Lokayat emagazine march2014 by lokayat lokayat

VOL 4 < ISSUE 1 < MARCH, 2014

INSIDE Rajasthan

SHREE MAA PRAKASHAN PVT. LTD.

Challenging time for Sachin Pilot

Tamilnadu

First families in deeper soup Group Editor M.K. Tiwari

Andhra Pradesh

Editor Vinod Varshney Executive Editor Dr. Bhagya Rajeshwari Ratna Assistant Editor Anjalika Rajlakshmi Campus Editor Adithi Sonali

What Justice !

Delhi

Madhya Pradesh

Aaditya Tewari

Haryana

UP to witness fiercest battle

Regional Office Incharge Tamanna Faridi U.P.: B-120 / 121, 1st Floor, Prince Complex, Hazratganj, Lucknow-226001 Ph.: 0522-4003911 E-mail: lokayatlucknow@gmail.com

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Tanwar gets divided Congress' command

Karnataka

Efforts to dilute Lokayukta powers opposed

Gujarat

Will Anandi be Modi’s choice number one!

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West Bengal

Blessed By Anna, Didi aims high

Badal-Amarinder face off over Operation Blue Star

Kerala

Oommen Chandy’s smile gets clouded

Odisha

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Nepotism nags BJP over ticket distribution

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Omar’s master-stroke

Regional Editor M.P.

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US-Russia ‘Cold War’ over Ukraine

Jammu & Kashmir

Special Correspondent A.K. Chaturvedi

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Word

Congress and BJP flummoxed by AAP

Cine Editor Meera Singh

Senior Graphic Designer Ashi Sinha

Post Andhra split, can Congress conquer?

Odia declared a classical language

Himachal

Rebels back in BJP

Chhattisgarh

Can the Congress reap advantage

Paswan doesn’t find Modi communal anymore

Maharashtra

Toll-tax politics takes centre-stage

REGULARS < 05 WITH CANDOUR

< 68 BUSINESS & ECONOMY < 78 SCIENCE

< 58 CAMPUS

< 72 SPORT

< 64 FILMWORLD

< 76 HEALTH IS WEALTH

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LETTERS

minister Veerappa Moily of conspiring with Mukesh Ambani, bestowing billions of windfall profit on his company Reliance Industries Ltd. But, what is the bare truth? While public sector companies led by ONGC, account for two-thirds of all gas production, the Reliance accounts for barely 10 percent of the total gas production in the country. The biggest beneficiaries of the increased gas price will, therefore, be the government companies and not solely Reliance. Therefore, to pinpoint and blame Reliance alone would merely amount to holding a biased view and would only project one-sided story. P Mukherjee, Delhi

COVER STORY IDEA! I liked the cover story idea and presentation, as also the editorial of M K Tewari. The striking part was to see Digvijay mentioned as one of the persons responsible for Congress' predicament. It gives us heart. I feel the Congress is in despair and BJP over confident. The AAP is under stress from within due to friction among the new and old members. It will be interesting to watch the situation. Chandra Kant, Bhopal

KNOWLEDGEABLE ARTICLE It was very knowledgeable article on T-rays, never read before. Thanks for giving articles like these. Atima Bhardwaj, NOIDA

IT IS ONE-SIDED VIEW ON RELIANCE The article 'The government doubles the natural gas price' (Lokayat, February 2014) indeed gave an indepth analysis of gas price fixing. The ex CM of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, filed an FIR accusing the petroleum

| LOKAYAT MARCH, 2014

KIRAN DARED CENTRE! There is good analysis on the Andhra bifurcation issue. It was not in good spirit to bifurcate the state when the state assembly had said no to it. I praise Kiran Reddy, who did everything within his party to invoke good sense in senior leaders. But unfortunately all his efforts and others also, failed. He as chief minister sat on a dharna at Jantar Mantar, but this also did not stir their conscience. It is at least good that the Centre has announced special package to Andhra. But such solutions do backfire and we see also the fallout. Now so many more states are demanding special package. Politics indeed has become quite depressing! It was wrong to assume that people of Seemandhra were against Telangans. VS Reddy, Hyderabad

CONGRESS ON THE MEND The article by VSP Kurup was informative and juicily presented. This gives comfort that at least the Congress has become serious in Kerala as it cannot be so in West Bengal. Congressmen should have a

responsibility to see that Left propaganda does not succeed though they are in disarray as the article says and I am sure, they will again be defeated by people, who have understood the worth and need of development. But it is in the DNA of Congressmen to fight for their own interest first, ignoring the general good. I read another article on Kerala in this same issue of Lokayat, which said that Achuthanandan was trying to tie up with AAP. But finally it did not happen. A bad thing indeed for Kerala! AAP should be helped to emerge as an alternative to the Congress. Ramesh Unnikrishnan, Delhi

ELECTIONS FOUGHT ON DRUG MONEY This was a shocking story as revealed by Bhola, the Arjuna Award winner. I do not think it was only to defend him that he accused ministers. In such cases when larger public interest, especially related to youth, is involved, the matter should be handed over to the CBI readily. If whatever told in the article with the title ‘Elections fought on Drug Money…’ is true then it is really most shameful thing for the Indian democracy. Surekha Viz, Delhi

tters at E-mail your le ail.com, lokayat01@gm ail.com tm ho y@ vinodvarshne

WITH CANDOUR

NO HOLDS BARRED ELECTION! he upcoming Lok Sabha election is important in many ways. The presence of so many small regional parties has however reduced the importance of national parties. All of them have made their elaborate plans to woo voters, but they are likely to choose only that party which is better at selling their dreams to them. And the Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi is a deft marketer in the political arena. He is doing a lot of hard work to lure voters by his OmNamo. But nobody knows how many are really charmed by this chant. As many as 32, small and big, parties are in the fray to confuse and confound voters. Unfortunately in our so-called secular democracy, communal and casteist streaks have got infiltrated. Rise of smaller parties is also an outcome of that trend. But is the incessant rise of small parties not eating into the vitals of nation’s economic and governmental stability? To my mind they are also causing negative impact on the economic health of the country. Not just the two major national parties, but the third front also is trying its level best to get counted in the race. The same political actors, who have during last two decades been meandering in the political alleys, have once again assembled to beat the beaten track. But mind, voters have their own mind. There are some seventy percent people even today, who find it tough to eke out their living. Ruling parties think their job is just to glibly keep offering promises. There are indeed some good central schemes which have contributed to uplift the poor, but opposition parties’ governments dishonestly claim the benefits accruing from them in their own account. Several questions are being asked on the eve of elections. The biggest one is why political parties are maintaining eerie silence on hundreds of crore rupees of black money, they get and spend on elections. There is trend of buying votes offering even cash to poor voters. The practice is proliferating despite Election Commission’s vigilant eye. There are many other vicious practices that are used to win elections. To defeat the potential opposing candidates, several independents are fielded to cut into their votes. And surprisingly the popularity norms of candidates are also changing. The richer the candidate, the more popular he is thought. Keen to dismantle these criteria, Rahul Gandhi formula is being implemented but it may sideline some strong and senior candidates as well. The BJP too has its own share of follies: it is relying only on those candidates who are in favour of Modi to the bone. Naturally, a lot many partymen in the BJP might be secretly working against the surge of Modi. What can be said of the advertisement issued by Shivraj Singh Chauhan government of Madhya Pradesh announcing inauguration of Narmada-Kshipra Simhastha Link Project, describing it the first such project in the country? The advertisement did not even carry the photo of Narendra Modi who has reportedly already linked 20 local rivers to Narmada in Gujarat. Another question is what role the third front of 13 parties including the left group will play after elections. Keep fingers crossed, it will be known only after elections. Meanwhile electronic media’s surveys have topsy-turvied the existing political equations. A sting operation has shown how surveys are doctored for money. No wonder if money has been paid to show the BJP and the NDA ahead of all others with bizarre numbers in their favour. No one can stop parties from using all means, fair or unfair, to win elections. Needless to say power has become their sole aim. Not an iota of desire to do public service! Elections remain only a mega celebration, where prospective rulers stand before voters with folded hands. That’s all!! Three years ago we started publishing Lokayat in English as a platform to present unbiased and robust analyses of Indian politics helped by senior journalists of the country. The current issue before you is the 4th anniversary issue. Wish the writers, advertisers and readers would continue to patronize us as in the past!<

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

COVER STORY

WHAT JUSTICE ! THIS IS MINDLESS, CHEAP VOTE-BANK POLITICS !!

By Dr Bhagya Rajeshwari ‘Ratna’

ost people must have only hazy memory of this horrendous act of terrorism when the popular former prime minister of the country, Rajiv Gandhi, was assassinated with utter savagery by a suicide bomber in Sriperumbudur on May 21, 1991. Many young voters, who would be voting in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from April 7 to May 12, were not even born then. Not only Rajiv Gandhi, 14 other persons were also killed with him. The attack was carried out with the abetment and help of the terrorist organisation Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam. The memory suddenly revived in millions of Indians when the Tamilnadu government decided to free the convicts of the assassination. In fact it dismayed the entire country evoking sympathy for his son Rahul Gandhi, who suddenly looked sad, wretched and hapless, uttering just a few words—what justice a common man can expect, when it is not available for the prime minister of the country! Many Congressmen remember how Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated while campaigning for the upcoming

| LOKAYAT MARCH, 2014

elections. He was slated to win with thumping majority as people had already seen two unsuccessful governments of VP Singh and Chandrasekhar. The way he was killed, displayed gruesome treacherous mentality: killer girl had greeted him, touched his feet and soon after detonated the explosive laden belt. By the blast not only a noble life was taken away, the dream of peaceful Indian democracy also flew apart in smithereens. Only a little over six years before this event which shook the belief in peaceful democratic evolution of India, his mother prime minister Indira Gandhi had been assassinated at her residence on October 21, 1984 by none other but her two body guards to take revenge for Operation Blue Star. Two prime ministers killed from one family! The Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed to go into the depth of the conspiracy of Rajiv Gandhi assassination, which confirmed the role of LTTE in the killing. Many of the LTTE militants used to roam free in Tamilnadu. It was also alleged that DMK had a role in the assassination. The prompt demand of the DMK to the centre to immediate agree to the cabinet decision of the Jayalalithaa was thus not surprising. The TADA court had given death sentence to all the 26 accused in this case. However, the Supreme Court confirmed death only on four of the convicts, including Nalini. However, on the petition of Sonia Gandhi, for the sake of Naliniâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s daughter, her death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. President of India rejected the clemency pleas of the other three facing death for their crime. The assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, seen by most people as attack on the soul of evolving democracy in India notwithstanding, sympathy for the plotters has not been allowed to wane in Tamilnadu thanks to the competitive politics for votes between the DMK and AIDMK. Some political analysts even described the decision of releasing convicts as the master stroke of Jayalalithaa in the election year. However, most people see it as sowing the seed of unnecessary ethnic hatred and North-South divide. It is nothing but mindless, cheap vote bank politics!

Elections to take place in 9 phases ok Sabha election will be held in nine phases amidst tight security between April 7 and May 12 involving 81.4 crore voters. Counting of votes for all the 543 Lok Sabha seats will be held on a single day, May 16. Assembly elections will also be held simultaneously in Andhra Pradesh including Telangana region, Odisha and Sikkim. April 17 will be an important day as polls for maximum number of Lok Sabha seats, 122 will be held in one day. Poll Dates are: 7th April, 9th April, 10th April, 12thApril, 17th April, 24th April, 30th April, 7th May and 12th May.<

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

COVER STORY

JAYA BITES MORE THAN By VSP Kurup

n yet another face off with the Centre the Tamilnadu government has outdone itself in political brinkmanship. It wanted to play up its patent Tamil chauvinism by proposing to free immediately all the seven convicts serving life sentence for the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. Only a day before the prisoners had won commutation of their death sentence into life-term from the Supreme Court. Chief minister J Jayalalithaa sent her government’s decision to grant remission post-haste to New Delhi for approval and, to forestall it getting entangled in red tape, she gave the union government three days to respond failing which she would proceed to implement it. The government of India, annoyed by Jaya’s peremptory ways and brazen attempt to erode its authority, approached the apex court to order the Tamilnadu government to maintain the status quo until it heard its submission. The union government’s case was that Tamilnadu had power to grant remission but it had to follow due process which included concurrence of the Centre. There were also other aspects to be considered. Besides, remission could not be wholesale as Tamilnadu proposed to do: it had

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SHE CAN CHEW to be decided on a case by case basis. The court sent notice to the Tamilnadu government not to release the convicts till March 6 when it would hear both parties. Jingoism is an inseparable fact in Tamil politics. Not surprisingly, Tamil politicians have no qualms in using it to promote their individual interests even at the risk of inflaming base passions and disturbing law and order. In the last five years Tamilnadu chief ministers have used the bogey four times to draw the central government over the coals. Interestingly they do not mind taking a somersault if it will fetch rich political dividends. For instance, Jaya was a hardcore critic of the LTTE and had demanded the arrest of its leader late Velupillai Prabhakaran. She had won kudos for her stand in the 1990s. But now she is working overtime for the freedom of Prabhakaran’s followers convicted of killing an Indian PM! In October, 2013 Jaya got a single resolution unanimously passed, not once but twice, in the Tamilnadu assembly to mount pressure on the government of India to boycott CHOGM in Colombo in protest against Sri Lankan genocide of people of Tamil origin. Earlier in March the same year, it was Karunanidhi who applied the screw. As a major partner of the UPA-II government he was then in a stronger position to squeeze New Delhi. He said unless the

Jaya’s Tamilnadu-centric ‘Vision for India’ ithout waiting for the formation of the proposed ‘third front’ to fight the general election, or for such a front’s formal endorsement of her as prime ministerial choice, chief minister Jayalalithaa has assumed that mantle and announced a grandiose ‘vision for India’. It is Tamil-centric, though. While releasing a document titled ‘Vision Tamil Nadu 2023 Phase II’ in Chennai recently she indicated her readiness to play a large role in national politics and said she had a vision for India in which Tamilnadu would have a key role. The publication includes practically everything any ambitious politician would promise but actually it sounds hyperbolical and utopian. She visualises ‘a resurgent nation with an inclusive society and open markets; a nation of enterprise and creativity driven by knowledge and shaped by family values; a nation of growth with equity; a nation with peace, stability and development; a modern secular and prosperous India.’ If anybody feels skeptical she assures that ‘this day is not far. It is my firm conviction that within India Tamil Nadu will emerge as the epicentre of such power….My government is not one that merely talks and puts out lofty ideals and policies; it actually gets down to taking hard decisions and staying the course’. To buttress her claim she says that the Vision document has set a target of 14 percent growth every year in the manufacturing sector and envisages an outlay of Rs 31,706 crore with employment potential for over 1.62 lakh persons. The chief minister has already signed 33 MoUs with various companies in this regard. Along with the Vision document Jayalalithaa also released the Tamil Nadu Industrial Policy 2014, Tamil Nadu Automobile and Auto Components Policy 2014 and Tamil Nadu Biotechnology Policy 2014. Certainly there is an attempt to project the impression that she is a capable leader who means to carry the country far into the 21st century.<

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

COVER STORY union government backed two amendments proposed by him to beef up the US-sponsored resolution condemning Sri Lanka in the UN Human Rights Commission, he would quit the alliance, and he did. In 8 July, 2011 also Tamilnadu assembly had passed a resolution to pressure the union government to prevail upon the UN to declare Sri Lanka responsible for the large-scale killing of Sri Lankan Tamils. To be fair, such rabid jingoism is not confined to Tamilnadu. At least Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal has shown parochial, egotistical propensities often. She is so selfcentred that she thought nothing of showing disrespect to the prime minister of Bangladesh, or preventing her own PM from signing a treaty considered beneficial to both the countries, all because she did not deem so. But Tamilnadu takes the cake in its obstreperous display of disagreements and in their frequencies. Jayalalithaa this time bit off more than she could chew. Perhaps she was well aware that she was exceeding the limit, that she could not carry the selfrighteous posturing too far; yet considering the likely dividends in a general election year when her own larger political fortune was going to be in the balance, she took a calculated risk (see box). And she succeeded in the gamble to a great extent. All political parties (including Karunanidhi’s DMK!) endorsed her efforts. However, the DMK leader was unwilling to credit Jaya for saving the three convicts from the gallows: it was he who had campaigned consistently for the prisoners’ lives. The present episode started with the Supreme Court commuting the death sentence to life imprisonment of Santhan, Murugan and Perarivalan, Rajiv Gandhi assassins, who had petitioned the court on the ground that they had been in jail for 23 years, about half of that period on death row,

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just because the concerned authorities failed to decide their mercy petitions. Spending over a decade in the death row expecting the noose any day was too agonizing a torture that the prisoners sought the court’s indulgence in sparing their lives.

Politics, crime and jingoism make a heady mix. When Tamil ego is added to it, rational thinking becomes the casualty. This is what followed the Supreme Court’s humane decision to commute the death sentence of three Rajiv Gandhi assassins who spent 23 years in prison, half of it in death row with their mercy petitions undecided. A simple altruistic deed has thus turned into an issue of complex dimensions.

Taking a civilised view that capital punishment itself was barbaric and agreeing with several eminent legal and social reformers that it was anachronistic as well, the court allowed the prisoners’ plea. But it stressed the point that life imprisonment meant jail for the rest of life. Under the Constitution,

however, the states had power to grant remission and they could exercise it subject to certain provisions, like consent of the court which awarded the sentence, concurrence of the union government, and so on. The commutation of death sentence of the three ‘high profile’ murder convicts fired Tamil nationalist sentiments and there was jubilation all over Tamilnadu as if it was their combined victory. Buoyed by this celebratory mood and recognising her chance to cash in on the opportunity, Jaya hurried to announce her proposal to free all the seven living convicts in the Rajiv assassination case using the power vested in the state. She deliberately ignored other concomitant parts of the remission provision presuming that the Centre would agree to her proposal; even if it did not, her basic purpose would be served. She would still be seen as the champion of Tamil pride and interests. It was a win-win situation. What she aimed most was to steal a march on Karunanidhi, Vaiko et al. She was right, but not entirely. Irked by Jaya’s unilateral decision with a three-day deadline to boot, and perturbed more by Rahul Gandhi’s outburst that his assassinated father would have got a mockery of justice by the move to grant remission to the convicts, the Manmohan Singh government moved fast and appealed to the Supreme Court to restrain the Tamilnadu government from further proceedings until all the formalities for the remission were completed. The government also submitted that Jaya’s proposal would badly impact other sectors of governance. Its repercussions on foreign and internal security policies also will have to be considered. Finally, arbitrary decisions to release life convicts found guilty of political assassination might erode public faith in criminal justice system as well. The Supreme Court accepted the argument and sent notice to the Tamilnadu government.<

RAJASTHAN

CHALLENGING TIME FOR SACHIN PILOT Rajasthan Congress president Sachin Pilot at a massive protest rally against BJP-led government ( PTI photo)

By Abha Sharma from Jaipur

aipur Metro project may be grounded! Barmer Refinery may not take off!! These were the two major bogeys the Congress party raised following Vasundhara Raje’s takeover of the state’s stewardship after the recent assembly elections. Naturally citizens of the state capital who braved route diversions and construction woes during the last few years in the hope of enjoying Metro rides soon were concerned and keenly watched the chief minister's budget proposals on these subjects. Reason for the apprehension was Raje’s criticism of these ambitious projects while she was in the opposition, and even later. Anticipating a negative approach towards them in the budget, the newly appointed PCC chief Sachin Pilot planned a strong protest rally. The move, however, was a pratham grase makshika paat (first bite spoiled by a fly in the food) experience. The rally flopped, because astute Raje anticipated and stole a march over it. Scotching all uncertainties over the Metro and Refinery projects the chief

minister in her budget (vote on account), provided for generous funding and took the wind out of Pilot’s protest sails. Soon after coming to power, Raje had gone vocal over these projects questioning the worth of such a mammoth expenditure which could fund many other projects. But in her first interim budget, she decided to kill two birds with one stone. With her eyes set on the forthcoming Lok Sabha poll, she allocated Rs 486 crore for the Metro and Rs 402 crore for the refinery. She rejected Congress’ fears by saying that hers was ‘a government of the people, not of any political party.’ Raje was quick in focussing on her Mission-25 soon after coming to power and chalking out a 60-day action plan. The administrative reshuffle is on and already half of Rajasthan administrative service officers have been transferred in addition to major shifting of IAS and IPS officers. Though the Congress needs to rejoice that the Jaipur Metro and Barmer refinery are here to stay, the decimated opposition in the assembly is divided and directionless. For instance,

The Congress rank and file in Rajasthan are dispirited, confused and in disarray following the severe drubbing the party received in the recent assembly poll. So the first task of Sachin Pilot, the newly appointed PCC chief, is to energise, enthuse and give direction to them. This is vitally important, especially in the context of an adroit chief minister in office. the Congress objected to the chief minister making important announcements outside the assembly-in Bharatpur. The leader of the opposition Rameshwar Dudi raised the issue in the assembly and staged a walk out but the Congress legislators followed him only reluctantly. The opposition seems to be confused and the young PCC chief is yet to show his charisma in energizing party men. His first protest turned out to be a flop show not just because Raje was adroit, but also due to the fact that his Chetna Rally had poor participation. Evidently there was lack of coordination and enthusiasm. The new PCC chief will have to ponder over this. When the ruling party is in a very active, focussed mode, the Congress needs to match it. It has to evolve new strategies. Anyway, it is a challenging time as well as an opportunity for Sachin Pilot to show his calibre. Sachin’s late father Rajesh Pilot was a popular leader who maintained live contacts with grassroots level workers. The son has to rise and become a similar live wire to energise the dispirited Congress ranks.<

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

TAMILNADU

FIRST FAMILIES OF DMK, By Lokayat Correspondent

arunanidhi’s situation is the most mortifying. On the one hand fresh incriminating evidence of illegalities and cover up involving his family members in the 2G case have been dug up by Prashant Bhushan, the eminent Supreme Court lawyer and inveterate crusader against corruption. Audiotapes in his possession pertaining to FebruaryMarch 2011 period reveal high-level conspiracy to protect Karunanidhi’s kin, already accused in the case. One tape contains a conversation between M S Jaffar Sait, then Tamilnadu additional DGP (Intelligence) and Sharad Kumar Reddy of Kalaignar TV in which Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi and one of his three wives were key stakeholders. The two alleged conspirators can be heard talking about back-dating some documents to help cover up some gross irregularities. Other tapes might throw up more damaging details of their activities. What is significant is that so far the 2G scam had not touched Karunanidhi himself. It now seems the patriarch will not escape the net because allegedly he had been in the know of the proceedings. Bhushan said he would be seeking deeper CBI investigation now. But this looming danger by itself would not have slumped Karunanidhi who has crossed deeper moats. What has broken the old heart is that while he was facing the biggest and probably last test of his life, he elder son M K Azhagiri has turned against him. Azhagiri not only defied his father but threatened to kill his younger sibling M K Stalin. The reason for taking out the dagger? Succession dispute!

