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Jolt to Modi
Grief takes its toll |
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A disaster averted
A peep into the voter’s mind
Pain and pleasure
$600 for a Kalashnikov
Universal immunisation: Still a distant goal Chatterati
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Jolt to Modi
THE Gujarat High Court has rightly revoked the ban on expelled BJP leader Jaswant Singh’s book, Jinnah: India-Partition-Independence and in the process exposed the hamhanded manner in which Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had banned it without reading the book. The High Court has also upheld the writer’s fundamental right to freedom of expression as guaranteed under Article 19 (1) (a) of the Constitution. A Bench consisting of Chief Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan, Justice Akil Kureshi and Justice K.M. Thaker has ruled that the government’s notification banning the book fell short of the statutory requirements and thus failed the test of legal scrutiny. It came down heavily on the government for issuing a ban order that showed “lack of thinking, caution and prudence” which was required in cases pertaining to the fundamental rights of the citizen. The Bench was fully convinced with the stand of the petitioners — Prakash Shah and Manishi Jani, both writers and social activists — that the government banned the book in a tearing hurry without substantiating its claim that the contents of the book were “highly objectionable and against the national interest”. It is also silent as to how the contents of the book would disturb public tranquillity. Ever since the book launch on August 17, there had been no untoward incident anywhere in Gujarat. The government’s mala fide intent can be proved by the fact that the book was banned just two days after its release. The ban is indicative of the Modi government’s increasing intolerance towards a differing opinion even though constructive thinking, writing and criticism strengthen democracy. If Mr Modi differs with Mr Jaswant Singh’s opinion about Sardar Patel, he should have issued a statement instead of banning the book which smacks of sheer arbitrariness. In a liberal democracy, a government cannot behave abrasively and trample upon the citizens’ fundamental rights. The Modi government will have to do a lot of explaining before the Supreme Court when it takes up Mr Jaswant Singh’s petition against the ban order on September 8. Mr Modi would do well to accept his folly and pledge to respect dissent and debate.
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Grief takes its toll THE spate of deaths due to shock and grief in Andhra Pradesh over the demise in a helicopter crash of former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy is astounding. That the toll was a high 67 until Friday (over 100 as per unofficial reports) of which 20 were suicides shows how emotionally-charged these people must have been and how they were guided by blind faith in their leader. Several of them died of sudden heart attacks after watching the news of their beloved leader’s death on television channels which have made it their business to go overboard whenever there is a chance to exploit public sentiment. Indeed, there is a conscious effort made to arouse mass hysteria to raise the channel’s TRP ratings on such occasions. According to the ‘Accidental Deaths and Suicide in India — 2007’ report prepared by the National Crime Records Bureau, at 14,882 suicides, Andhra reported the second highest number of suicides during that year after Maharashtra. Ending life due to ideological affiliations and hero worship was part of this. Hero worship especially in southern India is not a new phenomenon. Cine star-turned politicians M.G. Ramachandran in Tamil Nadu and N.T. Rama Rao had evoked similar response from their army of fans, but this time the hysteria was even greater due to the swaying power of the electronic media. Some politicians and film-stars have acquired cult status as fans hero-worship them and go to extreme lengths to display their affection. This is particularly so in Tamil Nadu and Andhra, where huge cut-outs of their images adorn intersections and supporters perform rituals and prayers at temples dedicated to them. It is this gullibility that politicians exploit for their own selfish ends. Ironically, while some people were dying of grief over YSR Reddy’s death, there were others who were setting just the example that any well-meaning leader like YSR would have abhorred at such a juncture — playing power politics. Politics indeed is increasingly becoming the game of the unscrupulous but it is sad that while some get so overpowered by grief that they pass away, others, especially politicians, shed crocodile tears while they go about their business of furthering their interests even in grief.
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A disaster averted AIR India is again in the news for wrong reasons. Air India’s ageing fleet of aircraft has been a cause for much concern, and the plane that escaped a tragedy in Mumbai on Friday happened to be the third aircraft after the first two developed technical snags and were discarded, which had been deployed for carrying the passengers to Riyadh. The fact that the 15-year-old aircraft was to be abandoned next month in any case should have prompted much greater caution and even more stringent safety checks than at normal times and for newer aircraft. But the continuing disregard to air safety norms is frightening and it is to be hoped that the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation ( DGCA) will not be content with merely a formal inquiry or with looking for scapegoats. Ignorance, as far as Air India is concerned, actually turned out to be a blessing at Mumbai airport last week. It was due to the pilots’ unfamiliarity with the geography of the airport, suggest media reports, that a jeep was pressed into service to escort the Air India Boeing flying to Riyadh from the tarmac to the runway. The ground staff on the jeep first detected fuel leaking from the plane and alerted Air Traffic Control which asked the pilots to switch off the engines. Had the jeep not been there, it is possible that the plane with 213 passengers on board would have taken off and may not have been able to avoid a major disaster. Luckily, what could have been a major disaster was averted. Would Air India on its own punish the officers responsible for negligence or commissioning an ill-checked aircraft into service? It does not have to wait for the DGCA’s report, which can take time.
