Main Issue India

Main Issue India Launched on July 2012 in Mumbai with Editor In Chief Brahmanand R Tiwari Main Issue is fortnightly Hindi & English National News Magazine owned by BT News

Launched on July 2012 in Mumbai with Editor In Chief Brahmanand R Tiwari Main Issue is fortnightly Hindi & English National News Magazine owned by BT News Broadcasting Private Limited. Within a short span of two years Main Issue has very rapidly reached itself into the lives of the young and dynamic readers in India’s financial capital of Mumbai, and other key cities such as Pune, Nagpur, Indore,

Lucknow, Ranchi and now Gujarat. Through news, views, analyses and interactivity Main Issue has touched thousands of lives impacted its readers positively and empowered thousands of Indians to change their lives for the better. It is an independent general interest news magazine with a composite unbiased picture of the city, the country and the world around them. Today Main Issue is the most read English & Hindi news magazine in the city of Mumbai and is the preferred choice of readers in Mumbai

Having a diverse range of products and sections Main Issue is for everyone in the family. With a diversified portfolio including some of the most famous titles like, Main Issue has ensured that there is something for everybody in it. Main Issue will be able to competent any other news magazine which are prevailing in the market. Main Issue always appreciates the opinions of our readers. Main Issue is being subscribed among all varieties of people throughout India. Main Issue has received several appreciations and liking from the people, our circulation is increasing issue after issue. Our circulation will be so high which will be prime factor for advertisers during coming future. Its feature contents are from Politics, Sports, Education, Career, Health, Cinema and stories of broad interests.

It’s impossible to understand the new leader of India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, without understanding his right-win...
26/05/2015

