Monday, May 12, 2014
Fill in The Blanks In Bengal-BJP May Fill The Opposition Party Vaccuum
(HT)
In West Bengal, this is the time of Kal Baishakhi, thunderstorms that punctuate the passage from spring to a pitiless summer.
What is happening politically in the state is not much different. The last few days have been stormy, but underneath the noise lies the portent of a more profound, long-term change.
For the first time, the state is witnessing serious rise of the BJP, which has been a fringe force. The party’s PM candidate Narendra Modi has sensed a great opportunity.
Ruling Trinamool Congress’ (TMC) fiery leader Mamata Banerjee has decimated rivals. If the Left, which ruled for 34 years, is hobbling, the Congress is on its knees. There is a huge vacuum in the opposition space.
The BJP, propelled by Modi’s popularity, wants to fill it. It may not win too many seats in the Lok Sabha polls, but it has bigger ambitions: To become Bengal’s biggest opposition party before the municipal polls and 2016 assembly elections.
Not for nothing has Modi, 2014 elections’ busiest campaigner, held eight packed rallies here. Wherever you travel, he is the centre of conversation…at ‘addas’, wedding receptions, offices.
The organisation is spreading like duckweed. Primary membership has increased from 90,000 in 2010 to more than 4 lakh now. There has been a 74,000 jump in youth membership in May.
Highest jumps have been in Kolkata, Nadia, Burdwan, Birbhum, Hooghly, South 24 Paraganas, Medinipur and Barasat. Even in tribal-dominated Jangalmahal comprising three districts (Bankura, West Medinipur and Purulia), 19 new party offices have come up and membership has increased three-fold this year.
Modi seems to have found five hot buttons in Bengal.
First, the state’s thirst for the elusive ‘progoti’, or progress, after ‘poriborton’, Mamata’s now-legendary call for change.
Second, a series of brutal and highly publicised rapes like the ones in
Park Street and Kamduni, and Mamata’s verbal attacks, not on the rapists but those alleging rape, has shaken many.
Third, Mamata Banerjee is facing corruption charges for the first time in her otherwise remarkably clean political career, and not facing them well. As a senior Kolkata journalist puts it: “Her attacking play is outstanding. But on the defensive, she is trying to hit every ball, not leaving any.”
Fourth, the growing perception that Mamata has appeased Muslims with R2,500 allowance for imams, putting larger-than-life billboards of praying with her head covered, or freely allowing illegal Bangladeshi immigrants to settle here and using them as votebank.
Five, Modi has found in Mamata’s emotive, reactive politics a great opportunity. He taunts, she or her party reacts with “shaitaan”, “Butcher of Gujarat”, “donkey”. Modi has perfected the art of turning personal attacks on him into his strength.
From all this, the party is significantly gaining.
“BJP was known here as the party of non-Bengalis. But the Modi wave has taken it far beyond that, especially among the youth. The response to our campaigns is overwhelming,” says Siddharth Nath Singh, the party’s in-charge for Bengal and grandson of India’s second PM Lal Bahadur Shastri. “Mamata had not accounted for the Modi factor.”
Singh looks the party’s long-term future in a state with 42 LS seats — third highest after UP and Maharashtra — with much optimism. He says there has been a near-hysterical response to every Modi rally in the state.
Also, when you speak to people from different sections, you notice an interesting pattern. They are making a crucial distinction this time between voting for a government at the Centre and electing a state government. Many feel Mamata, despite her formidable popularity in the state, may have a much smaller dog in the fight at the Centre and so their vote may be wasted on the TMC.
The BJP, however, wants to convert the Modi mania to get a stronger foothold in state politics.
“While BJP nationwide has been stronger in urban areas, in Bengal, paradoxically, it had presence in rural panchayats but was weak in the cities. This election has changed that,” says BJP state secretary Ritesh Tiwari.
Even TMC spokesperson Derek O’Brien says the difference of vote share between CPM and BJP will be in single digit this time. “But TMC isn’t worried because BJP has no organisation in Bengal, no block-level presence.”
The challenges before the BJP are enormous. Its state organisation has been rickety. Even a rapid membership drive may not give it control over most villages. Six or eight people who control each village, says O’Brien, and it is not easy to build a parallel structure, village after village.
