Mehbooba to take up issues with Centre

THERE are 14 contestants in the Anantnag constituency comprising Anantnag and Pulwama districts of south Kashmir. But the contest is mainly among the candidates of the ruling PDP, Ms Mehbooba Mufti, of the National Conference, Dr Mehboob Beigh, of the CPM, Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami.

The PDP president and MLA of the Pahalgam constituency of Anantnag district Ms Mehbooba Mufti is contesting the Lok Sabha elections for the second time. She lost to Omar Abdullah of the National Conference in Srinagar last time in 1999. She is now contesting from her home constituency.

She was earlier elected from her home constituency of Beijbehara in Anantnag district in the 1996 Assembly elections as a Congress candidate.

Later she resigned from the Congress and the Assembly in July 1999 to float the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) with her father, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. She is at the forefront of projecting her party’s stand on various issues. She addresses the problems of people who suffered a lot over the past 14 years of militancy.

“We want to take up these issues in the highest democratic forum of the country”, she commented, adding that the National Conference did not take up the issues effectively.

She adds that economic issues and the issue of hydel resources, problems of backward areas, of the ban on Shahtoos shawl and restrictions on unemployment needed to be taken up with the centre. Ms Mufti also refers to the resumption of the Indo-Pak dialogue has that witnessed significant development during the past one year, and also the ceasefire along the borders.

She says that it was only because of the efforts of the PDP-led coalition government that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee made several visits to Kashmir, particularly that of April 18 last year, when he extended the hand of friendship to Pakistan. This, she adds, was a significant development that was followed by several confidence-building measures between the two countries.

Pointing to a series of other issues, including the developments towards beginning of bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad via Uri, Ms Mufti said that the opposition National Conference had no issues.

Ms Mufti also lamented at the role of the National Conference when it was an ally of the NDA government at the Centre.

Disgruntled Tarigami to address ‘real’ issues

Despite being a coalition partner, the CPM decided to field its candidate, Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami, from the Anantnag constituency. Tarigami representing the Kulgam constituency of Anantnag district unsuccessfully contested the Anantnag seat in 1999. He was the lone CPM member first elected to Assembly in 1996. He was re-elected from Kulgam in 2002, while another CPM candidate Mohammad Khalil Naik was elected from the Wachi constituency of the nearby Pulwama district, thereby showing a growing support of the party in the area.

He alleges that his two main opposition parties —the PDP and National Conference — have not taken up relevant issues in the election campaign. Instead, they are using abusive language against each other.

He held that the Kashmir problem and the question as to what kind of government should be formed at the Centre, would have been the right issues.

Disgruntled over the performance of the coalition government, Tarigami is not for pulling out of the coalition, though he is up in arms against it by being in the fray against the PDP. Like in Baramula, where it had to campaign against Ghulam Rasool Kar of the Congress, the main alliance partner, the PDP is poised against another partner, the CPM in Anantnag for a three-cornered contest. “Unfortunately, none of the vital issues confronting our state have, so far, been raised in an effective manner in the Lok Sabha. On the contrary, Mr Tarigami states.

He adds that “daily killings, violation of human rights of innocent with impunity, youths languishing in jails without trials” were some of the main problems not addressed by the coalition government. He stressed the need to extend the Indo-Pak and Centre Hurriyat negotiations to make these more comprehensive, meaningful and serious. He also seeks to extend ceasefire from the borders to the hinterland and making travel between two parts of Jammu and Kashmir and the two countries easier. “These measures could make the ongoing peace process more result-oriented”, he adds.

Providing jobs is Beigh’s top priority

The National Conference that represented this constituency last time, has fielded Dr Mehboob Beigh, MLA of the Anantang Assembly constituency. He is also the provincial president of the party. He has earlier been elected from this Assembly constituency in 1983 and was Health Minister for nearly two years. The party banks upon its traditional vote bank in the area for it has represented the constituency for most of the terms.

