Vis-a-Vis

A.K. ANTONY defence minister versus D. RAJA CPI national secretary

"USS Nimitz’s visit to Chennai is part of the ongoing expansion of defence cooperation with the United States."

"Keeping in view America’s stance against Iran, we are concerned about the government decision to let the ship dock."

EPILOGUE: If strategic nuclear ties with the US are fine, why quibble over docking a ship?


VOICES

“When the Broadcasting Bill is passed in Parliament, the media of developed countries will salute India saying that we are the real democracy.”

Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, Union minister for information and broadcasting

“Democracy has been disfigured whenever Congress has been in the seat of power. And whenever communists joined the Congress, the danger has only deepened.”

L.K. Advani, BJP leader

“It is reassuring to see that two of our netas have been able to preserve their sanity against the onslaught of sycophancy—Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh.”

Khushwant Singh, author

“Not a single soul in Tawang will ever support China. We’re an inalienable part of India.”

Sangay Jampi, secretary, Tawang’s Galden Namgyal Lhatse monastery

“I thought Koirala was trying to find artful ways to abolish the monarchy but now I feel he was trying to save the monarchy artfully.”

Prachanda, chief of Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist

THE BUZZ OF THE WEEK

With Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee opting out of the vice-presidency, the CPI(M) is likely to prop up West Bengal Assembly Speaker Hashim Abdul Halim for the post. The Congress will have no option but to concur.

ELECTED: India’s longest-serving permanent representative at the UN, Chinmaya Gharekhan, as president of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts.

INAUGURATED: India’s biggest uranium processing plant, by Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar at Turamdih near Jamshedpur.

COMMEMORATED: Seventy-five years of India in Test cricket. On June 25, 1932, India played its first ever Test match against England at Lord’s.

DIED: Tamil director and cinematographer Jeeva, 43, who worked in films such as Baaghban, Hul Chul and Hera Pheri.

PICTURE SPEAK

RED CARDS: Vijayan (left) and Achuthanandan

Last week, the CPI(M) Central Committee went through the motions of ratifying the Politburo’s decree last month to suspend the powerful leaders for giving their dirty linen a public wash. Like errant children, the 82-year-old chief minister and his 62-year-old bete noire have been told that their behaviour will be “under watch’ and an early return to A.K.G. Bhavan will depend upon how they conduct themselves in public.

Party sources, however, say that the two are not likely to make an early return and the suspension order may well continue until March 2008 when the next cpi(m) congress is scheduled in Coimbatore. Strangely, both have been allowed to continue in their respective posts despite the Politburo giving them marching orders from its meetings.

Factionalism in the CPI(M) Kerala unit has been of immense concern to the party’s central leadership since the past few years. The concern, however, grew to anguish last year as Achuthanandan and Vijayan relentlessly pursued their conflicts through the media. “Suspension of the two leaders is not tokenism,” said a central committee member. He added that the CPI(M) had to put up a united front if it hoped for a repeat of the landslide win in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls.

The Coimbatore congress is crucial for the CPI(M) since it will take place just a year ahead of the 2009 general polls. Between this year-end and the next, many assemblies will go to polls. The CPI(M), with its partners in the Left Front, will take a good look at the UPA based on their performances in these elections.

-By Satarupa Bhattacharjya

PICTURE SPEAK

LAST LEG: Pandya’s body being taken for cremation

The CBI, which investigated the case, found that the murder was engineered by some radical Muslim clerics led by one Mufti Sufian Patangia, now believed to be in Pakistan, and ISI-trained Muslim youths from Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. They were seeking revenge for the killings of Muslims during the 2002 Gujarat riots. Pandya had been charged with leading violent Hindu mobs on Muslims. As many as 16 persons were charged in the case under POTA, out of which four are still absconding. Pandya’s father Vithalbhai has continuously alleged that his son’s murder was engineered by Modi himself.

Last week, the special POTA court sentenced nine of the 12 accused to life imprisonment while awarding lesser sentences to three others. Amongst those who got life terms is Hyderabad-based Asghar Ali, who pumped five bullets into Pandya.

After the verdict, Vithalbhai sought re-investigation into the case by the CBI, which, he said, was influenced by L.K. Advani, the then Union home minister, in the NDA regime. He is now planning legal action. Pandya’s wife Jagruti says, “I’ll meet the chief minister and request him for a reinvestigation. There are too many holes in the way the case has been probed.” Meanwhile, Modi continues to maintain a stoic silence over the issue.

-By Uday Mahurkar

PICTURE SPEAK

TOY STORY: The condom

Waxing indignant at what he described as a “sex toy”, state PWD and Energy Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya has demanded a ban on its sale and shot off a protest letter to the prime minister. But the state Government is yet to decide on the demand for a ban.

In a state where hardcore saffron elements are quick to jump the gun on almost any issue, the lack of enthusiasm over the minister’s demand for the ban is now being seen as a reflection of rift in the state Government. Vijayvargiya is viewed as an ambitious leader and a potential rival of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan.

The minister’s demand for yoga instruction, instead of such “gimmicks” to enhance sexual prowess, is in line with Shivraj’s own faith in yoga. But a section of the state BJP feels that repeated controversies could project the government in a bad light.

-By Ambreesh Mishra

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