The Hindu : Front Page : Three advisories sent to Maharashtra: Patil

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 22, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Front Page

Front Page

Three advisories sent to Maharashtra: Patil

Sandeep Dikshit

NEW DELHI: Under fire from the Opposition and allies for not doing enough to check violence against non-Maharashtrians in Mumbai, the Centre revealed that it had sent three advisories to the State government, the latest on Tuesday itself, and senior Central Ministers had expressed their concern over the situation to Chief Minister Vilas Rao Deshmukh.

“Three notices were given to the Maharashtra government asking it to take action. These were sent on October 19, 20 and 21. We also expressed our anguish and anger that it is happening in Maharashtra,” Home Minister Shivraj Patil told the Rajya Sabha.

The Opposition, including the Left Parties and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), walked out mid-way through the Home Minister’s reply.

“The people of Maharashtra welcome people from all parts of the country,” said Mr. Patil, who is from the State, while opposing the notion of jobs only for sons of the soil. “If you don’t follow the Constitution, the law will take its own course. We will see the law is implemented fully. We will first try to persuade them through argument and then they would not be shown any leniency,” he said while steering clear of suggestions to bring into play the National Security Act to ensure the accused are not bailed out immediately after arrest. He also turned down demands to dismiss the State government and declined to state which Article of the Constitution was invoked by the Centre’s advisories.

He agreed with the speakers, mainly from the Opposition, that there was “no question” of putting curbs on an Indian citizens’ right to travel, live or work anywhere in the country and felt that attempts to do so would appear to endanger the country’s unity. Mumbai could not forget how people from every State contributed to its growth and people migrating to it should do so with a respectful attitude, he suggested.

Opening the proceedings after the Left Parties, the BJP and others pressed for a debate on the subject, Brinda Karat (Communist Party of India-Marxist) said the person responsible for implementing such “narrow politics” was being “sheltered and shielded by you.” In a speech punctuated by disturbances from the government benches, Ms. Karat said giving free reign to that person was part of the government’s policy to pit two sections against each other.

Aziz Pasha (CPI) described the disturbances as a serious setback to the federal structure and felt it was necessary to invoke Article 355 of the Constitution.

Veteran leader Sharad Yadav (Janata Dal-United) was unable to understand how a person whose party had just eight seats in the Mumbai Municipal Corporation and who had given a good behaviour undertaking to the court was allowed to “break every law” over two years.

Manohar Joshi (Shiv Sena) differed from the two speakers and the Minister by asking why examinations conducted by other Central government organisations were not disrupted in Mumbai.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page