Madam's a ticket to 'narak': Jairam
Madam's a ticket to 'narak': Jairam
Author:
Publication: The Economic
Times
Date: May 12, 2000
The ebullient economic
think-tank of the Congress, Jairam Ramesh is always good for pithy epigrammatic
utterances. But the last one bit too close to the bone. In a party which
its rivals say is devoid of democracy and on a sure path to self-destruction,
Mr Jairam's quotable quote' has landed him in the proverbial soup. And
may eventually toss him out of the boat.
Nothing short of blasphemy,
thundered outraged loyalists. Mr Jairam, prudently, stayed out of the spotlight
today, but made it abundantly clear that he was not going to retract a
reported statement in Asiaweek about the workings of the grand old party
of India. Saying that if things continued the way they are going, the Congress
would not return to power for another 50 years, the damning indictment
read thus: "The hype generated when Sonia became the Congress president
has settled down. The mood has swung from one extreme to the other. People
who saw her as a ticket to nirvana now see her as a ticket to narak (hell)".
While the AICC establishment
is still reeling from the shock sentence, there has been a silent support
brigade admitting, wryly, the unfortunate truth of the opinion. Even the
most committed loyalist will grant the extremely prickly nature of the
10, Janpath leadership. So, will the only solution be to give Mm the boot?
A section of opinion within the party circles would agree. Unless, of course,
he backs down completely and denies the statements attributed to him. Sev-eral
leaders, while appearing inclined to admit that things were not too well
with the party, however, were in no doubt that Mr Jairam had crossed the
"laxmanrekha" this time.
With no clarification
forthcoming from Mr Ramesh throughout the day, it only appeared that he
was readying himself for the inev itable. He did make it known to friends
that he was in no mood to retract the statements attributed to him, though
Congress circles maintained that it would only be just to allow him an
opportunity to clarify before deciding on any form of action. Party circles
contend that Mr Ramesh was upset with Sonia Gandhi after she refused to
oblige him with a Rajya Sabha ticket from Karnataka recently, which he
had been hoping for.
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