Celebrity and controversy

Celebrity and controversy has deep relations. It would not be said erroneous if we say that both are two sides of the same coin. Instead of creating a curse for a person controversy helps increase his/her professional life. In new incident, newly declared winner of Miss USA Rima Fakih seems to have landed in hot water.

The 24-year-old beauty from Michigan who is considered to be the first Muslim woman ever to win the Miss USA pageant competition, just a day after winning the competition found herself amidst controversy.

Not yet clear what step will be taken against her if accusation made against her is found right, but one thing is clear her victory could be tarnished with pictures of her pole dancing at a strip club, if she is found guilty.

Actually, this hot, slim and sexy Lebanese-born babe featured in a video emerging on Internet sliding up and down a stripper’s pole in a blue tank top, hot pants and high heels.

So the big question still unanswered is whether the organizers of Miss USA were aware of Miss Fakih winning the ‘STRIPPER 101’ contest at the Coliseum Gentleman’s Club. She is believed to have won a variety of prizes, including adult toys and a stripper’s pole.

And, another big question which is hanging like a naked sword over the head of Rima Fakih is that whether the USA new poster girl will be able to represent the country in the international beauty contest later this year. Well all these questions should be left on the future.

As about the additional information about Rima Fakih is concerned, she emigrated to the US with her family from Lebanon. She is a graduate with degrees in economics and business, looking to attend law school. She represented Michigan in the Miss USA pageant at the Planet Hollywood hotel and casino in Las Vegas.

As against the Islamist culture and thought which restricts women from flaunting their bodies in public, Fakih said she was encouraged to participate in beauty competitions by her parents. And so she did not get any hesitation in flaunting her sexy body in the evening gown and even in swimsuit.

Again coming to the point, celebrity and controversy, celebrities have been caught in controversies since time immemorial. And, the Miss USA pageant has been dogged by controversy in recent years. Last year’s winner Carrie Prejean was stripped off her title after it surfaced that she had made a sex tape. She also created controversy by expressing her opinion during the pageant, claiming that marriage should be between “a man and a woman”.

In 2006, the 20-year-old Tara Conner admitted to taking drugs and underage drinking, however, she was allowed to keep her title. In 1983, singer and actress Vanessa Williams was crowned the first African-American Miss USA, but was stripped off her title when her nude photographs were published in Penthouse.

There are many more examples of celebrities when after winning any reputable crown a dark reality about her life has been surfaced. Does celebrity lead controversy or controversy follow celebrity? Whatever be the truth, one thing is clear that controversy adds to the popularity of person, and finally helps reshaping in his/her career. Going by this judgment, it can be said that controversy acts as a boon rather than curse for the person.

Jaswant Singh and controversy not apart

Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) senior leader Jaswant Singh and controversies are not new to each other. In fact, both are two sides of the same coin. The fresh controversy erupted from the releasing of his new book 'Jinnah — India, Independence, Partition' in which he made Jinnah as custodian of secularism and Nehru as the culprit of partition of India.

Cutting across the party lines in thought and principle, Jaswant Singh has been expelled from the party for eulogising Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, in his latest book.

The 71-year-old leader, perhaps, has to pay the price for creating needless controversy through his book. Had he been known that by going against the BJP and above all its ideological boss Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) principle through his nascent discovery – a secular Jinnah, he would have thought twice before praising Jinnah.

RSS once again has proved its hegemony over the BJP, and driven home the straightforward message that the party is still driven by the Hindutva message and any kind of dissent in the party will no longer be tolerated. However, grabbing public attention by touching off controversy through his writing is not new for Jaswant Singh.

He had used the same gimmick during the releasing of his previous book “A Call to Honour: In Service of Emergent India in 2006”, when he alleged that there was a mole in the prime minister’s office in the nineties during the tenure of Congress prime minister PV Narsimha Rao who leaked vital information to American sources.

But, he dramatically backtracked when contradicted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who asked him to name the mole. The former external affairs minister said he had a strong hunch that information was being leaked from the PMO.

And now in his latest book that released on Monday, he has glorified Jinnah and held India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and its first home minister Vallabhbhai Patel responsible for the country's partition in 1947. He claimed Nehru as the culprit of partition and Jinnah as a supporter of federal polity, which even Gandhi accepted.

He has also earned disgrace for escorting terrorists to Kandhar, Afghanistan who were released by the government in exchange of passengers from the hijacked Indian Airlines plane. The decision, however, was taken mutually by bringing all political parties in confidence, but he personally faced ridicule and criticism as he accompanied terrorists when he was the then foreign minister.

He again found himself in the midst of controversy last year after being accused of illegal drug possession. He was accused of offering saffron milk laced with opium to his guests at his home in Jasol, Barmer during the feast known as ‘riyan’. Jaswant Singh, however, denied the charge in the court.