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| Friday, June 2, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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West
Bengal poll pointers
The
Kashmir cauldron |
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Sierra
Leone: diamonds of distress
My
neighbour from Haryana
Fiji:
Time to establish a principle
June, 1, 1925
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WEST Bengal politics has undergone a kaleidoscopic change. The Left Front still occupies the centre stage, overshadowing all other parties. But the contest for the second place has sharpened and the BJP is stable in its distant fourth spot. This is the close reading of the results of elections to 79 municipalities held on Sunday across the state. There is no excitement over the first position (Left Front with 33 municipal bodies under its belt) and the last (BJP with none), although party leaders have plenty to worry about. But analyses and arguments are about the meaning of and implications for the Congress and its breakaway Trinamool cousin. Just before the election bets were off on the survival of the national party. There was a revolt against the high command and it mirrored in cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha poll. Two stalwarts, Mr Ghani Khan Chowdhary and Mr Somen Mitra who are president and past president of the state unit, succumbed to the call for a grand alliance to fight the Left Front. At one time they threatened to walk out of the party and reach a loose arrangement with Ms Mamata Banerjee’s outfit. Since the Congress has been in decline for more than a decade, the so-called mahajot (grand alliance) idea and disenchantment with the central leadership seemed to signal the near total eclipse of the party. But it has revived itself remarkably, winning 17 municipalities, compared to just eight by the TMC. This victory in more than double the number of TMC municipalities has halted the potential defectors in their track. More importantly, it has knocked the cockiness out of the lady’s self-projected image of an all-conquering hero and the scourge of the Left. A deeper look throws up interesting variations. The Left Front has won
only 33 local bodies, down from 42 it controlled in 1995.
But it hopes to wrench management in nine more with the
help of independents. But its vote share has gone up;
this is remarkable since the front is somewhat weak in
urban areas. Obviously it has benefited from the
wrangling over the mahajot and angry posturing by the
opposition parties. Ditto for the Congress; it is not so
much its inherent appeal that has brought it votes but
the waning charm of the TMC and its tie-up with the BJP.
Ms Mamata Banerjee faces problems. In several of the 19
municipal bodies where no party has a majority, the
Congress factions will have to come together to give them
a democratic administration. With the wind firmly on its
sail, the Congress will lay down conditions and the local
leaders, all former party men, will readily agree to
them. It will then be mahajot from bottom up. One of the
alliance terms will be the snapping of relations with the
BJP. The Delhi-centric view is that no party gives up
power at the Centre for the promise of political peanuts
in the state. But this lady is different. Her sole
ambition is to defeat the Left Front and if the
realisation of this calls for sacrifice, she is ready. It
is now plain that a successful assault on the Left Front
is not possible without the two Congress factions coming
together. Her voluble supporters in the Congress have
been silenced. No, she does not have to plead from a
position of weakness. The number of seats and the share
of votes give a different picture. Here the TMC edges out
the mother party. It secured 344 seats and 22 per cent of
the votes as against 328 seats and 21 per cent by the
Congress. The Left Front has secured 51 per cent of votes
and 792 seats. A grand alliance under the Congress
leadership but without the BJP is thus possible and
viable. The initiative lies with Mrs Sonia Gandhi. All
depends on the outcome of the midterm election to the Lok
Sabha from Panskura next week and the elections to the
municipal corporations of Calcutta and Salt Lake city
later in the month. |
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THE students of Himachal Pradesh University who indulged in acts of hooliganism in the main bazaar near the campus in the Boileaugunj area of Shimla should brace themselves for being rebuked and reprimanded by those whose capacity for delivering sermons on any subject is infinite. The incident may also provide the opportunity to members of the academic community to arrange group discussions and meaningless seminars on the "role of teachers and parents in making students responsible citizens of India". The latest act of rowdyism would be seen as further proof of "academic decay" in centres of higher learning. Unfair comparisons would be drawn with Jawaharlal Nehru University where two Army officers and their younger brother were beaten up by students during an Indo-Pak mushaira on the campus. However, the fact of the matter is that the incident which provoked shopkeepers to down the shutters, as an expression of protest, was not even remotely related to factors which usually provoke students to indulge in violence. Students have a right to protest against any hike in the tuition fee because in most cases they do not get "academic value" for the money they are already paying - for the lectures which are seldom held and for non-existent laboratory and library facilities. They have a right to protest if the syllabus is not covered or the conduct of the examination is delayed. All these and other related academic factors were missing from the incident which has once again turned the spotlight on the alleged act of misconduct by Himachal Pradesh University students. It was not even a case
