BJP Team Meets Chief Election Commissioner, Seeks Adequate Security For State Polls

New Delhi:  A BJP delegation today met Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi and election commissioners in New Delhi and demanded that fair and fear-free polls be ensured in Kerala and West Bengal by deploying adequate security forces.

"Discrepancies on a large scale have been found in voters lists published for 2016 in Kerala. For example, the population of Kerala is 3,34,06,061 according to the 2011 census, but 2,56,27,620 voters have been shown in the voters' list, which is impossible because people under 18 years of age were also included in the census," said Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, who led the delegation.

"Besides this, about 23.63 lakh non-resident Keralites have not been included in the voters' lists. The BJP demands that these mistakes be corrected immediately and online voters registration should continue," he added.

BJP general secretary Arun Singh, secretary Shrikant Sharma, spokespersons Sudhanshu Trivedi and Nalin Kohli were part of the delegation.

The BJP delegation said it suspected that some political parties might indulge in violence and chaos to disturb the election process in West Bengal.

"Communal and violent incidents have been taking place in various parts of West Bengal continuously. Hundreds of BJP workers have been killed. Several administrative and police officials have been working like workers of the ruling party (Trinamool Congress)," the BJP leaders said.

"Some districts of West Bengal have become strongholds of anti-national and anarchist elements. The ruling party seems either a mute spectator to these elements or is saving them," the BJP said in a memorandum submitted to the poll panel chief.

The delegation urged the Election Commission that adequate deployment of central security forces and special observers was needed in West Bengal and Kerala during the election process so that people can participate fearlessly.

Elections to the state assemblies of West Bengal and Kerala are due to be held soon.

This New is Originally Posted on NDTV

BJP doesn't instil fear in Dalits to get their votes: Sudhanshu Trivedi

Sudhanshu Trivedi, a spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and an emerging ideologue of the party, tells Archis Mohan how certain groups have tried to exploit the tormented psyche of Dalit students like Rohith Vemula to turn them to anti-national causes. On the Ram Janmabhoomi case, Trivedi is confident the verdict will be in favour of those who wish to see a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya.

What is your assessment of the events that led to the suicide of Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula and the protests in its aftermath?

Rohith Vemula's suicide was unfortunate. But vital facts have been ignored. A concerted effort has been made to give the episode a political colour.

First, it is incorrect that a BJP MP forced the Hyderabad Central University (HCU) to take disciplinary action against members of the Ambedkar Students' Association (ASA), including Vemula. The fact is the HCU vice-chancellor was forced to take action under pressure from the court. This was after the mother of an injured Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) student moved court, which sought an action-taken report from the university that couldn't furnish it.

Second, it is being said that an MP (Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya) put pressure on the HCU. Fact: Three Lok Sabha and two Rajya Sabha MPs are nominated to the HCU court. Isn't it natural for these five MPs, who are part of a university body, to be concerned about events at the university?

Third, Vemula hasn't blamed anyone in his suicide note. That is not important. His letter reflects his pain and loneliness and how he never found proper support in his harsh struggle. It is evident that he felt deeply hurt. Certain forces exploited his state of mind, and those of his colleagues who felt similarly, to spread anti-national propaganda.

Here, I would request all those who have criticised us to enlighten us how the hanging of (1993 Mumbai blasts convict) Yakub Memon and the protests in its wake have anything to do with the Dalit cause. Memon was convicted by the Supreme Court of treason and anti-national activities. Isn't supporting him anti-national?

But shouldn't universities allow students to agitate over socio-political issues they strongly feel about?

Yakub Memon was no victim of politics. He was convicted of treason after a due and long process of law. Even if I were to agree that protesting was their right, what about the rights of others to disagree with these students? Isn't it their right as well to mount a counter-protest? The right here is equal.

There is a sense, including among Dalit leaders in the BJP, that the government could have handled the issue sensitively....

This is just another way of denying the facts. The FIR on the case was lodged by the mother of the injured ABVP student in July 2015. There was no Dattatreya then. Neither the government nor any MP had put pressure on the university when the process had started.

The Congress and other political parties have politicised the issue along caste lines. They are maligning us because they are unnerved by our track record in according respect to Dalit political symbols and our efforts to promote Dalit socio-cultural empowerment.

