Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams: Chapter 24
Palash Biswas
It is Appeasement Post Modern!
It is Maya Envelop for CPIM!
Headstrong, Rigid CPIM General secretary JNU return Prakash karat knocked the Doors of a most Unexpected host in Communist History of India. The leaders discussed the India-U.S. nuclear agreement and the coming confidence vote. Mr. Karat drove to the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister’s residence in New Delhi for the meeting that lasted about 45 minutes.CPM General Secretary Prakash Karat and BSP supremo Mayawati, two staunch opponents of the Indo-US nuclear deal, met on Sunday in an apparent move to take on the government during the trust vote in Lok Sabha on July 22. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has powerful foes gunning for her. They want her to be forced out of power prematurely.Congress president Sonia Gandhi [Images] just does not like Mayawati challenging her. Rahulbaba wants to defeat Mayawati on her home turf. Their confidant-cum-advisor on UP affairs, Rajiv Shukla, simply cannot abide the Dalit devi .Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh of the Samajwadi Party are her sworn enemies.
Meanwhile, A crucial meeting of the Board of Governors of International Atomic Energy Agency to build a consensus on India-specific safeguards accord essential to help implement Indo-US nuclear deal has been postponed from July 28 and is likely to be held on August 1, IAEA sources said.They said informal consultations among 35 members of IAEA Board of Governors were on seeking the consensus and a formal meeting is likely on August 1.The safeguards agreement initialled by India and IAEA on July 7 this year was circulated among all 144 member-countries of the world body on the same day.The document was put on the website of the Ministry of External Affairs, a day after the Left parties accused the government of refusing to make it public.The IAEA safeguards agreement is an essential step India has to take to integrate with international nuclear commerce before it secures a one-time waiver from the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group.
BJP President Rajnath Singh on Monday said that NDA would do everything to oust the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre.He, however, made it clear that BJP would not ''adopt unfair means'' in this regard and requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to resign and seek fresh mandate.
''NDA will attempt that UPA government did not win the confidence vote. But we will not adopt unfair means in this regard,'' he told reporters in Bhopal.Talking to reporters after addressing a Youth rally at the Lal Parade Ground, Singh said his party would contact all its MPs and apprise them about the losses the country would suffer after signing the nuclear deal.
Karat, who is spearheading the Left opposition on the deal, drove to the UP Chief Minister's residence for the meeting.
This is the first meeting between the two leaders after the recent political developments that saw Mayawati withdrawing support to the government followed by the Left last week.
The Supreme Court will hear on July 28 the petition filed by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati challenging her prosecution in the disproportionate assets case.The Bahujan Samaj Party supremo is facing allegations of acquiring assets beyond her known sources of income and through corrupt means by misusing her status as Chief Minister during her previous tenure.Mayawati has challenged her prosecution on the grounds that the case has been registered against her by the CBI at the behest of its political masters and is aimed at maligning her reputation in the public.The CBI, in its counter affidavit filed last week, has, however, opposed her petition on the grounds that there is sufficient prima facie evidence to prosecute her under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.According to the CBI, Mayawati opened 94 bank accounts and she along with her relatives and family members acquired 96 immovable properties in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. A large number of political leaders are also facing similar cases of corruption, who include former UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and his family members, former Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, present Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, former Kerala Chief Minister K Karunakaran, former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, former Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi and others.Mayawati has also raised questions about the timing of filing of the counter affidavit by the CBI when the UPA government is facing a trust vote on July 21-22 in Parliament following withdrawal of support by the Left parties on the Indo-US nuclear deal.The Chief Minister withdrew support from the UPA government, while the Samajwadi Party is backing the Congress on the issue.According to Mayawati, the Congress is using the CBI to arm-twist her for opposing the Manmohan Singh government on the nuclear deal.In the Taj Corridor scandal, Mayawati could not be proceeded against as Governor T V Rajeswar refused to grant sanction for her prosecution as at that time she was having cordial relations with the Congress.The trial Judge in that case directed the CBI to obtain sanction from the Governor in spite of the fact that the apex court in the Parkash Singh Badal case had clearly ruled out that provision of sanction is not available to the public servants, both politicians and bureaucrats, who are facing allegations of the corruption.A review petition, filed by SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, his son and SP MP Akhilesh Yadav and his daughter-in-law Dimple Yadav against the Supreme Court's order directing CBI to investigate the allegations of corruption, is already pending in the apex court.Justice A R Lakshmanan, who is also presently Chairman of the Law Commission, had broken down in the open court when he got a faxed message at his residence casting aspersions on his personal integrity on the day when a PIL against Mulayam Singh Yadav was listed in his court. The Judge withdrew from the case.
In what is being seen as the first sign of revolt within the Left, West Bengal Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Subhas Chakraborty backed Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and said he should not quit as the Speaker before the trust vote in Parliament.
Chakraborty also said that the CPI-M should not vote with the BJP on the Indo-US nuclear deal as “voting with the saffron party will harm our party’s interests”.
With political parties bracing themselves for the trust vote, CPI general secretary A B Bardhan on Monday accused the Congress-led UPA of horsetrading and alleged that the going rate of an MP is Rs 25 crore.Speaking at a press conference to announce a national campaign by the Left parties against the deal and the “anti-people” policies of the government, Communist Party of India leader A.B. Bardhan said he had been in touch with Ms. Mayawati and she had assured him of her support during the trust vote.
He said the CBI had become a “political tool” in the hands of the government and was being used to “switch on and switch off the so-called investigations.”
“It is so obvious and the intention is so clear. We have told her [Ms. Mayawati] that we condemn all such efforts,” Mr. Bardhan said.
"No one has principles anymore. It is not a question of few crores but Rs 25 crore for horsetrading," Bardhan said addressing a meeting to launch Left parties' nationwide campaign against the government.
"I have never seen Rs 25 crore in my lifetime. I am sure that none of you (audience) have seen it either," the top CPI leader said.
With UPA government's new found ally Samajwadi Party gunning for Reliance Industries, the company head Mukesh Ambani on Monday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and a host of other senior government functionaries to explain how demands for levy of windfall tax was bad economics. Ambani first met Singh and there were unsubstantiated reports that he followed this with a meeting with Congress President and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
Flying in from Mumbai this morning, Mukesh started a series of meeting with top bureaucrats, including a call to Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar.
Ambani's visit assumes importance in the wake of Amar Singh raising a number of issues, including a demand for withdrawal of EOU status for RIL's Jamnagar refinery along with a suggestion that Prime Minister should intervene to bring peace between Mukesh and younger brother Anil.
Sources said Ambani pleaded that the demand for levy of so-called windfall profit tax on private firms was no more than a populist slogan based on the misleading logic that with rising prices of oil across the globe, these companies are making profits far in excess of what they legitimately deserve.
While government shares production from oil and gas fields and is a beneficiary of high oil prices, the refinery business is highly cyclical and with new capacities coming on stream world over margins will decline precipitously. Ambani is believed to have told policy makers that fiscal revenue gain from a WPT would be short-term in nature, but the economic costs of introducing an unstable fiscal regime could be long lasting.
Ms. Mayawati charged the government on Friday with “targeting her” after the CBI filed a counter-affidavit in the Supreme Court in the “disproportionate assets case” against her. At a press conference here, she declined to divulge her strategy on the trust vote but made clear her opposition to the deal.
While Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has allegedly not furnished details of her Rs 9.78 crore deposits yet, the CBI has informed the Supreme Court that the BSP supremo had adopted delaying tactics by filing "numerous" petitions before the investigating agency.
Detailing her income in a counter-affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, the CBI alleged that Mayawati has not given the details of the institutions or banks where the deposits have been made.
"She has not given the details of other immovable properties in her name including agricultural land. Investigation in this regard is being carried out," CBI said.
What a rhythmic unity among the Left Front partners to indulge the communistts in subaltern politics of India at last!
In a realignment of forces in the wake of the Congress and the SP coming together, the Left parties Sunday made a common cause with the BSP by roping in Miss Mayawati to oppose the Indo-US nuclear deal. Reaching out to the ruling party in Uttar Pradesh, which has 17 MPs in the Lok Sabha, the CPI-M general secretary Mr Prakash Karat drove to the Uttar Pradesh chief minister's residence here to hold the first meeting after the Left parties withdrew support to the UPA government over the nuclear deal. This came a day before the Left is to launch a nationwide campaign against the Congress-led UPA government.
After the 45-minute meeting, Mr Karat announced that the two parties would “cooperate” to ensure the defeat of the Congress-led government when the motion of confidence was moved in the Lok Sabha on 22 July.
“Mayawati reiterated her opposition to the deal. It was decided that there should be cooperation to stop the deal and in the struggle against the UPA government in this regard,” Mr Karat said. Sources said the Left parties sent feelers to Miss Mayawati three days ago with top CPI leadership seeking her cooperation “in the fight against the government”.
Significantly, Mr Karat's meeting with Mayawati came a day after the CPI-M condemned the filing of a fresh affidavit by CBI against the BSP chief in a disproportionate assets case. BSP sources said that today's meeting was an attempt by the party to ensure that it didn't remain isolated on the national political scene, particularly at a time when the Samajwadi Party had begun to cosy up to the UPA. The BSP is already facing the heat what with Miss Mayawati facing trial in the disproportionate assets case.
The CBI action was also condemned by the CPI, whose general secretary Mr AB Bardhan raised questions about the timing of filing of the affidavit. Mr Bardhan told reporters after his party’s national executive that the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), former Prime Minister Mr HD Deve Gowda, and Mr MP Veerendrakumar had already got in touch with the Left, and expressed their opposition to the deal. Ms Mayawati had a telephonic talk with the TDP leader, Mr N Chandrababu Naidu, after meeting Mr Karat.
Marxist always neglected the Social realism in India.Marxist Think tanks never tried to understand the social fabrics in India. Indian Communist Movement always defended the interests of ruling Brahminical Hegemony. In West Bengal,where the Left Front has won consecutive seven assembly elections and held power for over three decades, only three percent Brahmins hold the key of Power in every speheres in life. No less than sixteen Cabinet Ministers belong to the single caste BRAHMAN . Sixty four MLAs are Brahman. It is all the way a Brahman Front. So is the case in Kerala, where Malyali Brahmins decide everything. Only it is Tripura, Marxists quote Ambedkar and dalit movement so often just to appease the Dalit Indigenous majority. CPIM passed a dalit agenda long before in Hyderabad Congress. Biman Bose finalised the manuscript with active help of Tripura Dalit Minister and Poet Anil Sarkar.
Mind you, Anil sarkar runs a string of Ambedkar Mission Branches in Tripura as well as West Bengal. He happens to be a well known poet in Entire North East and holds the key of majority indigenous vote bank in Tripura. Sarkar also happens to be the Chief patron of Dalit Sahitya Movement in two Marxist ruled Bengali speaking states in India. He is equally popular in Bangladesh as well as among the dalit Bengali refugees scattered countrywide. He happens to be the organiser of annual Dalit Sanskriti Utsav and Agartal book fair.
