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Water is for all UP killings |
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Violence in
Bangladesh Religious zealots need to be tamed That jihadi terrorism has grown stronger during the past few years in Bangladesh was proved beyond doubt when an extremist outfit, the Jamayet-ul-Mujahideen, successfully planned to unleash terrorist violence on August 17 in almost every district of this poverty-stricken country.
Angry
sanyasin,
aged tiger
Mind the image
Germany: Angela
Merkel faces tough challenges Dalit girl barred
from going to college Delhi
Durbar
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UP killings The
brutal killing of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai and six others at Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh and subsequent violence in protest against the murder show the deteriorating law and order in the state. The police have filed FIR against Samajwadi Party MP from Ghazipur, Afzal Ansari, his brother and Independent MLA Mukhtar Ansari, hardened criminal Munna Bajrangi and seven others in connection with the killing. Afzal Ansari says that he will surrender in the court after being named as an accused in the murder. While it is for the courts to decide about their alleged involvement in the killing, the filing of FIR against them suggests the alarming increase in the criminalisation of politics. Rai’s is the third big political killing in recent times in the state. Earlier, a BSP MLA was shot dead in Varanasi, besides a Youth Congress leader in Allahabad. Very recently, the Indian Oil Corporation officer Manjunathan Shanmugham was shot dead in Lakhimpur by a mafia gang for his determination to check fuel adulteration. While Rai’s murder is apparently linked to gang rivalry, it is also seen as the fallout of a fight for supremacy between mafia dons belonging to different political hues. It is this dangerous politician-criminal nexus that has given an alarming twist to the episode. According to a newspaper report, 205 out of 403 MLAs in the State Assembly had criminal cases pending against them. These legislators belong to all political parties. One can well imagine the serious damage they are inflicting on the system. It is time remedial measures were taken to check the increasing criminalisation of politics. Otherwise, there will be no end to political killings. In Bihar, the Election Commission took significant steps like removing from electoral rolls those against whom non-bailable warrants had been pending for the last six months. This resulted in free and fair elections. A similar approach needs to be pursued vigorously in Uttar Pradesh. To improve law and order and the quality of governance, political parties should themselves check criminals at the entry level — by denying them tickets to contest the elections. Clearly, the criminals must be thrown behind bars — the right place for them to live — to save the political system and the nation.
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Violence in Bangladesh That
jihadi terrorism has grown stronger during the past few years in Bangladesh was proved beyond doubt when an extremist outfit, the Jamayet-ul-Mujahideen, successfully planned to unleash terrorist violence on August 17 in almost every district of this poverty-stricken country. But Tuesday’s bomb explosions, claiming 13 lives, have brought to light certain new developments. The terrorist outfits in Bangladesh are a part of the dreaded Al-Qaida network, functioning in this part of the world as the Al-Qaida in South Asia. That may be the reason why Bangladesh experienced its first suicide bombings targeted at the symbols of government, particularly the courts. This fast spreading culture of violence is mainly the result of the policies of the government in Bangladesh. The Khaleda Zia government has not only been harbouring anti-India forces indulging in terrorist activities
in the North-East, but also using religious extremists to settle scores with its political opponents. The policy of pampering religious zealots has helped the jihadis to spread their tentacles throughout Bangladesh. Now the jihadis are telling the government through violence, the only language
they know, that ignoring what they want will mean chaos and instability. They have been pressing for the introduction of Islamic shariah in the system of government, which obviously cannot be accepted in the larger interest of Bangladesh. The Khaleda Zia government, which has so far been tolerant of the extremist forces, has no alternative but to tame these elements to ensure peace in Bangladesh, so essential for economic growth. It will have to reform the madarsa (religious schools) system to prevent the terrorist outfits from getting new recruits. A large portion of the country’s budget allocation for education has been going to the madarsas controlled by extremists. An effort will have to be made to free these institutions from the clutches of the destructive elements. The neighbours of Bangladesh, particularly India, will have to put pressure on Dhaka to curb the growth of jihadi terrorism threatening peace and stability in South Asia. |
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Why has not man a microscopic eye?/For this plain reason, man is not a fly.
