THERE is a popular Malayalam saying of a man invited to a sumptuous marriage feast, being asked to go away, since there is no plantation leaf to serve. Similar is the predicament of Big B-Amitabh Bachchan.
While on a visit to Kerala a few weeks back, the CPM Tourism and Home Minister of Kerala, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, requested him to become the ‘Brand Ambassador of Kerala’ for global projection of Kerala as a ‘tourism destination.” “Big B’ readily agreed and government officials were on their way to Mumbai to finalise the deal when Ideologue Sitaram Yechury was stricken with a sudden lightning!
How can Bachchan who is the ‘Brand Ambassador’ of Modi’s Gujarat, be the same of CPM ruled Kerala? How can Bachchan who praised Modi sky-high, be invited to Kerala? The Kerala CPM developed cold-feet and Yechury won the day. The CPM PB also endorsed Yechury’s enlightenment!
Nothing more can be expected of CPM, which expelled its Kannur MP, AP Abdullakutty for praising Modi’s development magic and suspended Kollam Mayor Padmalochanan for inaugurating the RSS Sanghik Karyalaya.
Humiliated by the CPM’s cheap politics, Bachchan has hit back saying it is a petty and cheap act. CPM, attributing politics to his ‘Gurajat Branch Ambassadorship’ is selfish. “How can endorsement of Somnath Temple, Gandhigram, Rann of Kutch, old Harappan civilisations, Gir lions be glorification of Modi? Does the CPM has guts to stop major investors like Reliance and Tata who are investing and running successful ventures in Gujarat? You go to a foreign nation, they respect you, decorate you, but when you come back to your own country, you have nothing but ugliness for the subject and your merit. It’s rubbish.”
Will the CPM expel Brinda for hugging Sushma Swaraj after the 33 per cent reservation bill was passed in Rajya Sabha or expel Prakash Karat for sharing a dais with Sushma? Maybe, these expulsions don’t apply to the ‘Available Politburo!’
In ‘God’s Own Country’, Modi’s atithi, Bachchan, is certainly not a ‘Deva’!
