Delhi Confidential: Taking A Cue

With the BJP announcing an outreach campaign on the government’s move to scrap the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, a short film has been prepared that focuses on how the BJP had continuously opposed the provision. It starts with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day address in which he says Article 370 was a temporary provision but no other government had the courage to abrogate it. The video says the “historic blunder” just helped the militants and its gift to Jammu and Kashmir was nothing but terrorism. The film blames Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru who added Article 370 despite objections from leaders like B R Ambedkar. The film recalls that Atal Bihari Vajpayee on August 30, 1968 moved a motion in Lok Sabha to make the article inoperative but the dream had been fulfilled only now. The film states that the government’s move has finally made India one from Kashmir to Kanyakumari.

Minister In Metro

To follow Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s instruction to give up VIP culture, some Union ministers have picked up new habits. While some have tried to avoid a big cavalcade following them, Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has started using the metro to commute whenever there is a possibility of a traffic jam. On Tuesday night, he boarded a train on the Violet line from Sarita Vihar for Faridabad to attend Ganpati Mahotsav organised by Haryana Industry minister Vipul Goel. A picture of him standing in the coach caught everyone’s attention.

Low Attendance

His portrait may be occupying the pride of place in the Central Hall of Parliament House, but no politician turned up to pay tributes to Dadabhai Naoroji on his birth anniversary on Wednesday. Even the Congress, of which Naoroji was a founding member, gave a miss to the brief ceremony. Only five officers of the Lok Sabha Secretariat turned up do the honours. The Lok Sabha Speaker and the Secretary-General are away in Maldives.