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Printed at Chennai, Coimbatore, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Madurai, Noida, Visakhapatnam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Vijayawada, Mangaluru, Tiruchirapalli, Kolkata, Hubballi, Mohali, Allahabad and Malappuram

INDIA-U.S. TIES

Frank Wisner fornew goals

The former U.S.Ambassador toIndia, FrankWisner, in anexclusive articlefor The Hindu

ahead of President Barack

Obamas visit, writes about theneed to deepen strategic andeconomic cooperation, set newgoals for the India-U.S.relationship and addresscommon issues arising out ofChinas rise.

COMMENT | PAGE 11NEW DELHI: The Union gov-ernment is scaling down itsbig-ticket disinvestmentplan after Coal India Ltd.(CIL) share price crashed byRs. 18 within minutes on thestock exchange earlier thismonth as news came outthat the Centre could con-duct disinvestment in thepublic sector unit inFebruary.

The disinvestment targetof Rs. 52,000 crore for thecurrent financial year is be-ing scaled down because ofthe volatility in the shareprice of PSUs, a top FinanceMinistry source told TheHindu.

Even at the time whenthe target was set, the De-partment of Disinvestmenthad said it was not achiev-able, the source said.

Strike threat from PSUstaff is another reason thegovernment wants to goslow on disinvestment.

Coal India trade unionsbrought up the volatility in

its stock price in talks withthe government, saying therewas the risk of the Statesshares getting sold for a song,the source said.

The issue really is that thePSUs tend to be overstaffedand any expansion in the eq-uity base of these companiesbrings greater accountability

Strike threatby PSU staff

another reasonfor going slow

Puja Mehra

Market swings forcerethink on disinvestment

POLICY PAUSE Centre scales down target

NEW DELHI: The first full-yearBudget of the Modi govern-ment, which is expected toreflect its reforms-oriented

and business-friendly rhet-oric, will be presented onFebruary 28. The BudgetSession of Parliament be-gins on February 23.

The dates were decidedon Wednesday by the Cabi-net Committee on Parlia-mentary Affairs that metunder the chairmanship ofUnion Parliamentary Af-fairs Minister M. VenkaiahNaidu. But after the officialpart, Mr. Naidu impressedupon his ministerial col-leagues the need to explainthe governments point of

view on the ordinances, es-pecially with President Pra-

nab Mukherjee cautioningthe government on the ex-cessive use of the ordinanceroute and the Oppositionaccusing it of bypassingParliament.

The session, as is custom-ary, will be held in two parts:the recess will start onMarch 20 and Parliament

will reconvene on April 20.The session will end on May8. The Railway budget willbe presented on February26 and the Economic Surveythe next day. The debate onthe Motion of Thanks to thePresidents Address hasbeen fixed for February 24and 25.

Union Budget on February 28Smita Gupta

NEW DELHI: The governmenthas begun re-allocating coalblocks, with 36 blocks to beallocated to public sectorenterprises starting Thursday.

More blocks will be allottedlater, depending on therequirement and based on

requests from state-runentities, Coal Secretary AnilSwarup said here onWednesday. Of the 36 mines,one would go to the steelsector, and the rest would begiven to power entities, he said.

Re-allocation of coal blocks beginsMahim Pratap Singh

Regd. DL(ND)-11/6110/2006-07-08 RNI No. TNENG/2012/49940 ISSN 0971 - 751X Vol. 5 No. 18 CITY EDITION 24 Pages Rs. 8.00 www.thehindu.in

NEW DELHI: For the second dayin a row, the headquarters ofthe Delhi BJP was takenover by angry party workerswho staged a protest againstthe way tickets were distrib-uted for the upcoming Delhi

assembly polls.The workers continued toprotest despite the UnionHome Minister and seniorleader Rajnath Singh tellingthe reporters that if there isany complaint (of the partycadres) they talk to theirleaders in the party.

Party workers led byPoorvanchal leader Abhay

Verma, who was fieldedfrom East Delhis Laxmi Na-gar in the 2013 Delhi Polls,staged a protest in front ofthe party office on Wednes-day for not getting a secondchance at contesting. Mr.

Verma emerged third in thecontest which was won byexpelled AAP leader VinodKumar Binny who has beenfielded by the BJP from Pat-parganj this time round.

The protests brought Mr.Verma and his supporters

face to face with Pradesh in-charge Prabhat Jha who at-

tempted to pacify the crowd.Speaking to the re-porters, PrabhatJha said upset par-ty workers havethe right to protestwhile it is not wor-rying as none ofthem have turned

rebel.Delhi BJP chief Satish Up-

adhyay, whose supportershad a day earlier pro-tested against the par-tys decision to notallow their leader tocontest elections, at-tempted to downplaythe situation termingthe raucous an expres-

sion of love for theirleader.

This is their love, affec-tion for their leaders. It isnormal for party workers tobe upset, it happens duringevery election. I dont callthis a protest, every partyworker feels that at the timeof elections their leadershould be given a ticket,

said Mr. Upadhyay.Since the top leadershipof the BJP released a list of62 names late on Mondaynight, party workers from ri-

val factions have expressedunhappiness with the waylocal BJP leaders have beensidelined in order to makeway for new faces inductedinto the party.

The BJPs top leadershipresponded to the simmeringdissidence in the BJP withUnion Home Minister Raj-nath Singh stating that thereis no crisis and its cadresstand united.

If there is any complaint(of the party cadres) theytalk to their leaders in theparty. There is no point inmaking it an issue. The en-tire party cadre will contrib-ute wholeheartedly in theDelhi polls, he said.

Protests continue at Delhi BJP officeSowmiya Ashok

BJP and AAP supporters face each other as theircandidates arrive to file nomination papers at GeetaColony in East Delhi on Wednesday. PHOTO: SANDEEP SAXENA

SEE ALSO | PAGE 2 & 3

NEW DELHI: In a fillip to freespeech on social media, theSupreme Court on Wednes-day quashed FIRs registeredby the Bengaluru Traffic Po-lice against a couple for post-ing adverse comments on itsFacebook page.

A Bench of Justices V. Go-pala Gowda and R. Banumathiquashed criminal prosecutionagainst the couple, observingthat they (the couple) werewell within their rights to airtheir grievances on a publicforum like Facebook.

The page created by thetraffic police on Facebook wasa forum for the public to putforth their grievances. In ourconsidered view, the appel-

lants might have posted thecomment online under the bo-na fide belief that it was withinthe permissible limits, the10-page judgment observed.

The judgment comes evenas another Supreme CourtBench is hearing the legality ofSection 66A of the Informa-

tion Technology Act, 2000,which prescribes arrest andthree years imprisonment forsocial media comments con-sidered to be of menacingcharacter or even annoyingby the authorities.

Manik Taneja and his wifeSakshi Jawa were booked un-der the serious charges of useof assault or criminal force todeter a public servant fromdischarging his duty (Section353) and criminal intimida-tion (Section 506) of the Indi-an Penal Code by theBengaluru police on June 14,2013.

The previous day, the cou-ple had met with an accidentwhen their car hit an autor-ickshaw, resulting in injuriesto a passenger. They paid due

compensation to the injuredperson and took care of hospi-tal charges. But Ms. Jawa, whodrove the car, was summonedto the Pulakeshi Nagar TrafficPolice Station, Bengaluru city,where the police allegedlymisbehaved with her.

The couple returned to venttheir anger on the policesFacebook page. They also sentan email complaining aboutthe alleged harassment metedout to them by a police in-spector at the station. The po-lice reacted by lodging acriminal complaint againstthe couple.

The Karnataka High Courtrefused to intervene when thecouple approached it for re-lief, following which theymoved the Supreme Court.

SC quashes FIR against couple for FB postKrishnadas Rajagopal

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Courtwill pronounce on Thursdayits verdict on the fate of BCCIpresident-in-exile N. Sriniva-san as top cricket administra-tor and whether he acted inconflict of interest by donningthe caps of both BCCI chiefand IPL team owner.

A Bench of Justices T.S.Thakur and Fakir MohamedIbrahim Kalifulla would alsodecide the legal validity of anamendment to rule 6.2.4 in-corporated by the Board inFebruary 2008, which en-abled BCCI officials to ownIPL teams.

Verdict in BCCIcase todayLegal Correspondent

DETAILS | PAGE 13

HOUSING FOR ALL 2022

Modi for rejigNEW DELHI: Reviewing theUnion governments ambitiousHousing for All by 2022programme, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi asked the UnionHousing and Poverty AlleviationMinistry on Wednesday torecast the flagship scheme,under which two crore housesare to be built for slum dwellersand other weaker sections.Chairing a third review meetinghere, the Prime Minister asked

for priority to be given to areasalong the Ganga, so that theriver rejuvenation programmecould be dovetailed with thehousing plan.

NATIONAL | PAGE 13

POLITICAL U-TURNCongress warms toAnna Hazare

NEW DELHI: In a climate ofpoliticalU-turns, theCongress on

Wednesdayjoined thebandwagon bywarming toanti-corruption activist AnnaHazare and acknowledging thatthe partys ongoing agitationagainst the land ordinancewould be strengthened if hebacked it.

NEWS | PAGE 12

SRI LANKA

Fonseka exoneratedCOLOMBO: Sri Lankas newgovernment on Wednesdayexonerated former army chiefSarath Fonseka of all charges,including treason, that werefiled by the former President,Mahinda Rajapaksa, andrestored his rank and medals.

INTERNATIONAL | PAGE 14

E-AUCTION IN FEBRUARY | PAGE 12

MERCHANT BANKERS OUT OF PSUSHARE PRICE VALUATION | PAGE 15

INSIDE

METROPLUS 4 Pages

CHENNAI: The Central Bu-reau of Investigation ar-rested three persons, one aclose aide of the formerUnion Telecom Minister,

Dayanidhi Maran, here onWednesday night in con-nection with the telephoneexchange case.

Agency sources said ateam of the CBIs specialtask force from New Delhiarrested V. Gowthaman,former Additional PrivateSecretary to Mr. Maran; S.Kannan, chief technical of-ficer of Sun TV; and K.S. Ra-vi, electrician with thetelevision channel in Chen-nai. They will be produced

in a city court on Thursdayto be taken into custody forinterrogation.

