Skip to main content

Swearing Allegiance to One's Masters

Sadananda Gowda & Manmohan Singh - Different at the outset, a lot in common
Karnataka Chief Minister D V Sadanda Gowda, at a BJP meeting in Belgaum on October 10, said that he met the “accidental prime minister” Manmohan Singh recently in Delhi and empathised with him as he too was an “accidental chief minister” - a statement that was, predictably, met with instant laughter and choreographed applause.

If anything, Gowda was at his subtle best in conveying the truth. None expected either the Oxford educated Singh or the incumbent chief minister of Karnataka to be pitch forked into political prominence as they find themselves in today, and were done so only after other options in the respective party armouries were either exhausted or impractical. Despite them being their party’s mascots - their soft demeanours vital to the survival of the two parties - the decisions and statements of the two continue to be viewed as that of their ‘supposed’ masters, Sonia Gandhi for Singh and former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa for Gowda.

It is the similarities between the two, rather than the differences, that are a source of intrigue. Sullia-born Gowda and Singh are heads of governments that have public discontent simmering against them, for the most obvious reason of corruption. Interestingly, their governments need to look within rather than outside for potent sources of trouble (the face-off between Pranab Mukherjee and P Chidambaram, polarisation of K’taka BJP camps, need we say more). Also, the Opposition parties of the two governments have grossly failed to capitalise on the issue of corruption – L K Advani’s Rath Yatra is more like bolting the stables after the horses have fled, especially after Team Anna upstaged it on bringing the UPA government to book for its torrent of scams; Gali Janardhana Reddy and Yeddyurappa may have fallen from grace, but the public outreach programmes of Congress in Karnataka have failed to translate into electoral victories. 

Perhaps the most striking similarity between the two leaders is their proclivity to seek indirect public mandate to continue in power. Singh chooses to remain PM by getting elected to Rajya Sabha; it is only expected that Gowda will continue in the CM’s gaddi by getting elected to the Legislative Council. 

Two days later, this time in Shimoga, namma CM makes a similar, somewhat self-deprecating statement, but does not refer to any Central government leaders. “K S Eshwarappa (state BJP secretary) and Yeddyurappa were solely responsible for my ascendancy to the CM’s chair,” he said.

So, will our honoured PM reciprocate in kind and admit that he is a mere puppet in the hands of the 2Gs of the Congress? Watch this space for more details.

(Photos: Wikipedia)
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why the editorial is the unsung hero of any newspaper

A tad autobiographical, this account encapsulates my experiences at a news organisation. Why wait until 50 or 60 to compose one? Hell, who knows, this could even be its blueprint! So, here goes my first stab at chronicling myself... I was prepared for all kinds of weird questions for my first job interview as a journalist four years ago, for the post of a sub-editor, but I never anticipated this one that caught me off guard. Noting that I preferred to work in the editorial than the reporting section, a HR representative at the organization asked in almost an air of dismissal, implying that the editorial is something redundant, “After all, we have Microsoft Word, in built with grammar and spell check capabilities, so why must I hire you?” I stared at him blankly for a moment as a smile grew on his face, perhaps out of exult at having stumped me. I trotted a familiar refrain, which I am sure he would have encountered countless times, “Because I am passionate about writing a...
6 comments
Read more

Is what you are watching actually a cartoon?

Disclaimer: What you are about to read may seem weird, but what the hell, I am hypothesising it to be true, so who knows... Cartoons are basica lly meant for kids. The main reason e lders prefer letting the kids watch them without their sup ervision is that they need not fret over the incidence of X-rated content in it – namely content that concerns that famous three-letter word or violence. I suggest that we re-examine this mindset of ours (as someone who has grown up watching the very cartoons that I am about to damn, I have mixed feelings as I type this. Consider the following list: Tom and Jerry , Bugs Bunny and El mer Fudd/Yosemite Sam , Tweety and Sylvester and Coyote a nd Road R unner . These are cartoons which we would definitel y not squirm about before letting a toddler/child watch it. These cartoons are hilarious, have palatable themes; have caricatures that look cute (I am yet to come across a girl who hates Tweety). Tom and Jerry, for instance, was once even vot...
2 comments
Read more

Tamil Nadu’s Thala-Thalapathy conundrum

Overrated, yet celebrated:  Tamil actors Vijay and Ajith, who command massive fan-followings “Oh, you watch Tamil cinema? So, you must be a fan of  Thala /  Thalapathy ?” Trepidation must be the watchword when one encounters these statements. For, this refers to a syndrome that has divided film freaks of Tamil Nadu into fans of Kollywood’s leading (well, at least expensive) actors —  Thala  or Ajith Kumar and  Thalapathy  or Vijay. Chances are, the manner in which you will be treated from then on depends on your reply. Behold the Thala-Thalapathy syndrome. Such is its omnipresence that no Tamilian worth his salt can ever claim to have escaped it ( Thala  and  Thalapathy  roughly translate to “leader” and “commander”, in Tamil). Industry buzz has it that Vijay’s moniker lends credence to the theory that he is the “successor” to Rajinikanth’s mantle in the industry ( Thalapathy  was one of Rajini’s biggest ...
1 comment
Read more