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Journalism of Courage
Commoner8217;s discourtesy
Madhavrao Scindia was sent by his party to Orissa to persuade Orissa Chief Minister Girdhar Gamang to step down. But the blue-blooded Scindia got a royal culture shock at the slippery Chief Minister8217;s treatment of those waiting for an audience at his Dewan-E-Aam. Gamang kept Scindia waiting endlessly proffering one excuse after another. On Tuesday night, Scindia and the AICC team parked themselves at the Chief Minister8217;s residence but finally departed disappointed in the early hours of the morning.
On Wednesday Scindia turned up unannounced at Gamang8217;s home at breakfast time. The weary and hungry Scindia sat patiently in the waiting room, but his host refused to come out of his bedroom. The Chief Minister8217;s flunkies did not even offer the AICC observer tea claiming the kitchen was locked.
Changing traditions
Indignant journalists apprehend that the present dispensation in Parliament has an agenda to scuttle old parliamentary traditions and keep interaction between the media and the MPs to a minimum. Last week, the parliamentary press corps was up in arms after they were barred entry to the official MPs8217; dining room and told to eat snacks in the newly opened press room or in the stand-up staff cafeteria. Admittedly there was a case for excluding pressmen, because of the proliferation of media people covering Parliament some 400 at last count the official Parliament House dining room has become so crowded that MPs and their guests have often to stand and wait to get served.
One learns that the headline-grabbing noisy tradition of allowing an MP to speak on any matter under the sun in zero hour noon might be in jeopardy. There is a proposal that even for zero hour mentions, two hour8217;s advance notice should be given and only 20 MPs would be allotted two minutes each. Some in authority are even anxious to deny senior journalists access to Parliament8217;s Central Hall, known as the nation8217;s premiere gossip club. Their point is that MPs cannot speak freely to each other as there is an apprehension that their informal conversations might find their way into print.
Virtual reality
Despite his cheer leaders boasting of the importance of his new Information Technology IT portfolio, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Pramod Mahajan, is still discontented. Proof of his unhappiness is that he has even started empathising with old rival Sushma Swaraj and grumbling that there is no real gratitude in the party for outstanding performance. Mahajan seldom visits his IT office tucked away in Electronics Bhawan in the CGO complex at Lodhi Road, far from the political hub. The IT ministry8217;s budget is less than Rs 300 crore annually, including salaries and the NICNET budget, which is virtual chicken-feed for the high-flying minister Mahajan prefers to make Parliament House his headquarters and apart from re-upholstering his office in the main building, wants to appropriate several rooms in the Parliament House annexe. The innovative Mahajan has had a special desk designed for his two PAs with drawers on opposite sides so that both can sit simultaneously at the table and there is no need for oneto feel he is being downgraded because the other has grabbed the seat at the desk first, a common problem in most ministerial offices these days.
Uncharitable Kalyan
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh8217;s intemperate abuses of his party colleagues has rendered the breach between him and the BJP permanent, no matter that he still praises the RSS and refrains from attacking Advani.
Kalyan8217;s politically incorrect statements include: describing Govindacharya8217;s soul as blacker than his complexion and Khushabhau Thakre as brain dead . He remarked that Lalji Tandon8217;s real name should have been 8220;lalchi8221;greedy , as for his successor, Ram Prakash Gupta, who was pulled out of the mothballs by the BJP presumably because he had not alienated Kalyan, the former CM scoffs that Gupta is afraid to even go to the loo without first telephoning Delhi to get clearance.
If Kalyan was planning to launch an all-out offensive against the BJP, he should have planned his moves more carefully. Instead of agreeing to step down from office quietly he should have insisted on a show of strength which would have brought down the government. Out of office, Kalyan has discovered that he cannot count on the support of even half-a-dozen MLAs. Kalyan8217;s poor strategy is partly because he is surrounded by sycophantic advisers who have insulated him from reality. Besides the moment he heard that arch rival Rajnath Singh was being made a full Cabinet minister Kalyan saw red.