Tamilnadu’s first families on both sides of the divide are in the news again for wrong reasons. Both face more cases of irregularities than they are already in. The new ill-winds come at a time when the two sworn enemies are busy cobbling together alliances to face the Lok Sabha poll just weeks away. For Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa success at the hustings is vitally important because that alone may save them from the legal hook a la Mulayam style.

Political heir Watching the way the two sons grow and shape up, and assessing their cerebral horizons Karunanidhi had decided early that M K Stalin would be his political heir. He had groomed him well, therefore, and given organisational responsibilities to make him capable for the future role. Azhagiri, the enfant terrible of the family, had the mental make-up of a moron who did not care much about social niceties. He found street fights and night life more to his liking. He suspected his father’s design for his half-brother—they come of separate mothers -- and was jealous, but could do nothing except quarrel now and then. Knowing Azhagiri’s propensity for violence, Karunanidhi had kept him away from Chennai on

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Jayalalithaa

AIADMK IN DEEPER SOUP errands as often as possible. But eventually he had to give him charge of party affairs in the southern districts of Tamilnadu with headquarters in Madurai. While tending the party there he is reported to have collected a band of musclemen for whom his word was law. Thus Azhagiri became a virtual ruler of all he surveyed and people feared his despotic ways. Exorbitant rent collection, eviction of inconvenient tenants, forceful acquisition of property, encroachment of public land etc became their preferred game. And nobody dared to complain. Azhagiri also decided whom people should vote. Once when Karunanidhi fielded in his son’s fief a senior party leader whom Azhagiri did not approve of, he engineered his defeat! Karunanidhi was furious and dismissed his son from all party posts, but

father and without any ceremony put forth his claim to lead the party. Following heated exchanges Azhagiri threatened to eliminate Stalin altogether. It was too much for Karunanidhi who never tolerated defiance by anybody. Azhagiri was banished from the paternal home and removed from primary membership of the party. In order to cut off his power base, Karunanidhi even dissolved the Madurai unit of the DMK. Karunanidhi did not want the outside world to know the exact reason for the split with his son. He put out the story that Azhagiri vehemently opposed a poll tie-up with DMDK leader Vijayakant, while he

Karunanidhi

knowing his son’s clout in the area, he was forced to restore status quo ante. Later, to get Azhagiri out of the way and away from Tamilnadu Karunanidhi sent him to the Rajya Sabha and made him a cabinet minister. But the gambit failed following withdrawal of DMK support to the UPA and Azhagiri returned to his old haunts. Recently the wheel-chaired old fox thought of abdicating the throne in favour of his darling son. Getting wind of the move Azhagiri confronted his

thought an alliance beneficial to the DMK. Vijayakant himself was cold to the idea and ignored the development in the DMK household.

Double whammy for Jaya Jaya’s troubles are seemingly not as serious as those of the DMK chief, but they have equally grim forebodings. As luck would have it, they come at a time when her life’s only remaining dream has a fighting chance of materializing. Deve Gowda had said and Prakash

Karat had concurred that she could be the proposed third front’s consensus candidate for prime ministership. Jaya was happy to hear it, but said nothing. One does not know—there are many pretenders to the throne and anyone could snatch it. So she needed total concentration to think and make critical moves. But then this lightning bolt! There was a forgotten case of criminal proceedings instituted in 1996 and 1997 by the Income-tax Department against Jayalalithaa et al for non-fling of returns for 1991-92 and 1992-93. It was contested by the respondents saying that non-filing of returns per se was no offence as there was no income and no tax evasion. When the trial court dismissed their contention they went in appeal in the High Court and finally in the Supreme Court where it threw out the submission of Jaya and Co. The apex court not only dismissed the appellants’ case, but directed the lower court to prosecute them forthwith. If convicted Jaya will get a maximum of three years’ jail and a fine and, what is worse, the possibility of disqualification from the assembly! The court added that pendency of appellate proceedings (in some courts) need not halt prosecution. This is what worries Jaya more. Besides this case, there is a disproportionate asset case against Jaya in the Bangalore court. The rate at which its proceedings go, it may not conclude in Jaya’s lifetime. She was worried about it initially and tried her level best, sometime successfully, to get frequent postponement of case dates under various pretexts. Now even without her intervention it is getting delayed. While this case was in the process, she could get elected to the state assembly and, what is more, get the top post. So she does not care about it anymore. However, the income-tax returns case is a different kettle of fish.<

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

ANDHRA PRADESH

POST ANDHRA SPLIT, CAN CONGRESS CONQUER? Despite the split, the southern state is no more a happy hunting ground for Congress as YSR Congress and TRS have upper hands in Seemandhra and Telangana, respectively. For Congress much would depend on what kind of agreement TRS enters into with it.

Congress MP Vinay Kumar Pandey, who caught Rajgopal with the pepper spray, outside the parliament house

By S Santhanam

he 29th state of Telangana is now a reality with the passage of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill by both houses of parliament despite it was rejected by the Andhra Pradesh assembly. It was born amidst unprecedented disruptions, pepper spray and scuffles among MPs and in blackout in the Lok Sabha, after the speaker suspended its strongest opponents and shut out protests from public view. (At the time of going to the press, the Bill was awaiting president's assent.) Ever since the states were linguistically re-organised, no state has been bifurcated without the consent of the regions involved. Telangana has indeed set a bad precedent and future governments will find it difficult to resist similar demands.

Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy with other party supporters during a dharna at Jantar Mantar against the Centreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s move to carve out a separate state of Telangana (PTI photo)

With the Congress in alliance with the BJP clearing the way for formation of Telangana state, the focus now shifts on identifying a new 'capital' for the (residuary) state of Andhra Pradesh. As per the Centre's commitment, the new capital for Andhra Pradesh has to be identified within 45 days after Telangana state formally comes into being. Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Kurnool and Tirupati are the major

cities in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions that form part of residuary AP. All these cities are contenders for the capital status of the new state. The timing of the creation of Telangana by the Congress was mainly aimed at reviving its political fortunes in the southern state as the YSR Congress, led by Jaganmohan Reddy, was gaining in popularity, although the

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

ANDHRA PRADESH

demand for a separate Telangana had been in existence for almost 60 years. The party had probably made an assessment that dragging its feet on the issue or delaying a decision would badly hurt its electoral prospects. As soon as the Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha, Andhra chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, who had all along been vehemently protesting against his own party’s decision to divide the state, resigned from his post as well as the Congress. Many of the MPs and MLAs also left the party. Reddy is now expected to launch his own party in consultations with his supporters. He was brought in as CM with a lot of hope but during his tenure, the Congress only suffered reverses in bypolls held both in Telangana and Seemandhra regions at the height of the separate state agitation. He, however, showed impressive results in the

Days after quitting chief minister’s post and Congress party membership in protest against the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, Kiran Kumar Reddy plans to launch a new party ‘to fight for the rights of Seemandhra’. elections to cooperative bodies and local bodies last year. He had assured if the state was not divided, the party would not be a loser electorally. Reddy, who had been a loyal Congressman, turned a rebel after the Congress Working Committee finally ignoring his opinion decided in favour of separate Telangana. He continued his battle against division, which reached the climax when he took it to the national capital and staged a sit-in at Jantar Mantar on February 5.

| LOKAYAT MARCH, 2014

Congress calculation is that the Telangana move would help neutralise the growing influence of Jagan and ever wily Chandrababu Naidu in the battle for the top spot in 2014. Of the two, the Congress fears Jaganmohan Reddy more as despite being in jail for a considerable period he has managed to increase his support base considerably. The Congress, aware that

actor’s Praja Rajyam Party, is another worrying factor for the Congress. In previous elections, Andhra Pradesh had been a favourite hunting ground for the Congress. The party took 29 Lok Sabha seats in the 2004 elections. It retained power in the Centre in 2009 with the help of the 33 Lok Sabha seats it won of the 42 in Andhra Pradesh, the largest number

Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy along with state ministers during a silent dharna at Jantar Mantar against the Centre’s move to carve out a separate state of Telangana (PTI photo)

conceding the demand for a separate state of Telangana will make the party highly unpopular in Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra, it hopes that the goodwill generated in Telangana would make up for the loss there. It, however, has tried to regain some lost ground by granting special status to the Seemandhra. The complete failure of megastar Chiranjeevi to improve the party’s stock in Rayalaseema following its highly-publicised merger with the

from any state. In other words, a poor showing in Andhra Pradesh this time can rule out Congress-led government chances at the Centre. Writing is clear on the wall: in Seemandhra, two-thirds of the population blames the Congress for the bifurcation, while K Chandrasekhar Rao of TRS has taken full credit for facilitating the creation of the new state. Speculation has been rife that the TRS would form an alliance with the Congress. It is likely that TRS may tie

ANDHRA PRADESH

up with the Congress in both Seemandhra and Telangana. Congress is likely to fight maximum Lok Sabha seats in Telangana and leave major share of seats for TRS in assembly polls. In Seemandhra, Jaganmohan Reddy of YSR Congress (which was for a united Andhra) is far ahead of other parties. Telugu Desam seems to

be a distant second in both the regions. Seething over BJP's support to the Telangana Bill in Parliament, Telugu Desam Party has indicated its reluctance about going in for an alliance with the saffron outfit in the upcoming general elections. The coming general elections will tell whether Congress party’s emotional chord with the people of Telangana will pay any rich dividends. Telangana has 17 Lok Sabha seats and Seemandhra 25. As far as assembly seats are

concerned, Seemandhra has 175 to Telangana’s 118.

How it all started and ended Telangana is spread over an area of over 1.14 lakh square km, and boasts of considerable mineral wealth under its soil. Its population (including that of Hyderabad) is 3.5 crore. The state comprises the districts of Adilabad, Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Medak, Warangal, Rangareddy, Khammam, Nalgonda and Mahabubnagar, apart from the metropolis of Hyderabad. The region was once a part of the princely state of Hyderabad, ruled by the Nizams, which also included some parts of the present-day Maharashtra and Karnataka. There have been a number of milestones in the saga of separate Telangana movement. The formation of AP on linguistic basis by merging all contiguous Teluguspeaking areas in erstwhile Madras state and the princely state of Hyderabad was preceded by a long fight by Andhraites for a separate state. The Andhra people had been struggling for the formation of a separate Andhra province out of the Madras state since the British period but did not succeed. When India attained Independence, they hoped their

Seething over BJP's support to the Telangana Bill in Parliament, Telugu Desam Party has indicated its reluctance about going in for an alliance with the saffron outfit in the upcoming general elections. In fact it may turn out that the BJP remains the biggest loser in the bargain.

long-cherished desire would be realised soon. But it was not to be. The moment of reckoning came when Potti Sriramulu began a fastunto-death which was largely ignored by the Centre. Sriramulu attained martyrdom on December 15, 1952, which led to a popular upsurge. It forced the then prime minister, Pt Jawaharlal Nehru to announce in Lok Sabha in 1952 that the Andhra state would be formed. And indeed on October, 1 1953, Andhra state came into existence with Kurnool as capital. But the enlarged Andhra Pradesh was inaugurated on November 1, 1956 with Hyderabad as its capital following an agreement among the leaders of Telangana, Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema. Within 13 years, an agitation for formation of separate Telangana began as implementation of safeguards provided for the region was not done. About 300 people were reportedly killed in the agitation. A few years later in 1972, the 'Jai Andhra' movement began in Coastal Andhra for creation of a separate Andhra state following a Supreme Court order upholding ‘Mulki’ rules (which reportedly barred those from nonTelangana regions to compete for posts in Hyderabad). In 1975, a presidential order was issued to implement 'six-point formula'

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

Sonia Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi

UPA Chairperson

Vice President, Indian National Congress

Dr Charan Das Mahant Union MoS Agriculture and Food Processing Industries

Heartiest Congratulations at the

4th Anniversary Of Shri Moti Lal Dewangan BJP MLA, Janjgir-Champa

ANDHRA PRADESH

Joy, Fury and Special Package hile people of Telangana celebrated the creation of the new state, the entire Seemandhra region was shut down in protest. The sad aspect of this new creation is that the state assembly had rejected the proposal. The 60-year-old demand and agitation for a separate statehood was based on the contention that 'justice' had not been done to Telangana in distribution of water, employment opportunities and development funds in Andhra Pradesh. Prime minister Manmohan Singh in order to reduce the hurt, announced a special six-point package for Seemandhra, which included special category status to the region for a period of five years. One is not, however, sure whether the package of sops will heal the wounds or undo the damage. Not surprisingly the announcement has spurred opposition parties demanding special economic packages for seven most backward states including Bihar, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh. Bihar, which has been seeking special status for quite long, was ranked the second most backward state, according to Raghuram Rajan panel. Other states listed in the category for which it recommended allocation of more central fund, included Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh. Post bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, the information technology and pharmaceutical manufacturing sectors may become backbone of Telangana economy, leaving power production, ports and oil and natural gas to play a pivotal role in driving prosperity in the residuary state. With nearly 1,000 km-long coast line, the coastal Andhra has major private ports such as Krishnapatnam, Kakinada and Gangavaram, besides stateowned Vizag Port and can continue to reap rich harvest by way of export and import of commodities such as iron ore and coal.<

providing some safeguards to Telangana. But its lackadaisical implementation only simmered discontent and agitation continued which got a major boost in 2001 when then TDP leader K Chandrasekhar Rao formed Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) to fight for separate state. The UPA-I government was sympathetic and included the Telangana issue in its Common Minimum Programme in 2004, which made it possible for the Congress to fight the 2004 elections in alliance with the TRS and they together came to power in AP on the back of a strong discontent against the Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP government. However, there was not much forward movement on the statehood issue in the next few years. Political situation changed. TDP

Post bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, information technology and pharmaceutical manufacturing sectors may become backbone of Telanganaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economy, leaving power production, ports and oil and natural gas to play a pivotal role in driving prosperity in the residuary state.

announced its support for separate Telangana demand in 2008 and TRS joined hands with the Chandrababu Naidu-led party in the 2009â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Lok Sabha elections. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, died in a chopper crash in September 2009 which subsequently led to the resurrection of TRS. The TRS president began a fast unto death towards the end of 2009 and the then union home minister P Chidambaram announced on December 9, 2009 that steps would be taken for the formation of separate Telangana. However, in the wake of strong protests in Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema, the Centre announced on December 23, 2009 that more consultations would be held on the contentious and highly emotional issue. The Centre set up a commission, headed by retired Supreme Court Judge B N Srikrishna, which presented six options to the Centre. But the union cabinet chose the option of bifurcation and a Group of Ministers (GoM) was appointed to go into the modalities of carving out a separate state. Finally on July 30, 2013, the Congress Working Committee favoured formation of separate Telangana. The union cabinet approved the draft AP Reorganisation Bill on December 5 based on the recommendations of the GoM. President Pranab Mukherjee referred the draft Bill to the AP Legislative assembly for its views. However, the Bill was rejected by the assembly on January 30 amid din. While the UPA government was preparing to present the Bill in the Lok Sabha, Kiran Reddy reached Delhi and staged an unprecedented sit-in at Jantar Mantar on February 5 to oppose bifurcation. Central Congress ministers and MPs from Seemandhra left no stone unturned to stall the legislation in the parliament, but in the end could not stop Telangana state from becoming a reality thanks to the secret understanding of the BJP with the UPA.<

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

WORLD

RUSSIAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S

BRINKMANSHIP

IN DIVIDED UKRAINE

The fear of war loomed large as popular will of Ukrainian people was threatened to be crushed by Russian troops stationed in Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula. There is an unprecedented situation in Ukraine whose elected president fled to Russia after rioters enacted a coup in Kiev. New regime that came into existence rejecting the peace agreement brokered by the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Poland is struggling to restore order in the divided country. Russia meanwhile has warned the regime to either honour the peace agreement or Russian troops might take action. By M R Dua / Bodhi Shri

nce the shining gem of central Europe, and oldest loyalist and more prosperous of all former republics of the USSR, Ukraine is literally facing the risk of war and its division. It is painful to

| LOKAYAT MARCH, 2014

recall how the Soviet Union was dissolved after 17-month long negotiations on December 21, 1991, and Ukraine which had remained the crucial part of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s second biggest power also chose to secede to become an independent, sovereign and democratic nation. But the feuding leaders of this oil-rich, mineral-abundant country did

Initially, this was a pressing issue of cash-strapped and crisis-ridden Ukraine wanting to join the European Union, but Russian president Vladimir Putin did not allow it to happen through his lackey, the president Yanukovych. Putin took all possible measures to counter US and EU influence in this strategically located country. Putin considers Ukraine vitally important for realising his dream of a Eurasian Customs Union to rival the EU and the United States. This tussle has escalated into a cold-war like situation between the US and Russia.

Street protests at Kiev's Maidan square against the Yanukovich started after he rejected a land mark association and trade deal with the EU in favour of similar deal and stronger ties with Russia. President tried to control protests by repressive measures, even firing on protestors, taking more than 82 lives, then a stage came when the police and military stopped supporting the president and ‘rioters’ staged a coup. not have a smooth sailing ever after. The situation has come to a pass that Russia has deployed its troops, estimated 16,000, in Crimea in the name of protecting Russians which constitute 60 percent of the population there. Unfortunately, soon after becoming independent the Ukrainian government had to face a lot of problems as massive recession hit its economy, the disastrous impact of which lasted until 1999. By the end of the period, the economy had shrunk by 60 percent. It had to opt for a new currency, hryvnia, in 1996 to check price rise which had once gone up to the five-digit level. The economy started growing only after 1999, and by 2004 it came to a comfortable level but the then prime minister Viktor Yanukovych started spending beyond the means of his government. In 2004, the politically ambitious PM managed to win presidency in an allegedly rigged poll, defeating pro-west liberal Viktor Yushchenko. This manipulation triggered massive angry protests across the country, culminating into what was

popularly called ‘Orange Revolution’. This ended into a peace pact, allowing Yanukovych to continue as Ukraine’s president for two consecutive terms. The present tenure was to end in April next year. Meanwhile economic problems of Ukraine continued as it borrowed

gas company for supply of gas and other essentials. Matters climaxed when the European Union offered to help Ukraine to overcome its economic miseries with a $15-billion loan to pay off its debts, mostly due to its fast-depleting gas reserves while the freezing season was setting in November last. But, in order to be eligible for the loan, Ukraine had to follow EU ideals in its economy and governance and sign an allencompassing trade deal with it, which could have cleared the way for Ukraine to become part of the European Union later. When Russian President Vladimir Putin got wind of it, he was aghast. In the attractive offer of the EU, Putin saw his centuries-old steadfast ally being lured into the opposition camp. Russia immediately offered more gas and agreed to defer repayment of outstanding ($2.5 billion) gas bills, other debts and assured fresh gas supply. Putin also consented to lend $15 billion to match the EU offer. He even dispatched $3 billion post-haste, as the first instalment. Since the Ukrainians had not forgotten their hardships, agonies and deprivations during the Soviet regime, and had always wanted to join the European Union as well as the NATO, thousands of people voiced their opposition saying: ‘We want to live in

Initially protesters occupied Kiev’s Central Plaza, also called Maidan, and, the Independence Square. Over 100,000 of them seized provincial administration and government buildings in 10 regions of the country; they pitched tents, set up field kitchen, and a stage. The police continued with violent strikes on protesters from time to time. heavily from several international agencies and incurred mammoth debts. The International Monetary Fund came to its rescue, but found it hard to support the fast-falling currency of the nation for long. A time came when Ukraine could not pay to Gazprom, the Russian

Europe, not as an outpost of the Russian empire.’ They rose in revolt against the Russian offer, and pressed their government accept the EU offer, spurning the Putin trap. Their strong rebellious reactions angered president Yanukovych, but the nationwide protests

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

WORLD which began on November 23 last continued to gather momentum. Initially, the protesters occupied Kiev’s Central Plaza, also called Maidan, and the Independence Square. Over 100,000 of them seized provincial administration and government buildings in 10 regions of the country; they pitched tents, set up field kitchen, and a stage. The police many a time resorted to violent strikes on protesters, taking people’s lives. With a view to end the civil unrest, though belatedly, Ukraine’s proMoscow prime minister Mykola Azarov resigned and the country’s 450-member parliament, Verkhvna Rada withdrew 12 restrictions put on freedom of speech and assembly of people to protest. But to no avail. Ukrainians remained defiant, unanimously voicing their ‘support for closer economic integration with the EU and free-trade agreement with it.’ US assistant secretary of state for EU affairs Victoria Nuland and US ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt tried to clinch some accord between Ukraine’s opposition leaders—Vitali Klitschko and Arseniy P Yatsenyuk— and president Yanukovych, but not much could be achieved. On the contrary, a Kremlin adviser charged the US ‘of funding and arming protesters in Kiev’ and virtually threatened with Russian intervention. Unmindful of the threat hundreds of protesters continued their sit-ins in freezing cold to oppose their country’s slide into Putin’s stranglehold once again. The foreign ministers of France, Germany and Poland then came forward and made a serious attempt and succeeded in hammering out a peace deal to be signed between the president Viktor Yanukovich and the opposition leaders Vitali Klitschko, Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Oleh Tyahnibok. The comprehensive deal included holding early elections, removing emergency provisions, amnesty to protestors accused of violence and withdrawal of cases against them. Protest still continued as protestors did not want Yanukovych to continue.

