How the government is using Sadhvi to get out of its mess

The Opposition wants Sadhvi Jyoti out for her quote but can’t see the wood for the trees.

Flares are the safest among the firecrackers one buys for Diwali. They are made by the nimble fingers of young children in Sivakasi in extreme slave-camp conditions. It is ironic that small children exhibit the greatest joy on watching the flares burn, parents invariably buy flares to catch more of that toddler glee. Any bleeding-heart thought of ending child-labour exploitation hasn't stopped Indians from buying crackers or flares. But the fear of noise and air pollution, along with the Delhi government's Bhagidari scheme, has brought the sale of crackers down in the capital. Note: Not because of child labour, but from fear of increasing air and noise pollution. Because air and noise pollution affects us and our panic-stricken pets. The children of Sivakasi can grow on gunpowder fumes and deposits in their nails.

Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti is the flare which is now holding Parliament to ransom. She made a pointed reference in a rally in Delhi saying the capital region's voters should decide if they wanted a government of Ram's followers (ramzaadon) or of "haramzaadon" (the illegitimate). For the BJP MP from Fatehpur, Ram's followers meant her own party. No one is certain which party the Minister of State for Food Processing Industries was sniping at. But like the flare, the sadhvi-minister's remark has short-circuited the Opposition fireworks in Parliament. The Opposition parties were sitting tight and, dare this writer say it, united following the arson attack on St. Sebastian Church in Delhi's Dilshad Garden amid the increasing riot powder kegs that keep popping up nowadays in the National Capital Region (remember Trilokpuri). But now the sadhvi's flare has diverted attention in the increasing tch-tch and the general TV debate of how politicians are now mirroring the fall in values across the country.

This is a classic ruse of the current government. When it wants to get out of tight corners, it lets loose a few of their own flock to say things that will raise the hackles of a few or many. The general idea is to throw the Opposition and the media off track and set them to chase hares instead of the hippos that lurk near-invisible in the tall grass.

Hounding the sadhvi for her crass remark is fine for the Opposition but what's the hippo they are not able to sight.