All the Queen's Men

Amidst the ruckus around the latest round of reservations pulled off by old Mr. Arjun Singh were some other really curious noises this week.

Madame Gandhi romped home to victory in Rae Bareilli, and elsewhere UPA "allies" (kaff kaff, ahem ahem) seized decisive victories in their respective states. Seemingly oblivious to the obvious shrillness this is all going to bring the UPA in the months ahead, Congress factions seem to have gone into some kind of hyper-drive on attacks against its own goverment. And then again, maybe they aren't so oblivious after all!

So, on last count...we had some four Poltu-dudes join the "embarrass-singh" bandwagon. Milind Deora and Kamal Nath started off by indulging in this periodic ass-kissing ritual we are now painfully used to... Now that Rahul Gandhi has led Madame G to a stunning victory, we are led to believe that the nation has affirmed its faith in " Soniaji's and Rahul-ji's" leadership. So one must take on the "glory and responsiblity" of leading hte nation, while the other, should be given more responsibility in hte party etc. etc. My dad taught me this shloka once, that seems to be somewhat relevant in this case...

"Oshtraanam vivahascha
Karthabahakila gayakaha
Parasparam prasamsamthi
Aho-roopam! Ahoroopam!
Ahodhwani! Ahodhwani!"

which roughly translates to...

"To a Giraffes wedding,
A donkey was called as the wedding singer
Each praised the other saying,
'what a face! What a face!';
'What a voice, what a voice!"

Hmm.. the resemblance is striking :)

Then we had Murli Deora do a spectacular back-flip! He now says that one shouldn't hike prices and instead, like good marxists, we should instead cut our duties on fuel imports. Of course, no helpful suggestions are offered on how to plug the fiscal hole that results from this little sleight of hand.

Then today, we had the wily old Singh throw another grenade at the PM and the NKC, rekindling the issue, first firmly refusing to revisit his recommendation, and then sweetly leaving it "to the cabinet" to take a final decision.

Adding to the confusion was Mr. Nath doing a bit of an encore - "price control!" he shrieks!! "A conspiracy of cement manufacturers!" ... "Off with their heads!!" and so forth. Well, one assumes he's left it to lesser mortals to wrestle with notions such as demand and supply, but an educated view hardly seems warranted, given the chosen profession here - sad, but apparently true. Those that know better, choose to be mum. Thankfully, he seems to be getting a fair share of editorial brickbats for his ridiculous posturing - but the days when simple editorials made these guys blush have long since passed.

But each individual incident really isn't what interests me. Methinks the pieces are in play. Though what exactly is being aimed at, beyond replacing the good Doctor remains a bit of a mystery to me. After all, it's not like Manmohan Singh has any kind of political base... or gumption (sadly) ... so what exactly are these good Congressmen doing aligning themselves more closely with the apparatchiks policy-wise while screaming paeans to the Gs? Is it rebellion against the good doctor (in which case, who shall wear the crown?) or is the stage being set for a bigger reshuffle should Mrs. Gandhi mess up at the hustings? The mystery deepens... hmm... God save us!