I myself have been the Chief Guest in Dalit Sanskriti Utsav,2002 in Tripura. Sarkar also manages annual prize ceremony on Bengali dalit writing. Adawit Mallaburman Prize is instituted by Anil Sarkar. The leaders of West Bengal Dalit Sahitya Andolan and Dalit Samanyaya Smiti are the main reciepants of the Adwait Malla Burman Prize for literature. He is often censored by the party Leadership for his links with Non Marxists and dalit Movement.
Anil Sarkar wrote poems on Mayawati just after Mayawati won the Uttar Pradesh elections with land slide majority. party leaders including Brinda Karat and Subhasini Ali were agitated most. Sources tell, Anil sarkar had been issued show cause Notice for his poems on Mayawati, widely circulated by mainstream media.
Marxists hated most Mayawati and dalit movement in the Cow Belt. Marxist are known for their alliance with RSS, Congress and OBC leaders mulayam singh Yadav and lalu Prasad Yadav. Marxists never had any alliance with dalit leaders and dalit movement. Thus, anil sarkar is as much hated a person as Subhash Chakrabarti in West Bengal. High Caste CPIM leaders despise Anil Sarkar as they hated Ambedkar.As Subhas has always been cut to size, the same prescription is prescribed for the Tripura leader. But the two dissident most leaders in CPIM survive creating so much headache for the Party all these years.
Now it is a REVERSE Historical as CPIM General secretary knocked the doors of the dalit Leader Mayawati praised as Incarnation revolution by Anil Sarkar.It is considered to be a masterstroke by the CPIM leader to appease its MUSLIM DaliT prominent Vote Bank in West Bengal where the Party has to face the maximum damage if the UPA government falls and fresh election held.On the other hand, the Left parties may have snapped ties with the UPA over nuclear deal on an acrimonious note, but the CPM is not averse to supporting the Congress-led coalition after the next elections provided "that they do not betray it like this time". Senior CPM politburo member Sitaram Yechury said the present "experience will be a shadow" in the ties but did not rule out Left extending support to Congress based on the "circumstances and policies" it follows.
It seems Marxist leaders have opted for a Third Front led by no one less, But the Dalit Queen from Uttar Pradesh.Sand witched between RSS and Congress , it might be the best Escape route to keep intact prestige as well as VOTE BANK! It might also open the door for primeministership for a dalit Leader for the first time provided the fresh Elections trows up another Hung parliament. Mayawati has proved her capacity of social Engineering as well as Power bargaining despite unpleasant Corruption scandals and viscios personal ambition. She is well equipped to set new power equations and upset the Apple cart of Lal Krishna Adwani. Karat Knocking may be the first sign of the Future untold!
Both Congress and the CPI-M are not ready to face election 'right now', Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Monday said while stating that she would decide whom to support in the trust vote keeping in mind the interest of the people of West Bengal. The TC leader who is the party's lone Lok Sabha member said, "I will vote only after considering the interest of the people of Bengal." She said she would decide after her party's programme in Kolkata on July 21. Referring to the issue of Lok Sabha Speaker's continuance in office, she told a press conference that with so many voices the CPI-M was on the road to disintegration. Saying this is not the first time it has joined hands with the BJP, having done so earlier in 1977 and 1989, she said the party demonstrated lack of principle on the question of the Lok Sabha Speaker's continuance in office and survival of the UPA government.
"This becomes the consequence if a party remains in power for a long time," she emphasised.
"The controversy over the Speaker (Somnath Chatterjee) is not merely an internal party affair of the CPI-M, but also a political and constitutional issue," she told a press conference here.
Saying she hated horse-trading, Banerjee said "What is going on in Delhi is unfortunate. The battle should be fought on the basis of ideology and principles."
With the Lok Sabha polls less than a year away and with Mayawati planning to make the BSP a national force at the expense of the Congress (whose election symbol is the Hand), it was time for Mulayam and Sonia to patch up even if the immediate provocation was the Left Front’s decision to withdraw support from the UPA once the PM announced that the government would approach the IAEA “very soon” for ratification of the safeguards agreement on the Indo-US nuclear deal, which is the pre-requisite for taking the deal to the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
All of which should lay to rest any talk of a bipartisan Indian foreign policy! A ‘bad’ nuclear deal can become a ‘good’ one for the SP if it helps the party regain its relevance in India’s largest state of UP.
On the other hand , in accordance an Indian Express story, Attempts to revive the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA) received a major boost on Sunday when BSP supremo and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati called up Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu while he was touring Khammam under his “Mee Kosam (For You) Yatra”.
Sources said Mayawati spoke to Naidu on the phone after CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat called on her at her Delhi residence.
The Indian Express in its July 9 edition had reported that the BSP and TDP were trying to establish contact and that this could lead to a realignment of political forces at the Centre.
Sources said that the BSP supremo and TDP chief discussed in their “over 10-minute-long chat” the need to adopt a common strategy when the UPA Government faces a trust vote on the nuclear deal on July 22. Naidu is likely to take time off his yatra to visit Delhi on July 19 and 20, when he’s likely to meet Mayawati among other leaders.
With the Samajwadi Party leaving it in the lurch, the UNPA will more than welcome the BSP’s addition. Both the BSP and TDP, in addition to the Left, are against the nuclear deal, and cannot afford to take any position other than a “policy of equidistance” from the Congress and BJP in their states.
Sources privy to the discussions told this paper that if things fall in place, post-trust vote, Mayawati could be projected as the leader, and thus a contender for the Prime Minister’s position. Naidu is looking at having both the CPI(M) and CPI on his side, apart from adding the BSP to his alliance, for the ensuing Assembly elections in the state.
Meanwhile,far away from West Bengal, in London Biman Bose, one of India's most influential Marxist leaders, has said that the Left can consider supporting a BJP-led coalition if that party sheds what he called its "communal agenda". In surprising remarks made in London Thursday, he also said the Left may have made "a mistake" by not withdrawing its support from the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government earlier and accused the Congress of trying to "bail out" the Republican Party through the nuclear deal ahead of US elections. Bose, one of the most senior leaders in West Bengal and a member of the Communist Party of India-Marxist's (CPI-M) politburo, made his startling remarks while briefing a select group of British diplomats, bankers, and government and Commonwealth officials over dinner in London Thursday night. IANS was the only Indian media group invited to this meeting.
The dinner was hosted by industrialist Shishir Bajoria of the Kolkata-based multinational, Bajoria Group. Bose, who is general secretary of the West Bengal CPI-M, was asked pointedly if there were any circumstances under which the Left would support a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition in New Delhi.
Striking the first note of dissent within the CPM over party moves to seek Somnath Chatterjee’s resignation as Speaker and vote alongside the BJP against the trust vote being sought by the UPA government, Subhas Chakraborty, West Bengal Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs, said “the Speaker’s case should not be viewed as a CPM party affair” and “voting with the BJP will harm our party’s interests”.
Asked about the CPM pressure on Chatterjee to relinquish his post as Speaker, Chakraborty, a six-time minister, initially declined comment on what he said was the party’s “internal matter.” But then said: “The Speaker’s case should not be viewed as a CPM party affair. One must remember that when Somnath Chatterjee was chosen as Speaker of Lok Sabha, he was the unanimous choice of all coalition partners. His candidature and position should not be viewed as one that is backed by only one party. So any decision regarding him should have unanimity.”
Chakraborty was candid on the other big issue that has been troubling the party rank and file — voting with the BJP against the UPA. Asked what was his assessment about the CPM decision to vote alongside the BJP during the floor test in Parliament, he said: “Voting with the BJP will harm our party’s interests.”
Mayawati targeting Big B and me: Amar Singh
13 Jul 2008, 2000 hrs IST,PTI
MUMBAI: Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh on Sunday accused Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati of implicating him and superstar Amitabh Bachchan with the help of an investigating officer. ( Watch )
Talking to reporters here, the SP general secretary showed clippings of the "sting operation" carried out on K K Dwivedi, a UP Police officer investigating his case, and alleged that the BSP supremo was indulging in "vindictive politics."
Singh claimed that the "sting operation" was carried out by himself with a button camera attached to his shirt during the interrogation by Dwivedi.
The SP leader said Dwivedi had told him he was being allegedly forced by Mayawati to implicate him and Bachchan. Amar
Singh uses Aarushi to further malign Mayawati
Submitted by editor on Sun, 07/13/2008 - 23:03
http://www.webnewswire.com/node/444857
Amar Singh harped upon Aarushi's issue to further malign Mayawati. He talked about all details of Aarushi's details and blamed Mayawati for the fiasco.
He alleged that she tried to take back officers from UP cadre who were deputed to CBI to adversely affect the investigation. He said that Mayawati does not have respect for family values since she does not have a child.
One cheer for Mayawati
13 Jul 2008, 0127 hrs IST, Gurcharan Das
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Columnists/One_cheer_for_Mayawati/articleshow/3227306.cms
On July 1, 86 lakh children in class I and II began to learn English in government schools of Uttar Pradesh. It fulfilled a longstanding demand of parents who believe that they have lost two generations to Hindi chauvinists. They know that a child who learns English by age 10 has a natural advantage for the rest of its life. Shortage of English speakers is one reason why software companies, call centres, export oriented industry has been slow in coming to UP and the caricature of the ‘bhaiya' persists.
Mayawati's decision on English was hailed by Dalits, and for good reason. A study in Mumbai shows that among Dalit women, those who learn English rise economically and socially by marrying outside their caste. About 31% of Dalit women who knew English had inter-caste marriages compared to 9% who did not know English. This makes sense. Knowing English gives a Dalit woman a chance to work in call centres and other modern jobs where there are fewer caste barriers. Is Mayawati finally realising that there may be more votes in meeting people's real needs than in erecting statues to Ambedkar? She has also ordered toilets for girls in 90,000 primary schools.
It must have taken some courage to challenge the teachers' union and the Hindi establishment. So, why do i offer only a single cheer to Mayawati? I would give her three cheers had she attacked the basic disease of teacher absenteeism. The famous Kremer-Murlidharan report shows that one in four teachers is not present in school, and one in four present is not teaching. As a result, 53.1% of UP's children in Class V cannot read a Class II text, according to ASER surveys. Nearly 67.2% of children in urban UP and 29.1% in rural UP are now in private schools. What is the answer? Quite simply, the government should fund students and not schools.
When a child reaches age 5, the government should give parents a voucher (like a scholarship), which can only be exchanged for education at a school of the parent's choice. Since all parents want a good school for their kids, vouchers will create competition among schools. As vouchers will be the only source of a school's income, and as teachers will be paid salaries only from vouchers, teachers will show up and even teach with inspiration. Teachers will have an incentive to perform. Good teachers will be able to earn more thanks to higher voucher income earned by their school. Teacher morale will thus rise. They will be accountable to parents rather than remote officials in the state capital.
