Monday, May 11, 2009
Congress must stoop to conquer - By Ghulam Muhammed
Monday, May 11, 2009
Congress must stoop to conquer
It was sheer arrogance of power that forced Congress to treat all its coalition partners, with deplorable insensitivity, if not with outright disdain. In these times of coalition politics, the Grand Old Party was reluctant to learn new tricks of trade. By going it alone, it played a ‘take it or leave it’ game with its coalition partners that has eventually hurt it as much as its partners. In the bargain, it lost people’s trust. That is the biggest loss that Congress cannot recoup in a hurry.
Now that NDA has come out with the Ludhiana show of force, even before the last round of election is still due and there are only vague indications of numbers, Congress has to sort out its priorities.
Will Congress fight for its own interest or for the interest of the nation at large? If Congress did believe in secular and pluralist polity of the nation, it should be prepared to eat humble pie and should stoop to conquer the bigger victory for the nation. If its priority is limited to ‘party first’, nation last, it may face grim choices and survive to rue the day.
Time is of the essence. It should not be wasted on fruitless negotiations. Meet first, sort out later.
Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai
Labels: Indian National Congress
Gul Panag gets all fired up at terror debate – By Upala KBR – Mid-Day eveninger, Mumbai
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Mumbai: Actress launches into shouting match with producer Ashok Pandit at a book reading function
Pandit, who is a displaced Kashmiri, attacked Panag's view that the root causes of terrorism, like poverty, needed to be looked at. Pandit said, "If that was the case, every poor person would pick up a gun and start killing people." Panag said that she was no armchair activist. "I am well versed with facts and current affairs," she said. "My dad, Lt General Panag was commander of northern command, so I know what terrorism is about." "I agreed with Ashok that we should ruthlessly crush terrorism, but I added that we should also examine the causes. Why are the poor taking to the gun? It's not just Kashmir but also Assam, South India and other areas of India. It was then, she said, that "Ashok butted in saying, what rubbish! Why are you justifying killing?" Panag said she did not see the "vicious cycle of killing ending unless we don't investigate why it's happening. They don't have food, jobs." "I said the Muslim population of our country is 12-13 per cent but the representation of Muslims in public services like Army, Parliament, Railways are below 3 per cent. To that Ashok said something like 'If they want they can have it differently.' That really upset me! How can an educated person talk like that?" Pandit said in his defence that he could "not listen to the flowery language of peace." "Mahesh Bhatt started the discussion by talking about why terrorists behave like that and we should treat them with love, affection and sympathy. Being a Kashmiri and a victim of terrorism for last 20 years, I said all terrorists should be killed as they don't understand peaceful language." The book they were debating, or were supposed to be debating, was Varon BK Sharma's The Assassination Of George Bush. Sharma said, "It was a heated debate but if it was allowed to continue it could have turned uglier. That's why the Crossword guys broke it up." Suchitra Pillai and Shefali Shah were also present. ------------------------------ PS. My Spell Check red lined the word Pandit in the above text and offered a suggestion: Bandit. |
Labels: Ashok Pandit, Brahmin exodus from Kashmir, Crossword book store, Gul Panag, India's criminally discriminated Muslim minority, terrorism
