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Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, SEPT 19: Amidst the din of the Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) continues with its efforts to give its image a facelift. After the partial renovation of the party headquarters at 11, Ashoka Road to make room for a larger, swanky press room, it is now the turn of the post-briefing snacks served daily to undergo a makeover.
Out go the daily fare of local (not even Bikaneri) mixture and barfis. In come sandwiches, vegetable cutlets and gulab-jamuns.
Journalists covering the daily press briefings at the party headquarters on Saturday evening were in for a pleasant surprise. The staple offering of mixture and barfis, generally placed in a plate each, were missing. In their place was a new menu, placed in separate paper plates. “The BJP is now at par with the Congress, at least as far as the snacks served after the daily briefings are concerned,” remarked a senior journalist in a lighter vein.There was, thus no jostling among the presspersons for snacks or sweets. But was the“refreshing change,” as a journalist put, just for a single day, or was it part of a process ? “We have decided to do away with the old system,” said party activist, “Instead, we have decided to serve a separate menu through the week.”
