{"id":229207,"date":"2023-11-25T00:58:12","date_gmt":"2023-11-24T19:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/?p=229207"},"modified":"2023-11-25T00:58:12","modified_gmt":"2023-11-24T19:28:12","slug":"end-to-bitter-campiagning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/2023\/11\/25\/end-to-bitter-campiagning\/","title":{"rendered":"End to bitter campiagning"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rajasthan Polling<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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

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Rajasthan goes to the polls today. The campaigning has been rough and tough and while pollsters would give thumbs up to ruling Congress, the State appears to be in a neck-to-neck contest between grand old party and BJP. Gehlot government has gone all to woo the voters with welfare schemes and the party\u2019s 7 guarantees, including Rs 10,000 per year to female head of family, cow dung at Rs 2 kg, free laptops and tablets to first-year government college students, et al. The BJP too follows in similar footsteps but its guarantees centre around Prime Minister Modi. Besides, its Hindutva strategy is given sharp focus, as its star campaigner started his campaign from a Hanuman temple. The bitter campaigning has got the Election Commission stepping in. On Thursday last, it issued a show-cause notice to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his panauti, \u2018pickpocket\u2019 and \u2018loan waiver for the super-rich\u2019 jibes at Modi, saying the MCC prohibits leaders from making \u2018unverified allegations against political rivals.\u2019 Additionally, its issued two show-cause notices to Congress over two advertisements \u2014 one claiming a wave in its favour and another asking people to give missed calls to avail benefits of its poll promises. These \u2018fail to adhere to the standards expected from a national party\u2019, is the BJP\u2019s complaint. The Congress may cry hoarse or see it as its rival truly worried, but the results will show which guarantees eventually worked.<\/p>\n

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Governors \u2018Playing With Fire\u2019<\/p>\n

Governors need to tread cautiously; they are only titular heads and real power rests with people\u2019s representatives. The firm message comes from the country\u2019s top court. In a 27-page judgement uploaded on Thursday last, the Supreme Court asked Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit to \u2018now proceed to take a decision on the Bills\u2019 submitted for assent during Assembly\u2019s sittings on 19, 20 June 2023 and 20 October 2023, as these were \u2018constitutionally valid\u2019. Earlier, during course of hearing, the court had said the governor was \u201cplaying with fire\u201d as it held that being the titular head of the state the Governor can\u2019t cast doubt on the validity of an assembly session or withhold his decision indefinitely on bills passed by the House. Any such attempt, it said \u2018would be replete with grave perils to democracy.\u2019 In a Parliamentary form of democracy, the real power vests with MLAs and MPs and \u201cMembers of government are accountable to and subject to scrutiny by the legislature. The Governor as President\u2019s appointee is the titular head of State.\u201d Importantly, the Speaker is recognised to be a guardian of the House privileges and constitutionally recognised authority who represents the House; the Governor, as an unelected Head of State, is entrusted with certain constitutional powers. \u201cHowever, this power can\u2019t be used to thwart the normal course of lawmaking by state legislatures.\u201d Big not just for AAP government, but other State governments which have been in a running battle with their respective Raj Bhavan. Remember the idiom\u2014 discretion is the better part of valour.<\/p>\n

Set Up Delimitation Commission<\/p>\n

Disproportionate representation of tribal communities in Sikkim and West Bengal assemblies should go a long way to get sections of SCs and STs justice across the country. Hearing a petition of NGO, Public Interest Committee for Scheduling Specific Areas, contending the Limbu and Tamang communities (STs), were denied a proportionate representation in these States, the Supreme Court on Thursday last, directed Centre to set up a fresh delimitation commission for ensuring a proportional representation of the communities specified as SCs and STs, as mandated under Constitution. However, it clarified it can\u2019t direct Parliament to amend or make laws for giving proper representation to other communities that form part of the STs as this would amount to \u201cventuring into legislative domain\u201d. Additional seats, it said must be made available in Bengal for the STs to accommodate \u2018principle of proportional representation.\u201d The plea claimed Limbu and Tamang communities\u2019 population in Sikkim had risen to 33.8% in 2011 from 20.6% in 2001 and in Darjeeling, West Bengal, ST population rose to 21.5% in 2011 from 12.69% in 2001. Importantly, the court was clear its verdict \u2018shall not be read to interfere\u2019 with Parliament or assemblies\u2019 polls \u2018since elections are an overarching mandate and these have to be carried out on time\u2019. All that can be said is that once the process starts, \u2018benefit (of reservation) has to be given across the country,\u2019 as demands from various states pending. So, while the exercise must be on the agenda, a deadline is missing!<\/p>\n

