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My enemy's enemies...

Amar, Akbar, Anthony -- Pawar, Anwar, Sangma. I worship them. Practically, Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh!

Please feel free to take me to the cleaners if you so wish, but these are my exact sentiments: If push comes to shove, I would rather have Laloo Prasad Yadav as prime minister of India than bow before the Shroud of Turin. Sure it may be personal -- I lost my column in The Sunday Observer because of its strictures on writing against Sonia, remember? But that *IS* the issue which should concern us all -- pinkos included: Why is it that my crappy stuff on Narasimha Rao and I K Gujral and Deve Gowda and Basu was tolerated? Why is it that D'Souza's ranting against Vajpayee and Manohar Joshi was permitted? Why should there be a moratorium on articles against a mere president of one of many political parties when there was none on those against prime ministers and chief ministers...? So, no, it is *not* personal. I gauged my muzzling as a sign of things to come.

Sharad Pawar, Tariq Anwar and Purno Sangma have done what I considered an impossibility: they gave voice to over 55% of angry and humiliated Indians. Henceforth, the gentlemen will always be treated respectfully in this column. I do not care what their motives are, what their agenda is, what their game, ends, aims, convictions may be. All I know is that they stood up to be counted at a crucial time. And that's good enough for me.

Did you read the full text of the letter to Madam President? Excellent piece of work: Pat with one hand and cuff with the other. My favourite passage decidedly is, "You have kept the fold together, consulted with senior colleagues and motivated the youth... Such selflessness is not new to India, and this ability to put the party's interest above yourself gave us hope and strength." Note that "not new to India." In one stroke, they said, You ain't the bee's knees, babe; India always had and will always have people who will sacrifice all for her.

Then there's the interesting "Despite pressure, you resisted temptation to fight elections." Ah! So there *was* a fascination towards that which politicians take up the profession for... And the confirmation comes from CWC members who would know. "However, of late we have noticed what we hope is only a temporary aberration." "Aberration"? And we can only hope that it isn't permanent -- that it may, in fact, have been there all along, and we pray that we are wrong...? Ooh... they started burning their bridges with this one.

I especially like the latent menace in each weighed sentence. Is Mr Sangma a lawyer, you think? This hasn't been drafted by Mr Pawar, that's for sure: "Above all it is a country which is self sufficient in every sense of the word" (we don't really need imported goods such as yourself, Senora). "India has always lived in the spirit of the Mahatma's words 'Let the winds from all over sweep into my room' but again he said 'I will not be swept off my feet' " (you're welcome to stay in our land, but don't dare trample over us). "We accept with interest and humility the best which we can gather from the North, South, East or West. But our inspiration, our soul, our honour, our pride, our dignity, is rooted in our soil, it has to be of this earth." Rah, rah, rah! This is a fundie talking. This could well be Advaniji! They're saying, You, a foreigner, have exceeded your limits; you have been assaulting Indian dignity.

Early this morning, I saw Mani Shankar Aiyar being grilled by Vinod Dua on Zee News over the issue of the Shroud's eligibility. If it were possible, I'd have felt sorry for him. There's no other term for it: his face was purple. What could he say when the Trimurti had openly written, "It is an issue which affects not just the security, economic interest and international image of India, but hits at the core pride of every Indian."? Forget the "pride" -- it can be put down to nationalist rhetoric. Note the "security". Khel khal-laas. Aiyar blustered on about how the Indian people have accepted the bahu and how he was confident Soniaji would win the elections, etc, etc. Dua simply asked, "Is this your personal opinion or that of the entire CWC"? Aiyar's chin swept the floor.

So, right, they tackled the Shroud's foreign origins, they thrust with the security lapse, they parried behind the shield of Indian honour -- and then they struck where it hurts most: "A person who is to take reins of this country needs a large measure of experience and understanding of public life. That is why the founders of the party insisted that people who aspired for higher positions should first spend time working their way up." What to say? Thing is, no matter how much Monu Nalapat or Pramod Mahajan or Mulayam or I scream ourselves hoarse, it doesn't have a tenth of the weight as when it comes from veteran Congressmen who've seen her at work ever she entered the fray. This is the single most damaging statement in the missive. If Mr Sangma and Mr Pawar feel she lacks in the area, and since they're in a position to know that Congress workers have been "defensive or apologetic" about Sonia's "track record in public life", what's left for anybody else to add? These guys have stolen the thunder right from under the Sangh Parivar's nose!

At the end came the pincer movement: "The Congress manifesto should suggest an amendment to the Constitution of India, to the effect that the offices of the President, Vice-President and Prime Minister can only be held by natural born Indian citizens. We would also request that you, as Congress president, propose this amendment. This will be in line with your own consistent stand that your sole concern in entering public life was to revive and rejuvenate the party..." Scratch that; it's not a pincer movement -- it's a checkmate. There's no saving face for her: the Shroud has to go the whole hog of forever denying leadership to foreigners in order to prove that she had/has no interest in power for herself.

As things stand, Mr Pawar is busy schmoozing in Maharashtra -- he did not attend the emergency CWC meeting called by the Shroud for damage control. Mr Sangma is merry-making with his son in the US. And Mr Anwar -- to pacify whom, the Shroud sent "peaceable" errand boys like Ahmed Patel, A K Antony and, of all the boot-lickers, Sitaram Kesri -- asserted that since the other two leaders weren't in Delhi, he couldn't possibly make any commitments on their behalf. Meaning, they intend sticking to their guns.

It is indeed a pity that Rajesh Pilot did not join the trio -- every "internal" report says that he was taken in confidence, but that he developed cold feet after the intervention of the man whose English I simply can't understand, Pranab Mukherjee. I find it hard to digest that Rajesh Pilot is a man who has faced enemy fire in his Air Force days... Tragic. It would have been formidable if he'd joined the rebels.

So what do I think will happen next? Haven't a clue! The cynic in me says that the three will do another U-turn and we'll be left exactly where we started from: Nowhere. But the letter is too, too hard to warrant that: The Shroud won't be able to stomach the attacks -- you need to be a grass-roots politician like Sharad Pawar for that. Could be that they will form a break-away Congress: Mr Pawar had done very well with his erstwhile Progressive Democratic Front. It's certain that Mulayam will align with him. And it's possible that the gang of old Socialists, i e, Chandra Shekhar, Hegde and company, will also link up. What about Georgekaka? Quite possible. You see, Mr Pawar is the Great Maratha Strongman; he has the ability to carry the entire state with him :)

Which makes me wonder: About two weeks ago, why had Balasaheb said on television that Mr Pawar would certainly break away from Sonia's Congress? What had he known? For how long had this been fermenting? More significantly, who all have been party to it...? But what the hell, I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. All I can say is: Thank you, M/s Pawar, Sangma and Anwar. And welcome to my personal pantheon, the one where I perform full-fledged morning aartis to my enemy's enemies.

Varsha Bhosle