bhide@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU (Anupam K. Bhide) (12/30/85)
News Bulletin 12/28/85 New Government in Assam Asom Gana Prashid party led by a 32-year old student leader Prafulla Mahanta won a majority in the recently held assembly elections in Assam. Prafulla Mahanta was sworn in as the Chief Minister of the state thus putting an end to almost uninterrupted 36 year rule of the state by the Congress party. Asom Gana Prashid won 64 seats in the 126-member assembly, whereas its main rival, Congress(I) of Rajiv Gandhi could win only 25 seats. United Minorities Front formed of minority parties won 17 seats. Other national parties, including the Janata Party and Lok Dal were virtually routed. The Asom Gana Prashid also won 7 Lok Sabha seats; Congress got 3 and other parties picked the remaining 4. Asom Gana Prashid was formed a few months ago by the leaders of the All Assam Students Union and All Assam Gana Prashid, the two organizations which spearheaded the agitation in the state for over 6 years. Unlike the last election in February 1983 in which over 4000 people were killed and turnout was less than 10%, the election was by enlarge peaceful and the turnout was very heavy, in some areas over 80%. According to some observers, the vote was highly polarized on communal and ethnic lines, with most of the upper caste Assamese Hindus voting for the Asom Gana Prashid, Bengali Muslims and tribals voting for the United Minorities Front and Congress. Mahanta told a news conference after being elected to head the government that the implementation of the Assam accord worked out last August with Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and the ending of corruption were top priorities of the new administration. Congress Wins 4 Parlimentary Byelections and Loses 3 In byelections held for 7 Lok Sabha seats along with the Assam poll, the Congress party won 4 seats and lost 3 to the opposition. Former governor of Punjab and Union Commerce Minister Arjun Singh defeated BJP leader Vinod Kumar Malhotra in New Delhi. Former Bihar Chief Minister Chandra Sekhar Singh defeated George Fernandes at Banka in Bihar. Jagjivan Ram's daughter Meera Kumar defeated Lok Dal leader Ram Vilas Paswan in UP. At the invitation of Rajiv Gandhi, Meera Kumar resigned from the foreign service and contested the election. Her victory is considered as an indication of Jagjivan Ram possibly rejoining the Congress party. Congress party's most stunning defeat came in West Bengal where the former Chief Minister Sidharatha Shankar Ray who recently rejoined Congress, was defeated by CPM leader Som Nath Chatterjee by over 90,000 votes. Rajiv Gandhi had taken personal interest in this contest and had campaigned on Ray's behalf. According to some commentators, Ray was seen by Gandhi to lead an onslaught against the Marxist rule in the state. The second Congress defeat was in Orissa where a Janata nominee Sarat Kumar Deb defeated Orissa Chief Minister Janaki Ballabh Patnaik's man Basanta Kumar Kiswal. The contest there was considered to be a proxy between former Chief Minister and Janata leader Biju Patnaik and Congress CM JB Patnaik. The third Congress defeat was in Bihar where Janata leader Syed Shahubuddin won. Zia visits India Pakistan's President Zia-ul-Haq visited India on December 17 for approximately 6 hours, where he conferred with Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The two leaders reportedly committed themselves not to attack each other's nuclear facilities. Rajiv Gandhi also agreed to visit Pakistan early next year. Before his departure at the airport, Zia said that he was very satisfied with his meeting with Gandhi. Suit Against Air India, Canadian Govt. A Montreal law firm filed 166 cases on behalf of the relatives of the victims of the Air India plane crash last June against Air India, Air Canada, Canada Pacific, Canadian Transport Minister, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Burns Security Service and the manufacturer of the X-Ray equipment. The suit seeks damages of more than 350 million dollars. 76 cases were filed in Montreal and 90 cases were filed in Toronto. All the suits claim gross negligence on the part of respondents for permitting explosives to be concealed in the aircraft leading to its crash. Another suit is planned in US against the Boeing Company in case the cause of the crash is deemed to be other than sabotage or negligence. Raaj Keswani and the New York Times According to a report in the Illustrated Weekly, Raajkumar Keshwani who warned of a potential disaster from the Union Carbide Plant in Bhopal through his articles as early as 1982, is apparently being double crossed by the New York Times and its writers. Keshwani had helped Stuart Diamond and other writers in the preparation of the articles which appeared in the New York Times early this year detailing the investigation of the Bhopal disaster in which according to official sources, over 2500 people died and tens of thousands permanently injured. According to Keshwani, he was told that his name would also appear with the articles, however that did not happen. When he complained, the New York Times inserted a small note later acknowledging that Keshwani had assisted its reporters. The coverage by Stuart Diamond and other reporters of the Times is believed to be running for this year's Pultizer prize which is all the more reason for Keshwani to be angry about. Sources: India Abroad, India Now, New York Times, and Illustrated Weekly of India. -------- SENT BY DEEPAK KAPUR.