Aap ka kamaal to Cong ka laal: Which way blows Holi’s gulaal?

NEW DELHI: Delhi’s political circuit has had its staple of Holi festivity over the past decade. From the fun fests on the manicured lawns of the CM’s residence hosted by Sheila Dixit and Sandeep, which were an annual feel-good, gentle gathering, to the more boisterous but more infrequent Ram Vilas Paswan /Lalu Yadav bashes, and the more dignified gentle application of gulaal at LK Advani’s Holi receptions, the mood and attendance at the Holi parties often served to reflect which way the gulaal, err, the wind, was blowing each political season.On the face of it, this is a listing of the Congress, the ‘Secular opposition’ and the BJP’s more prominent Holi events, but the attendance was rarely divided along political lines.
We don’t quite know who will host what this year, yet, or what the mood will be. However, given how much the political scene in Delhi has changed, fair enough to assume that both the Dixits and the Advanis, having seen taller names claim the spaces that were earlier theirs, may not quite have the enthusiasm or the turnout of the earlier acchhe din. We don’t know if the PM will actively participate in his first Holi at RCR, but if he does, post-celebration, the coloured Modi kurta could perhaps be kept aside for the next auction in Ahmedabad, since his outfits are currently the object of much attention.
As to the newest, hottest political party in town – they’ve begun playing a couple of days early, but nobody’s objecting. Some of their biggest names have been smearing liberal doses of mud on each other the past week, and now that Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan are no longer in the driving seats and Kejriwal himself is no longer in the city on the day, it’s safe to assume that the pre-Holi bashing was more happening than the Holi bashes actually will be.
We did a story two days back on all those who like to flee the city before Holi. This happens each year, of course. But we forgot the most high profile city-fleeing. While we do get that what happened in Delhi has taken the colour out of festivity this year, and that sporting a white kurta all the time does leave one more vulnerable to being plastered with unwanted paint (and attention), you could have just said you don’t want to play this year – why go to such lengths to hide, Rahul?