Round The States
New Delhi, 4 July 2013
Of Politics & Terrorism
NEW
DELHI Vs GUJARAT
By Insaf
The Ishrat Jahan
encounter case has become a hot political potato, post the CBI indicting six Gujarat police officers stating that it was a
cold-blooded fake killing. Recall in 2004, she along with three others were
branded terrorists and accused of planning to assassinate Gujarat Chief
Minister Narendra Modi which resulted in their being gunned down in the
outskirts of Ahmedabad. Predictably, it has led to a murky war of words between
arch rivals Congress and BJP. While the former has accused Modi and his then
Home Minister Amit Shah being behind the encounter and warned that the Chief
Minister would soon be exposed, the latter has retaliated by asserting that its
counterpart was politicising terror to
serve its own political ends, worse as usual by using the CBI. Notwithstanding
the tu tu mein mein, the case underscores dangerous portents. By involving the
IB’s role in the killing it has led to further mudding of the waters between
the CBI on the one hand and the country’s intelligence apparatus on the other.
The IB chief has bluntly stated that it would demoralise his cadres in having
their ear to the ground to keep terrorists at bay. Can our political leadership
please stop playing ducks and drakes with the nation’s security?
* * * *
Bengal Votebank Politics
Time for West Bengal’s
ruling TMC to learn a lesson or two on constitutional propriety against
religious vote bank politics. Much to its chagrin it can no longer dilly-dally
on the impending Panchayat polls on grounds that these clash with the holy
month of Ramzan. The polls shall be held as scheduled--July 11-25, thanks to
the Supreme Court rejecting both TMC and Congress plea seeking postponement or
re-arranging. Religious considerations that ‘one-third of the Muslim voters
would not be able to elect their representatives because they are fasting’
rightly did not gel with the apex court. Noting that the Constitution mandated
elections be held expeditiously before completion of its term, the SC pointed
out that given it was already over, it would not be swayed by religious
sentiments. Perhaps, the WB Government should have done its homework rather
than indulge in vote bank politics. It should have kept in mind that Islamic nations
don’t come to a standstill during Ramzan. Reports from Kolkata suggest that
Muslim intellectuals have drawn Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s attention to
the fact that Kuwait
is holding its parliamentary poll this month. If only they had done so earlier,
the Government could have spared itself the embarrassment!
* * * *
Jharkhand Naxal Attack
Maoist attack in Jharkhand, soon after Chhattisgarh, has
sent warning bells ringing all the way to New
Delhi. Obviously, the Centre’s strategy to fight the
Naxal menace with the States is not yielding desired results. On Wednesday
last, it had little option to send out a red-alert to all Maoist-affected
States urging them not only to be extra cautious but consider getting more
aggressive as planned. Additionally, the Centre has advised the States to
concentrate not only on core areas (such as inter-State borders) but also
‘non-core zones’ too, in the backdrop of Tuesday last ambush in Dumka district
in which an SP and five other policemen were killed. The Union Home Ministry
has sought that while there should be no let up in the offensive against the
Maoists in their strongholds, the States’ local police can ill-afford to ignore
warnings given by the CRPF, as in the recent-most case. While the advice should
be welcome by States, the Centre too should give credence to alerts coming from
them. Apparently, a Jharkhand MP has accused New Delhi of not paying heed to his counsel--
that the State’s Santhal Pargana, of which Dumka is a part, be included in the
highly Maoist-affected areas. His plea went unheeded for four years!
* * * *
Bihar Poll Overdrive
Talking of vote bank politics, Bihar
has gone into election poll overdrive for 2014. Having severed his ties with
the BJP for reasons well known, JD(U) Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is going all out to further woo the minorities.
On Tuesday last, his Cabinet approved Rs 800-odd crore to include 20 more
districts with concentration of minorities under the Multi-Sectoral Development
Programme, which is centrally-sponsored. Accordingly, ‘75 blocks and eight
towns’ will see development of madrasas and schools, and distribution of
scholarships during the 12th Five Year Plan. Nitish who has been cosying up to New Delhi, has got the
Centre to agree to give Rs 300-odd coroe of its share for minority
development. This apart, Nitish had one
of his Rajya Sabha MPs to host a meeting of the All-India Pasmanda Muslim Mehaz
in Patna on
Monday last. Though he chose not to be present at the meet despite posters
saying he was the Chief Guest, Nitish would be happy with its outcome.
Expectedly, the forum was used for NaMo bashing (accusing the Gujarat CM of
playing divisive politics) and Nitish being adorned as the “new Messiah of the
Muslims.” So much for secular credentials!
* * * *
NCR Expanded, New LG
Delhi which is bursting at the
seams has good news. The NCR Planning Board (NCRPB) has given the nod to
include two more districts of Haryana (Bhiwani and Mahendargarh) and one of
Rajasthan (Bharatpur) in the National Capital Region. This has been done to cut
down the pressure on health, educational and economic infrastructure of Delhi, says the Urban
Development Ministry. And how? There will be new growth centres in the
districts and shall attract investment. However, the NCR authorities will need
to ensure connectivity and infrastructure along with job opportunities. This
apart, the NCR shall have a new Lt Governor, Najeeb Jung, a former IAS officer
and VC of Jamia Millia Islamia, next month. His vision among other ideas is to
make Delhi a
safer place for women and remove encroachments on the Yamuna river banks. While
one can only hope for the former to happen, Delhi may soon be a better place to live in
as Jung, who has an MA from London School of Economics in social policy and
planning in developing countries could have refreshing ideas. Let’s keep
fingers crossed.
* * * *
Rajasthan’s Crorepati
Compounder!
Can one imagine a compounder in a hospital having assets
worth Rs 200 crore? Absurd as it sounds, there is such a case. The Sawai Man
Singh Hospital
in Jaipur, Rajasthan, is indeed an eye opener, insofar as how corrupt our
system can be. On Sunday last, its compounder, Mahesh Chand was caught taking a
bribe of Rs five lakhs. Peanuts, after what was eventually unearthed in raids
by the Anti-Corruption Bureau thereafter. Sharma held assets worth Rs 200
crores which includes a hospital in Mansoravar, a resort, a number of houses
and runs some nursing homes. And he has confessed to it all! The modus
operandi: being a member of the Indian Nursing Council since 2007, Sharma was
extracting money from nursing colleges for new course, accreditation, change in
number of seats etc as well would hold surprise inspection so that he could
bulldoze his way and extract money. This apart, he is also a partner in some
nursing colleges, which are yet to be investigated. It may well turn out to be
there’s a lot more than meets the eye.---INFA
(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)
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