{"id":187260,"date":"2022-03-26T01:38:36","date_gmt":"2022-03-25T20:08:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/?p=187260"},"modified":"2022-03-26T01:38:36","modified_gmt":"2022-03-25T20:08:36","slug":"triggers-a-political-circus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/2022\/03\/26\/triggers-a-political-circus\/","title":{"rendered":"Triggers a political circus"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nBirbhum Killings<\/strong><\/h3>\n

By Insaf<\/strong><\/p>\n

A tragedy is turned upside down into a political tamasha. Eight houses were set on fire in West Bengal\u2019s Birbhum district on Monday last resulting in eight persons, including women and children, charred to death. Since then, ruling TMC is rightly under fire for the culture of political violence in the State, but the war of words has turned into a circus, with political parties typically indulging in one upmanship. The BJP said \u201cThe entire episode was akin to Nazi concentration camp. These are revenge killings by a political party\u2026\u201d and its MLAs have demanded President\u2019s rule. PM Modi too stepped in and urged people of Bengal \u2018to never forgive the perpetrators of incidents like Birbhum violence and those who encourage such criminals.\u2019 Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee visited the sight, offered compensation to the families, resolved no one would be spared, but also said \u201cThe possibility of a larger political conspiracy to malign the image of the State cannot be ruled out and the investigation will make all-out efforts to unearth all those who are behind the occurrence of the incident.\u201d. The police version is: \u201cIt\u2019s not political rivalry. It could be deep-rooted personal enmity between two groups.\u201d A SIT has been constituted. Governor Dhankartweeted: \u201cHorrifying violence and arson orgy #Rampurhat #Birbhum indicates state is in grip of violence culture and lawlessness\u2026\u201d While North Block has sought a report, a TMC delegation of MPs met Home Minister Amit Shah demanding Dhankar be removed as he has \u201cbecome a threat to parliamentary democratic system of the country. He\u2019s appearing in a manner that is totally hampering the federal structure of running the government and Constitution of the country, and acting as the Opposition\u2026\u201dDo human lives matter, is a question best not asked.<\/p>\n

Karnataka HC Sets The Tone
\nThe Karnataka High Court has a piece of advice for law makers. \u2018Hear the voices of silence\u2019 and it\u2019s time to remove the stark inequality. This while dismissing a petition filed by a man seeking quashing of proceedings of alleged rape and unnatural sex with his wife and sexually harassing his daughter.The judge said \u201cexempting a husband from allegation of rape and unnatural sex with his wife runs against the Article 14 of the Constitution, which speaks about equality\u2026.If a man, a husband, a man he is, can be exempted of allegation of commission of ingredients of Section 375 of the IPC, inequality percolates into such provision of law.\u201d The section though defines offence of rape, emphasises importance of consent, it has an exception for non-consensual sex by a husband with his wife.Marriage, said the judge \u201ccannot be used as a license for unleashing brutal beast on the wife.\u201dThe anomaly is stark: a woman being a woman is given certain status, while a woman being a wife is given a different status. Likewise, a man being a man is punished for his acts, whereas a man being a husband is exempted for his acts!The court said the age old thought and tradition that husbands are the rulers of their wives, their body, mind and soul should be effaced. And, it\u2019s \u2018only on this archaic, regressive and preconceived notion, the cases of this kind are mushrooming in the nation.\u201d The law makers must now \u2018hear the voices of silence.\u2019When will the soul searching begin?<\/p>\n

Wise SP Decision
\nA wise decision indeed! Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav has decided to dig in his heels in the State and not just play the role as the Opposition in Uttar Pradesh but continue the struggle to uproot the BJP and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who took oath for his second term. On Tuesday last, he chose to retain the Karhal Assembly seat and submitted his resignation as member of Lok Sabha from Azamgarh to Speaker Birla. The people, he said \u201chave given a chance to stay in the Assembly and a mandate for continuing the struggle for them, and that the party will do so from sadan (Assembly) to sadak (streets).\u201d Incidentally, it was his first Assembly victory as compared to four times parliamentarian. Importantly, he defeated Union Minister Baghel, once a key aide to SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, by 60,000-odd votes, guess motivating him to do away with the lethargy he had these past five years. Plus, the SP tally going up from 47 to 125 has upped the ante for the cadre and Akhilesh\u2019s presence in the Assembly should ensure his MLAs do their job. In addition, senior party leader Azam Khan, who is in jail, resigned from the Lok Sabha and chose to retain the Rampur Assembly seat. His experience as 11-term MLA should help Akhilesh take on the impossible task of turning the saffron wave to red in the next five years. Tall order though.<\/p>\n

