by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Gandhinagar : Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Saturday said the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance Government treated every section of the society equally and was committed to minorities’ empowerment with dignity but “without appeasement”.
Addressing a cheque distribution programme of Gujarat Minorities Development Finance Corporation here, he said: “Minorities, Dalits, farmers, women and every other section of the country have played an equal role in nation building.”
“There is no place for any kind of discrimination against any religion, caste and community in this agenda. India’s uniqueness is its unity in diversity, ‘Sarva Dharm Sadbhav’. Secularism is in the DNA of India,” he said, adding that “some elements want to disturb this fabric”.
“We all need to come together to defeat such elements. The Modi government will not allow any destructive agenda to dominate our developmental narrative.
“Empowerment without appeasement, inclusive growth and antyodaya (commitment to take benefits of development to the last person of the society) is our agenda,” he said.
Naqvi urged people to be cautious of hostile forces trying to disturb an atmosphere of trust and development.
“We have to remain cautious against these elements. Every section/community of the country is feeling a sense of trust and development under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he said, claiming these forces were trying to disturb the atmosphere by creating a “fabricated atmosphere of insecurity”.
“Like all others, minorities are safe and secure in India,” he said, accusing certain opposition parties and their allies of trying to give a “communal colour to criminal incidents” but “fail to understand that their acts will only provide a cover for persons involved in such incidents”.
Saying that India was much ahead of other democratic countries in ensuring freedom of expression to its people, Naqvi however cautioned that in the name of such freedom, one should not do anything that helps elements inimical to national interest.
He said those unable to digest the developmental works carried out by the Modi government had become disappointed and desperate since they failed to find even a single logical issue against it.
“In their desperation, they are misusing religion as well as community and caste issues for narrow political interests. Earlier, these people raised the issue of so-called intolerance and launched ‘award wapsi’ (return of awards) campaign. Now, they are trying to disturb peace through political propaganda by raising the baseless issue of a sense of insecurity among members of a particular community,” Naqvi added.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, Economy, Finance, News, Politics
New Delhi : The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received a whopping Rs 705.81 crore from 2,987 corporate donors between financial years 2012-13 and 2015-16, a report by election watch body Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) revealed on Thursday.
A total of Rs 956.77 crore was donated by all corporate/business houses to five national parties during this period, the report said, noting that while the BJP was the highest recipient, the Congress was a distant second with Rs 198.16 crore from 167 corporate donors.
The Communist Party of India (CPI) and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) have received the lowest share of corporate donations at 4 per cent and 17 per cent, respectively, said the report which considered the BJP, the Congress, the CPI-M, the CPI, and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
The Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), though a recognised national party, was not considered for analysis in the report as “the party has declared that it received no voluntary contributions above Rs 20,000 from any donor between FY 2012-13 and FY 2015-16”.
The report also disclosed that a total of 1,933 donations through which national parties received Rs 384.04 crore do not have PAN details in the contribution form. Also, the parties have received Rs 355.08 crore from 1,546 donations which do not have address details in the contribution form.
Interestingly, 99 per cent of such donations without PAN and address details worth Rs 159.59 crore went to the BJP.
The national parties received the maximum corporate donations in 2014-15, during which Lok Sabha elections were held, at 60 per cent of the total donations of the four years.
Satya Electoral Trust emerged as the top donor to three national parties between FY 2012-13 and 2015-16 with a total donations of Rs 260.87 crore, which it did in 35 installments in three years (the Trust did not donate during FY 2012-13).
The BJP declared receiving Rs 193.62 crore from the Trust, while the Congress got Rs 57.25 crore. The NCP got Rs 10 crore from it during the same period.
The General Electoral Trust, formed before the Electoral Trust Scheme was launched by the government in 2013, was the second highest corporate donor to BJP and Congress with donations of Rs 70.70 crore and Rs 54.10 crore to them respectively.
The top donors to the CPI-M and CPI were “associations” or “unions”. The CPI-M got Rs 1.09 crore from seven different associations while CPI got Rs 14.64 lakh from 15 different associations/unions.