Competition for vouchers will improve both government and private schools. Bad schools will close down, good ones will flourish. The poorest parents will be able to send their child to a quality school. The ability to exit their children from a bad school is hugely empowering — it is like having a‘voice' in a democracy. The rich have it because of their money power. Vouchers will give them purchasing power and a ‘voice'. A poor child will get the same opportunity as a rich one to rise in the world, and we will progress to our dream of equality of opportunity.
Mayawati used to be a teacher. So, she will appreciate this public-private partnership. Teachers' unions will oppose
her, of course. She will be scared of losing lakhs of teachers' votes, but she must remember that she will gain crores of votes of grateful parents. I'm convinced that more and more sensible policies will come from Dalit/OBC leaders who have fewer vested interests to protect (like teachers' unions).
Maya introduces tough law to check organised crime
31 Oct 2007, 1918 hrs IST,PTI
LUCKNOW: The Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh has introduced a tough legislation to prevent, tackle and control organised crime with death penalty as the maximum punishment.
Under the provisions of the Bill, the government would not provide police security to members of the crime syndicate whose list would be kept at police stations, a move seen as the government's attempt to withdraw security to politicians with criminal antecedents.
Tabling the Uttar Pradesh Organised Crime Control Bill, 2007, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Lalji Verma said the Bill was necessitated as existing legal provisions appear to be inadequate to tackle and control organised crime.
It is apprehended that there is a nexus between organised crime syndicates and terrorists outfits and there are reasons to believe that such syndicates are active in the state, the Bill said.
The Bill provides for capital punishment or life imprisonment and a minimum fine of Rs. one lakh in case of death of a person as a result of the crime.
Those providing shelter or facilitates commitment of such a crime would face imprisonment for a minimum period of five years besides fine.
According to the Bill, organised crime would include terrorist activities, kidnapping for ransom, trying to obtain government tenders by force, contract killings, occupying a vacant government or private land through forged documents or by force, money laundering, indulging in human trafficking, manufacture of spurious drugs.
New panel to probe UP recruitment scam
5 Oct 2007, 0145 hrs IST,TNN
LUCKNOW: In an attempt to tighten the noose around former PWD minister Shivpal Singh Yadav, the Mayawati government has decided to set up a new committee to probe the charges of corruption and political pressure in the recruitment of police and PAC constables during the Mulayam regime.
The new committee will be headed by chief secretary P K Mishra. The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting presided over by CM Mayawati in Lucknow on Thursday. The two other members of the panel are DGP Vikram Singh and divisional commissioner, Lucknow, Vijay Shanker Pandey.
The move is being seen as a retaliation by CM Mayawati as it comes a day after Shivpal, Mulayam's brother, made unprintable comments against her, while Mulayam threatened to have Shailja Kant Mishra, ADG, special task force, arrested on coming to power. While declaring war on the government, the Yadav brothers went hammer and tongs against the S K Mishra committee report.
Meanwhile, the cabinet decided to wind up the Mishra committee which completed its inquiries into all the 42 recruitment boards and submitted its reports to the government. The cases of two boards are pending before the Allahabad High Court and those of eight others have been referred to the advocate-general for action.
The new committee will suggest how to proceed with fresh recruitment process and also suggest ways to prevent recurrence of the irregularities committed during the previous regime.
Besides, the committee will also examine the recommendations made by another panel headed by home secretary Renuka Kumar on improving the recruitment process. The most important task assigned to the new committee is to look into the allegations of corruption against those who put undue pressure on police officers for recruitment.
Maya shutters farm retail stores of Reliance, RPG
24 Aug 2007, 0107 hrs IST,TNN
LUCKNOW: After opposition in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand to retail chains selling farm produce, it was the turn of Uttar Pradesh to slam its doors on Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Fresh stores and also RPG group's Spencer's.
In a sudden policy switch, chief minister Mayawati and her cabinet on Thursday decided to order closure of 10 Reliance Fresh stores which had opened in Lucknow on Wednesday. The opening of the stores coincided with Mayawati's completion of 100 days in office.
There was confusion about the scope of the government's decision. While the CM referred to "opposition of people to the opening of Reliance Fresh stores in Lucknow and Varanasi," she did not specify whether the ban would cover malls and Reliance Fresh stores in Ghaziabad and Noida though there have been trader demonstrations in Ghaziabad as well against retail chains.
A senior government official later clarified that counters selling fruit and vegetables were also to be closed
and so would Reliance Fresh stores in Ghaziabad and Noida. The order comes into immediate effect.
Ghaziabad has 12 Reliance Fresh outlets, 13 of Subhiksha and three Spencer's stores. Noida has three of Reliance Fresh, six Subhiksha outlets and one of Spencer's.
There are also some other retail chains for fruits and vegetables. It's not immediately clear whether the ban would affect all these stores or would be restricted to Reliance Fresh and Spencer's.
Political ammo in Ambani rift
JAYANTA ROY CHOWDHURY & R. SURYAMURTHY
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080714/jsp/business/story_9546389.jsp
Mukesh and Anil Ambani: Battle intensifies
New Delhi, July 13: The battle between the Ambani brothers, till now confined to the boardrooms and courts, is threatening to spill into the political arena, though all concerned deny it.
Elder brother Mukesh, who is believed to be close to several Congress leaders, could be in a fix if certain “suggestions” for changes in the retail and oil policies made by the Samajwadi Party are accepted.
The party, with Amar Singh leading the charge, have not only ruled out foreign direct investment in the domestic retail market but also suggested the setting up of a regulator to ensure that small stores were not affected by the bigger players. Mukesh, through Reliance Fresh, is setting up one of the biggest domestic retail chains in the country.
The Uttar Pradesh-based Samajwadi Party, an offshoot of the Socialist movement, has also demanded a tax on the “windfall” profit made by Mukesh’s Jamnagar refinery from selling petroleum products in the global market. The refinery enjoys the status of an export-oriented unit and is tax exempt.
Samajwadi Party leaders say their demands have nothing to do with the rivalry between the Ambani brothers, though younger brother Anil is known for his proximity to the party. Their contention is that the tax, if imposed, could fetch the government Rs 100,000 crore in revenue.
The party is also believed to have demanded that the production of gas from newly discovered fields be allowed only after court proceedings over the gas allocations are settled.
The brothers are caught in a legal spat over the pricing and allocation of gas from the Krishna-Godavari basin, where Mukesh’s Reliance Industries has made a huge find.
In telecom, Mukesh has claimed the right of first refusal over a stake sale in Anil’s Reliance Communications (R-Com).
The younger Ambani at one stage was reported to be considering the transfer of a significant chunk of R-Com to South Africa’s MTN as part of a complex reverse merger deal.
The party has also made some other suggestions that could impact the way telecom firms compete.
Amar Singh had demanded in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that GSM operators be charged a one-time market-linked fee for spectrum held beyond 6.2 Mhz.
While this is yet to be accepted, the telecom regulator, nudged some say by the government, has agreed to hike the minimum base price by 25 per cent to Rs 2,200 crore for the auction of pan-India 3G licences.
Many believe that Mukesh has enough clout in Delhi to be able to counter moves that could impact his business empire.
Suspense over Chatterjee continues
Press Trust of India / New Delhi/Kolkata July 14, 2008, 17:50 IST
http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage_c_online.php?leftnm=10&bKeyFlag=IN&autono=42134
Suspense over Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee continued today with CPI(M) appearing to put further pressure on him but a senior party leader came out in support of his continuance in the post.
With Chatterjee apparently reluctant to quit the post, CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat issued a statement in which he said he has already stated that any decision will be taken by the Speaker himself.
"This has been reiterated by the Speaker through a statement by his office on July 10, 2008," he said in the release.
Interestingly, Karat called the Speaker as "Comrade" Somanth Chatterjee and refered to a lot of speculation in the media regarding his position.
"We do not want the office of the Speaker being dragged into any unnecessary controversy," Karat said.
While there was no word from the Speaker, maverick CPI(M) Leader from West Bengal Subhas Chakrabarty, considered a protege of Marxist patriarch Jyoti Basu, said the post of Speaker has its sanctity and is above politics.
Chatterjee was elected unanimously by members of all parties and his case should not be viewed as a CPI(M) party affair, he said.
While withdrawing support to the UPA Government on July nine, the Left parties put the Speaker's name in the list of MPs for the purpose.
You are Comrade Somnath first, Basu tells LS Speaker
14 Jul, 2008, 0149 hrs IST, ET Bureau
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/You_are_Comrade_Somnath_first_Basu_tells_LS_Speaker/articleshow/3229622.cms
NEW DELHI/KOLKATA: With CPM general secretary Prakash Karat making it clear that he will have to quit the Speaker’s post, Mr Somnath Chatterjee may find it difficult to delay the inevitable. Mr Chatterjee, who travelled to Kolkata for a meeting with Jyoti Basu, is learnt to have got the same advise: Toe the party line.
After Mr Prakash Karat included Mr Chatterjee’s name in the list of MPs snapping ties with the government, the Speaker’s office had argued that the Speaker cannot be dragged into a partisan political controversy. It reminded that he was elected by the Lok Sabha, unopposed.
Mr Karat, however, made it known that Mr Chatterjee, who was elected on a CPM ticket, should take the line of the party and ‘dissociate from the government’. Incidentally, the Speaker’s post was a price for the CPM’s wholesome backing for the Congress’ power project. When the offer was made in 2004, the party had deliberated on the issue at length. The offer was taken up under pressure from its West Bengal unit.
While there is no confirmation on whether Mr Basu had actually urged him to step down, top political circles close to the developments hinted that it was nearly certain that Mr Chatterjee would relinquish `Speakership’ as his party had included his name in the list of Left MPs that has been submitted to President Pratibha Patil in the run up to a trust vote against the UPA government.
Mr Chatterjee had reportedly taken exception to his name being included in the list of Left MPs to the President.
Mr Chatterjee’s meeting with Mr Basu came two days after chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and industry minister Nirupam Sen met the Marxist veteran reportedly at the instance of the party leadership to persuade the Speaker to step down. Mr Basu, according to party insiders, stressed on projecting a united face of the Left on the trust vote issue.
CPM politburo member Sitaram Yechury said in Delhi on Saturday that the Speaker understands the political situation and would take an appropriate decision at the appropriate time.
Earlier in the day, external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee called on Mr Basu to assess the CPM’s stand on Mr Chatterjee’s continuance as the Speaker. Mr Mukherjee, who was with Mr Basu for 15 minutes, said he met the CPM leader to explain the circumstances under which the coalition collapsed.
Describing Mr Basu and Mr Harkishan Singh Surjeet as architects of the UPA-Left coalition, he said he thought it was his moral duty to explain to Mr Basu why the coalition arrangement between the Left parties and the UPA failed.
Mr Mukherjee was at his affable best following his session with the CPM patriarch. “After all, Mr Basu was the architect of the UPA government as it was he who had convinced his party leaders back in 2004 to support the Congress to run the central government, primarily to keep the BJP at bay.
