National News
Hindi issue yet another attempt to divert attention from real problems, say WB leaders
Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s recent statement on Hindi at the meeting of Parliament’s Official Language Committee has taken the form of a full-blown political controversy.
Anti-BJP political leaders from West Bengal have described this Hindi language imposition attempt as not just an attempt to divide the Hindi-speaking and non-Hindi speaking people, but also a clandestine bid by the Union government to divert attention from burning issues like price rise etc.
IANS talked to a number of political leaders from West Bengal having affiliation to different political parties. Leaders of non-BJP parties like the Trinamool Congress, the CPI(M) and the Congress, who are always at loggerheads over different state-related issues, surprisingly talked on the same lines in slamming the Union home minister’s proposals.
Mainly two points came out from the arguments of the non-BJP leaders from West Bengal. The first point is a question from them about which particular form of the Hindi dialect does the Union home minister want to push as an alternative to English since Hindi dialects vary from state-to-state and often one single state has more than one Hindi dialect.
The second point that the non-BJP leaders raise is about raking up the Hindi issue to divert attention from burning issues like inflation, price rise and rising unemployment in the country.
The first person that IANS spoke to on this issue was the newly-elected Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member from West Bengal, Sushmita Dev.
The daughter of late heavyweight Congress leader and former Union minister, Santosh Mohan Dev, Sushmita had gone through varied linguistic cultures. A Bengali by birth and having pursued her academic and political careers mainly in Assam and the party in Tripura, she is now the Rajya Sabha member from West Bengal.
“This is somewhat an absurd proposition. This Hindi imposition attempt will bring an automatic divide between people speaking different regional languages. I am sure that the Union home minister’s attempt to project Hindi as an alternative to English will ultimately boil down to projecting Hindi as the official language as an alternative to other Indian regional languages. Every person is proud of speaking his or her own mother tongue. There is no harm if any individual learns Hindi voluntarily.
“But forcing Hindi in a linguistically diversified country like India is absurd. Secondly, the Union home minister should confirm which particular dialect of Hindi does he want to push as an alternative to English, since there are so many dialects of Hindi. Our party’s stand is very clear on this issue ad that is we will resit this Hindi-imposition at any cost,” she said.
Trinamool Congress MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said that this Hindi- imposition attempt is to fulfil the long standing agenda of the BJP and the RSS of “One nation-one language-one religion,” or “Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan,” This attempt will create tension in the country since there are bound to be protests from non-Hindi speaking people. This is totally unconstitutional and rather an attempt to divert attention from burning issues like inflation and rising unemployment throughout the country. The Trinamool Congress will resist it at any cost, he said.
Almost echoing Deb and Roy, All-India Congress Committee (AICC) member from West Bengal, Subhankar Sarkar, said that Amit Shah is projecting juggled statistics to mislead the people on this issue.
“He is claiming that almost 70 per cent of the Union cabinet communiques are made in Hindi. But that cannot be a valid reason for this Hindi-position attempt. As per the latest statistics, 47 per cent of the country’s population speaks in different dialects of Hindi, while the remaining 53 per cent speak in other Indian languages.
“So why impose a language spoken by 47 per cent of the population on the remaining 53 per cent. Secondly, the Union home minister should come clear on which dialect of Hindi he wants to promote as the official language as an alternative to English.
“Actually, these are nothing but tactics to divert attention from burning issues like price rise and unemployment. The current Union government is playing this attention-diversion tactics every time burning issues erupt. The latest example is the Union government’s promotion of the movie, ‘The Kashmir Files’,” Sarkar told IANS.
The opinion expressed to IANS by the CPI(M) central committee member and former leader of the Left Parties in the West Bengal assembly Sujan Chakraborty was no different.
“This is a long standing agenda of the BJP and the RSS that the current Union government is trying to rake up. But this will be against the spirit of ‘Unity in diversity’. This is bound to create a rift between the Hindi-speaking and non Hindi-speaking population of the country. This is yet another attempt to divert attention from issues bothering the common people every day,” Chakraborty said.
Understanding that this was a sensitive issue concerning Bengal’s sentiment with Bengali as its language, BJP spokesman in West Bengal Shamik Bhattacharya was extremely cautious about giving his reaction.
“It has become a habit of the Congress, the CPI(M) and the Trinamool Congress to oppose and politicise every proposal and initiative of the Union government. The Union home minister has just mooted a proposal based on some realities. I request the opposition leaders to be aware of the country’s realities before politicizing any issue,” he said.
International News
Bangladesh High Court orders high-level probe into power deals with Adani group amid supply cuts
Bangladesh’s High Court ordered the formation of a high-level enquiry committee comprising international energy and law experts to reevaluate all electricity-related agreements with the Adani group, The Business Standard, a local news portal, reported on Tuesday, November 19.
The bench of Justices Farah Mahbub and Debasish Roy Chowdhury has reportedly ordered the cabinet secretary to form the committee within a month and submit the report to the court in the next two months.
Adani Power shares closed 0.47 per cent lower at ₹524.10 on Tuesday’, compared to ₹526.60 at the previous market close.
The court, while hearing a petition, asked why instructions should not be given to cancel the uneven agreements made with the Adani group. It also asked for the documents related to the signing of the deal within a month.
Barrister M Abdul Qayyum, representing the petitioner, filed the writ in the High Court asking for the cancellation of all electricity deals with Adani group. Adani signed the 25-year power purchase agreement in 2017; at that time, no imported coal-based power plants were operational in Bangladesh, as per the report.
