Revisionist adventures

The Organiser also offers some advice to the CPM: 8220;The wisdom of the Gita 8212; that it is glorious to go down fighting for one8217;s convictions, rather than embracing alien thoughts which would only bring infamy, would be of some help to the comrades, in their agonising hour of ideological tailspin.8221;

Gowda8217;s assurances

In what appears to be an attempt to keep the JDS leadership in good humour, the Organiser8217;s interview of the week is with former PM H.D. Deve Gowda. Some months ago, his son and Karnataka CM H.D. Kumaraswamy was chosen for the same honour. But although Deve Gowda is now backing the JDS-BJP coalition, he still appears unwilling to endorse the BJP fully. Asked if transfer of power to the BJP would be a smooth affair, Deve Gowda starts out saying 8220;there is no question of any hesitation on our part8221; and then goes on to add a rider, 8220;if the BJP does not give scope for hiccups and strictly adhere to the agenda for governance, I don8217;t think there will be any problem in transferring power to the BJP.8221;

Similarly, on the question of joining the NDA, Deve Gowda says, 8220;The policies and programmes adopted by my party in 1999 shall be the basis of my extending cooperation. However, on the question of coordination, I have no reservations depending on the nature of issues.8221;

On why he had revised his earlier opposition to his son8217;s decision to join hands with the BJP, Deve Gowda said, 8220;The 10 months of administration run by Kumaraswamy as the captain of the team has convinced me that they are trying their best to adhere to the Karnataka Development Front KDF programme and that is why I reconciled myself to the coalition.8221; The repeated emphasis on the words 8220;agenda8221;, 8220;issues8221; and 8220;governance8221; seemed like a message that if the BJP raised its own pet themes, it could jeopardise the partnership.

Holiday politics

A front page report slams the UPA government8217;s decision to remove Holi and Janmashtami from the list of gazetted government holidays and placing them on the restricted holidays list. Describing it as 8220;yet another please-minorities policy8221;, the report says that over the years Holi had come to represent a social rather than religious occasion. By removing the two festivals from the gazetted list, the government 8220;has made a statement8221; and ensured that 8220;both the strictly Hindu festivals and Muslim festivals are even in number.8221;

Giving a religious break-up, the report says the new list of 11 gazetted holidays includes three Muslim festivals Id-ul-Zuha, Muharram and Milad-un-Nabi, three Hindu festivals Diwali, Dussehra and Ram Navami, three national festivals Independence Day, Republic Day and Gandhi Jayanti, two for Christians Good Friday and Christmas and Buddha Purnima, Guru Nayak Jayanti and Mahavir Jayanti.

Compiled by Manini Chatterjee