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God's
Advocate
With
delay built into the court battles being fought over the ownership of
Ayodhya's famous site, the VHP turns on the heat.
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NEWSNOTES
CAPLOOKS
Fast Food
Chain
 Delhi:
When
it comes to style, Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala is never
found wanting. With Union ministers, opposition leaders and just about
anybody who is not even somebody in politics busy organising Iftar parties,
Chautala decided to host what presumably must be the mother of all Iftar
parties. His VVIP guest list included the usual suspects-Union ministers,
politicians, diplomats and bureaucrats. What was surprising was the long
list of ordinary folk. Accommodating such a big crowd may have been a
problem for most but not for Chautala; he simply converted a large tract
of farm land into what he called an "Iftar park" just outside
the city.
Call
of the Party
Delhi:
Despite the call by the Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid to the community to
boycott Iftar parties of the BJP, there was a sizeable number of Muslims
at Atal Bihari Vajpayee's party. In quiet corners of the convention hall
at the Ashok Hotel, members of the liberal press huddled together and
said the only Muslims present were those from Lucknow, Vajpayee's constituency.
They were wrong. The Muslims hailed mostly from the Walled City and were
there because their representative in the Lok Sabha is Vijay Goel, a BJP
MP.
House
Secret
Delhi:
At Vajpayee's Iftar party, there were several Delhi-based journalists
representing newspapers from Islamic countries. They cornered a top PMO
official and asked him, "So when is he going to make the announcement?"
"What announcement?" wondered the official. "About the
extension of the cease-fire." The official politely informed the
mediamen that in democratic India, when Parliament was in session, such
important statements could be made by the prime minister only in Parliament.
Date
Duel
 Delhi:
BJP President Bangaru Laxman and Communications Minister Ram Vilas Paswan
had scheduled Iftar parties on the same day last week. There were hectic
efforts to persuade the minister to shift dates. But Paswan was steadfast.
His rationale: it takes one Dalit to take on another Dalit. Bravo!
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 Miss
World 2000 may be from Uttar Pradesh but Chief Minister RAJNATH
SINGH bans beauty contests in his state.
Q.
You greeted Priyanka Chopra on winning the Miss World title and
then banned beauty contests in the state.
A.
I did not greet her. It was a routine statement issued by my office.
Q.
What is your rationale for banning such shows?
A.
There are many reasons. First, westernisation of Indian youth should
stop. The projection of Indian girls as Miss Universe or Miss World
is a deep-rooted conspiracy to promote cosmetics in countries like
India. Nudity and obscenity cannot be parameters for determining
beauty.
Q.
Will your order not affect the booming fashion industry in your
state?
A.
I am not bothered. Indian girls should try to emulate Mother Teresa,
Chand Bibi, Maharani Laxmibai and Sita. No religion in India allows
its daughters to expose their bodies to win competitions. Also it
creates confusion among girls belonging to the downtrodden classes
and poorer families.
Q.
In the absence of any law, how will you ban these shows?
A.
You just watch, the organisers of such shows will just disappear.
-Subhash
Mishra
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COLUMNS |
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Forget
endology, writes INDIA TODAY Senior Editor S. Prasannarajan. Celebrate
2001, celebrate the future in
Locomotif.
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DESPATCHES |
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The
80th birthday do of a social reformer shows how the lives of entire communites
in coastal Gujarat have changed for the better. INDIA TODAY Principal
Correspondent Uday Mahurkar reports in Despatches.
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