LESSON 32
http://timesofindia .indiatimes. com/India/ As-PM-I-will- finish-terrorism -Naxalism- Mayawati/ articleshow/ 4319274.cms
As PM I will finish terrorism, Naxalism: Mayawati
27 Mar 2009, 0251 hrs IST, Law Kumar Mishra, TNN
DHANBAD: Even before campaigning for the general election could pick
up, BSP supremo and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati on Thursday
set up
her agenda as the next Prime Minister of India.
She said, “I will liquidate terrorism and finish Naxalism. I will work
for an egalitarian and casteless society. We will give reservation to
the poor among upper castes and amend Constitution to give reservation
to Dalit Christians, minorities and OBCs among Muslims.'’
Kicking off her party’s campaign in Jharkhand, she said, “My party is
not against any caste or creed. I have given tickets to many upper
caste candidates. It is not a party of any particular group or caste.
We are for casteless society. I will take care of businessmen,
labourers and the poor if BSP comes to power at the Centre.'’
She even promised reservations in judiciary, private sector and
legislative bodies. Cautioning voters not to swayed away by tall
promises made in manifestos of BJP and Congress, she said, “Do not
believe them, have faith in me,'’ she said adding both the parties
might try `using the media’ against BSP.
Mayawati said BJP and Congress-led government at the Centre were under
the influence of capitalists, but the BSP government would be for the
poor. She claimed the capitalists have no say on the UP government.
“Economic policies in UP are not guided by capitalists and
industrialists, ‘’ she said.
Mayawati said rising prices and unemployment were badly affecting
children of upper castes. They should vote for BSP candidates to
ensure the defeat of BJP and Congress. Local coal mafia don Samresh
Singh is the BSP candidate from Dhanbad.
http://blog.taragana.com/n/corporates-want-end-to-demands-for-election-funds-23425/
NEW DELHI - The election bugle has resulted in India Inc’s cup of
woes overflowing. Industrialists complain, mostly privately, that
political parties have begun clamouring, coaxing and sometimes even
threatening them to cough up for ‘party funds’.
It is a well-established fact that during elections, candidates and
parties in India are largely funded by money that is not accounted for.
While orporates have been hesitant to share such details, instances of
arm twisting by parties or candidates are not uncommon.
Most members of the corporate sector prefer to remain quite, but
Bajaj Auto chairman Rahul Bajaj and Tata Communications chief Subodh
Bhargava were quite vocal recently. They said enough was enough and
wanted an end to use of black money for elections.
‘There is a lot of black money involved,’ said Abhay Firodia,
chairman of Force Motors, which makes commercial vehicles and tractors.
‘Political parties would not like to account for the money received as
funding for elections,’ Bhargava told IANS.
Industrialists felt the problem also had to do with the limits set on election spending.
Under the present laws, a candidate can spend Rs.10-25 lakh in a
parliamentary poll and from Rs.5-10 lakh in an assembly poll. Details
of the spending also have to be filed with the Election Commission.
But that is certainly not the amount the candidates of the parties
end up spending, as revealed by a recent analysis by the Centre for
Media Studies, a city-based think tank that analyses communications and
media trends in the country.
‘Our studies say that the total expenditure for the upcoming Lok
Sabha elections will be around Rs.10,000 crore ($2 billion). The
Election Commission’s expenditure alone will be about Rs.1,200 crore
($240 million),’ said N. Bhaskara Rao, founder of the centre.
‘But out of this Rs.10,000 crore, a fourth would be financed by unaccounted money. The two national parties - the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party - alone will spend up to Rs.1,000 crore in all,’ Rao told IANS.
He said parties across the world spend money during elections on publicity, surveys, campaigning, vehicles and aircraft. But in India there was also the phenomenon - ‘cash for vote’, where candidates or parties lure the potential voter with money.
The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India, a leading
industry lobby, says it has a solution to curb this menace - approval
for state funding of elections and legislation to improve transparency.
‘There should be legislation according to which election funding
should be legalised through budgetary allocations and corporate
donations for which income tax exemption should be extended to
industry,’ said the chamber’s secretary general, D.S. Rawat.
