SC Holds Governor’s Action Illegal, but Says Can’t Restore Thackeray as CM; White House Defends Invite to Modi, Says Ties ‘Related to Human Rights’

SC rules in favour of Kejriwal govt, minor records statement before magistrate, army deployed across Pakistan, Stalin divests outspoken FM of portfolio, inequality soars

A newsletter from The Wire | Founded by MK Venu, Seema Chishti, Siddharth Varadarajan, Sushant Singh, Sidharth Bhatia, Tanweer Alam and Pratik Kanjilal | With inputs from Kalrav Joshi | Editor: Vinay Pandey

---

Snapshot of the day

May 11, 2023

Vinay Pandey

A five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court, in a unanimous judgment on Thursday, held that call of the-then governor of Maharashtra, Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, for a trust vote, which led to the resignation of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government, was illegal. According to the Hindu, the judgment, in effect, has opened the doors for the disqualification of Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde for defection from the Shiv Sena. The bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, however. said it cannot quash the resignation of Thackeray, and thus, would not be able to reinstate him as the chief minister of Maharashtra.

In another crucial judgment on Thursday, the Constitution bench ruled unanimously in favour of the Delhi government led by Arvind Kejriwal on the issue of who controls the bureaucracy in the national capital. The bench held that the legislature has control over bureaucrats in administration of services, except in areas outside the legislative powers of the National Capital Territory. There are three areas outside the control of the Delhi government – public order, police and land. Welcoming the judgment, Kejriwal said Delhities would see a massive administrative overhaul over the next few days, reports the Indian Express.

Thirty-six students of PGIMER Chandigarh’s National Institute of Nursing Education have been barred from stepping out of the hostel for a week after they failed to attend a programme where Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 100th episode of “Mann ki Baat” was screened on April 30.

US President Joe Biden will host Prime Minister Modi for a state visit on June 22, the White House said on Wednesday. “The visit will strengthen our two countries’ shared commitment to a free, open, prosperous and secure Indo-Pacific and our shared resolve to elevate our strategic technology partnership, including in defence, clean energy and space,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. Asked about human rights concerns in India, Jean-Pierre defended the visit, telling reporters that Biden believes “this is an important relationship that we need to continue and build on as it relates to human rights”, reports Reuters. Whatever that means.

It would be no exaggeration to say Modi bathes in flower petals almost every day. As soon as the Karnataka elections were over, Modi held a massive roadshow in Rajasthan’s Nathdwara, where flowers rained on him. Earlier, in Karnataka, BJP workers had arranged for nine tonnes of flower petals for the massive roadshows led by Modi on Magadi Road. In all, more than 50 tonnes of flower petals are believed to have been used.

The lone minor among the seven female wrestlers who filed police complaints alleging sexual harassment by Wrestling Federation of India president and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh has recorded her statement before a magistrate under Section 164 of the CrPC. Last week, the police recorded the statements of the complainants under Section 161 of the CrPC. However, these aren’t admissible in court. “The statements of the other six complainants are yet to be recorded before the magistrate,” a senior police officer told the Indian Express.

“We are both victims” – Kuki and Meitei students in Delhi invoke shared Manipuri ties to keep the peace. They say lopsided coverage of the situation back home by certain YouTube channels is making it hard for them. 

In a major reshuffle of portfolios, Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin on Thursday divested Palanivel Thiaga Rajan (PTR) of his finance and human resources management portfolios and allocated them to senior cabinet member Thangam Thennarasu. Rajan is the new minister for information technology and digital services. A banker turned third-generation politician, Rajan was one of the most prominent faces of the Stalin cabinet with a nationwide appeal. A strong critic of the Modi government, he was known to speak his mind. His fortunes took a beating in the wake of the release of two short audio clips attributed to him, in which he allegedly said that Stalin’s son Udhayanidhi and son-in-law Sabareesan had amassed huge wealth. PTR had said the audio tapes were fabricated.

Pakistani authorities took senior leaders of former prime minister Imran Khan’s party into custody as the government deployed the army across the country to help end widespread and deadly protests sparked by Khan’s arrest on Tuesday. At least three party leaders have been arrested so far, one from outside the Supreme Court late on Wednesday and another, a foreign minister in Khan’s cabinet, early on Thursday. Tension prevailed on the streets and mobile data services remained suspended. Schools and offices were closed in two of Pakistan’s four provinces. There were reports of at least nine deaths in the violence. Imran Khan made the dramatic claim that he could be injected with poison while in custody when he appeared before a judge in Islamabad on Wednesday. 

In a strongly worded address to the nation late on Wednesday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif issued a warning to the rioters. “These terrorist and anti-state elements are being warned to desist from taking law into their hands, otherwise they will be dealt with iron hands. Safeguarding the motherland and its ideology is more precious than their lives,” he said.

British high commissioner in India Alex Ellis said on Wednesday that in general “good friends” can disagree in response to a question on the income tax raids on the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai after the airing of a documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots. Ellis described the BBC as a highly respected media house. The Indian ministry of external affairs had accused the BBC of showing its “colonial mindset” by airing the documentary.