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Journalism of Courage
The only primate that can,in this winter of parliamentary discontent,bring together MPs from the treasury and opposition benches who are divided over JPC and PAC,is,surprisingly,the langur. Mans evolutionary superiority and even such exigencies of civilisation like party dissension can crumble when faced with the rampage that a horde of rhesus macaque can unleash. When BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar faced the monkey menace Delhis singular urban problem at his residence,he reached out to Congress parliamentarians on his street for a joint effort: pool in funds for the service of the langur,the aggressive supermonkey whose very presence can scare away the troublesome lesser monkeys and whose service would cost a few thousand rupees.
The langur has been unnaturally serving the cause of democracy and maintaining law and order in Delhi. For want of a better city plan to contain rhesus monkeys their nuisance quotient turned tragic three years ago when Delhis deputy mayor fell to his death after being attacked by them the langur has been doing that job. On one end of the leash of langurwallahs,who have been certified by no less than the ministry of home affairs,it has been patrolling the corridors of Parliament,Rashtrapati Bhavan and many government offices in the capital. Even the Commonwealth Games in the city had a monkey police doing the rounds. While we may soon have to look beyond the langur for a solution to the simian question,the solidarity cutting across party lines,which the langur demanded,would well worth be aping when the budget session of Parliament begins.
