I was impatiently awaiting news on Modi’s anointment as BJP’s PM candidate for an entirely different reason. All the hocus pocus in the lotus camp were upsetting my Friday deadline and when it became apparent that any decision could see light only by twilight at best, I decided to commence my karmic duty, come what may. After all, from a journo’s viewpoint, the world of opinions would be poorer if it does not include self’s enlightened inputs and more so on such an important event as Modi’s elevation that is being watched globally. In any case, with the twitteratti and sundry other chatteratti poised with fingers close to gadgets, a scribe obviously does not want to be narrating history instead of being as current as his/her medium allows.
I was dreading to use these words. But sorry, I have no choice now. So, at the time of going to press (how dreadful!), Modi’s candidature remained unwrapped. Maybe, it would have been unravelled by the time of coming out of press, pity me, but I have to be true to my vocation. But then, should I wait for a formal announcement when the matter was a foregone conclusion? After all, all allies had been informed and the body language of all concerned was quite clear. But you see, I am not in the breaking news business wherein news once broken could always be reversed by merely ceasing to break more of that news on the ubiquitous ticker and then just pretending you never broke that one. Print however puts things on record for posterity. Also BJP is a party with a difference and you never know in which part of that ‘difference’, the devil lay.
Smart readers must have guessed that I am just sparring for time even while casting furtive glances at the idiot box for a news-break, howsoever I distrust and detest it. There are still a few hours to go before deadline and a few lines left for the last word. But then I have been tense right from Thursday as trends in the Capital spun vivid memories of a Bikram aur Bethal style tale of repetitive vignettes. The parleys, parties and posturings of an assortment of leaders hopping around in plush cars between the various power-centres within the parivar were painfully reminiscent of the days of the bearded oracle from the Left, HKS Surjeet and the various fatal fronts that sprang from his endeavours. Only that, while Surjeet Singh usually got into business post poll in search of a PM and across a wide party spectrum, Rajnath Singh’s travails are about a pre-poll PM prospect within his own party. You can take your pick on whether that makes BJP a divided house or a democratic haven.
No news yet and the hours are slipping away. What was supposed to be a highly ‘intellectual and insightful’ article has now become what we in ABC (Association of Bored Columnists) call a ‘mood piece’, written in this case, in close collaboration with a timepiece. Stop Press. Hurrah! We are now informed that the wickets of Sushma Swaraj and MMJoshi have fallen. That leaves a lonely Advani, the veteran opener of BJP, who will likely carry the bat with his die-hard dissent. I am extremely cross with Advani, but once again for a different reason. His CV says he started off as a journalist. In which case he should have been sympathetic to the plight of those in that profession, understood the compulsions of headlines and deadlines and fallen in line in good time. He should have, ironically, learned from MSingh, who never tires of declaring that he is ever willing to make way to Rahul, and thus underscoring his party’s reality. The media simply loves him for such suo motu sagacity, even though that is the only issue on which the PM speaks with such remarkable clarity and consciousness.
Eureka! Rajnath Singh saves the day, rather, week, for me. The suspense (?) is over. It is now official. Narendra Modi is the BJP’s chosen one for the PM post. And this, mind you, is at the time of going to press and beyond too. We made it. That you will read it late is not my fault. As for that promised ‘intelligent’ analysis on the pros and cons of Modi’s candidature, don’t we now have all the time in the world?
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