Minister’s Malapropisms

Home Minister Shivraj Patil often goofs up by using one word when he actually means another similar sounding one. Recently, when talking to ...

Home Minister Shivraj Patil often goofs up by using one word when he actually means another similar sounding one. Recently, when talking to journalists about his meeting with the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, Patil referred to Bhattacharya as the Chief Minister of Bangladesh. He had to be reminded that the Left leader came from India. Nevertheless he slipped up once again by remarking that the next round of talks on Naxalites would probably be held in Bangladesh.

While speaking on the ordinance to replace POTA, Patil kept referring to a ‘‘sunlight period’’, which puzzled both Home Ministry officials and scribes. He actually meant the ‘‘sunset clause’’, under which a committee is to be set up to review the cases of all those detained under POTA. The reason for the delay in issuing an ordinance, said Patil, was because the Prime Minister was away in South Africa. He actually meant President Abdul Kalam.

Patil’s most hilarious malapropism was at his first press conference. Journalists were a bit wary of the new Home Minister, since some of them had been scolded by him in North Block shortly after he took over. Patil had warned them not to lurk around the corridors of the Home Ministry and disturb officials. To dispel the anti-media image, Patil, a few days later, invited journalists to his office and assured them he was keen to have a meaningful ‘‘intercourse’’ with the media.

Delayed Roots

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Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee has never forgiven a Kolkata newspaper which once referred to him as a ‘‘rootless wonder’’, alluding to the fact that he has always been elected to the Rajya Sabha. Now that Mukherjee has finally made it to the Lok Sabha, by winning the Jangipur constituency in West Bengal, Mukherjee is anxious to dispel the impression that he is an armchair politician ignorant of grassroots politics. In fact, he has sent 23 boxes of files concerning development projects for Bengal to the relevant ministries.

Recently, when a group of Bengali journalists met Mukherjee after first visiting another Congress stalwart from Bengal, Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, the Defence Minister was anxious to know just what Dasmunshi had spoken to them about. A correspondent mentioned some of the plans Dasmunshi had in mind for Bengal. A short while later, Mukherjee was on the phone to Dasmunshi making the very same suggestions.

Subtle Encroacher

Jagdish Tytler has made no secret that he wants some of the functions of the Ministry of External Affairs transferred to his fledgling Ministry of NRI Affairs. Foreign Minister Natwar Singh has been equally forthright in trying to keep Tytler off his turf. Singh, however, has been less vigilant about the subtle encroachment on his territory by National Security Adviser, J N Dixit. Normally the NSA should have confined himself to the National Security Council and other issues concerning defence strategy. But, Dixit has benefited from inheriting a job held formerly by Brajesh Mishra, who, thanks to his proximity to the former PM, was able to carve out for himself a very powerful position despite the MEA’s opposition.

Dixit has taken over from Mishra as India’s special envoy for resolving the border dispute with China. Similarly, he seems to have inherited Mishra’s position as leader of the back-channel diplomacy with Pakistan and played a key role in the Manmohan Singh-Pervez Musharraf meeting in New York. Like Mishra, one reason for Dixit’s clout may be that his office is just a corridor away from the PM’s.

Amnesia Report

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It appears that the Ministry of Consumer Affairs did not consult the Food Corporation of India (FCI) before appointing the American consultancy firm, McKinsey, to make a detailed report on the working of FCI. The McKinsey deal has become controversial because the government has to pay two million dollars for the first six months of the study although a former Food Secretary had submitted a report on the functioning of FCI just a month earlier.

It now turns out that the FCI had itself in 2001 commissioned the Administrative Staff College, Hyderabad, for a study suggesting ways to streamline its functioning. A national workshop was held as part of the project. ASC charged a modest Rs 30 lakhs for its valuable services. Most of the report’s very valid suggestions were ignored by the FCI, which seems to have even forgotten to inform the ministry about the study.