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Naresh Gujral is worried about
Planent striking Earth
The Akali Dal
MP brought hjis worries to the Parliament, actually asking if govt
was aware the planet will strike pretty hard anytime after 2010
WSN Network
 New Delhi:
Indian news television industry is finding it difficult to fill up
24 hours with farm fresh news, particularly when it does not want to
shift focus to nose-to-the-ground journalism and prefers hours of
coverage of inanities of Bollywood rather than why its Dalits are
facing rank discrimination or its farmers are dying of hunger when
they produce food. But in recent years, the media has found a domain
that supplies unending thrills in the name of dramatic news.
So here are some
of the recent headlines:
* The world will
end in another eight days.
* How to ward of
an evil eye when you buy a new car?
* Our channel
exclusive: The tomb where the dead body of demon king Ravana is
lying in state.
* The exact
route that Lord Rama had taken when he went in search of Sita.
* The aircraft
used by Ravana to kidnap Mata Sita.
Clearly, so
enamoured by all this are Indian politicians that far from the
people being gullible, even federal law makers take such non-sense
seriously. You may not have heard about the monster planet ‘X’
heading towards Earth at a speed of 20,00,000 miles a year that
could hit anytime after 2010 but the Indian MPs have.
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Naresh
had little shame writ on his face as MPs laughed. What it says about
the party president Sukhbir Singh Badal can well be guessed since
not only was Naresh his personal choice for Rajya Sabha but the two
are also close buddies. |
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One such MP is
none other than Naresh Gujral, Akali Dal's lawmaker in Rajya Sabha
and son of a former Prime Minister I K Gujral who is credited with
so much scientific orientation that he actually considers himself
the brain behind Jalandhar's Science City. Clearly, the son has had
little to do with anything scientific.
Last Thursday,
here is what Naresh Gujral asked the government through an
officially submitted question. It was an unstarred question jointly
posed by MPs Rajkumar Dhoot (Shiv Sena) and Naresh of SAD: “Whether
it is a fact that planet ‘X’ is heading towards Earth at a speed of
20,00,000 miles a year and may come close or collide with it anytime
after 2010 to cause destruction like earthquake and tsunami?”
Apart from
details, they wanted the government to enlighten them whether this
had any links with the Mayan civilisation calendar and whether the
Government was taking any preventive steps.
Minister of
State for Science and Technology Prithviraj Chavan’s reply was
brief: “There is no factual basis for this (question).”
Naresh had
little shame writ on his face as MPs laughed. What it says about the
party president Sukhbir Singh Badal can well be guessed since not
only was Naresh his personal choice for Rajya Sabha but the two are
also close buddies.
Dhoot later said
he saw reports about planet X in some news channels, and therefore
thought he will ask the government. Naresh is now trying to wriggle
out by saying that the question was Dhoot’s idea. Clearly, the two
seemed influenced by such reliable news sources as Hollywood sci-fi
products like the recent blockbuster 2012 that dealt with life
coming to an end on Earth coinciding with a prediction in the Mayan
calendar.
23
December 2009
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