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Advani again pledges 'Ram Mandir' at Ayodhya

     Somnath (Gujarat): In an effort to regain his 'hard-line Hindutva' image, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) President L. K. Advani today reiterated his pledge to build 'Ram Mandir' at Ayodhya, and said that his `yatra' to the Somnath Temple would end only when the grand temple was built. "For the past 15 years, I have been coming here on this very day for the `Darshan' of Lord Somnath. A new chapter in Indian politics began when I embarked on the Rath Yatra from here. This yatra will end only when a grand Ram Temple is built at Ayodhya," Advani told reporters here on the occasion of 15th anniversary his rath yatra. Advani, accompanied by party's state president Vajubhai Vala and in-charge of party affairs in the State Om Mathur, performed 'puja' at the temple for around 45 minutes.

     The BJP president, on the same day in 1990, which also coincides with the birthday of Sangh ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyay, had started his famous 'Rath Yatra', after which the BJP emerged as a national party. This is his first public appearance after party's National Executive meet in Chennai, where Advani formally announced his plan to resign as party president after Bihar assembly polls. This visit assumes a great significance, as it is being viewed as Advani's effort to regain his 'hard-line Hindutva' image, which has been regularly deteriorating after his Pakistan visit, where he had described Jinnah as 'secular'. Advani is also scheduled to address a rally on October 9 in Palampur, where the party had passed a resolution on supporting the Ram Janmabhoomi temple in Ayodhya.

Brothers-in-law again brew trouble for Lalu (Go To Top)
by Pankaj Yadav

     New Delhi: Following the open defiance by his brothers-in-law in the last Bihar Assembly polls (by pitting either their wife or themselves against party's official candidates after being denied party tickets), RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav had learnt a lesson that his in-laws were proving more of a liability for him, and had decided to keep them at bay in future. Since the last elections, rumours have been making rounds that in the next polls Lalu would be adopting a strict strategy against his sasuralwalahs or other relatives-in-law who "worked against the party's interests". It was made to appear also. Both his brothers-in-law - Sadhu Yadav (Lok Sabha MP) and Subhash Yadav (Rajya Sabha) - were seldom seen anywhere near him, both inside and outside the Parliament. Prem Chand Gupta, Jaiprakash Narayan Yadav, and sometimes, Ram Kripal Yadav, occupied seats next to Lalu, even as the disgruntled brothers-in-law were rarely seen near him, not even at 25 Tuglak Road, Lalu's official residence where they normally camped whenever present in the Capital. Now, as the next round of polls is approaching, the brothers-in- law are once again up in arms against "Jijaji" Lalu Prasad for being sidelined for last six months. They allege that the latter gives ear to the advice from a coterie only, and overlooks the sincere and hard-working party workers, who have served the party for more than two-three decades. Though, they allege that Lalu is overlooking the sincere party workers, their real agenda is to scrabble for tickets for themselves or their wives, as they unsuccessfully did in the last elections.

     Only yesterday a TV channel showed Subhash Yadav, surrounded by a host of supporters, expressing disgruntlement at being ignored by Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav. Though Subhash denied to put this on record, party sources say that for almost one month he had been lobbying hard to get a ticket for his wife Renu Devi from the Masaurhi Assembly constituency. But, Lalu has so far not yielded to his demand. During the last polls, Subhash was not able to get a ticket for his wife from the Bakhtiyarpur Assembly constituency. Similarly, Sadhu had failed to prevail upon Lalu for getting a ticket for his wife Indira Yadav, and later fielded her as an Independent candidate from Gopalganj. But, this time speculations are rife that Indira would be given a party ticket. A third brother-in-law Prabhunath Yadav, not so well known like the other two, had contested the last elections as an Independent candidate against the RJD, from the Mirganj Assembly segment. He is once again keen on contesting the same seat, though it is not yet clear if he would be given the party ticket.

Maoist attack: 8 cops injured  (Go To Top)
by Girija Shanker Ojha

     Kolebera (Jharkhand): Jharkhand's Minister of Rural Development and Transport Enos Ekka narrowly escaped a Maoist landmine attack on Saturday. The Maoists triggered the blast on National Highway 23 as Ekka was travelling in a convoy towards his constituency near Kolebara in the state's Simdega District. The minister's escort vehicle was blown up in the blast in which at least eight policemen were injured. Among the wounded policemen were Officer-in-charge of the Kolebera police station P.K. Biswas and Assistant sub-inspector Ramanand Prasad. The jeep in which the police personnel were travelling fell in a nearby ditch under the impact of the blast. Police said they recovered a single barrel gun, live cartridges, dresses worn by Maoists and a bag containing some plastic items from the spot. Earlier this month, the Maoists and their more powerful counterparts in Nepal, who are fighting to topple the constitutional monarchy there, said they would work together to promote communism. The Maoists killed 15 people in an attack on September 12 in Jharkhand. It followed a landmine attack by Maoists a week before in neighbouring Chattisgarh in which 23 policemen and a civilian were killed. Despite several attacks in the past, the Government of Jharkhand has not outlawed the Maoists for fear it would aggravate the problem, and local politicians have instead advocated dialogue with them. The guerrillas often hold their own courts to resolve disputes and kill officials they believe are corrupt.

Manmohan's remarks on media accountability (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: The Prime Minister's Office has expressed serious concern over the manipulation by interested groups of news reports, particularly those having financial implications to manipulate the performance of the stock market in the country. Last week, the Sensex dipped considerably following reports that the Prime Minister's Office had summoned intelligence officials on the subject of the stock market surging ahead. This report coupled with some routine investigations had an immediate impact on the stock market. Fears were expressed that there may be a recurrence of the Harshad Mehta episode of a decade ago, when the stock market crashed. Speaking at the Chandigarh Press Club on Saturday, the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, urged the media to do some soul searching on how competition had affected quality.

     In a sharp remark, Dr. Singh pointed out that there was lack of accountability in journalism, and said: " How many mistakes must a journalist make, how many wrong stories, how many motivated columns before professional clamps are placed." Apparently drawing attention to the impact of the story about the Prime Minister's Office calling intelligence officials for a briefing, he said: "How does financial media deal with market- moving stories that had no basis and fact. Investors gain and lose, markets rise and fall, but what happens to those reporters, analysts, editors who move and make markets." "In the race for capturing markets, journalists have been encouraged to cut corners, to take chances, to hit and run," he said, adding "I believe the time has come for journalists to take stock of how competition have impacted upon quality." The Prime Minister's Media Advisor, Sanjaya Baru, has asked the newspapers to "conduct an internal enquiry and apprise the Prime Minister's Office of any action taken in this regard." This is the first time that an agency in the Government of India has asked any newspaper to conduct an enquiry and apprise the Government of the results of the enquiry. The Indian press normally observes the code of ethics laid down by the Editors Guild of India, and any regulation in this matter is bound to raise a possible controversy.