Vis-a-Vis

NARENDRA MODI Gujarat chief minister versus PRANAB MUKHERJEE defence minister

"The Government lacks the willpower to tackle terrorism. The Government is directionless."

"How can we just go to another country and destroy terrorist camps there?"

EPILOGUE: Terrorism is focused, but the war against it is caught in a conundrum.

VOICES

"If the Government, politicians and political parties are expected to be accountable and transparent, why not the NGOs?"

Narendra Modi, Gujarat chief minister

"It's committing a crime against the country by trying to cover up Gandhi's action. History was created when the entire country sang the national song in tribute to the motherland."

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, BJP vice-president

"These days even I am confused whether I should go ahead with my plans of visiting the US. They might treat me as a terrorist because I'm a Kashmiri."

Farooq Abdullah, former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister

"In the game of competition, the developed countries are bound to respond and seek similar opportunities. India should be prepared to play the game."

L. N. Mittal, board president, Arcelor-Mittal

"Male chauvinists and fundamentalists do not believe in equal rights. Whenever one tries to unshackle patriarchy, a religious controversy arises."

Taslima Nasreen, writer

THE BUZZ OF THE WEEK

The speed at which the Mulayam Singh Government is constructing flyovers and paving roads in Lucknow, the constituency of former prime minister A.B. Vajpayee, has left some wondering if he is trying to build bridges with the BJP.

PICTURE SPEAK

LAST LAP: Basu (left) and Surjeet

Though his tenure in West Bengal from 1977 to 2000 is still the longest among chief ministers, Basu, 92, is a frail shadow of his former self. Apart from speaking his mind on issues which have often been at odds with those who currently run his party, he is still loved and respected by his party colleagues. His influence over the Politburo has considerably withered since he's no longer involved with the party's daily affairs.

Younger CPI(M) leaders had accorded him the status of a living legend at the party's 18th congress in Delhi in May 2005. They had expected the other surviving member of the original Politburo (of 1964), Harkishen Singh Surjeet, to stay more active. It has been just over a year since he handed the party mantle to Prakash Karat, but the former CPI(M) general secretary has already withdrawn from Politburo activities on health grounds.

He's a year younger than Basu and is always accompanied by his grandson, but Surjeet's last public appearance was at the Left Front's anti-US demonstrations over the Indo-US nuclear treaty on Parliament Street this year. Although younger CPI(M) leaders say they believe in scientific communism, they refuse to let the two veterans out of the Politburo. The bigger irony is that while the CPI(M) is in its strongest form since Independence, the patriarchs slip into twilight.

-By Satarupa Bhattacharjya

DIED: Sanskrit litterateur and the last living founder of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Kashiram Shastri, 102. He was the president of the Gujarat unit of the VHP at the time of his demise.

NAMED: Actor and social activist Shabana Azmi, as the recipient of this year's Gandhi Peace Award, which will be given to her in the British Parliament in October, by the London-based Gandhi Foundation.

RE-ELECTED: Former chief justice of India, Justice P. N. Bhagwati to United Nations Human Rights Committee for the fourth time. He was earlier chairman of the committee from 1993 to 2000.

WON: The US Open Men's Doubles by Leander Paes and his Czech partner Martin Damm, beating second seeded Max Mirnyi (Belarus) and Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) 6-7, 6-4, 6-3

PICTURE SPEAK

AT LOGGERHEADS: Fernandes (R) and Kumar

An embarrassed BJP, caught between the warring factions, reacted after five days after some prodding from Bihar. "The BJP completely disassociates itself from Fernandes' comments against the Bihar Government, which we feel is doing very well," said party spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad. And Yadav was left to fend for himself.

However, Fernandes's dissatisfaction with his party has been growing ever since Kumar supported Yadav's candidature as party chief earlier this year. Fernandes wanted his protege Jaya Jaitley to get the job. Fernandes's supporters complained that he was not consulted over JD(U)'s decision to tie up with Apna Dal for the Uttar Pradesh polls. For the record, however, Fernandes has denied that he would be quitting the JD(U) or reviving the Samata Party. "I built this party from the scratch, why would I leave?" he told the media.

Fernandes has good equations with both Atal Behari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani. However, the ground reality gives Kumar the upper hand.

So Prasad refused to comment when asked if Fernandes's days as convener were numbered. As far as most of his party colleagues are concerned, in the twilight of his political career, the firebrand socialist is merely looking for new ways to light an old spark.

-By Priya Sahgal

PICTURE SPEAK

Protests outside Loreto

-By Subhash Mishra

-By M. G. Radhakrishnan

Wireless Freedom

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Index