It’s impossible to understand the new leader of India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, without understanding his right-wing party’s cousin, the Shiv Sena. And it’s impossible to understand Shiv Sena — or for that matter, the city of Mumbai — without understanding the late Bal Thackeray, former chief of the party that stands a few steps to the right of the now dominant BJP. During forty years of governance, Thackeray, a former cartoonist turned cigar-smoking, xenophobic, Hitler-loving politician, stirred up controversy with almost every move he made at the helm of a crucial political group. The man had blood on his hands.
how Thackeray and his party left an indelible mark on the politics of one of the most important cities in Asia.
Soon after founding the Shiv Sena in 1966, Thackeray demanded that Gujaratis and South Indians leave Mumbai because they were depriving native Maharashtrians of employment opportunities. But his identity mongering didn’t stop there; Thackeray was later accused of inciting communal riots in Bombay in December 1992. Yet, such was his influence that Thackeray was never once convicted in any of the riots cases. And, people loved him.
A new book tells his story, and comes at a good time to play catch-up on your Indian history. Samrat: How the Shiv Sena Changed Mumbai Forever (published by HarperCollins India) is an incisive account in which Sujata Anandan, a journalist for the Hindustan Times newspaper details how Thackeray and his party left an indelible mark on the politics of one of the most important cities in Asia. She talks to OZY about Thackeray’s changing political positions, his campaign for “Marathi pride” and the modern face of the political party.
Tell us a bit about Bal Thackeray’s start. How did he enter politics — and how did he end up creating such a cult of identity surrounding Maharashtrians (people from the state of Maharashtra)?
He began [public] life with a very healthy contempt of politicians … the Shiv Sena was never meant to be a political organization. It was just meant to be a cultural organization. I mention in the book that there were three kinds of Shiv Saininks — the ones who joined for the Marathi [cultural] cause … and those who indulged in violence. [Those who] joined for the Marathi ethos thought that the Shiv Sena was a cultural organization, neither on the left or the right, but just to protect Marathi culture and language.
What did the Mumbai of Thackeray’s age look like? You mention that local Marathis had begun to feel like “second-class citizens” in the capital of their own state. Thackeray capitalized on that sentiment.
As I write in the book, Maharashtra was a very peculiar state because it was cosmopolitan and had people from all communities. So you had Bohra Muslims, Gujaratis, Sindhis, South Indians, Punjabis … all kinds of people. This was also an industrial city — and the industrialists were all Gujaratis and Parsis and Bohra Muslims. The bureaucracy and top management in the private sector was filled with South Indians. But the workers were all Maharashtrians — they were migrating to the city from other parts of Maharashtra, which were very backward, economically. In the ‘50s and ‘60s, the government undertook a major redevelopment exercise of south Bombay [the city’s posh neighborhood] … workers couldn’t afford the new houses that came up. So they found that they were being pushed further into the suburbs and they weren’t getting the better jobs.
And that is when Bal Thackeray came in.
Excerpt: Bal Thackeray was ever the flip-flop man: blowing hot, blowing cold, in love with the enemy one day and hating his friends most of the time. But if there was one emotion that truly defined the Sena tiger, it was fear — not exactly the fear that he instilled among various sections of the people over four decades, but fear for his life. And at the root of that fear was the alleged Communist conspiracy of the 1960s to “assassinate” this man who was perhaps never destined for greatness but had that greatness thrust upon him, almost against his will.
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE
Because India’s global significance should be matched by a global understanding of its history.
It’s impossible to understand the new leader of India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, without understanding his right-wing party’s cousin, the Shiv Sena. And it’s impossible to understand Shiv Sena — or for that matter, the city of Mumbai — without understanding the late Bal Thackeray, former chief of the party that stands a few steps to the right of the now dominant BJP. During forty years of governance, Thackeray, a former cartoonist turned cigar-smoking, xenophobic, Hitler-loving politician, stirred up controversy with almost every move he made at the helm of a crucial political group. The man had blood on his hands.
Samrat details how Thackeray and his party left an indelible mark on the politics of one of the most important cities in Asia.
Soon after founding the Shiv Sena in 1966, Thackeray demanded that Gujaratis and South Indians leave Mumbai because they were depriving native Maharashtrians of employment opportunities. But his identity mongering didn’t stop there; Thackeray was later accused of inciting communal riots in Bombay in December 1992. Yet, such was his influence that Thackeray was never once convicted in any of the riots cases. And, people loved him.
A new book tells his story, and comes at a good time to play catch-up on your Indian history. Samrat: How the Shiv Sena Changed Mumbai Forever (published by HarperCollins India) is an incisive account in which Sujata Anandan, a journalist for the Hindustan Times newspaper details how Thackeray and his party left an indelible mark on the politics of one of the most important cities in Asia. She talks to OZY about Thackeray’s changing political positions, his campaign for “Marathi pride” and the modern face of the political party.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Tell us a bit about Bal Thackeray’s start. How did he enter politics — and how did he end up creating such a cult of identity surrounding Maharashtrians (people from the state of Maharashtra)?
He began [public] life with a very healthy contempt of politicians … the Shiv Sena was never meant to be a political organization. It was just meant to be a cultural organization. I mention in the book that there were three kinds of Shiv Saininks — the ones who joined for the Marathi [cultural] cause … and those who indulged in violence. [Those who] joined for the Marathi ethos thought that the Shiv Sena was a cultural organization, neither on the left or the right, but just to protect Marathi culture and language.
What did the Mumbai of Thackeray’s age look like? You mention that local Marathis had begun to feel like “second-class citizens” in the capital of their own state. Thackeray capitalized on that sentiment.
As I write in the book, Maharashtra was a very peculiar state because it was cosmopolitan and had people from all communities. So you had Bohra Muslims, Gujaratis, Sindhis, South Indians, Punjabis … all kinds of people. This was also an industrial city — and the industrialists were all Gujaratis and Parsis and Bohra Muslims. The bureaucracy and top management in the private sector was filled with South Indians. But the workers were all Maharashtrians — they were migrating to the city from other parts of Maharashtra, which were very backward, economically. In the ‘50s and ‘60s, the government undertook a major redevelopment exercise of south Bombay [the city’s posh neighborhood] … workers couldn’t afford the new houses that came up. So they found that they were being pushed further into the suburbs and they weren’t getting the better jobs.
And that is when Bal Thackeray came in.
Excerpt: Bal Thackeray was ever the flip-flop man: blowing hot, blowing cold, in love with the enemy one day and hating his friends most of the time. But if there was one emotion that truly defined the Sena tiger, it was fear — not exactly the fear that he instilled among various sections of the people over four decades, but fear for his life. And at the root of that fear was the alleged Communist conspiracy of the 1960s to “assassinate” this man who was perhaps never destined for greatness but had that greatness thrust upon him, almost against his will.
When did Thackeray go from this narrative of dealing with the outsiders to coming into a full political ideology? He eventually found his way to Hindutva, the right-wing philosophy behind Shiv Sena and now related to the BJP.
He cold-bloodedly shifted to Hindutva politics because the Marathi issue only worked for 7 to 8 years. After that, the Sena was on the verge of becoming irrelevant. And the Marathi issue didn’t work outside Bombay … In other cities like Nasik, Nagpur, Kolhapur, people didn’t care. So then he began to experiment with Hindutva politics and by the mid-80s, he honed [that ideology]. It was a cold-blooded and calculated shift.
Your book ultimately makes the point that Thackeray is still relevant to politics in this very important state — the second most populous in India. How does that manifest?
Even in the Lok Sabha [the national general] elections, the Shiv Sena party made ample use of Bal Thackeray. The campaign was in his name. There is a very clear understanding in the Sena that Uddhav [Thackeray’s son who now heads the party] doesn’t have the charisma and Raj [his nephew who broke away to form his own political party, because he’s away from the Sena, the impact is lost. Uddhav is a better person and he’s a gentleman. He always wanted the image of his father’s party to be cleaned up because he didn’t like that goonda [thug] kind of image. But somehow the Shiv Sainiks don’t allow him to do that. He might want to clean up the party but he has no charisma and has to ride on Bal Thackeray’s image. So they are going to make ample use of him in the election campaign.
Across the rest of India, are we seeing a huge resurgence of the right wing? What many people don’t understand about India still is how much of a battle there is for regional identity. Will there be a shift to the right wing to address all of those needs?
Regional aspirations need not be addressed by a right-wing party. There is the Telugu Desam, the Assam Gana Parishad, the Biju Janata Dal, the Trinamool Congress [regional political parties of the states of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Orissa and West Bengal respectively] … they’re all addressing regional aspirations of their people and they’re not right-wing parties. They’re left-of-center parties. From time-to-time, they may be in alliance with the BJP but you don’t need to be a right-wing, violent party to address regional aspirations.