of rivalry among members of the students' wings of
political parties. In September, last year, the Students
Federation of India had taken the initiative of leading a
campus strike for reviving the Student Central
Association which was dissolved in 1995 - because of the
threat to campus peace by the activities of some
students' organisations. The authorities had to call the
police on the campus because of the show of belligerence
by members of the SFI and students' wings of the Congress
and the Bharatiya Janata Party. The incident which
occurred in the bazaar near the campus was actually a
case of mob violence. The fact that the main actors in
the extraordinary drama were university students was only
incidental. Look at the facts. The authors of the
violence had bought two bottles of liquor from a shop in
Boileaugunj. At around 10 p.m. they returned to the shop
and demanded more liquor, this time free of cost, - not
even on credit - from the salesman. They were evidently
asserting their right to "free booting".
Refusal to comply with their extraordinary request
resulted in a fracas. The news of the brawl made students
from the nearby hostels come to the "rescue" of
their colleagues. It did not take long for the situation
to get out of hand. The shopkeepers' anger against the
inaction of the civil administration is justified. Those
who damaged public property, disturbed the peace and
looted the liquor shop should have been arrested and made
to pay for their acts of crime. The university
authorities too would have to perform the unpleasant duty
of recommending suitable action against the students for
bringing the name of the university into disrepute. Their
conduct was no better than that of street urchins or the
"filmi" sidekicks of some underworld don. Of
course, it is much easy to say that no one is above the
law, than demonstrating that it is indeed so. |
The
Kashmir cauldron WHAT is the latest on Kashmir? A number of persons I met in recent weeks have raised this question, especially after the release of some Hurriyat leaders and the reported meeting of some American diplomats and experts with them. Who is up to what? How deep is the American involvement? What is the stand of the Government of India on such parleys? Are they officially blessed? Or, could the Indian attitude be just one of wait and watch within the framework of liberal thinking on the whole gamut of Indo-Pakistan relations? Several such questions crop up and it must be said that it is difficult to get an authentic version of the thinking in South Block. However, it needs to acknowledged that in today's global framework, invisible hands are often more powerful and assertive than visible hands. Union Home Minister L.K. Advani has, of course, said that a dialogue with the All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) is on the cards. Mr Advani's declaration runs counter to the public posture adopted by Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah. Though he said in New Delhi the other day that he was not averse to talks with the Hurriyat leaders, he doubted their ability to end violence and militancy in the state. He maintained that the Hurriyat "did not have control" over the gun-wielding militants. Dr Abdullah is absolutely correct. Foreign mercenaries are calling the shots in Kashmir for all practical purposes. To say this is not to absolve the Hurriyat leaders of the irresponsible role they have often played at the behest of Islamabad or other vested interests operating freely in the valley. In fact, the intrusion of foreigners — mainly Afghans, Pakistanis and Arabs in the ranks of Islamist terrorists — has already altered the Kashmir situation. The "armed struggle" being waged in the name of Kashmiris has very little to do with their fate and future. As it is, Islamabad's primary objective has been to annex the whole of Kashmir by hook or by crook. I would like to quote an American expert on terrorism, Yossef Bodansky: "Through the ISI manipulations, Islamabad has transformed the Kashmiri struggle into a drive for Kashmir's unification with Pakistan and away from the quest for Kashmiri self-determination and independence from both India and Pakistan." The problem with the Hurriyat leaders is that they play games and take the position which cannot facilitate a dialogue. Mr Advani has already stated that he is ready to treat the Kashmir question with an open mind. He is even willing to discuss the question of autonomy. The moot point, however, is: where to draw a line amidst contradictory positions taken by various political groups in Srinagar and New Delhi? Dr Farooq Abdullah has said that India should not reopen the accession issue. And he is right. He deserves full support on this count. In fact, I don't think any