‘NO CHALLENGE TO MODI IN 2019 POLLS’
The 84-year-old veteran Bharatiya Janata Party leader Shanta Kumar believes that the 2019 Lok Sabha elections will not be a cakewalk for his party. The former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Kumar is currently a Lok Sabha member from Kangra. However, Kumar is confident of his party winning the 2019 polls, but says that “it will see a reduction in the majority margin”.
Kumar told The Sunday Guardian that the Opposition has been consolidating its forces against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, “but there is absolutely no alternative to Modi, either within the BJP or outside. Also, there is no alternative to the organisational supremacy of the BJP, which has the best cadre, ground level presence and excellent election machinery.”
Congress president Rahul Gandhi has been telling his party workers that the BJP will see a depleted electoral strength in the 2019 polls and a situation would emerge when Modi won’t be the Prime Minister again. “This is not possible,” says Kumar. “There is no challenge to Modi within the BJP as well as outside. There is no tall leader like him to lead the nation.”
Rahul Gandhi’s recent act of hugging the PM in the Lok Sabha and subsequent wink had shocked Kumar, who feels that though Rahul has shown signs of improvement “but he is not a challenge to Modi… The Opposition has no answer to Modi, whose personal integrity remains high.”
According to him, the BJP will lose seats in the next polls, mainly because of rising unemployment and soaring economic disparities. “Crucial four years have passed but we have not been able to address these two challenges. If a prosperous Himachal Pradesh is facing an unemployment problem, I wonder what must be happening in the poor states.” Kumar has always maintained that a lot of problems can be solved with population control.
KARUNA REMEMBERED IN PUNJAB
Far from Chennai, there are many in Punjab who fondly remember the DMK supremo, M. Karunanidhi on his death. The late Justice Gurnam Singh of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, who was also Chief Minister of Punjab, and Karunanidhi, five-time Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, were known as pioneers of seeking greater autonomy for the states. A Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader said that his party had organised a conference in Batala in 1968, where a resolution was passed for the greater autonomy to states. The resolution was moved by Gurnam Singh.
In 1969, Gurnam Singh as the CM had invited Karunanidhi to Ludhiana to discuss the issue of autonomy and a resolution was passed declaring that they would soon convene a conclave of non-Congress CMs to discuss this issue.
There is another Punjab connection with Karunanidhi. Surjit Singh Barnala, who served as Punjab CM during the militancy and was Union Agriculture Minister in the Janata government, had excellent ties with Karana. The Centre appointed Barnala as the Governor of Tamil Nadu and sought an adverse report from him against the Karunanidhi government. But he refused. This act laid a strong foundation of their friendship. Barnala was given another term of five years in Tamil Nadu.
FREEDOM FIGHTER GETS JUSTICE 18 YEARS AFTER DEATH
At a time when India celebrates its 72nd Independence Day on 15 August, one came across a shocking story of a freedom fighter Nobat Singh, from Punjab, who spent eight years in jail during the Independence movement but after 1947 was victimised for fighting the corrupt system.
Nobat Singh was jailed as he had dared to complain to the Central Bureau of Investigation against an excise inspector, who demanded Rs 200 as bribe in 1969. This had led to the closure of his business following constant harassment. He had moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 1991 after a recovery of Rs 1.6 lakh excise duty arrears was slapped on him.
Finally, 27 years after the petition and 18 years after his death, a judgement in Nobat Singh’s favour has come. The case is just one of the 3.42 lakh cases pending before the High Court.
Nobat Singh in his petition had said he was forced to shut down his business of curing tobacco leaves, which he had started in 1969, within a year because of “constant and uncalled for interference and demands of illegal gratification by the Central Excise Department officials”. He filed a complaint with the CBI against Excise Inspector S.K. Khanna in 1969. The official was caught red-handed accepting Rs 200.
“This exemplary and praiseworthy act antagonised various officials, who became his enemies. Under the circumstances, he had to close his business,” Justices Ajay Kumar Mittal and Tejinder Singh Dhindsa said.
“The officials had impounded tobacco leaves and took away his account books. The total value of uncured leaves and 3,000 gunny bags then was Rs 1.8 lakh,” the double bench observed.
In 1991, Nobat Singh was shown a letter that a sum of Rs 160,271 was to be recovered.
The bench allowed the petition after observing that recovery could not be made from the legal heirs after his death about 18 years ago.
ARUN JAITLEY GREETED WITH TABLE THUMPING
A highlight of the election of Harivansh Narayan Singh (JDU) as the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha on Thursday was that Arun Jaitley, Union Minister, made his first public appearance after his 14 May renal transplant. Cutting across party lines, members thumped their tables to greet him. Jaitley had come to cast his vote in the crucial election.
As many members moved towards Jaitley to shake hands with him, the House Chairman, M. Venkaiah Naidu requested them to avoid meeting him personally as there was a fear of infection. Jaitley remained in a sanitised zone at his residence since his return from the hospital.
Jaitley responded with folded hands to Prime Minister Narendra Modi extending his hands towards him, which the latter quickly understood to be an act of medical precaution.
The election also saw how soberly the House could conduct itself. Maintaining good democratic practice, B.K. Hariprasad (Congress) gracefully walked down to Harivansh Narayan Singh and congratulated him. After the contest, all members promised Singh cooperation while those in the Opposition sought his benevolence during the proceedings of the House. The Leader of the Opposition, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Leader of the House, Arun Jaitley escorted the new Deputy Chairman to his designated seat, adjacent to the LoP’s seat on the Opposition side. Prime Minister Narendra Modi entered the House and walked across the aisle to congratulate Harivansh Narayan Singh.
SOME JATS WILL LAUNCH AGITATION
Haryana faces the threat of the re-launch of the Jat quota stir. Jat quota leader Yashpal Malik says that he will re-launch the agitation on 16 August, a day before the beginning of the state Assembly’s monsoon session. A final strategy for the agitation will be worked out at Jassia in Rohtak on 12 August after a meeting with the community members. Malik told The Sunday Guardian, “We had bhaichara sammelans at Samalkha in Panipat on Thursday, at Gohana in Sonipat on 10 August, at Jhajjar on 11 August and will meet at Jassia on 12 August where we will finalise our strategy for the 16 August agitation.” A senior Haryana government official says that the Jats had demanded reservation and the government had already legislated an Act for this purpose. The Act was, however, struck down by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. “Similarly, they demanded withdrawal of criminal cases. The government has already withdrawn nearly 2,000 out of 2,200-odd cases. No government can take back cases of murder or burning of the property of others,” he pointed out. A state BJP leader said that the support base of Jat quota leaders has depleted after the February 2016 violence and they are unlikely to get support from the masses.