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Journalism of Courage
The political establishment is running cricket fever these days. After India8217;s twin successes in South Africa last week, there8217;s more excitement in Parliament over the World Cup than either Ayodhya or cow slaughter. Two Rajya Sabha MPs are creating all the ripples. One is BCCI member Rajiv Shukla who8217;s been dubbed the Indian team8217;s lucky mascot by fellow parliamentarians after the men in blue won the Nat West trophy in England last year with him as manager. The Upper House was excited enough to deviate from its usual business and make Shukla the topic of discussion during Monday8217;s Zero Hour. The MPs rose in unison to demand that he be given paid leave from Parliament to attend all subsequent matches so that India wins the World Cup. Shukla is heading back to South Africa for the Super Six round.
Liquor baron Vijay Mallya is the other moving spirit behind Parliament8217;s newly acquired interest in cricket. His private jet has become the unofficial World Cup ferry. On the last trip for a select few, he also threw in a night safari at his sprawling 36,000-acre game sanctuary, located two hours away from Johannesburg. It8217;s little wonder that he8217;s Queen Bee in Parliament these days and MPs are buzzing around him to get on to his guest list for the semi-finals and finals.
Laloo pads up
RJD leader Laloo Prasad Yadav and NCP chief Sharad Pawar are also drawing up plans to take time off from politics to cheer the Indian team if it gets into the semis and the finals. Both head the cricket boards in their respective states and can rightfully claim a seat in the presidential box. Laloo has a wardrobe dilemma though. The dress requirement to get into the VIP enclosure is formal. The Yadav chieftain, who likes to wear his rural lineage on his sleeve, is faced with the prospect of squeezing himself into either a bandhgala or a suit if he wants to see the matches in style. It8217;s a distasteful idea for a man who only wears kurta-pyjamas and lungis.
How to win the PM
The way to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee8217;s heart is through his poems, as Central Warehousing Corporation chairman K.C. Tyagi discovered last week. Much to Tyagi8217;s delight, the PM stayed an hour longer than scheduled at the Corporation8217;s 45th anniversary celebrations to hear his verses sung by ghazal singer Jagjit Singh. The artiste tempted Vajpayee to sit down for the music programme by belting out one of the PM8217;s poems and then kept him there with two more. There was no escaping cricket mania here as well. Singh paid his tributes to the Indian team with a rendition of Om Namah Shivay. It was billed as a thanksgiving for the victory over Pakistan on Shivratri. Vajpayee8217;s obvious enjoyment was a feather in Tyagi8217;s cap and served to deflate those who were carping earlier about a warehousing corporation celebrating its birthday with a musical evening.
Diggy8217;s bag of tricks
Few can match Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh in political wiles. He stumped BJP rival Uma Bharati and Congress circles recently by flying her in the state helicopter to address a pre-election rally in Khargone. She was running late and would have missed the meeting if Singh hadn8217;t made his offer. But there was more to the CM8217;s gallantry than merely rescuing a damsel in distress. Khargone, it turns out, is the Assembly constituency of chief Congress dissident and contender for the CM8217;s post, Subhash Yadav, who was left fuming as Singh lent Uma a helping hand.
As it turns out, the incident embarrassed Uma as well when she realised that she had been used as a pawn in the Congress party8217;s internecine battles. She was at pains to explain to the local newspapers the next day that the helicopter is state property after all. So what if butter-won8217;t-melt-in-his-mouth Singh had lent it to her?
