Kaun Banega Rashtrapati? This question was more or less answered on June 15 when Pranab Mukherjee’s candidature was formally announced by the Congress. However, the announcement was preceded by a lot of drama on TV. We watched the Mamata-Mulayam combine proposing the names of Manmohan Singh, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam and Somnath Chatterjee. The Presidential question suddenly assumed more importance than it normally should. There was confusion among the invitees to various talk shows — most of them were candid enough to confess that Didi’s defiance has added great uncertainty to the Presidential elections outcome. Generally, it has been a given that the ruling party’s nominee would get elected — although V. V. Giri had upstaged Neelam Sanjiva Reddy in 1969, courtesy Indira Gandhi. However, it is unlikely that such a betrayal would happen to Mukherjee, given his stature as a parliamentarian. In the fast-changing political scenario, Mulayam displayed dexterity while distancing himself from Mamata and announcing support for Mukherjee.
Interestingly, even as Gadkari was telling TV reporters that the BJP and the NDA have yet to take a decision, Headlines Today and Times Now speculated whether there would be a cooperation of sorts among the two national parties – with the BJP supporting Mukherjee for the President’s office and Congress endorsing a BJP nominee for the Vice-President’s post. Jaswant Singh’s name was mentioned by a couple of experts. Should that happen, the nation would not only benefit from their combined experience as ministers and parliamentarians but also see the two offices regaining their former exalted stature.
 The formal announcement of Pranab Mukherjee’s candidature for the President’s post was preceded by high drama |
Another drama that unfolded on the small screen involved some of our most accomplished sportspersons. Even as P. Kashayap and Saina Nehwal marched into the badminton semi-finals of the Indonesia Open, the breach between the tennis stars Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes became stark when Bhupathi told NDTV that he was disappointed with the decision to pair them for the forthcoming Olympics. When asked by NDTV whether he would rather miss the chance to play for India than team up with Paes, Bhupathi said categorically, "I have already told them" (the selectors). He attributed the predicament to "politics". Well sports and politics don’t exactly mix. Or, do they?
The June 10 episode of Satyamev Jayate on Star Plus focussed on a marginalised stratum of the society, viz., the physically challenged. Certain pertinent points were made, viz., the country’s disabled population waits endlessly for enabling gestures from the government. India has pegged the disabled population at 2 per cent of the total while the USA and the UK have 5 per cent to 9 per cent. The gods have, apparently, been particularly kind towards us, Indians. One point was not made: neither town planning nor building architecture, is disabled-friendly. As for employers, the less said the better. However, the show lauded one Captain Brar, who considers his disabled employees as an asset, and not beneficiaries of his meharbaanee.
Following Venus’ transit across the sun, various talk shows had their own takes on love and relationships. Satyamev Jayate took on Haryana’s formidable khaaps while discussing love-marriage-related issues. The invited khaap elders expressed their abhorrence for love-marriages because these are driven by "vaasna(passion or lust)", and mumbled something about parampara. One really wishes the show shouldn’t have not confined itself to merely debunking the old system but had focussed on suggesting a viable alternative instead. Aamir Khan’s smart one-liners and light-hearted rejoinders seem to have nixed an opportunity for serious deliberations on such matters.
Woes of love have been dogging a veteran politician for quite some time now. The N. D. Tiwari case was hanging between the sleazy and the seriocomic when the Supreme Court’s orders nudged it into a saner direction. But, the case has unleashed mirth-fest on TV. On The Week That Wasn’t (CNN-IBN) there were a whole lot of persons whose DNA tests "proved" that they had a common father.
What would a child know of love and marriage? However, quoting from the Shariat laws of 1937 and 1939 vintage, the Delhi High Court recently upheld a 15-year-old girl’s marriage as valid. Some of the panellists on The Buck Stops Here (NDTV) wondered whether such laws ought not be amended and brought in tune with the changing times as well as the country’s Constitution. Then followed the news of young girls’ travails in Haryana’s Apna Ghar; the perpetrators should be reminded of these words from W. H. Auden’s A Certain World, "All sin tends to be addictive, and the terminal point of addiction is what is called damnation
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