Wednesday, June 24, 1998
Vajpayee's "maladroit" letter
Much has been written about China's anger over A.B. Vajpayee's letter to the US President wherein a weaponised China was indirectly mentioned as a reason for India going nuclear. Anguish was also expressed when the defence minister identified China as the main threat to India. The proponents of the Hindi Chini bhai-bhai concept were somewhat mollified when the Prime Minister contradicted his defence minister on allegations concerning a Chinese helipad in Arunachal Pradesh.
Purulia revisited
Every six months, the police force of this backward area of West Bengal is on red alert. The Ananda Marg sect, which has its headquarters located 18-km deep inside the rugged, hilly and mostly unmanned terrain, holds its biannual "dharma maha sammelan". This year, the sammelan was held from May 29 to May 31 and over 30,000 followers of the sect -- including hundreds of foreigners -- descended on Anandanagar in Purulia.
Fickle loyalties
Although political parties saw some of their members voting against official candidates in the biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha, the biggest to do about it is taking place in the Congress. Unlike the BJP in UP and Rajasthan, and regional parties, all of whom suffered from cross-voting, the Congress has been quick to start investigations in Maharashtra where one official candidate, Najma Heptullah, just scraped through and the other, Ram Pradhan, lost.
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