Nashik Diary

The Nashik Municipal Corporation’s (NMMC) two-year wait to unveil a bronze statue of India’s Iron Lady ended recently, when the Governor, Dr PC Alexander, did the honours.

But the sombre occasion was punctuated by war cries from both corporators — Rajendra Bagul and Hemlata Patil. The chowk, you see, sits on the boundary of Ward 81 (of Patil) and Ward 82 (of Bagul) and each spied the opportunity to grab some easy publicity.

So, when Bagul got the NMMC to print invitation cards for the unveiling ceremony, Patil followed suit. Of course, neither set, printed at the cost of the civic exchequer, bore the name of the other. Invitees, therefore, felt more than welcome, left with two sets of invitation cards. At the function, though, Bagulemerged the hero standing alongside the Governor as the veil came off the statue.

Some time ago, Municipal Commissioner KP Bakshi had boasted of being a strict disciplinarian but even he failed to stop the warring city fathers from wasting public funds. Can even the Commissioner rein in profligate corporators?

One for posterity

Despite a publicity blitz swathed in layers of controversy over the Maharashtra Health Sciences University, State Health Minister Dr Daulatrao Aher was afraid his name will somehow get erased from public memory.

After his pet project was inaugurated in Nashik recently, Aher made sure his name was "prominently" etched on the plaque installed in its portals — he simply excluded the names of all other Ministers from Nashik district, especially his bete noire, the district’s guardian Minister Babanrao Gholap.

The Minister, who was a surgeon by profession before his debut in politics, can now credit himself with having performed the mother of all surgeries.

Silentrebellion

Student organisations affiliated to political parties must comply with the parent party’s whip, differences in ideologies notwithstanding. The Ahkil Bharatiya Vidarthi Parishad (ABVP), affiliated to the Bharatiya Janata Party, learnt this, much to its embarrassment when the Maharashtra Health Sciences University was inaugurated in Nashik.

Despite the ABVP’s vehement protest against the appointment of State Health Minister Dr Daulatrao Aher as the university’s ex-officio pro vice-chancellor, the students’ wing was finally talked into submission by party bosses during the institution’s inauguration.

So what if the BJP is in power, State-level AVBP leaders had said at a press conference announcing the agitation. They were protesting in the larger interest of students, they reasoned.

However, at the appointed time and venue not a single ABVP leader was present. Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde (of the BJP) said he had met them and "clarified their doubts". They had, therefore, withdrawntheir stir, he beamed. Munde must have been very "persuasive" for the otherwise aggressive student leaders didn’t even issue a press statement following the "discussions".

Nice words for an ugly act of suppression.

Facilitating mix-up

"Facilitate", "felicitate". The mix-up can be particularly embarrassing when the compere goofs up repeatedly at a function presided over by the Governor, Dr PC Alexander.

At a recent function to celebrate the silver jubilee of the Nashik branch of the Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the compere who was clearly unfamiliar with English, provoked a round of giggles every time he said "facilitate" instead of "felicitate".

But calling the local MP, Madhavrao Patil, "Madhavrao Pawar" — thrice — only speaks of ignorance. And, if the dignitaries on the dais suppressed their bubbling mirth, Madhavrao Patil was definitely not amused.

Tailpiece

Another chowk… another statue. Nashik has just signed on to the list with the recent installation ofa bronze statue of the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi at Shalimar Chowk.

Whatever happened to the State Government’s decision to evolve a policy on the erection of statues of national leaders in order to curb the number of incidents involving their desecration? Nashik was obviously not listening.