Baits for Biharis
Election round the corner, the parties, vying for power, seem to be competing among themselves to woo the migrant population from Bihar and eastern UP. Doubtless, the community counts much in the electoral calculation as they constitute a sizable presence in many of the constituencies. Uttarakhand being a small state, a few votes going this side or the other can tilt the fortunes. Things started with the CM Harish Rawat including Chhath in the state list of gazetted holidays in 2014. Thereafter, he started Indira Amma Canteens located in the areas dominated by the migrant population to give meals that cost Rs 20 per plate, an initiative that endeared him to the population living from hand to mouth. Now, BJP seems to be intent on following the lead given by its arch enemy. The mayor of Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) Vinod Chamol, himself interested to contest, has dished out a proposal to construct Chhatth Park at the cost of Rs 50 lakh at Brahmpuri in Dehradun. MlAs are not lagging behind too, spending money to hook the community to their electoral game.
Convenience of skeletonsIJ
Intriguingly enough, the news of the skeletal remains of the Kedarnath tragedy victims was splashed over the media only after the noted singer Kailash Kher completed the much-hyped Bhajan Sandhya in Kedarnath on October 9. More intriguingly, the CM Harish Rawat seemed to be aware of the finding as the NGO which had led the trekking, resulting in the discovery of the human remains, met the CM the same day the Bhajan Sandhya was staged. The CM appeared to have enjoyed the show while keeping a stony silence on what the trekkers had found-remains scattered along a least-trodden trek to the fabled shrine. The media started focusing on the finding of the remains after it came to light that the Bhajan Sandhya was funded from the disaster relief fund. Does it not imply that the state government circulated the news of the finding at a time convenient to it to divert attention from the fact of the musical soiree being funded from the disaster fundIJ later, the CM characteristically sought to pass the buck to his predecessor Vijay Bahuguna, now in the saffron camp. But the question is why the state government sat on the monumental discovery only to announce it after the funding row cropped up.