A Tale of Two (and more) Cities
Feroze Varun Gandhi’s latest book, The Indian Metropolis, is out in the bookstores. Within the first month alone, the book is already topping the charts, with the publishers (Rupa) planning a second print-run and talking about how unusual it is for a non-fiction political book to do so well. Coming as it does on the heels of his earlier book, The Rural Manifesto, this one looks at the urban landscape and how India’s policymakers need to rethink how to manage our cities. As Feroze Varun argues, in blindly aping western models, our cities are losing their individual character, their identity and their soul. He looks into both urban planning and policy in his book, but what makes the book interesting is that it’s not just data and pronouncements but the fact that his observations are peppered with real life examples and anecdotes. Feroze Varun has recently been in the limelight for his critique of the Narendra Modi government (despite being in the BJP), and he has made his discomfort with some of its policies pretty vocal. It remains to be seen whether he will remain in the BJP or find another political platform. For a while it seemed as if he was toying with the idea of joining the Congress, but that doesn’t seem to suit his cousin Rahul Gandhi. However, there are other regional outfits where Varun could make a high profile landing in the run-up to 2024. In the meanwhile, he has carved a brand identity for himself with his writings and interactions with college students and young professionals across India. As they say, watch this space.
The Painful Assistant (PA)
Certain things never change. First it was a PA in Rahul Gandhi’s office (when he was the party president), who was very high handed in his dealings with Congress leaders. Later on that same PA joined Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s office, and since he took his attitude with him, managed to irritate some more people out there. However, now another PA, who is attached to the current Congress president, seems to be following the same rulebook. Congress leaders complain that this said entity is so high handed towards Congress workers and leaders alike that they find approaching the party president’s office to be somewhat of a traumatic experience. Since it is the gatekeeper that is the first point of contact with any leader, the affable and otherwise accessible Mallikarjun Kharge should be a tad worried about this kind of negative messaging.
Shivraj Singh Chouhan to stay
At the beginning of the year, there were rumours that the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister could move to Delhi and join the Union Cabinet. This is the BJP’s favourite trick of beating anti-incumbency—by changing the CM face on poll eve. Apparently, Shivraj Singh Chouhan dug his heels in and with only six months to go for the elections, that plan has been shelved. Now the party is firmly behind Chouhan, for there is a strong chance that the Congress led by Kamal Nath could make a comeback. Nath has been working in the state ever since his chief ministership was snatched by the BJP and unlike Ashok Gehlot (Rajasthan CM) did not let himself get distracted by the politics around the Congress presidential polls or any other drama in Delhi. With analysts predicting that Chhattisgarh would remain with the Congress while Rajasthan could go the BJP way, the Madhya Pradesh election is proving to be too tough to call as both parties will have a heavyweight as their CM face.