Thursday, September 30, 1999
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Thursday, September 30, 1999 |
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Tariq Anwar faces
disciple KATIHAR (Bihar): Nationalist Congress Party general secretary Tariq Anwar is facing a peculiar predicament of having to fight against his own disciple, Mubarak Hussain, from this constituency which had sent him to the Lok Sabha four times. The “guru” and “shishya” had parted ways when Mr Anwar quit the Congress along with Mr Sharad Pawar and Mr P.A. Sangma on the “foreign origin” issue. Mr Hussain preferred to remain with the parent party. Way back in 1980, Mr Anwar had handpicked Mr Hussain to look after district Congress politics. The second adversary of the NCP leader in the three-cornered contest this time is the BJP’s Nikhil Chowdhury, whom Mr Anwar had defeated in the last two elections. While Mr Anwar is trying hard to retain his sway over the traditional minority votebank, Mr Hussain wants to make sure that the party’s organisational base remains intact. Mr Anwar had managed to win the seat in 1996 despite an anti-Congress wave throughout the state when he defeated a former Home Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who was supported by Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav. In the last elections, however, he had banked on RJD support to retain the seat. Katihar has a mixed history of favouring the Congress or other parties. In the 12 Lok Sabha elections held so far, the Congress had won this seat seven times. Talking to UNI, Mr Anwar said he was confident of victory because of his personal rapport with all sections, his contribution of the development of the area and his emotional attachment with the minorities. “My fight outside the Congress cover will make no difference in the elections, as I have brought the issue of national pride to the forefront” he added. Mr Hussain, who is a member of the state assembly, claimed that the minorities were not going to support a party which might ultimately go over to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance after the elections for the sake of power. Branding Mr Anwar a
“traitor” for challenging the authority of Ms
Sonia Gandhi, he said the electorate would give
“befitting |
September 29, 1999
September 28, 1999
September 27, 1999
September 26, 1999
September 25, 1999 |
| punishment” to Mr Anwar because of
their emotional attachment with the Nehru-Gandhi family. Out of the 10,37,246 electorate, about 35 per cent belong to the minorities. Both Mr Anwar and Mr Hussain have, however, made local development their major poll plank and are promising improved road and communication in the district. Meanwhile, according to political observers, a possible split in the minorities votebank may benefit BJP candidate Nikhil Chowdhury. The presence of former MLA Ramprakash Mahato, who recently resigned from the Samata Party has made the issue more complicated. Mr Mahato is trying to seek support from the backward classes which may erode the BJP’s votebank to some extent. While voters are more
concerned with the after-effects of the recent flash
floods in the region than with the elections, they are
also aware of Mr Anwar’s new political challenges in
the wake of his expulsion from the Congress. — UNI |
Boycott call threat looms large AGARTALA: The shadow of insurgent outfits’ threats and poll boycott call is looming large over the October 3 polling in this tiny border state even as security is being beefed to meet the challenge. All major political parties have expressed concern at the increasing militant activities in the state and urged the Election Commission (EC) to take effective measures for conduct of free and fair poll. The National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT), while calling for poll boycott in “Twipra” (Tripura), threatened people with “dire consequences” if they exercised their franchise. Another major insurgent outfit, the All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF), which wants to push out people who entered the state after 1952, said the majority of voters were “refugees” from erstwhile East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and