Did Anna achieve much? Do we really trust political class?

A visibly calm Anna Hazare though looked
exhausted after 12-day-long fast today hailed Parliament’s nod on key
elements of Jan Lokpal Bill as “people’s victory” and declared that poll reforms will be on top of his next agenda to fight corruption menace at its roots.
"I will not rest until all the changes that I
look to are achieved,” he said to a thunderous applause from thousands of his supporters waving tricolour.
But did he really achieve much. Given the nature of style of functioning and their unity of purpose for often selfish gains, political class can surprise everyone. Though to give the devil its due, as of now
Anna's agitation has achieved something.
BJP spokesman Prakash Javdekar rightly says that the agitation gas brought
out the non-political class into the political realm.
His party colleague Varun Gandhi said in Lok Sabha during the debate that
the movement has proved to the youths mainly that they can be "catalyst of change". These messages are vital although a few Congressman like Rashid Dalvi, someone who had initially alleged US conspiracy behind Anna movement, said he disapproved of Anna's methodology.
Congress spokesman Mr Abhishek Singhvi said, “I believe that both have won and no one has lost. The great thing about this event is that it a win win for all sections".
His party colleague Anil Shastri said Anna agitation never undermined
supremacy of parliament.
In fact, this very debate was uncalled for. Because Anna himself and
his team time and again demanded the parliament to enact a strong Lokpal law. Of course, their insistence on their draft as seen by many was only a pressure tactic.
27 AUG: Ending days of suspence and bringing an end to
hours of fierce negotiations
between Team Anna and a beleaguered government, the Lok Sabha today
adopted 'sense of the House' on three key
issues raised by Anna Hazare on the much talked about Lokpal Bill and
paved the way to end his 12-day long fast.
As the Finance Minister and the Leader of the House Mr Pranab
Mukherjee read out the last lines of a draft 'sense
of the house' there were thumping of desks, which are being
interpreted as unanimous or voice vote of the House.
The Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, who showed his rare statesmanship
at the fag end of the crisis by his offer for parliamentary debate, has
described the parliamentary nod as manifesation of people's will. "People's will is parliament's will," he said.
But the raging debate on whether 'the sense of the House (parliament)' was in any case a dilution to 'formal resolution' remains to be seen.
Experts, however, say the nod is not a command for the parliamentary standing committee.
Asked if this was truly a victory of Team Anna as several of its demands like passing the Bill in this session, inclusion of higher judiciary and so on have not been met, BJP's Javadekar says that this agitation was about the larger issue of having a strong and effective Lokpal.

So BSP floor leader Dara Singh Chauhan has a point when he remarks,
“It is for him (Anna) to answer what he achieved".
The aging Gandhian is however, seemingly being smarter as of now as he knows the neta class by now pretty well and says, “I have only deferred my fast, not given it up."
Back to the future!

Democracy is all about “people’s power”: Lesson from Anna movement

It only gives credence to complete absence of touch with ground reality that all Delhi's armed-chair ivory tower experts like Kapil Sibal were left to deal with Anna Hazare crisis. The arrogance of power had blinded them so much that Dr Manmohan Singh's 'wise team' also forgot that Anna was essentially a Maharashtra-based leader and has been hndled earlier by Maharashtra politicians.
It is left to Sibal and Chidambaram duo that even two former chief ministers in the union cabinet Sushil Kumar Shinde and Vilasrao Deshmukh were completely ignored in handling the crisis.
Both are with mass-base and also more experience in real polity as compared to know all Sibals and chidambarams.
The streets of Delhi, Mumbai and various other parts of the country are the proof of an angry India these days. The anguished Indians have found a voice in the 74-year-old Anna Hazare as they are “exasperated” with the existing system where political masters take shelter behind men-in-uniform or behind a debate on the supremacy of parliament and are bent upon crushing a crusade against corruption.
Dr Singh had lost the initiative when he sought to dismiss Anna's letter to him seeking a location in Delhi to stage his satyagraha.
A non-political and out of touch of ground reality man in Dr Singh prevailed so much that he shot off a missive to Anna directing him to go the concerned authorities for staging the satyagraha.
That was the turning point when the PM lost the initiative in the episde. What followed was only a listless list of mistakes and blunders -- punctuated with "smugness and arrogance of power", to borrow the phrase from BJP leader Arun Jaitley.
L K Advani is absolutely right when he says, the mandate of 2009 has exhausted for the UPA.
The Congress has simply failed to appreciate how Anna has able to strike the extraordinary chord with the people of India, especially youth.
The balloon over so called Rahul Gandhi craze amongst youths is finally pricked; and instead the 74-year-old frail and someone who does not utter a word in English has now become a youth icon.

