A New Rajiv Gandhi In the Making ?
It has been quite a while - 2 decades ? - since we saw one spirited dedicated social worker at a high command in Indian Politics. In a badly scripted play, where every single actor is at the mercy of another for survival, this gentleman stands out as an exception. And this very much explains why his straight-forwad remarks and view points on contemporary and bygone issues invite so much of media attention and develop into controversial stories.
The man is Shashi Tharoor (not Rahul, if you thought so... He is very much part of the 'script'!). If you are not too keen a news-grabber, or your arena is restricted to national news or state news, then this name would sound like belonging to a newcomer. But he comes with immense level of experience handling international issues, during his tenure as Executive Assistant to the UN Sec General Kofi Annan. An ardent cricket fan, his command over the language (English) will sweep many off their feet.
In this dirty game of politics, where people shamelessly 'plead' for media attention - be it in the form of "hunger strike" or in the form of "throwing mud at each other", this is one gentleman who is 'paparazied' by the media... He is a hot seller for them.
He is never away from controversies. A famous(?) one was when he referred to the economy class of airliners as 'cattle class'. Perhaps, too much of command over the language... Here in India, we are blissfully ignorant of the usage 'cattle class'.
Recently, I happened to watch a press conference of his, live on TV. I dont remember, when was the last time I watched any such event live on TV. Is it that they dont telecast it live, or becoz I stay away from TV ? Anyways, this was a big coverage, and unlike showing snippets of the press conference, the channels were dedicating considerable airtime, keeping aside their regular activities. Interesting !
Incidentally, this press conference happens to be the aftermath of another controversy, where he was alleged to have criticized the foreign policies of Nehru and Gandhi. His presentation was nothing short of captivating to watch. Excerpts (put down from own memory): "Did I ever criticize Nehru or Gandhi ? Gandhiji was never a minister, so what foreign policy of his are you talking about? You have the tapes of my speech with you. Please play it again and listen to what I have said. In fact, it was a seminar involving serious discussion about foreign policies with delegates from high ranks. It is discouraging to know that the attendees did not have a minimal level of understanding of the topic."
To one of the irking questions of a journalist, he responded "Next qn pls, I'm not going to listen to this nonsense" without losing his calm.
Check that video out on youtube or some other source, if you manage to come across. Be a fan!
Here is a printed version.
Is this the making of the future leader of the country ?! I wish it is...
(Isnt it visible from the fact that he has enemies in his own party ? :D They cant visualize a third person (first is Manmohan, 2nd is Rahul) coming anywhere near the proximity of the coveted chair)
Tail:
1. These days, the news channels do not seem to be airing news. Instead what they have is 'story'. A news channel almost always have this on their ticker - "Developing Story"
2. We should also be thankful to him for glorifying the name 'Shashi' that has been associated with all silly things for humor - Palarivattam shashi, for instance..
3. Shashi Tharoor is famous on twitter as well. I havent created an account, but this makes me re-think...
posted by Rat at 1:00 PM
5 Comments:
Good move from movies and travelogue to politics (after the enthusiastic Jaago Re Campaign). Truely, I thought the post is about Rahul Gandhi after reading the first para.
I don't consider Mr. Tharoor as a politician, coz politicians never stand by their words and their deeds never resemble their words. He is a good leader with clarity of thought and vision.
An old malayalam or sanskrit saying comes to my mind, "yatho praja thatho raja". We are not good enough for leaders like Tharoor. We are more comfortable with the politicians who talk about multi-modal transportation without thinking of the pot holes in the highways already constructed. Further, we Indian know english only as a language which helps them earn a job. So, I don't think we can blame the ordinary people including the politicians who might not have passed 10th standard for making a big issue out of nothing.
But, its the media which I pity. The print media was once considered to a sacred profession bring the truth to the doorstep of every individual. Now, the much evolved brother of print media, the visual media bring stories which would get the highest TRP to the sitting rooms. They only consider the commercial value of the news or more appropriately story. They are ready to sprinkle enough masala into the news to make it attractive. I think it was a good move to change "Breaking News" to "Developing Story" as it is story that the news channels are broadcasting rather than the facts which the general public needs to know.
One day I saw a program on one of the Malayalam channels showing the difference in the price of Masala Dosa at different hotels in Ernakulam. They wanted the price to be same across all locations. I just don't know what to call them. Idiots doesn't even know that its not just the cost of material that needs to be recovered by the hotel owners. There are other expenses which need to be recovered through the sale of products. The cost of land, water and other overhead vary from location to location and these factors needs to be considered before pricing a product. One cannot establish a hotel at the heart of the city at the same cost as that of one in the outskirts. I only felt that the channel wanted to show how much they cared about the general public, but in reality they don't care a damn about the public.
This inspired a blog post of my own
http://vgblogs.blogspot.com/2010/01/captivating-politicians.html
Well the politicians are a tough exercise for a student of psychology and we should be happy that they are doing their best to keep the system running. I am sure we cannot have a politician like George Bush in India. With more than a billion and such large diversity (both in culture and in per capita) our politicians provide the right balance between the capitalist and the socialist.
Tharoor is just good enough for his job of diplomacy which brings out all of his good talking. How easily he puts his point to the public and how easily he convinces the party that he has done nothing wrong.
A politician whom I miss is T N Seshan. A brash who if combined with the diplomacy of Tharoor would have done lot of good to our political system. He dint know how to change the system without being thrown out.
That reminds me, are there any other brilliant politicians from Kerala, who made the cut at the National level and brought about a change?
@Vimal - Good points.. And a nice example to portray the media mediocrity!
@VG - Your write-up made a good read. Talking about ppl from Kerala, one name that comes to my mind is Ganesh Kumar (Actor/minister). The revolutionary volvo-for-public-service scheme was first implemented in Kerala, do you recollect that ? Our college days :P
Also, I believe his not corrupt. (At least not to the extent of his dad :D)
Me too was impressed by Ganesh Kumar. But I asked about kerala politicians making it big at the national level.
There might be some during our initial days of independence, I guess.
We Indian dont deserve Shashi Tharoor
Post a Comment
<< Home