Apart from misdeeds in the corridor of power and journalistic ethincs as well as criminal-politicians nexus in the wake of March 1993 Bombai blast, masterminded by then underworld don and now international terrorists Dawood Ibrahim, The LUCKNOE BOY, A MEMOIR OF VETERAN JOURNALIST AND EDITOR OF THE OUTLOOK VINOD MEHTA has thrown light on some Bihari politicians and persons including widely anacknowledged as figure of immense moral authority, Jayprakash Narayan ,former IAS officer and now JD(U) MP N K Singh, former union minister Raghubansh Prasad Singh, Rashtriya Janata Dal national president Laloo Prasad Yadav, former union minister and Congress leader K K Tiwari, scavengers mobiliser Tiliya Devi for their deeds and misdeeds in the political arena of the country! Intresting reading book has touched every aspects of politcs and bureacracy in Delhi and has cautioned the mediapersons of "dos and donots" in carryig their harazdous professions. The book has also singalled out the mean temperament of senior journalists, indulging in power-brokerings in the corridor of power. The book highlighted almost all the topics right from Indira Gandhi's turbulent emergency to present day corrupt practices in the political and officials corridor in Delhi! The book in detail has referred about wheeling deelings of N K Singh alias Nandu Babu from Bihar. Son of an ICS T P Singh and respected and popular Congress MP from Purnia Mrs Madhuri Singh, said to be confidant of Mrs Indira Gandhi, N K Singh's role during NDA rule of Atal Behari Vajpayee has priominently figured in the book!
I think it my duty to write about the role of Biharis in their endevoure in unscrupulous work in the corridor of power in Delhi as referred in the book.To begin with, I must start with Jay Prakash Narayan and his disciple Raghubansh Prasad Singh.The protest of Jayprakash Narayan, started as a students' movement turned into a peoples's movement in 1970s, had given the call of for smpoorn kranti (total revolution) throughout the country. The book referred,"JP, a friend and admirer of Pundit Jawahar Lal Nehru-his relationship with Indira Gandhi, unfortunately, was bitter and confrontational.When Mrs Gandhi called JP's Bihar stir an insult to the people, JP accused her of being the foundation head of all corruption in the country." Referring to the JP's agitation Raghubansh Babu, a student follower of of JP has explained in the book,"The reasons were closed to his heart:corruption, unemployment and inhumanity.One particular protest remains in my mind:JP leading hordes of students on a silent march through the streets with everyone's mouth covered and their hands tied behind their back."
The book further revealed, " The political landscape in 1974 was dominated by JP, with the prime minister merely reacting to the serial challenges he threw at her. Ironically, Jayprakash Narayan's offensive against Indira Gandhi came at a time when she was basking in the glow of several trtriumphs. In the 1971 general elctions, Mrs Gandhi's party Congress (R) won an emphatic victory on a simple yet unbearable slogangs-Garibi hatao! Soon after, the historic military victory in East Pakistan electrified the nation and even BJP (then Jansangh) and RSS leaders hailed Indira Gandhi as a modern Durga."
The book has many interesting tit -bits and secret revealation about Bihar leaders like Laloo Prasad Yadav and K K Tiwari! Vinod Mehta has described all these things in very interesting manner in his memoir.While referring wheeling deelings under the rule of P V Narsimha Rao, the book has said,"' Rao's political opponents within the party (Congress) found the excerpts a golden opportunity .A congress MP K K Tiwari described P.V as a sex maniac."Vinod Mehta while referring to his talks with JRD Tata has written that "The other person who exasperated Tata was Laloo Prasad Yadav.Seven chlidren.' Can you imagine seven children? What short of example is he setting?' Family Planing was an obsession with Tata. He believed the future of the country depended on putting place strong deterrent measures for birth control. JRD's irritation with Laloo might have had something to do with the facts that, he (Tata),despite the best medical intervention, was unable to produce even one child.(In this respect Mehta did not even spared JRD for his remarks against Laloo)!"