The attempt by the Prime Minister to tell countrymen that his government was trying to take sincere steps against corruption has no takers. Neither there are any takers of his misguided thesis albeit egged by compatriots Kapil Sibal and P Chidambaram – both men of law – to turn the dispute on Anna’s arrest as a war between supremacy of parliament and those who agitate in making laws did cut ice anywhere.

“The PM saying law can't be made in maidan, law cannot be made through satyagraha..they are misleading the people. We are not making the law. We are only giving suggestions”, said Justice Santosh Hegde.

The Congress has simply failed to appreciate how Anna has able to strike the extraordinary chord with the people of India, especially youth.
The balloon over so called Rahul Gandhi craze amongst youths is finally pricked; and instead the 74-year-old frail and someone who does not utter a word in English has now become a youth icon.

The attempt by the Prime Minister to tell countrymen that his government was trying to take sincere steps against corruption has no takers. Neither there are any takers of his misguided thesis albeit egged by compatriots Kapil Sibal and P Chidambaram – both men of law – to turn the dispute on Anna’s arrest as a war between supremacy of parliament and those who agitate in making laws did cut ice anywhere.

“The PM saying law can't be made in maidan, law cannot be made through satyagraha..they are misleading the people. We are not making the law. We are only giving suggestions”, said Justice Santosh Hegde.


The Congress has simply failed to appreciate how Anna has able to strike the extraordinary chord with the people of India, especially youth.
The balloon over so called Rahul Gandhi craze amongst youths is finally pricked; and instead the 74-year-old frail and someone who does not utter a word in English has now become a youth icon.

The attempt by the Prime Minister to tell countrymen that his government was trying to take sincere steps against corruption has no takers. Neither there are any takers of his misguided thesis albeit egged by compatriots Kapil Sibal and P Chidambaram – both men of law – to turn the dispute on Anna’s arrest as a war between supremacy of parliament and those who agitate in making laws did cut ice anywhere.

“The PM saying law can't be made in maidan, law cannot be made through satyagraha..they are misleading the people. We are not making the law. We are only giving suggestions”, said Justice Santosh Hegde.
Today, symbolically, if the Gandhi cap, the hitherto considered right of the 'Nehru-Gandhi family' and the Congress party has slipped away from its hand; it is the Congress party only who is to be blamed. Perhaps, it is high time, 'virtuous heir apparent' Rahul tries to firmly draw up at least the team of spokespersons and replace the present one led by egoistic Janardhan Dwivedi by a better choice like Jaipal Reddy. There is a theory about cold war between Chidambaram and Pranab Mukherjee and even between Chidambaram and Kapil Sibal.
Rahul's perenial silence along with talkative loose canon Digvijaya Singh during last week is another story.
Lalu Prasad-led RJD, which took government line and flayed Anna stir in the name of supremacy of constitution and the parliament, is now faced with internal differences. Its Delhi MLA has flayed Lalu's vitriolic attack on Anna during the debate in Lok Sabha.
Sadly, the Congress leadership was so much lost in a trap of its own creation that in the Lok Sabha last week only a latent voice of support for them came from RJD’s comical star Lalu Prasad, who vehemently harped on the government “thesis” reiterating the supremacy of parliament. Little did the Congressmen including an otherwise politically alert P Chidambaram could realize that Lalu is not only a politically spent force in Bihar, it is also a fact that Lalu’s credit in terms of honesty was seriously in test during the infamous days of fodder scam.
The Delhi RJD legislator has rightly called the groundswell of support for Lalu as 'sailab (a resurgent wave)'
In the debate on the rights and wrongs about the right to sit on fast and the arrest of a Gandhian, the real message of the people’s outcry should not get lost. People are getting restless against mis-governance and they see corruption as a major ingredient of that misfortune. “From ration office to traffic police, people face the problem. Corruption has become a way of life. Therefore, they see a ray of hope in Anna’a agitation that things would change,” said G K Bhargav, one of the million supporters who took to the streets of Delhi.

