Tamil Nadu turmoil: Kissa Kursi Ka

Around The States

All eyes are on Tamil Nadu. The bitter political battle in the AIADMK for the hot kursi is suspense-ridden. With both caretaker Chief Minister O Paneerselvam and General Secretary Sasikala staking claim to head the government, the ball is clearly now in Governor Vidyasagar Rao’s court.

Drama continues to unfold, with even the possibility of President Rule being imposed in the State not being ruled out. This after silence from Raj Bhavan after both the leaders met him separately on Thursday last. While Sasikala went to him with a list of 130 MLAs supporting her, OPS didn’t disclose the numbers with him but was confident “good things will happen, dharma will win.”

It is however, reported he submitted a memorandum seeking more time to prove his majority, as MLAs were switching sides. After all he had triggered the drama by first supporting Sasikala, then doing a U-turn, claiming he was ‘forced to resign’ from the post to pave way for her, and is now willing to withdraw his resignation if people so desired.

Can he do so? Will Governor Rao soon ask for a floor test or take his time seeking advice, from the Centre too? Or may even decide to wait for the Supreme Court verdict on Sasikala’s disproportionate asset case? Nagging questions alright, but one thing is certain: political drama of proving their strength has already weakened the AIADMK.

Haryana and its Jats
Haryana is tense and edgy. The demand for Jat reservation has raised its ugly head again. Chief Minister Khattar is hoping that the five-member panel formed under Chief Secretary would find a way out to the perennial problem, which has obvious political overtones.

Apart from reservation in education and government jobs, the demands of the Jats, under the All India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti, include release of youths from jails who were arrested in last year’s agitation, withdrawal of cases and government jobs for the kin of those killed and injured in the stir. Recall, 30-odd persons lost their lives and property worth crores was burnt and damaged in last February violent and ugly protests.

So far, the recent protests, into the 2nd week have been peaceful but the administration can’t be complacent. The State has been put on ‘maximum alert’ with paramilitary forces deployed in sensitive areas across around 19 districts. However, there is need for more. The committee would need to burn the midnight oil, as the Jats propose to observe February 19 as ‘Balidan Divas’ (Sacrifice Day) in memory of those killed last year. Tempers could run high and with some khap panchayats and students lending support to the stir, Khattar may have too much on his plate to handle.

Assam’s educated jobless youth
Assam could put Modi’s ‘Skill India’ initiative to test. Shockingly, over 15 lakh educated youth are unemployed in this north eastern State. But the number is bound to be higher as the figure of 15,23,531 is the one registered by the Government. While the BJP-ruled State may use this politically to flog the previous Congress government’s incompetence and misrule, it must see it as a big challenge. Both the Centre and State must keep in mind that the unrest in Kashmir has a lot to do with its unemployed educated youth, among other burning issues.

So does the Government have a plan? Yes, says its Industry minister. For starters the Government proposes to provide skill development training to 1.5 lakh youth to make them employable in 2017-18. Further, it proposes to “talk to all the new industries coming to the State and ask for their manpower requirements.” Accordingly, it will provide the manpower and the industries would take skilled youths. The big question is how many new industries will be eyeing the State? It is no secret that industrial development has been inhibited by the political isolation of the State.

UP tops communal violence
Poll-bound Uttar Pradesh lives up to its notorious law and order reputation. While on the one hand Home Ministry is relieved that cases of communal violence across the country registered a fall last year (703 against 751 in 2015), UP sadly has played spoilsport. The SP-ruled State fails to improve its conduct and had 162 cases of communal violence last year, as against 155 cases in 2015.

Worse, these add up to a quarter of all cases put together! Another Opposition State, Karnataka fared poorly with 101 cases of communal violence. But BJP-ruled States provided no consolation either. Both Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh reported 68 and 57 cases of communal violence respectively, but the numbers were down. On the other hand, TMC-ruled West Bengal saw an increase from 27 cases in 2015 to 32 in 2016.

But some States and Union Territories including Goa, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram, Sikkim, Puducherry and Chandigarh offered good news not a single case of communal violence was reported. While law and order is State governments responsibility, the Centre is prodding them to follow its set of communal harmony guidelines.

Airport names sans personalities
Cities may soon take over personalities, if the Centre decides to ruffle feathers in various States and political camps. Apparently, the Civil Aviation Ministry is said to be toying with the idea of renaming existing airports along with future greenfield airports after cities and not personalities. These would include major airports such as Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad, Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai and Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru.

While the Ministry’s reasoning is this would avoid ‘inconvenience caused to passengers and foreign tourists who may not be familiar with Indian personalities,’ Congress governments particularly and non-BJP parties smell a rat. Is it part of Modi’s plan of Congress-mukt Bharat, and erasing memories? By clubbing all airports it shields itself against charge of vendetta. However, it will be interesting how New Delhi deals with Haryana’s demand for changing the upcoming Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport, Chandigarh to Dr Mangal Sein International Airport, Chandigarh – after former Dy CM of Haryana (1977-79) and a pracharak of RSS! Doing away with personalities is tricky indeed.

Bengal bending rules
The TMC-ruled West Bengal suffers another setback. Its Advocate General Jayanta Mitra and his deputy Lakshmi Gupta have resigned. In what can be construed as an indictment of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s functioning, Jayanta told a TV channel: “There are things and situations when I have advised that doing a certain thing may not be legal, but then I was asked to work around it. I am not someone who is in favour of bending the law.

Such differences were happening more than often and had started accumulating between us, and hence I decided to quit respectfully.” Incidentally, Mitra is the third AG appointed by TMC who has resigned since the party came to power in 2011. The first, Anindya Mitra quit after a-year-and-a-half, followed by Bimal Kumar Chattopadhyay, whose tenure lasted a little over two years.

Further, Jayanta was not always kept in the loop on key legal matters. The latest being Maintenance of Public Order (Amendment) Bill, 2017, proposed to make vandals pay for any damage to public and private property. The Opposition is up in arms and claims its ‘draconian.’ Had Didi consulted the AG, perhaps the ongoing Assembly session may have been spared the ruckus. But then she wouldn’t be maverick Mamata.