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A good book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond. — John Milton
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Corrections and clarifications
Despite our earnest endeavour to keep The
Tribune error-free, some errors do creep in at times. We are always eager to correct them. This column appears thrice a week — every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We request our readers to write or e-mail to us whenever they find any error. Readers in such cases can write to Mr Kamlendra Kanwar, Senior Associate Editor, The Tribune, Chandigarh, with the word “Corrections” on the envelope. His e-mail ID is
kanwar@tribunemail.com. H.K. Dua
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A peep into the voter’s mind THE debacle in two consecutive elections to the Lok Sabha came as a traumatic shock to the Bharatiya Janata Party. Most leaders within the party and also political observers outside have drawn a single conclusion that the projection of a wrong personality for the highest position was the first mistake, and his campaign strategy and selection of issues for it was the second blunder. They also have a sure cure for the malaise afflicting the party. Replace the individuals who were in charge with a new crop and everything will fall in line like a well-oiled machine to catapult the party to power at the next election. The Congress minds can never emerge out of their fixed mindset that their victories depend entirely on the charisma and magic of the Gandhi family. They firmly believe that the unexpected crop of more than 200 seats in the Lok Sabha in the last election was entirely a product of the Gandhi family and its charisma. But they are not willing to ponder even for a second why the same magic did not work in several elections since the first electoral debacle in March 1977. Indian mindset is glued to a single obsession that only personalities matter in the election. It would seem that it never occurred to them to ask a fundamental question as to what constitutes the political mind of the Indian voter. Perhaps, the towering personality of Jawaharlal Nehru and his easy victories in the first two general elections led to a misconception that elections in India are personality-based. Apparently they were so overwhelmed by the personality of Nehru that they overlooked that Nehru was the architect of a dream of new India and was a driving force for economic and social development. It was an idea to put aflame the imagination of even illiterate and poor voter. He or she may not have learnt to read or write but he certainly had common sense to understand what is good for him. He was already on slide-down in the third election in 1962 as his programmes left a huge disappointment due to their failure to deliver what was promised for two decades. The Congress had nothing to offer when it faced the fourth election in March 1967. It had neither a personality nor a programme. Its majority in the Lok Sabha reduced to a razor-thin edge and it lost power in several states. The trauma of defeat forced Indira Gandhi to adopt a programme of left orientation because she was fighting the rightist elements within the Congress who were entrenched satraps of different interest groups. Her one slogan to remove poverty led to an electoral miracle. India Gandhi became a mass leader overnight. As she could not deliver on her promises, she lost the next election even after turning India into a nuclear power. People were more impressed by the positive stance adopted by her rivals that they would restore democracy. Indira Gandhi in 1980 and Rajiv Gandhi in 1984 won the mandates merely on their promise to maintain integrity and unity of India. But Rajiv Gandhi had no brilliant idea to back his electoral strategies and so he could not return to power. But his opponents also could not win a clear verdict because their campaign was based on a negative idea of abusing the Congress and denigrating Rajiv Gandhi. Personal vilification has never been an idea that found popular approval. Only middle class snobs are impressed because they have no mind to participate by exercising their franchise. For seven elections to the Lok Sabha, verdicts have always been fragmented with no party emerging even 80 per cent closer to the requisite majority to rule on its own. Even with all assistance rendered by Lord Ram and a promise of a temple to commemorate him left the BJP short of a 100 seats to a clear majority even at its peak in 1998. It has been sliding downwards from that peak in each election and has not been able to open its account in several states. The BJP leaders refused to learn from the consistency of failures of Ms Mamta Banerji till the Marxists did not adopt a clearly negative programme in place of the positive campaign based on its ideology in the last election. The response of the electorate was uniform in all three states under Marxist rule. Personal abuse never pays. If there was a shortage of evidence, it was provided by the BJP with its personal attacks on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh describing him as a “weak personality” who was amenable to dictations of Sonia Gandhi. The BJP had nothing positive to offer except for a few crumbs by way of cheaper food and subsidised life for a section of society. There was not a single sparkling idea to catch the fancy of the masses. The defeat has less to do with personalities than with lack of new ideas. Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee was leading the BJP in the 2004 election with a successful record of six years. Its Shinning India idea also proved counterproductive because the hard reality of life was not visible to rulers. Yet the Congress could get only seven seats more than the BJP in the 14th Lok Sabha. This was despite the fact that Ms Sonia Gandhi was at the helm of affairs. It also did not have anything positive to offer. The Congress could cross the mark of 200 seats in the last election only because of the follies of others. The BJP leader had displayed merely a negative approach for the entire five years before the election. He did not offer anything positive but wanted to win on the negation of the Congress on every count, including on the nuclear deal, though the Vajpayee government had set the ball rolling for the nuclear deal to fructify five years’ later when it was occupying the Opposition bench. The Opposition was merely to defeat the government and not on any negative aspects of the deal was evident. The vote-for-cash drama enacted inside the Lok Sabha was the height of a negative approach. No one believed that three BJP MPs had a high moral standard to walk away from the huge bribes offered which they claimed to have happened. The drama and its instigators merely displayed their ignorance of the public mind. Every Congress man and many friends in the media believe that Rahul Gandhi achieved a miracle of winning 21 seats in Uttar Pradesh. Did anyone consider the blunder committed by Ms Mayawati in believing herself as the divine incarnation that she could get away with any strategy including sponsoring unknown rich persons as her party candidates everywhere so that she could mobilise resources for the party? She believed that the Dalits had no place to go except her party. Only after the shattering blow she rectified her notion and won hands down in the assembly by-polls in her state that followed the Lok Sabha elections. A simple question can answer why the Congress did not perform equally well in Bihar where it had decided to go it alone as in Uttar Pradesh on the basis of a strategy evolved by Rahul Gandhi. And why could 45 Congress candidates not get more votes than required to retain their security deposits in UP where Rahul Gandhi worked so well? How can corruption be an electoral issue in the public mind that is so used to bribing the Almighty in return for his help in overcoming his immediate difficulties of life? This is a practice in every religion in India. The supposed “live deities” of different sects provide enough evidence of it. Every human being is affected daily by rampant corruption at every step in life because of the greed of those who hold some power and authority. Corruption at the high level does not affect their life directly and intensive campaigning against it never moves the masses as no leader has been able to convince the common man how it does affect his life more than what he has to pay to a police man or a babu in the government office even to get what is his legitimate right like the ration card and the voter identity card. One cannot escape noticing that victors in these elections were ultimately considered to be the underdogs of their times. Indira Gandhi was harassed with ambitious veterans when she fought her away to the 1971 election. The Janata Party leaders who faced the might of Indira Gandhi had emerged recently from their long-duration but unjust detentions during the Emergency. Indira Gandhi appeared as a persecuted and wantonly punished woman when she faced the 1980 election. Rajiv Gandhi had lost his mother. But he was no more helpless when he went in for polls in 1989 December. Not even the sustained campaign against him on the basis of corruption could give a clear verdict in favour of his opponents. Anyone who is not overwhelmed by the dazzle of the election campaigns would inevitably come to the conclusion that the Indian electorate does not make up its mind merely on the basis of personalities. Other elements are more important. Poverty, democracy and the integrity of India became issues for him during different elections. Essentially a brilliant idea is the basis to attract him to decide his vote. In the focus of an idea all other considerations, including caste and ethnic affiliations, are of secondary importance for him. This is an overview, but I am sure an extensive study on the subject would only confirm the reading of the election results of the
past.