Moreover, most in Bengal feel deeply thankful to Mamata and love her for ending more than three decades of Left rule. It will be very difficult to wean them from her.
Modi may bring in votes in LS, but to make a mark in panchayat, municipal or assembly elections, it needs a strong Bengali state leader, one who will not be swept under Mamata’s towering presence. It will also help the party shed the ‘non-Bengali party’ tag.
Among the new crop of Bengali ex-officers and celebrities the BJP has fielded, insiders praise Babul Supriyo as a hard field worker, amiable but aggressive organisation man. But will he match up to Mamata? Right now, he is not even close.
Also, although early Hindu nationalism can be traced to Bengal — Bankimchandra chronicled it, Aurobindo Ghosh and other were ideologues and took part, Shyamaprasad Mukherjee exported — its people view BJP-RSS’s ‘Hindu, Hindi, Hindustan’ heartland nationalism with suspicion, even disdain. Interestingly, Modi, in his north Kolkata speech on May 7, invoked Aurobindo and his arrest by the British from a Maniktala hideout.
Mamata came to power breaking the CPM’s mighty village-level organisation with two fierce movements — Singur and Nandigram. Village after village fell to her for fear of losing land.
The BJP and RSS are spreading. Modi, not a man to say things loosely, has asked Bangladeshis to leave after May 16. A communal flare-up may pose the biggest challenge yet to Mamata’s hold over rural and semi-urban Bengal, where there is resentment over measures like the imam-bhata and fears about the allegedly growing Bangladeshi population.
In five districts the Muslim population ranges from 33% to 63%.
On the other side, alarm over the organisation-building by BJP and RSS has already triggered the inflow of money, people and arms from across the border in places like Sunderbans, say political insiders.
Just behind the current storm in Bengal politics may lie darker clouds.
In West Bengal, this is the time of Kal Baishakhi, thunderstorms that punctuate the passage from spring to a pitiless summer.What is happening politically in the state is not much different. The last few days have been stormy, but underneath the noise lies the portent of a more profound, long-term change.
For the first time, the state is witnessing serious rise of the BJP, which has been a fringe force. The party’s PM candidate Narendra Modi has sensed a great opportunity.
Ruling Trinamool Congress’ (TMC) fiery leader Mamata Banerjee has decimated rivals. If the Left, which ruled for 34 years, is hobbling, the Congress is on its knees. There is a huge vacuum in the opposition space.
The BJP, propelled by Modi’s popularity, wants to fill it. It may not win too many seats in the Lok Sabha polls, but it has bigger ambitions: To become Bengal’s biggest opposition party before the municipal polls and 2016 assembly elections.
Not for nothing has Modi, 2014 elections’ busiest campaigner, held eight packed rallies here. Wherever you travel, he is the centre of conversation…at ‘addas’, wedding receptions, offices.
The organisation is spreading like duckweed. Primary membership has increased from 90,000 in 2010 to more than 4 lakh now. There has been a 74,000 jump in youth membership in May.
Highest jumps have been in Kolkata, Nadia, Burdwan, Birbhum, Hooghly, South 24 Paraganas, Medinipur and Barasat. Even in tribal-dominated Jangalmahal comprising three districts (Bankura, West Medinipur and Purulia), 19 new party offices have come up and membership has increased three-fold this year.
Modi seems to have found five hot buttons in Bengal.
First, the state’s thirst for the elusive ‘progoti’, or progress, after ‘poriborton’, Mamata’s now-legendary call for change.
Second, a series of brutal and highly publicised rapes like the ones in
Park Street and Kamduni, and Mamata’s verbal attacks, not on the rapists but those alleging rape, has shaken many.
Third, Mamata Banerjee is facing corruption charges for the first time in her otherwise remarkably clean political career, and not facing them well. As a senior Kolkata journalist puts it: “Her attacking play is outstanding. But on the defensive, she is trying to hit every ball, not leaving any.”
Fourth, the growing perception that Mamata has appeased Muslims with R2,500 allowance for imams, putting larger-than-life billboards of praying with her head covered, or freely allowing illegal Bangladeshi immigrants to settle here and using them as votebank.
Five, Modi has found in Mamata’s emotive, reactive politics a great opportunity. He taunts, she or her party reacts with “shaitaan”, “Butcher of Gujarat”, “donkey”. Modi has perfected the art of turning personal attacks on him into his strength.
