Opinion InsideTrack: Rawal, in play
The bold Hindi play Kishan v/s Kanhaiya staged in the auditorium of Parliament House library left MPs by surprise.
Some of the 80-odd MPs who attended the play Kishan v/s Kanhaiya were shell-shocked.
The bold Hindi play Kishan v/s Kanhaiya, starring the BJP’s Paresh Rawal, was staged in the auditorium of the Parliament House library last week, taking several of his own fellow party MPs by surprise. Some of the 80-odd MPs who attended were shell-shocked. In contrast, MPs from West Bengal, particularly the Communists, were most appreciative. Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan had invited all MPs to see the play, produced in and acted by Rawal, the MP from Ahmedabad East. The humorous script, on which Rawal’s movie Oh My God was also based, took several digs at superstitions in Hindu religion. The play also poked fun at the belief that Hindus who eat beef go to hell. The Bajrang Dal threatened to disrupt the play but did not follow up on its warning, perhaps because of the heavy security around the Parliament House complex. The fact that Rawal is a protégé of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who got him a ticket from the seat held previously by Harin Pathak for seven terms, may have also protected him from protests by the Hindutva brigade. Modi did not attend, but Mahajan clearly enjoyed herself. She presented a trophy to Rawal and his troupe at the end.
Mission incomplete
BJP president Amit Shah’s focus is more on the party making a breakthrough in states where it has traditionally been weak than on the membership drive, which has crossed the 10-crore mark. Most states where the BJP has limited presence are along the east coast. Shah has appointed Central ministers to handle the difficult states. Prakash Javadekar has been deputed to look after Telangana, Mahesh Sharma has been put in charge of Orissa, Nirmala Sitharaman has been given West Bengal, Rajiv Pratap Rudy Kerala, Piyush Goyal Tamil Nadu, J P Nadda Andhra Pradesh and Dharmendra Pradhan Assam. While Shah is confident that his strategy will work, the BJP’s rout in the recent West Bengal municipal elections came as a damper.
Curious inclusion
There are other historical figures whom the BJP government is keen to appropriate. A committee headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh has been set up to commemorate the lives of handpicked heroes, and they include Maharana Pratap, Tatya Tope and Rani Gaidinliu, a Naga spiritual and political leader who led a revolt against the British. One of the names on the list, however, is a bit of a surprise: Bhisham Sahni, maker of the TV serial Tamas, which dealt with Partition. In the ’50s, Sahni, brother of actor Balraj Sahni, was an active member of the Indian People’s Theatre Association, a Left-centric group strongly opposed to saffron politics. Sahni was also co-founder of Sahmat, set up in memory of Leftist theatre artist Safdar Hashmi. Sahmat actively campaigned against the Modi government in Gujarat following the 2002 riots.
Not yet best friends
The formalities of the merger of the JD(U), Samajwadi Party and RJD are yet to be worked out, including the selection of the symbol and flag and who gets what post in the merged parliamentary party. But already Lalu Prasad is getting suspicious of Nitish Kumar’s intentions. This is because the Bihar Chief Minister has been extremely gracious in thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for Central assistance after a major storm in Bihar, which killed 55 recently. Kumar received calls from both the PM and the Finance Minister expressing concern. Home Minister Rajnath Singh flew down to survey the damage along with Nitish. A report put out by a major Hindi news channel claimed that the RSS had asked the BJP to patch up with Nitish. The report was not contradicted. Three weeks back, there was a rally in Patna of the united Janata Parivar. Lalu attended, as did JD(U) representatives, but Nitish was missing. The buzz in Bihar is that Lalu and Nitish avoid appearing together on the same stage.
Water works
The all-party delegation from Tamil Nadu that met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to protest against the Karnataka government’s move to build a check dam across the Cauvery river at Mekedatu was unusual for two reasons. The delegation included members of both the UPA and NDA, including the BJP, Congress, TMC, DMK, MDMK and DMDK. The delegation was led by actor Vijayakanth of the DMDK, who was given the go-ahead by M Karunanidhi, although Vijayakanth’s position as leader of the opposition in the Assembly is in dispute. The only party missing from this show of unity was the AIADMK, which sent a separate delegation. However, the AIADMK joined its arch-rival the DMK in Parliament in raising the issue.
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