Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Monday said Pakistan has reactivated Balakot very recently and about 500 infiltrators were waiting to infiltrate into India. General Rawat warned Pakistan of more severe action than Balakot airstrike.
“Balakot has been reactivated by Pakistan very recently. That shows that Balakot has been affected. It had been damaged and destroyed. And that is why people have got away from there and now it has been reactivated,” he told reporters at the Officers Training Academy in Chennai. He said around 500 infiltrators were waiting to infiltrate into the country. “…some action had been taken by Indian Air Force and now they have got the people back there,” he said.
General Rawat said, “Pakistan violates ceasefire to push terrorists into our territory. We know how to deal with ceasefire violations. Our troops know how to position themselves and take action. We are alert and will ensure that maximum infiltration bids are foiled.” Asked if the Army is planning another strike to counter the resurgence, General Rawat said, “Why should we repeat the same action? Why not go beyond that? Let them keep guessing.”
Earlier, Indian Air Force had carried out attack at terror camps in Balakot in retaliation to the deadly terror attacks on CRPF personnel in Pulwama in February this year.
Following the silence after interrogation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray seems to be returning to action. He held meetings of MNS leaders and workers. Finally, Raj Thackeray has agreed to contest Maharashtra assembly elections. Now he is busying himself in finalising party candidates for assembly elections. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has indicated to fight around 100 seats. This is equal to total number of seats being contested by each the Congress and the NCP. Earlier, Raj Thackeray’s strong opposition to Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) had given rise to speculation that MNS may boycott the assembly polls. However, he never announced to not contest assembly elections.
When our correspondent Nikhil Sagare spoke to MNS leader Sandeep Deshpande he said, “We will contest more than 100 seats but I can’t say about the actual figure. There is no alliance between MNS and Congress-NCP.”
It is remarkable that his party did not contest the Lok Sabha polls but Raj Thackeray had run an aggressive campaign against PM Narendra Modi and his government. He openly supported the Congress and the NCP candidates in the state. After that, there was speculation that MNS might form alliance with Congress and NCP. But both these parties do not include MNS into their alliance and announced to contest 125 seats each in assembly elections.
MNS film wing president Amey Khopkar said, “Raj Thackeray will announce tomorrow from where MNS will be contesting election and how many seats and contestants will contest polls. No talks have been held pertaining to having alliance with Congress-NCP.”
The MNS is struggling to remain relevant in the Maharashtra politics. Raj Thackeray founded the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) in 2006, after he fell out with Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray. The MNS won 13 seats in the 2009 assembly elections but it could manage only one seat in 2014. The party lost its ground in the state, despite the popularity of Raj Thackeray.
In August this year, Raj Thackeray, was interrogated by ED in a money laundering case. The Mumbai police had imposed section 144 of CrPC (banning unlawful assembly) outside the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office and some parts of the city as precautionary measure. It was apprehended that violence might spread over questioning him. After this interrogation, he was almost silent. Leaders like Ajit Pawar raised questions over his silence.
As per reports, MNS workers from Mumbai demanded that the party must contest the polls to remain relevant in the politics of Maharashtra. Raj Thackeray carefully listened to them and gave his green signal on contesting polls. He has asked to prepare the list of probable candidates for assembly elections. A senior MNS leader said that the party is focusing on urban areas like Mumbai, Thane, Nashik and Pune. Raj Thackeray is taking constituency-wise views from local leaders. Prior to this, the party leaders were of opinion that the MNS is not in a position to contest polls.
It is remarkable that Raj Thackeray had been at the forefront of anti-EVM protests. In July, MNS chief met Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora and demanded that the assembly polls in Maharashtra be conducted through paper ballots instead of EVMs. It was his visit to the national capital Delhi in more than a decade. Raj Thackeray said that he has submitted a letter to the Election Commission, demanding it to switch back to the traditional paper ballot. He also met Sonia Gandhi in Delhi and discussed political developments including the issue of EVMs. Later on, he met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on July 31 in Kolkata and invited her to take part in his party’s rally demanding use of ballot papers in the Maharashtra assembly elections.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) is one-man army and the man is Raj Thackeray. When the ruling party literally had no opposition, when the opposition parties were clueless and dense, its Raj Thackeray who was vocal about every issue and had time and again took on ruling government. There is no strong opposition party in Maharashtra against BJP and Shiv Sena allied government. Most of the top-level leaders of Congress-NCP are under the fear of various investigations such as CBI, ED, etc. Here MNS already shown that they can be strong opposition by clearing stations in Mumbai, its Suburbs and Thane.
