The Varun Factor

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The Indian political environment has got expectedly sullied with pedestrian games , petty mud-slinging and almost downright filthy accusations flying around like nasty gad-flies. A sense of déjà vu , but, of course, it is the general elections of the world's largest democracy, so the colourful cacophony should have been expected.

In the circumstances, it is best to summarise the pivotal issues in this summer of rising discontent:

1) Varun Gandhi has become the ultimate in the boomerang effect for the BJP. They thought they had acquired a powerful salvo against the Congress by usurping the disaffected family member from the famous clan, but the young man's verbal shenanigans have instead put BJP in a Catch-22 dock. Notice the conspicuous silence of LKA; the frown on his forehead is a sign that the crown is getting fast elusive. With the defiant BJP stubbornly insisting on fielding the unrepentant Varun Gandhi, the message from the BJP to the people of this country is clear; hate is in, reason , tolerance, dialogue and decency can go for a long trek to the Himalayas. It's a scary proposition, and if you hear the BJP spokespeople on the TV channels use their classic rationalization spiel, it is downright guttural. The BJP looks like whimpering to the runner-up position on an amputated leg and preparing it's regret and conceding-defeat speech already.

2) Manmohan Singh is back and how! Clearly sufficiently recuperated after the heart surgery, the affable Sardar went on a premeditated rampage against his arch-foe Advani. It took the former central banker and Indian liberalisation -hero to speak home truths; what exactly has LKA done to even remotely believe he is PM-material, besides supervising with kinetic precision the destruction of the Babri Masjid, a moment of great national shame in India, perpetrated in broad daylight by post Independence inheritors of the British policy of " divide and rule"--- the BJP. Not to mention the fleeting amnesia that hit Advani about the Kandahar hijack. And those lachrymose tear-ducts that flowed on national television when LKA was busy doing a road-show for his book promo.

3) I wonder why no one from the esteemed media has asked Mr Prakash Karat, the milk of pure patriotism, as to how does he support Mayawati as PM when she has a BSP team of potential MPs where the confirmed criminal sort with police records outnumber the not-so-deadly charge- sheeters? Mr Karat, will you please pick up your Tata Indicom mobile phone , please???

4) My driver of 15 years who hails from UP had a simple question to ask of Mayawati- Maam; "What have you done for UP besides self-aggarandisement to even contemplate running the gaddi from Delhi? We will wait till Chanakya Mishraji drafts a politically appropriate response.

5) Will someone please tell Arun Jaitley that it does not hurt to crack a smile, even if it is as infrequent as his appearance in book-launches where he does show a partially-sunny disposition. . Jaitley looks so self-consumed with his own practiced to perfection verbosity as a veteran lawyer that even his occasional witty sarcasm looks as if it has a manufacturing date printed on it. Ease down, Jaitley, as given today's bleak times, his grumpy-growling expression only adds to the spectre of hopelessness.

6) The political angle to the BCCI-IPL tussle against the government and Home Minister PC now stands totally exposed. The BCCI President Shashank Manohar's father, an eminent jurist from Nagpur has been openly advocating support for the BJP cause. And by now even the sea lions in Antarctica know about the close proximity between Commissioner Lalit Modi and the former BJP government in Rajasthan. Therefore, was it any surprise that Manohar used the IPL , a corporate cricket circus, to further the cause of the saffron brigade, by twisting facts and indulging in shameless mendacity? If the BJP has to use the IPL as a platform to arouse voters by misleading them, then I think the Friends of BJP are clearly not giving them "friendly" advice. This is not just frenetic desperation , it is juvenile self-delusions.

7) Whatever Laloo Yadav may have done to the Congress, the fact is that the charming rustic with an extraordinary penchant for self-deprecation when it comes to buffoonish humour, will finally return to UPA , as he has a great rapport with Mrs Sonia Gandhi. But the Congress will have to quickly work on a long-term plan for reviving Bihar, post the national elections to recapture it's pristine glories, now lying submerged in the rising crescendo of coalition and caste politics.

8) One particular TV channel has almost as many guest-panelists as a circle would absorb, and the poor show-anchor spends more time just muttering names of the voluble characters as he tries to restrain their hyperboles, even as they indulge in a free-for-all to justify their prime-time presence. Less is more, guys, spruce up---that is a sign of the times !

"Varun Gandhi's seedy Pilibhit speech is not doctored stuff", said a disgruntled Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, BJP MP, indignant that a professorial badge was being bestowed on it.