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Bihar election 2020: Day:1-In Darbhanga rally, PM plays Ayodhya & Ram mandir cards

On the launch of the second leg of the election campaign in Bihar, the PM raised the issues with religious touch to lure voters towards BJP JD(U) alliance.

He compared the rule of the opposition with that of jungle raj. Standing in the Bihar election rally, he did not fail to incorporate the emotional connection of Bihar with Sita through Mithila, in the favour of BJP. The PM played the Ram mandir and Ayodhya cards stating that those who used to pass taunts on the Ram Mandir issue are now inevitably forced to clap in applause.

In the campaign, he tried to draw attention towards the bridge building intiatives taken by the current governments at the union and the state levels specifically mentioning about the Kosi Mahasetu project. He also claimed that 11 lakh households now have access to clean water, due to efforts taken by JD(U) government. He showered praises on Nitish Kumar, whom he addressed as Bhavi Mukhyamantri.

In an attack directed at the Congress-RJD combine, he stated that the other parties like RJD had carried out financial irregularities under the guise of farm loans’ waiver. He also referred to the Pan and Makhaan grown in Darbhanga region in his campaign speech.

In an attempt to reach out to the people from the  lower castes, PM also paid tribute to Baba Chauharmal.

In the tension between the dalit dusadh community and the bhumihar, there are many folklore stories surrounding Chauharmal, who is worshipped among the people from the lower castes.

In the rally at Darbhanga, the PM also provided hints that the LJP led by Chirag Paswan is not a part of the BJP JD(U) combine. After the rally at Darbhanga, he is set for rallies in Muzaffarpur and Patna, today.

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Understanding of Agro-market dynamics getting complicated amid a new trend of food-grain procurement

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) recently sought an assurance from Punjab Chief Minister, Amarinder Singh, that the state government will procure crops at Minimum Support Price (MSP) even if the Centre falters, stressing that a lot still needs to be done to secure the future of Punjab’s farmers.

The statement by the SAD has come after the Punjab State Assembly passed four Bills and adopted a resolution against the Centre’s contentious farm laws. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and the SAD had backed the Bills in the assembly while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has two MLAs in the state, stayed away from the special session called against the contentious farm laws.

Commenting on the passage of the Bills, SAD leaders claimed that the government led by Captain Amarinder Singh brought these after an ultimatum by farmers. SAD legislature party leader Sharanjit Singh Dhillon stated that still a lot needs to be done to secure the future of Punjab’s farmers. Shiromani Akali Dal leaders said that their legislators were ready to resign en masse to ensure that the Centre gives the state its due.

S.S. Dhillon further added that the fight to secure justice for the ‘kisan’, ‘khet mazdoor’ and ‘arhtiyas’ (farmers, farm labourers and commission agents) as well as three crore Punjabis has just started. He went on to add that the Chief Minister of the state must give a categorical assurance that the state government will procure all crops, including wheat, paddy, cotton, and maize, at the minimum support price (MSP) if the Centre defaults on the same.

SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia said that even as all parties presented a united stand in the fight against the Centre, it was unfortunate that the Congress government did not share the proposed Bills presented in the state assembly with all stakeholders, including farmers and legislators before the House was convened. He further said that it would have been better had the government passed a Bill under the agriculture head by moving to make the entire state a single principal market yard to negate the implementation of the Centre’s farm laws.

Majithia also claimed that any such Bill would have received both the Governor’s as well as the Presidential nod for being a legislative matter under the state subject. He lamented that a huge opportunity has been missed in this regard.

Meanwhile, farmers’ organizations recently decided to meet to chalk out the future course of action. Darshan Pal, a member of the coordination committee of the farmers’ organizations told PTI that the representatives of 30 farmers’ organizations will be meeting to decide the future course of action.

On the bills passed by the state Assembly, Pal said that it needs to be seen whether the governor will give approval to the Bills passed by the state assembly. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh in the context of the protests had recently appealed to the farmers to call off their “rail roko” agitation to allow the transportation of coal, urea and food-grains.

