and the Muslims in particular for aligning with former BJP leader and UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, under whose tenure the Babri Masjid was demolished. Once described as ‘maulana’, he also assured the minority community that he would wholly work for its welfare in future. Remember, the Muslim support base deserted his party in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls after he aligned with Kalyan Singh. The SP dived from 36 to 24 seats and was relegated to the fourth position in the Assembly byelections.

Obviously, Singh’s strategy of all-out appeasement has mainly to do with the Assembly polls due in 2012 since Muslim support is crucial for his survival. Expectedly, the leading Islamic seminary Darululoom Deoband in the State has welcomed Mulayam’s atonement and described it as a step in the "right direction". The BSP supremo and State Chief Minister Mayawatihas, however, scoffed at it and lambasted it as the “height of political opportunism.” The Congress, too, has termed Mulayam’s  latest move as “opportunistic”.  Nevertheless, the two parties have hardly any legs to stand on as they too have indulged in Muslim appeasement time and again. The BSP has drawn up a comprehensive plan to woo Muslim voters. Her ministers and party workers have been organizing Muslim Brotherhood Panels with a two-fold agenda:  to showcase rising by positive work and constructive campaign. ……

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Bihar Put To Shame

Bihar today stands shamed as never before.  Its law makers reduced the State Assembly to a shameful akhara in its five-day monsoon session. Worse, the office of the Speaker was denigrated and a slipper flung at its occupant Uday Narain Choudhary. The House witnessed ugly scenes all of Tuesday and Wednesday last as the Opposition RJD, LJP and Left MLAs clashed with their ruling NDA counterparts demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. The reason? The Patna High Court had on July 15 ordered a CBI inquiry into allegations of Rs 11,412.54 crore scam in the execution of welfare schemes, while dealing with a PIL based on the CAG’s report. The latter had noted non-submission of high expenditure bills between 2002 and 2008. While 67 MLAs were suspended and marshalled out, the Speaker has challenged the HC’s ruling saying the judiciary cannot interfere with any matter pending before the Assembly for disposal.          

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Darjeeling Spared Misery

Darjeeling and neighbouring Sikkim have been spared yet another bout of agitation by the Gorkhaland Janmukti Morcha (GJM). On Wednesday last, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram was able to persuade West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to send a team to New Delhi for the tripartite talks on Gorkhaland. This follows the GJM’s threat of launching a 40-day bandh in the Darjeeling Hills from August 4 if the sixth round of talks were not held by July 23. Little is however, expected from this round as the State’s Urban Minister has refused to attend and instead will send the Health Minister to fulfil the State’s “constitutional obligation.” Meanwhile, GJM’s two top leaders, Bimal Gurung and Benoy Tamang, were served fresh front. Contempt notices by the Supreme Court on Monday last for refusing to accept its earlier contempt notice for threatening to lay siege to NH 31, the sole road link connecting Sikkim with the rest of the country.

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Naidu Eyes Telangana Polls

The demand for a separate Telangana in Andhra Pradesh is expected to pick up steam again. With byelections in 12 Assembly constituencies to be held next week, former Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party chief, Chandrababu Naidu, has interestingly managed to hit the headlines. Last week, along with 74 party MLAs in tow he courted arrest in Aurangabad to lodge a protest against the Babhli irrigation project in neighbouring Maharashtra’s Nanded district. The project is located on the river Godavari, which feeds the Sriram Sagar Project reservoir, which is the lifeline of Telangana.  Experts feel that barriers like Babhli would reduce the flow of the river into the Sagar and that the project itself would become redundant. If that happens seven districts of the region would be left without any water. Naidu sought to make this an issue even though the issue is to be settled by court. His primary reason to take up the Babhli project is thus being seen to help him undo his mistake. Naidu had done a u-turn on Telangana statehood and batted for a unified Andhra. Now with the byelections, he seeks send the message to the voters in Telangana region that his sympathies are still with them. Will he succeed?  

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Rajasthan’s Water Woes

Rajasthan is heading towards big trouble. A major water crisis is hovering over the Ashok Gehlot Government. The State’s dams and reservoirs are running dry by nearly 70 per cent and the normal rainfall pattern is below normal. Gehlot has had to put in an emergency plan. He has ordered taking over of private tube and bore wells, reduce water supply in several districts and will need to sanction more water trains. As per last week’s records, the water level was down from close to 12,500 million cubic metres (mcm) to 2,761.53 mcm, a bare 22 per cent of the capacity of the State’s dams and reservoirs. Additionally, a recent survey on groundwater shows that 90 per cent of the 237 blocks are exploited. While Tonk and Ajmer districts receive water once every 120 hours, Barmer, Nagaur and Bhilwara get it only once a week! Jaipur too shall not be spared. If the monsoon does not improve the capital city’s water supply will last till July 31. All eyes are on the skies. 

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NGO Bonanza In States

Ten States have the largest chunk of NGOs and not-for-profit organizations in the country. In fact, a study reveals that India has the highest number of such organizations in the world. The largest numbers of NGOs are registered in Maharashtra (4.8 lakh) followed by Andhra Pradesh (4.6 lakh), Uttar Pradesh (4.3 lakh), Kerala (3.3 lakh), Karnataka (1.9 lakh) Gujarat 1.7 lakh, Bengal 1.7 lakh, Tamil Nadu 1.4 lakh, Orissa 1.3 lakh and Rajasthan 1 lakh. The study commissioned by the Union Government shows the number of such entities accounted for 3.3 million till 2009, which in terms of finances raise a whopping Rs 40,000-80,000 crore annually. Another study would be welcome to see how many of these NGOs have honestly yielded results.

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)