Ministry of Women and Child Welfare is getting a lot of applications for adoptions of orphaned children from both foreign countries and India. Seeing this, the ministry has asked for a list of all the children who can be adopted from the orphanages that are run by government aid. But the surprising thing is that most orphanages are dragging their feet on this. Several are trying to evade the demand for such a list; some are saying that they don’t have enough children who can be adopted. The reality is that these orphanages receive grants from the government to take care of these children. But where are the children in whose name these funds are being collected? And if there are no such kids, why the funds are being asked? Or why such a reaction to giving away the children for adoption? Are the children being bought and sold from the back door? Sensing this, the ministry has placed before the Cabinet the matter for a change in the Adoption Law.

These are the golden moments for Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. They have achieved a lot of clout ever since Modi came into power. In the past three-four months, not only has there been an expansion of Sangh’s branches, the number of members in the organization has also increased. It is believed that the total number of members of Sangh and its allied organisations is near 50 lakh. The Sangh wants to take this number to one crore. It is also being said that there has been a significant increase in the funds coming into the organization. Sources close to Sangh say that during Dusshera alone, the Sangh’s income for Guru Dakshina alone was approx. Rs 60 crore. Add to it assistance from other sources, donation and funds and the tally may go up to more than Rs 100 crore. At present, Sangh has nearly 3000 full-time Pracharaks, who are supported totally by the Sangh. The way big corporates and non-resident Indians are being large-hearted about donations to the organization, needless to say that in the days to come, the Sangh’s confidence and ambitions will reach new heights in the days to come.

An example of Sangh’s clout and influence was recently seen in a Bandra-Kurla complex in Mumbai, where a play “Janta Raja”, based on the life and times of Chatrapati Shivaji was being enacted for the thousandth time. Although the media was deliberately kept away from the play, to make the event more memorable, about 200 people, along with members of the Bombay Elite Club were sent invitations. Moneyed industrialists such as Mukesh Ambani and Kumar Mangalam Birla were seen next to Sangh head Mohan Bhagwat during the event. Maharashtra’s new Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, along with Vinod Tawde, an important member of his government, were also present. A lot of personalities from the film industry were also seen. For instance, actor Hritik Roshan and producer-director Subhash Ghai attended the event and showed great excitement. Suresh Soni may have lost his seat, but his influence in the Sangh remains, and he was there for the play, too. It is worth mentioning here that Soni is busy with the transfer of power procedure at present and is busy sharing the intricacies of the BJP-Sangh relationship to the new Sangh Prabhari, Krishna Gopal. From 6.00 to 6.30 pm, Mohan Bhagwat addressed the gathering and also introduced the play. Although the entire play was in Marathi, and it is not understood by either Mukesh Ambani or Kumar Mangalam Birla; neither are they interested in theatre. But the business people have the knack for reading the unwritten writings on the wall, and until such time the play was on, no one moved from his seat. When it ended after two-and-a-half hours, Ambani and Birla were seen singing paeans about the play. After all, there is no theatre bigger than the world of politics, and character portrayal, be it in a play or in real life, needs to be foolproof and whoever manages to accomplish this feat sees success coming his way.

Political ace Nitin Gadkari is an expert at reading the writing on the wall much before anyone else. Thus, the echoes of Modi’s Cabinet reshuffle had reached him much in advance, and he knew that the defence ministry that he was coveting wanted to be given by Modi to someone with a no-controversy background. It was Modi and Modi alone who chose Manohar Parrikar. So much in advance, Gadkari had turned his attention to shipping and transportation and showed little interest in the rural development ministry. Thus, Gadkari’s entire attention today is on Setu Samudram Project. Showing his interest that is about Rs one lakh crore, Gadkari has also created some opponents for himself within the party. These people are of the opinion that the project may be harmful to the environment and if the efforts to broaden the way for ships carrying cargo are carried out, there is a danger that Sri Lanka may be immersed in water. On the other hand, Gadkari is stressing on the point that he will create such a way that there will be no danger to the present Setu Samudram and the Ram Setu will stay as it is. It is worth mentioning that this project between India and Sri Lanka had been given an approval in 2005 during the then UPA government. Among a lot of political hungama, the Supreme Court put a stop to it in 2007. The UPA government wanted to broaden it to 30 metres, 12 metres deep and 167 km long, and the BJP along with several environmentalists had opposed the move saying the project was a threat to marine life and Sri Lanka as well. It is expected from leaders such as Gadkari that they will learn from mistakes of the past.

In Shah, the BJP has found a party president who likes to be associated with people on the ground rather than the elite English-speaking high-flying people. Personally, neither does he like the five-star culture, nor does he like to stay in such luxury hotels. But he loves his food, especially the golgappas from Bengali Market. His love for the popular street food happened when during his exile days in Gujarat, he would go to Bhupendra Yadav’s office in central Delhi for legal advice. From there, both of them would head to Bengali market for golgappa and chat. But Amit Shah’s family prefers Gujarat to Delhi. His wife Sonal and son Jai are very fond of movies and are experts at first day first show screenings. Jai is a stockbroker and takes care of his ancestral business. His wedding is fixed for February 10 in Ahmedabad and the entire Shah family is busy with the preparations. Despite his political appointments and busy schedule, Shah makes it a point to keep stock of Jai’s wedding plans.