Process of procurement under the possibility of being complicated

To nullify the possible debilitating impacts of the three farm acts passed in haste by the Parliament on the agro-market, the Punjab government passed its own bills to counter the central laws. The state laws passed by Punjab assembly seek to ensure continued procurement of wheat and paddy at the minimum support price (MSP), uphold the powers of the courts in dispute settlement and empower the state to regulate trade of food-grains.

Historically speaking, Shanta Kumar, a former BJP chief minister headed a committee which had suggested some measures to reorient the Food Corporation of India (FCI)’s operations by shifting away from the public distribution system to cash transfers. This was to do away with the need of MSP-based procurement, the MSPs for which have been suggested through the years by the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices. This had parallels with a recent RBI annual report that said that the MSP is not a solution to farmer’s woes.

The Chairman of Bharat Krishak Samaj, Ajay Vir Jakhar, has made some observations in the context of the central farm bills and the associated changes that they can bring in the MSP dynamics and the food-grain market. MSP for paddy is Rs 1,868, and for wheat is Rs 1,925. In states like Bihar, in the absence of government procurement, such crops’ produce sell 20% below their MSP. Likewise, without assured procurement in Punjab, losses to the state could go above Rs 15, 000 crore. This was the reason why many allies of BJP, in the fear of becoming politically irrelevant, had to break long-term alliance with the party.

In some states, the procurement per farmer is capped at produce from 5 acres of land. For example, in the state of Rajasthan, for Moong and Groundnut, it is kept at 25 quintals. Subsequently, there is a fear among farmers that such limits would be also applicable in Punjab, which would result in certain amount of crop-produce to be left unprocured. It has been estimated that, in such scenario in Punjab, about 20 per cent of paddy and 25 per cent of wheat will not be procured and will sell below the MSP, which will result into a loss of Rs 3,200 crore. This might be a reason why the central government has stressed that ‘MSP will continue’ instead of explaining that ‘procurement at MSP would continue as earlier’. In some states the central government agencies do not pay the Mandi fees, and the new central Farm bills disallow charging of Mandi fees on procurement outside the Mandi areas. If the agencies like FCI, trade outside the Mandis, then it would amount to a loss of around Rs 3500 crore to the state revenue.

In the Price support operations for pulses, oilseeds, and cotton, Arthias do not get commission from GOI agencies. If this modus operandi spills into Punjab, then it will spell doom for three fourths of the 24000 Arthias where the people will lose employment and they will incur an annual loss of Rs 1500 crore.  When the Arthias will not get extra from the purchaser, they will transfer their loss to the farmers by charging them extra.

Various sections of media, people, and observers are circulating a rumour, that to stave off a financial crisis, MSP in the future will be calculated separately for each state depending on their cost of cultivation. In this case, in Punjab, the MSP for wheat and paddy will reduce to Rs 1,035 and Rs 1,094 per quintal respectively, which will amount to a loss of more than Rs 26,000 crore.

Dealing the Farmers’ protests in a ham-handed way has led to the complication of the pricing, procurement and understanding of the MSP and procurement mechanisms across the states.

Recent trend in food-grain procurement

The paddy procurement by the GOI at the minimum support price (MSP) has gone up 28.55 per cent to 116.66 lakh tonne in less than a month as compared to the last year. The Union food ministry stated that the maximum grain has been purchased from Punjab alone.

Due to the early arrival of the crop, procurement of paddy began in Punjab and Haryana from September 26. It commenced in other states from October 1. In the Kharif season, more than 80 percent of the country’s paddy crop is grown. The procurement of paddy by the government through Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state agencies is carried out at MSP.

The ministry said in a statement that the paddy procurement in the 2020-21 kharif marketing season is continuing smoothly in the procuring states of Punjab, Haryana, UP, TN, Uttarakhand, Chandigarh, J&K, and Kerala. It further added that till October 21, about 116.66 lakh tonne of paddy was procured, up 28.55 per cent from 90.76 lakh tonne in the same period a year ago.

The Ministry also noted that out of the total purchase of 116.66 lakh tonnes, Punjab alone has contributed 75.11 lakh tonne, which is 64.38 percent of total procurement, and that Paddy has been procured from 10.09 lakh farmers at the MSP value of Rs 22,026.26 crore.