Kiev had become a sort of war zone. The police action in one day claimed 77 lives. Amidst all this the parliament voted to remove president Yanukovich, brought back the constitution of 2004 and freed his arch-rival former prime minister Tymoshenko was freed. Police declared that they were with the protestors who were riotous. Yanukovich abandoned the capital to the opposition

control of Kiev with the connivance of opposition leaders. Yanukovych fled to Russia, which maintained that it would not deal with these new Ukrainian leaders who have seized power in an ‘armed mutiny’. Russia also sent its troops in Crimea where 60 percent population is Russian. It was also reported that pro-Russian armed men seized the parliament and

Ukraine’s 450-member parliament, Verkhvna Rada, later tried to soothe feelings of protestors and withdrew 12 restrictions on freedom of speech and assembly of people to ease the situation. But perhaps it was a day too late. Ukrainians remained defiant, voicing their ‘support for closer economic integration with the EU and free-trade agreement with it.’ as an arrest warrant for mass murders had been issued against him. Parliament decided for an early election on May 25. But Yanukovich said all decisions by parliament were ‘illegal’. Yanukovich continued to show defiance, but actually he was no more in command. The cabinet against his wishes promised a transition to a new national government. Tymoshenko declared that Ukraine would join the European Union in the near future and in turn the EU came out with assurance of substantial financial assistance as soon as new government was formed. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused that extremist armed groups had taken

government buildings in Crimea and raised Russian flags on them. Ukraine’s new rulers are trying to restore stability to the divided country. They have announced formation of a national coalition government with former economy minister Arseny Yatseniuk as its head. But president of Russia Putin has not recognised the change. Russia has threatened to not withdraw its troops from Crimea if the February 21 agreement brokered with the help of three European foreign ministers is not respected. The US is considering expelling Moscow from the Group of Eight for its intended military action.<

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

UTTAR PRADESH

UP TO WITNESS FIERCEST BATTLE

Mulayam Singh Yadav during a public meeting (Photo : Arvind Shukla)

With 80 Lok Sabha seats, Uttar Pradesh holds the key to Modi’s dream of becoming prime minister. Without getting around 50 seats from the state, his dream may vanish into thin air. Incidentally some surveys have given almost these many seats to the BJP, but after a sting operation exposing how opinion polls are doctored by money power, they have lost all relevance whatsoever. By Tamanna Faridi from Lucknow

rganise mega rallies, pump in crore of rupees: these constitute the key BJP strategy to swing public mood in its favour in a state which has given short shrift to it in the past two Lok Sabha and three assembly elections. In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the party could win only 10 seats out of 80 with just around 17.5 percent votes in its favour. Most of the surveys then were unanimous in predicting that the Congress would be the worst loser, and might not get more than 7 seats. The results proved otherwise: the Congress surprisingly won 21 seats, one more than the BSP and only 2 less than the SP’s 23. Interestingly

| LOKAYAT MARCH, 2014

the BSP had secured more votes-27.42 percent-- than the SP’s 23.26 percent. Psephologists and political pundits are confused as to what may happen this time. If crowds in rallies are any indication, the BJP, BSP and SP are evenly placed. Modi’s recent rallies in Varanasi, Gorakhpur and Meerut have been very successful, so also the previous ones. Similarly the Samajwadi Party’s rallies in Mainpuri, Bareilly, Gorakhpur and other places were equally successful. The SP’s ‘Desh Bachao’ rally in Gorakhpur recently was organised to counter Modi’s rally on the same ground to show his strength. Mulayam’s rally was indeed big and the crowd equally cheering. The general feeling is that there is a lot of anger amongst Muslims against

Samajwadi Party government for mishandling Muzaffarnagar riots. Yet in party supremo Mulayam’s rallies Muslims are turning out in large numbers but recently he had to cancel visit to Aligarh Muslim University after students and teachers association threatened to boycott him. For sure AMU is a veritable barometer to gauge Muslim’s mood in UP. Muslim voters constitute a sizeable chunk -- a little over 18 percent- in UP. Both the BSP and the Congress claim themselves to be the natural beneficiary of Muslims’ disenchantment with the Akhilesh Yadav government. Muslims nostalgically remember about a virtually riots-free administration of Mayawati. And the Congress is in more favourable light than the BSP so far as Lok Sabha

elections are concerned. Last time due to Kalyan Singh being inducted in the Samajwadi Party, Muslim votes got fragmented almost equally among the three claimants—the BSP, SP and the Congress. There is speculation that the Congress may strike a strategic understanding on many seats with the BSP even though Mayawati has bluntly spurned all overtures to form a pre-poll alliance with it so far.

Modi had sent his Hanuman Amit Shah to streamline party affairs and formulate campaign strategy in UP. However, many old timers in the BJP are not amused at the prominence given to Shah. State BJP leaders did not want an outsider to dictate terms to them. There is every possibility that infighting would surface when candidates are announced. So far as meetings are concerned, the biggest one, Rashtriya Savdhan Maha Rally was organised by the BSP on Mayawati’s birth day in Lucknow when around 7 lakh people assembled at the Ramabai Ambedkar Ground.

Rahul in fighting spirit he Congress, despite bad survey predictions and recent defeats in Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, has not lost hope. Rahul Gandhi is evolving measures fast to improve the party’s impact on the public. He recently changed his style of speech and took a few leaves out of the Aam Aadmi Party’s book, like giving more credit to people for various developments than to his party or the government, which is in sharp contrast to Modi’s egoistic claim of me, my, myself and talking about Gujarat. Rahul is bringing issues like decentralization vis-à-vis Modi’s centralisation into sharp focus. He has started meeting disadvantaged sections of society like coolies, anganwadi workers, street venders, rickshaw-pullers etc to forestall charges of arrogance. He is also experimenting with having primaries to select 15 Lok Sabha candidates (at least one in Sant Kabir Nagar in eastern UP) to involve party workers in the selection process. The Congress is going to spend Rs 500 crore on image makeover. And reading the public mood, Rahul is trying to project himself as an anti-graft activist. The party wants to give him credit for the proposed nine ordinances, several of them in lieu of the anti-grafts bills which could not be passed in parliament. Besides, numerous sops, one after another, are being announced; in the latest lot are included increase in dearness allowance, setting up of the 7th Pay Commission and implementation of one-rank, one-pension plan.<

Kejri impact awaited orruption cases have truly brought almost all parties in the firing line of the Aam Aadmi Party, whose entry into the electoral fray is going to make a definite impact in Uttar Pradesh. The party is asking many questions, which no other party does, whether they are related to dynastic, communal or corruptionsoaked politics, run by money and muscle power. Indeed many genuinely interested (as well as opportunistic) people are joining the new party. Late prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri’s grandson Adarsh Shastri quit his cushy job with an MNC to join the Aam Aadmi Party. He has taken up the task of drafting party’s vision document for UP and manifestos of all the 80 constituencies for the Lok Sabha elections. The party claims it is getting very strong support from people who are fed up with all other parties. This is evident from the 3-day successful Jhadu Chalao Beimaan Hatao Yatra of Arvind Kejriwal, passing through 15 Lok Sabha constituencies. But it is yet to be seen how many good candidates it can field. A few prominent names have been announced: Kumar Vishwas is contesting against Rahul Gandhi in Amethi. A courageous and upright retired bureaucrat Baba Hardev Singh has been pitted against Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav in Mainpuri. Mukul Tripathi will contest from Farrukhabad against External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and Somender Dhaka in Baghpat against Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh.<

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

UTTAR PRADESH

Modi addresses rally in Lucknow, speaks of the imminent destruction of 'SABKA – SP, BSP and Congress

Mayawati is making all-out efforts to strike a Dalit-Muslim combination even as she is organizing state-wide Brahmin sammelans. But Brahmins are unhappy due to her insistence on reservation in promotions. To grab Muslim support she has promised to implement Sachar Committee recommendations, and has even given more seats to Muslims than their population ratio in the state would warrant. Some political analysts say the BSP’s overall support base has dwindled as was demonstrated in recent elections in MP, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Delhi. This trend may continue to show in UP too. Sensing the key role of UP in his electoral game-plan, Modi had sent his Hanuman Amit Shah to streamline party affairs and campaign strategy in the state. However, many old timers in the BJP are not amused at the prominence given to Shah. State BJP leaders did not want an outsider to dictate terms to them. If party sources are to be believed the party is still a divided house in UP. They were used to the liberal and democratic era of Vajpayee and Advani as against the dictatorial atmosphere in the party now. Dissensions would come to the fore once candidates are announced, many expect. As a matter of fact the party could never regain its unity and selfconfidence after its mascot, former chief minister Kalyan Singh was

| LOKAYAT MARCH, 2014

unceremoniously forced to leave the party in January, 2009. Cumulative efforts of leaders like Rajnath Singh, Kalraj Mishra, Vinay Katiyar, Lalji Tandon and others could make no difference to the ever-declining fortunes of the party in the state.

Some political analysts say the BSP’s support base has reduced as has been demonstrated by recent elections in MP, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Delhi and this may be proved again in UP. Others say the AAP would play a significant role in UP where voters are fed up with all other parties. Despite making all possible efforts in the 2012 assembly elections in the wake of general disenchantment with the Mayawati government due to corruption and splurging of public money on numerous memorial parks, the BJP’s dip continued with the

number of its MLAs coming down from 51 to 47 with just 15.21 percent votes in its favour. Some leaders in the BJP secretly admit that even the perceived Modi wave would not make any dramatic difference in the party’s electoral chances in the state where society is sharply divided along caste and community lines. However, there is another set of leaders who claim that the BJP’s chances are bolstered by the fact that Modi belongs to OBCs who dominate the social and political space in the state. Many commentators say, communal riots did what the BJP with all its resources, strategies and Modi’s exhortations could not do. Leaving no stone unturned the RSS has reportedly deployed its committed volunteers in electioneering. Many say it is not the BJP, but the RSS which is contesting the elections this time in UP. There is also speculation that Modi may contest from UP, most probably from the Lucknow seat, to give out the message that he dons Vajpayee’s hat in the party. Modi is going to organise his biggest rally in Lucknow on March 2.

Rajnath Singh ready to apologise The BJP is trying hard to woo Muslims; its president Rajnath Singh said the other day openly that the

Bharatiya Janata Party supporters during an election campaign rally in Lucknow (PTI photo)

party was prepared to apologise for any wrong done during 2002 Gujarat riots. He implored Muslims to give the BJP at least one chance, and if it failed to come up to their expectations, they might forsake it forever. Modi has also studiously refrained from any hardline antiMuslim references throughout his campaign. At least one cleric, Deoband-based Maulana Suhaib Qasmi has announced his support for Modi. But habits die hard and the party is simultaneously using old tactics like mobilising saints and sadhus to canvass for the BJP across the state. Besides, a few leaders still talk of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. The VHP used to organize rallies at frequent intervals supporting Ram temple and the 84-kosi yatra. The BJP is using social media to the hilt. This apart, the party has plans to spend Rs 400 crore in advertisements alone for image makeover. But the crucial thing is its extensive preparations for booth management. Amit Shah wants that out of the 1.27 lakh polling booths none should be left unattended.<

Based on inputs from Arvind Shukla, Gorakhpur

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MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

DELHI

CONGRESS AND BJP FLUMMOXED BY AAP The Congress party blundered not once but twice, first by extending support to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to form a government in Delhi and then not allowing it even to table the Jan Lokpal Bill in the assembly on the ground that it would violate the rules framed in 2002 by the Atal Behari Vajpayee government restricting the powers of the state assembly. The expectation that the Congress would be able to recapture its vote bank after ‘exposing’ the Kejriwal government may prove fatuous.

By Kusum Varshney

ho could have imagined that within 14 months of forming a political party Arvind Kejriwal would be the third most-talked about Indian politician in media? The Aam Aadmi Party formed to expose and change the acquisitive, insensitive and corrupt politics is indeed spreading its tentacles very fast at least in Haryana, UP, Maharashtra, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, and is expected to contest in more than 300 seats across the country with perhaps Kejriwal contesting against the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in Varanasi. Most political observers had argued soon after its stunning debut in Delhi that expansion of the AAP to other states would depend on the performance of its Delhi government. People have differing views on the achievements of Kejriwal’s 48-day minority government which came into existence with outside support of the Congress and the JD-U. The Congress support was quite surprising in the background of the AAP leaders’ barrage of criticisms against Sheila Dikshit. It realised its mistake only when the Kejriwal government actually filed five

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It is not yet clear if the assembly poll would be held along with the Lok Sabha elections. The issue of not dissolving the assembly despite Kejriwal’s recommendation is before the Supreme Court. It is believed that both the BJP and the Congress are scared to face elections immediately. A prominent leader of the BJP in Delhi, Vijay Goel has already chosen the Rajya Sabha route to reach parliament.

Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson Rajmohan Gandhi would contest the East Delhi seat on AAP ticket against Sandeep Dikshit, son of former chief minister Sheila Dikshit. Former TV journalist Ashutosh would oppose union telecom minister Kapil Sibal, who had put his foot in his mouth by stating that there was zero loss to the exchequer in the 2-G spectrum scam, whereas the CAG had put the figure at more than a lakh crore rupees.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal addressing AAP supporters at the party office in New Delhi following his government’s failure in tabling the Jan Lokpal Bill (PTI photo)

FIRs against Sheila in cases of corruption relating to the Commonwealth Games. The union finance minister P Chidambaram dubbed the support to Kejriwal to form the government as an ‘unnecessary’ decision. But the far bigger mistake of the Congress was in seeking Kejriwal government’s fall on the Jan Lokpal Bill. Had they allowed it to be tabled, debated or even passed, heavens would not have fallen, especially since Congress leaders continued to say that they were in favour of a harsh Lokpal Bill. Just as the Congress took credit in passing the

central Lok Pal Bill, it could have done the same in this case too. To have expected the AAP government to continue even after being prevented from tabling the Bill in the assembly was too much, especially since the party had made a commitment in its manifesto that it would be passed within 15 days of coming to power and repeated said that it would be done in people’s presence in Ramlila Maidan. Anyhow, Kejriwal took full advantage of his government’s fall by playing the martyr to the cause. It is true, Kejriwal did not go through the normal legal procedure of getting the Bill first approved by the lieutenant governor. It may be recalled that during the BJP government of Atal Behari Vajpayee in 2002, the union home ministry under Lal Krishna Advani had imposed rules by way of an order that any Bill with financial implications would first be got approved by the lieutenant governor of Delhi. The activist chief minister who had taken on the union home ministry on the issue of suspending some allegedly errant police officers, and staged a dharna near the Central Secretariat at the peak of winter, also chose not to succumb before the continuing unconstitutional ‘rules’. The unconstitutionality of the impugned rules could have been challenged in the Supreme Court. But Kejriwal perhaps had the hunch that the Bill would not be supported by Congress and BJP in the present form, which had brought DDA, Delhi Police and other similar central government employees in its ambit. Or he wanted to get rid of the burden of running the government so that he could concentrate on the Lok Sabha elections to fulfill his party’s cherished mission of working to change the rotten political system in the country. When the motion to table the Bill fell by 42-27 in a highly charged atmosphere, Kejriwal resigned making an emotional appeal to the people, charging the Congress and the BJP of joining hands at the instance of Mukesh Ambani against whom he had ordered

an FIR alleging conspiracy to get the natural gas price doubled by the union government. The ugly scenes created by the MLAs of the BJP and the Congress-- wrenching out the microphone of the chief minister and tearing the Bill-- showed legislators in poor light. While resigning Kejriwal recommended dissolution of the assembly, but the Centre weighing the pros and cons kept the legislature in suspended animation. This has been challenged by Kejriwal in the Supreme Court, alleging that it was done so to attempt horse trading. An unsuccessful attempt to lure away ten AAP MLAs by an offer of Rs 20 crore has already been alleged. Delhiites generally feel that Kejriwal should not have resigned. They remember his several hurried but good decisions-- he reduced electricity rates by half to consumers who did not exceed 400 units per month; ordered 700 litres of free water to those who had metered connections, subject to this consumption limit; ordered audit of power distribution companies’ accounts by the CAG to figure out tariff anomalies; sought transfer of police officials for lethargic action in many cases, thus making out a stronger case for the police force to be brought under Delhi government to ensure better accountability; got prices of CNG reduced by threatening to go to the Supreme Court; scrapped the FDI in retail; streamlined government hospitals’ functioning; and started a truly functional anti-corruption hotline which had a dramatic psychological effect and reduced corruption to some extent in several departments including the police. People generally believe the AAP would return with clear majority in the next elections as corrupt practices have started resurfacing with a vengeance. Seeing the general public mood three councillors, Raghavendra Shokeen, Rakesh Kumar and Imran Hussain, respectively from the BJP, JD-U and BSP joined the AAP the other day after resigning from their respective parties.<

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

JAMMU & KASHMIR

OMAR’S MASTER-STROKE CREATES 669 NEW ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS

Political discourse in J & K has suddenly changed. The angry separatist noises and cries for withdrawal of armed forces are overtaken by demands to bring governance closer home by creating more and more administrative units. The issue has stirred a hornet’s nest in the state, though. By Lokayat Correspondent

ho can oppose efforts to bring administration closer home, but it is being done as attempt of the Omar Abdullah government is depicted as a political ploy to win the next elections. National Conference leaders say, administration of Jammu and Kashmir is sure to undergo a sea-change with

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the implementation of chief minister Omar Abdullah’s cherished dream of creating 669 new administrative units. But this landmark decision has created a tricky situation for the state’s opposition political parties. They find themselves caught between the devil and the deep sea as opposing the issue on the ground of fiscal prudence may put them in the firing line which no one can afford in an election year. The Lok Sabha poll in April-May will soon be followed by Assembly elections in

October-November. Having failed on many fronts, this is being seen as a master stroke by the CM. On this issue the flamboyant chief minister had even threatened to break the alliance with the Congress and go for the Lok Sabha poll alone if the Congress-led cabinet sub-committee formed to recommend the new units did not submit its report before Feb 1. The matter was urgently tackled by the Congress high command and the NCCongress coalition was saved.

