It was a long call from my Delhi friend. He was complaining about AAP quitting office without its promises fulfilled. ‘They came, they saw and they went away,’ my friend rued. ‘In just seven weeks. But where is my 700-liters-of-water-a-day and where are the pucca houses Arvind Kejriwal had promised for the likes of me who live in huts amid heaps of filth? I don’t think I would be paying any less on my electricity bill even though I don’t use 400 units a month.’
KAGA BHUSHUNDI SPEAKETH
Suman K. Sharma
‘Kejriwal is a politician. He made promises like any other politician. You have your own gullibility to blame.’ I said, trying to reason with him.
‘Do you mean the promises politicians make are not promises at all?’
‘Tell him their promises are like pre-monsoon clouds – sometimes they bring relief and sometimes they vanish making so much noise.’ That was Kaga Bhushundi Ji. Pose a question and he is there. Always.
A great attention-seeker that he is, everything else becomes a dud when he is around. The mobile had gone dead in my hands.
‘Now listen,’ Kaga Ji cawed, ‘I will tell you something about King Dashratha. His wives Kaushalya and Sumitra barren, he was desperate for a spouse who could bear him a son. So he sought the hand of the beauteous Princess Kaikeyi, promising her father King Ashwapati that a son born out of her womb would succeed him as Kaushala’s ruler. Fair enough, Ashwapati said in agreement. But when all his three queens bore him sons, the virtuous Dashratha forgot his vow and wanted the eldest, Shri Ram Chandra Ji, as the Yuvaraja, in preference to Rani Kaikayi’s first-born, Bharat!’
‘Kaga Ji, come to the point. I have a copy of the Ramayana with me to update my knowledge of old Dashratha’s foibles.’
‘The point is this. When Dashratha Ji made a promise, he was seeking a consort who could give him heir; but when the time came for him to appoint his heir-apparent, the king had before him the established custom of primogeniture to follow. Sansara – this world, say the Rishis, is ever changing. How can then a vow taken in the past hold good in perpetuity?’
‘Very much like Kejriwal’s utterances, Kaga Ji! As a candidate for CM’s post, he offered all sorts of concessions and freebees to Delhi’s poor; but the day he came to power, it dawned on him that his arithmetic was not quite right, and he wisely chose to quit at the first opportunity. Again, during his campaign for Delhi elections, Kejriwal said corruption was the country’s main problem. Now that he is eyeing PM’s post, he names communalism as the nation’s prime concern. At that time he had to win the hearts of Delhi’s babus, now he has to woo the country’s minorities.’
‘In return of your trust, your leaders give you false hopes,’ quipped Kaga Ji.
‘No more. This time the Election Commission has asked all political parties to refrain from making promises they cannot keep.’ I said by way of reassuring myself.
‘The crafty will still find ways to lead the people up the garden path. Mark my words,’ said Kaga Ji and was gone.
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