Accordingly, I believed it was my duty to meet the veteran leader and explain why we had failed to continue our relationship with the Left. Basu is also the most respected national leader,” he told reporters on Sunday outside Indira Bhavan.
Congress sources indicated that Mr Mukherjee had tried to convince Basu that the “Left parties, especially the CPM, should not play a major role in pulling down the UPA government.
While the CPM has all along maintained that it is dead against the Indo-US nuke deal, Mr Mukherjee is learnt to have told Mr Basu that “the Left should not do anything which would help the BJP to topple the Congress-led government before it completes its five-year term”.
Congress sources added that Mukherjee had alerted Basu about BJP’s intentions to hold CPM responsible for the fall of the UPA government.
Congress pins hopes on Jyoti Basu
13 Jul 2008, 1356 hrs IST,Times Now
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Congress_pins_hopes_on_Jyoti_Basu/articleshow/3228282.cms
KOLKATA: Senior Congress leader and India's Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee met the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) veteran Jyoti Basu here on Sunday to explain the reasons of the Cong-Left split. However, the visit was presumably aimed at ensuring Basu's help in making sure the Left does not vote against the UPA government in the trust vote.
Though Mukherjee termed it a courtesy call, it's believed Pranab Mukherjee was trying to persuade the Left to abstain during the trust vote against the UPA government.
Pranab Mukherjee's meeting comes ahead of Basu's meeting with Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee.
Basu had asked the top CPM leaders on Friday to refrain from voting against the UPA.
"When this UPA-Left coalition was established, four years two months ago, then Jyoti Basu and Harkishen Singh Surjeet were the two architects of this coalition arrangement between UPA and the Left. I thought as the leader of Lok Sabha, it is my responsibility to explain, why this coalition failed. I took this opportunity to explain that." Mukherjee said.
Not War, Philosophy of Love agaist Terrorism
Written by
Palash
In that war for Equality
Baba sahib attacked the Heaven!
The gods were trembling
And the Almighty lost his on eye!
Continue the War
It is not stopped at all
How much we stotre
Even today Intact is
the Stone( Untouchability)!
Let us join the War
The war Between
Dalits and Aristrocrates!
Sometimes it happens
To be a carnival
Sometimes Bloodshed!
From Anil sarkar on Ambedkar
Prof T B Vijayakumar from Thrissur,Kerala called me few days back and wrote a thoght provoking mail involving SC ST OBC status in Left ruled states in India. I had a telephonic talk with the Professor and seeking answers to his burning questions. Meanwhile, I got an opportunity to meet the Marxist Minister and Poet Anil Sarkar, one of the architect of CPIM`s Dalit agenda passed in Hyderabad congress years passed. Anil sarkar was also present on the dias of National Dalit Bengali Refugee convention held in Abedkar Bhavan, New delhi on 21st August last. Anil Sarkar is one of the most powerful and respected political leader in North East. He advocates for developemental Corridors in NorthEast while he continues his war for Social Justice for dalits, tribals and minorities. He prefers literature and culture as tools of changes to mere politicalistion and vote Bank mobilisation. He philosophises: Since all the lyrics and literature have roots in the folk, cultural revolution must begin only from there! He considers Chaitanya Mahaprabhu the greatest rebel who provided the common masses the right to love and ensured the freedom of faith and religion.Vaishnav Andolan was the most powerful brekthrough to break the Brahminical Hegemony challanging State Power.In addition to his deep influences on Hinduism (some contend that Hinduism in Bengal might have been eradicated but for him), Chaitanya's cultural legacy in Bengal remains deep, with many residents performing daily worship to him as an avatar of Krishna. Some attribute to him a Renaissance in Benga, different from the more well known 19th century Bengal Renaissance. Salimullah Khan, a noted linguist, maintains, "Sixteenth century is the time of Chaitanya Dev, and it is the beginning of Modernism in Bengal. The concept of 'humanity' that came into fruition is contemporaneous with that of Europe". Chaitanya also influenced the Baul movement of Bengal, which some say was established by the son of his close friend Nityananda and is credited with locating a fragment of the lost scripture, Brahma Samhita.
Although He is the Supreme Lord, Krishna, He posed as a devotee, and revealed the most sublime sentiments and the natural disposition of a devotee. He taught us by His own example how to establish a connection with the Lord through the practice of pure devotion. When Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared in this world, He brought His dearest servitors with Him, personalities such as Lord Nityananda Prabhu, Sri Advaita Acharya, Sri Gadadhar Pandit, Srivas Thakur, and other exalted associates, and along with these devotees He spread the Yuga-dharma, or the practice most recommended for the attainment of pure love for Sri Sri Radha-Krishna. That process is Harinam Sankirtan, or the congregational chanting of the Holy Names of the Lord:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
The marxist minister, an eminent dalit poet Anil Sarkar is the Patron for The boul convention to be organised on 19th and 20th september ahead by Tripura tribal Autonomous council in its headquarter Khumlung. Chief erxecutive member Aghor Deb Burman and another memebr Radhacharan Deb Burman are mobilising thousnads of bouls in North east to launch the Philosophy of Love to resist Terrorism! He is also the patron of more tahn fifty ambedkar mission units all over Tripura. ambedkar Mission has its units in bengal also. Anil Sarkar reinvents the dalit and subaltern ideology around Ambedkar, Karl Marx and Rabindra Nath Tagore.He sees through history rather as an Ambedkaraite and rejects all the myths as false!He visualise social justice in a cultural revolution with campaigning for folk culture. Folk festivals are the dearest medium for mass mobilisation for him. His dalit movement begins with folk essentially. He also projects casteology and the concept of Caste Struggle and believes in liberation via Class Struggle.Anil sarkar reads rabindra literature identifying its dalit content and negating brahminical bangla nationality. His nationality is essentially a dalit nationality which is identical with gautam Buddha, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Ambedkar and nowhere it contradicts materialist interpratation of history or the ideology Marxism!
Anil sarkar earlier had demanded to identify Creamy Layer in Caste Hindu Society while the Creamy Layer was identified to deny reservation. He demanded Constition amendment to accomodate deprived communities including OBCs and religious minorities in reservation and quota! Anil sarkar is prompt to support karunanidhi for his decision for reservation to religious minorities. He claims that governemnet of Tripura has implemented reservation and quota cent percent.He regrets that Tripura has not got a private sector as it is untouchable literally due to lack of connectivity. He is sure that in that case Tripura would have implemented the quota. In Tripura the population ratiohappens to be as follows: Tribals 31 percent, SC 17 percent, minorities 8 percent and OBC 24 percent. Despite insurgency problems, Anil babu claims that Tripura is the rare example of coexistence of Tribal Population with the mainstream nontribals!
Anil Sarkar demands that Judicial barriers should not be hinderance in the way of Social justice! He wrote poems on Mayawati but criticises her for withdrawing reservation recommendations for dalit Bengali refugees in UP. He demands that Ms Maywati shoud give SC status to namoshudras and Pods, the dalit Bengali refugees in UP.
The Marxist minister asys that the partition victim bengali dalit refugees who are rehabiliated or resettled themselves in different parts of the country are the most deprived lot in post independence India. they have to pay for freedom! He also recognises these communities as the main forces of National dalit Movement in Pre Independence India! He alleged that barring Assam,Orrissa and West Bengal , nowhere the dalit Bengali Refugees were granted resevation even after full sixty years of independence as these people were ejected out of their homeland , the base of National dalit Movement. Only these people electd and ensured the entry of Dr Ambedkar to the constitution Assembly and in return Ambedkar made reservation a mandatory provision in the constitution of Independent India. Ironically for whom the Dalits SC, ST and OBC enjoy reservation and quota , they themeselves remain deprived of.
He said,` At last we organised the National dalit Bengali Refugee Convention in Ambedkar Bhavan, New delhi on August 21st last. Vrinda karat and varadarajan led the event.It is tragic that the most militant community in India, The Namoshudras have been dehumanised and they live a subhuman life. They have no opportunity in Independent India. With this convention I am sure that they would mobilise themselves and return to Delhi in lacs to get their rightful right of reservation,education and mother tongue!’
He said,` There is no historical reality of the Myth of Rama. In North Rama is worshipped whereas in South Ravana is worshipped.Michael Madhusudan Dutta, the 19th century Bengali poet painted Rama as a villain in his classic Meghnad badh Kavay whereas Ravan`s Son Meghnad happens to be the hero and his wife Pramila , the heroine.So the matter is controversial and debated all along the history of Indian Intelligentsia!It is debated till this date.But roughly, it iis quite unfortunate that Indian opportunist Politics cunningly depends on this false Myth of Rama! Just to mobilise favourable Vote Bank!’
According to the Poet, who was awarded by Poetry Foundation only last evening in Kolkata for his contribution to the genre and whose poems on dalit Kanya Mayawati have been flashed worldwide as his idetity basically is based on his Marxist ideoplogy, war against Terrorism is not the answer to Terrorism. It rather provokes the chain reactions, he says. He may not accept, but as I know and believe he is not asupporter of military solution of nationality problems in North East and in the Rest of India or anywhere inthis Galaxy.
Anil sarkar says that the philosophy of Love is the best answer to terrorism! He mobilises the folk artists, the Bouls, singers and folk artists of different genre to resist subvertive activities.
Should President Bush learn a lesson?
I have detaild discussions with him ranging to Ram, Ram Mandir and Ramsetu to SC ST and OBC Minority staus in general all over the country. Understandablly he avoids particular questions involving West Bengal and Keral as a responsible seniormost minister of tripura, an Untouchable state itself. But he rather focuses on his own state while dealing with SC ST OBC Minority issues.
I have to answer some of the questions of Prof Vijay Kumar anothjer day. But I am forwarding his correspondence with this piece as those questions are very relevant as relevant is the stance of the dalit Poet and Marxist minister anil sarkar!
Well, as this is quite our focul point that the Black Dalit joint forum is mandatory to resist post modern Galaxy Manusmriti Order ruled by zionist Brahminical Imperialists and at the same time , we consider Apartheid and Untouchability are two sides of the same coin as aborigin Indian have always been Black Untouchability who were defeated, killed, enslaved and displaced time to time. The process is so refined nowadays in the global Village! We have not to go tracing the line of history as the stream of history is so alive, haunting! Infinite persecution and demographic rearrangement is the key of White as well as zionist Brahminical Hegemony worldwide. Islamophobia and dalit hatred based anti terror mechaninsm is nothing but the best expression of the Nazi legacy of liquidation and dehumanisatio right through the history. Thus, while Anil sarkar emphasises that the Myth Of ramchandra is not a reality at all and toes the line of Chaitany MahaPrabhu taming Jagai madhai to deal with Terrorism and cultural aliegnation and separatism, he stands quite outstanding as a dalit Poet and a marxist Leader should stand!