Mehta has mentoned even the minute things in his book: I had invited many persons, ---------------------whose contributions matter in welfare measures on the completion of the ten years of The OUTLOOK INDIA as news weekly under my editorship--------. "Tiliya Devi for mobilising scavengers from Bihar was invited to speak "-and she spoke!.
The book has referred Patna boy ,N K Singh, like Lucknow Boy as the title of the book-but in some other aspects! Mehta , in his book has referred Atal Jee's Man Friday, BRajesh Mishra, in company with NK Singh had become" deteriorating BJP environment caused by internal squabblings that threatened the Atal's job , is not an open question."The book says, "Atal Jee was no saint. He liked to drink moderately and eat non-vegetarian food less moderately.Being a bachelor and a political star (Henry Kissinger:power is the ultimate aphrodisaic), he was never short of female company.When he became India's prime minister, he juggled a strange domestic life.A Mrs Kaul, whose husband was a clollege professor and had passed away, moved into 7, Race course, alongwith her daughter Namita and daughter's husband Ranjan Bhattacharya. Namita's official designation was foster daughter and Ranjan Bhattacharya became foster son-in-law.Vajpayee, to his credit, made no effort to hide the menage a quatre."The same Ranjan Bhattacharya, Mishra and Singh, a senior bureaucrat and officer on special duty for economic affairs in PMO were trio virtually in complete charge of the PMO!"The husband and wife team of Ranjan and Namita were the other power centres in 7, Race Course Road..Vajpayee may have certain reservation about his foster son-in-law.However, the foster daughter could do no wrong in his eyes. Namita and Ranjan began assiduously cultivating in Delhi media. They had unconcealed contempt for what they called knickerwala journalists; they mingled with Vir Sanghvi, Barkha Dutta, Shekhar Gupta-even me."
"The activities of Trio (Brajesh Mishra, N K Singh, Ranjan Bhattacharya) had found cursory mention in the media.Nothing more. Our reporters came back with the full chronicle:the three were running riot. We put two senior reporters on the job and in March 2001 published our cover story,"Rigging the PMO."It provided details of numerous decisions taken by the PMO, brazenly favouring a select group of business houses, specially the Hinduja and the Reliance.With the former, Mr Vajpayee had long-standing personal relations; he had even written an indiscreet note to Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, seeking his indulgence on their behalf in the Bofor scandal.", the book has revealed.
Mehta says in his book, " once Rigging the PMO came into public domain, consternation and panic set in the PMO.Outlook and its editor could be dismissed as congenitally biased.The revealation of E A S Sarma, widely known in the civil service as outstanding officer, honest to a fault, on the other hand, were not easy to dismiss because of his widely acknowledged reputation for probity and professionalism. None of his specific instnces of wrongdoing could be denied or contested. His testimony was rich in detail."
The writer further says, "Vajpayee summoned me on tea. It was an unhappy meeting. N K SINGH, Vajpayee conceded, could if necessary be shown the door. Brajesh and Ranjan were another matter.I had got it wrong, Vajpayee mildly scolded, those two were pure as snow. I refused to get into a wrangle with the PM. Suddenly , he changed the subject and launched an attack on Outlook Correspondent Saba Naqvi, who was covering BJP.' I do not know what has gone wrong with her lately; she is always writing against me.'He suggested she had been covering the BJP for too many years,. Perhaps she needed a change of beat."
Another clout of N K Singh in the book," In the last week of March, our second expose-Vajpayee's Achilles Heel-appeared. It began-,'ever since Atal Behari Vajpayee became prime minister and consolidated his hold over NDA, the whisper in the corridor of power have been about the formidable clout Brajesh Mishra , N K singh, and Ranjan Bhattacharya enjoy'. Later in the report we were more specific:' over the last couple of years Bhattacharya's influence has grown-------a cross section of people Outlook spoke to including bureaucrats, industrialists and politicians, say Bhattacharya if powerful yet invisible force which drives the PMO. His primary conduits, say all, are Mishra and Singh".
