Redemption Song

Prodigal son, Ajit Jogi — accused of political bribery and worse — had his fatted calf literally flung at him and it came in the form of a Congress ticket to contest from the Mahsamund constitutuency of Chhattisgarh. The party spokesperson, without so much as betraying a twitch of the facial muscles, solemnly announced that “in view of the apology tendered by Jogi to the Disciplinary Action Committe for his lapses, the party has decided to withdraw the suspension order against him”. The sub-text for this simple confession-and-redemption ritual was clear: All is forgiven, Ajit, now go and defeat V.C. Shukla for us.

In another corner of the republic, the BJP — very conscious of maintaining its “clean” image after having collided into D.P. Yadav in the dark earlier on in the season — was busy handing the Tehelka-tainted Bangaru Laxman’s seat of Jalore to a surrogate Bangaru Laxman, who goes by the name of Sushila Devi, loyal wife of the above. This not-so-subtle subterfuge is evident to everybody but BJP spokespersons, who look very injured when so charged, and ask why a poor woman should suffer for her husband’s bad behaviour and be denied a ticket. Why indeed? Apart from the fact that Sushila Devi had seemed so far totally innocent of political experience or aspirations. Apart from the fact, that this was just a device to assuage an angry Bangaru Laxman from letting out primetime steam over the shabby manner in which his party was treating him and possible upsetting, in the process, the Dalits of Jalore, who are not inconsiderable in number for sure.

In these times of adjustable ethics and manoeuvrable morality, there are always those curious little bylanes to power even if you are a bit tainted, even if a whiff of something malodorous attaches itself to your political persona. The important thing is that you must be a “winnable” candidate. Everything else, frankly, is a mere distraction.