Aniil Sarkar said,` Chaitanya mahaprabhu was the first individual in History of Hindu rule in Indian Subcontinent who dared to break Brahminical Hegemony. he ensured the freedom of Religion for the marginalised Dalit masses! He unified the Untouchable Blacks to break white supremacy and his movement, hence, is still quite relevent. Not only religion, with highclass classic spiritual philosophy his clan produced supreme quality literature , art and music all rooted in folk culture!Sanskrit Poet jaideV was the origianl Boul but Chaitnya mahaprabhu`s impute in deh Tatva and Bouldhara was quite an aborigins!
Jaidev`s native palce Kenduli happnes to be the most sacred place for Bauls accross the border. Joydev Kenduli is famous for Fair in MakarSankranti. This place is visited by millions of people during this period of year to take a holy dip in the River Ajay. The fair in question is the three-day-long annual festival that is held in the middle of January at Kenduli village in Birbhum . Kenduli is the birth-placeof the great Sanskrit poet Joydeb . Joydeb's 'Gitagovindam' is a collectionof poems on the divine love between Lord Krishna and Radha . So, the Vaishnavites consider Kenduli as a place of pilgrimage and visit this place atthis time of the year . Moreover, Joydeb, being the propounder of attaining
salvation through love, is revered by the bauls of Bangla .
These bauls are a mysterious lot . Clad in saffron robes, you will find them wandering from village to village singing songs, accompanied by their one-stringed instruments.
The fair becomes More lively after dark, just like the Pujas . Spread in and around the village, along the bank of river Ajoy, it was so large that, at first, one feels lost and just drifted along with the tide of humanity that was all around . In
the middle is the temple of Radha and Krishna . Around it, were shops selling various kinds of goods . From articles of daily use to fisherman's nets, you could find them all here . Equally varied are the nature of food being sold .
Then there were the 'aakhras' or the sheds belonging to the various sects of Vaishnavites . At a distance, the usual 'giant wheel' and 'merry-go-round' could be seen . At all the aakhras, we saw people dressed in saffron, singing songs in their high-pitched voices . There were so many microphones blaring that it sounded like total confusion .
Gita Govinda ("Song of the Cowherd") is a landmark literature in Sanskrit by poet Jaidev. It describes the relationship between Krishna and the gopis of Vrindavana, and in particular his love affair with Radha. This work has been of great importance in the development of the bhakti traditions of Hinduism.
In the middle of the 8th century A.D, the first Gopaldev by a republican choice was elected to the throne of Bengal and he founded the Pal dynasty. At that time Tantric Buddhism was at its peak of influence in Bengal, having two opposing doctrines of preaching, viz., Bajrajan and Sahajjan. A large class of poor and underprivileged people at that time first adopted Sahajia Buddhism and subsequently got converted to Islam. Though Muslim by their religion they continued to carry some of their old religious practices and ideas. They would shave off their heads as in their past and kept on practicing and believing in many of the basic creeds of Sahajia Buddhism. They came to be known as ?Fakirs? or ?Nerar Fakirs?. They were also strongly influenced by Sufism and simultaneously, to some extent of the Vaishnavism of Goud, propounded by Sri Chaitanyadev.
Another down-trodden, poor class people which did not convert to Islam despite neglect and oppression meted out to them by the upper strata members of the contemporary society and had to stay aloof as outcastes, chose to espouse the new ideas of Vaishnavism but kept on adhering to some of the essential practices of the tantric Buddhism. To indicate their converted status from Buddhism to Vaishnavism, they would be known as ?Nera-Neri?. It is said that Biravadra, the son of Sri Nityananda, brought them under the fold of Vishnavism. The Bauls believe that Sri Chaitanya, the great proponent and preacher of the Vaishnav cult of Goud, was the father of their religion and the book named ?Chaitanyacharitamrita? by Sri Krishnadas Kaviraj is believed by them to contain hidden references of the basic concept of their religion. The communion of the eternal Masculine and the eternal Feminine, symbolized through the love and union of Radha and Krishna known to them as the Radha-Krishna creed is also synonymous to them as Sri Chaitanya creed.
The Bauls believe that Sri Chaitanya was the symbol of the ultimate union of the eternal Masculine and the eternal Feminine, viz., Radha and Krishna. This concept of the Radha-Krishna creed or the Sri Chaitanya creed also exerted strong influence upon the Muslim Bouls. They accepted Sri Chaitanya as a great prophet and since many of the ideas of Vaishnavism of Goud preached by him echo the same beliefs and religious emotions nurtured by them, many of their songs are found to have been composed on these ideas.
The Hindu Paintings of Krishna's playful dalliances with the 'gopis' are interpreted as symbolic of the loving interplay between God and the human soul. Radha's unflinching love for Krishna and their relationship are often interpreted as the human quest for union with the divine. This kind of love is of the highest form of devotion in Vaishnavism, and is symbolically represented as the bond between the wife and husband.
Radha, daughter of Vrishabhanu, was Krishna's faithful companion since childhood and subsequently, lover during that period of his life when he lived among the cowherds of Vrindavan. Their childhood intimacy, as projected through lore, was indicative of the love that was to blossom between them - they played, they danced, they fought, they grew up together and wanted to be together forever, but the world pulled them apart. He departed to safeguard the virtues of truth, and she waited for him. He vanquished his enemies, became the king, and came to be worshipped as a lord of the universe. She waited for him. He married Rukmini and Satyabhama, raised a family, fought the great war of Ayodhya, and she still held a torch for him. So great was Radha's love for Krishna that even today her name is uttered whenever Krishna is referred to, and Krishna worship is though to be incomplete without the deification of Radha.
For ages, this evergreen love theme has engrossed poets, painters, musicians and all Krishna devotees alike.
The origin of the Baul can be traced back to the 16th century to the time of the advent of leader Chiatanya Deva (1486-1533). Although they embraced many of the influences of Shri Chaitanya Deva, they quickly became known as a unique, free-thinking group. They tended to incorporate theory and customary interactions from the many different religions in the region, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sufism, giving rise to new theories that became known as the Baul philosophy. Without prejudice, both Muslims and Hindus were attracted to the Baul ways and were graciously included within their sect. Many of these people changed their names, taking on Baul names, to proclaim their devotion to the Baul philosophy and way of life.Even as simple street musicians, the Bauls were considered important teachers in lessons of human life and philosophy. As philosophers and sadhaks, song was their teaching instrument as they continued their search for God. They were known as performers 'mad' in a worshipping trance of joy - transcending above both good and bad. Though fond of both Hinduism and Islam, the Baul evolved into a religion focused on the individual and centered on a spiritual quest for God from within. They came to believe that God lives within each of us: translated simply, they believe the soul that lives in all human bodies is God.
"The popular romantic imagination everywhere seeks expression through its chosen bards: we have our Bob Dylans and Leonard Cohens, the Bengalis have thier Bauls. All Bauls hold only this in common: that God is hidden in the heart of man, and neither priest nor prophet, nor the ritual of any organised religion, will help man to find him there. The Bauls feel that both [hindu] temple and [muslim] mosque stand across the path to truth, blocking the search. The search for God is one which everyone must carry out for himself." Capwell thinks that "the Baul tradition is a fusion of elements from Buddhism, Saktism (worshippers of goddess Kali - the source of all energies), Vaisnavism (worshippers of Lord Visnu) and Sufi Islam, may well have its roots in the tantrik Buddhism of Bengal in the 9th and 10th centuries
Mystic singers, wandering minstrels, the Baul of Bengal preserve one of the oldest and fascinating Indian tradition. Born from the meeting of different religious expressions, such as Tantrism, Buddhism, Sufism, Vaishnavism they consacrate their existence to dance, music and singing, conveying intimate joy, universal brotherhood, discovering of divine in man’s heart.
The Bouls are the folk heroes of Bengal.The Bouls of Bengal are the wanderers at all time. The tonic drone of their Ektara is associated with mendicants seeking alms and carries overtonesof sacrifi ce and homelessness – the spirit of the Bairagi.The Bauls of Bengal are spiritual sect of traveling minstrels whose songs of joy, love, and longing for a mystical union with the divine have captivated audiences for the past century. They are saffron-clad folk singers who traditionally live in the huts of rural Bengal though they can be found traveling, dancing, and singing their way around the world. Their livelihood depends entirely on donations which have been given to them freely over the centuries. They are teachers and spiritual gurus and they are a peace loving people that embrace all and quarrel with none.The Baul tradition cannot be characterised by any known or distinct doctrine. According to Edward C. Dimock, Jr. the term baul encompasses "a wide rage of religious opinion, traceable to several Hindu schools of thought, to Sufi Islam, and much that is traceable only to a man's own view of how he relates to God.
These orthodox religions see their unconventional modes of worship somewhat offensive as Bauls tend to reject the rigid rituals and the social mores generally found to be acceptable in their mainstream society. Hence, the name 'Baul' was given to them, which is derived from the Sanskrit word 'batul' which literally means 'afflicted with the wind' or 'mad'. It is this brand as 'mad' together with their acceptance of all men regardless of race, creed, or religion that sets the Baul apart from most in this tortured and war torn region. Another interesting meaning for the name Baul comes from the Persian word 'aul' meaning a 'very important person'. Indeed as teachers, gurus, and proponents of universal brotherhood, this latter definition is very appropriate.
The great Buddhist, saint Saraha remarked, 'In my wanderings, I have visited shrines and other places of pilgrimage, but I have not seen another shrine as blissful as my body.'
rom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (also transliterated Caitanya, IAST caitanya mahaprabhu) (Bengali ?????? ????????) (1486 - 1534), was an ascetic Vaishnava monk and social reformer in 16th century Bengal[1], (present-day West Bengal and Bangladesh) and Orissa, India[2]. Chaitanya was a notable proponent for the Vaishnava school of Bhakti yoga (meaning loving devotion to Krishna/God) based on the philosophy of the Bhagavata Purana and Bhagavad Gita[3]. Specifically he worshipped the forms of Radha and Krishna and popularised the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra[4]. His line of followers, known as Gaudiya Vaishnavas, revere him as an avatar of Krishna in the mood of Radharani[5] who was prophesised to appear in the later verses of the Bhagavata Purana.[6]
He was also sometimes referred to by the names Gaura (Sanskrit for "the fair / golden one") due to his light skin complexion[7], and Nimai due to his being born underneath a Neem tree[8]. There are numerous biographies available from the time giving details of Chaitanya's life, the most prominent ones being the Chaitanya Charitamrita of Krishnadasa Kaviraja Goswami and the earlier Chaitanya Bhagavata of Vrindavana Dasa Thakura[9] (both originally written in the Bengali language but now widely available in English and other languages) and the Chaitanya Mangala, written by Lochana Dasa Thakura.[
Despite having been initiated in the Madhvacharya tradition, Chaitanya's philosophy is sometimes regarded as a tradition of his own within the Vaishnava framework - having some marked differences with the practices and the theology of other followers of Madhvacharya.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is not known to have written anything himself except for a series of verses known as the Siksastaka, "eight verses of instruction"[20] which he spoke were recorded by one of his close colleagues. The eight verses created by Mahaprabhu are considered to contain the complete philosophy of Gaudiya Vaishnavism in condensed form. Chaitanya requested a select few among his followers (who later came to be known as the Six Gosvamis of Vrindavan) to systematically present the theology of bhakti he had taught to them in their own writings[21]. The six saints and theologians were Rupa Goswami, Sanatana Goswami, Gopala Bhatta Goswami, Raghunatha Bhatta Goswami, Raghunatha dasa Goswami and Jiva Goswami, a nephew of brothers Rupa and Sanatana. These individuals were responsible for systematizing Gaudiya Vaishnava Theology.
