parhi@jason.BERKELEY.EDU (Keshab Kumar Parhi) (01/06/86)
From KAPUR@ge-crd.arpa Sun Jan 5 21:40:36 1986 Date: Sun, 5 Jan 86 18:10:26 PST From: KAPUR DEEPAK <KAPUR@ge-crd.arpa> Subject: News Bulletin 1/4/86 To: <iitnet@ernie.BERKELEY> Status: R Date: 5-JAN-1986 18:54 Sender: KAPUR Subject: News Bulletin 1/4/86 -------- News Bulletin 1/4/86 Rajiv Attacks Corruption in Congress Addressing a ceremony in Bombay concluding the centenary celebartion of the Congress party, Rajiv Gandhi denounced the party bosses of having turned the Congress from a mass party to a fedual oligarchy. Criticizing the corruption, laziness and greed among the party leaders, Gandhi claimed that the party had lost contact with the masses and the group leaders had built a sturcture based on self-aggrandizement, corrupt ways and sanctimonious posturing. In a speech which was perhaps a surprise to most of 60,000 party activists and leaders, Gandhi spoke of the "self-perpetuating cliques who thrive by invoking the slogans of caste and religion and by enmeshing the living body of the Congress in their net of avarice." Gandhi declared that the revitalization of the party was a historical necessity as no other party was capable of tackling India's immense problems. In his speech, Gandhi also said that reputable industrial houses shelter battalions of lawbreakers and tax evaders. "We have government servants who do not serve but oppress the poor and the helpless, police who do not uphold the law but shield the guilty, tax collectors who do not collect taxes but connive with those who cheat the state and whole legions whose concern is their private welfare at the cost of the society." However Gandhi did not say who were responsible for this sorry state of affairs of the party nor did he mention whether his government planned to do any thing about the corruption within the government, police, bureaucracy and industrial houses. According to political commentators, Gandhi's speech is an attempt to revive his image of Mr. Clean which he had been able to project soon after he took over as the Prime Minister after his mother's assassination. Some paralleled his speech with his mother's fight against the old guards, also known as the syndicate, in 1966-67 when she tried to emerge as a leader as well as her populist policies slogans including bank nationalization, discontinuing of privy purses, the Garibi Hatao programme. It is also rumored that this may be a signal of major changes in the party leadership when old bosses may be dropped, former Congress leaders including Jagjivan Ram, Sharad Patil, and others may be brought back to its fold and new faces also be promoted just as was done in a recent cabinet shuffle. Union Carbide Asks for Moving the Trial Venue to India A Union Carbide lawyer asked US District Judge John Keenan to move the venue of the trial to India as the hearing of the litigation cases opened in Manhattan on Friday, January 3. Attorney Bud Holman argued that Indian courts are best equipped to deal with the claims of hundreds of thousands of victims of the deadly gas leak from the UCIL plant in Bhopal on December 3, 1984 which resulted in at least 2500 deaths according to official accounts, over 50,000 permanently injured and over 200,000 thousands injured. He also said that moving the venue to India would also allow to examine the witnesses and documents and to determine whether sabotage or some other factor outside the company's control played a role which resulted in the leak. Recently, Union Carbide's bosses have been holding press conferences in which they have attributed the gas leak to a sabotage. Attorneys for the victims and for Indian government which are seeking billions of dollars as compensation, are insisting that the case belongs to the United States as the parent company is US based. The decision on this matter is not expected for at least several weeks. PUCL questions the constitutionality of Anti-Terrorist Act The People's Union for Civil Liberties has filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of the Anti-Terrorist Act passed by the parliament last May. According to the organization's President, Dr. Rajni Kothari, the civil liberties group is basing its argument using the case of Dr. Balagopal in Andhra Pradesh to show how the law can be misused and how it threatens the fundamental rights of a citizen. According to a report in the Illustrated Weekly, Dr. Balagopal, a professor of mathematics in Kakatiya university in Warangal and general secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee, was arrested in Hyderabad on November 16 on charges of having murdered a police subinspector. Dr. Balagopal has played a crucial role in the last few years in exposing the police atrocities in Andhra Pradesh. Last year alone, he brought before the Lokayukta in Andhra 532 cases of illegal detention and torture. He was also instrumental in exposing the cases of fake encounters by the police in which at least 30 deaths occurred. Dr. Balagopal has been arrested under the new Terrorist act; he can be kept in police custody without trial for 1 year. It is not known where he is at present being held. He is to be tried in a designated court whose judges are appointed by the government, the trial is held in camera, the witnesses produced against him will not be identified and they cannot be effectively cross-examined either, in passing the judgement, the judge is not bound to make a full statement and his judgement cannot be appealed and above all, the sentence cannot be anything other than capital punishement if found guilty. A few months ago, the vice-president of the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee was shot dead in his clinic by armed policemen in broad daylight, and despite a CID inquiry, none of the policemen involved in the attack has been suspended or transferred. According to the Weekly report, terrorist activities are so loosely defined under the new act that even a morcha can be interpreted as terrorist. "The exercise of civil liberties has been identified with terrorism." Center Considering Funding of elections Union Finance Minister VP Singh indicated recently that the government would soon look into the question of financing assembly and parliament elections to get better compliance with the laws and regulations by corporations. Martial Law ends in Pakistan Pakistan's President Zia-ul-Haq declared the end of the eight and a half years of martial law in Pakistan. General Zia had taken over the control of the country after organizing a military coup against the government of Z A Bhutto who was subsequently hanged. Sources: the New York Times, India Now, India Abroad, and Illustrated Weekly of India. --------