United by Ayodhya, divided on Ganga

As fellow travellers in the Ram Mandir movement of the ’90s, minister for water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation Uma Bharati and veteran BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi have always shared a close bond. Nobody can forget the famous photograph of a jubilant Ms Bharati perched atop the shoulders of an equally ecstatic Mr Joshi when the Babri Masjid was torn down on that fateful day in 1992.

However, the two leaders appear to have fallen out now. Ever since he was marginalised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr Joshi has criticised the National Democratic Alliance government’s flagship programme, Namami Gange, to clean the river waters, handled by Ms Bharati’s ministry.

Hitting out at the ruling alliance on every given occasion, Mr Joshi has repeatedly stated that cleaning the Ganga would be a far-fetched dream till there was uninterrupted water flow in the river. Mr Joshi’s public pronouncement has predictably upset Ms Bharati.

Although she has not responded publicly to Mr Joshi’s remarks, her aides maintain she is furious. Her angry camp followers have spread the word that Mr Joshi has no business making such statements as he was heading the expert committee which had cleared the construction of the controversial Tehri dam saying it would not have any impact on the purity of the Ganga’s waters.

Known to be frank and outspoken, Salman Khurshid, senior Congress leader, has a penchant for getting into trouble with his irreverent comments. He was in the eye of a storm last year when he criticised Mr Narendra Modi in the course of a lecture at the Jinnah Institute in Islamabad. Mr Khurshid had remarked that “Modi is not used to talking to people who disagree with him”, a comment which drew howls of protest back in India.

So when he went for the Karachi Literature Festival last week to launch his latest book, The Other Side of the Mountain, it was expected that Mr Khurshid would say something that would grab headlines and generate a heated debate. He was, therefore, asked by well-known Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar, better known in India as former Union minister Shashi Tharoor’s friend, to refrain from saying anything controversial.

Taking serious note of this request, Mr Khurshid decided to stick to the script, making sure he did not step out of line. A poker-faced Mr Khurshid began his presentation by stating that he will, henceforth, follow the example set by Mahatma Gandhi’s three monkeys. Unfortunately, his tongue-in-cheek comment was lost on the Karachi audience.

Former minister Kamal Nath has been virtually incommunicado ever since he was denied the post of the leader of the Congress parliamentary party after the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. The Congress leader has been barely seen or heard in the Lok Sabha and has no role in the Congress’ organisational matters.

Therefore, it was surprising when party vice-president Rahul Gandhi requisitioned Mr Nath’s services to help him defuse the Arunachal Pradesh crisis. While former minister Kapil Sibal was entrusted with the task of handling the legal case being heard in the Supreme Court, Mr Nath was roped in to deal with the rebel legislators who had threatened to join the BJP if their demands were not met.

As a veteran in the game, Mr Nath is among the few senior Congress leaders who can be counted on to handle such situations. While this is being seen as a sign of the return of the Congress old guard, the latest development has also fuelled speculation that Mr Nath may be projected as the party’s chief ministerial candidate in Madhya Pradesh.

It has been a virtual ghar wapsi for former minister Manish Tewari, who was recently reinducted into the Congress’ panel of spokespersons. Mr Tewari was in the doghouse for the past two years after he refused to contest the Lok Sabha elections.

Though he had been impatient to return to his old job, he was rehabilitated only now with an eye on next year’s Punjab Assembly polls. While Mr Tewari must be jubilant over his return, there is a downside to this: He will have to work under his junior, Randeep Singh Surjewala, the head of the party’s communications department.