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Virendra Kapoor |
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| December 11, 2001 |
| HOME | NEWS | CAPITAL BUZZ |
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Virendra Kapoor |
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| December 11, 2001 |
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As the original complainant in the TANSI case against All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief J Jayalalithaa, Swamy now proposes to file a special appeal in the Supreme Court against the Madras high court's decision acquitting her. But Swamy's ire is not directed against the court. Far from it. He is cut up, and very badly, with Muthuvel Karunanidhi. The former Tamil Nadu chief minister and his Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam have derived immense comfort from Jayalalithaa's legal travails, thanks to Swamy's crusade. But in Swamy's hour of need, they chose not to stand by him. Besides the Supreme Court, Swamy now plans to move heaven and earth against Jayalalithaa.
Nothing has changed...It is a rare day when a prime minister of India attends a college function. But Atal Bihari Vajpayee could not refuse the Sri Ram College of Commerce, New Delhi. Given that two members of his government -- Minister for Law, Justice and Company Affairs Arun Jaitley and Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Vijay Goel -- are SRCC alumni, Vajpayee found it hard to turn down the invitation to grace the college's platinum jubilee function. There was yet another reason for Vajpayee's 'yes'. And that was, his foster son-in-law Ranjan Bhattacharya is a former SRCC student. At the function at Vigyan Bhavan, however, it was neither Vajpayee nor Jaitley who stole the show. It was Goel. Vajpayee was his usual witty self, lacing his address with jokes, one-liners and plain commonsense. For his part, Jaitley gracefully complimented his alma mater for all he had achieved in life. As for Goel, a couple of years junior to Jaitley in college, he related to the youthful audience from the word go. He began by complaining about the 'unfairness of life', and turning towards the managing trustees of SRCC said sotto voce: "In our time only boys were admitted; now SRCC is co-educational..."
"And then I sauntered into the college hostel. And there I saw the same old spectacle, a boy and a girl sitting together. And when I saw what I saw, the boy and the girl also realised what I saw. "While the girl shrank away, the boy said, 'This girl is my cousin!' Even that excuse hasn't changed since my time!"
Down today, up tomorrowIt is commonplace to blame the System for all ills plaguing India. But individuals too can make a difference -- as is evident from the sharp rise in illegal buildings in the capital after Jagmohan's shift from the urban development ministry to tourism. Jagmohan had come down heavily on illegal constructions, pulling down several buildings. The misuse of residential buildings for commercial and industrial purposes too had been curbed. In particular, Jagmohan had bulldozed many illegal banquet halls in south Delhi, which were rented out for marriage receptions and birthday bashes. Since most of them abutted busy roads, they invariably caused traffic jams. But now, within days of Jagmohan's transfer, some of the demolished halls in south Delhi are back in business!
The information and broadcasting minister cannot swallow Arun Jaitley's rise to popularity. As both Jaitley and Swaraj belong to the BJP, and are frontrunners for the party chief's chair in a post-Vajpayee, post-Advani phase, an element of competition is natural between the two. But since Jaitley clicked with the chattering classes, Swaraj has had him on her hit list. She never misses a chance to have a go at Jaitley. Just recently she claimed a 'certain minister' -- we all know who she was hinting at -- was leaking the particulars of Cabinet meetings to the media. Don't for a minute think Swaraj is unsupported in her mission. She has her husband and Rajya Sabha member Swaraj Kaushal solidly behind her. Kaushal 'let the minister have it' recently at a meeting to discuss the controversial POTO. As Jaitley was responding to a query from Congress leader Arjun Singh, Kaushal erupted. "All this problem has been created by this man," he shouted, pointing to Jaitley. "Everything would have been okay, but for this one man." The MPs present, uncharacteristically for MPs, showed maturity at handling the situation -- they pretended Kaushal hadn't spoken at all.
Saffron, saffron burning bright...What does the BJP have against history as it is taught in schools now? Nothing really, it would appear, except that 'selective deletion' would make many people happy.
For instance, Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala cannot stomach the idea that his forefathers ate beef. He and his fellow Jats in Haryana, having come under the Arya Samaj's influence, are confirmed vegetarians. As Chautala told a senior Union minister, the idea of Jats and beef was so "repulsive". Even the Opposition found some merit in the idea. Thus, during an angry debate in the Lok Sabha, Congress MP from Meerut Avatar Singh Badhana, who belongs to the Gujjar community, got up to protest against the unsavoury mention about his community. But his party leader Sonia Gandhi angrily waved him down. Later, when asked by reporters what had got his goat, he said some history books at the school level described Gujjars as "cattle thieves and plunderers" and he wanted those references deleted.
Here's a POTO jokeOverheard in the Central Hall of Parliament. "What's wrong with POTO?" asked a journalist of Devendra Dwivedi, former solicitor general of India. The opposition MP replied, "I can point out at least two things -- Arun Jaitley and Arun Shourie." The reference was to the two Union ministers' forceful defence of the ordinance, of course. Illustrations: Uttam Ghosh
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Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy is not amused. Not one bit.
Then he came up with a still better one, which earned him prolonged applause: "The other day I went to my old college... found the same iron gate, the same old rooms, the same old benches... thought of checking in the principal's room to find out if anything had changed. Nothing had.
Please save Sushma Swaraj. She is in the grip of a green-eyed monster.
The passages chosen for deletion from history books, as part of 'saffronising education', are the kind that will earn it the support of conservative elements.