At the same time, some industry leaders felt that the corporate
sector, too, can bring about a change by insisting on paying money to
parties only through legal channels and denying any demand for cash
payment.
‘Corporates should make payments only through cheque or give money
to registered trusts that fund electoral campaigns,’ said J.J. Irani,
veteran industrialist and director of Tata Sons, the holding arm of one
of India’s biggest corporate houses.
‘As a group, Tatas don’t give money to any particular politician or
party. But we have a Tata Elections Trust, which gives money to
parties, provided certain conditions are met. That too we only pay
through cheque.’
Political parties, by and large support state funding of elections, but feel the ground reality today comes in the way.
‘Yes! state funding of elections will prevent black money from
entering the system and promote meritorious candidates.
‘But it is not happening because this is a coalition era where there
are many regional and unregistered parties that cannot be financed. If
the government starts funding everyone, it will involve a huge cost.’
Corporates want end to demands for election funds
254 candidates file papers for Chhattisgarh’s 11 seats
Raipur, March 30 (IANS) A total of 254 candidates
have filed nomination papers for the 11 Lok Sabha seats from
Chhattisgarh with 107 doing so Monday - the last day, election
officials said.
Filing of nomination papers had begun March 23 and the scrutiny will
take place Tuesday while April 2 would be the last date for withdrawal
of nomination papers. The state goes to polls Nov 16.
The main contest will be between the two major national parties-
state’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress that heads
United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the centre.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has
fielded candidates on all the 11 seats while the Communist Party of
India is contesting on just one seat - Bastar.
Mayavati to visit Gujarat
Mayavati is coming to Ahmedabad to address a
rally at Football ground on March 31st. BSP is going to fight all 26
seats in Gujarat.
Two days ahead of the rally of the Bahujan
Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati in the state, the Gujarat unit of
the party on Sunday announced names of 18 candidates who will contest
various seats in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.
The list includes Pravin Solanki and Mohan
Namori from the reserved seats (for SC) of Ahmedabad-West and Kutch,
respectively. The four candidates for the reserved Scheduled Tribe
seats include Ramsingh Kalara from Dahod, Prakash Bhil from Chhota
Udepur, Ranjana Gamit from Bardoli and Chagan Patel from Valsad.
Other candidates are Suresh Mali from
Banaskantha, Mahboob Khokhar from Patan, Rudratsingh Jhala from
Mehsana, Vikramsingh Ramalavat from Sabarkantha, Bhavesh Bhatt from
Ahmedabad-East, Dalichand Patel from Rajkot, Mehul Chandrawadia from
Porbandar, Usha Patel from Amreli, Mukesh Patel from Anand, Ratansingh
Chauhan from Kheda, Prakash Barot from Panchmahals and Samarnath Singh
from Navsari.
The BSP will be able to win 14
seats in Gujarat in this election and will impact somebody’s winning
chance on some seat.
BJP’s Ahmedabad rally, not so impressive
BJP’s Ahmedabad rally at Football ground was
not as massive and impressive as it could be. Almost 30 percent of the
total space in the ground remained unoccupied till the end of the
rally. Local media had created hype on extra ordinary security
arrangements in this rally. But on ground, security arrangements were
below ordinary. There was no tempo, no charm in the rally even though
Narendra Modi, LK Advani and 24 other BJP Lok Sabha candidates from all
over the Gujarat were present on stage. According to party tradition,
Advanai’s speech should be at last but he spoke before Modi. In recent
years, it has been experienced that people leave a rally after Modi’s
speech. Perhaps to prevent such possible embarrassing situation,
Advani’s speech was held before Modi’s.
Interestingly when Modi’s speech was going on,
people were leaving the ground. In total around 100 people stood up and
started leaving the ground from differnt corners of the ground one by
one when Modi was talking on terrorism and Bangladeshi intrusion.
Looking at this, Modi shortened his speech. Usually Modi talks for
around 40 minutes in such election rallies but here Modi’s speech ended
up in less than 20 minutes!
Actually, rally’s official time was 5:30 pm
but Advani and Modi arrived at 7:30 and therefore people who had
arrived on time were thursty and tired sitting in the ground. Such
people started leaving earlier therefore.