Uttarakhand’s Congress Chief Minister Harish Rawat has emerged as a clever politician. When it came for Uttarakhand to nominate one member to the Rajya Sabha, there was a flurry of activity for the same. Rawat wanted to give this seat to his wife Renuka Rawat, but when he saw the tug-of-war within among prominent party members for the seat, he retraced his steps. The seat was being eyed by politicians such as Rajiv Shukla, Raj Babbar, Rita Bahuguna Joshi and Vijay Bahuguna. Kishore Upadhayay, state party president and Rawat aide also had his eyes set on the seat and was staking a claim. But Harish Rawat turned the entire game on its head by nominating his loyalist Manorama Sharma alias Manorama Dobriyal. Manorama has been a Rawat loyalist for the past decade and has been the district mayor and president of the Zila Parishad as well. She belongs to Pauri, is a Brahmin woman and is opposed to Vijay Bahuguna. Rawat has made a dent in Reeta Bahuguna Joshi’s ambitions by forwarding Rawat; Bahuguna too is from Pauri and a Brahmin. With the same move, Rawat has also given a blow to Satpal Maharaj who left the Congress at the last moment and went with the BJP. Rawat also played a deft move in getting Sonia Gandhi to agree to Manorama’s nomination. When he was in Delhi to meet Sonia and introduce her to meet Uttarakhand’s zila parishad presidents on November 4, he put forward Manorama’s name then and there. Needless to say, it worked.

In an effort to take part in Modi’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan with great gusto, Delhi’s state party president Satish Upadhyay had a face palm moment, and that too at a time when Delhi is about to go to vote. If sources are to be believed, the person behind the idea of taking a broom to clean the area around New Delhi’s India Islamic Centre was Delhi’s lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung. Najeeb wants to emerge as the new leader for the Muslims and he spoke to India Islamic Centre’s President Sirajuddin Qureishi for the same. The latter is a big meat exporter from India and also has pro-BJP leanings. It is believed that after that Jung and Qureishi met with AAP’s Shazia Ilmi and had her to agree for the event along with Satish Upadhyay. But what happened thereafter makes it seem that a broom dusted all their ambitions away.

A few days ago, an old friend of Narendra Modi went to meet him at 7, Race Course Road, and his first question to the prime minister was, “What is the kind of work pressure you are facing here compared to Gujarat?” Modi smiled and replied, “There is no pressure here — I am working without any stress.” When asked the reason, Modi revealed that when he was the chief minister, he was surrounded by pressures from all directions, the government at the Centre was giving it a step-motherly treatment. Moreover, he had to work while maintaining a balance with the party’s leadership, especially with the Advani camp. At the same time, the media was always furious towards him at the behest of the Congress. Then in his own style, Modi said, “Everything is all right since I have come here (Delhi); there is perfect coordination between the party and the government and I am getting full support from the media.” When his friend asked him if his routine had changed after coming to Delhi, Modi replied that he had a very strong personality and time affect neither his decisions nor his routine. An associate who knows Modi closely says that he continues to go for his morning walk at 5 am, and replies to some important and personal mails after completing his morning chores. Then he takes account of his daily schedule and makes some important notes about them because he likes to speak extempore and these notes come in handy. Then he does yoga for about half an hour, and then sits in the lawn by 7.30 am after getting ready. Alone, he goes through English and Hindi dailies, has a light breakfast and then goes off for his daily appointments. Another close associate reveals that he likes to eat alone and does not like anybody’s presence on the dining table. He doesn’t have any issues about food either and likes Gujarati-style simple food. Once in a while he gives up grains and has only fruits, vegetables and milk. He also likes to watch TV alone. When he sits in the car to go somewhere, OP, that is Om Prakash places some important newspaper clippings for him there. His appointments are looked after by Sanjay Basavar. Whenever the prime minister leaves his home, either Tanmay, Dinesh or OP is with him. So after coming from Gujarat to Delhi, Narendra Modi’s horizons may have expanded but neither have his habits changed, nor the people around him.

Unprecedented preparations are on for Modi’s Australia tour so that it becomes even more successful and expansive than his US tour. Modi is going to Australia for four days to take part in the G-20 Summit. The plan is to convert this trip into a power-pack event. Four big programmes have been organised for the country’s four big cities — Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Brisbane. Modi will meet the Indians living in the country at an event in Sydney’s Olympic Park. It is estimated that more than 21,000 Indians will attend the event and the event is being planned along the lines of Modi’s Madison Square event in the US. Ram Madhav and his team have been working for a long time on making Modi’s Australia trip historic. For this, the Indo-Australia Community Foundation has been formed, which is working on registering Indians for the event. Australia’s Prime Minister Tony Abbott will welcome Modi at not only Canberra but also at Melbourne Cricket Grounds, where a gala dinner is being hosted for 500 special guests as a welcome gesture for Modi. Modi will also address the Australian Parliament in Canberra and this is the first time an Indian will do this. When then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had visited Australia like this, it was a different story. In any case, Australia is looking for an ally and friend for itself in the Asian subcontinent in the form of India, so that it can pose competition to China in the region’s economic scenario. On the other hand, Indians living in Australia also need a protector like Modi, who can give them relief from the rampant racial discrimination in the country.

People who know Modi closely also known how his life is divided into compartments and the man prefers it like that, in a way. For Modi, each relationship and person has a set place. So while he may not agree with Mukesh Ambani and the Congress about gas’ increased prices in KG Basin, he has no qualms about making public his close personal relations with the Ambani family. When the prime minister arrived in Mumbai to inaugurate a hospital by Reliance Foundation, he stayed there for nearly two-and-a-half hours. For the first time, there were a very small number of Congress politicians in Ambani darbar and only Murli Deora and Rajiv Shukla were seen. There were a large number of BJP politicians present, though. Piyush Goyal was seen with his wife and also present were Devendra Fadnavis and Vinod Tawde. Among prominent industrialists, there were Anand Mahindra, Subhash Chandra and Ajay Piramal. Representing the entire media community was a sole Arnab Goswami from Times Now, who was seen talking to Hinduja and Reliance Foundation’s advisor Anshuman Mishra.