National
How June 2 changed the political landscape of Uttar Pradesh
Lucknow, June 2 (IANS) Twenty-nine years ago, on June 2, 1995, an incident took place that permanently scarred the political landscape of Uttar Pradesh and altered social and political alignments in the state.
On this day, Mayawati, then merely a representative of Kanshi Ram, arrived in Lucknow to take a meeting of 67 BSP MLAs. The BSP at that time, was a part of the SP-BSP coalition government in Uttar Pradesh, headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Mayawati had been visiting Lucknow every month to ‘take stock of the situation’ and had clearly voiced her dissatisfaction over the prevailing situation.
When the meeting began, there were murmurs that the BSP was planning to pull out of the coalition.
Half an hour after the BSP meeting began in the Mirabai State Guest House, SP MLAs with their supporters barged in and allegedly assaulted BSP MLAs and tried to take them hostage.
Mayawati, with the remaining MLAs, locked herself up in a room while SP supporters continued to hurl abuses and bang on the door.
The drama continued for almost 30 hours, power lines were snapped and there was no food supply either.
Finally, the then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao intervened. The Mulayam Singh government was dismissed and a strong police force was sent to the state guest house to ‘rescue’ Mayawati and her MLAs.
On the night of June 3, 1995, Mayawati was sworn in as chief minister with support from BJP.
The incident led to the rise and rise of Mayawati as a Dalit leader and also the simultaneous decline in the importance of Kanshi Ram within the BSP. His poor health was cited as the main reason.
Mayawati, as chief minister, targeted officials who were perceived to be ‘close’ to the Samajwadi camp.
Former UP DGP O P Singh, a 1983-batch Indian Police Service officer who was SSP Lucknow at the time of the incident, has come out with his memoir ‘Crime, Grime & Gumption: Case Files of an IPS Officer’ and dedicated a long chapter to this infamous and controversial episode.
Singh retired from service in January 2020 and headed two central forces –the CISF and the NDRF– during his 37 years of service in the police services.
Calling the ‘guest house’ incident an ‘indecorous’ political drama in the history of modern-day India under a chapter titled ‘Tsunami Years’, he says this event “not only changed the politics in UP but impacted the politics of the country as a whole”.
Singh was among those who faced Mayawati’s ire and was promptly suspended when she took over as chief minister.
The state guest house incident, more importantly, created a deep divide between Dalits and OBCs –mainly Yadavs — and this exists till date.
In her initial days as chief minister, Mayawati used the Guest House Incident to lash out at the Samajwadi Party at every available opportunity.
However, later in the years, she refused to entertain questions on the issue and in 2019, even agreed to an alliance with SP.
When asked, she claimed that Mulayam Singh Yadav was responsible for what had happened and since it was now his son Akhilesh who was at the helm of affairs, she had decided to give him another chance.
However, the results of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls proved that the Dalit-Yadav divide had not been repaired and the two caste groups were still at war. Even though Mayawati won 10 seats and SP was left with five, the BSP called off the alliance.
In the just concluded elections, there are clear reports that non-Jatav Dalits who have distanced themselves from the BSP, have opted for BJP instead of SP — a clear indication that the caste divide has not repaired itself yet.
–IANS
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National
J&K: Encounter breaks out in Kulgam
Srinagar, July 6, (IANS) An encounter has started between terrorists and security forces at Hadipora area at Modergam in South Kashmir’s Kulgam district, officials said on Saturday.
“Encounter started at Modergam village of Kulgam District. Police and security forces are on job,” police said.
The operation started after a joint team of police and security forces got an input about the presence of terrorists in that area.
There have been a series of encounters between terrorists and security forces across Kashmir in the recent past in which many terrorists have been eliminated.
–IANS
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National
Kerala BJP kicks off campaign for forthcoming Palakkad Assembly bypoll
Thiruvananthapuram, July 6 (IANS) With the Election Commission all set to announce the dates for bypolls to two Assembly constituencies and for the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat in Kerala, the BJP launched its campaign at Palakkad on Saturday.
The Assembly bye-elections at Palakkad and Chelakkara were necessitated after sitting legislators Shafi Paramabil (Congress at Palakkad) and K Radhakrishnan (CPI-M at Chelakkara) vacated their seats after winning the Lok Sabha polls.
The Palakkad unit of the BJP launched its campaign after a function to felicitate the two party Cabinet members from Kerala.
Suresh Gopi won from the Thrissur Lok Sabha seat while George Kurian a senior party leader will soon be brought into the Rajya Sabha from another state.
Gopi said that just like the people at Thrissur gave BJP the seat, he was confident that the people at Palakkad would also give the seat to the party.
The BJP has now started its search for a suitable candidate for Palakkad and the name of Kerala BJP President, K Surendran, is doing the rounds.
A popular leader, he came a distant third in the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat which has now been vacated by Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi.
Apart from K Surendran, the names of Sobha Surendran who contested the Alappuzha Lok Sabha seat and Krishnakumar who contested the Palakkad Lok Sabha seat are also doing the rounds.
The BJP is also seriously looking at apolitical candidates like legendary railway engineer E Sreedharan, as the party is confident that such people can help it open its account in the 140-member Kerala Assembly.
This is especially true at Palakkad as the BJP candidates at the previous two Assembly elections, finished second, pushing the CPI(M) candidates to third place.