The arrests were made tocollect some crucial evi-dence which may be un-earthed during their

custodial interrogation, aCBI spokesperson said.

The case pertains to alle-gations that a virtual tele-phone exchange was set upin the house of Mr. Daya-nidhi Maran to enable datatransfer benefiting the SunTV group owned by hisbrother Kalanidhi Maran.The CBI had registered acase against Mr. DayanidhiMaran and some BSNL offi-cials for allotting over 300high-speed telephone lines.

Vijay Kumar S.

Dayanidhi Maransformer secretary held

TELEPHONE EXCHANGE CASE

NEW DELHI: As the global busi-ness elite converge on Davosfor the World Economic Fo-rum (WEF), two Central Min-isters and two Chief Ministerswill be pitching the Modi gov-ernments ambitious Make in

India programme amid re-newed international interestin Indias economic potential.

The Indian contingent isbeing led by Union FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley and in-cludes Power Minister PiyushGoyal and the Chief Ministersof Maharashtra and AndhraPradesh, Devendra Fadnavisand N. Chandrababu Naidu,along with Chief EconomicAdviser Arvind Subramanian.

Industry Secretary Ami-tabh Kant is also a key mem-ber of the Indian contingent.

Mr. Jaitley, leading TeamModi from India, is expectedto speak on the new leader-ships transformation of thebusiness, political and sociallandscape of India.

He would be participatingin a discussion on how India,as the most populous democ-racy will revive and accelerateeconomic modernisation,growth and job creation.

Team Modi to sellMake in India in DavosPuja Mehra

Jaitley is expectedto speak on thetransformationof the business,political and sociallandscape of India

GOYAL TO PUSH FOR CLEANTECHNOLOGY | PAGE 12

NEW DELHI: Ending an eight-year dispute on spectrum shar-

ing with defence, the UnionCabinet on Wednesday ear-marked bands for exclusive useof the security establishmentwhile making available the re-maining radio waves for com-mercial use in telecom andbroadcasting. - PTI

Spectrum fordefenceearmarked

SPECTRUM SWAP PROPOSED |PAGE 12

for workers, the source said.Coal Secretary Anil Swarup

told The Hindu that one of theassurances the governmenthad given to the unions to endtheir strike was that Coal In-dia would not be privatised.

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POLL BATTLE MOVES INTO TOP GEAR

POLITICAL PARTIES CRANKED UP THE POLL HEAT ON WEDNESDAY WITH THREE CHIEF MINISTERIAL ASPIRANTS AJAY MAKEN OF THE CONGRESS, ARVIND

KEJRIWAL OF THE AAM AADMI PARTY AND KIRAN BEDI OF THE BHARATIYA JANATA PARTY FILING THEIR NOMINATIONS FROM DIFFERENT ASSEMBLY SEGMENTS

Sorry for theinconvenience, says the

Delhi Congress website. Afterbeing denied a ticket, theadministrator of the site hasleft the party in a huff andtaken the site with him.

Two sites, dpcc.co.in andcongresssandesh.com, havebeen down since Monday. Amessage on the sites claimthey were designed,developed and maintained bySanjey Puri since 2001. Andsince he has resigned hismembership of the Congress,his services have beenwithdrawn.

A former councillor, Mr.Puri, was hoping for a ticketfrom Janakpuri Assemblyconstituency, but theCongress instead fieldedSuresh Kumar, the son-in-lawof BJP candidate Jagdish

Mukhi.Meanwhile, Delhi Congress

president Arvinder Singh putout a statement onWednesday to remind votersthat the party was still activeonline on delhipcc.in.

Angry Puri unplugsCongress website

Staff Reporter

The BJPs New Delhicandidate Nupur Sharma

plans to request PrimeMinister Narendra Modi tospare some time to come toher constituency andcampaign for her. One of myfirst priorities after I file mynomination papers is toapproach Mr. Modi andrequest him to campaign inmy constituency, she toldThe Hindu.

She plans to take up localissues particularly affectingwomen and children in herconstituency. In a meetingwith party workers, her aidesdiscussed the strategy theparty should take by roping inbooth in-charges and workersfrom the Sangh Parivar.

I plan to knock at everydoor since I am young and Ihave the energy, said Ms.Sharma.

'Young' Nupur toknock at every door

Staff Reporter

The BJPs chief ministerialcandidate Kiran Bedi

stopped to speak to severalpeople on her way to file

nominations on Wednesday.While interacting with safaikaramcharis, she noticed amotorist ride past without ahelmet and stopped him togive him some motherlyadvice. Ms. Bedi alsointeracted with tea vendorsand traders en route.

Bedi does charchawith chaiwallahsStaff Reporter

There is no

crisis in theBJP. The partystands united to facethe polls.The entirepartycadre willcontributewholeheartedlyRAJNATH SINGH

Union Home Minister

You will be contestingfrom the New Delhi seatfor the Congress. Do youthink you will be able tosalvage the seat where

Arvind Kejriwalregistered a record win inthe 2013 polls?

Delhi is not like the rest ofthe country; the Modi factorisnt going to work here. FromNew Delhi the BJP has fieldeda newcomer Nupur Sharma,suggesting that there is a pactbetween the AAP and BJP.Mr. Kejriwal defeatedCongress Chief MinisterSheila Dikshit in the lastelections. How will youchange the dynamic of theseat?

People here have beentelling me that while Ms.Dikshit has stepped out of therace, we still have a strongbase here.

BJPs CM candidate KiranBedi has been given a safeseat to fight from. Clearly,BJP isnt confident about itsCM candidate and has fieldedher from the secure seat ofKrishna Nagar. They haveclearly given up the battle.What would you sayabout AAPs 49-day rule?

I would call it a waste oftime. They cheated peopleand now the people haverealised it. The AAP and BJPjust want to win. The AAP hasnow brought the battle to anall-time new low by askingpeople to take money.

Their 49- day rule wasactually an eye-opener forDelhiites. You cant have ananarchist to be the ChiefMinister of Delhi, the Capitalof the country.Your response toKrishna Tirath defectingfrom the Congress to theBJP?

The BJP needs to set itsown house in order. Thereis infighting on who shouldbe the CM candidate.Krishna Tirath was denied

a ticket from Patel Nagar bythe Congress because wegauge the claim to a ticket by

contribution of the leaderto the organisation andwork done for the people.

Modi factor isntgoing to work here

Bindu Shajan Perappadan

INTERVIEW | KIRAN WALIA

The Aam Aadmi Partydropped two candidates

from its list for the Delhi As-sembly elections on the lastday of filing nominations one allegedly for ferrying

supporters to Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modis rallyearlier this month.

The supporters of Govard-han Singh, who was earlierfielded from the MehrauliAssembly constituency, and

Rajinder Dabas, who was inthe race from Mundka seat,raised slogans against thetop leadership outside partyoffices for the last minutechanges.

Mr. Singh and Mr. Dabashave been replaced by Na-

resh Yadav and Sukhbir Da-lal, respectively.Following an inquiry by

the partys internal Lokpal,the Aam Aadmi Party has de-cided to replace its candi-dates from two

constituencies, said theparty in a statement.

Mr. Singh, a Jat leader, ac-cused the party leadership ofselling his ticket for Rs.2crore.

I have been campaigningfor the past 15 days, but after

a discussion between fellowparty candidates Col. Devin-der Sehrawat and NareshYadav and Mr. Kejriwal, Iwas told that my name hasbeen removed from the par-ty list, he said.

AAP replaces 2 candidates; faces protestStaff Reporter

BJP supporters at Geeta Colony as candidates filed their nomination paperson Wednesday for the Assembly elections. PHOTO: SANDEEP SAXENA

Former DelhiChief Minister

Arvind Kejriwal onWednesday filed hisnominations fromNew Delhi constitu-ency for the upcom-ing Delhi Assemblyelections.

Mr. Kejriwal had toreschedule the exer-cise as he could notreach JamnagarHouse on time to file

his papers on Tues-day.

Mr. Kejriwal onWednesday was ac-companied by a fewsupportersfrom hisresidence in Ghazia-bad to the centre.

After filing nomi-nations for contest-ing from the NewDelhi Assembly seat,where he defeatedformer Delhi ChiefMinister SheilaDikshit in 2013, Mr.Kejriwal said the peo-ple of Delhi had made up theirmind about voting his Aam Aad-mi Party to power.

Last time, the people of Delhivoted for us in large numbers. Iam sure they will shower theirlove and blessings on our partyyet again and make us win with acomfortable majority, he said.

Responding to journalistsquestion about BJPs chief min-isterial candidate Kiran Bedisannouncements on keepingsome portfolios with her if she isappointed, he said Ms. Bedishould at least wait till the re-sults are announced.

He also said that the media

was obsessed with Ms. Bedi.When asked who was a biggerchallenger between veteran Ki-ran Walia (Congress) and deb-utant Nupur Sharma (BJP), the

AAP convenor said that wassomething for the people of Del-hi to decide.

Delhiites to vote forAAP, says Kejriwal

AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal afterfiling his nomination papers onWednesday. PHOTO: SHANKERCHAKRAVARTY

Shubhomoy Sikdar

I AM SURE THE PEOPLEOF DELHI WILL SHOWERTHEIR LOVE ANDBLESSINGS ON OURPARTY YET AGAIN

The Bharatiya Ja-nata Partys chief

ministerial candidateKiran Bedi courtedcontroversy on

Wednesday by put-ting a party scarfaround freedom fight-er Lala Lajpat Raisstatue on her way tofile nominations fromKrishna Nagar seat inEast Delhi for the up-coming Assembly

polls..However, she re-

moved it from thestatue a few minuteslater.

Ms. Bedis actiondrew sharp criticismfrom the Aam AadmiParty, with its conve-nor Arvind Kejriwalsaying that she shouldnot saffronise free-dom fighters.

The Bharatiya Ja-nata Party also soughtto put up a unitedshow of strength withbigwigs throwingtheir weight behind Ms. Bediwho has been dubbed as IronLady by the party.

With Wednesday the last dayto file nominations for the Delhi

Assembly elections, the star can-didates were accompanied byparty leaders and the usual road

show of their supporters.Ms. Bedi was accompanied byVijay Goel, former Delhi BJPchief and Union Minister Dr.Harsh Vardhan, who had steeredthe party in the 2013 Assemblyelections in Delhi.

