Blue-eyed boy
Unable to stomach the liberalism and secularism of the Vajpayee government, hard core enthusiasts of the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak have been continuously haranguing the BJP ministers for not keeping their faith. Even a staunch advocate of Hindutva like Home Minister L K Advani came in for criticism for his handling of the Amarnath Yatra killings. So it seems to have come as a sort of relief to the minister for disinvestment, Mr Arun Shourie, that his disinvestment strategy has so far not come in for any criticism. While murmurs of disapproval have been heard among some sections of the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, the RSS has so far backed Mr Shourie. "That's the power of the written word," says a BJP insider.After all Mr Shourie is one of the most respected intellectuals of the Sangh Parivar and in the brahmanical upper reaches of the RSS the wielder of the pen is mightier than the wielder of the internal security apparatus!
Down, not out
Narasimha Rao may be down, but he's not out. Last Saturday, he attended a gala dinner at a five-star hotel in the heart of Delhi, where he was greeted, among others, by Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani and HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi. Present Congress leaders paid obeisance as if he was still prime minister. A senior bureaucrat sighed: "If only he had scraped through the JMM case!" And after Judge Bharihoke convicted him, his visitors included former prime ministers V.P.Singh, Chandrashekhar, I.K.Gujral and Deve Gowda.
Translator
At the recent Economic Editor's Conference Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj turned translator. The minister spoke in Hindi and then translated into English, word for word. But the entire gathering was truly bowled over when she replied in flawless Kannada to a question posed by a Karnataka-based journo. Those who didn't understand the language asked her to translate again. The cheerful lady declared: "Aapne to mujhe minister se translator bana diya."
Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.