Pre-Truth — snappy, witty and significant snippets from the world of politics and government.
Spandana’s sulk or much ado about nothing?
Congress social media cell in-charge Divya Spandana is known to post controversial tweets which become the talk of Twitter, but Wednesday, she set the social media platform abuzz for a different reason.
It was noticed that she had removed her Twitter bio, where she described herself as “handling Social Media & Digital Communications for the Congress party”. This led to speculation that she had quit from her position, especially in the light of the fact that she hadn’t been going to her 15, Gurudwara Rakab Ganj Road office for a couple of days.
A defiant Spandana has been under fire recently for her tweets against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which even invited an FIR. Earlier, her decision to tweet pictures of Congress president Rahul Gandhi in different poses from Hamburg, Germany, also drew flak from both outside the party as well as from its senior leaders.
By Wednesday late afternoon, however, Spandana’s bio was back on Twitter, putting an end to the speculation for the time being. She also went to her office at around the same time.
Many in the Congress are now unsure of what to read into this, and whether she is merely sulking to make a point.
Also read: St Stephen’s grad Amitabh Kant calls Hindu College ‘lousy’ at IIC event
Rahul Gandhi shies away from National Defence College
Rahul Gandhi may have picked the Rafale fighter jet deal to raise questions about the Narendra Modi-led NDA government’s claims of transparency and probity, but the Congress president has shied away from addressing the National Defence College (NDC).
Located in the capital, the NDC is a government think tank on defence and strategic studies, and also imparts training to senior defence and civil services officers.
The NDC has invited Gandhi to speak on several occasions, but he always excuses himself.
BJP president Amit Shah was, however, quick to accept the invitation to address the NDC. So was RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, who stayed over for lunch too.
Rahul Gandhi’s tribute to the Mahatma leaves BJP scratching head
Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s Twitter tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his birth anniversary left the BJP camp scratching their heads.
“Gandhiji is not an immobile statue, he is a living set of ideas and values flowing through India. Truth and non-violence, which he lived for and was killed for are the foundation of our country. True patriots must protect them,” he said.
What, however, got the BJP camp wondering was the image he posted with his tweet — Gandhiji’s face made up of tiny pictures of the heroes of India’s independence struggle. Among the many faces was one that seemed to be that of ‘Veer’ V.D. Savarkar, with his trademark black cap, located on the left ear lobe.
Savarkar, the proponent of Hindutva, is one of the BJP’s icons, and has been constantly criticised by the Congress. Many in the BJP wondered if the image resembling Savarkar was indeed him, and whether it had been a terrible oversight by Rahul’s social media team. There was no clarity in the Congress camp either.
Air Chief Marshal takes a shot at his colleagues’ ‘morning walks’
It would seem some TV channels won’t even let senior Indian Air Force officials take their morning walks in peace. They dispatch their journalists to sylvan South Delhi settings where the officers ‘happen’ to be walking; officers like the Deputy Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal S.B.P. Sinha, and former Vice Chief of Air Staff, S.B. Deo, who retired last week.
Sinha and Deo were among the first senior IAF officials to go public with their support for the Rafale deal, even as the political controversy around it raged.
“It is a beautiful aircraft,” Sinha said earlier in September, on the sidelines of a seminar. “I am waiting to fly it.”
Deo, who was in the news for “accidentally shooting himself in the thigh while testing his personal revolver” last week according to IAF sources, had said that the controversy was raging “because people do not know enough about it”.
Sinha had described the acquisition as a “game-changer”, a phrase that many officers including Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa are now using.
But at the Air Force’s annual press conference Wednesday, Dhanoa seemed to offer a mild rebuke to his colleagues.
“I don’t go for morning walks,” he said, adding that he uses the gym in the Air Force Station opposite the Prime Minister’s residence.
“You can’t get in there,” he smirked.
Harsh Vardhan rediscovers his caste
Assembly elections in Delhi are about a year and a half away, but union minister Dr Harsh Vardhan seems to have already started re-positioning himself.
He had stopped using his caste surname during his student days, as he was against casteism. But this week, he surprised everyone when he began flaunting his caste affiliation on Twitter.
“80 percent people in Delhi don’t know my caste. But I am proud of being a descendant of Maharaja Agrasen whom I consider one of the greatest intellectual and a mahapurush,” the BJP’s 2013 chief ministerial candidate tweeted.
Agrasen was the legendary king of Agroha, a city of traders in what is now Haryana. The minister is obviously trying to re-assert his position as a leader of the Vaishyas, an influential community in the national capital. The community also constitutes the core vote bank in his constituency, Chandni Chowk.
Also read: In Bhopal, PM Modi invoked many top leaders except his favourite Ambedkar
After Aadhaar verdict, Justice Sikri learns about the perils of surveillance
Justice A.K. Sikri, the Supreme Court judge who wrote the majority opinion upholding Aadhaar last week, patiently sat through a masterclass on the perils of surveillance just two days after the verdict.
Sikri was attending the Justice V.M. Tarakunde Memorial Lecture, delivered by noted academician Pratap Bhanu Mehta, on ‘Threats to Modern Freedom’.
Mehta briefly criticised the Aadhaar judgement and said Aadhaar makes state surveillance palatable.
Sikri was observed listening attentively.
(Contributors: Ruhi Tewari, Sujan Dutta, Pragya Kaushika and Apurva Vishwanath)