Arjun without Krishna

The veteran Congress leader and Minister for Human Resources, Arjun Singh finally tumbled from the good books of the Congress high command. At this descending age of political career, Arjun hoped to assign his legacy to his daughter Veena Singh. He begged earnestly to the Congress President for the parliamentary seats of Satna and Sidhi of Madhya Pradesh to be given to his daughter and son respectively, which the Congress President has turned down. After the list was unveiled, shocking Arjun could not hide his emotions, and uttered, “after putting in loyalty for such a long time, is this what I gained?” We have heard similies from his wife Saroj Singh in one of Arjun's recently published book “Had Sonia made him the President of the country, what would have troubled?” Now, the irony is that the high command has instructed its once blue eyed boy to campaign at Sidhi for his party, the Congress, where his daughter is now contesting as an independent candidate.

A wily politician as he is known in the circle, Arjun has been a sycophant all along who always pleases his bosses with his words and deeds. It all began during the period when Sanjay Gandhi was at the helm of affairs. The vibrant leader was a Krishna to Arjun. But as soon as Sanjay died, Arjun didn't waste time and his sycophancy took him closer to Rajeev Gandhi who then became his new avatar. After the demise of Rajeev Gandhi, it took almost half a decade for his widow to come to term with the activity outside home. When Arjun couldn't downsize the then PM Narasimha Rao and Congress President Sitaram Kesri, Singh was amongst few who persisted Sonia Gandhi to take the reign. After 2004 general election, when Sonia decided not to become PM herself, Singh tried his level best to be the real Arjun of Sonia. After considerable thought, Sonia handed over the baton to another Singh who she thought more dependable, though Singh was given an important birth in the Cabinet. Honestly, which human being does not like flattery and servility being offered, Sonia was no exception. Time was running out for Arjun who, being a wily politician, guessed that Manmohan could not continue for long and he himself must prepare a smooth pitch so that it becomes easy for his succession as Prime Minister.

He knew very well that sycophancy to Sonia is not enough, because his party is full of crawlers. He therefore needed one more Krishna to grab the highest post. In 2005, he suddenly became the messiah of the dalits and brought in bills for further reservations to OBCs in higher education in addition to protection of creamy layers. His ambition bulldozed the nation-wide protests of students. Arjun was amused to see himself the only messiah of the dalits, who he now saw as his new Krishna. A game which he played very effectively. But the real Krishna laughed at him from the heaven. As Arjun became invalid, using wheelchairs, due to ageing, he thought this would not help him getting the prize catch. He begged for the post of the President of India, to his high command in 2007, which incidentally was turned down. Sonia and her coterie realises that there is no new issues pertaining to reservations to dalits seem catching during the coming election, they prefer to dump the old cow. Krishna has left him. Finally, when his kins were denied the tickets, it was seen as the last nail fixed in the career of Arjun's coffin. Arjun is fuming when Jayanti Natarajan remarked that what more he expects the party to give him, when he has had enough.

There is a saying that one who digs grave for others, falls down there himself. The students who were beaten up mercilessly during the campaigns of 2005 and 2007 must be giggling now at the downfall of present day Arjun. And the real Krishna feels relieved.