government in New Delhi can dare alter the country's basic position on Kashmir. The rest can be a matter of adjustment and accommodation. Are the Hurriyat leaders ready for a dialogue with New Delhi with an open mind? As it is, they are a divided lot — hardliners, softliners and no-liners. Some leaders like Mr Mohammad Yaseen Malik openly talk about "azadi". The 34-year-old chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) maintains that there is "no possibility of talks within the framework of the Constitution and with conditions". He says: "Talks without any condition can lead to a lasting solution." Mr Malik is also one of the seven executive members of All-Party Hurriyat Conference. He is considered a hardliner among the seven members. I met him at his residence in Srinagar last year. Like most Hurriyat leaders, the problem with him is that he is caught in a web of his own making. He is perhaps well informed of the ground realities. He also realises the damage the politics of the gun has inflicted on the body politic of Kashmir. But then duplicity and double-talk are part of the character of most Kashmiri leaders. They tend to take contradictory positions at different occasions and places and for different purposes. They often react emotionally which may or may not have any logic behind. This is what makes the Kashmir scene interesting as well as challenging. I have often wondered why Kashmiri leaders have not condemned cross-border terrorism and violent acts which are directly harming their own people and have shattered the socio-economic fabric of Kashmiri society. It is difficult to find ready answers to this question. Perhaps, besides the dubious role of foreign-sponsored Islamic fundamentalist forces, there is a free play of money in the valley. It will indeed be worthwhile to have a close look at the assets of various militant and fundamentalist outfits which have amassed wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income. Indeed, it must be said that terrorism in the valley has enabled many big and small players to own palatial houses and mansions. They have all gained at the cost of the poor Kashmiri people. The central leaders give the impression that they know the answers best. Alas! they know so little. Neither the ruling alliance nor the Opposition have so far shown that they know how to deal with the changing situation in the valley and beyond. They have been groping in the dark since 1947. Merely changing Governors or power brokers does not constitute a policy or a strategy. We did not have a policy in 1947. We do not have one today. In its absence, we look to political patrons, strutting about in the streets of Srinager, to bail us out of the impasse we have landed ourselves in. True, the Jammu and Kashmir problem cannot delayed any longer. But much depends on the attitude of Islamabad and Washington. It is a fact that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir has been a centre of anti-India activities and the people there have been encouraged to "hate" India and the regime in Srinagar. How do we tackle this problem which has posed a major threat to Indian security? Looking back, Sheikh Abdullah did not want our forces to take back the occupied territories because the people there were hostile to him. That is how we lost these territories in the first instance. What is the way out of the present impasse? Accept the present LoC as the international border with some minor adjustment? At one stage, this was acceptable to both Indira Gandhi and Z.A. Bhutto in 1972. This is acceptable to Dr Farooq Abdullah. Perhaps a large number of Indians may now be willing to close this chapter and accept the status quo. Will Pakistan agree? It should, if it has a grain of common sense. I believe Ms Benazir Bhutto might have agreed. Only the Pakistan army, the Jamaat-e-Islami and the fundamentalists won't accept such a proposition. But they dare not wage a war in the face of world opposition. There is no support for a plebiscite today. Over 50 years have passed and much has changed in the state during this long period. India has invested billions of rupees. The matter has been off the UN agenda for the past over 30 years. And Russia is sure to oppose its revival in the UN Security Council for its own reasons. What are the other alternatives? There have been a number of suggestions. There is the proposal to create an independent state. Both India and Pakistan will oppose it. There are suggestions for joint administration of the state by India and Pakistan. This is unworkable. Yet others have called for greater autonomy. Ms Bhutto at one stage suggested that the two sections of Jammu and Kashmir should be "open" and "porous", with a joint peace-keeping force, and with a separate legislative assembly and open borders for trade and culture. She said: "Let time heal the wounds." In other words, she was in no hurry. The Hurriyat leaders are for a plebiscite. They feel confident that the valley will vote for a merger with Pakistan. Will Kashmiri opinion accept this? The people cannot forgive the Hurriyat for having invited the Taliban to come to Kashmir. The Kashmiri people still remember the two centuries of Afghan tyranny. One of the ideas, which has its origin in Pakistan, proposes an independent state of the valley and Doda (the Muslim majority district of