From all this, the party is significantly gaining.
“BJP was known here as the party of non-Bengalis. But the Modi wave has taken it far beyond that, especially among the youth. The response to our campaigns is overwhelming,” says Siddharth Nath Singh, the party’s in-charge for Bengal and grandson of India’s second PM Lal Bahadur Shastri. “Mamata had not accounted for the Modi factor.”
Singh looks the party’s long-term future in a state with 42 LS seats — third highest after UP and Maharashtra — with much optimism. He says there has been a near-hysterical response to every Modi rally in the state.
Also, when you speak to people from different sections, you notice an interesting pattern. They are making a crucial distinction this time between voting for a government at the Centre and electing a state government. Many feel Mamata, despite her formidable popularity in the state, may have a much smaller dog in the fight at the Centre and so their vote may be wasted on the TMC.
The BJP, however, wants to convert the Modi mania to get a stronger foothold in state politics.
“While BJP nationwide has been stronger in urban areas, in Bengal, paradoxically, it had presence in rural panchayats but was weak in the cities. This election has changed that,” says BJP state secretary Ritesh Tiwari.
Even TMC spokesperson Derek O’Brien says the difference of vote share between CPM and BJP will be in single digit this time. “But TMC isn’t worried because BJP has no organisation in Bengal, no block-level presence.”
The challenges before the BJP are enormous. Its state organisation has been rickety. Even a rapid membership drive may not give it control over most villages. Six or eight people who control each village, says O’Brien, and it is not easy to build a parallel structure, village after village.
Moreover, most in Bengal feel deeply thankful to Mamata and love her for ending more than three decades of Left rule. It will be very difficult to wean them from her.
Modi may bring in votes in LS, but to make a mark in panchayat, municipal or assembly elections, it needs a strong Bengali state leader, one who will not be swept under Mamata’s towering presence. It will also help the party shed the ‘non-Bengali party’ tag.
Among the new crop of Bengali ex-officers and celebrities the BJP has fielded, insiders praise Babul Supriyo as a hard field worker, amiable but aggressive organisation man. But will he match up to Mamata? Right now, he is not even close.
Also, although early Hindu nationalism can be traced to Bengal — Bankimchandra chronicled it, Aurobindo Ghosh and other were ideologues and took part, Shyamaprasad Mukherjee exported — its people view BJP-RSS’s ‘Hindu, Hindi, Hindustan’ heartland nationalism with suspicion, even disdain. Interestingly, Modi, in his north Kolkata speech on May 7, invoked Aurobindo and his arrest by the British from a Maniktala hideout.
Mamata came to power breaking the CPM’s mighty village-level organisation with two fierce movements — Singur and Nandigram. Village after village fell to her for fear of losing land.
The BJP and RSS are spreading. Modi, not a man to say things loosely, has asked Bangladeshis to leave after May 16. A communal flare-up may pose the biggest challenge yet to Mamata’s hold over rural and semi-urban Bengal, where there is resentment over measures like the imam-bhata and fears about the allegedly growing Bangladeshi population.
In five districts the Muslim population ranges from 33% to 63%.
On the other side, alarm over the organisation-building by BJP and RSS has already triggered the inflow of money, people and arms from across the border in places like Sunderbans, say political insiders.
Just behind the current storm in Bengal politics may lie darker clouds.
Freedom Of Expression Denied-AMU VC Zamiruddin Shah criticized for Expressing Opinion on Modi
(TCN)
Aligarh: Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) Vice Chancellor
Lt. General (retd.) Zamiruddin Shah has come under criticism for his comments on Narendra Modi published in the Times of India on May 7, 2014.
Responding to a question, Lt. Gen. Shah said that even though riots of 2002 happened during Modi’s rule adding “when people are entrusted with the responsibility of serving the nation, they change. They carry the pressure of taking the whole country forward.”
“Responsibilities bring a transformation, no matter what someone's past was,” said Shah.
A group of professors from AMU, JNU, and Delhi University have reacted strongly to this comment. In a statement issued today these eminent professors said “we are surprised at the General’s remarks on Mr. Narendra Modi.”
