Dehra Dun, June 25
Even as the Left continues to protest against the recent hike in petrol and diesel prices, the Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr Mani Shankar Aiyer, has ruled out the possibility of any rollback. The minister, however, said there would be no rise in the LPG and kerosene prices in near future.

Speaking to newspersons in Dehra Dun, Mr Aiyer said the decision to increase oil prices was taken after considerable thought and the UPA government would not succumb to the pressures from other parties.

Despite the hike, the prices were significantly lower than those prevailing in the international market, he said. The crude oil prices in the international market had gone up by $ 60 per barrel. The extra burden would have to be shared by the government, petroleum dealers and consumers, he said.

Efforts were on to pass on the least burden to the consumer, he said. The burden would increase in the years to come since the country had to currently import 70 per cent of the consumption and the figure was likely to go up to 80 per cent in future.

The strike planned by petrol station dealers by the next month is unjustified, he said. There was no question that the government would accept their demands, he added. The petroleum dealers were not the below poverty line and onus was also on them to share the burden of crude oil price hike, he added. The dealers had gone on strike last week demanding an increase in their commission from 1.27 per cent to 5 per cent.

He said the ministry was focusing on regulating the kerosene distribution system in the country. The idea was to make sure that the subsidised kerosene reached the rural areas and was sold at the right cost at the fair price shops.

New Delhi, June 25
Bhartiya Janata Party President L K Advani today described the Congress-Left alliance at the Centre a sure "recipe for disaster" pointing out that both these parties shared a common trait of being intolerant to the Opposition and wanting it to suppress it.

Addressing a public meeting of the Delhi unit of the BJP on the 30th anniversary of the imposition of the Emergency , Mr Advani said "It is a strange coincidence that whenever the CPI has supported the Congress, a disaster has occurred in the country".

The BJP President, who has been under pressure from the RSS for his comments on Pakistan founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah, went on to praise the Sangh for what he described its unshaken opposition to the state of emergency ordered by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi".

"It was the RSS that remained unshaken in its opposition to the Emergency that had destroyed every other democratic institution baring the judiciary to some extent", he said.

Mr Advani recalled his first visit as an Opposition MP to Czechoslovakia some 35 years ago, saying leaders of the Communist-ruled state then failed to understand why a democracy like India needed a party critical of the government.

Both the Congress and the Communists share the same disposition against the Opposition. "Both believe in dynasty rule, like a monarchy, "Mr Advani pointed out.

Describing the 1975 events a manifestation of the anti-Opposition mindset, Mr Advani said "when we remember that period, we voice our outrage against a mindset, a disposition that accepts nothing but subjugation".

Recalling his arrest and his subsequent imprisonment in Bangalore jail along with numerous other activists opposed to Mrs Gandhi, he said that "the suppression that media suffered during that period was unprecedented, which dwarfed even the British censorship".

Mr Advani, however regretted media's response to the state of emergency, saying that he saw numerous reporters toeing the official line.

Meanwhile, the BJP President also accused the Congress of still carrying the "Emergency mindset" and reminded everyone to remember the excesses committed.

"You can see evidences of it (Emergency mindset) on several occasions. If you are intolerant towards an opposition, if you are intolerant towards dissent, dissidence, then I would say it is the Emergency mindset which is reflecting itself," Mr Advani said in his conversation with the NDTV 24x7 channel.

He, however, parried a query on senior Congress leaders who had "implemented Sanjay Gandhi's programme" during the Emergency, being in power now, saying he did not want to raise any issues related to persons.

The BJP leader also said that there was nothing wrong in the party including in its fold the widow and son -- Maneka and Varun -- of one of the prime figures of the Emergency episode, Sanjay Gandhi. "So what. There is nothing wrong in it. Varun Gandhi... I don't know when he was born. Why are you bringing in names which have no relevance here whatsoever?"

Mr Advani said it was important that people are educated about what happened during the Emergency that was imposed by the then Indira Gandhi regime in 1975.

Mr Advani, however, said the Emergency laid the foundation for coalition governance.

"When you are in prison together, naturally trust is created and the subsequent formation of the Janata Party became possible only because of Emergency and our incarceration together," he said, noting that it was during that time that he came to know closely leaders like Ramakrishna Hegde and Deve Gowda. 

New Delhi, June 25
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has assured a Sikh delegation that the state government will not appeal against the Delhi High Court order awarding compensation to the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

The president of the Shiromani Akali Dal Panthak, Jathedar Santokh Singh, and Mr Manjit Singh, who met the Delhi Chief Minister today, said she had assured that the state government would not appeal against the high court order in the Supreme Court.

The Delhi High Court, in a recent order, directed the Centre to pay a compensation of Rs 1.23 lakh each to all those who suffered injuries during the anti-Sikh riots following the assassination of the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, here in 1984.

