Dreams of Mungerilal!

The country may be busy debating the nerve-shattering(!) speech of Prime Minister Modi at the UNGA, following his near embrace of President Biden. It could have only been the whispering bee in the ears of an aged POTUS that restrained him from giving a tighter hug than Trump to Modi. But there cannot be any debates over the first move by Biden extending both his arms, inviting Modi for the embrace. A few taking umbrages to the warm and permissible physical encounter must also try out the Jadoo-ki-Jappi, like our own ‘Munna Bhai’ of politics.

The U.S. media shunned the visit, gloated the Indian opposition. Most are the story of the wolf and the sour grapes. One hundred ninety-three heads visit U.N. during the General Assembly. The Indian PM got the coverage the country deserved at the moment. A few Sikhs protested on the streets. One gaffe spoiled it all, the face of an ISI agent, Ghulam Nabi Fai, among them, revealing the originator of the protests. The idiot seemed media crazy and posed as if Raj Kundra was released on bail after the porn-related arrests, smiling for the lensmen.

The U.S. media unfailingly covers whenever some news affects their country, trade, health or defence. Their struggling-for-survival print and electronic media must sell to their ruthless viewers. It is not like blind fans of Arnab, who would continue to watch the same shouting over and over again like I frequently put on the Tata Sky and absent-mindedly stay glued to see the Naaptol products, or the horny Lux Cozi ads repeating several times before I realize and change the channels.

But Bengal is neither impressed with Modi’s visit nor his speech in the UNGA. The state is seething with rage over the denial of Central approval for the visit of Didi to Rome, where she could have rubbed fists with who’s who like the Pope and Angela Merkel in an award ceremony. (shoulder-rubs are barred under Covid restrictions, and the Pope reportedly suffers from a frozen shoulder!) A few insist that Modi engineered the timing of the UNGA to impress the Gujarati voters in the Bhowanipore constituency, for you know what!

Fumes a Didi diehard, ‘what of it if the hosts are a Catholic religious organization? Swami Vivekananda is remembered today because he visited the U.S. to address the World Parliament of Religions. The lady from Kalighat deserved to be heard from Rome to Mecca. The world must know that Bengal is the most tolerant and religiously peaceful country. Oops, State! She would’ve scaled the heights of Swamiji and resurrected the image of Bengal.

Mamata’s fans must check out the Nobel prize for peace and propose Didi’s name. She will face no challenges from a battle-hungry BJP and a warmongering PM. I go into my Mungerilal Avatar: a region with no State and national and international borders, where I can easily buy a Smith & Wesson as easily as I can buy a milk packet of Banglar Dairy.  But wait, with Didi, firearms, only of a kind used for roll caps during festivals, may ever be available.

Back to the lament, the hosts are not the Italian government, not even a regional government, nor any big international name. So Mamata must no more accede to frivolous invitations and invitations which are suspect.  She is an international material. As a born-and-living-in Bengal, I was not wrong to dream like Mungerilal, of Mamata addressing the UNGA, an amused Imran Khan and a confused Taliban looking at each other, like the translators did. But believe me, she will address the UNGA from 2024 onwards, and we will talk on this subject.

I must add that the My sources from Vatican are unaware of any event as of now. With offence meant to none, right now, over to Bhowanipore.

Sampath Kumar

Intrépide Voix