Of godmen & orators
Both the BJP and the Congress had their share of embarrassing moments recently. The ruling party was left red-faced when Lok Sabha MP Varun Gandhi declared that he was not in favour of the death penalty, and filmstar-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha openly backed the suspended Congress MPs. He, in fact, went on to shower praise on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. On the other side, the Congress was ill at ease after LS MP Shashi Tharoor’s remarks against the party’s protests in Parliament at an internal meeting went public. The party also distanced itself from his opinion on the Yakub Memon execution.
Although unhappy over these out of turn comments, both parties sought to brush them aside jokingly. A BJP minister even suggested that it might help if the two parties were to exchange these leaders. The Congress, he maintained, could do with another Gandhi in its fold since Rahul Gandhi had failed to make the cut. And the BJP would be only too happy to welcome Mr Tharoor as he is an excellent speaker. Irrespective of what the BJP may say publicly, the party always gets enamoured by English-speaking orators.
BJP MP and Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje’s son Dushyant Singh has always maintained a low-profile. The young MP, however, found himself in the news during the recent flurry of revelations about disgraced IPL chief Lalit Modi’s links with his mother. Mr Singh was in the eye of a storm after Congress leader Jairam Ramesh charged that he had claimed the Dholpur Palace as his own when it actually belonged to the Rajasthan government.
Though initially embarrassed about these allegations, Ms Raje’s son is no longer complaining. All the media attention has turned out to be a boon for him as there is a surge of interest in the Dholpur Palace, which is run by him as a heritage resort. Mr Singh has now raised the room tariff and is busy renovating the place after he found himself inundated with bookings. He is now ready to fight it out and has filed defamation cases against Mr Ramesh and a media outlet.
While the Congress was predictably upset with LS Speaker Sumitra Mahajan when she suspended its party MPs for disorderly conduct, it was surprising to learn that veteran BJP leader L.K. Advani was also unhappy with her inability to control the Opposition members. When the Lok Sabha was adjourned during the recently-concluded session, Mr Advani apparently called the secretary-general and told him to convey to the Speaker that it is her res-ponsibility to run the House and that she should break the deadlock.
The senior BJP leader, who prides himself on being a conscientious parliamentarian, was apparently dismayed that the Lok Sabha was not being able to transact any business. But that is ironical as it was Mr Advani who had pushed his party to disrupt proceedings in 2004 for two sessions after the Congress-led UPA pulled off a surprise victory over the BJP. The defeat was very upsetting for Mr Advani as he was projected by the BJP as its PM candidate.
Ever since self-styled godwoman Radhe Maa hit the headlines, people have been busy narrating stories about their brush with godmen, sadhus and babas. Finance minister Arun Jaitley is among those who have an interesting tale. When he decided to undergo a weight-loss surgery last year, he was approached by two BJP members who pleaded with him that he should put off the operation and urged him to meet their guru who, they insisted, had magical powers. They cited instances of how seriously ill devotees had a miraculous recovery after he performed a puja for them. But Mr Jaitley went ahead with his surgery. Months later, when the same party members came to call on him, the FM wondered why they looked so sad. Apparently, they were in mourning as their guru had died after a heart attack. He was 53. There’s a message in this for the BJP’s favourite Bollywood star whose photograph with Radhe Maa has gone viral. “Radhe & Gadhe”, as one smart alec commented, don’t always make a winning team.
The writer is a Delhi-based journalist