Friday, October 28, 2011

Dhanteras dhamaka puts spotlight on another Bihar

Manoj Chaurasia / The Statesman
PATNA, 28 OCT: As politicians in the state campaign for special category status for Bihar citing its “economic backwardness”, the ostentatious display of wealth during Dhanteras seemed to indicate that the East Indian state is passing through an economic boom.


While market watchers were expecting a shrinkage of 25-30 per cent in sales volumes owing to the rising inflation and a slowdown in US and European markets, Bihar is estimated to have spent around Rs 1,000 crores on costly items like diamond, gold, cars, and electronic goods on a single day.


On Dhanteras, buying precious metals is considered very auspicious.Those working in the bullion market were particularly surprised by the growth in precious metal sales, while were 25 to 30 per cent more than last year.


Gold and silver sales topped the list, despite the fact that gold and silver prices have increased by Rs 8,000 and Rs 21,000 per kg respectively over the last year. Combined gold and silver sales stood at Rs 310 crore, while diamond jewellry sales stood at Rs 200 crore across the state.


The craze among customers for precious metals is underlined by the fact that the State Bank of India had set a target of selling 52 kg of gold coins in the state, but jewellers in Patna alone sold gold and silver coins worth over Rs 75 crore, according to reports in the local media.


Last year during Dhanteras, jewellry sales in Patna were Rs 42 crore, a new record then.


“There was an unusual enthusiasm among customers to purchase gold and silver this year, something that we never expected. We really did very brisk business,” said Mr Sunil Kumar, the owner of Shyam Jewellery in the state capital.


The automobile markets also showed a boom with record sales of around 1,800 cars and 9,100 motorbikes across the state on Dhanteras by leading automobile dealers. Last year, some 1,500 cars were sold during this occasion.


The car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki took the lead selling 750 cars, followed by Mahindra Motors and Tata Motors which sold 500 and 350 cars, respectively.


Experts had also expected a slump in the car market this year, predicting a contraction in sales of 20 to 25 per cent in comparison to last year. Instead, leading automobile dealers registered a single day turnover in excess of Rs 70 crore.


Over Rs 300 crore of electronic gadgets were sold, and Rs 5 crore worth of utensils.The government said that people across the state withdrew around Rs 400 crore from different bank ATMs on the evening before Dhnateras and the day itself, double the amount people withdrew from banks last year in the same period.


According to official statistics, Rs 268 crore was withdrawn from the country’s leading State Bank of India alone through its 704 ATMs in the state.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Hate the sin, love the sinner, Nitish style!



Bihar chief minister Mr Nitish Kumar meeting Mrs Kavita Singh, the newly-elected legislator wife of alleged gangster Ajay Singh (in kurta-payjama sitting next to his wife with vermillion mark on his face) at his official residence in Patna on Tuesday. Singh who is accused in at least 24 criminal cases was denied ticket by the JD-U on the ground of his being a history sheeter but the CM was very quick to meet him.

http://thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=387080&catid=36




Manoj Chaurasia / The Statesman

Patna: “Hate the sin, love the sinner”, said Mahatma Gandhi.



Bihar chief minister Mr Nitish Kumar appeared to be closely following this ideology of the great Mahatma when he spared time from his busy official schedule to give an audience to an alleged dreaded gangster, Ajay Singh, who rushed to the chief minister’s official residence in Patna yesterday with his newly-elected legislator wife in tow.



The couple said they had gone to the chief minister to seek his blessings.


The alleged gangster’s wife, Mrs Kavita Singh, had won the by-election to the Daraundha Assembly seat in Siwan district on Monday, defeating her rival RJD candidate with a comfortable margin of over 20,000 votes in the election.



But quite like her fairy-tale victory which she had, perhaps, never imagined so early in her married life, her marriage, too, was a dream affair.



Barely few days into her married life, she had to enter the poll arena on the order of her ‘gangster’ husband, who was denied ticket to the Daraundha seat, that fell vacant following the death of his mother Jagmato Devi.



Curiously, Mr Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) had denied a ticket to Singh, then a bachelor, on the ground that he had been a history-sheeter. Singh is said to be an accused in around 24 crminal cases lodged with various police stations of the state.



Instead, he was reportedly advised by the JD-U to get married soon to avail the party ticket as the party felt there was no risk in giving the ticket to his wife keeping in view the fact that many other parties, too, had adopted this policy in the past.



Such was the political compulsion that the alleged gangster hurriedly gave advertisements in the local dailies for his marriage, which mentioned in details certain “qualifications” for his would-be bride.



Instead of giving preference for her complexion, height or educational qualifications, the unusual advertisement mentioned that “the bride’s name should be in the voter’s list and she must have a voter’s Identity Card as well”.



The advertisement also made it mandatory for the prospective bride to be at least 20 years old, who also must be from a political family.



Reports said some 16 girls responded to this advertisement, but Singh preferred Kavita Singh, a 25-year-old post-graduate student from JP University, Chapra since she fulfilled all the conditions mentioned in the advertisement.



