Periscope: Remembering Babri, pre-Budget talk, and more

Remembering Babri

The Bharatiya Janata Party will observe on Wednesday the 25th anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Last year, Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party had declared it a holiday to mark the death anniversary of BR Ambedkar. But, black flags had come up in various parts of the state. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has said a temple would come up on the spot where Lord Ram was born. The Uttar Pradesh Shia Central Waqf has said it would prepare a draft proposal for a peaceful settlement of the Ayodhya dispute by December 6. Board Chairman Wasim Rizvi told reporters he has been meeting Hindu religious leaders. Rizvi had last month met Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in Bengaluru and apprised him of the board’s stand that a Ram temple should be built at the site.

Pre-Budget talk

Formal pre-Budget consultations will begin this week, with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley meeting a large number of interest groups. In the first phase, trade unions and women’s groups are expected to present their wish list to the FM. Unions have not hidden their angst over some of the government’s economic policies, and the BJP-affiliated Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh is likely to be the loudest in criticising some of the initiatives.

A ‘cloudy’ abode

The last session of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly will be held from December 8. It will be a short session as decided by the Business Advisory Committee. Assembly polls are scheduled to be held in Meghalaya in two months. Hence, this session is expected to be fractious. Floor-crossing is likely once the session is over. At least five MLAs, mostly from the Congress, are expected to resign once the session is over.