Jammu), with Ladakh and Jammu to remain with India and the rest of the state with Pakistan. Citizens of the proposed independent state could travel on documents furnished by both India and Pakistan. They can trade with both countries and have their own currency. The state will have a neutral foreign policy. There are several proposals for greater autonomy and for a period of cooling. They say that a referendum could be held after 10 or 15 years to gauge the real wishes of the people. Each proposal has some merit. What we need now is to examine their suitability. It is possible to arrive at a final solution acceptable to both countries. Of course, we presuppose that the two countries will remain less hostile to each other. Will it be so? Time will tell. Meanwhile, it is necessary that the two countries work for a reconciliation. Perhaps, this is a tall order in the present atmosphere of mutual suspicion and Islamabad's anti-India postures. If Kargil has taught us
anything it is this: that it is not possible for Pakistan
to use its nuclear bomb to settle the Kashmir question.
It is time for the two nations to find ways for peaceful
coexistence for the sake of welfare of their peoples. I
hope the US administration will see the Kashmir question
in a larger perspective, avoiding the set angularities. |
Sierra Leone: diamonds of
distress THE country which gets the last rank in the human development index compiled in the latest Human Development Report (1999) has also been known for its rich deposits of diamonds. Ironically, in a cruel twist of fate it is the rich deposits of diamonds which have become a leading cause of the large-scale distress in Sierra Leone. These diamond deposit have attracted greedy, ruthless and powerful mercenaries who have ravaged the land with the sole objective of plundering the precious stones. There have been extreme cases of native people being bombarded indiscriminately just to clear the way for mining companies and their mercenaries. Today a citizen of Sierra Leone can hope to live for just 37 years, compared to the average life expectancy of 64 for all developing countries. As many as 32 per cent children born in this badly ravaged country die before they can reach five years age, compared to the average under-five mortality of only 9 per cent for all developing countries. In the present-day tragic situation it is difficult to even remember the optimism of those early days when the discovery of rich deposits of diamonds had evoked the hope of these becoming the main source of bringing prosperity to the people of this former British colony. But instead the diamonds brought a number of gangs of mercenaries having powerful links in advanced countries which rivalled each other in the extent of their cruelty and complete lack of concern for native people. Human Rights Watch has declared their atrocities as “the worst we have seen anywhere in the world”. The scale of operations of these mercenaries was awesome. More than mining equipment they had the latest and most destructive weapons — including helicopter gunships and fuel-air explosives with the power to destroy all life within a 1.6 km radius. The extent of their fire-power and the powerful contacts they had in the world’s most influential countries enabled them to have an increasing say in who will rule the country. The coups and counter-coups of recent years and the resulting civil war have been linked to the plunder factor to a significant extent. Neighbouring countries such as Liberia also got involved in these conflicts. The Daily Telegraph (UK) commented recently, “Mineral wealth has proved Sierra Leone’s curse, standing in the way of ceasefires and peace deals.” How can there be peace when mercenary-based mining companies have invested heavily in destructive weapons before entering the area and are determined to recover these investments many times over. Over the years the suppliers of these weapons have also developed a vested interest in these conflicts based on plunder mining. A woman relief worker recently said about the raids of these mercenaries: “I only had to see their helicopters flying over my house to know it was time to rush to the hospital and prepare for an influx of the wounded.” In a country where the total population is only a little more than 4 million, war and civil strife have claimed over 10,000 lives and displaced almost 2 million people during this decade. The per capita GNP has declined to almost half its level in two decades — from above $ 320 in 1980 to $ 160 in 1997. An additional complicating factor has been the control of trade by a clique whose efforts to fill its own coffers led to more increase in smuggling than in official trade. Gold and diamond smuggling was estimated at nearly $ 150 million per year while official exports dropped from $ 80 million to barely $ 14 billion between 1980 and 1984. Further, the percentage share of diamonds in officially listed exports declined from 54 per cent in 1987 to just 7 per cent in 1990. Thus while a handful of greedy, ruthless people made their millions from these diamonds, the national earnings which could be used for people’s welfare declined rapidly. Meanwhile, war and civil
strife have ravaged the country’s agriculture and
destroyed its forests. Warfare has been most intense in
some of the country’s best agricultural land.
