Round The States

New Delhi, 24 February 2024

Of ‘Honour’ & Politics

WB ROW GETS MURKIER

By Insaf 

Sandeshkhali in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district is becoming a political hot potato. It’s not just the ‘honour’ of the village women but also of the Sikh community in the State. Tempers are far from being pacified. On the one hand, fresh protests broke out on Friday last in the village as locals set fire to properties belonging to TMC leaders Shahjahan Sheikh and his brother Siraj for grabbing their land and sexually assaulting their women and on the other the Sikh community staged demonstration in front of BJP office in Kolkata on Wednesday last, expressing solidarity with an IPS officer who has alleged its party leader Suvendu Adhikari labelled him as a ‘Khalistani’, as he was deputed to prevent him from visiting Sandeshkhali. Similar protests were held by the Sikhs in few districts, and Congress, AAP and TMC promptly grabbed the opportunity and slammed BJP for ‘divisive politics.’ While Adhikari denied the allegations, TMC launched a digital protest with theme “I Am A Sikh, I Wear Turban, & I Am Not Khalistani,” and demanded an explanation from Prime Minister Modi. Guess it will get a response on his visit scheduled for 6 March. Will tables be turned?    

‘Dictator’ Raids

It’s happened – outspoken and a critic of Modi government, former J&K Governor Satya Pal Malik has come under CBI’s radar. Vendetta or it is own goal, is the big question? On Thursday last, raids were conducted at his premises and 29 other locations, all connected to alleged corruption in Rs 2,200-crore Kiru Hydropower project in Jammu. Recall, he had claimed being offered Rs 300-crore bribe for clearing two files, including this project, when he was Governor from August 23, 2018-October 30, 2019. As premises linked to him in Delhi’s Dwarka, R K Puram, Asian Games Village and in Gurugram and Baghpat were being searched, he posted on X: “I have been ill for last 3-4 days and am admitted to hospital. Despite this, my house is being raided by the dictator through government agencies. My driver and my assistant are also being raided and harassed unnecessarily. I am a farmer’s son, I will not be afraid of these raids. I am with the farmers.’ But CBI said raids covered premises of all involved in the April 2022 case, prompting him to accuse it of ‘harassing the whistle-blower himself’! Critic may be more appropriate given record of his statements: Pulwama terror attack could have been averted if Centre had not turned down his request for aircraft to move CRPF personnel; farmers can’t be humiliated; if Modi comes back in 2024 it’s the death of democracy and he must be stopped, etc. Nothing short of inviting wrath?  

Concern Over Farmers’ Stir

Home Ministry is tightening the screws on the Punjab government, with the farmers threatening to put their protest into top gear, with some breaks, following the death of a farmer at Khanouri border on Wednesday last, amid excessive police action. Agencies report 14,000-odd people have been allowed to gather at Shambhu barrier, with nearly 1,200 tractor-trolleys, 300 cars, 10 mini-buses and other small vehicles. Similarly, Punjab has allowed a gathering of around 4,500 people with close to 500 tractor-trolleys at the Dhabi-Gujran barrier. However, ‘law and order situation is deteriorating’ claims North block and has asked AAP government to take action to ‘curb disruptive activities’. Task impossible, as Centre itself has failed to make headway with the farmers’ demands so far. Plans are afoot now by farmers’ organisations to launch nationwide protests; demanded Rs 1 crore compensation for farmer’s family; called for ‘tractor pradarshan’ (demonstration) on Monday across the country; organise a mahapanchayat at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan on 14 March, etc. A stitch in time saves nine, is the idiom the Centre could do well with.  

INDIA Ties-UP

Uttar Pradesh and Delhi offer hope to INDIA bloc with seat-sharing for Lok Sabha polls between Congress and SP and AAP respectively appears to be working out. In Lucknow, the grand old party and SP announced on Wednesday last a tie-up in UP and Madhya Pradesh, with the latter leaving 17 of the 80 seats and getting a solitary seat Khajuraho respectively. Interestingly, Congress will contest in high profile constituencies of Raebareli, Amethi, and Varanasi and SP and allies shall fight rest of 63 seats. More good news followed. Congress and AAP agreed that former will contest 3 of the seven seats in Delhi. With all 7 seats with BJP in Delhi, the going is not easy, particularly for AAP. It has fresh accusations against the saffron party now. On Friday it claimed BJP was scared of the alliance, had asked it not to have one, and shall soon get the ED to arrest Kejriwal, following its 7^th summons in the liquor case. The allegations don’t cut much ice as it has agreed to share seats in Chandigarh, Goa, Gujarat, and Haryana with Congress, but will go solo in Punjab. Guess, have the cake and eat it too!   

Justice For Chandigarh

Three cheers to Supreme Court. The ‘rigged’ Chandigarh mayor poll has been set aside. On Tuesday last, not only did it instal declared defeated AAP-Congress nominee Kuldeep Kumar to the seat, hurriedly taken by BJP nominee Manoj Sonkar, but found returning officer Anil Masih ‘guilty of a serious misdemeanour’. It directed a show cause notice be issued to him under Section 340 of CrPC 1973 (offence affecting administration of justice), as “Pertinently, this is not an ordinary case of alleged malpractice by candidates in an election, but electoral misconduct by presiding officer himself.” Underlining ‘a free and fair electoral process is imperative for maintaining people’s trust in representative democracy,’ it said, “The ballots hadn’t been defaced when presiding officer put his mark at the bottom…each of the eight ballot papers, which were invalidated by Masih, the votes were duly cast in favour of Kumar…”, thereby upholding Kumar’s plea. Though Sonkar resigned 48 hours before the order, it didn’t stop the court to invoke Article 142 (empowering it to pass any decree or order necessary for doing complete justice in matters pending before it) given the “brazen nature of the malpractice, visible on camera, had made the situation all the more extraordinary...’ BJP must see it as a warning, lest it goes pink again!  

No Balm for Manipur

Too little, too late, is best way to describe Manipur High Court’s action on Wednesday last. It ordered the deletion of a paragraph from a March 2023 order that had asked Biren Singh government to consider including the Meitei community in the ST list within 4 weeks, which recall triggered the ethnic unrest and set the State on fire claiming hundreds of lives and displacing thousands. The single bench justified removal of the paragraph during a review petition saying it conflicted with Supreme Court’s constitution bench position. In effect, it accepted the thumb rule that courts shouldn’t overstep their jurisdiction in determining such categorisations. Recall, the top court when petitioned last May against that order had criticised it as ‘obnoxious’ as the High Court was ‘absolutely wrong’. However, it had refrained from staying the order as petitions challenging the order were pending with the larger division bench and invited tribal participation, particularly from the Kukis. Nearly a year since, the State is far from returning to normalcy. The ethnic divide between Kuki and Meitei people is complete.  Manipur is divided almost in two parts. It will take a lot more to bridge the gap. ---INFA 

(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)