FLIPSIDE
Quotable Quotes
By Dilip
Bobb
 Summer
is no joke. More so when the power supply to your house starts behaving as
erratically as some of our Cabinet ministers and MPs. Little wonder then
that everybody's on the lookout for distractions. In India, fortunately,
we have no shortage of such diversions, provided, in the main, by our
elected representatives, with a little help from lesser mortals. Here are
some recent examples which should help bring down the temperature, or vice
versa, depending on your view of point.
Ajit Panja, minister of state for
external affairs
"This fellow Musharraf is always showing red eye to India. Every
time he talks about our country, he is showing us red eye. Even when I am
watching him on TV, I am seeing that he is showing red eye. My TV has red
eye reduction, but even then I am seeing red eye. I am telling the
general, we have hundred crore Indians, and if he shows red eye, then we
can show him hundred crore red eyes."
Kamlaji, a woman peon in the AICC
headquarters
"There is an air of expectation in the AICC. Everybody is smiling
and talking of the party making a big comeback in the next few months. The
senior leaders are already distributing sweets. All the astrologers who
have been called to our headquarters have said that our party's fate will
change after September. When I asked one of our leaders what this
momentous event was, he said it was a rebirth for the party, and to wait
till September. That's when Priyanka's baby will be born."
One of the 45-member group of MPs
taken on an all-India study tour by the Indian Railways
"It has been a very educational tour. The objective was to
acquaint the MPs with the working of the Railways and the standard of
facilities they provide. We were flown to Jammu, where we had a meeting.
Then we took a helicopter ride to Vaishno Devi and back. We then flew to
Delhi by Indian Airlines so that we could undertake the next phase of our
yatra. I must say the Railways are doing an excellent job."
Farooq Abdullah, Jammu and Kashmir
chief minister
"This autonomy question is being misunderstood. There's a lot of
confusion being created. Let me make it clear. If you think President
Clinton came to India just to say hello and have tea, you're wrong. Atal
Bihari Vajpayee may be an RSS man, but he's also a democrat to the core.
It is beyond anybody's imagination. There. I can't be clearer than
that."
Ram Vilas Paswan, minister of
communications
"We have issued orders to install a third telephone in every MP's
residence. The 50,000 free calls allowed on this phone are for them to
access the Internet. The MPs will now have a total of 1,50,000 free calls
a year. We are offering nothing free. The Parliament Secretariat will foot
the bill."
Sonia Gandhi
"I have nothing to say."
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