Opinion Violence in Assam

While it underlines that the “mistrust” between the two communities is based on the scarcity of land,the Organiser report faults Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi for having “miserably failed” to check “the Muslim influx” in order to develop a “votebank”. The report traces the origins of the current violence and faults the state government for mishandling it,saying that “Gogoi of Congress acts like a modern-day Nero”.

The analysis accompanying the coverage puts to Indian Muslims that they too are losing from the infiltration. “The irony is that Indian Muslims in Assam,for all their religious affinity with the illegal Bangladeshi Muslim infiltrators,lose just as much from the influx as the other native people of Assam,” the Organiser argues,stating that peace must be restored immediately while stressing the need to resolve the “underlying problem” of illegal Bangladeshis migrants.

Pawar Play

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar-led NCP’s stand-off with the ruling Congress has once again given Panchjanya an opportunity to declare the UPA an “opportunistic alliance”. In an editorial,Panchjanya stresses that it is the vested interests of the alliance partners and the ruling Congress that is holding them together,despite all the tussles between them.

However,the editorial expresses surprise over the thaw between Pawar and the Congress,despite his decision to skip a cabinet meeting. The editorial alleges that some sort of deal must have been struck between the two to resolve the issue. “Obviously some deal has been struck. The entire tussle is about sharing the spoils of power,after all,everybody wants equal share in it,” it says.

Anna Footnote

Team Anna’s efforts to shed even the impression of being linked with the RSS or its affiliate organisations appears to have got the Sangh Parivar to move on as well. Both weeklies have ignored the ongoing fast by the Team Anna members,with an editorial in Organiser only cursorily mentioning the fast as a prop that has once again brought the issue of corruption into the spotlight.

The editorial offers advice to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,saying that this is his “last chance” to act against corruption. It laments the release of politicians like Suresh Kalmadi and A. Raja on bail after the public outcry had subsided and the issue had fallen off the radar. “The Congress strategy was to pretend to be responsive to the public outcry. After tempers cooled off,the scamsters were released on various grounds,” the editorial charges.

The editorial underlines the PM’s lack of “political baggage” and his “good image in the public” and urges him to act against graft.

Compiled by Ravish Tiwari