Inside Out

A revolution eats up its own children

The tragedy of Iron Sharmila, who got only 90 votes in the recent elections from Manipur is a shocker but politics has its imponderables which one has to take in one's stride.

What happened to Sheikh Mujibur Rehman who almost single- handedly, (of course with a little help from Indira Gandhi and the Indian Army, managed to create Bangladesh), within one year of the state coming into existence, was a much harsher tragedy.

But isn't that so common?

A much lesser known fact is the story of Diwakar Bhatt in Uttarakhand. Actually most of the credit for the creation of Uttarakhand goes to the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal when the national parties BJP and Congress were playing their petty politics.

But 15 years after the state was carved out of Uttar Pradesh the UKD stands vertically divided.In the recent election it does not have a single MLA in the 70 member Assembly.

Personally it was a huge tragedy for its revolutionary leader Diwakar Bhatt who had suffered lathi-charges and several jail sentences for creating the state.

However when he contested the first election for the new state he not only lost the election but his wife committed suicide while watching the trend on TV at home. The UKD blamed the national parties BJP and the INC for distributing liquor in the jhuggis a day before the election.

Later on he won the elections and he also joined the cabinet of the BJP government in the state but another faction led by the Kumaon lobby blamed him for selling his soul to the devil so to say.

But since the UKD was always the deciding factor in a hung assembly it managed to bag ministerial posts in the cabinet.But every time one of their members joined the ministry it only aggravated the conflict and finally it split vertically.

Return of Parrikar to Goa a welcome move

One of the best things to have happened in the recent elections,by default, was the return of Manohar Parikkar to Goa as Chief Minister.

Parikkar had been extremely popular during his tenure as Chief Minister before he was hijacked to the Centre as Defence Minister.

Pictures of Parikkar and his wife travelling in rickshaws to buy vegetables were flashed in newspapers to prove that he was one of the most honest and humble politicians of the country in his earlier avatar.

But everything changed drastically once he became the Defence Minister.

He suddenly took an arrogant, callous and a loud mouthed persona which no one had seen while he was in Goa.The debates in Parliament with some prompting from Subramanian Swamy saw this arrogance in full flow as if this was his real personality which he had hidden from the public preview.The surgical strike added to this arrogance which actually exposed his incompetence and inability to deal with an adversary like Pakistan.

But with a fractured mandate in Goa when the BJP needed to cobble up a majority innhis home state, Parikkar with all his contacts in the most popular tourist state of the country was the best bet for the saffron party.

Hopefully his return to Goa will prove as fruitful as that of Nitish Kumar to Bihar. Not that he was not effective as Railways Minister but his return to Bihar in exchange for Lalu returning to the Centre as Railway Minister after losing in Bihar as Chief Minister was one of the best swaps to have happened in the political space of the country.

Sonia Gandhi's health becomes a hot issue

It is surprising that a man who is dismissed as a nonentity or rather a liability on his party evokes so much interest whenever he travels abroad.

Don't other politicians go abroad on vacation?Does the media chase all of them or is this privilege reserved only for Rahul Gandhi, the Vice President of the Congress party.

The last time he went missing for some days the social media went crazy trolling him for being away when the party needed him the most.But the change in his confidence level after his vacation abroad made the media look at the trip as a blessing.

However the controversy this time seems a bit cruel because Sonia Gandhi is going abroad for treatment and Rahul Gandhi is accompanying her like a caring and concerned son.

It all started with the comment of a journalist who mocked Rahul Gandhi on the social media for leaving the country when the Congress party was in such dire straits.

This sparked off a bitter debate on the social media. Some of the comments coming from non political acquaintances wondered how a commentator could be so cruel when a son is accompanying his ailing mother for treatment.

There is no doubt about the fact that Sonia Gandhi has not been keeping well for some months.She was totally out of action during the recent crucial elections in the five states of Uttar Pradesh,Uttarakhand,Manipur,Goa and Punjab.

People don't realise that Rahul and Sonia Gandhi have planned the trip only after the campaign was over and results had been declared. Who knows how long she had been ill?

The comments sparked off a bitter debate about the duties of a politician.Comparisons were made with Modi who had kept his family totally away from his political duties.

Some told the journalist that there was a time when journalists were supposed to be living like sanyasis and many did not marry because they thought that their job did not allow them the liberty to divide their loyalties between family and their 24X7 jobs.But journalists are today holidaying abroad,dining at expensive restaurants and flaunting their pictures on the social media.

So why single out only Rahul Baba when he steps out of the country, some of them said.

At the end of the day however the high profile journo got so much critical mail for condemning Rahul Gandhi for doing his duty as a son that she finally had to withdraw it.