Confusion confounded

There are probably several hundred requests for an interview with Rahul Gandhi, with many prominent editors even sending in a list of writte...

There are probably several hundred requests for an interview with Rahul Gandhi, with many prominent editors even sending in a list of written questions. But the crown prince of the Congress party chose to open up for the first time to the media to Vijay Simha, a correspondent from Tehelka, who has gone to Amethi to check out the development work there. Rahul seems to have been impressed by Simha8217;s sincerity and doggedness and also by the fact that he worked for Tehelka, whose editor Tarun Tejpal he had met recently.

In the 80-minute-long interaction, Rahul spoke straight from his heart which is why the interview reflects both his honesty and confusion. He comes across as very different from the run-of-the mill glib-talking politician. Some busybodies in the Congress squirmed over his politically incorrect remarks. Rahul8217;s candid admission of the lawlessness in Bihar, that he could have been made PM at 25 if he had wanted who in the Congress would have dared object if he had staked his claim or his contempt for the questions most MPs raise in Parliament are not remarks which politicians express publicly even if they do so in private.

Interestingly, the Congress which saw nothing wrong in the interview at 2 pm on Friday before last changed it8217;s mind two hours later, claiming it was not a formal interview as such and just a casual conversation with misrepresentations. Tehelka, which first put out a statement maintaining that it was a formal interview, also did a volte face later that day and apologised for the misunderstanding and any 8216;8216;inadvertent8217;8217; errors . Could it be Tehelka8217;s bete noire George Fernandes quoting the interview in the context of the Bihar polls that determined the shift in its stance?

Notes from the past

Was Vasili Mitrokhin, the KGB archivist who fled with KGB files and defected to Britain, posted in New Delhi in the mid-sixties? Some who were then closely associated with the Soviet embassy recall a man with the same name in charge of the Soviet Novosti news agency in India. Mitrokhin only interacted with the big guns in charge of the Indian communist publications, while his junior Travkin happily mixed with the aam janataf39 of the Delhi media and sometimes visited the Press Club.

The Mitrokhin Archive II quotes KGB files as claiming that it had 10 newspapers on its payroll as well as a news agency and makes clear that most of the banknotes were handed over personally. There is, however, no reference to the mysterious funding of the Patriot newspaper which was allegedly bankrolled by an anonymous donor who sent money through a Swiss bank. To facilitate the money transfer, the then government obligingly passed a Bill in Parliament permitting the names of contributors from abroad not to be disclosed. Shortly afterwards this law was reversed.

Tail gets new coat

There was not a squeak of protest from the CPIM side when the Mitrokhin Archives suggested that CPI leaders such as Ajay Ghosh, C V Rajeshwar Rao and Romesh Chandra had dealings with the KGB. It was only when the party discovered the name of its own icon, Pramode Dasgupta, cropping up in the archives that the CPIM saw red.

The CPIM is furious with the CPI for deserting the UPA alliance with Laloo in Bihar and joining forces with Ram Vilas Paswan along with the two other Communist coat-tail parties 8212; the RSP and Forward Bloc. The CPI8217;s argument is that by aligning with an unpopular Laloo it is losing its vote bank to the CPIML, which in the last election won seven Assembly seats compared to the CPI8217;s three. But can a coat-tail party afford such a declaration of independence considering that out of its 10 Lok Sabha seats, at least nine have been won entirely because of alliances with the CPIM.

Forgotten in-law

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Shernaz Gandhi is a widow who has not received her husband8217;s pension for the last 30 years. Her husband, Dorab, an agricultural engineer with the UP government, passed away in 1976 and she shifted from Allahabad to Mumbai. Despite frequent correspondence with the UP authorities the widow has not been able to get her just dues.

Gandhi, who had a hip operation a month ago in a leading Pune hospital, had to move out perforce because she could not afford the medical costs. Her bill was Rs 1,27,000. Gandhi is not looking for charity, but wants someone to help her in getting her pension. She has written a letter to her husband8217;s brother8217;s influential family in Delhi for help in sorting out her pension problems. But so far there has been no response even though Dorab8217;s nephew was none other than the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Indira Gandhi was her sister-in-law.

Speechwriter-less in Chennai

Since L K Advani8217;s favourite speech writer Sudheendra Kulkarni was not in Chennai for the BJP national executive meeting there was speculation in the party as to who wrote the BJP president8217;s speeches. Advani8217;s presidential address had the stamp of a pro-BJP newspaper editor close to Advani. But his concluding address when he announced his decision to quit by the year-end seems to have been drafted by Advani himself. Advani was so determined to keep his speech secret that his faithful private secretary, Deepak Chopra, had to personally type it out at the last moment. One of the few to have been taken into taken into confidence was a Chennai resident who is close to the RSS and Advani. He relayed some portions of the speech to the RSS long before anyone in the BJP got to know the contents.