Outside opposition

The stalled Parliament session has made matters a bit inconvenient for Mamata Banerjees Trinamool Congress,which is unable to raise a lot of issues against the Centre

The stalled Parliament session has made matters a bit inconvenient for Mamata Banerjees Trinamool Congress,which is unable to raise a lot of issues against the Centre related to the state of affairs in West Bengal,in the House. Since the House is not functioning,the TMC on Monday staged its demonstration against the Centre over the rising prices of fertilisers outside Parliament. Next week,if Parliament continues to be stalled,as the party feels it probably will,the TMC is planning another demonstration on the poor state of national highways in Bengal.

Inopportune Break

AT a time when his party is slogging it out against the government on the issue of allocation of coal blocks,BJP president Nitin Gadkari has decided to take a break. Gadkari has gone to Canada for a two-week vacation with his family. He had already left Delhi when Arvind Kejriwal and his associates were laying seige to his house on Sunday.

Moon Walk

GUJARAT Chief Minister Narendra Modi has not been allowed inside the United States ever since the 2002 riots but there was a time when he did travel to the US. And he managed to meet US astronaut Neil Armstrong a meeting that Modi fondly recalled in a blog post after Armstrongs death this weekend. Among the many people I wanted to meet,I was particularly keen to meet the man who was the first person to step on the moon. Fortunately,we were able to have a meeting,which was memorable and one in which Mr Armstrong spoke to me with immense warmth. During the meeting I asked him if he can summarise his experience in two sentences and what he said then remains etched in my memory. Mr Armstrong said,When I went to the moon,I went as an astronaut but when I came back,I came as a human being. This is my realisation, Modi wrote. Honour his example of service,accomplishment and modesty,and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you,think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink.

Different Strokes

WITH the government caught in a difficult situation on the issue of allocation of coal blocks,some non-Congress ministers have their own take about the governments strategy. A senior UPA Minister has told Congress strategists that rather than getting into an argument with the BJP over technicalities,the government should talk in the language that people understand. According to him,the government should justify the allocations saying it did what it did to address the problems faced by the people in terms of power shortage,hoarding of cement and also the increasing demand of steel.

Extra Terrestrial

ON a day of surcharged political developments,the Rajya Sabha television found time to tell its viewers about events in a faraway land. Following the adjournment of the Rajya Sabha,whose proceedings are covered live by the channel,on Monday,the Rajya Sabha television aired a programme on the ongoing civil war in Syria.