Stung by the Vande Mataram faux pas, HRD Minister Arjun Singh first blamed Culture Minister Ambika Soni for giving him a false lead. When that didn’t help him out of his predicament, he got freedom fighter Shashi Bhushan to apologise to him before the media for announcing the wrong centenary year of the song. But the controversy showed no signs of abating and even threatened to taint his carefully cultivated secular image. Finally, the exasperated veteran told a close aide that if the BJP and RSS were so fond of Vande Mataram, then why did they not sing the song at their shakhas? Meanwhile, there seems to be a celestial conspiracy to delay the nuptials of Singh’s grandson Aishwarya and his fiancée, Nepal’s Devyani Rana, as the pandits on both sides do not seem to agree on an auspicious date.

Tee diplomacy

Home Secretary V K Duggal’s new obsession is golf, and the Delhi Golf Club has made him a forceful promoter of the game—even in his work. Duggal has now decided to use the fairway as the perfect neutraliser for hard negotiations with troubled states and niggling neighbours. Recently, Duggal had a freewheeling chat with Myanmar’s Deputy Home Minister Phone Swe on the rolling greens of DGC, using the long walks to talk and make sense of intelligence matters. By the way, Phone Swe also travelled to Leh during his visit to get a flavour of how the security mechanism works on the India-China border. Has golf driven home the point, only Duggal can tell.

... contd.