Maneka, Mayawati, Tytler, Sanjay, Dhoni and YOU: How we play election-election

Everyone loves a catfight. And who better than animal-lover Maneka Gandhi?

She had better learn to accept that the same standard will apply to her as it does to anyone else. She is not special. Neither is her loutish son. There is a good deal of discussion about whether he should have been booked under the National Securities Act.

I’d have said no, but he was upto mischief. It is clear as daylight. This is why his party has even compared him to Jayaprakash Narayan during the Emergency. Do they even know what they are talking about? And what does Maneka do? She keeps shut, quite forgetting the irony of it all. For she was an active part of the goonda raj during the Emergency. Now she happily goes along with her son being compared to one of the victims of her criminal coterie.

Laloo Prasad Yadav had the courage to stop Advani’s rath yatra from passing through Bihar. Mayawati says she is using that precedent because since he was not arrested and managed to reach Ayodhya, there were riots later. It is a pre-emotive move.

Maneka, of course, says it is political vendetta. Against whom? Her? Her son? Both had become non-entities and are now behaving like they have just been handed a new gizmo to play with. When she runs out of political arguments, she gets personal. She told Mayawati that she would not understand the pain of motherhood because she was childless. Where was her pain when people were being massacred and children becoming orphans?



Mayawati did the right thing by responding:

“Mother Teresa was not a mother but had a sensitive heart, hence she bestowed her love on the people of the entire world. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, under whose prime ministership Maneka Gandhi has worked, is a bachelor. Would Maneka say that she didn’t get the desired affection from Vajpayeeji or was his bachelor status a shortcoming in any way?...Had Maneka inculcated the right values in her son, he would have not been in jail today.’’

Maneka snapped back and, according to a report:

lambasted the CM for comparing herself with Mother Teresa. The Nobel laureate would have never got someone murdered on her birthday and ask workers to gift her a diamond necklace, she said, referring to the murder of the PWD engineer in Auraiya in December 2008 by a BSP MLA when he refused to donate money for Maya’s birthday celebrations.

Phew. Mayawati was not comparing herself with Mother Teresa; she merely gave her childlessness as an example. She also mentioned Vajpayee. Why did Maneka not notice that? And it would be interesting for her to check out the views of the BJP on Christian missionaries. Really. Of course, they happily use names convenient to them when needed, whether it is the Mahatma or Mother T. Yet, she needs to do some research.

Mother T got loads of funds and the rich were her patrons. That does not in anyway make Mayawati’s case stronger where criminalisation of politics is concerned. But is it restricted to her party alone?

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I am yet to hear Maneka’s version on the Jagdish Tytler verdict. This criminal has been let off the hook for his role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots; there have been reams of evidence.

Now, the Congress is letting him contest from New Delhi. Why is he not answerable? How can the CBI give him a clean chit when the key witnesses are not around?

Tytler is even talking about his emotional incarceration:

“It is very difficult to explain what I am going through. Nobody understands that. But after 22 years of fighting false charges, I am thankful to god. I knew from the very beginning that the affidavit was full of lies. Why else would somebody file an affidavit 22 years after the incident happened. I was not even in Delhi on the day of the first incident and was in a TV studio on the second day. But the media hyped that conspiracy to such a level that it dragged on for so long.”

Where was he on the first day? And what was he doing in a TV studio on the next day? Why was he not helping to quell the mobs?

One affidavit was filed now. What about the case that has been going on? It can be re-opened at any time. Even today. He better stop behaving like an innocent. He is not the only one and all those involved need to be punished severely.

If the BJP that talks a lot about responsibility comes to power, then it needs to publicly tell the people that it will act upon these and other riots and book the culprits and provide compensation to all the victims. No shouting from the podium about what is wrong with the Congress. What is right with you? 1984, 1992-93, 2002…we want action on all these. Even if it means dismissing your ministers as well as your pet chief minister.

The victims of the Best Bakery case cannot afford or even want a Tata Nano, so you can keep your industrialists in your pocket, but don’t tell us how happy you are to see us. (Latter quip reference courtesy Mae West.)

The picture is of 2004. The caption states: “Union Minister of State Jagdish Tytler with DSGMC President Prahlad Singh Chandok at a function where the former was honoured with a Siropa.” I am using this to show that those in positions of authority can be co-opted easily with a few sops. The ordinary people need to raise their voices.

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Sanjay Dutt cannot contest. Good. But how can he be made the national general secretary of the Samajwadi Party? In this capacity, he will be the visible face and can campaign for the party; he will use his contacts, send out his ambitious little wife, and in fact get away with a lot more. The Election Commission needs to examine these rules more closely and make sure they are applicable across the board.

It is truly disappointing to see him use his dead father’s name so blatantly. He has been going around accusing the Congress of killing Sunil Dutt. There is no doubt that the senior Dutt was disappointed when the Congress roped in Sanjay Nirupam who had a running battle with him. This is politics and Sunil Dutt for all his genuine intentions and real work done for the constituency knew the game. Why else would he have gone to Bal Thackeray to bail out his son? Did he not see that he was approaching the one who played a huge role in the Bombay riots to help out Sanjay who was an accused on the other side?

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It would seem that only young voters matter. It speaks volumes that celebrities who are known to endorse high-end products will be roped in to become “poll ambassadors”. This is a shameless move by the Election Commission.

The choice of being poll ambassador rests on cricket captain M S Dhoni. I don’t know what is the great virtue about getting people to the poll booths - people who worship stars in the first place - but those who will be happiest will be the manufacturers of the other brands these stars sell.

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Stop using children and swearing on them that you will vote. Why the hell can’t people behave like adults and do it because they want to? Do you swear on your children that you won’t lie, that you won’t waste fuel, that you won’t park your car in no-parking zones, that you will not employ under-age kids, that you will pay your taxes on time, that you will not discriminate on the basis of gender or religion or caste. Swear on your children for things that have you do with your behaviour.

The country will be a better place if you know how to conduct yourself. You throw garbage in the street and then blame the municipality for choked drains.

This is not the way to lead India to the future. Lead by example, and that means cleaning up your own dirt first before looking for holes in someone else’s wall.