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July 26, 1999
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A Goal For Kargil
Delhi: Playing football does not come
naturally to our actors and cricketers, but last week at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium they
managed to whip up a lot of excitement. Shah Rukh Khan scored as if he was out to impress
the national football selectors, while Sachin Tendulkar lobbed one in with his trademark
precision. Lanky fast bowler Venkatesh Prasad too proved he was as good with his feet by
netting the ball thrice. In the end, the tennis score -- 6-2 in the cricketers' favour --
didn't matter as the match was organised to raise funds for the Kargil martyrs. Only,
event compere Shekhar Suman got a bit carried away when he lavished praise on Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the chief guest, for the army's resounding victory. The
salute should have been reserved for the cricketers and actors for their sporting spirit. The General's Mind
Delhi: The Government last week was
hard put to get some vital input from outside the Defence Ministry brass on how the
Pakistani Army might respond to the intruders' withdrawal. The need was met at least
partially at a dinner hosted by a Calcutta newspaper baron where the guest list included
Principal Secretary to the prime minister Brajesh Mishra and former army chief Shankar
Roychowdhury. The general has a vast knowledge of how the minds of top-ranking officers in
the Pakistani Army and the ISI work. But it was difficult for any top dog of the BJP-led
government to interact with a man who is contesting the Rajya Sabha elections as a joint
candidate of the rival Left Front and the Congress. The dinner declogged the pipeline.
Pleasing All
Bhubaneswar: With elections round the
corner, can soothsayers be far behind? Holed up in a budget hotel of the city, a visiting
astrologer from Delhi is in great demand with local politicians. Among the stream of
ministers, MLAs and aspiring legislators flocking the hotel's corridors was Chief Minister
Giridhar Gomang who had more than one audience with the man who seems to know what the
stars have in store for his clients. Of course, he has told most of them, cutting across
party lines, that they all have a great political future. The question then is: if all the
parties do well, then who will lose in the elections?
Praying Coalition
Mumbai: Faced with a tough and rather sticky
wicket in the forthcoming polls, the Shiv Sena bigwigs organised a Maha Yagna at the Shiv
Sena Bhavan in Dadar. The hush hush yagna was attended by Bal Thackeray, Udhav Thackeray,
Raj Thackeray and Chief Minister Narayan Rane among others. The yagna was to propitiate
the gods and avoid a repeat of 1998 when the saffron alliance scored poorly. However, one
observer present at the yagna wondered if it would work given the fact that alliance
partner BJP was absent. Not to worry, BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde
was that very day propitiating Goddess Bhavani at the historic temple of Tuljapur.
Media Backup
Delhi: Right through the Kargil war,
Information and Broadcasting Minister Pramod Mahajan made it something of a mission to
tour border areas and gear up Doordarshan and air networks in the region to counter
Pakistani propaganda. It was during one such visit to a command base hospital in Srinagar
that Mahajan noticed injured and convalescing soldiers had no access to any means of
entertainment. Soon enough 30 colour TV sets, 1,000 transistors and a computer were
organised for the hospital through private donors. A small gesture, but one that went down
well with the jawans fighting on the borders. |
