TRIUMPH OF FREE WILL. LONG LIVE LIBERTY AND JUSTICEMonday, March 16, 2009
No Advani, Maya; SP prefers Manmohan as PM
Notwithstanding its failure to reach a seat-sharing agreement with Congress, Samajwadi Party said it would support Manmohan Singh for the Prime Ministership and ruled out his party joining the Third Front which will have CPI(M) leader Prakash Karat at its helm.
"Out of L K Advani (of NDA), Mayawati (of BSP) and Manmohan Singh, we prefer Manmohan Singh," Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh told reporters here when asked whom his party would support for Prime Ministership as there are several aspirants.
Taking a swipe at LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and BSP chief Mayawati who are aspiring to be the Prime Minister, Amar Singh said, "Pradhan mantri ki kursi ke liye swayamwar ho raha hai aur log saj dhaj ke tuktuki lagake baithe hain (the best suitable groom is being chosen for the PM's chair and people attired in best dresses are eyeing it)."
Talking about the failure of SP and Congress to forge a seat-sharing alliance, Amar Singh said, "We may not have seat-sharing arrangement with it (Congress), we have ideological understanding with Congress, which is more important than seat-sharing."
"Out of L K Advani (of NDA), Mayawati (of BSP) and Manmohan Singh, we prefer Manmohan Singh," Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh told reporters here when asked whom his party would support for Prime Ministership as there are several aspirants.
Taking a swipe at LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and BSP chief Mayawati who are aspiring to be the Prime Minister, Amar Singh said, "Pradhan mantri ki kursi ke liye swayamwar ho raha hai aur log saj dhaj ke tuktuki lagake baithe hain (the best suitable groom is being chosen for the PM's chair and people attired in best dresses are eyeing it)."
Talking about the failure of SP and Congress to forge a seat-sharing alliance, Amar Singh said, "We may not have seat-sharing arrangement with it (Congress), we have ideological understanding with Congress, which is more important than seat-sharing."
He made it clear that after the elections, SP would be with a "secular" coalition led by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
How the CPM might de-nuke India
C. Rajamohan
That the CPM leadership has strongly defended its unsuccessful attempt at pulling down the UPA Government on the question of the Indo-US nuclear deal is no surprise. The real debate within the party on the controversial decision to withdraw support to the Manmohan Singh Government last year is likely to take place only after the elections.
If the CPM does well and forges a Third Front government, its General Secretary Prakash Karat would be hailed as a hero. If it loses ground in both Bengal and Kerala and becomes marginal to the balance of power in the next Lok Sabha, Karat's decisions are bound to be questioned.
The CPM manifesto, released on Monday, presents a reheated version of its ideological tirade against the Indo-US civil nuclear initiative.
It makes no mention, however, of the latest nuclear agreements that India has signed with France and Russia. That Paris and Moscow would not have resumed nuclear exports to India without the deal with Washington is, of course, a factoid that the CPM would want to simply ignore.
Buried in its ideological tirade against the Indo-US partnership in CPM's manifesto is a little nuclear nugget that deserves wider debate.
The CPM says it will press the next Government to strive for a ‘denuclearised environment in South Asia’!
That New Delhi must get rid of its nuclear weapons in a purely South Asian framework is a proposition that no mainstream Indian political formation has ever supported. The national consensus has always been in favour of total elimination of nuclear weapons in a non-discriminatory global framework. Put simply, India will not give up its nuclear weapons so long as China, US and other great powers have them.
Those who know the CPM will not be shocked to find that the party wants to perpetuate a permanent nuclear imbalance between China and India. To its credit, the CPM has been consistent in its refusal to criticise the Chinese nuclear weapons programme, even when it denounced India's nuclear tests in May 1998.
Less known, however, is the fact that CPM's fantasy for regional nuclear disarmament in South Asia is shared fully by the American non-proliferation hawks who want to 'cap, roll back and eliminate' India's nuclear weapons programme. When the 'non-pro' lobby settles down in the Obama Administration, it knows whom to call on in the putative Third Front to revive their old anti-India nuclear agenda -- the CPM.
(C. Raja Mohan is a Professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore)
That the CPM leadership has strongly defended its unsuccessful attempt at pulling down the UPA Government on the question of the Indo-US nuclear deal is no surprise. The real debate within the party on the controversial decision to withdraw support to the Manmohan Singh Government last year is likely to take place only after the elections.
If the CPM does well and forges a Third Front government, its General Secretary Prakash Karat would be hailed as a hero. If it loses ground in both Bengal and Kerala and becomes marginal to the balance of power in the next Lok Sabha, Karat's decisions are bound to be questioned.