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Pain and pleasure FIRST visit to France?” The French immigration official’s voice at Charles De Gaulle airport was friendly but his look said it all. What kind of a freak would wait to lose his hair and get old before visiting Paris? He leafed through my passport once again, looked up and asked quizzically: “Are you here on business?” “No, I am here to attend a wedding, my daughter’s,” I replied as nonchalantly as I could. He quickly lost interest and waved me through. Outside, it was a brilliant sun shining through an azure sky and the slight hint of a chill in the air. “Ah, what a perfect and early winter,” I thought but quickly realised that in August, it was actually summer in Europe, with everyone on vacation, flowers in full bloom and the beaches packed like sardines with people, or more like vehicles in a traffic snarl in India. As the day wore on, the afternoon sun caught us by surprise. We were sweating enough for my concerned wife to suggest we take a break near the Notre Dame cathedral. Acutely conscious of the value of the Indian rupee, we asked for nimbu paani or lemonade, if you like. The relief and the pleasure of sitting on a sidewalk café to watch life go by lasted till the bill arrived. It was a cool 40 euros. Ten euros for a glass of nimbu paani, I exploded within. Back home we could have entertained five guests to a sumptuous dinner, I thought bitterly. It was the warmest day during this summer, I later learnt, with the mercury touching 34 degrees Celsius in the middle of August. A fortnight later it had settled to a far more acceptable 22 degrees. But climate change is certainly becoming a huge concern in Europe, large parts of which never required air-conditioning. But in recent years, an increasing number of offices are switching over to air-conditioners. Paris seemed familiar, disappointingly so, even on a first visit. One of the most photographed and filmed cities in the world, virtually every landmark has been so over-exposed that I was robbed of the tingling sensation of suspense. It was disappointing to see Mona Lisa at the Louvre, dwarfed by the wall-to-wall painting on the opposite wall and by the ubiquitous gaggle of Japanese tourists shooting everything in sight and jostling for space. Used to the vast expanse of the Indian rivers and the width of the Brahmaputra, the Seine looked more like a well-maintained canal dividing the city in two and the Eiffel Tower looked exactly what it is, a transmission tower. People from the subcontinent either travelled in groups or loitered around the Eiffel Tower, selling key rings. One of them walked over and said in Hindi, “uncle ji, lena hai to le lo, sasta hai” while another tried to run away in vain before being pinned by two policemen. Illegal immigrants with no work permit, explained my daughter. A little later during the mandatory cruise on the Seine, one of the Indians in the group drew attention by waving at every woman he sighted leaning on the bridges above. I watched his antics grimly, barely suppressing my urge to punch him. It was much later in the evening that I felt a little better to find Aamir Khan and Kajol speaking perfect French and singing Hindi songs in Fanaa, dubbed and telecast on French
TV.
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$600 for a Kalashnikov THE price of Kalashnikovs has doubled in Afghanistan. For a country awash with arms, the fact that the weapons are now fetching $600 apiece is a cause of some surprise, but a surge of demand is to blame for the increase, with a steady stream of weapons said to be heading for the north. This is the Tajik constituency of Abdullah Abdullah, the presidential candidate who claims the election is being stolen by the incumbent Western-backed President, Hamid Karzai. The arms shipments are a source of alarm in a country where political stand-offs have often been settled at the point of a gun. Few Western diplomats claim there is an immediate danger of civil war but tensions are mounting after polls which have been mired in bitterness and recrimination. Mr Karzai has 46 per cent of the votes, counted predominantly from the north and west which should be the stronghold of Dr Abdullah, the former foreign minister who trails with 33 per cent. The ballots yet to be tallied will be from the Pashtun south and east, in which the President is the overwhelming favourite to win. Mr Karzai’s opponents are putting their faith in more than 2,500 complaints of voting irregularities – 691 of them described as serious charges – that the complaints commission has received. Most of them emanate from the south – The Independent witnessed what appeared to be flagrant fraud at Nad-e-Ali in Helmand, with ballot stuffing on behalf of the President. Investigators say many of the complaints will be difficult to prove and even if officials are found guilty of malpractice, the penalty would be fines and disbarment from taking part in future elections rather than the wholesale discounting of votes. Analysts point out that even if the commission decided that votes from some polling stations in the Pashtun belt were invalid, Mr Karzai would be the overwhelming beneficiary of the ones still considered valid. Western powers, whose soldiers are fighting and dying in Afghanistan, supposedly so democracy takes root, are embarrassed by the apparent fraud. The Obama administration, which has taken a noticeably harder stance against Mr Karzai than the Bush White House, is said to prefer a second-round run-off between Mr Karzai and Dr Abdullah to at least maintain the appearance of probity. During Mr Karzai’s tempestuous 19-minute meeting last week with Richard Holbrooke, the US envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, the American diplomat is said to have stated: “Too many votes have been stolen by your side, there has to be a second round” prompting Mr Karzai to storm out. Mr Holbrooke’s