The Centre has fixed the MSP of paddy (common grade) at Rs 1,868 per quintal, for the current year, while that of A-grade variety has been fixed at Rs 1,888 per quintal. In the case of cotton, state-owned Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) has procured 2,72,136 bales at an MSP value of Rs 76,821 lakh from 53,181 farmers till October 21.

The government through nodal agencies is buying pulses and oilseeds at MSP. This is being done under the price support scheme (PSS), which gets operationalised when market rates fall below the support price.  From 862 farmers in Haryana, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, about 883.34 tonne of moong and urad at MSP value of Rs 6.36 crore have been procured till October 14.

On the other hand, 5,089 tonnes of copra at an MSP value of Rs 52.40 crore has been procured from 3,961 farmers in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu in the said period.

Rates are ruling at or above MSP, with regards to copra and urad. Respective state governments are making arrangements for the commencement of the procurement of Moong. The Centre has given nod for procurement of 43.24 lakh tonnes of kharif pulses and oilseeds this year under the PSS to 10 states as well as 1.23 tonnes of copra in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala.

The Ministry added that approval for other states will be given on receipt of proposals for procurement as per PSS norms. Unlike before, the government is releasing the daily procurement data to send a message to the farmers protesting against the new central farm laws that it has no intention of scrapping the procurements at MSP.

The author is a student member of Amity Centre of Happiness.

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Change of tide in Bengal Politics- Bimal Gurung breaks away from NDA and sides with TMC

A new political rift is taking place in West Bengal politics especially in the northern districts. Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) founder, Bimal Gurung who has been part of the BJP led NDA, has moved to a much politically promising and recognizing political party in context of the local politics. Gurung duly extended his support to Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) breaking ties with BJP.

Bimal had been out of public sight since 2017, since he was charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act when violence erupted in the Hills concerning the demand for statehood. He pledged his support for TMC and wished to see Mamata Banerjee again as the Chief Minister of Bengal for the third time.

Bimal Gurung feels that having been with the NDA, the numerous attempts to get the Hill tribes recognized by the government has gone in vain. He shared with the journalists in Kolkata that after several meetings with Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and the Home Minister, Amit Shah, none of the commitments made earlier in the past six years had been fulfilled. While the state’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has fulfilled all the promises she had committed with respective groups and organizations.

He further added that GJM will support the party that takes in consideration of the needs of the Gorkhas and the Hill tribes. All of this started with Bimal seeking BJP’s support to recognize the left out Indian Gorkha sub-tribes as Schedule Tribes and apparently this was to be done as per 2019 Sankalp Patra (Party Manifesto), which never took shape. Also, there were discussed commitments for the reservation of ‘Limboo’ and ‘Tamang’ Tribes in the legislative assembly of Sikkim.

GJM has been associated with BJP since 2009. It has played a crucial role in their wins in Darjeeling since 2009, and has helped in further seeking resolutions in Siliguri Terai and Dooars regions.

TMC has responded to Bimal’s political move and gesture on a positive note and has welcomed his action and shared a few lines on appreciating his move on the TMC Twitter handle.

Meanwhile, BPJ denied that it had promised a separate state to the GJM leader as mentioned by the State BJP chief, Dilip Ghosh. This decision by GJM is definitely being seen as a setback for the BJP in the North Bengal region that can potentially dampen the efforts for a favourable electoral result for BJP in the 2021 elections.

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Need for Shiv Sena to gain entry into Bihar Politics- is it due to SSR issue or due to workers coming from Bihar

As soon as the election commission announced the dates for Bihar elections, the Shiv Sena of Maharashtra announced its ‘son of the soil’ agenda for the Bihar polls. It becomes prudent to observe the political backdrop of entry of the Shiv Sena into Bihar polls because of three reasons.

