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Touchstones
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GROUND ZERO
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The romance and magic of falling rain There is a black and white side in each one of us. The same people who feed birds and stray dogs or leave flour on anthills may often be cruel masters. Ira Pande I was charmed by this account and applauded the romantic imagination of this extraordinary poet-king. So I went to Deegh to see these wonders for myself. Time and neglect has dimmed several glorious features but the saddest revelation was that Suraj Singh was the same Jat ruler who pillaged the Taj Mahal and the Mughal Fort of Agra after the Mughal empire crumbled. He gouged precious stones embedded in the pietra-dura work of these splendid architectural monuments. It is said when he could plunder no more, he stuffed dry straw into Akbar’s mausoleum at Sikandra and scraped off the melted gold. In fact, Deegh still has the marble swing and jaalis that he brought back from one of his plundering raids. Is it possible for one man to have such a Jekyll and Hyde personality, I wondered. But if you think hard, there is a black and white side in each one of us. The same people who feed birds and stray dogs or leave flour on anthills may often be cruel masters who will not pay their domestic help a living wage or give them time off. Those who spout the highest moral platitudes are very often those who do not pay taxes, cheat their customers and lie effortlessly. Look at our politicians — their public pronouncements are often at complete variance with their private lives. On another note, there are some other factors that Frater’s book made me think about. It was to do with the science of meteorology and astrological predictions. The famous Jantar Mantar Observatory built by Sawai Man Singh of Jaipur, in Delhi and Jaipur has stood the test of time. The one in Delhi is now famous as the site of public protests while the Jaipur one is now a dry tourist site. Few guides can give you the exact function and mathematical coordinates of the planets its structures represent or explain their significance. The truth is that even till today, the meteorological predictions on the monsoons and the predictions for agriculture are made both by sophisticated satellites and a bunch of pundits sitting in Banaras. The Banaras almanac is still regarded with respect even by the Mausam Bhawan as it is seldom off the mark. I vaguely remember my mother telling me that it rains only when Hastini nakshatra passes through some planet or the other. I wish I had listened more intently to her then: perhaps I would know then when the monsoon is likely to hit Delhi this year. I end this column with a tribute to Zohra Sehgal who passed away at 102. Feisty was a word invented with someone like her in mind. She lived her life with courage and was an astonishing performer to the end. I am certain she must be holding centre-stage in heaven, regaling her fans there with “Abhi to main jawan hoon”.
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On Punjab, his guarded reaction spoke volumes about the underlying apprehensions. “I know what reports (on Punjab) say. Hopefully they will all be proved wrong,” Shah, then BJP general secretary with the specific task of delivering the largest state, UP, for the party, said. Opponents sniggered, but his prophesies came true. In UP, the BJP and ally Apna Dal contributed a major chunk (71+2) to the NDA kitty. Shah’s strategies also impacted Bihar and the party increased footprint in West Bengal. Amitbhai Anilchandra Shah knows the pulse of voters. A backroom planner and PM Narendra Modi’s closest aide, Shah kept a low profile, quite unlike his flamboyant “Sahib” Modi. Confined to Gujarat, his introduction to the nation was by way of charges against him in fake encounter cases, which BJP spokespersons in Delhi defended as “witch hunt” by the Congress. He was the Home Minister in the Modi-led government in Gujarat but had to resign after being accused of planning extra-judicial killings of extortionist Sohrabuddin Sheikh, his wife and associate. He was arrested in 2010. After spending around three months in jail, he was granted bail on the condition that he would stay away from Gujarat. Shah is also an accused in the Sohrabuddin case, though in May he was acquitted in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case.
Factor RSS Shah says he used this period to travel across India, using Modi’s advice to turn the adversity into an opportunity. After he was allowed to return to Gujarat, he won the Assembly poll from Naranpura. The knowledge he gained, he put to use in the 2014 General Election, emerging as a master planner who, in UP, showed how to make the best of a bad job. If UP was the fulcrum of BJP’s amazing win, Shah was its architect. Almost 30 per cent of the constituencies were impenetrable due to their backwardness. The understanding of caste divisions helped him craft a strategy that turned every disadvantage into an opportunity. His stint with the ABVP (RSS student organisation) helped him connect with the youth and sell Modi’s ideology. His association with the RSS dates back to his student days. He is a graduate in biochemistry, an unusual subject for someone who made a career in finance as a stock broker and politics. The RSS had reservations about two men from the same state, Gujarat, being in charge of the government and the party. But Modi’s will prevailed.
