Round The States
New Delhi, 18
September 2021
Gujarat
MakeOver
CASTE
POLITICS TO THE FORE
By Insaf
It’s too early to say
‘All’s well, that ends well’ in BJP-ruled Gujarat. On Thursday last, a
24-member Cabinet was administered oath at Raj Bhavan, though none from
previous Vijay Rupani-led ministry made it! The sudden change in leadership of
Rupani to first time MLA Bhupendra Patel, with just over a year to go for
Assembly polls, the post of deputy CM done away with and Cabinet formation
deferred by a day after supporters of a BJP MLA created a ruckus outside Raj
Bhavan on Wednesday last, doesn’t bode well for party which has ruled the State
for 16 years. Clearly, with Patel, who belongs to the Kadva sub-group of the influential
Patidar community and being the first from this section, is being seen as the
dark horse, who should help the party sail through in the 182-member Assembly.
The move,clearly is to pacify the Patidar community, its core vote bank, which is
getting disillusioned. Recall, AAP in February secured sizeable support from
Leuva Patidars and won 27 seats in civic body polls in Surat, gaining an edge
in three of 12 Assembly seats there; also under Rupani, the BJP had won only 99
seats in the Assembly, its lowest tally since 1995, and was being questioned by
the party over mishandling of the pandemic. The big question is whether the new
top man can neutralise the damage done. Having the support of Modi-Shah team
may not be enough.
* * * * *
UP’s Abbajaan
Uttar Pradesh Chief
Minister Yogi Adityanath has as expected set the tone and tenor for the ensuing
State Assembly elections—communally polarise the debate and the vote bank. His
latest ‘abbajaan’ (father in Urdu), has not only stoked a bitter row
with the Opposition parties, but is trending high on social media. At a public rally
in Kushinagar district he said: “2017 ke pahle kya sabhi ko ration milta
tha?....Abbajaan kahne wale sara ration hajam kar lete the," (did
everyone get ration before 2017?...Those, who used the word abbajjan
used to digest all the ration). It’s the same old ‘politics of appeasement’ by
previous governments versus ‘politics of development’ of BJP. But can he claim
the Muslim minority community is seeing ‘achche din’? Has he dealt with
their economic concerns or is simply taking the Hindutva rhetoric forward? He
claimed PMModihas changed the country’s “political agenda”, which was earlier
limited to caste, faith, religion, place, language and family, but today “people
from every class are getting benefits of development….” In the same breath, he
questions whether previous governments of Congress, SP or BSP would have built
the Ram temple in Ayodhya? Playing on religious sentiments and not so-called
development is what UP elections will end up with. Nirvachan Sadan must be on
guard. The battle of the ballot is going to be bitter, but it must ensure the
secular fabric, already torn, is not allowed to be tattered.
* * * * *
MP Tribals Saga
Tribals feel insecure
in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh and there is a rise in cases of atrocities against
them is a not an off-the cuff statement. The State, with the largest tribal
population in the country, recorded 2,401 cases of atrocities against them in
2020 i.e. 25% more than 2019 (1922 cases) and beat Rajasthan’s tally of 1,878
cases. Worse, it chronicled the most rapes of tribal women in the same period!
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan must squirm, as these statistics are not
reeled out by the Opposition but the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) in
its 2020 report. The cases are registered under SC/ST (Prevention of
Atrocities) Act and turn out to be most against tribal population for past five
years. However, the government refutes the data saying it “only shows that
police records every case and every person gets justice in the state and soon
there will be a Gangster Act to curb crime against tribals, SC, women and poor
people.” This is rubbished by human right’s activists, who insist the spurt is
because tribals, who work as migrant labourers, were harassed on returning
home; their condition remains same since Independence; they feel unsafe, are
thrashed for land and being harassed by false cases lodged against them.
Opposition Congress has quipped: This data is nothing but a report card of 16
years of development plan of Chouhan! Need more be said.
* * * * *
J&K Domicile
Both J&K
administration and New Delhi must see the writing on the wall. There is utter
lack of enthusiasm among former residents of J&K, who moved out during the
late 80s following beginning of militancy, to take up the offer of domicile
certificates. As a result, the Dept of Disaster Management, Relief,
Rehabilitation and Reconstruction has extended the scheme, announced in May
last year, to a new deadline, 15 May 2022. With few Kashmiri Pandits and Sikhs
opting to register with Relief & Rehabilitation Commissioner (Migrants) at
Jammu, the office also decided to ‘hold special camps to accept applications at
places where a minimum of 50 such families are residing’. For example, the
exercise in Delhi, where 25,000 such families have settled, only 3000 turned up
of which 806 were registered on the spot. The certificates are meant to aid
migrants to own land, and get jobs and educational opportunities in the UT. But
there’s a bigger catch. The scheme comes at a time, when addition of their
numbers as domiciles would have political consequences, given that a
delimitation exercise is underway. Local political parties suspect it to boost
seats in Hindu-dominated Jammu. Be that as it may, the administration needs to gain
migrants’ confidence to consider ‘ghar wapasi.’ As of now, the message
they send out is winds of change aren’t blowing. The claim to ushering in a new
era, post revocation of Article 370, remains in Raj Bhavan, Secretariat or
North Block!
* * * * *
River Water Dispute
Will the bickering
over Krishna and Godavari river water disputes between two Telugu States of
Andhra Pradesh and Telangana finally come to end? Though the Centre is hoping
for an affirmative yes, the two States are wary of Delhi’s takeover of all
completed and ongoing major and medium irrigation projects on the two rivers
with effect from October 14, after a gazette notifications by Jal Shakti
Ministry in July, comes into effect. In all 36 irrigation projects on Krishna
river will come under maintenance and control of Krishna River Management Board
(KRMB) and another 70-odd projects under Godavari River Management Board
(KRMB). On Monday last, the Ministry held meetings with both the board’s
chairmen to discuss modalities on the functioning. But, there is a hitch. Both
States need to bear expenditure on
salaries and allowances of CISF personnel to man the irrigation projects as
well as deposit ₹200 crore each for the two Boards’ operation within next 2
months. But they have so far hinted a no to the latter. Unhappy over all
projects being taken over, they insist it should be only those under dispute
and thus defer implementation of the notification. Will Centre yield?
* * * * *
No Homestay
No more ‘homestay’
shall be permitted for tourists in the beautiful hilly Nilgiris district of
Tamil Nadu, orders the Madras High Court on Wednesday last. Reasoning: “arbitrary
sanctions or permission can’t be granted” as there appears to be ‘pure adhocism’
without an ‘environmental impact assessment study or a cap put in’. The bench
felt it was becoming increasingly ‘fashionable’ for residents here to retreat
into a corner of the property on weekends to open homestays for urban visitors
to enjoy the beauties of nature. But not anymore, till a plan is put in place
following studies and ‘a viable scientific report being obtained.’ The district
authorities must conduct inspections to ensure the homestay arrangements don’t continue
without permission in the ecologically sensitive region of the Nilgiris. A
dampener for some, but for nature lovers, a welcome move. ----INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
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