It’s impossible to understand the new leader of India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, without understanding his right-win...
26/05/2015

It’s impossible to understand the new leader of India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, without understanding his right-wing party’s cousin, the Shiv Sena. And it’s impossible to understand Shiv Sena — or for that matter, the city of Mumbai — without understanding the late Bal Thackeray, former chief of the party that stands a few steps to the right of the now dominant BJP. During forty years of governance, Thackeray, a former cartoonist turned cigar-smoking, xenophobic, Hitler-loving politician, stirred up controversy with almost every move he made at the helm of a crucial political group. The man had blood on his hands.
how Thackeray and his party left an indelible mark on the politics of one of the most important cities in Asia.

Soon after founding the Shiv Sena in 1966, Thackeray demanded that Gujaratis and South Indians leave Mumbai because they were depriving native Maharashtrians of employment opportunities. But his identity mongering didn’t stop there; Thackeray was later accused of inciting communal riots in Bombay in December 1992. Yet, such was his influence that Thackeray was never once convicted in any of the riots cases. And, people loved him.

A new book tells his story, and comes at a good time to play catch-up on your Indian history. Samrat: How the Shiv Sena Changed Mumbai Forever (published by HarperCollins India) is an incisive account in which Sujata Anandan, a journalist for the Hindustan Times newspaper details how Thackeray and his party left an indelible mark on the politics of one of the most important cities in Asia. She talks to OZY about Thackeray’s changing political positions, his campaign for “Marathi pride” and the modern face of the political party.
Tell us a bit about Bal Thackeray’s start. How did he enter politics — and how did he end up creating such a cult of identity surrounding Maharashtrians (people from the state of Maharashtra)?

