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Varsha Bhosle

Men behaving badly

I *hate* my job when politicians begin to act up every day. Over the last week, I've written, and then shredded, some four articles. When political conditions become fluid, the written word becomes stale almost overnight...

First, there was the intriguing bit about Harkishan Singh Surjeet's meetings with Arjun Singh to cobble together yet another power-sharing adjustment to keep the BJP out of government. Two days later, Surjeet was pulled up by the Left Front for stating that the UF was prepared to support the Congress. In his desperation for keeping the BJP out, the comrade had declared the Left's support -- without an endorsement from the Politburo. So I gloated over that, railed at the turbaned pinko -- and then tore it up.

For, the next day, The Indian Express wrote, "Expressing the wish that it should be a UF-headed government, 'rajguru' V P Singh said the UF and Congress have to change their earlier positions and co- operate with each other in forming a non-BJP government with Congress participation." The BJP-loathing, ailing raja -- a descendant of the Jaichand who did Prithviraj Chauhan in -- wanted the nation, too, to undergo dialysis every 18 months... So I bent all my spleen on the self-serving hypocrite - and then scrapped it.

For, a day later, Karunanidhi indicated that his six-member DMK would support a Congress-led coalition -- despite the fact that it was the Congress stand on the DMK vis-`a-vis the Jain Commission report that scuttled the UF government. Karunanidhi justified his stand by saying that "some Congress leaders" had later acknowledged that the Poonamallee court had said nothing to implicate the DMK in Rajiv Gandhi's murder. So I raved and ranted against the goggled goombah -- and then ripped it up.

For, apropos his support to the BJP, The Statesman quoted Chandrababu Naidu as saying: "Why should I do something which is so risky and even suicidal?" The crux was that Naidu was convinced about the 8 % of minority votes to the TDP. And the same day, the BJP said it was willing to drop the three contentious issues -- construction of a Ram temple at Ayodhya, abrogation of Article 370, and evolution of the UCC -- from the "national agenda" if it forms a government...

So I lashed out at everyone and his uncle -- and then discarded that, too. For, the Bihari Bandicoot had done the unexpected and resigned, supposedly in favour of The Shroud of Turin. But that wasn't all; Sitaram Kesri's actions indicated that he wasn't about to go down without a fight...

The Bihari Bandicoot made it clear that he had resigned under duress: "I wanted to stay as the Congress president with dignity. And everybody knows what I have had to endure during the past one- and-half months." When his attention was drawn to the parallel of INC president Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose being forced to step down by Mahatma Gandhi, Kesri said, "Gandhi ka atma ab bhi chal raha hai (Gandhi's soul is still around)" -- a direct dig at The Shroud's machinations. His closing statement was, "Bahut ho gaya. Ab saha nahin jata (Enough is enough. I can't bear it anymore),"

Normally, I'd have felt sorry for any person in Kesri's predicament. But for the Bihari Bandicoot, a sycophant who places his Gandhi topi at the feet of the Gandhi widow at, well, the drop of a hat, I feel no sympathy. He had it coming. And I hope to god that all the other psychopathic sycophants also get their just desserts.

It is a mystery to me: How can Indians, whether Congressmen or the dingbats who defend the sacrificing saintliness of Sonia, be so devoid of intellect and self-respect? How can they NOT see that for the Nehrus, politics is nothing but the business of ruling? Why can't we just say: It's so wonderful that the Nehru dynasty has sacrificed so much for the country. We thank thee very much. But it is unfair to ask one family to do this much for one country. So why don't ye, O Shroud of Turin, and thy son Rahul John Paul and thy daughter Priyanka Robert Vadra and thy son-in- law Robert Vadra all just go to Italy? Ye really don't need to sacrifice any more. Please just go away, and we'll have others sacrificing themselves for India now...

But no, vote for the Congress, goddamn Maharashtra did. And got us another hung Parliament and more cardiac-arrests and more unstable conditions, and all the angelic parties regrouping behind The Shroud to overpower the people's mandate. But, if the sheer fright of the BJP displayed by the secularists and pinkos is obvious, the sheer compromise that the BJP is forced to make is just as apparent. It's a sad state of affairs, indeed.

