ANNA, MANMOHAN OR PRANAB - WHO'S CHANAKYA ?

Chanakya was the prime minister of Raja Chandragupta Mauriya,the rler of Magad, today's Bihar. He was very shrewd and an economist. The period was when Alexender started his homeward journey because of his ill health.
The first thing that Chanaky did was get his king married to the daughter of Alexender's Governor. The next thing he encouraged was the trade of the landlocked Magad. Although people travelled generally on foot then, this brought revenue back to the State.
Coming back to the modern Chanakya, one's choice falls on Pranab Da. To give him his full name : Mr Pranab Mukherjee, India's Finance Minister.
Mukherjees are Bengali Bramins, a contradictory statement. Mukherjees are always Brahmins and they are from Bengal. This has been deliberately added, because of a senior journalist's constant habit to write like that.
Pranab Da was the first to open the Government's heavy steel door firmly locked in the face of Anna Hazare and his team struggling for a Vigilance Commissioner for India.
Mr Kapil Sibal was seen on the Government TV channel blaming Mr Mukherjee for allowing Anna and his team entry into Government domainMr Mukherjee replied he had already cautiloned the State, as it was the first venture f its kind. "Let's not repeat this mistake again in the future," Mr Sibal retorted angrily.
Mr Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister, in the presence of Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the Planning Commission chairman, was shown reading a text. He said :"Our laws are not that sophisticated to have a Vigilance Commissioner."
In the same context, when Mr Thomas was proposed to be appointed the Vijilance Commissoner, Mr P. Chidambram's contention that it was just a (college?) debate among the Prime Minister, Mr Chidambram and the leader of the Opposition that prompted him to vote for Mr Thomas, allegedly not clean.
The Prime Minister also voted for him. Only the leader of the Opposition, Ms Sushma Swaraj, voted against him.
One cannot forget the chewing gum sticking on the walls of Mr Mukherjee's office, allegedly used to plant listening devics, in the TV footage. Although Mr Mukherjee denied that there was any attempt to spy on him.
That's not the end of Mukherjee stories. There was another Brahmin Mukherjee from Bengal. Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, founder of Jana Sangh, who died in Kashmir. We might do his story next.
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