“It is the bounden duty and responsibility of the state to secure and safeguard the life and liberty of an individual from mob violence,” Justice Gita Mittal said in her landmark judgment that would benefit around 2,800 Sikhs injured during the riots in the Capital.

The duo said the Delhi Chief Minister also promised to implement the second language status to Punjabi in Delhi schools and state government departments.

She also assured the delegation that the Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Memorial, for which the foundation stone was laid by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, would be completed at the earliest.

The delegation earlier this week met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and submitted a memorandum urging for an early release of TADA detainees in Punjab who were still in jails, establishment of Guru Teg Bahadur University in the Capital as promised in 1975 by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the turban issue in France and the “kirpan” issue in Denmark.

“The Prime Minister gave us a patient hearing an said he would look into these issues,” Mr Manjit Singh said.

Lucknow, June 25
Asserting his authority, Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) president Salman Khurshid on Saturday suspended chairman of the disciplinary committee Ramkrishan Dwevedi.

The decision comes a day after the supporters of Salman Khurshid and former UPCC President Jagdambika Pal openly clashed in the streets of Lucknow. However, UPCC chief spokesman Akhilesh Pratap Singh claims that Dwevedi’s suspension was due to his inactivity in the state unit.

The simmering infighting between the loyalists of Salman Khurshid and Jagdambika Pal has been dominating party activities in resent weeks. Even the dismal showing of the Congress in the freshly concluded bypoll to four assembly constituencies did not contain the crisis.

It finally spilled on the roads on Friday with lathi-wielding supporters of both camps holding demonstrations, shouting slogans, burning effigies and physically chasing one another through the busy thoroughfares of the city.

Addressing the media on Saturday, Mr Jagdambika Pal condemned the incident and demanded an inquiry into the incident.

Ahmedabad: In this old city the borders between “Hindustan” and “Pakistan” run erratically along the kutcha roads with broken walls and dilapidated shops marking lines of control that divide entire neighborhoods.

The scars of past riots freshly opened by the post-Godhra carnage are yet to heal and violent group clashes easily break out. Last fortnight a minor road accident, involving a Hindu and a Muslim, in the ghetto of Shahpur had members of the two communities trading rocks and bottles. The police had to burst teargas shells to disperse the mobs.

“Such things happen in the city because people behave like caged animals. There is a siege mentality among both Hindus and Muslims. So everyone is on a short fuse and a small incident is enough to sparks off violence,” says Ahmedabad Joint Police Commissioner P.C. Thakur.

According to social activists working in this old city, the three years since the post-Godhra riots have seen the emergence of housing clusters exclusively for Hindus and Muslims. At the Parikshit Lal colony city Hindu and Muslim residents of “mixed” buildings swapped or sold their houses so that they could live among members of their community in the same area.

“People even visit each others houses and engage in business, but when violence breaks out it is each one for himself,” says Ismael Ibrahim Sheikh, vice-president, Ahmedabad Youth Congress. Innocent bystanders, however, suffer the most. “My shop was burnt four times in four months,” says a wizened Fateh Mohammad Sheepa owner of a sweetmeat shop.

Attempts to forge amity by forming mohalla committees comprising Hindus and Muslims haven’t really taken off. “With decent people not wanting to be part of the mohalla committees, local “goondas” join them,” admits a senior police official. The police in the older parts of the city has been on high alert since 2002.

According to Special Police Officer S.Makwana of the Communalism Branch at Police Headquarters, 25 out of the 31 police stations in the city are “sensitive”. The six major riots that rocked Ahmedabad between 1985 and 2002 began in the old city. In some parts of the old city the Gujarat State Reserve Police Force has been permanently posted in makeshift tents since 1966. Only they don’t evoke much confidence.

“They were pulled out overnight to let Hindutava mobs target Muslims at Parikshit Lal Nagar after the Godhra train carnage,” alleges Sheikh. Though the walls and steel gates demarcating Hindu and Muslim neighborhoods in the city after the post-Godhra riots are long gone, the divide still continues. “The road running between Juhapura and the Hindu colony of Veljapur is the boundary,” says journalist Digant Oza.

The two localities continue to be referred derisively as “Hindustan” and “Pakistan” by the “other” community. Attempts by more than 40 NGOs to get residents of these two areas to forget their differences did not work out. “Though both Hindus and Muslims came to hear religious leaders like Murari Bapu, they do not cross the “boundary”, says Oza. Even Muslim students of Juhapura, who were pulled out of Don Bosco School in Veljapur, during the riots are staying away. “Their education suffers as they now attend a private school in Juhapura without good buildings or teachers,” says Dr Shakeel Ahmed of the Islami Relief Committee in the area.

Social activists also allege that successive development plans for The city bypassed the Muslim neighborhoods. The Juhapura colony which was constructed in 1960s lacks adequate water supply and sanitation.

(Part of a series on “Communal polarisation and the threat to shared traditions” supported by the National Foundation for India)