Chat,Movement and Elections

If you are a regular visitor of our forum you may not have missed your daily dose of Uttarakhand last week,while I got busy with various other things and could not update this column. Last week we had a live chat with Fauji Lalit Mohan Joshi.

Khajan asked

दाज्यू एक बात पूछनी थी कहा हो, कि फौज में तो भट्ट की चुणकानी, चैसूं, फाणू आदि खाने को मिलता नहीं होगा, तो क्या इसे खाने की इच्छा ही नहीं करती, अगर करती है तो फिर आप इसे कैसे पूरा करते हैं।

Lalit Replied : Fauj main 1 faayda bhi hota hai ki 1-1 mahine ki chhutti lagataar mil jaati hai us samay in sab ka lutf uthate hain.

Pankaj Asked
1- आपका मूल गांव कहां है, आपने कहां तक शिक्षा ग्रहण की और कहां से की।
२- आपने लोकसंगीत की शिक्षा ग्रहण की है तथा लोकसंगीत से आपसे पहले आपके परिवार का कोई सदस्य जुड़ा था? मतलब कि यह विधा आपको विरासत में मिली या आपका ही लगाव रहा।
३- लोक संगीत की साधना में फौज की दुरुह नौकरी से निश्चित ही प्रभाव पड़ता होगा, आप उसे कैसे मैनेज करते हैं।

Lalit Replied

1. Mera mool gaon Dhooratoli main hai. Maine Munshyari se Intermediate ki shiksha grahan kari aur Fauj main chala gaya.

2. Lok sangeet mera shauk tha aur devtaon ka aashirvaad hai maine vidhivat sangeet ki shiksha grahan nahi kari hai. Mera bhai gaane likhta hai.

3. Prabhaav to padta hi hai aap logon ko pata hi hai ki Fauj main chhution ki samasya ho jaati hai aur bahut baar programs cancel karne padte hain. Mera Pahad main bhi main pichhle saal se aane ka ichhuk tha aur ab jaa kar time mila hai. Lekin yeh sab zindagi main nibhana hi padta hai.

You can go through full chat here.

Another very informative topic started by Pankaj is on movement of Uttarakhand. Now Pankaj and Hem are telling about Kuli Begar Andolan. Very informative indeed.

Uttarakhand is going to vote on 13th May. We have covered the constituency wise general election 2004 in our site. Information about current member of parliament,along with their photograph, is also available. I came through a very good and informative article on Tehri Garwal constituency.

Tehri Garhwal is on the verge of changing its illustrious history. Ever since the country attained independence from the colonial British rule, the erstwhile rulers of this princely state had enjoyed an extended rule through democratic means.

However, as the country is all set to elect its 15th parliament, for the first time, the erstwhile royal family will have virtually no role to play.

Tehri Garhwal, nestling in the Himalayas, has had a chequered history ever since it became the domain of Kanak Pal, who established his rule in the hills in 823 AD. His progeny successfully thwarted attempts by the Mughals, over several generations, to conquer their kingdom.

The British accorded the region the status of a princely state under which the Pal family, which assumed the surname Shah during the Mughal period, continued to rule the hills.

The Shah family’s rule continue until 1949 when a popular uprising forced the then King Manvendra Shah, the 60th ruler, to accept Indian sovereignty and merge his kingdom with independent India.

The Shah family rule, however, did not end with that. His mother Rajmata (Queen Mother) Kamlendu Mati Shah emerged winner as an independent candidate in the first Lok Sabha elections held in 1952.

Maharaja Manvendra Shah, as he preferred to be called, saw the wisdom of aligning with the ruling Congress party and won the next three elections in 1957, 1962 and 1967 as the Congress nominee.

However, the then prime minister Indira Gandhi’s decision to do away with the privy purse angered Manvendra Shah and a large number of other ex-kings.

A disillusioned Shah broke away from the Congress party and opted out of electoral politics.

However, over the next two decades during which period five Lok Sabha elections were contested, he continued to wield his influence on his erstwhile subjects.

Manvendra Shah returned to parliament in 1991 as a nominee of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and held the seat in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2004 general elections. He died in January 2007.

The resultant by-election saw Prince Manujendra Shah, who was nominated by the BJP in his father’s place, suffer a humiliating defeat at the hands of Vijay Bahuguna, a former judge of the Maharashtra High Court and son of former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna of the Congress party.

Bahuguna had lost to Manvendra Shah twice in 1999 and 2004 Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP this time has decided against fielding Manujendra Shah and replaced him with ace shooter Jaspal Rana, who hails from the state and has won laurels for the country in many international events.

Rana is pitted against Bahuguna, 62, and the battle has assumed the colour of a veteran-versus-youth contest.

Pollsters are expecting a close finish in Tehri Garhwal with Rana, by virtue of being representative of Uttarakhand’s ruling BJP, enjoying a slight edge.

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