Round the States Insaf
Question is, how many more ministers will follow the footsteps of AAP’s very own Jitendra Singh Tomar to jail and oblivion
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BLURB
The buck will not stop with Delhi’s JS Tomar, and many including some Union Ministers are trembling; Congress opens another front against Modi by collecting its CMs to cock a snook at the Centre; bitter enemies Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar decide to cohabit in the run-up to the assembly polls in Bihar; Yoga divides nation as it takes to schools across the country; and Rail minister Suresh Prabhu finally turns to NRIs, urging them come and set his platforms in order!
TEXT
The Delhi-Vs-Centre fight is getting murkier. While Lt Governor Jung and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal are slugging it out showing the rulebook to each other on bureaucrats’ appointments, the arrest of Delhi law minister Jitender Singh Tomar may open a can of worms. Tomar has been booked and jailed for fake degrees by the Delhi police and put in his papers, and the BJP at the Centre may have won this war, but the battle continues. The AAP now is gunning for other political parties and may well up the ante against Union HRD minister Smriti Irani, as also two other Union ministers Nihal Chand Meghwal and RS Katheria. Irani is embroiled in a controversy over her educational qualification, wherein she has given conflicting affidavits of her graduate degrees. While in 2004, she stated she had obtained BA from Delhi University, in another affidavit in 2014 she submitted she had completed Part I of B.Com! Likewise, Katheria is charged with falsely claiming to have had work experience of three years in an Etawah college, also in UP, when he applied for the post of reader in an Agra college in 1999. Meghwal is alleged to be involved in a rape case in Rajasthan. The Congress too has jumped into the fray and wants the police to show the same alacrity in these cases as it has done in Tomar’s case. While Kejriwal claims high moral ground by asking his minister to quit, the Centre is sitting pretty. Will the tainted canvass become bigger or remain confined to Delhi? It remains to be seen who will blink first.
CMs take on Modi
Is it an all-out war between the nine Congress-ruled states and the Centre? While the former scream ‘discrimination’, the latter rubbishes it as ‘false allegations’. The rumblings in the nine states were voiced by Chief Ministers at a meeting in Delhi called by the party high command. The bottomline being that the much-touted “cooperative federalism” of Modi was a farce. The states were being short-changed. Clear pointers being: North-East CMs waiting since a month for a meeting with Prime Minister Modi, over losing their Special Status, cuts in social sector spend affecting their schemes, no money being transferred as advised by 14th Finance Commission, et al. But the states—Manipur, Assam, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Kerala — have resolved, “Our people will not suffer… we will find funds from the state kitty for social sector.” They threatened not to allow implementation of the Goods and Services tax bill and the land acquisition bill unless changed. The tirade prompted BJP and finance minister Jaitley to hit back. It accused the Congress of doing its ‘best’ to disrupt the Constitutional framework of federalism. Armed with figures, states, they said, were getting Rs 1.4lakh crore more this year! Much more shall follow. The people will judge who is more convincing.
Lalu Nitish bhai bhai
Mission impossible has been achieved in Bihar, much to the chagrin of the BJP. After dithering for a while, the RJD-JD(U) have not only decided to tie the knot but Lalu Yadav has agreed to Nitish Kumar beings the chief ministerial candidate for the ensuing assembly polls. Both the Congress and the Samajwadi Party played a major role in getting the anti-BJP grouping finally in place. However, another major hurdle — of seat-sharing — has to be overcome as the division and distribution would be critical, given the fact that there is no such ‘anti-BJP’ vote bank barring perhaps of the Muslim vote. On its part, while the BJP with Ram Vilas Paswan in tow and now Jitan Ram Manjhi too in its pocket, may publicly seek to play down the alliance, winning Bihar is very crucial. With the Modi magic having failed miserably in Delhi, party chief Amit Shah can ill-afford a consecutive loss. Not only will Nitish and team play the social justice and secularism cards, it will also showcase “good governance”, which incidentally is the BJP’s mantra. As of now, the BJP doesn’t have much to offer, not even a Chief Ministerial candidate. The run-up to the big battle is going to be engrossing for sure.
Much ado over yoga
The government has been burning the midnight oil to ensure the International Yoga Day is observed on a grand scale, in the country and abroad. While it is at ease with the response from the global community (192 countries to participate), on the home-front, there is reason for stress. The Day has got embroiled in a controversy with Muslim organisations raising objections, fearing it is Modi’s way of imposing the Hindu agenda. However, foreign minister Sushma Swaraj has been quick to assert that yoga is not linked to religion and participation was ‘voluntary and not binding’. In its role, the AYUSH ministry has written to all states to celebrate the day by organising events at the district and panchayat level. It is confident that there will be activities in the 650 districts, as one NGO for each district has been invited for preparatory yoga training. Additionally, all ministers and BJP MPs are directed to help organise and mark their attendance at their place of choice. Of course, other than a state watch, all eyes would be on Rajpath June 21, which will host the largest class of yoga to enter the Guinness World Record. Nothing is being left to chance.
Crossing the borders
Railway stations in towns and villages across the country may well get a make-over. This, provided the NRIs come to the aid of rail minister Suresh Prabhu, who with officials has a plan for small stations, which normally get overshadowed. Rail Bhavan seeks to tap the NRIs, to take up station development works in their native villages and towns and upgrade its passenger amenities. Importantly, it has decided to tap the Indian community abroad. Embassies in US, Canada and Australia, where the number is sizeable, are being approached to reach out to the NRIs willing to adopt stations and take credit, which is normally the case. At the same time, the Railways’ plan to tap the corporates, NGOs and even private individuals and has its guidelines in place. And, while it awaits the green signal from cabinet, it is hoping that similar plans pick up speed. It has got the nod for allowing MPs to use their land development funds for upgrading stations in their constituencies. It’s keeping its fingers crossed that the people’s representatives are on track. —- INFA
