Opinion Footballer in House

Tirath vs NCW

The spat between Minister for Women and Child Development Krishna Tirath and the Chairperson of the National Commission for Women,Mamta Sharma,has taken a turn for the worse. Both women have made charges against each other and the issue has now reached the Prime Minister’s Office. Sharma has written to the PM,complaining that Tirath is needlessly interfering in the affairs of the commission though it is an autonomous body. Tirath has countered this saying that there are one lakh cases pending before the commission and that scores of NGOs have complained to her against the manner in which the commission functions. Since the commission falls under her ministry,Tirath feels she should have a say in the matter.

Restricted entry

When Rahul Gandhi visits the Congress headquarters on Akbar Road,the front gates are locked and the media is not allowed inside the building. Journalists who want to meet other Congress office-bearers in the complex are thus left stranded. For a month now,the BJP office at Ashoka Road too has started restricting visitors. Previously the office was open to the media,but now,they are not permitted unless they have an appointment with an office-bearer—they cannot simply drift from one room to another in search of news. Some attribute the new restrictions to a suggestion from Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi,who is distinctly media-unfriendly in his state. The Gandhinagar secretariat is out of bounds to journalists. Modi’s ministers are also reluctant to speak to the press.

To cap it all

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is keen to establish an identity distinct from that of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. While Modi had rejected the offer to wear a skull cap to please his Muslim constituents,Chouhan donned a Muslim prayer cap at an iftar party he hosted in Bhopal last week. But the cap was a bright saffron and contrasted with the white-and-black of the other headgear. Chouhan had invited around 1,000 representatives from the minority community for the function.

Presidential silence

On August 15,Discovery Channel will release a 45-minute documentary on Rashtrapati Bhavan which will include the history of the building from its conception as well as a viewing of the presidential place with its magnificent interiors and renovations. President Pranab Mukherjee has already had a glimpse of the documentary. Last month,the president invited a number of mediapersons to his home for a get-together. He noted that he loved the “gup shup” they provided him. Unfortunately,Mukherjee could not return the favour by providing them gossip since his lips are sealed as president.

Appeasing gods

Temporarily deposed BCCI president

N Srinivasan believes that he will get back his old position because even if the courts,the media and much of the cricket world are against him,the gods may be with him. Deeply religious,Srinivasan performs two pujas a day and visits the Navasakthi Vinayagar temple in Chennai every day whenever he is in the city. He has donated huge amounts for the maintenance of the Sringeri Mutt in Karnataka and the Srirangam temple which falls in Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s constituency. Perhaps his most spectacular gift to a shrine is the donation of a ladoo-making machine to the Tirupati temple. The machine produces some 25,000 ladoos a day. The besan and dried fruits are transported along long conveyor belts and are mixed with syrup and ghee in huge vats. The process is almost entirely mechanised.