My friend who is a TV journalist blamed live
telecast of this rally on couple of Gujarati tv channels for less
crowd. Other friend said that party workers, unhappy due to unknown
candidates chosen by the party were responsible for poor show. Such
workers don’t loud their voice but silently express their protest by
not performing enough. Some journalists believed that this was a
sabotage because not only the crowd was unimpressive but sound system
also was faulty. Many who were sitting on the backside of the ground
just couldn’t listen the speeches clearly.
Jammu,
March 30 (IANS) The Bahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP) blue flags fluttered
here in Jammu and Kashmir Monday as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister
Mayawati campaigned for her party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Addressing an election rally, Mayawati criticised
the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as well as the Congress saying these
parties were ‘fooling the people’.
‘All
other parties have failed to deliver on their promises,’ she told a
large crowd, and asked them to vote for the BSP to help it form a
government in New Delhi.
Mayawati
said her party would contest all six Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and
Kashmir, where elections will be held in five phases from April 16 to
May 7.
Sections of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) might be exulting in
the attention their party’s Pilibhit candidate Varun Gandhi is getting
after his inflammatory speeches. But there is one place where the
‘other Gandhi’ won’t be welcome — Madhya Pradesh, where the party’s
election in-charge is Sushma Swaraj.
The senior BJP leader made it clear to party workers that they
should not hope that Varun Gandhi, now behind bars and booked under the
National Security Act, would be campaigning for them in the state.
The reason: The party does not want to polarise votes and threaten its chances in certain constituencies.
“We are in the government here (Madhya Pradesh), and the government
doesn’t use this (kind of) language. We don’t have to do any such thing
which can be termed as ‘aa bail mujhe maar (which can harm us)’,”
Swaraj told party workers.
What recession? Indian political parties are flush with funds
New Delhi, March 30 It may be recession time for the world, but Indianpolitical parties appear to be awash with money as they plunge into the
world’s biggest electoral battle.
There is no official estimate how much money is being spent by
political parties on the staggered April-May elections for which
campaigning has already begun.
What everyone seems to admit, unofficially though, is that the Election
Commission bar on the maximum amount a candidate can spend in his or
her constituency is invariably breached. But few get hauled up.
According to unofficial estimates, the Congress, India’s oldest and now
the ruling party, is set to splurge a whopping Rs.20 billion (Rs.2,000
crore/$400 million) in this election.
A senior Congress leader however told IANS: “We would be spending
almost Rs.10 billion (Rs.1,000 crore) in the next three months.”
A high level source in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said his party too had a similar budget.
Under the law a candidate can spend between Rs.1 million (Rs.10 lakhs)
and Rs.2.5 million (Rs.25 lakhs) in a Lok Sabha battle.
The house has 543 elective seats.
But almost all political parties also shell out on advertisement and media blitz.
The Congress has roped in Percept, Crayons and James Walter Thompson
(JWT), three leading ad agencies to prepare the party’s campaign
strategy.
“These companies are behind the concept, ideas and execution of the
Congress campaign,” former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya
Singh, a member of the Congress publicity committee, told IANS.
The BJP has hired ad agencies Frank Simoes-Tag and Utopia.
“They have prepared the advertisements for the BJP which will be used
on TV, FM radio and print media,” BJP spokesman Sidharth Singh said.
With the Election Commission outlawing the traditionally popular — and
cheaper — wall writings and graffiti, the major political parties have
no option but to spend big money.
Even parties with limited influences but with national aspirations are not short of finances.
For
the Best Secular Party (BSP)’s Self Respect!
Gets a Vote and a Note ! that rules Uttar Pradesh which is sure of winning all state’s 80 Lok Sabha seats.
Film clips showing the achievements of the BSP government in Uttar
Pradesh and its Chief Minister Mayawati, who has not hidden her prime
ministerial ambitions, have been on the air for weeks through the vote and a note!
The financially more prudent Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)
is not ready to reveal how much it spends on the election but insists
that it never breaches the Election Commission rules.