"---------------trooping the lists was Rs 58000-crore national highway project---------, theRs 20000-crore Reliance-Hirma power projectetc", the book revealed and added another huge sum of Rs 3179 crore under telecommunication sector-the defaulters included Birla, Reliance, Tata Essar. These influential corporates pressed the PMO for extension of payment deadline. They succeeded. Further, they pushed through the draft of new telecom policy heavily tilted in their favour. The Samata Party ( of Nitish Kumar and George Fernandes), a vital ally of the NDA, in a stinging letter to Vajpayee on 16 m March, demanded a probe into various corruption charges against Mishra, Singh and Bhattacharya. A couple of days after our second expose, Brajesh Mishra and N K Singh held a press conference. Without mentioning Outlook even once, they denied outright all the charges as'mischievous' and 'baseless'. It was commanding performance."
(The same Samta Party now Janata Dal (U) has nominated N K Singh as its party candidate for Rajya Sabha elections from Bihar and under the leadership of the so called Mr Clean-Nitish Kumar, Singh was elected to Rajya Sabha! What a double face of the JD(U) leaders Nitish Kumar and Sharad Yadav-my comment).
The book has also referred much-maligned Neera Radia tape for brokering during the prime ministership of Manmohan Singh for huge scandal namely telecommunication scandal, shiphoning lakhs of crore rupees. Apart from invoolvement of over half a dozen jornalists, N K Singh has also figured in the tape conversions with Neera Radia for power brokering!
Lucknow Boy , the book of importance by Mehta, has told about NK Singh, " JD(U) Rajya Sabha MP N K Singh, a former Bureaucrat, describes the UPA (second) cabinet as "Shivji ka baratat", a reference to the creatures that danced at Loard Shiva 's wedding. Referring to Murli DEora's second innings as petroleum minister, N K Singh says'------Murli (Deora's) incompetence is proverbial. Every time a question comes up in Parliament,, he is busy trying to appease the questioner. Perhaps Mukesh (Ambani) has swung for it for him------but Murli is an incompetent minister' Taklking to Praful Patel, the civil aviation minister, Singh says more than the Indian Arirlines,'I think he worked for Naresh Goyal (Jet Airways)."
THUS THE" LUCKNOW BOY ", WRITTEN BY VINOD MEHTA ,REVEALS HAPPENING IN CORRIDOR OF POWER IN DELHI!. ETHICS OF JOURNALISM IS ALSO HIGHLIGHTED IN THE BOOK! (SOURCES::LUCJKNOW BOY WRITTEN BY BY VINOD MEHTA)
I think it my duty to write about the role of Biharis in their endevoure in unscrupulous work in the corridor of power in Delhi as referred in the book.To begin with, I must start with Jay Prakash Narayan and his disciple Raghubansh Prasad Singh.The protest of Jayprakash Narayan, started as a students' movement turned into a peoples's movement in 1970s, had given the call of for smpoorn kranti (total revolution) throughout the country. The book referred,"JP, a friend and admirer of Pundit Jawahar Lal Nehru-his relationship with Indira Gandhi, unfortunately, was bitter and confrontational.When Mrs Gandhi called JP's Bihar stir an insult to the people, JP accused her of being the foundation head of all corruption in the country." Referring to the JP's agitation Raghubansh Babu, a student follower of of JP has explained in the book,"The reasons were closed to his heart:corruption, unemployment and inhumanity.One particular protest remains in my mind:JP leading hordes of students on a silent march through the streets with everyone's mouth covered and their hands tied behind their back."
