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Political notes

	November 05, 2001

Riots expose communal divide in Malegaon

The manner in which sectarian, vote bank politics can breed violence was illustrated by the violence in the Malegaon town of Maharashtra which saw worst clashes last week. Arson, looting by mobs and the police firing led to nearly 12 deaths and injuries to many innocent people. The forthcoming civic elections in the town is stated to be the root cause of problem. What started as a protest by a section of youth against the US strikes in Afghanistan and pro-Osama slogans soon became a communal issue. Surprisingly, the main rivals for the local elections were Muslims

Anti-social elements took over the situation and the authorities had to exercise more care as minorities were involved and any action against the political bigwigs would have worsened the situation. Malegaon has a history of communal trouble, going back to 1962. It saw riots in 1984 and 1992. This time the police action against some youths who were distributing handbills supporting Osama’s call against MNCs and their products sparked trouble which soon assumed communal overtones. Soon the Congress and the Janata Dal got into the act blaming each other for the violence.



RSS man at the helm in Uttaranchal

RSS activist Bhagat Singh Koshiyari was sworn in the new Chief Minister of Uttaranchal by State Governor Surjit Singh Barnala at a low-key function last week along with a team of six Cabinet ministers. Koshiyari, who replaced Nityanand Swami, is the second RSS pracharak to be appointed as Chief Minister of a BJP-ruled state after Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi this month. He was the Power and Irrigation Minister in the Swami Cabinet. Except Harbans Kapoor, the senior most legislator from Dehradun city, all the others who were sworn-in today were Cabinet ministers in the Swami Ministry. Harbans Kapoor, who has been elected eight times to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, is the only new entrant in the Ministry. Two Cabinet Ministers in the erstwhile Swami Ministry did not find a place in the new Cabinet. Koshiyari also tried to balance his Cabinet by choosing his ministers from Kumoan and Garhwal.



Maoist guerillas gun down 13 cops

Maoist Communist Centre guerrillas last week gunned down 13 Jharkhand Armed Police jawans in Dhanbad district. Five other jawans were seriously injured in the attack. The extremists looted firearms and killed the jawans with the same weapons. Around 150 to 200 extremists of the banned outfit suddenly raided the block headquarters, attacking it with country made bombs and small arms fire. The police force present in the headquarters put up stiff resistance engaging the militants in an encounter for almost three hours.

With the killing of 13 policemen, Jharkhand became only the second state after Jammu and Kashmir to have witnessed maximum police casualties in the last few weeks. More than 40 of them have lost their lives at the hand of extremists since mid-August.

The seriousness of the situation can be gauged from the fact that those killed in the past few weeks include a deputy superintendent of police and two sub inspectors. While one dozen CRPF men lost their lives on September 23 attack in Hazaribagh district, about a dozen more lost their lives in three other such incidents in Latehar, Giridih and Hazaribagh districts in the same month.

The daring MCC attack on CRPF on September 23 and on Jharkhand police on October 31 took the authorities by complete surprise and it knocked the bottom of the Marandi government’s claim of destroying their bunkers. The latest attack, unlike the previous jungle ambushes, took place in the heart of Topchanchi town, only six kilometres from the prominent railway junction of Gomoh, and it was the weekly market day, when the militants attacked the policemen. The extremists escaped with 18 self-loading rifles, two sten guns and 2,000 rounds of ammunition. Never before in the history of the ultra-left movement in Bihar, and what is now Jharkhand, have so many policemen been killed in such a short time



Punjab CM caught in an assets scandal

Punjab Chief Minister P.S. Badal has got involved in a scandal of amassing a fortune, not only in India but also in the US. The shocking charges could not have come at a worse time for the CM who will be facing assembly elections in a few months time. Even as the uproar over the burning of the holy texts by a rebel Sikh religious leader is yet to die down, the latest one has surfaced with the opponents of Badal smelling blood and seeing a chance to put him on the mat.

The man who is gunning for Badal is Kulbir Singh ‘Prempuri’ who has followed up the Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh’s attack on Badal for amassing properties abroad. Prempuri is the New York pradhan of Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal). Prempuri, also a leader of the New York Sikh community, alleged Badal owned, among other things, a night club, 20 petrol stations, a parking lot, a four-storeyed building in New York and hundreds of acres of land in California. With him was the first man to make these allegations against Badal, Amarinder himself.

Prempuri went on to announce he was resigning from the SAD (Badal) and joining the Congress as he was disillusioned by Badal. Describing Badal’s alleged properties, Prempuri said the parking lot in a basement on 23, Park Avenue, generated good income.

‘’Badal also owns 20 petrol pumps in association with Akali leader Surjit Singh Rakhra in Milawaukee as well as the Lion Night Club, whose book value is $300,000. A four-storeyed building in New York along with 800-900 acres of land are held by Badal in association with Didar Singh Bains in California,’’ added Prempuri.

Amarinder said the Congress was aware that Badal had 8,000-9,000 acres of land in California, along with properties in Australia. ‘’But I do not expect these overseas properties are in his own name and are likely to be benami ( in a fake name).’’

In a counter attack, the the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) was quick to deny that Kulbir Singh ‘Prempuri’ held the office of New York pradhan of the party and said he was just the voice of his real ‘’master’’, Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh. Doubts over Prempuri’s ‘’association’’ with the party had come up after he distributed letters giving the name of his party as ‘Sheromani Akali Dal Incorporated’. The latest round of allegations against Badal were considered part of the ‘dirty tricks” that parties resort to at the time of elections.



Naval staff held for passing on papers to Pak mission

The Delhi police have arrested three Naval officers on charges of smuggling classified defence secrets and passing them on to a Pakistan High Commission officer for money for over a year now. Their interrogation revealed that 10 to 12 such transactions have already been made. The police booked Mohammad Abdul Samad, an assistant with the Directorate of Marine Engineering and Francis Prakash, a daftari and Babul Nath Maurya, a junior design officer. They were charged with passing on classified Defence information regarding strength and deployment of the Navy. The Pakistan High Commission officer that they were allegedly passing the information to was identified as Ghulam Shabbir Khan.

On November 1, the police got specific information that Samad, along with his two accomplices, would deliver defence secrets to Khan near an eating joint in east Delhi. The police have registered a case against them under the Official Secrets Act. Both

Samad and Khan were questioned when the former revealed that Maurya was waiting for them near ITO bridge and that he too was carrying some documents to be handed over. Francis was apprehended later. Ghulam Shabbir Khan was handed over to the officers of Ministry of External Affairs to declare him persona non grata.