Will Build a Close Partnership With INDIA : OBAMA

Senator Barack Obama, the frontrunner for the Democratic Party's nomination for presidential elections in November, has pledged to ''build a close strategic partnership'' between US and India if elected.

In an article he has written for India Abroad, the Illinois Senator has also committed that he will encourage the active engagement and partnership of the Indian American community in ''making the change we seek'' in US.

''The world's oldest democracy (US) and the world's largest democracy (India) are natural partners, sharing important interests and fundamental democratic values,'' Obama said in the article for the next edition of the weekly newspaper headquartered in New York.

Obama, who has edged past rival Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries, said it is his commitment to the critical relationship between the two countries that he voted for the US-India nuclear energy deal on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

''And that is why I will move forward to build a close strategic partnership between the US and India when I am president of the United States,'' he added.

Obama said Washington and New Delhi must work together to combat the common threats of the 21st century because ''both countries have been victims of catastrophic terrorist attacks and we have a shared interest in succeeding in the fight against al-Qaeda and its operational and ideological affiliates''.

The presidential hopeful said he voted against the Iraq war because ''we needed to finish the fight with bin Laden and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan''.

He also referred to his proposal long before the declaration of martial law in Pakistan that the US needed to ''condition our assistance to the Pakistani government so that we encourage stronger action against al-Qaeda and a restoration of democracy''.

Learn From AAMIR : Ramadoss to SRK

Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss has reignited the smoking controversy, once again taking a dig at Shahrukh Khan saying icons who passed off smoking on screens as "artistic liberty" should take a leaf out of Aamir Khan's book on how to use the artistic tool.

Ramadoss has rubbed many the wrong way and made many a controversial comment but this time he was all praises for none other than veteran actor Aamir Khan for his role in 'Taaren Zameen Par' where he plays an art teacher who brings a dyslexic boy out of his shell with the insight from his own experiences as a child.

The Health Minister said, "Look at 'Taare Zammen Par' - tha is what creative liberty should do... Creative liberty should be used to improve society and not kill mankind." It was clearly a compliment to Aamir but an apparent attack on another actor super star, Shahrukh, whom the minister had not so long ago slammed for depicting smoking in his films.

King Khan then took on the Health Minister, defending the light up on screen saying it was their creative liberty of artistes.

"I think there should be a huge amount of creative freedom that should be allowed in cinema and arts and one should not go around and picking on small little things - because that's just cinema and make believe and that should be allowed, we should not have huge censorship on that," Khan had said.

If one may recall, recently Ramadoss had even pulled up the actor for smoking in the stands while watching a 20:20 cricket match in Mumbai.

The war of words between the minister - a strong supporter of the anti-tobaco lobby - and an actor who supports creative liberty shows no signs of stubbing out.

"JODHA-AKBAR" row hits Madhya Pradesh......

Screening of Hritik Roshan-Aishwarya Rai starer 'Jodhaa-Akbar' was banned in Madhya Pradesh on Friday after demonstrations against it by the Rajput community at cinema theatres.

''The government has suspended the screening of the movie in the state with immediate effect as protests at cinema halls have posed a threat to maintenance of peace,'' Commercial Tax Department Addition Secretary DPS Parihar said.

In his order banning the screening of the film produced by UTV Software Communications Ltd, Parihar said the decision was taken in accordance to provisions under the Madhya Pradesh Cinema (Regulation) Act, 1952.

A Rajput organisation has threatened to set fire to cinema halls in the state if the screening of the controversial film was not stopped immediately.

Describing the depiction of the Jodhaa Bai as Akbar's wife in the Bollywood movie as an ''insult'' to the community, Akhil Bharatiya Kshatriya Mahasabha has threatened to burn the movie reels and cinema halls screening the film, which has been directed by Ashutosh Gowarikar.

''Till now our protests have been peaceful. We will resort to violence if our forefathers are continued to be insulted,'' the Mahasabha General Secretary Surendra Singh Tomar told reporters earlier this week.

Tomar had also led a delegation to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan seeking an immediate ban on the screening of the controversial film throughout the state.

Meanwhile, the film's director expressed concern over the recent developments.

''I am very sad that people are appreciating the movie in cities but the film is not being screened in some places. We are getting a good response from overseas. I want people to watch the film first and then express their views,'' said Ashutosh Gowarikar, Director, 'Jodhaa Akbar