The CPM manifesto, released on Monday, presents a reheated version of its ideological tirade against the Indo-US civil nuclear initiative.
It makes no mention, however, of the latest nuclear agreements that India has signed with France and Russia. That Paris and Moscow would not have resumed nuclear exports to India without the deal with Washington is, of course, a factoid that the CPM would want to simply ignore.
Buried in its ideological tirade against the Indo-US partnership in CPM's manifesto is a little nuclear nugget that deserves wider debate.
The CPM says it will press the next Government to strive for a ‘denuclearised environment in South Asia’!
That New Delhi must get rid of its nuclear weapons in a purely South Asian framework is a proposition that no mainstream Indian political formation has ever supported. The national consensus has always been in favour of total elimination of nuclear weapons in a non-discriminatory global framework. Put simply, India will not give up its nuclear weapons so long as China, US and other great powers have them.
Those who know the CPM will not be shocked to find that the party wants to perpetuate a permanent nuclear imbalance between China and India. To its credit, the CPM has been consistent in its refusal to criticise the Chinese nuclear weapons programme, even when it denounced India's nuclear tests in May 1998.
Less known, however, is the fact that CPM's fantasy for regional nuclear disarmament in South Asia is shared fully by the American non-proliferation hawks who want to 'cap, roll back and eliminate' India's nuclear weapons programme. When the 'non-pro' lobby settles down in the Obama Administration, it knows whom to call on in the putative Third Front to revive their old anti-India nuclear agenda -- the CPM.
(C. Raja Mohan is a Professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore)
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
NSUI JNU WITHDRAWN FROM JNUSU LED AGITATION
Friends, Date: 4th march, 2009
NSUI withdraws from JNUSU’s ongoing struggle, taking in to account JNUSU’s and left organizations deliberate and blatant attempt to use anti-Manmohan Singh rhetoric and sloganeering to divert the focus from our real issues. It has been observed time and again that JNUSU leadership raise Lal salaam and other provocative slogans in all most all JNUSU Protest Demos and Processions simply ignoring activists of other organizations and a neutral majority who identify with the causes. JNUSU leadership also never heeds NSUI’s long standing demand for keeping JNUSU platform politically neutral. They indirectly promote their cadres to hurt the sentiments of activists from other organizations who sympathize with the causes for which JNUSU is fighting for. In the previous all organizations meetings called in view of UGBM and course of action, NSUI representatives repeatedly appealed to the JNUSU leadership to take note of this and take appropriate steps to prevent such unwanted ideological inclinations of the frenzy cadres.
If their cadres raise slogans of Lenin, Hochimin and Lal salaam in their party functions, it is well and good. What does the majority of JNU students have to do with these names? They should answer to the student community as to why they are unconsciously incorporating party hymns and images in to the minds of students, who identify with the causes, not with their ideology?
Apart from this, UPA and Manmohan Singh has been a constant target for the left and ultra left organizations throughout the protests. We all know the ‘innumerable mistakes’ that Manmohan singh did for the student community of our country- recognition of madrasa certificates for jobs, 27% OBC reservation, increase in UGC fellowships, Rajiv Gandhi fellowships, more UGC funds to JNU etc. What more Manmohan singh can do when a corrupted JNU administration is delaying everything right from the disbursal of Rajiv Gandhi &UGC fellowship or when a highly parochial JNUSU leadership disrupted his speech for narrow political mileage. What the visionary and timely opening up of domestic market to sustain the Indian economy in a changing world order has to do with the electric meter issue which is the creation of a few bankrupt teachers on campus ..
NSUI reminds the JNUSU leadership that they got extension through a UGBM mandate. How could the same JNUSU undermine the mandate of the recent UGBM to intensify the agitation by creating a human blockade in front of the Ad block? Having diluted the spirit of the movement and the UGBM (and having yielded to pressure of teachers who are leftists), AISA and SFI dared to stop the sale of the Forms for which UGBM has not given a mandate. If you have particular agenda, just implement it on your own. What is the point in calling all party meetings and UGBM to waste hours in meaningless discussion? Now the movement has lost its right direction mainly in the sense that our priority is now rustication. The same insensitive attitude was reflected in the workers’ issue previously. The administration is feeding on a political bankruptcy of JNUSU that doesn’t know how to prioritize our issues on time and how to reach the target with popular support.
