Given her uneasy relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and finance minister Arun Jaitley, it was surprising how the party jumped to the defence of external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj after she was embroiled in an unsavoury controversy about her help to sacked Indian Premier League chief Lalit Modi. Although the Sushma-Vasundhara Raje revelations have undoubtedly embarrassed the party in general and Narendra Modi in particular, the leadership thought it prudent to support the beleaguered minister. There was a lurking fear that
Ms Swaraj may emerge as a rallying point for disgruntled elements in the Bharatiya Janata Party, if she was asked to put in her papers. It is a known fact that there is simmering anger in the saffron outfit over the tightening grip of the Narendra Modi, Mr Jaitley and BJP president Amit Shah over the party and the government. While some party leaders have been complaining privately, a few have spoken out. Veteran party leader L.K. Advani set the proverbial cat among the pigeons last week when he lamented the present political leadership’s lack of commitment to civil liberties in an interview to a daily newspaper and stated that there was a possibility that the Emergency could be imposed again. Former Union minister Murli Manohar Joshi had recently picked holes in Narendra Modi’s pet project, “Clean Ganga”. Home minister Rajnath Singh is also said to be unhappy at being marginalised in the present set-up.
Members of Parliament who like to smoke will be in for a big disappointment when they return for the Monsoon Session next month. Although smoking is not allowed in the Parliament premises, a special room near the central hall was earmarked for nicotine addicts. This room, which served as a virtual lifeline for many MPs, has now been converted into an office space for stenographers who have been moved here after their office was allotted to the Trinamul Congress. The smoking chamber has been a favourite adda for many MPs as well as journalists who puff away here over animated conversations and steaming cups of coffee and tea. CPM’s Sitaram Yechury, Trinamul Congress MP Saugata Roy and civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju are among those who have been spotted regularly in the smokers’ lounge. In fact, Mr Raju is such a heavy smoker that he is known to spend more time in this room than his party office in Parliament. It will not be wrong to assume that this tribe of smokers will petition Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to provide them an alternate space, for, after all, they are a dying breed. While the smokers will expectedly be upset, the Trinamul Congress has reason to celebrate as it has finally been allotted a room of its choice. Its MPs have been waiting for their office space for over a year as the room originally given to them was occupied by the Telugu Desam whose members refused to vacate the place.
Ministers in the National Democratic Alliance government are so desperate to impress Prime Minister Narendra Modi that they don’t lose any opportunity to grab his attention. All their progammes are duly recorded and put on social media while the Prime Minister’s Office is kept informed about their activities. As a result, delegations which call on ministers with some demand or the other are invariably greeted with a battery of official photographers who are especially requisitioned to take a picture of the minister receiving a memorandum or petition from the visitors. In case there is no formal memorandum, the groups end up posing with any odd paper they can lay their hands on. The ministers invariably lose interest once the photography session is over. The visitors are quickly disposed of with an assurance that their demand will be forwarded to the PMO. And the final word is reserved for the minister’s personal secretary who is instructed to put the pictures on Twitter.
As a goodwill gestture to India’s neighbours, Prime Minister Narendra Modi especially called up Sheikh Hasina, Nawaz Sharif and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to convey his good wishes for the holy month of Ramzan. However, Maldives President Abdulla Yameen was a notable absentee from this list. This was not an oversight but a deliberate omission designed to convey New Delhi’s unhappiness to Male over the arrest and denial of a fair trial to its former President Mohamed Nasheed. Mr Modi had earlier this year sent out a clear warning to the Maldives when he cancelled a scheduled visit there. Mr Nasheed was arrested days before Mr Modi was to arrive in the Maldives. The sudden turn of events had upset Mr Modi’s plans to forge better relations with the Maldives. New Delhi is wary of Mr Yameen’s increasing overtures to the Chinese and instead has a preference for Mr Nasheed because he has always favoured a stronger partnership between New Delhi and Male.
The writer is a Delhi-based journalist
