Round The States

New Delhi, 23 January 2014

Christians Butt Of Attacks

THREE CONGRESS STATES TOP LIST

By Insaf

Minorities seem to be the chosen community for perpetrating attacks including harassment, mal-treatment, harrying et al. Not only Muslims, but Christians too are being persecuted across the country, with over 4000 cases of crimes being reported against this group last year alone. This was underscored in a recent report by the Catholic Secular Forum (CSF) headed by ex-Bombay and Karnataka High Court Judge Justice Michael Sardana. Shockingly, Congress-ruled Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh topped the list of offences followed by Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Rajasthan and Delhi according. If the CSF is to be believed, Maharashtra could will be the next Hindutva laboratory as the lower echelons of the Administration and the State police are highly ‘saffronised’. The good news is that the Siddaramaiah-led Congress Government in neighbouring Karnataka is more sympathetic and sensitive to the woes of this minority population.

The crimes encompass desecration of churches, heritage crosses and statues of Jesus, attacks on clergy and community leaders as also women and children becoming victims of violence. Primarily, one of the main causes of this community being targeted is because they do not retaliate unlike “communal clashes” between Muslims and Hindus. Consequently, these low intensity though widespread altercations do not attract similar attention. In fact, many observers pin these misdemeanours as a backlash of Hindutva propaganda and what they perceive as mass conversions of Hindus to Christianity, despite, that data does not corroborate this. It remains to be seen if the Centre and State Government act on the CSF report and dole our pre-elections sops to the community.

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UP Trouble For Rahul, Akhilesh

The temperature in Uttar Pradesh is bound to rise this election season. Signs of protests by voters are emerging for at least the Congress and the ruling Samajwadi Party young scions. On Wednesday last, two separate incidents should make both the parties frown. In his bastion Amethi, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi was shown black flags, perhaps for the first time. AAP volunteers were joined by members of the Bharatiya Kisan Union and Jan Kalyan Samiti, protesting against poor electric supply and bad roads. While Rahul passed on the buck to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav saying his Government was not utilising Central funds, he should see the writing on the wall that Amethi may no longer be a cakewalk. Likewise, Akhilesh too needs to worry, as some youth, protesting against unemployment squatted in front of his convoy in Kannauj, his wife Dimple’s constituency. While a probe has been ordered into the ‘security breach’, Akhilesh shouldn’t see it just as that. Times are changing and the young leaders would need to get their act together to face the music.   

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Makeover Of Rajasthan Cong

The idiom, ‘der aye, durast aaye’ (late coming, but welcome) applies to the Rajasthan Congress. Smarting under an unimaginable defeat in the recent Assembly election, the grand old party finally decided to change guard. Union minister for Corporate Affairs Sachin Pilot was anointed the PCC chief, something the Congress high command should have done three months before the State elections rather than poll 2014. The party in the 200 member Assembly was routed – from 143 seats in power to a mere 21 seats! With a big challenge staring him in the face, in Jaipur, Jr Pilot asserted that this time the ruling BJP would not be allowed a cakewalk and that he would reach out to people in villages to “rebuild the party over the next two years.” This apart, he gave hope to the workers and said they would not chase or follow leaders both will go hand-in-hand for the big battle. Will he be able to give a tough fight and will outgoing PCC chief and other leaders give him the much-needed support, is what he needs to watch out for.  

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Mizo Sigh of Relief 

Mizoram is heaving a muted sigh of relief. With two Mizo drivers being released after being in captivity by militants since last November, the ethnic tension in western part of the State is said to be easing. The incident had created such fear that over 500 people belonging to the Reang tribe had moved across to Tripura in search of shelter. However, the third hostage, a professional of a telecom firm is still in the militants’ captivity, suspected to be members of the National Liberation Front of Tripura and aided by Reang militants. While fingers are being crossed for his release too, nagging anxiety persists over tribal refugees, called Bru, continuing to stay in makeshift camps in Tripura for the past 17 years. Their numbers are close to 35,000-odd as they fled following ethnic trouble with the majority Mizos. Chief Ministers of both the States, particularly Tripura has been persuading the Union Home Ministry to resolve the issue. Will it be able to put down a formal agreement between the Centre-the States-tribal leaders, for the refugees’ safe return to their homes along and rehabilitation?

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Rape & Dowry Continue to Draw Blood

Rape and dowry continue to be the flavour of heinous crime against women and draw blood. In the most recent incident which has sent shock waves across the country, a 20-year old tribal woman was gang-rapped all night long by 13 persons including her village head man Tuesday in West Bengal’s Birhum district. More scandalous, what makes this case stand out, is that this horrific assault on the woman’s modesty was ordered by her community elders as a punishment for her falling in love with a man from a different community. Even as the police have arrested the accused, the village elders remain unrepentant and justify their action as wanting to make an example of this hapless girl finding a man outside her community. Sadly, from Haryana’s Khap Panchayat’s to West Bengal’s Kangaroo courts, women continue to be victims of self-anointed moralists, what next? 

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Judge Charged With Dowry

If self-styled moralists mete out justice what should one say of those who deliver justice to the common man? In a most disgraceful incident of justice denied, an Andhra High Court Judge’s daughter-in-law has lodged a dowry harassment complaint against her husband and  his family members at Chennai’s commissionerate. Her complaint? Her in-laws demanded Rs 50 lakhs over and above the Rs 44 lakhs dowry paid to them by her father. More,  when this was refused they not only starved her but also her father-in-law filed a false police complaint against her father and her husband ransacked the parental home. Whither justice? ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)