Narottama Dasa Thakur, Srinivasa Acarya and Syamananda Pandit were among the stalwarts of the second generation of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Having studied under Jiva Goswami, they were instrumental in propagating the teachings of the Goswamis throughout Bengal, Orissa and other regions of Eastern India. Many among their associates, such as Ramacandra Kaviraja and Ganga Narayan Chakravarti, were also eminent teachers in their own right.[22]
The festival of Kheturi, presided over by Jahnava Thakurani[23], the wife of Nityananda Prabhu, was the first time the leaders of the various branches of Chaitanya's followers assembled together. Through such festivals, members of the loosely organized tradition became acquainted with other branches along with their respective theological and practical nuances[24]. Around these times, the disciples and descendants of Nityananda and Advaita Acharya, headed by Virabhadra and Krishna Mishra respectively, started their family lineages (vamsa) to maintain the tradition. The vamsa descending from Nityananda through his son Virabhadra forms the most prominent branch of the modern Gaudiya tradition, though descendants of Advaita, along with the descendants of many other associates of Chaitanya, maintain their following especially in the rural areas of Bengal. Gopala Guru Goswami, a young associate of Chaitanya and a follower of Vakresvara Pandit, founded another branch based in Orissa. The writings of Gopala, along with those of his disciple Dhyanacandra Goswami, have had a substantial influence on the methods of internal worship in the tradition.
20th C. English language version of Chaitanya's biography, translated by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.In the 20th century the teachings of Chaitanya were brought to the West by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, a representative of the Saraswata (i.e. disciples of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura) branch of Chaitanya's tradition. Bhaktivedanta Swami founded his movement known as The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) to spread Chaitanya's teachings throughout the world.[25]. Saraswata gurus and acharyas, members of the Goswami lineages and several other Hindu sects which revere Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, including devotees from the major Vaishnava holy places in Mathura District, West Bengal and Orissa, also established temples dedicated to Krishna and Chaitanya outside India in the closing decades of the 20th century. In the 21st century Vaishnava bhakti is now also being studied through the academic medium of Krishnology in a number of academic institutions[26]
Vijay Kumar
show details 3:33 pm (2 hours ago)
Prof T B Vijayakumar
Vice Chairman
All Kerala Reservation Protection Front [An umbrella organisation of 56 S C, S T, OBC communities]
Chief Public relations officer
"
Vice President
Akhila Kerala Ezhuthachan Samajam
Ground Floor, Park House, Round North
Thrissur- 1
Kerala State
M:9446229998
Ph:0487-2352956
Email: vapn2005@yahoo.co.in
Dear Mr Biswas
Kindly refer my telephonic talk with you today morning. All your blog postings are wonderful and timely.congratulations!!!
Your assessment of Indian situation is correct.
I want to know more about WB dalits, OBC's and Muslims. What about the historicity of upper caste domination in Bengal using Brahmanical Marxism?
Muslims in Kerala 23% are fully politicised.
Why not in Bengal?
In Kerala Left parties are very entrenched ; but no continuous red rule.
Kerala suffers from two cancerous ideologies,Brahmanism and Marxism.
How to get rid of this nuisance?
I am an OBC Ambedkarite activist and firmly believe that only dalits can lead Indian revolution.
Our first task is to finish most dreaded judicial Brahmanical terrorism. There is a parliamentary standing committee reccommendation advising the government to implement SC, ST, OBC. reservation in the appointment of supreme court and High court judges. report is attached.
Kindly organise a campaign for that.
I want to make blogs on your lines.
Kindly guide me.
Earlier I used to write in Dalit Voice.
Through DV I came to know about you.
with warmest regards
Prof T B Vijayakumar
Thrissur
Kerala
PS: I want to know more about Namasudras and their deprivation and Upper caste conspiracy against them. Mr S K Biswas was known to me. At present I have no contact.
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PARLIAMENT OF INDIA
RAJYA SABHA
DEPARTMENT RELATED PARLIAMENTARY STANDING COMMITTEE ON PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES, LAW AND JUSTICE
TWENTY FIRST REPORT
ON
THE JUDGES (INQUIRY) BILL, 2006
(PRESENTED TO THE RAJYA SABHA ON 17TH AUGUST 2007)
(LAID ON THE TABLE OF THE LOK SABHA ON 17TH AUGUST, 2007)
RAJYA SABHA SECRETARIAT
NEW DELHI
AUGUST, 2007/SRAVANA, 1928 (SAKA)
C O N T E N T S
1. Composition of the Committee
2. Introduction
3. Report
4. Minutes of dissent Submitted by Shri Ram Jethmalani, M.P.
5. Minutes of dissent submitted by Shri Virendra Bhatia, M.P.
6*. Relevant Minutes of the Meetings of the Committee
7*. Annexure
A. The Judges (Inquiry) Bill, 2006.
B. Comments of the Ministry of Law and Justice on the views/suggestions contained in memoranda submitted by individuals/organisations/experts on various provisions of the Bill.
C. Comments/suggestions received from Various High Courts.
D. Views/suggestions received from former Chief Justices of India/other Judges of the Supreme Court/eminent lawyers.
COMPOSITION OF THE COMMITTEE (2006-07)
(Constituted on 5th August, 2006)
1. Dr. E.M. Sudarsana Natchiappan ¾ Chairman
RAJYA SABHA
2. Dr. Radhakant Nayak
3. Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi
4. Shri Balavant alias Bal Apte
5. Shri Virendra Bhatia
6. Shri Tariq Anwar
7. Shri Ram Jethmalani
8. Dr. P.C. Alexander
9. Shri Tarlochan Singh
10. Shri Suresh Bhardwaj
LOK SABHA
11. Dr. Shafiqur Rahman Barq
12. Shri Chhattar Singh Darbar
13. Shri N.Y. Hanumanthappa
14. Shri Shailendra Kumar
15. Dr. C. Krishnan
16. Shri Harin Pathak
17. Shri Dahyabhai Vallabhbhai Patel
18. Shri Varkala Radhakrishnan
19. Prof. M. Ramadass
20. Shri Vishvendra Singh
21. Shri Bhupendrasinh Solanki
22. Shri Raj Babbar
23. Shri S.K. Kharventhan
24. Shri A. Krishnaswamy
25. Shri Anirudh Prasad alias Sadhu Yadav
26. Shri N.S.V. Chitthan
27. Vacant
28. Vacant
29. Vacant
30. Vacant
31. Vacant
(i)
COMPOSITION OF THE COMMITTEE (2007-08)
(Constituted on 5th August, 2007)
1. Dr. E.M. Sudarsana Natchiappan ¾ Chairman
RAJYA SABHA
2. Dr. Radhakant Nayak
3. Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi
4. Shri Balavant alias Bal Apte
5. Shri Suresh Bhardwaj
6. Shri Virendra Bhatia
7. Shri Tariq Anwar
8. Shri Ram Jethmalani
9. Dr. P.C. Alexander
Marxist Minister played cultural Trump card in Tripura
Sarkar, who has become quite a rebel in Marxist ruling Hegemony after writing poetry on Mayawati, claims that the Marxists will romp home with landslide victory. He has been talking on phone all these days despite our stance against Nandigram and Singur.
I have written on Anil sarkar`s philosophy of Love against insurgency in North east which is strikingly different from Delhi`s Mannerism to address nationality problem with all the Guns of State Power! Rather, the Marxist Minister, who had been instrumental to set up CPIM`s political dalit agenda and has the key role to mobilise the Dalit Bengali Refugees scattered countrywide as CPIM`s Vote bank, tries to go back the cultural roots to solve the Identity Crisis of nationalities. Tripura is an example of Co existance of SC Bengal Ruling Hegemony with tribal identity. Patriotic and modern songs, street plays, poems and colourful decorations using small trees were the highlights in the run-up to Saturday's assembly elections in Tripura, thanks to the Marxist dalit Minister.
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
Please read,react,circulate and Write.Just Visit:
http://www.nandigramunited.blogspot.com/
Forward as you wish. Permission is granted to circulate this article among private individuals and groups, post on all Internet sites and publish in full in all not-for-profit publications. Contact author for all other rights, which are reserved.
West Bengal Left front Goverment executed Maraichjhanpi Massacre to protect Environment violating International and inland water laws. Just see:
On Line Video Petition against Marichjhanpi Genocide:
http://indiainteracts.com/videos/2008/02/07/Marichjhanpi-genocide/
Just read these documents:
morichjhanpi.blogspot.com
Our best friend and philosopher in North East, the poet and dalit thinker, a Marxist minister in Tripura Left front minister, Anil Sarkar has played the Cultural trump Card most effectively in Assembly Votes. We will know the results on 7th March. Sarkar, who has become quite a rebel in Marxist ruling Hegemony after writing poetry on Mayawati, claims that the Marxists will romp home with landslide victory. He has been talking on phone all these days despite our stance against Nandigram and Singur. He always refrined to comment on West bengal or Kerala. But he, at the same time, tries his level best to differentiate Tripura from other two left ruled states.He told me that all prdictions would go wrong and Congress has no scope to get new grownd in West Bengal. According to Sarkar, in fact, Congress will lose some more seats this time despite forward Block factor. He described the phenomenon as the Political Will Power of chief Minister Manik Sarkar to sustain peace, law and order - mass mobilisation of Anil sarkar - and Party Organisation set up. Sarkar said that he never tried to politicalise his election campain but he tried his election campaign as mass mobilisation with Cultural Dimensions all the way. And, thus, Patriotic Songs, Poems Dominated Tripura Poll Campaign !
Sarkar, who is also a renowned poet and writer, is seeking re-election to the assembly as CPI(M) nominee from the Pratapgarh constituency in west Tripura for a record eighth time.He has himself composed several folk songs in a bid to connect with the people.
I have written on Anil sarkar`s philosophy of Love against insurgency in North east which is strikingly different from Delhi`s Mannerism to address nationality problem with all the Guns of State Power! Rather, the Marxist Minister, who had been instrumental to set up CPIM`s political dalit agenda and has the key role to mobilise the Dalit Bengali Refugees scattered countrywide as CPIM`s Vote bank, tries to go back the cultural roots to solve the Identity Crisis of nationalities. Tripura is an example of Co existance of SC Bengal Ruling Hegemony with tribal identity.
