Taslima Nasreen

Taslima Nasreen

The thorn in the side of the faithful

Nandigram was burning. Kolkata was beginning to witness Nandigram’s aftermath. Suddenly out of nowhere, protests against Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen’s presence in Kolkata. Nandigram is forgotten.

Within hours of the violent protests in Kolkata, the writer is rushed out of the city to Rajasthan, then to Delhi and then to a secret location.

The series of events caps what is a very, very bad year for Taslima.

In March, the All India Ittehad Millat Council of Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, offers Rs 500,000 for anyone who beheaded her. The group’s president, Tauqir Raza Khan, says the only way the bounty would be lifted was if Nasreen apologises, burns her books and leaves India.

In August, Taslima is attacked at the Hyderabad Press Club, when she arrives there for the launch of her book Shodh in Telugu. Among those who attack her are three legislators of the Andhra Pradesh assembly.

After being moved from one state to another for her safety, she finally agrees to withdraw the controversial lines in her book that sparked the furore. For now she seems to have found her peace.

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Dayanidhi Maran

Dayanidhi Maran

Meteoric rise, hasty exit

In Indian politics, it is tough to recall a rise as meteoric as Dayanidhi Maran’s and a fall as hasty as his. A shy but shrewd businessman till 2004, Maran was the natural choice to step into the shoes of his father Murasoli Maran as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s man in New Delhi.

A debutant member of Parliament, Dayanidhi Maran was entrusted the key information and technology ministry despite an obvious conflict of interest (his family owns the Sun television network), thanks to the clout his granduncle Karunanidhi enjoyed.

In just days shy of three years as minister, Dayanidhi had harnessed more than $10 billion in investments into the country.

But he was one of those scions who act faster than they can think.

The beginning of his end was when he allegedly tried to arm-twist the Tatas into parting with 33 per cent shares of their ambitious Direct-to-Home project, seriously denting his image.

Finally, by rubbing the family patriarch the wrong way in trying to lock horns with heir apparent M K Stalin, he spelled finis to his short political career.

B S Yeddyurappa

B S Yeddyurappa

What is your name…

You trust H D Deve Gowda, you are betrayed. You trust Deve Gowda again, you are betrayed again. You trust Deve Gowda yet again, you are betrayed yet again. What is your name? B S Yeddyurappa. Deve Gowda uses you to dump the Congress. Deve Gowda uses you to prop his son in the hot seat. Deve Gowda refuses to hand over power when the time comes. After all this, Deve Gowda extends the olive branch and you accept it, only to be pulled down again. What is your name? B S Yeddyurappa.

Your party is the single largest party in the state. But you are the last person to get to sit on the chief minister’s chair. And that historic moment — when your party comes to power for the first time in South India — lasts a miserly seven days. What is your name? B S Yeddyurappa.

After all this tamasha, you think the cause for your misery is your name and change ‘Yeddi’ to ‘Yeddy.’ You think it is all the result of witchcraft where somebody is trying to finish you off. Not for a moment do you suspect Deve Gowda. What is your name…