Raj Thackeray was one of the prominent leaders in Shiv Sena during 2002–04. His influence in party’s policies was tremendous and he was actually considered to be the successor of Bal Thackeray. But Bal Thackeray started promoting his own son Uddhav and purposely sidelined Raj, which lead to formation of a new political party MNS by Raj. MNS got some success in its initial days due to their ‘Sons-of-Soil’ agenda. Raj was seen as a promising leader. But in the latest elections, people have completely discarded him and his party. The reason was that the MNS could not stand on its words and they always started something and left half way, the Marathi Manoos started losing faith in his leader and he never tried to win the confidence of people.
The development is significant as Raj was not keen on contesting the assembly polls in Maharashtra and had called for a boycott of the assembly polls till the Election Commission agreed to conduct the assembly polls in the state with ballot papers instead of EVMs. Raj had met NCP Chief Sharad Pawar and other opposition leaders with the idea of a boycott of the assembly polls claiming that the polls held under EVMs were managed to favour the BJP. However, other opposition parties in the state were not keen to boycott the polls.
Raj has miserably failed to give a strong political programme to the masses and has bellied their expectations. Moreover, MNS doesn’t have a strong organisation base. There is no second leadership after Raj. Moreover, some of the prominent leaders of party have already left MNS and joined BJP due to Modi wave of 2014, not non-involvement of Raj in active politics.
They had very narrow agenda; the only itinerary of MNS is Marathi Manoos i.e. ‘Sons-of-Soil’. Raj has not understood that the Maharashtra’s youth has become cosmopolitan and their aspirations are changed. He can no longer have the same parochial attitude. Currently, Raj and party has no issues to talk about. Some agitations like toll ban and ban on Pakistani artists were not taken seriously. Though he is hopeful about his strong bounce back, people of Maharashtra have stopped taking him seriously. One sentence- Irrelevant issues raised by Raj Thackeray and his party leaders.
Since its inception, MNS tried creating divide between people based on their origin. “Don’t speak in Hindi or English” with “outsiders”. This worked in lower working class as this class always believes that their misfortune is because of somebody else. This was during 2006 to 2009 period. It’s always easy to convince this class in whatever way you can. After 2010, Modi was applauded for his developmental agenda in Gujarat. BJP too opted this model countrywide and this quickly became popular. “Good road, water, education, doing business, career development’ became the key words than “mother tongue, culture, region, religion’. This development agenda is much inclusive and does not discriminate anybody. Needless to say, this became popular in young voters that constitute huge population in state. Soon MNS found it very difficult to convince the people. They too opted for development agenda and implemented to some extent in Nashik but it didn’t work for some reasons. Previous election result proved the same-MNS is almost wiped out across the state. Maharashtra and its people- over all are not as extreme in language, culture etc compared to some other states. That does not mean they don’t have pride in that but fooling them in the name of these issues won’t work any longer. Shiv Sena is a classic example- Its one of the oldest regional party (1966)- ‘fighting’ for sons of soil issue but it took 29 years in 1995 when they got first chief minister. Again there, they did not get majority.
In spite of the entire ruckus, MNS has finally decided to contest the upcoming elections; the party is likely to contest around 100 seats. MNS will be concentrating on cities such as Mumbai, Thane, Nashik, and Pune, where it has been receiving significant support since its formation. There are indications that there may an informal alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Raj Thackeray is a firebrand leader. He won 13 assembly seats in 2009. Due to lack of organisation set up, party lost in 2014 election. However, they started attacking PM Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha election. In spite of Raj’s hard hitting attacks, Modi won in majority. Since political outfits of all shapes, sizes and geo-political foot prints have already announced a unified vision of ‘Defeat Modi’ for the 2019 LS polls, MNS type units can and will extract their pound of power from the wanna-be challengers. Be it Congress, which is fighting an existential battle along with the NCP or the Shiv Sena, MIM and the invisible left, which will even spill blood to stay relevant. In these circumstances the MNS is likely to bargain and get a few more seats than they would ever deserve and the Congress and NCP will part with those seats so they can survive politically to fight another day.
