DELHI, WEDNESDAY, MAY 27, 2015

Regd. DL(ND)-11/6110/2006-07-08 RNI No. TNENG/2012/49940 ISSN 0971 - 751X Vol. 5 No. 125 CITY EDITION 20 Pages Rs. 8.00 www.thehindu.in

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PERSPECTIVE | PAGE 9

NEWS | PAGE 10

VARUNS TAKE

BOFORS NOT A SCANDAL

BJP Member of Parliament

Varun Gandhi talks to
Vaishna Roy about being a poet
and a liberal in the rough and
tumble of politics.

NEW DELHI: President Pranab

Mukherjee on Tuesday set off a
controversy saying that Bofors
cannot be officially denoted as a
scandal.

NEWS | PAGE 10

FOREIGN | PAGE 12

BY-ELECTIONS ANNOUNCED

REPORTERS TRIAL BEGINS

TEHRAN: Washington Post
correspondent Jason Rezaian went
on trial behind closed doors in Iran
on Tuesday on charges of spying,
clouding a rapprochement with US.

New Delhi: The Election

Commission has announced byelections to six Assembly
constituencies in ve States,
including one in Tamil Nadu.

No ATF tax cut, but 5/20 rule may go: Raju

Regulating flight
fares is difficult,
says Minister for
Civil Aviation
Sanjay Vijayakumar
NEW DELHI: Exempting avia-

tion turbine fuel (ATF) from

taxes is a difficult thing to do,
Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapati Raju said here on
Tuesday, dashing hopes of
the sector which has been demanding the tax break to
come out of a long-running
turbulence.
Fuel accounts for 40-45
per cent of the cost of operations of airlines, many of

which have been struggling to

come out of the red.
Finance Minister [Arun
Jaitley] had interacted with
the Chief Ministers. They
wanted petroleum products
to be kept out of it [exemptions], he said when asked by
The Hindu during an interview why the fall in ATF prices had not been taken
advantage of to revive the
aviation sector.
Looking back on the rst
year that he piloted the Ministry, Mr. Raju said the number of passengers had
recorded a healthy growth.
So we would like this growth
to continue, he said.
On the issue of predatory
pricing by airlines, with tick-

people who beneted from it

and there were those who
suffered. Having caps would
hurt economic activity. So
there are two sides of the
coin, and how does one go
about it is the question, he
said.
On the 5/20 rule, allowing
airlines to y international
ights only if they complete
ve years of domestic operations and have a eet of at
Ashok Gajapathi Raju
least 20 aircraft, the Minister
during the interview at
his office in New Delhi. said sooner the rule was
thrown out the better.
PHOTO: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR He said Air India needed to
ets getting cheaper during get its books in order and
lean seasons and peaking for overcome the indiscipline
last-minute travel, the Minis- and look forward.
ter said it was difficult to regulate the fare there were
EXCERPTS | PAGE 11

LIFTING THE FOG

Blue is the colour of hope in Kashmir

Amitabh Mattoo
SRINAGAR: If the colour of the

holy spring at Kheer Bhawani at Tul Mul village in Kashmirs Ganderbal district is
any evidence, Kashmir may
be on the cusp of a new beginning.

As thousands of devotees
gathered at the annual mela
of Kheer Bhawani, Kashmirs largest Hindu festival,
the interdependence and
mutual respect that Pandits
and Muslims have enjoyed
for centuries was also on
display.
The Pandits principal
deities have mostly natural
forms. Sharika is the holy
hill at Hari Parbat adjoining
the great fort that Akbar

People praying at the Kheer Bhawani shrine.

built, while Ragya is the
spring at Tul Mul. And on
Tuesday under the bed of
rose petals showered by the
pilgrims the water was a
gentle aquamarine blue: the
colour of hope. My mother
remembers the spring as
dark purplish and then almost black in the troubled
Nineties. Many Kashmiris,
across religions, believe in

this powerful symbolism.

