He State by Slamming Ordinance but Why His Outburst Was So Late?
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SEPTEMBER 30 TO OCTOBER 06, 2013 POSTAL REGD. MP/BHOPAL/4-323/2013-15 We RNI NO. MPENG\2012\46415 he State Vol-02. Issue-1. Bhopal. Monday Page-12. Price-`5/- Online edition available at wethestate.com and wethestate.blogspot.in Anthony DeSa appointed as MP's new chief secretary MaharashtraMaharashtra govtgovt bodybody worksworks onon policypolicy toto protectprotect childchild artistesartistes Rahul stuns Government by slamming ordinance but why his outburst was so late? ongress vice president Rahul Gandhi were jittery at having to defend the indefensible. stunned his party-led Union Government Congress MP Milind Deora and senior party by slamming an ordinance which the leader Anil Shastri, to name just two, openly op- Cregime had forwarded to the President for assent, posed the ordinance on the ground that any move and which seeks to protect convicted MPs and to protect convicted leaders would go down un- MLAs. It must be “torn up and thrown away”, an favourably with the voters and that the Congress agitated Gandhi said. That may not be needed; the would suffer as a consequence in the coming elec- Government has virtually decided to withdraw the toral battles. But Gandhi's eruption of anger on the shameful document after this flare-up. Gandhi issue, days after the Union Cabinet endorsed the must be complimented for being brutally honest. ordinance and passed it on to the President for his There is no doubt that the ordinance was ill- signature, leads to several interesting questions. thought out, ill-timed and mala fide in nature. It First, had the Manmohan Singh Government con- also did not have the approval of the opposition sulted the Congress high command before crafting parties and, therefore, contributed to increased the ordinance? Second, did the regime get the high friction between the Government and the Opposi- command's green signal before the Cabinet ap- tion. However, it is difficult to understand why proved the ordinance? Third, did the Government Rahul’s outburst against the ordinance was so late. coordinate with the party leadership before dis- It is difficult to imagine that Singh’s Government patching its senior Ministers to the President in a had bypassed Gandhi while resorting to the ordi- bid to persuade the latter to sign the ordinance? nance trickery. Even assuming that the Govern- ple of how the Congress turned a blind eye both to said, had been behind the ordinance. It doesn’t take ment had suddenly developed spine — though for matters of principle – in this case, defending the any great political acumen to understand that the How WE look it ! the wrong cause — the Congress vice president indefensible by trying to save the convicted MPs – considerations which guided the Prime Minister could not have been in the dark as the Cabinet's en- and also to constitutional propriety since the dubi- related to the impending judgment in the fodder dorsement of the ordinance and the document's ous nature of the ordinance has been commented scam case against Lalu Prasad Yadav. journey to Rashtrapati Bhavan has been public upon by jurists. Before bringing forward the ordi- Just as Manmohan Singh once hinted that the knowledge. Gandhi's late realisation must be seen nance, the Congress had also displayed the same government desisted from taking any action as an attempt at damage control. The Congress indifference to popular sentiment by seeking to against former telecommunications minister stood completely isolated over the ordinance. It amend the Right to Information Act to keep the po- Andimuthu Raja in order to avoid having a gener- could neither dispel the growing public impression litical parties out of its purview. al election if the DMK withdrew its support, simi- that the move was designed to save its allies nor True, the Congress isn’t the only party which has larly, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader had to could it point to any extraordinary constitutional been engaged in unwholesome conduct. The culpa- be saved at any cost from disqualification at a time situation to justify the ordinance. bility of the political class, which invariably comes when the Congress needs every friendly party to If only Gandhi had spoken out earlier, the Gov- together for a self-serving cause, was one of stand by it to counter the challenge posed by ernment would not have had faced the embarrass- Rahul’s points of criticism during a Congress con- Narendra Modi. ment and his outrage would have sounded more clave in Jaipur where he said that every political When the Government came under attack over credible. The episode leads one to wonder if the party is run by a coterie. He was laughed at then the