Watching the frantic moves of the Congress and UF, it seems like the only thing the secularists are worried about is, what if the BJP proves that the Sangh Parivar is not the Satan that it's projected to be? Already, more youngsters have rejected the old guard... Which reminds me of Max Planck: 'A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it...' The secularists' chief worry is: When the new generation rises, what will be the future of vote-bank politicians who constitute the present Establishment?

Watching the BJP wriggle and squirm up the ladder, I'm reminded of Sun Tzu: 'Deception is for the purpose of seeking victory over an enemy; to command a group requires truthfulness.' The only thing on the BJP's mind is that it must reach the position to prove that it is capable of good governance. But at what cost? If it denies the three basics of Hindutva, how can it retain the loyalty of nationalists?

But then, as BJP general secretary Venkaiah Naidu said: "If you give us half the mandate, we can implement half the manifesto; if you had given us the full mandate, we could have implemented the full manifesto." Who can argue with this logic? Ergo, the onus lies upon the voter: A country deserves the instability it gets. It's a case of just about everybody behaving badly.

India has come back full circle. What was the need for another election if we are to have another Congress-UF coalition government, or a government which is not radically different from the ones we've had before? Is this really what the majority wants? I don't buy it. If you watched the news showing different polling booths, you wouldn't have missed the line of women in burqas in every clip -- the 12% Muslims came out in droves and made the difference. So, what prevented Hindus from voting en bloc for even the watered-down BJP?

Of course, it was the Hindutva bogey -- specifically, the non-issue of Ram Janmabhoomi. Does no Hindu secularist remember that it was Mahatma Gandhi (whose secularism cannot be doubted by even his detractors), who wrote in the Navjeevan of 17 July, 1937, quote, "Mosques built after destroying temples are the sign of slavery and Muslims should hand over the same to the Hindu society"? How come the Gandhi-wadis don't ever cite this?

Now, if all these events weren't enough, there's this report that Priyanka's in-laws are RSS supporters... No, you read that right. It seems that the Vadra family farm in Bangarpur near Moradabad hosts a RSS-run school, Saraswati Shishu Mandir, and occasional shakhas. Om Prakash Vadera (who uses a different spelling of the surname), the family patriarch and Robert Vadra's uncle, says he donated the school to the RSS in 1995. In fact, Priyanka's father- in-law, Rajendra Vadra, is also associated with the school.

The Indian Express says the farm is named after the late sons of Om Prakash Vadera, who says, "My purpose is not to make profit. So I donated the school to the RSS and the hospital to Vivekananda Charitable Trust. But I am fully involved in their working." The walls of the principal's office are adorned with the photographs of RSS-founder Dr Hegdewar, and Golwarkar Guruji, and his table is strewn with copies of Panchjanya, the RSS mouthpiece. The school has around 270 children from neighbouring villages, and all its teachers are committed RSS workers.

Of course, Priyanka immediately shot off a letter to the paper, denying any links with her in-laws's venture: "I find the ideology of the RSS and the Sangh Parivar anathema to all that I believe in, and I would not associate with it or with institutions which propagate it, regardless of who owns or sponsors them." So what now? A separation a la Indira and Feroze Gandhi...?

See what I mean? There's so much happening! How *can* I focus on any one thing? There's the BJP's swadeshi agenda ball; its fox- trot with Jayalalitha; the twist-and-shake with Mamata; the minuet with Chandrababu Naidu; Sharad Pawar's cha-cha-cha with Chacha ("He did a Gandhian thing by resigning. It is an encouraging move"); the RSS suing the Bandicoot for his blaming them for the Coimbatore blasts; the pleading of the case for a BJP government by eminent jurists Nani Palkhivala and Soli Sorabjee, and by Sadachar Bharati, whose chairman is former President R Venkataraman and whose members include former Congress president S Nijalingappa and former Maharashtra governor C Subramaniam...

Hey, don't blame me -- I am as clueless as you are about what is going on or will happen at the Centre by next week. All I can say is, it's Situation Normal, All ****** Up, as usual...

Varsha Bhosle