The book further revealed, " The political landscape in 1974 was dominated by JP, with the prime minister merely reacting to the serial challenges he threw at her. Ironically, Jayprakash Narayan's offensive against Indira Gandhi came at a time when she was basking in the glow of several trtriumphs. In the 1971 general elctions, Mrs Gandhi's party Congress (R) won an emphatic victory on a simple yet unbearable slogangs-Garibi hatao! Soon after, the historic military victory in East Pakistan electrified the nation and even BJP (then Jansangh) and RSS leaders hailed Indira Gandhi as a modern Durga."
The book has many interesting tit -bits and secret revealation about Bihar leaders like Laloo Prasad Yadav and K K Tiwari! Vinod Mehta has described all these things in very interesting manner in his memoir.While referring wheeling deelings under the rule of P V Narsimha Rao, the book has said,"' Rao's political opponents within the party (Congress) found the excerpts a golden opportunity .A congress MP K K Tiwari described P.V as a sex maniac."Vinod Mehta while referring to his talks with JRD Tata has written that "The other person who exasperated Tata was Laloo Prasad Yadav.Seven chlidren.' Can you imagine seven children? What short of example is he setting?' Family Planing was an obsession with Tata. He believed the future of the country depended on putting place strong deterrent measures for birth control. JRD's irritation with Laloo might have had something to do with the facts that, he (Tata),despite the best medical intervention, was unable to produce even one child.(In this respect Mehta did not even spared JRD for his remarks against Laloo)!"
Mehta has mentoned even the minute things in his book: I had invited many persons, ---------------------whose contributions matter in welfare measures on the completion of the ten years of The OUTLOOK INDIA as news weekly under my editorship--------. "Tiliya Devi for mobilising scavengers from Bihar was invited to speak "-and she spoke!.
The book has referred Patna boy ,N K Singh, like Lucknow Boy as the title of the book-but in some other aspects! Mehta , in his book has referred Atal Jee's Man Friday, BRajesh Mishra, in company with NK Singh had become" deteriorating BJP environment caused by internal squabblings that threatened the Atal's job , is not an open question."The book says, "Atal Jee was no saint. He liked to drink moderately and eat non-vegetarian food less moderately.Being a bachelor and a political star (Henry Kissinger:power is the ultimate aphrodisaic), he was never short of female company.When he became India's prime minister, he juggled a strange domestic life.A Mrs Kaul, whose husband was a clollege professor and had passed away, moved into 7, Race course, alongwith her daughter Namita and daughter's husband Ranjan Bhattacharya. Namita's official designation was foster daughter and Ranjan Bhattacharya became foster son-in-law.Vajpayee, to his credit, made no effort to hide the menage a quatre."The same Ranjan Bhattacharya, Mishra and Singh, a senior bureaucrat and officer on special duty for economic affairs in PMO were trio virtually in complete charge of the PMO!"The husband and wife team of Ranjan and Namita were the other power centres in 7, Race Course Road..Vajpayee may have certain reservation about his foster son-in-law.However, the foster daughter could do no wrong in his eyes. Namita and Ranjan began assiduously cultivating in Delhi media. They had unconcealed contempt for what they called knickerwala journalists; they mingled with Vir Sanghvi, Barkha Dutta, Shekhar Gupta-even me."
"The activities of Trio (Brajesh Mishra, N K Singh, Ranjan Bhattacharya) had found cursory mention in the media.Nothing more. Our reporters came back with the full chronicle:the three were running riot. We put two senior reporters on the job and in March 2001 published our cover story,"Rigging the PMO."It provided details of numerous decisions taken by the PMO, brazenly favouring a select group of business houses, specially the Hinduja and the Reliance.With the former, Mr Vajpayee had long-standing personal relations; he had even written an indiscreet note to Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, seeking his indulgence on their behalf in the Bofor scandal.", the book has revealed.
Mehta says in his book, " once Rigging the PMO came into public domain, consternation and panic set in the PMO.Outlook and its editor could be dismissed as congenitally biased.The revealation of E A S Sarma, widely known in the civil service as outstanding officer, honest to a fault, on the other hand, were not easy to dismiss because of his widely acknowledged reputation for probity and professionalism. None of his specific instnces of wrongdoing could be denied or contested. His testimony was rich in detail."
