Undoubtedly, the US is top dog, but had it made an ass out of the visiting Indians? The question can be debated endlessly, but on one thing all who were part of Manmohan Singh?s delegation to the US were agreed upon ? despite all the red carpet welcome, the wining and dining, the historic declarations and the mutual back-patting, negotiating the minefield of Indo-US relations was beastly business. Literally so. First it was the dogs who came out to sniff at the media team accompanying the PM at the Andrews airforce base, dogs who answered to guards shouting ?Rover, come in Rover? into their walky-talkies. Some amount of tech-savvy is only to be expected of dogs in the US, but for one hack, it was a bit much. ?At this rate the US will surely go to the dogs,? he mumbled, in disgust. But if the Americans know their dogs and are lording it over the dog-eat-dog world of international relations, they know hierarchy even better. Which is why, if the media-persons were given the once-over by dogs, for Manmohan Singh they had reserved a wolf ? Wolf Blitzer of the CNN. The only time the journos were lionized was when they were welcomed into the prime-ministerial aircraft by inflight supervisor AK Saklani and his team. But guess who was in command of the Air India Jumbo ferrying the PM? Executive commander Haathi!
It caught him rather late in life, but now that LK Advani?s got it, he?s got it really bad. The Jinnah syndrome, that is. Or why, when he is close to losing his job because of it, does he still seem so taken with Pakistan?s Qaid-e-Azam? Apparently, Advani reads every article that appears in the media on the man. But what?s really funny is that his family has got it just as bad. For, the favourite pastime of the Advanis these days is to sit around the patriarch and listen to him while he reads out aloud the write-ups on his favourite secularist. A case of the family that adores Jinnah together, stays together?
In politics as in life, image is everything. Which is why, even without a single ?achievement? to set them apart, the GenNext band of MPs ? Rahul Gandhi, Milind Deora, Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia and others ? has bagged at least one of the perks of political life. Foreign junkets. One from the younger lot is sure to accompany every time the president, prime minister or speaker steps out of the country. Also, chambers of commerce, foreign missions and NGOs, all want them to be the face of the youth abroad. Of the youngsters, only the Nehru-Gandhi scion has been discriminating in the invitations he accepts. His friends, especially, Milind and Jatin, are so busy criss-crossing the globe that they are seldom to be found in the country. No wonder, all this is causing much heartburn among their older colleagues. The latter can take heart, they may not grow younger, but the jet-setters will only grow older.
Pranab Mukherjee has a problem with his foot. It seems to keep finding its way into his mouth. He had managed to extricate himself by the skin of his teeth just a few months ago, when he absolved George Fernandes of wrongdoing in the arms? deals case. But will fate come to his rescue this time? The defence minister was asked to release a book on the Bhagalpur riots, which he did. But immediately after, embarrassing details about the book started to come to the fore ? how the riots were the result of infighting among the Congress satraps, of how Rajiv Gandhi knew what was going on but had no idea how to control it, and so on. That?s explosive stuff, especially with the elections in Bihar in November. Also, Pranabda?s detractors in the party lost no time in reminding 10 Janpath about how he was the only one to challenge Rajiv when he was about to take over as PM. Poor dada, the only defence he can put up is to point to Digvijay Singh as the one who recommended his name for the book release. Yes, pass the buck!
Sonia Gandhi had the entire nation at her feet with her ?sacrifice? of the prime ministerial chair, and in the past one year has garnered respect from partymen and opposition alike for being able to hold the disparate UPA together. But one thing was lacking ? the confidence to deal with newspersons on her own, to thrust and parry with words with the camera full on her face. Congressmen were thus pleased that a very self-assured Sonia met a select group of journalists a few days ago, unchaperoned by all but one aide. Those in attendance, and they of course can?t write about it, say the meeting was informal and that she even admitted to having heard ?unsavoury tales? about certain ministers. Quite a candid cut.
A politician and his kursi are not to be parted. It?s quite a wonder thus that they aren?t carted about, kursi and all, wherever they go. No, this is not to ridicule our politicos, who carry the weight of the country on their shoulders. But the way they do carry on is no less ridiculous. Karan Singh was delivering a lecture at a function being held at the IIT auditorium, and sitting on the podium were heavyweights like Arjun Singh, Bindeshwari Pathak, Meira Kumar. Even as the speech was being delivered, in walked Ranganath Mishra, former chairman of the human rights commission. Natu-rally, Mishra was asked to join the dignitaries on the podium. The master of ceremonies escorted him on stage and looking around for an empty chair to seat him, picked on Singh?s vacant chair. But Singh would have none of it. ?Arre, arre us par mat baithiye. Yeh to meri kursi hai,? he screamed right into the microphone.
