IndiaPost.com - Vardhan & family host Minister Jaipal Reddy

India Post News Service

LOS ANGELES: At a twilight setting in their spacious tennis court in the exclusive neighborhood of Pacific Palisades, Nadadur Vardhan and his wife, Dr Indubala Vardhan, graciously hosted an informal gathering with India's Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy and his wife, Lakshmi. Many of the guests present shared fond memories of the cabinet minister as a classmate/contemporary in their college days in their native Hyderabad.

"I'm so happy after over 25 years of marriage to meet cabinet minister Reddy," said Vardhan's wife, Dr Indubala Vardhan, "because for years I have been told by my husband that Jaipal Reddy is one of the most politically shrewd and intelligent men he has ever met and a favorite person that he enjoyed debating with in school." Nadadur Vardhan, himself, echoed his wife's praises for the cabinet minister, proclaiming that his uncle and mentor, and college inspiration, Professor Raj Gopal, used to predict Jaipal Reddy would go far one day and perhaps even become India's Prime Minster.

Vardhan's uncle's prediction is not to be taken lightly because Reddy's eloquence as a speaker and his gregarious popularity do in fact make him a front runner in the Congress Party in the steps of Manmohan Singh. Vardhan fondly shared a story where Reddy rallied his university to come to the assistance of a vice chancellor who was unjustly removed from the school: "We all gathered our mosquito net rods and laid on the road and succeeded in preventing the new chancellor from taking office, and it was Jaipal Reddy's inspiration and leadership that guided us!" he said.

Vardhan also joked that he wondered how long the cabinet minister was in college because so many people he knows in California claim to be his classmate/contemporaries in college. Reddy thanked Vardhan and others for their kind words and added that he really didn't know how to deal with praise. "I think childhood friends should meet every few decades, otherwise the fondness for each other will fade away," he said poignantly.

Confronted with a number of issues from those present, Reddy addressed many of the topics with candor and control. On the subject of OBC quotas for India's premier schools that permits quotas being held for OBCs of India, Nadadur Vardhan, reading from a list of various issues, asked if some merit system could be implemented for seats based on economic backwardness rather than just based on caste which would be more equitable. In response Reddy said that in India "class is reflected, for better or worse, through caste.

"Though we are breeding billionaires weekly with our economy that is growing at 9 percent a year, unfortunately 80 percent of Indians still earn less than $2 dollars a day. 90 percent of those living below the poverty line in India are from lower caste. The coincidence of poor and lower caste is too overwhelming to see it as a casual connection," he said punctuating facts that supported the continuation of OBC quotas. The cabinet minister praised India as a flourishing democracy that regularly holds elections without controversy.

However, on the issue of terrorism, which just last week was graphically shown by a recent bomb blast of a mosque in Hyderabad, Reddy did not feel India is "soft on terrorism" as some in attendance seemed to feel. He instead underscored that in India, Muslims are economically backward with only the Scheduled Castes being lower. In response to a question on how to balance India's security with human liberty, he said: "Terrorism needs to be fought with methods of the mind not through draconian methods. Individual liberty is so important that without it modern society will not survive," predicted Reddy. "In Thomas Friedman's recent book

'The World Is Flat', Friedman lists 500 terrorist organizations in the world. And though India is 12 percent Muslim with the second largest population of Muslims outside of Indonesia, not one of those terrorist organizations is from India. Why? Because we have successfully dealt with the alienation of the Muslim in India." On the issue of land use and appeasement of "land-grabbers" in India, including a recently proposed "Disneyland style" resort that is being discussed with US representatives in LA, Reddy said that acquisition of land in India is always a very controversial issue.

"Currently Delhi is still influenced by British style laws where agricultural land which is bought cannot ever be turned into non-agricultural land," he said, but assured those interested that the project would see the light of day and thinking was moving in the direction of the proposed Disney-style project. In regards to another proposal for stem cell research therapy by a company in South Korea that currently uses infant umbilical cords, Reddy promised that India would definitely support biotechnology.

The event was elegantly catered by Kishore Mamillapalli and Annapurna Restaurant in Culver City. Natraj Reddy helped with the arrangements. Dr Varadajan of the Hindu Temple in Calabasas along with Anil Arrebelli (TASC President and associates) facilitated with the "angavastram" (shawl) for the cabinet minister and his wife. Malini Vardhan Nadadur directed the arrangements and oversaw the entire function , which was thoroughly enjoyed by all. Jaipal Reddy assured everyone he looked forward to returning based on such a lovely occasion.