Why Isn’t Anyone Muzzling Togadia?

It's time somebody reins in Praveen Togadia, who has sacrificed every sense of decency and decorum just to stay in the headlines. He knows t...

It’s time somebody reins in Praveen Togadia, who has sacrificed every sense of decency and decorum just to stay in the headlines. He knows the easiest way to make it to the news is to provide atrocious one-liners and, in recent times, his appetite for being in the news has been increasing by the day. Togadia is so charmed by his own insolence that he disregards the dignity of even the Prime Minister or the Leader of the Opposition. If democracy is all about maintaining freedom of speech, it is also about ensuring a logical sequence of crime and punishment. Togadia’s words invite action and nothing less than legal action—not even political condemnation by the likes of the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister or Parivar stalwart K Sudarshan—would effectively drive home the point that politicians can’t make light of their responsibility to maintain decorum in public discourse. Whatever people may say about the RSS, the Sangh has always spoken within the boundaries of decency. But the VHP leaders are developing a desperate flair for vulgar speeches. As if Togadia wasn’t enough, Ashok Singhal also contributed his bit—and he is still talking away—by lambasting Brajesh Mishra for his alleged role in the Ayodhya shiladan issue. Even after the Government clarified that Mishra didn’t figure in the shiladan tangle, Singhal continued his diatribe and has been using every suitable phrase to run down the Prime Minister’s Office.

There is a definite method in this apparent canard. Singhal is neither settling any personal score with the PM’s principle secretary nor he can justify the irrelevance of the post. Even for late Indira Gandhi, the office of principal secretary was vital for coordinating between ministries and the Cabinet Secretariat. So while Singhal targets Mishra, one can almost see a few minds working together somewhere who want the VHP to continue its farcical crusade to run down the PMO itself. Otherwise, why should the VHP be bothered enough to lecture PMO and not work fulltime towards redeeming Hindus?

There is only one face of fundamentalism and fundamentalists should be taken to task irrespective of what mask—Hindu or Muslim—that face wears. Otherwise, we will continue to hear Togadia trying to divide people even in the name of Lord Krishna, who dates back to a pre-religion era and spoke about the goal of emancipating the whole of humanity. It’s a pity we let the likes of Togadia claim that the blood of Lord Krishna or Rama now flows only in Hindu veins.

Brother Michael Who Doesn’t Do A George

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The Parliamentary Committee on Telecom recently visited Indian Telecom Industry (ITI) in Bangalore. The MPs were a bit apprehensive when they were told that renowned trade union leader Michael Fernandes would meet the delegation. After all, the memory of the trade union days of Michael’s much more famous, and much more mellowed, brother Defence Minister George Fernandes was fresh in their memory. Some MPs even prepared notes to counter Michael, anticipating that he would come up with roadblocks.

But the MPs were pleasantly surprised when they heard Michael discussing issues they actually expected the management to raise. Instead of harping on the cliched ideas of compartmentalised labour welfare, Michael offered valuable suggestions on how the strength of the organisation could be improved and its profits increased, which would in turn benefit both individual workers and national growth. He also discussed how to better ITI’s overall financial health of ITI by making it internationally more competitive. To the amazement of MPs from all parties, the ITI chairman informed that Michael has always been very cooperative and even visited Delhi to get fresh work for the organisation whenever volume of orders go down. Blame it on the generation gap but Fernandes Junior seems to believe in a trade unionism altogether different from George’s chakkajam variety.

For NDA, An Unhappy Third Anniversary

The third anniversary rally of the NDA government turned out to quite a disorganised affair. The leaders of the NDA allies preferred to stay away, sending their general secretaries across to New Delhi instead. Many couldn’t make it to the event since the invitation letters didn’t reach them in time. Sharad Yadav, for one, couldn’t make it since his schedule didn’t match. Ajit Singh was invited, but the invitation he received was a general circular that wasn’t specifically addressed to the Minister. Ajit Singh was so riled by the general tone of the letter that he preferred to stay away from the party. One expected better coordination for an event which was supposed to highlight the success of a multi-party formation.

Cyclone Montha: Schools closed, fishing activities suspended in Andhra, Odisha

India27 min ago

A severe cyclonic storm, named Montha, is expected to make landfall along India's east coast between Odisha and Tamil Nadu on Tuesday. The Indian Meteorological Department has issued warnings for heavy rain and rough seas, with the potential for extremely heavy rain in certain areas.

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