Next fortnight, all the 70 As-

sembly constituencies of theCapital is set to witness hecticpolitical activities with star cam-paigners criss-crossing the cityand also making their presencefelt on social media, talk showsand debates in their bid to woo

voters.

Bedi rapped for saffronwrap around Rais statue

BJP chief ministerial candidate KiranBedi after draping a party scarf on thestatue of Lala Lajpat Rai onWednesday. PHOTO: PTI

Sowmiya Ashok

BJP BIGWIGS THROWTHEIR WEIGHT BEHINDMS. BEDI. THE PARTYHAS DUBBED HERTHE IRON LADY

Raising his pitchagainst principal

opponents Kiran Be-di and Arvind Kejri-wal, Congress leaderAjay Maken termedboth the formerTeam Anna membersas opportunists,who had used AnnaHazare to fulfil theirown political ambi-tions.

Speaking to report-

ers before filing hisnominations for theDelhi Assembly elec-tions from Sadar Ba-zaar seat, Mr. Maken,who is also the cam-paign committeechairman of the par-ty, targeted formerUnion Minister andrecent defector to theBharatiya Janata Par-ty Krishna Tirathcalling her a firstgrade opportunist.

The less saidabout her, the better.She is a first grade opportunist. Idont know what has happened tothe BJP. Is there a dearth of capa-ble leadership that a person whohas lost her deposit as a Congresscandidate has been taken in andgiven a ticket? Mr. Maken saidbefore leading a road show ofsupporters to the office of the

returning officer.About Kiran Bedi, the Con-

gress general secretary said theformer cop was not a very goodlistener. Kiran Bedi was a goodcop, but political administrationrequires you to be patient. Youhave to be a good listener and if

you are a good listener then youcannot be Kiran Bedi, he said.

Mr. Makens road show, whichstarted near Shastri Nagar metrostation, was preceded by Con-gress workers dancing to drumbeats, which caused traffic tocome to a halt.

Maken calls his opponentsfirst grade opportunist

Ajay Maken with his supporters atShastri Nagar before filing hisnominations on Wednesday.PHOTO: V. SUDERSHAN

Vijetha S.N.

I DONT KNOW WHATHAS HAPPENED TO BJP.IS THERE A DEARTH OFCAPABLE LEADERSHIPIN THE PARTY?

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CITY

Published by N. Ram at Kasturi Buildings, 859 & 860, Anna Salai, Chennai-600002 and Printed by S. Ramanujam at HT Media Ltd. Plot No. 8, Udyog Vihar, Greater Noida Distt. Gautam Budh Nagar, U.P. 201306, on behalf of KASTURI & SONS LTD., Chennai-600002. Editor-in-Chief: N. Ravi (Editor responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act), Editor: Malini Parthasarathy

DELHI TODAY

Jan RISE 07 14Jan RISE 07 13Jan RISE 07 13

22S ET 17 53

23S ET 1 7 54

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RISE 08 18 RISE 09 04 RISE 09 48

THU S ET 20 05 FRI S ET 2 1 11 SAT S ET 22 15

NEW DELHI: AAP chief ArvindKejriwal attacked the BJP,saying the Centre was fool-ing the public by claimingthat that they had broughtdown the fuel prices.

In June last year, crudeoil prices were USD 115 abarrel in international mar-ket and that has gone downup to USD 47 a barrel.Hence, ideally petrols priceshould have been Rs 35 per

litre, but it is still being sold

at Rs 60 per litre, Kejriwalclaimed. Had the prices ofdiesel and petrol beenbrought down accordingly,then there would not havebeen skyrocketing prices ofcommon commodities thathave riddled the life of acommon man. Prices offruits, vegetables wouldhave come down, he saidduring his election rallies inPalam and R K Puram ar-

eas. PTI

Govt. fooling us on fuel prices

NEW DELHI: A BJP leader withno RSS link, Kiran Bedi, thepartys chief ministerial nomi-nee for Delhi, on Wednesdaydescribed the Sangh as verynationalistic organisationthat has kept India united. Ms.Bedi also felt that the RSS, aright-wing organisation, was a

disciplined outfit.They( RSS) are very nation-

alistic. I would think here is anorganisation that kept Indiatogether, which has kept Indianeat, Ms. Bedi said.

The former IPS officer, whowas a core member of Team

Anna till about two years backalong with Kejriwal beforethey parted ways, said the AAPleaders agitation at Rajpathwithin a month of becoming

Chief Minister had ticked heroff very much.

The city of Delhi was thereason for my joining politics.Delhi has gone through a hugeupheaval ever since this mans(Kejriwal) entry (into politics).It stood still and its been onlyon an agitation mode which

left a very bad taste in themouth of Indians. Becausewhatever happens in Delhi,happens in India. It affects In-dia, it impacts India. Its beenall about confrontation, its allabout Rajpath Dharnas. Whatkind of person is he (Kejriwal)who says I am an anarchist?Three days Delhi was at astandstill (when Kejriwal wason dharna as Chief Minister),she said. PTI

Bedi praises RSS, saysit kept India united

BJP chief ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi taking aselfie during road show in Krishna Nagar onWednesday. PHOTO: SANDEEP SAXENA

MUMBAI: Refusing to commenton why he did not take phonecall of his former associate Ki-

ran Bedi, who recently joinedBJP, anti-corruption crusad-er Anna Hazare on Wednes-day said he wanted to stayaway from political dirt.

Asked about reports thatMs. Bedi had called him buthe did not receive the call, Ha-zare said, This subject hascome up again. I dont want towade into this dirt. I dontwant to go into such politicaldirt. Mr. Hazare, who saidthat the former IPS officer didnot consult him before joiningBJP, told reporters at his na-tive Ralegan Siddhi village inAhmednagar district that hewill decide the next course ofagitation on Jan Lokpal issueafter the Delhi Assemblypolls.

The direction of the agita-tion will be decided after Del-hi Assembly elections, Mr.Hazare said. When asked who

will be with him during hisagitation after Delhi polls,Hazare said, We will decidethat later.

Ms. Bedi had recently saidthat she would meet Mr. Ha-zare and explain her decisionto join politics. The 77-year-old Gandhian had refused totake her phone calls, as he wasapparently upset that she didnot consult him before joiningthe BJP. PTI

Dont want toget into politicaldirt, says Hazare

NEW DELHI: I thought it wouldbe a triangular contest but nowthe contest is between BJP andCongress. Aam Aadmi Party haslost its ground, said Congresscandidate from Greater Kailash

Assembly constituency Shar-mistha Mukherjee, who on

Wednesday filed her nomina-tions. Stating that her focus wasnot on politics of mud-slingingbut on nurturing her constitu-ency, she added that as advisedby her father President PranabMukherjee she would workhard and have patience.

A noted social activist, Ms.Mukherjee said I want to im-prove the basic quality of life,which is essentially the job ofthe councillors. But since, theyare from the BJP and have notbeen doing their job properly,the responsibility also comes

on the MLAs. I have grown upin this area. I know the prob-lems. I would focus on improv-ing the traffic scene, educatepeople about community polic-ing, have CCTVs installed andsee that they are in good work-ing condition at all times. Iwould also want a gender sensi-tization programme in all po-lice stations in myconstituency, she said.

When asked how she feels

about Ms. Kiran Bedi as BJPsChief Ministerial candidate, MsMukherjee said, I cant com-ment on that. Both Arvind Kej-riwal and Kiran Bedi startedfrom the same platform. Whereis Anna ji (Anna Hazare)? Isthere such a dearth of leader-

ship in BJP that they had toannounce as their CM candi-date a person who joined theparty just a day ago? sheremarked.

When asked about theSwachh Bharat Abhiyaan, shesaid the Swachh Bharat Abhi-yaan now is just symbolic andsorry to say, media hype.

Ms. Mukherjee also said Del-his administration is very com-plex and people are left running

for information or getting anywork done.

I and my team are workingon developing a website for myconstituency where we wouldhighlight all projects and worksintended to be taken up in nextsix months after coming to

power and the deadline. Itwould also give details of all of-ficers concerned with a redres-sal window, she said.

Refraining from making anytall promises, Ms. Mukherjeesaid, Politicians need to be-have a bit responsibly. Theycant make tall promises andthen betray peoples trust. I amlooking at issues which are do-able, implementable andpractical.

Fight is between Congressand BJP, says SharmisthaAkanksha Jain

Sharmistha Mukherjee after filing her nominationpapers at Jam Nagar House on Wednesday.PHOTO: SHANKER CHAKRAVARTY

NEW DELHI: Over 900 candidates have filed nomina-tions for the February 7 polls with nominations for the2015 Delhi Assembly Elections coming to an end on

Wednesday. The number of candidates this year is 272less than the number of candidates who filed nomi-nations for the 2013 polls.

In all, 1404 nominations were filed in the last sevendays. The New Delhi Assembly constituency saw the

maximum number of candidates contesting at 23 andthe Ambedkar Nagar constituency in South Delhi hassix candidates in the fray. Staff Reporter

923 candidates in the fray

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NEW DELHI: Not only some BJPworkers, but even part of legalfraternity has also con-demned the announcement offormer IPS officer Kiran Bedias the BJPs Chief Ministerialcandidate, and burnt her effi-gy on Wednesday on Tis Ha-zari court premises.

The coordination commit-

tee of the Bar Association saidthat it condemned the an-nouncement of Ms. Bedi asthe CM candidate as she hadonce done everything toavenge lawyers of Tis Hazaricourt.

The legal fraternity wantsto place on record that thedecision to make her (Ms. Be-di) the Chief Ministerial can-didate on the basis of heradministrative skill is con-trary to the records, the asso-ciation said.

Assault on advocates

Association member andDelhi High Court Bar presi-dent Rajiv Khosla said in the1980s, when Ms. Bedi was theDCP (North), she got the law-yers on strike assaulted bypeople posing as litigants.

In the 1980s, Kiran Bedihad connived with a local con-

tractor and brought peopleposing as litigants. The law-yers were on strike and wereassaulted. Their chambersand vehicles were damaged. Itwas a commission of enquirywhich noted findings againsther, said Mr. Khosla.

