The Tiger’s Healthy Stripes

Come election time, even ailing politicians come out of their dens to flaunt their blood sugar and cholesterol levels

Come election time, even ailing politicians come out of their dens to flaunt their blood sugar and cholesterol levels. The Shiv Sena, which got a beating in the Lok Sabha election, is showing its ageing patriarch Bal Thackeray, who has lately been in and out of hospital, as the picture of health to get votes in the Assembly election slated October.

Sena president and Thackeray’s son Uddhav, realising that the frail and sickly image of his father was not doing the party any good, recently got well-known Marathi journalist and Sena supporter Sudhir Gadgil to conduct an in-depth interview with Thackeray. The party then cut DVDs of the interview and sent it to TV channels and newspapers. Strangely, the interview seemed all about Thackeray’s past and had no comments on current politics.

In recent times, party mouthpiece Saamna was the only place where extensive interviews of Thackeray would feature. They would be translated and used by other media. This time, even Saamna got only the DVD and no exclusive access. On the reasons for this, party spokesperson Dr Neelam Gorhe says, “We are an empowered and technologically sound party. It is our decision.”