Opinion UP via Batla House

A special poll report in Organiser headlined: ‘Congress turns green in UP communal campaign’ says the Congress’s attempt to play the Muslim card in UP is a tricky task. The announcement of a 4.5 per cent reservation for Muslims out of the 27 per cent OBC quota,Law Minister Salman Khurshid’s promise of increasing this to 9 per cent and raking up the Batla House episode in Azamgarh are efforts to polarise minority votes in its favour,says the report. Panchjanya also contends the Congress is following in the footsteps of the Muslim League. Having been out of power in UP for over two decades,the Congress is throwing democratic norms to the wind,working against the interest of social and national unity and going all-out to woo Muslims. AICC general secretary Digvijaya Singh’s remarks on Batla House in Azamgarh in the presence of Rahul Gandhi,calling it a fake encounter,is a shameful instance of the Congress playing Muslim sentiments for votes,even as Home Minister P. Chidambaram said the encounter was genuine,the article says. The Congress is also pointing fingers at the brave police officer,Mohan Chand Sharma,who was killed in the encounter. “At whose behest is Digvijaya Singh making these comments?” questions the Panchjanya article.

Testing times

The Organiser has focused on the education system in its lead editorial,and said that many recent controversies are the result of not having a full-time HRD minister. “From nursery admissions to postgraduate exams,the education sector is making news in India for the wrong reasons. The latest is cheating,using hi-tech,in the all-India post-graduate medical entrance exam. According to reports,each student had paid between Rs 20 lakh and Rs 40 lakh for the ‘help’.” Alleging that question papers of almost all competitive exams get leaked,the editorial says that last year,the question paper of AIEEE got leaked. The year before,a popular private coaching centre was caught with the question papers of another competitive exam,which it was selling it for thousands of rupees,it adds.

Contending that nursery admissions,which are currently on,have become a nightmare,the Organiser charges that the guidelines for admissions essentially favour the rich and are biased against the poor. “The cumulative impact of all these issues is that the degrees from Indian universities and institutions will lose their credibility soon,” it says,adding that the absence of a full-time HRD minister has had consequences. “The HRD (ministry) has not had such a person at the helm under the UPA,both 1 and 2. There is increasing pressure on India to allow foreign universities in India. This would further polarise students into those who can afford world-class education at a very high fee and those who cannot. It is high time to set the education scene in India in order,” it says.

Allies at war

Panchjanya has a separate article on the fight between the Congress and the Trinamool Congress in the wake of growing differences and suspicion between the two allies. “There is no need for any opposition in West Bengal. The temperature in Writers building in Kolkata is several times higher this winter in West Bengal,” it says.

The controversy over renaming of Indira Bhawan as Nazrul Bhawan by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee,and the unfortunate incident at Raiganj College where the principal was manhandled because of the turf war between the Congress and TMC student wings,have revealed the distrust between the two parties,says the article. In Parliament too,the TMC was at odds with the government on the Lokpal bill. It claims that these differences reached close to breaking point when Congress ministers in the Mamata government openly challenged her,saying they were not at her mercy and she could show the door to the Congress.

Compiled by Swaraj Thapa