For the Congress in Assam, the Digvijay Singh-Parvez Hashmi pair has proved to be lucky. Where Digvijay has appeared as a new sympathiser of the Muslims, Hashmi’s image is that of a relatively generous leader. He is especially popular with the Hindu voters. His wife is also from a Hindu Brahmin family. The credit to push Hashmi more into politics goes to none other than Ahmed Patel, where as the differences between Patel and Singh are known to all. In such a scenario, Hashmi has emerged as a player who has, so far, managed to maintain a balance between two polar opposites and has been able to bring Ahmed and Digvijay close to each other to a large extent. This Hashmi-Digvijay pair is also one of those close to Rahul and they are also working on Rahul’s “UP Mission 2012”. It will be interesting to see if the pair repeats the Assam magic in UP as well.

In keeping with the local tradition, the Congress is considered to be party of emmigrant in Assam while the BJP-AGP is said to be those having local people. But the way the AIDUF made an entry in these elections (the BJP allegedly spent a big sum of money on it), it was considered a matter of danger by local Hindu and Assamese Muslims and at the last moment, they went with the Congress. ULFA’s Arvind Rajkhova camp also openly supported the Congress, because they felt that the Congress had kept its promise of releasing their leader Rajkhova. Another disadvantage for the BJP was the abundance of prabharis. The party made Varun Gandhi do a lot of campaigning but he didn’t have much say when it came to tickets. Those who did have a say couldn’t see eye-to-eye where the voter was concerned.

As Pakistani Punjabi poet Kavi Ustad Daman puts it, “Lali akhan de eho paI dus di hai/ roye tusi vi ho, roye assi vi haan”. Meaning the red eyes reveal that you have cried and so have I”. The same story was for the BJP and AGP when the election results in Assam were announced. While the AGP got 10 seats, BJP got 5. Where as BJP president was busy announcing that this time, the government will be of a BJP-AGP alliance. Both Prafful Mahant and Chandra Mohan Patowari were so keen on getting the chief minister’s post that more than visiting the electorate, they were making the rounds of the BJPs central leaders and both wanted to be nominated for the CM’s post. One of the BJP central leaders made a strange pact with the AGP and the trump card of a friendly fight was the last straw. Where BJP’s claim was a strong one, the AGP brought in weaker candidates and the BJP did a similar thing. The Congress gained from this.

The BJP core group meeting was on in Delhi and discussions were on about the Karnataka trouble and about the possibility of a change of guard from Yeddyurappa. There would also have been some discussions about UP, but the Osama bin Laden incident happened and the entire meeting was all about him thereafter.

Like Jagan Mohan, Rajanikant too is angry with the BJP leaders. When S Gurumurthy recently went to meet Rajani to enquire about his health, this south Indian superstar suddenly burst forth with anger against a prominent BJP leader and said, “Why are they (BJP) using my name unnecessarily? If I wanted to, I would have taken up the offer of the country’s biggest party. I don’t even like to take phone calls from BJP-walas.” Gurumurthy went back to where he came from. (Rajnikant)

Reports by the secret department of the state have made Mayawati worry. About four months ago, the state’s secret department conducted a state survey. Sources reveal that according to the survey, Maya’s BSP is slated to get 164 seats, and until then Mayawati wanted to have the state elections conducted by October-November of 2011. She wanted to dissolve the Vidhan Sabha. She asked her secret service officials to wait for a couple of months and carry out a similar survey again. That survey reduced her seats by 18. Now Chief Minister Mayawati has decided to conduct the state elections at its assigned time, and consider May-June of the next year to be the right time. At that time, when the sun scorches UP, the BSP cadre will come out to vote, but how will the babus come out to vote in the scorching sun? The real worry Maya has is about the increasing popularity graph of the SP. And the seeds of friendship that are germinating between the SP and the Congress is also considered nothing short of dangerous by her.

In the Arunachal Pradesh helicopter crash, while India has lost a ruler who had much to offer, the Congress has lost its future. Investigations are on about the reasons for the crash, but the first-look reports suggest that it happened due to a breakdown of navigation systems. The centre is seriously wondering if the entire flying system in the north-east should be given to the home ministry. There is a thumb rule for helicopters, which says that they should always fly below the clouds, but what if the clouds are hanging on the mountains? In such a case, the pilot tries to fly the machine above the clouds. It could be a human error and there may have been a mistake gauging the height. A foremost truth that has come to the fore is that several hills in the north east have very strong magnetic fields, like Halflang’s Jatinga. If even a bird flies over it in a particular area, it falls down to the ground. The crash of the Dorje Khandu and the single-engine helicopter is being explored with the same possibility.

Navy Seal Commandoes, who carried out the operation against Osama, have a tale of their own. Their number is a mere 2,500-3,000 in the entire US army. To be a Seal, their age shouldn’t be more than 29. Records reveal that none of their missions has ever been a failure. The most interesting part is that any commander who is a part of this unit neither has a name, nor a face. Thus, no one can claim that he was present for so and so operation. The entire transmission system is in the helmets that they wear, which is normally controlled by the helicopter flying overhead. It is probably time to stop singing the same old song about Dawood and Sayeed, and organize a wing just like the Seals.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh is an actual doctor, and knows how to locate the political pulse. Gradually making his political journey and without any hoopla, Raman has become one of the significant party members in the BJP. In a somewhat quiet way, his fans consider him as one of the people for the prime minister’s post in 2014. Full of Thakursuhoati feelings, he has already influenced Rajanth Singh and it is Gadkari next. Raman’s media advisor in Delhi, Rajkumar Sharma, is working from the party president’s residence at 13 Teen Murti, rather than usual Chhattisgarh Bhavan. He is said to be managing the media from there, but with a little deftness, it is Gadkari who he is managing more. The Sangh leadership is also startled at Dr Raman’s changing body language. It is all about Raman in Chhattisgarh and the saffron party has been pushed back into the dark. The local media is so enamored of the chief minister that the BJP leadership sometimes wonders if it is their own party that is ruling this small state. (Raman Singh)

Getting out of thinktank meetings, and to maintain a balance with time and changing times, the Sangh’s leaders are worried. Their biggest worry is why the Sangh is no longer meaningful and relevant for the new generation. Seeing the way Anna Hazare got the support of the young India against corruption, the Sangh has asked its organizations to have all people and other organizations associated with the Sangh parivar to keep pace with Anna’s movement and also try to take on responsibilities in the same. Sangh feels that since South Indian forces were unable to do it, then the likes of Swami Agnivesh and Medha Patekar – who sympathise with the Naxalite cause – may try to own it or those such as Harsh Mander or Aruna Roy may take advantage of the same. All in all, Anna may end up becoming a puppet in the hands of those against the Sangh. In any case, Anna is trying to distance himself from the likes of Govindacharya and Baba Ramdev, who nurture Hindutva feelings. Anna has also announced that he has nothing to do with Baba Ramdev’s proposed fast. This makes it clear that Anna has no problems cashing in on the popularity of the likes of Baba Ramdev, but he will not let anyone use him at any cost. Is there any better politician than Anna himself?