Delhi's politics are arcane and convulated. Cogitations were therefore vital within the Congress, which was seemingly split on how to handle the Naxal issue.
Delhi's politics are arcane and convulated. Cogitations were therefore vital within the Congress, which was seemingly split on how to handle the Naxal issue. But things may now have finally settled with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh talking of taking a tough line with the Maoists, a point of view consistently advocated by home minister P Chidambaram. By backing his Home Minister, the PM has rejected Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh's softer approach to the issue. A chastened Digvijay is now hastening to clear the air with the high command. And mending fences with PC ufffd a far tougher task.
By distancing himself from Digvijay's views, which had found resonance among certain quarters within the party, Manmohan Singh clearly aimed to insulate the government from accusations by Opposition parties of vacillating on an issue of national importance. Interestingly, the PM chose to express his views in an address to civil servants than during the parliamentary debate.
But while a truce has been declared, we cannot be certain how long the forced d ufffdtente will last!
A Kumbh state of mindThe Mahakumbh finally wound up last month and the assorted babus, babas, godmen and yogis have departed the banks of the Ganga in the wake of the crores of pilgrims who took the sacred dip. Dilli is still savouring the feeling that the world's biggest congregation of pilgrims evokes. But more than that is in the mind of Uttarakhand's 'poetic' chief minister, Ramesh Pokriyal, who has dashed off a missive to the Centre demanding a vigorous campaign to get the Nobel Peace prize for the Kumbh.
Ridiculing the demand outright, as some have done, however could be a knee-jerk reaction. After all, as Pokriyal pointed out, if US President Barack Obama could be honoured so for simply expressing his optimism for peace, why not the Kumbh at Haridwar, which actually produces that most agreeable state of being?