The real-estate sector was the biggest donor to the national parties during FY 2012-13, contributing a total amount of Rs 16.95 crore. The BJP received the highest contribution of Rs 15.96 crore followed by Congress with Rs 95 lakh and the CPI-M with Rs 4 lakh.
Trusts and Groups of Companies with varied interests in mining, real estate, power, newspapers etc donated the highest amount of Rs 419.69 crore in their period. The manufacturing sector was the second highest overall contributor, contributing a total of Rs 123.67 crore, the report revealed.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Opinions
By Ram Puniyani
The decision to put a one day ban on Hindi NDTV, since withheld, came as a big jolt to the country. A major channel was asked to stop the broadcast. The charge was that its broadcast on Pathannkot revealed sensitive information regarding national security. On the same Pathankot issue this Government had allowed the Pakistan authorities to come to the same airport. The channel (Hindi NDTV) pleaded that its program was very balanced and nothing related to national security was relayed which was not on the public domain through other media. It is clear that NDTV Hindi in particular has been debating issues which are uncomfortable to this Government. Apparently the pressure of all round protests forced the Government to hold its decision for time being. The issue of Bharat mata ki jai, nationalism, the issues related to JNU and Hyderabad Central University (HCU), Una in particular, were debated in ways which critical of the ruling party.
Since this dispensation, Modi Sarkar, has come to power there is a qualitative change in the political scenario. Right at the beginning we witnessed many attacks on Churches. We saw the interference in the institutions of national importance like FTII, IITs, JNU and HCU among others. The incompetent persons with ‘right wing’ leaning were installed and have been brought in at most of these. The places of learning are a special target. The JNU was targeted labeling it as the den of anti nationals. A cooked up video was used to defame the student leaders of JNU, in HCU Rohith Vemula had to commit suicide. The growing intolerance led to returning of awards by luminaries of our society. The issue of beef was blown up to the sky; the emotive hysterical projections were propped up leading to the death of Mohammad Akhlaq, many other traders and later the dastardly attack on the dalits in Una in Gujarat. Many sections of media have been brow beating the liberals and secular elements while giving a free run to Hindu nationalists.
It is in this backdrop that the Bhopal encounter has taken place where eight Muslim youth alleged to be terrorists were killed in an extra judicial manner. The incident as it has been presented clearly shows that the version of the police has lots of holes in it. In JNU again one student Najeeb has been missing for last three weeks and his mother was manhandled by the police. Is it mere emergency, where such blatant violations of human and democratic rights are taking place? Emergency was a condemnable authoritarian regime where from the top a dictatorship was imposed. press censorship was brought in. Surely the present times are having lot of difference.
To begin with the dominance of corporate and doing away of the rights of workers and farmers along with undermining the schemes like MNREGA, Right to Food, Right to Health and Right to education show that the orientation of this Government is to ally with the big capital. The complimentary part of this phenomenon is the promotion of Hindu nationalism. Right from the word go; the sentence, ‘I am nationalist and I am born in a Hindu family’ by Modi set the tone of shape of things to come. With this the targeting of minorities, on the issue of Uniform Civil Code and beef is there. The ultra-nationalism is manifest in the handling of Kashmir and relations with Pakistan in particular. The use of Uri and consequent surgical strike to bloat the chest of this political dispensation is very much in the air. The permission of thousands of NGOs working in the social sector has been stopped on frivolous grounds. The attack on Pakistani artists is another instance where the sectarian nationalism is having an unrepentant march. It is to be remembered that we have a bilateral trade to the tune of thousands of crores with Pakistan. With China similar sentiments have been flashed by talking about boycott of Chinese goods, despite the fact that the contract of proposed Saradar Patel statue running in to thousands of crores has been given to China. The popular sentiments are being guided into negativity and hate towards neighboring countries, religious minorities and the human rights activists.
