Opinion Inside track: Hooked to hookah
Many Indian cricketers carry a hookah in their bags and take puffs during their free time.
The BCCI, unhappy with this habit, believes it is one reason for the team’s poor performance. (Source: Reuters)
A fire alarm went off at Marriot Hotel in Leeds, UK, earlier this month. The smoke that set off the alarm was traced to a hookah party being held by touring Indian cricketers who were staying at the hotel. Smoking a hookah appears to be the latest fad among Indian cricketers. Many carry a hookah in their bags and take puffs during their free time. The BCCI, unhappy with this habit, believes it is one reason for the team’s poor performance.
Family welfare
RANJIT Sinha’s elevation as the CBI Director has coincided with daughter Rudrani Sinha’s rise. When Sinha was ITBP director general, his daughter was an assistant central intelligence officer. But when Sinha was hand-picked to be CBI director, Rudrani’s career graph went up. She was appointed assistant director in the National Technical Research Organisation, a jump that put her in the rank of superintendent of police. Some weeks ago, Sinha visited a senior minister in the Narendra Modi government armed with his wife’s biodata. He apparently asked if she could be accommodated as a member in a Central government women’s panel, such as the National Commission for Women. An audacious demand, considering there was talk at the time of the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year about his wife getting an RJD ticket.
Delayed decisions
THE Congress’s first family is out of the country. Sonia Gandhi has gone for a medical check-up with Priyanka. Rahul is also abroad. Thus, decisions on selection of candidates for the coming Assembly polls and a meeting of the Central Election Committee have been deferred. The A K Antony report on the Congress’s parliamentary results is still to be put before the CWC or shown to general secretaries.
Libel veteran
TAMIL Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has filed a defamation case against the BJP’s Subramanian Swamy for claiming that the fishermen’s boats detained by the Sri Lankan government belonged to Jayalalithaa’s aide Sasikala Natarajan, and that the chief minister had not done anything for the fishermen, or on Mullaperiyar dam or Ram Sethu issues. Jayalalithaa has got the city public prosecutor to file the case in Chennai. The CM is keen to settle scores with Swamy even though he is something of a veteran in dealing with defamation suits. In the early 1990s, Jayalalithaa had backed down in a defamation battle against Swamy. As chief minister, she had filed a criminal defamation complaint against Swamy in different courts in Tamil Nadu. Swamy had appealed to the Supreme Court, pleading that the cases be clubbed together and filed outside the state. He had also cited the US law that defamation should not apply to a person holding high public office. The SC acknowledged that he had a point. Jayalalithaa’s lawyer K K Venugopal had later withdrawn the cases.
Speaking out
AT A meeting with MPs and ministers from the south, Narendra Modi asked how many of them interacted with the media. This was taken to be a signal from the PM that he was not in favour of ministers speaking to journalists. As if to allay such apprehensions and establish that BJP ministers were not afraid of talking to the media, there has been a spate of press conferences by central ministers in September, and the PIB has been kept very busy. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar set the ball rolling. This was followed by Power Minister Piyush Goyal, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, MoS Science and Technology Jitendra Singh, Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda, Labour Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and HRD Minister Smriti Irani.
Foot in mouth
At a dinner hosted by the German ambassador to honour the German foreign minister, Press Council of India chairman Markandey Katju said, “You Germans are blamed for murdering eight million Jews in gas chambers which was, of course, terrible. But does anyone talk of what the British did to Indians during their rule here? It was 10 times worse.”
Record innings
T K A Nair, who was principal secretary to former prime minister Manmohan Singh, continues to serve as chairperson of the Kerala Industrial Development Corporation. In fact Nair, a 1963 Punjab-cadre IAS officer, holds a record of sorts by continuing as chairperson for the past 16 years.
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