Clearly, the country’s mineral wealth has been
turned by mercenaries into its curse. Moreover, this
tragedy is not confined just to Sierra Leone — it
has spread to some other mineral-rich African countries
as well. “Essentially they are re-colonising
Africa”, as one observer says. What makes this
tragedy even more inexcusable — and also difficult
to control — is the fact that some of the worst
culprits are known to have very resourceful friends in
some of the richest countries known for preaching human
rights to the rest of the world. |
My
neighbour from Haryana WIT and humour is something that is amiss in our day-to-day life. It remains elusive for us city-wallahs and is more of a virtue patented with rural India, especially Haryana. When it comes to one liners, you just cannot beat a Jat! Virgin humour coupled with an Attitude is what the Chaudhary in Haryana is all about. Rustic to the core, handsomely full with self pride and with a “lath” (long stick) in hand, is my neighbour, who stays across the border of Punjab, my home state. The Jat of Haryana came into the limelight during Devi Lal’s upswing when he went on to become the Deputy Prime Minister of India. I still recall an interview of Chaudhary Devi Lal after he became the Deputy Prime Minister, in which he was asked why was he favouring his relatives for plum postings. He emphatically replied: “To mein or Bhajan Lal ke rishtedaron ko karoon” meaning that should I favour Bhajan Lal’s relatives now. The reply, however abrupt it may sound, delivered a very clear message that the Tau from Haryana was not given to dilly-dallying and was clear in his mind to the task cut out for him. Tau’s rise coupled with television revolution brought to the fore the cerebral sharpness of the Jat. It brought to attention the existence of a community which has maximum resources of jocularity available on politics, personalities, day-to-day life and, more importantly, on their own clan. A Jat joined the Indian Army and while training, he was told that during an air raid the trench was the safest place to jump. When confronted with the similar situation he did what was told to him. After a while another jawan jumped into the same trench, on top of the Jat. After a couple of minutes when the Jat could not bear the weight, he blurted out: “Agar manas hai to uth lai or agar bumb hai to fat lai”, in chaste Haryanavi. So true! This statement simply means “cool it baby. Life is so simple and so are the solutions to life-threatening problems. There are two sides to a coin, either this way or that way”. Some time ago I was in Delhi in connection with the Delhi Horse Show. Due to a chronic back problem a Mrs Singh introduced me to an Australian lady. Mrs Singh told me that this Australian feels your body frame. Whatever part of your body is aching, she feels the same problem in the same part of her own body. Then this Australian mixes an elixir of meditation, reiki and physiotherapy and applies it to the affected part. No harm in trying this unique way of curing, I thought to myself and on the ground I lay, ready to feel the magic touch. Up she came slowly, starting from my feet, till she reached my lower back. Ouch, she said and she knew where the problem was. I was impressed. She resumed her upward journey and suddenly she came to an abrupt halt when she was about to touch my head. “Are you a Jat from Haryana,” she asked. “No”, I retorted. “Then it’s good because when I was healing the headache of a friend from Haryana, I got up with a heavy head,” she said. I don’t know of
what mettle & his brain is made of but for me it will
surely remain a case of Neighbours Envy and Owner’s
Pride. |
Fiji: Time
to establish a principle WHEN Prime Minister Dr Cheddi Jagan of British Guyana was overthrown by the blacks, India chose to keep quiet. And Britain, which had the final responsibility for the indentured labour in British colonies, also chose to look the other way. That was the time when we could have called for the establishment of a principle about the rights of indentured Indian labour. But, then, we were more interested in fighting South Africa’s apartheid. All that we had to do was to seize the British assets in India to force the British Government. But we missed the opportunity. Today, the aborigines of Fiji have again overthrown a duly elected government. Their