— Alexander Pope |
Angry sanyasin, aged tiger How
typical it all is of this country’s dismal, distorted and depressing politics! After many a summer the people had got something to cheer and be happy about. Bihar, the state almost written off as an irremediably benighted land, had put an end to the 15-year misrule of Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav and his wife. But hardly had anyone time to rejoice when Indian polity once again displayed its usual ugly face, as recent events in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra have underscored. Interestingly, at the centre of the squalid storm are the BJP in one case and its natural ally, the Shiv Sena, in the other. Indeed, the entire saffron camp is in deep trouble. Since the core of the “army” raised by Balasaheb Thackeray consists of goons, the violence accompanying the revolt against him by his nephew, Raj Thackeray, is no surprise. But the spectacle that the BJP has made of itself in Bhopal is also so sordid as to make those who used to boast of “the party with a difference” hang their heads in shame. At the national level the BJP has been mired in a twofold crisis. One is the conflict between the outgoing party president, Mr L. K. Advani, and the RSS, unquestionably the patriarch of the entire Sangh parivar. It had begun well before Mr Advani had discovered that Mohammed Ali Jinnah was a paragon of secularism. The second tussle is over the succession to Mr Advani. Many are, therefore, wondering what had made the BJP’s divided leadership act in so authoritarian a manner in choosing the next Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh as to create another magnum-sized crisis. The obvious answer is that the so-called party with a difference is unable to take either defeat or victory with requisite grace and sense of proportion. In May 2004, it refused to believe that the UPA had defeated it and, relying on astrological forecasts, was confident of regaining power within months. Now its leadership is puffed up with the belief that its “triumph” in the Bihar poll would pave the way for its early return to power in New Delhi. Such vainglory has blinded the BJP to the rude reality that the winner of Bihar is the new Chief Minister of the state and Janata Dal (United) leader, Mr Nitish Kumar, who has repeatedly proclaimed that he has nothing to do with the BJP’s ideology. The saffron party is only a junior partner of the JD (U). The shoddy drama that has come to pass in Bhopal is a product of the same “post-Bihar” mindset. No one should forget that Ms Uma Bharati, the party’s stormy petrel, had demanded a change of leadership of the M. P. government quite some time ago. She was advised to be “patient” until the Bihar elections were over and given the impression that she would be back to the post she had vacated for Mr Babulal Gaur because of a court case at Hubli. However, the party leadership preferred Mr Shivraj Singh Chauhan and this drove Ms Bharati to a towering rage, resulting in the scenes at the BJP’s Bhopal headquarters the like of which have never before been witnessed even during the worst of comparable political contentions. Doubtless, Ms Bharati is troublesome, loud, combative and sometimes pain in the neck. Despite being a saffron-clad sanyasin, she does “lust for power”, to use Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s words. Her conduct at the meeting of the legislature party that turned into a riot was most unseemly. But she was absolutely right in complaining that the BJP leaders had behaved far more dictatorially than Indira Gandhi had ever done. For decades all BJP leaders have been inveighing against Indira Gandhi for denying the elected legislators in the states their right and imposing Chief Ministers on them. They seem to have overlooked that, unlike them in the present case, she had always waited for the legislature party to pass a resolution requesting her to name its leader. Thereafter, the ritual of her nominee being elected unanimously used to go through most smoothly. Messers Advani, Vajpayee and Co. obviously had no time for such niceties. No wonder, the recalcitrant Ms Bharti, proud of her hold on the party cadres and even MLAs, is on the warpath. Challenging the Central leadership, she had embarked on a “Ram padyatra” to Ayodhya when the BJP Parliamentary Board suspended her from the party’s primary membership. Exactly the same action a year ago - when she had insulted Mr Advani in the glare of TV cameras - had failed to subdue her. What will happen this time is a moot question. The mistakes and misfortunes of “Tiger Balasaheb”, now clearly aged and enfeebled, are of a different kind. Since politics of all parties, not just of the Congress, is firmly family-based, Mr Thackeray Senior erred grievously when he allowed his love for his son, ineffectual and laidback Uddhav, to prevail over his regard for his nephew, Raj Thackeray, a more skilful politician with a much greater following among the Shiv Sena cadres. Once Balasaheb nominated Uddhav as his political heir and successor, trouble followed. Well before Raj revolted, the former Shiv Sena Chief Minister, Mr Narayan Rane, had left and joined the Congress. Mr Sanjay Nirupam, another senior Shiv Sena leader, had preceded him. Mr Rane has now delivered his former “supreme leader” a shattering blow by winning a byelection in the Shiv Sena stronghold of Melvan where the candidate put up by the Thackerays lost his deposit. Further rout of the Shiv Sena looks almost certain. Balasaheb’s charisma is no longer working. Let no one make the mistake of assuming that the decline of the Shiv Sena would mean accretion of strength to the Congress. The truth is exactly the reverse. The Congress has been unwise in welcoming with open arms first Mr Nirupam and then Mr Rane, who was immediately sworn in as Revenue Minister. Speaking on behalf of Maharashtra Congress Committee, Mr Nirupam is currently busy rolling out the red carpet for Mr Raj Thackeray. At this rate the leadership of the Maharashtra Congress would soon pass into the hands of defectors from the Shiv Sena, complicating further the party’s uneasy alliance with Mr Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party that has quietly adopted the Shiv Sena ideology of pandering to “Maharashtra pride”. Mr Rane is already thinking in terms of being the next Chief Minister. Surely, the Congress president, Ms Sonia Gandhi, knows
this.
