Kolkata, November 6
Ms Sonia Gandhi warned the Congress leaders and workers, whom she met today at Raj Bhavan, that the BJP and other communal forces were now trying to destabilise the country and dislodge the UPA government from power.

She asked them to get prepared and fight against the evil spirit, naming the BJP, to save the democracy.

Ms Gandhi said she would like to work with the Congressmen as a fellow party member for the country’s progress and development. She denied the allegation made by the BJP that she had been enjoying an extra-constitutional power and acting as a super Prime Minister.

This was Ms Gandhi’s first visit to Kolkata after the party’s recent victory in the last Lok Sabha elections and the formation of the UPA government at the Centre, which the CPM and other Left parties are supporting from the outside.

The AICC President came to the city in the morning at the invitation of the Telegraph at a function at the Science City Auditorium.

She spent several hours meeting the state Congress leaders and workers and discussed with them about the party’s plans and programmes.

She returned to Delhi in the evening.

The two Union ministers from the state, Mr Pranab Mukherjee (Defence and also the WBPCC chief) and Mr Priya DasMunshi (Water Resources Department) were present at MsGandhi’s meeting with the leaders and the workers. Mr Salman Khursed, the AICC General Secretary in charge of Bengal was also present.

The WBPC President said the Congress workers in the state had been told to fight against the CPM and other Left parties, though they were supporting them at the Centre.

The party would also fight against the Trinamool Congress and the BJP and other reactionary forces that were standing in the country’s progress and development, said Mr Mukherjee.

Kolkata, November 6
Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who refused Prime Ministership heeding to her “inner voice”, today asked children to do so to remain true to themselves and to those around them.

“What I will tell you now may strike you as odd-you need not listen to adults given to speeches, although we adults do it to make you learn how to live life,” she advised students at a gathering of schoolchildren and their principals at “The Telegraph School Awards for Excellence, 2004”, here.

“But you need to be true to yourself. Only if you can be true to the inner voice, can you be true to yourself and to those around you,” said Ms Gandhi on her first visit to the city after the Lok Sabha elections.

She said the sight of young people filled her with hope because she saw them as symbols of energy, idealism, enthusiasm, frankness and the spirit to strive for excellence.

Ms Gandhi, who gave away the “Surrendra Paul Memorial Award for Courage” and “The Telegraph School of the Year Award” thanked The Telegraph Education Foundation for organising the function which was non-competitive and positive in nature.

Earlier, Mr Parveen Qasim, founder-principal of Karachi High School pledged to sponsor the education of Ansuman Dalal, a student from Rishra near here, who had battled financial odds to score first division marks in Higher Secondary exams. — PTI

New Delhi, November 6
The Sangh parivar seems to be suffering from a deep crisis if events at the two-day meeting of the RSS National Executive, which ended today at Hardwar, are to be taken on their face value.

A fratricidal war appears to be in offing as two grown up RSS children- BJP and VHP- are at each other’s throat mutually accusing each other of having betrayed the “Hindu” cause.

Though, the Sangh leaders made herculean efforts today underplay rather suppress the differences between its different organisations primarily between the BJP and the VHP but it is no mean task as the two Sangh outfits have come of age and can ill afford to ignore ground realities.

The VHP leaders, who refused to attend the RSS meeting till BJP President L.K. Advani and former party President M Venkaiah Naidu were at the venue, have in a sense defied the authority of the Head of Family that is Sarsanghchalak (RSS chief) K Sudarshan.

Despite the best efforts of the RSS leaders, the three top VHP leaders namely Ashok Singhal, Praveen Bhai Togadia and Acharya Giriraj Kishore, did not come to the venue till the BJP leaders were there.

It was only after Mr Naidu left the meeting, Mr Singhal in company of Mr Togadia attended the meeting.

Though Mr Togadia denied that they had boycotted the meeting due to the presence of the BJP leaders, it is quite clear that differences between the two sister organisations have come into open and it is beyond the RSS authority to issue any diktat.

“Yesterday we had to take part in a special prayer (anushtan) for which we had taken permission from the RSS. There is not question of boycott”, Mr Togadia said in Hardwar.

Notwithstanding the VHP’s official public stance, the BJP leaders are at loss to find a suitable strategy to contain the threat from their own family.

The BJP leaders, including former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Mr Advani and host of second and third generation leaders, know that the party is trapped in a catch- 22 situation.

If the BJP pursues the policy and programmes as being demanded by the VHP and to an extent by the RSS itself, then the party faces a real threat of being isolated and the National Democratic Alliance would make itself redundant.

The BJP would not be able to win even half the seats that it managed to get in the 2004 Lok Sabha poll if it returned to its “basics” as demanded by the VHP, saffron party leader feel.

On the other hand, the BJP needs the RSS for ensuring that growing ambitions of some of its leaders was causing havoc with its image and credibility was kept under a tight leash.

