Inside track — Taxing art

Incidentally, the only formal training in painting Singh received was when as a student in Allahabad he learnt painting techniques in the traditional Bengal school of art. He took up painting again after his illness which forced him to quit active politics. Several well-known artists were delighted to offer advice. Singh progressed from realistic sketches of his pet Pomeranian to more sophisticated and abstract art. In his painting, The Downtrodden, which depicts a tortured face, Singh walked over the painting with bare feet to capture the mood. In another work, Singh has drawn Sheila Kini, the Mumbai housewife who accused the Shiv Sena of killing her husband at the behest of their landlord. Though his illness has prevented him from painting in the last year, Singh’s new interest is photography.

Artistic licence

V.P. SINGH’S lieutenant Wasim Ahmed, MP, thought he was doing the organisers at Maneka Gandhi’s `Delhi for Delhi’ art show a great favour by calling the media on the opening day to meet Singh, as if it was a political press conference. As a consequence, the art gallery was taken over by Singh’s SPG guards, the TV cameras and political correspondents who together frightened off legitimate buyers and art lovers. Maneka had to tactfully persuade Singh and the media circus to move to the lawns so that the art show could be salvaged.

The unkindest cut for Maneka was that one TV network showed clips while she was talking to Singh about the show, and made the visuals into a political story, claiming that Singh was mediating between Mulayam Singh Yadav, the BSP and Maneka. In fact, Maneka is hoping to get BJP support for her election in Pilibhit.

Jain junction

While he had earlier indicated that he would wind up his commission by February end, Justice Jain now has second thoughts. He has learnt that the Government is contemplating taking action against the Commission after its term ended for having breached the Official Secrets Act. Jain has made top secret documents public which the Government thought were being shown only to the judge in strictest confidence.

The judge has decided that attack is the best form of defence and has demanded still more classified material, so that he has an excuse to refuse to wind up the commission. In part two of his report, Jain plans to fix Chandraswami. In his first report the only mention of the swami — in spite of all the media stories — is about a newspaper clipping which claims that $ 1 million was paid by the swami’s henchman to a Colombo-based businessman. After six years, the Commission is still trying to verify the truth of the report, even though the address of the Sri Lankan businessman is included in the report.

Over-smart Ajit

Ajit Singh’s political strategy is to switch sides constantly and keep everyone guessing as to who he will ally with next. But in being too clever by half, Ajit has lost out. Ajit convinced the BJP that at some point he would join with them along with other MPs from the Jat heartland of western UP. Which is why in 1996 the BJP put up a weak opponent against Ajit in Chaudhary Charan Singh’s pocket-borough of Baghpat.

But then Ajit convinced himself that his best bet for the forthcoming election was to ally with the RJD since the latter planned to ally with the BSP and hopefully Mulayam’s Samajwadi Party as well. During Kalyan Singh’s crucial confidence motion in the UP assembly, Ajit permanently alienated the UP Chief Minister by refusing support of the Bharatiya Kisan Kamgar Party MLAs. Now, Mayawati has made it clear that she is not tying up with the RJD in UP and Ajit finds himself out in the cold. To add to his woes, Som Pal, whose father was a renowned Arya Samaji leader and Sanskrit scholar, has joined the BJP and is set to challenge Ajit in his once invincible citadel.