Mohammad Maqbool Dar, who is contesting as an Independent candidate, was elected from the constituency in 1996 as a candidate of the Janata Dal, when National Conference did not participate in the elections. Having been relegated to the opposition with 28 members in the 2002 Assembly elections, the National Conference rakes up issues of the “unfulfilled promises” of the PDP-led coalition government. “The government has failed to fulfil its promise of providing jobs to one member in each family”, said Dr Mehoob Beigh. He adds that the government has formulated no plan to address the problem of unemployment which has been on the increase, adding that the educated youth were getting frustrated.

Referring to the demolition of illegal encroachments soon after the government took over 18 months back, Dr Beigh said it was like adding salt to injury, as the people had already suffered due to the 14-year-long militancy. He adds that no rehabilitation plans were formulated and only the favourites of the ruling parties were benefited. The issue of beginning the bus service between Srinagar and Muzafarabad via Uri was a ploy to “hijack” the NC demand made decades ago when its leadership was branded as “Pakistani”, the NC leader claims.

Dr Beigh questions the role of Chief Minister Mohammad Sayeed over the past four decades, with particular reference to “resolving the Kashmir issue”, his roles as Parliamentarian, Union Home Minister and J&K Pradesh Congress Committee chief.

The party blames the PDP-Congress alliance for “tactfully furthering the agenda of Delhi to trifurcate the state”.

Lamenting that Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami of the CPM had joined the fray, Dr Beigh said that he had been once close to the National Conference. He claimed that Tarigami was elected in 1996 with the support of the National Conference, and had now turned against it.

Lawlessness reigns supreme here
L.H. Naqvi
Tribune News Service

BAGHPAT: It is a nice feeling to have your hunch proved right. Bhagpat indeed was the land of leopards and tigers. About a century ago the entire stretch from Baghpat to Najibabad in Bijnor was an endless tract of dense forest. The wise ones chose not to venture out after sunset.

Nothing much has changed as far as the fear factor is concerned. The 50-km stretch of road from the land of the leopards to Meerut is still considered unsafe for travelling after dark. Leopards are dead and gone. Their place has been taken by groups of armed bandits, mostly unemployed children of farmers. According to a frequent traveller on this road, even policemen abandon their posts after sunset.

We stopped at Kake da Dhaba on the Baghpat-Meerut Road. A fair and slender woman, probably in her late twenties, was reprimanding her toddler as a group of sturdy Sikh truckers lay sprawled on charpoys. Hers was an amazing tale of Punjabi resilience. She was from Delhi and her husband from Ludhiana. They lost money in an export venture. So they travelled all the way to this remote place to start a fresh innings. She seemed happy with running the dhaba, while her husband did other odd jobs in Meerut to help them pay off their debts.

All she knew about the politics of the region was the hold of the Jat community in western UP. Mewa Singh, a local Jat, brought us up on the nitty gritty of the politics of region over a cup of tea. His analysis did not add much to what Punjabi “dhabawali” had already told us.

He denied reports about the Baghpat-Meerut road being unsafe for travel after dark. However, a short while later he ended up mentioning lawlessness as the major problem of the region. According to him in the past four months the region has had electricity for only four days. Why? Because of the frequent theft of overhead wire. The entire length of wire is usually stolen a day after it is replaced.

After Independence the town came to be associated with Choudhary Charan Singh, acknowledged as the first north Indian kisan leader. Somewhere in the early 80s it witnessed an unprecedented act of atrocity by the local police. Maya Tyagi’s husband was shot dead in front of a shocked crowd of shoppers in broad daylight. She herself was forced to re-enact the horrific tale of Draupadi.

This is a tale that the people of Baghpat do not want to remember. Mention the name of Charan Singh and their faces light up. Mention the name of his son, Mr Ajit Singh, President of the Rashtriya Lok Dal, a party that has little or no influence beyond the boundaries of the territory known as Jat land, and the light becomes somewhat dim. The people love the RLD chief, who is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from his home base, because of his father. Yet, the son is an implant on the soil, much like Mr Naveen Patnaik. He spent his early years in the USA studying nuclear physics. After Charan Singh’s death the prodigal returned to the land of his forefathers and soon found that he had become a reluctant entrant into politics.

