THE STARS KNOW NOTHING - ASTROLOGERS

Khushwant Singh

Beyond logic I hate to hit at people who are down and out. However, I make exceptions in the case of people who wield power and influence, and impose their views on others. I was not at all sorry to hear that Murli Manohar Joshi lost in the elections and J. Jayalalithaa got a drubbing at the hands of her arch-enemy, M. Karunanidhi. Both are highly intelligent people: they are also irrational in subscribing to astrology. One may be permitted to ask Joshi and Jayalalithaa: “Did not their stars tell them that they would lose the elections?” I know neither of them will deign to answer a question put to them by a nonentity like me. But certainly the people have a right to ask Joshi: Was it fair on your part as minister of human development to introduce a subject like Vedic astrology in the curricula of universities? I hope your successor in office will cancel the grant you made and divert the funds to the study of some science like astronomy or physics of which you were once a professor. As for amma, the revolutionary leader, she is incorrigible and not amenable to reason. But she is loved and adored by many of her people who worship her as a living deity. She could have done much more for Tamil Nadu than she has as its chief minister. Perhaps that is also written in her stars. And lastly, Lachhman Das Madan, editor-proprietor of the astrological magazine, Babaji. Ever since Vajpayee announced the elections before they were due, you have been predicting that he will return as prime minister and Sonia Gandhi would never become one. Sonia could have become one if she had chosen to do so. That was not what you wrote. Madanji, you owe it to your readers to answer the question: “Were the stars lying to you or were you lying to your readers?”