Round The States
New Delhi, 1 February 2020
Bodo Accord
END OF VIOLENCE IN ASSAM?
By Insaf
Is it an end to the
violent Bodo movement in Assam? Envisioned yes, but there hangs a nagging uncertainty.
While there is no denying that Home Minister Amit Shah has maneuvered to ink a
“historic” tripartite agreement between Centre-State-Bodo groups, the timing is
significant signaling there may be more than meets the eyes. Assam and Sonowal
government are in the thick of protests against the CAA and the exercise seeks
to shift the focus as New Delhi tries to do elsewhere in the country. On Monday
last, with the four factions of National Democratic Front of Bodoland signing
the ‘Memorandum
of Settlement’, the signatories saw hope of “permanent solution” to the Bodo
issue. Promises include: reorganize areas and enhance powers of Bodoland
Territorial Council B, Assembly seats to go up from 40 to 60, rehabilitation of
surrendered militants and a special development package of Rs 1,500 crore for
the region. This apart, on Thursday last 1,615 armed cadres of various NDFB
factions with 130 weapons surrendered and they have been assured leniency. The
accord signed, the third since 1993, has had mixed reactions—hope on one side
and cynicism on the other. A real picture shall only emerge if and when the big
promises made are kept. Words, as such come easy.
* * * *
Delhi
Hots Up
Winter temperature in the national Capital,
Delhi, is not just turning warm but literally hotting up. The election campaign
for the next incumbent to seat of power is not just unsavory but vicious, to
say the least. It has the Nirvachan Sadan finally yielding the stick. As of
now, two BJP campaigners have come under its radar -- Finance Minister of State
Anurag Thakur and West Delhi MP Parvesh Verma. On Thursday last, the EC barred
the former from campaigning for three days for egging on the crowd to raise the
slogan “shoot the traitors”, Verma has been halted for four days for his
warning to voters that what happened to Kashmiri Pandits could happen in Delhi
and that lakhs of anti-CAA protesters in Shaheen Bagh ‘could enter homes to
rape and kill women.’ Worse, Verma was heard saying some ‘terrorists’ like
Arvind Kejriwal are hiding in Delhi. Interestingly, while AAP is trying to woo
the voters by reaching out with his governance report card, the BJP is banking
on the usual nationalist sentiments. Thus even Home Minister Amit Shah was
heard asking citizens to press the EVM button so hard that the “current” is felt
in Shaheen Bagh, where thousands, mostly women and children, have been protesting
against CAA since mid-December. Will the citizens oblige? February 8 is not too
far but long enough for the campaign to get murkier.
* * * *
Kerala Nasty Drama
Legislative decorum is
thrown to the winds in God’s own country. Kerala, which has added a first to
its list after passing a resolution against the CAA, may yet affix another one.
On Wednesday last, the UDF MLAs blocked Governor Arif Mohammed Khan inside
the State assembly with ‘go back’ slogans and placards against the CAA when he
was being ushered in by Chief Minister Vijayan and the Speaker. Not
just unprecedented, but many who believe in the sanctity of the Legislature
would say unacceptable. It took the ward and watch staff a good 10 minutes to clear
Arif’s way to the dais. Worse, the playing of the national anthem didn’t stop
them from carrying on their protest and when Arif started his address they
walked out. However, the Governor did well. Even though his disagreement with
Vijayan is known over the CAA, he did read out the policy statement (Resolution)
of the government as desired. Will the protesting MLAs at least feel the
shame?
* * * *
Bengal
Joins anti-CAA
West Bengal is the latest State to join the
anti-CAA bandwagon. On Monday last, the State Assembly, which met for a day
only, passed a resolution asking the Centre to take immediate steps to repeal
the CAA, saying it went against the country’s “pluralistic structure” and sought
to divide people on basis of religion. The State is the fourth after Kerala,
Punjab and Rajasthan to take on New Delhi and had both the Congress and Left
members support the move. Remember, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has also
said a no to NPR and has suspended work on its updation and skipped the meeting
called in Delhi. With the rumblings growing, two other States—Chhattisgarh and
Telangana have said they won’t implement the CAA. While the Centre obviously
needs to mull over tackling these belligerent States, it must take stock of
Odisha and Bihar’s announcements that they will remove the clause on date and
place of birth of parents in the NPR as it creates ‘unnecessary confusion’. As
the clause is optional there should be no problem. What should, however, be of
concern is that even those on board with it on CAA and NPR are unwilling to
give a blanket acceptance. More hurdles in offing?
* * * *
Bitter Battle In Bihar
There is a bitter
churning in Bihar politics. The ruling JD (U) has been besieged by dissidence,
not so much in numbers but by senior leaders. On Wednesday last, the party yielded
the stick and showed the door to its Vice President and poll strategist Prashant
Kishor and Rajya Sabha member Pavan Varma. The reason, the big two had differences
with President and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over the CAA and NPR and worse
were openly vociferous and “insulting” to their chief and even took digs at
Amit Shah. While for the leadership “loyalty to party’s discipline, decision and
leadership is the organisation’s basic mantra”,
Varma and Kishor sought to drive home the point that ideology was paramount.
Varma hit back wishing Nitish well in his “ambition of being CM of Bihar at any
cost.” He may not be wrong, as it’s obvious that Nitish is eyeing the kursi for another term as both the JD
(U) and BJP have announced the alliance remains for Assembly polls later this year. The removal would be welcome not only by partner BJP
but by leaders within the party as the rise of the two was a concern for some,
who were getting side-tracked. Is there more to follow? Time will tell.
* * * *
Traffic Choked Bengaluru
Bengaluru, which enjoys
the reputation of being the country’s major IT hub, is stagnant on the road! A
location technology company TomTom Traffic Index describes Karnataka’s capital
as ‘the world’s most traffic choked city’. The survey, conducted in 416 cities
in 57 countries, revealed that drivers in this southern city expect to spend an
average of 71% extra travel time stuck in traffic or driving during peak hours
plus the residents would spend an extra 243 hours, i.e., 10 days, three hours
in traffic each year. While this red signal does halt progress, the hit may be
softened by the fact that three other Indian cities are among the top 10.
Mumbai is on 4th position with 65% congestion, Pune is 5th with 59%
congestion and New Delhi falls into 8th place with 56% congestion. The
other global cities on the list include Manila, Bogota, Moscow, Lima Istanbul
and Jakarta. Of the 239 cities i.e. 57%, congestions levels have
increased between 2018 and 2019, with only 63 cities showing measurable
decreases, says the survey. Indeed, there is a long road to travel until
congestion levels are brought under control and it would be worth a watch to
see how Bengaluru takes on the lead. ----INFA
(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)
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