argument: only a native can hold the top jobs in Fiji. And yet the Indians are there in Fiji for three centuries. They constitute 44 per of the population. And, what is more, Fiji was built up by Indians to what it is today. In 1987, Sitiveni Rabuka seized power from a government dominated by Indians. His demand: Indians should have no political rights in Fiji. And he ruled for 12 years! Australia and New Zealand gave him full support. He was overthrown through a process of election. How is it that India did not move its battle ships and aircraft carriers close to Fiji? We could have intimidated the aborigines and made them realise their folly. Are our aircraft carriers for only holding gala offshore parties for politicians and bureaucrats? I thought that the knickerwalas are a bolder lot. But they have turned out to be as pusillanimous as the topiwalas. A nation under foreign occupation for almost a millennia-battered and helpless, with its will almost gone. This is India’s legacy. And it has not got over its pathetic reflexes. Of its great religions and civilisation, the world knew little. And cared even less. What mattered in the world was power. Power of the empires. And Indian had none. And the men who fought for freedom in a non-violent way (because they were timed) created a “soft” state - rather a “permissive state.” (I will not put the blame on Gandhiji. He was the most courageous man that I can think of in human history. To challenge the mightiest empire of the world was not the work of a chicken-hearted man.) It is this inability of India to assert itself which is at the bottom of every problem that it is facing today, for the world thinks that India will take any insult or affront, or even a bashing, without protest. And we have been at the receiving end for the past over half a century. How else is one to explain the more than a decade long proxy war waged by Pakistan against India? The Pakistani believes that a Muslim is equal to ten Hindus. As for India’s other neighbours, they all believe that they can play China against India or throw a tantrum to coerce India. As for China, it is ever busy trying to “teach India a lesson.” And the Western world? It has only contempt for India. And yet India plays the Caliban to the Western world. Britain used to send its gunboats to punish anyone who affronted a British citizen. Remember Mrs Thatcher moved a whole British armada to defend Falkland and its few British citizens. And America followed in British footsteps. Washington is after Gaddaffi, Saddam Hussain and Iran. And Bin Laden, too. Even Israel does not spare anyone. We may have our reservations on each one of these cases. But we must concede one thing: America has a right to punish any real affront. That is because the world has not evolved a system to prevent such insults. The point is: a man is a man because he has values. And he lives and dies for his values. And bravery in the face of insults is one such value. We have lost that reflex in a millennia of subjection. Today, making money is the summum bonum of life. Even at the cost of one’s honour. But it is not a value. Our cricketing heroes are finding this out at the cost of their reputation. But this plague of making money even at the cost of one’s honour has affected most of our rulers today. So, how can a Sukh Ram be concerned if the Fijians are insulted so long they make money? And Sukh Ram is perhaps not the worst of the examples from among our ruling class. What matters for our rulers is whether our diaspora is making its millions. The insults they suffer have hardly been of any concern to the mother country. And yet the millions the Fijians have made did not help them in their hour of need. In fact, the Australians and New Zealanders who control the financial system of Fiji, are with the natives, because they see the Indians as a potential threat to their dominance. The old divide and rule! The Indians did not go to Fiji or Mauritius on their own. They went there to serve their colonial masters, who wanted their labour in the sugar plantations. So the Fiji problem or Guyana problem is a legacy of British colonialism. But John Bull says that he has an “unfinished responsibility” only in Pakistan, not in Fiji. On how these Indians lived in Fiji, on how much they suffered, we have the words of no less an eminent