Letter from the Editor - In - Chief
Dear friends,
February 2012
Elections are going to be held in India for five states viz. Goa, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Punjab. The elections are important this year as they will be indicative of the mood of the people and will speak a lot about the prospects of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Eastern Panorama took the initiative to make an analysis of the present scenario in these five states so that our readers can get a clear picture of the state of affairs and the prospects of the main players in these elections.
Whenever there are elections, there are always tall promises by the candidates, some of which are impossible to meet. For instance, Mamata Banerjee, the President of Trinamool Congress, while campaigning in Manipur, has promised that her party will seek the removal of the infamous Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from the state. However, it seems that Ms. Banerjee has conveniently forgot that the AFSPA is not under the purview of the State Government, rather, its removal will rest entirely on the Government of India. Similarly, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has stated that if his party is voted to power in Uttar Pradesh, all rape victims will be given government jobs while rapists will be put in jail. The final goal of politicians is to win elections and capture power and they will resort to any means besides making preposterous promises to that end. It is the duty of an enlightened electorate to look beyond the jargon and elect the most capable candidates to power regardless of what promises they have or have not made. Only then will we truly see India reach its potential. The electorate has to look beyond petty and short term gains and think holistically while choosing their representatives.
We also witnessed a historical event on the 11th of January this year when the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina Wajed visited Agartala. Somebody has rightly said that we can not change our neighbours and geographical location. It is a fact that Bangladesh was a part of India till independence and consequent to the partition of the country, the existing trade routes were disturbed and a hostile Bangladesh government harboured terrorism in its land. When Sheikh Hasina Wajed came to power in Bangladesh, all this came to an end as she is perceived to be pro – India. She has helped in clearing the training camps in her country which belong to ULFA and other insurgent groups. The time has come for India to develop good trade relations with Bangladesh which will be a win – win situation for both countries. In this context, Sheikh Hasina’s visit to Agartala was a historical event since it is for the very first time that a Prime Minister of Bangladesh has visited a state in India’s North East Region.