Bride found, Singh hurriedly married the girl at a local temple even without waiting to pass the “inauspicious” pitripaksha period, during which all kinds of Hindu rituals stand suspended.



The problem for the man was that had he waited for this “inauspicious” time to roll by, the deadline for the nomination filling would have been passed.



As if the JD-U was just waiting for their marriage, the party hurriedly announced a ticket for Kavita the moment the news of their marriage reached the party leadership.



Eventually, she came out with flying colours with the strong ground-works of the party, especially the chief minister, who, himself, addressed at least three election rallies in her support.



At the end though, the “inauspicious” time of the marriage proved lucky for her.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Advani yatra: Politics overshadows the mission

Manoj Chaurasia

BJP veteran LK Advani’s much-hyped rath yatra against corruption which began from socialist leader Jayprakash Narayan’s birthplace on October 11 may have passed off peacefully in Bihar as compared to his 1990 Ram Rath Yatra which was stopped midway and the yatri on the rath arrested by the then chief minister Lalu Prasad but this has brought into sharp focus many discrepancies. Especially, it has thrown much light on the kind of “relationship” between the partners in power, the JD-U and the BJP.

The first thing that was noticed by one and all was the way the Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar behaved with the “host”, ie the BJP which is his junior alliance partner in power, during the launch as well as flagging-off ceremony of Advani’s yatra, giving no sign of having willingly chosen to be present at the function which was purely BJP’s.

Although it’s still not clear what exactly prompted Kumar to flag off Advani’s yatra yet he did not looked quite at ease among the saffron brigades on the dais despite the fact that BJP leaders and the crowds were more focused on the Bihar chief minister saying words of praises quite more frequently than the man who was there to kick-start his 7,600 km-long nation-wide tour against graft.

But instead of being thankful to the host who gave him so much respect, Kumar looked quite concerned despite sporting a smiling face and was often seen giving explanations to the crowds as to why he was there.

“I agreed (to flag off his yatra) because corruption is a burning issue today and Advani is embarking on his tour to create awareness among the masses about corruption”, he went on giving this explanation at both the public meetings that he addressed with a host of BJP leaders although his own JD-U leaders were conspicuous by their absence even though his party had officially declared its support to Advani’s yatra.

A peculiar situation arose when Kumar ~ apparently taking a cue from his arch-rival and Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi who was present neither in person not in BJP’s publicity materials anywhere in Bihar ~ refused to accept badge as well as a saffron shawl offered by the BJP.

He did so apparently out of apprehension that accepting those things could badly dent his carefully-cultivated “secular” image among his voters. Neither the BJP nor the JD-U has made any comment over the issue but the local TV footages bare it all.

TV grabs being aired on local news channels show Kumar on the dais without any badge on his kurta although every BJP leader sitting along side him in the front row are seen smartly sporting them.

Also many of the BJP leaders in the TV footages are seen sporting saffron coloured shawls around their neck in sharp contrast to Kumar who is seen keeping a white shawl.

Although the BJP leaders are tightlipped over the issue, reports in the local media say the Bihar chief minister was offered a white coloured shawl as he refused to accept saffron which is associated with the BJP.

Earlier, Modi, during the three-day goodwill fast in Ahmadabad held last month, had refused a skull cap offered by a sufi saint at the dais. Both Modi and Kumar are sworn rivals and are said to be strong contenders for the post of Prime Minister within the NDA.

Again Kumar was seen beckoning the labour resources minister in his government Janardan Singh Sigriwal and directing him to remove the flower pot put before him on a table kept at the dais which he hurriedly did but the message has not gone down well within the BJP. This happened at a public meeting which had been organized at the Chapra ground where Advani’s rath yatra was formally flagged off by the chief minister.

As if they were not enough, the chief minister also got removed a particular poster put on the dais depicting a crowned Advani sitting on a horse-driven chariot with a bow in hand in the role of Arjuna with Bihar chief minister as legendary Krishna driving the chariot, a typical reminiscent of the great war of Mahabharata.

Analysts say the Bihar chief minister did all that since he being a potential candidate in the race for the Prime Minister, does not want to be identified with the saffron forces fearing that could disturb his Muslim vote bank.

Last year, the chief minister had cancelled dinner which he had hosted in honour of the visiting BJP dignitaries during the party national executive meet organized at Patna and also returned Rs 5 crore cheque to the Gujarat government, forcing the Advani to make a caustic remarks at Kumar, at a public rally held at Gandhi Maidan the end of the meet, and recalling how he had greeted Kumar when he had come to attend the BJP convention at Mumbai.

The chief minister took the extreme step soon after the BJP inserted ads in the local newspapers showing Kumar shaking hands with Gujarat chief minister.

However, the present developments in Bihar have proved at least one thing that there is no permanent friend or foe in politics or perhaps, politics is the name of game most of which parts remain hidden from public eyes...