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Mama's Security
Delhi: The SPG had an interesting bit of homework to do last week.
The prospect of Sonia Gandhi, nee Maino, making it to South Block posed a new problem for
the elite commandos responsible for the protection of prime ministers and their family
members, including spouses, children and parents. The grey area in the SPG Act being the
SPG's responsibility should the prime minister's parents be foreigners. In Sonia's case,
mother Predebon Maino spends most of her time in Italy and visits India only occasionally.
And the Italian Government can hardly be expected to allow armed Indian securitymen
guarding the Maino home in Orbassano on the outskirts of Torino. Of course, Sonia's mother
has the option of refusing protection. It will be a while before the SPG has an answer to
this tricky situation. Colour
Clues
Delhi: Ever wondered why the tips of
Shaheen and Ghauri, Pakistan's medium- and long-range missiles, are painted red? As an
American diplomat in Islamabad observed, it is a testimony to the fact that the two
warheads have been imported from the red states of China and North Korea. Apparently, the
rider with which the two missiles were "handed over" to Pakistan was that the
symbolic colour of communism must be displayed somewhere on the weapon. Interestingly.
Pakistan's traditional colour green is actually on the tip of India's medium-range Agni
missile. Now, is that the colour of envy or friendship?
Gifts for Charity
Jaipur: If there is one thing Chief
Minister Ashok Gehlot hates, it is the ceremonies of office. Just two weeks after he took
over in December, he made it clear that he had no interest in attending dozens of
felicitation ceremonies every day. Last week, Gehlot showed that he does what he says. The
occasion was the B.R. Ambedkar anniversary function at Ambedkar Bhavan in Jaipur. First,
Gehlot surprised the organisers by reaching the venue half an hour earlier when not even
one-tenth of the expected audience had arrived. But Gehlot's patience truly ran out when
he was presented with a statue of Ganesha. "I am lucky that the chief minister's
residence has lots of space to store so many mementos," he said, but made it clear
that he had plans to put that excess space to better use. He announced that the mementos
he has and would receive in future, will be auctioned, with the money going into the Chief
Minister's Relief Fund. Any bidders?
Out of Favour
Chandigarh: There were days when
Akali stalwart and Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) chief G.S. Tohra held
the remote control to the Parkash Singh Badal Government. But with his ouster from the
cash-rich SGPC, Tohra has fallen on hard times. Last week, he even found his mobile phone
disconnected for non-payment of a bill running into a couple of thousand rupees. After
Badal purged all pro-Tohra officials from key positions, he has none to call now for
favours. The only person who remains unchanged is Tohra's PSO and people believe the
reason Badal has let him remain is: there has to be someone to snoop on Tohra's
activities.
Capped Friendship
Delhi: The fall of the Atal Bihari
Vajpayee government caused dismay in a rather unusual place -- Islamabad. And the reasons
for that extend much beyond the apparent warmth that Vajpayee and Pakistan Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif had come to share after their historic Lahore meet. Another friendly face
Sharif is going to miss is of Jaswant Singh. Only recently, the outgoing external affairs
minister had sent two Rajasthani safas (traditional turbans) to Sharif as a gesture of
Rajputana fraternity and brotherhood. It was his way of returning the compliment that
Sharif had showered on Singh's safa at an evening reception in Lahore. Sharif even went to
the extent of calling Vajpayee and saying he would miss him. That is a change, for sure. |
