The argumentative Hindu

10

Lal Krishna Advani is not your average Mr Nice Guy. He described the Ayodhya movement that led to the demolition of the Babri masjid in 1992, as a mass awakening and since then has almost revelled in his terrifying image. He's cast as someone whom religious minorities have reason to fear. The Lauh Purush was ambivalent on the Gujarat carnage, he supported Modi, has called his opponents "pseudo secularists", and has embarked on divisive rath yatras. L K Advani has disappointed those who know that in our tradition there exist some written Ramayans in which the invocation Om Ganeshaya Namah is immediately followed by the prayer Bismillah-e-Rahman-e-Rahim. But what have 15 years done to Advani? Wonder of wonders, it is Advani who now finds himself in a confrontation with the very ideology he once upheld so fiercely. Irony of ironies, it is Advani who finds himself in conflict with the....

Corrupt MP or BIMARU MP?

10

Gosh, what a turbulent winter session of parliament! First the drama over the Volcker Committee report and the exit of Natwar Singh. Then the daily walkouts over the NDA's ridiculous demand for the resignation of Sonia Gandhi. Then Operation Duryodhana, showing MPs taking cash to ask questions in parliament. Then the bomb scare, followed rapidly by yet another sting operation on MPs allegedly doing crooked things with the money given to them to engage in development work. Phew! Enough to send any MP scurrying for his afternoon siesta.. And now the Pawan Bansal Committee inquiring into the "cash for questions" scam after some foot-dragging and first-lets-see-the-tapes type stalling tactics, has at last come out with a report apparently suggesting expulsion of the 10 MPs. But here's the tickling question, though. Are those who accepted money for asking questions the villains of our national life? Are they devils....