Veteran parliamentarian speaks his mind

The volume covers Era Sezhiyan's 22-year period in Parliament that witnessed major political transformations

Parliament for People:
Speeches by Era Sezhiyan
 Institute of Social Sciences,
Rs 1450

This collection of speeches by an eminent parliamentarian deserves notice not just because Parliament hits the headlines frequently these days, although mostly for wrong reasons. There are at least two other reasons why it should interest keen observers of the polity and politics of argumentative Indians.

The volume covers a 22-year period that witnessed major political transformations. Sezhiyan entered Parliament when the government was headed by Jawaharlal Nehru, a strong defender of the dignity of the institution. He served as an effective parliamentarian during the Prime Ministership of Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, and Morarji Desai. He stepped into Parliament House in the year of the Sino-Indian conflict and made his exit just months before Indira Gandhi's assassination. And he was witness to the formation of the first non-Congress government in New Delhi and its ignominious, mid-term fall as well. The long years he spent in Parliament and the rich experience he gained make Sezhiyan, who is in his late 80s, eminently qualified to do what he has attempted: to produce a ‘biography' of sorts of the bicameral Parliament in the form of his recorded role as a remarkably articulate and rule-abiding member. He made his presence felt in both the Lok Sabha (1962-77) and the Rajya Sabha (1978-84), as a representative of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhgam and the Janata Party respectively.

Full report here Hindu

Hindujas cleared by Blair book

If I were Srichand (“SP”) Hinduja, I would rush out to buy the entire print run of Tony Blair’s memoirs, A Journey, which effectively gives him a clean chit over the “Hinduja passports scandal”.

The former prime minister reveals that there was really no scandal although the crisis led to the resignation in 2001 of Peter (now Lord) Mandelson — for the second time — from his cabinet.

I bought a copy at W.H. Smith, the newsagents, for £12.50, which is 50 per cent off.

“As it happened there was no reason why S.P. Hinduja should not have been given a passport — he qualified, and as a wealthy and successful businessman, there was no issue about whether he could support himself,” declares Blair.

Full report here Telegraph

Geelani biography leaves Jama’at fuming

Jama’at-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir has decided to boycott all the meetings of Hurriyat Conference (G) for the time being as a protest against the book titled Qaid-e-Inquilab - A history, A movement authored by Dr Shafi Shariati.

The decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the prominent functionaries of Jama’at held here Monday with its Amir (Chief) Sheikh Muhammad Hassan in chair. Jama’at has alleged that the author in the book has vainly tried to distort the image of Jama’at and its history.

“This book has been written to malign the Jama’at and subject it to disgrace and humiliation by describing the events out of context. The author has tried to tar the Jama’at cadres and India’s paid agents with the same brush to blemish the image and stature of the former,” said the Jama’at spokesman advocate Zahid Ali in a statement on Monday.

Full report here Greater Kashmir

'This woman suckered us', said Nixon of Indira: Book

"She suckered us. Suckered us.....this woman suckered us." So said an enraged US president Richard Nixon of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi after learning that war had broken out on the subcontinent on Dec 3, 1971, and Indian forces had made a decisive push towards then East Pakistan that it recognised as Bangladesh three days later.

Nixon, who had met Gandhi just a month earlier in Washington, had sought assurances from her that India would not take any precipitate military action pending efforts by the US to find a political solution that would not "shatter the cohension of West Pakistan" and end up "overthrowing President Yahya (Khan)" who was pivotal to America's China initiative afer 22 years of diplomatic freeze.

Nixon had then made it clear to Mrs Gandhi that "nothing could be served by the disintegration of Pakistan" and even warned darkly that "it would be impossible to calculate with precision the steps which other great powers might take if India were to initiate hostilities".

Nixon's presentations were heard with "aloof indifference" by Mrs Gandhi, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was quoted as telling author Kalyani Shankar in her just published book Nixon, Indira and India - Politics and Beyond (Macmillan/Rs. 445).

Full report here Hindustan Times

Bobby Jindal to write book

The Governor of the Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, is to pen his memoirs.

He has reached an agreement with an eminent US publisher to write a book "on the lessons he has learnt throughout his life," according to an Economic Times report. The book set to be released in 2010 has further fuelled speculation of his expected Presidential run in 2012, even though Jindal, a rising star of the Republican party, and his office were quick to deny it.

Although a contract is yet to be signed, The Times-Picayune reported that Jindal has reached an agreement with Regnery Publishing, which has published political tomes by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, actor Chuck Norris and political commentator Ann Coulter, among others.

Jindal said the book will be a mix of biographical material, "lessons I've learnt throughout my life" and his thoughts on a range of policy issues, the newspaper said. "I just want to offer my ideas and my experiences to the conversation," the Louisianan Governor was quoted as saying.

The Times-Picayune said much of the work on the book will be done by a co-author, Peter Schweizer, a Florida-based writer whose previous work includes non-fiction books about the Bush family and President Ronald Reagan, and a novel co-authored with former Secretary of Defence Caspar Weinberger.