Adani’s Bangladesh power supply
Adani group’s Bangladesh power is supplied from Jharkhand’s 1,600 MW power plant. The cost of power is $0.1008 per unit or Tk12 per unit, a Bangladesh Power Development Board official was quoted as saying in the report.
This rate is 27 per cent higher than the rate of India’s other private producers and as much as 63 per cent more than the Indian state-owned plants.
After Adani Power cut the Bangladesh power supply by half over the unpaid dues, the company also set a deadline of November 7 to switch off the flow of electricity if there was no clarity on the settlement of the outstanding amount.
Bangladesh reportedly owes Adani almost $850 million. Adani group later clarified that it had not demanded the full payment in seven days, as per the report.
Shortage of Power
Bangladesh continues to face a shortage of electricity, increasing the risk of blackouts, even after making a partial payment to Adani group, according to a Bloomberg report on Tuesday.
Adani Power has received a letter of credit for $170 million, easing pressures from lenders, reported the agency, citing two people aware of the development. The partial payment doesn’t resolve the crisis, but the company won’t halt supplies for now, pending talks with the lenders of the Godda thermal plant in Jharkhand, the officials said.
“Payments should have been made by this time,” Ahsan H Mansur, governor of Bangladesh Bank, said in a phone interview on Friday as per the report. The central bank “issued an instruction for the payment”, Mansur had said earlier this week.
The Adani electric supply accounts for nearly 10 per cent of Bengladesh’s total supply. The power company reduced its supply further to 500 megawatts on Thursday after cutting it to 700 megawatts earlier, as per the data collected from Power Grid Bangladesh cited in the news report.
National News
Chhattisgarh: 5 Maoists Killed, 2 Jawans Injured In Narayanpur Encounter; Visuals Surface
Narayanpur: In a major anti-Maoist operation, at least five Maoists were killed during a fierce encounter with security forces in the dense forests of the Abujhmad region in Chhattisgarh Narayanpur district on Saturday.
The gunfight took place after security personnel received reports about the presence of Maoists in the area.
According to officials, a joint team of security forces launched a search operation early Saturday morning. Around 6 a.m., the forces came under heavy fire, leading to an intense gunfight that lasted nearly five hours.
Statement Of One Of The Jawans
One of the jawan, part of the searching team, said that approximately 20 Maoists were present there, with at least five of them killed during the encounter.
“We were a team of 1,439 personnel deployed in the search operation. The encounter lasted until around 11 a.m., during which several Maoists were also injured. I came back but the search operation is still going on to capture the remaining Maoists,” he said.
2 Security Personnel Injured
During the operation, two security personnel sustained injuries. One of them, identified as Khileshwar Gawade, suffered bullet wounds in the head and right hand, while the other, Hiraman Yadav, was hit in the thigh. Both injured personnel were immediately evacuated and airlifted to Raipur for further medical treatment. Officials have assured that their condition is stable.
Security personnel have so far recovered the bodies of five Maoists, along with some weapons. The process of identifying the dead Maoists is underway.
About Abujhmad Region
The Abujhmad region, which borders Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district, is known for being a hotbed of Maoist activity. Just last month, security forces achieved an important victory by neutralising 31 Maoists in one of the most successful operations in Chhattisgarh’s history.
On the rising success of such operations, Inspector General of Police, Bastar Range, Sundarraj P., had, last week said that a total of 192 Maoists have been killed this year alone. Authorities believe that sustained pressure from security forces is gradually weakening the insurgents’ grip in the region.
National News
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge Slams BJP Over Infiltrator Issue In Jharkhand, Says ‘Ghuspetiya Andar Aa Rahe Aur Shah Sahab So Rahe’
Jamtara (Jharkhand): As the BJP constantly evoked the issue of infiltration in Jharkhand, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said on Saturday that the BJP is scaring everyone in the name of infiltrators and when there is their government in the Centre, why can’t they stop it?
Addressing a public rally in Jharkhand’s Jamtara, Kharge said, “They (BJP) are scaring us in the name of infiltrators. You are in the central government, you are the Prime Minister, you are the home minister, then from where did the infiltrators enter?”
“Ghuspetiya andar aa rahe aur Shah Sahab so rahe,” he added.
He further said that the BJP only knows how to divide.
“When you can stop our helicopters, why can’t you stop infiltrators? They don’t know how to run the government. They only know how to divide. They have raised the matter of infiltrators in the elections and they are making people afraid of this. People are being incited in this way. This won’t work. Now people have understood you,” Kharge added.
About The Chopper Issue
The Congress Chief further targeted the BJP after party MP Rahul Gandhi’s chopper was delayed on Friday and said that today, his chopper was also delayed.
“Rahul Gandhi also did meetings here. We don’t know what problem does BJP has with us. When we want to come our helicopter gets stopped. Yesterday Rahul Gandh’s helicopter was denied permission to fly. Today Shah was coming here so I was stopped today for 20 minutes. His path was different and my path was different. Modiji comes in every way of ours,” Mallikarjun Kharge said.
Congress President Targets BJP Star Campaigners In Jharkhand
Sharpening his attacks further, Kharge targeted BJP star campaigners in Jharkhand and said that they all have gathered like a “war” is going on.
“In Jharkhand helicopters are flying like vultures. Did they come when anyone was in need here.? Some Chief Minister from Assam, Madhya Pradesh, all have gathered like a war is going on. This is battle of democracy where people participate and leaders have no role,” he said.
Voting for the first phase of the Jharkhand assembly elections concluded on November 13, with voting taking place in 43 out of the state’s 81 seats.
Elections on the remaining 38 seats will be conducted on November 20. The counting will be held on November 23.
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