Inside Track: The Prime Minister's durbar ... at the airport

Some things never change. Otherwise, why would every minister, heads of the armed forces, and senior civilian and police officers, dutifully queue up at the airport every time the prime minister leaves or returns from a foreign visit?

That Vajpayee persists with this old routine which smacks of craven sycophancy by his ministerial colleagues and others in the ruling alliance underlines how very little has changed even under the first genuine non-Congress Government.

Ironically, the BJP leaders were most vociferous in criticising Congress prime ministers, notably Indira Gandhi, for having continued with a practice from the colonial era. Indira Gandhi, they said, was behaving like a maharani who must be seen off and received at the airport by her faithful subjects.

Under the British, whenever a viceroy arrived in India or left for home it was customary for the top brass of the Government, including top-notch rajas and maharajas, to pay their respects at the airport.

Back to the Prime Minister's visits and the sickening spectacle of his ministerial colleagues standing with hands deferentially folded, holding the mandatory bouquet of flowers... hours before the scheduled time of departure or arrival, due to heightened security concerns the route to the airport is blocked to ordinary traffic.

Has it occured to anyone in authority to do away with this hang-over of the past and keep the official motorcade of white Ambassadors, with their red lights blinking and sirens blaring, to the barest minimum possible.

The Prime Minister could cover the distance to and from the technical area at the Palam airport in a helicopter and thus avoid inconveniencing ordinary Delhiites every time he flew in and out of the city.

To be fair to Indira Gandhi, when she was the Prime Minister a circular was issued directing her ministerial colleagues not to show up when she left for or came back from a foreign tour. It was another matter that none of her ministers heeded the circular while Indira was not particularly keen in ensuring its strict compliance. Under the Vajpayee regime, they issue circulars detailing the time of his departure or arrival as the case may be....

Now that the term of nominated members of the Rajya Sabha is coming to an end, the lobbying for fresh nominations is in full swing. A well-known dancer who had earlier worked successfully for her Padma award is now furiously networking, doing the rounds of ministerial bungalows in order to fill the seat being vacated by Bollywood actress Shabana Azmi.

There is keen competition among two journalists to fill the lone seat being vacated by veteran columnist Kuldip Nayar. A freelance columnist who is part of the Swadeshi Jagran Manch S. Gurumurthy's fan club, including Balbir Punj and Dinanath Mishra, both BJP members of the Rajya Sabha, is almost certain to get the nomination. The scribe in question is close to a number of industrialists/traders/ plain wheeler-dealers from the South.

But also in contention for the same seat is the editor of a leading weekly. The dark horse in the race for the seat is the owner-editor of a Delhi-based newspaper who has begged, borrowed or stolen funds to keep his newspaper afloat somehow.

He believes that since he kept the rival BJP camps in good humour while doing business on the side with the bigwigs in the Samajwadi Party and the Congress Party, it would result in his bagging the seat. Gurumurthy's free-lancer and the pugnacious editor would cancel each other.

It does not always pay to be excellent in your job. Don't believe it? Okay, ask Bharat Bhushan Vyas, a 1986 IAS officer of the J& K cadre. So good is he at his job that the poor fellow is never allowed to settle down but is pulled out to man another, more important, slot.

The former private secretary to Yashwant Sinha when the latter was the Union Finance Minister, Vyas is at present working as Assistant Resident Representative of the UNDP in New Delhi, earning a sumptuous sum in salary in tax-free dollars. The J&K Chief Minister now wants Vyas posted back to Srinagar.

Given that most J and K cadre IAS officers hailing from outside the State had worked hard to get themselves posted outside the terror-torn State, Mufti's move has naturally annoyed them. But under the service rules there is no way they can get round it.

Vyas is now busy packing his bags, ready to return to Srinagar, taking a huge cut in his salary and perks while braving the ever-present dangers which terrorists routinely pose to anyone in authority in that beleaguered State.

Since the CEO-cum-Editor-in-chief of the Indian Express, Shekhar Gupta, does the weekly programme, 'Walk The Talk', for a newly-launched private TV channel, Prabhu Chawla, India Today's Editor-at-large, not to be left behind, has re-christened his TV programme Seedhi Baat on his captive TV channel, 'Eat The Talk'.

Chawla recently interviewed Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani and his wife, Kamla Advani, while the three sat eating dinner in the latter's house.