7 lookouts for '07
With barely a couple of days to go, another momentous and memorable year will come to a close and an action packed New Year awaits us. While 2006 had its share of politicking, wars, scandals, sporting triumphs and tragedy, 2007 offers more of the same. Here is a sample of the seven events to look out for in the New Year.
Election time in UP and Punjab
Election time in UP and Punjab
Undoubtedly, the major news making event of the year will be the elections for the state legislature in UP. Considered as the most crucial state in national politics, the UP elections will have politicians, psephologists, news watchers and analysts alike eagerly waiting for the run up and the outcome of these elections. What makes the elections even more interesting is the lack of a clear frontrunner in the electoral fray. A new coalition based on the electoral arithmetic amongst the BJP, Congress, SP and BSP seems to be in the offing. But with the twists and turns of politics in the state being more unpredictable than the weather, this is one event where putting ones money on any party is at one’s own peril!
The second election battle will see arch enemies in Punjab take on each other. With this being the last chance for Shromani Akali Dal leader Prakash Singh Badal to wrest the chief minister’s post from the Congress’ current incumbent Amrinder Singh, the battle will be a no holds barred affair with chances of a hung assembly likely. If either party manages a clear mandate, it will certainly be curtains for the losing side. A strong Akali come back would certainly mean the end of the road for Amrinder, with either Deputy CM Rajinder Kaur Bhattal or state Congress chief Shamsher Singh Dullo being given the baton to pursue the post electoral fallout. A Congress win would ensure that Badal Senior will have to let go of his position at the helm of Akali politics and make way for a new leader. Whether the new leader will be son Sukhbir or some other old hand of the Akalis remains to be seen. Then again by coronating his son, Badal may actually increase factionalism in the volatile Akali grouping.
Cricket World Cup
The biggest sporting event of the year will definitely be the Cricket World Cup in the West Indies. With the current favourites and champions Australia looking menacingly ruthless in destroying any opposition the signs are ominous for India who find themselves in the same grouping as the world champs. India too will need all the help it can get to come out of the rut of poor form it finds itself in and start getting ready for the challenge that presents itself in the Caribbean. An Indian victory may be far fetched but it’s the desire of every Indian. Will men in blue do their due?
Quota Raj
2007 will see a definite political uproar over the implementation of quotas for OBC’s in government educational institutions and the possibility of implementation of the recommendations of the Sachar Committee on Muslims and minorities. With the summer protests against quotas from students still afresh in public memory the coming unrest is a definite event in the 2007 calendar.
The future of Iraq
Iraq will continue to dominate headlines in the coming year. With the likelihood of a Saddam execution and a new strategy on Iraq by Bush to be carried out in the New Year, all eyes will be on Iraq and its deteriorating security situation. Will Bush change tracks and go for a new military and political policy in Iraq? Analysts say it is not a question of if but when. Are you listening Mr. Bush?
Blair to step down
British Prime Minister Tony Blair will make way for a new premier at 10 Downing Street later in 2007. With his departure, the New Labour revolution of Blair and Brown will see a continuation under sometime friend and sometime foe Gordon Brown, the current Chancellor of the Exchequer. How tumultuous or smooth will the transition be? Also, if rumors are to be believed Blair might be getting an international assignment to broker peace in the Middle East once he demits office. Watch this space for more.
A new French President
A new French President
After Germany got Angela Merkel last year will 2007 see a female French President? With current defense minister Michele Alliot-Marie announcing her bid for presidency the race has just gotten interesting. Her opponent is the Socialist Party’s Sergolene Royal, who is generating considerable interest amongst the French electorate. But the man to beat will be the interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy. With his strong nationalist message and a clampdown on lawlessness and illegal immigration he is a rage amongst the centre and right of centre of the French political spectrum.
Technology
If 2006 was all about blogging and YouTube, 2007 will have more technological innovations and products up its sleeve. With the Windows new operating system Vista ready to hit shelves soon, the PC will certainly undergo a change (At least that’s what Microsoft hopes for!). Also, the eagerly awaited Sony Playstation 3 will be available early next year, and the gamers are gearing up for that prospect. TV on your mobile may become a reality in 2007 with 3G and IPTV making its way to India on a mass consumer level. The year will surely also see a fall in prices of Plasma TV’s, which hopefully will make it affordable for all of us! More importantly will 2007 signal the end of the cablewallahs with the coming of DTH and CAS?
