As for Rahul Gandhi’s controversial statements during the UP campaign, the Organiser sees a “method in the mad pronouncements.” According to the editorial, “He was cleverly trying to shift the focus away from the poor, unpopular record of the UPA under Dr Manmohan Singh at the Centre. It is intriguing that neither Rahul Gandhi nor Sonia Gandhi made any appeal to voters in the name of the UPA regime’s achievements in the last three years. By consciously making controversial and untenable statements, which attracted a lot of media attention, the Gandhi scion tried to draw public attention away from price rise, terrorist attacks and soft-pedalling on national security issues.”

Attack on Leela Samson

Leela Samson, famous Bharatanatyam dancer and current head of the prestigious Kalakshetra Foundation in Chennai, is the target of a vicious attack this week. According to writer P. Deivamuthu, the Mumbai-based editor of Hindu Voice, Samson “has destroyed the values for which this institution stands for and is still continuing the destruction in a subtle way.”

Her alleged crimes include a “disdain” for idol worship, removal of Vinayaka idols for which regular poojas used to be conducted by students, discouragement of prayers within Kalakshetra, and setting up a movie club “which has completely spoilt the gurukulam atmosphere of this traditional institution.” She is also accused of planning to demolish the temple structure of the Kalakshetra Auditorium “under the pretext of modernising it”, removing religious symbols which earlier adorned the certificates issued by the institution, and removing earlier restrictions and “thus encouraging the meeting of boys and girls in any hostel room at any time of the day and night.”

... contd.