Telephone Obsession

align="right" hspace="2" vspace="2" width="207" height="190">

Pandit Sukh Ram, the former communications

minister, was in the headlines and stories of almost all dailies

and magazines in August 1996. Allegations of corruptions. Raids

on his residences. Cash haul of Rs 4 crore. CBI interrogations.

Lie detection moments ... And the final by rubbing the salt in

the wounds of Panditji was his expulsion from the Congress party.

Over two-and-half years, now after that

episode, Sukh Ram is active in politics. Not as a Congress

nominee or as a UF partner. But as the leader of a new party,

Himachal Vikas Party, in Himachal Pradesh. With the poll dates

announced for the 12th Lok Sabha, the man is gearing up to face

the election with conviction. His party has been recognized as a

regional party by the Election Commission. And it may sound

ironical, but it’s a reality: the instrument which had

almost jeopardized his political career has become his election

symbol. The telephone. Is it Panditji’s good omen? Or

EC’s light hour in a busy time. Whatever one may perceive,

Panditji’s reason would be that the symbol would attract

mass attention considering the spectacular development made by

his state in telecommunications. Whether Sukh Ram’s

obsession for the telephone will help him in the elections or

boomerang—await till the polls in the state on 22 February.