Sangh Parivar will revise Jammu & Kashmir strategy
The ruling alliance of PDP and BJP in Jammu and Kashmir is in a state of drift. Pakistan’s continuous firing on the Line of Control and pelting of stone by the youth on the Army and the para-military forces in the Valley are causing concern in New Delhi. To find a solution to the problem, top leaders of the Sangh Parivar will meet for four days in Nagpur from 15 March.
They will review the performance of the “experiment” with PDP at this crucial conclave. The PDP-BJP coalition has completed its half term. They will go in detail while discussing all issues pertaining to J&K and attempt to “re-devise” a future strategy.This is for the first time that the Sangh Parivar has decided to call such a long meeting to deliberate on the legal, political, economic, social and cultural issues of J&K. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat will attend the conclave for a day. The conclave is being organised by the Jammu Kashmir Study Centre, a think tank engaged in generating debate on J&K’s political and legal issues.
This conclave comes after a meeting of the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha of the RSS from 8 to 11 March at Nagpur, where top Sangh leaders from J&K are briefing the central team on the functioning of the coalition with the PDP. A report card about the state government’s performance had been prepared by the RSS leadership for the pratinidhi sabha meeting. A senior RSS functionary told this newspaper that the Sangh Parivar had given three years to the BJP leadership to address some important issues, but total surrender by the local unit of the saffron party before the PDP leadership is forcing the Parivar to re-devise its strategy in the state.
Trudeau’s Parting Shot
It is now known about the “parting shot” of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau when he had met Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh last month during his India visit. Trudeau had met the CM along with his Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan. At this 40-minute meeting in a hotel, Amarinder Singh raised the issue of Khalistani supporters in Canada and handed over two lists to Trudeau, one with the names of Canada-based operatives allegedly involved in the drug trade and the other of those purportedly financing terror activities. As the CM gave the lists, the Canadian Premier said that he hoped that his ministers’ names didn’t figure in these. When Defence Minister Sajjan had earlier visited India, Amarinder Singh had expressed his reservation meeting him because of his alleged “sympathy with Khalistanis”.
Bigg Boss entertains underprivileged girls
On International Women’s Day on Thursday, it was a special five-star treat for a group of underprivileged school going children, mostly girls, and their mothers in a narrow lane of Malviya Nagar, South Delhi.
They were thrilled to see Bigg Boss 11 “padosis” Mehjabi Siddiqui and Sabyasachi Satpathy coming onto the stage to entertain them. For this gala event organised by a well-known NGO, Aarohan, the five-star hotel Hyatt Regency laid out a lavish lunch. Relishing a gulab jamun, Pinki, a Class 12 student, said, “I had seen Bigg Boss participants on my television set at home and two of them are here in the middle of us, dancing and eating with us.” Pinki’s father is an autorickshaw driver and mother a homemaker. A brilliant student, Pinki is aspiring to become a cardiac surgeon.
Another Aarohan prodigy, Suraj, son of a tailor, is studying civil engineering. Suraj said, “I once saw Hyatt on Ring Road while travelling in a DTC bus. I had never imagined their staff members would come to my doorstep to serve me food.” The highlights of the programme included self-defence skills taught by Delhi police women personnel, gender sensitisation, a health and hygiene workshop by Apollo Foundation, sharing of their journey by some women achievers and cultural activities by young women of community and transgender sisters. To give a big hand to them and Aarohan, Prayas Trust, L&T and DS Group also associated themselves with the event. Aarohan’s founder-president Rani Patel told The Sunday Guardian, that “By taking the government’s Beti Bachao, Beti Padao drive forward, we want to spread literacy and empower women. We follow the philosophy that if a child cannot reach school, the school must reach the child.”
Top RTI activists ignored
Many senior Right to Information activists are upset. Not one of them was invited to attend the inauguration of the new Central Information Commission building near Jawaharlal Nehru University by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday. The CIC gave the excuse that the auditorium, where the function took place, was small with about 200-seating capacity. Besides all the Central Information Commissioners, the event was attended by the states’ Information Commissioners and Central public information officers. “At least, one or two of us could have been invited. It would have acknowledged our RTI passion,” says Subhash Chandra Agrawal, well-known RTI expert. PM Modi at the function said democratic and participative governance required “transparency” and “accountability”.
Man Mohan can be contacted at rovingeditor@gmail.com