Is the Congress Party advisory to its members not to use their feudal titles meant as a gentle hint to royals who were recently appointed ministers? For instance, the MoS in the Ministry of External Affairs, Praneet Kaur of Patiala, is used to being addressed as maharani. In the Ministry of External Affairs, there are still some who tend to be awestruck by royalty. In 1993, our Ambassador to Germany insisted on sending an official letter addressed to his “Royal Highness the Maharajah of Jodhpur”, inviting him to a hotel conference in Berlin, even though his deputy chief of mission protested that the only maharajah in democratic India was the Air India mascot.

Royals are resentful of the note from the Congress media cell. The Maharaja of Narsinghghar and former minister and governor Bhanu Prakash Singh feels that the advisory is the handiwork of “petty minded politicians with an inferiority complex who want to divert the attention from dynasties associated with political parties”. His point is, if royals are not allowed to use their titles, then why does this not apply to those who use names like Chaudhary, Rao, Khan and so on. Incidentally, many Congresspersons in private refer to Rahul Gandhi as Yuvraj.

Can she use her visa card?

Now that Praneet Kaur is an MoS is in the Ministry of External Affairs, there is speculation whether she will use her influence to deny a visa to Pakistani journalist Aroosa Alam, who is friendly with her husband, former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh. Kaur even met the party high command last year to demand that Khan’s visa be cancelled, but the journalist continues to visit India and was spotted in Chail during the election campaign. While visas are issued by our embassies abroad, if there is a dispute about the person being a security risk, the matter is referred to the Home Ministry, not the MEA.

... contd.