Ranchi, Sept. 15: “Jab hum hi nahin hon to kya rang-e-mehfil; kisey dekhkar aap sharmaiyega (the assemblage will be drab and colourless if I am not around. After all, who will be there to make you feel shy),” chanted outgoing chief minister Arjun Munda to his sympathisers gathered at his residence today.
It was the same verse BJP patriarch A.B. Vajpayee had recited after suffering defeat in the hands of late Congress leader Madhavrao Scindia in Gwalior in 1984.
In an apparent bid to embolden Munda, Kamal Khan, the chairman of 15-point programme, who is also known for reciting verses with elan, sang, “Angaron par chalna seekha; makhmali marg se pyar nahin (read Munda, has learnt how to walk through fire; he doesn’t love walking only on velvet pathway)”.
Another recited couplets from Rashmirathi, magnum opus of former national poet Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, written to inspire freedom fighters against the British rule. Yet another goaded Munda on to carry out “Mahabharat and mahayuddh” through their verses.
The mood of Munda, the ambience at his house and also the disposition of the party workers gathered there made it clear Munda had prepared for the role of a classical leader of opposition sooner than expected.
When asked about the durability of his successor government, Munda turned poetic: “Bad dua dena mujhe aata nahin, kaise kahoon ki nayee sarkar kab gir jaye (I don’t know how to curse others. How should I say when the new government will fall)?”
“I have lost a lot, being stifled in CM’s chair. I don’t find time to meet my people or play my flute,” he said.
Musing further, the outgoing chief minister said: “I have as many as 40 pieces of flutes. Now I can play them more often.”
He deliberated in detail on his favourite flute shop owned by Ramchandra Dhodhra in Dadar, Mumbai. “I always go to the house of Dhodhra to meet him and his family members whenever I am in Mumbai. “They are like my family friends and they make special flutes for me.”
The Telegraph caught Munda speaking over phone with JMM chief and Union coal minister Shibu Soren, who was among the lead role-players in toppling his government. Munda was heard addressing him as “guruji and seeking his blessings”.
Without revealing the details about his conversation with Soren, Munda quipped: “It’s personal relationship, you know. Politics should never affect the personal relationship.”
Munda had started his politics with the JMM and also got elected for the first time on JMM ticket.
Dozens of swanky cars were seen parked beneath the tall trees at the CM’s house today, suggesting that Munda may have lost his position but not his colour as a livewire leader.
