(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Notes from South Asia: Attacks on Opposition in India and Pakistan, Environmental Issues in Nepal [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-02-02 Hello, everyone. Good morning, afternoon or evening, and welcome to this edition of Notes from South Asia. You can find all the articles in the series here (along with my other diaries). Today we will see how Indian government has stepped up attacks on opposition politicians in the wake of elections, how Pakistan follows the script of past history, and Nepal grapples with governance. India BJP and the Opposition In the past few weeks, one opposition leader has left the INDIA alliance (opposition alliance) and joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) National Democratic Alliance (NDA) throwing the opposition into disarray. He may have been a Trojan horse as an analyst reckoned, or maybe he saw which way the wind is blowing. Or there may have been private threats given that another Chief Minister (now, ex Chief Minister) was arrested just yesterday on claims of corruption. Meanwhile thuggery among BJP supporters in the uncivil society continue. Amarnath Tewary reports for the Hindu about Nitish Kumar switching sides in Bihar: Nitish Kumar switches sides yet again, takes oath as Bihar CM Janata Dal (United) president Nitish Kumar took oath as Bihar Chief Minister for a record ninth time on Sunday, returning to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance just 18 months after he left it, in his fifth switch in political loyalties since 2015. Six Ministers and two Deputy Chief Ministers, both from the BJP, were also sworn in with him. Mr. Kumar said his latest switch was “in the interest of Bihar”. The BJP said that its renewed “alliance with the JD(U) happened for the development of Bihar”. The Rashtriya Janata Dal, which Mr. Kumar has broken up with again, said, “The game is not over yet”, predicting the JD(U)‘s demise as a party. Since November 2005, Mr. Kumar has been making repeated political turnarounds to remain the CM of Bihar, apart from a brief hiatus after his party’s poor performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha election. The BJP politicians who have been criticising Mr. Kumar for some time now, toned down their attacks in the days leading up to his switch and are now praising him. Mr. Kumar last came to power along with the BJP after the 2020 Assembly election, but then snapped his ties and instead formed the mahagathbandhan government in August 2022, along with the RJD, Congress, and Left parties. Political-strategist-turned-activist Prashant Kishor, who had earlier had announced that Mr. Kumar would make another turnaround before the 2024 Lok Sabha poll, said, “Now Nitish Kumar is widely recognized as sardar (chief) of palturams (turncoats). However, today’s development showed that all politicians in Bihar are palturams.” He offered a dismal forecast for Mr. Kumar’s political future. “This formation in which Nitish Kumar is the face of the NDA won’t exist until the Assembly elections in Bihar next year. I can give you this in writing,” he said. “The change will happen within six months of the Lok Sabha poll [likely to be held in April-May 2024],” Mr. Kishor quipped. Perhaps. My own estimate is that if BJP wins 2024, they will change the country’s name, the constitution, and the flag, perhaps starting August 2024. They might also dismiss state governments for a one nation, one poll election. They could do this for 2024 elections itself though for now, it seems too soon. They are laying the ground for the flag and constitution thing (and the name change). The Enforcement Directorate, the central government’s investigative agency that investigates people for money laundering, has arrested Mr. Hemant Soren, chief minister of Jharkhand and a member of opposition alliance. Amit Bhelary reports. The Enforcement Directorate on January 31 arrested Hemant Soren in a land scam case soon after he resigned as Jharkhand Chief Minister. The resignation came after the ED officials questioned him for more than seven hours at his official residence in Ranchi. Jharkhand Governor C.P. Radhakrishnan has accepted his resignation. He has challenged his arrest in the Jharkhand High Court. The hearing will take place on February 1. Many tribal bodies issued a call for a bandh on February 1 to protest against the arrest. Senior Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader and Transport Minister Champai Soren was elected leader of the Legislature Party soon after Mr. Hemant Soren’s resignation. Mr. Champai Soren is a five-time MLA from Seraikela. and in the 1990s, he actively took part in the movement for the creation of a separate State of Jharkhand along with JMM patron Shibu Soren. The Jharkhand ruling coalition still has a majority, so they will form a government again with Mr Champai Soren (no relation) as chief minister. They are Adivasis or tribals. Jharkhand is tribe dominated state. Arvind Kejriwal, the leader of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has also been summoned by the ED. Same for the leader of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), which is part of opposition alliance in Bihar. As the Hindu editorial notes: Change in Jharkhand: On political leaders under the ED’s scanner That said, ED investigations have now established a pattern that fits perfectly with the political designs of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Mr. Soren’s arrest follows the reengineering of the alliance in Bihar that brought the BJP back to power, where the Governor acted swiftly to facilitate it. As on multiple occasions, leaders under the ED’s scanner magically turned clean once they joined hands with the BJP. The distinction that central agencies make sometimes appears to be not between the corrupt and the clean, but whether one is with the BJP or not. BJP is also messing with elections. An election Chandigarh for the post of Mayor, where the opposition (AAP-Indian