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Journalism of Courage
Toilet Paper And Trees
How do you convince a group of young industrialists, most of them brought up on the Gordon Gekko principle of Greed is Good8217;, that it doesn8217;t always pay to ape the West? That there are obvious merits in the Indian way of life, and that blindly adopting Western mores could be bad for you. Well, if you8217;re unconventional like Swami Agnivesh, and you8217;re talking to the Confederation of Indian Industry8217;s under-40 owner-managers, you8217;ll appeal to their new-found love for the environment. So, Agnivesh told them the story of the toilet paper and the tree. If all of us in India, he said, used toilet paper the way the Americans do, given the size of our population and, may we add, the endemic gastro-enteritis, there wouldn8217;t be a single tree left in the entire world! If most of the young businessmen treated this as a joke and not much more, it8217;s perhaps because India appears to have a chronic water problem as well.
Harsha Truth
8220;Favourites and hosts never win the WorldCup as per the tradition so far!8221; That8217;s the only consolation for India, who are grappling with the task of having to get rid of either South Africa, England or Sri Lanka for a Super Six berth. And the prediction comes from one who should know 8212; Harsha Bhogle 8212; the irrepressible chemical engineer-cum-IIM Ahmedabad MBA-cum-adman-cum-sports columnist-cum-cricket commentator who became 8220;the first Indian ever to be signed on by a multinational sports channel.8221;
In Pune recently for the unveiling of the World Cup trophy, Harsha revealed more: 8220;We went to Sharjah to prove to the world that we can jolly well do without Sachin Tendulkar. All that it did, however, was reinforce with a vengeance our greatest handicap 8212; that we are totally dependent on him.8221; Honest? That8217;s Harsha Bhogle to the core.
Water Woes
With all top BJP leaders demanding early elections, why should Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel be left behind? He even shot off a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Manohar SinghGill, asking that the Lok Sabha elections be held in late June, or early July. The state gets only moderate rain during the monsoon, Patel, the newly-anointed weatherman, informed Gill and asked him to take Gandhinagar8217;s view into account while fixing dates for elections. In reality, no BJP leader in Gujarat wants an early election.
For, June is the time of acute water scarcity in the state, particularly in Saurashtra, which is the BJP8217;s main base. If the rains are delayed, the drought continues even in July. Many towns get water only once a day, that too at low pressure and only early in the morning. BJP leaders admit this is no time to go around asking for votes. 8220;Instead of votes, we will get stones,8221; remarked a BJP leader. Patel, who belongs to Saurashtra, couldn8217;t be unaware. But then, how could he disagree with the party line?
CM Material?
Guess what makes a successful chief minister in these politically unstable times? Economic development, social uplift, population control? Nah! AskMaharashtra8217;s ex-chief minister Manohar Joshi what it is. At a function in Pune, he gave his own view on the subject: 8220;Not a single no-confidence motion was brought against me. There were no hurling of stones at my cavalcade anywhere I went in the state.8221; And then, he went on to say: 8220;Forget about all these, not for a single time was I ever greeted with black flags or ribbons. That should speak volumes for my work.8221; Pity Bal Thackeray, on whose orders his services were terminated, wasn8217;t listening in to his lecture.
Shooting For The Silver Screen
Reports of a different kind of shooting have been emanating from the Kashmir Valley over the past few weeks. Once the favourite haunt of filmmakers till terrorism forced them to shift to Himachal Pradesh and then farther afield, film units are again making a beeline for the Valley. Among the top stars who have already put in their appearance are Aamir Khan, Manisha Koirala and Anil Kapoor. And among those expected in the near future are AmitabhBachchan, Jayapradha, Preity Zinta, Sunny Deol and Madhuri Dixit.
Which is why Jammu amp; Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah is clearly taking no chances. Each of the top stars is provided with a personal security officer PSO during their stay. But curiously, when duties were assigned, there were no takers for Manisha 8212; the beeline was for Aamir Khan, her co-star in Mann. They all wanted to be seen with the little big wonder who happens to be the Valley8217;s top favourite. So, it was a very reluctant PSO who did the honours for Manisha. Wonder what her DJ boyfriend Whosane? has to say about this.
Swinging Shankersinh
During the recent political crisis, former Gujarat Chief Minister Shankersinh Vaghela was often seen on TV, sitting beside Mulayam Singh Yadav. Apparently, Vaghela was in Delhi to contribute his mite to dethrone the Vajpayee government. And why not? The BJP is Vaghela8217;s old enemy and his Rashtriya Janata Party RJP had one MP the one and only Anand Mohan Singh. But it sohappened that Vaghela, who had carted a planeload of MLAs to Khajuraho in his famous coup against the BJP government in Gujarat, could not manage to swing his lone MP. Singh rebelled against his leader and decided to vote for Vajpayee; all that Vaghela could do was expel him from the party.
Incidentally, Singh is not the first to desert Vaghela. In the last one year, many whom Vaghela had made ministers in his good old days in Gujarat, have crossed over to the Congress. Now, in a surprise move, Vaghela himself is trying to effect an electoral tie-up with the Grand Old Party. Doesn8217;t matter if Mulayam Singh Yadav, the ally with whom he shared the arclights in Delhi, hates Sonia Gandhi more than anyone else. Vaghela rationalises that an RJP-Congress alliance is necessary to defeat the BJP in Gujarat. 8220;And I don8217;t mind the Congress playing the Big Brother to the RJP,8221; he says. But then, there has to be an RJP for the Congress to ally with. Isn8217;t that right, Mr Vaghela?
Sunil Jain in New Delhi; MuzamilJaleel in Srinagar; Davinder Kumar andAnubha Charan in Pune; Virender Kumar in Ahmedabad
