| Strong
and Silent Delhi:
Most cine stars are known to adapt themselves to different situations. Raj Babbar took
barely a month to find his feet in the Rajya Sabha. Shatrughan "shotgun" Sinha
took to Parliament as if he was born to it. Shabana Azmi bided her time, but when she
finally spoke, she did it tellingly, earning praise from Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee. However, Vinod Khanna seems to be an exception. Four months as an MP and he
still seems ill at ease, preferring the anonymity of the back benches. But during last
week's tumultuous events, he did venture to move up-front. As the stormy debate on the
Women's Reservation Bill reached its zenith, Khanna moved up and sat in the middle row,
usually occupied by the BJP's women MPs. Sighting him sandwiched between a dozen-odd
ruling party MPs, the quick-witted HVP MP Surinder Singh pointed to the MP from Gurdaspur,
and warned: "Look at Vinod, this is what will happen when the women's bill is
passed."
Masala Narrator
Bangalore:
Chief Minister J.H. Patel's stock is so low that he believes that help from none other
than the President of India is called for. This week, K.R. Narayanan will kick off a
fortnight-long extravaganza that will cover all the 27 districts and 156 talukas. For the
record, the mega event is being touted as bringing to an end the 50th anniversary
celebrations of Independence, but sources in the Government say the show is just a ploy to
enable Patel, who is besieged by opponents from within and outside, to bounce back into
the limelight. His achievements in the Past two years may be nothing to write home about,
but the celebrations provide him with just the opportunity to don a new role -- as a
narrator. A 16-minute film highlighting the state's achievements in the Past 50 years will
have Patel giving the voice-over. One clip will show him waxing eloquent on the Central
Food and Technological Research Institute in Mysore. "Here's an institute that can
make in an hour 400 chappatis, 1,000 masala dosas and 1,200 idlis ..." With such
script-writers, no wonder Patel's plans are all going awry.
Junket Advocate
Chandigarh: If
Union Minister of State for Industry Sukhbir Singh Badal had his way, he would send all
Union ministers and MPs on a two-month junket every year so that they can apprise
themselves of the level of development in the West. The US-educated son of Punjab Chief
Minister Parkash Singh Badal feels so strongly about the lack of foreign exposure among
MPs that he put forward his suggestion at a recent cabinet meeting presided over by the
prime minister. It won't be a luxury trip, insists Sukhbir, but a sort of refresher course
to educate the MPs. While his suggestion may have made sense to many cabinet colleagues,
Vajpayee is understood to have played the "smiling Buddha" to Badal junior's
flights of fancy.
Master Manohar
Mumbai:
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde is famous for missing appointments --
often because he rarely avoids callers at his house, even if they are ordinary
petitioners. He should perhaps take a few lessons from Chief Minister Manohar Joshi who
never lets waiting hordes upset his schedule. Ask anyone who has been to Mantralaya for an
audience with Joshi. Apparently, at 2 p.m. the Mantralaya gates are opened for the public
to meet ministers. But on most days, Joshi's diary is scheduled in such a way that he
leaves for lunch at 1.30 p.m. and returns only after 5 p.m. when the visiting hours end.
And, as a Munde aide put it: "Yet, Joshi has a better public image than saheb."
Obviously, the teacher has quite a few things to teach his deputy.
Lavish Spread
Patna: It seems
that living luxuriously is no longer a governor's prerogative. If one were to go by the
Comptroller and Auditor-General's (CAG) report, chief ministers too are prone to such
indulgences. Look at the lifestyle of Laloo Prasad Yadav during his tenure as chief
minister. Various state government departments spent a fortune maintaining Laloo's
cowshed, mowing his lawns or just arranging his high-profile iftaar parties.
According to the CAG, the state's Building Construction
Department spent Rs 10.2 lakh in excess of allocated funds to furnish Laloo's official
residence, 1 Anne Marg, in 1990. Then, between 1990 and 1997, an additional Rs 16.53 lakh
was used to purchase, among other things, 25 double beds, 26 sofa sets, 141 curtains, 399
chairs, 10 carpets and 35 tables.
Acknowledgements for these items are not available. Nor an
explanation why so much was needed for a 10-room house. The Messiah of the Poor would only
hold out that the CAG report has been "stage-managed".
Stepping Stone
Mumbai: Even as
the Women's Reservation Bill was widely debated, the University of Bombay took a right --
or politically correct -- step. Beginning next year, graduation degree certificates will
bear the mother's name too. "It may not be a revolutionary step," says a
university official, "but it's a move forward." While the move is laudable, it
typifies the malady -- making space for women in non-critical areas. But a beginning has
to be made somewhere. As Vice-Chancellor Snehlata Deshmukh puts it, it's her definite,
though small, way to give women "half the sky".