The outcome of JNUSU’s prolonged struggle not in tandem with the UGBM mandate has mounted enormous distress on the minds of student community which is evident from yesterday’s event where a student climbed the 8th floor of the central library to vent his anger against the JNUSU and the administration for their anti-student and insensitive attitude towards our demands. Left and ultra left political parties can hold any false pride to inflate their anti-national ideology by not hoisting Indian flag on the occasion of Republic or Independence Day, denying felicitating our former President of India A.P.J.Abdul Kalam or disgracing our national symbols and emblems in their posters and pamphlets.But NSUI will not tolerate if this hedonist and anti-student, anti-national, undemocratic, non-secular, and unprogressive attitude is displayed and practiced by JNUSU leadership.
NSUI appeals to the student community to rally behind us and stand against those who wish to pollute the sacrosanct students’ body JNUSU to further their cynical goals and reap cheap political benefits in this campus.
jai hind
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
CONGRESS-TRINAMUL ALLIANCE IN W BENGAL; CPIM'S NIGHTMARE
A trend that began with the panchayat polls in May 2008, and persisted through the later Nandigram and Sujapur assembly bypolls, was further extended by Sunday’s bypoll result from Bishnupur (West): that the CPM is in decline in rural West Bengal. Moreover, since the Nandigram bypoll, it seems a united opposition will increasingly rob the Left Front of the sleep of the complacent. Soon after the Trinamool’s victory in the Bishnupur bypoll, the Congress and Mamata Banerjee formally announced that they would jointly contest all 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state. The announcement ended weeks of speculation, and made the Bengal picture clearer for the general elections. Pranab Mukherjee’s camaraderie with Banerjee late o
n Sunday night, coupled with the Bishnupur defeat, has duly concerned Alimuddin Street, where state CPM leaders admitted that the loss indicated how the party has failed to connect with the voters they had lost during the panchayat polls last year. The CPM certainly appears to be on the back foot in rural Bengal although Banerjee’s visions of an endgame for the CPM may be premature. To be effective alliances must address both electoral arithmetic and political coherence. Part, but not all, of the reason why the Trinamool won in Bishnupur was the Congress’s withdrawal of its candidate to avoid a split of the anti-Left vote. That, again, is the logic according to which the two parties seem to be working for the general elections. After all, External Affairs Minister Mukherjee, who is also the Bengal Congress chief, has made no secret of his distaste for the kind of politics that has held the state’s development to ransom — symbolised by Singur and Nandigram. In fact, his concurrence with Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on that issue had almost jeopardised an alliance with the Trinamool.
Now, as Bhattacharjee warns his party to get its act together, the anti-Left alliance’s task has only just
begun. It would need to work out the kind of politics it wants to project. It would be disastrous for Bengal if the perceived discontent among rural voters is exploited to reverse the industrialisation project. Further, both alliance partners would know that aggregate discontent doesn’t automatically translate into aggregate votes. Meanwhile, the Trinamool-Congress tie-up puts in place another piece in the
national electoral puzzle. It’s to be seen now how this piece impacts the Lok Sabha polls and how it’s factored into post-poll arrangements.
Now, as Bhattacharjee warns his party to get its act together, the anti-Left alliance’s task has only just
begun. It would need to work out the kind of politics it wants to project. It would be disastrous for Bengal if the perceived discontent among rural voters is exploited to reverse the industrialisation project. Further, both alliance partners would know that aggregate discontent doesn’t automatically translate into aggregate votes. Meanwhile, the Trinamool-Congress tie-up puts in place another piece in the
national electoral puzzle. It’s to be seen now how this piece impacts the Lok Sabha polls and how it’s factored into post-poll arrangements.
POLLS ANOUNCED
New Delhi: Setting in motion the process for the constitution of the 15th Lok Sabha, the Election Commission today announced polls in five phases from April 16 to May 13. Counting of votes will take place on May 16 and the new House will be constituted by June 2. Assembly elections to Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Sikkim will be held along with the Lok Sabha elections.
“The model code of conduct has come into force with immediate effect,” said Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami who will demit office on April 20 after the first phase of elections.
The dates for the five-phase elections are April 16, April 23, April 30, May 7 and May 13. Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir will vote in five phases, Bihar in four while there will be three phases in Maharashtra and West Bengal. Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pra-desh, Manipur, Orissa and Punjab will vote in two stages. The remaining 15 states and seven Union Territories will have a single-day poll.
This was announced by CEC Gopalaswami at a press conference, also attended by Election Commissioners Navin B Chawla — he is likely to be the next CEC — and S Y Quraishi.
While the poll panel has of late been in the news for all the wrong reasons, sources said the “poll timeline shows the institution alone counts”.
