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Saffron rally, Mumbai

Shivaji Park -- the bastion of the Shiv Sena -- could have been fuller. Sharadrao had managed a little over a lakh. But today, our seasoned eye put the crowd at between 60 to 75,000. Just three days before Bombay votes...

We have now become adept at making sad eyes at the cops when they ask for the special security pass. Besides, we had latched on to a veteran whose years on the beat are more than our age. Thus we slipped in and took our seat in the Press enclave (linen-covered tables, bottled water, adrak chai, all phukat), after sending our assistant to mingle with the hoi polloi (bring your own newspapers to squat on). Our assistant is our cousin who has developed acute political awareness since after the advent of the Shroud -- with a little help from us, of course. We assure you, she was grateful for her assignment, especially after bagging a wooden bow-and-lotus-tipped-arrow, a saffron scarf, a saffron cap *and* a photograph of Atalji from the karyakartas. Our cousin has potential.

Our fellow journalists were all asleep, eyes wide open. This is always the case till... The prime minister and the Shiv Sena supremo ascended the dais at 7.30 pm, and Atalji garlanded the bust of Chhatrapati Shivaji to the trumpeting of tutaaris, the flutters of the bhagwa and robust calls of "Jai Shivaji! Jai Bhavani!" It was an electrifying moment -- the Marathi ethos got the better of us. And then, into the Press area walked, of all the people, old-time music-director, and RSS member, Sudhir Phadke, better known in aamchi Mumbai as Babuji. Over eighty years old and still keeping tabs?! That clinched it for us -- all we needed was a horse and we'd have been off brandishing our sword towards 10 Janpath.

However, Chief Minister Narayan Rane charged up instead, and presented Atalji with a cheque of Rs 5,573,370 towards the National Defence Fund. Then he began his tirade in, how shall we put it, "unclean" Marathi. He ranted about having cleaned Bombay of gangsters, doling out 12,000 crores owed by the previous government, changing the name of the airport (loud applause), etc, etc. He succeeded in bringing us down from our militant Marathi high. The man has no idea how to make the earth move.

Fortunately, Rane wound up quickly and let Bal Thackeray take the podium. Certainly, this was one of the most controlled speeches Balasaheb has given in recent times. But he prefaced it with his characteristic barbs (believe us, it doesn't translate well): "Perhaps you think that I'm afraid of using the word 'Hindu.' Not a chance! I will be restrained only because Vajpayeeji is on this stage, and I don't want to give anybody an excuse to get him into trouble."

The personal attacks were mild: Sharadrao -- lengyatli Jayalalitha (JJ in pants). Manmohan Singh -- kavli laavlyavar akkal daadh aali (got his wisdom teeth after fitting dentures, ie, he never raised in Parliament the question of the RSS involvement in the anti-Sikh riots). Deve Gowda -- Kolhapur cha chivda. Sonia -- "When you [Pawar] sat side by side with her, didn't you get a foreign smell then?"

The difference between the people at the Shroud's rally and those at Shivaji Park was palpable. Here, the people listened -- and responded. We could hear their laughter at Balasaheb's one-liners, of course, but what was more telling was the buzz at his angry words -- as if the whole lot was hmm-ing its disapproval of Balasaheb's foes: "What did the Congress do? First give us the account of 40 years, then ask us the hishob of four and a half years." Deep Rumble. "Who had asked you to spill our blood in Bangladesh? What was spilt in Kargil was spilt for our country. Rakta desha saathi saandla." Deafening Hmmm... "Look at the map. Where's your country, where's our country? You are NOT our bahu!" Rumble And Claps.

He wound up his speech in 25 minutes with, "Don't go to your villages to eat modaks for Ganpati. First give your vote, and then go. Remember, one vote brought down Vajpayeeji; that should not happen again." Point is, Balasaheb speaks TO the people; not AT them. And this is why, no matter what Teesta Setalvad & Co do (who, BTW, are ensconced in a Congress MP's flat in Delhi, putting out lakhs of rupees worth of full-page newspaper ads reviling the BJP-led government), it will be hard to "eradicate" the Shiv Sena from Maharashtra -- till Balasaheb is around. Hallelujah to that.