Creation of such large number of administrative units in the hilly state may benefit millions who presently face a lot of hardships in reaching remote administrative units, but it comes at a high cost for a state of which finances are already in perilous condition. If things go as planned, the state

PDP legislators stall the proceedings of Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly alleging discrimination against areas represented by them in setting up new administrative units by the state

will have 1170 administrative units against the existing 501. Earlier, only 224 new units were to be created across the state as recommended by state's former revenue secretary Mushtaq Ahmad Ganai-headed committee, which required an outlay of only Rs 800 crore. But the Congress found this report not politically beneficial to them and insisted on a new committee. Finally, Omar accepted recommendations of both the panels at a total cost of Rs

1,500 crore to the exchequer. The move on the eve of elections has ruffled the feathers of the main opposition PDP and some fringe political groups. PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti alleged that new administrative units were politically motivated to strengthen electoral prospects of the ruling alliance. There has been gross discrimination against areas represented by the PDP. While separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani termed the decision as giving chocolates and toffees to divert attention from the cherished goal of freedom, other opposition groups are encouraging people of those villages which did not get anything-- subdivision, tehsil, nayabats or block development offices. Cost to the state Besides opposition politicians, industry lobbyists and civil society activists are opposing the move as irrational and imprudent. The indiscriminate creation of administrative units, in many cases disproportionate to the population involved, also raises questions on the administrative wisdom. Economic experts say the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interests have been sacrificed for ego and political expediency. The enhanced administrative infrastructure of the state would require more than 10,511 employees and Rs 255 crore per annum as recurring cost at a time when the state is going through the worst liquidity crunch in its history. But the PDP, BJP and the National Panthers Party are demanding more such units to be established in areas which had been left out. Besides, the Kashmir region which is home to more than 55 percent of the 1.25 crore people of the state has got just 40.8 percent of the new units, while the Jammu region where only 42.68 percent population reside, has got more than 52 percent of them. Kashmir has 46 seats, Jammu 37 and Ladakh four in the 89member assembly with two nominated members.<

Minister forced to resign over molestation charge mar Abdullah is faced with yet another controversy relating to his minister of state for health Shabbir Ahmad Khan who was forced to resign for sexually molesting a lady doctor who is the wife of a Kashmiri separatist leader. He resigned only after doctors at the SMHS Hospital at Srinagar struck work. The Speaker of the assembly also gave permission to arrest Shabbir Khan, sitting Congress MLA from Rajouri. Shabbir Khan is alleged to have called a lady doctor to his office on the pretext of information-sharing and then attempted to molest her. PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti accused the government of shielding him. If journalist Tarun Tejpal could be arrested by the Goa Police, why not Shabbir Khan, amid growing apprehensions of witnesses of being pressured and influenced by the powerful Congress leader, she asked. Opposition members raised a hue and cry in the assembly over the issue alleging that the investigating officer was changed with a view to protect the minister. A Peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Democratic Party legislator even slapped thrice a marshal of the house when he was trying to remove him at the instruction of speaker Mubarak Gul. Mehbooba Mufti has got yet one more issue to flog the ruling alliance. Even otherwise she was trying hard to take political capital out of any anti-incumbency by raising corruption issues including the latest one of selling medical college seats for Rs 60-80 lakh each.<

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

MADHYA PRADESH

NEPOTISM NAGS BJP OVER TICKET DISTRIBUTION Basking in the spectacular triumph of the recent assembly elections, the BJP is dismissive of any challenge either from the Congress or the Aam Aadmi Party in the April-May Lok Sabha elections. But growing perception among voters about increasing corruption in the state and insatiable avarice of its senior leaders demanding tickets for their kith and kin may have telling effect on party’s performance…

IS MODI STILL By Rajiv Sharma

full page Madhya Pradesh government advertisement, published on February 25, in dozens of national and state level dailies, revealed a lot about the simmering and silent discontent in the BJP over the nomination of Narendra Modi as party’s prime ministerial candidate. The full page ad was related to the Narmada-Kshipra Simhastha Link Project, which also claimed that it was the first river linking project in the country realising the dream

By Chandrakant Naidu from Bhopal

ames from Madhya Pradesh did not figure in BJP’s first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha. But party sources say leader of the opposition in the outgoing House, Sushma Swaraj, is most likely to contest from Vidisha. A recent report in a national newspaper had suggested that she was willing to contest from even Telangana if the party president Rajnath Singh was inclined to shift to Vidisha. This followed reports about Rajnath Singh’s vulnerability in Ghaziabad. Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan whose stock is pretty high in the party despite not being a member of the central parliamentary board is expected likely to call the shots in selecting the local aspirants.

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MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, BJP leaders LK Advani, Nitin Gadkari and Swami Ramdev at the inauguration of Narmada Kshipra Link project at Ujjaini village near Indore (PTI photo)

With the Aam Aadmi Party entering the fray in a big way, the contests are likely to be interesting. The state BJP leadership, however, is dismissive of the new party’s challenge. The other factor affecting party’s hunting ground for the general elections is a perception of growing corruption in the state with scandals like Professional Examination Board scalding the ruling party’s image. The party had won16 out of 29 seats in 2009. But it asked four of its MPs to contest assembly elections. Spectacular victory over the Congress in the December assembly elections has

aroused its expectations. Most pre-poll surveys so far have suggested rich gains for the party. Besides, the Congress conceded a large number of assembly segments out of the 12 Lok Sabha seats it had won in 2009 giving the BJP a head start. The BJP’s best performance was in 2004 when the state returned 26 members to the Lok Sabha. But the BJP is in a fix over senior leaders’ demands for tickets to their relatives. The unpopularity of half a dozen sitting MPs is another reason for party’s worries. After 11 ministers lost the assembly

A DISPUTED PM NOMINEE? of BJP’s only former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The advertisement gave photographs of Lal Krishna Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Nitin Gadkari, Anantha Kumar and Baba Ramdev, but no mention of its current prime ministerial hopeful. The BJP sources said reading too much into this is not proper. These photographs were published since these leaders only were the prospective guests at the function and Modi was not one of them. But they had no explanation to the gaffe that BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi had already linked 20 rivers of Gujarat into Narmada yet his contribution was ignored at such a crucial time when he is being projected as the PM. Why was Shivraj Singh trying to claim that his was the first project in the country when the Gujarat’s claim is being flashed aggressively in TV ads on most of the prominent channels? Many people believe that Advani and his supporters though have given a belated nod to Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate despite strong reservation; but the animosity developed over the issue still lingers in the heart. It may be recalled in this context that an attempt was made to send Advani in the Rajya Sabha, but he stood his ground and declared his intention to contest Lok Sabha election only and that too from his old constituency, Gandhinagar, which is also being eyed by Narendra Modi. It is no secret that Shivraj Singh Chouhan is known to be closer to the iron man of the party, Advani and the very popular face of the party Sushma Swaraj.<

elections, the party has decided to take a fresh look at the prospects of incumbents whose popularity has eroded considerably. Among them are: Ashok Argal (Bhind), Makhan Singh (Khargone), Govind Mishra (Sidhi), Jitendra Bundela (Khajuraho), Shivraj Lodhi (Damoh ) and Jyoti Dhurve from Betul. The party wants to introduce younger candidates in these constituencies. Another member Ganesh Singh is expected to be shifted from Satna to Rewa or Sidhi according to reports. But, even as it keeps harping on Congress’ dynastic politics, the BJP has to worry about its own version of nepotism with nine ministers pestering the leadership to nominate their close relatives. While finance minister Jayant Malaiya is seeking nomination for his wife Sudha from Damoh, transport min-

ister Bhupendra Singh considers it his right to get a ticket for wife Saroj from Sagar. Singh had vacated Sagar seat to contest the assembly elections. Revenue minister Rampal Singh’s wife Shashi Prabha, a former legislator, is eyeing Hoshangabad. The Congress MP from Hoshangabad Uday Pratap Singh had left the party in November to join the BJP and is an obvious contender for the seat. Agriculture minister Garushanker Bisen is also keen to see his wife Rekha contesting the poll from Balaghat. Panchayat and rural development minister Gopal Bhargava is lobbying for son Abhishek for Damoh the seat coveted by Malaiya’s wife. Labour minister Antar Singh Arya has promised a thumping win if his son Vikas is fielded from Khargone. Tourism minister Yashodhararaje earlier wanted her son Akshay to contest

the assembly elections from Gwalior. But the party asked her to quit Lok Sabha and stand for assembly from Shivpuri. She won and got into the ministry. Now she believes the party owes her son a ticket. Krishna Gaur is being projected for the state capital’s Lok Sabha seat represented by former chief minister Kailash Joshi. At 85 Joshi is seen as too old to contest. Considering that an older L K Advani is being considered for a ticket Joshi might still be in the race. Krishna is the daughter in law of home minister Babulal Gaur. Food and civil supplies minister Vijay Shah’s brother Ajay is an applicant for Betul Lok Sabha seat with Vijay’s support. The minister’s other brother Sanjay was legislator from Timarni and wife Bhavna is the mayor of Khandwa. So, it is all in a family.<

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

PUNJAB

BADAL-AMARINDER FACE OFF Since disclosures about the British government having tendered advice to the then Indira Gandhi government to flush out ‘hidden terrorists’ from the Golden Temple, a bitter war of words on who from among the Punjab leaders were responsible, and how much for the ‘unpardonable’ act is raging across political Punjab these days, reviving hurt feelings of common Sikh to take political mileage. By Jyoti Thakur

part from 1984 Sikh riots, Operation Blue Star always remains in news in Punjab politics with the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leaving no opportunity to use these issues to corner the main opposition Congress over the alleged role of its leaders in the above episodes. Following the revelation that the British government ‘secretly’ assisted the government of India in the Indian

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Army's Operation Blue Star, the SAD and Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal yet again lambasted the Congress for having taken help from a foreign country to attack the holiest shrine of Sikhs—the Golden Temple. But the SAD’s hopes of cornering the Congress over the issue was dashed this time when Badal's political bete noire and Congress leader Amarinder Singh took the SAD head-on and retaliated by putting a question mark over senior Badal’s role in Operation Blue Star. It all started with Badal slamming the Congress, over disclosures from Britain on Operation

Blue Star, for ‘inflicting a deep wound on the Sikh psyche’ Amarinder Singh through the Operation in which hundreds of innocent people were killed. ‘This hurt the religious sentiments of Punjabis in general and the Sikhs in particular. Both the national governments were equally guilty for this unpardonable act and the

Sikhs would never forgive them for this sin against humanity,’ Badal said. Hitting back, Amarinder alleged Badal hid himself in his farmhouse at Bazpur in Uttarakhand when Operation Blue Star unfolded in the Golden Temple in June 1984. He said Badal did not return to Punjab despite having taken an oath at the Akal Takht to confront the Army if it entered the Golden Temple. Giving the chief minister equal blame for Operation Blue Star, Amarinder said: ‘Badal is an outright coward, who always ran away from the responsibility, never let any solution come up. He was mum even when 35,000 innocent people across

Punjab were killed during militancy.’ ‘I remained in Punjab before and during

OVER OPERATION BLUE STAR Operation Blue Star,’ he said adding that Capt wanted to deviate from the issue of punishing the Congressmen responsible for the massacre of Sikhs in 1984. Rubbishing Badal’s this claim, Amarinder said ‘either he (Badal) has lost his memory or is deliberately lying to mislead people’. Daring the CM to prove him wrong, the Congress leader said he would release documents to establish facts. Going a step ahead, the Congress leader accused Badal of asking the then union government to go for military action at Golden temple. ‘On March 28, 1984 you (Badal) had a meeting with union home minister Narasimha Rao, which was also attended by the cabinet secretary, the principal secretary to the PM and the union home secretary. As per government of India’s white paper on the Punjab agitation published in New Delhi on July 10, 1984, this meeting was held in a guest house in New Delhi. I say that the object of the meeting was to convey to him your concern at the situation in Darbar Sahib and to ask government of India to take military action’. Accusing Badal of practising double standards, the senior Congress leader claimed that on the one hand he recommended military action against Bhindrawale; on the other he (Badal) got himself associated with Khalistan Commando Force led by Gurjant Singh Rajasthani for protection. Reiterating his demand that all the documents related to Operation Blue Star be declassified, Amarinder said, he

wondered how Badal will defend himself once everything comes into the public domain. Retaliating, Badal said Amarinder’s claims were false and baseless. ‘There is no truth in that. While Amarinder did not go to any jail even for a day, after Operation Blue Star, I spent several months in prison,’ he said. ‘The curfew was clamped across the state during Operation Blue Star and he had been arrested two days after he entered Haryana from his village’. Amarinder disputed Badal's claim that he spent 17 years of his life in prison by claiming that the Akali leader had spent just around five years in confinement during his entire political career of 67 years. As the 86-year-old Akali stalwart started feeling heat of Amarinder’s attack, he changed his tactic and tried to portray the Congress leader’s accusations against him as a ploy to impress the party high command that has dropped him as state unit chief and replaced him with Pratap Singh Bajwa. The CM said before questioning others, Amarinder owes an answer to the Punjabis as to why he, a Sikh, had become the CM of the state after joining hands with the perpetrators of the Operation Blue Star. Amarinder had resigned from Congress to protest against the Operation but later rejoined the party. The two Punjab stalwarts have been joined by other leaders of both the parties in this war of words with Congress leaders backing Amarinder’s claims

Parkash Singh Badal

and the SAD leaders accusing the former of making false statements to absolve the Congress of its sins committed during Operation Blue Star. The last word on the issue is, however, yet to be spoken as claims and counter claims over Operation Blue Star continue to befuddle people even as an unending war of words between the two bitter rivals and their respective parties goes on.<

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

HARYANA

TANWAR GETS DIVIDED CONGRESS' COMMAND Young, energetic and well-educated, Dalit leader Ashok Tanwar has been chosen to head the Haryana Congress much against the wishes of chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. The high command thinks that choice of a neutral face to lead the party at this juncture is necessary, Ashok Tanwar, the new Congress especially because president in Haryana factional conflicts are eroding the morale of party men and the BJP and AAP are making every effort to take advantage of the government’s failures.

By Lokayat Correspondent

fter suffering electoral reverses in recent assembly elections in four states, Congress vice-resident Rahul Gandhi had resolved to invest his faith in younger leadership and kept his decision with the appointment of 39-year-old Ashok Tanwar as the Haryana Congress chief, replacing Phool Chand Mullana who is almost twice Tanwar's age. An AICC secretary, Tanwar was handpicked by Gandhi for the job despite intense lobbying by various factions in the state Congress. In fact,

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both chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his detractor Kumari Selja had opposed Tanwar, a product of Jawaharlal Nehru University. While Hooda had wanted either Mullana -- his term had ended in 2011 but he was not replaced -- or Ram Prakash, former union minister , Selja was eyeing the job for herself with the backing of Rajya Sabha MP, Birender Singh. Tanwar's appointment was, therefore, a setback to Hooda who did not want the rise of another young leader in the area where the chief minister's son and Rohtak MP, Deepender Singh Hooda had complete control till now.

Supporters of AAP wear masks of their leader Arvind Kejriwal at an election rally (PTI photo)

Tanwar shot to prominence in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections when he defeated an Indian National Lok Dal candidate from Sirsa, the bastion of former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala. He was party's surprise choice and an ‘outsider’ for the constituency; still he won the election by 35,499 votes. A Dalit leader close to Rahul, Tanwar's appointment as the chief of state Congress has a lot of political significance, as unlike Mullana, who was considered a Hooda puppet, he (Tanwar) will not be a dependent on the chief minister. His proximity to Rahul will also ensure that senior party leaders, including Hooda, will have to give him space to function independently. Tanwar is married to a Brahmin, Avantika Maken, daughter of assassinated Congress leader, Lalit Maken, niece of party leader Ajay Maken and grand-daughter of former President, Shankar Dayal Sharma. His appointment also signals high command's intent to balance the power structure in Haryana which has been centred on Hooda. With the high command apparently unwilling to let him act as a lone power centre in the

AAP’s national election campaign from Rohtak olitical landscape in Haryana is different this time with the main opposition party Indian National Lok Dal’s top leaders in jail for the ‘teacher recruitment’ scandal. This could have helped the BJP to emerge as a major gainer, but Haryanvi voters have traditionally refrained from supporting the saffron party in a big way. But after Congress MP Rao Inderjit Singh’s defection to the BJP last month, it can expect some gain in the southern part of the state. The opposition vacuum in fact may be filled up by the new comer, Aam Aadmi Party, which used Rohtak, Hooda’s constituency to launch its national election. The reasonably well-attended rally addressed by the party convenor Arvind Kejriwal was a hit from all accounts. He raised issues of corruption, boldly asking Modi and Rahul to reveal who gave them helicopters to do campaigning. He also asked why Modi and Rahul were silent on the issue of gas pricing which gave windfall profit of Rs 51,000 crore per year to the Reliance Industries Ltd of Mukesh Ambani. He gave Swiss bank account numbers of Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani and asked if Modi would bring black money back from these accounts. He also asked why there was unseemly hurry to increase gas prices, while farmers were fired upon by the police when they demanded batter prices for their produce as per the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission. He mentioned how a farmer was killed in police firing in Jind during farmers’ agitation raising this demand. He promised if the AAP came to power, the Swaminathan Commission recommendations would be implemented. Kejriwal raised the issue of farmers’ land acquired by the government only to pass on to Mukesh Ambani, DLF and Robert Vadra. He regaled the audience by saying that because of such deeds the people of Haryana called the CM a property dealer. He reminded the people of the slogan ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’, coined by the late prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. While he placated the sentiments of kisans by promising better price for their produce and land, he praised jawans guarding the border risking their lives. He announced that just as compensation of Rs 1 crore was given to the Delhi police constable who was killed by narcotics mafia, any jawan killed in action should be given similar compensation. Yogendra Yadav, the second-most popular leader of the AAP and seen as the shadow chief minister of Haryana also spoke at the rally describing how in every sphere in the state corruption was the norm. Despite the successful rally, the challenge before the new party is immense as the culture of money, muscle and caste politics overshadows the real concerns and demands of the people.<

state, Hooda started losing his clout within the party since the beginning of this year. The first signal of this came earlier when the high command ignored Hooda's wish and nominated former union minister Selja to the Rajya Sabha from Haryana. Hooda had pushed Mullana's name for the seat. A former president of the Indian Youth Congress (from 2005 to 2010), Tanwar faces an uphill task in uniting the factionridden state Congress and reconstituting the long-defunct Pradesh Congress Committee. The open conflict between two powerful political camps—one led by chief minister Hooda and the other by Rajya Sabha MPs Kumari Selja and Birender Singh-has hurt the image of the party. Tanwar has already indicated that bringing together all factions of the Congress for facing the upcoming general elections will be his first priority and has issued a call to party men to resolve their differences. Asked how he would strike a balance between

Hooda and his rival faction, Tanwar said he would make optimum use of his experience as an AICC secretary. Tanwar has the task cut out for him so far as the forthcoming elections are concerned. The party has to face not

only the challenge from the Indian National Lok Dal but also from the BJPHaryana Janhit Congress combine and Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party which has resolved to make Haryana its ‘next battleground’ after Delhi.<

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

KARNATAKA

EFFORTS TO DILUTE LOKAYUKTA POWERS OPPOSED The Karnataka government's attempt to provide more teeth to the office of the state Lokayukta has led to controversies which chief minister Siddaramaiah had not bargained for.

Karnataka Lokayukta retd Justice Bhaskar Rao

By Lokayat Correspondent from Bengaluru

he Karnataka government hurriedly decided to put on hold plans to introduce the bill to bring about changes in the Lokayukta Act, rattled as it was by the strong opposition to it. Highlighting his concern over the proposed act was none other than the present Lokayukta retd Justice Bhaskar Rao. The bill seeks to give more powers to the ombudsman's office, as

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it exists now, by first ensuring that it can probe the chief minister and his cabinet colleagues in addition to top bureaucrats. This marks a major departure from the present practice under which the Lokayukta's office has to run to the government for sanction every time it wants to probe a corrupt babu. Modelled on the lines of the recently introduced Lokpal Act at the centre, the proposed bill also seeks to set up an eight member panel headed by the Lokayukta as its chairman. The members of the board would

comprise sections of the judiciary and bureaucrats. Four of the eight positions would be reserved for the scheduled caste, backward and minority communities.

Lokayuktaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fears genuine If the government thought that it would receive kudos for its move to remodel the present Lokayukta's office, it did not take long for it to be disappointed. For, the minute its decision regarding recasting went public, Justice Bhaskar Rao did not waste time in approaching governor

Hansraj Bharadwaj. viewed as an attempt to dilute the His fears are indeed genuine. For powers of the Lokayukta as it functions example, under the proposed bill, the now. Under the present act, the government plans to set up a threeLokayukta has the authority to member panel which will examine investigate cases against officials of the cases for raids and investigations against corrupt government officers before giving the green signal. At present, this responsibility vests with the additional director general of police, attached to the Lokayukta's office. Justice Rao's meeting with the governor led to speculation of a show down between the Lokayukta's office and the government. This is understandable as the Lokayukta office is not too happy with the proposal to replace the present practice of conducting raids and investigations under its ADGP. It is working well so where is the need to recast it now, goes the refrain, if sources in the Karnataka chief minister ombudsman's office are to be Siddaramaiah believed. This controversial provision in the bill has also raised concerns that the government was seeking to dilute the powers of the Lokayukta. For, it is unable to explain rank of deputy commissioners. why it wants to give the powers to Of equal concern is the proposal to enquire into the need for raiding and set up a state vigilance commission, investigating corrupt officials, to a headed by a bureaucrat, to complete the three member panel. investigations against the corrupt. No Significantly, existing legal wonder then that fears abound that the provisions including the Criminal independent functioning of the Procedure Code and the Prevention of Lokayukta police would be undermined Corruption Act clearly underline that by this new order. powers for any investigation, including In fact, S Hiremath, social activist, corruption, vests only with the police too has opposed the proposed changes or those empowered to act like police in the Lokayukta's office, especially the officials. Besides, the law allows police setting up of the Vigilance officials in any police station to register Commission. He has termed the draft corruption cases before moving on with bill ‘as a sinister move to weaken the investigations, official sources add. Lokayukta Act.’ Accordingly, the proposed The government, on its part, seems provision in the bill empowering a to have realized that it is treading a three-member panel to examine the sensitive path by attempting to rush need for investigation in a corruption through the bill to remodel the case, is raising serious doubts about the Lokayukta’s office. Accordingly, saner government’s intention .It is being voices in the cabinet are now talking of

allowing a public debate on the bill. The refrain is that it will help in garnering opinions of all sections of society, in the process minimizing the blame on the government. It does not come as a surprise, therefore, to now hear from government sources that Siddaramiah would prefer to introduce the proposed bill during the extended budget session, to be held around June this year.

