Many famous names in the art world made their debut at Mumbai’s venerable Jehangir Art Gallery. Artists from the progressive school of painting including M F Husain, S H Raza, Krishan Khanna and Francis Newton Souza exhibited here when they were unknowns half a century ago. But probably the gallery has never witnessed such a clamour and public enthusiasm as last week. The queues to see the art show extended up to the pavement and it was not the usual glitterati and chatterati seen on opening night, but true sons of the soil. The exhibition was of aerial photographs of Shivaji’s forts taken by Udhhav Thackeray, son of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray. It is a moot point whether the enthusiastic viewers were more concerned with art or politics. Host with the most Delhi’s smart set hostesses once dismissed him as a social climber, but the upstart Amar Singh has pushed into the shade all competition in terms of the sheer clout of his guest list. The turnout of top film stars for Singh’s 48th birthday bash was much bigger than for any film festival or award function in the Capital. Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek, Hritik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai, Preity Zinta, Sanjay Dutt et all were among those who flew from Mumbai for the occasion. Even the DPM L K Advani, who earlier appeared to be maintaining a distance from Singh, showed up, so did Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and a gaggle of Cabinet ministers. Congress leaders Manmohan Singh and Shivraj Patil were present as were many industrialists including Singh’s gang Anil Ambani, Adi Godrej and Subrato Roy. Sonia Gandhi unbent sufficiently to wish the birthday boy on the telephone. Singh’s hand is apparent in the wedding preparations of his chum Subrato Roy’s two sons in Lucknow this month. Nine thousand guests, not counting the Sahara parivar, are expected. The invitation card comes along with a schedule of special Sahara flights to Lucknow from the main metropolises. Considering the host owns the airline, air tickets are naturally on the house. Dynastic details Congressmen are curious to know more about Rahul Gandhi who is something of a mystery to them. He stays out of India for long spells, shies away from the limelight and avoids talking to the media. He is helped by a face which melts into the crowd unlike his high profile sister. For those Congressman who want to know more about Rahul but are afraid to ask, here is a fact sheet. Contrary to the popular impression, it is Rahul who is the older of the two siblings. He has a Masters in International Relations from Cambridge University and worked with a financial consultancy in London. According to sources close to the family, his girlfriend’s name is Veronique, and not Juvenita, as reported by the press, and she is not Colombian but Venezuelan. The relationship is of long standing and if they are not yet married it is perhaps because Sonia Gandhi feels it will be a disqualification for her son’s entry into politics. Rahul generally comes to India around October and November when the family observes the birth and death anniversaries of its illustrious ancestors and stays on for Christmas and the New Year. The computer savvy Rahul has statistics of various constituencies at his finger tips and his Hindi has improved perceptively thanks to coaching. Friends say that all rumours of sibling rivalry as to who should join politics are way off the mark. Brother and sister are very close and in constant touch. Apart from his looks Rahul also seems to have inherited his father’s easy going mannerisms and charming personality. The mother may prefer to project her son, but Priyanka is a better bet as a vote catcher having inherited her grandmother’s charisma, forceful personality and autocratic inclinations. Power-driven policy Under the new Exim policy, luxury limousines such as BMWs, Mercedes, Daimler Chryslers and Nissans costing more than $40,000 can be imported without being subjected to homologation tests in Pune. Homologation is meant ostensibly to ensure that the cars are road worthy for Indian conditions, but it is really meant to protect the indigenous automobile industry’s interests. Owners had to pay Rs 15 lakhs for the tests which took two and a half months to complete and what was worse their brand new cars were never quite the same again. Small wonder that a long list of the rich and the famous from Amitabh Bachchan and Amar Singh to Lalit Suri and Sunil Gavaskar had written requesting that their cars be exempted from homologation. So far the only cars for which a special exemption was made were the two BMWs imported for the PM’s security. Single-point theme Few seem to have noticed that the role of the deputy prime minister in the forthcoming BJP campaign has been whittled down. Last year BJP President Venkaiah Naidu had proposed a campaign plank projecting dual leadership with Vajpayee representing the man of development (vikas purush) and Advani as the iron man. But the loh purush fighting terrorism is no longer a theme of the campaign which concentrates only on governance. In the new crop of party posters while Vajpayee’s large visage dominates Advani and Venkaiah Naidu’s small mug shots on either side form part of the backdrop.