Lt. Gen Shah “foresees much improvement in the latter when he assumes responsibilities of power as Prime Minister, as if he did not have power enough when as Chief Minister he presided over the communal slaughter in Gujarat. We are perplexed as to why the General needed to go out of his way to commend Mr Modi in this fashion.”
Statement was signed by:
Irfan Habib, Professor Emeritus, AMU
D.N. Jha, Professor of History (Retd.), Delhi University
P.K. Shukla, Formerly, Member Secretary, Indian Council of Historical Research
I.A. Khan, Professor of History (Retd.), AMU
Shireen Moosvi, Professor of History (Retd.), AMU
Mridula Mukherjee, Professor of History, J.N.U.
Ramesh Rawat, Professor of Hindi, AMU
S.A. Nadeem Rezavi, Associate Professor, AMU
Aditya Mukherjee, Professor of History, J.N.U.
Farhat Hasan, Professor of History, Delhi University
S.Zaheer Husain Jafri, Professor of History, Delhi University
Ishrat Alam, Associate Professor of History, AMU
Shalin Jain, Associate Professor, Delhi University
 |
| AMU VC Lt Gen Zamiruddin Shah |
Lt. General (retd.) Zamiruddin Shah has come under criticism for his comments on Narendra Modi published in the Times of India on May 7, 2014.
Responding to a question, Lt. Gen. Shah said that even though riots of 2002 happened during Modi’s rule adding “when people are entrusted with the responsibility of serving the nation, they change. They carry the pressure of taking the whole country forward.”
“Responsibilities bring a transformation, no matter what someone's past was,” said Shah.
A group of professors from AMU, JNU, and Delhi University have reacted strongly to this comment. In a statement issued today these eminent professors said “we are surprised at the General’s remarks on Mr. Narendra Modi.”
Lt. Gen Shah “foresees much improvement in the latter when he assumes responsibilities of power as Prime Minister, as if he did not have power enough when as Chief Minister he presided over the communal slaughter in Gujarat. We are perplexed as to why the General needed to go out of his way to commend Mr Modi in this fashion.”
Statement was signed by:
Irfan Habib, Professor Emeritus, AMU
D.N. Jha, Professor of History (Retd.), Delhi University
P.K. Shukla, Formerly, Member Secretary, Indian Council of Historical Research
I.A. Khan, Professor of History (Retd.), AMU
Shireen Moosvi, Professor of History (Retd.), AMU
Mridula Mukherjee, Professor of History, J.N.U.
Ramesh Rawat, Professor of Hindi, AMU
S.A. Nadeem Rezavi, Associate Professor, AMU
Aditya Mukherjee, Professor of History, J.N.U.
Farhat Hasan, Professor of History, Delhi University
S.Zaheer Husain Jafri, Professor of History, Delhi University
Ishrat Alam, Associate Professor of History, AMU
Shalin Jain, Associate Professor, Delhi University
Plea For NIA Investigation of Education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, forest minister Rakibul Hussain and border areas development minister Siddique Ahmed in Bodoland Massacre
(Telegraph)
Guwahati, May 11: The Bodo Sahitya Sabha today demanded three cabinet ministers of Assam be brought under the NIA probe while the investigating agency inquires into the recent killings in the Bodoland Territorial Areas District (BTAD).
The Sabha said to know the truth about the killings in the BTAD, the NIA should probe education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, forest minister Rakibul Hussain and border areas development minister Siddique Ahmed for allegedly making inciting and controversial comments on the situation in the BTAD.
Sabha’s general secretary Kamala Kanta Muchahary told the media here today that there had already been demands that BTC chief Hagrama Mohilary, deputy chief Kampa Borgoyary, minister Chandan Brahma, MLA Pramila Rani Brahma and Rajya Sabha member Biswajit Daimary be brought under the NIA investigation.
“Probing only the Bodo leaders will not reveal the truth. For it, Sarma, Hussain and Ahmed should also be brought under NIA’s probe,” Muchahary said. He added former MLA Abdul Khaleque, Lok Sabha member Badruddin Ajmal and leaders of the All Assam Muslim Students’ Union, All Bodoland Minority Students’ Union, Muslim Students’ Union of Assam and the Oboro Surakshya Samiti should also be probed.
The Sabha welcomed the state government’s decision to hand over the responsibility of investigating the killings in the BTAD to the NIA, but demanded that the CBI should also be given responsibility to probe the incident.