they would form “a refugee government.” Director-General of Police K.T.D. Singh said the Centre had agreed to despatch 30 companies of additional paramilitary forces for conduct of peaceful elections, far lesser than the number demanded by the state. He expressed concern that the ultras might step up their activities as a large chunk of forces would be withdrawn from the remote hilly areas for deployment in the booths. He said all possible measures had been taken to keep the situation peaceful. The DGP said the state government had requisitioned two helicopters from the Army which would keep vigil on the movements of insurgents during the elections. Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, who also holds the Home portfolio, reiterated his demand for more forces. The constituents of the ruling Left Front committee, in a fax message to Chief Election Commissioner M.S. Gill yesterday, expressed “deep concern” at the sudden rise in militant activities and requested him to direct the authorities to despatch adequate forces in the state. Of the total 2367 polling stations in the state, 142 have been identified as “very sensitive” and 442 as “sensitive”, he said, adding special care was being taken to guard those booths. The Election Commission has directed the BSF to seal the 840-km-long porous international border with Bangladesh to prevent trans-border movement of ultras and ISI agents. Election Commissioner G.V.G. Krishnamurty, who paid a two-day visit to the state in the first week of this month to take stock of the situation, also expressed serious concern. “The Election
Commission is worried over the increasing number of
killings, abduction and robberies in the state which are
posing threat to the peace-loving people”, he had
said. —PTI |
P.M. Sayeed yet to taste defeat KAVARATTI: Deputy Speaker of the dissolved Lok Sabha P.M. Sayeed hasn’t tasted electoral defeat in his political career spanning over four decades during which he represented Lakshadweep nine consecutive terms. As the Congress nominee from the smallest Lok Sabha constituency, Mr Sayeed (63) is this time seeking to become the only politician to have the honour of getting elected from the same constituency for the tenth consecutive term. Mr Sayeed was only 26 when he was first elected from Lakshadweep in 1967 when it was declared a Scheduled Tribe reserved Lok Sabha constituency. Before that, Mr K. Nalla Koya Thangal had represented it as a nominated member in 1957 and 1962 through presidential proclamations. Mr Sayeed had also been elected unopposed in the 1971 elections. A former union minister, Mr Sayeed won the 1998 poll by a margin of 966 votes over his lone rival Dr K.K. Mohammed Koya (Janata Dal), who had been consistently opposing him in seven general elections since 1977. Dr Koya is not contesting this time. Mr Sayeed’s campaign managers expect a bigger margin of victory for him in the October 3 elections because of the absence of Dr Koya, his traditional rival, from the poll arena, and the recent split in the Janata Dal. A lawyer by profession, Mr Sayeed is involved in a four-cornered contest with main rivals being Dr K.P. Muthu Koya (JD-U) and Mr F.K. Hussain(JD-S). The fourth in the fray is an Independent. Lakshadweep, consists of 27 islands scattered in the Arabian Sea off the Kerala coast. Of them, only 10 are inhabited with an electorate of 36,870. Muslims constitute 95 per cent of the Lakshadweep population. The constituency had recorded 86 per cent voting in the 1998 elections, the highest in any of the Lok Sabha constituency that year. Candidates had been depending on ships to reach the 10 inhabited islands for canvassing in the past elections. For the first time, the Lakshadweep administration had made available helicopters for the convenience of the candidates who had to bear the helicopter rentals. Mr Sayeed, who knows his voters personally, highlights the developments that have taken place in the islands during the Congress rule at the Centre. Fortythree polling
booths had been set up in the islands with separate
booths for women. In Bitra island, there is only one
polling booth for the men and women voters numbering 200.