Meanwhile, the RSS also tried to underplay the differences as Sangh General Secretary Mohan Bhagwat said in Hardwar that the BJP has assured that it would return to its Hindutva ideology.

Aimed at placating the VHP cadres and leaders, Mr Bhagawat said the RSS would “wait and watch” how the saffron party fulfils it in the coming days.

“The Sangh does not direct any one. The reforms have to come from within. BJP says we will return to Hindutva. Let us see how they fulfil it,” he said.

New Delhi, November 6
Well-known diplomat dealing with international arms control, Mr Hans Blix, today said “terrorists don’t live on clouds” and said it was the bounden duty of every government to ensure that its territory was not used by terrorists for attacking other states.

The former Executive Chairman of the United Nations Monitoring Verification and Inspection Commission said, “If there is a failure in this duty, then the world will endorse forcible intervention, as it did with the Taliban government in Afghanistan,” Mr Blix said at the second Hindustan Times Leadership Initiative here on the subject of preventing nuclear weapons from falling into the hands of rogue states and terrorists.

The other crucial factor in preventing these weapons from falling into wrong hands was to protect such weapons or dangerous material properly. Referring to Pakistan, Mr Blix said, “If the government there, has exercised better control of its nuclear sector, Mr A.Q. Khan’s shop for nuclear weapon designs and centrifuges would not have been in its dangerous business.

He warned against wasting time debating whether terrorism can be best fought by law enforcing agencies or the military. “In most cases using military means would be like deploying cannons against mosquitos”. 

Hindon, November 6
Watching the Suryakiran pierce the skies with split-second precision at speeds ranging between 200 and 600 kmph at the Hindon Air Force Station her today, one could not help but marvel at the perfect teamwork and breath-taking manoeuvres of the Indian Air Force air warriors.

The Suryakiran team, which was here to perform with the French aerobatic team, Patrouille De France, literally took the spectators’ breath away with its world-class performance. The 51-year-old French team, however, was not in its element with one of its Alphajets becoming unserviceable at the last moment.

Wing Commander Prabhakaran, who flies solo and leads the team from the number one position in the formation, talking to The Tribune exclusively, called the formation aerobatics as the display of a pilot’s professional ability and skill.

“Formation Aerobatic flying is a little different from normal fighter flying. It needs concentration powers of a very high level”, says Wing Commander Prabhakaran, an A2 flying instructor with over 4,600 hours of flying experience.

The IAF’s Suryakiran team, incidentally, is one of the very few renowned nine aircraft teams in the world, the only others being the Red Arrows of the Royal Airforce and the Canadian Snow Birds. Even the Americans, Japanese and Russians have only six-aircraft aerobatics teams.

Unlike most teams that either fly frontline fighter aircraft or advanced jet trainers, the Suryakiran Team flies the indigenous basic jet trainer, Kiran MK II. The team has displayed at hundreds of shows around the country, including three displays at the Aero-India international show in Bangalore.

It recently flew the Indian Tricolour over the skies of Myanmar, Thailand and Singapore where for the first time the team took part in an international air show outside India — the bi-annual Asian Aerospace 2004.

Becoming a Suryakiran member is not so easy. It requires a lot of courage, grit, determination, faith, confidence and professional skills. In all, a pilot spends at least three years in the unit. The first year is spent in training. The second year is the first display season.

For becoming a Suryakiran member one must be a fighter pilot of the rank of Squadron Leader or flight lieutenant and with a good track record in flying a fighter aircraft. Selected pilots from a list of volunteers spend about ten days with the team flying and inter-acting with all team members before they are selected. 

Chennai, November 6
A ship of the international environmental watchdog, Greenpeace, will anchor at the harbour here with a message to save Indian seas.

One of the most controversial shipping vessels in maritime history, The Rainbow Warrior II, will roll in tomorrow morning to campaign for marine biodiversity.

The Warrior, the flagship campaign vessel of the Greenpeace International, is arriving in Chennai at a time when the proposed Sethu Samudram Ship Canal Project (SSCP) abutting the Gulf of Mannar (GoM) Biosphere Reserve is in controversy over perceived threats to the ecosphere and fisheries.

The Warrior painted in rainbow colours with the symbol of an olive-branch-carrying dove on its mast looks majestic.

But all through the world, the international crew of The Warrior is both reputed and feared for its bold non-violent confrontations on environmental issues like ocean conservation, toxic dumping and nuclear tests.

This will be the second time in its chequered history that the vessel anchors off Chennai. In January 2000, it had organised a 'No more Bhopals' music concert here.

This time the vessel brings with it a message to save the marine ecosystems and fragile habitats on the eastern coast of India, in particular the ecologically threatened Gulf of Mannar, between India and Sri Lanka, and the Bhitarkanika Turtle Sanctuary and Aribada nesting site along the Orissa coast, one of the biggest Olive Ridley rookeries in the world.