Savouring victory

In a front-page report in the latest issue of Organiser, editor R. Balashankar is full of praise for 8220;team Rajnath8221; for bringing about a 8220;saffron spring8221; in Punjab and Uttarakhand.

In a front-page report in the latest issue of Organiser, editor R. Balashankar is full of praise for 8220;team Rajnath8221; for bringing about a 8220;saffron spring8221; in Punjab and Uttarakhand. While Ravi Shankar Prasad gets a pat on his back for doing 8220;an excellent job of organising and overseeing the campaign8221; in Uttarakhand, it is general secretary Arun Jaitley who is singled out for fulsome praise. According to the report, 8220;The most outstanding performance was Arun Jaitley in Punjab. His suave, articulate and dynamic presence electrified the party cadre. It is for the first time in BJP history that the party emerged as a formidable third force in the state8230; The party has proved the first choice of the urban Hindu voter.8221; On a broader plane, the Organiser sees the twin victories as vindication of the BJP8217;s post-Advani course corrections. As the editor puts it, 8220;The support the BJP gained is an endorsement of its recent policy corrections. Top on its agenda were aggressive advocacy of the nationalist concern on internal and external security, opposition to sectarian and casteist appeasement by the UPA and commitment to good governance.8221; At the same time, he is cautious about predicting the BJP8217;s return to power at the Centre on the basis of its good showing in the assembly polls. While the UPA is clearly on the decline, the BJP has a long way to go. 8220;It cannot show itself as a platform of power hungry politicians. It has to prove intrinsically different from the rest. In attitude, ideology, approach and goal,8221; writes Balashankar.

Taxing times

Describing Finance Minister P. Chidambaram as 8220;the latest middle class tormentor8221;, the editorial slams the union budget for imposing high taxes on the common man. Claiming that almost 47 per cent of a salaried person8217;s income is taken away as tax, it says, 8220;The indirect tax is the biggest loot. In the name of service tax the middle class is forced to eke out a wretched living. From telephone, ball pen to school notebooks, even a cup of tea in a decent hotel is taxed. When the FM talks of additional Rs 1,00,000 crore tax mobilisation he is talking about further taxing the common man, for most of it will come from direct and indirect taxes. The tragedy is a small or medium businessman is taxed heavier than big MNCs or desi tycoons.8221; For two years, the editorial adds, the UPA reaped the harvest of the buoyant economy left by the NDA. 8220;Things have changed and the Chidambaram budget proves that the party is over.8221;

Sonia8217;s silence

Commenting on the latest twist in the Quattrocchi saga, columnist Sandhya Jain says Sonia Gandhi8217;s 8220;sullen silence8221; has directly implicated her and her family in the Bofors kickbacks scandal. 8220;Regardless of whether or not he is brought to justice in India, he has brought the Bofors smoking gun directly into the drawing room of 10 Janpath; something that could not be fully achieved in the lifetime of Rajiv Gandhi.8221; Sonia Gandhi, adds Jain, 8220;must now tell us if she and any or both of her children are beneficiaries of the Bofors kickbacks, and if that is the reason she is obliged to help Ottavio Quattrocchi in his legal troubles8230; A common Italian nationality and a known friendship links Quattrocchi with Sonia Gandhi, and so it is high time the lady come clean and stopped forcing an increasingly unwilling Congress party to shield her misdeeds forever.8221;

And Bachchanalia

Amitabh Bachchan8217;s proximity to the Samajwadi Party may have cost him friends and admirers in the political world, but veteran Organiser columnist M.V. Kamath remains an ardent admirer of Big B. In a belated review of 8216;Amitabh Bachchan, The Legend8217; by Bhawna Somayya 8212; the book has already had several editions 8212; Kamath is all praise for the actor8217;s charisma, versatility and drive. In gushing tones, he writes: 8220;One would probably need an entire diary to note down all his achievements. It is doubtful whether even Jawaharlal Nehru has in his lifetime received so much public attention.8221; First time, perhaps, that the first superhero of Bollywood has been compared 8212; favourably 8212; to the first prime minister of India.

Compiled by Manini Chatterjee