A political earthquake struck India’s North East, its epicenter Tripura, where the incumbent Communist Party of India (Marxist) led by Chief Minister Manik Sarkar was roundly defeated by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and ejected from office. What made the victory truly remarkable was that the CPI ((M) had won a string of six back-to-back victories in the State over 25 years, and that the BJP, prior to this poll, had no representation at all in the Legislative Assembly.
Elsewhere in the North East, with its majority Christian population, the BJP secured a foothold in Nagaland and Meghalaya, where they had established electoral alliance with regional parties and will thus be partners in coalition governments. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s campaign in these States reassured its people that they had nothing to fear from the BJP, that stories of the party being anti-Christian were untrue; he referred to instances where his government had rescued Christian priests from the clutches of jihadi groups in Afghanistan and the Middle East, his message being reinforced by a Christian member of the Modi government in New Delhi.
Excellent field work
The BJP owed its success to superb organization. It put their top man Ram Madhav in the field, and it worked. He was joined by Hemanta Biswa Sarma, once a minister in Assam in the Congress government Tarun Gogoi in Assam, and by an old BJP hand, Sunil Deodhar. Working closely with their local ally, the People’s Front of Twipra (a tribal grouping), the two partners won 43 seats of the 59 seats in the Assembly.
Complacency
The Communist-led Left Front was complacent. It underestimated the strong campaign mounted by the BJP. There was also a perception that the Manik Sarkar government was prone to favour party members in handouts. Right or wrong perceptions matter. Leading voices in the ousted regime complained of electoral money laundering, but this is an over simplification of the result. In neighbouring West Bengal, the Communist-led Front was pulped, with every State minister losing his/her seat. If the truth be told, the Communist parties, as of now, are a discredited rump (Hindu, Times of India March 4, 9).
Discredited dynasty
The tragedy is that Congress has a pool of young talent and older men with proven ability, such as the present Chief Minister of Punjab Amarinder Singh. In BJP-ruled Rajasthan, young Sachin Pilot is creating waves, with Congress sweeping the municipal polls. Put forward as its prime ministerial candidate in the 2019 general election, the Congress might become more credible than it is at present (Print, TV, March 4-9).
Wang Yi upbeat on Sino-Indian ties
China’s Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, addressing an annual press conference in Beijing, struck a note of optimism on his country’s ties with India, which he claimed have been showing marked improvement recently. The Doklan stand-off at the Tri-junction of Tibet, Bhutan and Sikkim had been defused through talks between the two sides with mutual trust. The Foreign Minister said the Chinese Dragon and the Indian Elephant should dance together and not fight. ‘With political trust, not even the Himalayas can stop us from friendly exchanges. Without it, not even a level land can bring us together…Let me put this to our Indian friends: our shared understandings far outstrip our differences. China is ready and willing…to inherit and take forward traditional friendship, and be a friend and partner of the Indian people.’ (Hindu, Times of India March 9).
Sino-Indian river data in full flow
India and China are to share data on trans-boundary rivers, a move seen as a major step forward in Confidence Building Measures. This mechanism, set up in 2006, was designed to further cooperation in sharing flood-season hydrological data, emergency management and related issues regarding the Brahmaputra and Sutlej rivers whose headwaters lie in Tibet and flow across the border into India. The mechanism was put on hold in 2017 during the Doklam crisis but is being restored as India, China ties have improved (Economic Times March 9).
Road building on border on track
The government has cleared 73 strategic roads along the Chinese border in wake of the Doklam crisis in August last year. Inclement weather and hostile terrain have been offered by way of explanation for delays in project implementation. Of these 73 roads, 27 involving around 804km are being constructed in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarkhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. Last year the Comptroller Auditor General was severely critical of the Border Roads for ‘defective construction which resulted in delay in completion of strategic roads.’ (Hindu March 4).
Dawood aide extradited by UAE
Twenty-five years on, Farooq Takla, an aide to Dawood Ibrahim, was extradited by the UAE and arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for his role in the serial Mumbai bombings of March 1993 in which over 300 people lost their lives. The fugitive Takla was flown to Mumbai and arrested forthwith (Hindu, Mint March 9).
Supreme Court validates Hadiya’s marriage
The Supreme Court of India set aside a Kerala High Court order annulling the marriage of Hadiya to Shafin Jahan, whom she had married after converting to Islam. In a ruling coinciding with Women’s Day, the court validated Ms Hadiya’s marriage. A three-judge bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrchaud pronounced that, ‘The moment you allow public law of relations between individuals and the State to encroach into marriage, you are letting the state interfere in individual choices of a citizen,’ said Justice Chandrachaud (Hindu March 9).
Appeal to India to bridge Japan’s IT skills deficit
As Japan faces a shortage of 200,000 Information Technology professionals owing to an ageing population and falling birth rate, India had the capability to fill the gap with its huge talent pool, said Shigeki Maeda, Executive Vice President of Japan External Trade Organization in Bangaluru.
‘There is an immediate shortage of more than 200,000 IT professionals in Japan…and the shortage is likely to touch 800,000 by 2030. India can bridge that gap. If a company in Japan has an immediate demand for, say, 5000 engineers, only India can come to their aid.’
Japan has eased rules for issuance of green cards and permanent resident status for highly skilled professionals. He suggested that Indian IT professionals opt for Japan rather than the United States, as they would find life easier in Japan (Hindu March 9).
Suzuki in talks with Andhra, Telangana
Suzuki Motor Corporation is in talks with the governments of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana on setting up its second two-wheeler plant in India. At present its scooters and motorcycles are, and have been, manufactured at their Gurugram facility in Haryana for the past decade. ‘We have some proposals which are being examined. These are predominantly from the South with Andhra Pradesh and Telangana proactively leading the way,’ said Sanjeev Rajasekharan, Executive Vice President, Suzuki, Motorcycle India. ‘The South is a large two-wheeler market, and it makes sense to have a location there to complement our operations in the North .’ The final decision on which of these States gets the nod will be made in the next month (Business Line March 8).
India to build nuclear facility in Bangladesh
India, Bangladesh, Russia have signed a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the construction of the Roopur power plant in Bangladesh.
‘Today (March 3)was a landmark event for both our countries – and the industry as a whole. We are confident that this is the first step towards the formation of a new, forward-looking cooperation agenda in the region,’ said Nicolay Spassky, Deputy Director General for International relations of Rosaton, the Russian State Atomic Energy Cooperation. The MoU was signed in Moscow by India’s Department of Atomic Energy and by the Bangladesh Ministry of Science and Technology and Rosatom (Hindu March 3).
Amazon determined to succeed in India
Having lost out in China to Alibaba and JJD.com, Jeff Bezos is determined to make a success of his India operations in a market of 1.3 billion people discovering the pleasures of shopping. Amazon has committed $5.5 billion and selected Amit Aggarwal to spend it wisely and well. The company has set up a credit operation for people without bank accounts, built streamlined mobile app so it doesn’t crash the cheaper phones typically used by the small-town populace.
‘In India we are building everything from the bottom up, and more than half of our investments have gone into erecting delivery stations and warehouses and such,’ says Amit Aggarwal. It’s tough going competing with local firms like Flipkart, but nothing ventured, nothing gained (Business Line March 7).
