Telescope

Ides of August 1998: Vajpayee’s first Independence Day speech and the subsequent television interview with Rajat Sharma. The speech was heavy as a monsoon cloud that hadn’t relieved itself recently. And about as wet. He stumbled at the end and appeared heavy-footed (as opposed to sure-footed and heavy-handed). During the interview he workeddesperately hard to eliminate The Pause’; he laughed to lighten his sombre image and the burdens of his office (which he felt so acutely then). Take a look at him now. No stumbles, fumbles, mumbles. No blinkety-blink-blank. At the release of the NDA manifesto, he was positively avuncular. The chief campaigner of the alliance and the Prime Minister are for the moment indistinguishable. In TV footage of his election rallies, he gives the impression of a man who realises he is leading from the front and knows that all he needs to do is to keep running on the spot to win the race comfortably.

So. At this stage in the race, ABV does not need to give TV interviews. Sonia Gandhi does. Which is why she granted one to Vir Sanghvi (STAR Talk, STAR Plus).

Currently Sonia is sitting on a seasaw: whatever she does lowers her fortunes and raises Vajpayee’s. 1998: then she was Midas, successful to the touch. She strode forth into the poll campaigns like her mother-in-law and surprised everyone by her appeal for themasses’ and her ability to read Hindi fluently in the Roman script (all ironies intact). In a sea of old men – Gowda, Gujral, Kesri, Vajpayee — she was youthful and had better taste in sarees than Atalji had in dhotis.

Now that we’ve become accustomed to her face, we want more. And she gave a little more at the the release of the Congress manifesto. “India is in my heart” Sonia told Sanghvi, later, but her blood is as red as an Italian spaghetti sauce. The cool, unapproachable exterior is just that; inside, there’s fire and brimstone. You saw it when she spoke of her husband being “crucified” on Bofors. Also, she replied in Hindi without reading from a piece of paper. Even her toughest critics had to applaud (clap-trap, said they!).

The Interview: her first full length. Sonia wore a blue and red saree; Sanghvi matched her colours. Throughout the 25-odd minutes, the camera steadfastly attached itself to her left profile (long shot and close-up). Sanghvi darted from topic to topic, moving swiftly, sothat she never had to reply at great length. Jayalalitha’s tea party, why the Congress voted against the government (are we supposed to hold their hands, she asked tartly), to her bad arithmetic (the 272 MPs support she never had), Kargil, the party presidency, Mrs Gandhi’s assassination, Rajiv becoming PM, Rajiv’s assassination, Arun Nehru/Singh, Pawar. Sanghvi also gave her an opportunity to explain “why you don’t smile”!, the nationality issue and her simply being a mouthpiece.

Mrs.Gandhi spoke impressively. She talked emotionally of “our land”, “my family” (the Nehru-Gandhis). She smiled to show that she could. But that’s not enough: she’s not an actress talking about her life; she’s a politician auditioning for the Prime Minister’s role and there was not one policy statement or even that vision thing. After the interview, you would give her top marks for being the woman she is, but it won’t make you vote for her. This was too little too late. The interview should have been given much earlier –like last year, maybe?

Pramod Mahajan’s Vijay (live, DD1).Dynasty Mark II. A celebration (?!) of Kargil. When J&K chief minister, Farooq Abdullah publicly thanked Rahul for the show, praised Rahul as the latest rising son (my words, his sentiment), you thought of Gandhi. But Rahul’s surname is Mahajan. Well, well, well, exclaimed Alice in Wonderland, curioser and curioser.

There are N number of TV companies in India; judging by Vijay’s song and dance show, N number of them could have produced it. Why was Rahul Mahajan chosen as a first amongst equals? Smells fishy, Alice would have remarked. It is. Very fishy. Smelly fish at that. If this is the odour of things to come under the next government, better hold your noses.