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Adv. Pratibha Bangera (Advocate and legal Expert in litigation and commercial law) suggests legal precautions before helping a friend or relative with our Editor in Chief Dr Vaidehi Taman.
What is the difference between a friendly loan and a commercial transaction ?
A friendly loan does not necessarily include interest upon loan amount whereas a commercial loan can be given only by a licensed and registered money lender along with chargeable interest.
How dangerous is it to give loan to a friend or a relative ?
Legally, it is the same as any commercial transaction. But otherwise due to your awkwardness or inability to refuse it may be risky for survival of a friendship if the loan money is not returned.
Can a case be filed for recovery of a friendly loan?
Only if it is supported by a document such as a promissory note or an agreement to repay the amount within a stipulated date. You may also take a post dated cheque of same value with or without additional interest.
Is this the same as a Security cheque and can such cheque be encashed?
Most borrowers try to excuse repayment by making excuses that the cheque was given for security purpose only or the cheque was stolen or deposited without their consent.
How does one go about recovery of such amounts?
If you have a promissory note and/or a post dated signed cheque given by the borrower, you should deposit the cheque within the validity period or limitation time for expiry of such cheques as stipulated by the bank.
In addition to this a “lawyers legal notice” has to be mandatorily sent to the borrower, that too within 1 month of cheque dishonour along with “intimation letter” which has reason for dishonour of cheque.
Failure to send notice within 1 month may weaken complaint for filing a cheque bouncing case in a criminal court. There are time guidelines for filing a case. Also as it is a punishable offence to “bounce cheque” it has to be filed before a criminal court. In addition to punishment and penalty the criminal court may grant cheque amount or even more than the amount mentioned in the bounced cheque along with interest and litigation cost to complainant or penalty for cheque bouncing.
What if there was no agreement or document?Can a person use email or phone communications as proof of loan?
Yes, any written admission to return the loan amount can be produced as proof of promise to repay.
How is a 138 NI Act case or cheque bouncing case different from a summary suit or a ordinary suit ?
A cheque bouncing case is filed in a criminal court whereas, a summary suit is filed in a civil court. The complainant is required pay “court fees” on the amount claimed even though it’s a criminal offence and in addition to return of money the court will sentence the defaulter.
In summary suit, there is no need to pay “court fees” and if the borrower fails to comply with conditions levied by court to defend his case the judgement is faster and sometimes the court may ask borrower to first pay part of the amount in order to be able to defend his side of the story. However, the judgement in summary suit which go undefended is within 1 month of filing such summary suit. Therefore this is a faster and easier relief for the lender.
In a civil suit also the lender may have to first deposit certain percentage of claim amount towards “court fees” to initiate his claim for recovery. Therefore, one should lend carefully and only if there is certainty that the money will be returned.
Can a money lender take such amounts and keep security cheques and trouble the borrower and pass off as friendly loan ?
There are laws to protect innocent borrowers. If the borrower was manipulated into taking a loan and forced to give a security cheque and if there was no privity of contract and if it is found that the lender was involved in giving “black money” on interest, the court may direct the case for investigation along with directions to the Economic Offences wing to conduct investigation to find out source of such money and to take necessary action.
Is there any time limit for recovery of such loans?
There is no limitation of time for filing a criminal case or a complaint against a borrower for cheating but the only result will be punishment if found guilty. Most people avoid doing that to their friends or relatives. But all civil cases are bound by the limitation period and have to be filed within 3 years.
How does the court help in such cases?
Almost all courts have a mediation center or Lok Adalat now. If there is a possibility that the borrower is willing to pay and the lender can allow some extension of time for repayment, the mediation officers help in working out proper consent terms and in case of failure to repay the loan amount.
What about the Tax liability of a person who has given loan and after he recovers the same ?
