With stalling the proceedings in Parliament for past few days, the BJP is
demanding the resignation of the Prime Minister for his involvement in the Coal
allocation scam. Others in the opposition called the third front, also protested
outside the parliament. The CAG report has already disclosed that the Government
lost Rs.1.86 lakh Crores in Coal block allocation in absence of competitive
bidding. During the week, we saw the names of two big politicians from
Maharashtra in the news on TV screens.
On Tuesday, the CBI named Maharashtra Education minister Rajendra Darda, his
elder brother and Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Darda and his son Devendra as three
accused among five people named in FIR's in coal scam. The next day was
'Teachers' day' and the education Minister was to felicitate teachers in
Maharashtra. This was highlighted as the most shameful act, by the news
channels, with many participants demanding his resignation through debates held
for the last two days. BJP leader Kirit Somaiya, who has been in the forefront
of campaign against corruption, also demanded the resignation of the politician.
The news however did not receive much coverage on IBN Lokmat channel for obvious
reasons.
However, in spite of this controversy, both Mr. Vijay Darda and Rajendra Darda
defended themselves, while speaking to ABP Majha and Zee 24 taas. "There is no
need to resign, as we are ready to face inquiry. Let the truth be known to the
people," both said. Few comments received on the news channels from the viewers,
indicated that Mr. Vijay Darda's name came up, for praising Mr. Narendra Mody,
as a successful administrator of a prosperous state. The news channels however
clearly indicated that the Maharashtra Education Minister will be asked to
resign.
Now, with two more Politicians in India , the former chief Minister of Jharkhand
and a central Minister from DMK, being named in Coal scam, it has been a week
full of scams in the news. And, one does not know, how many more Ministers will
be involved in different scams, which are coming to light. In the meanwhile,
Congress making an attempt to move a Bill for reservation of scheduled caste and
tribes in the job promotions; and the debates held on this issue on news
channels, indicated that it was a move to divert the attention of people from
the ongoing Coal scam.
On the entertainment front we also noticed a threat being issued by MNS to
Colours and Sahara channels to desist from entertaining Pakistani artistes, in
view of the current situation. To play it safe, we saw Mr. Boney kapoor and
others walking to Mr. Raj Thackeray's house and apologizing for hurting the
sentiments of the people. The issue has now been resolved, with the respective
channels now agreeing not to engage Pak artistes in future. "Not much could be
done now, as the programme was already shot outside India. But, now that they
have apologized, we have let them now. But, not henceforth," said Mr. Amey
Khopkar, MNS spokesperson, while speaking to news channels.
by Ulhas Shirke © MMW
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