Rhetoric and reality seldom show such a contrast. Shiv Sena MP Anant Geete used to argue at the height of the party’s anti-north Indian tirade that only those children who are not fed properly by their own parents sought food from the neighbours. What he was implying was that people from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh look for livelihood elsewhere because their own governments had failed to take care of them. Therefore, it was amusing to see his party colleague, Sanjay Raut, author of anti-north Indian editorials in Saamna, playing host to a vast number of north Indians over dinner at his Ferozeshah Road residence. Raut had half-a-dozen chefs flown in from Mumbai to prepare a rich spread of Maharashtrian delicacies for his guests. The guests included senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi, Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh, NCP leader Tariq Anwar, Congress MP Rajeev Shukla, BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and BSP member of the Lok Sabha Ramesh Dube. As Geete looked on, Raut not only hugged all these luminaries from north India upon arrival, but also ensured that all of them ate well.