So, 2007 promises to be an exciting year whether you’re a news buff, sports freak or a techie. These events are only the planned ones; one really wonders what will be the real surprises ‘07 throws up. Any guesses?
posted by Karan Thakur @ 2:39 AM
1 Comments:
At 3:19 PM,
Hyderabadi guy said…
THE HISTORY OF MAJLIS ITTEHADUL MUSLIMEEN PARTY IN HYDERABAD
The grip of the Majlis-e-ittehadul Muslimeen on the community remains strong, With a Member representing Hyderabad in the Lok Sabha, five members in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly, 40 corporators in Hyderabad and 95-plus members elected to various municipal bodies in Andhra Pradesh, the All-India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen is one of the foremost representatives of the city’s Muslims and the most powerful Muslim party in India and one can see the partys strenghth if it goes to Hyderabad old city and Parts of Muslim Dominated Villages of Andhra Pradesh everywhere u look u can see MIM written on walls ,lightpoles and buildings leaving aside green flags and posters of its Leadership and there small Offices . The Majlis has brought lot of development to the Old part of the city even after it is said it hasnt done anything by its opponents who are mostly Ex Majlis workers.The Majlis was formed in 1927 “for educational and social uplift of Muslims”. But it articulated the position that “the ruler and throne (Nizam) are symbols of the political and cultural rights of the Muslim community… (and) this status must continue forever”.The Majlis pitted itself against the Andhra Mahasabha and the communists who questioned the feudal order that sustained the Nizam’s rule. It also bitterly opposed the Arya Samaj, which gave social and cultural expression to the aspirations of the urban Hindu population in the Hyderabad State of those days.By the mid-1940s, the Majlis had come to represent a remarkably aggressive and violent face of Muslim communal politics as it organised the razakars (volunteers) to defend the “independence” of this “Muslim” State from merger with the Indian Union.According to historians, over 1,50,000 such `volunteers’ were organised by the Majlis for the Nizam State’s defence but they are remembered for unleashing unparalleled violence against Communal Hindus and the communists and all those who opposed the Nizam’s “go it alone” policy. It is estimated that during the height of the razakar `agitation’, over 30,000 people had taken shelter in the Secunderabad cantonment alone to protect themselves from these `volunteers’.But the razakars could do little against the Indian Army and even put up a fight. Kasim Rizvi, the Majlis leader, was imprisoned and the organisation banned in 1948. Rizvi was released in 1957 on the undertaking that he would leave for Pakistan in 48 hours. Before he left though, Rizvi met some of the erstwhile activists of the Majlis and passed on the presidentship to Abdul Wahed Owaisi, a famous lawyer and an Islamic scholar from jamia nizamia who also was jailed for nearly 10 months after he took over the Majlis leadership as the then govt wanted to abolish the Majlis party but Owaisi refused to do so and was seen as a person who had financially supported the party when it was a bankrupt and weak one after the Police Action in Hyderabad State.Owaisi is credited with having “re-written” the Majlis constitution according to the provisions of the Indian Constitution and “the realities of Muslim minority in independent India”, and fought the legal case for winning back darrusslam mim headquarters for years according to a former journalist, Chander Srivastava. For the first decade-and-a-half after this “reinvention”, the Majlis remained, at best, a marginal player in Hyderabad politics and even though every election saw a rise in its vote share, it could not win more than one Assembly seat.The 1970s saw an upswing in Majlis’ political fortunes. In 1969, it won back its party headquarters, Dar-us-Salaam — a sprawling 4.5-acre compound in the heart of the New City. It also won compensation which was used to set up an ITI on the premises and a women’s degree college in Nizamabad town. In 1976, Salahuddin Owaisi took over the presidentship of the Majlis after his father’s demise who also was also Jailed Various times .This started an important phase in the history of the Majlis as it continued expanding its educational institutions,Hospitals,Banks, including the first Muslim minority Engineering College and Medical College. Courses in MBA, MCA ,Nursing, Pharmacy and other professional degrees followed and now a daily newspaper known as Etemaad Daily. The 1970s were also a watershed in Majlis’ history as after a long period of 31 years, Hyderabad witnessed