AmEx pulls out of Modi meet

NEW DELHI: American Express Corporation has withdrawn its sponsorship for the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) convention beginning Thursday in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was to have addressed the association if he had not been refused entry into the US by the Bush administration.

Christine Elliott, an official of American Express, conveyed the decision to CAG in a message which said, "As you know from our previous communications, our sponsorships at AAHOA's 2005 annual convention included the following three events: an industry issues panel, an awards ceremony and an address by former National Football League quarterback Terry Bradshaw."

"Unfortunately, a conference that was intended to help promote travel and tourism has become the object of partisan political contention. Therefore, we have chosen to withdraw from the conference," Elliott said.

Narendra Modi given clean chit in Godhra riot case

New Delhi, Dec.3 (ANI): The Supreme Court (SC) appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) is reported to have given a clean chit to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Narendra Modi has long been alleged to connive with 62 others including some cabinet colleagues, police officials and bureaucrats in aiding and abetting the post-Godhra program that claimed 1000 lives in 2002.

The SIT grilled Narendra Modi a few months ago after the SC directed it to enquire into the allegations by the wife of a former Congress MP who was killed in the carnage along with 69 others. According to some newspaper reports the SIT gave a clean chit to Modi as it couldn't find evidence to substantiate his alleged connivance in the riots.

Arun Jaitley, leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha, said, " The matter is sub-judice and we can't be sure of what the SIT has said." e added that if the Modi's reported acquittal by the SIT is true than their long-standing stand is finally vindicated.(ANI)

Narendra Modi must call manmohan's bluff move to delhi

Narendra Modi must call manmohan's bluff move to delhi

Finally I will tell you the interesting way in which Lao Tzu the great Chinese sage looked at Good governance. There is an old saying of Lao Tzu. It goes like this:

“If there is a king and people get things done and don’t know that they have a king it is the best type of government. If there is a king and if people get their things done and if they know that there is a king it is a good government. If there is a king and if people have to complain to the king to get things done then it is a bad government. If there is a king and things don’t get done even if complaints are made to him then, it is the worst type of government.”

Nobody has said better than this. Our aim is make people partners in the development process so that they don’t feel that they are subjects but they feel that they are citizens.

After 7 long years the central debate has finally shifted to one over who has the greater political will to pursue Economic Reforms. The Indian Express in its lead editorial attempted some clever deflection pn this debate. But these two pieces in the Wall Street Journal and in the Indian Express by Niranjan Rajyadhyaksha and Bibek Debroy have nailed the issue on

#1 Dr. Manmohan Singh’s capitulation to the Left Liberals in the Sonia Gandhi lead National Advisory Council

#2 Dr. Manmohan Singh’s failure to show political will in pursuing economic reforms

That the Prime Minister should have blundered in his press conference on this issue dragging Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi into the debate, is perhaps something the Congress will regret in the days to come.

For long the debate around Narendra Modi has centered on reinforcing negative stereotypes from 2002. For the first time the debate on Modi is where he exactly needs it to be on the central question of which political leader in India has demonstrated the will and the spine to pursue economic reforms.

While Mr. Modi is on the record having articulated a philosophy on the role of Government in economic affairs through “Minimum Government Maximum Governance” and through his speech at the BJP’s Governance Summit, he had not made it the central debating point of his political rhetoric. This blunder by Manmohan Singh offers the opening Narendra Modi has long needed.

While the next Lok Sabha election is some time away, Delhi could do with this central debate inside and outside Parliament. In fact the BJP could do even more with fewer distractions and sideshows. Mr. Advani’s out of turn pursuit and comments on issues like Black Money continue to contribute to this distraction. It is high time Mr. Advani retired gracefully and vacated the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat.

It would not be a bad idea at all for Narendra Modi to take to the Lok Sabha the debate on Manmohan Singh’s lack of political will and on Sonia Gandhi’s Left Liberalism.