How Pranab surged in the presidential race

There’s one cliche that is constantly thrown around by my reporter colleagues and one they never tire of — politics is the art of the possible. And I’ve always thought that its usage was mainly for those fickle politicians, those that are abusing one party one day, and then suddenly becoming BFFs the very next time they can get something out of it. But of late, I’ve learnt, the art of the possible may also pertain to fiction becoming fact through politics and news in no time.

Let me explain with specific instances, one of them in the not-so-distant past and one from the current political scenario. Both will illustrate how in a developing, political environment, a random, stray question or the fertile imagination of a restless mind may trigger off a chain reaction that actually ends with serious, political developments with major consequences.

The first instance of this I know quite well, as I was in a way affected by its consequences. It happened late last year when the only big story seemed to be Lokpal. At that time, the main poser to the government always was when they were going to introduce the anti-corruption bill. Now, with the kind of objections the bill was facing, the kind of complicated arguments on all sides, journalists were constantly trying to work out how the government would be able to bring in legislation within the deadline set by Team Anna. They would keep asking the members of the standing committee, which was drafting the new law, the Congress ministers, how they would manage the deadline, and they’d of course not give anything away by saying, ‘Don’t worry there’s enough time.’

So, in this atmosphere of uncertainty, which was also marked by mental fatigue of journalists with endless political meetings and hair-splitting on minute clauses, there came some group event where waiting journalists happened to talk. ‘Arrey, how will they be able to pass it? They are just doing these delaying tactics. No one wants the Lokpal Bill.’ ‘Yes, it is impossible if they introduce it now, that they will manage to pass it in both houses of Parliament so soon.’

It was then that someone piped up and offered, ‘Why, they could have a special session of Parliament.’ Now, I’m not sure what happened next but even though no politician had talked about it till then (and I had talked to almost all players on this issue) and officials totally denied its possibility, this speculation had reached some editors too. One of these editors, while hosting a special event where Pranab Mukherjee was the chief guest, started haranguing him on stage. ‘Mr Mukherjee, are you going to pass the Lokpal Bill?’ ‘We are doing everything to expedite it’ ‘But will it be passed before the deadline?’ ‘We will do whatever it takes.’ ‘Are you willing to have a special session of Parliament?’ ‘We will do everything possible.’

And the headline ran across all channels and papers the next day — ‘Government considers a special session of Parliament.’ Apparently, while Mukherjee was being grilled, most Congress leaders were at an official dinner. They almost choked on their rasmalai when reporters asked them when they planned to hold this special session of Parliament even before the winter session had begun. But as one helpless minister said when asked if it was true, ‘How can I deny what

Pranabda has said?’ And that was the root of an idea that never was and never saw the light of day. Yes, months later, the winter session of Parliament did get extended by three days, but it was definitely not Mukherjee’s foresight that made him think of this.

I repeat this elaborate story just to point out what happened again this week. A week where political reporters were very jumpy, trying to figure out who was the favourite presidential candidate. Desperate for any lead into a story that was just dragging on, the mike-carriers spotted Mulayam Singh Yadav. ‘Sir who is the Samajwadi Party candidate?’ ‘I am not even aware of the nominations, I will not discuss anything in this regard.’ If he stopped at that, it would have been fine. But reporters persisted, hoping to pin him down with a choice between the political Pranab Mukherjee and the ‘apolitical’ Hamid Ansari. ‘Sir should the president be political?’ To which he replied just to get out of reporters’ clutches, ‘This is right. A president should be a political person.’

And that’s how you got the headline that Pranab Mukherjee has surged ahead in the presidential race. But before you start dismissing all political news reports you hear as unreliable speculation, remember that politics is the art of the possible. And even mere speculative headlines have often come true.

Sunetra Choudhury is an anchor/ reporter for NDTV and is the author of the election travelogue Braking News On Twitter: @sunetrac