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Diary News, Views, Footloose.
AND THEN THEY WERE NINE
Raj Thackeray's number fetish
When the BJP-Shiv Sena combine launched its campaign in Maharashtra on August 9,
some thought it was meant to coincide with Quit India Day. Actually it was simply because
Raj Thackeray, scion of the Sena's first family, is a numerology freak who's concluded 9
is lucky for his party. If the individual digits 9, 8 (August is the eighth month) and
1999 are added they equal 45; 4 and 5 of course make 9. The decision to hold assembly and
Lok Sabha polls together was taken on July 18, another perfect day. The Sena is contesting
171 assembly seats and the BJP 117. The Sena campaign cassette runs 27 minutes. That polls
are being held in the ninth month has sent Sainiks into premature celebrations. Now
they're praying results will be out on October 9.
-V.
Shankar Aiyar
Taxing patience, Delhi:
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is deep into the scrutiny of returns filed
by political parties. Even so, inquiries at the CBDT are met with silence unusual even by
the standards of bureaucracy. Any information about the tax returns will be made public
only after the polls. Apparently it's "sensitive" stuff and could influence the
polls. A less charitable explanation is that the babus at the CBDT don't want to take any
chances and annoy future political masters.
-Shefali
Rekhi
Unwelcome home, Hyderabad:
At 76, Chennamaneni Rajeshwara Rao is a veteran CPI MLA in Andhra Pradesh. This
year he wanted to hand over his seat, Sircilla, to his son Ramesh. Since the communists
don't believe in dynasties, father and son moved to the TDP. That's when the Home Ministry
said Ramesh couldn't contest: he's been a German citizen since 1993. The younger Rao, who
runs a Berlin-based NGO and has developed drinking water utilities in Sircilla, now
complains about how it's "easier for foreigners to become Indians than for one who
wants to reclaim citizenship".
-Amarnath
K. Menon
Trivial Pursuit
The CPI has chosen Manjula Diwakar
for Mohanlalganj in Uttar Pradesh. Her USP? She's a popular Bhojpuri singer.
Mahesh Yogi's Ajeya Bharat Party
will demolish Parliament House if brought to power. The building's "vaastu is
bad".
Feroze Varun Gandhi campaigned in
Pilibhit for mother Maneka. He wanted to go to Bellary too. But L.K. Advani said no.
The Congress has never lost six
seats: Bellary, Dibrugarh, Mandvi, Tura, Koraput, Andaman & Nicobar.
Quote Piece
"I never equated Sonika with
Moniaji. I never said it ... about Monisca."
Pramod Mahajan, at a press conference in Delhi
"Soniaji came from Italy
in a doli ... She will leave only on an arthi."
Mahesh Joshi, Congress candidate from Indore
BALLOT AND BOTTLE
A minister and a campaign gone blotto
The H.D. Deve Gowda-J.H. Patel battle took a spirited turn in Bangalore recently.
Karnataka Home Minister Aswathanarayana Reddy was mighty embarrassed when the police --
which falls under his purview -- raided the house of his acolyte Dhanraj. The lawmen found
24 cases of whisky and gallons of illicit brew. The operation took place following
complaints from M. Shankar, the JD (Secular) candidate against JD (United) nominee Reddy
in Varthur assembly constituency. The alcohol was meant to be distributed in the slum
areas of the constituency and thereby win over voters. The cops even seized the car that
was to take the bottles to the intended recipients. So what's this? Lip service to
morality?
-Stephen
David
CALL OF NEUTRALITY
Eunuch Shobha is Bhajan's leading campaigner
Haryana's wile wizard Bhajan Lal faces a tough battle in Karnal. So he's roped in
every supporter in sight -- including Shobha Nehru, the state's only eunuch municipal
councillor. Shobha is also a committed Congressperson: right down to tricolour sari,
tricolour nose-ring and tricolour hair-band. In Hissar, Geeta, Shobha's dance companion
and disciple, is similarly rooting for the Congress' Birender Singh. "We're neutral
in sex but not neutral politically," says Geeta. Very true. After all in neighbouring
Punjab eunuch municipal councillor Santosh Mahant is cheering on the Akalis in Bhatinda.