If there is an interest paid upon such loan, the same will be treated as income to the lender and he will have to pay tax upon same.
Can a person be imprisoned for cheque bouncing if it’s a punishable crime?
Yes even though its a punishable crime and if there is prison sentence the lender may agree to waive off or excuse the borrower or in other words the court may compound prison sentence for cheque bouncing.
What if the borrower changes his address or goes missing?
If the person goes missing after judgement, the complainant can make applications for arrest warrant or impound passport of the defaulter or issue a look out notice and inform airport authorities to be on the lookout for such person travelling out of country and if the person is already out of the country can even search through international police or Interpol. There are several legal remedies provided the complainant acts upon it and has money and time to remain persistent for recovery of his money. And in most cases of friendly loans it is only the friendship that is lost.
During this period, Hindus pay homage to their ancestors or Pitras. It is believed that during this time of the year, ancestors visit earth and bless their kin with prosperity. According to Vedic tradition, various customs, fast-festivals and traditions are seen in Sanatan Dharma. Hinduism has to complete sixteen rites from conception to death. Even after funeral, we have to carry out some actions or rites for the parents who have passed away. One of them is Shradh Karma. While Shradh Karma is performed on the Amavasya date of every month, but from the full moon of Bhadon month to the new moon of Ashwin month, we have been practicing this whole fortnightly Shraddha Karma (Pirtu Paksha) for years. In simple words we can say that in order to pay reverence to our ancestors, the law of Shraddha has been kept, which we are required to do with complete loyalty.
The greatness of Shraddha can be gauged from the fact that in almost all the mythological texts it is mentioned that we should give more importance to our ancestors worship than God or Goddess worship. Because if Pitars are happy then the Gods and Goddesses also accept our faith and loyalty. This is the reason that in our eternal religion and culture, the elders must try to provide peace to the living elders by honoring them and performing Shraddha Karmat.
According to the Brahma Purana, if the ancestors are not sacrificed after the whole law, then they do not get liberation, it is believed that by not doing so, their soul wanders after death.
As per astrology
There is also an astrological reason behind celebrating Pitru Paksha (Pitru Paksha 2019) or Shradh (2019). In astrology, Pitra-Dosh has been described as very influential. In this context, Jyotishacharya Shri Laxmikant says that you do some work with full devotion, honesty and dedication, do not take any kind of care, even after that you feel a failure or are constantly losing money, your illnesses. If you are not giving up the pursuit, there is not much promotion or salary increase in the job for a long time, then there is a lot of possibility that it may be due to paternal fault also. And it has often been seen that when a native of all four sides shields his ancestors and gives peace to his soul, then the vehicle of your success suddenly catches speed. Your stuck money starts coming. Therefore, to get rid of Pitradosh, for the peace of the fathers, we should follow every method and legislation with a sincere mind.
To perform Shradh
The month of Amavasya is fixed in advance for the Shraddh of the Pitars. On this day, there is a law of pinddaan or shraadh for the peace of ancestors on the banks of a river. But Pitrupaksha is considered the best time for Shraddh. It is to be noted here that it would be appropriate for the ancestors to have a puja or shraadh done by a qualified priest.
Now in the fortnight of Shraddha, on which date your ancestor or deceased family member has died. If you remember that date, then it should be done on the same date of Shraddha fortnight. If the exact date of death is not known, on the day of Ashwin Amavasya the body can be worshiped. That is why this day is also called Sarvapriti Amavasya. If the relative has suffered from premature death (accident, suicide, murder) then his / her shradh can be done on Chaturdashi. Apart from this, the date of Ashtami for father and Navami for mother is considered correct.
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
BMC’s 24×7 garden policy is unfeasible and would also cause law and order problems. Free public parks in the city are mostly used by the poor as lavatories wherever there are toilet facilities available by those who don’t have toilets at home. Public toilets in the city are crowded during morning hours and parks as well as gardens become a convenient alternative. Public parks after sunset are mostly frequented by couples for sexual activities which makes them unfit for children and elderly. Drug addiction at these places too are common during night hours.
