Round The States

New Delhi, 5 December 2014

‘Janata Parivar’

WITHERING STATE PARTIES?

By Insaf

The Centre appears to be becoming a unifying force for some States. The functioning of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his NDA Government has triggered the revival of the erstwhile “Janata Parivar”. Its six constituents, the SP, Janata Dal (Secular), Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal (United), Indian National Lok Dal and Samajwadi Janata, whose base is slowly but surely dwindling are working out the modalities to become ‘one party’. The modalities are to be worked out under the leadership of SP supremo, Mulayam Singh Yadav, as he has the largest number of seats, five MPs in Lok Sabha and 15 in Rajya Sabha. If the efforts become reality then Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Karnataka for starters will have one party less to contend with but ‘a unified force’ across borders sharing a common strategy against the Centre. To test waters, the group has decided to hold a dharna in New Delhi on December 22 against government’s “failure” on various counts and proposes to work together both in Parliament and outside. The group proposes to reach out to the Left Front as well to make the platform bigger. The big question is whether it will agree to forgo its identity, like the others, which too is not dead certain. Recall, the Janata Party was formed in 1977 against Indira Gandhi’s rule but over the decades it simply broke into splinter groups. Their coming together once again to oppose the Modi government on a united front is worth a watch. Will there be a miracle?  

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Setback For Kerala

Kerala is indeed dejected. Its Government received a major setback after the Supreme Court dismissed its plea to review the Mullaperiyar dam verdict passed in May last. The order had allowed Tamil Nadu to raise the water level in the dam from 136 ft to 142 ft. Importantly it had quashed the Kerala Government’s amended law which prevented its neighbour from raising the water level on grounds that the law “plainly seeks to nullify the judgement of this court which is constitutionally impermissible.” Significantly, it had noted that once the two States had subjected themselves to the jurisdiction of the court, it was not open for a State to seek indirect reversal of the verdict by enacting a law. While Kerala may mull over whether to opt for the last legal option available –of filing a curative petition in the court—the Supreme Court order should be a lesson for other litigating States not to try to enact laws contrary to the apex court’s orders.     

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Chhattisgarh Ambush

Chhattisgarh’s vision of becoming naxal-free was blurred yet again. On Monday last, Maoists struck in south Bastar’s Sukma district killing 14 CRPF personnel and injuring many others. The ambush saw the CRPF’s biggest single-day casualty and left Raman Singh’s Government eating its words of ‘finishing the Maoists in the State soon’. Only a week back, Maoists had struck in the same region considered to be a “liberated zone’ and injured seven CRPF. In a statement in Parliament, Home Minister Rajnath Singh assured there would be no let-up in operations and promised full support to the security forces in their fight. However, his words seem hollow given the shocking callousness towards those martyred. Uniforms like those worn by CRPF troops and jungle boots were found lying in a garbage dump near Ambedkar Hospital, in the State capital Raipur where autopsy of the slain soldiers was conducted a day earlier! The items are normally handed to local police as per procedure and the CRPF has assured an inquiry. But the damage has been done. A great dishonour, indeed.  

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Manipur Hopeful

Manipur is upbeat. It had a grand finale to its 10-day Sangai Festival, showcasing the State’s rich cultural heritage. With none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi gracing the occasion, there is renewed hope the State should truly become the gateway to South East Asia, as envisioned by Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh. Making a note of Modi’s “Act East” policy, Singh has set the ball rolling by drawing the PM’s attention to the State’s needs of development and connectivity in this regard. Regretting that the Border Roads Organisation had done precious little viz poor condition of the highway, he demanded upgrading of Imphal-Silchar Highway and early extension of railway line to Myanmar. Significantly, while welcoming the Centre’s moves to resolve insurgency in the North-East, he was firm that not an inch of Manipur’s territory would be sacrificed--a hint to neighbouring Nagaland, whose underground groups are demanding unification of “Naga populated areas”. With Modi publicly assuring the people that he would look into Ibobi’s demands, can the neglected State look forward to “ache din”? Well begun is half done!  

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Resurgent Nagaland? 

In Nagaland too there was much enthusiasm over Modi’s visit to Kohima to inaugurate the Hornbill Festival. However, while the PM spoke of the State’s potential he chose to remain silent on an early solution to the 60 years’ vexatious Naga political issue, as demanded by Chief Minister T R Zeliang. In fact, earlier speaking to Insaf, the CM welcomed Modi’s positive thinking and approach towards governance and was hopeful of action by the Centre to aid development strides and become self-reliant. Thus, there is dire need to improve infrastructure, the State to have its own skill development zone and tap the natural resources such as oil and gas, iron ore, limestone etc. However, the Centre needs to respect the State’s rules and procedures as per the special provision under section 371(A) of the Constitution. A case in point is the removal of AFSPA as passed by a resolution in the State Assembly, which New Delhi refuses to acknowledge. Not only does the CM propose to take it up with the Centre but also seek a review of the Inner Line Permit system. Time will tell how sincere is Modi in building a “resurgent and prosperous Nagaland.”           

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MP Revisits Tragedy

Madhya Pradesh’s capital Bhopal revisited the horrific gas tragedy which claimed over 5000 lives on the night of December 2-3 in 1984 and worse left tens of thousands incapacitated. All-religion prayers and protest rallies by NGOs marked the 30 anniversary of the world’s worst industrial disaster in old Bhopal area which housed the defunct Union Carbide factory. The demand for adequate compensation, proper medical treatment and severe punishment to those responsible was raised once again, as organisations representing the survivors insist that while the Government has compensated only 5,295 deaths, the numbers affected were 25,000. In response, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan stated that the government had given Rs 3,840 crore compensation to the 5.74 lakh affected persons and was proposing to give an additional Rs 675 crore. When and whether it would amount to giving justice to survivors and families of the dead is the big question. ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)