After a 21-year old engineering student hurled a shoe at PM Dr. Manmohan Singh in Ahmedabad, the Congress curiously demanded an apology from Narendra Modi, possibly because the incident happened in the state headed by Narendra Modi.

Fair enough! The Congress is entitled to it’s share of buffoonery. But shouldn’t we look at the bigger picture here? The engineering student is an Indian, isn’t he now? So going by the Congress logic, shouldn’t it be the head of the Indian State who should be doing the apologizing? Dr. Manmohan Singh apologizing to Dr. Manmohan Singh… now that sounds like a plan! :-P

Priyanka Gandhi had a loquacious Sunday. I mean, she took issue with Narendra Modi on his budhiya/gudiya statements. She hinted at entering active electoral politics at some time in the future. She endorsed Rahul Gandhi’s qualifications as a future(?) Prime Ministerial candidate (incidentally, Amit Varma’s “open letter” to Priyanka Gandhi hits the nail on the head, on this issue). She was also quoted as saying that she wanted to see her brother Rahul Gandhi as a “bridegroom before he becomes the Prime Minister of the country”.

Hmm… quite a loving, playful remark by a sister about her kid brother. Even though it is a presumptuous statement, I don’t think it should be a cause for controversy.

The reason that I posted about this remark is that it somehow (some lateral mental association at work) reminded me of the fabled remark by Shivaji’s lieutenant Tanaji Malusare when he was setting out to capture the Sinhagad fort (then known as Kondana), in the midst of his son Raiba’s wedding festivities. When the wedding guests tried to persuade him to leave after the wedding was over, he famously said (in Marathi) “Aadhi lagin Kondanyache, mag lagin Raibache!“… which translates to “First let me marry off Kondana, only then we will proceed with Raiba’s wedding”. Tanaji then went on to scale the fort with a handful of Marathas and laid down his life in winning the fort for Shivaji.

As I said, some random lateral association in my mind, that’s all!

A few days ago, the Indian National Congress party decided to use the immensely popular song “Jai Ho” from the movie Slumdog Millionaire as it’s theme song for the 2009 General Elections. BJP, having missed out on an Oscar award winning song, decided to counter-attack with, hold you breath… Musical Modi!

After days of deliberation, the Congress High Command (read Sonia Gandhi) gave her consent to name Ashok Chavan as the new Chief Minister and Chhagan Bhujbal as the Deputy CM of Maharashtra. In the interim the state, hit by one of the worst terrorist strikes in the world, was leaderless. Now that some Congress factions are satisfied while others are furious, the Congress high command can concentrate on their no. 2 priority… India’s internal security.