DailyOh! What Jagdeep Dhankar said about Mamata, to the book that Pranab Mukherjee wished for

Jagdeep Dhankar is West Bengal Governor. Jagdeep Dhankar is West Bengal Governor. Read and write that down a hundred times lest you forget Jagdeep Dhankar is West Bengal Governor. Seeing him hold press conferences and issue timely flaks for Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee may make you believe Dhankar is an opposition leader.

In his current role, Dhankar has lashed out at Banerjee for murdering democracy. Democracy must be the proverbial phoenix who everyone talks about but no one claims to have seen. Democracy is murdered every day and is then found alive and existing in excess – for some.

Dhankar, however, claimed there is no democracy in West Bengal and told the Centre that security for BJP Chief JP Nadda, whose convoy came under attack yesterday, was inadequate and so Union Ministry of Home Affairs has summoned West Bengal DGP and the Chief Secretary on December 14. The same day farmers will be intensifying their protests.

We will come to December 14 in a bit. For now, let’s come back to today. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has said Delhi CM Manish Sisodia’s residence was attacked. The BJP has said the video of the attack tweeted by AAP is an old one – which means there was an old attack, apart from the new one, on Sisodia’s residence. The police have, meanwhile, arrested six people in the new case. All attacks are attacks and all attackers hurt the person being attacked. All attackers must, therefore, be punished. If you don’t want to punish, you can always say the attack never happened.

What is going to happen tomorrow is a blocking of the Delhi-Jaipur highway by farmers. At least that is what the farmers have warned would happen if the Centre doesn’t withdraw the three farm laws. While the government has agreed to make amendments to the laws, the farmers say either their way or blocking of highways. Haryana Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala has meanwhile said that if the MSP was ever taken away from farmers, he would resign. If Chautala resigns, the Haryana government would fall and so the government would not withdraw the MSP. A promise the government made even in the absence of the resignation promise from Chautala. Same promise being made differently.

Chautala’s resignation may have to wait till MSPs are withdrawn, while Lalu Yadav, the former CM of Bihar, will have to wait another 42 days for his bail. Not that the bail will come after 42 days, but at least the hearing into the bail plea will begin. The hearing was to begin today, but reports suggest, it was put off as Lalu Yadav has not completed half his sentence; a requisite for his early release. There is a shortfall of 40 days. Lalu Yadav, serving a four-year jail sentence for graft, has been granted bail in many other cases linked to the chara ghotala. This one is the last.

Lalu today failed the bail test – by 40 days - but Indian cricketer Rohit Sharma has passed his fitness test. Rohit can now fly to Australia for the Test series. Rohit will have to miss the first Test match that begins on December 17 because he will be flying out on December 14 reportedly.

He will have to serve the mandatory 14-day quarantine period in Australia. This will mean Rohit would be ready to play in the third Test which starts in Sydney from January 7.

Skipper Virat Kohli will only be playing the first match and will then head back to India to be a father. To be part of the first match, Kohli had to miss his third wedding anniversary. Since, the couple is planning a ‘lifetime together’, they will have many more anniversaries together. The celebrations from next year will be joined by their child.

Captain Kohli and actor Anushka share their wedding anniversary with the birth anniversary of former President Pranab Mukherjee. We will thus celebrate the day marking anniversary as the Word Of The Day. Anniversary comes from Latin word anniversaries, which means returning yearly. Annus means year in Latin, while versus means ‘a turning’.

The first use of anniversary was basically in the church. ‘Anniversary days’ were usually dates with particular religious significance, for instance, the days of martyrdom of saints. Before people started using anniversary for yearly markings, they called it ‘year-days’ or ‘mind-days’, times when a notable occasion or person is brought to mind.

Now, we call them anniversaries. So, today is the birth anniversary of Pranab Mukherjee and we could soon have a tell-all book from the man who is no more. How can we have a book from him now? Well, Mukherjee maintained a daily diary and wanted it to be published as a book – only after he died.

If you write for many years, you will end up filling many diaries. Pranab made his daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee the custodian of all his diaries. Now, the fact that he wanted the diaries to be published only when he is gone makes it look like he sure had stories to tell that would have landed him in trouble or caused him embarrassment if he were alive. So, this should be a book to look ahead to. Only the book hasn’t been announced so far. It exists as Pranab’s wish. We believe his kin will take care of his wishes.

If the book comes out, we will have both his kin and former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao to thank. Of course, Pranab Mukherjee will have to be credited as well. Let us tell you why Rao deserves credit.

In late 1980s, Mukherjee lived in Greater Kailash in Delhi. Heavy rains flooded the basement of his house and the diaries he had been writing were damaged. Not all, but many. Mukherjee discontinued writing.

When Rao, one of India’s most well-read PMs, found out about it, he insisted that Mukherjee revive his habit. Rao even gifted a new diary for Mukherjee to begin. And Mukherjee began writing again.

Rao won’t get to read the book. We believe he didn’t get to read any of the diaries too. We can compensate with thanks if we get to read either.

Today is actor Dilip Kumar’s birthday too and guess what Kumar got? A bouquet from superstar Amitabh Bachchan. Bachchan sent the bouquet through his staff and since Kumar is not meeting people because of health concerns, Bachchan’s staff handed it over to Kumar’s staff. What did you get? A video of the bouquet giving and bouquet taking. 

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We will leave you for the day and the rest of the weekend with suggestions for what you can do over the weekend.

Listen to Love Letters by Anoushka Shankar. We suggest you watch the video too as you listen. And then there is Bhumi Pednekar’s Durgamati on Amazon Prime.

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Also Read: Election in the offing, Mamata Banerjee on wrong footing