Opinion Reading the results

“Bengal today rejoices not just for the victory of Mamata or rout of the Left,it is virtually celebrating a second independence day — freedom from CPM misrule — in the 150 th anniversary year of poet and visionary Rabindranath Tagore,” the article says. “No less important is the victory of J. Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK in Tamil Nadu and the rout of the DMK combine. The 2G spectrum corruption has overshadowed the state politics and the vote is for penalising the extreme corrupt,” it says.

The article sees a huge setback for the Congress in the election results. “The corruption singes Congress as well for their continued alliance with the DMK. It is also notable that the Congress could win only 50 per cent of the 63 seats it contested in West Bengal. In Kerala too,despite an anti-incumbency wave,Congress-led UDF could not do so well despite managing a small majority. Not only the 2G but price rise and many other scams have eroded the credibility of the party. The rise of Jagan Mohan Reddy in Andhra Pradesh is yet another ominous signal for the Congress. Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi is the only solace for the party,” it says.

Rahul’s shame

In its editorial,the magazine slams Rahul Gandhi for making the statement,“I feel ashamed to be an Indian,” during his trip to the villages of Greater Noida. “It is strange that a person who is the No. 2 in the ruling party and aspires to rule the country one day has said this about his country. It brings into question his level of commitment to the country,his patriotism,” the editorial says.

“Rahul Gandhi has made poverty tourism to Amethi a part of his PR. Visiting foreigners are taken to his constituency to show how the Gandhi family for six decades has been cultivating and nurturing poverty there. His great-grandfather,his grandmother,his father and now for seven years his mother as proxy along with their dummy have been ruling the country,for nearly five out of the six decades India has been independent. And this is the raw deal Indians have got. Rahul Gandhi should actually have said that he was ashamed to be a Congressman,” says the editorial,adding that the statement must be condemned by all. “Can any leader in any country,say the US,UK,or even in Pakistan,get away making such an unbecoming statement? And Rahul Gandhi,an MP,who takes oath by the Constitution,as a responsible leader of the ruling party should retract his statement and apologise.”

Law of the land

The journal has a special report on the farmers’ agitation in Uttar Pradesh in which the writer describes the situation in the state as “Singur in the making” and calls for a rational land acquisition policy.

“While the Mayawati government is facing the music from all sides right now and is likely to suffer electorally also,the problem,as witnessed earlier in West Bengal,Orissa,Karanataka and other states,is likely to crop up again and again across the country as India urbanises and takes away fertile land from farmers to build townships to accommodate a burgeoning middle class,factories and office complexes,to build roads,mines,power plants and other infrastructural pre-requisites of post-agrarian modernity. This leads one to the larger question of land acquisitions and the scope of the government in developing infrastructure projects. While there is a logic for the government to acquire land to construct roads,the million dollar question is whether it should also facilitate development of townships alongside by private builders,” the report says.

Devaluing the PAC

In another article,author M.V. Kamath criticises the behaviour of the Congress members in the Public Accounts Committee hearing the 2G spectrum case. “The country has been patient for far too long in the matter of Congress shenanigans and the time has come for it to raise its voice as it has done in supporting Anna Hazare. Yes,the former communications minister,A. Raja has been arrested after he was found to have done unbelievable harm to the national exchequer amounting to lakhs of crores of rupees. Yes,Suresh Kalmadi too had to be arrested in connection with the Commonwealth Games scams. But the behaviour of the UPA members of the PAC has been nothing less than atrocious. It has brought shame to the country”. He adds: “For the Congress to condemn the draft report as ‘full of lies’ is not only to jump to conclusions but to attempt to prevent further investigation. The UPA and its partners of questionable repute seem hell-bent on devaluing and destroying leading institutions of our polity.”

Compiled by Amitabh Sinha