After months of exciting drama, India finally went to vote in the first phase of the 2009 General Elections. The voting for 124 Lok Sabha seats took place relatively peacefully with a voter turnout of about 60%, apart from Naxal attacks in which 17 people were killed.
Earlier the Supreme Court snubbed the UP government for booking Varun Gandhi under the stringent NSA. “Varun Gandhi is not a criminal, why were such drastic measures invoked against him”. He was later released on parole for two weeks after he gave an undertaking to Etah jail authorities that he will not make inflammatory speeches.
The trial of 26/11 accused Ajmal Kasab keeps getting interesting.
First the Shiv Sena tried to force public prosecutor Anjali Waghmare to get off the case, then she was dropped from the case after it was revealed that she had earlier accepted the case of one of the witnesses in the case seeking compensation from the government.
Now Mr Kasab wants a Pakistani lawyer.
Meanwhile in true bureaucratic tradition, India continues to screw up on the investigation, making Pakistan actually look better. And to think Manmohan Singh is touting 26/11 as one of his government’s achievements!
Sanjay Dutt got in trouble as he campaigned in UP.
First he expressed his solidarity with Muslims saying that he was subjected to third degree torture following his arrest in connection with the 1993 Mumbai bombings, because his mother was a Muslim. (Wrong, Mr Dutt. You probably were beaten up because you were party to a criminal act.) No NSA was invoked against Dutt, as Amar Singh openly declared his support for him, and dared the Mayawati government to make a Varun out of Sanjay.
He wasn’t done yet. He allegedly said that he will “give jaadu ki jhappi and pappi‘ (magical hug and kiss) to the people of Pratapgarh, and given a chance he will do the same with the BSP supreme Mayawati”. This statement was found objectionable for the UP Chief Minister, and an FIR was promptly filed against Munna Bhai.
Mayawati meanwhile, continues to charm. Here’s some pearls of her immense wisdom and grace referring to Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot for stealing his MLAs earlier.
“Us ehsaanfaramosh Gehlot ne pralobhan de kar humarey MLA apni taraf kar liye, usse iska byaaj chukana padega (The ungrateful Gehlot lured our MLAs, he’ll have to pay for this with interest in the elections).”
The pressure of election may have gotten the better of Advani as he referred to Osama Bin Laden as OBAMA bin laden. That’s the sort of slipup leaders of nations want to avoid. Maybe its just the old age catching up.
Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav released his party’s dark ages manifesto. His party would cut down on computerization which apparently leads to unemployment, and also wants to stop the rise of the English language.
Tech Mahindra won the bid for troubled software major Satyam Computers. The company will pay Rs 1757 crore for a 31% stake in Satyam.
Sania Mirza won her first WTA title of the year, winning the women’s doubles trophy at the $220,000 MPS Group Championships in Florida with new partner Chia-Jung Chuang. Good to see her doing well on the doubles circuit, though we hope she doesn’t go the Leander Paes way by giving up on her budding singles career in favor of doubles.
Indian hockey isn’t dead yet. The team won the Azlan Shah tournament in Malaysia, beating Pakistan and Malaysia en route to the title.
Sachin Tendulkar is on course to become the first Indian sports person to be portrayed at London’s Madame Tussaud’s wax museum. His wax persona was launched in Mumbai last week.
Rubina Ali, better known as the actor who played young Latika in Slumdog Millionaire, is apparently up for sale. Her father Rafiq Qureshi was quoted as having asked for £200,000 for selling his nine year old daughter.
ISRO launched India’s first spy satellite – Risat 2. In keeping with the spy model, the launch was not telecast live, unlike earlier ISRO launches. India also successfully tested a nuclear capable version of the Prithvi missile.
In the US, Aneesh Chopra was named Obama’s administration’s Chief Technology Officer (C.T.O.). He joins fellow Indian Vivek Kundra who was earlier appointed as the US C.I.O. (Chief Information Officer).
We can’t seem to have enough shoe throwing incidents. A disgruntled party worker threw a show at LK Advani during a rally.To prevent such embarrassments, a net was duely installed to protect Narendra Modi during one of his rallies.
If you think we have seen the end of high flying shoes, check out these people in a Kanpur village practicing throwing shoes at politicians.
If i were a politician, i would be worried. Very worried.
(Images courtesy-TOI)
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Pralobhan!…thats a heavy word Ms Mayawati!
I still remember the speech late Rajiv Gandhi gave on 15th Aug. “Peechle Paanch Sallon mein, humane dekha hai……Prakartik Vipdayaein…..aadi aadi (etc etc)”
Rahul Gandhi seems to be not figuring in your post! During a discussion with my younger brother I realized, he has a pretty good image amongst Indian Youth….Obama style!
Way to go Aneesh and Vivek. I was checking out Kelloggs site today and found that it has an Indian Dean and good amount of faculty too. Amreekandesi may be you should start a series on some of these accomplished Indians(other amreekandesi desies).
Hey i think i know why people are practicing with shoe throwing. Eggs and Tomatoes are expensive and moreover shoes are reusable
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That was a comprehensive coverage. And i have been looking for the shoe hurling story ! I mean, it is taking a different meaning altogether. Atleast, one thing GW can leave behind a lasting legacy !
As usual, a compehensive coverage !
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@AmListening – pralobhan is fine. I was more bothered about ehsanfaramosh! I am shocked to see that Rahul Gandhi is being perceived positively by the young. He hasnt done anything of note yet, except for embarrass himself and his party.
Good idea about the series on accomplished amreekandesis…it is actually on my draft list. There should be a post soon.
Great point about the eggs and tomatoes. Makes sense to be a little resourceful in these recession-ed times. Why waste food when shoes will suffice!
@Kavi – Thanks for the appreciation.
Its a shoe show going on right now! The politicians better start working on refining their reflexes
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So many links in a post??? Do you realizze how much time it will take to read this post???
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@Suda – Welcome here! How much time will it take to read this post? Certainly much less than the time it took to write it
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man… you know more, much more about the happenings than an average Indian!!! keep writing… thats all I can say!
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This time lots of news.
Sanjay Dutt again gave Jhappis and Pappis to Memsaab.
Qasab cannot understand English proceedings.
Now people are throwing food packets on politicians.
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Cool news bulletin, dude!
Good to know hockey is not dead yet. This was the news I had missed.
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The shoe video was great. And all the “jokering” around by the politicians was also a nice read.
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i would love to see a romantic film starring Sanju baba and Mayawati. That would be a sure blockbuster. Then Sanju baba can give enough jhappis and pappis to Maya auntie.
Throwing shoes has now become redundant. There was a report that it was even thrown upon yesteryear’s actor Jeetendra. People should now think of other exciting things to throw. How about eggs, tomatoes or for that matter gobar? *lol*
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@Chiranjib – Thanks!
@Solilo – Food packets? Maybe packets of eggs and rotten tomatoes!
@Poonam – Thanks! Hopefully Indian hockey is going to get back on track after their Olympic debacle.
@Amit – I guess we are going to see some coaching schools come up to impart basic shoe throwing skills…velocity, angle, trajectory etc.
@Philip – That movie should be a lot of fun
I too saw the report about Jeetendra…i guess this trend is going to stay for now. Seems to have caught the fancy of the Indian population.
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