As thousands of Pandits
and other devotees prayed at
the spring, there were Muslims too. All the shops that
sell the puja samagri including the kands (sugar
lumps), diyas, and agarbati
are run by Muslims. There
were a range of stalls and
service centres to help the
devotees and provide free

kehwa, luchi (a at Kashmiri

deep fried roti) and even
lunch. But perhaps the most
striking was one run by Sameer Kaul and Suhail
Ahmed. A Pandit and a Muslim, one teaching Computer
Science and the other Management, both teachers of
the Islamia College of Commerce, have been serving the
community for more than
the last decade. Their bond
was one of a shared past that
could lead to a new future.
It was evident from the
gathering at Kheer Bhawani
that the yearning for reconciliation is intense on both
sides and this year could be a
game changer. Perhaps that
is what the colour at the holy
spring was telling us.
(The writer is Professor,
International Relations, Jawaharlal Nehru University.)

No flat for her in Mumbai because she is Muslim

Omar Rashid

ciety did not accept Muslim

tenants. She moved in beMUMBAI: Misbah Quadri (25), a
cause the notice period at her
communications professionprevious at expired. Within
al hailing from Gujarat, is
a week, the agent contacted
knocking on the doors of the
her again. He was angry that
National Human Rights
Ms. Quadri had ignored his
Commission (NHRC) after
warning. He threatened to
she was denied a at in the
call the cops and throw me
city just because she is a Mus- Misbah Quadri, her hopes out of the at. It got very uglim.
ly, said Ms. Quadri.
dashed
After a hard search, Ms.
When she approached the
Quadri found a tidy 3-BHK fore Ms. Quadri was to shift, representative of the builder,
apartment at Sanghvi Heights the
apartments
broker she was told that it was a
in Wadala. However, a day be- warned that the housing so- policy of the company not to

have Muslim tenants. She was

then served an ultimatum to
vacate the house.
With no place to go, she
tried to broker a compromise
that she would live with the
two women as a guest. Even
that was rejected, said Ms.
Quadri, who was then forced
to leave the at.
Incidentally, the other
women had to pay a price for
sheltering a Muslim; they
have vacated the house
unwillingly.

KISAN CHANNEL LAUNCHED Modi talks about farmers' plight

Amid publicity blitz, BJP

thinks loud on core issues

M. Rajeev
VIJAYAWADA: Ahead of the

rst anniversary of the bifurcation of the erstwhile Andhra

Pradesh,
the
Chandrababu Naidu government is not in a celebratory
mood, in contrast to the triumphal attitude of his counterpart in Telangana, K.
Chandrasekhar Rao.
As one political analyst
said, It is a dilemma for him.
He cannot celebrate the formation of residuary Andhra

Amit Shah says

the party needs
the numbers to
address them
Gargi Parsai
& Anita Joshua
NEW DELHI: Acknowledging
that it was still far from addressing its core issues of
abrogation of Article 370 in
Jammu and Kashmir, introduction of a Uniform Civil
Code and construction of a
Ram temple in Ayodhya, the
BJP unleashed a blitzkrieg of
events on Tuesday to mark
the completion of one year of
the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi, who kick-started the
festivities with a rally near
Mathura on Monday, visited
the BJP headquarters here to
celebrate with party functionaries. With the Opposition
accusing
the
government of being antifarmer, he devoted considerable time to farmers, dwelling on the lot of the farming
community while launching
the Kisan Channel.
He did not mention of the
land acquisition Bill, but he
made oblique references to

On bifurcation
anniversary,
no celebratory
mood in A.P.

some of the arguments put

forth time and again by senior Ministers advocating
the amendment to the Right
to Fair Compensation and
Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and
Resettlement Act, 2013.
Launching a booklet, Saal
Ek, Shuruat Anek (One year,
several beginnings) at a press
conference here, party president Amit Shah said the BJP
would require 370 seats in
Parliament to address its
core issues.