The stifling of democratic freedoms, welfare of the poor, the intimidation of minorities and human rights defenders is running parallel to the creation of mass hysteria and mobilization of masses to uphold the agenda of ruling party. Those questioning the state are being put in the dock. In a democracy it the state which is answerable to the people. Now this formula is being reversed. In democracy questioning the authorities is the bedrock of the Constitution. So something is seriously amiss, something which is more sinister than the emergency. Something which has deeper portents for the democracy is being legitimized and glorified by the ruling party and the parent organization of the ruling party.
So how does one characterize it is the matter not of mere academic concern. Recently CPM leader Prakash Karat had stated that the present dispensation is mere authoritarian and not fascist. The distinction between two has been a matter of historical debate. The main features of fascism has been centrality of state over people, overarching Leader, dominance of Corporate, doing away with rights of poor, targeting of minorities, ultra nationalism and aggressive policies towards the neighbors. The crucial point for those wanting to preserve the democracy and Indian Constitution is to build up social and political alliances, irrespective of some differences, to fight this raging politics of Hate, politics of sectarian nationalism.
During 1990s, BJP did project itself as a ‘Party with a Difference’, and that is so much true. It is the only party whose agenda is guided by the Hindu nationalist RSS, which rejects democracy and secularism as Western imports and wants to stick to the laws of Hindu Holy Scriptures. These scriptures are the same, one of which was burnt by Ambedkar as a mark of protest against its values of caste and gender hierarchy, values of Brahminism. Debates can continue but politics to defend Indian Constitution cannot wait!
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi, (IANS) A low-profile man but always sporting an infectious smile, Sarbanand Sonowal is now all set to be Assam’s second tribal chief minister after legendary Jogen Hazarika in the 1970s.
The 53-year-old former president of influential All-Assam Students Union, who hails from the Kachari tribe, brings in a unique synthesis of tribal leadership and Hindutva politics in governance-starved Assam.
Sonowal’s being a tribal suited both the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and BJP in their quest for power beyond river Brahmaputra in the northeast. With his staunch opposition to the illegal migrants from Bangaldesh, Sonowal gave legitimacy to the Hindutva politics of a ‘north Indian party’ among the tribals in the northeast.
“BJP was always an accepted political force for upper caste Hindu Assamese, but Sonowal and few others like tea tribe leader Kamakhya Tassa gave BJP new footholds. The election results in Assam today exemplify that paradigm shift and hopefully its a new beginning under Sonowal,” says Guwahati-based political analyst Ratnadeep Gupta.
It goes to Sonowal’s credit that he could deliver Assam to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah in an election where the so-called ‘Modi wave’ of 2014 was either on the wane or simply non-existent.
Trends available so far suggests Sonowal’s presence actually helped BJP which portrayed itself as a pro-tribal outfit for the first time. This brought in huge dividends. Besides Sonowal’s own Kachari tribe, other communities like Moran, Muttock, Tai Ahom, Koch Rajbongshi, Sootea and the Tea tribes too flocked to the BJP.
These tribals from the plain have a significant presence in upper Assam districts of Jorhat, Golaghat, Sivsagar, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Lakhimpur and Dhemaji.
The fact that BJP has overthrown a government which ruled for 15 years is significant because in 2011 the saffron party was an ‘also-ran’ with only six seats in the assembly.
Delighted by the success, Sonowal attributed it to the “family-like team work” of BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Modi, BJP chief Shah and a new entrant Himanta Biswa Sarma.
The alliance BJP worked out with tribal group Bodo People’s Front (BPF) also helped the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Observers feel the basic credit should go to the strategy team which advised BJP leadership to project Sonowal as the chief ministerial candidate and work out an alliance with the Bodo People’s Front (BPF).
In the last assembly election, the BPF was in alliance with the Congress. Till end of November 2015, BJP was not sure about the tie-up with the BPF. But Ram Lal, BJP’s organisational general secretary, had said that only such a tie-up will put the BJP on track in Assam. His calculation seemed to have worked pretty well.
This alliance did well across the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts — BTAD comprising Kokrajhar, Kajolgaon, Udalguri and Baksa districts.
