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RAM ON
A.S. ANAND
...always self righteous
 It
would be a sad day for Indian democracy when a law minister becomes more
courteous to an unreasonable chief justice than I was. The chief justice
left me in no doubt that he was trying to force his way into a sanctorum
where he had no business to enter. He had also left me in no doubt by
his parallel conduct in other matters which I shall now proceed to mention
that he had made himself a party to a plot to secure my exit from the
Cabinet.
RAM ON
SOLI SORABJEE
...a dangerous adversary
 It
was obvious to me that Sorabjee was no friend but a dangerous enemy. He
had persuaded the prime minister at least to change my portfolio. The
prime minister did not and perhaps could not oblige Sorabjee and his friends
because he had to justify his actions to the people of India and to his
colleagues. Sorabjee had to wait for some more auspicious occasion; some
more diabolical scenario.
RAM ON
ARUN JAITLEY
...young and clever
 A
ready replacement was available in the person of my friend Arun Jaitley.
The attorney-general has a cosy, quasi-paternal relationship with him.
Both have the ear of the prime minister and when they cried in unison
that a constitutional typhoon would devastate the polity unless the law
minister is put out of the way, the prime minister was left no time for
introspection.
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INDIA TODAY Deputy Editor Swapan Dasgupta voices the despair of a community that Jyoti Basu forcibly converted into a diaspora in his 23 years of zero-contribution rule. 