He began [public] life with a very healthy contempt of politicians … the Shiv Sena was never meant to be a political organization. It was just meant to be a cultural organization. I mention in the book that there were three kinds of Shiv Saininks — the ones who joined for the Marathi [cultural] cause … and those who indulged in violence. [Those who] joined for the Marathi ethos thought that the Shiv Sena was a cultural organization, neither on the left or the right, but just to protect Marathi culture and language.
What did the Mumbai of Thackeray’s age look like? You mention that local Marathis had begun to feel like “second-class citizens” in the capital of their own state. Thackeray capitalized on that sentiment.

As I write in the book, Maharashtra was a very peculiar state because it was cosmopolitan and had people from all communities. So you had Bohra Muslims, Gujaratis, Sindhis, South Indians, Punjabis … all kinds of people. This was also an industrial city — and the industrialists were all Gujaratis and Parsis and Bohra Muslims. The bureaucracy and top management in the private sector was filled with South Indians. But the workers were all Maharashtrians — they were migrating to the city from other parts of Maharashtra, which were very backward, economically. In the ‘50s and ‘60s, the government undertook a major redevelopment exercise of south Bombay [the city’s posh neighborhood] … workers couldn’t afford the new houses that came up. So they found that they were being pushed further into the suburbs and they weren’t getting the better jobs.

And that is when Bal Thackeray came in.

Excerpt: Bal Thackeray was ever the flip-flop man: blowing hot, blowing cold, in love with the enemy one day and hating his friends most of the time. But if there was one emotion that truly defined the Sena tiger, it was fear — not exactly the fear that he instilled among various sections of the people over four decades, but fear for his life. And at the root of that fear was the alleged Communist conspiracy of the 1960s to “assassinate” this man who was perhaps never destined for greatness but had that greatness thrust upon him, almost against his will.

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE
Because India’s global significance should be matched by a global understanding of its history.

It’s impossible to understand the new leader of India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, without understanding his right-wing party’s cousin, the Shiv Sena. And it’s impossible to understand Shiv Sena — or for that matter, the city of Mumbai — without understanding the late Bal Thackeray, former chief of the party that stands a few steps to the right of the now dominant BJP. During forty years of governance, Thackeray, a former cartoonist turned cigar-smoking, xenophobic, Hitler-loving politician, stirred up controversy with almost every move he made at the helm of a crucial political group. The man had blood on his hands.

Samrat details how Thackeray and his party left an indelible mark on the politics of one of the most important cities in Asia.

Soon after founding the Shiv Sena in 1966, Thackeray demanded that Gujaratis and South Indians leave Mumbai because they were depriving native Maharashtrians of employment opportunities. But his identity mongering didn’t stop there; Thackeray was later accused of inciting communal riots in Bombay in December 1992. Yet, such was his influence that Thackeray was never once convicted in any of the riots cases. And, people loved him.

A new book tells his story, and comes at a good time to play catch-up on your Indian history. Samrat: How the Shiv Sena Changed Mumbai Forever (published by HarperCollins India) is an incisive account in which Sujata Anandan, a journalist for the Hindustan Times newspaper details how Thackeray and his party left an indelible mark on the politics of one of the most important cities in Asia. She talks to OZY about Thackeray’s changing political positions, his campaign for “Marathi pride” and the modern face of the political party.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Tell us a bit about Bal Thackeray’s start. How did he enter politics — and how did he end up creating such a cult of identity surrounding Maharashtrians (people from the state of Maharashtra)?

He began [public] life with a very healthy contempt of politicians … the Shiv Sena was never meant to be a political organization. It was just meant to be a cultural organization. I mention in the book that there were three kinds of Shiv Saininks — the ones who joined for the Marathi [cultural] cause … and those who indulged in violence. [Those who] joined for the Marathi ethos thought that the Shiv Sena was a cultural organization, neither on the left or the right, but just to protect Marathi culture and language.

What did the Mumbai of Thackeray’s age look like? You mention that local Marathis had begun to feel like “second-class citizens” in the capital of their own state. Thackeray capitalized on that sentiment.