The first reason is that recently the country saw a national spat in the “justice for SSR” wagon, where Shiv Sena, BJP and the Bihar formed the three sides of the conflict. People from Bihar, including fans of Rajput, kept demanding for justice for Sushant Singh. This nationally escalated debate becomes significant due to two causalities: Sushant was from Bihar, and he was from a higher caste category; and caste plays a crucial role in identity politics in Bihar. This SSR issue led to spilling of the nexus among players in different B-town scams. These scams are of various types like nepotism and talent management schemes in Bollywood. It also hinted at a subsurface fight between the ShivSena and the regime at the centre which played out in the provision of Y category security for Kangana Ranaut. In this whole issue, Kangana Ranaut came as the face of the lobby calling out for ‘justice for SSR’. Some suspect that she was nothing but the empathy gatherer for the BJP among the Bihar’s populace, while others believe that she has just been exposing the internal fiascos in Bollywood. All of this led to an aggravating relationship between the Shiv Sena and the Hindi heartland people, especially in Bihar.

The second reason is the pressing issue of Shiv Sena which stresses on the need to employ predominantly the local Marathi youth in any projects or works which are being developed in the state outside the core strategic sectors controlled by the GOI. This idea has been the cradle of the ShivSena and its more assertive spin-off, the MNS. It has been observed by certain sections of media that the ShivSena might be looking towards Bihar to bring development there, so that youth from Bihar need not go to Maharashtra.

The third reason is the need for political consolidation over the larger national political battleground in a time when anti-incumbency protests are gaining grounds across the nation especially after the farm bills 2020. Farmers unions in Maharashtra are majorly owned and controlled by NCP and Congress, which shrinks the moral ground for the SS to fight on this issue. ShivSena might have an undeniably strong hold over the overall politics of Maharashtra but they have marginal presence beyond the state with only 12 seats in the current Lok Sabha from the state.

In this background, the Bihar Unit of Shiv Sena wanted to contest on 100 seats in the upcoming Bihar polls. But sources inside SS indicated that the party will contest on around 50 seats in the state polls. The Chief Minister of Maharashtra Uddhav Thackeray had declared that he would campaign for the Shiv Sena candidates in the Bihar polls. The party has recently released a list of 22 leaders who would campaign in Bihar.

On the larger national politico-psychological map, though the Shiv Sena has parted ways with BJP, it is still adherent to certain similar core principles like BJP, which cannot be unseen if one listens to their speeches or reads their articles in Saamna. It can very certainly be the case that BJP and SS have decided to keep the balance of power hidden between New Delhi and Mumbai which will disallow any third party to take advantage of the equation. But this thought does not have that much weight given that the government in Mumbai is being run by an alliance of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress which allowed the ShivSena to get its own CM. Giving away the seat of CM to Shiv Sena was specifically denied by BJP which was one of the reasons of the breaking of the BJP- SS alliance. Also recently, the country witnessed the tussle between the Governor of the Maharashtra, who is allegedly aligned with BJP, with the Maharashtra CM over keeping the temples open. The CM made a sound decision of keeping the temples closed keeping in mind that the state is still under the grasp of the Covid19, on which the governor took a jibe.

Probably to keep a hold over the home bastion in Maharashtra, the ShivSena made a compromise and to some extent diluted their ideological stance. This was indicated when the Apex court of the country gave the Ayodhya verdict in November 2019. At that time, Uddhav Thackeray stated that Hindus should celebrate but without hurting anybody’s sentiments.

By making its entry in the Bihar’s political space, it wants to highlight how the JD(U) has been unable to bring development to the state of Bihar, which drives countless of people from Bihar to work in other states as migrant workers and labourers.  This is a kind of applying the ‘son of the soil’ ideology in an inverted format over Bihar. It must not be forgotten that as dates for the Bihar polls were announced by the Election commission of India, the SS had declared that it would begin its campaign for the Bhoomiputra. It is visibly trying to be the part of an alliance which will bring development in Bihar so that the state’s youth need not go to Maharashtra and take space in the employment domains in cities like Mumbai, Nagpur, and Pune. In that case, it can be expected that it would keep its options open in terms of the party with which it sides.

