THE struggling left and democratic masses of Tripura must not let their guard down after the formation of the Left Front government in the state for an 8TH term in the ensuing election, but they must continue their struggle to enthuse the people of the country in forming a pro-people alternative government in Delhi in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Chief Minister Manik Sarkar told a mammoth rally called by the Scheduled Caste Coordination Committee in Agartala on October 29.  Agartala had never seen such a huge and lively gathering of the Scheduled Caste community before.

THE thousands that had turned out at the Deshabandhu maidan in Tamil Nadu’s Virudhunagar on September 17 braving an overcast sky and incessant showers, to mark the conclusion of the NPRD’s second conference, reflected the confidence that the disabled people of Tamil Nadu and the country reposed in the NPRD. In the NPRD and its affiliates they saw the embodiment of their hopes and aspirations.

“I salute this land of deras” – this is how Narendra Modi started his address to an election rally in Sirsa in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. And his opening sentence in another election rally in Jind during the campaign was: “I salute this land of Khaps!” There remains no doubt about the complicity of the BJP government in Haryana after the orgy of arson and violence following the August 25 conviction, by a Panchkula-based special CBI court, of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet alias Ram Rahim for rape of his two followers.

AFTER several protests and noises over the ill-advised move to impose GST on a range of aids and appliances used by the disabled, finally the government responded and issued a press statement on July 4. What we get as a clarification is a misrepresentation of facts and an attempt to mislead the gullible.Even while the figures are disputed, the 2011 census places the count of the disabled population in the country at 2.1 per cent of the population. The vast majority of them come from poor economic backgrounds which is one of leading causes for disability.

“HUM paanch, Hamare pachees” - Narendra Modi himself mocked the Muslim community. The slogan ‘Hum do hamare do’ (we two, our two) implied a couple of wife and husband having two children. Modi meant that a Muslim man generally was having four wives, this counted to five and these five persons were having a total twenty-five children. The then chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi made this comment in 2002. In February of that year, we witnessed the carnage in Gujarat after Godhra incident.  The election was after few months.  In several places, he was delivering speeches at that time.