{"id":209723,"date":"2023-01-29T00:25:22","date_gmt":"2023-01-28T18:55:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/?p=209723"},"modified":"2023-01-29T00:25:22","modified_gmt":"2023-01-28T18:55:22","slug":"students-outfits-unblock-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/2023\/01\/29\/students-outfits-unblock-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Students outfits ‘unblock’ it"},"content":{"rendered":"

BBC Documentary<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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

India: The Modi Question, BBC\u2019s documentary raises a wider one. By blocking links on social media, hasn\u2019t the government stirred up a hornet\u2019s nest and given it more publicity than it may have got? Perhaps. But Opposition parties and their student wings have put a spoke in the I& B Ministry\u2019s wheel. They are screening it in university campuses, party headquarters and even a beach! The canvas is growing: Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee first screened it at its headquarters, then at Shanghumugham beach for general public and plans to go across the State; youth wing of CPM, Democratic Youth Federation of India, says it\u2019s going to screen it not just in the southern state, but across India; in Delhi, the SFI held a screening screened at Jamia Millia Islamia university; in JNU the university administration was accused of cutting power and internet to stop the screening at the students\u2019 union office, but many showed it on their mobile-phones; at Punjab University the NSUI\u2019s screening of the documentary was stopped midway on grounds it had no permission; some students of University of Hyderabad screened it on its campus; in Kolkata, the SFI screened it at Jadavpur University; TMC MPs shared the link saying they would fight against \u2018censorship\u2019. The list will expand.
\nLeading to another question\u2014would it have been wiser for the government to simply ignore the documentary? The directive to block it on platforms such as Twitter and YouTube apparently has backfired. It\u2019s one thing for South Block to trash the documentary on 2002 riots as \u201cpropaganda piece\u201d that lacks objectivity and reflects a \u201ccolonial mindset\u201d, joined by I&B Ministry claiming it undermines \u201csovereignty and integrity of India\u201d and has \u201cpotential to adversely impact\u201d country\u2019s \u201cfriendly relations with foreign states\u201d and \u201cpublic order within the country,\u201d and another to take action which raises doubts about freedom of expression and speech in the world\u2019s largest democracy. Be that as it may, the government would find some solace as it got support from unusual quarter. Veteran Congress leader A K Antony\u2019s son, Anil, resigned from the Digital Media and AICC Social Media and Digital Communications Cell, after what he termed as \u201cintolerant calls\u201d and \u201cabuses\u201d over his tweet against the documentary. In his resignation letter he hit hard saying \u201cby now I have been made well aware that you, your colleagues and the coterie around your leadership are only keen to work with a bunch of sycophants and chamchas, who would unquestionably be at your beck and call\u2026\u201d It did hit headlines, but not as many as those against the blockade. The screening war goes on!
\nTelangana High Office Row
\nThe quarrel between Telangana Governor-Chief Minister office was on display on Republic Day. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao kept away from the celebrations hosted by Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan at Raj Bhavan in Hyderabad. The deteriorating relationship between the two simmers, despite High Court the evening before directing government to conductcelebrations in a grand manner, with a ceremonial parade, as per Centre\u2019s instructions. While Soundararajan unfurled the Tricolour at Governor House, KCR did so at Pragati Bhavan, his camp office-cum-official residence, offered floral tributes to Mahatma Gandhi and Ambedkar and paid homage at Army Memorial at Secunderabad to those who sacrificed their life for the country. Since taking over in 2019, the Governor has accused the government of violating protocol and CM not attending the customary \u2018At Home\u2019, whereas Rao has accused her of being an BJP agent, as prior to her appointment she was BJP President in Tamil Nadu. Interestingly, in Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Stalin along with Cabinet colleagues and officials attended Governor Ravi\u2019s \u2018At Home\u2019, a pleasant surprise as the two have been at loggerheads in recent weeks. Will Telangana follow too, even if it turns out to be a fa\u00e7ade?<\/p>\n