— UNI |
Congress bid to retain Jorhat JORHAT: Three-time winner of the Jorhat Lok Sabha seat in upper Assam, Congress nominee Bijoy Krishna Handique, is making a valiant bid to retain it, taking on the BJP, the Asom Gana Parishad and the Nationalist Congress Party in the October 3 poll. The contest for the seat is expected to be interesting with the BJP, which finished third in the last elections, trying to improve its vote share of 14.3 per cent in 1998. The party has fielded Janakinath Handique, a tea estate owner, as its nominee who has been actively playing the Kargil card. The NCP is in the fray with its candidate Pradip Gogoi expecting to cut into the votes of the other contestants in this Congress stronghold. Gogoi expects to make the most of the split in the Congress and several key party workers joining the NCP. The AGP has renominated Deba Kumar Bora, chairman of the state planning board and former Agriculture Minister, who was in second spot last year, polling 16.37 per cent votes. Bora, who is mostly harping on the achievements of the ruling four-party alliance in the state, also expects to benefit from the Congress split. The Congress, which had
traditionally has a strong base among tea tribes and
enjoys the support of the Asom Chah Mazdoor Sangh is
trying its utmost to retain it. The BJP, on the other
hand, is trying to gain an advantage from Handique’s
background in the tea industry — PTI |
Campaign ads bypassed issues NEW DELHI: It was a deluge of ads in the print and electronic media to seek the millennium mandate. But for the millions spent to woo the voter, media watchers say campaign wars were crass and at times even put the cola wars to shame. “Campaign ads are a good forum to start a national debate on various issues — but there were no issues — it was not much organised either,” says Benny Thomas, Creative Director, Lintas, noting besides the two main political parties, there were hardly any others in this ad war. “There were no issues in campaign ads this time, it was just trading of charges — dirty communication which was being sold to the voters. “The parties were trying to say not what is good with ‘our’ product but what is ‘bad’ with the others,” says Mr Karunendra Mathur, Director, Montage Advertising. “It was immature democracy — more of applying guerrilla tactics to know what the other party’s ad would be the next day,” says a Congress worker. “It was in fact worse than the Coke-Pepsi war,” he admits. “Trading charges and accusations, in fact reflect badly on the accuser. Parties became so vicious, they actually bought space to abuse,” says Mr Thomas. “All this went to such an extent that one party had a pun on the other’s ad — in the same newspaper on the same day,” says Mr Amit Kumar of the Triton ad agency. What the readers saw were several no holds-barred tit for tat full page advertisements with the Congress and the BJP taking obvious digs at each other. One middle page had the Congress asking “if you could not run a coalition, why blame us for toppling.” The response on the opposite page read “you cannot reconcile to your role as the opposition... You have toppled three governments in last three years...” “People are sick of constant fighting and trading charges - they were looking for policy-based positive agenda — but it all turned out to be defensive — no offensive campaign,” says Mr Thomas. But Mr Tome Vadakkan, media manager, Congress said “we later changed our strategy and created designs and concepts during the day for the newspapers which went to bed in the night.” The season also saw the mushrooming of many hitherto unknown “voluntary agencies” seeking to raise ‘apolitical’ issues, but their leanings were not so subtle, notes Mr Mathur. So there was the Bhutpurva Sainik Morcha asking “do not spew venom at our armed forces for your petty political gain... Leave our heroes alone”. Another ad by the same organisation asked “Why is the Congress mixing our martyrs’ blood with mud”. But the Congress too had its fair share of supporters. One such organisation in fact thanked former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi for having purchased the Bofors gun which “helped our soldiers in kargil.” An ad issued by the Lok Abhiyan release listed “Congress’s achievements during 40 years of its misrule.” Its immediate rejoinder was “You are quick to point the misdeeds. But you continue to lead the ‘parivar’ of miscreants.” Surrogate ads are meant to be put out by a disinterested third party raising issues in national interest. But this time round they didn’t appear all that disinterested, observes Mr Thomas. “Surrogate ads were not what they should have been — they were all too direct and blatant. There was never any doubt which party was behind a particular ad,” says Mr Mathur. While Mr Vadakkan denies any hand in funding such agencies, Mr Amitabh Sinha of the BJP camp says “they are all a part of the strategy to communicate with the people and boost the general confidence of the party.” He, however, says “though not discouraged, they are essentially not financed by the party”. The ‘infamous’ ad war which started at the time of Mr Rajiv Gandhi when the opposition was called names — scorpions and the like — has turned more