The truth always comes out. Although it is no secret who the real boss in Delhi is, the Bharatiya Janata Party still tries to keep up appearances. The importance of the home minister and former BJP chief, Amit Shah — both in the affairs of the government as well as within the party — is not hidden from anyone in Delhi’s corridors of power. In fact, it is widely believed that Shah still calls the shots, even though he stepped down as the party boss before taking up the mantle of the home ministry. Great care is taken, however, to not exhibit this power hierarchy to the public. This is why for key party meetings, Shah is the one who heads over to the home of the present party chief, JP Nadda, and not the other way around.

The unpleasant reality, however, was exposed recently during an informal interaction with a select group of journalists at the BJP headquarters. Two chairs had been set out for the occasion — one for the party chief, Nadda, and the other for Shah. But as soon as Shah arrived in the hall with Nadda, he ordered one more chair to be brought in for the party’s media in-charge, Anil Baluni. And although Nadda was given the pride of place right in the middle, he remained a silent participant all through the interaction. Journalists, too, knew who the real boss was and so all the questions were directed at Shah. From party affairs to issues concerning the government, Shah handled everything.

Old magic

In a conversation between the Congress member of parliament, Rahul Gandhi, and the faculty and students of Brown University via video conference this past week, many caught a glimpse of an illustrious past. The interaction brought Rahul face-to-face with Leela Gandhi, the John Hawkes Professor of the Humanities and English, at this private Ivy League research institution. The latter also happens to be Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s great-granddaughter. The two ended up discussing the idea of ‘shoonyata’ (spiritual self effacement) that the Mahatma referred to very often. To many of those watching, this discussion was almost a throwback to the kind of discussions that the Mahatma had with his Congress colleagues during the freedom struggle.

Man for all seasons

It was a nomination rally which put all other such nomination processions to shade this poll season in Assam because of its massive scale and the message it sent out. But then the persona and political style of the BJP’s key strategist in the Northeast and, for many, Assam’s chief minister-in-waiting, Himanta Biswa Sarma, ensure that he stands out in a crowd. His rally after joining the BJP in 2015 and the one taken out during the filing of his nomination in 2016 were equally massive, clearly projecting him as a mass leader. In attendance were the incumbent chief ministers of Assam and Manipur, the Union agriculture minister, Narendra Singh Tomar, and other senior party leaders such as Baijayant Panda.

That he will win his Jalukbari bastion is a foregone conclusion for his supporters and loyalists. What the two-kilometre-long nomination rally that brought a portion of Guwahati to a standstill aimed to do was send a message to the Central leadership that he remains the party’s man for all seasons and reasons in the region. It was also meant to convey that the leadership need not look beyond Sarma for the post of chief minister, his supporters said. The party has not named a CM candidate. Both the incumbent CM, Sarbananda Sonowal, and Sarma have left it to the BJP parliamentary board to decide. Sarma, however, had made his ambition to become CM public all the way back when he was still in the Congress, which he left in 2015 after he saw his bid to become the CM thwarted. The ruling BJP clearly has a lot more on its plate apart from merely winning the battle for Dispur.

Served raw

At a time when beef has become a dirty word in Karnataka, which recently passed a stringent law against cow slaughter, the Congress leader, UT Khader, wondered why the National Democratic Alliance government in Delhi did not dare pass a ‘one nation, one anti-cow slaughter law’ instead of laws that are as diverse as the states. India being one of the world’s biggest exporters of beef, Khader challenged the Centre to bring about a uniform ban on cow slaughter across the country and contented that beef has become solely an electoral issue to harvest votes. Chew on that.

Footnote

Trust Pinarayi Vijayan to come up with swipes that amuse and singe at the same time. The entry of the ‘Metroman’, E Sreedharan, in Kerala’s political landscape is a hot topic. After dusting up his old connections with the sangh parivar, the acclaimed technocrat is now in the fray in Kerala. But it is his constant trashing of the state’s development model that ticked off Vijayan. Helming the Left Democratic Front, seeking a rare second consecutive term, Vijayan took a jibe saying even experts in their proven fields would begin talking trash once they join the BJP.