Ms. Bedi lacks administra-tive skill. The maximum num-ber of lathi-charge by thepolice was done when she wasthe DCP here, he alleged.

Ms. Bedi is known for cre-ating circumstances to comein news. Thus the legal fra-ternity in no circumstancesshall ever accept her as theChief Minister of Delhi.

Adverse findings

The lawyers body said,One should think why Ms.Bedi was not given higherpost at any time during hercareer. It was because ofmany adverse findingsagainst her by the WadhwaCommission. Even now oneshould look at her. She ap-pears so arrogant. A publicservant should beapproachable.

Lawyers denounce Bedias BJPs CM candidate

Kiran Bedi

Staff Reporter

In the 1980s, KiranBedi had connivedwith a local contractorand brought peopleposing as litigants.The lawyers were onstrike and wereassaulted.

RAJIV KHOSLA

Bar Association member

JODHPUR MAN WITH EBOLA-LIKE SYMPTOMS DIES AT AIIMS

NEW DELHI: The Health Minis-try has sounded an alert inGujarat and Rajasthan of apossible Crimean-CongoHaemorrhagic Fever (CCHF)

outbreak.This comes in the wake of

medical officials in Jodhpurreporting high-grade fever infive functionaries working ina private hospital.

According to a statementissued by the Ministry, two ofthese functionaries in Jodh-pur developed thrombocyto-penia (fall in blood plateletcount) and showed haemor-rhagic manifestations.

One person died in the hos-pital on January 18 and theother was airlifted to AIIMS

in Delhi, where he died onWednesday morning.

A three-member teamfrom the National Centre forDisease Control, Delhi, is be-ing sent to Jodhpur for in-vestigation and providing

public health support to theState health authorities, offi-cials in the Ministry said.

The affected Jodhpur hos-pital functionaries have notravel history to Ebola-affect-ed countries. The clinicalsample of the patient shiftedto AIIMS and who subse-quently died on Wednesdaytested negative for Ebola Vi-rus Disease, as per tests con-ducted at the National Centrefor Disease Control, Minis-try officials said, ruling outEbola.

Haemorrhagic fever alertin Gujarat and RajasthanSpecial Correspondent

The AIIMS buildingcomplex.

sions, and external andinternal bleeding.

His samples have beensent to the National Instituteof Virology in Pune and Na-tional Institute of Communi-cable Diseases to ascertainwhether he was infected bythe Ebola virus or died due toCCHF, said a senior doctorat AIIMS.

It appears to be a case ofCCHF, which is also highlycontagious and can spreadwith close contact with theblood, secretions or other

bodily fluids of infected per-sons. It is unlikely that he wassuffering from Ebola as hedoesnt have any history oftravelling, said the doctor.

The patient was referred toAIIMS by a private hospitalin Jodhpur in Rajasthan andwas admitted to the depart-ment of medicine on Tuesday

with symptoms of high-gradefever and vomiting.

According to a UnionHealth Ministry official, ifthe patients tests for CCHFturn out to be positive, it willbe the first case of CCHF re-ported in Delhi and is a mat-ter of worry as he was notbeing treated in an isolationward.

As the patient was nottreated in the isolation ward,the AIIMS staff are anxiousabout the outcome of thetest, said the doctor. PTI

NEW DELHI: A 35-year-old manfrom Jodhpur, who was ad-mitted to AIIMS on Tuesdayamid fears that he had con-tracted Ebola, died onWednesday due to excessiveinternal bleeding even asdoctors said it was unlikelythat he was infected by thedeadly virus.

However, according to AI-IMS authorities, the patientappears to have been suffer-ing from Crimean-CongoHaemorrhagic Fever(CCHF), another diseasecaused by a tick-borne virus(Nairovirus).

CCHF is an infectionspread by animals and peoplewho work closely with ani-mals, and has symptoms sim-ilar to Ebola and dengue likehigh temperature, headache,muscle pain, diarrhoea, vom-iting, stomach pain, convul-

Doctors wary of outcome of testsAccording to AIIMSauthorities, thepatient appears tohave been sufferingfrom Crimean-CongoHaemorrhagic Fever

Decked up for the big day

The illuminated Central Vista on Wednesday ahead of theRepublic Day celebration. PHOTO: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

NEW DELHI:A-50-year-old cashvan security guard acciden-tally shot himself on his chestin East-Delhis Lakshmi Na-gar on Wednesday afternoon.He was rushed to a nearbyhospital where his conditionis stated to be stable.

The victim has been identi-fied as Fariyaz Khan, a resi-dent of Etawah in UttarPradesh. He works as a cashvan security guard with a pri-vate bank. The incident oc-curred around 2 p.m., whenFariyaz along with anothersecurity guard came with thecash van of HDFC bank tocredit amount.

Fariyaz was seated outsidethe ATM while his colleaguewas inside the premise. Aftersometime, Fariyazs col-league heard a bullet sound.On coming out, he saw that

Fariyaz was lying on theground. He was shot by a bul-let on his chest.

He called up the PCR vanand the victim was rushed tothe nearby Walia hospital.

In his statement to the po-lice, Fariyaz said that it wasan accidental shot from hisgun as he was holding it closeto his chest and suddenly hepulled the trigger . An FIRhas been registered under337(negligent act) at Shakar-pur police station .

Cash van guardshoots himselfaccidentallyStaff Reporter

operated from the secondfloor which was constructed

15 years ago.The police said the secondfloor was used for small-timebusiness.

Despite being a residentialland, machines were installedto run a small garment facto-ry for manufacturing tradi-tional Muslim attire.

We have registered a caseof negligence against the landowner for using a residentialbuilding for commercial pur-

poses, said a senior police of-ficer.

The official said that nocausalities have been report-ed so far. Owner of the build-ing Masoom Ali is at large.

A senior EDMC officialsaid, Since it was not an ille-gal building and no construc-tion was going on, there wasno need for an inquiry. How-ever, the incident has causedcracks in other adjacentbuildings and we have vacat-ed those for safety purpose.

NEW DELHI:A three-storey resi-dential building collapsed inNorth-East Delhis Gautam-puri in the early hours ofWednesday. A case of negli-gence against the landlordhas been registered by theDelhi Police.

The incident occurredaround 3 a.m. when buildingnumber T-382 constructed inan area of 25 square yardscaved in. The family living onthe first floor suspected anearthquake and came out ofthe building. Soon after theywalked a few metres, thebuilding collapsed.

The fire department re-ceived a call around 3:20 a.m.upon which 12 fire tenderswere rushed to the spot. Per-sonnel of the National Disas-

ter Response Force, DisasterStruck Facility and civil de-fence were also called in.

The family members latersaid that they had alerted thehouse owners about thecracks in the wall, but thosewere ignored. According tothe locals, there was an elec-trical shop on the groundfloor. A family was living onthe first floor while a smallgarment factory was being

Three-storey building caves inKritika Sharma Sebastian

Locals and members of the National DisasterResponse Force stand on the debris after a buildingcollapsed in Gautampuri on Wednesday. PTI

NEW DELHI: Whether the Uni-

versity College of Medical Sci-ences will be handed over tothe Delhi government and ol-der students, who were hop-ing to have a special chanceto enable them to take an ex-am that prevented them fromgraduating, Delhi Universitywill have to wait to find out ifthey can eventually get it andthe credit transfer systemmight actually become a real-ity.

At the Academic Councilmeeting that went on till lateon Wednesday evening, theAC members resolved to forma committee to come up withspecific recommendations todeal with the special chanceissue.

The special chance for stu-dents to come back to uni-versity years after they hadleft their education mid-way

had been withdrawn earlierby the university and someaffected students had gone to

court.The High Court had asked

the university to apply itsmind on the matter.

The credit-based transfersystem enables a student todesign his or her own degreecutting across streams and al-so allows for inter-universitytransfers. The meeting beganin the Vice-regal Lodge in themorning amid protests fromsome student organisations.

There are several teachersand students in the universitywho have termed this systemas a way to bring back thefeatures of the infamous four-year undergraduate pro-gramme which had beenwithdrawn after its first un-successful stint last year.

This was introduced as areporting item not requiringapproval.

Panel to deal with specialchance for older studentsStaff Reporter

NEW DELHI: Indian Air Force onWednesday appealed to thecitizens of Delhi to keep thecity clean and avoid throwingeatables, garbage, or carcassesin the open on days leading toRepublic Day due to flightsafety concerns posed bybirds.

Indian Air Force planeswould be flying at heights var-ying from 60 m to 500 m onRepublic Day and in daysleading it for trainingprocedures.

Birds pose a serious threatto aircraft flying at low levels.Eatables thrown out in theopen attract birds, so to en-

sure a safe fly-past, the IndianAir Force requests the citi-zens of Delhi, and its neigh-bourhood not to throweatables and garbage in theopen, an official statementsaid.

Responsible citizens are al-so requested to alert the near-est Air Force Unit or policestation, and report instancesof carcasses found in theopen, it said.

The vulnerable areas thatcome in the route include Pa-lam, Najafgarh drains, TiharJail, War Cemetery, and areasadjoining Rashtrapati Bha-van. PTI

IAF urges people to keepcity clean for flight safety

Indian Air Force planes flying past during therehearsal for the Republic Day parade at Rajpathon Wednesday. PHOTO: KAMAL NARANG

AHMEDABAD: The Delhi Policehave handed over the laptopand mobile phones of Con-gress MP Shashi Tharoorsdeceased wife Sunanda Push-kar to Gandhinagar-based Di-rectorate of Forensic Science,to retrieve crucial data whichcould help the ongoing probe

into her death.After Mr. Tharoor was

questioned on Monday by theSpecial Investigation Team toprobe the circumstancesleading to the mysteriousdeath of Sunanda a year ago,the Delhi Police on Tuesdayhanded over her laptop andfour mobile phones to theDFS for further analysis.

Officials of the Delhi Po-lice came to the DFS on Tues-day and handed over onelaptop and four mobilephones, which were used byMs. Pushkar before her death,in a sealed cover, DFS Direc-tor J M Vyas said. We havebeen given the task to exam-ine them and extract crucialinformation to help the ongo-ing investigation by the po-lice, Mr. Vyas said.