The young student ended his suicide note with "Jai Bhim", that is, victory to Bhim Rao Ambedkar. In the current Lok Sabha, the BJP has the highest number of Dalit MPs. Has the Congress elected a Dalit as its party president in the last three or four decades? The BJP has.

Jawaharlal Nehru not only threw Ambedkar out of his cabinet but also campaigned to ensure his defeat in the Lok Sabha elections then. Congress governments were not the ones which honoured Ambedkar with a Bharat Ratna. Now, such people have taken to espousing the cause of Ambedkar.

It was the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh that built a memorial to Ambedkar at his birthplace in Mhow. The Atal Bihari Vajpayee government built a memorial at Delhi's Alipur Road where Ambedkar had breathed his last. It is the Narendra Modi government that is commemorating the 125th birth anniversary of Ambedkar and also turning into a memorial the house in London where Ambedkar lived during his student days. If you remember, it was a Dalit by the name of Kameshwar Chaupal who laid the first stone of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi shilanyas.

Leftist and radical forces have traditionally supported the Dalit cause....
If you look at Vemula's suicide note, he had cut out some of what he had written. The police have deciphered it. It reflects Vemula's views on how Leftist forces, which claim to be supporters of the Dalit cause, use students like him for political purposes. They try to instigate Dalit students to get their support. Tell me what the condition of the Dalits was after 34 years of Left Front rule in West Bengal, or 15 years of Lalu Prasad's rule in Bihar? Please compare this with the record of our governments in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

The Dalit cause is identified with that of other marginalised communities like the Christians and the Muslims.

The Madhya Pradesh government's Niyogi Commission report of 1955 revealed how some groups take advantage of the poverty and lack of education (of Dalits) to motivate them for religious conversions.

The BJP doesn't instil fear in the Dalits to get their votes; its opponents do. Take the example of the 1993 alliance in Uttar Pradesh between the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). What was the fate of that government? They (the SP supporters) tried to kill (BSP President) Mayawati after having taken her support to form the government. It was the BJP that came to her rescue, despite knowing that the decision would cost it dear in the long term in UP.

There is some anger among BJP's core supporters that the party has forgotten its primary issues now that it has come to power at the Centre....

There are two aspects to this: factual and emotional.

The factual aspect is that it was our government in UP in 1991 that acquired 67 acres around the 2.77 acres of the temple. The matter reached the courts after the demolition (of Babri Masjid). The Vajpayee government first tried to build consensus. An Ayodhya cell of the Prime Minister's Office was set up and intense negotiations took place. But consensus eluded us. In 2003, our government submitted excavation facts that became the basis of the judgement by the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on September 30, 2010. Now the matter is in the Supreme Court.

The three-judge bench of the 2010 judgement was unanimous that historical and archaeological evidence proves the sanctum sanctorum existed below the central dome of the mosque. Now the dispute is: Who will get possession of the land, which the high court divided into three parts? It could go to anyone, but what is settled is that the site is Ram Janmabhoomi. The facts are so clear that I am confident the decision will go in favour of Ram Janmabhoomi, as have court judgements consistently since 1949.

On the emotional side, the dispute here is about Ram Janmabhoomi and Babri Masjid, not any temple or mosque. Our opponents object to politics in the name of Ram, yet why are they comfortable with politics in the name of Babar in Hindustan?

The political vision and life of Mahatma Gandhi was devoted to Ram and Ram Rajya. In 1989, Rajiv Gandhi started his election campaign from Ayodhya with the slogan of establishing Ram Rajya. Much changed in the subsequent years. On the issue of Ram Setu, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government submitted an affidavit in the Supreme Court in 2007 that Ram never existed. Even the British or Aurangzeb didn't deny the existence of Ram! What does it mean? Our stand didn't change over the years but theirs did.

This New is Originally Posted on Business Standard

Why President’s rule has been imposed in Arunachal Pradesh

After crisis- ridden Arunachal Pradesh was brought under the President’s rule following President Pranab Mukherjee’s assent to the cabinet recommendation, the Supreme Court yesterday  issued a notice to the Central government on the imposition of President’s rule in the state,  seeking a reply by January 29.