(ends)

Anna's arrest leave Congress nervous: Opposition unite

The Congress nervousness over Anna Hazare arrest is crystal clear.
The parliamentary strategy of the ruling party was to disallow the opposition members speak on the issue even after the chairs in both the Houses allowed the respective leaders of the opposition to speak on the arrest.
Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha had to be
adjourned for the day on August 16 amid noisy protests from both the
opposition and treasury benches over the detention of activist Anna Hazare and his associates.

Uproar erupted in the Lok Sabha immediately after the house assembled
for the day's business, with the opposition led by BJP protesting
Hazare's detention by Delhi Police earlier in the morning. Other NDA
members were also supporting them.

The opposition MPs, while terming the government's move as
undemocratic and unjustified, demanded the suspension of the question
hour to take up a full-fledged debate on the issue.

Shouting anti-government slogans, opposition members demanded an
explanation from the UPA government for detaining the crusader and
hundreds of his supporters ahead of their peaceful protest to press for a stronger Lokpal bill.

As soon as the House met, the Speaker Ms Meira Kumar informed the
House that suspension of Question Hour notices had been given by
Leader of the Opposition Ms Sushma Swaraj, CPI leader Mr Gurudas
Dasgupta and JD(U) member Mr Sharad Yadav among others. She also said
BJP's Yogi Adityanath and Shailendra Kumar of SP had given separate
notices of adjournment of House proceedinsg to discuss Hazare and UP
matters. She ruled that the notices were rejected but allowed the
Leader of the Opposition and others to speak for a while on Hazare's
arrest.
Immediately after Ms Sushma Swaraj was on her feet, the Parliamentary
Affairs minister Mr P K Bansal said the discussion should be taken up
after 12 pm. He said the opposotion members after making their
submission disrupt the house and thus do not allow the government to
have its say.
Amid ruckus, the House was first adjourned till 11.30 and then again
till 12 noon.
However, after 12 as the Speaker called for laying down of papers, the
opposition members including Ms Sushma Swaraj, and her party
colleagues including Mr Yashwant Sinha, Shahnawaz Hussain, Yogi
Adityanath were up on their feet demanding that Ms Swaraj should be
allowed to speak.

Mr Bansal, however, argued that the Speaker's ruling for the time for
opposition members was confined only during Question Hour. This
angered the opposition bench members' further.
The Parliamentary Affairs Minister insisted that if Swaraj is allowed
to speak, the Home Minister should also be allowed to make a
statement.
Agitated members of BJP, JD(U), CPI-M, CPI, SP and BSP were on their
feet objecting to Mr Bansal's comments.
A few Congress members also sprang up on their feet. Among others, Mr
Satpal Maharaj and Mr Sanjay Nirupam were leading the charge
on behalf of the Congress. Mr Sanjay Nirupam said his party was
objecting to opposition parties supporting those going against
democracy.
The Leader of the Opposition, Ms swaraj charged that the same
yardstick was being applied by the government both inside and outside
parliament to suppress the voice of its opponents.
Amid bedlam, the Speaker then adjourned the House for the day.

Similar noisy scenes prevailed in Rajya Sabha too.
The Congress members prevented Leader of the Opposition in the upper
House, Mr Arun Jaitley from making a statement on the
detention of Anna Hazare and forced adjournment of the House first till noon.

When Chairman Mr Hamid Ansari took up the first question as soon as
the House met for the day, Mr. Jaitley rose to make a statement.
“Let us hear the Leader of the Opposition,” Mr. Ansari said as ruling
party members stood up demanding that the Question Hour be taken up
first.

At this, opposition members shouted back at the ruling benches,
plunging the House into turmoil.

The Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mr Rajeev Shukla said
Home Minister Mr P. Chidambaram will make a statement at 12 p.m. on
the detention
of Anna Hazare.

But this failed to pacify the opposition members and the din grew
louder with ruling party members raising their pitch against Mr.
Jaitley being allowed to speak.

“This is not right. Please allow the Leader of the Opposition to
speak,” Mr. Ansari said, and asked members to resume their seats.

