|
Booked Guest Delhi: Once the chatterati's favourite prime minister, I.K. Gujral has replaced
Khushwant Singh as the favourite chief guest at book launches -- irrespective of whether
the volume being released is about Goa or the nuclear bomb, unmindful of whether the
author is Romesh Bhandari or an Unknown Nobody, unconcerned whether the venue is a musty
seminar room or a five-star hotel. What took the cake was when a senior bureaucrat's wife
called up a journalist to have her exhibition of paintings written about. "The
opening was such a success," she gushed, "you know, two former prime ministers
were there." "Was one of them Gujral?" asked the journalist wryly.
"Yes," was the astonished reply, "how did you guess?" As they say
about Gujral these days, he's becoming a book in the box.
Missed Wedding
Delhi: When the Congress forced a vote on President's rule in Bihar, it
decided to go all out. Party MPs were summoned from as far away as London and Orissa for
the vote in Parliament. It did not spare even Bihar MP Shakeel Ahmed Khan whose sister was
getting married the same day. But when it became clear that it could not muster the
numbers, the party allowed Chief Minister Giridhar Gomang to stay put in Orissa. However,
by the time Khan was told that he could be spared, his return flight to Patna had left.
Poor Khan was left holding a bouquet from the party high command for the missed wedding. A
visibly upset Khan was fuming: "In Bihar we paid a double price. I lost face with my
people and family."
Diplomatic Show
Delhi: In the arcane world of Sino-Indian diplomacy, every word and gesture
matters. Chairman Mao's famous smile to Brajesh Mishra at a reception in Beijing signalled
the Sino-Indian thaw in the 1970s. India's somewhat maladroit reference to China in its
letter explaining its nuclear test signalled a freeze. Now comes another of those
enigmatic signals. Last week, the Chinese Embassy had scheduled a documentary on its
version of the 1962 war with India. But two days before the event, it called off the show
because of "the failure of the VCDs". The week before, Indian and Chinese
officials met in Beijing for the first official consultations since the Pokhran tests.
Even rookie diplomats know that in these circumstances a film show about a war whose
outcome was a drubbing for India would not have been the most tactful of acts.
Ground Logic
Delhi: A day before Parliament was to take up the debate on the ratification
of President's rule in Bihar, senior RJD leaders were in a huddle in Bihar Bhavan. What
had them worried was the fact that the Congress, as also the other opposition parties, had
talked about the removal of the Rabri Devi government on moral grounds. Listening to their
arguments, an irritated Laloo Prasad Yadav couldn't take it any more. In his typical
sarcasm, the RJD chief gave it back: "I have heard of football ground, cricket
ground, playground, but what is this moral ground? What kind of games are played on this
moral ground?" Suffice to say that the RJD debate ended on Laloo's earthy logic.
Singing Ministers
Calcutta: : The list of culture vultures in the West Bengal Government continues to
grow. Recently, Home Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya read a selection of his poetry at the
Calcutta Press Club. And last week, PWD Minister Kshiti Goswami and Irrigation Minister
Debabrata Bandyopadhay regaled the crowd with Rabindra sangeet and folk songs at a
function organised by Goswami's department. "The response was much better than when
they make speeches," quipped a politician backstage. "Politics is my vocation
not my passion," explained Bandyopadhay. And Goswami admitted that he stole some time
from official work to practise for the occasion. If only music and poetry could solve the
state's problems.in the damage caused by Harikrishna's campaign. |