“The first phase of election is on April 16. The incumbent CEC demits office on April 20, and a new CEC presides over the remaining four phases of elections. One can draw one’s own inference from this,” said a top EC functionary. He said “while the three Commissioners gave their stamp of approval to the final schedule, it was the team of the three Deputy Commissioners who ensured that everything fell into place.”
R Balakrishnan, in-charge of overall planning, Alok Shukla, former Chhattisgarh chief electoral officer and now in-charge of computerisation and organisational matters, and J P Prakash, in charge of judicial affairs and administrative issues in the panel, burnt the midnight Oil for close to a month.
The three Deputy Election Commissioners reached the Nirvachan Sadan sharp at 6 am today. In the last one month, they had worked out “at least nine tentative election schedules” that were scrutinised by the three Commissioners. In the last two days, the list, of course, narrowed down considerably. When the three Commissioners met around 11 am today, they didn’t have to spend much time in okaying the five-phase election schedule, as finally worked out by their deputies.
“The model code of conduct has come into force with immediate effect,” said Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami who will demit office on April 20 after the first phase of elections.
The dates for the five-phase elections are April 16, April 23, April 30, May 7 and May 13. Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir will vote in five phases, Bihar in four while there will be three phases in Maharashtra and West Bengal. Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pra-desh, Manipur, Orissa and Punjab will vote in two stages. The remaining 15 states and seven Union Territories will have a single-day poll.
This was announced by CEC Gopalaswami at a press conference, also attended by Election Commissioners Navin B Chawla — he is likely to be the next CEC — and S Y Quraishi.
While the poll panel has of late been in the news for all the wrong reasons, sources said the “poll timeline shows the institution alone counts”.
“The first phase of election is on April 16. The incumbent CEC demits office on April 20, and a new CEC presides over the remaining four phases of elections. One can draw one’s own inference from this,” said a top EC functionary. He said “while the three Commissioners gave their stamp of approval to the final schedule, it was the team of the three Deputy Commissioners who ensured that everything fell into place.”
R Balakrishnan, in-charge of overall planning, Alok Shukla, former Chhattisgarh chief electoral officer and now in-charge of computerisation and organisational matters, and J P Prakash, in charge of judicial affairs and administrative issues in the panel, burnt the midnight Oil for close to a month.
The three Deputy Election Commissioners reached the Nirvachan Sadan sharp at 6 am today. In the last one month, they had worked out “at least nine tentative election schedules” that were scrutinised by the three Commissioners. In the last two days, the list, of course, narrowed down considerably. When the three Commissioners met around 11 am today, they didn’t have to spend much time in okaying the five-phase election schedule, as finally worked out by their deputies.
Those involved in drawing the election schedules said “as many as 10 variables like climate, festivals, availability of schools, harvest season etc” had to be factored in while readying the final schedule blueprint. The CEC was particularly concerned over the use of money power in the elections and stressed on “stringent measures to make candidates accountable”.
So, as per the election schedule, in the first phase on April 16, 124 constituencies will go to polls. In the second round on April 23, voters in 141 constituencies will exercise their right. The third phase on April 30 will involve 107 seats, the fourth on May 7 will have 85 seats while 86 constituencies will vote in the last phase on May 13. By-elections to seven Assembly constituencies — four in Nagaland and one each in Jharkhand, Karnataka and Mizoram — will be held simultaneously.
As many as 499 of the total 543 constituencies in the country have been redrawn as a result of the delimitation exercise, Gopalaswami said. The delimitation exercise was not undertaken in Jammu and Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand, Manipur and Nagaland.
So, as per the election schedule, in the first phase on April 16, 124 constituencies will go to polls. In the second round on April 23, voters in 141 constituencies will exercise their right. The third phase on April 30 will involve 107 seats, the fourth on May 7 will have 85 seats while 86 constituencies will vote in the last phase on May 13. By-elections to seven Assembly constituencies — four in Nagaland and one each in Jharkhand, Karnataka and Mizoram — will be held simultaneously.
As many as 499 of the total 543 constituencies in the country have been redrawn as a result of the delimitation exercise, Gopalaswami said. The delimitation exercise was not undertaken in Jammu and Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand, Manipur and Nagaland.
The elections will involve use of photo electoral rolls in 522 of the 543 constituencies. At least 71.4 crore voters — an increase of 4.3 crore over the 2004 elections — will be eligible to cast votes. An estimated 40 lakh civil personnel and 21 lakh police personnel will be deployed for the elections. In what marks a first, the poll panel has made sure that paramilitary forces don’t have to crisscross the country — they will only move in “linear direction”. The Election Commission also met the Railway Board chairman to facilitate movement of security forces.
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