With regards to the confrontation with Kangana over the justice for SSR; this might not have been part of the main deciding calculus for trying to gain entry in Bihar. To what extent this angle has influenced the entry of SS into the Bihar electoral polity would be better understood after  the polls, especially regarding what positional stance SS takes with respect to BJP in the would-be formed Bihar Assembly. At that point of time, if it sides with BJP, that might indicate that Kangana was probably being used as a pawn by the BJP to distract the public from the burning national issues through the SSR issue.

Participation of the ShivSena in the Bihar polls opens up remarkable head turning possibilities given that the mix has parties like Congress, BJP, LJP, RJD, JD(U) and other smaller parties with varied perspectives on Hindutva agenda, Caste factors and development.

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Congress, in the context of Bihar election, strategizes to expose the ongoing disputes among the parties in NDA

Bihar election starting from October 28 is set to enter the first phase of the polls to be held in three-phases. Amidst the political strategies and contesting parties taking each step carefully, Congress has come up with the idea of exposing all the ongoing contradictions within the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

After the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) decided to run solo in the elections, breaking off their ties with the Janata Dal (United), the Congress decided to use this window of opportunity left open by the rift.  Although, LJP did not leave the alliance it formed with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) before the assembly polls.

Shakeel Ahmed, Congress leader and former Union Minister said that his party is going to focus on the discords between various parties under the NDA and expose them. He also claims that if BJP comes out as the largest and strongest party in the assembly polls, it might demand to get the Chief Minister’s post, defining it as a “tug-of-war situation’.

According to the seat-sharing strategy, LJP will not be fielding its candidates on the seats which BJP is contesting. The LJP had recently announced its first list of 42 candidates who will be contesting in the first phase of assembly polls in Bihar including Usha Vidyarthi, Rajendra Singh, and Rameshwar Chourasia. Shakeel Ahmed said that Congress will focus upon such contradictions to persuade the JD(U) supporters in their favor and similarly for the confused BJP supporters.

Bhupendra Yadav, the BJP in-charge had, however, dismissed the news of any such disputes taking place within the NDA. He said, “The BJP has only one plan and that is to fight the elections along with the JD (U). We have clearly spelled out that plan. The LJP is not a part of this arrangement because it chose to fight alone. The NDA is fighting for development in Bihar under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership and vision. Nitish Kumar is the undisputed chief ministerial candidate of the alliance.”

Congress is yet to disclose the names of its participating candidates in the first phase of elections. But, it had disclosed the names of 21 candidates taking part in the second and third phases of the assembly polls. On Thursday, it shall be announcing the names of 49 remaining candidates to intensify its election campaign headed by Sonia Gandhi, the party chief for Congress.

There have been speculations regarding injustice in the ticket distribution pattern in Congress in the context of the Bihar elections. The party was held responsible for distributing the tickets to some incompetent leaders in the first list they released specifying the candidates. In response to this situation, Rahul Gandhi had to form 6 panels to supervise the preparations done by the party for the upcoming Bihar elections.

Rahul Gandhi, the former president of the Congress and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the Congress general secretary shall be participating in some of the rallies in Bihar along with the former Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh. The results of the Bihar election shall be announced on November 10.

The author is a student member of the Amity Centre of Happiness.

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Badal reflects on Akali Dal exit from NDA over differences with BJP over the farm bills

In a recent interview with a leading National Daily, SAD Chief, Badal stated that the party split from NDA is ”sad”. He added that his party cannot compromise on its principles and asserted that Akali Dal is not against corporate (lobbies) but wanted MSP included in farm laws, and accused Congress of “playing games” on the legislation.

In the interview he stated that SAD was a founding member of the NDA and that they substantially represent the farming community. He further added that Chaudhary Devi Lal, Charan Singh and his father (Parkash Singh Badal) are still the face of the farmers in this country. Sukhbir stressed on the point that when the government decided to introduce a radical change in the system of agriculture, they should have consulted their allies.  SAD was not consulted at all when the Bills were being prepared which was a major sign of a trigger of the split.

He also added that in Punjab and Haryana, every farmer has a fear that big corporate lobbies will take over the market first and then exploit them and finish off the Minimum Support Price. They have a fear that these bills will end the APMC mandis.  In Punjab there are 1,900 mandis for 12,000 villages. This means that there is one mandi for about six-seven villages. As pointed out by Sukhbir Singh Badal, generally, a mandi is 25 minutes from the village, where one can sell the produce and get the money, which is not so in any other part of the country.

