04-11-2006, 12:21 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>On the rampage </b>
The Pioneer Edit Desk
While not an agreeable pastime, reading Mr Arjun Singh's mind is not rocket science either. It is quite clear that apart from indulging in crude identity politics, the Human Resource Development Minister's intention in foisting a 27 per cent quota - he has now retreated somewhat on the figure, but not on the imposition - on higher educational institutions under <b>the Union Government was possibly an act of vendetta aimed at the Prime Minister. Mr Manmohan Singh, after all, is Mr Arjun Singh's junior in politics and has got a job that the one-time Madhya Pradesh strongman believes should have come to him as early as 1991, or so he and his acolytes believe</b>.
In the past week, <b>Mr Arjun Singh has cocked a snook at Mr Manmohan Singh, dismissively telling the Press that he had kept the Prime Minister informed of the fresh quotas in the IIMs and IITs and if the latter now denied this, then too bad.</b> In acting thus, <b>Mr Arjun Singh calculated that his notional boss was too weak to hit back. Sadly, Mr Manmohan Singh only proved him right</b>. What would have been termed insubordination by any other Prime Minister and fetched swift retribution, has been quietly accepted by Mr Manmohan Singh, though this is not the first time that the Prime Minister has been let down by one of his colleagues; in the past two years, we have seen this happen more than once.
Now Mr Arjun Singh is taking his battle to new frontiers. Accused by the Election Commission of breaking the electoral code of conduct, he has written what can be described as an impudent letter to Nirvachan Sadan, demanding to know which clause he has breached. Is he speaking for himself or the entire UPA Government?
<b>Only the Prime Minister can enlighten us on this point, but given his record, he will probably keep silent, allowing his media handlers to put out stories to the effect that he had been "kept in the dark" about this latest letter as well.</b> As a farce, this would have been fine; as it happens, it's a Government that is being discussed - or discounted by its critics.
What is Mr Arjun Singh up to? He has a political mission, of course. Given his pandering to "politically correct" minorityism and his crowding of HRD Ministry agencies with every type of fellow traveller, <b>he knows he has great equity with the Left and professional 'secularists'</b>. Since the UPA Government has been the target of attack from these quarters, especially on the issue of India's vote at the IAEA on Iran's runaway nuclear programme and the civilian nuclear deal with America, <b>he may be dreaming of the Prime Minister being replaced after the current Assembly elections. Mr Arjun Singh could then present himself for the job he craves.</b>
Whatever his motives, the fact is <b>Mr Arjun Singh is now widely perceived as a politician whose ideas and political instincts - remember how successfully he destabilised the alliance with Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav before the Bihar Assembly election of February 2005?</b> - are way past their sell-by date.
As HRD Minister, he has resorted to partisan patronage and indulged in pet obsessions that are ruinous for the future of India. He has done nothing, though, to facilitate a modern schooling system, or to prepare a blueprint to make India a global higher education hub. On the contrary, he has imperiously gone about wrecking all that is good and can be built upon regardless of the consequences of his ill-conceived actions.
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Interesting read, crooks are working full time to screw India.
The Pioneer Edit Desk
While not an agreeable pastime, reading Mr Arjun Singh's mind is not rocket science either. It is quite clear that apart from indulging in crude identity politics, the Human Resource Development Minister's intention in foisting a 27 per cent quota - he has now retreated somewhat on the figure, but not on the imposition - on higher educational institutions under <b>the Union Government was possibly an act of vendetta aimed at the Prime Minister. Mr Manmohan Singh, after all, is Mr Arjun Singh's junior in politics and has got a job that the one-time Madhya Pradesh strongman believes should have come to him as early as 1991, or so he and his acolytes believe</b>.
In the past week, <b>Mr Arjun Singh has cocked a snook at Mr Manmohan Singh, dismissively telling the Press that he had kept the Prime Minister informed of the fresh quotas in the IIMs and IITs and if the latter now denied this, then too bad.</b> In acting thus, <b>Mr Arjun Singh calculated that his notional boss was too weak to hit back. Sadly, Mr Manmohan Singh only proved him right</b>. What would have been termed insubordination by any other Prime Minister and fetched swift retribution, has been quietly accepted by Mr Manmohan Singh, though this is not the first time that the Prime Minister has been let down by one of his colleagues; in the past two years, we have seen this happen more than once.
Now Mr Arjun Singh is taking his battle to new frontiers. Accused by the Election Commission of breaking the electoral code of conduct, he has written what can be described as an impudent letter to Nirvachan Sadan, demanding to know which clause he has breached. Is he speaking for himself or the entire UPA Government?
<b>Only the Prime Minister can enlighten us on this point, but given his record, he will probably keep silent, allowing his media handlers to put out stories to the effect that he had been "kept in the dark" about this latest letter as well.</b> As a farce, this would have been fine; as it happens, it's a Government that is being discussed - or discounted by its critics.
What is Mr Arjun Singh up to? He has a political mission, of course. Given his pandering to "politically correct" minorityism and his crowding of HRD Ministry agencies with every type of fellow traveller, <b>he knows he has great equity with the Left and professional 'secularists'</b>. Since the UPA Government has been the target of attack from these quarters, especially on the issue of India's vote at the IAEA on Iran's runaway nuclear programme and the civilian nuclear deal with America, <b>he may be dreaming of the Prime Minister being replaced after the current Assembly elections. Mr Arjun Singh could then present himself for the job he craves.</b>
Whatever his motives, the fact is <b>Mr Arjun Singh is now widely perceived as a politician whose ideas and political instincts - remember how successfully he destabilised the alliance with Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav before the Bihar Assembly election of February 2005?</b> - are way past their sell-by date.
As HRD Minister, he has resorted to partisan patronage and indulged in pet obsessions that are ruinous for the future of India. He has done nothing, though, to facilitate a modern schooling system, or to prepare a blueprint to make India a global higher education hub. On the contrary, he has imperiously gone about wrecking all that is good and can be built upon regardless of the consequences of his ill-conceived actions.
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Interesting read, crooks are working full time to screw India.