Opinion JPC trap

Organiser has a story on the budget asserting that it was an “unpopular Budget” by an “unpopular UPA”,which has already brought the economy to the “1991 precipice”. The cover story claims that the budget “stink[s” of Chidambaram’s “sleight of hand” to reduce fiscal deficit by “hiding expenses” and “roll back on welfare,investment,public sector and defence”. It seeks to buttress its claims by highlighting that the stock markets gave a “thumbs down” on Budget Day.

Another story highlights “Chidu’s Modi obsession”,by claiming that Chidambaram’s admission of growth as a “necessary condition”,without which there will be “neither development nor inclusiveness”,was a “brazen plagiarisation” of the mool mantra of the UPA’s “most feared political opponent and the NDA’s strongest contender for the country’s top job” — Narendra Modi’s Gujarat model. The article,however,criticises Chidambaram’s apparent dig at Modi in his budget speech,where he sought to suggest that the UPA doesn’t accept the model where a state grows rapidly but women,tribals and minorities are left behind.

JPC TRAP

Both weeklies have criticised the government’s move to set up a JPC to look into the VVIP chopper scam,alleging that it is an “attempt to push bribe under the JPC carpet”. A special report in Organiser claims the move is a “cover-up” after the Congress sensed that “the stink of the deal was now reaching the much-protected Gandhi dynasty”. In this context,it also says the constitution of the JPC was “completely farcical” as it has no member from the principal opposition party. Panchjanya’s report rubbishes the move by pointing out that the experience of the last five JPCs generates no confidence in going for another one,especially when a CBI investigation can do the job. The “Congress (is) trying to convert a criminal case into a political debate,” Organiser says.

INTERNAL INSECURITY

The editorials in both weeklies deplore the Union government’s handling of the internal security situation arising out of the recent blasts in Hyderabad (Organiser) and ethnic violence in Assam (Panchjanya). The editorial in Organiser claims that the government’s attempt to use the Hyderabad blasts to renew discussions on the NCTC was part of “a routine reaction of the UPA to kick up dust on various issues when it is in trouble”. An article by RSS leader Ram Madhav suggests a “different counter-terrorism set-up” should “involve various stakeholders” like the “police,intelligence,judiciary and media”. The “massive centralised set up” should focus on “extensive research,documentation and preparation of dossiers” that can be “accessed by stakeholders”.

Panchjanya looks at ethnic violence during the panchayat polls in Assam and laments that “Delhi is deaf to the cries of the Northeast”. It asserts that this violence reinforces the view that the question of the rights of the Northeast’s ethnic population has been sacrificed by the Centre and the state’s Congress government at the altar of “vote-bank politics”.

Compiled by Ravish Tiwari