By Insaf
UAPA Stick
BJP-ruled Tripura is the latest State to join others in brazenly using the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) to stifle citizens’ right to freedom of speech and expression. It’s police has wantonly charged lawyers, journalists and 100-odd social media users with UAPA for posts on communal violence, which followed after reports emerged last month from Bangladesh that Hindu minorities there were attacked during ‘Durga Puja.’ Significantly, on Thursday last, the Supreme Court was convinced to entertain a petition of two advocates and a journalist seeking quashing of an FIR and a criminal case lodged under UAPA provisions against them for bringing facts through social media posts about the ‘targeted political violence’ against Muslims in the north-eastern State, as spelt out by a fact-finding report “Humanity Under Attack in Tripura #Muslim Lives Matter”.
While the court asked the petitioners to first approach High Court on the FIR, the latter’s concern over UAPA misuse, made it agree to hear the case. Indeed, what emerges is yet another example of sheer high-handedness of the government to quash dissent. The petition makes a critical point: “If the state is allowed to criminalise the very act of fact finding and reporting — and that too under the stringent provisions of the UAPA in which anticipatory bail is barred and the idea of bail is a remote possibility — then the only facts that will come in the public domain are those that are convenient to the state due to the ‘chilling effect’ on the freedom of speech and expression of members of civil society. If the quest for truth and reporting thereof itself is criminalised then the victim in the process is the idea of justice.” Therefore, the judiciary must draw the laxmanrekhafor the government in Tripura and elsewhere, particularly UP and J&K, to protect what the Constitution gives to citizens, its fundamental rights. No encroachments, please.
AP-Odisha Resolution
Will they make a breakthrough? A big question as both Andhra Pradesh and Odisha decide to find an amicable solution to nagging territorial issues and refrain from going to court. On Tuesday last, Chief Ministers Naveen Patnaik and Jagan Mohan Reddy met in Bhubaneswar with officials in towto get cracking on the issues: One, construction of Neradi Barrage by Andhra over Vamsadhara river, of which 154 km lies in Odisha, and 82 km flows from AP. In 1962, the latter decided to construct the barrage for irrigation, but Odisha opposed it as it would submerge portions of farmlands; a Vamsadhara Water Disputes Tribunal was set up in 2010 which in 2017 gave Andhra go ahead and asked Odisha to acquire 106 acres of land in its region and hand it over to Andhra. But acquisition is yet not done! Two, Kotia gram panchayat, wherein both sides approached Supreme Court, which said sort it yourselves, given Odisha says Andhra officials intruded into villages there and other parts creating a law-and-order problem, whereas AP contends the villages belong to it. Where lies a solution then? The Chief Secretaries have a tall order now. Their bosses have directed they set up a system to work on the outstanding issues and find a solution. If there’s a will, there’s a way?
Rajasthan & Punjab
Will Congress-ruled Rajasthan go Punjab’s way, or will the political crisis blow over? Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot met party high command separately over long pending Cabinet reshuffle and expansion on Wednesday last. An exasperated Pilot tweeted ‘it’s been 3 years since govtformation, but party workers (read his loyalists) who sacrificed everything are awaiting their dues… they should be rewarded in form of political appointments, at the earliest as elections are approaching soon.’ Will it happen as a step towards reconciliation between the two camps? Necessary alright, but it shouldn’t be a knee jerk reaction like in Punjab, wherein the crisis within refuses to ebb. Chief Minister Channigot Advocate General Deol to resign to appease PCC chief Navjot Sidhu, who had objected to his appointment in September. It’s had a reaction: Additional AG, senior advocate Berry resigned on Wednesday, two days after he was appointed, asking the government ‘not to ridicule and diminish status and dignity of senior advocates of High Court”. The party high command would do well to go beyond that and see the larger picture.
TNFlooding
Inundation in capital Chennai during the incessant rains in Tamil Nadu, speaks volumes of how authorities and governments refuse to learn from mistakes. “What the authorities were doing for the past five years after the 2015 deluge?”, the Madras High Court asked on Tuesday last and went a step further warning Greater Chennai Corporation officials that it wouldn’t hesitate to initiate (contempt) proceedings if the situation is not improved within a week. While hearing a PIL, against encroachments on public roads and to restore their original length and breadth, it also noted “For half of the year, we are made to cry for water (apparently due to shortage) and for another half we are made to die in water.” So far 12 people have died including in nearby areas. Clearly, it’s people who suffer and instead of relief watch governments indulge in the usual blame game. The floods have given the DMK government to focus on its predecessor AIADMK’s work on Smart city project in the city, as T Nagar, is the worst hit. Chief Minister Stalin noted: “We don’t know what they did with it…no work was done…a Commission of Inquiry will be constituted…” Apparently, the Chennai corporation spent over Rs 100 crore to construct stormwater drains between 2019 and 2021, but the area has been severely waterlogged. Funds washed away literally.
Pollution &Jugaad
Visuals the AAP government spraying water, using boats and trying to erect a makeshift barricade on the river to “scatter and lessen” the white foam in polluted Yamuna, is typical jugaadthe system relies on! The government of course knew that people would take a dip in the river to celebrate Chhath puja, but that is all it could do to clean it up. And it appeared to be satisfied with its work of ‘beating the foam with sticks’, dispersing it by ‘breaking it’to go past the celebrations. Certainly not a long measure as its resolve to clean up river turns out to be mere words. Plus, there was the usual politics over it, with BJP leaders defying an order ‘not to celebrate on the banks of the Yamuna.’ Some of them proclaimed they won’t follow the DDMA ban order and ‘no one can stop us from performing our rituals.’The Kejriwal government, they added, is ‘not allowing us to celebrate’ and so we “appeal to all mothers and sisters to come here and celebrate Chhath and we will provide them security.” The big question being what about security of their good health? The leaders as usual would like to leave it to ram bharose! — INFA