ELECTIONS '98
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'Having fun in Liberalisation Raj'

The United States has said it will not provide nuclear safety technology to India. Why? Because it would concede a fundamental point that it is okay to have nuclear weapons. Why can't the Yanks understand that their conceding or not conceding doesn't change the situation? As for providing safeguards. I wouldn't trust Uncle Sam within 100 miles of our nuclear weapons. A fortnight back, the BJP and its allies issued a joint statement. It says that none of the allies will publicly voice their differences of opinion or criticise the government. Looks like they are following Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen's advice. He said 'We must learn from the Chinese.'

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For the Delhi Test between India and Pakistan, the Delhi police had 20 snake charmers on duty. It they had brought along a few astrologers, astronomers and magicians we could have had a regular circus. In Delhi, Kumble was the 'Man of the Match' and in Chennai -- the spectators. Makes me proud of being a Madrasi even if Jayalalitha managed 18 MPs. In Singapore if a politician wants to make a public speech, he has to obtain a permit under the Public Entertainment Act. Wonderful, isn't it? Singapore must be the only government in the world that recognises the fact that politicians's speeches are meant only to entertain and nothing else.

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The government is going to enact a new Cantonment Act. One of the ideas forwarded is representation of MPs and MLAs on Cantonment Boards. This is a dangerous proposition. The army has enough on its plate with one politician -- the defence minister. That's a necessary evil, but MPs and MLAs on Cantonment Boards, I shudder to think of the consequences.

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The telephone tariff is going to be raised again on April 1. Minister of State for Communication Rabindra Purkayestha has said 'TRAI's proposals are binding on the government,' and adds, 'In no way would it be sent to the co-ordination committee of the BJP and its allies.' Look like TRAI has achieved total autonomy, something even the President hasn't achieved. April 1 is, of course, 'All Fool's Day.' No prize for guessing who the fools are.

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The Jammu and Kashmir chief minister has justified the Emergency after more than two decades. Looks like he is going to join the Sonia bandwagon. God Bless Sonia.

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The steel majors that include 'Government owned' SAIL. 'Anything will do' Essar and 'Holier than thou' Tisco first twisted the government's arm. The government obligingly raised the anti-dumping duty on imported coils by 5 per cent. Next, they raised their own prices by Rs 2,000 a tonne. What's this? It is called having fun in Liberalisation Raj. And as usual the consumers are the losers.

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I always admired J R D Tata and Ashok Jain. I was so proud of them. But in death they let me down. JRD by choosing to be buried in France, and Ashok Jain by choosing to be cremated in the Cleveland.

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The vice-chancellor of the Sri Sankaracharya University, Dr N P Unni, has said 'the nature of coins in circulation denoted the prosperity of a particular era.' At the moment, in our country, there are no coins in circulation. I wonder what future historians will make of this?

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A British citizen Salman Rushdie is granted a visa to visit India. Iran wants to know why we gave him a visa. Iran was lately in the news when it said it would not pursue the death threat against Rushdie. So why are they bothered about where he travels? And I wish they would stop behaving like the US whom they supposedly hate.

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The Gujarat government is finding out how many Christians they have there, the activities of the Christian missionaries, the annual foreign grants they receive, and the details of arms and weapons. Great! And after they finish this important survey they should find out how many VHP and Bajrang Dal members there are in Gujarat. How many are peaceful and how many violent? How many are moderate and how many extremist? How much money they have collected for the Ram temple and how much they spend on arms?

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At the BJP's Delhi unit's public awareness campaign Home Minister Advani said, 'We have provided security, harmony and probity.' I wonder which country he was talking about.

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In the Madras high court -- two AIADMK MPs have filed a case relating to the appointment of typists and translators. These typists and translators are meant to translate Jayalalitha's sins from English to Tamil. The MPs are trying to delay the appointment. The time and energy and skills these MPs employ to delay the cases against Amma -- if they spent even half the time for their constituencies Tamil Nadu would have been the luckiest state in the Union.

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The Supreme Court, by agreeing to Jayalalitha's demand to provide all the corruption case documents in Tamil, has condemned our criminal courts to eternal delay for generations to come.

A Ganesh Nadar