\u2018Better Times\u2019 For J&K
\nThe Modi government has made a strong pitch of times being better in Jammu and Kashmir. On Tuesday last, Finance Minister Sitharaman informed Rajya Sabha that efforts to create a \u201cnormal environment\u201d there have elicited \u2018good results\u2019. Since abrogation of Article 370 the UT, \u201cwas attracting many investments\u2014currently, a delegation from GCC is looking at such possibilities; job opportunities shall increase with new industrial policy and investment proposal; people were benefiting from implementation of 890 Central laws \u2014those who didn\u2019t have any rights there earlier, can now get government jobs, and purchase properties; there\u2019s been a dip in terrorism-related incidents too with 38 terrorists being eliminated just this year and 180 terrorists, including 42 top commanders and 32 foreigners, eliminated in 2021″ et al. Expectedly, the debate on Budget for J&K was also used to target Congress by accusing Nehru of taking Kashmir issue to the UN. \u201cIt should not have gone to a global forum. It\u2019s essentially an Indian issue. We could have handled it. We are handling it, and we are showing the difference now,\u201d she asserted. Even the controversial film \u201cThe Kashmir Files\u201d got weaved into the debate, with the Opposition accusing the BJP of \u201cgiving political colour\u201d to a film and the latter hitting back and saying truth can\u2019t remain hidden. The repartee was like missing the woods for the trees. The question doe the Budget offer to the Kashmiri Pandits, their future? They would to want to invest but is the environment conducive? That is the real test of achche din in the Valley.<\/p>\n

Big States\u2019 Poor Performance
\nLarge States need to get their act together. Taps, clean and potable water doesn\u2019t seem to be top priority. As per the Standing Committee on Water Resources report, tabled in Lok Sabha on Wednesday last, in States such as Uttar Pradesh, W Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Assam, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, less than 40% of rural households have a \u2018functional household tap connection\u2019 (FHTC). Worse, there is \u2018under-utilisation\u2019 of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) funds, which obviously would \u2018deprive targeted beneficiaries of access to safe\/clean potable water at homes.\u2019 The JJM was set into motion in August 2019 with the goal to provide drinking water to all rural households by 2024. However, \u201cAs on date, of 19.18 crore, 8.96 crore (46.48%) rural households have access to clean potable water supply at their homes!\u201d On the other hand, kudos to Telangana, Haryana, Goa, Puducherry, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Dadra & Nagar Haveli which have achieved 100% FHTC, while others like Punjab, Himachal and Gujarat touch 90% household coverage and should \u2018meet target soon\u2019. Insofar as funds are concerned of the revised estimate of Rs 45,011 crore for fiscal year 2021-22, the \u2018actual expenditure was only Rs 28,238 crore.\u2019 More than \u2018lack of financial prudence and fiscal discipline\u2019, the statistics are a sad reflection on so-called \u2019good governance\u2019!<\/p>\n

Mind Your Language
\nThe Thackeray government in Maharashtra has sought to do away with a \u2018mistake\u2019 of the past. Now local authorities, including civic bodies and corporations must mind their language. On Tuesday last, both Assembly and Council unanimously passed a bill which aims to make Marathi language mandatory in all official works. Apparently, the Maharashtra Official Language Act, 1964 did not make the same mandatory and thus the minister in charge said: \u201cWe are this time not leaving any loopholes for anyone to find an excuse to not use Marathi language in public and commercial places. The State government is also coming up with a dictionary of simple Marathi words that can be used in day-to-day work\u2026..Any (local) authority, be it established by the State or Central government or (State-run) corporations, will have to use Marathi while interacting with people and in internal works too.\u201d Fortunately, there\u2019s an exception: local authorities can use English or Hindi for certain government works such as communicating with foreign ambassadors. The timing of the Bill, or the \u2018love of Marathi\u2019, however, has raised eyebrows. Local body elections are due. But the minister was firm: \u201celections come and go, should we not discharge our duties just because these are round the corner? It is our right to bring the bill.\u201d Need more be said? \u2014\u2014 INFA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Birbhum Killings By Insaf A tragedy is turned upside down into a political tamasha. Eight houses were set on fire in West Bengal\u2019s Birbhum district on Monday last resulting in eight persons, including women and children, charred to death. Since then, ruling TMC is rightly under fire for the culture of political violence in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-187260","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-features"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187260\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}