Modi association Shah first met Modi in 1982 in Ahmedabad’s RSS circles. The connect between the two men from diverse backgrounds (Modi is son of a tea vendor and Shah that of an affluent businessman) during the tough RSS regimen went on to change the Congress-dominated politics in Gujarat. In 1995, when the BJP formed its first government in Gujarat under Keshubhai Patel, Modi and Shah worked together to expand the party base. During Modi’s 12-year tenure as Gujarat CM, Shah emerged as one of the most powerful leaders. He was elected MLA from Sarkhej four times in a row (1997, 1998, 2002 and 2007). Before the CBI started closing in on him in 2010, Shah was even considered an option for Gujarat CM. Now, at 50, he is the youngest BJP president and is virtually the number two in the party hierarchy.
New challenges Shah’s immediate challenge is to deliver Haryana, Maharashtra, Delhi, Jharkhand and J&K to the party — the first big test for the BJP and Modi after the massive mandate. For this, he will have to take the party’s popularity to the next level, implement RSS agenda and also shake off the tag of a polarising figure he currently holds. Effectually, Shah has “replaced” Home Minister Rajnath Singh whose tenure as party president was to end in 2015. Modi is believed to have pushed for Shah to ensure that the reins of the party remain in the hands of a man he trusts.
The brickbats Shah’s critics call him a “highly polarising figure”. The Left has called his selection an indication of politics that the BJP now intends to pursue. “The new BJP president has been charge-sheeted and is undergoing trial on the serious charge of murder connected with false encounters. The Election Commission had prohibited him from participating in the campaign in UP during the Lok Sabha poll for making communal speeches. The AAP termed the appointment a wrong precedent for the country's democracy. “It is difficult to recall any other example in which a leader who faced serious criminal charges, including murder, extortion and kidnapping, was anointed as chief of a national party. AAP views the development as a sad day for democracy,” it said. Shah’s elevation marks a generational shift in the party. He may have managed campaigns of LK Advani and Vaypayee at one point, but he belongs to a different genre of politics. For a man who is said to be extremely reserved, a recent Facebook post speaks his mind — “Atmavishwas sarikha doosra mitra nahin. Atmavishwas hi bhavi unnati ki prtham seedi hai (There is no friend like self-confidence. Self-confidence is the first step towards progress)”.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi was invited to witness the soccer World Cup finals between Argentina and Germany to be played early tomorrow morning at the historic Estádio Maracană in Rio. Most of us would have given a right arm and a leg to witness live what is undoubtedly one of the greatest sporting spectacles on earth. But Modi chose to pass up the opportunity. The Indian Prime Minister will be flying today directly to the beach resort of Fortaleza in Brazil where the Sixth BRICS summit is being held from July 14-16.
THE heat and humidity has almost melted my brain as I sit down to write this and nothing seems like as good a topic to write about as the monsoon. Among my most favourite re-read books is Alexander Frater’s book on this amazing phenomenon. Titled Chasing the Monsoon, I recommend it to my readers who — like me — look skywards for any hope of the magical sound of thunder, a darkened sky and the patter of raindrops that announce the majesty of the monsoon. Kalidas’ immortal epic Meghdoot also begins with “Ashadhasye prathame divase…” the first day of Ashadh, the rainy season. But where Kalidas talks of the longing and love pangs that beset lovers in this romantic season, Frater speaks of the territory that the monsoon covers, its social and cultural impact and the drama of its journey over the Indian subcontinent. 
Replete with delightful stories and facts, it takes you to places that fire your curiosity. One such example is Deegh, a small town near Bharatpur and Agra, where the monsoon seldom comes. There is probably a rogue isobar behind this lacuna but Suraj Singh, the Jat ruler of Deegh, refused to be denied the pleasure of the monsoon. So he built the splendid Gopal Bhawan there, with matching pavilions on either side and named them Sawan-Bhadon (after the main rainy months). Since the occupants of these palaces would rarely see clouds, hear thunder or experience cool showers, he created artificial monsoon pleasures for his zenana. So the palace has an elaborate system of aqueducts that supply water to fountains to simulate rain. Suraj Mal had slaves roll iron balls over the roof to acquaint his family with the sound of thunder and installed marble slabs and delicate panels of jaalis for ventilation in the basement so that their occupants could lie on the cool marble and imagine what a refreshing experience a cool breeze could be. An artificial lake was created in front of the palace with a lotus-shaped stage in the middle. Musical soirees were held there, it is said, with the tinkle of fountains providing their own melodies. 
IN a rare interaction with the media ahead of the Lok Sabha results, Amit Shah beamed with confidence — “The BJP will cross the 70 mark in UP”; “It will make inroads in uncharted territories”; “BJP will cross the half way mark on its own”; “NDA will get more than 300 seats”.