NIC Meeting

Rashtriya Sahara, in an editorial entitled, ‘Integration Council’s meeting without any outcome’ (Oct. 15) says that the attitude of Chief Ministers of NDA-ruled states (blaming minorities for the present disturbances) was “extremely shameful”. The Congress “tried to fool the minorities by making statements, as it has always done... ” The paper also criticised Home Minister Shivraj Patil for his statement that “governments have to maintain some balance while fulfilling their responsibilities of governance.” If this balance means “giving freedom to miscreants to burn places of worship of minorities and harassing educated young persons of minority communities, such a balance can be a danger to the unity and integration of the country and certainly not a part of any government’s responsibility,” the paper writes. Hindustan Express in its editorial (Oct. 14) writes: “This Council’s meeting too is presenting the scene of our Parliament. The members are not at all willing to rise above their political camps and viewpoints.” Mumbai’s Inquilab has spoken about the casual manner in which the Council’s meetings have been organised after long gaps of time. Taking the Congress to task, it says: “Going over the issue of Hindutva in a casual manner once again demonstrates the soft Hindutva of the Congress.” Delhi-based Jadeed Khabar, describing the meeting as “a picnic of political leaders”, made a harsh comment on the PM: “Obviously, can one expect a Prime Minister to match forces with the communal elements when he is hesitant to even name them?”

The financial crisis

The ONGOINg financial crisis has been described by Hindustan Express (Oct 15) as a self-created disaster. It has quoted the statement of the World Bank chief in support of this view. Hyderabad’s Rahnuma-e-Deccan says in an editorial (October 6); “the full credit for India remaining relatively insulated from the crisis goes to the Left parties that foiled attempts by Manmohan Singh and Montek S Ahluwalia to put India into the lap of the USA.” Jamaat-e-Islami’s organ, biweekly Daawat (Oct 13), says that this crisis would break the back of the many economies. “The reality of the world’s financial structure based on the system of interest rates has started coming out. This is the best opportunity of advancing the Islamic financial system (without interest)”.

—Compiled by Seema Chishti