-Ramesh
Vinayak
RAMADOSS PAMPHLET
An ally of the BJP in Tamil Nadu, S. Ramadoss' PMK has just
released a formidable manifesto. It begins by telling you that in 1998 the PMK "won
four cabinet seats out of five contested". Next it declares its faith in
"Periyarism, Ambedkarism and Marxism" and vows to "protect ... Dr
Ambedkar's conducive secularism". It is dead against "the New Economic Policy
with its wings of liberalisation and privatisation throwing open all possible doors for
the aggrandisement of multinationals while cutting sharp the local entrepreneurship,
employment and job security". It wants "official status for Tamil, a rich and
profound language of par excellence" and "will not tolerate imposition of any
foreign language, including Hindi". It says "rivers will be nationalised",
"Tamil Nadu and Kerala should be declared as Tribal Regions" and reservation for
women must be "raised gradually to 50 per cent". Good luck Mr Vajpayee.
-Ashok
Malik
LONE HAND
MANMOHAN'S SONIA-FREE CAMPAIGN
Manmohan Singh had everybody from Khushwant Singh to Javed Akthar backing him in
South Delhi. There were no references to Sonia Gandhi though. Manmohan's poll leaflets
praised him as "a person with the Midas touch", an "outstanding economist,
educationist par excellence and administrator of rare acumen". In sum, Manmohan sold
himself as an honest, apolitical man and wooed the middle-class constituency that in
recent years seems to have gone over to the BJP. Should he win, will the Congress
president truly be able to claim credit?
UP IN THE AIR
Vajpayee's horribly complex itinerary
Security and EC guidelines have made Atal Bihari Vajpayee's campaign complicated.
The security agencies have charted a route whereby he literally flies from state to state
instead of covering one region at a stretch. While the EC has ruled out the pm taking
journalists with him, the BJP's plans to charter an aircraft for journos have not worked
out either. Security restrictions prohibit other planes using the same airstrip an hour
before or after the pm's flight.
Moreover, from the airport where his flight lands Vajpayee
often has to travel by helicopter to the rally site. In many areas helicopters cannot fly
after 5.30 p.m. All this means Vajpayee is rushed and can't confer with local leaders. The
lengthy flying hours and air pressure are also punishing for a man who's long been plagued
by ear trouble.
-Saba
Naqvi Bhaumik
CRYSTAL BALL
The Congress will win over 200 seats and form the next
government.
Sonia Gandhi will be the next PM.
The government will last about four years. Next polls in
2004.
Vimal Singh, aura reader
The 27-year-old from Lucknow was recently termed
"Nostradamus of India" in a BBC programme. Not a conventional astrologer, he
says his ESP allows him to read a person's aura and decipher the flashes he receives on
seeing his subject.
KHASI QUESTION
What's Sangma doing amid accession alarms?
There's an unusual if ancillary poll issue in Meghalaya. It concerns the Instrument
of Accession, an agreement between the Syiems (traditional heads) of 25 Khasi states and
the Indian government signed in December 1947. The Syiems of these states are holding
meetings with their village headmen in order "to review the 1947 treaty". Says
John F. Kharshing, who is spearheading the campaign: "The Khasi states did not sign a
merger agreement (like Sikkim, for instance), so they have a right to review the present
political system, which has failed miserably." This means reviving traditional
institutions like the village dorbars (courts) that administered Meghalaya prior to the
"imposition" of district councils. The campaign is ostensibly
"apolitical", but parties have had no choice but to vote in favour. Says P.A.
Sangma, whose NCP is trying to find its feet in the Khasi hills: "You get justice in
a day in a dorbar, whereas it takes years in a court."
-Avirook
Sen |