The Don's Latest Kill
Indore: It
takes all kinds to make up the political jungle. Take Vishnu Ustad, 41. Till recently he
was Indore's No. 1 don, a history-sheeter in police records. Now, he's been
"unanimously elected" general secretary of the Indore unit of the INTUC. Quite
naturally. "There was no other contestant against Baba Saheb," hiss his
lieutenants.
A former textile mill worker, Ustad lives in a sprawling slum
area, runs an akhada (gymnasium) and calls himself a social worker. "I'm a pehalwan
(wrestler). That's why they call me ustad (don)," he thumps his chest. In local
politics he enjoys the patronage of Mahesh Joshi, a close aide of Chief Minister Digvijay
Singh. Last month when the police stopped Ustad from clambering atop a stage to greet
Digvijay, Joshi intervened. A photograph of himself rubbing shoulders with the chief
minister now adorns Ustad's drawing room.
With politics his new-found love, Ustad believes he's the
ideal Congress candidate to contest the forthcoming assembly election from Indore-2.
"I can snatch back the seat from the BJP," he trumpets. That's a distinct
possibility, only it sends a shiver down the police force. Says a senior officer: "I
may well have to salute him next time."
Heaven's the Limit
Varanasi: Like
onions and tomatoes, gods too have gone beyond the reach of the common man in Uttar
Pradesh. This became clear recently when Varanasi's famous Kashi Vishwanath temple
released the price list of its various pujas and rituals. The temple trust, headed by the
former ruler of Kashi V.N. Singh, has increased the rates by 50 per cent on an average
which may force many devotees to keep away from the Lord.
A devotee offering dainik archana will have to cough up Rs
11,000 while yati bhikhsa will cost Rs 7,000. For arti Rs 4,000 has to be forked out while
nitya prasad will cost Rs 2,000. Monday shringar during the current month of shravan could
be offered for Rs 5,000.
Varanasi's scholars are disturbed by the hike. "This is
a step towards commercialisation of religious rites," says Ramendra Pandey, a noted
astrologer. The temple trust may have its own compulsions: a way to check the cheating by
the Pandas.
Out for a Stroll
Thiruvananthapuram: When
T.J. Anjelos, former Kerala CPI(M) MP, spent an afternoon last February with his children
at a park in Alappuzha, little did he know that it would be held against him. Last week,
the CPI(M) Alappuzha District Committee expelled him from the party for "spending the
crucial (Lok Sabha election) day in a cavalier manner". Anjelos was the latest victim
of the ongoing tussle for leadership within the state CPI(M) between the CITU lobby and a
group led by politburo member V.S. Achuthanandan.
A Latin Catholic, Anjelos, 37, was considered the CPI(M)'s
"most valuable catch" because he hails from the poor fishermen community on
which the Marxist party's hold has traditionally been marginal. But he fell foul of
Achuthanandan -- also hailing from Alappuzha -- last year when he sided with the CITU
faction. He was denied a ticket in the last Lok Sabha election and when C.S. Sujatha, an
Achuthanandan supporter who replaced him, got defeated, the party local committee raised
charges that Anjelos deliberately worked against her.
"The poor fisher boy forgot that it was the party which
gave him everything in life," Achuthanandan is reported to have said at a meeting.
Anjelos protests that he has not "indulged in any anti-party activity". Already
posters have appeared in the name of "Save CPI(M) Forum" lambasting
Achuthanandan for the action against Anjelos. With eight CITU leaders, including two
Central Committee members, facing disciplinary action, things are only hotting up in the
Kerala CPI(M).
Even Score
Chandigarh:
Haryana's politicians are masters at using academics for narrow ends. Nothing illustrates
this attitude better than Chief Minister Bansi Lal's decision to downgrade Hissar's Guru
Jambeshwar University (GJU). Last week, Bansi Lal stripped GJU of the technical
institutions affiliated to it and attached them to Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak.
The move has reduced the country's first technical university to a residential
institution.
Implicit in the chief minister's decision is an attempt to
even matters with his political rival Bhajan Lal who had established GJU to shore up his
popularity among the Bishnois, a politically influential community to which he belongs. As
chief minister in 1995, Bhajan Lal had brushed aside Bansi Lal's protests to start the
university in the name of the Bishnoi sect's founder.
The Haryana Vikas Party-led Government has offered no
justification for downgrading the university. This could backfire on it as the Bishnois
are angry that "Bansi Lal acted out of political ill-will". The affront on their
guru also places state Home Minister and Bansi Lal associate Mani Ram Godara -- a Bishnoi
-- in a tight spot. |
