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Musings of a politician - continued

by Kiran Jhamb
(Nagpur, Maharastra, India)

Kalpana made a decision. She was in no mood to be the rabble-rouser. The situation could be saved from exploding. She told Ganoba and others, "Look, there is no need to bring all this to public notice. Pintya was simply drunk, Ramesh didn’t lock the door. Now don’t exaggerate. No one rings any reporter. Don’t think I won’t come to know. We are educated people, responsible people. If this incident goes to press it will be blown out of proportion. Then RPI workers will respond and it will take an ugly communal turn. Go home and sleep. Ganoba, take Pintya to his house . Vithal kaka and I will manage.”

Vithal kaka also dispersed the crowd swearing them to silence. Next day again she called a meeting of the managing committee of the temple and raised fund to repair the idol which had toppled from its dais and broken. For days after wards she kept on getting phone calls even from the higher-ups of her party not to waste such a golden opportunity to be in public’s eye, to always fight for justice, in short to rant and rave against the others all the while securing votes for their own party. Kalpana had stuck to her original decision. The RPI workers couldn't do anything because she had been successful in sending Pintya to his village, away from the scene, till the dust settled down.

Kalpana again felt happy that the temple had got Heritage Status. She mumbled, "Who says all the politicians are opportunists all the time. Some of them are not sometimes."

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