Southern clemency
According to the RSS,the Tamil Nadu assembly resolution that pleads clemency for three individuals convicted in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case has sent out a dangerous message. The RSS believes that the Madras high court,by staying the death sentence,has taken a step to challenge not only the Supreme Courts wisdom,but also that of the government of India and the president.
The editorial in the RSSs Organiser deplores the fact that even national parties joined hands with regional forces to pass the resolution: If the state assembly of J&K were to pass such a resolution,what should be the reaction?
Already the J&K chief minister has let the cat among the pigeons by raising this very question. Should regional sentiments,religious affiliations,sectarian politics and vote bank considerations override our national resolve to uphold the rule of law? Saying that dozens of innocent men and women were killed in the suicide bomb attack that claimed Gandhis life,it asks: What about their families? They too deserve justice.
It claims the mercy pleaders were emboldened for two reasons: one,the Kerala assembly had previously passed an unanimous resolution seeking the release of Abdul Nasser Madani,who was then in jail in connection with the Coimbatore bomb blast case; and two,Sonia Gandhis pardon to Nalini,which did take into account the agony of other victims families.
Governing Gujarat
Panchjanya criticises the Gujarat governors move to appoint a Lokayukta without consulting the state government. It says the appointment has to be seen in the light of the Congress partys never-ending attempts to conspire against the Narendra Modi government. The governors action reveals not just the dirty mindset of the Congress but also the partys complete disregard for the Constitution and constitutional institutions, it says.
Frequently abroad
In another story,Panchjanya takes on the Planning Commissions deputy chairman,Montek Singh Ahluwalia,for his frequent foreign trips. Based on information obtained through RTI petitions,it says that Ahluwalia had travelled abroad 36 times in the last five years,16 of those to the United States. So many trips to the US raise many questions. The main question is: do Indian policies get decided in the US? it asks.
It says a total of more than Rs 2.4 crore of taxpayers money had been spent on Ahluwalias foreign trips. On the one hand,the government complains of budgetary deficits,and puts newer and newer taxes on people to bridge that,and on the other its ministers and other functionaries are wasting the public money. Cant such wasteful expenditure be stopped? The piece is accompanied with a table detailing each of the foreign trips and the money spent on it.
The minority trap
A front-page article in Organiser claims West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has landed in a minority trap,saying the Muslim community had played a role in voting the Left Front out of power and is now putting pressure on the Trinamool government to act on its demands. After coming to power in May,Mamata announced that her government would recognise Urdu as the second language in districts with sizeable Urdu-speaking populations. The notification is awaited still. Muslim organisations further complained that new job distribution under the Mamata government has not been judicious towards Muslim youths, it says.
It claims the situation is such that Mamata was invited to the biggest ever Eid congregation and the imam said that while the new government showed remarkable urgency in solving the Singur,Gorkhaland and Jungle Mahal issues,the Muslim communitys problems did not receive the same attention. They (the new government) must learn a lesson from what happened to the previous government, he said. The article claims that though Mamata was trying to show a brave face,but in her heart of hearts she knows how weak is she in the face of Muslim pressure, the article says.
Compiled by Manoj C.G.