officials maintain that the talks were amicable. Yet, according to some analysts, a second round would be seen as having been engineered by the Americans and would lead to deep Pashtun resentment. “The Americans are fighting in the south, killing Pashtuns, they are pressing for a second round to prevent a Pashtun, Hamid Karzai, from being President as long as possible. This may be simplistic but it is how a lot of Pashtuns will look at this,” said one analyst, Waheed Mujhda. “It will look like interference by the West, especially by the Americans. It will not be good for the country.” Fellow analyst Zalmai Afzhali said: “Some people in America have their views about Mr Karzai. But he is an Afghan and the fact is that we are having these elections which have mainly gone off peacefully, with him in charge.” One reason that Mr Karzai appears to have done well in the north is because of block votes secured for him by allies Mohammed Fahim and Abdul Rashid Dostum, ex-warlords and power-brokers in the region. But Mr Mujhda said that consensus may fall apart if there was a second round. “Then the voting would be Pashtun versus Tajik, south versus north, and there is definitely a fear that this may spread into violence.” In the Panjshir Valley, the heartland of the Northern Alliance where Dr Abdullah fought beside Ahmed Shah Masoud, the legendary commander murdered by al-Qa’ida at the behest of the Taliban, a former Mujaheddin fighter said the Tajiks would not tolerate being deprived by a fraudulent poll. At his home, as he unwrapped an oiled cloth to show off a Kalashnikov and a Glock pistol, the former Mujahedeen commander Gul Shah Mohammed declared: “We know how to use these weapons; we haven’t forgotten how to
fight.” — By arrangement with The Independent
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Universal immunisation: Still a distant goal IN the media-fuelled near hysteria that consumed the national consciousness soon after the deadly swine flu outbreak, it has been conveniently forgotten that India’s health card has anyway been nothing to write home about. The health of its people, especially women and children, continues to be poor. As if the previous surveys pointing out abnormally high figures of malnourishment and anaemia were not enough, here is yet another indictment that India doesn’t provide adequate healthcare to its children. According to District Level Household Survey’s latest data, only 54.1 per cent of the nation’s children are fully immunised. Nearly 11.3 per cent children have not received any form of vaccination. While Uttar Pradesh emerges as the worst offender, with only 31 per cent children fully immunised it is followed by Meghalaya, Tripura, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. No wonder that the Microsoft Chairman, Bill Gates, too, had expressed concern over India’s low immunisation rates that he deemed were worse than Bangladesh and Africa. While Africa fares better than India as far as controlling measles death is concerned, despite massive polio drives, the nation has yet not been able to fully eradicate polio, a cause for great concern. In fact what the PM had said in 2005, “Reaching 25 million infants and providing them the required vaccination in time remains the biggest challenge for our government” still holds true. Immunisation gains tremendous significances among infants and children for they are vulnerable to complications from vaccine preventable diseases. In fact, the benefits of vaccination are manifold as it not only reduces mortality but also morbidity i.e. illness and disease. Vaccinated children are healthier, and healthy children are better learners. In fact according to experts, vaccination has benefits beyond disease management and translates into demographic transition that leads to lower fertility and higher economic growth. On the health front, immunisation is considered one of the most cost effective public health interventions that not only prevents disease but also leads to its eradication. India has been successfully able to get rid of the scourge of small pox through effective vaccination programmes. Actually, India’s immunisation programme, though it came into being three decades after Independence, is one of the largest in the world in terms of quantities of vaccines, number of beneficiaries and other parameters. Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) began in 1978 to control Vaccine Preventable Diseases. Initially, six diseases diphtheria, pertussis i.e. whooping cough, tetanus, poliomyelitis, typhoid and childhood tuberculosis were covered and the programme targeted 80 per cent children. Later, the programme was universalised and renamed Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) in 1985. Measles vaccine was included and typhoid vaccine was discontinued. The Universal Immunisation program has made sufficient progress and the disease burden of vaccine-preventable diseases has come down considerably. In his address at the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisations GAVI meet in 2005, Dr Manmohan Singh said since 1975, there has been a 72 per cent decline in the incidence of diphtheria, a 91 per cent decline in the incidence of whooping cough, and a 61 per cent decline in measles. Realising the dangers of Hepatitis B, the government expanded the Universal Immunisation Programme to include Hepatitis B vaccine in the year 2002. This was done in 33 districts and 15 large cities with support from GAVI. In the year 2004, in the pilot project, 1.2 million children were vaccinated, with three doses of Hepatitis B. The government plans to take the vaccine to the entire nation by 2009. In fact, viewed in the light of these startling facts that one in every 20 Indians is a Hepatitis B virus carrier and one per cent of total deaths in adults in India is due to Hepatitis B virus that causes 80 per cent of liver cancers, there is a strong case for adult