It was only a day ago, Arvind Kejriwal was crying hoarse about his mobile being confiscated during the recently held Inter-State Council Meeting. He simply forgot that he had denied ‘founder members’ of his own party the same, when they were kicked by bouncers, before being sacked from the party. More than being denied to carry his phone, his main worry was why Mamta Didi was allowed to carry her phone.
Frankly, I wondered how and why this discrimination was allowed between Chief Ministers. My doubt was today cleared by the ‘foolish’ act by an MP of Aam Aadmi Party, Bhagwant Mann. The revered MP had made a short film on the procedure of ‘Selection of Questions for Zero Hour’. And he made this film using the camera on his mobile.
At present, the video is not available in full. Though there may be nothing wrong in his intention on ‘informing’ his voters on the procedures of Parliament functioning, the ‘modus operandi’ was really not becoming for an elected representative.
First, the video quality and his description of the procedure is not up to the mark, if informing citizens is his intention, Bhagwant Mann clearly failed in it. If he really was interested in documenting the procedures of parliament, all he needs to do was ask the speaker or request our beloved ‘Prasar Bharti’, who would have made a documentary and beamed into all households in all languages. His current video has only a comical value to all those who don’t speak Hindi.
Second, the obsession with Jhaadoo. One can see the floor most of the time and legs of people. I think Ram Gopal Varma will definitely use this piece in ‘Bhoot 123’.
However, the serious portion that was now edited out was in the first few minutes of the video, when this former comedian talks about entering the parliament and the security arrangements. Discussing the security arrangements, post the fiasco, he took out the ‘sensor’ from his car and shows to the media persons questioning him on his ‘secret filming skills’. Bhagwant Mann said he was given the sensor as he was a member of parliament and entered in his authorised vehicle. He even questions TV crew wondering how they can shoot inside parliament campus.
Bhagwant Mann claims to repeat the ‘sting’ operation tomorrow also, even if he may be served a notice by the speaker. May be it is an occupational hazard that he talks nonsense to entertain audience. May be he took seriously the word of advice by his Neta Shriman Arvind Kejriwal who asked everyone to do stings, only get stung when someone from his party followed his advice.
The more we thought of seeing a new ‘low’ in our politicians, the more they pull the bar down. If yesterday belonged to Daya Shankar Singh for his comments and Rahul Gandhi for doing ‘Vipasana’, today it was the Mann guy. Though Mann had more credentials to do these acts, given his former profession, it was expected he would put his ‘funny talk’ skills only during debates inside the parliament, but none expected him to snoop. And we never heard Navjot Singh Sidhu ‘laugh like a lion’ in the parliament.
Now, I wonder how all his female colleagues might be worrying where he kept his ‘secret’ camera. But, I think this is the first time Rahul Gandhi had any serious competition in providing comic relief to the members and citizens. May be Rahul had a battery of chamchas with him always who could film for him.
On a serious note, it is the BELIEF in the sense of a member of parliament that they were allowed cell phones inside the parliament. It is not expected that they use it for some other purpose. Yes, they are politicians, but once inside the gate, they are expected to rise above party lines and personal traits and act like gentlemen. As if she is not having enough headache with the way our parliament functions, if the Madam Speaker had to deal with these ‘Secret Documentaries’ of Bhagwant Mann, I really pity her, for she would be really forced to act like a Head Mistress.
Of course, Mann’s party stood by him, but what else they can do? Mann might have shot another video detailing ‘security lapses’ of Arvind Kejriwal. But, this episode by Bhagwant Mann may make things clear to Arvind what to expect when Sidhu Paaji enters AAP.
By the way, I liked the screenshot of http://bhagwantmannaap.org/, in which Bhagwant Mann looks sadly, between two Jhadoos.