{"id":227323,"date":"2023-10-30T00:17:39","date_gmt":"2023-10-29T18:47:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/?p=227323"},"modified":"2023-10-30T00:17:39","modified_gmt":"2023-10-29T18:47:39","slug":"ban-yatra-in-poll-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/2023\/10\/30\/ban-yatra-in-poll-states\/","title":{"rendered":"Ban yatra in poll states"},"content":{"rendered":"

EC Directive to Centre<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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

\n

Three cheers to the Election Commission. It has acted promptly and decisively on the complaint about \u201cgross misuse of government machinery\u201d, at the Centre. On Thursday last, it wrote to Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba not to hold its proposed nation-wide \u2018Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra\u2019 from November 20 to highlight Modi-led government\u2019s \u201cachievements\u201d in the five poll-bound states and in a bypoll constituency in Nagaland. Congress President Kharge and a retired IAS officer had written to the EC about a letter circulated on October 18 to all Ministries about the yatra and asking them to appoint senior officials as \u201cdistrict rath prabharis.\u201d The fact that \u2018only achievements of last 9 years are being considered, gives away the fact this is a transparently political order in the run-up to the 5-state elections and 2024 general elections,\u2019 wrote Kharge, adding \u201cIt\u2019s a clear violation of Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 1964, which directs that no government servant shall take part in any political activity.\u201d Nirvachan Sadan responded saying on October 9 Assembly polls in the 5 States were announced and the Model Code of Conduct had come into force and under no circumstances the aforesaid activities be undertaken till December 5, day of counting. The government has clarified that the yatra will not make a stop in any poll-bound States. However, a vigil is critical.<\/p>\n

\n

ED Raids In Rajasthan<\/p>\n

The ED has got into top gear in poll-bound Rajasthan, threatening to severely hit ruling Congress\u2019 campaigning. On Thursday last, it raided premises of state party president Govind Singh Dotasra and former education minister in Jaipur and Sikar as part of a money laundering probe into alleged exam paper leak case and summoned Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot\u2019s Vaibhav son in a FEMA case in Delhi. Investigating agencies, said party President Kharge have become the real \u2018panna pramukh (party workers)\u2019 of BJP. After Chhattisgarh, ED has also entered the poll campaign in Rajasthan.\u2019 Aptly put, with Gehlot chipping in urging voters to give a befitting reply as the raids come days after he announced guarantees for women. Besides Dotasra, whois contesting from Lacchmangarh seat of Sikar, independent MLA Om Prakash Hudla is under the scanner. Should raids be put on hold once the polls are announced, needs to be considered. Importantly, should Election Commission intervene, as Gehlot demands, for on the face of it summoning, arresting or raiding leaders of Opposition parties muddies the level-playing field.<\/p>\n

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WB \u2018Witch Hunt\u2019<\/p>\n

ED action against ministers in West Bengal has Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee frowning. \u201cIf they conduct raids at the residences of all the leaders, then what is left of the government?\u201d she said, perhaps in jest, but reason to worry. On Thursday last, the ED arrested forest minister Jyoti Priya Mallick in connection with an alleged case of corruption in rationing distribution, when he was minister of food and supply. The arrest followed searches at his home in Salt Lake, Kolkata and he declared himself to be a \u201cvictim of a grave conspiracy\u201d. His leader said the raids went ahead even though \u2018there was no proof of wrongdoing\u2019. Recall last year minister of education Partha Chatterjee and his assistant were arrested in a teacher recruitment scandal; Anubrata Mondal, Mamata\u2019s close aide and Birbhum leader was detained viz livestock smuggling case; and TMC general secretary and Mamata\u2019s nephew Abhishek Banerjee has been frequently questioned over corruption charges. At a press conference didi said TMC leaders and ministers were being harassed just after Durga Puja, and \u201cIs this the way the country will be run? How many more will you send to jail? Send everyone to jail, even then, you will not get votes.\u201d While she may be right, she needs to set her house in order, sooner than later.<\/p>\n

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Mizoram Rebuff<\/p>\n

BJP should have little hope in Mizoram. Chief Minister Zoramthanga has made it amply clear that he shall not share the stage with Prime Minister Modi when he comes to campaign in the State, around month-end. \u201cThe people of Mizoram are all Christians. When the people of Manipur (Meities) burned hundreds of churches in Manipur, they were (Mizos) totally against that kind of idea. To have sympathy with the BJP at this time will be a big minus point for my party,\u201d Zoramthanga told BBC News in an interview on Monday last. His advice: it will be better if the PM comes alone and he shares the platform by himself, and I take the stage separately by myself.\u201d Interestingly, while his MNF is a part of BJP-led NE Democratic Alliance and an ally of NDA at the Centre, the party doesn\u2019t work with the BJP. He explains this is because MNF is totally against the Congress and doesn\u2019t want to be part of any alliance led by it. Indeed, BJP has totally failed in Manipur and with thousands of refugees coming to Mizoram, the MNF has to look after its vote bank. Zoramthanga insists that it is the responsibility of the Centre to restore peace in Manipur so that people can go back to their native state. Till then, his government is taking care of the relief camps with no aid from New Delhi. Perhaps, the BJP and Modi may do well if there is a change in strategy. For if it makes no inroads into Mizoram, it could have an impact on other States. Better to be safe than sorry!<\/p>\n

\n

TN Face-off Gets Worse<\/p>\n

The DMK government-Governor face-off gets nastier. With a Molotov cocktail, (petrol bomb) lobbed by a man, out on bail, in front of Raj Bhavan\u2019s main gate in Chennai on Wednesday last has the Governor\u2019s office seeing red. It alleged there have been incidents of public threats to Governor Ravi\u2019s life but a \u201cstudied indifference\u201d by state police to the matter has vitiated his security.\u201d In a complaint to Chennai Police Commissioner, it also alleged verbal attacks and threats were \u201cmostly by leaders and workers of DMK and its allies in their public meetings and through their social media.\u201d And these, are \u201cintended to overawe the Governor and restrain him in discharging his Constitutional duties. However, complaints lodged with the police have been inconsequential due to police inaction.\u201d No FIR has been lodged with the police \u201cinstead trivialised serious incidents into minor offences with no worthwhile follow-up.\u201d The Opposition parties too condemned the \u2018attack\u2019 and criticised Stalin government over \u2018deterioration\u2019 of law and order. Guess, there\u2019s more than meets the eye. \u2014 INFA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EC Directive to Centre By Insaf Three cheers to the Election Commission. It has acted promptly and decisively on the complaint about \u201cgross misuse of government machinery\u201d, at the Centre. On Thursday last, it wrote to Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba not to hold its proposed nation-wide \u2018Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra\u2019 from November 20 to highlight […]<\/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-227323","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\/227323","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=227323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227323\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}