Coalgate paralysed parliamentary debate in the last session, but our MPs are merrily taking wing to participate in the India debate in America. A bevy of leading Indian politicians are grabbing their boarding passes to the lecture circuit in US campuses for panel discussions and lectures on India.
On September 20, the Columbia University in New York will host a panel discussion on ‘The Politics of Change (in India)’. Law Minister Salman Khurshid will represent the government and the ruling party, while Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley, will be the BJP’s voice. It will also feature Janata Dal (United) Rajya Sabha MP N K Singh. A week later, on September 26, the scene shifts to Stanford University, in Stanford, California where NK Singh makes an appearance again at the Center for International Development, which is holding a panel discussion on “Is the party over? Reform, Planning and Growth in India”. Former Finance Minister and senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha and CPI(M)’s Sitaram Yechury will speak as well.
By then, Manish Tewari (Congress) and Rajiv Pratap Rudy (BJP) would have finished addressing the National Defense University in Washington on September 18; the broad topic is “US-India ties”.
BJP General Secretary Ram Lal is already in the US for a series of week-long engagements, ending on September 21 at the invitation of the Overseas Friends of BJP. Asked if debates on India by Indian lawmakers in USA marked a new trend, a participating MP, requesting anonymity, said “it was only to be expected in a global village”.
- Sunday Standard