Pomp and show of India's political leaders are no less than that of Mughals

Former Lok Sabha secretary general Kashyap said the new buildings would further widen the gulf between the rich and the poor.

The plan to revamp New Delhi’s Central Vista, including a new triangular Parliament, came in for criticism from an unlikely quarter on Monday. At the launch of a book on Mahatma Gandhi, where Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat delivered the keynote address on the relevance of the Mahatma, former Lok Sabha secretary general Subhash Kashyap questioned the plan. According to some estimates, the new plan will entail an investment of Rs 20,000 crore. Kashyap said the new buildings would further widen the gulf between the rich and the poor. He said there was no need for a new building because the current Parliament building was in good shape. He went further to say that the pomp and show of India’s political leaders were no less than that of the Mughals. There have been murmurs of dissent from within the government as well on the redevelopment plan, but no one has yet had the courage to question it openly.
 

Akhilesh’s AAP dream!

Emboldened by the spectacular victory of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Delhi elections, Samajwadi Party (SP) President Akhilesh Yadav has not only sharpened attacks on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh but even started talking about his party’s electoral promises in the run-up to the 2022 Assembly elections. A vocal critic of the Citizenship Amendment Act, Yadav is also exhorting people not to fill up any form. Hoping to trump the BJP in the 2022 polls in UP a la AAP, the SP supremo has assured everyone that his next government would conduct a caste census “after coming to power” and increase the amount of the now defunct Samajwadi Pension, which was scrapped by the current BJP government.

Congressman vs Congressman 

Time was when Congress leaders were much feared for their skills in palace intrigues. Not anymore. Maharashtra Congress leader Milind Deora, son of the late Murli Deora and a close friend of Rahul Gandhi, is the latest Congress leader to praise Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. In a tweet, Deora praised the Kejriwal-led Delhi government for its fiscal prudence, doubling its revenue to Rs 60,000 crore, and maintaining a revenue surplus over the past five years. Congress leader Ajay Maken posted a sharp response: “Brother, you want to leave the Congress, please (and) then propagate half-baked facts.” Maken said Delhi’s compounded annual growth rate was much better during the tenure of the successive Congress governments in the state. Deora replied acidly: "Brother, I would never undermine Sheila Dikshit’s stellar performance as Delhi CM. That’s your specialty. But it’s never too late to change! Instead of advocating an alliance with AAP, if only you had highlighted Sheila-ji’s achievements, the Congress would’ve been in power today.” Later in the day, party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala advised leaders to mind their respective states.