After years of spending time in Baghpat and the rest of the sugarcane-rich belt in western Uttar Pradesh, Mr Ajit Singh is now a shade more comfortable in reaching out to the people of his rustic constituency. However, it is doubtful whether he would have been able to make much of an impact without the help of his son, Mr Jayant Choudhary, whose youthful exuberance has made him an instant crowd-puller in the entire Jat belt.

Whichever way one looks at Mr Ajit Singh’s political standing in Baghpat two points stand out. He was accepted because of his father, and he may win the present Lok Sabha elections because of his son.

The RLD is contesting 10 seats as a junior partner of the Samajwadi Party. And the votes are usually sought so that Samajwadi-RLD rule in Delhi can help solve problems of the farmers. The only other visible political face in Baghpat is that of Mr Satpal Malik, who is contesting on the BJP ticket. However, the chai shop view of the election does not give any other party or candidate even a ghost of a chance.

The exit poll predictions have caste their shadow on much of western UP. But Baghpat is certain about who will represent it in the next Lok Sabha. Analysts say that Mrs Anuradha Choudhary, contesting from Kairana, may be the only other RLD candidate to win. There is a big question mark over the fate of the other eight RLD candidates.

Kurukshetra
Heavyweight nominees confound voter
Yoginder Gupta
Tribune News Service

Kurukshetra, April 30
Kurukshetra, the land of the Mahabharata, is again witnessing a battle royale. The battle is again for the control of Hastinapur, the ancient name for Delhi. As many as 15 candidates are wooing over 11 lakh voters spread over nine Assembly segments. While nine candidates can be described as non-serious, the other six are trying to make the contest multi-cornered.

The contest has assumed importance because of the presence of Mr Abhay Singh Chautala, the younger son of Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala. His challenger, among others, Naveen, comes from an influential industrial family of Haryana. He is a son of Mr O.P. Jindal, Chairman of the Jindal group of companies, who is also the Congress MLA from Hisar.

Interestingly, Abhay and Naveen have a good equation off the political field. The Jindals are known for extending the courtesy of their jets to the Chautalas. Both are keen sportsmen. Abhay is the President of the Haryana Olympic Association while Naveen is the national champion and the national record holder in skeet shooting. He was a member of the Indian shooting team which participated in the SAF Games in Pakistan recently.

He is also an avid polo player. He captained the team which won the Indian Open last year. It is the highest level of polo played in the country.

Abhay is studying for a degree in law. Naveen is an MBA.

The electorate of Kurukshetra expects them to fight the battle of the ballot according to the rules of the game and in true sportsmanship. Many fear that while one may use political power and the other money power to subvert the fair game.

Mr Gurdial Saini of the BJP and Mr Jatinder Singh Kaka of the Haryana Vikas Party are literally breathing down the necks of Abhay and Naveen. Gurdial and Jatinder belong to the Kurukshetra constituency, unlike Abhay and Naveen, who have come from Sirsa and Hisar districts, respectively.

The HVP nominee is an engineering graduate of Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh. Gurdial had been an MP from here.

Mr Mona Ram Kashyap (BSP) is depending upon about 70,000 Jheenwar vote, besides the traditional BSP vote-bank. Mr Jagmeet Saini of the Ekta Shakti, a new outfit promoted by “Maratha” Virender Verma, is depending upon the Ror voters, who have a sizeable presence, particularly in the Pundri Assembly segment.

The Rors are essentially an agriculture community. Virender has awakened their pride by declaring them to be the descendents of the Marathas who settled here after their defeat in the third battle of Panipat. In the past, the community had been voting by and large for the INLD or the Congress.

If Abhay has to contend with a strong anti-incumbency sentiment against his father’s government, Naveen, too, has to face some hostility because of his father. The elder Jindal had successfully contested the 1996 Lok Sabha elections from here on the HVP ticket.

It is said he had promised to open a large industrial unit here, which would provide employment to the youth of the area. Later he denied having made such a promise.

Gurdial is likely to corner the support of a major section of the Saini voters, who seem to be annoyed with the INLD for having denied the ticket to one of their representatives, Mrs Kailasho Saini, who won the seat twice in 1998 and 1999. This time she has been replaced by Abhay. Though Mrs Saini is compaigning for Abhay, this has failed to assuage the hurt feelings of the community. Now her efforts are also being supported by another Saini woman leader, Shashi, who quit the Congress to join the INLD. Gurdial also counts on the traditional BJP base among the Brahmins, the Aggarwals and the Punjabis, as the migrants from West Pakistan are known in Haryana. He feels that the Vajpayee factor will see him through.