Proper lighting at big parks throughout the night for a few people too would be a costly affair apart from policing them that would be an additional cost. Toilet facilities at parks should be charged a nominal fee so that they are not misused and kept clean by the house keeping staff. Every public place needs maintenance as well and keeping them open at all hours in a city like Mumbai is untenable as well as unadvisable. Even the local trains don’t operate for a few hours at night and so should be the parks and gardens
S.N. Kabra
Why not construct a new capital for India?
It refers to ambitious plan to build a new most-modern and spacious building for Parliament, and a composite big complex to house offices of all the central ministries at one place. All this coupled with other related plans like to develop Rajpath and other areas of Leyton New Delhi will cost very heavily to the exchequer. Presently capital-city of New Delhi has become over-saturated and unplanned with so many new buildings being erected from time to time to originally systematic planned New Delhi way back in the year 1931.
Many countries in the world and even states in India have preferred developing new capital-cities rather than spending too much for added requirements in the existing capitals. India presently virtually has a separate economic capital Mumbai in addition to main capital-city of New Delhi. Any heavy expenditure like on a new Parliament House in outdated capital-city will be like spending on a costly silky patch-work on an old costume.
Best is to develop an altogether new well-planned capital-city of India somewhere in middle of the country to be almost equi-distant from remote corners of India, and may also serve as economic capital of India. New city can be planned in a manner that residences of office-goers may be near to their offices requiring minimum local transport. Site for new capital should be chosen keeping in view future systematic expansion, and may be least affected by natural calamities like floods etc. Delhi should be expanded to be a full state by taking some nearing areas of bordering Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.
Madhu Agarwal
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
As many as 19.96 lakh ghost beneficiaries have been identified at Anganwadi centres in Assam through a daily headcount, according to an RTI query. There are around 14 lakh Anganwadis across the country and 10 crore beneficiaries, which include children under the age of six and pregnant women and lactating mothers.
In Assam, there are a total of 62,153 Anganwadi centres in which 36,24,973 beneficiaries, including 5,94,296 pregnant women and lactating mothers, are enrolled.
The Centre has asked all states to conduct headcount of all beneficiaries of Anganwadi centres, a type of rural child care centre set up by the government to combat undernutrition and stunting among children below the age of six years and also meet nutritional needs of pregnant and lactating women.
In reply to an RTI query, the Women and Child Development Ministry said a total of 19.96 lakh ghost beneficiaries (both children and pregnant women and lactating mothers) have been eliminated from the Anganwadi services in Assam while report from other state governments are still awaited.
The ministry further said the beneficiaries under the Anganwadi Services Scheme are identified on the basis of Aadhaar which is used as identity document for delivery of services or benefits in a bid to bring transparency and efficiency.
“The beneficiaries not possessing Aadhaar card are assisted by the field functionaries to obtain the Aadhaar card. Till such time they get the Aadhaar card, they are provided the Anganwadi services on the basis of alternative identification document,” according to the RTI reply.
Officials said the identification of fake beneficiaries is an ongoing exercise and a report in this regard has been received just from Assam yet.
According to the revised cost norms for supplementary nutrition, children from six to 72 months get Rs 8 per day while severely malnourished children (6-72 months) get Rs 12 per day and pregnant women and nursing mothers get Rs 9.50 per day.
The identification of fake beneficiaries is also being done through smartphones having Integrated Child Development Services-Common Application Software (ICDS-CAS) app, officials said. These smartphones have been distributed to over 1.2 lakh Anganwadi centres.
The nutrition monitoring app has been developed under the Poshan Abhiyan, also called the National Nutrition Mission, launched by the Centre in 2018 with an aim to bring down stunting in children in the age group of 0-6 years from 38.4 per cent to 25 per cent by 2022.
Despite tying up for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Shiv Sena and BJP’s alliance for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections is going through rocky turmoil like in 2014. Only difference is that this time BJP is in a steering position to run the alliance. This time, BJP has made it clear to Uddhav Thackeray‘s Shiv Sena that after taking out the seats that the two parties won in 2014; the remaining seats will be distributed equally. This will leave Shiv Sena with around 115 seats in the alliance’s seat distribution plan. Shiv Sena has, however, raised an objection to this and pointed to the fact that Devendra Fadnavis had promised before the Lok Sabha elections that seat distribution for assembly polls will be equal for both the partners. Shiv Sena had won 63 seats and BJP had won 123 seats in the 2014 assembly elections. Even though last week, Uddhav Thackeray had said that in a couple of days the alliance would be announced for the assembly elections, it has been nine days since. Now it’s Pitru Paksha BJP-Sena has their superstitions too, the chosen candidates will not even get enough time to campaign for themselves. This tug of war will have meaning.
