How to stage a comeback

Pet project

Down, but never out. After lying low for several years, Subramaniam Swamy, that maverick politician who has raised storms with his tea parties, is on his way back to the centrestage. The occasion is about to be provided by his much-rumoured re-entry into the BJP. Naturally, the projected inclusion has sent shock waves through the second rung of sangh leadership, and even the first. Atal Bihari Vajpayee could not be too pleased to see his trenchant critic within the family quarters. On his part, however, Swamy had been wooing the RSS leadership for a while, given that his own one-man Janata Party adventure had come a cropper. The evidence was there for all to see. Swamy has been embracing pro-right causes with rare gusto. When the scandal broke over the Kanchi sankaracharya, Swamy was among the very few who, together with the Hindutvavadis, locked horns with the Jayalalithaa government. Swamy has kept up the tempo ever since. Last week, at a function reportedly attended by both KS Sudarshan and Jayendra Saraswati, Swamy released his book on Hindus Under Siege, in which he has apparently argued that Hindus run the risk of perishing like the ancient Greeks, Egyptians and Babylonians. Sudarshan too elaborated on the same theme, talking of his pet hate — proselytization. Great men, after all, think alike.

Thinking ahead

Great men, at times, do not think alike. For example, at the recent BJP national executive meet in Dehra Dun, where Narendra Modi suddenly seemed to have changed colours. To every saffronite’s horror, the Gujarat strongman appeared to mix freely with the secular media for the first time since the riots in his state. Many say there is a story behind it all. Modi, apparently, was not allowed to speak throughout the meet. It was only in the last leg that he was asked by the party chief to give a speech, and then cut short on the plea that there was little time left before LK Advani could deliver his. Modi took the snub in his stride. However, the change in Modi has been obvious for some time. He was the first to condemn the Malegaon attacks. He also allowed Muslims in his state to forego singing Vande Mataram. When asked whether he was readying himself for a larger role in the capital, Modi is supposed to have ducked the question in his characteristic manner, “I don’t know what I am doing this evening, let alone 2007.” Any buyers for that?

Short of space

Congresswallahs seem as unwilling to change their spots as saffronites seeming willing to change theirs. Take the battle over 99, South Avenue. The apartment had initially been allotted to a Congress Rajya Sabha MP, who later handed it back for the party’s use. The high profile department of policy planning and coordination was eventually set up there. During the 2004 polls, the premises served as the work station for campaign managers like Jairam Ramesh, Salman Khurshid and Ambika Soni. Today, the leaders are on different paths, some cutting each other’s. Madam has been flooded with complaints about the misuse of the flat. Disgusted, she has apparently ordered that the flat be sealed. The warring factions, however, are unlikely to give up their claims on it. So watch this space.

Mind control

Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, the octogenarian vice-president of India who is also the chairman of the Rajya Sabha, has a wry sense of humour. While being felicitated recently for completing four years in the upper house, Dara Singh, wrestler-turned-legislator, told Shekhawat that his wife often admired the old man’s ability to keep the house under control. Shekhawat shot back, “I hope by now your wife has learnt how to keep you in control after watching me conduct the proceedings!” Later, when a photographer asked him to pose in a certain way while taking his picture, Shekhawat answered, “I always look straight ahead.” Did he have the presidential elections next year in mind?

Coolest one

One should not be called technologically-challenged for not knowing the difference between the gross and net cooling capacities of refrigerators. Most Indians don’t. And that is why South Korean manufacturers love them. It was to seek remedial action against such misleading claims that a well-known Indian producer of white goods approached the MRTP commission. For two years, the matter was discussed threadbare. Just when the case was nearing conclusion, the petitioner suddenly withdrew his complaint. It is now the turn of the commission to protest. Presiding judges have ordered their own investigations. Incidentally, the Bureau of Indian Standards is yet to wake up to the issue.

Footnote

After a life in politics

Ever wondered what happens to our ebullient leaders once their political career ends abruptly? Nathu, who lives in a sleepy village in Uttar Pradesh’s Mainpuri district, has an idea. He is the owner of the land into which Madhavrao Scindia’s ten-seater aircraft crashed about five years ago. Nathu claims that he can no longer work in his field. Every time he has tried to do so, a spirit has come up from nowhere and pleaded with him that it be ‘taken’ to Gwalior. The villager has no doubts about the identity of the stranger. Nathu wants the Scindias to buy up his land and construct a temple. His request, reportedly, has been met with stoic silence by the Jayvilas Palace. Lesser mortals close to the royal household in Gwalior now accuse Nathu of being greedy. The villager, apparently, wanted to palm off his land to the Scindias for a tidy sum. Since his original plan failed, Nathu, it is said, is now cooking up stories. A good one, we must say.