Jatinder depends upon the performance of HVP President Bansi Lal as the Chief Minister. Being a Jat Singh, he is likely to cut into the Sikh votes a majority of whom used to be polled in favour of the INLD in the past. Over the years he has built a rapport with various communities. With more than two formidable candidates in the fray, the voter is confused.

Hamirpur
A prestige issue for BJP
Pratibha Chauhan
Tribune News Service

HAMIRPUR: Being the home turf of former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, retaining the Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat, traditionally a BJP stronghold, has become a matter of prestige for the party. Pitted against two-term BJP MP Suresh Chandel is Congress nominee Ram Lal Thakur, Industries Minister and a confidant of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.

With the existing chasm between the Dhumal and Shanta factions, it is this intra-party feud and bickering which is affecting the poll prospects of the BJP.

Though Mr Chandel is not identified with any particular faction, Mr Dhumal’s keenness to contest the election himself at one point of time has brought in some bitterness between the two leaders.

Though Mr Dhumal campaigned for two days in Bamsan and Hamirpur, it is learnt that his loyalists were still not wholeheartedly working for BJP victory. “Mr Chandel’s fate will depend on whether he will be able to retain the lead of 55,000 votes he got from Hamirpur district alone in 1999 as the BJP and Congress were running neck and neck in Una and Bilaspur,” admits a BJP functionary.

A positive development for the BJP has been the issuing of an public appeal by the BJP dissident group “Mitter Milan” the members of which were expelled from the party during the last Assembly elections. Some of these disgruntled leaders like Mr Narender Thakur, son of former BJP minister, Mr Jagdev Chand Thakur and Mr Raghubir Thakur have a strong presence in Hamirpur as they had polled close to 10,000 votes each as Independent candidates after they were denied the party ticket.

Party workers feel that it is high time that these leaders are readmitted into the party as their presence at BJP public meetings would make a considerable difference in the BJP prospects. It is learnt that Mr Dhumal and his loyalists are opposed to their re-entry into the party.

Putting up a united front is the Congress, who have made corruption the main issue. They are accusing the BJP of making the Subordinate Services Selection Board at Hamirpur, the fountain head of corruption, alleging selling of jobs at the cost of merit.

The Congress has been able to make an impression on the people of Una and Bilaspur by highlighting the fact that their area was ignored while a preference was given to Hamirpur, especially Mr Dhumal’s constituency, Bamsan. This factor alone could give the edge to the Congress in these two districts.

The Congress, on the other hand, has been put on the defensive on the issue of keeping up the pace of development in Hamirpur, initiated by the Dhumal regime. “You are being made to suffer simply for the reason that you hail from the home district of Mr Dhumal,” is how the BJP is trying to fan parochial sentiments of the electorate.

Mr Chandel is seeking votes in the name of development as he takes credit for starting the Rs 5,300 crore Kol dam, launch of Rs 604 crore Swan channelisation work, opening of a computerised railway booking centre at Hamirpur and laying of an 18 km railway track on the Una-Talwara section.

The OBC-dominated belt of Jaswan, Pragpur and Jwalamukhi, which is a part of Kangra district but falls under the Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat, could prove to be decisive in this battle of the ballot.

BJP may pull it off in Bharatpur
Rajeev Sharma
Tribune News Service

Bharatpur (Rajasthan), April 30
It is a two-horse race in this Lok Sabha constituency between the BJP and the Congress. This constituency of 1.2 million voters has come to be known as an iron fortress, primarily because it has not owed allegiance to any one party in the past 13 general elections.

The BJP won this seat in the 1996 and 1999 general elections while the Congress won the 1998 elections. This time, the BJP is sure of its victory as it has repeated its royal candidate Vishvendra Singh, former Maharaja of Bharatpur who represented the constituency in the dissolved 13th Lok Sabha. The Congress candidate, Mr Vedprakash Gurjar, a billionaire from Delhi, is perceived as an outsider.

