A pic worth a 1000 words? Ask journos

A picture is worth a 1000 words, said someone. And if he saw how his worldly wisdom is put to use today, he would be turning upside down inside his grave!

Picture this: Four leaders of the ruling Indian coalition representing three main parties come together to counter the barrage of assaults from the Opposition Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) over the note-for-vote scandal that hit the Parliament on July 22 when PM Manmohan Singh was seeking a Trust Vote over Indo-US Nuclear Agreement. RJD’s Lalu Yadav, LJP’s Ram Vilas Paswan and SP’s Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh come together to counter attacks from BJP, a political compulsion to say the least. This show of solidarity, sprung up in the aftermath of BJP’s attack, has been necessitated by the need of the parties to flock together and reiterate their opposition to the “communal” forces in the country.

Picture this as well: A day after this some newspapers (including some prestigious English dailies) have gone gaga over the coming together of these leaders. Some have gone to the extent of saying that this marks a new phase in the cow belt politics (major northern Indian states UP and Bihar, which send over 120 elected leaders to the Parliament, are referred to as the cow belt). Their logic: the leaders such as Lalu, Paswan and Yadav have come together after a long time. They forgot Lalu and Paswan have been together since this government was formed over four years ago while Mulayam is not anti-thesis to Lalu and vice versa. And they all represent the ruling coalition of UPA. A mere clasping of hands could trigger so much political analyses!

While it would be wrong to dismiss the analysis altogether, there is little doubt that the journalists have attempted to read a bit too much into this picture of solidarity triggered by the CD controversy.

And this: There also little doubt that those who propounded this theory, and possibly fed the journos, may have been able to at least momentarily create niggling doubts in the minds of Congress managers over the growing warmth among cow belt charmers. But this may have been too short-lived after all.

I will not be flummoxed to read analyses on how Mayawati’s whisperings to Sonia Gandhi, when they were catapulted into proximity at Late HK Surjeet’s cremation the other day, is beginning to jolt Amar Singh and Mulayam Singh Yadav!

Didn't you hear, a picture is worth a 1000 words!