Patriotic and modern songs, street plays, poems and colourful decorations using small trees were the highlights in the run-up to Saturday's assembly elections in Tripura, thanks to the Marxist dalit Minister. Moreover, Both the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and the main opposition Congress had organised poll campaigns using colourfully decorated vehicles draped with party flags and festoons. Quite different from rest of the country. We witness the dirty game of Vote bank in mainland as Raj Thackeray and later, his mentor Bal Thakeray launched a campaign against Hindi Speaking People in Maharashtra. It is vice versa in North India. Even in West Bengal , the Marxist ruling Brahminical hegemony banks on rearrangement of demography for vote Bank consolidation!
Anil sarkar told me, ` i was not tense anyway and I enjoyed this Election as a Cultural Progrramme! I am not well and I had sound sleep all the way!”
'Our campaign with the versatile cultural performance has largely impacted the minds of the people and we have succeeded in winning the hearts of voters by using cultural presentation,' said state Information and Cultural Minister Anil Sarkar.
All the party booth offices of Congress here and other parts of the state are echoing with Bankim Chandra's 'Vande Mataram' song.
Tripura goes ahead with imminent Assembelly elections. anil sarkar is Sure that the ruling Left Front wil romp home once agin with thumping majority! We discussed a lot on Tripura and North East. He has been the architect of CPIM`s dalit agenda in Hyderabad conference along with West bengal CPIM secretary Biman Bose! He is also involved with dalit mobilisation nationwide. he played key role to organise dalit Bengali refugee Convention In new delhi last year and subsiding the Mulnivasi bamcef impact on dalit Bengali refugee politics antionwide. Brinda Karat is working hard in Bengali Refugee bases outside Bengal.
Anil Sarkar has focused on dalit movement. He is leading Ambedkar Missions in North east and east india. he is behind the Dalit Co Ordination Committe in West Bengal. he leads the dalit sahitya movement. He arranges book Fairs and folk festivals. He practices Politics with cultural recipe! Last year he organised Grand Baul Mela in ADC tribal area of Tripura. He prescribes Vaishnav Love to deal with insurgency and extremism!
Anil Sarkar holds Information and Culture, Tourism and SC welfare portfolios in the Cabinet. banking on these low profile portfolios Anil sarkar in his indigenous spectacular mannerism and folk based political rehtorics is well capable to interact on the on hand with all states and nationalities in North eats and on the other hand demolish Extrism in Tripura. Thus, the chief Minister manik sarkar is unable to get an alternative of Anil Sarkar who has been successful to use language, dilects, folk, music, dance,literature , dalit movement, Ambedkar, tagore, mayawati, refugees and nationalities as political tools in favour of the ruling Left front!
Leftist writerfaces caste slur SEKHAR DATTA
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1030226/asp/northeast/story_1692847.asp
Agartala, Feb. 25: For all its reputation as a rebel-infested state, Tripura has been free from the Bihar variety of caste-based political violence.
Yet Marxist poet-politician Anil Sarkar has been accused of making a conscious attempt to introduce such a trend in Tripura — albeit in his own way. He named his dog “Brahmin” and even spurned prasad (consecrated food) offered to him as education minister by students during Saraswati Puja.
Now seeking a fresh term in the seat of power from the Pratapgarh Assembly constituency, Anthony Firangi — the pseudonym under which Sarkar pens ballads and rhymes — looks a harried man.
The first discordant note was struck by some Brahmin voters in the Thakurpara hamlet, when the controversial education minister was on a door-to-door campaign there on February 6. “You have been saying all kinds of things against the Brahmins, now why do you come for votes?” asked Benoy Chakraborty, a schoolteacher and a priest.
A constituency reserved for Scheduled Castes near Agartala, Pratapgarh has only about 20 per cent “upper caste” voters among the 56,109-strong electorate.
“The point is, the so-called upper castes, mostly government employees and rich businessmen, can influence voters down the social ladder,” said Bhajan Lal Das, a senior CPM leader and close ally of Anil Sarkar. And this is what worries the CPM, as the Scheduled Castes are drifting away from the party.
In Ananda Nagar, Jogendra Nagar, Jarul Bachai, Purba Aralia and other villages, the Congress candidate, Narayan Das, has found good support from the electorate.
“For all of Sarkar’s rhetoric, the poor people of Pratapgarh have got practically nothing from the CPM over the past decade and naturally they welcome us this time,” said Ranjit Das, a PCC member.
Sarkar worked his way up the CPM ladder the hard way, narrowly escaping disciplinary action in 1994 for “taking to bourgeois ways”, according to a top CPM leader.
The education minister was photographed in all prominent national dailies taking a snap of Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa at a meeting in Delhi — construed as a “cardinal sin” in the CPM’s spartan code of conduct. “Had Nripen Chakraborty not been expelled from the party in 1995, Anilda would have found himself thrown out,” the CPM leader said.
A “sensitive man” and a “Dalit poet”, Sarkar could not bear the shock of hundreds of stalls, including some from Tripura, at the Calcutta Book Fair in 1998, go up in flames. He suffered a heart attack. The bypass surgery he underwent had a telling effect on his political mobility.
“The most bizarre spectacle was the veteran Marxist leader lecturing friends and acquaintances on the virtue of the products of a multinational company of which his son is the sole agent,” Prabodh Sarkar, a publisher, said.
The writing on the wall is clear: the battle for Pratapgarh will be a tough one but Sarkar’s die-hard followers are convinced that the “Dalits of Pratapgarh will not deny Anilda his last victory”.
“He has never lost an election since 1972 and won five times with convincing margin from Pratapgarh, so we do not visualise him losing,” Samar Chakraborty, a local CPM committee secretary, said.
On the question of this being Sarkar’s last election, Chakraborty minced no words: “After the bypass surgery, he is physically down and he knows it”.
Strange as it may sound, Anil Sarkar is touring many constituencies and addressing meetings to swing Scheduled Caste voters in the CPM’s favour.
“He knows his people will not let him down ultimately as the entire Scheduled Caste community of Tripura awaits the outcome of the polls in Pratapgarh,” Chakraborty added.
Tripura Sanskriti Samannay Kendra, the literary and cultural front of the CPI-M, composed modern and folk songs, which criticised the Congress' failure across the country and its alliance with the tribal based Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT).
On the other hand, Congress is trying to woo voters using old patriotic songs of Lata Mangeshkar and other renowned singers.
'Our campaign with the versatile cultural performance has largely impacted the minds of the people and we have succeeded in winning the hearts of voters by using cultural presentation,' said state Information and Cultural Minister Anil Sarkar.
Sarkar, who is also a renowned poet and writer, is seeking re-election to the assembly as CPI(M) nominee from the Pratapgarh constituency in west Tripura for a record eighth time.
He has himself composed several folk songs in a bid to connect with the people.
All the party booth offices of Congress here and other parts of the state are echoing with Bankim Chandra's 'Vande Mataram' song.
'We believe in true patriotism and that's why our party is using patriotic songs during the poll campaign,' said Ratan Lal Nath, leader of the state Congress.
The Tripura prevention of Defacement of property (Amendment) Act 1998 is now in force. Also, the Election Commission has asked the political parties not to use any static assets and buildings besides government properties as part of their poll campaign. So the candidates have put up a large number of party flags on small trees, bamboo groves and banana plants on the roadside.
Lanes and by-lanes are also decorated with flags of Left parties, Congress and others.
'Poll fever has gripped the entire state even as the official machinery and security forces are busy to ensure the elections are held in a free and fair manner,' said Chief Electoral Officer G.S.G. Ayyangar.
In all 313 candidates, including 31 women and 64 independents, are testing their electoral fortune in Saturday's election to the 60-seat Tripura assembly.
People's Democracy
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
Vol. XXVI
No. 39
October 06,2002
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tripura Solidarity Day Observed Nationwide
THE CPI(M) Delhi state committee organised a hall meeting on September 30 to express solidarity with the people of Tripura, who are waging a heroic struggle under the leadership of the Left Front against secessionist attempts of the terrorists. The meeting, held as part of the Party Central Committee call to observe September 30 as a Tripura Solidarity Day, was addressed by Anil Sarkar, a minister in the Left Front government of Tripura and by CPI(M) Polit Bureau member, Prakash Karat.
The meeting began with a stirring song, in Kok Barak, the language of the tribal people of Tripura, by well known cultural activist from the state, Hemanta Jamatiya. He was once a member of NLFT, a terrorist outfit led by Bejoy Hrangkhawl. From his own experience Jamatiya came to realise the anti-people nature of the NLFT and quit the outfit to join the Left.
Anil Sarkar traced the record of terrorist activities in Tripura since 1978, when the first Left Front government came to power in the state. He referred in detail to the attempts made by tribal terrorist outfits and the Bengali chauvinist group, Amra Bengali, to disrupt the unity of the tribal and non-tribal people. He also exposed the thoroughly opportunist and anti-national role of the Congress in allying with those forces which want to separate Tripura from India. Hundreds of CPI(M) cadres have been killed in facing the nefarious designs of these anti-national forces. He referred to the terror tactics adopted by the extremists to capture the Autonomous District Council and gave facts and figures to show how this had impacted adversely on the lives of the tribal people. He expressed confidence that the CPI(M)-led Left Front would once again emerge victorious in the forthcoming state assembly elections in 2003.
Prakash Karat referred to the difficult security scenario in Tripura and accused the BJP-led central government of playing partisan politics at the cost of national integrity by consistently refusing to provide Tripura with the security forces necessary to effectively patrol the state’s 856 km long border with Bangladesh. The terrorist gangs have their bases in Bangladesh from where they operate their campaign of murder and mayhem. The tribal cadres of the CPI(M), both men and women are targeted by the extremists and as a result about 100 comrades are martyred each year. He dubbed the alliance of the Congress with extremist groups in Tripura as an anti-national act and called for exposure of this heinous role of the Congress through out the country. The CPI(M) has a long history of struggle and sacrifice in Tripura. Its popularity can be gauged from the fact that every fourth inhabitant of the state is a member of the CPI(M) or its mass organisations. He concluded with a call to take the facts regarding Tripura to the people and to build widespread solidarity with the Tripura Party, the Left Front government and the brave people of the state.
WEST BENGAL
Tripura Solidarity Day was observed throughout Bengal at the call of the Left Front on September 30. Meetings, rallies and conventions marked the day when the people of Bengal expressed their solidarity with the people of Tripura, which faces the conspiratorial moves of the separatist elements backed by the vested interests of that small hilly state.
Two central conventions were organised. Both were very well attended. Manik Sarkar, the Tripura chief minister and Polit Bureau member of the CPI (M), addressed the Kolkata convention. Aghor Deb Barman, a minister in the Left Front government of Tripura spoke at the convention held at Siliguri.
Manik Sarkar spoke at length on the contingent nature of the situation that Tripura faces now. The democratic people of Tripura, said Sarkar, faced a critical challenge from the separatists who were being backed by the Tripura unit of the Congress.
