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Journalism of Courage
In his column in the May 28 issue of Organiser, M.V. Kamath has argued strongly against Arjun Singh proposal for OBC quotas. He writes: 8220;Nothing is more sickening than when a political party8230;intends to favour a particular class, caste, or religion just prior to election time. The least that we, the citizens of India, expect from politicians of every hue is some decency in public life.8221;
Kamath describes V.P. Singh as 8220;one of the most detestable of politicians8221; and counts Arjun of that ilk for pressing for OBC quotas. He refers to the Army leadership, 8220;which rightly put its foot down on the issue of counting Muslim heads in the Armed Forces8221; and says it is a matter of condemnation that the UPA government should have stooped so low.In short the point he makes is that education at the highest level should be strictly on the basis of merit and not caste-based. 8216;8216;When the Constitution was passed, it was Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar who said that the cut-off point for reservations should be ten years.It is now sixty years since Independence and we are still harping on reservations as the ultimate mantra for social progress.8217;8217;
Profit from office
In his piece on the Office of Profit Bill, Easwaran Nambudiri describes it as the most blatant and shameless act of expediency in free India8217;s political history.He questions Sonia Gandhi8217;s image of the 8216;8216;mother of all sacrifices8217;8217; and says she8217;s 8220;grooming son Rahul for the top post.8221; Besides, he says, 8220;Congressmen are keen to have her back as Super Prime Minister over and above Dr Manmohan Singh.8221;He goes on to say: 8220;To put the Opposition BJP in the dock, the Bill also exempted the post of the chairman of the All India Council for Sports, once headed by the BJP8217;s deputy leader in Lok Sabha, Prof Vijay Kumar Malhotra. Not only that, the government did not know that the council does not exist anymore and the Election Commission has given a clean chit to Malhotra by dismissing the petition against him.8217;8217;The article insinuates that by exempting the office of chairperson or trustee of any trust, whether public or private, it favours Sonia, head of Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.
Code censor
Even as BJP protests the screening of Fanaa in Gujarat, Organiser has on editorial on the controversy over The Da Vince Code.
The edit says: 8216;8216;Every faith in India has a right to be heard and they should get justice. But it also raises a few questions, not very comforting. This time round, we missed the celebrity presence of the likes of Shabana Azmi, Nandita Das, Nafisa Ali and Brinda Karat, who forever want to protect their right to expression.8217;8217;It then recalls the Rajasthan government8217;s ban on a 8216;8216;highly blasphemous book authored by a Christian priest on the Hindu faith and system8217;8217; and says, 8216;8216;the Church in India did not show the magnanimity to chasten the writer and tender an unqualified apology.8217;8217;It also says that children across the country are being fed on half-truths about India8217;s past. 8216;8216;No child growing up reading those history texts would feel proud of his country,8217;8217; it says with referrence to the NCERT8217;s detox drive.
Sex, lies and Cong
In a detailed aricle, 8216;Political patronage of sleaze: Kashmir8217;s plight8217;, by Prakriiti Gupta in Jammu, Organiser takes on the involvement of ministers, legislators and bureaucrats of the Congress-led coalition government in a major sex racket.
It says a minor girl had publicly named two Congress ministers in Mufti Mohammed Sayeed-led government on her list of clients and that the interrogation of other victims has brought forth nerve-wracking facts pointing fingers at several legislators, bureaucrats and police personnel of the state government.It also says that investigations have revealed that some Muslim lady doctors and a Congress woman councillor were also among those involved in the racket.Taking on Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, it says: 8216;8216;after the8230;shady handling of the state government of previous Anara Gupta sex scandal of 2004, the public wants a public trial of the culprits by public disclosure of the names of all big people involved. In the Anara Gupta case, the state police came under severe criticism when reports from three reputed forensic laboratories of the country varied. It was learnt that since some big names in the then Sayeed government were involved, bogus CDs were officially sent for investigations.8217;8217;
It says: 8216;8216;Disruption of cable network in Kashmir was institutioned by the ruling Congress government because almost all the channels were airing regular bulletins about the sex scandal executing pressure on the government.8217;8217;
Compiled by Shubhajit Roy