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Mind the image Images
are fun but not so much when someone walks up to you and proves that they can seriously dent reputations and threaten races. So when Malvin van Gelderen, the design expert from London’s Daily Mirror walked into our newsroom the other day and said, “images can kill”, he had already set the mood for the day. In the superbly interesting setting that he offered, nothing of the earlier planned heavy duty session on newspaper design remained. What remained was a virtual journey through the history of images and how they had been employed to ruin hard-earned reputations and even change the course of histories. Technically, the session was about image manipulation and the power of skilled users to change the reality for people and make them think in the way they wanted. It was tough to believe Malvin but we had no idea what evidence was coming. The first image to be flashed across the projector came heavily loaded with shock. It captured the US President George Bush delightfully raising his right arm as a gesture of love for his people. And just when you thought how lovely he looked, two images by his side ensured he did not look that lovely after all. Giving him company were Hitler and Saddam Hussein - also raising their respective right arms in the same fashion as he did. And if that shock was less, the caption at the bottom brought in some more. It read, “Great men salute alike!’ The image was potent - both on political and personal fronts as it placed Bush on the same platform as Hitler and Saddam, although briefly. And no matter whether Bush was there or not, the image had done its damage. The next picture was no less shocking. Only this time it chose to tarnish President Bush’s arch rival Democrat John F Kerry’s reputation. Probably faked at the height of the last US presidential campaign, the image showed the aggressive actress Jane Fonda addressing one of her legendary anti Vietnam War rallies. And what? Alongside Fonda you spot a young Kerry - smiling away to glory in support. The image went down in photographic history as a “big fake” (a montage as it was) but not until it had projected Kerry as a “traitor.” Never mind the fact that he was never there in the rally! Then came another interesting frame - located in England 14 years ago — when Labour candidate Neil Kinnick challenged the favourite “Maggy” Thatcher. A famous UK newspaper used image retouching in Photoshop to liken Kinnick’s head to a light ball. The caption did the rest. It read “The last person to leave the country turn out the lights.” Kinnick lost the election heavily! For conclusion, we heard of how Hitler used images for his anti-Jew propaganda. He commissioned films to show rats running and then repeating the visual with Jews in it. Finally he made his men believe that Jews were vermin and needed to be killed. He quite famously declared, “We are, after all, killing vermin, not humans’. And this he did by distorting
images!
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Germany: Angela Merkel faces tough challenges After
cumbersome negotiations over several weeks, Angela Merkel got elected on the November 22, 2005, as the first woman Chancellor in Germany’s history with the votes of the Christian Democratic and Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) as well as of the Social-Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Confronted with tremendous public debts, low economic growth and high mass unemployment, the grand coalition symbolises the attempt to tailor the social welfare state under the impact of globalisation and to restructure the economy and society. The major endeavours of the coalition treaty are: (1) Raising of credits in 2006 with a record sum of 41 billion euros, although investments will be only around 23 billion euros. (2) Plans for a 25 billion euro programme for future tasks in research, transport, family policy and energy-saving over the next four years. (3) An increase of the value added tax (VAT) by 3 per cent to 19 per cent from 2007 onwards and higher taxes for income earners with more than 130,000 (singles) and 260,000 euros (couples) annually. (4) Reforms in the labour law and a reduction of the social costs to be borne by employers for their workers and employees. (5) No changes in the existing laws for the closure of nuclear power reactors, one of the hallmarks of the previous government. (6) Compliance with the criteria of the European stability pact from 2007 onwards, although critics underline also its growth aspects. (7) Further reforms of the health system with more competitiveness and the opening of markets for electricity, gas and railways, besides guaranteeing further competition in the telecom sector. There is a general consensus that public finances can only be improved over a period of several years. Unreasonable tax increases will not lead to a sustainable growth in the third largest economy worldwide and might contribute to a failure of the intended policy goals. But analysts observed that the coalition negotiations degenerated into odd budget-consultations. They fear that the increase of VAT might lead to similar results like in Japan in the middle of the nineties in the last century and thereby prolong the existing crisis of economic stagnation and a low internal demand. No attempts have been made to tackle questions of inheritance and land taxes, which are far higher in the