Mirch Masala

First India Sunday Special By Tridib Raman

The author is a journalist and political commentator and views expressed are his personal

RASHTRAPATI BHAVAN IS WITNESSING A TRANSFORMATION

Ever since the country’s new President, Droupadi Murmu stepped into the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the atmosphere there has changed. For the officers and staff of Rashtrapati Bhavan, it is like a cool breeze, as unlike her predecessors, President Murmu has broken many declared myths as soon as she came.

The staff of Rashtrapati Bhavan does not remember if ever any President has sent Diwali sweets for them and their children at his or her own expense.

Sources reveal that ‘the President’s expenditure on sweet boxes and gifts alone was about Rs two to two and a half lakh, which she himself bore.’ The staff of Rashtrapati Bhavan has become convinced of her simplicity, decency, and ease of living. She also wakes up at three in the morning, then does an hour-long yoga and meditation routine, then leaves for her morning walk at four, which lasts about a quarter of an hour. Now only vegetarian food is cooked in the kitchen of Rashtrapati Bhavan without onion and garlic. The practice of non-vegetarian food has stopped. The kitchen of Rashtrapati Bhavan has also been asked to be closed by 10 pm.

Earlier, the employees who went home after finishing duty late at night did not even get any travelling allowance, now they have started getting it. The President is well aware of the fact that the face of the new India is mostly formed by meeting the youth of the country, so to connect with the youth and understand their expectations properly, she is also using the social media platform ‘Facebook’ a lot. She takes time, and makes short notes for her speeches, which are included in her main speech. If the top changes, surely its fragrance will be felt across the country.

WHEN WILL THE CIVIC ELECTIONS IN UTTAR PRADESH BE HELD?

W ith the success of the ‘UP Investor Summit’, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has received a new message from Delhi asking him to ‘ensure the dates of civic elections in the state as soon as possible.’ It has been said that ‘his long-pending cabinet reshuffle may remain stuck until the civic elections in the state are over.’ Yogi has been engaged in a major reshuffle exercise in his Cabinet for some time now, where many of his old ministers have to leave and many new faces have to get a place in the Cabinet. In fact, the UP local body elections are stuck in a dilemma that the reservation formula has not been finalised yet. This reservation formula is to be decided for mayors of 17 Municipal Corporations, Presidents of 200 Municipal Corporations, and Chairman of 546 city panchayats. It should be noted that the deadline for municipal elections has ended on January 5. At present, Yogi has sent a tip to Delhi that ‘election procedures are being finalised’. It seems Yogi is also waiting for the right time for himself.

CONGRESS’s 85TH SESSION IN RAIPUR WILL END PREMATURELY

T he shadow of uncertainty is hovering over the Raipur session of Congress. Earlier this 85th session of Congress was called in Raipur for three days i.e. from February 24-26. Now it is believed that instead of 24, the session will start on 25 and end on 26. Everyone’s eyes were fixed on this conference because after 26 years the elections of the Congress Working Committee were to be held. But now, it is believed that this CWC election will be postponed and Party President Mallikarjun Kharge will be authorised to elect a representative for the working committee by show of hands, which he will decide after returning to Delhi.

Of the 23 members of the Congress Working Committee, 12 were to be elected by the AICC delegates, and 11 were to be nominated by the President. But it seems that there will be no election now because there are indications of irregularities in the AICC list as well. Differences have been found in the list of about 1300 AICC representatives from 29 states and UTs & the list provided by the PCC, raising questions about the role of Madhusudan Mistry & VP Singh of the election committee, who have included the names of their favorite people in the list. More or less similar errors were seen in list of delegates during election of the party President as well.

MUKHTAR’S LOVE FOR RAMCHARIT MANAS