The Great Indian Election Circus further entertains

Samajwadi Party Manifesto: We'll ban English, computers

Times of India - 13/4/09

The Samajwadi Party has vowed to work against the use of English in education and computers in new projects. While these are pitched as populist measures — abolition of ‘‘expensive education in English’’ would allegedly create a level playing field for all and less use of computers would generate jobs — the steps are being viewed with alarm as they have the potential to drag back the country by years.

Releasing the party manifesto here on Saturday, SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav dwelt on his pet anti-English theme. The manifesto says that if a new government were to be formed with SP’s support, it would work to abolish schools providing expensive education in English — in other words, virtually every public school regarded among the country’s top schools. Interestingly, Mulayam Singh’s two sons have gone to such schools.

While speaking to reporters, Mulayam Singh said he was against ‘‘the compulsory use of English language in education, administration and judiciary’’. He said SP favoured the national language, Hindi, and regional languages. To give his anti-top grade education a populist spin, he said his party was in favour of free education for girls until graduation.

On computers, Mulayam said their use was leading to unemployment. He added that wherever work can be done by hand, computers would be abolished. As everything was done by hand until the advent of computers, the step, if taken to its logical conclusion, could lead to the scrapping of almost all computers.

BJP's BL Sharma Prem says his win is certain because he filed his nomination at an auspicious moment

Times of India - 13/4/09

Two days after the Congress withdrew the candidature of Jagdish Tytler from North-East seat, his BJP counterpart BL Sharma ‘Prem’ waited for another ‘auspicious’ moment to file his nomination paper on Saturday.

Prem, who candidly admitted that he had come after ‘‘due consultation’’ with the Hindu almanac, may not have been able to boast of star power — only OP Kohli, BJP state chief and local MLAs were present — but he claimed that the constellations were certainly in his favour. Flashing victory signs as supporters chanted his name, Prem declared, ‘‘I have defeated anyone who has stood against me. It’ll be the same this time around.’’

Interestingly, the firebrand RSS ideologue — who came in a black Santro which he claimed belonged to a supporter — seems to have accumulated little savings in his 30-odd years as a politician and academic. In his asset declaration, Prem has said that he has only Rs 37,187 in his bank account, with only Rs 500 in hand at the time of nomination. He apparently has no other savings, barring an apartment in middle-class BK Dutt colony in Karwala, built in 1991 and worth Rs 7.5 lakh, and a point 32 calibre German revolver.

Age is catching up with Indian Politics

Times of India - 13/4/09

Age is catching up with Indian politics. Whether it was BJP leader L K Advani lifting weights at a gym, or Gujarat CM Narendra Modi’s remark describing Congress as a ‘‘125-year-old budhiya’’ followed by Priyanka Gandhi’s ‘‘Do I look old to you’’ retort, age seems to have become a talking point in this election season.

This is happening despite the fact that leading lights from both Congress and BJP are not getting younger any more. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is 76, foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee is 73, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi is 62 while Advani at 81 leads the pack. But Congress’s aggressive projection of Rahul Gandhi seems to have given some ballast to the age debate.

While Congress took on Modi on ‘‘cultural’’ terms, pointing out that his remark smacked of sexism and also went against Indian ‘‘traditions’’ of respecting the elderly, Priyanka’s response was more in-your-face assertion of youthfulness. Without getting into the political incorrectness of Modi’s remarks, she simply posited herself as a young symbol of an old party. Given her striking looks, it certainly appears to be a poser for Modi and BJP.