|
Round
The States
New Delhi, 9 September 2023
Sanatan Dharma
TN TRIGGERS NDA-INDIA ROW
By Insaf
DMK’s minister and Chief Minister Stalin’s son Udhayanidhi has raised a big political storm. By
declaring that Sanatan Dharma is against equality and social justice, and it ‘must
be eradicated, like dengue, mosquitoes, malaria and corona’, he has given the BJP
not just a handle to hit at the southern party, but INDIA bloc as well. Expectedly,
Prime Minister Modi seized the opportunity and asked his Council of Ministers to
get proactive to expose and refute such statements. The BJP’s IT cell tweeted ‘observations
(Udhayanidhi’s)were akin to calling for genocide of 80% of nation's population’.
It didn’t stop DMK’s leader A Rajato up the ante and he equatedSanatan
Dharmawith more dreaded diseases like ‘leprosy and HIV’.More pot shots flew
with MK Stalin clarifying his son’s comments were against ‘inhuman principles’being
preached andaccused BJP of being ‘desperate’ to create division in INDIA bloc.
Not wrong, as the statement would put the bloc on the
back foot. For starters, Congress reacted: ‘neither the Constitution allows
this, nor the party believes in any of thesecomments.’ But asserted every
single member of INDIA alliance has immense respect for all faiths, communities
and beliefs. Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray group has disapproved the
remarks by Udhayanidhi saying “it is not right to attract the anger of the
entire country and that no one agrees with his statement.” AAP supremo and Delhi
Chief Minister Kejriwal said: “I am from Sanatan Dharma. Many of you also
belong to Sanatan Dharma. I feel we should respect each other’s religion and
not speak wrong against it. It is not right. Everyone should respect each other’s
religion.” The row is promising to get hotter on the political front, but Tamil
Nadu needs to deal with it legally. A petition is filed in the Supreme Court
seeking direction for registration of an FIR against Udhayanidhi and Raja and a
contempt notice against Delhi and Chennai police, accusing them of not
implementing its directions on hate speech. Worth a watch.
* * * * * * *
Ladakh Polls
Farooq Abdullah’s National Conference has good reason
to be on a high and the Ladakh administration on a low. On Wednesday last, the
Supreme Court set aside the latter’s August 5 notification for elections to the
30-member Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Kargil, imposed a
cost of Rs 1 lakh on it and ordered issuance of a fresh poll schedule within a
week. This after the apex court dismissed the UT administration’s plea against
a single bench order allowing NC candidates to contest on the party symbol
‘plough’ saying NC is entitled to it. A stubborn administration had also
refused to abide by J&K and Ladakh High Court upholding the single bench
order, which had directed NC to approach the poll department to notify the
‘plough’ already allotted to it. The administration claimed the erstwhile state
of J&K had been bifurcated into two UTs and NC was thus not a State party.
However, SC disagreed saying: While the ‘general principle’, is Constitutional
courts don’t intervene once an election process is set in motion, they may be
‘duty-bound’ to do so ‘where issues crop up, indicating unjust executive action
or an attempt to disturb a level-playing field between candidates and/or
political parties with no justifiable or intelligible basis… elections to any
office/body are required to be free, fair and transparent. Elections lie at the
core of democracy. The authority entrusted by law to hold/conduct such
elections is to be completely independent of any extraneous
influence/consideration”. The Ladakh administration must do what is asked and
stop playing ducks and drakes.
* * * * * * *
Bengal
Day
West Bengal will have its own State Day, whether the
Centre and its Governor likes it or not. On Thursday last, the Assembly passed
a resolution to observe Polia Baisakh, Bengali New Year Day, as ‘Bangla
Diwas’, with 167 members voting in favour (73%) and 62 BJP MLAs against. A
determined Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said: “I support the proposal of
making Rabindranath Tagore's Banglar Mati Banglar Jol (Bengal’s
soil, Bengal’s water) the official song of Bengal. People of Bengal don’t
support June 20which is synonymous with violence and bloodshed which marked
partition as the state foundation day.” (That day in 1947, is centre’s choice
as MLAs from western part of Bengal voted for partition of the province).Noting
there’s never been any precedence of observing June 20 as foundation day, she insisted
it must be opposed and therefore the resolution. Clearly, the BJP, Congress and
CPM boycotting the all-party meeting called last month to discuss the issue
didn’t count. To BJPLoP’s reaction that Governor Bose won’t give assent to the
resolution, Mamata said it doesn’t require his nod, as only a bill passed by Assembly
does. We will just send a copy of the resolution to Raj Bhavan (for
information) and we will observe this day!’ The battle continues.
* * * * * * *
Maha Quota Stir
Maharashtra is yet again bitten by the reservation bug.
Giving the Opposition a new opportunity to hit out at Ekanth Shinde government
over handling of the protests. The government’s appeal to protestors led by Manoj
Jarange Patil, local leader from Jalna, demanding reservation for Marathas, is
falling on deaf ears so far. On Thursday last, Patil affirmed his hunger strike
(since August 29) will continue till government relaxes the condition seeking ‘genealogical
records’ for a Kunbi caste certificate from Nizam-era in the General Resolution
(GR)issued a day earlier to get them on board. He demanded the document be
issued to all Marathas without discrimination. Reasoning: “None of us have any
such documents. If we did, there was no need for this GR. Corrections need to
be made and we shall call off the strike.”Recall, Marathwada was part of
erstwhile Nizam-ruled Hyderabad kingdom before it became part of Maharashtra.The
government is clearly under pressure as other than finding ways and means tofulfil
Shinde’s assurance to Maratha community that he will work towards getting them
reservation in government jobs and education, it has to deal with Maratha
outfits and Opposition parties demand for Dy Chief Minister Fadnavis’s
resignation over the brutal police lathi charge on protestors last week. With
that a clear no-go, Patil and team have been urged to come to Mumbai for further
talks and that with legal experts the matter shall be discussed ‘thoroughly.’
Fingers are obviously going to be kept crossed.
* * * * * * *
Manipur Facts Or Fiction
Essential supplies of food and medicine has got Manipur
embroiled in an unsavoury controversy. On one hand, BJP-led government claims
in Supreme Court the State faces no dearth of these, whereas counsel for its
3-member committee to oversee relief and rehabilitation of victims of ethnic
violence says people were suffering due to economic blockade, following ‘All
Tribal Students Union’s call to block 3 major highways. It’s untrue and
‘unfortunate’ the Court’s platform is being ‘misutilised’ said chief Secretary
adding claims of counsel and other applicants/petitioners were ‘without any
factual basis.’ This as ‘essential supplies were being air-dropped, daily
reviews conducted with district administration, additional security personnel
deployed along NH-37 to ensure unhindered movement of convoys, instructions
given to sell essential items as subsidised prices,’ et al. Upset over the
‘direct attack’ on her, the counsel sought to recuse herself from appearing for
the committee, as her statements ‘were only on committee’s instructions.’ But
the court was firm ‘counsel appearing before court do so as its officers and
are responsible to this court.’ That settled, the Biren Singh government better
get its act together as protest and firing between security forces and armed men
continue to be reported. Tension is far from eased. ---INFA
(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)
|
Archives 
