Dilemma for JNU graduates
With violence in JNU acting as a tipping point for several people across the country, over 300 civil servants in the Narendra Modi government who studied in the university are in a fix. They want to issue a statement condemning the attack but aren’t sure how to go about it. There have been charged conversations expressing shock and condemnation regarding last week’s violence in the university on the JNU alumna WhatsApp group that has 255 officers in it.
“As students and alumna of this institution, it is our responsibility to state in no unequivocal terms that this is not acceptable,” said one officer. The officers are also particularly perturbed by the police inaction but are undecided over how to frame this criticism since there are IPS officers from JNU on the group as well. However, they are now contemplating issuing the statement without putting down their names.
A BJP CM earns praise in state but Modi’s wrath
Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa has reasons to feel disappointed and nervous after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Karnataka last week. In the absence of clarity from the BJP high command, his cabinet expansion plan has been pending. The state government is also said to be unhappy about inadequate central assistance for flood relief operations.
On 3 January, the chief minister accompanied Modi on his way back from Tumakuru to the Raj Bhavan where the latter was to spend the night. Yediyurappa later returned with ministers Basavaraj Bommai and J.C. Madhuswamy to meet Modi but he was denied access by the Special Protection Group as the PM was resting. The buzz in political circles is that Modi was miffed with the way Yediyurappa used a public platform in Tumakuru to demand more flood relief funds for Karnataka. However, Yediyurappa earned a lot of praise for using the opportunity to complain to the PM that the Centre had not released enough funds as part of the flood relief package. Despite several reminders, the assistance from the Centre had been delayed, he said.
Cold wave ahead of Delhi Congress’ war-room launch
Delhi Congress functionaries and workers waited out in the cold for two hours at the DPCC office Saturday morning. The teams had gathered for the launch of the party’s war room ahead of the Delhi assembly elections on 8 February. But a miscommunication within the ranks led to the administrative staff, responsible for opening and closing the office, reaching at 11 am, instead of 9am, which is when the teams reached. Even worse, despite forming a nearly 500-member strong team for the Delhi elections, less than a third of them seem to be attending meetings, much to the chagrin of many Congress leaders.
(Contributors: Sanya Dhingra, Rohini Swamy and Deeksha Bhardwaj)
Did they tell you