President Yameen’s attack on judiciary and political parties is driven by his attempts to prevent free and fair elections and a democratic scrutiny into his money making ways abetted by China
February 2018
The February issue of Hardnews dwells on the ongoing political turmoil in the Maldives, looks at the crackdown initiated by President Abdulla Yameen against dissenters and scrutinises the funds coming in from China in the form of big-ticket projects.
Cover Story and Featured Stories
In the Maldives, the shelf life of Vice Presidents is very limited. Muhammad Jameel Ahmed was President Abdulla Yameen’s running mate and later Vice President. He was impeached in absentia on charges of terrorism. Hardnews spoke with him as he emerged from a gym in London, where he has been living in exile since 2015. Jameel was scathing in his criticism of President Yameen and how he had subverted democratic institutions to facilitate mass corruption. The former Vice President also said that Yameen was closer to China as they collaborated in his moneymaking enterprise and did not exert any moral pressure on him. These activities were difficult with a democratic India.
In the backdrop of an escalating political crisis and a purge initiated by Maldives’ President Yameen Abdul Gayoom, Former Speaker of the People’s Majlis, Abdulla Shahid, speaks to Hardnews about the island nation’s growing proximity to China and the plight of its democratic system. Shahid, who played a key role in the Maldives’ transition to democracy in 2008, sounds an ominous warning for Maldives’ current regime which is indulging in a dangerous power play by pitting India against China. He also deliberates on how parliamentary democracy is being smothered in the Maldives, recounting his own experience of being prosecuted for entering Parliament, and stresses on the role the Opposition can play in challenging the prevailing narrative. The interview was conducted before Emergency was declared.
The UP Police claim that it has seized over Rs 146 crores from ‘gangsters’ in the state in a matter of 11 months deserves closer scrutiny as allegations mount of arbitrariness in seizing their properties
More Stories from this Issue
If we’re old enough to vote, we’re old enough to make personal choices too! And this includes the right to love and marry who ever we want, even if our real mummies and daddies disapprove of our choices.
The fact that Dalits are now talking back, refusing to buy the Hindutva agenda is threatening the upper caste that would rather have the status quo continue than deal with politically influential Dalits.
From Yameen’s promise to extract from the captive Chief Justice names of people who were behind the conspiracy to throw him out, it is possible to draw inferences that the judges would be subjected to third-degree methods.
Faced with challenges, pressures and expectations the last NDA budget before 2019 is in line with its modus operandi: much gloss and fanfare, but if you read the fine print it shows a different picture
altogether
This explanation pulled out from the volume may sound complex, but what I could comprehend from his presentation was that seeing Agra from river Yamuna provided a different perspective altogether.
