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Gotobaya

Why Tamils Never Forgave Gotobaya

It was with certain relish that sections of supporters of Eelam in Tamil Nadu celebrated the news that Gotobaya Rajapaksa had fled Sri Lanka. They have never forgiven the Sri Lankan Army for killing all of the Velupillai Prabhakaran clan towards the end of the war around May 18, 2009 and Gotobaya had a direct role to play in this as the news of Prabhakaran’s capture was conveyed to him. He asked Sarath Fonseka, chief of the army, to rush to the venue of the capture and ensure that Prabhakaran and his people were eliminated. Fonseka carried out the order to the T also eliminating Prabhakaran’s young son who may have had little to do with his father’s revolutionary movement. The word from Gotobaya, then Defence Secretary, was to get rid of all the clan as not a DNA of the family should linger. The little told story of Prabhakaran’s final hours was to do with how he and his guerrillas had been wiped out but he refused to bite the cyanide bullet as he would rather stand up to the enemy. Instructed to wipe out the family DNA, the army chief acted as told and then the pictures of Prabhakaran’s body lying in the field was leaked because sections of the media had said that the chief of the Tigers was still alive. Gotobaya was the one who gave the order to shoot.
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Taapsee Pannu: The Model From Delhi Who Has Created Her Own Space & Identity In Bollywood

Taapsee Pannu is 52 films old in Bollywood but this 35-year old actress hasn’t really got a role in mainstream film. In a recent media interaction, she even confessed when asked why doesn’t have films with big heroes — she did two with Big B —  to which Taapsee said that she does not get those kinds of films but carefully added that she now has one with Shah Rukh Khan. Taapsee is considered to be one of the actresses who can headline a film and do a decent job. She started with an out-and-out comedy Chashme Baddoor with David Dhawan and then with Judwaa 2 where she looked out of place. When offers from Bollywood dried up she acted in quite a few south films and made a mark. Impressed by her performance, filmmakers in the south started to write roles for her. Ditto: filmmakers in Mumbai. Anubhav Sinha, Anurag Kashyap, Neeraj Pandey gave her characters that made her stand out.  Baby, Naam Shabana, Thappad, and Haseen Dilruba were shouldered by her. In Shaabash Mithu, a biopic she plays the Indian captain Mithali Raaj.   A strong headed girl she got into trouble for her social media posts on some prickly social political issues. Looks like this model from Delhi has certainly created a space and identity in Bollywood and nobody can wish her away.
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West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma & West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee

Himanta's Trip To Darjeeling To Meet Mamata On Guv's Invite Creates Buzz

In an interesting move Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma travelled to Darjeeling on the invitation of West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar on July 13. There at the Raj Bhavan, the Governor Dhankar also asked Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to come over as she had arrived in the hills to attend the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration swearing-in ceremony. The meeting of the CMs was something Mamata found hard to refuse; it triggered intense speculations. That is because Sarma is considered to be very close to Home Minister Amit Shah and it was felt he may have come to talk to Trinamool Congress Supremo about supporting Droupadi Murmu in the presidential election on behalf of the BJP. However, post her interactions with Himanta, Mamata made it clear that there was no talk of politics. The whole thing was a courtesy call. Asked whether she and Sarma had any discussion on the presidential election, Banerjee said, “How can that be possible? We belong to different parties.” At the same time she said, “It felt good to meet Himanta. When I went to Kamakhya temple, he helped me a lot. I think our relationship must continue as there are several Assamese in West Bengal and many Bengalis in Assam. We share a border in Alipurduar district. The two state governments must keep communicating with each other.” And therein lies the catch.
Neeraj Chopra

Neeraj Chopra Looking For 90 M Plus Throw For World Championship Glory

Neeraj Chopra is girding up his loins in Oregon, USA, in order to rule the roost in javelin throw event of the World Athletics Championships Oregon22.The 24-year-old from Panipat shot into global fame making short work of a world-class field in the Tokyo Olympics last August, became India’s first sportsperson to win a track and field gold medal at an Olympics and became the darling of Indian Athletics.  After the Tokyo glory, Chopra, a junior commissioned officer in the Indian Army, is looking to surpass his best and throw the spear beyond the 90-metre mark and become a top contender for the gold in less than 10 days. The javelin qualifications are slated for July 21 and the final on July 23. Chopra began his preparations for the worlds with a throw of 89.94 metres, a national record created at the Diamond League at Stockholm on June 30. “I am close to 90 metres. I know I can throw it this year. A lot of guys now are capable of throwing over 90 metres. I think it will take 89 metres plus to win in Eugene (Oregon).’ Grenadian Anderson Peters and Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch have touched 93.07 m and 90.88 m this season, just the motivation for Chopra to go for 90 m plus at Oregon.
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Fotocorp

MVA Experiment Fails: Shiv Sena, NCP And Congress Going Their Own Way

The moment Uddhav Thackeray stepped down as Maharashtra chief minister, internecine differences in the then ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) started simmering. Now they have come out in the open, the reason being the impending election to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Former Union minister Milind Deora has complained against the reorganisation of the election wards for the coming election. He has complained that the Shiv Sena, when in power, restructured the wards to ensure maximum electoral benefit for itself. Deora has appealed to chief minister Eknath Shinde to undertake a fresh drive to reorganise the wards in a transparent manner. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the third MVA partner, has declared that it will start preparations for the civic election, not caring who comes along. NCP chief Sharad Pawar chaired a meeting of his party workers in Mumbai. He surprised them by announcing that he himself will lead the campaign in Mumbai. The Sena’s unilateral decision to support Droupadi Murmu in the Presidential election has angered the Congress party already. Senior former minister Balasaheb Thorat vented the ire just a day before. Now that Deora, too, has jumped in the fray, the two-pronged attack is bound to push the Sena into a corner, it is felt. According to Deora, the Sena-engineered reorganisation can cost the Congress party around 20 seats in the BMC.

TRENDS & VIEWS

Editor’s Note: Big Punch In Small Pack

It is the Third Anniversary of Short Post and as a news media startup launched during the Covid-19 pandemic it certainly feels better than good to find ourselves where we are today. Here, I must cite the unstinted support of our seasoned contributors, all senior editors in the country, who brought a great degree of maturity and sagacity to the Short Post newsroom. But for them, our tagline “Authentic Gossip”, an Oxymoron, would not have matured viably. Our user numbers may be small but our stories have created the desired impact among people who matter — decision makers and influencers. We offer a big punch in a small pack and Short Post with its 225-word stories has been punching above its weight category. Having posted close to 3,000 stories in the last 36 months, Short Post, I feel, is an idea whose time has come.
And this is vindicated by our two marquee advertisers – IDFC FIRST Bank and ICICI Lombard. Both believed in our story and have supported us from Day one. A big thank you to both.
If you look at the media landscape – print, TV and digital — it is a mixed bag. There are job losses as some outfits have closed down while a lucky few were bailed out by large corporate houses. Yes, there is a lot of action in the digital space. However, the entry of corporate houses has raised the question of independence of news media outfits. Sadly, there are just a handful of independent media outfits in the country that are highly respected for their neutrality. At Short Post, our credo is not to take sides, prejudge issues or be biased but, informing readers of behind-the-scenes happenings. In essence, Short Post strives to be a neutral editorial platform — neither anti-establishment nor pro-establishment.
As I said last year, disruptions in the media world are moving at a fast and furious pace. Technology is playing a very big role in how content is generated and consumed. But, we are neither alarmed nor perturbed as it is all a part of the evolution process. What gives us comfort is that AI is unable to create original gossipy content. And that is the news arena where we have achieved a distinction.