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Adamant Bihar<\/p>\n

Bihar is pulling out all the stops to get what has been demanding. On Wednesday last, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar upped the ante on the long-standing demand for grant of special status to the state by getting the Cabinet to pass such a resolution. In a post he said the Centre has been requested for the same as it \u2018was necessitated by findings of the caste survey his government carried out.\u2019 Importantly, while the rise in percentage of population of the deprived castes has led to increase in the quotas for SCs, STs and OBCs from 50 to 65%, he said his government planned to undertake several welfare measures for the benefit of \u201c94 lakh families\u201d, which lived in abject poverty.\u00a0 Recall, the demand for special status has been pending \u201csince 2010\u201d.\u00a0 At same time, he has urged the Centre to incorporate the hiked reservation for deprived castes from 50 to 65% in state government jobs and educational institutions in Constitution\u2019s 9th Schedule, so it\u2019s guaranteed immunity from legal scrutiny. Nitish has also been saying that if INDIA bloc forms the next government at the Centre, he would press for \u201cspecial status to all backward states\u201d. Clearly, there\u2019s more than meets the eye.<\/p>\n

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Support For Palestine<\/p>\n

God\u2019s own country may bring some cheer to the war-ravaged Palestinians. A mass solidarity rally was organised by the Congress PCC in Kozhikode on Thursday last, to clear the air: \u201cPalestine solidarity is not a new thing for the Congress Party. It has been continuing without any change since Gandhiji and Nehru\u2019s time.\u201d Both AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal and CWC member Shashi Tharoor were at pains to counter accusations that the grand old party was silent on the issue due to ongoing Assembly polls and asserted it condemned Israel\u2019s war on Gaza, its attacks against hospitals and refugee camps; and hit out at Modi government\u2019s foreign policy, saying India\u2019s abstention from voting in UNGA against the war, \u2018brought disgrace to the entire nation\u2019. Venugopal even described Modi and his Israel counterpart Netanyahu as \u2018the same type\u2019 and accused the Centre of using foreign policy as \u2018a PR exercise to ensure its victory in polls.\u2019 Sadly, the humanitarian side of the war has got lost in vote bank politics. Domestic issues are being seen to influence South Block\u2019s pro-Israel shift as it gives a shot in the arm to the Hindu nationalists. People taking out pro-Palestine rallies in some State have been briefly detained by the police; the Indian media too has titled reportage. Guess, Kerala gives some solace.<\/p>\n

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Farewell \u2018Judged\u2019<\/p>\n

A farewell speech in Allahabad High Court has not just raised many an eyebrow but could ruffle feathers. On Tuesday last, its retiring Chief Justice Pritinker Diwaker in his farewell speech alleged his transfer in 2018 from Chhattisgarh HC when the collegium was headed by then CJI Dipak Misra was done to \u2018have been issued with an ill intention to harass me\u2019! He said when he was elevated to the bench on March 31, 2009, he discharged his duties till October 2018 \u201cto the satisfaction of one and all, and particularly to my own inner being.\u201d But \u201cnow, a sudden turn of events descended upon me when then CJI Deepak Misra showered on me some extra affection for reasons still not known to me which entailed my transfer to Allahabad HC, on October 3, 2018.\u201d However, \u2018as fortune would have it,\u2019 he said \u2018the bane turned into a boon\u2026\u2019 Besides, he thanked present CJI Chandrachud, \u2018who rectified the injustice done to me,\u2019 and for being appointed as Acting CJ of Allahabad HC and eventually CJ on March 26, 2023. Interestingly, his remarks come on the heels of a farewell speech by Justice Bibek Chaudhuri, recently transferred from Calcutta HC to Patna HC. He said: \u201cI must say that in 1975 during Emergency, 16 judges of different HCs were transferred by an executive decision in one go. After almost 48 years, 24 judges have been transferred from one High Court to another by the Collegium of the Honourable Supreme Court in one go.\u201d The big question being whether these churnings or targeting with the judiciary should be welcomed or not?\u00a0 \u2014 INFA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rajasthan Polling By Insaf Rajasthan goes to the polls today. The campaigning has been rough and tough and while pollsters would give thumbs up to ruling Congress, the State appears to be in a neck-to-neck contest between grand old party and BJP. Gehlot government has gone all to woo the voters with welfare schemes and […]<\/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-229207","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\/229207","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=229207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229207\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}