14 THE WEEK • AUGUST 4, 2019
APERITIF
PARTY SNACKSILLUSTRATIONS JAIRAJ T.G.A LESSON IN
PROGRESS
Its clout in national politics may not
match that of the Communist Party
of India (Marxist), but the CPI has
reached a milestone in inclusiv-
ity that the bigger party is yet to
achieve. It made D. Raja, a dalit, its
general secretary. The CPI(M), no-
tably, is yet to have a dalit in its Polit
Bureau. And though dalit leaders in
the CPI(M) do not foresee any pos-
sibility of them matching Raja’s feat,
the appointment has given them
hope of getting a berth in the Polit
Bureau some day. Will big brother
take a cue from the sibling?FOOD FIGHT
Given the commotion and confusion in Karnataka regarding the trust vote, one
would assume that a politician’s eating habits would get scarce attention. However,
on July 22, a certain dish was a topic of heated debate. BJP MLA C.T. Ravi brought up
a multi-crore Ponzi scam, and Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, in an apparent
reference to a photo of himself with the prime accused in the scam, said, “I did not eat
any biryani.” The photo, which apparently showed Kumaraswamy having food with the
accused Mansoor Khan, had gone viral.
“I am accused of having biryani at a particular person’s house,” Kumaraswamy said.
“I was invited during Ramzan. I was there. I did not eat any biryani. After two health
scares, I have given up non-vegetarian [food].”
At a time when the state government was heading towards a collapse, one would
think that the leaders surely had bigger fish to fry.