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As politicians spar, Delhi cries for governance

By Sidharth Mishra

Last Sunday was extraordinary from “news point of view”, whatever that may mean. The prologue for the same was written the night before when Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia announced sacking Cabinet colleague Kapil Mishra for “having failed to deliver on the water front.” Mishra responded by saying that he will hold a “reveal all” press briefing the next day.
Indian politics has come to witness a fair degree of dramatics ever since Anna Hazare launched his anti-corruption movement in 2011. Delhi in the past six years has proven to be the laboratory of dramatised politics. Thus, no wonder that Mishra on Sunday first travelled with “evidence of corruption” to the Lieutenant Governor, then went to Mahatma Gandhi’s last resting place and then dropped, what many media headlines called, the “bombshell”.
With the script delivered, it was time for media, especially television, to go as cantankerous as possible.
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Delhi poll results: Barometer for national mood

By Sidharth Mishra

It's been a week since the results of the municipal polls were declared. It has given Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a reason to continue to feel upbeat about its political fortune. It has expectedly created a turmoil with the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the disparate Congress rank and file.

In the case of the former, party leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is facing ire of the rivals which now has a new face in his close friend Kumar Vishwas. Within the Congress party, the going was never easy for its Delhi unit president Ajay Maken, given the history of his long-standing political feud with former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and her former parliamentarian son Sandeep Dikshit.

During the course of the campaign, the fissures came to the fore with former Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely and Mahila Congress chief Barkha Singh quitting the party to join the BJP just ahead of the polling day. Understandably, Maken and the party general secretary in-charge for Delhi PC Thomas resigned from their position, which party leadership refused to entertain.

On the other hand, the state BJP president Manoj Tiwari is being celebrated as a political leader of immense talent, taking the party to a resounding victory. But beneath the surface lies a very different story.

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Search for opposition unity

By Sidharth Mishra

In the midst of the cacophony created by the high-pitch campaign for the municipal elections in Delhi, most of the national dailies and channels failed to take prominent notice of a more serious political development. In the past fortnight, leading lights of the opposition – Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik took the first steps towards opposition unity.
Given the rise of the BJP over the past few years, especially after Narendra Modi assumed the office of the Prime Minister, the concern of the triumvirate is genuine with the challenge they face from the saffron party on their respective home turfs. To them to rein in the Modi juggernaut, the earliest opportunity could be the election of the next President as the term of the incumbent Pranab Mukherjee ends this summer.
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A new political paradigm

By Sidharth Mishra

At the meeting of the national executive of the Bharatiya Janata Party at Bhubaneswar last fortnight, 13 Chief Ministers from the states ruled by the party were present. This should be signal enough for the Congress and the other Opposition parties that the rise of the saffron brigade cannot be blamed alone on the electronic voting machines (EVMs).
More importantly, the BJP leadership at the meeting said that it did not wish to stop at that with party president Amit Shah claiming that victory in four of the five states which went to polls in the last quarter was just a milestone and not the destination. "We now have 13 Chief Ministers. We can now do it in every corner of the country," Shah said in a terse message to the Opposition, which must have been music to the ears of his party workers.
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Keep the song free of dispute

By Sidharth Mishra

"Vande mātaram; sujalām suphalām; malayajaśītalām; śasya śyāmalām mātaram; vande mātaram" – Bankim Chandra Chatterjee
The national song is back in news. A few Muslim members of the Meerut Municipal Corporation refused to sing the song some days back, putting Bankim Chandra's timeless creation once again in the news bulletins. The matter has received further attention with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath Yogi speaking on the matter. Addressing the launch of the book 'A Governor's Guide: Role and Duties of the Governor under the Constitution of India' at the Raj Bhawan in Lucknow, Yogi said last week that an objection to singing the national song by some people is a "matter of grave concern".
Now Yogi has signalled the intelligentsia on either side of the ideological divide to make a dash and create a cacophony. However, to understand how unnecessary the controversy around the song is, it would be worthwhile to examine it from a historical perspective.
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Summer of florae

By Sidharth Mishra

"Jiye to apne bageeche mein gulmohar ke tale; Mare to gair ke galion mein gulmohar ke liye." – Dushyant
The early onset of summer has made the Gulmohars bloom. It's not yet Baisakhi, the day we did annual shopping for pitcher and water pots for birds, but the heat is already on us. Delhi is known for its scorching summers, but I love the season for hotter the city, greater the bloom on the Gulmohar trees, which line the avenues. The red flowers of Gulmohar trees in the national Capital are complemented by yellowish florae from Amaltas trees.
There are several, however, in the national Capital who miss out on the riot of colours in the city. My friends ask me, where are Gulmohar trees in this city? I keep telling them,
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Living with the unknown

By Sidharth Mishra

"Lucknow Fida Hum Par Aur Ham Fidaye Lucknow, Kya Hasiyat Aasman Ki Jo Chhuraye Lucknow" – From the wall of MB Club.
 
This week's Notebook may well be rechristened as Lucknow Diary. Travelling to the capital of India's politically most significant state after the dust had fairly settled down on the stir which was created following the head monk from a saffron order being appointed the head of government, reiterated one thing for sure that the national media especially digital media continues to be in a state of denial. That the media has lost connect with ground level realities is on its way to become a cliché to define it's functioning. When in Lucknow, it's difficult to find what people would call 'tell-tale' signs of a 'fascist' having taken over except for the huge congratulatory hoardings commemorating rise of the five-time Member of Parliament from Gorakhpur Yogi Adityanath as the Chief Minister of the state. Albeit Raju, the veritable guide (remember RK Narayan's 'Guide', later made into a magnum opus by Dev Anand), my driver for two days looked happy at the discipline having returned, or rather seen by him for the first time, on roads of Lucknow.
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Rise of Saffron Egalitarianism

By Sidharth Mishra

Gurdwara Rakabganj Road is a quiet wooded street in Lutyens' Delhi. Albeit this avenue is home to several 'sarkari' bungalows, fascinatingly remodeled in keeping with the reputation of their allottee. There is a corner bungalow, which till last Saturday evening stood unsung, uncelebrated. An entry into the bungalow welcomed one to the Spartan lifestyle of its occupant – Yogi Adityanath. As the head of one of the richest order of monks, Adityanath as five-time Member of Parliament from Gorakhpur could have definitely afforded much beyond the basic amenities which the government bungalow provided. Adityanath is a monk, a Sadhu, who inherits lineage from his spiritual father Mahanth Avaidyanath, the late head of the Gorakhnath Math order. In the appointment of Yogi Adityanath, the BJP leadership has maintained the trend of handing over the leadership of the state to the non-elite within its own party.
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