Reporter's Diary: Of friends and foes

Etched in memory
This year’s Teachers’ Day celebrations will remain etched in the minds of students, teachers and scribes of Chhattisgarh for years to come. Some students in the remote villages of this central Indian state got the opportunity to watch television for the first time in their lives, thanks to the instructions from the Centre to listen in to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Teachers were also made, perhaps for the first time in their career, to ensure cent per cent attendance of students in their respective schools throughout the country. In some villages, which are engulfed in darkness almost through the year, children were ecstatic to see an uninterrupted supply of power for nearly two hours!
Other hilarious incidents were witnessed in some schools — such as Bihar education minister Prem Prakash Pandey caught taking a nap in a school. Some students followed suit while Mr Modi delivered his historic and inspirational speech.
The most bizarre incident was perhaps when a student was asked the name of the Prime Minister. Incredibly, he drew a blank.

Of friends and foes
Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia was on a private visit to Lucknow and she made sure that it was a truly “private and secular” visit. While Ms Scindia kept away from the snoopy media, she made it a point to visit her old friend and now Bahujan Samaj Party leader Akbar Ahmad Dumpy. She then visited senior Congress leader and her close relative Ranjit Singh Judev where she met a senior pro-Samajwadi leader.
Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, interestingly, were not on her Lucknow agenda and neither did she show any inclination to campaign for the party in the byelection in Lucknow.
One of her close friends later said, “She knows how to keep her personal and public life separate and political considerations never affect her relationships and friendships. This is what makes her different from other politicians.”
One hopes that politicians in Uttar Pra-desh learn some lessons from Ms Scindia because relationships in this state fluctuate with one’s political fortunes.

Didi feels the heat
The skeletons which are tumbling out of the Saradha chit fund cupboard have left Mamata Banerjee despondent, distressed and disturbed. A Trinamul Congress MP, Kunal Ghosh, is already in jail. Two more MPs, Ahmed Hassan Imran and Srinjoy Bose, are feeling the heat of the relentless Central Bureau of Investigation interrogation.
A prominent state minister, another MP and the most important leader in the party after Ms Banerjee are also under the CBI scanner. What is even more devastating for Didi is that her honesty and integrity are being questioned.

In 2011, she came to power with a majority. In the process she decimated the Communist Party of India (Marxist). The Congress’ presence is restricted to two districts. Emboldened by the ascent of Narendra Modi to power in Delhi, the Bharatiya Janata Party has been making a little noise. However, for all practical purposes, Ms Banerjee has hitherto faced no opposition worth its name. Even now it is the premier investigating agency which is causing her sleepless nights not any Opposition party.
A veteran Trinamul Congress leader, who is also a minister in her Cabinet, hit the nail on the head when he ruefully observed that the CBI and the media were playing the role of Opposition in West Bengal.