Pre-Truth — snappy, witty and significant snippets from the world of politics and government.
‘Cow vigilante’, BJP member fight on live TV debate
What happens when a self-proclaimed cow vigilante criticises the government during a TV show? The party declares her a troll and she gives it back, calling the spokesperson “rabid”. The results: Good entertainment for TV viewers and Twitterati. The protagonists involved were Sanju Verma, banker-turned-Mumbai BJP spokesperson, and Sonam Mahajan, who describes herself as a “cow vigilante” and “politically aware Dogra-Hindu” on her Twitter handle.
The showdown between the two was triggered when Mahajan said she was asked to shut up when she criticised the government. Verma jumped in, saying that Mahajan had taunted external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj in the past and she was actually “a troll”. An infuriated Mahajan shouted back, asking Verma to “shut up”. The anchor of the TV show got the microphone turned off, but Mahajan had her last word Friday as she took to Twitter to call the spokesperson “rabid”.
Tackling the problem of long-drawn speeches
Government functions often drag on endlessly, thanks to long-drawn speeches. At India’s first Global Mobility Summit — MOVE — inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday at Vigyan Bhavan, a solution was devised to keep speech timings in check. As top speakers — including Anand Mahindra, Osamu Suzuki, Pankaj Munjal, Hyundai vice-chairman Chung Euisin and OLA CEO Bhavish Aggarwal — addressed the summit, being organised by NITI Aayog, audiences were amused to hear loud buzzer sounds interrupt them. It was decided to keep three minutes as the outer limit for speeches and as soon as anyone crossed the mark, the buzzer was pressed. Except, of course, for PM Modi who spoke for around 25 minutes.
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The Section 377 curative petition that was never heard
At a time when celebrations are still on for the Supreme Court’s historic verdict on Section 377, here is a lesser-known fact about the case. A group of citizens from the LGBTQ community, led by Bharatnatyam dancer Navtej Johar, had challenged the law through a fresh writ petition in 2016. However, around the same time, in February 2016, the apex court had agreed to hear a curative writ petition to reconsider its 2013 ruling. But that curative plea was never heard, leaving many lawyers on the case confused. The reason could be CJI Dipak Misra’s equation with senior judges. Usually, a curative petition, which is the last legal resort available to remedy a judgment, is heard by five senior-most judges of the top court. In this case, five senior judges are Misra, J. Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Kurian Joseph and Madan Lokur. But CJI Misra heard the new writ petition putting the curative petition in cold storage.
India will have to wait to get its first ‘gay judge’
On 4 September, just two days before the Supreme Court ruling on homosexuality, the apex court collegium deferred its decision on appointing a practising advocate as a judge of the Delhi High Court without stating specific reasons. The appointment would have made him India’s first openly gay judge. The son of a former CJI, the advocate was also at the forefront of challenging Section 377. However, the collegium said his appointment will be considered “after some time”. So India still has to wait for its first gay judge.
Top sportspersons give PM function a miss
After congratulating them on their wins through his Twitter handle, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Asian Games medal winners Wednesday, felicitating them for their performances. However, many big ticket names were conspicuous by their absence at this meeting. This included top badminton players Saina Nehwal and P.V. Sindhu, athlete Neeraj Chopra, squash player Joshna Chinappa as well as the full shooting contingent. It turns out these sportspersons had to give the meet with PM Modi a miss since they were busy with other tournaments.
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How Mumbai Metro is battling ‘negative perceptions’
Mumbai’s first underground Metro corridor — running from its southern tip to the far north of the city — has been facing a lot of flak from sections of residents along the alignment, especially in south Mumbai, as well as activists and environmentalists. The residents have been complaining of lack of sleep and ailments due to high decibel levels of the underground tunnelling work. Construction on a portion was also held up due to a protracted litigation over the issue.
The project has also been criticised for pitching to build a car depot in the ecologically-sensitive Aarey Colony, one of Mumbai’s few green lungs. With negative perception building up, Ashwini Bhide, the bureaucrat handling the project, has come up with a unique solution. She has started doing shows on All India Radio’s FM Gold and FM Rainbow to give updates on the construction work, tunnelling progress, project challenges, general project information and its benefits. Bhide and her team have also chosen time slots cleverly. The broadcast on FM Gold is every Tuesday and Thursday at 10.15 am, a time when most listeners are likely to be wading through the morning peak traffic, listening to their car radios, and the prospect of a high-speed, air-conditioned ride might seem very appealing.
(Contributors: Apurva Vishwanath, Ruhi Tewari and Manasi Phadke)
Perhaps Ms Sanju Verma needs to watch Ms Nirmala Sitharaman holding the fort for her party in five to six year old video clips. Well informed, articulate, effective, urbane. She is now holding a much more difficult brief; it does not help if a spokesperson is fighting all the time with the anchor and other guests.