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Political Notes

	February 21, 2005

Demolition of Babri mosque : Vajpayee ‘knew’ it beforehand



The Congress has accused former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee of having prior knowledge of the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in December 1992. The party has demanded a comprehensive inquiry into the matter which came up after the submission of a compact disc (CD) to the Liberhan Commission probing the demolition case. The CD was of Vajpayee’s speech in Lucknow, a day before the Babri Masjid demolition on December 6, 1992. Vajpayee is quoted as saying in the CD, “I do not know what will happen there ( Ayodhya) tomorrow.” Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said Vajpayee now joins the company of BJP and Sangh Parivar leaders including L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti, who are implicated in the demolition case. The Congress demanded that the CBI examine the material on tape closely and use it in the proceedings against the demolition accused in various courts.

However, the BJP has said that it would be wrong to draw any inference out of Atal Behari Vajpayee’s speech in Lucknow as it was made in a different context. Vajpayee, on his part, accepted that he had made the speech, but said that the tone of his address was not provocative and he had no idea that some people would pull down the Babri Masjid.



Reports of likely Cabinet reshuffle

There are reports that the Prime Minister

is planning to induct former Petroleum

Minister Satish Sharma and some others into his Council of Ministers. But the move has been put off, reportedly on the Election Commission’s suggestion. Others who are likely to inducted include Tamil Nadu Congress president G.K. Vasan and late Congress leader Madhavrao Scindia’s son Jyotraditya Scindia. At the same time, some junior ministers perceived to be inefficient or ineffective are likely to be dropped.

Satish Sharma, a close family friend of the Gandhis, has been kept out of the cabinet until now as there were corruption charges pending against him. His induction was expected now since the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) withdrew the charges against him for lack of evidence.



Tainted Ministers : Supreme Court dismisses PIL

The Supreme Court has dismissed a public

interest litigation (PIL) seeking a ban on

persons with criminal records becoming Ministers. The decision came after the Centre assured the court that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would initiate a debate in Parliament on the inclusion of tainted law-makers in the Union Ministry. The Centre’s counsel, Solicitor General, G.E. Vahanvati, told the court that the “issue was clearly within the domain of Parliament to discuss and debate”, and not for the courts to decide. In its affidavit, the Centre maintained that it is the prerogative of the Prime Minister to choose members of his council of ministers. The Centre also referred to problems in running a coalition government and said a coalition government has to do a tightrope walk as far as selection of ministers is concerned.



Goa BJP MLAs in Rajasthan

Twelve BJP MLAs from Goa have been

taken to a resort hotel on the Jaipur-Delhi

bypass road in Rajasthan. The move comes a couple of days before the Supreme Court hearing on the dismissal of the Manohar Parrikar led BJP government in Goa on February 21. The BJP has alleged that the Congress is trying to lure its MLAs to be in a position to prove majority support in the state assembly. Observers say that with Goa Chief Minister Pratap Sinh Rane yet to succeed in his efforts to get a couple of MLAs from the BJP to quit the Assembly, the possibility of the state being placed under President’s Rule is steadily increasing. Rane has to prove his majority by March 4. He has the support of only 18 MLAs in the Assembly with an effective strength of 38. Meanwhile, the Goa Unit of the BJP has sought the President’s intervention to check what it called “police high-handedness” against its MLAs. It has urged the President to dismiss the Pratap Sinh Rane Government immediately.



Centre revives proposal to give visa on arrival

Travellers from a select list of 16 countries

may get visas on arrival in India, under a

proposal being considered by the Government. A group of ministers (GoM) headed by Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh has suggested visa-on-arrival be given on experimental basis in Delhi and Mumbai. The visa-on-arrival idea has been debated for a number of years. The list of sixteen countries whose citizens may get the facility includes the United States, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.



Sonia Gandhi gives nod for clean Mumbai drive

The Congress high command has

supported Maharashtra Chief Minister

Vilasrao Deshmukh’s clean Mumbai policy initiative. But it has asked him to go slow on the demolition drive in the city at least till the monsoons are over. The matter came up at Deshmukh’s meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi on February 17. Deshmukh promised to unveil a rehabilitation package for the people who will be displaced by the demolition of slums. Speaking to reporters later, Deshmukh claimed that he had the complete backing of the party high command on the issue. He said squatters who had been living in the slums since before 2000 would be provided resettlement.



Delhi University lecturer Geelani seeks CBI probe

Delhi Police have informed the Supreme

Court that a status report on the

investigation into the attack on Delhi University lecturer S.A.R. Geelani, acquitted in the Parliament attack case, would be filed next week. A bench of the apex court had asked the police to file a report within a week. The bench was also informed that Geelani had filed an application seeking a CBI probe into the attack.

Meanwhile, the police have initiated the process of preparing a sketch of the suspect in the attack case based on the description given by Geelani on February 14. In a related development, the Supreme Court declined to suspend hearing in the Parliament attack case pending a decision on Geelani’s plea for an independent probe into the attack on him.

In a statement last week, Geelani alleged that the Delhi Police special cell was involved in the attack. The police have dismissed the charge.



Reliance investors complain against Pramod Mahajan

A group of share-holders of Reliance

Industries Ltd. (RIL) has complained to

the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Department of Company Affairs and the President of India asking for an inquiry into the links of three firms which got one crore Reliance Infocomm shares for Rs. 1/- each with the family of former Communications Minister Pramod Mahajan. In their complaint, the shareholders said it has come to their knowledge that the promoters of one of the entities who were allocated the shares, had hatched a conspiracy to defraud the public and the nation by floating a benami (fictitious) company. Reliance has, meanwhile, clarified that the share allocation was later cancelled.



Ravi Shankar among those nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize

Sitar Maestro Ravi Shankar, Pope John Paul-

II and Rock Star Bono are among 166

nominees for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize. Relief groups helping victims of the Tsunami which devastated several countries in Asia at the end of last year are among the favourites to win the Nobel Peace Prize. The prize last year went to Kenya’s Wanagari Maathai, the head of a tree planting movement.



Landmark surgery

An India-born surgeon in the United

States, Dr. V. Mohan Reddy, has

performed an open heart procedure to save the life of a premature baby weighing just 700 grams. The baby had a heart of the size of a grape with arteries no thicker than the tip of a ball point pen and the chest the length of an index finger. Jerrick De Leon, born 13 weeks premature, has become the world’s smallest infant to survive an open heart procedure. Dr. Mohan Reddy took on the tough case at Stanford after doctors in Southern California gave the baby zero chance of surviving the condition known as “transposition of the arteries”, which disrupts blood supply because of crossed blood vessels. The Southern California doctors referred De Leon’s case to the Stanford Children’s Hospital, where Dr. Reddy had successfully performed a cardiac repair on another new born child in 2001. Dr. Reddy has become the toast of the medical community in the US for performing the surgery.

Dr. Reddy did his medical training at Kakatiya University in Warrangal and surgical residency at AIIMS, New Delhi. Speaking after the medical operation, Dr. Reddy said : “I am proud to be an Indian today”