The writer further says, "Vajpayee summoned me on tea. It was an unhappy meeting. N K SINGH, Vajpayee conceded, could if necessary be shown the door. Brajesh and Ranjan were another matter.I had got it wrong, Vajpayee mildly scolded, those two were pure as snow. I refused to get into a wrangle with the PM. Suddenly , he changed the subject and launched an attack on Outlook Correspondent Saba Naqvi, who was covering BJP.' I do not know what has gone wrong with her lately; she is always writing against me.'He suggested she had been covering the BJP for too many years,. Perhaps she needed a change of beat."
Another clout of N K Singh in the book," In the last week of March, our second expose-Vajpayee's Achilles Heel-appeared. It began-,'ever since Atal Behari Vajpayee became prime minister and consolidated his hold over NDA, the whisper in the corridor of power have been about the formidable clout Brajesh Mishra , N K singh, and Ranjan Bhattacharya enjoy'. Later in the report we were more specific:' over the last couple of years Bhattacharya's influence has grown-------a cross section of people Outlook spoke to including bureaucrats, industrialists and politicians, say Bhattacharya if powerful yet invisible force which drives the PMO. His primary conduits, say all, are Mishra and Singh".
"---------------trooping the lists was Rs 58000-crore national highway project---------, theRs 20000-crore Reliance-Hirma power projectetc", the book revealed and added another huge sum of Rs 3179 crore under telecommunication sector-the defaulters included Birla, Reliance, Tata Essar. These influential corporates pressed the PMO for extension of payment deadline. They succeeded. Further, they pushed through the draft of new telecom policy heavily tilted in their favour. The Samata Party ( of Nitish Kumar and George Fernandes), a vital ally of the NDA, in a stinging letter to Vajpayee on 16 m March, demanded a probe into various corruption charges against Mishra, Singh and Bhattacharya. A couple of days after our second expose, Brajesh Mishra and N K Singh held a press conference. Without mentioning Outlook even once, they denied outright all the charges as'mischievous' and 'baseless'. It was commanding performance."
(The same Samta Party now Janata Dal (U) has nominated N K Singh as its party candidate for Rajya Sabha elections from Bihar and under the leadership of the so called Mr Clean-Nitish Kumar, Singh was elected to Rajya Sabha! What a double face of the JD(U) leaders Nitish Kumar and Sharad Yadav-my comment).
The book has also referred much-maligned Neera Radia tape for brokering during the prime ministership of Manmohan Singh for huge scandal namely telecommunication scandal, shiphoning lakhs of crore rupees. Apart from invoolvement of over half a dozen jornalists, N K Singh has also figured in the tape conversions with Neera Radia for power brokering!
Lucknow Boy , the book of importance by Mehta, has told about NK Singh, " JD(U) Rajya Sabha MP N K Singh, a former Bureaucrat, describes the UPA (second) cabinet as "Shivji ka baratat", a reference to the creatures that danced at Loard Shiva 's wedding. Referring to Murli DEora's second innings as petroleum minister, N K Singh says'------Murli (Deora's) incompetence is proverbial. Every time a question comes up in Parliament,, he is busy trying to appease the questioner. Perhaps Mukesh (Ambani) has swung for it for him------but Murli is an incompetent minister' Taklking to Praful Patel, the civil aviation minister, Singh says more than the Indian Arirlines,'I think he worked for Naresh Goyal (Jet Airways)."
THUS THE" LUCKNOW BOY ", WRITTEN BY VINOD MEHTA ,REVEALS HAPPENING IN CORRIDOR OF POWER IN DELHI!. ETHICS OF JOURNALISM IS ALSO HIGHLIGHTED IN THE BOOK! (SOURCES::LUCJKNOW BOY WRITTEN BY BY VINOD MEHTA)
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