Read between the lines: It might take a jumla to beat all other jumlas

In this age of jumle-baazi, it might take a jumla to beat all other jumlas. But still, what exactly did Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav mean when he told a TV channel in an interview: “The chowkidar is just a slogan, like the chaiwala. And chai doodh ke bina nahin banti!” (Tea cannot be made without milk). Given that Yadavs supply the doodh, and the chai is in the making, what was he hinting at? 

Tit for tat
 

Say this for Priyanka: She always has an answer. Recently, a journalist in Uttar Pradesh pointed out that the Bharatiya Janata Party President (BJP) Amit Shah had stated that she was largely absent from the electoral battlefield. She just laughed and said: “I have not been to visit my grandmother in Italy for a while now. Maybe I should plan a visit soon”.

Reminiscing Advani’s words

Veteran journalist Pankaj Vohra has a lovely story about BJP senior leader L K Advani. Once, in the Parliament house premises, a British journalist asked Advani whether he intended to make India a Hindu nation, thus deviating from the principle of secularism. Advani retorted that India was a Hindu country in the same way Britain was a Christian country; just as in Britain, people could follow and practice any faith, in India too, it was the same. But, he added, India was secular only because it was predominantly Hindu.