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Journalism of Courage
An indignant Jyoti Basu asked Sonia Gandhi to sack her speechwriter after she questioned the motives of those opposing the nuclear deal in Haryana. The Hindi speech was almost certainly drafted by Janardhan Dwivedi, who is already out of favour, having lost his post as head of the Congress media cell. But Dwivedi would hardly have drafted such a fiery speech if he had not got instructions from his boss. Normally, the AICC alerts TV networks in advance about the gist of Sonia8217;s speeches, but in this case no text of the speech was made available to the media or to agitated politicians who were taken by surprise when TV channels reported the news on Sunday. Actually, Gandhi has been in a combative frame of mind ever since she returned from the U.S. There, she was reportedly advised that the government could not prevaricate much longer on the nuclear deal. But with the Left8217;s sharp response to Gandhi8217;s speech, the Congress blinked first and backtracked in this game of brinkmanship.
Riding out the storm
Stage fright
BJP president Rajnath Singh8217;s efforts to protect former general-secretary Sanjay Joshi from being totally marginalised within the party have met with scant success. Joshi, formerly the RSS8217;s point man in the BJP, was stripped of his general-secretary8217;s post after a nod from higher-ups in Nagpur who had veered around to the view that there was substance in the controversial sex videotape allegation. Singh, nevertheless, subsequently nominated Joshi to the party8217;s national executive, which upset L.K. Advani. Joshi, conscious of the disapproval of a powerful section of the BJP, developed cold feet and did not attend the national executive meeting in Delhi earlier this year. For the recent national executive meet, Joshi flew down to Bhopal, but once again stayed away from the deliberations, reportedly on the advice of the party president.
Piloting his future
Sachin Pilot is so obviously the face of the future in his home state of Rajasthan that the BJP government cannot hide its peeve towards him. Pilot was singled out for 8220;special treatment8217;8217; when he was arrested during the Gujjar agitation this month. It was a baptism by fire in real politics for the soft-spoken, articulate MP, the youngest in the country. Pilot was kept along with hardened criminals and not permitted any contact with lawyers or party workers during his three-day incarceration, while all the other agitators were housed in makeshift temporary jails, allowed to keep cellphones and to mingle with other demonstrators. The Rajasthan government may have to pay a heavy price for its vindictiveness. It has only helped project Pilot as a martyr to the Gujjar cause. Also, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee will have to rule on a demand by Pilot that a breach of privilege be moved against the state government for violating his rights as an MP.
Who8217;s with whom?
While Narendra Modi8217;s non-political opponents target the Gujarat chief minister for his anti-minority record, the Congress, in the coming elections, is more keen to project Modi as more anti-Patel than anti-Muslim. Up and coming Congress leader Bharat Solanki actually told a journalist that Modi, Advani and Musharraf were in league. Ironically, Bharat8217;s father Madhavsinh was the man who had forged the winning KHAM formula Kshatriya, Harijan, Advisasi 038; Muslims for the Congress party. Eventually, the isolated Patel community turned to the BJP and till this election was its support base.