While hearing the plea of Congress challenging the Union Cabinet’s recommendation for the state to be put under President’s rule, the apex court also asked the counsel for Arunachal Pradesh’s Governor J P Rajkhowa to furnish immediately the report that led to imposition of President’s rule.

The Supreme Court has fixed the next date of hearing on February 1.

The fresh plea assumes significance as the five-judge bench is examining constitutional provisions on the scope of discretionary powers of the Governor, amid continuing month-long impasse over Nabam Tuki-led Congress government in Arunachal Pradesh.

In an earlier plea filed by Nabam Rebia, who was allegedly removed from the post of Speaker by rebel Congress and BJP MLAs in an assembly session held at a community hall in Itanagar on December 16, has listed out legal questions, including the Governor’s power to convene the assembly session without the aid and advice of the government for adjudication by the apex court.

President’s rule in Arunachal Pradesh:
Official sources said the President signed the proclamation two days after the cabinet held an unscheduled meeting on Sunday to recommend that the northeastern border state be brought under President’s rule.

Minister of State for Home Kiran Rijiju said the cabinet was forced to take the decision because of a Constitutional breakdown as six months had lapsed between two sessions of the state Assembly.
Earlier, on Monday the President had called Home Minister Rajnath Singh and put some queries to him on the need for the imposition of President’s rule even as Congress, the ruling party in the state, met him and opposed the cabinet decision.

The Congress party urged the President not to give assent to the cabinet decision saying the issue was before the Supreme Court.

Other major opposition parties had also attacked the Centre’s decision saying it amounted to “murder” of democracy while the BJP said the crisis was of Congress’ making because it had lost numbers in the Assembly.

Arunachal Pradesh has been rocked by a political crisis since December 16 last year when 21 rebel Congress MLAs joined hands with 11 of BJP and two independents to ‘impeach’ Assembly Speaker Nabam Rebia at a makeshift venue, in a move branded as “illegal and unconstitutional” by the Speaker.

Congress has been a master in creating conditions in Arunachal Pradesh:
BJP leader Sidharth Nath Singh has said that President’s rule has been imposed not for the first time and Congress has no basis to complain as it is responsible for the “political instability” in the state.

“ This is not the first time that the President’s rule has been imposed. The Congress has been a master in creating conditions also in Arunachal Pradesh.

The condition has been created by rebel MLAs of the Congress and not by anybody else and at the same time there is also a constitutional requirement for the session to be held within a time span which has not been met.

Therefore, there is instability in Arunachal Pradesh,” Singh said.

Defending the decision, the BJP leader said:

“The Council of Ministers at the Centre recommended to the President.

President took his time and in his own wisdom has imposed the President’s rule. So Congress has no basis to complain.

If they want to make any political issue, they are welcome to do it.

Constitution needs to be respected.”

Earlier, Congress leader Manish Tewari had criticized the government for imposing President’s Rule in Arunachal Pradesh, calling the move to be a “sledgehammer blow” to Indian federalism and “misuse” of the Constitution, adding that the government should have waited for the Supreme Court decision on the matter

Internal conflict in Congress to blame for Arunachal crisis: BJP

Defending the Centre’s move, BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi had said that Congress has “no answer” either on Constitutional or moral or political ground, as “a government cannot remain in office if it does not call for a session of the House within six months of the last session”.
He had pointed out that Congress MLAs revolted because of “family matter” and corruption charges against the government.

The Chief Minister and the Speaker are cousins and worked in tandem, fueling resentment within the party, he said.

Citing Constitutional provisions, Trivedi said six months shall not intervene between the last day of one session and the first day of the next session. He said the Nabam Tuki government should have convened the House by January 21 which it did not because it had “lost” majority.

“Let alone the meeting of Assembly, even the meeting of Congress legislature party was not called for the simple reason that Congress had lost numbers,” he had told the media.

Accusing Congress of breaching all decorum, he said the Chief Minister and his ministers had used most indecorous language against the Governor and animals were slaughtered outside the latter’s house, in an attempt to spread anarchy.

Hitting back at Congress after it accused the Centre of misusing the office of Governors, Trivedi referred to former law minister and party leader Hansraj Bhardwaj’s controversial claims over the imposition of President’s Rule in Bihar in 2005 when UPA was in power.

