{"id":243945,"date":"2024-07-09T01:08:43","date_gmt":"2024-07-08T19:38:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/?p=243945"},"modified":"2024-07-09T01:08:43","modified_gmt":"2024-07-08T19:38:43","slug":"pm-breaks-silence-but-no-balm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/2024\/07\/09\/pm-breaks-silence-but-no-balm\/","title":{"rendered":"Pm breaks silence, but no balm?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Manipur’s ‘Hurt’ Touches Parliament<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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

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The tragic silence is broken on Manipur! Prime Minister Modi finally spoke. But, only after the Opposition pointedly, through slogans, badgered him in both houses of Parliament as well as Rajya Sabha member Angomcha Bimol Akoijam\u2019s anguish-filled maiden speech, which got impressive coverage, despite being close to midnight! \u201cI will keep quiet the moment the prime minister opens his mouth, and the nationalist party says Manipur is part of India, and we care for the people of that state,\u201d he said during the motion of thanks to President\u2019s address. Noting absence of Manipur in Murmu\u2019s address, he said \u201cThis is not a simple absence. It\u2019s a reminder of a rashtra-chetana (national consciousness) which excludes people\u201d. He spoke of the \u2018hurt\u2019 as: Over \u201c60,000 people are languishing in relief camps in wretched conditions for past one year, it\u2019s not a joke; 200-plus people died; there\u2019s a civil war-like situation, people are armed to the teeth, fighting each other, defending their villages\u2019; Indian State is a mute spectator for one year; it\u2019s one of the most militarised areas of this country; BJP govt is continuing with a colonial mindset when it came to dealing with people from northeast states\u2026\u201d And threw the big question, \u201cIs this silence communicating to people of N-E and Manipur in particular that you don\u2019t matter in the Indian State\u2019s scheme of things?\u201d<\/p>\n

Replying to the debate next day in Rajya Sabha, Modi spoke at length on Manipur. He said efforts are being made by Centre with state government to ensure \u2018a return of complete peace,\u2019 and hope for peace is a definite possibility. Violence is continuously declining, educational institutes and businesses have opened in most parts of the state, over 500 people arrested, over 11,000 FIRs registered, Union Home Minister visited several times, are reasons for his hope. At same time, he urged \u201cWe must all rise above politics and cooperate towards normalising the situation. It\u2019s our responsibility,\u201d as clearly \u2018social conflict is deeply rooted with a long history, leading to President\u2019s rule 10 times since Independence\u2026the five-year-long conflict from 1993 onwards\u2026\u201d The bottom line: need to handle the situation with \u201cwisdom and patience.\u201d He needs to remember the idiom \u2018If there\u2019s a will there\u2019s a way\u2019. For only that very day, Supreme Court pulled up state government saying it \u2018did not trust it\u2019, pointing out that petitioner, a Kuki undertrial in Manipur was \u2018denied care because of the community he belongs to\u2019. It directed medical treatment at an Assam hospital and warned it would take the govt to task if the medical report turned out to be serious. Indeed, words won\u2019t heal wounds still fresh even after a year. Genuine concern and action are the balm and much needed.<\/p>\n

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UP\u2019s Tragic \u2018Conspiracy\u2019<\/p>\n

The Uttar Pradesh government\u2019s insinuation of a \u2018conspiracy\u2019 behind the Hathras tragedy is like rubbing salt in the wounds of the victims\u2019 families. It simply shouldn\u2019t, rather can\u2019t abdicate its responsibility when 121 people are killed and over 300 injured in the stampede at the satsang of Bhole Baba on Tuesday last. Worse, the FIR doesn\u2019t name the preacher among organisers or \u2018sevadars\u2019 explicitly blamed for it. While Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has announced a judicial inquiry, saying \u201cIf this isn\u2019t an accident, then whose conspiracy is this? All of this will be probed,\u201d the big question is: wasn\u2019t the local administration aware of the preacher\u2019s popularity? Why didn\u2019t it act when numbers started exceeding the permission sought \u2014 80,000, whereas the venue eventually had 2.5 lakh people? Two PILs have been filed, one in Supreme Court seeking setting up of a 5-member expert panel under a retired judge and another in Allahabad high court urging a CBI. Predictably not having faith in Yogi\u2019s judicial inquiry? Or agreeing with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav\u2019s retort: \u201cLook, there can\u2019t be a conspiracy in this. The conspiracy could be the government wants to run away from its responsibility!\u201d<\/p>\n

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AP\u2019s Shopping List<\/p>\n

Andhra Pradesh has changed strategy. Instead of pursuing long-pending demand for special category status, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu met Prime Minister Modi instead sought financial handholding and gave his shopping list. Justification being: \u201cfiscal situation has significantly deteriorated due to previous government\u2019s misadventures and absence of a strategic long-term development plan. Unproductive expenditure & fiscal hara-kiri marked by exploitation of natural resources for personal use and no focus on development of human resources growth has plummeted, revenue receipts have tapered, and liabilities have peaked.\u201d Worse, committed expenses, including salaries, pensions, and debt servicing, exceed the State\u2019s revenue receipts, leaving no fiscal space for productive capital investment, he explained. So now it\u2019s not just the \u2018unscientific, unfair, and unjust bifurcation of 2014\u2019 but getting his pound of flesh, whichever way. Higher Central aid sought among others is for rebuilding of government complex and road infrastructure for capital city Amaravati, Polavaram Irrigation Project, developing backward regions with Bundelkhand-like package. People, he said have placed their trust in NDA coalition government, thereby \u2018granting both leaders a significant mandate to fulfil their promises and commitments.\u2019 Clearly, a give and take!<\/p>\n

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Bihar Bridges Collapse<\/p>\n

Bihar has earned the dubious distinction of building bridges which collapse like a house of cards! In just 15 days, Thursday marked the 10th bridge, built 15 years back, crumbling in Saran district, the third in the last 24 hours. The bridge, which was over Gandaki river connected several villages with neighbouring Siwan district. Fortunately, no casualty was reported, the district administration was trying to ascertain the exact cause, and a \u2018high-level inquiry\u2019 has been ordered why three \u2018small bridges\u2019 collapsed. Guess, the rain god may come to its aid as heavy rainfall for past few days could be a reason cited. With bridges collapsing in other districts \u2014 Siwan, Madhubani, Araria, East Champaran and Kishanganj, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has directed road construction and rural works departments to conduct a survey of all old bridges and identify those that require immediate repair. Too little too late? But perhaps well in time to add to the government\u2019s financial list of getting funds from centre instead of the special status.\u00a0 \u2014 INFA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Manipur’s ‘Hurt’ Touches Parliament By Insaf The tragic silence is broken on Manipur! Prime Minister Modi finally spoke. But, only after the Opposition pointedly, through slogans, badgered him in both houses of Parliament as well as Rajya Sabha member Angomcha Bimol Akoijam\u2019s anguish-filled maiden speech, which got impressive coverage, despite being close to midnight! \u201cI […]<\/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-243945","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\/243945","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=243945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243945\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}