“Has the government decided that House will not function? Will the
government not allow the House to function?” Mr. Jaitley asked,
pointing out that the Chairman has given him the permission to speak.
“Does the ruling party want that the House should not discuss serious
issues facing the country,” he posed. “We express anguish and protest
over murder of democracy both outside the House and inside the House.
They want to murder the right to protest,” he said.
Mr Jaitley said, the detention of the 74-year-old Hazare was a "murder
of democracy", triggering protests from Congress members..
The ruckus continued and Chairman Mr Hamid Ansari first adjourned the
House till 12 noon and later for the day.

The arrest united the opposition parties today with Marxists like Sitaram Yechury and other Left colleagues D Raja and Gurudas Dasgupta responding positively to Ms Swaraj's invite for a meeting to work out the parliament
strategy.
Significantly, Samajwadi Party, which has been opposing Anna
Hazare's team hijacking the right to formulate laws, today
termed the arrest of the noted Gandhian as "unconstitutional" and said
he and his supporters should be released immediately.
"His detention is unconstitutional and if the government has any sense
left, Hazare and his supporters should be released immediately,"
party chief Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav told reporters outside Parliament here.
Mr Yadav faulted with the government and the Delhi police for picking
up Anna from his Mayur Vihar residence saying the 144CrPC was
not imposed in that area and also "there was no violence happening there".
The SP chief said the government's step has led to a situation where
"students, advocates and others have come on road to protest against
this in various parts of the country".
Asked if he supported Anna's movement, Mr Yadav merely "We have been
fighting against corruption and he is also doing the same."
The Samajwadi Party MP Mr Shailendra Kumar also attended a meeting of
opposition parties convened by Leader of the Opposition Ms Sushma
Swaraj where in a joint decision was taken to demand a statement from
the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on the event.
RJD MP Mr Raghuvansh Prasad Singh also attended the meeting convenced
by BJP leader Ms Swaraj brushing aside his party's strong
opposition to BJP on various issues.
Earlier, in the day, the RJD supremo Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav strongly
ridiculed Anna Hazare and his team for trying to undermine the powers
of the Parliament. Counseling "patience" for the Team Anna when the
Lok Pal bill has already come before the Standing Committee of
parliament,
Mr Lalu Prasad said "fast-unto-death should be the last resort" for any protest.
"We have seen Anna's Lok Pal draft and we have told him that we will
examine it. Anna should have patience," he told reporters.
Stating that perhaps Anna Hazare is being "misguided", he said the BJP
is "fully behind the Anna stir".
Asked whether he felt that RSS was behind Hazare, Mr Lalu Prasad
answered in the affirmative. "Yes, it is."
"Anna Hazare does not have have any organisation. There must be some
organisations which are behind him," he said.
However, he said, though everyone has the right to protest in a
parliamentary democracy, it is also important that supremacy of
parliament should be upheld.

(ends)

Hit by corruption charges, PM, HM looking to score points in North East

(the following piece appeared in The Statesman, North East Page
on August 8, 2011)