large-scale communal rioting in 1979. The Majlis came to the forefront in “defending” Muslim life and property Majlis workers could be seen at these moments defending the properties of Muslims in the wake of riots and these workers were very hard even for the police to control them even now it is a known fact that there are nearly about 2500 units of strong members who only act if there is a seirous threat to the Owaisi family and these members are under the direct orders of the Owaisi family which leads the Majlis party leaving aside thousands of workers and informers throughout the State and even outside the country far away till America and the Gulf countries.Salahuddin Owaisi, also known as “Salar-e-Millat” (commander of the community), has repeatedly alleged in his speeches that the Indian state has “abandoned” the Muslims to their fate. Therefore, “Muslims should stand on their own feet, rather than look to the State for help'’, he argues.This policy has been an unambiguous success in leveraging the Majlis today to its position of being practically the “sole spokesman” of the Muslims in Hyderabad and its environs.Voting figures show this clearly. From 58,000 votes in the 1962 Lok Sabha elections for the Hyderabad seat, Majlis votes rose to 1,12,000 in 1980. The clear articulation of this “stand on one’s feet” policy in education and `protection’ during riots doubled its vote-share by 1984. Salahuddin Owaisi won the seat for the first time, polling 2.22 lakh votes. This vote-share doubled in the 1989 Lok Sabha elections to over four lakhs.The Majlis has since continued its hold on the Hyderabad seat winning about five-and-a-half lakh votes each time.Despite remarkable economic prosperity and negligible communal violence in the past decade, the hold of the Majlis on the Muslims of Hyderabad remains, despite minor dents. And despite widespread allegations of Majlis leaders having “made money”, most ordinary Muslims continue to support them because, as one bank executive put it “they represent our issues clearly and unambiguously'’. An old Historian Bakhtiyar khan says the Owaisi family was a rich family even before entering Politics and he says he had seen the late Majlis leader Abdul Wahed Owaisi in an American Buick car at a time when rarely cars were seen on Hyderabad Roads and the family had strong relations with the ersthwhile Nizams of Hyderabad and the Paighs even now the family is considered to be one of the richest familes in Hyderabad.A university teacher says that the Majlis helped Muslims live with dignity and security at a time when they were under attack and even took the fear out of them after the Police action and adds that he has seen Majlis leaders in the front at times confronting with the Police and the Govt. Asaduddin Owaisi, the articulate UK educated barrister from Lincolns Inn College son of Salahuddin Owaisi and Former leader of the Majlis’ Legislature party and now an MP himself who has travelled across the globe meeting world leaders and organizatons and even in war zones compares the Majlis to the Black Power movement of America.The Majlis that emerged after 1957 is a completely different entity from its pre-independence edition, he says adding that comparisons with that bloody past are “misleading and mischievous”. “That Majlis was fighting for state power, while we have no such ambitions or illusions”.He stoutly defends the need for “an independent political voice” for the minorities, which is willing to defend them and project their issues “firmly”.“How can an independent articulation of minority interests and aspirations be termed communal,” he asks and contests any definition of democracy which questions the loyalty of minorities if they assert their independent political identity. “We are a threat not only to the BJP and Hindu communalism, but also to Muslim extremism,” Asaduddin claims. “By providing a legitimate political vent for Muslims to voice their aspirations and fears, we are preventing the rise of political extremism and religious obscurantism when the community is under unprecedented attack from Hindu communalists and the state'’. He can be seen in his speeches speaking against terrorism in the Country and says if the time arises Majlis will stand side by side in defending the Nation and Recently Majlis ittehadul Muslimeen MP Asaduddin Owaisi has Visited Lebanon after the war with israel and met the leaders of the resistance group Hezbollah and he has even visited Bombay and Malegaon Muslims and raised there issues in Parliament and has even represented the police torture victims to the Prime Minister and has given aid From Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen Party Fund.
Post a Comment
<< Home