Off The Record-30 August

On edge

As the Kerala Assembly convened on August 24 to pass the finance bill, the House was thick with protests from the Opposition MLAs over the government’s alleged nexus with gold smuggling case accused. Owing to the Covid-19 scenario, the session was held after proper distance between the seats of the MLAs had been arranged. However, the House witnessed Opposition MLAs raising slogans in protest. Usually, the Speaker would handle such situations either by requesting opposition members to return to their seats or warning of repercussions. However, this time the Speaker repeatedly reminded Opposition members not to flout social distancing norms. The Speaker’s caution assumed much significance as the majority of the members of the House is above 60 years of age.

Arjun Raghunath, Thiruvananthapuram

‘Sunny’ surprise

Authorities and students of two colleges in West Bengal, were surprised when they saw the merit list for admission to undergraduate courses. Someone rather unlikely and famous appeared on the merit list. It was none other than Sunny Leone! Amused students saw her name at the top of a list. Soon it dawned on the authorities that someone pulled a prank on them by submitting a fake application online. Later in the day, Leone also appeared on the merit list of another college. Leone reacted to this on social media and the amused filmstar tweeted, “See you all in college next semester! Hope you're in my class!"

Soumya Das, Kolkata

Woman Jesus?

Heard about women Jesus? That too from China? Nagaland Baptist Church Council recently issued a warning to all Baptist churches across Nagaland and Assam about a “threat” posed from a cult that claimed that Jesus has returned in the form of women, that too in China. “The cult teaches that Jesus or God has come back to Earth as a woman, named Yang Xiangbin also called Lightning Deng, and the New Testament has been replaced by their new bible, called ‘The Word Appears in the Flesh,” said a letter issued by NBCC to the churches. “Jesus said in his word that he would return to Earth, not as the Almighty who speaks through a woman from China, but as he was, is and ever shall be. Let us beware of this dangerous cult,” it added. It said the cult was desperately trying to make inroads into the Christian majority states like Nagaland.

Sumir Karmakar, Guwahati

No committee

The ‘dissenters’ in the Congress were assured a small committee to assist the party chief in day-to-day functioning of the party. A week after the stormy meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), there is no sign of the constitution of the ‘small committee’. The buzz in the Congress circles is that the committee may never see the light of the day. While resolving the political crisis in Rajasthan, Congress had said a three-member panel to address the grievances of the ginger group led by Sachin Pilot. However, the Committee is yet to hold its first meeting giving some anxious moments to Pilot, who has sent at least two reminders to the party.

Sagar Kulkarni, New Delhi

Uddhav’s aide adopts two

Last week when a five-storey building, Tarique Garden, collapsed at Mahad in Raigad district, a four-year-old boy was rescued after 19 hours. The child, Mohammed Nabi, lost all members of his family. NDRF director-general Satya Narayan Pradhan said that Nabi was a “miracle child”. Like Nabi, another boy, just five-year-old was orphaned. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s close aide and State Urban Development Minister Eknath Shinde announced that he would take care of the two boys. Rs 10 lakh would be kept aside in a fixed deposit in the names of both the children. The responsibility of the education of both children was undertaken by Shrikant Shinde Foundation.

Mrityunjay Bose, Mumbai