Badal told the government that there must be a legal provision in the Bill assuring that MSP will be a right of the farmer and that for every purchase, even by a private player, the value of the purchase will be above the MSP, and that the mandi system would remain unchanged. He stated that the government was not ready to put it in the legal language.

However, when Prime Minister announced the Bills in the (Monsoon) Session, Badal had suggested to the government not to bring up the Bills till all the apprehensions of farmers were allayed.

Badal said, that he had requested the ministers and the BJP president to send it to a parliamentary select committee so that the committee meets the farmers, the farmer unions, and incorporates their concerns, but they refused. He stated that since that was the case (not incorporating farmers’ concerns) the SAD could no more be a part of such an unaccountable system in the alliance with the government.

Further, Badal added that he has set up a high-power committee including the senior leadership. In this committee, they will talk to all the jathebandis (organisations), Kisan unions, as well as all the people who are part of this struggle. As a statement of caution, he stated that sometimes, the government may think certain decisions are good but the people will not accept them. He further added on a note of confidence that a lot more can be achieved only if there is a coordinated effort.

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After AIADMK, DMK announces manifesto panel as bugle for Tamil Nadu polls

Four days after the AIADMK reported Edappadi K Palaniswami as the Chief Ministerial applicant shaped an 11-member controlling advisory group and different boards for the 2021 Assembly surveys, the principle resistance DMK on Sunday declared an eight-member council to set up the survey pronouncement for the forthcoming races.

As indicated by a statement by DMK general secretary Duraimurgan, DMK financier TR Baalu, senior MPs A Raja, TKS Ilangovan, Trichy N Siva, and Kanimozhi, and gathering appointee general secretaries Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan, Anthiyur Selvaraj, and Professor A. Ramaswamy is part of the panel.

While the AIADMK-led alliance, which includes BJP, PMK, and Captain Vijayakanth’s DMDK, considers the elections a tough challenge, the DMK’s electoral journey will be difficult if the Dravidian chief wants to retain his allies. Regarding the symbol used by the opposition coalition.

The issue of the symbol has become a matter of concern for coalition partners that Prashanth Kishore, DMK’s brand strategist, told MK Stalin while maintaining the maximum number of seats with DMK or sharing seats with allies.

The MDMK of Vaiko, one of the most popular Tamil nationalist leaders in the DMK alliance, said the party would contest an independent election, not the DMK election symbol this time.

In the last Lok Sabha elections, not only the MDMK but also the prominent Dalit party VCK had to contest on the symbol of the rising sun of the DMK inspired by the Dravidian chief.

VCK leader Thirumavalavan also claimed that his party’s candidates would contest free elections in the upcoming elections as they did since 2001 as part of the DMK alliance.

While the DMK alliance led by the Vaiko, Left, and Dalit parties was still able to win 98 seats against the AIADMK’s 136, due to the defeat of the main opposition party DMK for the second time in the May 2016 assembly elections, the victory of the opposition votes split was in favor.

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Ex-DGP of Bihar Gupteshwar Pandey on not getting a ticket in polls says that calculations did not work out

Former DGP of  Bihar Gupteshwar Pandey did not get a ticket to contest the Bihar Assembly polls, whereas he opted for VRS four months before he was to retire and joined the JD(U).

He was quite set to contest from his hometown Buxar. But, in the outgoing Assembly, the seat held by the congress went to the BJP quota in the seat-sharing arrangement within NDA.

According to sources, for swapping Buxar with any other seat from BJP, JD (U) did not have to press much, as it was done in the case of Jhajha for former minister Damodar Rawat and gave Jamui to BJP. JD (U) also managed to take Paliganj from BJP to accommodate Jayvardhan Yadav, who had crossed over to JD (U) from RJD.

As per sources, the Pandey’s case was neither much pressed by JD (U) nor the BJP looked too keen to oblige him to give him a ticket.

