balaji@uscvax.UUCP (Balaji Narasimhan) (03/17/86)
From KAPUR@ge-crd.arpa Sun Mar 16 07:59:01 1986 -------- Shah government Ousted GM Shah was ousted as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir by the Rajiv Gandhi government and the state was brought under President's rule. Shah was forced to resign on March 6 after Rajiv Gandhi's instructions to his party followers in the state to withdraw support to Shah. Shah became the Chief Minister about 20 months ago when he defected and split the National Conference party. It is widely believed that the split was inspired by the late PM Indira Gandhi, Governor Jag Mohan and others to oust Dr. Farooq Abdullah's popularly elected government. Ever since Dr. Abdullah was removed, he has repeatedly called upon Gandhi to hold fresh elections in the state so as to decide who should govern the state, but his pleas have been ignored. Shah government was reported to be extremely unpopular in the Kashmir valley. Explaining why his party withdrew support to Shah, Congress Vice President Arjun Singh said, "The Shah government had failed to suppress th activities of antinational forces." A similar accusation was made against Dr. Abdullah when he was ousted. Shah announced to be ready to merge his faction back into Dr. Abdullah's party, and asked him to form a government. Dr. Abdullah, despite enjoying majority, stuck to his old demand of fresh elections. Dr. Abdullah also refused Gandhi government's offer to form a government with Congress support, calling such an action as "a political suicide." Recently, many communal clashes were reported in the state following the controversial opening of a religious place in Ayodhya which Vishwa Hindu Prashid has been claiming to be Lord Rama's birth place. There was also a mosque built by Mughal emperor Babar. Because of the controversies, the place was closed for over 35 years before it was ordered opened as a Hindu temple by a district court following a petition by Hindu militants. Maharashtra CM out Maharashtra Congress(I) Chief Minister Shivajirao Patil Nalingekar was forced to resign on March 7 following a Bombay High Court verdict against him. The court had ruled on March 6 that the results of the MD (gynecology and obstetrics) examinations held last year had been tampered in so as to benefit Nalingekar's daughter who sat in the examination. Judge ML Pandse said that though there was no direct evidence to implicate the Chief Minister, the court could reasonably infer that the marks had been manipulated at the CM's behest. Nalingekar told a press conference that the charges against him and his daughter were false, and that he would appeal. Muslim Divorce Bill The recently introduced bill by the Rajiv Gandhi government to nullify the Supreme Court judgement on the Shah Bano case has drawn a lot of criticism including within his cabinet. The bill which was introduced by Law Minister A.K. Sen in the parliament, would entitle a divorced Muslim woman to an allowance from her husband only for a short period as prescribed by Koran. The bill has been criticized by all opposition parties with the exception of Muslim League which strongly backs the bill. Defending the bill, Rajiv Gandhi told the parliament that this was a secular law designed to assure a minority community that its basic rights were not being diluted by the court verdict. Gandhi's minister of state for energy Arif Khan resigned in protest against the bill. Khan had spoken in favor of the supreme court judgement ordering payment of a monthly maintenance allowance by her former husband of over 40 years of marriage. The judgement on this case had resulted in protests by Muslims all over India as the judgement was being presented by Muslim fundamentalists as an interference in the religious affairs of a minority community. In his resignation letter, Khan said that he felt that the government had succumbed to the fundamental and orthodox sections of the community. Budget The second budget of Rajiv Gandhi government is reported to result in a deficit of nearly Rs 40 billion for the fiscal year 1986-87. The revised estimate of the deficit for the last year are over Rs 45 billion. Because of protests against the recently announced price hikes in essential commodities, the excise duty on items such as kerosene oil and gas were reduced. In contrast to the last year's budget, this budget has planned more expenditure on agriculture and rural development. Rs 90 billion are set aside for the defense, in contrast to Rs 75 billion last year, which is about 14% of the total government expenditure. The standard reduction for tax exemption has been increased to Rs 10,000 from Rs 6,000. The exemption limit for gift tax has been raised from Rs 5000 to Rs 20,000. Fares for mail and express trains are proposed to increase by 5 to 12.5% The budget has been criticized by the opposition as being inflationary, anti-poor and pro-rich. Punjab Violence in Punjab reached another climax when according to police reports, gunmen killed 7 and injured 14 people in Kapurthala on the night of March 6. The assailant were dressed in police uniforms and were reportedly trying to assassinate Kabul Singh, who was chosen as the acting President of Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee after the resignation of Gurcharan Singh Tohra was accepted. The assailants started firing on passers-by with the automatic weapons. Kabul Singh was hit in the hand and shoulder but his driver was killed. Congress(I) politicians and other opposition leaders renewed their attack on Akali Dal Ministry of Surjit Singh Barnala for having failed to halt extremist attacks. Doordarshan cancels screening of Delhi Times The screening of yet another film on Doordarshan was cancelled by the authorities at the last minute. The Delhi Times, a Hindi film, about investigative journalism which exposes links between politicians and criminals was scheduled to be shown on March 2. However, at the last minute the movie was replaced by another Hindi film. Last month, a documentary Rajiv's India by Jack Anderson was cancelled at the last minute reportedly because some Congress(I) leaders insisted that the movie was derogatory to Indira Gandhi and did not present India in a balanced manner. Doordarshan authorities did not give any explanation about the cancellation but the theme of the movie was reportedly not to the liking of many Congress(I) leaders. Advani Heads BJP Lal Kishan Advani was elected unopposed on March 7 as the president of the Bhartiya Janata Party. Atal Behari Vajpayee stepped down as the president. Sources: India Abroad, India Now, and Illustrated Weekly. --------