As I write in the book, Maharashtra was a very peculiar state because it was cosmopolitan and had people from all communities. So you had Bohra Muslims, Gujaratis, Sindhis, South Indians, Punjabis … all kinds of people. This was also an industrial city — and the industrialists were all Gujaratis and Parsis and Bohra Muslims. The bureaucracy and top management in the private sector was filled with South Indians. But the workers were all Maharashtrians — they were migrating to the city from other parts of Maharashtra, which were very backward, economically. In the ‘50s and ‘60s, the government undertook a major redevelopment exercise of south Bombay [the city’s posh neighborhood] … workers couldn’t afford the new houses that came up. So they found that they were being pushed further into the suburbs and they weren’t getting the better jobs.

And that is when Bal Thackeray came in.

Excerpt: Bal Thackeray was ever the flip-flop man: blowing hot, blowing cold, in love with the enemy one day and hating his friends most of the time. But if there was one emotion that truly defined the Sena tiger, it was fear — not exactly the fear that he instilled among various sections of the people over four decades, but fear for his life. And at the root of that fear was the alleged Communist conspiracy of the 1960s to “assassinate” this man who was perhaps never destined for greatness but had that greatness thrust upon him, almost against his will.

When did Thackeray go from this narrative of dealing with the outsiders to coming into a full political ideology? He eventually found his way to Hindutva, the right-wing philosophy behind Shiv Sena and now related to the BJP.

He cold-bloodedly shifted to Hindutva politics because the Marathi issue only worked for 7 to 8 years. After that, the Sena was on the verge of becoming irrelevant. And the Marathi issue didn’t work outside Bombay … In other cities like Nasik, Nagpur, Kolhapur, people didn’t care. So then he began to experiment with Hindutva politics and by the mid-80s, he honed [that ideology]. It was a cold-blooded and calculated shift.

Your book ultimately makes the point that Thackeray is still relevant to politics in this very important state — the second most populous in India. How does that manifest?

Even in the Lok Sabha [the national general] elections, the Shiv Sena party made ample use of Bal Thackeray. The campaign was in his name. There is a very clear understanding in the Sena that Uddhav [Thackeray’s son who now heads the party] doesn’t have the charisma and Raj [his nephew who broke away to form his own political party, because he’s away from the Sena, the impact is lost. Uddhav is a better person and he’s a gentleman. He always wanted the image of his father’s party to be cleaned up because he didn’t like that goonda [thug] kind of image. But somehow the Shiv Sainiks don’t allow him to do that. He might want to clean up the party but he has no charisma and has to ride on Bal Thackeray’s image. So they are going to make ample use of him in the election campaign.

Across the rest of India, are we seeing a huge resurgence of the right wing? What many people don’t understand about India still is how much of a battle there is for regional identity. Will there be a shift to the right wing to address all of those needs?

Regional aspirations need not be addressed by a right-wing party. There is the Telugu Desam, the Assam Gana Parishad, the Biju Janata Dal, the Trinamool Congress [regional political parties of the states of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Orissa and West Bengal respectively] … they’re all addressing regional aspirations of their people and they’re not right-wing parties. They’re left-of-center parties. From time-to-time, they may be in alliance with the BJP but you don’t need to be a right-wing, violent party to address regional aspirations.

Amitabh Bachchan will feature prominently in a Doordarshan campaign aimed to popularise 'DD Kisan', an exclusive channel...
26/05/2015

Amitabh Bachchan will feature prominently in a Doordarshan campaign aimed to popularise 'DD Kisan', an exclusive channel for farmers and rural India.

Senior Doordarshan official said that Bachchan would feature in audio visuals, radio jingles and also field publicity for the latest Doordarshan channel, the idea for which came from the Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself.
ADG, Prasar Bharati, Ranjan Mukherjee, who was also looking after the launch of the channel, said that a detailed publicity plan has been chalked out for spreading awareness about the channel and confirmed that Bachchan would feature prominently.


Apart from advertisements, fourteen 'Kisan Rath' vans would also travel to at least 10,000 villages to generate publicity, he said. The DD Kisan channel which goes with the tagline, 'Badalte Bharat ki Shan' is a 24x7 channel that will telecast updated information on agriculture, weather and related subject for the benefit of its target audience including cattle rearers, bee keepers, poultry owners, mechanics and craftsmen.

