---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Sukla Sen <[email protected]> Date: Sun, Apr 19, 2009 at 10:45 PM Subject: [humanrights-movement:1424] Mallika Sarabhai Stands Up to LK Advani: "Iron Man" Turns Tail: Bindis Grow Bigger To: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
[Even this report, obviously overawed by Advani (the would-be-PM) and deliberately unmindful of the profound moral dimensions of the fight posed by Mallika Sarabhai with the whole-hearted backing of socially sensitive Gujarati intellectuals and activists, could not but acknowledge that the fight is being billed as one between Advani and Mallika and she has been able to cause much more than a ripple with her unconventional campaigning style boldly transgressing the boundaries of "norms" set by electioneering traditions. She has also been eminently successful to bring out in graphic relief the moral cowardice of the "Iron Man" running away from the issues raised.] http://mobilepaper.timesofindia.com/web/mobile.aspx?article=yes&pageid=6§id=edid=&edlabel=MMIR&mydateHid=19-04-2009&pubname=Mirror+-+Mumbai&edname=&articleid=Ar00600&publabel=MM ADVANI [Vs.] NATRANI In the post-T N Seshan era of censored electioneering, when over-the-hill politicians are hurling history as accusations at each other, with only a flying chappalbreaking the monotony occasionally, Gandhinagar in Gujarat is having a song-and-dance party, reports Pankaj Upadhyaya and Dilip Patel And why not. You have pitted in a contest here, a serial yatri who rebelled against his parivar and lived to tell the tale; and a serial rebel whose biggest strength is her rebellious streak and her illustrious parivar. Ladies, gentlemen, welcome to what is possibly the most entertaining constest in this Lok Sabha election prime ministerial aspirant Lal Krishna Advani Vs dancing queen Mallika Sarabhai . Oops, sorry! There is a third candidate in the fray too and he is a far more serious threat to Advani than Mallika. Why Because he is a Patel, Suresh Patel, the Congress candidate from Gandhinagar . Patels in Gujarat are known to vote enbloc and swing elections. Close to 2.5 lakh Patels are eligible to vote in Gandhinagar this time. You will wonder why then we are billing Gandhinagar as an Advani-Mallika contest Well, there are two reasons: One, there is a very tiny likelihood of Advani losing. He hasnt in the four elections he has contested from here. In each election (he did not contest in 1996 because there was a hawala case against him) his margin was over 100,000 votes. Two, if the result is more or less a foregone conclusion, isnt it more fun to focus on a little bit of dance and drama Well, that is where Mallika nudges out Patel to bag top billing in this blockbuster. Tough luck, Sureshbhai. We know you cannot sport a new, giant bindi everyday. Ear-rings are out too. You will not colour coordinate your car with the clothes. And dancing For Christs sake! But Mallika is dancing. She is also singing. And so are her supporters, draped in the campaign colours white, red and purple. They are all very good at it, having performed street plays and stage shows for years with Mallika. And keeping in tune with her persona, she has chosen the harmonium as her election symbol, often represented in her designer bindis. It all makes for pretty pictures, great copy and colourful visuals for television audiences. And Mallika is also raising issues that nobody else is. She is talking of womens rights, health, sanitation and education. She is asking tough questions like when did you last hear of a new public hospital being built And how many new private/corporate hospitals have come up in your neighbourhood in the past couple of years The name Sarabhai works too. Her father Vikram Sarabhai, who gave India its first space programme, is a revered figure in Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar . Her mom, Mrinalini, is a famous dancer. Some of the biggest institutions here were propped up and nurtured by the family, including Natrani, a centre for performing arts in Ahmedabad. And then there is Mallika, the charmer. Her easy, affable style clicks instantly with her audiences . And she knows when to be a Gujarati deekri (daughter); when to switch to Mallika Sarabhai, a post-graduate from IIMA; and when to break into a dance. When we caught up with her in Vastrapur in western Ahmedabad (part of Gandhinagar constituency ) on Wednesday evening, she was holding forth in chaste Gujarati on how common people need a voice. The living room of this middle class house was packed with people and they all nodded in agreement when Mallika spoke. When she emerged from the house and saw a few journalists waiting for her, she was a different Mallika. Hi, guys, she said waving her hand. The next second, she had crossed the road and plunged into a group of women waiting for her. As she held their hands and laughed loudly, throwing her head back gayly, the group could have been mistaken for her arts circle friends. But then, one has to ask this question is any of this bothering Advani or his poll managers MY DADDY PM Earlier that day, we had met with Jayant Advani, who was campaigning for his father in Sarkhej village on the dusty south-west outskirts of the city. It was a door-to-door campaign. He went around with folded hands reminding people, mostly women with a couple of kids peeping from behind them, about the polling date and his fathers long association with the constituency . A man on the microphone in white shirt, white trousers, white sneakers and dark glasses introduced him as Advanis son and Advani himself as the next prime minister of India. It was smouldering hot... heat capable of cracking your skin and burning your bones. When Jayant stopped for an ice-cream , I asked him why Advani was not bothering to reply to the five questions Mallika was posing him every week. He does not need to. Every voter here is aware of the work my father has done in the constituency. There is no need to answer questions raised by a rival candidate, he said. So, what is telling the voters I tell them that this time they are not just voting for their MP, they are voting for the countrys next prime minister , Jayant said. Some of the questions Mallika has posed are very relevant, though. Like, how much time has Advani spent in the constituency in the past five years How much money from his MP Local Area Development fund did he spend and where But Advani is not bothering to answer any of these questions. While being so taciturn is a little strange for a man who famously challenged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to a live television debate, it also tells us how far Mallika still is in posing any kind of difficulty for the prime ministerial hopeful. The Advani camp, in fact, does not refer to any rival candidate in its speeches. Kamla (left) and Pratibha Advani campaign for LKA Mallika in her elements Son Jayant asks voters to vote for the next PM Peace Is Doable ________________________________ Cricket on your mind? Visit the ultimate cricket website. Enter now! -- http://venukm.blogspot.com/ --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
