Uttar Pradesh elections – some challenges facing Akhilesh Yadav
In the 1984 elections, after the sudden death by assassination of Indira Gandhi, her son became the new Prime Minister and in the polls soon after, he got an astounding number of parliamentary seats giving him a huge majority – with 411 MP’s out of a total possible of 543, this was a huge mandate that he got. However, due to some misguided policies and some wrong steps (opening the locks of the Ram Janambhoomi, the Muslim Personal Law Bill, the huge controversy over the Bofors deal and a group of advisors who did nothing but mis-manage his relations with the country and the media. By the time of the 1989 elections, the support for Rajiv Gandhi and the Congress significantly declined to 197 seats.
The above example just shows that just because a party gets a huge number of seats in a particular election does not mean that this honeymoon will carry over into the next election. In fact, closer home in Uttar Pradesh, the performance of BSP in the 2007 election and then in the recent elections shows how fickle public support can be. Now, with the Samajwadi Party making a huge win in the elections, and then nominating Akhilesh Yadav to be the Chief Minister, the SP can set the ground for continuing this winning way in the future, or crash and burn in the next few years. Here are a few points for the same:
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Categories: Accountable, Corruption, Development, Election, Governance, Growth, India, Law, Politics, Protection, Responsibility, Samajwadi Party, Uttar Pradesh, Violence Tags: Akhilesh, Akhilesh Yadav, Corruption, Elections, Government, India, Law and Order, Lokpal, Majority, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Politics, Samajwadi Party, SP, State Politics, Uttar Pradesh
Anti Maoist operations – UAVs to be used to gather information
The Government, for the past several years, has been stating that the Maoist problem is a severe problem, and the ‘Red’ corridor that the naxalites have set up in the central section of the country means that there are large areas of the country where Government officials do not set foot. However, at the same time, since law and order was a state subject, and also because we did not have a really effective Home Minister (Shivraj Patil), there was not much Government effort in this regard. It is only recently that the Government has shown determination to act in this regard – however, this could also be because the action by the Naxals has become more direct, and they have started attacking economic assets of the state and of private companies at a much higher frequencies. Worrying for the state and central Governments, they are also showing strategy in attacking the security forces, and getting local populations to take part in their training.
Categories: India, Left, Military, Policy, Politics, Security, Terrorism, Violence Tags: Forces, India, Maoist, Military, Naxal, Security, UAV
Another one – Family kills son-in-law, allows daughter to be abused
Its horrible to read of such a case, and yet how many times do you read about such cases. Earlier, I would read about honour killings in many countries, especially in the Middle East, and wonder as to how somebody could do such a thing to a fellow human being, and especially to a close relative. And then I learned of such incidents happening in our country as well, especially in the northern rural areas of Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and to some extent, in Bihar. And in many of these (including the current one), the honour is supposed to be defiled when a girl and a boy fall in love, but are of the same gotra. The belief is that if they are of the same gotra or of the same village, there will be already be a blood relationship between them, and such ‘incest’ will spoil the name of the family and also of the village. And it is these concepts that drive people to sanction murder, in many cases, brutal murder.
What does society do about this ? When people read about it in the newspaper, they consider it to be something that happens in rural areas, the ‘other’ India. Well, this case of honour killing happened in a village close to Narela, which is part of Delhi, on the outside areas. The law is very clear, such relationships are perfectly legal (and if this needed any sanction, the Supreme Court had ruled that such marriages are perfectly valid, and that people have a right to love and marry whom they choose), and the police and government institutions are supposed to protect the rights of these individuals. But how often do you see such a thing happening ?
