*********************************************************************** * G * O * A * N * E * T *** C * L * A * S * S * I * F * I * E * D * S * *********************************************************************** T H I S S P A C E C A N B E Y O U R S Advertise your Product(s) and Service(s) on Goanet & S u p p o r t G o a n e t o p e r a t i o n s F o r d e t a i l s c o n t a c t : [EMAIL PROTECTED] *********************************************************************** I am enclosing an item that appeared in the media, though it is not exactly a Goa issue.
Sachin Phadte. Title: Appropriating Mahatma Gandhi for personal glory Author: Virendra Kapoor Publication: Gomantak Times Dated: February 5, 2007 The way the conference was organised left no one in doubt that its real objective was the greater glorification of Sonia Gandhi It was a party conference funded by the tax-payers. The recent two-day meet in New Delhi on the rather lofty theme of 'Peace, Non-Violence and Empowerment: Gandhian Philosophy in the 21st Century' cost the Government tens of crores of rupees. Delegates from far and near were flown in and housed in five-star comfort, far removed from the much-vaunted Gandhian simplicity. Foreign dignitaries from some 80-odd countries and a couple of Nobel laureates came down for the conference timed to mark the centenary of the Mahatma's Satyagraha in South Africa. The Chinese, Russians and even the Cuban Communists, who could possibly have no use for the Gandhian philosophy, came in strength, responding to the invitation from the Ministry of External Affairs. In fact, the Minister of State for External Affairs, Anand Sharma, personally coordinated the visit of foreign dignitaries. And it was the MEA which picked up the tab for the five-star board and lodge of the delegates to the conference. The protocol ensured that the Congress President Sonia Gandhi was accorded top billing. Though the theme was the Mahatma and his philosophy, the focus was on Sonia Gandhi. The way the conference was organised left no one in doubt that its real objective was the greater glorification of Sonia Gandhi. She being the star speaker, she inaugurated the conference on the first day while the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh got a look-in on the last day with a brief speech. The Indian Communists, for whom the Mahatma back in the 1940s was an agent of the British imperialists, too were accorded the pride of place at the conference. But the opposition BJP was not invited, with the conference spokesman, Devendra Dwivedi, conceding under persistent questioning by newspersons that it was a Congress conference and the BJP could have no right to be invited to it. Misuse of AIR and DD Talking about the Gandhi conference, the State-controlled AIR and Doordarshan having become an unabashed propaganda tool of the ruling Congress Party under I and B Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi, the two accorded top priority in news bulletins to the conference. Sonia Gandhi's opening speech on the first day continued to be blared out aloud on all channels of AIR and DD even on the second day when the Prime Minister and other dignitaries had read out aloud their set-piece addresses. But the worst cut was when AIR news bulletins in a complete distortion of facts broadcast that "nobody from the BJP attended the conference." Which would suggest that the main opposition party had boycotted the conference. But the truth was otherwise. No BJP leader was invited even though the conference was duly funded by tax-payers' rupees. _________________________________________________________________ Gossips, movie reviews, photogallery and more http://content.msn.co.in/Entertainment/Default