“Unlike another retired DGP (home guards) Sunil Kumar, who got a JD (U) ticket from Bhore, Pandey was perhaps too vocal”, said a source in the NDA. The source further added an observation that Pandey’s over-enthusiasm to become a popular politician too soon could have marred his chance to contest from Buxar.

According to sources, Pandey went “overboard” in the Sushant Singh Rajput case and that could have hurt his chances to get a ticket. A retired IPS officer stated that no Bihar minister or NDA politician spoke as aggressively in favour of the Bihar government as he did and that he was behaving like a politician but it would not have gone too well with the CM. The retired IPS officer recalled how he had cautioned Pandey against taking a VRS in 2009 when he was reportedly eyeing a BJP ticket from Buxar but did not get it.

Pandey dismissed such theories. He stated that it is true that he had taken VRS to contest polls. But the calculations did not work out. He added that he is a loyal soldier of JD (U) and that if JD (U) and BJP want him to campaign in this election, he would do so. The former DGP also defended his stand in the Sushant case stating that he has no regrets about the stand that he took in the case.

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BJP released its first list of candidates for the Bihar assembly polls after NDA announced its seat-sharing strategy

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released the very first list of candidates for the Bihar Assembly polls that will take place in three phases, October 28 onwards. The list contains the names of 27 candidates including Hari Manjhi, former MP from Bodhgaya and Shreyasi Singh, International shooter from Jamui constituency. She had recently joined the party on Sunday, October 4.

These candidates are a part of the first phase of the assembly polls in which BJP will be contesting for 71 seats out of 243.

BJP released the candidate list after the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had announced their seat-sharing pattern with JD(U) for the Bihar Elections. In the seat sharing, the BJP will contest for 121 seats and the Janata Dal (United) (JDU) for 122 seats.

At a joint press conference of JD(U) and BJP, Nitish Kumar, the president of the JD(U) and Chief Minister of Bihar made a statement that they have been working for long to make Bihar a saksham (capable) state and will keep working for it. This was stated in response to the seat-sharing strategy released by both parties after a lot of discussions.

With the announcement of the first list of BJP candidates after the declaration of the seat-sharing strategies by the BJP- JD(U) and Congress- RJD alliances, and the publishing of the first list of 40 candidates by the Plurals party of Pushpam Priya Chaudhary which identifies all the candidates just as Biharis (no religion or caste), grounds are heating up for the upcoming state polls.

The author is a student member of the Amity Centre of Happiness.

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Sanjay Raut targets Kangana Ranaut, BJP over Hathras case

The unfortunate death of the Hathras victim has led many people to come out and express their anger against the crime and hypocrisy shown by several higher authorities.

Sanjay Raut – MP of Shiv Sena party made a statement on Sunday, October 04, slamming the Bhartiya Janata Party and actress Kangana Ranaut asking why none of them are focusing on this issue.

Ranaut gained a lot of attention for speaking about the Bollywood industry as well as the injustice shown by the ruling party of Mumbai regarding the demolition of her office. This issue got a fair amount of media coverage too. She had also compared her office demolition in Mumbai to what happens in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Raut has pointed out this issue claiming the Hathras victim did not receive much media coverage and response from people of the higher authority because she was not a popular celebrity and belonged to lower sections of the society.

He also said that such cases happen in Pakistan too, where Hindu women are raped, murdered, and treated indifferently but nobody has compared the Hathras case to Pakistan yet. “Such incidents of kidnapping Hindu girls and then raping and murdering them take place in Pakistan… but nobody has compared Hathras to Pakistan as yet.” – he said.

He put forward the question to the people who came forward in support of Ranaut for the illegal demolition of her office and called it ‘injustice against women’. He asked why these people are not creating the same havoc for the Hathras victim when her body was illegally cremated by the police department officials to remove all the possible evidence.

The Hathras rape case was reported when the victim was found in a bothersome condition in Bhoolgarhi village in Hathras district on September 14. The victim’s condition was critical, and she succumbed to her injuries on September 29. However, her body was cremated illegally at 3 am by the Uttar Pradesh police on September 30th for which they were heavily scrutinized by the people.