negative with each campaign, admen say. But Mr Sushil Pandit, an old-hand at writing the BJP’s ads says “It is all sharp and aggressive advertising and in no way can be faulted for being dirty... What became dirty were press conferences and campaign speeches and claims of non-existent scams”. “Besides making direct attacks, they raised questions about each other’s performance — Kargil remaining the main issue,” says Mr Amit Kumar. “Kargil was an important campaign issue — being fresh in minds of people and having popular support — even the Congress after the ’71 war benefited from the war factor”. Mr Vadakkan, however, says “Our ads were essentially objective in approach and held a promise. Moreover, we asked for votes on our own strength and the vision of Sonia Gandhi.” On the flip side, many a corporate and ad agencies made poll the backdrop of their campaigns. Amul had a witty one on the battle of Bellary with “Her raj or Swaraj” while another by a detergent company claimed that it could remove all stains except the indelible voting ink. The Air India Maharaja sought a vote for itself saying “I’ve a left wing, a right wing. And a majority up in the sky”. But for now the question
is who will get a majority in Parliament.— PTI |
‘Mini Atal’ draws crowds AMETHI: With his disarming oratorial skills, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee has been the greatest crowd-puller for the BJP. But 17-year-old Suneet Agarwal never lets the crowd feel the absence of the Prime Minister in the thick of election campaign with his mannerisms unbelievably akin to Mr Vajpayee. Suneet, son of a Bareilly-based petty garment merchant, appears, acts and talks almost like Mr Vajpayee — a trait which has earned him the sobriquet “mini Atal.’’ Ahead of Sunday’s polling, he arrived here yesterday with his father, Inder Kumar Agarwal, to do his bit of magic in this high-profile constituency which has been witnessing an electrifying campaigning. In the current parliamentary elections, Suneet started off with Bellary in Karnataka where Congress President Sonia Gandhi found herself pitted against senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj. After delivering his “Vajpayee-like” speeches alongside Ms Swaraj in Bellary, Suneet shared the stage with Mr l. k. Advani in Calcutta and has since covered almost every state. Suneet was with Mr Murli Manohar Joshi in Madhya Pradesh, with Mr Shatrughan Sinha in Hubli (Karnataka) and Mr Govindacharya in Delhi. He attended over 35 meetings with Ms Swaraj in Bellary which was catapulted to a ‘VVIP’ status by virtue of its two main contenders this time. “I have been out of home for one-and-a-half months touring various parts of the country,’’ Suneet said here. A student of plus one, Suneet has taken special leave from studies to take part in the election campaign. As soon as Suneet, dressed in well-creased pyjama-kurta, takes the microphone, the audience is left mesmerised with his style, an amazing approximation to that of Mr Vajpayee. But he vehemently denies having imitated the Prime Minister. “It will mean a disrespect to Vajpayeeji... I don’t imitate him, but I have somehow got some of his mannerisms,’’ he says. Mr Inder Agarwal recalls his son having picked up the ‘style’ when he was barely seven years old. “Suneet saw Mr Vajpayee two years after that,’’ he says. How did Suneet acquire
the trait? neither he nor his father are able to explain.
— UNI |
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People will view Sonia like the empress (Queen Elizabeth) who is unacceptable as the ruler of the country.... If she served the country as Mother Teresa did, she could be accepted. — Pramod Mahajan at an election rally in Madhya Pradesh During Congress rule, books were published which belittled the role of the Communist Party and its leaders in the Independence struggle . That contrived history is a travesty of truth. — Jyoti Basu Aap Maneka Gandhi ke paas jayenge to puchengi ki kya kam laye hain. Kisi aur ke pass jayenge to puchega ki kya daam laye hain (If you go to Maneka Gandhi, she will ask what work you have brought for her. If you go to someone else, he will ask how much money you have got for him). — Feroze Varun Gandhi at an election meeting at Pilibhit I, Ghani Khan, don’t give false promises. Those of you who think I do need not vote for me. — A.B.A. Ghani Khan Chaudhury at an election rally at Nalagola Isn’t it shocking that in a country where millions of people are illiterate and half the population is not sure of the next meal, no political party is talking about the real issues of hunger and poverty? — A political analyst in a TV debate Communists are in power in some other countries also. Cuba for example. I do not have any problem with that. My fight is primarily against the repressive rule and the partisan power structure they have built over the years. — Mamata Banerjee on whether she is fundamentally opposed to Communism The utterances of Pramod Mahajan and George Fernandes have decisively demonstrated that in its obsession with power, the BJP can reduce the level of political discourse to gutter level. — Ashwani Kumar, AICC spokesman — (Compiled
by Mukul Bansal) |
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