Opinion February 2, 1982, Forty Years Ago: Kerala Assembly

On a day of high drama in the Kerala Assembly, the Speaker and Deputy Speaker resigned to join the ranks of the opposition and the Janata Legislature Party split to give a one-vote edge to the ruling side. The Assembly, which met in the morning adjourned abruptly, as the speaker, A P Kurian, a motion for whose removal was listed first on the agenda, made the dramatic announcement of his resignation. The Deputy Speaker, Zakaria Saif, who accepted the resignation and took the chair, announced the adjournment of the House and his own intention to resign. Minutes before the Assemby session started, the five-member Janata Legislature Party split formally, with three members — Mr P Bhaskaran, Mr P C Thomas and Mrs Kamalam — walking out to offer their support to the one-month-old Karunakaran ministry, in defiance of the party high command’s directive.

Lok Dal Turmoil

Four senior leaders of the Lok Dal revolted against their party chief, Charan Singh, for his “unilateral” dissociation with the coordination committee set up last month to facilitate the merger of the Lok Dal, the Janata Party and the Congress (S). Biju Patnaik,  George Fernandes, Karpoori Thakur and  Kumbha Ram Arya, in a joint requisition, asked Charan Singh to convene immediately a meeting of the Dal’s parliamentary board to discuss his action.

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Israeli Intelligence

A Central Intelligence Agency document which fell into the hands of the Iranian authorities when the US embassy was captured reveals some astonishing details of Israel’s worldwide intelligence network. It discloses, among other thing,s that some of the Muslim countries professing support for the Arab cause have, in fact, close relations with Israeli intelligence.