India News Online » News Analysis » Indian Politics » 

Political Notes

	January 31, 2005

Left unity : CPI introspection

In its draft political resolution, released last week, the CPI has questioned its own ability to carry forward its political agenda when its mass base is stagnant. The resolution admits that the CPI has not really been able to consolidate its position, with the CPIM taking upon itself the task of party building in West Bengal and Kerala. The draft political resolution of the CPI follows that of the CPIM which was released earlier this month. Both resolutions will be debated and accepted with amendments, if necessary, at the forthcoming congresses of the two parties in March and April. The resolution admits that there are vast tracts of the country where no CPI party unit exists or is very weak. This is especially so in the sprawling Hindi belt and western states. It may be recalled that at the previous party congress held at Thiruvananthapuram in 2002, the CPI had renewed the call for a unification of the two Communist parties. However, the CPIM has been expressing the view that getting together will no longer be that simple. But the CPI appears not to have given up hope.

The draft political resolution accuses the Congress ministers and leaders in the UPA government of not learning the coalition dharma of consulting allies and supporting parties on various issues. Party said the Manmohan Singh Government is pursuing neo-liberal policies aimed at creating a free market and unrestricted capitalist economy. Releasing the document in New Delhi CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan said that supporting the UPA government based on the Common Minimum Programme was a political necessity.



The CPIM also continued to express its opposition to the UPA government’s economic policies last week. CPIM leader Prakash Karat, who is widely tipped to succeed party general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet, blamed that UPA for following what he called the blue print of the NDA government. He said the CPIM would oppose the government’s move to divest its stake in the Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd., BHEL, and increasing foreign direct investment, FDI, in the print media.

The Left parties also criticized the Manmohan Singh government’s proposal for merger of public sector banks and said that it would be a step towards capital account convertibility. The Left leaders said the merge move was part of a larger privatization agenda.



New National Security Adviser

M.K. Narayanan, Special Adviser to the Prime Minister on internal security has

been appointed the National Security Adviser. A 1958 batch IPS officer Narayanan had been officiating as NSA since the death of J.N. Dixit. He had headed the Intelligence Bureau in 1989-90.

In another important security related decision the government has brought in Kerala Police Chief Hormis Tharakan as the new chief of the External Intelligence Agency, the Research and Analysis Wing, RAW. He succeeds C.D. Sahay, who retires on January 31.



The government is understood to have delinked the office of the National Security Advisor (NSA) from the border talks with China and the ongoing back-channel diplomacy with Pakistan. On foreign policy, the Prime Minister is contemplating setting up an advisory group comprising, among others, a former Foreign Secretary and a retired General who served as DG, Military Intelligence. Highly placed sources said that the arrangement at the National Security Council under the late J.N. Dixit, who as NSA was New Delhi’s interlocutor with Beijing and Islamabad, has been discontinued. Former IB chief M.K. Narayanan’s confirmation as Dixit’s successor means the NSA’s tasks have been “institutionalised and de-personalised”. Consequently, Indian emissaries in talks with the two neighbours will be expected to report to the Prime Minister and External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh.



Shias set up separate personal law board

A group of Shia Muslim ulema (clerics) have announced the formation of the All India Shia Personal Law Board under the leadership of Maulana Mirza Mohammad Athar. Parting ways with the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, the Shia clerics accused the AIMPLB of failing to live up to expectations. Before this, Sunni leader Maulana Tauqir Raza Khan Barelwi had formed AIMPLB Jadeed. However, two prominent Shia scholars Maulana Kalbe Sadiq and Maulana Kalbe Javad continued to be members of the All India Muslim Personal Board.



300 dead in Maharashtra temple stampede

About 300 people mostly women and children have been killed in a stampede on the

narrow road leading to the Kalubai temple in Maharashtra’s Satara district. The trouble began when some people fell down on the steps leading to the temple made slippery by devotees breaking coconuts. As panic set in, angry pilgrims set some of the stalls on fire. Subsequently, gas cylinders in these stalls began exploding. In the ensuring make hundreds of devotees were trampled to death.

Maharashtra government has ordered a judicial inquiry into the tragedy.

Observers say that the stampede has again created doubts about the country’s preparedness to face such disasters and especially steps to prevent them.

In the meantime, India has brushed aside suggestions on an international Tsunami warning system, saying that it would set up its own network but share information with neighbours. The system is expected to be fully operational by September 2007, with the key elements in place by March next year.



Interpol alert for gutka kings

Two leading gutka manufacturers Rasiklal Dhariwal of Manikchand Gutka and Jagdish Prasad Joshi of Goa Gutka, have been put on Interpol’s “wanted” list. This follows India’s request to the international police organization. The offences listed by Interpol against the two are extortion and organised crime. India has asked Interpol to issue ‘red corner” notices against the two on the basis of non-bailable warrants issued by a Mumbai court against Dhariwal and Joshi for their alleged mafia links. Both Dhariwal and Joshi had allegedly accepted the offer of mafia don Dawood Ibrahim’s brother Anees to set up a gutka factory in Karachi, Pakistan, for which men and machines were transported from India through a Gulf port.



Portugal Supreme Court clears Abu Salem’s extradition

The Portugal Supreme Court has passed an order granting permission for the extradition of Abu Salem, accused in the Mumbai serial blasts of 1993, to India.

According to a CBI official the agency had moved the Supreme Court against the order of the High Court of Lisbon granting Salem’s extradition for trial only in minor cases of offence and not in the Mumbai serial blasts. After hearing the arguments the Supreme Court of Portugal observed that the Indian Government had already promised that Salem would not be awarded capital punishment and granted his extradition for trial in all the cases in which he was involved. It is learnt that Salem’s counsel had also moved an application challenging the High Court’s decision but it was turned down. Now that the CBI has been granted his extradition, Salem is expected to move the Portuguese Constitutional Court to challenge the Supreme Court order. “It will take us some more time to secure his custody”, said the CBI official.



Beant killers in Pakistan

Director General of Punjab Police A. Siddiqui, has said that the murderers of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, who escaped from the high security Burail jail near Chandigarh last year, have escaped to Pakistan. He told newspersons in Jalandhar that intelligence agencies have confirmed that all the three absconders including Jagtar Singh Harwara have taken shelter in Pakistan.