Kick-off for Junior

Now, the Indian Football Association IFA has come forward to arrange a friendly match at Yubabharati Krirangan in Kolkata between the two clubs so that the two giants bury the hatchet. 8216;8216;We will place the proposal in the AIFF meeting to be held in Delhi on December 20. The proceeds of the match will be handed over to Junior8217;s wife Christiano,8217;8217; said Subrata Dutta, secretary of the IFA, who took the initiative.

Naxal redux

The Communist Party of India Maoist, the newly-launched joint forum of the People8217;s War Group and MCC, the two major Naxalite factions, has been mounting pressure on the Left Front government in Bengal. First, it carried out a series of blasts in the hunger zone of Amlasole in Midnapore and destroyed a tourist bungalow, among other things. Later, there was a poster blitz across several districts hinting at a resurgence of the movement. The poster campaign also covered old strongholds in Kolkata like Presidency College.

But a December 15 public rally in the heart of Kolkata turned out to be a flop. It was learnt from party sources that the organisers had anticipated that the LF government would clamp down on the meeting as other governments had done earlier in Delhi and Patna. But the LF government was tactically allowing the meeting to be held 8212; under intense policing by plainclothesmen. The organisers, however, alleged that the government used covert methods to foil the rally. They alleged that thousands of supporters from remote areas were prevented from attending the rally. The meeting did have a high point, a congregation of a host of Naxalite leaders like Santosh Rana, Asim Chatterjee, Azizul Haque, Nisith Bhattacharya and other old stars of the Naxalbari movement.

Bangla jaani na

It was a law deal for Gopal Krishna Gandhi, the new Governor of West Bengal who was sworn in on December 14. Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, wanted to take the oath of secrecy in Bengali and conveyed this to Chief Secretary Ashok Gupta. But the person who stood in the way was the acting Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court, Ajay Nath Ray, who was supposed to swear in the new Governor.

8216;8216;The Constitution8217;s language is English and Hindi is the Rajbhasha. So these two languages are fine so far as taking the oath is concerned. But I cannot allow Bengali to be the language for taking the oath,8217;8217; Ray reportedly told Nisith Adhikary, the state8217;s Minister for Law and Justice who broached the subject to him.

The minister argued that the Constitution had been translated in all the regional languages, including Bengali. The judge relented but not before delivering a bouncer 8212; that he would not take responsibility in the event of any PIL filed in this regard. The government, which did not want to take any risk, beat a retreat and Gandhi had to be content taking the oath in English.

Ray of hope for Buddha

He was the bete noir of Bengal8217;s Marxists, who accuse him of being behind the killing of hundreds of Communists and sending thousands of them to jail during his days as CM between 1972 and 1977. But when the question of representing the state in the Supreme Court in the case of the NRI quotas in MBBS course came, CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had no hesitation in approaching the former CM.

8216;8216;We are engaging the best legal brains. We have talked to Siddhartha Shankar Ray in this regard. And we got K Venugopal to stand for us,8217;8217; said Bhattacharjee. The reason behind roping in Ray and Venugopal was the plight of the 69 medical students whose admissions had been declared null and void by the SC. Rattled by the situation, the CM promised to stand solidly by the students.

After the SC order on October 29 saying that the state could admit only 30 students through the NRI quota, the remaining 69 who were also selected for the NRI quota, on the basis of an all-India examination, had started an indefinite hunger strike in the first week of November. On the third day, Bhattacharjee requested them to withdraw the strike. 8216;8216;You are like my own children. I cannot eat when I think of you. I assure you that the government will see to it that your academic careers are not jeopardised,8217;8217; he said. Soon, the students withdrew their agitation.