missionary than C.F. Andrew, a friend of Mahatma Gandhi. His 1916 report on Fiji speaks of the moral degradation of the Indians in those terrible colonial days, especially of women who were forced into prostitution to make a living. Saying that men had become brutes, he went on to say that the coolie lines were “more like stables than human dwellings.” In these circumstances, Indian culture was destroyed and everything Hindu was no more. Yet, despite the wrongs inflicted upon the Indians, writes Andrew, “their patience and fortitude and simplicity won our continual regard.” It is these qualities which helped them to recover themselves for their terrible trauma. Andrew advises the colonial masters to be a little kinder to the Indians, for “they would not feel a kind of incessant misery and discontent.” To what Fiji is today, the island owes entirely to the Indian community. But Fiji is no exception. Wherever Indians have gone, they have made it a better place to live in. And this is true of Guyana, Mauritius or any other place. Even in agriculture, the Indians have made far more contribution than the natives. In Fiji, it is the Indians who have take to the most scientific way of growing sugarcane. But 90 per cent of Fiji’s land is held by the natives and Indians take land on lease from the natives. All by the evil design of the British administration. Thousands of land leases are expected to come up for renewal. One can be sure that they will never be renewed. What were the Fiji aborigines doing then? They were jumping about in their grass skirts. It is only from the ranks of the Indian community that a V.S. Naipaul could have emerged - not from any other. The Fiji Indians are there not at the sufferance of the natives, but because they have their rights. They have paid for it in blood and tears and sweat. They have a huge stake in their country. Today the natives of Fiji are enjoying the fruits of Indian labour, just as the blacks are enjoying a better standard of life in Guyana, Trinidad etc. The natives are of course not united in Fiji. Many of them are with the Labour Party of Mahendra Chaudhury. In a popularity poll, he got 62 per cent of the votes against Rabuka. The animus against Chaudhury is because he is a trade unionist and he has been taking measures to control trade and industry. And let us recall that the Americans too are there. The US Ambassador in Fiji protested against the financial controls proposed by Chaudhury. That explains everything. Perhaps America is at the back of the present coup? What has happened in
Fiji cannot be allowed to happen again. We should have
established years ago the principle that all these
colonies of indentured labourers must have constitutions
guaranteeing equal rights for all. There can be no other
principle. If Australia and New Zealand think that it is
more important for them to protect the interests of a few
whites in Fiji at the cost of the vast Indian population,
then India must move its battle ships closer to Fiji. Let
us have a small show of our power. |
June,
1, 1925 “NEW India” announces that the Indore Durbar has deputed the European Principal of the Local College and an educational officer to Delhi to gather information which will facilitate the establishment of a University at Indore. Another Indian State, viz, Travancore, has a scheme of University already prepared. If these schemes are adopted there will be four Universities in the principal Indian State of Hyderabad, Mysore, Travancore and Indore and it will not probably be long before Baroda joins the group. The Bane of Communalism We wonder into what
absurdities the prevailing spirit of communalism is going
to lead this province. Yesterday we published a letter
from an esteemed correspondent in which he stated that
the Sialkote Municipality had turned down by the casting
vote of the President such a laudable proposal as the
opening of a High School for girls, there being a
sufficiently large number of Primary and Middle Schools
in the city to support a single High School. Nine Muslim
members opposed the motion while the eight Hindu members
with one Mohammedan voted for it. Is it too late to
appeal to the good sense of the city fathers of Sialkote
and ask them to lose no time in correcting the mistake
they have made? |
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