Journalists to be

questionedIn a related development, a

few journalists with whom

Sunanda Pushkar had talkedto hours before her death inJanuary last year will bequestioned by Delhi Policewhich is in the process of ana-lysing the veracity of thestatement made by her hus-band Shashi Tharoor duringquestioning.

The Special InvestigationTeam of the Delhi Police hasalso got a new piece of in-

formation that Sunanda hadgone out of a five-star hotel inDelhi, a day after she checked

into it on January 15 last year,and are probing the details.

Fifty-two-year-old Sunan-da was found dead in a roomin the hotel on January 17 lastyear. The Delhi Police filed acase of murder on January 1and an SIT was formed toprobe the case. Police sourceson Wednesday said that somejournalists with whom Su-nanda had talked over phone

in the last 48 hours of her lifehave been called in for ques-tioning. PTI

Sunandas laptop, phones sent for analysis

The SIT of the Delhi Police has got a new piece ofinformation that Sunanda had gone out of a five-star hotel in Delhi, a day after she checked into iton January 15 last year, and are probing thedetails. FILE PHOTO

GURGAON:A 19-year-old womanhere has accused a 22-year-oldman of raping her after be-friending her on social net-work Facebook, the police saidon Wednesday.

The woman filed a policecomplaint against Rajan Mal-hotra of Delhis Nangloi area.Malhotra is yet to be arrested.We became friends throughFacebook and decided to mar-ry. Malhotra came to Gurgaonand raped me in a hotel on sev-eral occasions, the womansaid . She filed the complaintafter the man allegedly deletedhis Facebook account , the po-lice said. IANS

Facebook friendaccused of rape

NEW DELHI: Senior BJP leaderVarun Gandhi on Wednesdaymet former Union MinisterShashi Tharoor at his resi-dence here. Mr. Gandhi droveto Mr. Tharoors Lodhi Estateresidence in the evening and

stayed there for some time.He did not answer anyqueries posed by journaliststhere. Was asked to meet Mr.Tharoor for External AffairsCommittee agenda for nextsession. Was there for 10 min-utes and left, Mr. Gandhitweeted. PTI

Varun Gandhimeets Tharoor

NEW DELHI: In a new twist to theSunanda Pushkar mysteriousdeath case, one of her closefriends on Wednesday claimedthat she was taking fistful ofmedicines and had faintedtwice weeks before her deathwhen he had hosted her andShashi Tharoor at his Goahome. Tej Saraf (77), who hadhosted the couple in December2013, told NDTV that Sunandawasnt eating well; she wasntsleeping well; and was in a dis-traught condition. PTI

Sunanda was takingfistful of medicines

and Sanjeev Agnihotri, resi-dents of Vishwas Nagar here,who have claimed that twoperfectly functional dustbinswere recently removed fromthe area and put up in anotherState (Uttar Pradesh).

Advocate Sugrive Dubey,appearing for the petitioners,contended that this disap-pearance or removal of dust-bins was happening all overthe city. Meanwhile, the NewDelhi Municipal Council sub-mitted an affidavit statingthat it was carrying out workrelating to municipal solidwaste management in its ar-ea. It said it had started door-to-door collection of garbage

with the concept of reduce,recycle and reuse. While 11auto tipper trucks and fourbig mechanical compactorswere being deployed for door-to-door garbage collection,there are sufficient numbersof pucca masonry bins, thecivic body said. PTI

NEW DELHI: The Delhi HighCourt on Wednesday chas-tised civic bodies for doingnothing regarding disap-pearance of dustbins fromvarious parts of the Capitaland said that elections in thecity could not be a ground fornot doing work.

Delhi will go to polls. Its anormal lifestyle of the Capital... nothing has been done, aBench of justices Badar Dur-rez Ahmed and Sanjeev Sach-deva said after the counsel forthe civic bodies sought moretime to file their affidavits asdirected by the court earlier.

The court on December 3,2014, had sought information

from the civic bodies onwhether dustbins have beeninstalled and whether therewere adequate number ofdhalaos (garbage dumps) inall areas under theirjurisdiction.

The court was hearing aplea filed by Sharad Tiwari

HC pulls up civic bodieson removal of dustbins

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NEW DELHI: The Delhi HighCourt on Wednesday pulledup the East Delhi MunicipalCorporation (EDMC) forstopping the social securitypensions of about 45,000people, including the dis-abled, widows and the aged.

The Court said the civicbodys pension scheme was acomplete eyewash.

A Division Bench compris-ing Justice B.D. Ahmed andJustice Sanjeev Sachdeva di-rected the EDMC to provide alist of the persons eligible forpension, the manner of theirselection and details about

those who actually receivedthe pension and the time

when they stopped getting it.The Court was hearing a

public interest writ petitionmoved by Social Jurist, anon-government organisa-tion, claiming that the mu-nicipal body had stoppedpaying social security pen-sions without giving any rea-son. The petition said the

denial of pension to the oldand the disabled was a vio-

lation of their fundamentalrights.

The Bench issued noticesto the EDMC and impleadedthe municipal corporationsof North Delhi and SouthDelhi as respondents in thecase, while seeking their re-plies by March 11, when thecase will come up for further

hearing.The counsel appearing for

EDMC told the Court that thecivic body did not have suffi-cient funds for paying pen-sions. The EDMC had appliedto the government for fundsfor continuing the schemeand had paid pensions tillApril 2013, said the counsel.

The petition contendedthat the EDMCs action ofstopping pensions was arbi-trary, illegal and unjustified.The destitute have been leftin the lurch by the abrupt andarbitrary stoppage of sti-pend/pension... Many ofthem have been drawn to thebrink of starvation, it said.

It is violation of fundamental rights of the old and disabled

Mohammed Iqbal

EDMC pulled up for stopping pensions

Social security pensions of about 45,000 peoplestopped arbitrarily, claims petitioner

EDMC tells HC it did not have sufficient funds,had applied for more funds from Centre

NEW DELHI: Its twohumans against

hundreds of monkeys inSouth Delhi, with thelocal civic body relyingon a couple of monkey-catchers to round upand relocate the simianpopulation.

The South DelhiMunicipal Corporationhas just two peopleemployed as monkey-catchers and zerovehicles dedicated forthe job, a seniorVeterinary Departmentofficial said. A total of371 monkeys werecaught by the civic bodybetween April andNovember 2014, theofficial added. Themonkeys were relocatedto the forests of theAsola Bhatti mines.

Office-bearers in theBJP-led Corporationhad said the streets ofSouth Delhi would becleared of stray animalsbefore the visit of U.S.President BarackObama. He will betravelling throughSDMC area on his wayfrom the airport to ahotel in Central Delhi.

Leader of the HouseRadhey Shyam Sharmahad ordered officials tomake sure that strayanimals were off thestreets before Mr.Obamas visit forRepublic Day. However,officials are saying thatthe civic bodys cattlevans are not adequate tocatch all the stray cows,dogs and monkeys.

SDMC Leader of theOpposition Farhad Surisaid: Just because theU.S. President isvisiting, the civic bodywent into overdrive andannounced that it willmove all the strays. But,there are only twomonkey-catchers.

The other municipalcorporations do not farebetter in the monkey-catching business. TheNorth Delhi MunicipalCorporation has threemonkey-catchers and itcaught 254 monkeysfrom April to Octoberlast year.

SDMC hasjust 2 staff tocatch, shiftmonkeysDamini Nath

NEW DELHI: A novelist has fileda suit in the Delhi High Courtaccusing the producers anddirectors of Aamir Khan-star-rer movie PK of plagiarising

some portions of his Hindibook Farishta, published in2013. Novelist Kapil Isapurihas alleged that the film-mak-ers had stolen the characters,ideas and sequences from hisnovel.

The High Court onWednesday issued notices tothe producers and directors ofPKon Mr. Isapuris petition,which has sought punitivedamages of Rs.1 crore fromthe film-makers along withcredit for his work.

Justice Najmi Waziri askedVidhu Vinod Chopra and RajKumar Hirani, who directedthe film, their respective pro-duction companies andscriptwriter Abhijat Joshi toappear before the HighCourts Joint Registrar onApril 16 for recording of evi-dence in the case.

In his suit filed through

counsel Jyotika Kalra, Mr.

Isapuri said certain sequencesin the storyline of PK, such ascriticism of blind faith to-wards godmen and termingreligion as a man-made con-cept, had resemblance withthe topics he had explored inhis novel. The film-makershad used the ideas by makingminor changes, said the

petition.

The High Court had recent-ly dismissed a public interestwrit petition seeking deletionof objectionable scenesfrom PK, claiming that themovies contents had hurt re-ligious sentiments of Hindus.The Court had observed thatthe growing tendency of intol-erance in the country needed

to be discouraged.

Special Correspondent

Right wing activists protesting against PK byburning its posters outside a theatre in New Delhi.FILE PHOTO: PTI

HC notices to PKmakersA novelist had accused film-makers of plagiarising his work

NEW DELHI: The Delhi HighCourt on Wednesday soughtthe response of the Centreand the Delhi Governmenton a public interest writ pet-ition seeking blocking ofwebsites of all app-based cabservices in the Capital. Thepetition has said the cab ser-vices were violating the DelhiGovernments January 1 or-der banning them.

The app-based cab serviceswere continuing to operate

and offer their servicesthrough their websites,claimed the petition movedby Harkesh Gupta.

A Division Bench compris-ing Chief Justice G. Rohiniand Justice R.S. Endlawasked during the hearing whythe sites could not beblocked. There was a wing ofthe Delhi Police dealing withthis matter, observed theCourt.

The respondents wereasked to file their affidavitsby February 25, when thecase will come up for further

hearing.The petition has sought di-

rections for blocking of web-sites of the app-based cabcompanies, in addition to sei-zure of cabs. The Delhi Gov-ernment had earlier told theCourt that the ban on suchtaxi services would continue

and the vehicles violating itwould be seized in accord-ance with the January 1 order.

The order was passed fol-lowing an incident of rape of a27-year-old woman executiveby a driver of a taxi providedby cab service provider Uberon December 5 last year.

