INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN...262

INTO THE PAST WITH PAIN…262

Dr K Prabhakar Rao

(Gandhi, Nehru and Patel are seen near parliament house in Delhi. There are many onlookers too.Some guys are squatting on the road with garlands around necks. )

Gandhi. Patel. Why guys are around here? Is there any Tamasha to day?

Patel. Bapu, Tamasha goes on every day here. What is new about it?

Nehru. Do you call activity at this house a Tamasha? I am much pained to hear from guys like you. Patel , you were member of this house some time ago. How can you talk like this?

Patel. What wrong I said?

Gandhi. Jawaharlal. Patel said truth. A Tamasha has to be called Tamasha only. What else it can be called? Should it be called a quit India movement or Salt satyagraha of dandi?

Nehru. I am ashamed to hear these things.

Gandhi. Why? What wrong we have done? Why should you feel ashamed. In fact we should feel ashamed having given these guys freedom and right to self rule. I am sure under whipping only our guys would do better.

Nehru. We gave them freedom and then parliamentary democracy too with some copied Constitution like a mixed vegetable curry. We are also calling it a Tamsha now.

Gandhi. It was not a Tamasha when we made it. It was dignified then.

Nehru. Changes do occur over time.

Patel. Changes have to be for good. It should not be downward trend.

Gandhi. Patel. You are absolutely correct. You hit the nail on the head.

Nehru. Eee…ee…eee.. Patel, have you hita nail on my head. Aaa..aa…aaaa

( Nehru removes his cap and searches for a nail on his bald head)

Patel. Hee..heee..haaa..haaa..haaaa..hoo..hooo..

Nehru. What is there to laugh like this?

Gandhi. Jawaharlal, hitting nail on head means telling truth point blank. He did not hit any nail on your head. Is he holding any hamer in his hand?You were searching your head for a nail. Hee..hee… hee..heee, So he was laughing.

Patel. Haa..haaa… heee…heee..huah..huah…huah…ow..ow..owww..

( Patel laughs to such an extent that he gets hiccups. Tears roll down from his eyes. He sits down. Gandhi gets some water from an onlooker and gives to Patel. Gandhi pats on his head repeatedly.He drinks with difficulty and gets composed.)

Gandhi. Patel, Are you OK?

Patel. OK, Fine Bapu. Your thumping of my head was nice.

Nehru. I would have done that job better. I would have thumped your head with a stout stick.

Patel No, Thanks. I am happy like this.

Gandhi. Patel, Go and find out what is happening here?

( Patel goes to onlookers and returns after some time)

Patel. Bapu, There is a Dhrna going on here.

Gandhi. Who are doing it? When they started? Why they are doing? Who asked them to do? What they want to gain? What motivated them? Did you find out?

Patel. Please tell quickly. I am getting high blood pressure. I am getting itchy too.

Nehru. Why should be like that? Why are you so keen?

Gandhi. Look Jawaharlal. This was my weapon during freedom movement. I used it widely.

Patel. It has gone into nerves of every one after we left.

Gandhi. You have not told me any thing about Dharna.

Patel. Bapu. The guys who are doing Dharna are from Trinamul Congress party.

Gandhi. What is this Trinamul? Has it any thing to do with Amul butter.

Patel. No Bapu. Amul butter is nothing to do with this. This is a political party started by Mamta Benerajee of West Bengal. She is a fire brand lady.

Gandhi. I heard about her. Recently she defeated Communists in West Bengal and threw out their 30 year long rule of tyranny. No Industry flourished there.Mamta is famous for shunting out NANO project from the state. I laugh at the. Who are the loosers? They themselves.

Patel. Very correct Bapu. The party of her is supporting Congress party of Dr Man Mohan Singh.

Gandhi. Be careful, Patel. The congress party does not belong to Dr Man mohan singh. It belongs to Jawahar’s family if I understand correctly. Dr Singh is only from Rank and file like all others except a couple of them. You know everything in and out.

Patel. I am sorry Bapu.You are correct as usual. Poor Dr Singh is balck mailed every now and then by this lady. Dr singh and his party is shit scared of her.When a man has broken or missing leg he needs a crutch. Congress party is also unable to stand on its own. They need crutches. If the crutch is removed he will fall down and will be at the mercy of all.Dr Singhs position is exactly like this. He walks with crutches.

Gandhi. Why he should be scared? He is a great economist.

Patel. All these things will not work. One need not be an economist or Ph D in economics to be a PM. Now the guy has to be yes master and a safe person to hand over power at high commands will to the dynasty.. Dr singhs government survives on support from other parties like Trinamul and DMK etc that are crutches. Out of them, Trinamul is large. Dr Singh’s position hangs in balance precariously. He dances to the tunes now and then.

Gandhi.Why now and then. I am sure all the time. I thought he will be dancing to high commands tunes.

Patel. That any how he has to do. This is another Tamasha.

Gandhi. Now what is the latest black mail? Now I understand everything.

Patel. Bapu. Recently the railway minister Trivedi announced some proposals in railway budget and he is from Trinamul congress. The tariff hikes in Railways and some other proposals have been stiffly opposed by members of Trinamul congress and Mamta too.

Gandhi. Strange! Has he not discussed these issues with Mamta atleast .

Patel. He is in cabinet and takes directions from finance minister and PM.

Gandhi. Does it mean that he will not use his grey matter?

Patel. To some extent, he may use. But I doubt he is allowed to use. He has to get clearance from Finance minister and PM before presenting the budget. It is a combined effort I think. He is a small puppet in the hands of the bigwigs.

Gandhi. Hee..Hee.Heee.

Patel. Now the members of Trinmul congress are doing Dharna in parliament opposing the Railway budget.

Gandhi. What a Tamasha? Ruling party guys are protesting against ruling party actions. What else great Tamasha can be there in world? Patel. Now what can happen?

Patel. I learnt that Mamta gave ultimatum that she might withdraw her support if the tariffs are not reversed and the minister is not sacked even though he is from her party. The railway minister should quit as per her demand. I think all these things have been accepted by Singh.

Gandhi. What else he can do? He has to do. He will do. He must do. He shall do. He has no other go. This is pure black mail.

Patel. He has to do dance to her tune like this.

( Patel dances like a puppet and laughs while the onlookers clap .They shout.. haa..haa..haa)


Gandhi. Hee..heee. ( Claps) This is the greatest joke in Indian democracy.

Patel. Bapu, He has to dance to DMK’s tune also.

Gandhi A puppet has to dance to one mans tunes only. If two or more people try to make him dance he will collapse.

Patel. Bapu. You told correctly. They are in the process of collapsing only. They are on Oxygen. Trinamul party is an Oxygen mask for Congress party. If the mask is removed, it will suffocate itself to death.

Gandhi. What a sad fate to these guys? I feel pity for these souls.

Patel. True. But why feel pity for them. Look at the number of scams they indulged in. They have to learn hard way. They are running from one crisis to other crisis.

Gandhi. Patel. Shall we go? After some time, Police might do something here. Let us go from this place. Generally they catch simple guys like us and leave real offenders and criminals. Real culprits are rarely caught. They can not do any thing to real mischief makers as they will have political clout. Police is also helpless.

Patel. I agree. That is fine. Let us go.

( The trio walks away fast and disappear. )

CURTAIN FALLS