Sarpanch of Ralegan Siddhi to meet Rahul Gandhi - Something went wrong!

Positive signs were emerging during the course of the week when news got out that Rahul Gandhi, General Secretary of Congress Party wanted to meet the Sarpanch of Ralegan Siddhi, but then something once again went wrong. Apparently the Congress has once again shown that it cannot be trusted.

It seemed that it was the beginning of a new era. It appeared that, Rahul Gandhi the General Secretary of the Congress party had taken initiative and the air was being cleared for more fruitful talks on the Lokpal Bill. After all so much mistrust has crept in between the Congress-led rulers of India and Team Anna over the last few months.

But, then something went awlfully wrong. When Jaisingh Mapari, the Sarpanch of Ralegan Siddhi, reached Delhi, he was denied the change to meet Rahul Gandhi. The whole thing once again ended in a big fiasco.

A Congress MP P. T. Thomas who had apparently got the whole act together simply apologized saying that there was some communication gap.

“We feel cheated. Mr. Thomas was in constant touch with us till we reached New Delhi. But after that he told us that he hadn’t promised anything. Today we were told by Rahul Gandhi’s office that there was no appointment. Mr. Thomas has misled us. We never wanted to meet Rahul Gandhi. It was Mr. Thomas who took the initiative after visiting Ralegan Siddhi in August.” said Jaisingh Mapari

On the other hand, P. T. Thomas is saying that the “I told them to send me a letter in this regard, and that I would forward it to Mr. Gandhi’s office. When I received their letter and sent it to Mr. Gandhi, I was told that a meeting will be scheduled at the soonest possible time. However, there was a communication gap and my PA came under the impression that a meeting would be scheduled on October 18, and he informed Mr. Mapari. It is a case of miscommunication and I apologise for it.”

Faced with the two conflicting versions and given the track record of how the Congress has back-tracked on some many issues in the past some time - I feel that I am inclined to believe Jaisingh Mapari's version.

It is surprising how the Congress is managing such goof-ups with such regularity..

Formula One is coming to India - Finally!

Finally - Formula One is coming to India.

30th October 2011! India will host the first Formula One race at New Delhi's Buddh International Circuit.

The event managers in India are busy preparing the new Buddh International Circuit - where these formula ones are expected to roar from Friday the 28th. The event has been named 2011 Formula 1 Airtel Grand Prix of India.

The race promises to change the way Indians view the motor racing events.

Bharti Airtel is the official sponsor for the event.

Sahara, which is the sponsor of the Indian Cricket Team, has also decided to take a dip. It is once again entering through the team sponsorship route. It has been reported that the company is taking a small stake in Vijay Mallya's Force India Formula1 Team.

Let us see how things span out. I am sure the event will be as exciting as it is reputed to be.

Anna Hazare takes the Congress Party head-on

Anna Hazare's anti-corruption campaign has started becoming an anti-Congress campaign.

Anna had earlier said that he will campaign against the Congress Party in the forthcoming elections if it does not bring in the Jan-Lokpal Bill during the winter session of the parliament.

It seems that he has started a precursor to this in the Hisar parliamentary polls.

It is reported that Anna's aides have left for Hisar with a CD, that has a 10 minute video of Anna's appeal asking the voters to ensure and support only the candidate who is willing to support the Jan Lokpal Bill when and if it is tabled in the parliament during the winter session.

The non-violent anti-corruption crusader Anna is not willing to sit back and trust the Congress party to keep up promises. He apparently feels it necessary to keep up the pressure on the Government, after all as he says he feels cheated by the way the Congress led UPA government has reacted to his anti-corruption campaign right from its beginning.

Judging by the way the people had come out to support Anna's anti-corruption movement in the country,  I feel that the Congress should not take Anna's request for Jan-Lokpal Bill casually. It is time for the nations oldest party to get into damage control mode and take steps to win back public support, after all  it has lost a lot of credibility in the last few months.

Long-live Bapu!

Lage Raho Munnabhai, a film by Raju Hirani - in which a local gangster gets the chance to learn in detail about Mahatma Gandhi. The film acted as a prelude and simply brought back Gandhi-giri into our lives.

Next came Anna Hazare's fast in 2011. The current generation got a first hand taste of Bapu's style of non-violent protest and experienced the power of hunger strike. When Anna Hazare fasted first at Jantar-Mantar and then at Ramlila Maidan, he repeatedly reminded the people not to take to violence. The government had to bow before this Gandhian protestor both times.

Both - Raju Hirani and Anna Hazare - have brought back into our lives the power of Bapu's ideology.

Today is Bapu's 142^nd birth anniversary.