Gujarat Confidential: Candid Confession

THE Air Chief Marshal AP Singh during his address at a private university’s convocation in Gandhinagar on Thursday made a candid confession before graduating students of Karnavati University. “The irony of life is that the person standing in front of you today and speaking to you all has not even completed his Class 12. I was midway through my 12th when I joined the NDA and I didn’t even complete it, so the last convocation that I addressed at one of the universities was my first convocation of life, and that’s the time I came to know how things are done and what is done,” he said. Singh, who is a member of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, the National Security Council and the Defence Acquisition Council, said he did not join any college but that did not mean that he stopped learning.

Celebrating ‘Vande Mataram’

The Gujarat government, in a circular on Thursday, stated government offices will work from 9.30am to 5.10pm on Friday to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the national song ‘Vande Mataram’, which will include a public singing of the national song. The state-level event will be held at the Vidhan Sabha in presence of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel. The BJP’s district and city units will also organise a programme to mark the celebrations on Friday, following which the local bodies including municipal corporations, municipalities, and district panchayats will organise the event from November 8 to 26 to ensure the elected representatives are able to attend. The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC), which initially planned the event on Friday, later issued a clarification that the event will be held on November 8. An official said, “The elected representatives are required to be present even at the (BJP) party programme on Friday, which will be held simultaneously. Therefore, it is not possible for them to remain present at the event of the local bodies… the local bodies will organise the event from November 8 onwards.”