ordinance, it said the Bharatiya Janata Party disconnect between the Manmohan Singh regime because he himself belongs to such a clique if the had been taken on board over the provisions of the and the Congress has reached a tipping point. Congress high command can be so called. But, it ordinance. But the strong protest that the BJP reg- However, Rahul’s vehement outburst against the now appears that the unhappiness against such a istered — with senior party leaders meeting the ordinance appears to be the release of pent-up closed shop in his own party has been building up President and requesting him to not sign the docu- anger about the government’s functioning. He and may have contributed to his outburst. ment — exposed the regime's lies. Let alone having It is too early to say if Rahul intends to take his secured the BJP's consent, the Congress-led Gov- must have been fed up not only with the Congress’s ...Cartoon by K G OJHA cynicism, but also its indifference towards public party in a direction where morality will play a ernment did not command the support of quite a opinion. The ordinance was only the latest exam- larger role than political considerations which, he few of its own Ministers and party leaders who [email protected] 2 BHOPAL September 30 to October 6, 2013 Capital WE THE STATE Modi towers above all other leaders, crowd chants his name Anthony DeSa BHOPAL appointed as MP's The popularity of BJP’s PM candidate new chief secretary Narendra Modi and the Modi wave blowing across the country was very palpable at the workers’ convention held here recently. The party workers did not allow any other leader to speak at the convention. Almost all top leaders of the BJP seemed to have lost their sheen before Modi. The party workers hooted and heckled leaders Lal Kr- ishna Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Murli Manohar Joshi, Venkaiyah Naidu and Anantha Kumar. The party work- ers asked the leaders to stop speaking and let Modi address them. Antony JC DeSa will be 29th Chief Secretary Leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha, Arun of Madhya Pradesh. The State government Jaitley, was wise enough to sense the mood of has issued orders to appoint Additional the people and ended his speech in five min- Chief Secretary, Food, Civil Supplies and utes. Other leaders discovered to their dis- Consumer Protection and Transport, may that it was Modi and Modi alone whom Antony JC DeSa as the new Chief Secretary the people wanted to hear. following retirement of Chief Secretary R It was perhaps for the first time in the state Parasuram. when the audience, during Shivraj Singh Antony JC DeSa belongs to the 1980 batch Chauhan’s address, raised slogans demand- of Indian Administrative Service. JC DeSa ing Modi to speak. The excitement and cu- was born on October 9, 1956 in Maharashtra. riosity amongst BJP workers and the public He was educated in Mumbai University and was clearly visible. at Harvard University in the US where he The enthusiasm vis- a- vis Modi seemed to Got invitation only three days back: Uma took a Master's degree. He has served in Bi- have depressed Advani. The state BJP unit JP national vice president and former chief minister Uma Bharati could not suppress laspur, Jabalpur and as Collector in Chhind- had got only one cutout installed of Modi but her anguish in the programme. She said she was invited for the programme only wara. the audience was keen on listening only to Bthree days back. She said that party workers reside in her heart and she resides in He had also been Housing Commissioner. him. The craze for Modi reflects that if Modi their hearts. She said when she was not in the BJP in 2008, her party merely got 5.5% During Central deployment, he served as Di- does election campaigning in the state, it votes. Uma said that BJP should get those votes too and the party must win more seats rector in the Ministry of Environment and would greatly benefit the party. Modi’s show this time than it did in 2008. She said that turn out of the party workers in the programme Forests, Controller of Bhabha Atomic Re- can become a cause of concern for the Con- signals the BJP coming to power again in the state. search Centre (BARC) in Mumbai and Joint gress. The wave in support of Modi might Uma said the real development means food, employment and electricity to poor and Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce and bring problems for the Congress and it could that is being done in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Industry. Before being posted as Additional bring relief to the MLAs suffering from anti- She said Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi go to places of Dalits to eat food and do Chief Secretary in the State, he was on dep- incumbency factor.