Wordsmiths & Newsplumbers

BY R.K.MISRA Pebble-stirred ripples both caution and crush. In either case they leave a lasting impact.  Three news items that appeared in the course of this week bear eloquent testimony to it. The first, pertains to the account of Lt Gen.Zameer Uddin Shah(retd.) who had been dispatched at the head of a 3000 strong army contingent to control the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat. His memoirs only confirm, what is internally well known, that the response of the state administration was ’tardy’ and   that   the army was delayed transport for over a day despite a request to the then chief minister, Narendra Modi. The former vice-chief of the army staff said that the sequence of events has been recorded in the ‘war diaries ‘ of the army. General S. Padmanabhan, the then chief of Army Staff had backed the assertions of Shah. Thus it is that crucial time was lost in the statewide deployment of the army while the cops gave a free hand to the rioting mobs targeting the minoriti

BY R.K.MISRA   From Vibrant Gujarat to migrant Gujarat, this state of the Mahatma and now Modi has come full circle. What began as majoritarian politics through communal cleaving two decades ago has now turned into narrow regionalism with the singling out of migrants. The mass exodus from Gujarat of people from the neighbouring   election- bound states of Madhya Pradesh and   Rajasthan besides Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar turned into a torrent recently, paralyzing trade, industry and   even home services at the very peak of business time- Diwali. And there is little hope of their return till very much after. Industries in Gujarat are clearly fearful that this exodus will take a heavy economic toll. The Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry President, Jaimin Vasa has shot off a letter to chief minister Vijay Rupani requesting him to ensure the safety of migrant workers who form the bulk of the work force in industries here.”This season is a major business oppo

BY R.K.MISRA The death of 24 lions in as many days in Sasan Gir is evidence of the systemic failure of the western India state of Gujarat to look after these mighty cats and its false pride in not relocating some of them to neighbouring Madhya Pradesh. The worst fears of the Supreme Court, which ruled in favour of an alternate home for Asiatic lions in Madhya Pradesh five years ago, seem to be coming true. Twenty four lions have perished in the last 24 days ending October 15 in their only home of Sasan Gir in Gujarat.   The government, which initially tried to cover this up by attributing the deaths to infighting, has now been forced to admit that many were caused by canine distemper and babesiosis infection. Based on a PIL, the Supreme Court on October 3 questioned Gujarat and the centre over these deaths. “This is extremely serious...so many lions have died”, observed a bench headed by Justice Madan B Lokur. “Lions must be protected. Why so many deaths...you must f

BY R.K.MISRA Gujarat is the flavor of the Indian season. Mahatma Gandhi, the   man who won us independence is Gujarat’s gift to India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi who flagged off the country’s year long ,high profile celebration of the Mahatma’s 150 th birth anniversary on October 2,2018, hails from here   as does Amit Shah who runs the ruling BJP .There are two state Governors and additionally a long line of bureaucrats, technocrats and politicians   from the state doing duty in Delhi and around the country . Two days before he kicked off , the India-wide celebrations, the Prime Minister spent a busy day in Gujarat on September 30 with a   slew of back to back engagements. One of them was the inauguration of the World class museum at the Alfred High School in Rajkot   where the Mahatma had studied. Just   two kms from it is the Rashtriya Shaala , a 97 year old school founded by Gandhiji which closed down for want of funds two months ago.   There were over a thousand