Chief minister too can be investigated nder the proposed bill, the Lokayukta would proceed with an inquiry or investigation against a chief minister, following allegations, only if the full bench of the watchdog considers it necessary. More important, two thirds (members) of the bench will have to approve the enquiry or investigation.<

In a related development, law minister, Jaychandra, has asserted that there was no attempt to rush through the bill.” We wanted to strengthen the existing Lokayukta Act further,” he claimed. Yet he failed to explain as to why the government was seeking to take away the powers of prosecution and investigation from the Lokayukta’s office. Nor is there any explanation about why the government wants to give this power to the state vigilance commission. As things stand now, the government is looking sheepish following its needless hurry, rather attempt, to introduce the remodelled Lokayukta bill. Perhaps, in its haste, it forgot to have the proposed bill vetted by the law department, something which is being done now.<

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

GUJARAT

WILL ANANDI BE MODI’S CHOICE NUMBER ONE!

Amidst speculation that Narendra Modi may perhaps land at 7, Race Course Road after the Lok Sabha poll, speculation in the state BJP is rife as to who would be his successor in Gandhinagar—a vote catching leader or an efficient and experienced administrator? There are indeed one or two leaders in the party who may turn out as charismatic as Modi. One of them is Purushottam Rupala, but he is out of Modi’s favour. So far as the CM chair is concerned, Anandi Ben stands out due to her long closeness with Modi despite being strongly disliked by Modi’s Hanuman Amit Shah…. 40

| LOKAYAT MARCH, 2014

By Lokayat Correspondent

fter months of intense speculation over who may be the Gujarat chief minister in case Narendra Modi shifts to Delhi, the clouds are now diffusing in favour of Anandi Ben Patel, an efficient minister and already second in command in Modi’s cabinet. If recent indications are anything to go by her ascension would be smooth. The latest hoardings that appeared recently bearing her big sized photos and cutouts placed at a recent rally are firm indications that dice has already been played in her favour. Here is how things might have moved in Anandi’s favour. It is true that the present monolithic structure of the government in Gujarat hardly permits a second power centre, but once Narendra Modi after much infighting and drama within the party was declared its prime ministerial candidate, the search for a suitable leader became necessary. People in the know say Modi had been

Ambani) and education minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasma, resulting in her enjoying allegiance and seniority among her possible contenders in the ministry. She heads the group of select ministers that executes decisions when Modi keeps himself busy hitting the campaign trail criss-crossing the country. What makes Anandi the most favourite choice for the top job in Gandhi Nagar is also her age, her being a woman and maintaining a low profile, plus her long association with Modi since the days they worked closely for the organisation in the state. It was Anandi’s closeness with Modi, that forced her husband 77 years-old Mafatlal Patel writing several letters to Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani complaining against Modi’s influence over his wife. This led the couple live separately for last almost 20 years. Modi and Anandi came close to each other way back in 1985 when she was a school principal. It was Modi’s influence that brought her to the BJP in 80s. Sources in the government told

Even if Modi is not able to reach the PM’s gaddi, he is expected to continue to play national role having remained the chief minister for four terms. But many feel that Modi did not allow anybody to emerge as capable to replace him. But many others disagree and say succession to Modi would not be problem. evaluating carefully implications of projecting his juniors and finally found her appropriate and let her prepare for the top job in the state. She was allowed to have meetings of senior ministers including finance minister Nitin Patel, foreign-educated minister of industries Saurabh Patel (son in law of the elder brother of Dhirubhai

that for all practical purposes, Anandi acts as the de-facto second-incommand in state government when Modi is not there in the capital. On the question of why she has not been made deputy CM, sources say Modi never relies too much on anyone, and always keeps his cards close to his chest, letting the people around guess what is in the offing. Moreover,

terror of Modi is such, that it is unthinkable for anyone to nurse an ambition to upstage him. Many believe that it is the opposition of Amit Shah that she was not named the deputy CM. Sources say both dislike each other, the former because of her growing

Observers feel Modi has destroyed the organisational culture in the party in Gujarat and the entire show of the party and government is personality driven, which has its own hazard in the sense once Modi is out, there might be uncontrollable confusion and disarray in the party. stature and Anandi for his overbearing demeanour. Nitin Patel, Saurabh Patel, Amit Shah and Purushottam Rupala are also known to be in the race for the top job. Political observers may say that there is lacks of second line of leaders but that’s not entirely true as not only the above names, there are several others who may not be as charismatic mass leader and fiery orator as Modi, but they know how to run the government. Assembly speaker Vaju Vala (who had vacated his seat in Rajkot for Modi during the 2001 by-election when Modi took over as Gujarat CM) and Rajya Sabha member Purushottam Rupala, who recently lost Modi’s closeness, are powerful leaders and equally mesmerizing public speakers. Rupala has considerable support base in the Patel heartland of Saurashtra.<

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

WEST BENGAL

BLESSED BY

ANNA, DIDI

AIMS HIGH

(PTI photo)

Even as the CPM-led ‘third front’ was trying to become a credible non-BJP, non-Congress option, anti-graft activist Anna Hazare upset the apple cart by extending his support to Mamata Banerjee in the forthcoming parliamentary elections. She is now raring to pursue her parallel ‘federal front’ vigorously. However, many a political eyebrow is raised at Hazare’s unexpected decision. They question if it is not a ploy to arrest the growing influence of the Aam Aadmi Party, which has incorporated all his 17 demands in its political agenda. Many also see in this development an unintended ‘help’ to facilitate Modi’s winning chances by splitting the secular votes further. By Lokayat Correspondent

he 2014 Lok Sabha elections will be a turning point of sorts for Indian democracy. For the first time in its 67-year Independent India’s history, the country is witnessing more than half a dozen prime ministerial hopefuls. Anyone

| LOKAYAT MARCH, 2014

connected with a political party (big or small) is throwing his/her hat into the ring. To add to the din Anna Hazare has exploded a bomb by upholding Mamata Banerjee as the next prime minister. If not Mamata, then neither from the NDA and the UPA nor the Left-backed Third Front, the PM would come from the TMC-backed Federal Front only. Buoyed by his support Mamata accused

in her characteristic style that the Left, BJP and the Congress were colluding in West Bengal. She said the Congress could barely win 60 seats and the BJP would not go beyond 150, not enough to claim the top job. But the CPM suspects a secret deal in the offing between Modi and Mamata. Hazare’s support to Mamata is seen as queer, as he had decided not to

campaign for TMC. His explanation is that he is supporting Mamata, not the TMC, because she alone had responded to his 17-point demand charter. He profusely praised her simple life-style— the only leader who was not using government perks. Many see in this move an attempt to pour cold water on the hopes of Arvind Kejriwal as there was intense speculation that Hazare might support him in his high-voltage anti-graft campaign in which he had ordered CAG audit of the electricity distribution company of Anil Ambani in Delhi and the Anti-Corruption Wing of his government to file FIR against Mukesh Ambani, Veerappa Moily and Murli Deora for criminal conspiracy in allowing windfall gains to the tycoon in gas pricing. Kejriwal had also prepared a list of most corrupt politicians against whom his party pledged to contest in order to block their way to Parliament. But these moves perhaps were not to Hazare’s liking. He seemed rather upset with Kejriwal’s success even without his support. He is sore that Kejriwal ignored his 17-point agenda meant to make democratic governance clean and pro-people. The AAP spokesperson Anand Kumar said Hazare had made a wrong decision as the Mamata government was one of the most corrupt. The Left’s reaction was subtle but harsher: CPM general secretary Prakash Karat said if Hazare could make Mamata order a CBI probe into the mega chit fund racket which had ruined millions of people in rural Bengal, he would endorse his decision. Mamata retorted, saying that the racket was thriving since the 1980s when the left front was in power; anyway she had instituted a judicial probe. Women’s rights groups were the most shocked at Hazare’s decision: in the last three years Mamata had transformed the state from being the safest for women to the most unsafe. Several women organisations wrote to him seeking to review his decision. Mamata now plans to put her

political footprints outside West Bengal, and declared that she would shortly select candidates in consultation with Hazare who predicted she could win 40 Lok Sabha seats and be in a position to decide the next prime minister. The crusader activist endorsed Mamata as the best person available for the post. What made Mamata the darling of

The worst criticism of Anna’s move came from women’s rights groups which said that in three years Mamata had transformed West Bengal from being the safest for women to the most unsafe state. Several such groups appealed to him to review his decision.

CPM general secretary Prakash Karat

Hazare? She alone accepted all the 17 points Anna had made in a letter detailing his pro-people policies. In fact, Mamata was the only leader who cared to reply. Mamata declared that she would carry the fight she began in Bengal to

Hazare’s Plans For 2019 azare carries big dreams in his head. At the joint press conference with Mamata Banerjee in Delhi he said he would go around the country during the next five years to find at least hundred persons who could contest on the motto of cleansing the present corrupt system. These 100 candidates would be his nominees in the 2019 elections.<

Delhi. However, she is not sure if she would be stand for the post of PM if her party, along with other ‘like-minded’ allies, decided to stake claim for the post. She said she would always remain in Bengal even as she vowed to take the Trinamool Congress to the national arena. But the situation could change after the polls, she added. As of now ‘Do not worry, I will never leave Bengal, it is my motherland and I will work for Bengal till my last breath’, Mamata said. Her immediate plan is to extend her reach outside Bengal. She declared that her party would contest elections in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and, perhaps, Delhi too. She is keen to include ‘All India’ in the Trinamool Congress title. She has urged voters to give to her all the 42 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal, and said she would ‘take care’ to spread Trinamool wings to other states.<

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

KERALA

OOMMEN CHANDY’S SMILE GETS CLOUDED

(PTI photo)

The long-awaited appointment of a new KPCC chief has evoked shock and surprise in the state capital as it was done over the head of the chief minister and Congress leaders. The new incumbent is competent, experienced and untainted but he was imposed; so whether he can bring cohesion in the faction-ridden party, maintain UDF unity and win maximum parliamentary seats is the big question. By Lokayat Correspondent

erala chief minister Oommen Chandy routinely wears a smile on his lips. And until now he had plenty of

K 44

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reasons to smile broadly. He was able to tame a recalcitrant former KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala and include him in his cabinet as home minister without yielding much of his own space. He was absolved by the High Court—which was endorsed by

the apex court later--of any role in the pernicious solar scam and thereby able to give the lie to the LDF propaganda that he was the fountainhead of corruption. The CPI (M)-led LDF had mounted a long, but vain campaign—including gherao,

boycott and even an attempt on his life—to force him quit the ministry alleging his complicity in the solar loot. Chandy was also able to celebrate 1,000 ‘glorious’ days in the CM’s saddle despite having a razorthin majority in the assembly though Cassandras had given him no more than few weeks. Despite these lucky turn of events the smile is clouded now. The weather change happened following the sudden imposition of a KPCC president by the Congress high command to replace Ramesh Chennithala. The new appointee is V M Sudheeran, a Congress leader of impeccable record and wide-ranging experience. He had been assembly speaker, a minister (in Antony cabinet), and five times Lok Sabha member before. Besides he does not belong to either of the two Congress cliques. That alone should have made him widely acceptable. But since Sudheeran was not under consideration for the post—Chandy and Ramesh had decided on G Karthikeyan, the present speaker, and recommended his name—the change came as a shock and surprise to the two leaders. The mortification was greater because they came to know the appointment from news channels! Neither made any complaint about it although Chandy showed it by staying away from the function marking Sudheeran’s assumption of the new office. He was also not present at the airport to receive Sonia Gandhi who was on a flying visit to open a party convention. (see box) Sudheeran has definite and uncompromising views on governance, transparent dealings, ecologically harmless development, prevention of corruption and so on. And he does not mince words while talking about them. He often criticised the way the two wings—the government and the ruling party— took important decisions without discussion and mutual consultation. Probably in the prevailing atmosphere

Sonia applies balm to soothe wounded feelings ongress president Sonia Gandhi was in Kerala recently on her way to Lakshadweep and took the opportunity to open a Congress workers’ convention in Kochi. It virtually turned out to be the inaugural function of the poll campaign in the state. While Ramesh Chennithala, V M Sudheeran and other Congress leaders received Sonia at Trivandrum airport, chief minister Oommen Chandy stayed away to show his displeasure at the way the incumbent state Congress president was chosen and announced. Chandy attended the convention later. Sonia talked to Chandy and tried to soothe the hurt feelings. She said no disrespect was intended. In her address she appreciated Chandy’s achievements and spoke high of Chennithala and Sudheeran. She called on the leaders to bury differences and factionalism to ensure success of party candidates. She stressed the point that there was no place for groupism in the Congress. The UPA had introduced several progressive, welfare measures to make people’s life safe and comfortable. Food security, right to information and Lokpal against corruption are some of them. More are in the pipeline, but the BJP and the left are obstructing their adoption. While the CPI (M) made a mess of things in West Bengal and Kerala, the BJP was stoking communal fires across the country. People should recognise the dangers. The Congress alone can ensure national security and integrity of the country, Sonia said. These platitudes apart, BJP baiting was the gravamen of her speech now that the Aam Aadmi Party has gone out of the radar. While opening the ‘Nirbhaya Keralam, Surakshita Keralam’ programme, a government-civil society initiative at another venue, Sonia said other states could benefit a lot from many such projects in the state. In employment of women, education of girls, women’s empowerment and healthcare, Kerala was way ahead of other states. But, she noted, women’s share in the police force was only five per cent. She requested the CM to raise it to 25 percent in the next five years.<

of drift and factional calculations, a person of such unassailable integrity, decisiveness and transparency was the need of the hour, and the high command might have picked Sudheeran for the job advisedly. It is a riddle, however, how Sudheeran and Oommen Chandy, two leaders of divergent styles of functioning, will coordinate their work, especially in complex matters like adjustment of seats among UDF constituents, selection of Congress candidates for poll and planning campaign strategies. Be that as it may, the new KPCC

president has a busy time ahead. The seat-sharing talks with the alliance partners stand dead-locked because the Kerala Congress (M) insists on an additional seat. The Congress cannot afford to displease any one; at the same time it cannot concede such demands to any without invoking similar claims from others. The high command has stressed the need of sending the maximum number of Congress MPs. It will take, therefore, all the artful ingenuity at Sudheeran’s command to keep the UDF flock together and, make them feel contended.<

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

KERALA

CPI (M) HAD IT NEVER SO BAD Power and money corrupt everybody and CPI (M) cadres are no exception from the rule. Drunk with money and muscle power they stop at nothing; they get involved in all sorts of illegalities including brutal murders, and draw the party into litigation, disgrace and decay. Thanks to its clueless block-headed leaders, today the CPI (M) is a pale shadow of what it was yesterday. What of its shape tomorrow?

K K Rema, wife of slain communist leader TP Chandrasekharan taking fruit juice to end her fast seeking CBI probe in to the conspiracy behind her husband’s murder

By Special Correspondent

n its short history since the split in communist movement six decades ago the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has liquidated many opponents but never has it faced such devastating consequences as those followed the brutal murder of Com T P Chandrasekharan over a year ago. Despite strident denial by politburo members down to local leaders of

| LOKAYAT MARCH, 2014

party’s involvement in the homicide, the Sessions Court at Kozhikode has established that it was a planned political job following inter-party rivalries. The court sentenced to life imprisonment 11 accused including three top CPI (M) functionaries; six were hired killers. Nearly 60 accused were set free for want of clinching evidence. The case also had the distinction of seeing over 30 witnesses turning hostile during trial— apparently they were bought over by

threats or money. The victim’s fault was that he was an able and popular communist leader, but with a mind of his own. He gave vent to his opinion freely to the chagrin of some party satraps. But his mortal sin was quitting the CPI (M) and forming a rival outfit which swept the subsequent panchayat poll and eliminated CPI (M) influence in an area known as ‘party gram’. The party’s thinking about the need to liquidate Chandrasekharan began then. The court brought out this conspiracy from the transcripts of 171 mobile conversations among 10 of the accused during 15 days prior to the murder. Two thoughtless blustering by party leaders also gave away the conspiracy. One was a swagger at a public meeting that TP’s brain would ‘scatter like coconut flower’ before long. The second was a briefing of his followers by state party secretary Pinarai Vijayan that when they undertook an elimination job they should do it the way comrades in West Bengal did—leave no scent for the police to follow. He blamed the killing squad for massacring TP carelessly on a highway before several witnesses. There were 53 deep cuts, mostly on the face making identification of the body difficult. Corroborating evidence of the party’s involvement also came from the way it organised legal defence of the accused party men as well as the hired goondas. Dissatisfied with the verdict that let many go scot-free and

others with light sentence, the government proposes to go on appeal. The CPI (M) has also announced its plan to fight the case in the High Court. But the matter took a sudden turn for the worse for the party when the slain TP’s widow said that she was unhappy with the court’s pronouncement which did not pursue the conspiracy angle and involvement of top CPI (M) leaders including Pinarai without whose concurrence the crime could not have been planned. She wanted CBI probe to bring out all facts and punish all guilty men. Despite sympathy for K K Rema, the widow, when the state government hesitated to order a CBI investigation— because a court had already given its verdict—she went on an indefinite hunger-strike at the Secretariat. It evoked such mass support that an unwilling government had to concede the demand on the fifth day of the hunger-strike. The CPI (M) was scared of a CBI investigation because it was sure to unravel the full ramifications of the conspiracy, and that means involvement of top names. But what rattled the party more was a letter to the government written by V S Achuthanandan, opposition leader, requesting it to concede Rema’s demand. The opposition leader’s support for a CBI probe effectively meant the party’s will and that effectively meant a self-goal! Achuthanandan’s calculated shot put the party totally confused; it was already in an existential crisis, partly caused by the opposition leader’s factional tango and partly the result of

the authoritarian ways of Pinarai himself. Since the time Achuthanandan became the chief minister of the erstwhile LDF government, Pinarai has been waging a running feud to immobilize and discredit his rule. In fact Pinarai did everything possible to sow seeds of disunity among LDF constituents and show the five years of the administration as a non-event. No wonder it resulted in the rout of the left front in the last election. Achuthanandan was unlikely to forget or forgive Pinarai for all these. Pinarai would have moved quickly against Achuthanandan for this latest misdemeanor with suspension from LDF leadership, or even expulsion from the party. Unfortunately, he is under an injunction. The central leadership,

busy as it is in assembling a motley crowd of disparate parties to fight the coming general election wants Pinarai to hold his hand until after the poll. But who knows what further plans Achuthanandan is brewing to discomfit Vijayan? Fortuitously, the CBI has applied for a review of the SNC-Lavalin judgment. In the earlier phase of the case Achuthanandan did his best to keep Vijayan on tenterhooks. When the court exonerated Vijayan of all charges and set him free he crowed, probably a little too soon, that nobody could touch him. Now the time has come for final denouement and Achuthanandan will get another chance to torment Vijayan. The special court had held that the CBI could not prove that the accused had gained any pecuniary advantage while awarding the Rs 374-cr contract to the Canadian company for renovating and modernising three hydropower generating units. The revision petition contends that the special judge had overlooked many incriminating documents against the accused. It also alleges that Vijayan, while serving as electricity minister, had hatched a criminal conspiracy to award the contract to SNCLavalin at three times the justifiable cost, that too violating all regulations. The state incurred several crore rupee-loss on account of the deal. Interestingly four judges excused themselves from hearing the revision plea and it was the fifth one that agreed to hear it. There was uproar in the media about the unusual situation and a perturbed chief justice had to persuade a fifth judge to take up the case. The unethical refusal of the judges to hear any case that came before them even raised a public demand to sack them.<

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

ODISHA

ODIA DECLARED A CLASSICAL LANGUAGE Knowing people’s language is vitally important in politics, but surprisingly Naveen Patnaik has won consecutive assembly elections without addressing his electorate not even a word in Odia. This is because he owns the legacy of his legendary father Biju Patnaik. But PM aspirants Modi and Rahul have targeted him for his incapacity to speak in his mother tongue. Interestingly the union government declared Odia as a classical language, bringing it in the league of Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam on the eve of the elections. Is it a ploy of the UPA government to provide a handle to pick on Naveen for not knowing his state’s great language?