Asked whether the party

had given up on its core issues, Mr. Shah said, The BJP
is running the central government as part of the National Democratic Alliance.
As per the Constitution, we
need 370 to address our core
issues. Please read the Constitution. The party has 281
members in a house of 545 in
the Lok Sabha and is in a minority in the Rajya Sabha.

MODIS DMS GO TO MILLIONS |

PAGE 10

Pradesh as the people of Seemandhra opposed bifurcation all through and he

himself was ambivalent
about it. But neither can the
government ignore the day
altogether. Mr. Naidu has resolved to observe June 2 as a
day for Nava Nirmana Deeksha (building a new State).

AMARAVATHI TO BE ELEVATED |
PAGE 11

EMPOWER
On Pages 14 & 15

MLAs seek power to impeach L-G

Jatin Anand and
Mohammed Iqbal

travesty; I would suggest that

the Assembly look into the recommendations of the Sarkaria
NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Par- Commission and pass a resoluty MLAs on Tuesday demanded tion pushing for power to imamendment to the Constitution peach the Lieutenant Governor
to give Assemblies the power to just like Parliament has the
impeach Governors and Lieutenant Governors.
The demand came because of
the ongoing stand-off between
the Delhi Government and the
Lieutenant Governor, Najeeb
* Governor should be
Jung, on various issues and the
person from outside the
former accusing the L-G of tryState.
ing to render the democratically
* He should not have
elected government ineffective.
taken part in politics in
These back-to-back noticarecent past.
tions by means of which the
* Appointment should be
Centre is trying to encroach upmade from a panel prepared
on the rights of a democraticalby State Legislature, State
ly-elected Government are a

power to impeach the President, Dwarka MLA Adarsh

Shastri said in the House.
Mr. Shastri called the attention of the House to the recommendations of the Sarkaria
Commission of 1983 to seek an

Sarkaria recommendations
Government or Chief
Minister.
* Chief Minister should
be consulted before
appointing the Governor.
* PM should consult the
Vice-President and the Lok
Sabha Speaker in selection
of Governor.

amendment to Articles 155 and

156 of the Constitution which
pertain to the appointment and
tenure of a Governor (or Lieutenant Governor in the case of
Union Territories) respectively.
On the rst day of the emergency session convened to discuss the continuing impasse
between the Centre and the
Delhi Government, the Assembly saw reference to the
recommendations of Sarkaria
Commission that had sought to
tilt the balance between the two
entities in favour of the latter.
Mr. Shastri said he had sought
permission to table the resolution which, if passed, would be
forwarded to Parliament.

MORE REPORTS | PAGE 5

Centre to move SC
Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI: The Centre is set to

approach the Supreme Court

over a Delhi High Court judgment which termed as 'suspect' it's recent notication
that gave the Lieutenant
Governor massive powers
with regard to the administration of Delhi. A highly
placed source conrmed to
The Hindu that the Home
Ministry would approach the
Supreme Court for a clarication on the matter.
The High Court had on
Monday said that the L-G
must respect the mandate of
the people in all matters
which fall under the domain
of the Legislative Assembly.
It also observed that the Centre could not have issued a
notication in July last year
restricting the jurisdiction of
the Anti-Corruption Branch
only to officers working under the Delhi government as
it did not have the executive
authority to do so.
Speaking earlier in the day,
BJP president Amit Shah
said that the differences between the Delhi government
and the Centre were due to a
different interpretation of
the Constitution and the
matter will ultimately be settled in court.
It is not a confrontation
but a matter of interpretation of the Constitution. The
CM
YK

state government is doing it

in one way and the Centre in
another. The matter will go
to court and it will be settled
there, he said.
The BJP president was
asked about the Centre's tussle with the Delhi government over jurisdiction issues
and its alleged mistreatment at a time when the
Modi dispensation was talking up its measures to give
more power to States.
Speaking in Kolkata,
Home Minister Rajnath
Singh said that the BJP
would not create any hurdles
for the AAP government in
Delhi.

ND-ND