Grave politics

During the campaigning for elections in Bihar, BJP leader Syed Shahnawaz Hussain was caught unawares when his helicopter landed on a graveyard in a Muslim dominated village where he had gone to address a public meeting. Knowing well that the Muslim villagers would not appreciate the choice of the landing spot and that it might backfire as potential voters might interpret that the BJP leader had little respect for the graveyard, Shahnawaz decided to blame the pilot for the error. “The pilot is a foreigner. He doesn’t know our rituals. Please pardon him for the mistake,” Shahnawaz said on reaching the podium. Being a Muslim himself, Shahnawaz had understood that voters would not pardon the same mistake twice. So, he ensured that the pilot brought the helicopter to a different location and only then he boarded it.