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Journalism of Courage
Snapping all lines
The telecom industry seems to have declared war on Communciations Minister Jagmohan. Having failed to persuade the doughty ex-bureaucrat to waive their outstanding license fees, private phone companies are believed to be now lobbying for his ouster from the Ministry.
Moody Mamata
The Trinamool Congress Party8217;s moody chief, Mamata Banerjee, can8217;t seem to make up her mind who she detests more 8211; her Congress bete noire Pranab Mukherjee or her BJP arch foe Tapan Sikdar. And her politics keeps pace with the fortunes of both in their respective parties.
Till the other day, she was breathing fire at the BJP which has persistently refused to heed her demand for Sikdar8217;s removal from its West Bengal unit. She even extended an olive branch to the Congress with an offer to support an alternative government in Delhi provided the Left Front was kept out.Then came the announcement of Mukherjee8217;s appointment as AICC general secretary. And that was the end of her brief honeymoon with the Congress.
Within 24 hours, she sent her Congress interlocutors packing and declared undying support to the Vajpayee Government. And after Information and Broadcasting Minister Pramod Mahajan8217;s made-to-order performance at her rally in Calcutta, shehas even promised to consider joining the Central Government after the budget session.
Kumble8217;s home run
With cricket paving the way for the current bonhomie between India and Pakistan, American diplomats and journalists in Delhi are struggling with the intricacies of this essentially British sport. In fact, both Washington Post and The New York Times did detailed reports on the two-match series, tying themselves in amusing knots to explain cricketing terms like leg spinner, etc. to an audience whose sporting knowledge is limited to football and baseball. Anil Kumble8217;s amazing haul was compared to a gymnast8217;s perfect ten but despite the crash course the correspondents took, the bowling remained baseball throws.
The Americans have got so involved now that diplomatic circles are flushed with jokes about the prospects of a US cricket team coming to India to do what Talbott and Jaswant Singh have failed to do.
Speaker for all seasons
After being outmanoeuvred by his bureaucrats, UrbanDevelopment Minister Ram Jethmalani seems to have tuned off from his ministry. He is out virtually every week, attending a conference or a seminar or a workshop. And most of them have nothing to do with either his profession, law, or his ministerial subject, urban development.
For instance, he was in Bhopal recently for a conference on pregnancy and childbirth. The next week, he surfaced in Jaipur at a seminar on Buddhism where he was part of the audience. And he stunned all those present by getting up and arguing with the Dalai Lama on the true meaning of Buddhism. Obviously a man bent on having the last word on every subject.
Watch your words
J.B. Patnaik8217;s unceremonious removal in Orissa 8212; in which the Anjana Misra episode too had a role to play 8212; has sent the men in government service scurrying to fish out a circular sent out by the Personnel Ministry some weeks ago on sexual harassment. The circular, which came in response to the Supreme Court ruling on the subject, makes sexual harassmentof women in the work place a cognizable offence under the Civil Services Conduct Rules. And men have been warned not to say or do anything which can be construed as lewd or obscene.
Worried men in government departments are now re-reading the paper which was stuffed into their bottom drawers and hoping to find clues to what exactly constitutes sexual harassment.
Sangh and Sinha
Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha finally gathererd the courage to sweep the Sangh parivar out of his office. The ouster of advisor Mohan Guruswamy, a nominee of the swadeshi lobby, was well-publicised. But the sacking of two other aides, his private secretary and his officer-on-special duty, has gone virtually unnoticed.
According to BJP circles, the PS got his job courtesy the Sangh 8212; pressure which Sinha could not obviously resist. But with Vajpayee deciding swadeshi is out, the gentleman was shown the door even before Guruswamy. Curiously, Sinha himself had the Sangh8217;s stamp of approval after the saffron bosses vetoedVajpayee8217;s first choice for the Finance Ministry, Jaswant Singh.