He also raked up the issue of dismissal of BJP governments in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh following the demolition of Babri mosque in 1992, saying there was no justification for that.

Congress rebels ready to form government with BJP support in Arunachal:
Congress MLAs in Arunachal Pradesh who revolted against Chief Minister Nabam Tuki have welcomed the Union Cabinet recommendation for imposition of President’s rule in the state and said they were ready to form an alternative government with the support of BJP and others.
“We welcome the Centre’s decision as there was complete breakdown of Constitution. Nabam Tuki constitutionally, democratically and morally has no right to rule.

He should have resigned long ago,” MLA and spokesman of the rebel group, Pasang Dorjee, had stated.

Dorjee had pointed out that the rebel Congress group has 21 MLAs and they were supported by 11 BJP legislators and two independent MLAs while Tuki has support of just 26 MLAs in the 60-member Assembly.

Asked whether they would support a BJP-led government, Dorjee said that question does not arise at all as the rebel Congress group has more MLAs than the BJP.

“We are still in Congress and we want a Congress-led government, not BJP-led government.We are against Nabam Tuki but not against Congress party,” he said.

Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju had asserted that the Cabinet recommendation was in accordance with the Constitution as the Assembly did not hold its session for more than six months.

“We do not have any role in the recommendation of President’s Rule because it is a constitutional process,” the minister said adding  that  BJP has no intention to form the next government in the state as it was up to the MLAs to decide the future course of action.

Asked whether BJP would support a Congress-led government as claimed by him, Dorjee said for the interest of Arunachal Pradesh, the BJP would be ready to support the Congress rebel group.

“We are for development of Arunachal Pradesh. The BJP is also for development of Arunachal Pradesh.

So, why will not they support us,” he stated, highlighting the fact that they have already projected former Minister and veteran state Congress leader Kalikho Pul as the next Chief Minister of the state.

Nabam Tuki insists on Arunachal being peaceful, blames Governor:
Former Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Nabam Tuki had earlier expressed surprise over the Union Cabinet’s recommendation for imposing President’s rule in the state.

“This is really shocking as the Centre did not consult the state government before taking such a harsh decision.

Arunachal is absolutely peaceful without even a single case of law and order breakdown reported in the last month,”

Governor Rajkhowa had recommended President’s rule in Arunachal Pradesh without consulting the state Cabinet at a time when several related cases are sub-judice in the Supreme Court, he said.

This New is Originally Posted on NITI CENTRAL

BJP hopeful on Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir; defends President's rule

NEW DELHI: For a party that has rung alarm bells each time there is some problem at the Pakistan or China border, BJP is faced with a predicament where J&K as well as Arunachal Pradesh are under President's rule and in the midst of political uncertainty  a scenario that has sections within the saffron organisation in a fix.

BJP leaders to whom ET talked to said though the crises were not of its making, it should definitely not continue for long. Party leader Sudhanshu Trivedi defended the imposition of President's rule in the two states, insisting "one cannot leave border states in a state of anarchy and chaos. No politics should be played on sensitive issues. All steps should be taken to restore normalcy", he said.

  

BJP leaders are more vocal on Arunachal and defended the Centre for imposition of President's rule. "While the crisis in Arunachal is one where a big chunk of Congress MLAs are with us, in J&K the situation developed in the wake of Mufti Sayeed's demise; but we are moving towards ironing out the differences with PDP," a BJP MP involved in party affairs in both states in the past said.

Other BJP leaders underlined that being border states and under President's rule were the only common grounds between J&K and Arunachal. In J&K, BJP is dependent on how Mehbooba Mufti plays her cards. "Arunachal has usually been with whichever party is in power at the Centre so we are hopeful," a BJP leader said.

BJP pins the blame for imposition of President's rule on the Congress. "Congress accusing us is akin to pot calling the kettle black. When it comes to President's rule, Indira Gandhi had crossed the half century mark," BJP secretary Srikant Sharma claimed.

"The uncertainty in both the states will end soon in our favour. It is just a matter of time," a BJP leader said.

This New is Originally Posted on The Economic Times