The Bahujan Samaj Party, which often acts as a game-spoiler for other parties, is in no position here to live up-to this reputation. BSP candidate Mandaleshwar Singh, though a Gujjar, is on a weak wicket.

The exit of influential politico-religious leader of Meos, Taiyyab Hussain, from the Congress has multiplied the party woes. Hussain was eyeing the Faridabad Lok Sabha seat, a Meo-dominated area. The Congress declined to give him ticket from Faridabad and offered him Bharatpur. Hussain was, however, not comfortable with this idea as he had been defeated from the Meo-dominated Kaman assembly segment of the Bharatpur constituency.

The two lakh Meo voters in Bharatpur make up nearly 17 per cent of the electorate and can prove to be decisive as they have the tendency to vote en bloc. Congress strategists are hoping to pull off victory by wooing the Meos. Congressmen have been trying to convince the Meos that they would be wasting their vote if they vote for the BSP as its candidate does not have a chance of winning. The biggest obstacle before the Congress is Mr Vishvendra Singh as Bharatpur voters have seldom gone against their former rulers. 

India’s biggest Chinese colony indifferent

Kolkata, April 30
Polls pass them by like the seasons. For the biggest colony of Chinese settlers in India here, the mammoth electoral exercise means nothing more than obtaining a voter card that often comes in handy for purposes other than voting.

Far removed from the pre-poll hullabaloo that is rocking the nation, the 5000-odd Chinese people settled in old and new China Town areas of Kolkata are also sulking in their own good-natured way for not being made part of the election process in the right earnest.

“Elections have never interested us. But getting a voter card is very useful for things like a new telephone connection or a trade licence,” says Monika Liu, who runs two of Kolkata’s best-known Chinese restaurants Kimling and Beijing, in the new China Town locality of Tangra.

In this predominantly Chinese eastern fringe of the city, where more and more people of the community are converting their traditional tannery business into swanky restaurants, most residents are peeved at the West Bengal government’s decision to shift the leather trade to a central complex in neighbouring South 24 Parganas district.

But do they expect political parties to address their grievances in their poll campaign? “No. Our ancestors settled here over 200 ago but we have never heard any political leader taking up issues that affect our community,” says elderly interior decorator Willian Mak.

“No use complaining. We have learnt the hard way how difficult it is to do business in this state. But we also know how to cope up,” says Juang Lee, who switched trades recently giving a new dimension to restauranteuring with his drive-in joint Hot Wok.

From 24,000 eight years ago, the rapidly dwindling community stands at just 4000 heads today as most youngsters migrate to Australia, Canada, America and Sweden in search of better business prospects.

“They have closed our tanneries, the restaurants are not doing well and we are forced to restart from the scratch. With so many odds, the younger generation prefers to migrate to a business-friendly place,” says Mr Peter Chen, Vice-President of the Indian Chinese Association. Though a microscopic minority of the Chinese cast their votes, most remain lukewarm.

“Politics never finds place in the discussions at our clubs or get-togthers. We are more concerned about the state of our culture and are making efforts to bring our children back to their roots,” Mr Chen says. — PTI

‘Electronic war’ attracts voters
Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service

Ferozepore, April 30
The two key players in this parliamentary Constituency — Mr Jagmeet Brar (Congress) and Mr Zora Singh Mann (SAD-BJP combine) have locked themselves in what is being termed as an “electronic war” to attract votes.

After Mr Brar introduced a new kind of campaigning by getting designed a van with a VCD player and a colour TV set, the Akali candidate has introduced audio CDs and cassettes called “Jugni”.

In this cassette, played on hired rickshaws and auto-rickshaws across the constituency, the Akali candidate had rebutted the alleged Congress propaganda about “corruption-raj” during the Akali government. He has also attacked the credentials of Mr Brar.

In the rural areas, both the “TV Wali van” and “cassette-wala rickshaw” has become a crowd-puller. This is for the first time that the people are witnessing the use of modern technology in campaigning.