Meanwhile at Chelakkara which is a reserved constituency for Scheduled Caste candidates, where the BJP doesn’t hold much of a chance, the party is not going to sit idle and might bring in TN Sarassu, a retired principal of a state-run college.
TN Sarassu had been harassed by the student wing of the CPI(M) on the day she retired from service a few years ago.
Incidentally, TN Sarassu was the BJP’s candidate in the Alathur Lok Sabha constituency, in which the Chelakkara Assembly constituency is located.
Even though she lost the Lok Sabha polls, she was able to increase the BJP’s votes in a major way, as compared to the 2019 General Elections.
Incidentally with the bye-election to the Wayanad Lok Sabha polls also being held and the Congress announcing Priyanka Gandhi as its candidate, there will be a galaxy of leaders from the Congress and BJP arriving for campaigning for the seat.
These leaders are also expected to campaign at Palakkad and Chelakkara, thereby giving these constituencies a feel of high-voltage campaigns.
–IANS
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National
Bengal by-polls: Two of four assembly seats under EC scanner for security reasons
Kolkata, July 6 (IANS) Two of the four assembly constituencies, Bagdah in North 24 Parganas district and Ranaghat Dakshin in Nadia, which will be going to by-polls on July 10, are under the scanner of the Election Commission (EC) from security perspectives.
In terms of central armed police forces (CAPF) deployment, insiders from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal said, the Commission is stressing higher mobilisation of forces in terms of polling booth deployment and quick response team (QRT) formation as both the seats are sensitive.
Bagdah will have maximum deployment, with 960 personnel for the polling booths and 192 personnel for the QRTs. Ranaghat Dakshin will follow with 900 personnel for the polling booths and 180 for the QRTs.
The deployment will be comparatively lesser for the two other assembly constituencies namely Maniktala in Kolkata and Raiganj in North Dinajpur district.
In the case of Raiganj, 672 personnel will be deployed at polling booths and 192 for QRTs. For Maniktala, 720 personnel will be deployed for polling booths and 144 for the QRTs.
Insiders from the CEO’s office said that in the by-polls, special focus had been given to the effective utilisation of QRTs in the backdrop of flooding complaints in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls of the late arrival of such teams in areas where tension broke out.
“This time, the Commission is strict that such complaints should not recur. So the deployment of CAPF at booth-level and for QRTs will be much higher in comparison to the limited areas covered under these four assembly constituencies,” said an official from the CEO’s office.
As per the statistics of the 2021 assembly polls and assembly-wise results in the Lok Sabha polls, BJP is comfortably placed in Raiganj, Bagdah and Ranaghat Dakshin while Trinamool has the edge in Maniktala.
–IANS
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National
11-year-old boy succumbs to dengue fever in Bengaluru; septuagenarian dies of Zika virus
Bengaluru, July 6 (IANS) An incident of an 11-year-old boy succumbing to dengue fever came to light here on Saturday. The deceased boy is identified as Gagan, a resident of Anjanapura in the outskirts of Bengaluru.
According to authorities, Gagan was being treated for dengue fever for a few days at a private hospital in Bengaluru and succumbed to the deadly virus on Friday late night. Gagan was a student of Chaitanya Techno School.
In a separate incident, a 74-year-old man died after being infected with Zika virus on Friday night in Gandhinagar in Shivamogga district of the state. The deceased was detected with Zika virus on June 21 and he was suffering from severe fever symptoms since June 19. He was discharged from the hospital on Thursday and was being treated at home.
Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao had asked the Deputy Commissioners in the state to be vigilant about the spread of Zika virus along with dengue cases.
Considering the rising cases of dengue, the state government has capped the prices of dengue testing at Rs 600. Karnataka has witnessed a rise of 42 per cent in dengue cases compared to last year and 6,187 positive cases of dengue have been detected in the state. Six persons have died from January to July 2.
–IANS
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National
Cong will agitate over stopping of sale of Bharat rice by Centre: K’taka CM
Bengaluru, July 6 (IANS) Commenting on the stopping of sale of Bharat rice at an MRP of Rs 29 per kilo by the Centre to the state, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah stated on Saturday that an agitation would be launched against it.
Speaking to reporters after participating in the function to mark the death anniversary of former Deputy Prime Minister Babu Jagjivan Ram at the Vidhana Soudha, he stated, “We will have to start an agitation against stopping of Bharat rice by the central government. If they are unable to provide rice even as they have the stocks of rice, it is because of political ill-will.”
The Bharat rice was introduced for the purpose of election and they have stopped it once the elections are over, CM Siddaramaiah alleged.
“The central government is doing this to bring a bad name to our government. If there are no stocks of rice it is understandable, in this case, they have the rice but are not providing it. “When we approached the central government for rice to be given under the free rice programme ‘Anna Bhagya’, they refused to provide rice, even as they have enough stocks at the Food Corporation of India,” CM Siddaramaiah stated.
“It is very evident that the central government is not with the Dalits, poor and backwards. There are poor people among all castes, they refused to provide rice when the state government wanted to give rice to those poor sections of society,” CM Siddaramaiah reiterated.
“We were then forced to purchase rice. The central government has intentionally not provided rice to Karnataka,” he stated.
–IANS
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