Round The States

15 January 2015, New Delhi

Delhi’s Big Battle

BJP GETS A CM FACE?

By Insaf

The BJP can heave a sigh of relief. Rather it can be buoyant. And while it won’t like to admit, it has got its elusive chief ministerial candidate for the big battle in Delhi. Handicapped with internal politics of the State unit and no heavyweight candidate to lead the party, the ruling BJP at the Centre was at odds to counter AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal campaign by Prime Minister Modi. But that is no longer the case. Kiran Bedi, former IPS officer and a familiar face at Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement has ‘finally plunged’ into politics by joining the BJP. While Party President Amit Shah and others maintain the CM would be decided by the Parliamentary Board, Kiran’s induction speech suggests the deal has been struck. She said: Delhi needed a stable, strong, corruption-free and clear-headed government and that she had “40 years of administrative experience, time and energy to make Delhi a world-class capital city”! Indeed, the credibility of Kiran as a police officer, a social worker, a crusader for women’s rights et al would all be played to the hilt during the campaign. Will this prove to be Shah’s trump card and will it take out the steam from Kejriwal and team’s onslaught?  Time will soon tell whether this has turned out to be yet another masterstroke by Shah. There will be more, he promised.          

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Gujarat To India

Gujarat may well be on its way of becoming the ‘global gateway to India’. Signs of it being so in future were very much evident to Insaf at the recently-concluded Vibrant Gujarat Summit. Having used the State as the pedestal for Chief Ministership to Prime Ministership, Narendra Modi went a step further to sell his next dream of “Make in India” to the mega international community present. While he wooed both top government and corporate representatives from ‘110 countries’, to invest now in India, the latter were all praise for Modi, his vision and of course expressed keen interest in becoming partners in growth. The mood since the first Summit in 2003 by Modi had undergone a sea change this 2015 summit under new Chief Minister Anandiben Patel. PM Modi’s presence not only gave it a national perspective but ensured that a galaxy of top Union ministers, such as Finance, Defence, Education, Petroleum, Food Processing spelt out his Government’s commitment towards a “transparent and fair” environment at the various seminars. The previous six summits under Modi did wonders for the State of Gujarat of 60 million people, the big question is whether this mega show will do the trick for India.     

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Telangana’s Concrete Jungle

Fears of Telangana becoming a concrete jungle are emerging. The Opposition is up in arms against K Chandrasekhar Rao government’s bid to arbitrarily change land use from conservation zones to residential and commercial. Recently, in just three days, 28 orders are said to have been issued to this effect. As a result, soon land earmarked for development of parks, open spaces, green belt and parks will disappear and be replaced by residential and commercial complexes. For example, an already congested capital of Hyderabad will see another 145 acres of conservation zone be replaced by bricks and mortar. This apart, green belts outside city limits too shall not be spared, forcing both Congress and BJP to warn against the ‘wiping out the lungs’ of the new State. But the new dispensation is firm and in denial mode. It claims ‘only those lands which were not in use, or were being used for other purposes than the specified reasons were being converted to pave way for development.’ The question is at what cost?

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Minority Aid In States

Students from minority communities in States across the country can look forward to ‘ache din’ (better days). In a letter to Chief Ministers, Minster for Minority Affairs Najma Heptullah has urged them to ensure full enrolment of such students under Aadhaar. This will help them to avail the post-matric and merit-cum-means scholarships, which are distributed through the direct benefits transfer method through their bank accounts, linked to Aadhaar. The scholarship scheme for minority communities, including Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists and Christians, was initially started on 75:25 ratio between the Centre and States. However, with the States no longer having to chip in their share, these scholarships are much in demand. But the loopholes in the delivery system need to be plugged, lest these lapse. While many States have facilitated special registration of students in the Aadhaar Unique Identification Card, there is obviously need to do more. Hope the nudge from the Centre expedites matters.

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Kerala’s Maoists Strategy?

Should the Kerala government rethink its strategy to counter Maoists? Well, this is what its chief whip P C George is suggesting. Apparently, he is peeved at the idea of the Congress-led ‘government spending crores of rupees to arrest two dozen Maoists’, likely to be hiding inside forests in North Kerala. Ideally, he would like the police to stop its ongoing hunt for Maoists as he did not agree with the ‘unashamed attempt of police officials to pocket money under the guise of hunt for Maoists’! His advice: the Maoists should not be targeted with weapons but be countered ideologically. Obviously, George’s statement in Thrissur has not gone down well with the ruling establishment. Instead of giving sermons, George should have advised the Maoists to lay down their weapons first, is Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala response. While the two may battle out their convictions, the fact is that much of what the chief whip has said may be true for other States too. Maoists to a large extent are fighting for rights of tribals and the latter craves for attention. A change in approach may not be off the mark, after all.          

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Stir Ends In Bengal Univ

Curtains have finally come down on the Jadavpur University students’ agitation. With West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee deciding to step in after four months since the stir began, Vice Chancellor Abhijit Chakraborty put in his papers as demanded. The students, including 15 on hunger strike since January 5 called off their protest on Monday last. However, amidst joyous celebrations, Mamata’s silence all these months has been intriguing. Recall the unrest began in September 17, with the students’ gheraoed the VC’s office demanding fresh probe into the reported sexual harassment of a girl student in August. The VC had called in the police and many students were injured in the lathicharge. Since then the unrest became worse, with majority of students even refusing to accept their degrees from Governor and Chancellor Tripathi at the convocation in December. While students hailed their victory as ‘moral’, political undercurrents were not being ruled out. The unrest got support from Left-backed Jadavpur University Teachers’ Association, raising the question that the impasse may have ended earlier had it not got entangled with politics. ---INFA

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