The Cost Of Life

The poor of the city continue to bear the brunt of all that is wrong around us today, economically, politically and socially. A lot of news from around Uttar Pradesh (UP) is simply heart breaking.

Thirty-year-old dengue patient Pradeep Pandey lost his life in Prayagraj due to "poorly preserved platelets by a local hospital". It is reported that the patient was administered fruit juice instead of platelets!

Family members reportedly said that they had donated blood, and arranged for the platelets, and that the patient had shown signs of improvement. Five units of platelets were bought again at a cost of Rs 25,000 at a private hospital. However, after transfusion, Pandey's condition worsened and he died.

The licence of the hospital has been cancelled and the police are probing the matter but nothing that is done now can return life to the unfortunate young man.

Punishing The Poor

The anger and aggression that has taken over life in the city is most disturbing.

On the eve of Diwali, the beautiful festival of light, a woman doctor lost her mind. Armed with a cricket bat she had stepped out of her home in Lucknow's posh Gomti Nagar neighbourhood to knock down the clay lamps and other ware earthenware displayed on the pavement by potters.

The doctor had the earthenware smashed traditionally sold at this time of the year, reportedly because the vendors had "blocked her way". She also accused the vendors of causing a traffic jam in the area.

The doctor has been booked for vandalism but who will make up for the loss in income that the poor potters have suffered this festive season? Is this problem of the potter nobody's business?

Now to Kannauj, where a 12-year-old girl was on her way to buy a piggy bank in celebration of Diwali, in the hope of a visit from goddess Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth to her humble home. When she did not return for a couple of hours, her family began a search.

The child was eventually found in a government guest house soaked in blood. Her arms and head were bloody and she had screamed for help. Passers-by who heard the child screaming did stop by but instead of rushing her to a hospital, they filmed videos of her that have since gone viral.

The victim is in a Kanpur hospital now and the police have registered a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. The CCTV footage has been traced where the girl is seen walking behind a man. The police are trying to identify the man responsible for luring the girl and assaulting her. One more vulnerable citizen in the state was scarred for life!

Solar Eclipse

Citizens were most excited about the partial solar eclipse that was witnessed the day after Diwali, as was Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath. The CM was in Gorakhpur at the Veer Bahadur Singh planetarium where a special show was organised to mark the occasion.

The rare celestial event was visible in Gorakhpur for about one hour. The Chief Minister viewed the partial solar eclipse from the planetarium through a pair of special glasses and a telescope.

By-Election Excitement

There is excitement in Gola Gorakhnath in the Lakhimpur Kheri district of another kind. By-Polls will be held here on November 3. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate is 26-year-old Aman Giri, son of Arvind Giri who passed away last month.

This is a straight contest between the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the BJP. The BJP is working hard to retain the state Assembly seat and is supporting law graduate Aman in the hope of gathering sympathy votes. Aman's father Arvind was a popular politician and was elected five times from the same constituency.

There are some four lakh voters in the constituency out of which the population of the kurmi from the backward caste, and Muslims dominates.

Whatever else the BJP may say about Vinay Tiwari the SP candidate, it cannot accuse the socialists of dynastic practices this time round. For it is the BJP that has fielded the son of its late legislator Arvind Giri. The BJP had won 48.67 percent of the total votes polled in the state assembly elections held earlier this year.

While the BJP is leaving no stone unturned to make Aman win the by polls, it is not sure if the SP candidate is earning similar support from his party?

It is still uncertain whether SP chief Akhilesh Yadav will travel to Gola Gorakhnath to ask for votes for Tiwari. Yadav, meanwhile, made a trip to Vrindavan in the company of his wife and children. Yadav prayed at the Banke Bihari Ji and at the Giriraj Ji temple.

He donated a lamp at the temple and stopped by for a spiritual discussion with Swami Vigyanacharya. The many pilgrims at the holy site were distracted by the presence of the former chief minister of UP and several surrounded him for talk and a photo.

Mayawati and Madarsa

The UP Madarsa Board is unable to make out the motive behind Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati's out-of-the-blue sympathy for the state's madarsas, or schools. Mayawati is critical of the UP government's recent survey of all the madarsas.

The survey has found 7,500 madarsas unrecognised in the state. Mayawati tweeted that the madarsas depend on private donations, and those unrecognised ones impart education to children of very poor families.

The madarsas do not want to burden the government with demands of a grant so why interfere with the way they work? Mayawati reminded citizens that when she was in power, the BSP had included 100 madarsas in the UP Board.

The government has conducted a survey of all private madarsas in the state with the promise of providing facilities to the schools. The survey team will submit its report by the end of October.

The question is whether Mayawati is genuinely concerned about the quality of education provided to Muslim children or her interest in madarsas is just a cover up for vote bank politics?

Selective Hate Speech?

Let senior SP leader Azam Khan face the music for resorting to hate speech, if he is found guilty. That is fine. But what is not fine, what is not fair and what is not justice is that many other citizens saying more hateful things than Khan are allowed to continue to spew venom in society and indulge in anti-national activities without law enforcing agencies taking any action against them. Why?