if mayawati were to be raped …

if a dalit woman is raped, she gets a compensation of 25000 rupees; if mayawati were to be raped, should she be given one crore rupeees as compensation … this may not have been the exact sentence what ritu bahuguna joshi, the cong chief of UP said, but it was to the same effect. and this led to the rampage of BSP members who burnt down her house, hounded her and she was finally arrested in a late night drama.

what joshi said is appalling, but nevertheless its a correct call. she could have put it more astutely and her choice of words could have been better, but the logic still holds good. the statement is not anti-dalit, its anti-women for sure.

the psychosis that mayawati has created about herself, giving more importance to herself than the social sector who has brought her to power. instead of working for the dalits, she has been going about with a halo around her head. someone needs to tell her that elephants and statues are not going to bring prosperity to UP, her programs and actions can, if she were to implement them.

and whenever anyone criticizes her, she shields herself with the proverbial ‘dalit ki beti being harassed’ remark. its high time people of UP woke up from their slumber and vote those people to power who can alleviate their living conditions.

 

Delhi Metro Bridge Collapses, 5 Killed; Sreedharan Resigns

Around 5am this morning, Delhi woke up to the news of a part of the Delhi Metro Bridge collapsing, in which 1 engineer and 4 other laborers were killed and 15 others injured.

This happened very close to Lady Sriram College where a pillar was being erected and it gave way under immense weight. This is the second such incident in last 8 months.

Taking moral responsibility for the mishap, the Managing Director of Delhi Metro Corporation, Sreedharan, sent his resignation to CM Sheila Dixit.

While his intentions are honest, I sincerely feel that the resignation should not be accepted. First of all, he was not directly involved with this incident. Secondly, he has been doing a good job. A project of such proportions require honest people like Sreedharan. While we see what’s been happening with Mayawati and her statue-fixation in UP, this moral responsibility claimant deserves an applause.

He should be re-instated and be given full support for the wonderful work that he has been doing. An investigation should be launched to find out where the problem lies. Was it with the pillar strength or the material used or some other technical snag? That needs to be found out and corrected. Let’s hope the injured ones recover soon and the project continues to a successful completion.

 

pm’s in-waiting will remain so…

the polls results are out and we have a decisive pm in manmohan singh, thank god for that.

till a few days back, when the poll pandits had predicted a hung parliament and at best they were a little optimistically saying that UPA may return to power, the third front was in fray. i too was scared at the thought of third front coming to power, mainly because of the probable pm’s who were being thrown up as options. all the smaller parties who were led by political stalwarts with narrow vision and immediate gains, wanted to become a pm. mayawati even went to the extent of asking the third front to declare her as pm-candidate, a couple of months back. lalu prasad, mulayam singh, nitish kumar, sharad pawar, jayalalitha etc…all aspired for the top job. all these are now pm’s in waiting.

the above mentioned politicians could aspire for the pm-post only because they have seen how deve gowda and ik gujral became pm’s although they never had all-india-appeal.

and of course there was the bjp’s old warhorse lk advani, the declared pm in-waiting for the longest time ever. and even before he could come close to the elusive pm post, some members of his own party and some business entrepreneurs declared narendra modi as their pm-probable. so, modi became the pm in-waiting for 2014 elections. all these guys are just waiting their turn, but they will need lot more than votes. they need people’s acceptability and their own allies receptability.

anyways, all issues are buried for now as manmohan singh will become only the 2nd pm to be voted back to power after a full 5 year term, since 1971. so, the pm’s in-waiting and pm’s-probable will remain so…