The BJP calculation that Bodos can influence results in as many as 25-30 assembly seats in the state also brought in dividends.
Significantly, at a later stage the Bodos had decided to extend support to the Gorkhas, Kalitas, Koch-Rajbongshis and Adivasis for ST status.
Congress tried an alliance with smaller Bodo group United People’s Party (UPP) but that did not help.
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Opinions
By Nirendra Dev, New Delhi, (IANS) As the poll verdict from four states saw the Congress decimated in two states and regional parties reasserting themselves in another two, BJP floor managers in parliament were keeping an eye on the general anti-Congress mood and also on the numbers in the Rajya Sabha, where crucial legislation needs across-the-spectrum support.
“There is a changed scenario. After June biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha, while the Congress strength will come down, there will be enhanced numbers for the likes of the Samajwadi Party and the AIADMK. This can help help government pass key bills in Rajya Sabha,” a BJP source told IANS, exuding confidence.
But, will the Trinamool Congrees (TMC), which was poised to storm back to power in West Bengal with over two-thirds majority vote, play ball?
Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, at her press conference after the contours of her party’s victory emerged, indicated she would.
“For us, our election manifesto is like raksha kawach. We have ideological differences with BJP but if there are matters which will help people, we can cooperate,” Banerjee said in Kolkata when asked about Trinamool’s role in passing the stalled Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, described as one of the government’s most important economic measures.
The TMC, in its manifesto for the 2011 assembly elections and the 2014 parliamentary polls, had promised support for the GST, which the Lok Sabha passed in 2015 but is pending in the Rajya Sabha as the BJP-led NDA lacks the numbers there.
At least one industry lobby thought the BJP could draw comfort from the showing of the TMC, as also of the AIADMK, which convincingly returned to power in Tamil Nadu.
“The NDA Government will certainly find it easier to deal with Trinamool Congress and AIADMK in the Rajya Sabha for passage of crucial bills, mainly the long-pending and the most important GST bill,” Assocham President Sunil Kanoria said.
While AIADMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa is yet to react on her party’s cooperation in parliament, her stance against the GST is well known but she also enjoys good personal rapport with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
No sooner had the trends become clear on Thursday, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar asserted that the government was keen to do business with the powerful regional leaders.
“First purpose in any election is to win, secondly it is to ensure defeat of your main rivals and thirdly to feel satisfied that while your enemies like Congress and Left are defeated, the friendly regional parties have won,” Javadekar told journalists.
In the Rajya Sabha biennial elections due on June 11, the BJP hopes to gain from states like Rajasthan and Maharashtra where seats have fallen vacant.
“The assembly polls saw BJP win in Assam and decimation of Congress in crucial states. This growing anti-Congress mood will be reflected in monsoon session of parliament and regional parties like Samajwadi Party and Trinamool Congress will have to make a clear choice about pushing for legislative measures like the GST bill,” a key BJP leader said.
Of the 57 seats for which elections will be held, the BJP and the Congress each held 14.
But the Congress’ decimation in assembly polls in last two years in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Telangana could result in the party losing at least 4-5 seats.
The Congress strength in Rajya Sabha is now 64 and this could scale down to 60, but it will continue to be the single largest party in the house.
Twenty-five Rajya Sabha seats are up for grabs in states where the BJP or the National Democratic Alliance is in power. Of them, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan account for four each, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Haryana and Jharkhand for two each, Madhya Pradesh for three and Maharashtra for six.
Of these, BJP or its NDA allies can hope to pick up 22 seats, it is estimated.
The present strength of BJP is 49 in the 245-member Rajya Sabha. With NDA allies, its number goes up to 67.
“The Congress’s strength in Rajya Sabha will come down. The BJP’s will increase marginally while regional parties like Samajwadi Party will also benefit. It is these permutations and combinations that had led (Finance Minister) Arun Jaitley to favour voting (against building consensus) in the house on important legislation like the GST bill,” the party source said.
(Nirendra Dev can be contacted at nirendra.n@ians.in)