Advice of Indian Metrological Department scientists and Agricultural scientists would be broadcast regularly for the farmers so that they may know about the crop diseases, ways to protect crops from various diseases and on how to increase the crop yield. The channel has a tie-up with IMD and several scientific bodies in the field of agriculture including agricultural universities, Krish Vigyan Kendras etc, a statement released here said.

26/05/2015

Foreign policy initiatives and efforts to raise India’s international profile will be clearly seen as prominent features of the year. Mr. Modi’s visits to 18 countries in the West, Latin America, China, the neighbourhood and East Asia were in line with the foreign policy objectives set during the UPA’s tenure that sought to adapt India to a fast-changing, multipolar world. In line with the UPA’s correctives during its second tenure when the government sought to move away from a single-minded focus on Indo-U.S. relations, the Modi regime has adopted a multifaceted approach. The government has simultaneously pursued Indo-U.S. strategic ties and a strong economic relationship with China based on trade and investment. The former was outlined in the Joint Strategic Vision for the Asia-Pacific and the Indian Ocean region signed during President Barack Obama’s visit when he was the guest of honour at the Republic Day parade in New Delhi. Reciprocal state visits by Mr. Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping allowed for incremental gains in the relationship as both have sought to whittle down strategic differences.

Mr. Modi’s government has played a proactive role in the neighbourhood. Without the coalition constraints that the UPA faced, the Modi government managed to conclude a land agreement with Bangladesh. The government helped Nepal find its feet after the earthquake and promised support for its Constitution-writing process without any interference. Indeed, Mr. Modi’s twin visits to Nepal helped refurbish the image of the foreign policy establishment, which had resorted to an interventionist approach under the UPA midway through its tenure. But as regards Pakistan and the north-west region, India’s foreign policy approach has been found wanting. The emphasis on a limited engagement with Pakistan that has persisted since the 26/11 attacks has impeded movement to solve outstanding issues, even as Islamabad has moved to deepen cooperation with the new regime in Afghanistan. All said, it is an encouraging start on the foreign policy front. And it is a matter of credit to the Prime Minister and the External Affairs Minister that the Nehruvian emphasis on strategic autonomy has been retained

26/05/2015

For the third time in six seasons, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings squared off in the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) main event. MI repeated its 2013 triumph, drawing level with CSK and Kolkata Knight Riders as owners of two titles in the eight-year-old tournament. MI’s success was particularly remarkable because it recovered from four consecutive losses at the start to win 10 of its next 12 matches. Neutrals could partake in the franchise’s joy too, for this win brought glory to the back-room staff that included fan-favourites Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble and Jonty Rhodes — legends whose understanding of the Twenty20 format is informed by their intimate knowledge of Test and one-day cricket. The presence of such experienced minds in the MI camp helped it override the early crisis. CSK has come to define the tournament, but has now lost its last three IPL finals. While the retention of a core group of players has helped the team become a constant presence in the knockouts – CSK has never finished below the top four – it has failed to guide the franchise past the final hurdle. Nevertheless, the frequent appearance of CSK and MI in the play-offs suggests a correlation between consistency of personnel and the chance of victory.

The tournament’s success can be attributed to consistency as well — consistency of both the product and its appeal. Despite criticism, it has engaged, over eight seasons, an audience that has a plethora of entertainment options. According to viewership figures and advertisement rates for television coverage, there isn’t a bigger box office draw for the cricket fan. Buoyed by the support, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has mooted plans to organise a shorter IPL to replace the Champions League T20 event later this year. Despite the participation of the best domestic sides from other major cricketing nations, the latter tournament has failed to excite expert and fan alike. With a revenue model that appears to work in place, the BCCI has been encouraged to believe that two tournaments involving solely IPL teams can coexist. That the IPL has contributed to improving the standards of the Twenty20 format, both domestically and internationally, has come to be recognised; but the fear that it could cannibalise other forms of cricket has not receded. The tournament’s standing continues to be threatened as well. The scandal involving betting and different forms of fixing besmirched its reputation. Suspicions were again raised when the Enforcement Directorate conducted raids and arrested bookies across Indian cities. With India set to host next year’s World T20, it will strengthen its reputation as cricket’s pre-eminent power if its actions protect the IPL from corruption.

