The Maoist menace & UPA Governance

June 30th, 2010

Raipur: Twenty six CRPF jawans have been killed and seven injured in what is being seen as another major Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh.

Sources said at least 90 Maoists ambushed a 63-strong CRPF road-opening party in an area under Dhaurai police station, 3 km from the CRPF camp in Narayanpur district of the state, at about 3 pm on Tuesday.

Till date the UPA –II has not been able to impress the people by its way of functioning, even after completion of OYT in office. If one prepares a report card of the government in last one year there is dismal performance on many fronts. It starts with the home ministry; unlike to his predecessor the present minister is very vocal. For the last one year P. Chidambaram in almost every public appearance has been issuing statements only but there has been no sign of concrete action to curtail or contain the activities of Maoists or any other extremism. There is no doubt that Maoism is a biggest threat to the India’s internal security.

The Maoists do not believe in the democratic process and are motivated to overthrow the government by the use of force and violence. This cannot be accepted by the democratic structure of Indian state and retaliation against them is inevitable. The question is how to go about it, the way Chidambaram made it a prestige issue for his Ministry, has its own ramifications.

There are many other issues related with Maoism in India and these need equal attention. The government has to win back the local people who are now with Maoists and it has to look for a reason as why Maoist in India got support from Adivasis. Although, there is a major difference between the Adivasi movement and Maoist movement, still it is obvious that the ultra left has its substantial base within the Adivasis region of Dantewada.

Despite, skyscraping economic growth, the majority of Indian population is living below poverty line. More than seventy percent of Indian population is living on less than twenty rupees per day (Arjun Sen Gupta Report). The poor gentry of India are presently facing a tough time and uncontrolled inflation has made their life vulnerable. Rarely witnessed in Indian politics the present Agriculture Minister went to public justifying the price rise and very innocently argued for his helplessness. The minister is supposed to generate confidence amongst the public and should make best efforts to provide relief. Sharad Pawar is doing the opposite, and even advised the reduction the consumption of sugar as it is harmful to health. Excessive sugar intake is harmful to health but what about the necessary intake, even that is not permissible.

Shashi Tharoor, the ex-minister of state for External Affairs also had a habit of starting public discourse. Devoid of political understanding and completely alien to India social and political structure Shashi Tharoor was quick to invite controversy around himself, but his real fall started after the flamboyant minister tried to influence IPL (Indian Premier League) for benefiting his friend. The Minister by using (abusing) his powerful office ensured that his friend could get share in one of the IPL’s team.

After resigning from his post, Tharoor gave a long speech in Parliament but what remains unexplained is how his friend got the share in a team. Integrity of Tharoor came under scanner and it was good decision on the part of UPA that Tharoor was discharged from the Ministry. The IPL controversy does not end with the ouster of Tharoor but the role of another Minister Praful Patel is very objectionable.

Daughter of Patel grossly misused the authority of her father and converted the passenger flight to a charter plane for ferrying one of the IPL team with which, she is associated. This misuse was reported all over in national media but the incumbent Minister of Civil Aviation did not take the moral and political responsibility.

Another scam which rocked both Parliament and the country is the 2 G spectrum scam. The name of communication Minister A.Raja cropped up scam and not only this, involvement of corporate houses was exposed. The corporate houses are not only influencing decisions of government and ministries but they are now even putting their weight as who is going to get the respective ministry. The name of another woman Niira Radia appeared in this scam and it came to light how two big corporate houses lobbied for communication ministry. Shamelessly, the government is defending Raja, although there are no reasons for doing the same as it would be better it the Minister follows the footsteps of Tharoor.

In short, UPA- II tenure is full of scams, inflation, and ministers indulging in war of words with fewer productive activities to its report card. Unfortunately, the opposition also failed on several counts to mobilise the public on these issues except for some protest on price rise.

http://www.merinews.com/article/one-year-of-upa-ii-scams-price-rise-and-maoist-menace/15810413.shtml