The uneven nature of development and the neglect meted out to the northeastern region of the country under successive union governments, said the Tripura chief minister, caused the people there to suffer from acute impoverishment. This led to a feeling of frustration to the extent that in most of the northeastern states, elements of separatism could spring up.
But that was not the whole story. Eager to draw political mileage from the volatile situation, the Congress, both at the centre and in Tripura, went in for a policy of dangerous opportunism when they represented themselves as the party of the Bengalis. They also attempted to emerge as the champion of the cause of the refugees from erstwhile East Pakistan, who had been provided shelter in Tripura by the tribal people indigenous to that part of the country.
During the long periods of time when it remained in office by means fair and foul, the Tripura Congress leadership did almost nothing to go in for economic development of the tracts of land where the tribal people lived. Economic disparity ultimately led to political and social frustration and a small percentage of the tribal youth was driven to take up arms.
Sarkar argued how the Communist Party always had had a strong base among the tribal people and how that was one reason why the Congress would do nothing to improve the lot of the tribal groups in Tripura. Sarkar mentioned how the separatist activities suddenly underwent a sharp rise the moment the first Left Front government assumed office in 1978.
Touching on the role of the CIA and the ISI, Manik Sarkar described how training camps were run from neighbouring Bangladesh, and how the BJP-led union government, following in the foot steps of its Congress predecessors, would not lift a finger to speak to the government in Bangladesh over this crucial issue.
The 86-odd kilometres long border between Tripura and Bangladesh has not been protected with wire fencing. Units of the Indian Army are being continuously withdrawn from Tripura. The call for augmenting the units of the Border Security Force is patently ignored by the BJP-led government up in Delhi.
In the meanwhile, the Tripura unit of the Congress has continued to organise electoral alliances with various separatist groups, including the Tripura National Volunteers (TNV), the Tripura Upajati Juba Samity (TUJS), the Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT), and the Indigenous National Party of Tripura (INPT). And, recalled Manik Sarkar, Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi would not respond to CPI (M) Polit Bureau member, Sitaram Yechury’s letter on the growing alliance between the separatist forces and the Congress in Tripura.
With the Assembly elections approaching, there is a spurt in the separatist activities in Tripura. Leaders like Hrangkhawl are allowed to address international fora and to speak in favour of the "rightful" demand for secessionism by the "indigenous people of Tripura."
The democratic-minded people of Tripura said Manik Sarkar, whether tribal or non-tribal, stood firm behind the Left Front and the Left Front government in that province. They never forget for a moment how it had been the Communist leadership, which had worked towards an early establishment of unity between all sections of the working people of Tripura. In conclusion, Sarkar exhorted upon the people of Bengal to stand firmly behind the people of Tripura in this hour of crisis when national and international forces of reaction were out to destabilise not merely Tripura, and not only the resource-rich northeastern India, but also the country as a whole.
Biman Basu, chairman of the Bengal Left Front presided over the meeting where the entire array of the state leadership of the CPI (M) and the Left Front was in present..
KERALA
All the fourteen district committees of CPI(M) observed ‘Tripura Solidarity Day’ with seminars and public meetings at district centers on September 30. Speakers at these meetings offered full back up and solidarity with the left and democratic forces of Tripura in their heroic resistance to the divisive forces working in that state with the active participation and help of outsiders. The earlier polices of the Congress (I) and the present one of BJP in the centre have been quite detrimental to the peaceful, ordinary economic and democratic development of Tripura and the people are therefore suffering much. The meetings urged the central government to review its policy towards Tripura.
Left Front gets majority in Tripura
March 01, 2003 22:34 IST
The ruling Left Front in Tripura, in power continuously since 1992, on Saturday secured an absolute majority in the 60-member house, securing 40 seats.
The opposition Congress-Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura combine cobbled up 19 seats each of the 59 results declared so far.
Left Front major Communist Party of India (Marxist) itself secured absolute majority winning 36 seats, while partners RSP won two and CPI one.
Prominent winners from among the the outgoing Manik Sarkar government included Education Minister Anil Sarkar, Information Minister Jiten Chowdhury, Minorities Minister Faizur Rehaman, Industries Minister Pabitra Kar, Social Welfare Minister Bidhubhushan Malakar (all CPI-M) and Food and Civil Supplies Minister Gopal Das of RSP.
The winners in the opposition included former Chief Minister Samir Ranjan Burman [Congress], INPT president Bijoy Hrankhawl and former speaker Jyotirmoy Nath [Congress], while former chief minister Sudhir Ranjan Mazumdar, Leader of the Opposition Jawhar Saha [both Congress] and former minister, Ratimohan Jamatiya [INPT] lost.
Tripura Elections 2008's Profile :
The state of Tripura went to the polls in February 2008 to elect 60 legislators, as declared by the Election Commission of India.
Voting was held on February 23, 2008. The vote counting will take place on March 07, 2008.
Tripura Elections 2008 – vital statistics
Total Voters 20,36,980
Total Polling Stations 2391
Female Voters 9,96,582
Male Voters 1040398
The last Tripura assembly elections were held in 2003 where the Communist Party of India (Marxist), led by Manik Sarkar had claimed a comfortable victory.
Tripura Elections 2003 – Snapshot
Party % Vote
CPM 46.28
Congress 32.84
CPI 1.54
Others 19.34
Party Seats
CPM 38
Congress 13
CPI 1
Others 8
Read / Write Comments on any Tripura Election Seat / Candidate
Dhalai South Tripura
North Tripura West Tripura
View all comments posted about
Tripura Elections 2008 in chronological order
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People's Democracy
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vol. XXXII
No. 09
March 02, 2008
TRIPURA
Unprecedented Voter Turnout In 10th Assembly Elections
Subrata Chakraborty
CREATING a major milestone in the history of the democratic movement in Tripura, polling in the 10th Assembly elections of the state recorded 91.86 per cent following the election held on February 23, 2008. The state electorate exercised their franchise in an unprecedented festive fight of the people against all odds, unprecedented not only in the country, but also within Tripura where trouble-free polls in carnival atmosphere is the tradition.
The people of Tripura through the peaceful poll gave a befitting reply to the campaign of deception and disinformation carried out by the Congress party and its ally, the outlawed extremists' political wing INPT, aided by a section of mercenary media miscreants and militants. Even the central observer of the Congress party and union minister Prithviraj Chauhan making a u-turn from his 24-hour earlier statement, stated that the people's massive turnout in almost all the seats of the state, is a landmark in the world's democratic election scenario. Incidentally, hours before commencement of the polls, Chauhan charged the CPI(M) with massively terrorising the state's electorate. He, however, interpreted the electorate's massive turn out as the harbinger of the poll verdict in favour of Congress-INPT combine, a stock interpretation of the Congress leadership in Tripura, designed to whitewash the unprecedented falsification of polls with which the Congress-TUJS combine swept all the elections during its barbarically semi-fascist jungle rule in 1988-93.
In fact, peaceful and historic turnout in the 10th Assembly elections in Tripura was the culmination of the people's robust and rousing rebuff and rebuttal of the Congress-INPT combine's two-pronged campaign, campaign of terror making use of armed extremists and miscreants in tribal areas on one hand, and campaign of deception and disinformation by making use of a section of mercenary media in urban areas, especially in the state capital, on the other. In the 2003 elections, Congress-INPT combine bagged 19 seats with such two-pronged tactics, emboldening it to take to the same tactics for 2008 too, hoping against hope for anti-incumbency factor against the Left Front government to capture power.
But a sea-change had taken place all over Tripura in the meantime. The Left Front restored the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council in 2005 from armed extremists stranglehold brought about by the INPT high-jacking at extremist gunpoint the year 2000 ADC polls. The restoration was the result of the ceaseless three-pronged counter-insurgency struggle of the Left Front government by ideological, administrative and developmental means. The Left Front's restoration of ADC by a massive mandate at the first ADC village committee elections in 2006 which finally turned the tide against the extremists in Tripura through democratic local-self governance spreading to the grass roots all over the ADC areas and making possible the implementation of the development programmes in the ADC areas languishing in the darkness of backwardness for decades.
At the same time the breaking of the backbone of extremists in Tripura, enabled the pro-people Left Front government to carry on massive welfare and development programmes with renewed vigour all over the state in multifarious sectors including education, healthcare, agriculture and communication bringing about a sea-change in Tripura in all spheres. The Left Front government thus came to be regarded as synonymous with peace, progress and prosperity in sharp contrast to the retrogressive ravenous and rapacious track-record of the Congress party, seriously aggravated by its alliance with the INPT, the political mask of the outlawed and anti-national extremists.
It is in this perspective that the historic turnout of the state electorate in the 10th Assembly elections in Tripura is to be viewed. This election saw an unprecedented upsurge of the people of Tripura to vote with a vengeance to make amends for the earlier high-jacking of the rural or remote area polls at extremist gunpoint on the one hand, and the earlier hoodwinking of a huge section of the urban people through campaign of maligning and misinformation.
The people had to confront yet another formidable odd in the form of a "copybook vote" claimed to be carried out by the Election Commission in Tripura in this election. Hardest hit were the female voters that had a vast presence in each polling booth. Although the tremendously complicated and time-consuming system in the name of "copybook vote" made a sizeable section of voters to leave the booths in disgust and despair, numerous voters, dauntlessly determined to exercise their constitutional right did not fight shy of even waiting in queues till midnight to cast their vote in several booths.
The democratic-minded people of Tripura will have to wait for another 12 days for the counting of votes slated for March 7, 2008.
LAST MINUTE DESPERATION OF EXTREMISTS
Four CPI(M) activists were abducted at gunpoint by extremists on February 21 from two remote villages of Chawmanu of Dhalai district. The villages are situated besides Gobindabari, where a total of 60 Photo Identity Cards have yet been snatched away by extremists since notification of the 10th Assembly election in the state. At about 9 a.m. yesterday, a group of around eight extremists of BNCT, outfit of the outlawed NLFT(BM), raided the villages and abducted four CPI(M) activists including a polling agent of CPI(M) candidate of Chawmanu constituency. The other three are the candidate's nephew, the village committee chairman's son and a village committee member. Incidentally, village committee is the village panchayat equivalent under Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council.
CPI(M) state secretariat member Gautam Das vehemently protested the violent atrocities of the extremist henchmen of the Congress-INPT combine in certain remote areas of the state. He said these are designed to secure a political mileage and it exposed the nefarious nexus a couple of days ahead of the poll. He asserted that the people of the state are determined to foil such terror tactics at any cost and form the 6th Left Front government with a most massive mandate.
Incidentally, about 50 CPI(M) activists and supporters were injured on February 20 in a violent raid at four remote villages of Khowai Sub-Division, West Tripura by extremist gunmen and Congress-INPT goons. Out of those injured, 28 people are now undergoing treatment in G B Hospital, Agartala with grievous injuries mostly head injuries. The villagers were also threatened with death unless they voted in favour of the Congress-INPT combine.
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