Business Asan
Breaking his long strategic silence (he termed this a self imposed unbiased positioning vis a vis political parties), immediately after the formal declaration of results of Lok Sabha polls, a famous Baba having huge business interests started singing paeans for Narendra Modi. This Baba who drew attention of the world by his seemingly pious efforts to popularise Yoga and Ayurveda but ended up setting up a colossal business empire simultaneously, stretched so far in his Asan of pleasing NaMo that he suggested that May 23, the day poll results were out, be declared as ‘Modi Day’. The Baba then went on suggesting the steps NaMo should take after assuming office of Prime Minister in his second stint. It is interesting to note that even the bright Baba failed to detect the undercurrent for Modi during the run up for the election and was apparently under assumption that opposition parties could dislodge his apple-cart which probably restrained him from coming out openly in favour of the saffron party like he did earlier. Now when NaMo has returned to power with a mandate bigger than he got in the year 2014, the Baba has made a somersault of sorts. Clever ploy indeed from someone who has enormous business interests!
Tourism tormenters
It appears that Babus calling shots in Tourism sector in the state have got into the habit of goofing up things every now and then. In one of the most recent incidents, the mandarins running a board responsible for tourism development in the Himalayan state have declared that the last entry for its ‘Photographic Splendour Contest of Kedarnath Dham’ would be accepted till 5 PM of June 31, a date which does not exist in the Gregorian calendar. Incidentally none from an army of the fat pay cheque receiving Babus have detected the gaffe. This is not an isolated case where those running the show in the important tourism sector in the state have ended up with egg on their faces. Using pictures not associated with Uttarakhand in promos, not updating packages for tourists on websites for months together and showing utter callousness which perpetuated sinking of the floating restaurant ‘Marina’ in Tehri Lake are some of the major achievements of these Babus.
Concord in Congress?
Albeit late, a realisation seems to have finally dawned upon the warring factions of the Congress party in Uttarakhand, that they should burry the hatchet and show a unified picture in order to survive in the state. A 5-0 washout in the recent Lok Sabha polls coming close on heels of humiliating defeat in the assembly elections of 2017 and an exodus of senior leaders from the party has shown that nothing positive is coming the Congress’ way after it received a severe drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections of 2014. With clear indications that the Modi wave is showing no sign of abating coupled with an apparent stern message from the party high command, the factions led by Harish Rawat, Pritam Singh, Indira Hridayesh and Kishore Upadhyay have called a truce. The unity attempts though forced and somewhat feigned have shown a silver lining to down and out workers of the grand old party in the state. The upcoming Panchayat elections would be the first test of this unity.
