
The faux
pas of a diplomatic denial
Prime Minister Atal
Behari Vajpayees decision to send a special
emissary on a secret peace mission to Islamabad came out
into the open courtesy Pakistan media.
With the lid off, public
relation officers in the Prime Ministers Office
here swung into a damage-control exercise and tried to
convince the media personnel that no such visit had taken
place.
Officially, the Indian
External Affairs Ministry spokesman pleaded ignorance
about any such visit having taken place. Since the
official version failed to cut ice with the Indian media,
the PMO resorted to an indigenous exercise to confuse the
electronic and print media.
The PMO promptly issued
a denial that reports about Mr Brajesh Mishra, Principal
Secretary to the Prime Minister, visiting Islamabad on a
peace mission was not factually correct.
The PMO at that stage
was well aware that it was R.K.Mishra, Chairman of the
Editorial Board of Observer (India) Ltd, an English daily
controlled by the Reliance group of the Ambanis, who had
undertaken the visit and Mr Brajesh Mishra was in no way
involved in the back-channel diplomatic
initiative.
They were hoping against
hope that the denial on Mishras visit would sort
the matter out. The denial was ignored and the local
media continue to report on Mr R.K.Mishras visit.
Unlike what was expected by the PMO, there was everything
in a name here.
Back to Bofors
Bofors, the
much maligned Swedish company, is back in the news thanks
to the Kargil developments. The decade-long political
storm over the Rajiv Gandhi Governments decision to
buy the 155 mm guns notwithstanding, these guns have been
the mainstay of Indian artillery in the icy mountains
ranging from Siachen to the current battle in Kargil.
That was the reason why
eyebrows were raised in political circles when the
government decided to restart talks with Celsius
Corporation, who are now manufacturing the 155 mm
Howitzer guns for spare parts. Bofors AG which originally
supplied the guns was blacklisted after controversy of
alleged kickbacks surfaced in the late 1980s. However,
that mark has been erased from the new owner, Celsius.
Not only that, the
government sprung another surprise when it announced that
Mr Arun Singh, a former Minister of State for Defence in
the Rajiv Gandhi Government, was being appointed as
Special Executive Assistant to External Affairs Minister,
Jaswant Singh.
Mr Arun Singh, who had
resigned from the Rajiv Gandhi Ministry after the furore
over the Bofors deal, had offered his services to the
government in the wake of the Kargil conflict.
Government insiders
reveal that the world should not be surprised over Mr
Jaswant Singhs decision to induct Mr Arun Singh in
his Ministry. Personally, Mr Jaswant Singh had no
reservations about the Bofors guns. He had maintained,
even during his days in the Opposition, that the Bofors
were best suited for the Kashmir terrain.
A war-like situation is
definitely a great leveller even if politics is not.
Railways and the
opticians
It may not
quite gel but the Indian Railways may seem to be
promoting the cause of the opticians. Well that is at
least how the Minister and his Deputy saw it. The
promotion was not on account of any philanthropic mission
but the experience of having to go through the Railways
timetable in fine print.
At a function to
officially release the reader-friendly Trains at a
Glance at Rail Bhavan last week, the Railway Minister, Mr
Nitish Kumar and his Deputy, Mr Ram Naik narrating their
personal experience said the print size in the earlier
timetables was so small that one ended with weakening of
eyes.
Mr Naik set the tone
stating that the earlier print size was so small that
there was a saying that if you have to lessen your
vision, glance through the railway timetable.
When his turn came, Mr
Nitish Kumar went a step further stating that owing to
problems of small print he stopped referring to the
trains schedule.
The new publication they
promised would at least do away with that complaint since
the size of the printed word has been enlarged. The new
Trains at a Glance also has many features to make its use
both easy and effective.
A close call
Well not
quite so but certainly the situation became somewhat
tense when supporters of the Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali
Dal and their rivals arrived around the same time at the
residence of the Bahujan Samaj Party supremo, Mr Kanshi
Ram.
It all happened on the
day when Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, President of the
newly-formed SAD, was scheduled to meet the BSP chief.
Just when he was due to arrive at the residence of Mr
Kanshi Ram, some supporters of Mr Tohra saw that Mr
Simranjit Singh Mann, President of SAD (Amritsar), Mr
Kuldip Singh Wadala, chief of SAD, (Democratic) and Mr
Jasbir Singh Rode, leader of SAD (Panthic), were about to
enter the premises.
Mr Tohra was there to
discuss and finalise his partys poll pact with the
BSP and obviously fish from the same pond could obviously
not be swimming around the same time.
The staff of the BSP
chiefs office had to intervene just before the
battle of words between supporters of the rival groups
could have escalated into an embarrassment for the
leaders and the host.
The matter was defused
with the other three leaders being requested by the staff
to move to another waiting area till their turn to meet
Mr Ram came. Phew, did some one say it was a close call !
Battle for the
chair
While the
general election is still away, politicians are always at
the game of what has now become famous by a Hindi film
Kissa Kursi Ka.
This time around, the
situation was not exactly to grab a chair of authority
but to make way for a leader of the ruling party by Union
Minister belonging to the same party.
The occasion was the
all-party meeting called by the Prime Minister to discuss
the Kargil situation. The original seating arrangement
was to have the Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr
P R Kumaramangalam be flanked to the right of the Prime
Minister after the Defence Minister. The Home Minister
and three other Union Ministers were to be left of the
Prime Minister.
However, just as the
leaders started taking their seats the BJP President, Mr
Kushabhau Thakre walked in. Spotting a chair vacant close
to the Prime Minister, he went and occupied it. Now, Mr
Thakre is the chief of the BJP, but the chair he sat on
was meant for Mr Kumaramangalam.
The protocol people were
in a bit of mess till the matter was sorted out by
inserting a backless stool allowing the sporting Minister
to squeeze himself in.
The camera
effect
While the
spurt of television in India has circulated the western
phrase of couch potato (a viewer relaxing in
sofa, surfing channels and resembling a potato sack) it
has ushered a new culture for the politicians at
least some of them.
Both the ruling BJP and
its main political rival, the Congress have drawn up a
list of party members who have been prepared for
appearances on behalf of the party.
With a proliferation of
channels, the demands on the times of netas
has gone up and frontline parties are finding it
difficult keeping pace with the requirement of having
party members who are not only properly briefed on party
lines and are articulate but are also television
friendly.
After all television is
the medium of the masses and in this battle of the
ballot, the effect of television cannot be denied. So
away from the traditional methods of personalised
campaign, the political parties are making best use of
the mass media specially the television.
As the TV network lingo
goes It is all for the soundbite.
(Contributed by
TV Lakshminarayan, KV Prasad and PN Andley)
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