Baffling silence

Two minutes of silence for Sonia!

VIJAY DEO JHA

RANCHI

Congress Rajya Sabha MP Dhiraj Sahu exhausted his quota of common sense in sheer excess of loyalty towards the Nehru-Gandhi family and observed a ‘two-minute of silence’ for the speedy recovery of the Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

Sahu used a public occasion, the foundation laying ceremony of a school at Simaria in Chatra, to display his loyalty towards Madam, a day back. On his call hundreds of his faithful bowed their head in silence with frustrating freeze on their tongue. But many kept wondering, questioning and whispering about his baffling act.

A local Congress leader part of that silence session intelligently lifted a part of the quote Mani Shankar Aiyar about the ‘Congress party like a circus and every party member has to join’, to narrate the incident.

“As though we were the animals of the circus company and he was the ring master he suddenly asked all of us to observe silence and we had no time to correct him. He refused to realise the mistake even when he was told about this later on,” the leader said.

It was too late for the liquor baron Sahu to realise that a two-minute silence is meant to mourn the death not to wish longevity of a person who has not died. “My intention was not bad. It was a prayer meeting for the speedy recovery of Soniaji. She is our party chief and guardian too,” he defended later on. None in the Congress came to defend him; Sahu too withdrew in silence after the episode. But his adversaries have ensured that the party general secretary Rahul Gandhi must be briefed about this with added pepper and spice.

“It is a serious matter not the prank and frolic of a baby to laugh. He is an MP after all. He thinks that such acts will give him the access to the 10 Janpath Road. Dukhad hai dukhad hai,” said one of the party seniors. Sahu is not the only State Congress leaders who have funnily attempted to get direct access to the Congress chief and Rahul Gandhi and to catch their attention. “Most of us make regular visit to Delhi and mostly return without getting an audience of the party chief over Jharkhand. We laze and roam there,” confided a former party MLA. Back to Jharkhand they claim having met Madam.

The tradition of flattery of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty is not new in Jharkhand. Rahul Gandhi is referred with honorific title Yuvraj (prince) and Yuva Hridaya Samrat officially. Since there is no prescribed limit of the degree of loyalty they go overboard often creating controversy. Some Congress workers led by Ajay Rai had celebrated the victory of Italy in 2006 in FIFA ‘World Football’ by hoisting Italian flag not out of sportsman spirit but Sonia being the native of Italy. The matter was patched-up.

But Sahu’s faux-pas cautioned many in the state Congress who wanted to rewrite their insipid CV of their loyalty towards the party and its chief. So why the fax machines of media houses are least troubled these days by their press release seeking speedy recovery of Sonia Gandhi. “Initially I too wished to issue a press release but dropped the idea since only few statements have been issued by important leaders of the Opposition and the Congress. Let not hype it,” a senior party office bearer said. State Congress President Pradeep Balmuchu has announced to organise Mahamritunjaya to seek the blessing of divine for her good health. A Sarv Dharm Prathana Sabha was held on Monday for Sonia and her health. Thanks heaven it remained a prayer meeting not a point to prove loyalty.