National Congress) alliance had a clear majority was declared in favour of BJP, with the claim that eight votes cast were invalid. Vikas Vasudeva reports. BJP candidate Manoj Sonkar won the post of Mayor by securing 16 votes, including the vote of Chandigarh Lok Sabha MP. Kuldeep Tita of the Aam Admi Party (AAP), who was backed by the Congress councillors, managed only 12 votes as the presiding officer declared eight votes “invalid”. The BJP has 14 councillors in the 35-member Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. The AAP has 13 councillors and the Congress seven. The Shiromani Akali Dal has one councillor. Creating a ruckus after the Mayor election, the Congress and the AAP boycotted the election to the posts of Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor, allowing the BJP candidates to win without a contest. In twitter there is a video of what happened. The Presiding Officer declared eight votes illegal, the BJP candidate was brought in and placed on the chair and the PO ran away with the ballots without allowing it to be verified while the Councillors protested. The AAP-INC alliance has challenged the decision in Punjab and Haryana High Court. (Not sure it was a good idea to boycott the election for Deputy Mayor posts though). Hindu Supremacy and Uncivil Society Both the central agencies and the uncivil society are going after people resisting Hindu Supremacy. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raided Harsh Mander’s (a renowned and trusted activist for peace and equity) organisation today. The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday raided the office of research and advocacy organisation Centre for Equity Studies and the home of its director, activist Harsh Mander, people familiar with the developments said. The raids are being carried out in a fresh case of alleged violations of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, Scroll has learnt. The Central Bureau of Investigation has questioned several persons in connection with the case as part of its preliminary enquiry. [...] In June, the Union home ministry had suspended the think tank’s Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act licence for 180 days. The ministry had said that Mander was regularly writing columns for newspapers such as The Indian Express, The Hindu, The Wire, the Hindustan Times, The Quint and Scroll. The government alleged that Mander accepted foreign contributions amounting to Rs 12,64,671 from 2011-’12 to 2017-’18 as “professional receipts/ payments from the FCRA account of the association [Centre for Equity Studies]”. This, the home ministry said, violated the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act. I don’t know what has writing for newspapers got to do with FCRA violation but if I remember correctly, the decision to not renew FCRA license for Centre for Policy Research last week or the week before also mentioned something about the research centre focusing on current affairs. It was also targeted for allegedly funding environmental protests against Adani (which apparently is a violation of FCRA rules). A resident welfare association president in Delhi has asked Indian National Congress (INC) politician Mani Shankar Aiyar and his daughter to move out following a Facebook post by his daughter condemning the Ram Temple at Ayodhya. Samridhi Tewari rights for the Hindu. Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar and his daughter Suranya Aiyar have received a notice to vacate their house in southeast Delhi’s Jungpura area over a social media post condemning the Pran Pratishtha at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya that took place on January 22. The notice, issued by the Jangpura Extension Welfare Association’s RWA urged them to not indulge in any kind of rant that may disturb the peace of residents or hurt their religious sentiments. “As a Residents’ Welfare Association [RWA] it is our responsibility to see that there is cordial relation between all the residents and we do not appreciate a resident rant which may disturb the peace in the colony or hurt religious sentiments of the residents,” the notice said. [...] The notice further said, “a hate speech and act by a resident like you Ms. Aiyar for announcing a three-day fast, in a peace-loving locality where, mostly residents inhabitating here came from Pakistan after losing all their wealth and fortune, is highly unfortunate.” The notice said, in case, you still thought your protest against the consecration of Ram mandir was fine, “we would suggest you to kindly move out to another colony, where people and RWAs can turn a blind eye to hatred.” On January 20, in a Facebook post, Ms. Aiyar claimed that she is fasting in protest against the Pran Pratishtha ceremony of the Ram temple. She claimed this was an expression of love and sorrow to fellow Muslim citizens. RWAs are non-governmental organisations catering to the residents of a “specific urban or suburban locality” as per wikipedia (the bit in quotes is directly from the wiki). As per the article, many of the RWA network are not happy with the JEWA President’s notice and say that he is just promoting views from the ruling party. Anil Goswami, Secretary at the Jangpura RWA, said, “In Jangpura, we residents have lived in harmony for decades. This notice has created a lot of tension in our neighbourhood. If one has problems with somebody’s beliefs, we cannot keep issuing letters and notices like this.” RWA president B.S. Monu Chadha said, “This is shameful because of a certain somebody’s political inclination, one has to keep quiet, they are even threatened to leave the colony, where people of all communities have lived in peace. We have celebrated Id and Deepavali together, but today, this is what people have to see.” Institutions in Kerala do not seem to be much better. Korah Abraham reports for The News Minute that a student was suspended for protesting the temple in Calicut’s National Institute of Technology. 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