The party hasn’t roped in any advertising agency. But it has plans to
come up with CDs and audio and video cassettes featuring election songs
in West Bengal in particular.
So where is the money coming from — amid the financial downturn?
“Most major political parties get donations from big business houses,”
Vinoj Abraham, associate professor of economics at the Centre for
Development Studies in Thiruvananthapuram, told IANS.
“Since almost all major business houses are going through difficult
times, they might cut down their campaign budget. However, this may in
turn attract a larger share of unaccounted black money to support the
political campaign,” he added.
Abraham said the main beneficiary of the huge spending would be the media sector.
“Yet, given that such a large amount of money is going to be pumped
into the economy during campaign, it is going to trigger some demand
within the economy,” he said.
“The sectors that would directly benefit would be mainly media, be it
print, audio or visual, communication and transportation,” Abraham
added.
‘Mini Mayawati’ campaigns for Best Secular Party (BSP) in Jammu
By chennaivision at 30 March, 2009, 6:06 pm
Jammu,
A seven-year-old girl, popularly known as ‘Mini Mayawati’ today
campaigned for the Best Secular Party (BSP) till the Uttar Pradesh
Chief Minister Mayawati arrived here to address an election rally ahead
of the Lok Sabha polls here this afternoon.
As the BSP president reached the venue, late from the schedule time,
Mini Maywati addressed the gathering and delivered speeches similar to
that of Ms Mayawati and sought vote for the party.
Jammu based girl Simran Bangotra, famously known as ‘Mini Mayawati’,
addresses the public rallies and gatherings of the BSP during
elections, a party source said.
‘’Sirman not only resembles Ms Mayawati, but also attires and address rallies like her,’’ they added.
‘’A first class student was being trained by her grandfather and
would also conduct door-to-door campaign for the BSP and address
massive rallies in different constituencies,’’ they said.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president and Uttar
Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati promised reservation to SC/ST
Christians and upper caste poor on 22 March 2009, as she launched her
poll campaign from Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala.
Mayawati
flew to the Kerala capital to kick off her nationwide 52-day poll
campaign, vowing to clamp down on terrorism and Maoist violence in the
country. “Labourers, religious minorities and the Scheduled
Caste/Scheduled Tribe communities continue to be aggrieved even 61
years after independence. Many from these communities have taken to
Naxalism (Maoism) and other wrong ways because of this neglect,” said
Mayawati. She spoke in Hindi for nearly 40 minutes and her speech was
translated into Malayalam.
“The BSP has clear cut policies on
foreign affairs, agriculture and economics. All post-independence
governments have sacrificed governance to the interests of the rich
land-owning class,” she said.
The BSP decided to contest all the
20 Lok Sabha seats in the State. Its star candidate in the State would
be former Congress MP and three time former state minister
Neelalohithadasan Nadar, who has been in a number of parties during his
political career.
Nadar is contesting from Thiruvananthapuram Lok
Sabha seat, which he won in 1980 trouncing then veteran Communist Party
of India leader MN Govindan Nair. One of his rivals this time would be
Congress candidate Shashi Tharoor, former UN under secretary-general.
Now BSP is not just Bahujan Samaj Party but also the Best
Secular Party (BSP).
Asked to comment on invoking of the stringent NSA against Varun Gandhi, Mr. Singh said it had nothing to do with the Centre.
“This has nothing to do with the Centre. The state government in Uttar Pradesh has taken the decision,” he said.
Mr. Singh said if what was being
attributed to Varun, a BJP nominee from Pilibhit constituency, was
true, “it is very unfortunate”.
Observing that Mr. Varun had a
distinguished legacy of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, who have
given their lives in promoting communal harmony, Mr. Singh said his
comments were “more out of sorrow than anger”.
Now INC is not just Indian National Congress but also the real Indian Nasty Communal (INC) Party. There will be more and more rumblings not only in UPA, but also with in INC.
SP acting as BJP’s ‘B team’, says BSP
Lucknow (PTI): Training its guns on
Mulayam Singh Yadav for his statement criticising the Uttar Pradesh
government for invoking NSA on Varun Gandhi, the ruling BSP on Tuesday
alleged that the SP supremo has an understanding with the BJP and his
party was working as its “B team”.
