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Meanwhile in Delhi

So, now we know that there are two kinds of politicians in this part of the world, the glamour puss ones and the glamour-struck ones. Kashmala Tariq, member of Pakistan’s National Assembly from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, belongs to the first variety.

She swept into Delhi last week for the plenary meet of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and left a lasting impression with one bat of her mascara-ed eyelashes. Do they actually make politicians who look like film stars? At the end of a week of stuffy discussions on erudite topics such as climate change and the right to recall, all the delegates could talk about was the glamorous lady from Pakistan.

It makes it so much easier for gender relations if men can box women into a defined role. And Kashmala played to the gallery with power dressing and clever but non-threatening feminism. She was the star candidate for the post of chairperson of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians Association. The men were so taken with her that they promised to support her, till they were gently reminded that they weren’t eligible to vote. All the same, Kashmala won, having lobbied as successfully with the women delegates. It’s a rarity indeed when a woman can woo other women with the same success as the male of the species.

What was surprising was the low public profile she maintained in the Capital even as she zapped the CWPA with the Kashmala effect. She didn’t do TV appearances, the cocktail circuit or VIP calls. Perhaps the uncertainty of the situation back home prompted her to stay out of the limelight that follows every Pakistani politician on a visit to India.

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And then there were the glamour-struck. Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi set aside their nuclear troubles to do some star-gazing with Dev Anand, Sanjay Dutt and Indian Idol Prashant Tamang this week. Was this a government in crisis? It didn’t look like it as Cabinet ministers and senior Congress functionaries partied with the celebrities. A wag maintained that Gandhi actually blushed when Dev Anand presented her with a single red rose and recalled Jawaharlal Nehru.

A special guest at the book release function of Namrata Dutt Kumar’s book on her parents, Sunil and Nargis Dutt, was Petroleum Minister Murli Deora. A close friend of the family, he had tried his best to help the Dutt family when Sanjay was arrested. And Sanjay acknowledged the equation by diving down to touch his feet at the function. In fact, Deora figures quite prominently in the book. Interestingly, the husbands of the two Dutt daughters did not attend the book release ceremony at the PM’s residence but Sanjay’s girlfriend did.

TAILPIECE
The talk of the town this week was BJP leader Arun Jaitley’s upcoming dinner bash for the media. He’s believed to have invited around 250 guests and the menu is Kashmiri wazwaan. Jaitley’s Kashmir connection is through his wife, Sangeeta, who is from Jammu. The couple has been poring over the menu to personally select a typical feast running into over a dozen courses. They tried to do a sit-down dinner, as a wazwaan should be, but the modalities were proving too difficult. The dinner party has made waves in the BJP, naturally, with the rival Rajnath Singh camp in a blue funk, wondering what Jaitley is up to.

Email: a_jerath@dnaindia.net