Singers are not benefiting much from this election. A woman singer not wanting to be quoted, said she had demanded Rs 5,000 per day for campaigning but the candidate said he would rather spend this money on vehicles for sending across his message with the help of cassettes. The TV show of Mr Brar shows his performance in Parliament and excerpts from his speeches where he raised issues, especially those related to Ferozepore. “Jugni” takes a shot at Mr Brar in a dramatised way. It also seeks to answer advertisements shown on TV channels in which Congress supporters claimed that they were getting jobs on merit during the Congress rule while money was used during Akali rule.

SAD lodges complaint against Preneet
Our Correspondent

Patiala, April 30
The Patiala district unit president of the SAD, Mr Kashmir Singh Mavi, has lodged a complaint against Mrs Preneet Kaur, Congress candidate from this Lok Sabha constituency, in which he has alleged that the Congress government in the state was misusing official machinery by procuring buses, trucks, and other modes of transport to ferry people to political rallies.

According to the complaint, a copy of which has been forwarded to Ms Sunaina Tomar, General Observer for the Patiala Parliamentary constituency, on the instructions of the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, several station house officers (SHOs) and block development officers (BDOs) were asked to exert influence to ensure a large gathering at a rally held at the Vir Hakiquat Rai ground, just before Mrs Preneet Kaur filed her nomination papers on April 22. 

United Cong pulls up its socks
Naveen S. Garewal
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, April 30
Dissidence within the Congress rank and file has shown a decline and it appears to continue to haunt the SAD-BJP alliance. For the alliance it spells double trouble as the party candidate has to ensure that he gets equal support from both the BJP and the Akali Dal. So far, BJP workers have maintained a distance from his campaign.

The Congress has tried to present a united face particularly after the visit of the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, who accompanied the party candidate, Mr Munish Tiwari, at the time of filing of the nomination papers.

Another factor that is likely to influence the voting pattern here is the outcome of the exit polls which have shown an improvement in the Congress tally.

The presence of Congress legislators in six of the nine assembly segments in the Ludhiana parliamentary segment is likely to give the edge to the party nominee. Four of these legislators are ministers in the Punjab Cabinet and have a considerable hold over the constituencies.

What has further boosted the prospects of the Congress nominee in the urban areas that have 50 per cent Hindu population is the fact that a Hindu candidate has been given ticket after two decades.

The Akali-BJP alliance candidate, Mr Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, is hoping to cash in on the Vajpayee factor, hoping that the Hindu vote bank may go in his favour.

Another important candidate in Ludhiana is Mr Balwant Singh Ramoowalia. He has been canvassing for the past two months without any symbol. He was allotted the symbol of “car” only recently. This might cost him some votes, especially of those illiterate persons who want to vote for him, but were unaware of the symbol.

Even though the BSP has put up a candidate on the Ludhiana seat, going by the past performance of the party and the fact that the party candidate, Mr Ravinder Singh Sohal is hardly known to anyone among the cadres, the Mayawati factor will not play much role here.

Fighting for students’ favour in Bhiwani
Shubhadeep Choudhury
Tribune News Service

Bhiwani, April 30
The competition between Mr Kuldeep Bishnoi (Congress) and Mr Rambilas Sharma (BJP) is not only confined to who gets the major share of the non-Jat votes in this Lok Sabha constituency, but also over students who have opposed the state government’s move to club the colleges of Bhiwani district with the new university at Sirsa.

Mr Bishnoi has promised that a university would be set up at Bhiwani if he wins from here.

According to him, the university would also offer engineering courses and students would get absorbed in industries which would come up in the Bhiwani area under his initiative.

Mr Sharma, former Education Minister, is also talking about setting up a university at Bhiwani if he is elected from the seat.

Last year, several districts saw agitation by the students against the clubbing of their colleges with the new university. Agitation in Bhiwani and Jind districts was particularly strong. Bhiwani colleges were earlier affiliated to Maharshi Dayanand University at Rohtak.

In the race for mobilising support of the students, Mr Bishnoi seems to have established a lead over his BJP rival by clinching the backing of the CPM.

Both Mr Bishnoi and Mr Sharma are said to be having an advantage which Mr Ajay Chautala and Mr Surinder Singh, the INLD and the HVP candidates, respectively, from Bhiwani, do not have. Both are contesting from Bhiwani for the first time and their promises may see the light of the day.