In 2014, Shiv Sena was even ready to take a cut of 20 seats but was not ready to go down below 150, for which BJP claims the alliance didn’t work out.
Now, even though the Shiv Sena leadership has accepted that they will be getting lesser number of seats than BJP, they are not ready to accept the 128 seats offered and want a minimum of 135 seats. Both Shiv Sena and BJP have acquired leaders from Congress and NCP to better prepare for the assembly elections. However, this has also created doubts that the parties are readying plans to contest the elections separately. Uddhav Thackeray satirically remarked that he has asked Fadnavis to prepare and handover a list of Shiv Sena candidates too.
On the other hand, Fadnavis has remained non-committal and said “discussions are on”. Shiv Sena should accept its situation practically. The Sena has expressed its desire to have an “equal share” and wants the two parties to contest 135 seats each of the total 288 in the state, leaving the rest to their respective allies. The BJP, however, has refused to give in to the demand and has asked for a bigger share of the pie, up to 160 seats. Sena have hinted at a possibility of the two parties contesting independently if the party doesn’t get as many seats as it has been demanding. After the first two meetings ended in a deadlock, Uddhav Thackeray reportedly called an urgent meeting with the party’s MPs, MLAs and political strategists to discuss a possibility of going solo in the upcoming elections. However, the situation today is very different, political analysts point out. Even though senior Sena leaders have claimed the party is prepared to fight the elections on its own if an alliance is not worked out, analysts say Sena stands to lose a lot more than the BJP.
The Modi wave benefited both the BJP and the Sena equally in the state. But over the past five years, apart from the Modi wave, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has also managed to build his own image as an indomitable leader. The alliance helped the party’s steamroll the state, winning 41 out of the 48 Lok Sabha seats. Soon after the general elections, the Sena has again been critical of the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre and Fadnavis’s government in the state. Through its editorials, the Sena’s mouthpiece has been critical of the BJP governance, even playing the role of opposition on several occasions. In Mumbai, the Sena has decided to oppose Fadnavis’s move to axe over 2,600 trees in the Aarey forest. In spite of expressing difference Sena has no choice and BJP can think of aligning with anyone. The dilemma of staying in alliance or going solo has exposed the weakness of Shiv Sena. The top leadership has ego issues. These are the same issues that led to division of Shiv Sena, and the MNS was formed. But there persists a pressure from some of its seasoned leaders to stay in the alliance. So, that is one reason.
Their anti-Modi stand is more an “ego” issue than a political strategy. Staying in alliance is more important for them as compared to BJP. Their overall tally may come down to a single digit if they choose to go solo. Therefore, despite the ego issues they choose to remain in the bad relationship with BJP. The chances of BJP alone getting the clear majority are quite slim. In such a situation, Shiv Sena will have upper hand at bargaining to lend its support, and will also get a chance to get even with the BJP. That is also one of the reasons why Sena is still in alliance.
Meanwhile, Uddhav is looking out for the future of his son as deputy CM. He would not go solo but he will play his last straw to get his demands obeyed by BJP.
The Election Commission is also expected to announce the poll dates for assembly elections in Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand soon.
Looking at the trend, the poll schedule for Maharashtra and Haryana for 2014 elections was announced on September 20 and the voting took place on October 1.
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Maharashtra is gearing up for state polls in coming month. With campaigning on in full swing in the state, social media too is abuzz with the probable election schedule. The start of the election campaign comes at a time when BJP and Shiv Sena are still struggling to reach an understanding on the seat sharing formula for the state polls. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) election campaign in Nashik. Modi blamed the Congress for the plight of Kashmiris for decades. He called for making efforts to create a new paradise in the valley. He also said that lot of efforts are being made from across the border to foment violence in Jammu & Kashmir. Modi said that the decision to abrogate Article 370 was taken in the interest of unity of India. He said,“This decision is going to the medium of fulfilling the aspirations and dreams of the people of Jammu & Kashmir. Plenty of efforts are being taken across the border to spread unrest and disbelief and foment violence in Jammu & Kashmir.”
