Opinion Behind Nitishs victory
A shocked CPI(ML) which drew a blank in Bihar,losing all five seats it held admits that an outgoing government returning to power with 85 per cent majority.
Behind Nitishs victory
A shocked CPI(ML) which drew a blank in Bihar,losing all five seats it held admits that an outgoing government returning to power with 85 per cent majority is a very rare phenomenon and that this happened in Bihar,which has the widest spectrum of political forces in the legislative arena,is indeed quite remarkable. At the same time,it rubbishes the theory that it was a victory solely on the basis of development,while caste took a backseat.
It says the verdict evidently reveals an overwhelming social shift in favour of Nitish Kumars promise of development,as Bihar certainly does not want to go back neither to Lalu Prasad nor to the Congress. What triggered this huge social shift were signs of the restoration of law and order,and the hope of some delivery of change and development in a state which seemed to have come to an absolute standstill. And facilitating this shift was the good old formula of caste engineering,that invoked and energised all those social identities that felt excluded or suppressed during Lalu Prasads once dominant and protracted reign of social justice, said an article in ML Update.
The article goes on to warn that the contradictions in Nitish Kumars model of development,and the contrast between reality and rhetoric,are yet to emerge. It takes a dig at media analysts,saying they were mesmerised by the scale and sweep of the Nitish Kumar phenomenon. The same people who till recently celebrated the Lalu spectacle as the ultimate in subaltern politics,and rubbished communists for not comprehending the reality of caste,are now busy preaching development as the new mantra of politics. Revolutionary communists fought the magic of social justice with the logic of class struggle and the banner of social transformation, it says.
The first to see 2G
When the media vies for credit for breaking stories,why should political parties lag behind? CPI weekly New Age went into overdrive,claiming that it was CPI MP Gurudas Dasgupta who had first flagged off irregularities in 2G spectrum allocation. It says Dasgupta was the first to write to the PM seeking his intervention. New Age published the letter by Gurudas in its issue dated June 15-21,2008. That means the letter was sent to the PM before June 15,2008, it says. The MP,according to New Age,sent another letter to the PM on November 10,2008 on the issue .
Having mentioned the two letters sent by Dasgupta,the article observes: This falsifies others who claim that they were the whistleblowers of 2G-spectrum irregularities in the ministry led by A. Raja. Dr. Subramanian Swamy wrote letters to the PM only from October 2008 to June 2010. Sitaram Yechury forwarded a letter to the PM dated November 18,2008. All are trumpeting this without even acknowledging that it was the CPI MP Gurudas Dasgupta who first wrote to the PM on this scam.
If the PM had acted and intervened in time he could have prevented one of the biggest financial scams of all times in the country. He would have avoided so much embarrassment to himself and to his government. In fact he could have saved public money from being looted by politicians,bureaucrats,corporates and corporate lobbyists including some mediapersons, it adds.
The BJPs bankruptcy
The lead editorial in the CPMs weekly paper launches a scathing attack on the BJP for letting B.S. Yeddyurappa continue as Karnataka chief minister,trying to make it clear that the party was targeting both the Congress and the main opposition party in equal measure,reaffirming its pitch for a third alternative on the ground that there is little difference between the two parties. It says the BJPs decision to retain its Karnataka chief minister was a classic case of doublespeak and political opportunism sans any sense of guilt.
The editorial notes that while the BJP seeks to take undeserved credit for the Bihar results by claiming to have placed development over caste considerations,its Karnataka decision is based purely on caste. When it became clear that the chief minister had mobilised the powerful Lingayat community behind him in Karnataka,it became certain that with his ouster,the BJP could well lose its first state government in South India. Clearly,political morality and the ostensible crusade against corruption in parliament were thrown to the wind in order to save its state government purely on caste considerations, it argues.
It is,thus,clear that on the issue of large-scale corruption,the colossal loot of India,there is little difference between the Congress-led UPA and the BJP, it says.
Compiled by Manoj C.G.
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