Round The States
New Delhi, 14 May 2016
Congress-CPM Ties
FRIEND IN BENGAL, FOE IN KERALA
By Insaf
Friend in one State, foe in the other is the kaleidoscopic
relationship between the Congress and CPM in West Bengal
and Kerala. While the adage your enemy’s enemy is my friend hold true in the
former where the Grand Dame has allied with the Left brigade to settle scores
with Mamata’s Trinamool in the State Assembly polls, in the latter the Parties
are opponents for the State’s Raj. Either which way, the electoral
understanding in the Western
State has confounded
Congressmen and Leftists with both reiterating that the pact is only
“Bengal-centric.” Meanwhile, in Kerala the friendship gloves have been
taken-off where the Left-led LDF is giving a hard fight to the Congress’s Oomen
Chandy led UDF Government to sweep the State polls. It remains to be seen
whether this not-so-friendly
Congress-CPM alliance will change the political alignment nationally and lead
to wider political cooperation between
the two. Clearly, the result of the State Assemblies polls holds the key.
* * * *
SC Rap On Drought
13 States facing acute
drought have earned the wrath of the Supreme Court. In a scathing 53 page
verdict the Court has severely reprimanded the Centre and States for their
‘lack of will’ in combating drought and providing succour to the people. Worse,
it pronounced them guilty of “washing its hands of” a national disaster which
has crippled one fourth of the country. To ensure speedy redressal, it has
asked the States to take the help of the National Disaster Response Force and
immediately set up a Disaster Mitigation Fund. It came down the Court.
Observing that the 2009 Manual for Drought Management and the National Disaster
Management Guidelines for Drought had remained paper tigers it made it
incumbent on the States to pull up their socks and ensure that the tenets of
the fundamental right to dignity of life of over 33 crores people.
* * * *
Only 10% Women Candidates
All the brouhaha about
women empowerment espoused by our leaders is nothing but talk. Shockingly,
there are barely 10 per cent women candidates in the four poll-bound States,
West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam
and Kerala. More scandalous, though Bengal
boast’s of a woman Chief Minister Mamata Bannerjee only 10 per cent of the
tickets were given to the fairer sex. Ditto is the case in Kerala and Assam, 8 and 9
per cent respectively. However, the silver lining is provided in Jayalalitha’s
Tamil Nadu which is has given a double leg-up to women power from 6 per cent to
11 per cent since the last Assembly
polls. Paradoxically, Parties acknowledge woman power and are actively wooing
them with various sops, maternity benefits, prohibition and pension schemes. Fingers
are crossed that even with the miniscule percentage, more women triumph! This
is not all. Even as all parties talk of uplifting the poor a cursory look at
the candidates shows an opposite picture. There are 202
crorepatis and 311 candidates with criminal cases in poll-bound Kerala alone. Of
these 43 are from Congress, 24 belong to the Left and 18 each of the BJP and
the Bharath Dharma Jana Sena. The figures would increase at least four fold in
the remaining four States going to polls. So much for clean politics.
* * * *
Manipur Gripped By Bandhs
North-eastern Manipur is in the grip of
protests and bands against outsiders. Predictably, with Assembly elections
barely nine months away, agitation to implement some form of the Inner Line
Permit (ILP) which restricts entry of outsiders in the State, has reared its
ugly head again. Towards that end, the group of civic organisations have come
under the umbrella of the joint committee for ILP in 2012 has been holding
bandhs thereby bringing life to a complete standstill in the capital Imphal to
put pressure that outsiders do not vote in the elections. Undeniably given the
uphill task in identifying who is illegal and who is not. All parties in the
State have decided to seek the Centre’s assistance to see if it is possible to
keep the outsiders out of the State. It is a moot point whether they will succeed?
* * * *
Litmus Test For AINRC
in Puducherry
What goes around comes around, this adage is true of
poll-bound Puducherry whereby for the All India NR Congress led by Chief
Minister N. Rangaswamy, Monday’s Assembly election is a litmus test. His ruling
party is engaged in a triangular contest with the Congress-DMK combined and the
Jayalalitha’s AIADMK. However, for the State’s longest serving Chief Minister a
feeling of dejavu in reverse has gripped his party in its tentacles. Recall, in
2011 Rangaswamy rode to power after breaking the Congress, triggering an exodus
of partymen and formed the AINRC but the opposite holds true in 2016. His
colleagues have jumped ship and have either returned to the Congress or joined
the AIADMK. Worse, the Chief Minister finds some of his own people speaking the
language of the Opposition accusing him of being authoritative and promoting
lop sided growth in the State. Who will emerge triumphant in the 30 MLA
Assembly which today has 15 AINRC MLAs,
7 Congressmen, 5 AIADMK, 2 DMK and 1 Independent. Also, will Rangaswamy match
his previous performance?
* * * *
Patriotism To the
Fore In Gujarat
In Mahatma Gandhi land Gujarat
patriotism Bharat Mata ki jai and Bharatiya Sanskriti rules the roost. Whereby
four text books for students of class IX and XI in the new academic season
would include a chapter on Nehru explaining Bharat Mata Ki Jai, Bharatiya
Sanskriti essayed by famed writer Hajari Prasad Dwivedi. The classes would also
have to learn and recite the poem Bharat Gaurav by Mathilisharan Gupta and a
song by Pt Bharat Vyas. Questionably, many wonder if this will help instill the
sentiments of nationalism among students as Hindi is the second language in the
State. ---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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