BIG BROTHER’S SHADOW
Tarkishore Prasad picks up the phone receiver and says, “DM saheb, I am sending someone to see you. Do solve his problem and report back when it is done.” Then, for the benefit of those within earshot, the otherwise soft-spoken Tarkishore bhaiyya makes a point of adding: “Garib ki madad priority se honi chahiye (the welfare of the poor must be accorded priority)…not like the old days.”
That little postscript about the old days and the not-so-subtle brag about speedy redress of complaints is, of course, laden with political significance. The 65-year-old deputy chief minister (one of two from the BJP) says no more about the ‘old days’. And yet nobody in the room is left in any doubt that he is showing off his party’s muscle. He was also serving notice to in the state that this is no longer a solo show of
