Is Meira the right person to occupy Lok Sabha chair?

India is known for having many first things! A couple of days back the 15th Lok Sabha proudly presents a united face and unanimously elected Congress nominee Mrs Meira Kumar to the Speaker's chair.

Mrs Kumar becomes the first woman to occupy the respected, yet sometimes controversial, seat.

The move to have a woman Speaker has also been hailed by women MPs irrespective of their political affiliates. At the same time there are many who say Mrs Kumar with her 'cute little voice is not suitable' to occupy the chair. "There are many powerful speakers in the parliament who will silenced her," one friend said.

Do you think the Congress and the Opposition parties are justified in electing Mrs Kumar as the 'first woman Lok Sabha Speaker?' Is this just another political gimmick?

Agatha Sangma: Youngest, hottest minister in UPA govt

Nationalist Congress Party general secretary and for former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma’s daughter Agatha Sangma is to become the youngest minister in the UPA governmmnet today (May 28, 2009).

The 28-year-old lady who had won from the Tura LS constituency in the recently concluded election has become a sensation even on the internet with thousands looking up Google for ‘Agatha Sangma’.

Agatha is not only the young face of the UPA government but also the hottest among them. Besides, being the first woman MP from Meghalaya also works in her favour. We will be seeing her more and more in the coming days, for there are many media houses following her every moves.

A rare opportunity given to a woman Memeber of Parliament from northeast India is definitely a welcome step.

We too nod our head in agreement that she is indeed the hottest among all MPs in the Indian Parliament. Hema Malini and Jaya Prada are now history!

However hot and happening she is, we looked forward to the quality of her work in the days to come.

Do we need another nuclear-armed nation?

With North Korea announcing its second 'successful nuclear tests' yesterday the Korean peninsular crisis became much more complex rather than easing the ongoing reconciliation process.

North Korea proudly claimed: “The successful nuclear test is greatly inspiring the army and people of the DPRK [North Korea].”

“The test will contribute to defending the sovereignty of the country and the nation and socialism and ensuring peace and security on the Korean Peninsula,” it added.

The question the world community should now be asking is whether we need nuclear weapons to root-out our enemies. Also, why should we destroy the world as well as our enemies at the same time. We can at least be good to 'mother earth' who had given mankind so much. If we really wanted to settle score points with our enemies we can just keep the conventional ways, like, using our AK-47s or even kungfu fighting?

We have one world and now over seven nuclear-armed states all set to destroy it whenever they wanted to. Even in times of peace nuclear weapons are a danger. It is time leaders of the world seriously contemplate on behaving like a 'nuclear family' and sort out their differences in amicable ways without threatening the other.

[Image: joongangdaily.com]

Mayawati can't be Queen! But...

With the Bahujan Samaj Party getting a mere 21 seats in the just concluded Lok Sabha elections, Mayawati who was the Third Front’s front runner for the prime ministerial post now has no choice but to offer support to the United Progressive Alliance government led by Dr Manmohan Singh.

Earlier, the BSP chief was embroiled in a political gamble with both the mother and son duo of the Gandhi family. She first tried to prevent Ms Sonia Gandhi from holding a rally when the Gandhi ‘bahu’ was to inaugurate a new rail coach factory in Reaberalli. Then she categorically criticized the young turk Rahul Gandhi as nothing but a Congress’ ‘gimmick’ to woo young voters bound for 'failure'.

Now, with the results clearly in favour of the Congress, not only in the Centre, but in Uttar Pradesh, Maya besides biting the dust has to offer “unconditional support” to the Congress.
Why she suddenly changed her mind is few of us can keep guessing. Looking back at her track record in forging alliances and breaking it later, she can surely spring another surprise any minutes; in fact, any seconds. Watch out for her... there’s still some more ‘maya’ in her!

LTTE chief 'is' Good and Bad as Dead

The ‘killing’ of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) chief V Prabhakaran has evoked mixed response even among those who hated him most for being a ‘ruthless and adamant’ man whose incessant quests for the Tamil Eelam brought tragic end to the lives of thousands.

Prabhakaran had set out with a single mission of creating a separate state for the Tamils in Sri Lanka’s East and that mission remained ultimate throughout. Several rounds of peace talks were here under the Norwegian initiatives but Prabhakaran wanted nothing less from what he called “the exploitative Sinhalese Lankan government”.

After the peace talks failed in the 1990s there was no looking back for him. He strengthened the LTTE with the most sophisticated weapons and also commissioned a rudimentary LTTE air force which conducted air raids on the Sri Lankan capital several times.

Accused for killing India’s prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lanka’s president Ranasinghe Premadasa, Prabhakaran took the path “most violent” in modern revolutionary warfare. Had he been more flexible the ending to the so-called ‘Eelam War IV’ could have been much more rewarding for the Sri Lankan Tamils.

On the personal front, there is no denying that Phabhakaran ‘was’ a brave and determined person. From a band of boys, he transformed the LTTE into one of the most feared “revolutionary” force. His love for the Tamils who were “ill-treated” by the Sinhalese government can never be doubted but the means he adopted finally put the life out of his body in a gruesome manner.

On the other side, Prabhakaran ‘dead’ is good as well as bad news for Sri Lanka. Good because it has eliminated the man who single-handedly run the LTTE according to his whims. At the sametime, Prabhakaran ‘dead’ will only elevate him to a martyr status, which the Tamils needed badly. There is also a possibility of splinter groups trying to fill the vacuum left by Prabhakaran. These groups in trying to emulate their ‘late’ leader could even be more violent and difficult to deal with.

It is now up to President Rajapaksa and his government to immediately and sincerely implement a political solution in the war-ravaged Tamil areas. Any delay could provide time for rebels on the run to regroup and start another ‘Eelam War V’.