Round
The States
New Delhi, 28 April
2018
AFSPA Withdrawn
TWO STATES RENEW HOPE, PEACE
By Insaf
Holding peace is
rewarding. The Centre has rightly acknowledged it in two north eastern States.
Early this week, Union Home Ministry revoked the ‘draconian’ Armed Forces
(Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) from Meghalaya and in Arunachal Pradesh reduced its
applicability to half--eight police stations instead of 16. Recall, the Act was
withdrawn from Tripura in 2015 and is not in operation in Mizoram. Indeed, the recent
decision gives hope as well as throws a challenge to the others—Nagaland, most
of Assam and Manipur-- that they need to work harder to convince the Centre as
peace continues to usher in so that the Act, which provides total immunity to
security forces from prosecution,
becomes passé. If there is a will, there is a way. Precisely, Delhi cannot
remain adamant and simply dismiss human rights groups demand that the Act be abrogated.
Even the Supreme Court has noted that the legal protection offered by ASFPA
cannot be absolute. Further, its extension puts a big question mark on the competence
of the State government and security forces to offer safety to its people.
Jammu and Kashmir is a point in case. The Centre must look beyond. It cannot
view everything as black and white.
* * * * * *
Karnataka
Hotting Up
Karnataka’s political
temperature is heating up faster than the summer season. With polling just
about two weeks from now, and filing of nominations ending on Tuesday last,
electioneering has gone into top gear. While the murky infighting within the
parties for getting a party ticket by the ‘tainted’ is more or less over, the tu-tu-mein-mein between the ruling
Congress and waiting in the wings, BJP is expected to hit the lowest so far.
The comparatively sober JD-S, which has put up more or less similar number of
candidates for the 224-member Assembly, may well turn out to be “kingmaker’. So
say poll surveys. In all 3,374 candidates have filed nominations: 250 (Cong),
282 (BJP), 231 (JD-S), large chunk of independents, 1,673 and 938 (regional
parties/fringe outfits). Predicting a “photo-finish’ between the Congress and
BJP, with each expected to get a little less than a 100 seats each, (short of
the 112 mark), the surveys suggest it will be the Deve Gowda team which would
call the shots at the end with its ‘40-odd’ seats. However, all eyes would be
on how BJP mascot Modi’s five mega rallies from May 1 pan out. Will he again
manage to upset the applecart yet again?
* * * * * *
Bengal’s
Novel Idea
The Calcutta High
Court has set a novel precedence. With the ruling Trinamool Congress cadres
running a muck, preventing prospective candidates from filing nominations for
the panchayat polls, the HC sees WhatsApp helping it to do justice. On Tuesday
last, it directed the State Election Commission to accept nominations of nine
panchayat poll candidates from Bhangar, who had sent their papers to the Block Development
Officer through WhatsApp. To ensure there was no fresh stay on the poll
process, it warned the SEC from rejecting their papers. This, after the SEC had
said the papers would be rejected as these were not properly filed and the fees
too hadn’t been paid. The HC would not hear none of this. In fact, a day
earlier, it had warned the SEC if nominations weren’t allowed to be filed by
“armed hooligans’ then it would invite ‘contempt of court.’ Predictably, the
SEC has put the valid stamp on these nominations. How the candidates fare is
anybody’s guess, but one can say that WhatsApp has made a mark in more than the
conventional way.
* * * * * *
Tripura
Teething Hitch
Tripura is giving the
BJP teething problems. Its ally, the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura
(IPFT), is unwilling to be a sleeping partner. On Wednesday last, it threatened
to launch a ‘democratic movement’ unless its demands are not met. One, “inter-ministerial
modality committee” must be set up within the next three months to study the
socio-economic and cultural issues of the indigenous people. Two, it must get another
Cabinet berth. Obviously, Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb cannot treat it as
junior partner, but an equal, even if its numbers are less. The Front has 8
MLAs as against BJP’s 36. IPFT Vice President Debbarma refreshed its partner’s
memory saying the Home Ministry had on 8 January announced to set up the
committee after its delegation met Modi and Rajnath Singh. No word till
now! Further, given the provision of a
12-member Cabinet, it wants one of the three vacancies to be filled by its
member, as the BJP has seven and it only two. How soon will the BJP act is the
big question. It will do well to remember the adage ‘a stitch in time saves
nine!’
* * * * * *
Rajasthan
‘Joke’ on Farmers
It’s a cruel joke
being played in Rajasthan. Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria’s statement on
farmers’ suicide should add fuel to fire. At a media conference on Wednesday
last, he claimed “as per records, no farmer had committed suicide in the State
due to debt between 2009 and 2017”, and ‘only three peasants’ killed themselves
in 2015 during BJP-rule. He was responding to Congress’ accusation that 91
farmers had committed suicide because of their debts during Vasundhara Raje’s
rule. Kataria’s explanation is also novel. All deaths cannot be linked to
debt-related suicides and this can only be established through ‘suicide note
and after police investigation. A pathetic argument, to say the least. Worse,
he sought to indulge in the usual one-upmanship: BJP had done a lot better than
the Congress when it came to farmers’ welfare and asked the rivals to prove
their record. The State, which is seen by Niti Ayog as one keeping the nation backward,
among others, must desist from such statements as it only adds insult to injury
to the country’s farmers.
* * * * * *
Punjab
Sets Standards
Uneducated, don’t
dream of being a minister, at least in Punjab. Well, this is a clear message
Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has given to his team of MLAs in Punjab. While
inducting nine new ministers, he ensured that they met the criteria, i.e. they must
have studied up to 10th class. A bare minimum. Obviously, the Chief
wants to send the strong message that his campaign of “Padho Punjab, Padhao Punjab’ (Read Punjab, Teach Punjab) is not a
mere slogan, as most campaigns turn out to be. But there is heart burn amongst
aspirants as some have studied up to Class 8 or Class 9 but are not
matriculates. If a minister is Class 12 drop out it doesn’t disqualify him,
rather it turns out to be a plus point here. All eyes will, however, be how
these ministers perform. More importantly, it may be worth a watch to see if
the trend makes some MLAs go back to school. ---INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
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