(Sunetra Choudhury is Associate Editor, National Affairs, NDTV 24x7)
There's one joke that's done the full round of Parliament today. Political reporters, always open to silly jokes, especially when it's at the cost of a neta, were heard telling each other: "Arrey, police is saying that since they heard media reporting 'Rahul is missing', they thought they'd go and help out. Find out if a missing person's report is required.'' And every time I heard this joke being told, it was always followed by squeals of laughter.
I admit I was amused too because having covered the Congress Vice- President Rahul Gandhi for the better part of the last decade, I, like the others, could see the full irony of the Delhi Police proforma or questionnaire that we're told 526 prominent leaders or their aides filled without getting their VIP socks in a twist.
"What's the big deal?'' cried all the BJP leaders. "Congress is making a mountain where there isn't even a molehill,'' said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, but what the honourable minister is overlooking is that those questions may seem innocuous to everyone, they are totally taboo when it comes to Rahul Gandhi.
Let me illustrate with a specific instance of query "K" on the descriptive roll section of the form. It asks for close associates or as the typo-prone Delhi Police prints 'closed associate' of the leader being profiled. When LK Advani names Sushma Swaraj or Former Prime Minister Vajpayee in that category, it doesn't raise any eyebrows. But giving away Rahul Gandhi's close associates would take away the mystique that has been so carefully cultivated by these associates themselves. One day you hear Kanishka Singh and Sachin Rao are his closest aides but then, other Congress leaders apprise you that things may have changed and others like Alankar and Kaushal Vidyarthee have taken their place.
Forget the media and the Delhi Police sub-inspector sent to fill this form, they wouldn't give this information to a Congress senior leader who'd spent years serving the party!
A Delhi Police officer who's probing this case told me how they expect all these 526 leaders to tell them their day's schedule in advance so that they can be prepared, security-wise. Apparently, the reason why the special bureau of the Delhi Police decided to add Rahul Gandhi to this venerable list is because they were responding to reports that he would soon be promoted to Congress President.
Well, good luck to the special bureau, because last heard, no one seemed to even know where Mr Gandhi is, forget when he'd come back. And reps of his party's state units can share tips with the cops of how he keeps them guessing till the last minute about any intended plans.
When Sonia Gandhi's proforma revealed she spoke Italian along with English and Hindi, I'm sure it became the factor behind Congress' rejection of the form, claiming she had not completed any such document. After all, in 2004, she refused to speak to a foreign journalist in Italian saying, "I have forgotten the language'.'
He may have escaped scrutiny till now citing his privacy, but as the Congress President, that may be much harder to do.
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