Whither Patil¿s pratibha
The Express wrote three edits, and and may be driven to more sounding off before it gets some relief.
You don`t say!
Darius Nakhoonwala
Welcome me back, folks, after my month-long self-imposed holiday, away from the utterly pleasurable task of puncturing editorial balloons. Alas, in my absence, leader-writers, like pickpockets when there is no cop around, have gone back to their windy ways.
Take this Pratibha Patil business. At first, everyone was full of praise for the cunning 2-in-1 move by the UPA - a Patil+Shekhawat, wow! Then came all that bad news about her and everyone was caught on the hop.
It was Business Standard that started the hissing and booing, albeit with a lot of class, just like an old Raj family lady at a Kishori Amonkar concert. "But it is not too late even now. Perhaps Mrs Patil could (and should) save her patrons further embarrassment. After all, she too may have an inner voice urging her to renounce such worldly things as being the President of India." Well played, Sir, for responding to a 2-in-1 with another of the same.
The Telegraph complained and grumbled but not about the line and length of the bowling. It was upset about the speed. "… what is significant is the level to which the campaign for the presidency has descended… The bizarre choice on the part of the Congress started the ball rolling for a dirty campaign that serves only to demean the highest office of the Indian State….the fact that Ms Patil is the subject of a vicious campaign is a function of the failure of politicians to choose someone who deserves to be president." Hmm… I see. Hear no evil, speak no evil etc, just sway gracefully away from the bouncer.
The Hindu, which has become a sort of Left-wing Pioneer, ignored it all until Bal Thackarey said he would support Ms Patil. Its comment was exactly like Hindi cricket commentary, which specialises in picking up the most completely irrelevant thing. Thus The Hindu: "The announcement of the Sena chief Bal Thackeray that his party would seize the opportunity to get a Marathi elected as President and vote for Ms. Patil effectively ends the Presidential election as a contest." Yes, but does it wash that stain of Ms Patil`s pallav?
Not a word about banks, murder cases etc but the paper did this have to say: "The Presidency, even in a parliamentary form of government, is much more than ceremonial and symbolic, and Ms. Patil can be expected to bring to it an understanding of the constitutional functions as well as the limits." Yes, naturally, just as Shibu Soren was expected to restore law and order in Jharkhand.
The Pioneer had the calm of a man walking the gang-plank. "If we compare the credentials of the two main contenders, it will be obvious to the most casual of observers that Mr Shekhawat is miles ahead of his rival, Ms Pratibha Patil, who has been fielded by the UPA but really represents the Congress president`s choice.. Yes, the numbers are stacked against Mr Shekhawat, but that does not mean he cannot win. All legislators and MPs must ask themselves a simple question: Who is the best candidate? And vote according to their conscience." O dear-o-dear-o-dear, how very Hindu, giving up and leaving it to God.
But truth to tell, folks, it was the Indian Express that caught my fancy for getting knickers in an almighty twist, so much so that it wrote not one, not two but three edits and may be driven to more sounding off before it gets some relief.
Its first salvo was satirical but badly done. But the message was clean as a whistle. "The.. deeply discomfiting possibility of the institution of presidency being subject to the kind of questions that have never been asked before…. Did we really need a head of state whose curriculum vitae can always inspire investigative reporters?"
The second broadside became philosophical. "We, as a people, are getting more comfortable with the idea of demanding better assurances from those who propose to lead us. Therefore, raking up the past, examining a high-profile candidate`s public life, asking questions of events that happened two decades ago, all this is presumed fair. And of course it is fair."
The third was a charge at the Left. "the Left is trying to disentangle itself from what is increasingly beginning to look like a fairly messy situation through some skilful distancing…Now CPM General Secretary Prakash Karat chooses to fob off all media queries about Patil by saying flatly, "You should ask the Congress. They selected her."
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