core countries of capitalism like in England and the US. Instead, the new government tempers in areas where consumption will be reduced. Guido Westerwelle, the leader of the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), emphasises, the grand coalition would not renew Germany but ensure that it would go further astray. He envisages no policy change in favour of a market economy but instead an expansion of a bureaucratic state economy. He recognises a “re-social-democratisation of the CDU.” In foreign affairs he expects no new beginning: “The new foreign minister Steinmeier supported Gerhard Schroeder’s policy, where human rights — particularly with regard to Russia and China — played a secondary role.” The excellent liberal daily “Sueddeutsche Zeitung” notes the handwriting of both the parties, but it opines that a coalition treaty does not yet mean concrete legislation. According to a representative survey, only 27 per cent of Germany’s population describe the coalition agreement as “good”, yet 42 per cent as “bad”. Against critics in her own party and also from outside, Angela Merkel emphasises that major achievements of the coalition agreement are the intended reduction of the bureaucracy, changes in the protection against unlawful dismissal, an acceleration of planning and better conditions for gene-technology, the latter faced difficulties under the Red-Green government. Merkel, whose competence is still questioned by a substantial minority of public opinion, can politically survive only if she can consolidate the state finances. Peer Steinbrueck, her SPD-finance minister, is going to play an important role. Will Angela Merkel turn out to be the “Iron Lady” of German politics, leading the country out of its deep economic, financial and social crisis to a better future, or will she soon become a plaything of conflicting party and personal interests? It is too early to answer this question. Frantz Muentefering, the new Vice-Chancellor and Labour Minister, lost during the negotiations his position as SPD-Chairman due to internal intrigues. The recent SPD party congress elected nearly unanimously Matthias Platzeck, the Chief Minister of Brandenburg-Vorpommern. He was, also like Merkel, fully socialised in the erstwhile communist East Germany and enjoys the image of high professional competence. Many Social-Democrats view the 51-year-old Platzeck already as a potential successor of Merkel. It seems to be an irony of history which the old and ideologically petrified communist guard till 1989 and even afterwards could have never imagined, that as well the new Chancellor and the new powerful SPD-Chairman have emerged — with a background of high professional competence outside politics — in these top positions with a certain ease, thereby indirectly symbolising significant and integrative trends in the Berlin Republic. Nevertheless the challenges and tasks for the new government are mind-boggling. The outgoing chancellor Schroeder has been setting the parameters: “If the grand coalition fails, then the entire political class will make an absolute fool of itself.” Doreen Beierlein is a psychologist from Potsdam and Dr. Klaus Voll teaches Indian politics in a Berlin university |
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Dalit girl barred from going to college EDUCATION is my fundamental right. I won’t let anybody deprive me of my rights. Being born in a Dalit family is not a crime. I will fight for my rights,” says Mamta Nayak confidently. Mamta (15) of Nrusinghpur village near Bhubaneswar is the only girl in the entire Dalit (Bauri) community of the area to pass the matriculation examination. She vowed to become a teacher in order to help other Dalit girls. But her dreams lay shattered when upper caste people banned her from riding a bicycle through the village to college. “I am illiterate but I wished for my daughter to get an education and make her life,” Ghanshyam Nayak, Mamta’s father lamented. “Despite living in sheer poverty, I sent her to school. She also made me proud by passing her matriculation. But now I think all our dreams will never come true. The villagers of Naputan Gaon have threatened me not to send her to college by bicycle. It is difficult to walk to college as it is 7 km away.” There are 75 Dalit families at Nrusinghpur against 300 upper caste households in Naputan Gaon. There is only one connecting road to the Dalit’s village that passes through the upper caste village. For years Dalits have not been allowed to go on that road riding any vehicle, even a bicycle. This practice continues. This is perhaps one reason that their children could not study. The schools are far. “We feel proud that Mamta passed the matriculation examination despite all odds,” says Maguni Nayak a resident of the Dalit village. “She was going to school walking 3 km. But she can’t walk to college 7 km away. We pleaded with the upper caste people to change this practice or provide us a separate road. But our pleas were neither heard by the upper castes nor by the government.” Even the Dalits’ relatives don’t want to come to this village due to this practice. If anybody who visited chanced to ride a vehicle, the upper castes would call and humiliate them. Mamta is nevertheless an inspiration for the girls of the village. Says Sumitra, “We also wanted to study, but the school is so far, we lost interest.” Meanwhile, when Mamta attempted to go to college by bicycle, the upper castes