COOL BREEZE

Hoist by his own petard

Way back in March 2014. Jairam Ramesh, Congress General Secretary incharge of Communications, had floated the suggestion that all those above 70 years of age in the Congress should now retire. At that time, UPA 2 was in power, Jairam was in his mid 60s, and at the target age were veteran leaders that included then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, A.K. Antony, Mallikarjun Kharge amongst others. However, this week, as Jairam himself turned 71 (April 9th), his Congress colleagues are circulating copies of his old interview wondering whether this suggestion still holds true. At that time, Jairam had spoken at length about India being a young country and with Rahul Gandhi poised to take over the party the elders should shift to advisory roles (marg darshan mandal, anyone?). The question that his colleagues are now asking is simple but a tad brutal: will the 71-year-old Communications incharge take his own advice?

Marg Darshan Mandal in the Congress

Jairam Ramesh’s retirement plans aside, the seating arrangement at the AICC session was very telling. Whether it was intentional or by design, but during the session all the veterans found themselves seated together at the same side of the hall—from Ashok Gehlot, Kamal Nath, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Bhupinder Hooda to Prithviraj Chavan and a few other veterans, all were seated together on one side. This led to speculation as to whether this group of old war horses, veterans and former CMs was going to be declared as the Wise Council of Elders and would their fate be similar to that of the BJP’s infamous Marg Darshan Mandal. However it must be noted that unlike the BJP, some of the Congress veterans are far sharper and not likely to go out quietly into the sunset just yet.

Kudos for Kapil

Lawyers are not usually easy to please but Kapil Sibal, the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), achieved the impossible recently when he managed to raise Rs 43 crores

for the association’s welfare fund. This was part of his campaign promise and he has certainly kept his word. According to reports, funds to the tune of Rs 43,43,50,001 crores were raised through the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative and will go towards health and life insurance schemes for the lawyers of the SCBA. Sibal is reportedly still trying to raise another Rs 14 to 16 crores. This move has got an instant verdict (no tareekh pe tareekh here) from his colleagues, who have saluted him for his magnificent efforts, noting that perhaps for the first time in the world, all members of the apex court bar will remain insured throughout their life. Now that the lawyers are taken care of, what about their poor, vexed clients, Mr Sibal?