Regional Journal: Untold stories from the states

Few have noticed that National Security Adviser Ajit Doval is missing from the entourage accompanying PM Modi’s ongoing visit to the US. This is unusual because Doval is a close and trusted aide and is almost always at the PM’s side when he goes abroad. Perhaps the one time he didn’t accompany the PM was when Modi went to the US in August 2019 — and then he showed up in Kashmir. Obviously he had been closely monitoring the aftermath of the August 5 abrogation of Article 370. It is widely believed that Doval’s current absence is because a US federal court has issued summons to him as well as other people in the government over a civil lawsuit filed by Khalistani activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, over the alleged failed plot to allegedly assassinate Pannun by alleged Indian officials. Perhaps a kerfuffle would have ensued if Doval had gone. Who knows if the Joe Biden lot would have been half as welcoming. It is likely the US would have quietly warned New Delhi, so Delhi decided to avoid the whole potential mess. That’s why Doval is still at home.

What’s in a name?

Ask Atishi

From Razia Sultan in the 12th century to Sushma Swaraj and Sheila Dikshit in the 20th and Atishi in the 21st, Delhi has been led by a variety of really interesting women. Few, however, are aware why Atishi, the CM currently without a surname, actually had two. She was born as Atishi Singh, the last name inherited from her parents, and then as she shot into public life a decade or so ago, she became known as Atishi Marlena. Whatever did this surname mean, though? Turns out Marlena was a creative conjunction — half of Marx and another half of Lenin, the “a” added because she is female. Fast forward to 2015, when Atishi first stood for elections — her electorate soon noticed that she had dropped her last name altogether. Turned out that her party AAP decided that Delhi’s middle-class electorate may not warm towards her Left-leaning credentials and persuaded her to do so. But Atishi also had her way — she refused to be known by Singh, allegedly a caste-giveaway, and dropped it altogether.

Mann’s Bhagat Singh connect

In his zeal to name key public places after freedom fighters from Punjab, CM Bhagwant Mann has demanded the under-construction Halwara Airport be named Shaheed Kartar Singh Sarabha Airport and has shot off a letter to Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu in this regard. It is well known that Mann’s admiration for Bhagat Singh runs deep; he took his oath of office and secrecy at Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of the freedom fighter. The walls of all government offices also display a picture of the freedom fighter. Additionally, a grand statue of the martyr will soon be unveiled at the Chandigarh International Airport, which is already named after Shaheed Bhagat Singh.

Saving trees at father’s karam bhoomi

Environmental activist Tejaswi Minhas, who, along with several other activists, is at the forefront of an ongoing, fiery protest against the felling of 80 to 100-year-old trees on the premises of the civil hospital in Jalandhar, has a special connection with those trees. Tejaswi is the son of former civil surgeon Dr Maninder Minhas, who worked at the hospital in various capacities over 30 years. Tejaswi says he joined the protest to save these trees, because they grow on the ‘karam bhoomi’ of his father.