When our correspondent Nikhil Sagare spoke to Congress chief spokesperson Ratnakar Mahajan he said, “Congress party’s campaigning is going on. A campaign is being held by Nana Patole. Half the portion of Maharashtra is witnessing drought and another half portion has witnessed floods. The government has been unable to resolve these issues. It has failed to address the problems of farmers. This government which has come to power by raising corruption issue has been indulging in corruption. More than 15 leaders are involved in corruption but cases have not been probed.”
Modi also hailed Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis as youth icon. Addressing the rally in Nashik PM said that Maharashtra has witnessed unparalleled growth under the leadership of Fadnavis. “Crores of people blessed Devendra Fadnavis in his 4000 km statewide tour. Maharashtra’s people have decided to bless only those who will work as per expectations.”
Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi said, “Development is the major agenda of our party. I had started a company at Mankhurd, Shivaji Nagar which are slum areas to generate employment. Youth are getting attracted towards drugs which need to be prevented.”
He also added that Maharashtra has blessed Devendra Fadnavis immensely during his yatra and had made up their mind about retaining him as their CM.
This was Modi’s first public meeting in Maharashtra after the BJP’s victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The state polls are also important for BJP because this is the first time that BJP has its own chief minister in Maharashtra and it is the bigger partner in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
BJP MLA Atul Bhatkhalkar said, “Once election dates are declared we will officially start campaigning. Our main plank is our performance of five years under leadership of Devendra Fadnavis and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We will make announcement pertaining to seat distribution at appropriate time.”
With chief minister Devendra Fadnavis leading the campaign for the BJP, the assembly elections will be a test for the ruling party on its development model and governance. The start of the election campaign comes at a time when BJP and its alliance partner Shiv Sena are still struggling to reach an understanding on the seat sharing formula for the state polls. Although the two sides had decided to contest equal number of seats in the 288-member assembly, a section of BJP is keen to contest more seats in the state polls.
Shiv Sena MP Vinayak Raut said, “The campaigning for election will begin after the filing of nomination forms. Unemployment, farmer’s suicide, drought in Marathwada are the major issues in this election. Shiv Sena has always supported the cause of farmers. We have also taken steps to improve health care facility.”
The state will go to polls next month. The assembly elections in Maharashtra are important because the alliance of BJP and Shiv Sena had won 41 out of the 48 seats in the state. Even as the two sides had contested the 2014 assembly elections separately, the alliance partners formed the government together with a comfortable majority. BJP had won 122 seats while Shiv Sena could manage to win 63 seats in the earlier state polls.
This refers to the statement of the National Conference (NC) on September, 16 that the party would take legal course to challenge the detention of its party President Farooq Abdullah under the ‘Public Safety Act’ (PSA) in J&K.
It is high time the NC realises that the present unfortunate situation in J&K [where Kashmir is under lock-down since August 5, 2019 after Government of India unconstitutionally & illegally got Article 370 of the Constitution amended, Article 35-A repealed and State of J&K bifurcated in two Union Territories] is the result of the NC itself playing over-smart on the issue of the political fate of J&K. Even now if the NC discharge its political responsibility properly (by filing writ petition in J&K High Court and Supreme Court) then not only the office-bearers and members of the NC but all the political detainees (detained and arrested including after August 5, 2019) can be got released but the solution of Kashmir problem can also be achieved to the satisfaction of all concerned, as explained below:-
(1)- First and foremost the NC should understand that the NC is not a party like other parties in J&K because it was on the support of the NC (through its popular leader Late Mr. Sheikh Abdullah) that (despite Junagarh and Hyderabad which came to India, being Hindu majority princely States) the Muslim majority J&K did not go to Muslim theocratic Pakistan but came to Hindu majority secular socialist (welfare-State) India through ‘Instrument of Accession’ (IoA). The NC should further understand that the support of entire J&K (including PoJK) was so certain that Pakistan (which is now day-in and day-out demanding plebiscite in united-J&K) could not dare to go for plebiscite after UN resolution 1948 (which mandated plebiscite in united-J&K) rather sabotaged UN resolution 1948 by not vacating PoJK (a precondition for plebiscite).
