Snapshots

Passing On The Rule
Dynasty rule is likely to continue in Jammu and Kashmir. Earlier, it was Dr Farooq Abdullah, who succeeded his father, the late Sher-e-Kashmir Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, as chief minister in the late Seventies. Now, with Farooq asking his party leaders to look for another person for he will not be contesting the next Assembly elections, all eyes have turned to his son Omar Abdullah. Omar, a National Conference MP from Srinagar, is the Union Minister of State for Industries and Commerce. But if Farooq drops any more hints about his succession, people will just have to petition him to retire. First, at a public meeting in Zanana Park, Farooq asked Omar to visit all the districts and meet people in the State, as he could no longer do it on account of being old. Then Omar himself added to the speculation by telling journalists at a press conference that “I feel my career is not at the Centre, but only in the State”. Indicating he was at the Centre only for experience, Omar said though he didnot see himself as a chief minister, nothing could be said about the future.

Private Kind Of Peer
When Lord Meghnad Desai of the London School of Economics arrived in Vadodara last week and took part in a seminar organised by M.S. University, many thronged to hear him, faces bright with vicarious pride. They knew about his Vadodara connection: Desai was born in Vadodara and spent the first 15 years of his life in the city. But there was little else anyone seemed to know about his Vadodara days. The speakers introducing him couldn’t help. They could only drag out those weary cliches “son of the soil” and “his roots are in this city” and “he has made all Gujaratis proud”. Desai himself did nothing to pander to the curiosity of some in the audience. In acknowledgement of those introductions, all he said was: “Yes, I was born here, spent some happy years here, and matriculated from the Madhyawati High School here. I am happy to be home.”

Your Own Party
Many `Dals’ have gone into the churning of the national potpourri. The latest is `your own Dal’, the Apna Dal (AD), whose main exhortation is: “If an Apna Dal leader utters something, it is nothing but the truth”. Floated by Sonelal Patel four years ago, AD’s flag-bearer in Uttar Pradesh is Atiq Ahmad, the four-time Independent MLA from Allahabad City (West). A Mulayam Singh Yadav right-hand man for some time, he parted ways when “Mulayam shed the image of anti-communalism” (read, joined hands with Sakshi Maharaj). For Atiq and his Dal are against communal and fascist forces and will side with anyone who can defeat the BJP. Hidden beneath this rhetoric is a pro-Congress slant. His cronies claim that he has a good equation with the Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Salman Khursheed. Atiq certainly has no qualms in defending the Congress: “They have ruled the country for a long time and so what if some mistakes have been committed? It is quite human.” Among his many claimsis that it was his Dal which really spoiled the BJP chances in the recent Lok Sabha election.

“BJP lost 30 seats due to the influence of Apna Dal. It is only the beginning. Let us wait for the general election,” says Atiq. The AD’s main target is the so-far-unrepresented BCs, the Kurmis who are about 7 per cent more than Yadavs in Uttar Pradesh. But he maintains that he is totally against “casteism that has crept into Uttar Pradesh politics, society and culture”. And his recipe for fighting casteism in the State is: Give equal opportunity to every caste so that everyone feels part of the decision-making process. And it should be on rotation. “When we come to power, right from the chief minister to the SHO of a police station, the person can hold the post for only two years.”