Tags:
Journalism of Courage
It was a curious turn of events for Baba Ramdev. Sources say a couple of days ago,the yoga guru mysteriously aborted plans to fly to New Delhi from Dehradun at the very last minute. Ramdev was on his way to the Dehradun airport to catch a plane to Delhi when he decided to take a U-turn. The grapevine has it that he wanted to join Anna Hazare at the Ramlila grounds but some negative feelers from the Hazare camp forced him to put his plans on hold. Ramdevs men,on the other hand,say he was on his way to Lucknow via Delhi to attend a private function and had to cancel his trip since that function got cancelled.
Personal Politics
Emergency Measures
Anna Hazares next destination could be Medanta Medicity hospital. With Hazares health condition suggesting that he needs to be hospitalised,the Delhi cops have deployed a crack team which will rush Anna to Medanta hospital should his health suddenly deteriorate. The 24215;7 team stationed at Ramlila Maidan consists of policemen who have been instructed to act swiftly and avoid a Baba Ramdev like fiasco. The team of 10 cops has been tasked to evacuate Hazare in case the situation goes out of control at the protest site or if Hazares health takes a turn for the worse.
Backwards Forward
While Congress managers sought comfort in the fact that Anna Hazares campaign did not elicit much support from members of minority communities,the social justice brigade appears to be getting restive over whether the proposed Lokpal would have representation from the backward classes or not. BJP MP Hukumdev Narayan Yadav was heard raising this issue with JDU chief Sharad Yadav on Tuesday. Hukumdev is learnt to have urged Sharad Yadav to ensure that a provision for mandatory membership of educationally and socially backward communities in the Lokpal panel is included in the Bill. He found support from another JDU MP Mangani Lal Mandal.
Playing Safe
Newly appointed Defence Secretary Shashikant Sharma has a lot on his plate but as one of his first tasks,he has been trying to distance himself from the decisions taken by his predecessors on contentious issues like the controversy surrounding the Army Chiefs date of birth and promotions policy in the Navy. Seeking to reduce the bitterness that has crept into relations between the military and the Defence Ministry,the top bureaucrat is learnt to have made reaching out to the uniformed forces as one of his top priorities.