Court seeks govt. response on pleaagainst app-based cab servicesMohammed Iqbal

Several radio cabs not complying to norms werebanned on January 1. FILE PHOTO

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court onWednesday reserved judg-ment in the 27-year-old Hash-impura massacre case.

Top of Form AdditionalSessions Judge Sanjay Jindalreserved the judgment on con-clusion of final arguments bycounsel for the survivors andthe family members of thosemurdered in the massacre,and counsel for the accused.

The victims counsel sub-mitted that there was enoughevidence for the conviction ofall the accused personnel ofthe Provincial Armed Con-stabulary (PAC) for allegedlyabducting and killing close to42 people of a particularcommunity.

The eye-witness accountsof five prosecution witnesses;the evidence of the injuriessustained by one of the policepersonnel accused in indis-criminate firing inside thetruck in which the victimswere packed and taken to the

Gang Nahar before being shotand thrown into it and theHindon river in Ghazibad; thewashing of the blood-stainedvehicle after the incident andplugging of the hole in thetruck caused during the firingare credible evidences whichpointed to the culpability ofthe accused in the killings.

The killings had occurredduring riots in Meerut and thevictims were picked up fromHashimpura Mohalla of thecity by police personnel of 41st

company of the PAC during asearch operation.

There were a total of 19 ac-cused in the case. Some ofthem passed away during thetrial.

Judgment reserved inHashimpura riots caseNirnimesh Kumar

Provincial ArmedConstabularypersonnel accused ofkilling close to 42people of a particularcommunity in Meerut

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Out in the cold

DAILY CHORES GO ON: Minimum temperatures rose by severaldegrees at most places in Kashmir, including Ladakh even asdark clouds engulfed the Valley with the MeT departmentpredicting rain or snowfall over the next three days. Mercury inSrinagar rose above freezing point for the first time in the last sixdays with the city recording a low of 1.7 degrees Centigrade, fournotches higher than 2.4 degrees Centigrade on Tuesday. PHOTO: NISSAR AHMAD

JAIPUR: Tamil writer PerumalMurugan may have gone si-lent but he was much talkedabout at the ZEE Jaipur Lit-erature Festival, with a fullsession dedicated to themanner in which his voicewas silenced.

The participants blamedthe Centre for allowingfringe elements to definethe thin line that divides theright to expression en-shrined in the Constitutionfrom the non-absolutenessof this right. Karthika V.K.,publisher and chief editor ofHarperCollins PublishersIndia, said she was told thatthe controversy was engi-neered by the BJP. She wasspeaking at a session on Isthe commerce of literaturetoday killing good writing?

Perumal Murugans bookMathorubagan came out in2010, but the controversywas raked up now becausethe law did not protect writ-ers, she said.

Suggesting that writersshould stop bothering abouthurting the sentiments ofothers, novelist Nayantara

Sahgal said it was time to ex-ercise the freedom of expres-sion and speech asguaranteed in the Constitu-tion.

Recalling a resolutionpassed at the fifth edition ofThe Hindus Lit for Life lastweek, Ms. Sahgal under-scored the need for forminga collective of writers andpublishers who could speakin one voice for writers likePerumal Murugan. No writ-

er in the future should feelalone when faced with at-tacks from extremists andmonstrous opinions. Now,we are up against an ideologywhich is dedicated to out-lawing dissent. We have tospeak in one voice.

Not in total agreementwith Ms. Sahgal on the rightto expression , broadcasterMark Tully said no right was

absolute, and there was athin, but difficult, line divid-ing this freedom and insultto peoples religion and sex-uality.

Genuine and creative lit-erature should draw this lineinstead of allowing politic-ians to decide, he said,terming deplorable the Stategovernments backing ofhooligans out to silence

the writer instead of protect-ing him.

Tamil writer and inde-pendent researcher C.S.Lakshmi (Ambai) said moreimportant than commercial-isation of writing was wheth-er we would be able to writeat all or not after the Peru-mal Murgan episode, andwhether any publisherwould risk publishing books.

Publishers and authors flag worrying trend against dissent

Aarti Dhar

Writers come out in support of Perumal Murugan

JAIPUR: My sin was Icould not do anythingduring the 2002 riots,Sahitya Akademi Awardwinner Esther David saidat the ZEE JaipurLiterature Festival whichbegan here onWednesday.

Participating in adiscussion on SevenDeadly Sins in Our Time,Ms. David saidAhmedabad becamedivided between Hindusand Muslims then and itstill continues to be sounder the cover ofVibrant Gujarat.

What I see now is astrange change incommunities. They arebecoming more religiousand I am not comfortablewith it.

She said communalriots were not new toGujarat. Recalling herassociation withAhmedabad, Ms. Davidsaid that between 1955and 1995, people livedtogether but now thereare identified areas.

Esther Davidsforthcoming book isACity with A Past:Ahmedabad.

My sin was Icould not doanything during2002 riotsAarti Dhar

JAIPUR: Making a rare publicappearance, Nobel laureateV.S. Naipaul, now wheel-chair-bound, on Wednes-

day broke down during asession at the ZEE JaipurLiterature Festival to cele-brate 53 years of his ac-claimed novel A House forMr. Biswas.

Writers Hanief Kureishi,Amit Chaudhuri, and PaulTheroux discussed the 1961novel at the session chairedby Farrukh Dhondy.

The novel tells the storyof Mohun Biswas, an Indo-Trinidadian, who contin-ually strives for success, butmostly fails. He finally setshimself the goal of owning ahouse, which he realises.

Mr. Naipaul was thenasked to come up on stage toaddress the audience thatgave him a standing ova-tion. However, Mr. Naipaul,accompanied by his wife,could barely say ThankYou.

Paul Theroux describedthe novel as the most com-plete book after the worksof Charles Dickens. I havenot read any modern writerhaving done such a com-

plete work. The book is tre-mendously complete,revolving round a family,human nature, relation-ships and about becoming aman one wants to be.

Aarti Dhar

Naipaul turns emotional

Nobel Prize-winning author V.S. Naipaul at theJaipur Literature Festival on Wednesday. PHOTO: ROHIT JAIN PARAS

RAIPUR: Families of the victimsof the Jiram Ghati Maoist at-tack have expressed reserva-tions over the NationalInvestigation Agency probeand demanded a CBI probe intothe incident in which over 30people, including senior Con-gress leaders, were killed inMay 2013.

A delegation of the victimsfamily members, led by theLeader of the Opposition in theChhattisgarh Assembly T.S.Singh Deo, called on Chief Min-

ister Raman Singh on Tuesdayand demanded that the case beinvestigated by the CBI.

We have no faith in the NIAinquiry now. They have side-lined some basic angles of theprobe. We have requested theCM to recommend a CBI probeinto the attack, said Chhabin-dra Karma, younger son of de-ceased Congress leaderMahendra Karma, who wassaid to be the main target of theMaoists.

Apart from Chhabindra Kar-ma, son of former PCC chiefNandkumar Patel, Umesh Pa-

tel, and former MLA Uday Mu-daliyars son, JitendraMudaliyar, were part of thedelegation.

We will meet Union HomeMinister Rajnath Singh as soonas possible to press for a CBIinquiry, said Mr. T.S. SinghDeo.

The NIA had allegedly ruledout political conspiracy inthe probe report submitted to aBilaspur court in Novemberlast year. The NIA did not in-terrogate many of the survi-vors. Its probe is an eyewash,claimed Mr. Karma.

Jitam Ghati attack: CBI probe demandedPavan Dahat

PUNE: A group of Pune-basedlawyers has moved an inter-vention application opposingthe suit for a ban on the con-troversial film Deshbhakt

Nathuram Godse, which at-tempts to bestow a patriotichalo around Mahatma Gand-his assassin.

The group is headed by

Gandhian activist and humanrights advocate Asim Sarode.

Speaking to The Hindu,Mr. Sarode said they were ofthe firm opinion that such afilm was utterly incapable ofdenting the stature of some-

one like Mahatma Gandhi.The application notes thatwhile Godse was no patriotand was in fact a murderer,the film ought to be released

as per Article 19 protectinga persons right to freedom ofspeech and expression.

It is true the film attemptsto project Godse as a patriotand Gandhi as anti-Hindu. Indoing so, the director is pro-

jecting half-truths in an exag-gerated manner. Even then,under Article 19, the Stateshall provide a person follow-ing a different philosophy an

environment to freely ex-press his thoughts, says thebrief, noting that such defa-matory action (the film)would not hurt Gandhis im-age or immortal thoughts.The controversial film, slated

for release on January 30, isdirected by Munna KumarSharma, who is general secre-tary of the Akhil BharatiyaHindu Mahasabha.

Film on Godse cant dent Gandhis stature: lawyersShoumojit Banerjee

SHIMLA: The State Meteoro-

logical Department and thedistrict administrations herehave warned the people in thehill State of some heavysnowfall and movement inavalanches in the higher alti-tude areas in the coming days.People have been alerted andadvised to not to venture outin the higher snow bound ar-eas of the tribal districts ofKinnaur, Lahaul-Spiti, partsof Chamba, Shimla and Kulludistricts. A very heavy snow-fall has been predicted inthese areas on Thursday. TheCentre for Snow and Ava-lanche Study Establishment(SASE) in Manali has warnedthat an avalanche could takeplace in the hills located at analtitude of above 2,500metres.

The weather in majorityplaces here remained over-cast since morning on

Wednesday and a moderatedsnowfall has been reportedfrom the higher reaches.Shimla and the surroundingtourist resorts of Kufri, Fagu,Narkanda and Mashobara ex-perienced a mild snowfall inthe afternoon.

Avalanchewarning inHimachalStaff Correspondent

land waterways would bebrought in the next Parlia-ment session for developing101 riverways.

All the rivers of U.P. havebeen included, he said.

He refrained from com-menting on his statement Ram Bhakton ki sarkar[Ram Bhakts government] made in Faizabad onTuesday, while laying thefoundation stone for Ayod-hya-Janakpur [in Nepal]and Ayodhya-Chitrakoothighways. While the firsthad been named as Ram-Janki highway, the otherwas called Ram VangamanMarg.

To persistent queriesfrom presspersons, Mr. Gad-kari refused to comment onhis remark.

This is not the appropri-ate forum, he said.

