Ghanshyam Tiwari was elected Rajya Sabha MP from Rajasthan as a BJP candidate. Party and Panditji are both happy. But an important question remains unanswered by the BJP and the Sangh. Upon his election, Tiwari had to seek blessings from the same person who was the apparent cause of his exit. He had organised a sit-in outside Madamji’s house—now, he had to obtain political support from that same house with a broad grin on his face. If he had to take this route only, then what was the point in wasting two consecutive terms in an unnecessary struggle? He could have waited silently, that was also an option. Sorry, the whole thing was his idea only?
One plus one is equal to 2.5
What is one plus one? If you think the answer is two, then you might become a successful mathematician, but in politics, you can only become an Ajay Maken. In the Rajya Sabha elections, Ajay Maken tweeted ‘victory’ soon after getting one more vote than BJP-backed independent candidate Karthikeya Sharma. While Maken did a rounding off, the BJP had done the calculations to the decimal point. Eventually, Sharmaji ka ladka sneaked ahead of Makan with the help of second preference votes.
In Haryana, Maharashtra and Karnataka, BJP managed to win more than the expected number of seats, but it had to taste defeat in Rajasthan. Why? A day after the result, BJP chief J.P. Nadda was seen explaining this defeat to a general secretary of the party by pointing to a picture published in that day’s newspaper. In the picture, former Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa is seen sitting on a sofa while Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and current CM Bommai stand before him with folded hands. If a similar understanding emerged from Rajasthan BJP, then results there too could have gone the BJP’s way.
Lesson in sanskar
Recently, a BJP CM gave Delhi state BJP President Adesh Gupta a lesson in Sanskar (values). Gupta went to meet the visiting CM and accused his state of discriminating against Delhi. But the CM got furious and explained to Gupta in detail the difference between a government and a political party. He also told him the difference between a ‘request’, ‘demand’ and an ‘order’.
The President of my choice
Usually, when the opposition parties are about to decide their candidate for the presidential election, they take a break from criticising each other. However, this time, Mamata and the Left are locking horns. And when Mamata called for an opposition meet, Uddhav Thackeray refused to join and Congress took a dig at it. KCR has his own plans. There is no possibility of Jagan and Chandrababu sharing the same stage. All other parties have their own distinct ‘universities of thoughts’. The most restless are those lining up to become the next PM. Now the road appears blocked on that front, as of now.
The five-star shakha
This is the curious case of a magazine that claims to be affiliated to the RSS. However, the RSS denies any links with the journal. The publisher is going to organise an event on environment at a five-star hotel in Delhi. FYI, this is going to be the second consecutive programme in a month to be organised by the publication at a five-star hotel.
He knows Hindi also…
Apart from seniority and other criteria, fluency in Hindi shall also be considered in the selection of the new foreign secretary. It is being said that the next spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs will also be a proficient speaker of Hindi.
NavIC on your phone
The Government of India is considering making India’s own GPS network ‘NavIC’ mandatory for all cell phones in the country.
Bharat Agrawal is Executive Director, Dainik Bhaskar Group, and a columnist.
By special arrangement with Dainik Bhaskar and translated by Ram Lal Khanna from the original in Hindi.