Sonia vs Kalam

Organiser8217;s contempt for Sonia Gandhi this week matches its admiration for outgoing president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

Organiser8217;s contempt for Sonia Gandhi this week matches its admiration for outgoing president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. M.D. Nalapat asks 8220;why is Sonia against Kalam,8221; and offers answers in the form of more questions. He suspects the UPA government has formulated a 8220;Maino Doctrine8221; in foreign policy, aimed to emasculate India8217;s military march. Missile man Kalam is opposed to this doctrine. 8220;Manmohan Singh has reportedly agreed to the US demand that India cap the Agni-III programme to a 5000-kilometre range. This would mean the end of this country8217;s hopes of becoming a competitor to Europe in the satellite launch market,8221; he writes and asks 8220;is his defence of Indian interests the reason why the UPA has been prevented from backing a second term in office for President Kalam?8221;

The writer suspects another reason why Kalam was avoided is his 8220;simplicity8221; and honesty which are not liked by the UPA and chairperson Sonia Gandhi. The author discovers that 8220;if there is a greater admirer of the daughter of Stefano Maino than Lalu Prasad Yadav, it is Muthuvel Karunanidhi, whose face reveals the extremes of joy that he experiences in the clearly delightful company of the UPA chief.8221; He thinks Kalam is the odd person in the gathering of politicians.

On being Hindu

An editorial laments than being a Hindu is such a disqualification in India that the Congress rejected two of its presidential aspirants for their Hindu credentials and forced the presidential candidate Pratibha Patil to retract her statement on the veil. 8220;Political parties in India are particularly allergic to the Hindu tag. It is fine to be Muslim, Christian, Bengali, Maharashtrian or woman,8221; the editorial surmises. Karan Singh was rejected by the Left because 8220;he is a practicing Hindu,8221; and Shivraj Patil was rejected because 8220;he was soft towards the BJP.8221; The magazine juxtaposes this with the attempt by all political parties 8212; except the BJP, which is the only party 8220;not ashamed of being Hindu8221; 8212; to assuage Muslim sentiments following Pratibha Patil8217;s veil statement. 8220;Why is it that the Indian politician is so single mindedly anti-Hindu? Why is it that Hindu sentiments are routinely trampled upon in the public space though Hindus constitute more than 85 per cent of the population in the country? It is often the Hindu politicians who systematically undermine Hindu interests in the name of secular politics.8221;

Towards reconciliation

Hindu-Muslim reconciliation possible8217;, says the headline of an article written by O.P. Batra. Reconciliation has not happened and Muslims are not in the Indian mainstream because of their own fault, he argues. 8220;The solution of Muslim poverty and backwardness lies in their own hands, and not in the hands of so-called secular parties, leaders and concocted reports, like the Sachar report, which only offers false promises to win their votes. In case, true, sound and impartial confidence is built among the Muslims, it shall break the shackles of bigotism, cobweb spun around them by their fundamentalists, clerics and short-sighted leaders, and to a greater extent, by the crooked politicians, who have forced the community to live in isolation and become a mere tool and pawn in their hands, to be used only at the time of voting, to win elections, and to forget them after the victory, for a period of another five years.8221;

Hill conspiracy

Columnist Sandhya Jain explains the link between Nepal abolishing monarchy under pressure from Maoists and a recent visit of former US president Jimmy Carter to the hill country as part of a Christian proselytising conspiracy. Carter, she says, is pushing evangelism, Maoists are converted Christians doing his bidding, and the UPA government controlled by Sonia Gandhi is encouraging it all. 8220;The formal abolition of the Nepal monarch will help America delink the nation8217;s Hindu civilisation and ethos from its political culture, and evangelise more aggressively in the region,8221; she says.

Compiled by Varghese K. George