AAP Knocks on SC Door
\nHalted mayoral elections in Delhi force the AAP to knock on Supreme Court\u2019s door. On Thursday last it\u2019s candidate Shelly Oberoi petitioned urging the poll be conducted in a time-bound manner. This after the election was stalled on Tuesday last for the 2ndtime this month after the House was adjourned indefinitely by LG-appointed presiding officer following another brawl between AAP and BJP members, with former objecting to aldermen being administered oath first. In fact, quoting Article 243R of Constitution and Section 3 of DMC Act,AAP maintains aldermen don\u2019t have the right to vote and should be prohibited from doing so. It has accused the BJP of hooliganism saying \u2018it has no moral right to capture and illegally control the MCD for so long. The MCD was put under Central government on pretext of unification and delimitation works. People of Delhi gave AAP the mandate in the MCD and despite that, the BJP resorted to dirty politics\u2026\u201d The BJP accuses AAP of misleading public, has no faith in Constitution and was deliberately obstructing the polls. Will Delhi have its mayor and how soon, is the big question.<\/p>\n

Funds For Wine & Dine!
\nThe TMC would need to do one better than accusing BJP of \u2018political witch hunt\u2019 viz arrest of its spokesperson Saket Gokhale by ED in a money laundering case. For the charges are entertaining! In its remand note to a local court in Ahmedabad, the ED claimed, \u201cover Rs 1.07 crore funds collected through crowd funding (June 2019 to October 2022) were splurged on speculative share trading, wining and dining and other personal expenses which appear to be extravagant.\u201d Gokhale, lodged in judicial custody in a Gujarat police case, denies all of it saying funds were raised \u2018for his sustenance and were utilised for 3 campaigns \u2013\u2018fight with RTI,\u2019\u2018Saket Vs Modi,\u2019 and \u2018justice for Suhas (his father),\u201d and another \u2018Support Saket in his transparency battle.\u2019 The ED alleged that after preparing \u2018a bogus electronic document in name of \u2018OurDemocracy.in\u2019 by which he collected funding, he diverted the funds for his personal use thereby committing offence plus was \u2018not cooperating.\u2019 The special PMLA court gave custody to ED till January 31.Will it eventually nail the \u2018splurge\u2019?<\/p>\n

\u2018Save Ladakh\u2019
\nWill \u2018Save Ladakh\u2019 get Prime Minister Modi\u2019s attention? Noted social reformer and education innovator Sonam Wangchuk precisely seeks this as he started his five-day climate fast from the rooftop of the Himalayan Institute of Alternative Ladakh in Phyang on Thursday last. However, his aim of going up to Khardung La, world\u2019s highest motorable road at 18,000 ft with -40 degree C has literally hit bad weather. The roads were blocked due to heavy snowfall. But his video post says too he was being denied permission to get to his destination by the administration \u201cciting threats to my life and so on. I think there is more to that. If this was the case, the base of Khardung La has all the medical facilities.\u201d He\u2019s not giving up and will keep trying for permission. Wangchuk is concerned over climate catastrophes given that studies suggest extinction of nearly 2\/3rd of the glaciers and if steps are not taken, \u2018the industries, tourism, and commerce will continue to flourish in Ladakh and will eventually finish it\u2026creating enormous problems due to water scarcity in India and its neighbourhood\u2026\u2019 He wants Modi to intervene and safeguard the ecosystem under Constitution\u2019s 6thschedule. Not asking for too much, is he? \u2014INFA<\/p>\n

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BBC Documentary By Insaf India: The Modi Question, BBC\u2019s documentary raises a wider one. By blocking links on social media, hasn\u2019t the government stirred up a hornet\u2019s nest and given it more publicity than it may have got? Perhaps. But Opposition parties and their student wings have put a spoke in the I& B Ministry\u2019s […]<\/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-209723","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\/209723","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=209723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209723\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}