About the concerns ex-pressed by Mr. Akhilesh Ya-dav and Public WorksDepartment Minister Shiv-pal Singh Yadav over thequality of roads and the na-tional highways, the SurfaceTransport Minister admit-

ted that the condition ofroads in the State was notgood.

The Minister said Rs.1,687 crore-worth road pro-

jects would be cleared with-in a month.

Mr. Gadkari expressed hisinability to increase thefunds allocated for themaintenance of nationalhighways.

He, however, agreed tohelp the State to overcomecost restraints, by invest-ment through public-pri-

vate partnership in highwayprojects.

Addressing the joint pressmeet, the Chief Ministersaid the countrys economicprogress was linked to theStates development.

Earlier, the Union SurfaceTransport and ShippingMinister reviewed the pro-

gress of various road pro-jects.He later performed the

bhumi-pujan of Baraban-ki-Jarwal, Jarwal-Bahraich,Bahraich-Nanpara and Nan-para-Rupaideeha road pro-

jects at Barabanki.

LUCKNOW: Union SurfaceTransport and ShippingMinister Nitin Gadkari hasassured Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Akhilesh Yadavthat Rs.50,000 crore-worthroad projects would be start-ed in the State by December.He said we [the BJP gov-ernment at the Centre]dont want to mix politicswith development politicsis different, developmentdifferent, even as he prom-ised the Centres assistancefor U.P.s development.

He said steps would betaken to develop inland wa-ter transport in the State.

With 65,000 km of canallength and many rivers, U.P.stood to gain the maximumadvantage from inland wa-terways.

Work on developing 12terminals on the Varanasi-Haldia waterway on theGanga will start soon.

The Pradhan Mantri Jal-marg Yojana would belaunched soon, Mr. Gadkarisaid and added a Bill on in-

Rs. 50,000 crore worth roadprojects for U.P.: GadkariWe dont want to mix politics with development, he says

Atiq Khan

GUWAHATI: Ruling Congress in Assam will bringout a White Paper on what assistance the Statereceived from the Centre during the rule of theCongress-led United Progressive Alliance andthe Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NationalDemocratic Alliance, including the past eightmonths of the present Narendra Modi-led NDA

government at the Centre.This was announced by Chief Minister TarunGogoi here on Wednesday at the Rajiv Bhawanwhile releasing a booklet brought out by theAssam Pradesh Congress Committee on allegedU-turn by the BJP on its poll promises andrhetoric after coming to power at the Centre.

PCC president Anjan Dutta said that thebooklet would be distributed among all the24,230 booth level committees in the State sothat the campaign to highlight U-turn of theBJP could be taken to the grassroots level.

Mr. Gogoi alleged that the BJP-led govern-ment at the Centre which rode to power withthe promise of bringing achche din made aU-turn and curtailed various developmentfunds to the State, suspended the incentivesunder the North East Industrial InvestmentPromotion Policy (NEIIPP), posing hurdles inimplementation of the National Food SecurityAct.

He also listed the issues such as land swapdeal with Bangladesh, Lower Subonsiri hydro-power project, influx of illegal Bangladeshi mi-grants on which he accused the BJP of making aU-turn after coming to power.

He reiterated that his government would notallow implementation of the Central Land Ac-quisition Act amended by the Modi-govern-ment through an Ordinance.

Modi government hascurtailed developmentfunds to Assam: GogoiSushanta Talukdar

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VARIETY

Itihasa means thus indeed it happened. Of course, when what

happened is written down as a story, there are a lot of embellishments tomake the story interesting. But the messages behind the stories are whatwe have to focus on, elaborated Goda Venkateswara Sastrigal in adiscourse. The story of Viswamitra is told in many places in theMahabharata, but each time a different aspect is highlighted andtherefore one gets a different message each time.

In the Mahabharata, Yudishtra has been successful in the war againstthe Kauravas. He is now the king. But Yudishtra is unhappy because theeconomy is a shambles and every family has lost someone. He seeksBhishmas advice. Bhishma repeats to him what Krishna told Arjuna onthe battlefield, that one should do ones duty. As a king, Yudishtras dutyis now to think about how he can improve the lot of his people. Bhishmasadvice is significant because for many years, Yudishtra was focused ononly one goal b ecoming king. That determination has given himvictory. If he now shows the same determination in rebuilding hiskingdom, then his people will prosper. A ruler cannot afford to wastetime in mere thought and worry. His t houghts and his anxiety mustresult in action for the good of his people. Yudishtra must now alsosurround himself with good ministers to give him proper advice. Whatsort of ministers should a ruler choose? Here the Ramayana shows usthat we need a mix of old and young ministers. Old people are wisebecause of their experience and the young will bring in the necessaryenergy. Sumantra served as minister under Dasaratha but was alsopresent when Rama returns from the forest 14 years after Dasarathasdeath. Thus our Itihasas afford many lessons to us.

Many messagesFAITH

Across

1 Wasting new leader enters team when

guilty last leader leaves (11)9 Talk to boyfriend starting off from

house (7)10 Hood of armour initially protected from

fight (6)

11 Trims extra from front to back (5)12 Lethargy of monkey protecting ring (7)15 Supreme beings extract ring from

merchandise (4)16 Queasily put right uneasy soul (10)

18 Sell to the highest bidder the torn tunicof oaf (7,3)

20 Indian woman returns from Asian

country (4)23 Almost call couple of Romans in

artificial environment (2,5)24 When epics are the same when seen

either way (5)

26 Batman becomes tiny! (6)27 Partridge found in Argentina

mountains (7)

28 Underground air turbulence atadministrative department (11)

Down

2 Queen relaxed the sick (6)3 Not right to quarrel in fit of shivering

(4)

4 Allow public access to tutorial inworship (10)

5 Couple linger in a place of faith (8)

6 Number of goods in kitchen initiallylacking algae (7)

7 Whipping boy beaten up atop cages (9)8 Religious accountant looking back

frightened (6)

13 Roman adult broke set of washingmachines? (10)

14 Aims my gun by mistake at the lyceum(9)

17 Evil chief scientist beheads priest (8)

19 The left leave the meeting depressed(7)

21 Government, for instance, put intofrost (6)

22 Odd Russian monarch embraces ballad

of Mozambique group (6)25 Russian monarch sent back wise man,

became a celebrity (4)

THE HINDU CROSSWORD 11298

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2 3

4 5

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7 8

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S A N T I A G O M I N U T E

P Y B H M N E

R E L I E V E D S P I D E R

I O A R D R E I

N O N S M O K E R E Y R I E

K I A S H

L A S T S N E W S S T A N D

E Y P E N R

S U M M I N G U P D O D G E

B N O L S

A L O U D A W A R E N E S S

M L L N T L L C

E L I X I R S O M B R E R O

N S N O O M D

D A M A G E S N O W L I N E

Anon

Solution to puzzle 11297

Chinese intrusion in Sikkim

The Government of India onJanuary 21 lodged a protest withthe Chinese Government againstintrusion by 30 armed Chinesesoldiers into Sikkim territory onJanuary 19. In its protest note givento the Chinese Embassy in NewDelhi, the Government of India hascharacterised the frequentintrusion by Chinese into Sikkim asnothing but projections of Chinas

aggressive and has called upon theGovernment of China to refrainfrom such aggressive andprovocative activities along theTibet-Sikkim boundary.

Exchange needs of FourthPlan

Indias requirements of foreignexchange for the Fourth Five-YearPlan have been formally madeknown to the Soviet Government.Preliminary discussions on thismatter will be held in Moscow soonby the Indian Ambassador, Mr. T.N.Kaul. India expects the SovietUnion to extend 22 per cent of theFourth Plans foreign exchangerequirement totalling 1,500 millionroubles.

(dated Jan. 22, 1965)

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Mr. B.R.LAKSHMANASWAMY Rtd TTES.C.Rly Sorrowfully Remembered

on 26th Anniversary Day Mrs.KasthuriLakshman and near and dearones

IN MEMORIAM

Disclaimer: Readersare requested to verify &make appropriate enquiries to satisfythemselves about the veracity of an adver-tisement before responding to any published inthis newspaper. Kasturi & Sons Limited, thePublisher & Owner of thisnewspaper, doesnotvouch for the authenticity of any advertisementor advertiser or for any of the advertiserspro-ducts and/or services. In no event can theOwner, Publisher, Printer, Editor, Director/s,Employeesof thisnewspaper/company be heldresponsible/liable in any manner whatsoever forany claimsand/or damagesfor advertisementsin thisnewspaper.

MUMBAI: A powerful photographyproject on the lives of 38,000 con-servancy workers who clean maxi-mum citys literal underbelly itssewers, manholes, 7,000 tonnes ofits solid waste and work in haz-ardous conditions has spurred in-dustrialist Ratan Tata to fund amassive project in collaborationwith the Brihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) to improvetheir lives.

Titled In Search of Dignity andJustice The Untold Story of Con-servancy Workers, this photo pro-ject by award-winningphotojournalist Sudharak Olwedocumenting how manual conser-vancy workers lead unsafe and un-dignified lives and its social impacthad earned the project the NationalFoundation of India fellowship in1999. The photographs came out inbook form last year, and the pub-lishers, Lok Vanmaya Gruha ap-proached the Tata Trusts forfunding the book. When Mr. Tataflipped through the copy of thebook, he was shocked to see the

images and penned a strong note tohis staff to search for solutions toresolve this problem, triggering offa massive and multi-layered initia-tive now titled Mission Garima(Mission Dignity)

This collection of photos bySudharak Olwe has been an eye-opener. It has captured and broughtto our consciousness, the plight of agroup of people we seem to have

relegated to a collective blind-spot, Mr. Tata wrote in theforeword.

Conservancy workers live andwork in our own city. They are asmuch citizens as we are. Yet, we donot seem to be aware of their veryexistence and least of all, the plightof their condition. We should striveto eliminate manual conservancywork in Mumbai and work dedi-catedly towards rehabilitation, re-training and reemploying theworkers, with dignity...I am grateful

to each and every one of the 38,000conservancy workers of Mumbaifor their ceaseless service, hewrote. With his initiative, the Tatasformed a team led by Rukmini Dat-ta, the Senior Programme Officer,Tata Trusts, to co-ordinate with theBMC officials.

