A Tale of Two Tyrants
FormerUS President DonaldTrump and Israel’s Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu had been bestfriends.Theyhadmuchcommon traits. TrumptorpedoedalargelyfunctionalnucleardealwithIranforNetanyahu and also moved the USembassytoJerusalem,thoughtherewastoughopposition fromallcorners of the world.Thetwoarenowlivingcontrastinglives undercontrasting politicalsystems. TodayTrumpbecamethefirstformerUSpresidenttobeformallychargedwith acrime, and he isnowexpectedtogothroughthatprocess.Ontheotherhand, Israel’s Prime Minister is facingcorruptionchargesofhisown.Hesomehowwrestledhisway backtopower.Hebroughtjudiciaryunderhiscontrol. He alsodismissedhisdefenceminister a day afterthelatterdissentedagainst thosereforms.Therearelikelychancesthat Trumpmaycontestnext2024election and maycomebacktopowernextyear.
Nazeer AhemedKazi
ProfSecab, Vijaypur, Karnataka
Kudos to JIH New Leadership
It’s a great pleasure to know that Syed Sadatullah Husaini has been re-elected as Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind for the next four years term. Mr. Husaini is a charismatic leader. We know him from his SIO days. He was National President of SIO for two consecutive terms. It is equally good Mr. T. Arif Ali has been retained as Secretary General of the organisation.
In the newly elected Central Advisory Council there are some new faces, about one-third of the body, but all are great leaders. May Allah bless all of them with wisdom and acumen, courage and strength to take the organisation to great heights. Ameen.
Zaheer Abbas
Nanded, Maharashtra
Growing Dissent against Manipur CM
There is a growing dissent against Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh’s leadership. Four BJP MLAs have tendered their resignations in April alone. But the party says there is ‘no threat’.
The bout of legislators quitting government posts began on April 13, when former cop and Heirok MLA Thokchom Radheshyam Singh resigned as the CM’s advisor, saying he had “not been given any responsibility”. In the week that followed, two more legislators –Langthabal MLA Karam Shyam and WangjingTentha MLA P Brojen Singh – quit their posts as heads of Manipur Tourism Corporation and Manipur Development Society, respectively. Thokchom Radheshyam and Karam Shyam had been Cabinet ministers in Biren’s first term. And, now on April 22, Uripok BJP MLA KhwairakpamRaghumani quit as chairman of Manipur Renewable Energy Development Agency (MANIREDA).
The churn is against the “highhandedness” in CM Biren’s style of functioning.The four legislators along with others are reportedly camping in Delhi to voice their grievances to the BJP high command.
- Kullajit
Imphal, Manipur
Mineral Exploration in Assam-Nagaland Border Areas
The Chief Minister of Nagaland Neiphiu Rio and his Assam counterpart HimantaBiswa Sarma last week held talks on settlement of border disputes, and agreed on exploring oil in disputed areas for economic benefit of both states. Both the leaders also discussed issues of mutual interests and collaboration on oil exploration along the inter-state border. But there is stiff opposition to this move. The Naga National Political Groups (NNPG), a grouping of six Naga outfits, has asked Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio “to withdraw any kind of agreement with Assam on disturbed, unresolved boundary areas and mineral exploration attempt therein, as it is guarded by Naga historical and political sanctity”.
The Working Committee of the NNPG says that oil exploration could not be taken up in Nagaland for quite some time as there has been a standoff on the exploration issue between the Centre and the state. It is high time the Centre resolved the issue in the interest of peace in the region.
Sharique Zaman
New Delhi