The mysterious objects spotted on Monday over the Mumbai airport — that had raised concerns about the security of airspa...
26/05/2015

The mysterious objects spotted on Monday over the Mumbai airport — that had raised concerns about the security of airspace — turned out to be air balloons for the promotion of a cricket match.
The event was organised last week by an export company whose owner had successfully bid for Prime Minister Narenrda Modi’s famous embroidered suit earlier this year. The balloons were released by an event management company. Two of its employees were arrested on Tuesday.
“Our teams visited playgrounds and open spaces in the slums and the Bandra Kurla complex area. At Kalina Ground, we learnt that cricket matches were held near gate number 8 and that it was hired by Dharmanand Diamond Export Pvt. Ltd,” said Inspector Yogesh Shinde of the Airport police station.
The police then questioned balloon sellers. One vendor told them that two men, Kunal Shah and Nilesh Shrimankar, had purchased helium balloons from him. The two were arrested and produced before an Andheri court which granted them bail.

It’s a hot Delhi morning when I walk past the security guards at Varun Gandhi’s home but inside the large sitting room, ...
26/05/2015

It’s a hot Delhi morning when I walk past the security guards at Varun Gandhi’s home but inside the large sitting room, done up in old-fashioned tones of opulence, it is cool and quiet. A brilliant M.F. Husain portrait of Mr. Gandhi with his mother hangs on the wall opposite. The man himself soon walks in, in the de facto politico garb of white kurta-churidar. We exchange pleasantries and when I switch the recorder on, he insists on holding it in his hand. I am petrified it might cut off, but he says he needs to hold it because he likes to walk around when talking. And sure enough, there are long patches of the interview that he does pacing the room purposefully.

Mr. Gandhi has just published his second book of poems. He’s been writing a lot lately, pieces for The Hindu, for instance, and he talks of why people still remember Nehru or Gandhiji. “It’s because they wrote a lot; they left behind volumes that still inspire generations. I want to bring back this tradition of writing,” he says.

This sense of trying to mould himself into a certain kind of politician — a thinking, principled politician rather than a polemical one — comes through strongly. He uses the words ‘kind’ and ‘kind-hearted’ repeatedly. Varun Gandhi loves words — he throws them out challengingly; scholarly mots du jour; and waits to see if you notice. “I had a semi-didactic upbringing but it was not oppressive,” he says, talking of how his mother encouraged him to think outside of ‘things’. “Looking back, I see that my upbringing was designed to free me from the burden of materialism you see in children today….”

I am distracted momentarily by the resemblance his speech patterns have to his uncle Rajiv Gandhi — the slow and deliberate address, the moue he makes, that repetition of key words. This is clearly the far more articulate Gandhi scion. I ask how much he remembers his grandmother. “I remember her feel; she made me feel safe. I remember the sound of her voice. I remember eating with her, driving with her… accompanying her abroad. She kept me on her lap during meetings.” Even today, says Varun Gandhi smilingly, senior leaders in Parliament remind him of how they first saw him drooling on his grandmother’s lap. “It gives me a lot of love from both sides of the aisle.” He relates an anecdote about former President K.R. Narayanan, “He said to me ‘I was ambassador to Russia when your grandmother had come once. I was given the duty to go out and buy soft toys for you!’

He explains how these encounters have informed his political philosophy. “When you grow up having known such people closely, you cannot have an adversarial view of politics. That’s why I consciously don’t speak ill of any politician or party. I feel politics needs to be about policy and issues. Individuals can err, but strong institutions can secure the future.”

Who is the man?
This non-adversarial, poetry-writing man is not the Varun Gandhi I had in my head. I bring up the point tentatively, asking if it’s a deliberate image makeover after that infamous speech. He bristles and shows a flash of the famous Gandhi temper: “Technically, you should not be asking me that question because I have been acquitted by all the courts.” I assure him I am merely asking about a certain public image he might be associated with.

Pacing the room, he refutes the image, and says it’s been proven that the tape was “engineered by my opponent Madame Mayawati… I have fought from a constituency that is 41 per cent Muslim. I have won with a massive margin. I could not have done that without the votes of minorities.” He reminds me about his mixed family, “I am the last person who can disregard a syncretic view of India. I feel that all Indians recognise and celebrate the plurality of India and reject a singular, monolithic view.”

