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Journalism of Courage
Political judo: the passive attack
Several people expected fireworks from leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sharad Pawar at the function of the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce Industries and Agriculture in Pimpri-Chinchwad during the inauguration of the new building, particularly after Chief Minister Manohar Joshi had criticized Dr R J Rathi, former MCCIA chairman, for his allegations that the State government exhibited apathy towards the problems of the industry.
Pawar however did not seem to be in the mood to launch an attack. He calmly explained the situation, 8220;Normally leaders in the opposition are hardly invited for corporate functions. It is because we are in the habbit of criticising people. When we make critical comments, it is the job of those in power to go and protect those in the line of fire.8221; Turning towards Dr Rathi, he added, 8220;The situation in Maharashtra however seems to be different. Here persons in power criticise, and we in the opposition have the responsibility of protecting such targets8221;.
Watered down retort
Former Pune Municipal Commissioner Ramanath Jha, who was in the eye of a storm at the recent general body meeting regarding the multi-crore water supply project, decided to clear the air a bit at a press conference held on Sunday.
While he reiterated that he had absolutely nothing to say about the project, he derided the fact that the focus had shifted to personalised criticism8217;.
quot;So much work has been done. The case estimate is at least 10,000 hours of work and in my individual capacity I have spent nearly 200 hours of work,quot; grimaced Jha who wondered why his critics8217; had shown scant enthusiasm for the presentations on the water supply project then and whether they had really cared to study the scheme at all.
Cop takes traffic snarl in hand
He was probably looking forward to a routine day8217;s work, when he left home for duty at the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Chowk on the busy Mahatma Gandhi Road. The volume of traffic had already increased by evening, and when some vehicles caused a traffic jam for want of parking space, a six-seater autorickshaw had a breakdown right at the chowk. With a near-commotion due to the traffic snarl, the cop shouted at the driver to get his autorickshaw out of there. The driver however expressed his helplessness and even the passengers all of whom were women were in no mood to climb out of the autorickshaw. Showing a surprising willingness for manual labour, the traffic cop helped push the autorickshaw while the driver in his seat steered the vehicle to the side of the road. That did it. The traffic returned to normal.
Tailpiece
An English school in the city organised a prize distribution ceremony last week. The invitation announced that the chief guest for the ceremony would be a minister from Mizoram. The same invitation card however carried a footnote in italics, warning invitees that children would not be allowed, leaving one wondering as to who would be receiving prizes at the school8217;s prize distribution ceremony.