(2)- Now the situation has reversed. Presently India is unnecessarily worried that the Muslim majority area of united-J&K may go to Pakistan if plebiscite is carried-out in united-J&K. This apprehension of India is due to simple reason that India has compromised on both the fronts namely the secularism and welfare-state. What is most unfortunate is that this has not only emboldened Pakistan to demand plebiscite but has also made – [in face of the demand of some separatists who all along have been in very small minority (despite temporary anger due to said ill-conceived legislative & administrative actions of the GoI on and after August 5, 2019) and will again be in very small minority] – the GoI to inflict atrocities on the people of J&K (mainly to Muslim Kashmir). The GoI unnecessarily (in addition to lockdown of Kashmir since August 5, 2019) has been making its security forces (instead of retrieving PoJK for carrying out plebiscite) to show their ‘bravery’ by training their guns mainly at civilians of Kashmir under the protection of AFSPA, PSA etc.
(3)- No doubt the NC (which brought Muslim majority J&K to India) is mainly responsible for this unfortunate situation in J&K because the NC could have restored secularism and welfare state in India and could have easily paved the way for plebiscite in United-J&K in favour of India (which the NC still can do) but it did not do so despite repeated requests and reminders to the NC about it. Hence, now when entire leadership of the NC is under detention and arrest now at-least the NC should realise its political responsibility towards the people of India and especially of J&K and double so of Kashmir valley and should do the following:-
(i)- First, the NC should understand that the link between India & J&K is not through Article 370 & 35-A but through IoA as these Articles came in existence much after IoA. The purpose of Article 370 & 35-A are (A)- to ensure outsiders-free J&K to facilitate free & fair plebiscite and (B)- Pending plebiscite, for the purpose of managing J&K politically, administratively and legally only as per the wishes of the people of J&K as expressed by laws made by legislature of J&K and as per the laws and Constitution of India applicable to J&K to the extend consented by the legislature of J&K. Therefore, repeal of Article 35-A and amendment of Article 370 of the Constitution are unconstitutional and against the spirit & letter of IoA.
(ii)- The NC should immediately file writ petition in J&K High Court (generally as per online petition which seems to not have been admitted as it was not filed in person). In this writ petition, the NC should also pray that all the political detainees, arrested, imprisoned under any law (including those who demanded separation before or after August 5, 2019) should be made free because as per IoA it is the legal right of the people of J&K to (in plebiscite) opt either for India or for Pakistan or for becoming independent. This writ petition should be filed in J&K High Court because the jurisdiction of High Court under Article 226 is wider than that of Supreme Court of India (SCI) under Article 32 of the Constitution.
(iii)- Hindu majority rest of India has failed to restore secularism and welfare-state. Hence, Muslim majority J&K should take the lead and for this the NC should become a truly national party. For achieving these –
(A)- In the interest of restoring secularism the following five writ petitions should be filed in Supreme Court of India (SCI).
(B)- For bring welfare- before filing writ petition SCI, the NC should demand (by demonstration all over India which will bring members to the NC in huge numbers for all across India) the recovery of Rs 1,000 lakh crore / Trillion (for solving economic problems of economically humble Indians, the overwhelming majority of India) Income tax from ~1 million tax evaders and as expected also by ‘United Nations Convention Against Corruption’ (UNCAC) of which India too is a signatory.
It is hoped that now when the leadership and other office bearers and member of the National Conference are under detention, arrest and jailed then (instead of giving lip service to the cause of J&K) the NC will become truly national party and will do as mentioned above (including writ petitions in J&K High Court and Supreme Court), so that process of the assimilation and integration of Muslim majority united-J&K into Hindu majority secular, socialist (welfare-state) India can be completed in 2019 which was started by the NC itself in 1947.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of AFTERNOON VOICE and AFTERNOON VOICE does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
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