By Ashok B Sharma

nability to speak Odia language has become a perennial embarrassment to Naveen Patnaik. Among those who take a dig at him for this are the two PM aspirants, Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi who castigate him for not knowing the people’s language. Interestingly the UPA government has provided a handle to his detractors to aggravate the sore by according Odia the status of a classical language on the eve of the poll. So far Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam have been declared as classical languages. Knowing the reality that it would be difficult to dislodge Naveen Patnaik from the seat of power in the immediate term, the Congress intends to make the language issue an emotive one. Some linguists

| LOKAYAT MARCH, 2014

however have contested the argument the government has given to declare it as a classical language. The official press release of February 20 says that Odia has ‘no resemblance to Sanskrit’. But linguists maintain that all the modern Indo-Aryan languages evolved primarily from Vedic Sanskrit that subsequently changed to Epic Sanskrit and then classical Sanskrit. Pali, Prakrit, Apabramsha were the transitional stages of the modern Indian languages like Bengali, Odia, Assamese, Punjabi, Marathi, Sindhi, Gujarati, Bhojpuri, Hindi etcetera. To say that Odia does not have any resemblance to Sanskrit is contrary to facts, according to them. This indicates how the language issue is being used in the elections. In Odisha, the Congress Party is out of power for the last 15 years. The leadership of the party in the state has seen several changes over the years, yet none of them could effectively take on Naveen. Not only the Congress, but the BJP also remains weak and ineffective. Odisha has 21 seats in the Lok Sabha, of which Naveen’s Biju

Janata Dal bagged 14 in the last general elections, leaving 6 to the Congress and one to the CPI. In Odisha the assembly poll will sync with the Lok Sabha elections. In the last assembly poll, the Congress performance was even worse and could secure only 27 seats in the 147-member house. The Congress is now in search of issues which could appeal to the masses. This apart, the Congress Party in the state is riddled with factionalism so much so that for the first time, the party’s poll committee had to meet outside the state --in Delhi-- to prepare the list of candidates for the state assembly poll and submit to the screening committee of the AICC. A list of 21 candidates for the Lok Sabha poll has already been sent to the AICC. The BJP in the state is also not in any hunky-dory form. Narendra Modi who toured the state recently lamented that Biju Patnaik , had he been alive today, would have been extremely sad to see what became of the state under the present regime. The morale of the BJD can be gauged from the fact that recently

Golak Bihari Naik quit it to join the BJD accusing the party leaders of high handedness. He had been a minister during 2004-09 on the BJP quota in the Naveen government. A few days ago a prominent Congress leader of Nayagarh, Hemendra Singh also left his party and joined the BJD. He accused Rahul Gandhi of not caring for local leaders, no matter how sincere they had been to the party. He cited how the SPG surrounding Rahul Gandhi ill-treated him when he wanted to speak to him. Meanwhile Naveen is confidently on his 14-day statewide campaign— Sankha Bajao, Swabhiman Bachao (blow conch shell, have self-respect). Conch shell is the election symbol of the BJD. The campaign which was kicked off in

Berhampur, the home district of Biju Patnaik, will culminate on March 5, the birth anniversary of the legendary leader. Three mega rallies are planned on March 5 – youth rally in Bhubaneswar, women’s rally in Behrampur and kendu leaf pluckers and construction workers’ rally in Sambalpur. The recent carving out of Telangana from Andhra Pradesh may

start a headache for Naveen if the political groups in the western part of Odisha revive their demand for a separate Koshal state. Naveen, with a view to contain emotions, has given assurance to set up a High Court bench in Sambalpur. He also plans to intensify his demand for a Special Category Status for Odisha, as has been granted to Seemandhra.<

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

HIMACHAL

REBELS BACK AS BJP TRIES TO SET THE HOUSE IN ORDER FOR LS BJP is trying to take rebels back into the party, who had left it being disgruntled over the egoist attitude of its leaders and corruption in the party. The realisation that the next Lok Sabha elections might be tougher to win, all efforts are going on to reunite all factions. By Lokayat Correspondent

he Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) believes it lost last assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh due to its internal troubles (read rebels) rather than because people wanted to vote in favour of the Congress. No surprise then that the opposition party has in right earnest started to address the rebel factor in the hill state in order to give the ruling Congress a befitting reply in the coming Lok Sabha elections. With an aim to repeat the performance of 2009 when it won three of the four Lok Sabha seats in the state with 49.59 percent vote share, the saffron party is serious about repairing its party image by taking about 100

| LOKAYAT MARCH, 2014

Shanta Kumar

rebels back into the party. These leaders, including former ministers Roop Singh (a six-time MLA), Harbans Singh Rana, former MLAs Rakesh Pathania, Navin Dhiman and several others, had contested against the official candidates. The re-entry of rebels has apparently strengthened the Prem Kumar Dhumal faction as most of the Shanta loyalists who had joined Himachal Lokhit Party (HLP), floated by BJP dissidents on the issue of corruption, have not rejoined the party. In his bid to consolidate the antiCongress votes, senior BJP leader Shanta Kumar has invited his one time supporter and presently the president of HLP -- Maheshwar Singh to merge his party with the saffron party. But to BJP's disappointment, the move has not materialised as

Maheshwar and his colleagues in the HLP have been exploring the possibility of tying up with Aam Aadmi Party for Lok Sabha elections. The AAP has ruled out any pre-poll tie-up with any party. But what could cause more headache to the BJP, is that party's suspended Lok Sabha MP from Kangra, Dr Rajan Sushant, has also not shown any inclination to return to the party fold and announced to contest the LS polls against Shanta who has ended his self declared retirement from active politics to contest Lok Sabha election from Kangra constituency. Sushant is sure to inflict a dent on BJP's chances in the Kangra LS seat and play a spoilsport for the BJP which otherwise is confident of retaining the seat due to Shanta's stature and hold in the constituency. Like HLP leaders, Sushant alleges he had been humiliated and insulted in the BJP, particularly by state leaders, for raising voice against corrupt party leaders of the state, who had amassed wealth when they were occupying positions. As leaders like Sushant and Maheshwar continue to puncture BJP's claims of being an honest party which can provide an alternative to the Congress in the Centre, the ruling party too is watching the saffron outfit's every move closely. Sources in the Congress say like the BJP, Congress' state unit has also cleared the decks for return of about 100 activists who had been expelled before the assembly elections in December, 2012.<

CHHATTISGARH By Chhattisgarh Bureau

f one looks at the political landscapes of all the 11 Lok Sabha constituencies of Chhattisgarh, it seems as though the Congress is on a stronger wicket this time compared to the 2009 elections when it could win just one seat. The Congress can definitely offer a tough fight to the BJP which had swept the recent assembly elections, if the party makes proper calculations and fields good candidates. The situation is favourable for the Congress at least in the Sarguja, Korba, Bilasur, Bastar and Kanker seats. The party can also take a bet in Raigarh and Rajnandgaon. But the BJP is invincible in Janjgir, Raipur, Durg and Mahasamund. The BJP may be buoyed at the fact that Chief Minister Raman Singh had presented an attractive and populist budget. But nothing can be said at this stage about how much his populism and largesse announced to BPL cardholders will be converted to votes. Congress needs to factor this also in its strategy. A bigger problem is the continuing confusion in the party on selection of candidates. For tactical reasons the BJP is continuing to keep its cards close to its chest. However, close confidants of the chief minister like former assembly speaker Dharam Lal Kaushik, former home minister Nankiram Kanwar and former minister Ramvichar Netam are said to be overly keen to contest. In the Congress camp too dilemma and confusion pervade its central election committee. A major problem is that Bhupesh Baghel, anointed as the state Congress president, lacks judgment so far as selection of candidates is concerned. The leader of the opposition in the assembly, TS Singhdev, MLA from Ambikapur, holds divergent opinion on most of the proposed names. And then former chief minister Ajit Jogi has prepared his own list of desirable candidates. No wonder then the high command is in a quandary. The fact is that the high

CAN THE CONGRESS REAP ADVANTAGE THIS TIME ? Despite some Congress leaders’ martyrdom, the party could not defeat the BJP in the recent assembly poll. One can only hope that the Congress has learnt its lessons from the debacle, and will buck up soon for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Congress leader Ajit Jogi

command’s method of carrying out surveys to assess suitability of candidates is bizarre and its representatives’ way of functioning is questionable. Loyal Congress workers lament that despite defeat in the recent assembly elections, the leadership in Delhi does not look cautious enough. And if this state of affairs continues, the Congress fortunes will continue to dip. Meanwhile Dr Charandas Mahant, the lone winner in 2009, has begun his poll campaign in right earnest in Korba. Pratibha Shukla, daughter of late V C Shukla, is another assured candidate, from Mahasamund. Being the daughter of late V C Shukla, who also kissed martyrdom along with Mahendra Karma and Nand Kumar Patel, she can

easily win that seat. Mohammad Akbar, who lost in the assembly election from Kawardha, can still give a tough fight in Raipur. But Raigarh is mired in factionalism. There is no clarity in the announcement made by Ajit Jogi that he does not want to contest. If we go by certain sources, he may still opt to contest either from Bilaspur, Mahasamund or Kanker. (Jogi supporters are, however, seen campaigning for him in Kanker.) Tamradhwaj Sahu and Pradeep Choubey find mention in the panel of names being considered from Durg. Reliable sources claim that the former MP, Karuna Shukla who left the BJP, may also be given ticket from Bilaspur.<

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

BIHAR

PASWAN DOESN’T FIND MODI COMMUNAL ANYMORE

JD-U too did play acing instability of his minority government, chief minister Nitish Kumar made an unsuccessful attempt to break Lalu Yadav’s Rashtriya Janta Dal and ensure majority for himself in the assembly. But the attempt became an embarrassing farce for him as nine of the 13 RJD MLAs who pledged support to Nitish Kumar in the morning, went back to Lalu Yadav’s fold by the evening. Curiously speaker Uday Narain Chaudhary granted the RJD dissidents recognition as a separate political entity in the assembly within no time. The inimitable Lalu stunned everybody by marching 9 of the ‘rebel’ MLAs to the assembly, threatening Nitish to pay back in the same coin. He accused the ruling JD-U of offering inducements like ministerial berths, money and Lok

By Umanath

am Vilas Paswan had quit Atal Behari Vajpayee's cabinet as coal minister in April 2002 for not acceding to his demand that Narendra Modi be sacked as chief minister for the worst Gujarat communal riots. But now he has no qualms in joining the BJP at a time when Modi has been named prime ministerial candidate and people belonging to a large political spectrum want to stop him from becoming PM. What has forced Paswan to leave his 10-year association with Lalu Prasad Yadav who had sent him to the Rajya Sabha when he lost election in 2009 from Hajipur? RJD was not willing to grant him more than 3 seats in the proposed Congress-RJD-LJP coalition following which Paswan was acutely worried about his own and his son Chirag’s political future. On the other

Lok Janshakti Party President Ramvilas Paswan hugs BJP President Rajnath Singh. Paswans Lok Janshakti Party joined the BJP-led NDA (PTI photo)

Immoral and unprincipled politics in Bihar came to full circle with Dalit leader Ram Vilas Paswan allying again with the BJP, which he had left in 2002 after denouncing it as the ‘Bharat Jalao Party.’ He had also called Narendra Modi a demon whose removal as chief minister of Gujarat he insisted following the major communal riots. Now the same Paswan takes a vow to help Modi become the next PM! 52

| LOKAYAT MARCH, 2014

its part of sinister politics Sabha tickets to break the RJD. Nitish Kumar’s government has 16 ministerial berths vacant. There is still no indication as to what the remaining four rebel MLAs of the RJD-- Samrat Chaudhary, Raghavendra Pratap Singh, Akhtarul Iman and Javed Iqbal Ansari --are going to do. But sources say they will sooner or later join the JD-U. An interesting part of the story is that soon after the RJD rebels formed a group in the assembly, politicians as well as media started writing Lalu’s political obituary almost on the same lines as it was done after his incarceration in the Rs 940-crore ‘fodder scam’ case. The recent political melodrama was clearly intended to save the government from falling, as Nitish is on shaky ground presently with the Congress giving sporadic hints that it may officially withdraw support anytime. In the 238-member house the JD-U earlier had 122 MLAs. Of this, a minister Parveen Amanullah recently resigned from the cabinet and gave up her assembly membership to join the AAP. Another JD-U legislator Damodar Singh recently died in Jharkhand. The four MLAs of the Congress and the lone CPI member have not given any letter of support to the governor; they just voted in favour of the Nitish government after its break-up with the BJP in June 2013. Meanwhile, the JD-U has expelled four of its rebel parliamentarians— Aurangabad MP Sushil Kumar Singh, Jhanjharpur MP Mangani Lal Mandal, Gopalganj MP Purnamasi Ram and Muzaffarpur MP Jaynarain Nishad. They were issued notices of suspension over three years ago. One outgoing Rajya Sabha MP Shivanand Tiwari has also been expelled. They had been attacking Nitish Kumar for his ‘autocratic’ style of functioning. <

hand , the BJP was frantically searching for political allies in Bihar which is considered very important along with UP to muster enough number of seats to capture power in Delhi. When news first broke about Paswan’s drift towards the BJP, many thought, and rightly so, that he perhaps was playing the same game of bargaining for more seats as Sharad Pawar who secretly met Narendra Modi and made an exculpating comment that he should not be targetted for Gujarat riots after the Supreme Court had cleared his name. The Congress high command did try to stop Paswan from joining the BJP’s bandwagon, but could not agree to his demand for seven Lok Sabha seats for his Lok Janshakti Party in the proposed alliance. The BJP readily acceded to Paswan’s plea as it was a reasonable price. Many political observers, however, believe that Paswan went to the NDA fold because of a CBI

numerous freebies. He was thus left almost isolated by all vote banks. Naturally his party lost the last assembly elections badly. His woes became even more pronounced when he was offered merely three seats in the proposed 3party alliance by the RJD and the Congress for the 2014 parliamentary elections. On its part, the BJP in search of allies was more than eager to embrace Paswan. It was evident the way its national president Rajnath Singh showered encomiums over Paswan. Incidentally the BJP is methodically trying to win over Dalits: it has already roped in Ramdas Athawale in Maharashtra and Udit Raj in Delhi. Paswan is learnt to have been asked to campaign for the NDA outside Bihar as well. The BJP recently ‘kidnapped’ Upendra Kushwaha, a strong OBC leader, from the JD-U. With Paswan and

noose tightening round his neck for certain alleged illegalities committed in the appointment of certain officers in the Bokaro Steel when he was union steel and mines minister. Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad However nobody is surprised rides a rickshaw during his Raj Bhawan march in Patna on Tuesday after some of the by his move. Everybody knows MLAs broke away from his party (PTI photo) that he left the NDA apparently to uphold his secular credentials, but in reality he aspired for a bigger role in Bihar politics (read chief Kushwaha on its side, the BJP has now ministership) by forging alliance with partially compensated for the loss it Muslims who constituted around 16.5 suffered following its sudden split with percent of the population and Dalits the JD-U. making up around 15 percent. He In the seat-sharing arrangement already had friends and following worked out, Paswan’s Lok Janshakti among Rajputs and Bhumihars. His wife Party will field candidates in Hajipur, was a Punjabi Brahmin. But despite Samastipur, Jamui, Munger, Vaishali, making vociferous noises about Nalanda and Khagaria. While Paswan is secularism to win over Muslims expected to fight from Hajipur, son competing with Lalu Prasad Yadav and Chirag may contest from Jamui. Vaishali others, he failed miserably. In the will also go to a candidate from meantime his core Dalit voters were Paswan’s family. Upendra Kushwaha is lured away by Nitish Kumar by offering learnt to have been given three seats.<

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

MAHARASHTRA

Maharashtra is one of the first states where the road sector was privatised by the BJP-Shiv Sena government more than a decade ago. But private builders have fleeced people by charging toll tax beyond the legal permit. This led to protests and vandalism in the entire state by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena led by Raj Thackeray last month. But this is being seen as a ploy for the Congress-NCP combine to resurrect Raj to spoil the chances of the BJP-Shiv Sena-RPI-SSS alliance in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. By Koomitara

aharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray’s statewide violent campaign against toll-tax finally borne fruit with chief minister Prithviraj Chavan admitting serious irregularities in the toll collection system. He promised a new toll regime before the electoral model code of conduct comes into effect in the first week of March. Chavan also agreed to shut down 22 toll plazas immediately, exempting state transport buses from toll and offering to reduce fare, benefiting millions who commute daily by bus. With this toll-tax has become hot poll issue there. But that is not the whole story. Underneath the show of direct action drama, there are violations and

| LOKAYAT MARCH, 2014

TOLL-TAX POLITICS TAKES CENTRE-STAGE

corrupt politics in the existing toll-tax system. Curiously, there are divergent views about it among political parties. Maharashtra being among the first states to introduce the toll regime, its deficiencies and unfairness have been evident for a while. Introduced as a necessary evil to draw private participation in road building, it has now become a money-making tool for politicians most of whom have developed a vested interest in the system. Hence the difficulty to bring about any reform as demanded by Raj Thackeray, Anna Hazare and scores of social groups. The tragedy is, even within individual parties, views are dissimilar. For example, the BJP’s top two leaders from Maharashtra—Nitin Gadkari and Gopinath Munde—have diametrically opposite views. While Munde has made ‘toll-free state’ an election plank,

Gadkari thinks it impossible because if the government wants to abolish toll-tax, it will have to shell out Rs 100,000 crore to compensate the

contractors. Chavan and others in the government also feel that it cannot be dispensed with, as the state will lose the substantial revenue every year, besides the one-time compensation of around one lakh crore. While many politicians had raised the issue in the past, it was Raj Thackeray who announced an agitation a year ago, but he became silent afterwards. Recently he revived it, people say, only because the BJP left him in the lurch after the Shiv Sena demanded to

have no truck with the MNS. Raj desperately needed an issue to become politically relevant again and toll-tax came handy. But he raised the issue without doing sufficient home work. Sensing the issue catching public imagination, the BJP under former deputy CM Gopinath Munde who is Nitin Gadkariâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; bĂŞte noire on most issues declared that the state would be made toll-free once the government of the BJPShiv Sena-RPI-Shetkari Swabhimani Sanghtana alliance comes to power. Ironically, privatisation of the road sector was done by the BJP-Shiv Sena government which lasted till 1999. Nitin Gadkari as minister of the concerned department had

played a decisive role in that. He is credited with constructing the Mumbai-Pune Express Way and 55 flyovers in Mumbai. But it also gave rise to a spate of financial irregularities -- construction cost of the road was allowed to be recovered through toll-tax to be collected by the builders. A PAC report tabled in the state assembly in 2013 stated how and where toll operators continued to fleece road users even after the recovery period had elapsed. The CAG also spotted lack of transparency in major road contracts. Allegations are that the money collected was misappropriated--not used for road maintenance. For example, the KhedShivapuri booth on Pune-

Toll booth vandalism in Maharashtra and Raj Thackeray

New tollcollection policy announced a a fallout of the statewide MNS agitation, chief minister Prithviraj Chauhan has announced a new toll collection policy besides agreeing to close 22 toll plazas. Simultaneously, ST buses are exempted from toll and fares have been cut. The government is expected to shut 20-25 more toll booths by sacrificing Rs 350-400 crore. It, however, said that around 80 major toll booths would continue as buying them out was unaffordable. The new policy will include mandatory electronic surveillance to record exact road traffic. It would also be compulsory for toll operators to arrange amenities like toilets and proper auditing of the booths. <

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

Heartiest Congratulations Sonia Gandhi UPA Chairperson

Rahul Gandhi

at the

Vice President, Indian National Congress

4th Anniversary Of

A man of vision dedicated to the welfare of farmers and labourers, whose hands know nothing but hard work Dr Charan Das Mahant Union MoS Agriculture and Food Processing Industries

MAHARASHTRA

Congress salvages its alliance with the NCP harad Pawar, NCP leader and PM aspirant, created a flutter the other day by declaring that Narendra Modi should not be hounded for the 2012 riots as he had been cleared by the Supreme Court. This masterstroke was seen as serving two purposes: exploring the scope for a tie up with the NDA and forestalling the Congress from thinking of giving fewer seats to the NCP this time. He also met Narendra Modi ‘secretly’. Consequently the Congress agreed to the status quo of 26 seats for itself and 22 for the NCP. Two months ago the NCP had declared that it was ready to contest all 48 seats if there was no alliance with the Congress which wanted to part with only 19 seats. However, the Congress opted for the alliance which had rewarded both partners in the 2004 and 2009 elections. But they have to settle tussle on some seats. One is Kolhapur which was alloted to the NCP in the last election, but was won by an NCP rebel, who later joined the Congress. The NCP is also keen to get the Raigad and Washim-Yavatmal constituencies from the Congress. It wants to field water resources minister Sunil Tatkare or the state party chief Bhaskar Jadhav from Raigad and minister for food and drugs administration Manohar Naik from WashimYavatmal, dominated by Banjara and Maratha communities. On its part the NCP wants to relinquish Hatkalangade in Kolhapur district to the Congress. The NCP had badly lost Hatkalangade to Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana leader Raju Shetty in the 2009 polls and was unsure of winning it this time also, as Shetty is more powerful now having joined the NDA. The state is important for the NDA and the UPA, as it has 48, the second largest number of LS seats from any state. In 2009, the Congress had won 17 and NCP eight seats while the Shiv Sena had won 11 and the BJP 9. The contest would be different this time due to the emergence of the Aam Aadmi Party. Incidentally this state was the birth place of the India Against Corruption movement. Most of the AAP leaders belong to this

Party Congress NCP BJP Shiv Sena

2004 seats % of votes : 13 : 23.77 : 09 : 18.31 : 13 : 22.61 : 12 : 20.11

seats : 17 : 08 : 9 : 11

2009 % of votes : 19.61 : 19.28 : 18.17 : 17.00

movement and there is fairly good support here for them. Recently a rebel Congress leader Ajit Sawant, who had fought against corruption in his own party has joined the AAP. He had exposed Gadkari’s alleged links with the controversial Purti group. Several high profile social activists like Anjali Damania, Medha Patkar and former banker Meera Sanyal have already been declared candidates. Anjali Damania would contest against former BJP’s national president Nitin Gadkari.<

Kolhapur road collected toll from 19 lakh vehicles in three years and was to be closed by January 26 this year, but it is still in operation. Several other similar booths which completed recovery following heavy rise in the number of vehicles continue the loot. Allegations of road contractors being hand- inglove with politicians are nothing new. The nexus is a great hurdle when it comes to effecting any reform in the Sharad Pawar system, forcing some fringe political outfits and activists to demand closure of all tollbooths. Raj in his Pune rally gave a political twist by alleging that the road-tax collected in the state was being used by the NCP’s Sharad Pawar for election purposes, and called it a scam. Raj also alleged that the state was collecting 13 types of road-related taxes besides toll tax and no one knew where the money was going. It is alleged that the state collects Rs 22,000 crore as road- tax for vehicles sold and an equal amount on fuel cess and other taxes; thus it must have accumulated three times the amount required to construct new roads and bridges and maintain them. Raj used the issue to start the statewide stir on February 12 during which violence had erupted and several toll booths vandalised across the state. He was detained but released when he agreed to recall the agitation on promising a regulatory authority to bring fairness to the system. However, many saw it as a match-fixing between Raj Thackeray and the CongressNCP combine. Opposition parties said it was why the police was so soft on MNS workers despite their resorting to arson and vandalism. The suspicion is real because there was a deal between Raj Thackeray and the Congress-NCP alliance during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections when the MNS got BJPSena candidates defeated on as many as 11 seats by splitting pro-Sena votes. Of the 11 seats contested, it failed to win any. Rumour is that the Congress is at its old game again.<

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

CAMPUS

POLITICAL SCRAMBLE TO TAKE CREDIT FOR AMU CAMPUS IN KISHENGANJ The Aligarh Muslim University has a lot of meaning in terms of votes. No surprise there was an unseemly behaviour of political parties to take credit for the third off-campus centre of the university in Kishenganj, after the two already functioning in Malappuram and Murshidabad.

UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi with Maulana Asrarul Haque Qasmi during foundation stone laying function of the proposed campus of Aligarh Muslim Universitys centre (PTI photo)

By Lokayat Correspondent

ecent incessant caustic attacks over each-other by the Congress and the JD-U of Nitish Kumar reached a new low with the Bihar chief minister terming the Congress as a party of rioters and

| LOKAYAT MARCH, 2014

then of being timid for allegedly not being invited to a function organised to lay the foundation stone of an off-campus centre of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) by the UPA chief Sonia Gandhi in Kishenganj, Bihar. After receiving angry protest from the state government, the HRD

Gender Justice This is yet another despicable instance of a guru sexually harassing his disciple. The irony is, this time the accused happens to be a renowned professor of law who teaches gender justice. And when the girl student lodged a complaint he chose to threaten her with dire consequences and insisted that she withdraw the complaint. The issue inflamed public sentiments in Aligarh, and even acquired political overtones when the police failed to arrest the accused despite a non-bailable warrant was issued against him. He surrendered in court only when action was initiated for attachment of his propertyâ&#x20AC;Ś.

By Navin

he prestigious national institute of learning, Aligarh Muslim University, was headline news recently for unenviable reasons. Its law

ministry, however, corrected its stand and the chief minister did attend the function claiming it was his brain child. But

Professor sexually harassed his student department chairman Prof Mohammad Shabbir, who taught gender justice and criminal law, was prima facie found involved in sexually harassing a postgraduate student hailing from Kashmir. The girl was allegedly harassed when she went to his chamber on being called apparently for correcting her project work. Curiously, the same professor had been suspended eight years ago for alleged sexual harassment of a visiting girl student from the USA. His suspension was revoked after four months. But in Eminent Professor of Law Mohammed Shabbir the current glare of gender justice occupying public space the issue flared up in Aligarh city when people found that the police were not arresting the professor despite a non-bailable warrant against him. According to the complaint made by the girl, it was not the first time when the professor harassed her. He had tried to misbehave with her on several occasions. The latest instance was on December 3. She immediately complained to the vice-chancellor and the registrar of the university by an e-mail. The father of the victim met the VC and the registrar on December 6 and demanded immediate removal of the professor. He also met the senior superintendent of police, Aligarh, in this regard. But nothing much happened even after students and political parties came out in support of the victim. The AMU administration on its part asked the Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Grievances Cell to investigate the case. The professor was found prima facie guilty and was placed under suspension on December 6. But when the victim approached the city judicial magistrate to complain that the professor was threatening her to withdraw the case, the university students and local citizens became restive. City mayor Shakuntala Bharati and some social and political organisations also took up the case demanding tough action against the professor. The Aam Aadmi Party took out a rally in the city and sat on a hunger strike for a day before the Collectorate demanding arrest of the accused. The Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal also joined the protest. On January 7 Prof Shabbir surrendered in the court after he had been declared an absconder and the process of attachment of his property was initiated. He approached the Allahabad High Court to avert his arrest but the bench of Justice Surendra Singh and Justice Naheed Ara Moonis found substance in the accusation and declined to interfere in the matter. Prof Shabbirâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s initial bail pleas were rejected but the higher court of the ADJ granted him interim bail on furnishing two bonds of Rs 20,000 each. When he failed to appear at the next hearing, the court cancelled his interim bail and issued an arrest warrant. He was arrested later. He remained in jail for three days before being granted a conditional bail, instructing him not to leave the country or threaten witnesses and the victim. Rebutting the sexual harassment charge Prof Shabbir said he had been framed and would come out clean soon enough. Khan Noor Afroz defended her husband Shabbir saying that he was a victim of AMU politics. She would go to the Supreme Court, if necessary, to establish his innocence, she added.<

damage had already been done. Nitish government depends upon the support of four Congress MLAs. After

barrage of attacks the Congress threatened that the party high command would decide whether to

continue support to the government. A few weeks earlier, both parties were hobnobbing with broad

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

Heartiest Congratulations to

LOKAYAT

On its 4th Anniversary

C.M.D. Post Graduate College, Bilaspur Pandit Sanjay Dubey, Chairman

Courses conducted by the college B. Sc. : Physics, Chemistry, Maths, Computer Science, Electronics, Botany, Zoology, Microbiology B.A. : Economics, Geography, Political Science, History, Music, Hindi Literature, Sanskrit, English, Literature, Home Science, Sociology B.Com. : All compulsory papers with T.P.P. (Tax Procedure & Practice), all compulsory papers with taxation or management as optional subjects. M.Sc. : Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Botany, Zoology, Microbiology, Computer Science, M.A.: Economics, History, Geography, Political Science, History, Hindi Literature, Sanskrit Literature, English Literature, Public Administration Ph.D. : Commerce, Physics, Chemistry, Botany, Zoology, Mathematics, Hindi, English, Sanskrit, Economics. History, Political Science, Geography. Other coursesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;B.B.A., B.Ed., P.G.D.C.A., P.C.D.B.M., P.G.D.I.B., M.Ed.

Facilities provided: State of the art laboratories Gymnasium and sports complex Auditorium and new buildings Separate buildings for Computer, Micro-biology, geography and B.Ed.

Founded in 1956 through the munificence of Late Pt. Dwarika Prasad Dubey, the C.M.Dubey Post Graduate College sparkles in the field of education in Chhattisgarh state. With the object to spread benefits of modern and quality education to needy people, the College started imparting education up-to the post graduate level in 1963. The college believes that greatness of an institution lies in the ideals and objectives that it stands for and places before students. In the words of its founder, the progress should be assessed by the quality of education. Good education must lead to harmonious development of all facets of the personality. Hence, the college constantly endeavours to create conducive atmosphere for the growth of body, mind and spirit of students.

CMD Post Graduate College (Affiliated to Bilaspur University, Bilaspur) Link Road Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh 495 004 Ph No: 07752-225177; Fax: 07752 - 237291 Email: info@cmdpgcollege.com Website: www.cmdpgcollege.in

CAMPUS prospects of going together in the ensuing general elections. But all turned upside down once RJD chief and former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad Yadav came out of the Ranchi Jail on bail and appeared regaining his ground despite his political obituary had been written by many political observers. Nitish was already edgy, harbouring grudge against the Centre for not heeding to his vociferous demand of special status category to the state. He had another reason to be irritable as he finds erosion of support base to his party after he severed 17 year long ties with the BJP. All appeared to have a cumulative effect on the relations of Congress and JD-U. Congress is presently holding the Kishanganj Lok Sabha seat and its MP Mohammad Asrarul Haque is all hopeful of retaining the seat by claiming that it was he who had demanded AMU campus way back in 2009 and Nitish government didn’t give the required land on time, otherwise it would have started two years back. Local Congress MLA Dr Javed who is also hopeful for a Lok Sabha ticket from the same constituency and state Congress

Strategic Location of Kishenganj oreover, Kishenganj is a strategic location, where Muslims constitute almost 80 percent of population. Besides being the sole tea producing district in Bihar, it is also one of the most sensitive districts of the country, as its borders are very near to Bangladesh and touch Nepal in southeast and north to Uttar Dinajpur and Darjeeling district of West Bengal respectively.<

president Ashok Chowdhary added fuel to the fire, by jumping the gun and holding state government responsible for the delay. The controversy is a proof of how educational institutions are seen by politicians and how far political parties can go to take credit and discredit others for the sake of votes. Congress eagerness to appropriate the claim was so overwhelming that Nitish Kumar who gave away 224 acres of land for free for the university and also arranged two buildings as a make-shift arrangement to start at least some courses, besides, allocated Rs 1,000 crore for setting up an Agriculture University in Kishenganj merely three months ago, was not even invited to the laying stone ceremony. It is also not a secret that the Congress wanted to place the AMU centre in Katihar, a constituency under the influence of Tariq Anwar, a cabinet minister in Manmohan Singh government and NCP leader who happens to be from the city and represented it twice in the Lok Sabha, but it was Nitish who could force the Centre to go for Kishenganj. This was seen as a political move to woo Muslims by Nitish, who went all out in favour of Kishenganj, which is known as India’s largest Muslim-density area after the Kashmir Valley and Lakshadweep so much so it is termed as mini-Pakistan by many. JD-U insiders say only Muslim votes can rescue Nitish from the present political wilderness. With Narendra Modi’s wave being felt in Bihar as well and Lalu gradually regaining his political relevance, Nitish is told to be worried about his support base shrinking. Upper castes are already told to be disenchanted with him and this time round he can’t be sure of even Mahadalits (a combination of the most backward castes) who stood him in good stead whenever there was an election.<

AMU Centres across the country he historically prestigious institution AMU had grown out of the work of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, the great Muslim reformer and statesman, who in the aftermath of the Indian War of Independence of 1857 felt that it was important for Muslims to gain education and become involved in the public life and government services in India. In 1877, Sir Syed founded the Muhammadan Anglo Oriental College in Aligarh and patterned the college after Oxford and Cambridge universities that he had visited on a trip to England. The college was originally affiliated with the University of Calcutta and subsequently got affiliated with the University of Allahabad in 1885. By 1920 the college was transformed into the Aligarh Muslim University. Now, it has two fully functional off-campus centres located in Malappuram (Kerala) and Murshidabad (West Bengal). Since November, 2013, Kishenganj campus in Bihar has also become operational, where classes are being run in two temporary buildings. Aurangabad in Maharashtra has also been selected for the purpose. There was also a proposal for a centre in Pune in Maharashtra. An AMU campus is also proposed to be set up in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.<

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

CAMPUS

DR LAXMAN CHATURVEDI REDEEMS HIS HONOUR! It was a long fight to seek justice and redeem honour. And, Dr Laxman Chaturvedi, well-known academician, nuclear physicist and former vicechancellor of Pt Ravishankar Shukla University and Guru Ghasidas University, has at last been able to clear his name of any act of indiscretion. The Chhattisgarh Lok Ayog exonerated him of any culpability in the two actions taken by him at the behest of the Executive Council of the university. Dr. Laxman Chaturvedi The complaint was made against him in 2008 by the then deputy registrar Viktor Ekka, now deceased; it took six long years to give the verdict. The Lok Ayog finally agreed that no individual could be held responsible for decisions collectively taken by the Executive Council. By Chhattisgarh Bureau

ine complaints were initially made by the late deputy registrar Victor Ekka against Dr Lakshman Chaturvedi, the then vice-chancellor of Pt Ravishankar Shukla University before the Lok Ayog and seven of them were rejected outright as baseless, but in two it found some merit prima facie and issued a memo-report to governor Shekhar Dutt, chancellor of the university, and also to the Higher Education Department of the Chhattisgarh government to take suitable action. The state government after examining the order responded to the Lok Ayog on 23 October 2013 with the request to reconsider the matter. The government communication mentioned that Lok Ayog had held Dr Chaturvedi personally responsible for adopting wrong procedure in the appointment of a security agency, as well as for violating provisions of the

Act relating to reservation in appointments. In fact both the decisions were collectively taken by the Executive Council of the university. It cited various court orders which said that for collective decisions individuals could not be held accountable. And the relevant section of the Reservation Act, 1994 was not applicable in this particular case. Thereafter the Lok Ayog reconsidered the matter on 10 January 2014. Dr Chaturvedi himself argued his case. He cited a Supreme Court order that held that chairman alone could not be held responsible for the collective decision of a committee. He presented minutes of the meetings in support of his contention: the challenged decisions were taken by the Executive Council and he, as the VC simply implemented those decisions. The Lok Ayog finally found merit in the argument and passed the final verdict that the matter against Dr Chaturvedi be closed. In the original complaint against him, Dr Lakshman Chaturvedi’s

conduct was questioned as to why he appointed a faculty on the recommendation of the Selection Committee which had no SC/ST nominee in it ignoring the government instruction. But the fact was that the university statute had no such provision. Moreover, when the Executive Council took a decision he was bound to implement it. The second issue related to engagement of private security guards in the campus without floating tenders. It was again the decision of the Executive Council. There was complaint against the earlier agency, ‘Sainik Kalyan Board’, that it was not taking any interest in providing exservicemen for the job as expected; so the Executive Council decided to engage a private agency for security duties on a trial basis. This issue had been closed by the earlier VC on April 10, 2004, much before Dr Lakshman Chaturvedi took over as vice chancellor on May 14, 2005. Still inexplicably, Dr Chaturvedi’s conduct was found objectionable.<

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

FILMWORLD

SALMAN KHAN By Jyothi Venkatesh

‘Generally when we take something from someone we say thank you and think of giving it back. If someone gives you something it is because it is his need to give and you need not give it back. Instead you should give it to three more people. Today I may not want anything but tomorrow my kids or grand kids may need and at that time someone should be there to give them and compete the circle.’

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The title of Jai Ho was initially Mental, why did you change the title? i Ho is a way of greeting. I changed it from Mental because my dad had a problem with Mental, and rightly so especially coming with me in just the way I would be called out. In today’s era if any person is honest and non corrupt, he is called mental and being corrupt and corrupted has become a part of us. If a man is honest we tell, ‘Don’t go to him, he is mental. My dad suggested we use Jai Ho as the title since it is bigger and better.

Isn’t Jai Ho a remake of a Telugu hit? s. It is the remake of the Telugu hit Stalin starring Chiranjeevi.

What is the message that is being conveyed through Jai Ho? i Ho is a film centered on an aam aadmi. Generally when we take something from someone we say thank you and think of giving it back. If someone gives you something it is

because it is his need to give and you need not give it back. Instead you should give it to three more people. Today I may not want anything but tomorrow my kids or grand kids may need and at that time someone should be there to give them and compete the circle.

bad, it will definitely not cross the 100 cr plus mark. It is not easy but it is achievable, if a film is good. It was difficult to believe that a film can gross 100 cr plus two years back.

What is your take on success? Is it true that you had started your career by joining director Shashilal Nair as his assistant? s. My dad had asked me to assist director Shashilal Nair when he was making the Jackie Shroff starrer Falak, because he felt that I would not be able to click in Hindi films as an actor and didn’t want me to experience the heart breaks which he had experienced as a struggling actor. However, luckily for me, his fears proved unfounded and today I am busy as a star.

You are now the Czar among the stars whose films have crossed the coveted 100 cr, with films like Ready, Bodyguard, Dabangg, Ek Tha Tiger and even Dabangg-2. How do you feel being part of the league? filmi funda is very simple. Every film will not necessarily cross the 100 cr league just because I am in it. If a film is

have my own pulse. I will succeed only if I believe that my own pulse is that of the audience. As Salman Khan, I have become a megalomaniac. If I can deliver as Chulbul Pandey, it is fine but it is bad if I do my role as Salman Khan.

How tough it is to come up with a sequel?

viewer. The older you grow, the better you grow as an actor. If action is over, romance is over. I am glad that kids today call me Salman or Salman Khan and not Salman Uncle.

Are you planning to do an out and out action film? tion alone will be very boring. It will be difficult to do an out and out action film like Jackie Chan does in film after film

People insist that you interfere with your directors. Is it true?

is very difficult to make a sequel. Even in the West, it is only Sylvester Stallion’s sequels to Rocky and Rambo that have done well at the box office. When you set out to make a sequel, you tend to get carried away. If it looks like we deliberately set out to make a comedy, it cannot be similar.

ter Veer, in the interest of my films, I had decided that the final cut of my films will go only with my approval. I feel that what Aamir does is correct. I only hope that I do not take advantage of my stardom when I put my foot down

You seem to like action a lot!

What next after Jai Ho?

keep myself fit, I want to do action. I would love to do a film of action. Whether it is an action film or an emotional film, the introductory fight has to be interesting enough to hold you as a

have already started work on Sohail’s Sher and also Sajid Nadiadwala’s Kick and will soon start working on Sooraj Barjatya’s next film.<

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

FILMWORLD

MADHURI DIXIT SINGS FOR THE FIRST TIME FOR ‘GULAAB GANG’ n GULAAB GANG, fans of Madhuri Dixit will not only see her famed acting histrionics but also hear her singing for the very first time! Yes, all you Dixit aficionados out there, Madhuri has sung a song in the film for the very first time in her career, and to add the icing to the cake, she is joined by her illustrious mother in the song too! Madhuri Dixit’s mother, Snehlata Dixit, is a trained classical singer, and has also rendered

a line for the song making it a most special moment for the actress! It is a kajri (folk song) titled ‘Rangi Sari Gulabi Chunariya’ which starts in Madhuri’s mother’s voice and then Madhuri takes over from her. The music is by the director himself Soumik Sen. Releasing on 7th March, 'GULAAB GANG' stars two icons of Indian Cinema starring together for the very first time: Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawla.<

AJAY YADAV LAUNCHES LUV… PHIR KABHI roducer-director Ajay Yadav announced his third film ‘LUV…..PHIR KABHIE’ which is a mature love story. In today’s world, when people are too busy with their career and do not have time to find a soul-mate at young age and love blossoms late in life. Its star cast includes Vidya Malvade, Sourav Roy, Yashpal Sharma, Veola Singh, Rudra Kaushish and Virendra Mishra. The film is being produced under the banner of Serene Films, which had earlier made BHADAAS starring Meera from Pakistan.<

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POONAM DHILLON SAYS, SHE GOT THE BEST COMPLIMENT FROM ADVANI oonam Dhillon, who is back on television with the Sony fiction show ‘Ekk Nayi Pehchaan’ has been gaining a lot of praises for her portrayal as a traditional Gujarati mother in law. After the launch of ‘Ekk Nayi Pehchaan’, Poonam received an appreciation call from the BJP leader LK Advani and his family for her performance. They also mentioned that ‘Ekk Nayi Pehchaan’ is one of their favorite shows on television. Poonam said, ‘LK Advani’s daughter Pratibha Advani is a friend of mine and any feedback from her and her family makes a big difference to me. She said that her entire family watches the show regularly and loves the way I portray my character. LK Advani told me that he watched the show whenever he was at home. His kind words got me very emotional. It was really overwhelming to get an appreciation call from the Advani family. It feels great when you get such kind of appreciation after the tremendous efforts and long working hours you put into work’.<

ARSHI KHAN IRKED umbai-based, Bhopal-born 25-year-old Sunny Leone-look-alike Arshi Khan has complained to the Mumbai police Cyber Crime cell, about fake, morphed images bearing her face and Sunny Leone's nude images, with fake profiles on Facebook. Arshi Khan says, “I reported those images to Facebook and requested all my friends to do so. And surely enough after about a week the entire page disappeared, only to appear again after ten days in a different avatar. There are about 100 images of Indian women in different states of undress, some of them almost nude and 2-3 photographs amongst those bear my facial image. Every time I report the page or my morphed images, it gets pulled down by Facebook only to appear again on a different page. A social media expert I spoke to opine that these morphed images have got circulated to a gang of delinquent or rogue social media people who earn money by creating fake pages with semi nude images on them and generating ‘likes’ on them. They then charge unsuspecting clients huge sums for such fraudulently generated ‘Facebook Likes’. The actress is busy mentally tuning up for India's first commercial Bollywood 4D historical film, which goes on floors in March 2014. ‘It is a Rs 120-crore project featuring big names and I want to make sure I am in the best frame of mind. I am busy with my shoots and two Tamil films’.<

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

BUSINESS AND FINANCE

DIFFICULT ROAD AHEAD FOR ANY NEW GOVERNMENT Whatever type of new government is formed after the Lok Sabha elections in April-May, it will have to face big challenges in reviving the sagged economy and keeping the prices in control. This apart, restraining fiscal deficit and subsidy burden would be even more difficult than now. By Janmesh Jain

ost people conjectured that it would be an outright election budget, full of sops throwing prudence and caution to the wind, but it did not turn out irresponsible at the hands of the seasoned finance minister P Chidambaram. He only gave necessary relief on excise duties for some capital goods and consumer goods. He reduced excite duties for mobile handsets, cars, scooters, sport utility vehicles and commercial vehicles. Tweaked the customs duty structure for chemical industry and increased agriculture credit target for banks and put moratorium on interest payments on education loans taken until the end of December 2013, which is expected to benefit 9 lakh students at the cost of Rs 2,600 crore to the exchequer. Had it not been the election year, Chidambaram would definitely have taken some harsh decisions to regain health to the sagging economy. This being the last budget of Manmohan Singh government, and an interim one, meant only for up to June, has left the real tough task for the new government to accomplish. The new government, no matter of what colour and shape would have tough time to manage the economy and reverse the declining growth rate and job creation.