It opposed the demand for dissolution of the Bodoland Territorial Council by several organisations saying that those who have raised the demand are not investigating agencies and their demand is one-sided.
“There has been a conspiracy to dissolve the BTC. We oppose any demand of dissolution of the council. Such demands are an attempt to create misunderstanding between different communities in the BTAD,” Muchahary said.
The Sabha also opposed Dispur’s reported move to provide arms to villagers as self-protection measures. Chief minister Tarun Gagoi, however, denied any such move by the state government. “When there are demands to seize all illegal arms in the state, the decision of giving arms to villagers is nothing but suicidal,” Muchahary said.
Muchahary said illegal arms are found not only in the BTAD but across the state.
“Illegal arms will be there in Assam till there are militant groups like Ulfa, NDFB, KLO and other outfits. Various Bodo organisations have been demanding seizure of illegal arms for long. As part of it, efforts are on to bring all factions of the NDFB to negotiation table,” he said.
The Sabha appealed to the police and the NIA not to harass innocent Bodos in the name of seizing illegal arms.
The Sabha called governor J.B. Patnaik’s reported assurance to a minority community and non-Bodo organisations to hold panchayat elections in the BTAD as “unconstitutional” and violation of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
Arms recovered
Police intercepted a car at Chapaguri in Chirang district and recovered a M-16 rifle with silencer, a 303 rifle and 140 rounds of ammunition today. Police said the arms were being brought from Dimapur for NDFB-S cadres. One person has been apprehended.
 |
| Bodo Sahitya Sabha general secretary Kamala Kanta Muchahary in Guwahati on Sunday |
The Sabha said to know the truth about the killings in the BTAD, the NIA should probe education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, forest minister Rakibul Hussain and border areas development minister Siddique Ahmed for allegedly making inciting and controversial comments on the situation in the BTAD.
Sabha’s general secretary Kamala Kanta Muchahary told the media here today that there had already been demands that BTC chief Hagrama Mohilary, deputy chief Kampa Borgoyary, minister Chandan Brahma, MLA Pramila Rani Brahma and Rajya Sabha member Biswajit Daimary be brought under the NIA investigation.
“Probing only the Bodo leaders will not reveal the truth. For it, Sarma, Hussain and Ahmed should also be brought under NIA’s probe,” Muchahary said. He added former MLA Abdul Khaleque, Lok Sabha member Badruddin Ajmal and leaders of the All Assam Muslim Students’ Union, All Bodoland Minority Students’ Union, Muslim Students’ Union of Assam and the Oboro Surakshya Samiti should also be probed.
The Sabha welcomed the state government’s decision to hand over the responsibility of investigating the killings in the BTAD to the NIA, but demanded that the CBI should also be given responsibility to probe the incident.
It opposed the demand for dissolution of the Bodoland Territorial Council by several organisations saying that those who have raised the demand are not investigating agencies and their demand is one-sided.
“There has been a conspiracy to dissolve the BTC. We oppose any demand of dissolution of the council. Such demands are an attempt to create misunderstanding between different communities in the BTAD,” Muchahary said.
The Sabha also opposed Dispur’s reported move to provide arms to villagers as self-protection measures. Chief minister Tarun Gagoi, however, denied any such move by the state government. “When there are demands to seize all illegal arms in the state, the decision of giving arms to villagers is nothing but suicidal,” Muchahary said.
Muchahary said illegal arms are found not only in the BTAD but across the state.
“Illegal arms will be there in Assam till there are militant groups like Ulfa, NDFB, KLO and other outfits. Various Bodo organisations have been demanding seizure of illegal arms for long. As part of it, efforts are on to bring all factions of the NDFB to negotiation table,” he said.
The Sabha appealed to the police and the NIA not to harass innocent Bodos in the name of seizing illegal arms.
The Sabha called governor J.B. Patnaik’s reported assurance to a minority community and non-Bodo organisations to hold panchayat elections in the BTAD as “unconstitutional” and violation of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
Arms recovered
Police intercepted a car at Chapaguri in Chirang district and recovered a M-16 rifle with silencer, a 303 rifle and 140 rounds of ammunition today. Police said the arms were being brought from Dimapur for NDFB-S cadres. One person has been apprehended.
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