The Tata Trusts funded a morecomprehensive book of the sametitle to create awareness of theproblem which would be distrib-uted nationally. The 38,000 conser-vancy workers, which includecontract labourers, are employed inBMCs Solid Waste departmentsand carry out manual scavenging.

Satish Nandgaonkar

Photo essay led to Tatas Mission Dignity

Photojournalist SudharakOlwe has documented the

unsafe and undignified livesthat conservancy workerslead. PHOTO: SUDHARAKOLWE

SAN FRANCISCO: Google likes its am-bitions sky high. This time, it hasgone a little further. The Internetgiant, along with Fidelity, has in-

vested $1 billion in Space Explora-tion Technologies (SpaceX), theprivate rocketry company foundedby Elon Musk. It could help Googlebring satellite Internet to remotecorners of the world New YorkTimes News Service

SpaceX gets $1 billion from Google, FidelityQuentin Hardy &Conor Dougherty

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EDITORIAL

President Pranab Mukherjees pointed remind-er to the government on the constitutionalrestrictions on the resort to the ordinanceroute will, it is hoped, temper the present

regimes proclivity to push through legislation by in-voking the extraordinary power repeatedly. Havingsigned a series of ordinances in recent weeks on thegovernments advice, once or twice reportedly afterseeking a clarification on the nature of the urgency thatnecessitated them, President Mukherjee has the moraland constitutional authority to drive home the m essageto the government that it ought to be mindful of thelimitations of the ordinance route. He has underscoredthat ordinances can be promulgated only to meetcertain exigencies and under compelling circumstanc-es, setting out the legal context in which the powermay be invoked. And by concurrently speaking outagainst the tendency to use disruption as a means ofparliamentary intervention, Mr. Mukherjee has subtlyquestioned the traditional wisdom of opposition par-

ties that extracting an assurance or concession acrossthe floor by wilfully obstructing proceedings is part of alegitimate exercise of parliamentary duties. In prac-tice, both issues are intricately interlinked. It is oftenthe combination of obstinacy on the part of the Trea-sury Benches and the Oppositions obstructionist tac-tics that lead to legislative impasse and, further, to thepromulgation of ordinances. Governments are increas-ingly eager to avoid constructive engagement with theopposition because the option of legislating throughthe use of presidential power is available to them.

Adding im petus to this tendency is the even morecomplacent belief that a lack of majority in the UpperHouse can be compensated for by convening a jointsession of both Houses under certain circumstances. Ina Westminster-model parliamentary democracy, Pres-idents may choose silent acquiescence with Cabinetdecisions and avoid questioning the rationale behindexecutive advice. However, sometimes they are justi-fied in speaking their mind and voicing their concernson broad constitutional issues. What ought normally tooccasion such concerns is any hint of impropriety, the

cavalier resort to ordinances being one example. Thedisruption of Parliament to the point of making itdysfunctional is another example. The occasional pieceof advice from a President may be easily dismissed bysome as the feeble articulation of outdated principlesincompatible with what is needed to survive the un-savoury contestation that electoral politics brings withit. However, it behoves a responsive government and aresponsible opposition to avoid breaching the limits ofconstitutional propriety in their actions.

The Presidents

counsel

The French satirical magazine,Charlie Hebdo is known for its ir-reverent approach to religion. Inthe past it has published cartoons of

the Prophet. A cartoon controversy has ragedfor quite some time in western Europe,which has resulted in similar violent assaultsby incensed Muslims determined to mete outextreme punishment on the offenders.

In a speech to the nation, the French Presi-dent, Franois Hollande, described the

events as a tragedy for the nation, an obliga-tion for us to confront terrorists. He added,We are a free nation that does not give in.He further asserted, We carry an ideal thatis greater than us. However, he emphasisedthat such pathological behaviour was by nomeans to be associated with most FrenchMuslims who were loyal, law-abiding citi-zens. Leaders of other western countrieshave rallied around France. The U.S. Secre-tary of State, John Kerry, described Frenchdemocracy as the paragon, which inspiredothers to follow it. Others paid similar trib-utes and pledged support to France in thefight against terrorism. French Muslim cler-ics and lay leaders have been quick to de-nounce the Charlie Hebdo attackers asrenegades to Islam and expressed sympathyfor the victims of the terrorist outrage.

Of the 66-million strong population inFrance, five million are Muslims, mainly Al-gerians but also from other former Frenchcolonies in the Maghreb. Less than two mil-lion say they are interested in religion. Con-sequently, France has the biggest Muslimpopulation, a majority of whom are secular-

ised and virtually integrated in French socie-ty. Such a situation is typically unacceptableto the extremists who thrive on polarisingMuslims and non-Muslims. They deliberate-ly seek opportunities to corroborate TheClash of Civilizations, the thesis of theAmerican political scientist, Samuel P. Hun-tington. Huntington had famously arguedthat Western and Islamic civilisationswere incompatible. As compared to the liber-al, rule-oriented and law-abiding West, theIslamic civilisation was an aggressive andexpansionist global force with a pronouncedzeal and proclivity towards violence and war-fare, he asserted. He warned against Muslimimmigration to the West, and declared multi-culturalism to be a failed and doomed ideal.

Such thinking has been brewing since along time among anti-immigration partiesand movements in western Europe. For ex-ample, a Conservative member of the BritishParliament and Minister of Health (1960-

63), Enoch Powell delivered in Birminghamon April 20, 1968, the infamous Rivers ofBlood speech against immigration. In it hewarned that the British people were worriedabout being swamped by non-whites whowould multiply by leaps and bounds and be-come a source of disturbance and instability.Such developments would culminate in riv-ers of blood as a result of race wars. TheBritish National Front, the French NationalFront, and the German Neo-Nazis were theearliest parties that took a stand against non-white immigrants. Holland, Belgium, Germa-ny and Scandinavian groups too began to airsimilar views. Over time, the emphasischanged from racial terminology to explicitlyreligious jargon about the Islamic threat toEurope.

Personal law and justice systems

The activities and demands of some indi-viduals and organisations among Muslimsinadvertently confirmed that a grand Trojan

horse conspiracy was under way to take fulladvantage of liberal immigration laws andenter western Europe in large numbers andthen set in motion the Islamicisation of west-ern Europe. For example in 1975, SheikhSyed Darsh, the head cleric of Londons mainRegents Park Mosque demanded that Islam-ic law, the Sharia, should be allowed to regu-late Muslim personal affairs. He assertedthat both British law and Sharia aimed atestablishing justice, but Islamic justice de-rived from Koranic injunctions and its appli-cation to personal matters of Muslims wouldonly complement British justice, not subvertit. This was of course not true because Sharia

laws pertaining to family matters differ rad-ically from western family law systems. Sha-ria law pertaining to marriage, divorce andinheritance confers greater rights on maleswhereas in the secularised western familylaw system, differential rights have more orless been eliminated. Demands for applica-tion of Sharia law to personal matters havebeen raised in other countries as well.

A Pakistani journalist, Kalim Siddiqui,greatly emboldened by the Iranian revolu-tion, floated the notion of a Muslim parlia-ment of Great Britain. In 1990, a MuslimMnifesto: a Strategy For Survival, waslaunched by Siddiqui. It advocated practical-ly the establishment of an alternative legalsystem. The Muslim parliament never tookoff as a representative body of British Mus-lims, as very few Muslims evinced interest init. However, such developments were indica-tive of cultural tensions and serious disagree-ment on values that were coming to thesurface. In the background of the Arab-Is-

raeli wars and the constant humiliation ofPalestinians in the Occupied Territories, an-ti-westernism attracted sections of Muslimsociety all over the world. Moreover, fromthe early 1980s, the Iranian-Saudi competi-tion to influence Muslims and their fundingof some organisations widened the radicalIslam constituency internationally and inwestern Europe.

Mounting tensions were greatly exacer-bated when in 1989, Ayatollah Khomeini ofIran issued a fatwa against writer SalmanRushdie for his The Satanic Verses (1988),alleging that it grievously insulted Islam.Suddenly, the Muslim presence in a secular-

ised, Christian society, where freedom of ex-pression and opinion was firmly entrenched,drew attention not only of the authoritieswho were keen to maintain law and order butalso the general public. The public debatepolarised around those on the left whothought Rushdie had played into the hands ofthe West by writing a book scurrilous of theProphet of Islam while mainstream politic-ians and media denounced the fatwa and thedeath sentence as being illegitimate.

A trigger for terror

However, in the aftermath of 9/11, and theU.S.-NATO reprisals against Afghanistan,which resulted in thousands of troops beingstationed in that country, followed by Presi-dent George W. Bush ordering the invasion ofIraq in March 2003, terrorism as the meansto express Muslim antipathy and fury againstthe West gained worldwide adherents. Con-sequently, terrorist attacks happened inwestern Europe in 2004.

While the reaction to 9/11 was no doubt thetrigger that set in motion concerns for secu-rity in Europe, such fears were compoundedby related issues that generated tension. Fora long time the French National Front hadbeen calling for the repatriation of Muslimsto their home countries. On the other hand,among Muslim immigrants, despite a secu-larised majority, the trend to adhere morestrictly to Islamic attire and other symbolshad been gaining ground.Girls had begun touse headscarves in schools, which weredeemed as a violation of the rules that re-quired religion being kept out of educationalinstitutions. A public debate took placewhich generated consensus against the hijab.

On March 15, 2004, President Jacques Chi-rac signed into law the Bill passed by theFrench national legislature which came intoeffect on September 2, 2004. However, somewomen began donning an extreme form ofdress, the burqa or niqab, to mark their socialisolation when in public. It was considered asan extremist provocation.It meant coveringthe whole face and all other parts of the body.The burqa was also banned in April 2011. TheDutch and Belgian Parliaments have alsopassed Bills banning the niqab in public; thecompletion of the legal procedure is expectedto be completed soon. Elsewhere govern-ments have either openly rejected such legis-lation or adopted a policy of non-action.

It is quite clear that relations betweenMuslim immigrants and host societies in theWest are ridden with tensions. Concerns foridentity and collective identification aredeeply ingrained in people. Immigrants in-variably carry many ties and loyalties in theircultural and emotional baggage. There is nodoubt that contemporary Muslims and West-erners have been socialised and groomed invery