My Friend, Mr Mahajan

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In the corridors of power, politicians and journalists share a peculiarly incestuous relationship based on mutual need. It's a strategic alliance. The politician "feeds" the journalist with privileged information, the journalist depends on the neta for access. In recent times, the lines have got blurred: much of the information disseminated is propaganda, while the access obtained by the journalist has spurred partisan reportage in the mistaken belief that proximity to power is an end in itself. For most politicians, journalists are a pestilence that has to endured (please note how in any official function, journalists are kept at the very edge of the high table). For most scribes, the neta is a singularly disagreeable character, someone who has to be "exposed", but at the same time someone who has to be humoured as a valuable source of stories. In the circumstances, 'friendship' as normal people would understand the word is....

Sonia's "Sacrifice"

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In the tele-democracy that we have become, Sonia Gandhi appears to have emerged a clear winner. If sms polls are a barometer of the public mood, then Mrs Gandhi's singular act of resigning as Lok Sabha MP appears to have reinforced her larger-than- life image within Indian politics, the image of a politician with a difference, a leader who is blessed with a high moral quotient. Her critics may focus on the Congress's brazen attempt to subvert parliamentary democracy by pushing through an ordinance that was designed to protect Mrs Gandhi from disqualification over an archaic and stupid "office of profit" provision, but for the average Indian citizen who is increasingly disconnected with the minutiae of politics, it's the big picture that really matters. And the big picture is that Mrs Gandhi has dared to do what few netas will do: sacrificed power to make a personal point. It's....