Opinion Around the world with Agra

One too many

It is customary for every governor to have two ADCs,one from the police and the other from the Army,but former army chief General J J Singh,the governor of Arunachal Pradesh,in a departure from the norm,has three ADCs,one from the police,one from the Army and one from the Air Force. Three aides are particularly unnecessary considering the size of the state and the fact that Singh,himself spends a large part of his time in Delhi.

Shaky start for Rath

L K Advani’s rath seems jinxed. At the start of his journey from Chapra,while Advani was at the front of the vehicle greeting the crowds,at the back,Sushma Swaraj was bilious and queasy and Arun Jaitley semi-conscious. Rajiv Pratap Rudy,who boarded after the rath had passed through his constituency,immediately figured out that something was amiss. However,others in the vehicle blamed the deteriorating health of the two parliamentary leaders on routine travel sickness. Rudy figured out that the carbon monoxide fumes from the generator had entered the air conditioning duct. The impact was not felt in the front since Advani and others with him kept breathing fresh air whenever they stood on the hydraulic lift. Rudy put both Jaitley and Swaraj into his own car and rushed them to Patna and called a doctor. The rescue was in the nick of time. By then Jaitley had passed out and Swaraj was vomiting frequently. Advani did not seem particularly concerned about the plight of his fellow passengers and reportedly made no inquiries about their well-being. Another fiasco was when Ravi Shankar Prasad was on the top of the elevated platform and the hydraulic lift stopped functioning. A ladder had to be procured for Prasad to climb down.

Against corruption

L K Advani caught the BJP leadership off guard by his cutting reference to former Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa. Advani had last year in November called for Yeddyurappa’s removal,but the party high command hesitated for fear of alienating the Lingayat MLAs. Advani,who once privately compared Yeddyurappa to a pickpocket in contrast to the broad daylight dacoity by the 2G scamsters,was annoyed with party president Nitin Gadkari for treading cautiously when the BJP had made corruption its plank. He now feels vindicated. Advani has set the agenda for his party which will find it difficult to take Yeddyurappa back even though the Lingayat leader is hopeful of being freed of his legal troubles by 2013 and returning as chief minister as per the predictions of his dedicated seers and astrologers.

Praying in isolation

During Vice President Hamid Ansari’s recent trip to Turkey,he visited the Eyup Sultan mosque and the shrine of Abu Ayub Ali Ansari,believed to be an ancestor. The mosque is fairly large but the portion reserved for prayer is small and can accommodate less than a dozen people. By the time Ansari and his wife Salma arrived at the mosque,the prayer section was occupied by the Indian and Turkish security staff. The VP and his spouse waited outside patiently in the rain. CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury,who was part of the delegation,had the good sense to ask those meant to protect the Vice President to step aside and allow the Ansaris to offer prayers without the distraction of bodyguards.

Experience first

A conference for governors is to be held at the end of the month at Rashtrapati Bhavan. There are seven topics on the agenda which the governors are expected to speak on. One subject to be discussed is ‘ragging’. Some governors are scrambling to find enough material to hold forth on the issue. Incidentally,Andhra Governor E S L Narasimhan has been deemed the doyen of the governors and will conduct the sessions,even though he is the youngest at 65. Most of the governors are pushing 75 and some in fact are past 80. Narasimhan got the honour because he is the longest serving governor and has been governor in two states.