Nirmohi Akhara ready for out-of-court settlement

Close on the heels of the initiative taken by 90-year-old Hashim Ansari for a negotiated settlement on the Ayodhya issue, the Nirmohi Akhara too has expressed its inclination to talk and resolve the dispute once and for all.“I welcome the initiative taken by Mahant Gyan Das and Hashim Ansari and will be only too glad to be a party to the move for bringing the dispute to an amicable settlement and avoid another unending court battle,” Nirmohi Akhara chief Mahant Bhaskar Das said Tuesday over telephone from Ayodhya, about 130 km from here.Significantly, while Ansari was the first Muslim to stake a legal claim to the Babri Masjid after it was usurped by Hindu mobs on the night of Dec 22-23, 1949, it was the Nirmohi Akhara which sought legal right to offer prayers at the disputed site way back in 1885.It was Ansari who took the first step towards initiating a process of reconciliation instead of proceeding straight to the country’s apex court in appeal against the Sep 30 order of the Allahabad High Court.The court split the disputed land into three parts – one going to the contending Muslim group and the other two to be shared by two Hindu groups involved in the legal battle.Ansari’s talks with Mahant Gyan Das, president of All India Akhara Parishad and head of Ayodhya’s Hanuman Garhi temple, on Sunday helped in breaking the ice.And what followed Monday was yet another positive move, with Nirmohi Akhara chief Mahant Bhaskar Das too expressing his desire to join the reconciliation bandwagon.Bhaskar Das, 81, said he was confident that very soon many prominent holy men of Ayodhya would join the dialogue process with local Muslims and other contestants in the case.While he declined to divulge the names of those with whom he claimed to have got in touch, sources close to him confirmed that he had mooted the idea to a few leading Ayodhya holy men.They include Mahant Nrtiya Gopal Das, who heads the Ram Janmbhoomi Trust, the body entrusted with the task of building the proposed temple.The move is likely to witness much opposition from the Sunni Central Waqf Board, whose counsel and Babri Masjid Action Committee (BMAC) convenor Zafaryab Jilani has taken serious affront to Hashim Ansari’s initiative.“Ansari is just an individual litigant; he is no authority on behalf of the Waqf Board which is the key contestant,” he said.
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Self-restraint needed on sensitive issues reporting: Rosaiah

Hyderabad, Oct 4 : Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah today asked media to observe self-restraint, especially reporting on sensitive issues.Addressing a seminar on'Protection of Media Values', organised by the Andhra Pradesh Union of Working Journalists (APUWJ), Rosaiah said his government would do every thing to protect the freedom of press. His government will also look into the problem of journalists, he added. Earlier, the APUWJ had taken out a massive rally where hundreds of journalists from all over the state had participated.K Sreenivas Reddy, Secretary General, Indian Journalists Union (IJU) and Y Narender Reddy, General Secretary APUWJ submitted a detailed memorandum, listing the demands, including the provisions of the Working journalists Act which provides for job security to the working journalists that should be strictly implemented. (photo by RSJ Thomas)
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NRI's problem would be sorted out: Chakrapani

Hyderabad, Oct 4 : Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council Chairman A Chakrapani today said the state government was well aware of the problems faced by NRIs.In a press communique received from Dr Chakrapani, who was on official tour in Australia where the United India Association, Telugu Association and Australian Telugu Samithi feliciated Dr Chakrapani, he said the government would be sort out problems facing by the NRIs and insure on hehalf of the state to extend maximum support. ''The government also would provide and exchange cultural, literal and language relations and social sphere,'' the Chairman added. On the occation a large number of Telugu community were present.Earlier Counsel General of India has also arranged a get-together with Dr Chakrapani and many other community representatives.Dr Chakrapani also paid his obeisance at Shirdi Sai Mandir in Strathfield.
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Gaddar set to dislodge TRS chief from Telangana leadership

Hyderabad, Oct 4: Over a year after announcing plans to float a party for mass struggle to achieve separate statehood to Telangana, revolutionary balladeer Gaddar appears all set to wrest the leadership of the movement from K. Chandrasekhara Rao of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS).The Telangana movement is poised to take a new turn when the Maoist sympathiser will formally launch the Telangana Praja Front (TPF) here Oct 9.The new outfit is expected to intensify the movement ahead of the Srikrishna Committee's report to the central government on the Telangana issue and wrest the leadership from TRS, which has been spearheading the movement for almost a decade.At the first meeting here Oct 9, Gaddar along with poets, writers and other Telangana activists will decide the TPF's organisational structure.The Srikrishna Committee, formed by the central government in February to look into the demands for and against a separate Telangana state, is scheduled to submit its report by Dec 31.However, Gaddar said that without waiting for the report, his organisation would go to the people to strengthen the movement and exert pressure on the central government to move a bill in parliament for carving out a separate state.That Gaddar's plans have already created a flutter in TRS circles is evident from the statement by one of its leaders N. Narasimha Reddy that TPF would create confusion among Telangana people and dilute the movement.KCR, as TRS chief Chandrasekhara Rao is popularly known, has refused to comment on Gaddar's outfit but the TRS cadre is worried over the impact it could have on their political fortunes at a time when the goal of separate state is "nearer"."It is KCR who has been fighting relentlessly for Telangana for about 10 years and he has almost achieved the goal. The new outfit is aimed at depriving him of the credit," said a TRS leader, who did not want to be named.Gaddar, whose real name is Gummadi Vithal Rao, has been a bitter critic of KCR and his style of functioning. He decided to launch the front after holding series of consultations with poets, writers, cultural artists, human rights activists, backward class leaders, trade and employee unions and student leaders.The Front is expected to bring all those who are not happy with KCR. Even the main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has welcomed Gaddar's move to float the new outfit.Taking a dig at KCR, Gaddar said the politics revolving only around votes and fasting can't achieve Telangana state. "Telangana can be achieved only through a mass movement," the balladeer said.It was after a nine-day fast by KCR in December last year that the central government decided to initiate the process for the formation of Telangana state but constituted the Srikrishna Committee to look into the issue after angry reactions in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions of Andhra Pradesh.Gaddar, who had actively participated in Telangana movement of 1969, said TPF would not be a mere vote-based party like TRS but would try to achieve its goal through a people's struggle, including a cultural campaign.After the TRS suffered reverses in last year's elections, the folk artist had apologised to the people of the region for sharing a dais with KCR, BJP leader L.K. Advani and former state home minister T. Devender Goud.On the debacle of TRS, he said people rejected it because it was only running after votes without a struggle.
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Media should evelove self-regulation: Rosaiah

Hyderabad, Oct 3 : Andhra pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah today asked media to evolve a self-regulation to check the sensationalism in the news business.In a message on the 30th anniversary of the Prajasakti, a Telugu daily, the Chief Minister suggested that the media should present a holistic view of a problem.Mr Rosaiah said the his government believes in freedom of the press and it was media's fundamental right but it should exercise the right with full responsibility keeping in view the kind of impact a news item can have on the society.He said while media had the right to analyse the implementation of the governmental programmes, on which it spends huge amount to benefit the large section of the society but it should not try to sensationalise minor flaws and trivialise major issues in to headline and breaking news.Recallng the services of Mahathma Gandhi and former chief minister Tanguturi Prakasm Panthulu who had worked as editors themselves, Mr Rosaiah regretted the present media scenario in the country.
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