immunisation for Hepatitis B too. Now, GAVI Alliance, a public-private partnership which brings together Indian government, the World Health Organisation, UNICEF, donors, industry and the H1B Initiative will target more than 18 million children. They will be immunised with a pentavalent five-in-one vaccine that will among other diseases also cover Hib (haemophilus influenza type b) that can cause severe pneumonia and meningitis. Hib kills more than 3,70,000 children less than five years every year across the world out of which nearly 20 per cent children are from India. Survivors are often permanently paralysed, deafened or brain damaged. Besides, India is also toying with a national policy on vaccines that will monitor the production viability and affordability of vaccines with UIP in mind. However, mere policies cannot ensure universal coverage. For that ground realities have to be reassessed. Cold chain system an important component of immunisation programme needs to be strengthened further. Safe injection practices too must be an integral part of immunisation drives for otherwise the results can be disastrous. Attention must be paid to the vaccine effectiveness as well. As recommended by Gates whose the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is actively involved in immunisation drives, India must open its mind to new vaccines. Besides, to make immunisation coverage more efficient, awareness campaigns must educate and inform parents, particularly mothers, benefits of complete immunisation and the serious consequences of failure to do so. More concerted efforts aimed at the urban poor and rural children alone can ensure that India meets the National Population Policy (2000) goal of complete protection of all children against vaccine preventable diseases by 2010. India cannot afford to be lax in its immunisation drives. Already complacency cost it dearly as polio cases began to pile up. India is one of the four countries trying to fight polio. The nation which is the largest exporter of vaccines can’t afford to let its children the most vulnerable section of society go unvaccinated. With 43.5 per cent children below five years underweight as it is its children are far from in the pink of health. Immunisation is one of the key parameters that defines and realises a child’s well being and can only be ignored at the peril of the future of those who are the nation’s
future.
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Chatterati October 13, Haryana’s date with its electorate looked very far away. Though the election date was announced by the Election Commissioner that afternoon, nothing was going to come in the way of Deepender’s date with his bride-to-be. It is a match clearly made in heaven. Almost like the grand political alliance of the past, Haryana’s ruling Jat family is set to tie the knot with the reigning Rajasthan royals, at least in Jat terms. The Mirdhas of Rajasthan have been in politics over three generations. But politics aside, the beaming and beauteous bride-to-be was clearly the belle of the ball as she radiantly received a seemingly endless stream of well-wishers. The venue in mid-town Delhi was a cavernous pandal appropriately air-conditioned and bursting with paparazzi, family, food and bandobast. Deepender, the boy wonder in Parliament is clearly well loved by his young parliamentary colleagues all of who turned up to root for their colleague. They ranged from Priyanka and Robert Vadra to Farooq Abdullah with family; Jitendra Singh of Alwar along with several young ministers, unmindful of impending elections. The ring ceremony was performed as soon as Sonia Gandhi reached the venue. Bhupinder Hooda was just a doting father as he personally and warmly received guests along with his graceful wife Asha. They of course had to ensure that the large families on either side were also feted. The girl’s sister and MP from Rajasthan, Jyoti Mirdha, was also on hand to ensure that the stream of political heavyweights, Gulam Nabi Azad, Ambika Soni, Amarinder Singh, Praful Patel, Motilal Vohra and Ahmed Patel, really relished the delicious vegetarian food. Even a large number of media heavyweights made their presence felt, laughing with some familiar faces, making the evening a grand Delhi do with the warm touches of rural Haryana and Rajasthan never quite far away. The Prime Minister came nearly at the fag end but stayed long enough to make his presence felt. Vice-President Ahmed Ansari was at home at this gracious do of the first family of Haryana. Foot-in-the-mouth disease The popularity of politicians is because they make a lot of friends over the years. Along the way, as they climb to the top, they try and please every person they can. But one lady, Mehbooba Mufti, is making enemies not only in the Opposition but also in her own party. It is a known fact that she has time and again used the once most presentable face in her party, Muzaffar Hussian Beig, to do her ‘dirty’ work. She used him in ensuring that the Azad Government fell, then by alleging that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is on the list of CBI framed in the sex racket in 2006. As expected, Muzaffar Beig is very unhappy with her as now he feels used. In all these games, a lot of Beig’s own personal life, the dirty linen of his past was washed in front of the public and the media. But this is a lady who has lost all respect and friends due to her inability to keep quiet. She recently embarrassed her own father when she finally announced in the State Assembly that due to her father as India’s first Muslim Home Minister it was he who had brought the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act to J&K. What does one say to a lady who gets so carried away and ends up embarrassing herself and others close to her every time she opens her mouth? This is surely called foot-in-the-mouth
disease.
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