held a meeting in the village, called Mamta’s father and warned him of dire consequences. Mamta’s mother was so scared, she refused to let Mamta go to college. After the upper castes’ decision, Mamta came to Bhubaneswar, held a press conference and demanded the government intervene in the matter. When journalists went to cover that story, the upper castes threatened them. After a long discussion, they said what they were doing is a tradition. “We do not impose any new rule on the Dalits,” says Kai Mangraj a resident of Naputan Gaon. “We only asked them to go by the traditional practice. Their forefathers were practising this, so why can’t they?” The sarpanch, when asked about this, said this was the village committee decision. He couldn’t do anything. Now many political organisations have taken up the issue. BSP state President Akshya Malik said they would give a memorandum to the
Governor. — Grassroots Features |
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Delhi Durbar Fiery
Sanyasin Uma Bharti’s support base has been eroding for sometime now. Her one-time friends within the BJP have turned foes. Arun Jaitley has been forced to distance himself from her. At the legislature party meeting in Bhopal, when she challenged the appointment of Shivraj Singh Chauhan by the party’s Parliamentary Board, she was shown the party’s constitution. Her claim of enjoying the
support of more than 100 MLAs had no substance as only 17 MLAs staged a walkout along with her. Another novel
from diplomat Diplomat Vikas Swaroop, who struck gold with his debut novel “Q & A” last year, is making the most of a bad situation. Last week he ceased to be the Director in the External Affairs Minister’s Office because there is no regular EAM. Swaroop has proceeded on a three-month leave. He is busy writing his next novel in English which is yet to be titled. This was part of his contract with the publishers, Doubleday of the UK, that he would be doing two novels for them. All that can be said about Swaroop’s new work is that it is an event-based novel which is not a sequel to “Q & A”. Football in Parliament The other day Congress member Thokchom Meinya raised in the Lok Sabha the issue of the referee’s decision allowing a controversial goal that sealed the fate of Manipur’s football team in a recent Santosh Trophy match at Kochi in Kerala. Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, surprised at the issue being raised by the member, lauded the contribution of Manipur to the game but asked what action can the central government take on this issue before disallowing it. Meinya, visibly irked by the Speaker’s ruling, as the issue was a burning one in the state where bandhs and protests are being organised on it, uttered “nonsense” when the mike was on before taking his seat thereby creating a flutter in the House. The Speaker, who also heard the unparliamentary expression asked: “What did you say?” Meinya, realising his misdemanour, put a brave front by stating “Sir, I was only thanking you.” BJP leader Sushma Swaraj’s witty remarks could not be ignored during her party colleague Arun Jaitley’s motion in the Rajya Sabha on a substantive discussion on the Volcker report. Jaitley minced no words to pin down Natwar Singh and commented on his remarks — “I’ve never seen a barrel” — with “You don’t need to see oil to trade in it.” Later, when some Congressmen rose to interrupt Jaitley’s speech, Swaraj asked them to hold back their premature reaction. She suggested that they should first hear Jaitley instead of presuming that he was referring only to former Prime Ministers of the Nehru-Gandhi family. “Sun to lo, Gandhi-Nehru Parivar ke bahar bhi pradhan mantri hue hain.” Contributed by Satish Misra, Rajeev Sharma, R. Suryamurthy and Tripti Nath
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From the pages of The Punjab Police
The Government Resolution on the report of the Police Department for the year 1915 gives prominence to a progressive, if not a marked, diminution of serious crime, and attributes a numerical increase in the aggregate of cognizable cases (apart from those dealt with under local and special laws) to political and economic unrest. It may be so, but in view of the fewness of the despicable gang engaged in the political crime and the active and whole-hearted co-operation received from all classes of the people in suppressing the crime, it is hardly desirable to overtake the significance of the “political” crime. On the whole, the Punjab Police have done well and their success deserves acknowledgement. At the same time in a Government Resolution attention may, we think, be called to mistaken zeal in certain matters in which public complaints cannot for obvious reasons be properly ventilated in the press. The police also require to be told that improvements in certain respects cannot be set off against lapses in some others requiring criticism. |
Uttam (superior) are they who understand the speaker’s intent and perform immediately to mutual satisfaction. — The Upanishads The greatest warrior must eschew pride. Full of humility and grace before entering battle. The conceited warrior forgets and his arrogance leads him into mistakes. — The Mahabharata Love has no meaning if it isn’t shared. Love has to be put into action. You have to love without expectation, to do something for love itself, not for what you may receive. — Mother Teresa |
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