China map is also shrinking, quips CDS
On Wednesday evening, a young researcher from the BRICS Institute threw a googly at Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan at a talk held in New Delhi’s India International Centre. The researcher said that India’s map with regard to borders with China had been shrinking since 1947, suggesting that the Chinese were eating away Indian land. He asked whether a white paper could be issued by the CDS.
Gen Chauhan responded saying that if the Chinese looked at their 1950 map, they would find it shrinking too.
“The first question related to the map of India from 1947 shrinking and shrinking. If we were on the other side, China in 1950, when they look at their map, they would also find it is shrinking, partly because of us. They claim the state of Arunachal Pradesh, their maps are still there but physically, we control. So, this dispute goes on. We can’t really say which is correct and which is wrong in the context of China,” he explained.
This came amid both India and China trying to calm down tensions at the Line of Actual Control (LAC), perceptions of which differ for both sides.
Chidambaram & ‘basmati rice’
Congress leader P. Chidambaram landed the party’s Manipur unit in a spot by questioning, through a now-deleted post on ‘X’, the Centre’s decision to send 5,000 Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel to the conflict-hit state, while suggesting that Meitei, Kuki-Zo and Naga communities can live together “only if they have genuine regional autonomy”.
Chidambaram deleted the post after the Manipur Congress lodged a strong protest against it.
The suggestion was politically damaging for the Congress’ Imphal valley-based Meitei leadership as it offered the BJP a handle to corner the party. The Congress central leadership promptly intervened to prevent the situation spiralling out of hand by getting Chidambaram to delete the post.
A senior party leader quipped that many in Congress circles feel that the polished English that the former Union minister uses is like “fine grain basmati rice” that is not for everyone’s palate.
Vinesh Phogat in ‘laapata vidhayak’ poster
A poster declaring former wrestler and Julana MLA Vinesh Phogat as “missing” has gone viral on social media. “Laapata Vidhayak Ki Talaash… the entire assembly session passed, but the MLA was absent throughout. If anyone spots her, please inform the people of Julana,” it reads in Hindi.
The Organiser, a mouthpiece of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), shared the poster on ‘X’ with the comment: “Laapata Vidhayak posters plastered across Vinesh Phogat’s constituency Julana. #VineshPhogat was ‘ABSENT’ throughout the entire Assembly Session.”
On 19 November, the four-day session of the Haryana assembly concluded but Phogat, a first-time MLA from the Congress, remained absent. She was initially campaigning for Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi in Kerala’s Wayanad, followed by election campaigns in Maharashtra.
Her close aides say that Phogat was designated as a star campaigner by the Congress and was assigned election duties. Haryana Speaker Harvinder Kalyan, however, downplayed Phogat’s absence, saying that an MLA can have personal reasons for not attending the session.
When asked if Phogat had informed him, Kalyan said letters from a few MLAs were received but he didn’t remember the names.
Phogat had joined the Congress on 6 September, ahead of the Haryana elections. Before joining the party, she had resigned from her post of sports OSD (officer on special duty) in the Railways.
For want of a seat, peace was lost
Haryana BJP MLA Satpal Jamba was an angry man on Friday. Reason? The Pundri legislator was upset over not finding a seat with his nameplate at a Zila Parishad meeting in Kaithal. But, what may have irked him was that there were nameplates set up for officials, chairman, and council members, barring him.
“Whose responsibility is this? Even the MP hasn’t arrived, but his seat should still have been kept. What will you say if the MP shows up? If a letter was issued, the seat should have been arranged,” he told the officials.
Jamba then turned his attention to Zilla Parishad chairman Karmbir Kaul: “If you weren’t going to set up my seat, then why was I sent an invite for the meeting? I won’t sit without a seat.”
A seat was arranged with a nameplate, but the BJP MLA remained unmoved. Only after Kaul requested did Jamba agree to sit.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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