nirendra dev

REELING under serious corruption charges, the UPA government is trying to win some brownie points by making a breakthrough in talks with North-east insurgent groups. The timing somehow suits beleaguered Union home minister P Chidambaram and also Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, as both are under attack for alleged financial irregularities and mismanagement and need to prove their merit one way or the other.
The Prime Minister is a Rajya Sabha member from Assam. The home minister and he are understandably under tremendous pressure after tainted former Union telecom minister A Raja named them. So if they achieve something positive — a semblance of peace (accords) — with the NSCN(IM) and Ulfa it would be like the proverbial saving grace for them. No wonder, some weeks ago in a joint statement with the NSCN(IM) the Union home ministry said differences between the two sides were “narrowing down”. No one, however, has explained how this nearly six-decade-old gulf has suddenly narrowed. The government feels the NSCN(IM) will give up its demand for sovereignty.
The selective use of phrases in the joint statement — like “proposals for an honourable political settlement based on the uniqueness of Naga history and the situation which was recognised by the government of India in 2002, as well as the contemporary realities and a future vision consistent with the imperatives of the 21st century” — is, in fact, a double-edged sword.
A section in the government feels the NSCN(IM) should be persuaded to give up its emotive demand for “Naga integration”. If this happens, the once most potent, and to some extent most credible Naga militant group, would be really treading a difficult path. The NSCN(IM) is determined to achieve this, come what may. No Naga politician worth his salt can today dare speak
against it. In fact, Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio has already backed the demand.
Predictably, the United Committee of Manipur and the All Manipur United Clubs’ Organisation have accused New Delhi of driving wedges between communities in the North-east even as they slammed Rio for supporting the demand for the division of Manipur. Interestingly, Rio’s party, the Naga People’s Front, has already set up its units in Manipur’s Senapati and Ukhrul districts, ignoring objections from Manipuri organisations as well as from the Manipur government.
In 2002, the Vajpayee government formally recognised the “peculiarity and uniqueness” of Naga history. By that yardstick, there is no indication that the NSCN(IM) would even come nearer to compromise on their pet demand of Naga integration — Nagalim. In fact, it was only after the 2002 Bangkok pact between then government negotiator K Padmanabhiah and NSCN(IM) general secretary Th Muivah that the real impact of the demand for Naga integration was felt in Manipur — and Imphal Valley burnt for days.
The government was forced to withdraw the extension of the Nagaland ceasefire to Manipur.
The Centre and its current negotiator, RS Pandey, may be mounting pressure on the NSCN(IM) to appreciate the reality of 2011. One ready reference is the turmoil of 2010 when Manipur suffered immensely due to the economic blockade of its lifeline by the Kohima-based Naga Students’ Federation. In this context it is difficult to understand the real meaning of “narrowing down the differences”. The ground reality vis-à-vis the Naga political issue has been always different — something the ivory tower experts in Lutyen’s city have seldom appreciated.
No going back, they got a taste of it when in 2010 the infamous Naga-Manipuri feud was stoked by the government when it okayed the proposed visit of Muivah to his native village in Manipur in May last year without really assessing the ground reality in the state.
(ends)

The writer is The Statesman’s New Delhi-based Special Representative and author of the book, The Talking Guns: North East India

Chamchagiri -- Or Political Googly

Congress minister likens Manmohan to 'mother'

It's chamchagiri at its height or a political googly.
Salman Khurshid, a known Sonia Gandhi loyalist, seems to be overwhelmed by
the recent allotment of key portfolio of Law and Justice to him that he chose to compare Dr Manmohan Singh as an asset to the core value of a mother in a man's life.
Minutes after the BJP member Mr Yashwant Sinha, took a potshot at Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in Lok Sabha during debate on price rise on August 3 over his staying away from a direct electoral battle, the new law minister, Mr Khurshid, likened the economist-PM to the Bollywood “mother” from Deewar.
“Jo chunao nahi larte ... woh sukhi hae (Those who do not contest elections are fortunate),” Mr Sinha said in the Lok Sabha while initiating the debate on price rise. Turning towards finance minister Mr Pranab Mukherjee, the BJP leader said, “At least you should understand price rise because you contest elections”, in a clear dig at the PM being a Rajya Sabha member. Dr Singh was sitting next to Mr Mukherjee. Amid laughter, Mr Sinha said the steep rise in prices of kerosene was what cost him the Hazaribagh seat during the 2004 Lok Sabha poll. In his intervention, Mr Salman Khurshid quoted from the conversation between Shashi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan in the film Deewar, where the former says: “You may have everything but I have mother”. Mr Khurshid said, “Similarly, BJP may have everything with them but we have Dr Manmohan Singh.” He said under Dr Singh’s leadership India has been able to brave economic challenges and emerge as a “role model”.
The big question is whether Salman has a the nod of 10 Janpath to accord such good words for Dr Manmohan Singh, who is now under tremendous pressure for flip-flop in handling the corruotion cases.
Any takers?