The words breathe the essence of his Nehruvian legacy. “Well, as for socialism, I don’t agree. Over time things must grow and breathe. But if you go to UP [Uttar Pradesh] they will tell you how people respond to me. I stand for social and political reform: for large-hearted politics; for kindness; for issue-based and value-based politics.”

The stress on syncretism, the cultural broadness… how does one reconcile this with being a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party? “In life, one cannot look at zero sum situations. I believe that the BJP has afforded me the opportunity to be independent in my world view and has rewarded me meritocratically. Being a person from my family in the BJP can be a disadvantageous situation, right? [But] I wanted to be part of an outfit that would say ‘you have a core strength in UP, a core intellectual strength; we will give you an opportunity’. I didn’t want an opportunity because I was from a certain family. Second, when I joined the BJP I told the senior leaders, I am not coming to politics to denigrate anyone but to earn my space.”

And, I press, did Hindutva come up? “I’ll be honest,” he says, “No philosophy was impressed upon me. I was told I must fashion my own thought process. As for the fringe elements, I don’t subscribe to that. Everybody is aware that to govern in India you need to have a centrist-liberal approach.”

If there’s one thing Varun Gandhi is proud of, it’s how much he has achieved already. “I was MP at 28, National Secretary at 29, General Secretary at 32.” Here’s a man who has found his metier and is enjoying it. He has statistics at his fingertips. “In future, religion will become less [important]. Delivery will be paramount. Look at the wisdom of the public — 72 per cent of MPs and 74 per cent of MLAs are not elected a second time. I am optimistic about the future of Indian politics.”

And he stays involved with the grassroots. In Pilibhit (his last constituency) he started a cooperative that he claims has benefited 40,000 farming families. And in Sultanpur (his present constituency), he helps young people write project reports for enterprise loans. “In a year we’ve got 860 loans. Last week, we helped four boys get a Rs. 2 lakh loan for a cycle repair shop.”

The poet-politician
Finally, I ask him the question I had assumed would start our conversation. Why does he write poetry? He laughs, for the first time, and quotes Kafka impishly: “Writing poetry is a wholly inappropriate response to the brutishness of the world.” There’s a world of significance hidden here, but we let it pass. He talks of how life creates vast open spaces and delicate fault lines within. “Many of these cannot be explained unless you look at the world metaphysically. I write poetry because it’s my road to freedom and self-knowledge.”

Revealing one’s deepest self in poetry can make one strangely vulnerable. Is he comfortable with that? “The human experience can never be complete without celebrating vulnerability, fragility, pain,” he says and quotes from his poem, “How many lives walk through us as we wrest control of this climb?” These, then, are the many identities that simultaneously walk through him — man, poet, politician, analyst, the “difficult grandeur” he speaks of celebrating.

And has it made him a different kind of politician? “Yes… I always had an eye for the forlorn, the unloved, the underdog. That comes through in my poetry and my politics.” And do philosopher-politicians have ambitions? Does he see himself as UP Chief Minister? He ignores the question and talks of standing for positive politics and, that word again, for kindness. “I have turned 35. There’s a long way ahead — I would like to define myself by the journey, which is rich in itself.”

What comes next? “My next book is a sociological book of essays. It will take a year and a half more. It seeks to answer one question: “Why has the Indian village ceased to exist as a sustainable model of socio-economic syntax? If we can answer it, it can lead to a new model of development.”

He writes in English, about villages. I ask him an obvious question and get one of the smartest answers yet. Do we English-reading-writing Indians have any connect with the real India? “There is no such thing as the real India. We all of us are equally important strains, with an equal stake in its future.”

By now, Varun Gandhi must have paced a few kilometres at least. As he sits down, I ask if he would name a favourite poem from the book. He quotes from memory: ‘In my heart/ there is a filigree of death/ It will not let me bleed…’ and ends with a delighted laugh. “The poem,” he says “is about the deeper cycles within… it represents hope.”

For Varun Gandhi, this clearly looks like the beginning of a new cycle.

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