Then came Atalji. What does one say about his oratory? Well, for one, we could write down everything he said -- thanks to his considerable pauses. And what he said, was worth writing down. We lose ourself in the beauty of his language: "Nirnay ki ghadi aayi hai"... What an opener! "The time for decision is upon us." It didn't matter that the following content was what all of us have been reading over the past month -- price control, low inflation, sensex, forex, coalitions, Kargil, foreigner blah blah. There are just so many things any politician can say on a campaign trail. The pleasure lay in his expression: the Congress' "siddhaant-heen samjhauta"; "lekin woh [Pakistan] bhram mein the; sarkaar kamar kas kar khadi thi"; "hum mukt Bharat denge"; "hum gehu ka jawaab dete hain; woh chini ka masla uthaate hain"...

Public-wise, the loudest applause came when Atalji related an incident from his recent trip to Pakistan: Some minister said to him that the Kashmir issue should be tackled by the two countries because "Pakistan Kashmir ke bina adhura hai (Pakistan is incomplete without Kashmir)." Atalji's reply: "Pakistan ke bina Hindustan adhura hai (if so, India is incomplete without Pakistan)." Oh yes, it was a belligerent and a totally feel-good speech -- something *very* required in this atmosphere soured by the moaners and groaners. Thus, when Atalji ended with, "Yeh ek-ek vote ki ladhaayi hai. Ek naye Bharat ka uday hai (it's a fight for each vote, it's for the dawn of a new India)," we cheered and clapped. Our insouciant fellows stared at us in shock.

The rally ended with an off-key rendering of the national anthem. We had learnt nothing new, really. At least, not till we hit the pavement and sat on the parapet of Shivaji Park, waiting for our cousin to emerge from the backward regions. One of our friends, an experienced ToI man, sat with us, making like a chimney (for some strange reason, people aren't supposed to smoke within the enclosure). Soon, a small crowd of journos formed near the chimney, and the exchange of notes began. "The speech was same as Beed's"; "I don't think Loksatta will carry that comment"; "did you see the people leave after T Balu finished?"; "it wasn't as bad as last year's exodus"; "we try to read too much into nothing"; "you electronic types don't have a copy to file"....

But one of them, a young stringer, kept asking our friend very bizarre questions, indeed: Could he say there were about 50,000 people? Would you say Vajpayee look tired? Could he write that the audience didn't respond? How should he word this, how to write that... And our pal was actually telling him how to phrase it so that it wouldn't be an outright lie! We were aghast!

We *had* to butt in: "Why are you doing this?!" Our pal: " He's from a Marathi daily. He has to give a specialised copy." Us: "Specialised copy??" Stringer: "It's the policy of the paper. I can't write a good piece on BJP-Sena." Us: "But that is wrong!" Stringer: "So I don't take a byline." Our pal: "Or the whole report will be hidden on page 5." Us: "But it's still wrong!!" Amused Loksatta man: "Welcome to the Press." Us: "I will write this!" Our pal: "Don't mention his name." Us: "I will have to name the paper!" Stringer: "If you'd read the paper, you wouldn't have had to ask which paper."

This is our first-hand experience of the ways of the "secularist" Press. Up to that moment, we had only made educated guesses about how pinkos operate, based on employee statistics and reliable hearsay and the unfolding of events. But now, if any one of you should try to cross us on this point, we swear on our late beloved Tommy, we will take a flying tackle from here and beat your pus-filled head into the ground. By all accounts, our constituency's Congress candidate, Murli Deora, is a more efficient, industrious and accessible person than BJP's Jaywanti Mehta. But, since her party is *surely* working with such a major handicap, we have no choice but to do the honourable thing. Such is the life of a Maratha...

Varsha Bhosle