Round The States

New Delhi, 5 August 2010

Valley On Precipice

TRAGIC TRAVAILS OF KASHMIR

By Insaf

The tragic travails of Kashmir continue, constraining Union Home Minister Chidambaram and Huriyat Chief, Geelani, to appeal for peace. The Valley is on the edge of the precipice once again after a brief lull in the vicious killing-protest-killing cycle. Violent protests rocked most cities and towns with angry curfew-defying mobs raising anti-India slogans, fighting pitched battles with the security forces and setting ablaze Police stations and other Government offices leaving over 28 people dead in the last six days. A worried Centre summoned embattled Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and handed out a demarche: pull up your socks, dominate and end the blood-bath. The beleaguered CM on his part presented a long list of demands, political package, revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, more troops, talks with separatist et al. Notwithstanding, these have nothing to do with the ongoing violence.

Adding to the turmoil the protestors blocked highways, including the arterial road from Jammu threatening fuel, food and medicine shortages. Not only that. The Kashmiri youth disagreed with New Delhi and Srinagar’s assessment that the violence is sponsored by the Lashkar-e-Toiba. Said a youth, “If our protests were Lashkar-sponsored, don't you think we would be using sophisticated weapons against the forces? And it would be easy for us to murder the troops.” For starters the Chief Minister has to revamp his administration. Changes in the top civilian and police officers could signal that the Government was responding to the anger on the street. Undoubtedly, it is going to take more than a stern iron hand to annihilate the separatists-choreographed fundamentalist Intifada and begin taking baby steps afresh on the long slow journey to peace and normalcy. Will Omar be able to deliver?

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Kerala A Muslim State?

Marxist Chief Minister, V.S. Achutanandan’s sharp denunciation last week of the extremist Popular Front of India and its sinister plan to make Kerala a Muslim majority State has yielded a welcome backlash. The leaders of the Muslim League and other frontline Muslim organizations met in Kottakul in the State’s Muslim-majority district of Malappuram and decided to isolate extremist Islamic outfits like the Popular Front of India and the Jamait-e-Islami. They also decided to launch active campaigns against “religious extremism”. The meeting held that the activities of such organizations, which they claimed were a minority among the Muslims of the State had brought “blame and shame” to the entire community. Remember, the PFI activists alleged to have recently chopped off the right hand of Prof T.J. Joseph for “insulting” the Prophet. They are also accused of having disbursed funds and provided training and weapons to the youth to eliminate opponents and make Kerala a Muslim State!

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Water Woes Of The South

Come monsoon and the States up the ante on mutual disputes. Specially, the Southern satraps who are busy eyeballing each other over river water and dams: Kerala v/s Tamil Nadu, Tamil Nadu v/s Karnataka, Karnataka v/s Andhra Pradesh and Andhra v/s Maharashtra. While Kerala and Tamil Nadu fight over the height and safety of the century-old Mullaperiyar dam on their border and Tamil Nadu and Karnataka squabble about the pattern of water sharing from the Cauvery river, Karnataka and Andhra disagree on the height of the Alamati dam over the Krishna river and Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh quarrel over the Babhli dam on the Godavari river.

Sadly, inter-State talks over interlinking of the rivers continue to meander incessantly with no end to the disputes. Tribunals have failed to redress grievances and announce its awards. And, where awards have been given, they are contested. Cauvery Tribunal Award is a case in point. Undoubtedly, political expediency is the root cause of the problem. Parties take conflicting positions for political reasons. Clearly, the time has come for the Centre to play a constructive role and the State politicians to take quick rationale decisions. Instead of harping on issues like riparian rights, the States should work out an ideal water-sharing formula, aided by New Delhi.

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Belgaum Fracas In Lok Sabha

If water is causing ‘de-silting’ of Southern ties, it’s land which is the bedrock of continuing bad blood between Maharashtra and Karnataka. Both are battling it out over Karnataka’s Belgaum district. The five-decades-old boundary row suddenly erupted in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday as MPs caught in the intra-State linguistic currents forced an adjournment of the House. All over the Central Government's affidavit in the Supreme Court last month, that the disputed district could not be made a part of Maharashtra merely because a majority of the population there spoke Marathi. Given the potential political damage to Congress-NCP ties, Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan has reiterated his demand for Union Territory status for about 800 Marathi-speaking villages of the district. Only, to earn a sharp rebuke from the BJP-ruled Karnataka.

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Landslide Win For TRS

The demand for the creation of a separate state of Telangana bounced back to political centre-stage post the Telangana Rashtriya Samiti’s (TRS) landslide victory in the Assembly by-polls last week. Billed as a referendum on Telangana’s statehood demand raised by TRS’s chief, Chandrashekhar Rao, the Party won 11 of the 12 seats. For the ruling Congress, it was a triple blow. Not only was it mauled in the minority-dominated constituencies but rubbing salt on its wounds, its State President was defeated by arch rival BJP candidate. Also, it could embolden the late CM Rajasekhara Reddy’s son Jaganmohan to intensify his rebellion. Rued a senior leader to Insaf, “The Centre can no longer ignore the surge in Telangana sentiment. We need to take an immediate call on both issues.”

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Mamata’s CPM Woes

The battle for West Bengal’s Raj gaddi has reached ludicrous proportions. From cockroaches in food, down removing fishplates from rail tracks to train sabotages, Trinamool Mamata Banerjee’s litany of allegations against bête noir CPM has it all. But her latest, “CPM has formed suicide squads to kill me,” takes the cake in farcicality. "CPM ministers and leaders are keeping a watch on my movements. They are inquiring about my movements. Is it fair politics? They cannot fight us politically. They are cowards," she asserted. Cowardice apart, all’s ‘fair’ in love and war. With the devil taking the hindmost! In Mamata’s lingo: CPM. ---IFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)