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Hopes from the manufacturing sector Chidambaram expressed anxiety about poor investment in manufacturing sector. He then offered some hope for the future by telling that the implementation of the new manufacturing policy has started, which aims at bringing the share of manufacturing in the economy to 25 percent of the GDP from the current 16 percent, which would create 100 million plus jobs over a decade. According to him, the policy and plan is there: eight national investment and manufacturing zones (NIMZs) have already been announced along the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) and nine projects have been approved by the DMIC Trust. Five NIMZs outside DMIC have also been given in-principle approval. Three more corridors connecting Chennai and Bengaluru, Bengaluru and Mumbai, and Amritsar and Kolkata are under different stages of preparatory work. Additional capacities are being installed in major manufacturing industries such as steel, cement, refinery, power and electronics. Several measures have been taken to promote micro, small and medium enterprises including notifying a public procurement policy, establishing technology centres and common facility centres, and launching the Khadi mark.<

Interest subsidy to benefit 9 lakh students he finance minister gave timely relief to students belonging to poor families, who had taken education loan to continue their education. Many of them might be finding it difficult to repay owing to the currently worsened job market. The subsidy on interest for the moratorium period would be applicable to a maximum loan of Rs 10 lakh and for families with income of up to 4.5 lakh per annum. Typically, in education loans, the moratorium or breather period for non-payment is the duration of the course plus 1 year, or 6 months after getting a job, whichever is earlier. Now no interest will be required to pay for this period of the moratorium. Earlier this was applicable for the loan availed from April 1, 2009 to March 31, 2010. But now it has been extended to those who sought loan until end of December, 2013.<

the tax sops announced in this year’s interim budget, which means less revenue to the government next year. Cut in capital expenditure enormous The FM cut its capital expenditure to the tune of Rs 70,000 crore this year. This was done despite having cut the plan expenditure by Rs 80,000 crore in the budget itself. Thus the total capital expenditure related to the plan has been whittled down by Rs 1.5 lakh crore in just one year. Now if the new government prefers to achieve plan targets, it would have to find this much more money in addition to the normal capital expenditure allocated in budgets year after year. Why the finance minister had to again cut the plan expenditure? In fact, there was no other option before him to manage 11 percent

more money for various subsidies. With the sword of down-grading country’s sovereign rating by international agencies hanging over FM’s head, he had no choice but to

So far as various targets are concerned, the finance minister could showcase a few things to cheer about, especially on the front of current account deficit which was an unsustainable 4.7 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) last year. Now it is expected to record just 2 percent this year, though much of it is because of curbs on gold imports. P Chidambaram could also keep his word on fiscal deficit target also. This year the finance minister is going to show fiscal deficit of 4.6 percent of the GDP, lower than the targetted 4.8 percent, but this feat is not achieved by any income boost or cutting nonproductive expenditure. It has come by reducing capital expenditure, so necessary for future growth. For the future finance minister, he has set fiscal deficit target of 4.1 percent of the GDP, which would be quite Chidambaram at Parliament House (PTI photo) difficult to achieve in view of

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

‘Dedicated to the conservation of trees and other natural resources, we make paper from the use of rice stem’

We and our heroic workers made plain papers

The countrymen filled them with words and colours

Madhya Bharat Papers Ltd

Head Office: 113, Park Street, 4th Floor North Block, Kolkata (West Bengal) Regd Office & Mill: Village—Birgahni, Post—Champa, Distt—Janjgir-Champa (Chhattisgarh)

BUSINESS AND FINANCE

Defence budget a victim of poor growth conomic slowdown has affected India’s military preparedness as adequate funds are not being provided for military modernisation. This year too defence outlay has gone down in dollar terms. The allocation for the 2014-15 over this year has been increased by around 10 percent which is just enough to take care of the inflation. In dollar terms, what appears as increase is actually a dip of 4 percent. This keeps defence experts worried as the defence expenditure of the country is already quite low, only 1.74 percent of the GDP, which is less than last two years allocations which had been respectively 1.79 and 1.9 percent. It is pertinent to mention that the actual need is 3 percent of the GDP so that required deterrence against China and Pakistan can be developed. Another problem of our defence preparedness is that we spend more on the day-to-day costs and salaries and pensions than capital expenditure related to new weapons and systems.<

One rank one pension nother vote catching relief in P Chidambaram’s interim budget is acceding the long pending ‘one rank, one pension’ demand of the defence community of 14 lakh serving and over 25 lakh retired military personnel. Political parties have been promising it from time to time, but had never implemented. The decision will be implemented from 2014-15. The government has made a provision of Rs 500 crore to take care of current year’s need. This decision was expected as Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi suddenly staged a meeting with a group of ex-servicemen a few days before the budget and assured them of his support. The decision may benefit the Congress in polls as the defence community is quite large, close to 20 million people if family members are also taken into account. Ex-servicemen had been quite sensitive on this issue and had returning their awards and medals. They had held several rallies over last few years to press this demand. In one of such rallies BJP’s prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi and former Army chief Gen V K Singh were also invited. The increase in expenditure for fulfilling this demand is expected to be Rs 3,000 per year. But sooner than later, civilian pensioners would also raise a similar demand. Then the financial burden may go up to Rs 10,000 crore per year.<

counter-balance the expenditure done in providing subsidies by cutting down on growth-oriented capital expenditure. The burden of subsidy, unfortunately, is not going to come down in coming years. Government’s nonplan expenditure, like interest payments, subsidies, salaries and pensions in 2013-14 is higher than budgeted and tax revenues lower. Luckily the FM was able to extract non-tax revenue like dividends and profits from the public sector companies to the tune of Rs 21,000 more than it was budgeted. Slowdown remained the bane of the economy. The finance minister was not expected to acknowledge that policy hurdles and corruption have buffeted several sectors, including telecom, power and minining to name a few, that contributed immensely to the slow down. He rather cited adverse international environment that world economic growth was 3.9 percent in 2011, 3.1 percent in

2012 and 3.0 percent in 2013 and how India could have remained insulated from its consequences. He argued in his budget speech that the US had just recovered from a long recession, Eurozone was reporting a growth of 0.2 percent and China growth also had come down from 9.3 percent to 7.7 percent in the last two years. But all this could not convince most listeners in the Lok Sabha as the UPA government had till two years ago used to talk of 9 percent growth rate, but it has come down to 4.9 percent this year. In fact the GDP growth of India has fallen below 5 percent for two consecutive years for the first time in three decades.<

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

SPORT

INDIAN BOARD WAVES THE COLONIAL FLAG! By Ramu Sharma

he International Cricket Council (ICC) proposals for a revamp of the controlling authority had met with furious objections notably from Cricket South Africa and the Sri Lankan and Pakistan Boards who also had the support of a number of retired icons of world cricket, including Imran Khan, Martin Crowe and others. One of the bitterest opponents was the former ICC president Ensan Mani who pointed out the difference between the gainer in the proposal, the BCCI and the country, India. He was categorical in his criticism of the new set up with particular reference to the Indian Board’s ambition. In an interview he said that it was India as a country which contributes to a major share of the ICC revenue while it was the BCCI which was reaping the benefits. ‘India is contributing but not the BCCI. There is a big difference. India is contributing because it has a vibrant economy and because there is a huge and passionate following for the game. But the BCCI is just a private entity. It is not generating revenue and it doesn’t own the Indian economy.’ The voting pattern at the general body meeting provided the basis for the

(PTI photo)

Paradoxical as it seems, just when Indian cricket is receiving one of its worst thrashing on an overseas venture in New Zealand, its controllers, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has virtually taken over the International Cricket Council in alliance with England and Australia at a special meeting in Singapore early in the month. The decision, a virtual coup in world cricket, was arrived at with eight of the ten members voting in favour of the ‘Big Three’ remaining at the top of the pyramid and other countries taking a lesser stance in the expanding lower portion, something like a two-tier power sharing system.

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new administrative set-up and came about only after Cricket South Africa threw in with the majority, leaving Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the lurch. In view of the sudden change of mind by the South African Board, officials from Pakistan and Sri Lanka had no choice but to abstain from voting. There is bound to be long term debate on South African about turn which made it possible for the Big Three to get their position at the top confirmed. Many reasons have been attributed to the turnabout by Cricket South Africa. One of them pertains to its relations with India. With its favourable vote in promoting the new order South Africa may now host a full tour by India instead like the restricted one of recent months. Plus there is the possibility of the IPL, a money spinner, being held in South Africa in the event of the tournament clashing with the general elections in India. These are big financial gains and no country would refuse such an incentive. In

joining the big league because of its huge financial contribution. Casting aside all conciliatory gestures, the hard truth behind the positional transformation is money. India generates about 80 percent of the world’s cricket revenue and cannot now be treated with disdain. There is an old saying if you can’t browbeat an opponent bring him onto your side. That is exactly what England and Australia and the ICC has done. As per the new dispensation of the ICC, the revenue is to be distributed on the basis of financial contribution made by the respective boards, which will ensure India take home a major chunk of the pie (roughly in the region of Rs 5,000 crore). In addition India will wield more power with BCCI

after the last tournament in England, won by India, it was decided to do away with the competition. Other innovations include the setting up of a Test Cricket Fund to be made available to all Test playing countries except India, Australia and

Now there is a possibility of the IPL, a money spinner, being held in South Africa in the event of the tournament clashing with the general elections in India. The vote against India by Sri Lanka may hit them hard. She was also in the running to host a few IPL games in case it was shifted outside India. Now it is out of the reckoning, according to sources. sharp contrast, the vote against India by Sri Lanka may hit them hard. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were in the running to host a few IPL games in case it was shifted outside India. With Sri Lanka taking a stance to oppose the Big Three, they are out of the reckoning now, according to sources. The restructuring of the ICC is a hark-back to the colonial days of three decades ago when the Boards of England and Australia controlled world cricket much to the dismay of India and other members. But in a way the status quo is maintained with India

president N Srinivasan, set to take over as ICC chairman from July this year. The three permanent members—BCCI, English Cricket Board and Cricket Australia—will also decide the schedule of future tours between the period 2015- 2023 which would be decided on legally bound bilateral agreements. One of the casualties of the revamped ICC is the much touted, yet to be implemented ICC World Test Championship. In its stead the Champions Trophy will be given a fresh lease. It may be remembered that

(PTI photo)

England; leading associate members like Ireland and Afghanistan to receive a hike and an opportunity to gain Test status.

Heart burning among the rest of the tribe Though the three Boards of England, Australia and India reign

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

SPORT

(PTI photo)

supreme in the latest commandments there is bound to be quite a lot of heart-burning among the rest of the tribe, notably Pakistan and Sri Lanka, both of whom have contributed tremendously on the playing field, winning the World Cup once each. Pakistan in fact has contributed much more significantly thanks to its iconic former captain Imran Khan who was instrumental in advocating neutral umpires to soften the often controversial issue of supervision. One can perhaps answer Pakistanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s concerns with a counter question. Did it not run the tournament in Sharjah on its own terms? There were a lot of misgivings in India and elsewhere on some of the aspects of the desert show. At the same time the revamped ICC should be able to clear doubts about the weightage given to the financial contribution. Supposing at a given time in the near future, both China and the US become members of the Test match fraternity and allowing for the financial ability of the two countries, would the ICC then promote them to the level of the power sharing trio of England, Australia and India? Under the new set-up India will be having a great say in the administration of the game but it needs to act more responsibly. So far its record is nothing to be proud of. It has used its financial clout to virtually blackmail the ICC to change the official status of a Test Match because of its difference of opinion with the match-referee, sought replacement of a senior Test umpire once and is the only country to continue its reservation against the Decision Review System. With extra responsibility on its shoulders, one hope, it will be more cooperative and certainly a little more humble.<

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

HEALTH IS WEALTH

THE KIDNEY CARE

pressure. In fact, diabetes and high blood pressure (hypertension) are the two major risk factors for developing CKD. Curiously, there are 240 million diabetics worldwide; the figure may rise to 380 million by 2025.One billion globally have high blood pressure and the number may reach 1.56 billion by 2025.

World Kidney Dayâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; a global awareness campaign To create awareness about the importance of healthy kidneys, to help reduce kidney

The burden of kidney diseases on people is increasing enormously nowadays. Their treatment costs are very high. There is an adage that prevention is better than cure. In the case of kidney diseases this adage is very apt. There are several preventive measures that can reduce the grave risk.

Dr P K Mukherjee

eldom do we realise that the dark red, bean-shaped pair of organs in the abdominal cavity, each roughly the size of our fist, have great importance in maintaining the overall health of our body. This pair, called the kidneys, perform many essential biological functions, their main role being to flush out toxins from our body. However, faulty or unhealthy dietary habits, sedentary lifestyles and vices like smoking and excessive

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drinking can cause irreparable damage to the kidneys leading to what, in medical jargon, is known as Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD).The great concern about CKD is that its incidence is increasing dramatically and cost of treating it is putting enormous burden on the healthcare systems worldwide. At present 8-10 percent adult population globally is suffering from some form of kidney damage and every year millions die prematurely of complications relating to CKD. In India 10 percent adults suffer from CKD and the figure is rising; 60 percent of patients suffering from CKD are either diabetics or are suffering from high blood

diseases and encourage them to adopt proper lifestyle so as to cut the risk, the World Kidney Day was started in 2006 jointly by the International Society of Nephrology and the International Federation of Kidney Foundations. Celebrated on the second Thursday of March every year, the campaign highlights a particular theme. The focal theme for the World Kidney Day on 13th March this year is Chronic Kidney Disease and Aging. Kidney diseases are silent killers. They invariably affect the quality of life of CKD patients miserably. Hence, it is necessary to take them seriously. If identified early,

they are easily curable. Delay will necessitate long treatment. In cases where CKD go undetected, they cause kidney failure; then the options are either dialysis or kidney transplantation. Both these procedures are fraught with complications and prohibitively costly. There is the adage that prevention is better than cure. In CKD too this is true: there are several measures that can easily be taken to reduce the risk. Diabetes, high blood pressure and heart diseases are the most common causes of CKD. These are called ‘lifestyle diseases’. Therefore, adopting a healthy lifestyle can cut the risk substantially. Smoking is a big risk factor. It can even lead to kidney cancer. Indiscriminate use of painkillers is another cause. Those suffering from diabetes, high blood pressure or hypertension must undergo regular screening for CKD.

food should be avoided as they usually contain chemicals that are harmful to the kidney. Home-made food should be preferred as they ensure normal input of salt, sugar and fat. Refrain from sprinkling salt on items like cooked dal, curd or salads. Apart from healthy eating habits it is also important to keep physically fit and active. This can be done by doing regular exercise. Regular walking, running or cycling are strongly recommended. They help to keep blood pressure under control and reduce the risk of CKD.

of proteins, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. It should be a lowcalorie, low-fat diet with minimal intake of sugar and salt. This will keep a check not only on body weight but also on sugar and cholesterol levels as well as blood pressure. Fast food and processed

Don’ts for reducing the risk AVOID SMOKING: Do not smoke. If you are a smoker quit smoking immediately. Smoking slows down flow of blood to the kidneys. When less blood reaches

DRINK PLENTY OF CLEAN WATER: It is important to maintain proper fluid level in the body. Even if one is not thirsty, drink water as it helps the kidneys filter out sodium, urea and toxins the kidneys, cleansing of the circulating system is impaired. Smoking also increases the risk of kidney cancer by 50 percent.

Dos for reducing the risk of CKD MAINTAIN A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE: Eating healthy diets can go a long way in keeping diabetes and hypertension at bay. Healthy diet means proper balance

undetected for long, the alternative left will be dialysis or kidney transplantation.

from the body. Fruit juices, milk and vegetable soups also help kidneys cleanse the circulatory system. The right level of fluid intake for an individual may depend on many factors like gender, exercise, climate, pregnancy, breast feeding etc. but there is a prescription that recommends drinking of 1.2 to 2.0 litres of water per day. People who have kidney stone must drink 2 to 3 litres daily. GET REGULAR MEDICAL CHECKUPS: If you are obese or have diabetes, hypertension, cardiac problem or a history of kidney disease, get regular checkups. If detected early, CKD can easily be cured. However, if it goes

AVOID INDISC RIMINATE USE OF PAINKILLERS: Avoid taking painkillers like ibuprofen on a regular basis. Use them only under medical advice or in cases of emergency. However, if you are

suffering from chronic pain like arthritic or back pain, consult a doctor. He will advise you how to control pain without putting your kidneys at risk. However, in some cases painkillers become necessary and doctors may have no choice.<

MARCH, 2014 LOKAYAT |

SCIENCE

OUTERNET TO PROVIDE FREE INTERNET TO ALL BY 2015

By Smita Mukherjee

n this age of information technology, nobody can indeed deny the power of internet for getting access to the wealth of knowledge and information. However, forty per cent of the people in the world today are still not able to connect to the internet. It is not just because of the censorship measures and restrictive government in some countries like North Korea, but is also due to unaffordable price of data and high cost to bring internet service to remote areas. It is evidenced from the fact that in rural areas and remote regions cell towers and internet cables are virtually non-existent. The interesting fact to be taken note of is that the price of Smartphone and tablets is dropping year after year but the price of data still remains, by and large, unaffordable to a significant chunk of global population. If access to knowledge and information is to be regarded a human right then the denial of this right will automatically constitute Human rightsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; violation. Therefore, in order to bridge the

| LOKAYAT MARCH, 2014

global information divide and guarantee access to knowledge and information, a non-profit organisation, Media Development Investment Fund, is planning to take a practical approach to information delivery. The idea is to build an information network, called Outernet that would provide free internet access to all regardless of their geographical location on the Earth, bypassing filtering and other means of censorship. The ambitious plan is to build and launch hundreds of satellites, called cube satellites, into Low Earth Orbit to create a constellation of sorts in the sky that will allow anyone with a phone or a computer to access internet data sent to the satellites by several hundred ground stations. By the way, a cube satellite is a nano-satellite in the shape of a 10-cm cube (10x10x10-cm) and weighing around 1 kg (not more than 1.33 kg). The Outernet will allow data to flow from feeders situated at ground stations to the satellites and broadcast to everyone on the Earth. This will allow people from across the globe to

The time is not very far away when people would get free internet and for any length of timeâ&#x20AC;Ś Wow!

get the same information irrespective of their location. Through Outernet, people will get news, agricultural info (crop price for farmers etc), educational courseware and free applications e.g. Wikipedia in its entirety, movies, music, games etc. An additional benefit of Outernet will be the creation of a global notification system during emergencies and natural disasters when the local cellular networks fail. Outernet will use datacasting technology that involves sending data over wide radio waves to broadcast the internet around the world. In order to achieve this, a technique known as Wi Fi Multicasting, which is the sharing of data between users on a network, will be used by Outernet to beam information to users. Much like how you receive a signal on your television and flick through channels, Outernet will broadcast the internet to you. The timeline for Outernet calls for manufacturing and launching cube satellites by early 2015. And by June 2015, the NGO hopes to begin broadcasting Outernet from space.<