“The SP and BJP have tacit
understanding earlier but now SP has an open understanding with BJP and
is working as its B team. By not fielding candidate against BJP
president Rajnath Singh from Ghaziabad and joining hands with Kalyan
Singh, the SP has proved the point,” BSP general secretary Satish
Chandra Mishra told reporters here.
He also alleged that the SP had fielded dummy candidates in the state to benefit the BJP.
Justifying government’s decision to
invoke the NSA on Mr. Varun quoting Supreme Court’s observation that
his speeches were “inflammatory and full of hatred”, Mr. Mishra said
opposition parties should tell why it was not the fit case for NSA
despite the fact that it disturbed public order and created terror in
the region.
“The action was taken against Varun on
the basis of concrete evidence and it has inculcated sense of security
among the people of the Pilibhit,” Mr. Mishra said.
On allegation of laxity by the district
administration, he said that when Mr. Varun himself volunteered to
surrender, there was no reason for doubting his intentions but later
his supporters indulged in violence.
Election Commission notice to Mulayam
J. Balaji
Samajwadi Party chief allegedly threatened Mainpuri District Magistrate |
NEW DELHI: The Election Commission on Monday issued notice to
Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh for allegedly threatening the
Mainpuri District Magistrate-cum-Returning Officer, S. Minishti, for
the cancellation of the gun licences of SP workers.
The Commission, which examined the compact disc allegedly containing
Mr. Singh’s speeches made in Mainpuri on March 23, has enclosed a copy
of the CD along with the notice. Mr. Singh is contesting from Mainpuri.
The Commission notice said that if Mr. Singh failed to give his
reply by 4 p.m. on Friday, it would take action without any further
notice.
Obstacles seen
“The Commission considers such threats as obstacles to the conduct
of free and fair elections, as such actions affect the morale of the
district election machinery involved in the conduct of elections,” the
notice said.
Mr. Singh, referring to the cancellation of gun licences, allegedly
warned the IAS officer that he would register a complaint with the EC
against her.
He accused her of losing her sense of proportion and not being able
to differentiate between a criminal and a common man. He suggested that
she get her “head checked” and asked her to mend her ways within a week.
The Commission has already transferred the Superintendent of Police for “dereliction of duty.”
This is the second complaint against Mr. Singh within the purview of
the Commission; he was earlier served notice in connection with the
alleged distribution of Rs.100 notes to people at Saifai in Etawah
district.
“Clear signal”
CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat said the arrest of BJP candidate Varun Gandhi was a clear signal
that any attempt to create communal unrest and instigate communal
violence would be firmly dealt with. “In U.P. particularly at the time
of general elections, such a firm step or signal is required,” he added.
new electoral factors in play.
The stage is thus set for a multi-cornered contest across the State,
with the presence of the BSP and the Left parties forging a seat
sharing arrangement among themselves.
Mayawati has sent a strong message: Brinda
Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Monday
applauded Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati’s action in sending a
strong message that there was no place for hate speeches in the country.
Talking to reporters, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat
declined to comment on the provisions of the National Security Act
being invoked against BJP’s Varun Gandhi for his alleged hate speech
saying that it was dependent on the perception of the State government
on whether it feared the danger of communal violence when someone was
unapologetic and bent upon repeating his statements.
Ms. Karat maintained that a strong message had to be made and it
was sent to all political parties to desist from indulging in hate
speeches and that any attempt to foment communal violence would not be
spared.
She described as a pretext Mr. Gandhi’s claim that the CD was
doctored saying that she had heard it and it was clearly visible what
he was saying and his speech was full of hatred.
Hindutva theme
Ms. Karat charged the BJP with hypocrisy and said Mr. Gandhi only
expressed the core Hindutva theme that various organisations of the
sangh parivar supported.
Search for the Maratha vote
It is a high decibel campaign with no tangible results. Over the last
two years, Maratha leaders stepped up the demand to be categorised as
an other backward class (OBC) in Maharashtra. Apart from this, they are
seeking 25 per cent reservation in education and employment.
The BSP is also planning to field Maratha candidates, which could add to the polarisation.