"Corruption responsible for price rise"

Corruption is chiefly responsible for growing price rise, senior Lok Sabha members said today.
Initiating the debate under Rule 184, BJP members and former finance minister Yashwant Sinha said corruption leads to "conspicuous consumption" which is bound to have impact on growing price rise and inflation. His views were readily agreed by at least two members Mr Sharad Yadav of JD-U and Shailendra Kumar, Samajwadi Party.
Sharad Yadav said the growth has being pursued at present is jobless. "Unlike in NDA when at least we had opened avenues for 60 lakh jobs," he said.
Agreeing with Sinha’s diagnosis, he said besides corruption, the menace of black marketing is principally responsible for growing inflation.
He wondered why oil subsidies are being given even to well-to-do hotel industry.
"Corruption is the biggest cause of price rise," Sinha said.
The former finance minister also said the government had huge stocks of food grain but it was not being given to the poor. The food grain are rotting in warehouses, he said.
He said just by bringing about 25 million tonnes of its stock of food grain to the market the government can contribute to help bring down food prices.
He also said that once food prices come down, it will also have an impact on prices of other commodities.
In its response, the government fielded new law minister Salman Khurshid, who rubbished charges leveled by the main opposition BJP that it lacks seriousness in taming rising prices and inflation.
“All leading economies are battling high inflation. It is a global phenomenon," he said.
It's a fact that emerging economies from Sri Lanka to Ukraine are reeling under inflation ranging from 6 per cent to 20 per cent.
He mentioned that schemes like MGNREGA, National Rural Health Mission and described them as far sighted ones.
It is the Prime Minister’s leadership that India has emerged as a role model in running the economy. "I am not saying all is well, we still need to do some more," he maintained.

“Government is now releasing excess food stock through public welfare schemes for the BPL families," he added.
(ends)

Saluting the Pragmatism of Mizos

(The major portion of the following piece also appeared in The Statesman --- in popular North East page published every Monday)

Welcome to the island of peace, Mizoram.
The general impression about Mizos is that they are a labourious lot. The oft-repeated diagnosis of a principal malady of the North-east ~ the “White Collar Job Syndrome”, the well-known craze for easy office going jobs, somehow does not apply to Mizos. They are used to hard work. Therefore, it is ironical that when confronted with the rat famine, locally called Mautam, and caused by flowering of bamboo hit the then Lushai Hills district of Assam in 1959 they approached the government for immediate relief. But when it did not come in time they set up an organisation calling itself the Mizo National Famine Front. The late Laldenga, a clerk in the district council then, headed the organisation.
He subsequently dropped the word famine in 1961 and took up arms against the establishment demanding independence. The “Operation Jericho” by the Mizo National Front caught the Centre napping. For many days, they were virtually in command of the district town of Aizawl. The lush green landscape burnt for many years.
In 1986, then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi struck a deal with Laldenga. The Mizoram Peace Accord was signed on 30 June by Laldenga on behalf of the MNF, RD Pradhan, then Union home secretary and then Mizoram chief secretary Lalkhama...
This year marked the completion of 25 years of the accord. Mizoram celebrates 30 June as “Remna Ni”, the annual peace day. Present chief minister Mr Lal Thanhawla, a Congress veteran, has his own reasons to describe the pact as “the most successful accord in the country”. Truly, one of the most violent forms of insurgency ~ where bombing and even merciless killing of civilians on both sides was the order of the day ~ had come to an end with the stroke of a pen. Mr Lal Thanhawla had to bow out of office as chief minister to pave the way for Laldenga to take charge.
However, amid jubilation the credit for the same should also be given to the sagacity of Laldenga as also to the pragmatism of the Mizos as a community. In fact, unlike other rebel leaders like Nagaland’s AZ Phizo, Laldenga could carry the entire militant MNF with him. So, following the latter’s coming to the national mainstream, there was no splinter groups left in the jungles.
Despite peace being restored, Mizoram was haunted for sometime by a neo-insurgent group Hmar People’s Convention, clamouring for an autonomous district council. They however surrendered on 27 July, 1994 and ended their five-year rebellion. The Mizoram government still confronts the Reang (now known as Brus) National Front which operates from their camps in Tripura. But on the whole, Mizoram today is an island of peace. In fact, within a short period after assuming power, the Laldenga-led MNF government was toppled making way for the Congress. The MNF men could have been frustrated but it was the Mizos’ spirit of pragmatic thinking that prevented them from taking up guns again. Lal Thanhawla says most clauses of the historic accord have been implemented. But a years ago, the Peace Accord Mizo National Front Returnees’ Association, alleged they have not received the full amount as promised to them. This needs to be addressed. The Mizo Accord, like that of Nagas, also makes a veiled reference to the issue of unification of Mizo- inhabited areas of other adjoining state. One only hopes the Mizos will remain a practical lot.
(ends)