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